Teachers need cards too!

I was a classroom teacher for 19 years.  Now we homeschool our kids so I am not in the classroom anymore.  When I was teaching in school I always needed note cards.  I would use them to write a quick thank you to a child for doing something awesome, a thank you for a parent who contributed to the class in some way, a thank you to another teacher, principal or guest speaker.  I used the cards to write a quick note home to a parent about their child (usually a good note) or requesting something from a parent.  Anyway, I loved it when I would receive gifts of a note card set from others.

Here is a set that would be fun to receive if I were teaching again.

I used the DCWV Grade School (with glitter) stack.  I love the foil and glitter on the papers.  I had the 4.5" by 6.5" paper stack that I had gotten on sale a couple years ago.  These are so much fun.  I used pen on the edges to draw the dots and lines.  The pens were Sakura Glaze and Souffle.  I love these pens!!!

Scrappy Goodness-Note Cards

I haven't scrapped in like forever (in my best Valley Girl voice).  So I decided to start with some cards.  Everyone needs a few note cards laying around the house for when you need to write a note. People still do that, right??? Write????

I was unpacking my FEW supplies I still had and came across some old scrapbook kits I had never used.  Well I did use this kit but I didn't like it.  So I had a lot of paper and embellishments left over. I decided to dust off the rust with this kit because if I didn't like what I created it wouldn't really matter.

However, I really liked what I came up with.  These all came from the same kit.  Like I said, I didn't like the kit so much for scrapbooking so I had a lot of paper left.

Time Flies:

 I used pen around the edges to make the dots.  This pen was a thick point pen.  I stickled the butterfly's body with Gold Stickles to give it some bling.

True Love:

I had fun with the Diamond Stickles on these cards to really make them shine.

You're such a HOOT!

These cards were a lot of fun and I used more layers on them.  I blinged them out with Gold Stickles and made them really extra shiny.

I am taking these up to a local store where people can sell their handwork. Maybe I might actually sell a few. Who knows!

Sparkly Cupcakes

I saw this big fat ribbon at Michaels the other day in the $1 discount bin outside of the store and I had to have it. I knew I wanted to make a card with it. I bought it and some other colors of big fat ribbon and came home and immediately made this card.

I love how the ribbon is polka dotted. I love the colors and the brown of the ribbon. I was not always a brown kind of person but over the years this color has grown on me. I used to hate how they made brown part of an infant color palette too but now I am loving how it goes so nicely with the pastel and bright colors. I played up the colors on the ribbon in the dots with matching cardstock. I had this cute cupcake bling in my stash. I got it in the $1 spot at Michaels a month or two back. I love that place (the $1 spot at Michaels). I love now that they are selling more scrappy stuff in that spot too now.

Back to the card. I put more dots around the borders to highlight the "dot" theme. It is blank inside but this card will be used as a birthday card.

Ugly Paper Challenge

participated in the Ugly Paper Challenge at Scrap Sisters Studio, a message board I love. Anyway, the challenge was to find, cut into 4x6 inch rectangles and send four of your ugliest papers to another participant.

Here is the "ugly" paper I received with a very cute card.

That card is so cute.

When I saw that grass paper I immediately thought that I could do an Easter card with the other papers as Easter Eggs "hiding" in the grass. This is what I came up with.

The idea was a good one but the execution wasn't so great. The papers that I was working with weren't really "Easter" colors which hurt the total effect of the card.

So I moved on and made a few other cards with the scraps of paper I had left. Separately the paper wasn't so bad, together they don't match.

This was a fun challenge.

Leftovers aren't always bad.

These leftovers are from a kit that I have. Let me explain. I go to this awesome Close To My Heart workshop every month. The consultant is so talented. She creates a kit from the CTMH line of paper that we pick and pairs it with embellies, stickers, ribbons, etc. We go and we make the same layouts as she does. The only problem with it is that some layouts are generic enough for me so I don't put all the embellies on it at the time we are making the layouts. I always put the papers on the layout and the basic design but sometimes my pictures don't always match what she has on hers. So I leave some stuff off usually. This creates a bit of "extra" and once I use the layouts I fumble with what to do with the extra papers, scraps, and embellies that I didn't end up using. Often times I will make additional layouts with the papers but sometimes the embellies baffle me.

