Thinking of you

I made this card for the most recent Paper Crafts magazine call.  Obviously, it didn't get picked up, which is OK.  It's already in the hands of one of my favorite people. 

First, I cut out the heart and stamped the sentiment.  Then I got to empty out a bunch of button bags to look for fun buttons.  I placed them all on another piece of white cardstock with glue dots and placed the cut-out heart panel on top.  All of that was secured on a piece of pure poppy cardstock. 

I have seen this technique done several times, but never had attempted it myself.  It was a lot of fun to create with all of those buttons.  That was the best part - digging through them!

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

It's a _____!

I have a friend who is pregnant. She and her husband have decided to wait until the "birth-day" to find out if the baby is a boy or girl.  She's due this week, so I knew I needed to get this card made and in the mail before too long.  She had a shower a couple of weeks ago.  You may remember this card I made for it. 

Melissa Bickford's Bundle of Love set was perfect for this, and I just love that stork.  Here's my card for my sweet, sweet friend:

Bundle of Love, Ripe Avocado Bitty Dots paper and ink, Lemon Tart cardstock/satin ribbon, Fiskars grass punch

I highlighted the bottom of the stork and the baby with a Copic C1 marker, and then gave the lines a bit of sparkle with a Sakura Stardust pen.  The baby was colored and paper-pieced, then the edges were inked with Spring Rain. 

I better get this in the mail before she goes into labor!

I'm sure she is tired of seeing yellows and greens and is ready to look at either pink and blue for awhile!  She has been waiting for this baby for so long and I can't wait for her to finally be a mommy.  She's made for it!  I think I'll make a boy card and a girl card today so that I'm ready for the big day!

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place today!

So Thoughtful!

I loved Dawn's video today encouraging us to use non-background stamps to create backgrounds.  I love to dig through my stamps to see which ones would make great backgrounds, so this week's technique was perfect for me!  Nichole does this a lot - and with great color combos!  I used one of the combos that she talked about on PTI Radio this weekend on my card today.  

Here it is:

PTI:  Flower Fusion, Take Three die, Spring Moss, Ocean Tides, Vintage Cream

This particular flower from Flower Fusion was a bit hard to line up.  After I got over the fact that it didn't have to line up perfectly, I was off and running.

You can see Dawn's video and play along with this week's challenge by clicking here.  Hopefully I can get a few more created before the end of today - a holiday! 

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Blast Off!

School has started.  That's why my blog has been so quiet.  The beginning of every year is always exhausting, but this year is also particularly challenging.  Lots of changes have occurred due to budget restraints, including adding more students and classes to each teachers' load, while taking away half the planning time we once had. So, we have a lot more work to do in half the time to do it. 

Therefore, this beginning is not only exhausting, but challenging too.

But, I can count my blessings when I say, "At least I'm not a coach."  Coaches have different challenges than I do in the classroom, and our football and volleyball coaches' seasons start within the next week.  So, the least I can do is make them a card:

Here they are:

PTI: Have a Ball, Boy Basics, Mat Stack 1 die, Woodgrain Impression Plate

PTI: Have a Ball, Boy Basics, Cloud die, Fiskars grass punch

I made 4 of each of these for all of our coaches.  The inside on all of them says, "Fired Up for a Winning Season." 

I used watercolors and blending on the flames from Boy Basics.  I'll link this up to this week's Make It Monday at PTI.  Here's a close-up:

Hopefully, my routine will begin to get, well more of a routine, and I'll be able to get more crafting done.  Hope to see you soon!

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Back to School Cards

Tomorrow is the first day of school.  I've already been back at work for over a week now getting things ready for my students, attending meetings and working on curriculum.  Finally, we have kids tomorrow, which makes everything more fun at school.

I made 30 of these cards I'm showing today to put in my department and grade level teachers' boxes in the morning.  I'm sorry I wasn't able to make one for each teacher on campus, but I'll get something to each of them some time soon, I hope.

