Dropping In and Dropping You a Line.

Well my dad had his test and all things look good. He’s gone back to the local hospital for the night and hopefully he will be discharged tomorrow (and see the cardiologist later). Today was a bit of a lazy day. I tried entering my classroom library books into a program my DH made for me. We have a barcode reader, so I input the book and it stores it. This way, I will know which books I have in my classroom library, and what bin I have them stored it. Trust me, with the amount of books I have, having this program will make tracking down a read aloud much easier. Only problem is that it wasn’t working all that well, so I stopped. I took the Dexman for a walk, then headed up to the cabana and actually did some beading. I made a couple of necklaces and finished off a few pieces I had on the go. I think I might do the same tomorrow. It’s amazing how fast the days go when you really just putter around.

I’m also anxiously awaiting packages from both My Favorite Things and Kraftin’ Kimmie. I go for walks with my little Dexter every day to check the mail… maybe tomorrow…

In the meantime, I created this little ditty with Kraftin’ Kimmie’s Nerissa, whom I adore:

I used some patterned paper I had in my stash – I’m not sure offhand which stack it came from. She’s coloured with Copics, then I used some Stickles on her tail and hair. I also used some Glossy Accents on her shell. The “fishing hook” was made with some beading wire I had. The waves were made with a Fiskars punch (I just noticed the really bad chop job in the bottom corner – oops). The circle was cut with a Nestabilities die and embossed with a Tim Holtz folder. I sponged it with Tumbled Glass distress ink – or perhaps it was Broken China – whichever the more aqua one is.

Well, thanks for stopping by. Please feel free to leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!

Have a great day!

Steph

A Little Pick Me Up For Dad

As I mentioned yesterday, my dad is still in the hospital.  To lift his mood a bit, I made this card for him:

I tried to make it masculine – this was the only “get well soon-esque” stamp I own.  I used Basic Grey’s Max and Whiskers patterned paper as my inspiration for colouring her.  She is stamped on Neenah with Tuxedo Black Memento ink.  She’s layered on SU’s Chocolate Chip and Bermuda Bay cardstock.  The ruffled, torn layer is distressed with Antique Linen, Barn Door, Tumbled Glass, and Broken China.  I distressed the edges of all the other layers with SU’s Soft Suede.  For the heart, I took a cream coloured piece of cardstock and coloured it with YR16, and R27.  Then I added a layer of Glossy Accents that I proceeded to make bubble when I went over it with my heat gun – oops!  Oh well, I do like the finished loak of it anyway.  The buttons are from the Max and Whiskers set, and the card base is Chocolate Chip.

He loved it, and that makes me happy.  Hopefully he can get in for his test, and get home in the next couple of days.  I continue to say my prayers, that the source of the problem can be determined and he can continue to enjoy his retirement!

Thanks for stopping in to take a look.  Have a great day!

Steph

Copics used: Skin: E0000, E01, R20, Hair: E31, E33, E35, Clothes: YR16, R27, (I layered them together to try to get an orangy red), R29, BG0000, BG 13, BG18, (I also used W01 to “dirty” her skirt a bit) Bear: E35, E37, E49, E50, E53, YR23, YR16, R32, Shadow: W00, W01, W03, W05,

Yet Another Monday

Wow!  That was a busy weekend, I was a bit happy for Monday to come around because it meant there really wasn’t much to do (I’m a teacher, and I still have 3 weeks left of my summer vacation)!  I ended up cleaning the downstairs level before coming up to the cabana to tidy and craft.

Yesterday I made 2 cards – one for my hubby’s grandfather’s birthday, and one as a get well card for my dad.  He’s still stuck in the hospital waiting on an appointment at another hospital for a test.  Let’s hope he goes tomorrow so he can get home asap.  He’s getting a little stir crazy – the man is not used to chilling out for so long.  Not to mention hospital food…

Anyway, I digress.  Here is the card I made for Grandpa’s birthday:

His reaction, and I quote: “well, this is a keeper”!  That made me so happy!  The patterned paper is from the Basic Grey Capella 6x6 paper stack.  I just sponged the edges with some Distressed Ink (Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Chipped Sapphire, and Antique Linen).  The ripped edges on the top and bottom of the greeting layer were created using a technique I learned at a course I took last weekend, taught by Jen Starr.  I will hopefully get a little tutorial up in the next couple of days to show you how I did it (it’s more than just ripping paper and sponging it – but it’s super easy).  The sentiment is from a clear stamp set I bought at Michaels – but I can’t remember who made it.  I stamped it on the natural coloured Neenah paper with Rich Cocoa memento ink, ripped it out, and sponged it with some of the same colours I used on the base layer.