Today I had that same problem. I had used all the layouts we created from the kit and I didn't know what to do with some of the bits and bobs of papers, stickers, and embellies. So I decided to make some cards. I got out a bit more cardstock from my stash and ended up creating 5 cards with all the leftovers. One card we immediately signed and stuck in an envelope for my son's basketball coach. We will see him today and we wanted to get that to him. It is a thank you card. The rest are regular note cards or thank you cards. I will save these and use them in the fall most likely.

After I completed all these cards I was left with really little bits of patterned paper which I didn't feel so guilty throwing away. I kept the extra stickers and alphas for later and the extra embellies I kept as well. I inked all the edges with brown and some of the insides also had a few extra bits of paper or a coordinating sticker.

Valentine's Goodies

Okay, well just cards but they were still fun to make.

My youngest daughter and I have a running "joke" about loving Dora. She used to love Dora but she no longer thinks Dora is cool. She IS 8 you know. Anyway, I had some fun 3D Dora stickers and I had used the big Dora on a layout of her 3rd birthday when she chose Dora as her theme. I had some left over ones and thought I would make her a Valentine's Day card with the rest of the stickers. I took one look at Boots and I knew exactly what the sentiment would be. I went with the rhythm of the kids valentines that you get in the box and they give to their friends. So here is the front:

And here is the back:

Don't you just love the little insect band?? They were always my favorites in the show.

Once I did her card I knew I had to make one for the other two also. My son's was easy also. I had some 3D Hot Wheels stickers that were laying around. I hadn't used them and I doubt I would have on a layout. So here is the front:

And here is the inside:

I love the way it turned out.

So then came time for my middle daughter's card. I didn't have any themed stickers for her unless she wanted Tonka trucks but I knew that she wouldn't appreciate that. So I went with something a bit prettier: butterflies from Wild Saffron. Here is the front:

And here is the inside:

I had decided from the beginning that I wouldn't be using the typical holiday colors of pink and red. I wanted something a bit different. I love how all these cards turned out and I loved their faces when they opened them.

However, there isn't a happy ending to this story as I am pretty sure that at least two of the cards are already in the trash. They weren't treasured for very long. But that is okay as they were really only meant to be savored for just a few minutes and they did their job.

Unfortunately they didn't hold any treasures which was a disappointment to the kids. Now that they are getting older they are beginning to expect a gift card or a gift of some sort for each holiday. They were disappointed this Valentine's Day when all they got was my heart, well, and a homemade card.

Remember #3 ???

From my last post on sewing??? #3 said "Sewing is addictive." Well, it is.

Here is today's sewing experiment. This cute little notecard is simple in lines but warm in sentiment.

Here is some detail.

A "shape" card

This is a card I whipped up for a card challenge on AMR. If you aren't hanging out over there already you really need to check them out. I love it there. So much creativity.

Anyway here is my card. It was supposed to be in the form of a shape. I don't have any dies that would cut a shape so I used my zigzag scissors to make it shapely.

A "No Adhesive" Card

If you are not familiar, All Moments Remembered has challenges every day. I tried a few weeks ago to keep up with them but just can't do that. So I pick and choose what I want to challenge myself with. They are great challenges and this one was no different. This card challenge was to make a card with no adhesive. Nope, nada, nothing. So here is my card.

I sewed for the first time ever paper to paper. And I also sewed the ribbon on. Everything else was done with brads. It was a lot of fun AND most of all challenged me to do something that I wouldn't probably have ever done, and I liked it. I sewed. I have liked the looks of stitching or sewing on layouts and cards before but have never done it myself. This challenge stretched me to do just that. And I am glad for it.

Head on over there and check out the challenges in the scrapbooking section.

Lookie what my friends sent me! And other Random Thoughts.

I got these for Valentine's Day. I love them.

This one is from my friend Gay. She and I scrap together once a month and hang out together on the AMR message board.

This one is from my great Scrap Pal Cheeky! She lives way up north and is enjoying much snow while we are just wishing for it. She is so cute and I just love her card.