Here they are - all the same design, but with different ribbon.  I can't decide which I like better.

 

PTI: Signature Greetings, Woodgrain impression Plate, Fruit Fusion apple die

I cut the Kraft bases and ran them through my Big Shot with the Woodgrain impression plate.  Then I cut the gray mat from Smokey Shadow.  I heat embossed the sentiment and inked the edges so it would look like a chalk board.  I die cut the apple, popped it up, and tied the ribbons around the gray mat.  Easy peasy - and 30 of them are ready.  Happy about that. 

I wish I had more of the ribbon that looks like a ruler.  I haven't tried the fabric stores yet, but that will be my next stop.

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place today!  After school gets into full swing, I'll be back here more often.

I'll Be Back

(credit)

I'll be back here, once I'm done getting back to there.  ^^^

It won't be long!

So Happy For You!

This card is for a friend of mine that is having a baby - in just over a month.  Her shower is Friday, and I'm sorry I have to miss it, but I'm sending a little something to her, along with this card.

She is waiting to find out what gender the baby is, so all she is receiving are neutral items.  She and her husband have decorated the baby room with yellow paint and a circus theme. She's so talented that she painted circus murals on the walls - including elephants.  So, that is the inspiration for this card:

Hero Arts Happy Animals, PTI Turning a New Leaf stamps and die, Simple Circles die

I used the Fiskars punch...again.  I love it!  I thought that patterned paper would resemble grass and plants.  The circles are cut from PTI's Simple Circles die.

Hero Arts All Occasion Messages, PTI Sunshine Impression Plate, Border die

Here's the inside:

PTI Signature Greetings, Angled Labels die, Fiskars Grass Punch

I'm entering this into the Hero Arts contest for the month and to Wee Memories challenge for this week, which is to use no less than 4 colors!  I think this one fits!  Click on those links and play along!

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

A Note of Thanks

As I told you in my last post, I was recently at my local Archivers (which is 5 minutes from my house!!) and ran across a bucket of Lawn Fawn stamps that hadn't been placed on display yet.  I sifted through them and pulled out two sets that I couldn't live without.  Smitty's ABCs was the one I used yesterday, and today's set is called "Many Thanks."  I can't find where it is in the store, which makes me wonder if I should even have it yet.

I used it on two cards today for the challenge at the Lawnscaping Blog - to use distressing.  I distressed all the edges on the wood panel with Tea Dye Duo (PTI).   Click here to get the details and play along. 

Here's my first card:

Lawn Fawn Many Thanks, PTI Sending You die

First I stamped the cute image from Lawn Fawn's "Many Thanks" on Rustic Cream cardstock.  I masked the bird so that I could stamp him in red.  Then I used the Sending You die to cut out a window in the wood panel and used an exacto to cut out the window in the red base. 

Here are a few more shots:

 

 On my second card, I used the die cut from the panel above and stayed with the same color combo.

Lawn Fawn Many Thanks, PTI Leafy Vine Border, Sending You dies

I kept this one CAS.  I'm still a little torn on whether or not I like how the ink is bleeding into the wood panel.

Hmm...

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place today!

 

Notebook Cover

My sister teaches third grade and was recently at her campus retreat.  One of the tasks at the retreat was to scrapbook a cover to slip into their clear binders.  What did she do while all the other teachers scrapbooked their covers with the provided supplies?  She texted me and told me I was going to make hers.  She's 5.5 years older than I am and has bossed me around for over 30 years.  Besides, in her words, I "needed something to do."

So, I did it.  Just like any little (younger, much younger) sister would. 