This is what the inside looked like:

 

Thank you for stopping by!  Have a great day!

S.

Going to the Circus

Hello to you! Man, I wrote my blog post yesterday before Friday the 13th really got going! Soon after I finished, my mom called saying she had to take my dad to the hospital (a recurrence of a heart problem he has), he’s much better now and everything is back to normal - I just talked to him, but poor guy needs to stay in the hospital until he can have another test done on (hopefully) Monday. After that, I found out my husband’s grandmother had fallen, and dislocated her thumb – thank God it wasn’t worse. And… and… then I spoke with my mom and their a/c broke. Really, when it rains it pours. I’m glad yesterday is behind us! In related news, we also got smoked in baseball, but that’s not really anything new.

Let’s hope today is a better day! We have tickets to the circus and are looking forward to it. I just got back from walking my little buddy Dexter, and am about to go get ready (and maybe sneak off to the cabana for a bit).

For your viewing pleasure today I have this:

This cutie pie from Sarah Kay. I coloured her with Copics, cut her out with my oval nestabilites, and mounted her on an oval that I embossed with an SU embossing folder. I also embossed the strip of yellow cardstock with a new(er) cuttlebug edge embossing folder. The slots in the main layer are cut with the SU slit punch, and I threaded some wal-mart ribbon through it and tied the bow. The designer paper is from K&Company’s Wild Saffron stack and I used the Cornice border punch from my buddy Martha Stewart. The sentiment is from SU and is stamped in Soft Suede then punched out with the Modern Label punch.

I’d like to thank you for stopping by. Have a great day!

S.

Copics used: Skin: E0000, E01, Clothes: R24, R27, R29, B93, B97, Y00, Y02, Watering Can: YG06, G07, Grass: G21, G28, Backgroud: BG0000, BG01, then I went over everything with my W00, and W1 to “dirty” it up a bit.

Friday the 13th!

Hello there, and happy Friday the 13th to you. How’s it been treating you so far?

I plan on getting out to the cabana to create a bit today – perhaps I should work on a Halloween card. Kraftin’ Kimmie and all her krafty girls have been doing sneak peaks of the new stamp sets on her blog, and I’m so excited to get my hands on them. They’ve got my Halloween mojo going even though I don’t really care for Halloween at all!

Here is a card that I created for my cousin’s birthday:

I used Kraftin Kimmie’s Francesca stamp and coloured her with my copics: Skin: E0000, E01, R20, BG0000 (eye shadow), Hair: E50, E53, E35, Clothes: BG0000, BG13, BG18, R22, R24, R27, YG03, Y0000, Y02, Cupcakes: R22, BG13, Y15, YG03. I also added Glossy Accents to the cupcakes, and stickles to the candles. I cut her out with a circle nestabilities, then layered it over a scalloped circle, and layered that on another circle I cut to size with my circle cutter. The paper is from a set that I love by American Crafts – called Craft Fair (I bought it at Michaels last winter). My wish big sentiment is from Stampin’ Up’s “Short and Sweet” stamp set. I stamped it in versamark, then SU’s Bermuda Bay, and embossed it. It’s cut with SU’s “Modern Label” punch and layered over an oval. The ribbon is from wal-mart.

I hope she likes it, I know I do!

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

S.

Just Another Thursday…

Hello all! Today was a bit of a busy day in that I didn’t really sit down, but didn’t really go too far either. I spent my morning cleaning out the garage. I kinda wish I took a before and after picture because the difference is huge! We were both able to park our cars in there before, but there was little room to actually move around otherwise. Now, it is de-cluttered and organized. I love it!