And now for some random thoughts:
I have been thinking a lot about those cute little crocheted flowers. I really would love to try them in a varigated thread. I am going to stop by the store tomorrow and check out their threads. I can't stand it. I think they may become addicting.
I posted a few cards for Cliff's Card Challenge (ha ha CCC) over on AMR MB. He is great and a scrapper too. He joins us for the crops over there and comes up with some fun layouts and some fun cards. He is so cute. His wife Melonscraps is an avid scrapper too. I guess in their family "if you can't beat em join em" fits. They are wonderful and I highly suggest you head over to Melonscraps blog. She has some great stuff over there. Okay, I am rambling. So I made two cards for the challenge. Here they are:

I started on my daughter's sweater and have chosen to do the child's size 6-8. She is petite and I think if the arms are too short I can lengthen them with no problem. I will measure her several times throughout the knitting process. Again like the last one, the back and front go so fast and then the sleeves just drag along. I am about a fifth of the way up the back already. She chose a bright blue and a coral color for her accent stripe. I think it will be cute and if she doesn't like it in the end I will give it to the other daughter and she will love it. I am not worried. Someone will wear this sweater.

Some more cards I have made this weekend.

Here is this one:

And this one:

A window card for you all!

This was from a challenge on AMR!

My window card:

Cuttlebug Embossing Folders

I am becoming adicted and I can't help it. These embossing folders are the BOMB in my book. I can't seem to get enough and I have so many ideas floating through my head when I look at these. I need more more more....

So this one is just too gorgeous. I now wish I hadn't finished my Christmas cards like a good little scrapper weeks ago. I wish I could get this and make more more more.... well maybe I will. Maybe I will get this embossing folder and use it in a layout when I scrap our Christmas pictures. Maybe I will make some cards and send them out in JUNE or JULY for a Christmas in June or July celebration. Oh, see those ideas just keep on coming......

Oh here is where to get them... http://allmomentsremembered.com/osstore1/index.php?cPath=57

Winner of the Contest and a GREAT DEAL

Congrats goes to Jennifer for the contest from the last post!! I will get those cards out to you this week. I sure hope you can use them. Don't feel bad if you decide to regift them!!! They are a great gift idea.

And now for something completely different: An advertisement.

Everyday I check out Peachycheap.com just to see what the deal of the day is. And for all you Victorian style scrappers out there you need need need to check these out:

Okay here is the link! http://www.peachycheap.com/ Remember it is only for today so hurry!

Some spooky cards and more for the Craft Show!!

First, I made some cards for the craft show. I kinda hope they don't sell so that I can send them so some friends. Or, I will just have to make some more!

And, now for some fun little guys. These were so much fun to make. I will be selling them also at the craft show for $1 each. Aren't they just as cute as could be? It was a bit odd making them. I would put their "hair" on first and then glue on the eyes and nose. Then take my slick marker and I would start the mouth and each one would appear and I would then draw it. They each have little personalities. Funny how something so little and insignificant would gain so much personality with a few googlie eyes and a mouth.

I will definitely be making them again. The foam balls came in a box that also included the googlie eyes. I used multi-colored feathers and pom pom noses. Very much fun and they didn't cost anything hardly to make. I think they will sell very well being the weekend before school starts. The pencils can be used just fine and the heads aren't that heavy as to throw off any handwriting.


Sorry the picture is so poor. My camera was running out of juice. It is charging now so check back for more pictures of everything that I will be selling.

So let's list all that I will be selling this weekend.
1. Pencil buddies ($1 each)
2. Note card sets ($10 each set of 4)
3. Hair Ribbons ($2.50 each) - I might up the price to $3.00 so I don't have to make change.
4. Foamie frame kits for kids ($1 each)

Okay, off to make some hair ribbons! I have a bunch to make and so little time!!

I forgot to tell you, check back in the next day or so. I made a very cute crocheted froggie yesterday. He is very much fun! I will post a picture of him tomorrow when my camera charges.

Craft Show Cards

I signed up to be in a craft show this past weekend. I did pretty well, came out with $100 in my pocket to fuel my paper addiction!! I had made individual cards like these:






And card sets of four:



And hair bows! I made these last year and had intended to sell them on line and at a local shop. I never got around to it and so Kenneth suggested that I take them with us and see if they sell. He made the peg board display for me and they sold like gangbusters!

And I also sold my zucchini relish (tastes just like pickle relish). I sold all but two jars and those I gave to my mom when she came by.

The individual cards didn't sell as well as I would have thought and I probably won't put these out next time. The card sets are the way to go as well as the hair bows. That is where I made most of my money. I actually got a couple orders for a few card sets too!

Well, now I have a bunch of cards left over and card sets. So I am officially opening an etsy store to sell my wares!! Card sets are $10-$12.50 and hairbows are $4.50 each! Once I get it all up an running I will post a link to the etsy site. I am signed up for another craft show Labor Day weekend too and plan to do a few more in the fall.