The list of stamps and supplies for this project is lengthy, but I will tell you that I was very, very (did I say VERY?) excited to see that Lawn Fawn stamps were being sold at my local Archivers.  The sets weren't even out on display yet.  They were in buckets ready to be processed.  The sweet ladies at Archivers told me to go ahead and look through them to see what I wanted.  I got two sets (to start off).  One set was the FABULOUS Smitty's ABCs.  Wow!  I love how they line up with each other and how there are mulitple letters so that you can just stamp ONE time.  LOVE THAT!!  (Honestly, I didn't notice that until I started to use them on this project - then I was even more excited about this set.)  I'm submitting this project to this week's Lawnscaping Challenge which is to use distressing. 

 I used ink to distress each of the panels below with PTI's Tea Dye Duo. I'm also submitting it to Wee Memories challenge this week which is to use more than 4 colors!   Click on those links above to play along with the challenge. Both have fabulous prizes this week!

Here's the cover my sister made me make:

Patterned Paper:  Bo Bunny Learning Curve Collection

Smitty's ABCs are right in the middle.  I love the font, and again, they are so easy to line up.  I used a lot of Hero Arts and Papertrey Ink on this.  Supplies are listed below each picture.

Here are some close-ups:

Lawn Fawn Smitty's ABCs, PTI Sending You, Beautiful Blooms & TANL dies

HA Playful Animals, PTI Merry Little Christmas and CanvasIP

HA Playful Animals, PTI Merry Little Christmas and Sunshine IP, Fiskars punch

HA Froggy, PTI Cloud die and Polka Dot IP, Stampabilities Wave Border

HA Playful Animals, PTI Vineyard IP, Simple Circles and TANL die

Oh, this was fun to make and I loved combining so many of my supplies.  Made me feel justified in buying them all.  Thanks for visiting My Happy Place today and looking at so many pictures!

Dying Eggs

I can see the end!  I'm almost finished with my son's pre-school year scrapbook, which is a good thing because he's going into 1st grade in a couple of weeks!  The end of his scrapbook is May - his birthday.  I'm in April now and worked last night on a CAS layout for Easter.

Here it is:

I used the colorful stripes paper from Echo Park's Sweet Summertime collection, and stitched the pieces to a piece of Harvest Gold cardstock from PTI.  Can you see the stitching?

Then I used my Fiskars Grass Punch on some New Leaf cardstock to create the grass for the rabbit.  The rabbit and eggs are from the set "bunny4Easter" from Stamps of Life.  I colored the bunny with Aquacolor pencils, blended with a Dove Blender, and then added some glossy accents for dimension.  I adhered the body of the rabbit down, but popped the ears up.

Here's a close-up:

I have about 4 more layouts left.  Some of them may be double pages, so it may take a bit.  I'll share here as I can!

For now, I'm submitting this one to the Wee Memories challenge this week.  Jenny challenged us to use no less than 4 colors in our projects.  You can read details and submit your projects here.  

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Faith, Hope and Love

Today's card is another one I created while I was on the Amber Ink team last month.  Before I began running with the torch, I had already downloaded several images to play with.  I used the sentiments to create this simple card:

I edited the sentiments to make sure they were the same size and then colored the "Love" red.  I wanted it to pop a bit.  After printing and cutting them, I ran another white panel through my Big Shot with a Cuttlebug folder.  I adhered the sentiment panel with pop-dots to give it a little dimension. 

I just ordered the last of my son's pre-K pictures to finish that scrapbook.  They should be here on Friday - just in time for the weekend!  I finished his Kinder year before his pre-K year.  Doesn't seem right does it?  I'm hoping to get the last of those layouts completed and then I'll be caught up.

I'll share some here as soon as I can.  Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Blog Hop for Laurie

The Papertrey Paper Dolls are hosting a blog hop today in honor of our fellow Doll, Laurie Willison, who made it to the Top 10 in Gallery Idol.  We are so proud and in awe of Laurie and wanted her to know that she will always be OUR Gallery Idol! 

The task sounded simple.  Head over to Laurie's blog, find one of of creations to CASE and post on our blogs for today's hop.  