After lunch, I had a bit of running around to do. I always buy these courier bags from Dollarama for my students to put their agendas in, so with school starting again in a couple of weeks, I thought I’d go out and buy them. I went to 3 stores today looking for them and no one had any! Oh no! I always told myself that I would be seriously upset if they stopped carrying them… and I guess today is that day. I had to settle for buying these new things they had which are somehow meant to be laptop bags. I’ll post a picture here later. Now, I need to figure out how to get the students’ names on them since there isn’t a nice plastic sleeve to stick a piece of paper like on the good old courier bags (taking suggestions!). Oh and what really got me is that the new bag is $2!!! The old ones were only half that! I’m definitely going to ask the parents to pitch in some money to help cover the cost. These little bags come in so handy for transporting notes, money, etc… back and forth.

Old Style Agenda Bag (please note nice plastic slot for name insert):

New Style Agenda Bag (please note nice handle feature, and lack of anywhere for a name!):

Anyways… once I got home, I decided it was time to tackle the DH’s “office” aka the only room in the house that hasn’t been unpacked since we moved in over a year ago. I threw all his wires and gadgets in the boxes that were still there and carried them all downstairs. Then I vacuumed and stood back to enjoy the nice clean room. Tomorrow – I will tackle the paperwork that is piled up on the desk in there.

After all that, I finished this card that I had been working on for a while (you might scratch your head and wonder “why?” when you see it), it’s simple but I like how it turned out:

This card is for friends of ours who came and watered our flowers while we were out west earlier this summer. It’s a bit overdue but nonetheless… I had coloured the image from My Favorite Things (as a Canadian, it’s really hard not to put the u in favourite) a month or so ago, but didn’t really do anything with it. So, finally I pulled out some paper that coordinated with the image and viola! I don’t have a sewing machine, but I’m loving all the stitched cards I see in blogland, so I imitated it with my paper piercer and white gel pen. I think I might ask for a sewing machine for Christmas, along with some lessons on how to use it from my mom.

Well I think I’m going to head back out to the craft cabana to be creative. Thanks so much for stopping by, have a great day!

Steph

Supplies:

Stamp: Pure Innocence Blooming Good Day by My Favorite Things, Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Other: Copics (I’ve been really bad lately at telling the colours I used, I really love it when other bloggers name the colours. I will try to do better from now on.) Hair: not sure which ones, Skin; E50, E11, Clothes and Shoes: R22, R24, and blender pen to make the polka dots, Grass: G21, G28, I don’t remember which Greens I used for the watering can)

It’s a Boy! Card.

Kraftin’ Kimmie’s challenge this week is to create a boy card. The only boy image (so far) that I have from Kraftin’ Kimmie is Jack. Here is the card I created with this cool dude:

Man, I really like this card! I was reading through blogland today and found the water done this way on Amy Rysavy’s blog here. I loved how she used the embossed swirls as water, and was trying to figure out how to make some different waves on my card, so I tried her method. The blue is SU’s Tempting Turquoise. I also used my Hero Arts cloud stamp for the background (stamped with Tumbled Glass distress ink). Jack and his bucket are coloured with Copics, and the sentiment is from Kraftin’ Kimmie’s Everyday Sentiments. The inside of the card looks like this:

I used my Fiskars wave punch to create the waves and the sentiment is from Kraftin’ Kimmie’s Mermaid Sentiments.

Well that’s about it for me today. I’m going to finish watching an episode of Modern Family that is still on my PVR – I love this show, then head off to dreamland.

Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

Steph

Sending You Some Smiles

It’s a beautiful day outside (well, to look at – it’s super duper hot and muggy).  I’m spending my day in the nice, cool, basement going through all of my school stuff and organizing.  Just popped upstairs to grab a bite and say hello to my little Dexter who is now sleeping on my lap.  Here is a card that I made the other day, that reflects my happy mood:

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Recollections from Michaels, Kraftin’ Kimmie’s Everyday Sentiments, Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Paper: Neenah (for stamped images and colouring on), yellow is from Recollections pack, white is from Staples (I like using more inexpensive white cardstock for the cards and other layers that aren’t stamped on), Other: Copics, Glossy Accents, corner rounder.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

S.