As I was perusing her blog, so many choice jumped out at me.  I settled on several cards to CASE, printed them off then set to work.  What I discovered is that Laurie's style is very difficult to replicate.  There is just something about her color choices and simple designs that are hard to make your own.  The simple task turned out to be difficult for me and I ended up case-ing 2 cards that I hadn't even printed out in the first place. 

Here's the first card I CASEd of Laurie's.   You can see the blog post if you click here. 

 

Laurie does a great job with those beautiful rolled flowers.  In fact, Renee challenged us last week on our Paper Dolls blog to use those rolled flowers in a project.  You can see the details and play along with that challenge if you click here.  So, I thought I would use Laurie's rolled flowers for my card.

Here's my version:

Can you see the Background Basics Retro on the yellow panel and my new embossing folder on the green?  Excited about both of those.  I already had the Hawaiian Shores card base in my scraps, so I went ahead and used it.  By the way, I found rolling the flowers to be very difficult at first, but after I figured out a few tricks, I began to enjoy it.  If you haven't tried it yet, why don't you give it a shot.  I followed the tutorial Renee provided us on our blog that is linked above.

The second card I CASEd of Laurie's was one she submitted for Gallery Idol.  I loved the design and haven't ever stamped on vellum before, so I gave it a whirl.  

Here's the card of Laurie's.  You can see her blog post here.

I made two cards for this one.  One monotone and one with a favorite color combination of  mine - red, aqua and cream.  

Here they are:

I had to put the red plane higher on the panel because I didn't want to hide that cute bird on the cloud.

I hope you can hop with us and show Laurie how much we appreciate her talent.  Here's a list of today's participants:

Amy (kolling143)
Christy (christea)

Suzanne (*suzanne*)

Katie (choc0holic)
 Kristin (jcmom04)
Lee Anne (Lee Anne)   <--- You are here!
Renee (Renee L.)
Sara (hiinaz)

Tanna (tfiskers)
Paper Dolls Blog

Remember, if you want to play along with us, go and visit Laurie's blog and find a card to CASE.   Link it back up over on the Doll's blog.  We'd love to see what you create!

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place today!

Texas

I'm from Texas, and I'll be the first to admit that for the most part, Texans are snobs as far as state pride goes.  We are a friendly bunch, that is for sure, but we are raised to believe that there is no better place to live than Texas.

I remember going on out-of-state trips with my family and we'd stop at every state line to take our picture sitting on the marble stone carving of the state.  When we would return back, my dad would always comment that he sure felt better once we crossed back into Texas.  Home.  We were home.  Even though we were still 600 miles from home, at least we were in Texas. 

Late in her life, my grandmother traveled to Philadelphia to see my cousin get married.  Philadelphia.  You really don't get more historic than that city.  Upon completing her tour of the main, historical sites, she looked at my uncle and said, "We have better history in Texas." 

Wow.  See - snobby.

I can't say that I am doing anything differently in raising my son.  We touched down at DFW airport after spending a week in California.  What does he say to me?  "Texas.  Home, sweet home." 

We toured the Capitol building this weekend along with the Texas State History Museum.  In the gift shop I spied a magnet that I knew I had to get for my sister.  It had a quote on it that we have heard and spoken many times growing up.  I grabbed it.  Then I saw another one with a different design and the same quote.  I couldn't decide which I wanted to get for her, so I did what anyone else would do.  I bought both.  She recently purchased a new house, so I thought it would be fitting to get her a little something - complete with a card.

Here's my card:

PTI:  Scattered Showers, Wreath for All Seasons, Woodgrain IP

The magnet?  Well, it's a famous quote by Davy Crockett spoken after he lost a United States Congress election.  It summed up how my dad felt about Texas, and I suppose I do too.

Here are the magnets:

I know.  Snobby.

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place today.  I won't be such a snob tomorrow, when I have a very, very special post honoring one of my favorite blogging friends - and she's not even from Texas.

P.S.