Where or Where is the Summer Going???

I can’t believe it’s already well into August! I spent some time in the basement today going through all of my school stuff. I was organizing it into piles of what I don’t want to take back, what I do and then organizing that into piles of priority. I have so much stuff! Ugh. I’ll be back at it again tomorrow but hopefully I will also get to spend some time in the craft cabana as well.

While we were out west at the beginning of the summer, my parents watched Dexter for three weeks. When we came back, I baked them a banana bread and gave them this card as a thank you:

This here is the full colour version of the Posy card I made and posted here. I coloured Kraftin’ Kimmie’s “Posy” with my Copics, cut her out with my Nestabilities (oval and large scalloped oval). The roses were made with a technique I found on Julie’s blog here – I love making them. The background paper came in a pack that my wonderful mom bought me at Costco, and the sparkly paper is from a pack that I can’t remember the name of right now. The turquoise is SU’s Bermuda Bay. The ribbon is from wal-mart (I only have ribbon from there… maybe I should start branching out…) The tag was stamped with Kraftin’ Kimmie’s Everyday Sentiments and cut out with my MS tag punch and attached to the ribbon with a jump ring.

Needless to say, my parents appreciated the banana bread almost as much as we appreciated them watching our little buddy.

Thanks for stopping by! Until next time,

S

Just a Little Something

Happy Friday everyone! We just got back from baseball and I thought I’d post this little cutie I made yesterday. Adorable little MFT Happy Mail girl is stamped on Neenah with Memento ink and coloured in with Copics. Her dress is paper pieced with some Basic Grey paper – I forget which collection it’s from though. I distressed everything – including the ribbon with SU’s Soft Suede and Antique Linen distress ink. The circles and scalloped circle were cut with Nestabilites.

The inside of the card looks like this:

I am very excited for tomorrow, I’m attending a class at my LSS taught by Jen Starr – all about the Tim Holtz distressed line! I’m not a scrapbooker and in this class we are going to make 6 scrapbook layouts (it’s a 4 hour class), but I’m told that what I will learn I can apply to card making. Whatever, I don’t care, it sounds like 4 hours of crafting fun! So, I will let you know how it goes and perhaps photograph my creations and post them for you tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

S.F.

My Little Helper

I had a little helper out in the Craft Cabana today:

My little buddy decide to come up and catch some zzzz’s - which helped me out because I could craft in peace :).   Isn’t he precious?

Tah!

S.

I’m in Distress… Mode

Greetings! I haven’t posted in a few days, just haven’t been out to the cabana to get some crafting done. However, today I managed to spend a good chunk of time crafting and have a few cards made and ready to share over the next few days.

The first card I made today is for this week’s MFT challenge which I found here. I used the adorable Better Get Better set. Here it is:

I am so pleased with how this one turned out! I even went all out and decorated the inside too:

I don’t normally “distress” the edges, and I’m not that into the vintage look, but I am really pleased with how everything came together here. The cardstock is from Michaels, the designer paper is from a Sassafras 6x6 pad, and I stamped the image on Neenah paper. For distressing I used my favourite SU colour – Soft Suede, and Antique Linen Distress Ink by Tim Holtz. I sponged the Soft Suede on the edges, but then used my Inkssentials Blending Tool to sponge in the Distress Ink – on all my pieces of paper. The ribbon is from Wal-Mart, and I used SU’s slit punch (I think that’s what it’s called) to cut the hole in the stamped layer through which I fed the ribbon (I hope that makes sense). The hearts are a cuttlebug die, and I covered the one on the front of the card with Glossy Accents and popped it up with pop dots. My gorgeous little girl is coloured with Copics (E0000, E000, R20, BG13, BG18, R32, R35, RV000, RV02, E31, E33, E35, E37, W00, W1). I crumpled the pink paper before flattening it and adhering it to my base layer. I then stamped the sentiment on it in Soft Suede.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!