She's Making Lists......

.......and more importantly, CHECKING off on the lists!!

Order invites for Newest Kiddo's graduation party:  CHECK

Individual Senior Boys Baseball collages put together and ordered:  CHECK

Coach's and Team Baseball collages put together and ordered:  CHECK

Teacher appreciation gift card (yes, I admit that that I caved to the convenience of a gift card. Survival is what we are aiming for in the month of May!):  CHECK

Cute presentation Teacher's Mug to give gift card:   CHECK, CHECK, CHECK!!  

Thank heavens for those paper crafter's who are willing to share their talents and templates online.  It is those saintly souls who make harried mom's like me not look quite so lame in in our gift giving.

Traci Cornelius has a wonderful video that demonstrates how to make this cute little mug. Since she did such a fabulous job, I skipped the step by step photos. This is truly easy  peasy to make!! You can find her video here.  

It actually took me longer to figure out what papers I wanted to use then the making of the mug itself.  The gift card peeking out the top will give you an idea as to the size of the mug.  It's tiny, but CUTE! 

I made the mug and handle out of Gina K's pure luxury 120# card stock as I wanted the cup to be more sturdy. You will notice in the last picture that the handle started pulling off the mug due to the stiffness of the paper.  I had used Scor-tape originally to adhere the handle, but had to resort to TenSecond Studios Humungo Killer tape to get the job done correctly.  The decorative papers are from Graphic 45's An ABC Primer line.  

Using up hoarded paper stash:  CHECK

I'm off to try and accomplish more check marks off my list before an afternoon of watching the Oldest and Newest Kiddo's baseball game.  To all you wonderful and under appreciated Teachers:  a HUGE THANK YOU!!

And to all you mom's (harried or cool, calm and got it together) HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

'Till next time......................

Game On!

Hey Peoples!!  Well, it would appear that everyone survived that stampede called Grandparent's Day! Grandparent's were entertained by all the cowboys and cowgirls puttin' on their shows!!  Grub was good and not much left overs to be had once the junior high and high school students got wind of some free fixin's.

Thought I'd share a couple of pictures.  The first would be of my own little cowboy on his horse "Skull" (funny story, the emcee asked the third graders what were the names of their horses.  When *C got up to the mic, he said his horse was named "Uncle Larry".  Later he told me that he decided that some of the grandparent's might not like the name "Skull" so he decided to say something else so he wouldn't offend anyone!! Awwwww!! hehe)

 Now "Skull" is one of 12 sock horses that *C and his third grade classmates made!! They stuffed the socks and with only a little help, sewed on the ears and manes. I made all the harness' (taking note of the special requests for what color of ribbon).  I think the kids did a GREAT job!!

And here is all the horses lined up in the classroom in the "stall", hehe

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Now onto a CARD!! Now before I get flammed, I have not done the Just for Fun® Friday Color Challenge yet!! BUT!!  I have a REEEEAAALLLY good excuse!!  It would seem that my oldest was invited to an overnight birthday party for tonight.  Now, I'm not exactly sure when the invitation went out (DS seemed to think it was Wed, possibly Thurs?!! grrrrrrr) but he did not actually GIVE me the invitation until Tues of this past week.  Now, if you've been reading my blog, you know that I've been just a LITTLE busy this past week prepping for Grandparent's Day.  Soooo!!  Today I had to make the b-day card before the color challenge card!! (not to mention tackle the MOUNDS of laundry that seemed to crop up while I was living at the school!! hehe). 

Now I find tween cards extremely hard to make.  Well, tween cards for BOYS.  I personally think the stamping world is sorely lacking in the tween boy catagory. There are some CUTE (the key word being CUTE) stamp ideas out there that would be great if I was making cards for tween girls.  But I have boys.  And we are at the stage where invites to birthday parties are not of the mixed company parties.  BUT!! My creative juices are still flowing (hmmmm.....wonder how long I can keep this rolling?!) and this is what I came up with:

                                  

Ok, admit it!! Is this pure genuis for a 13 year old boy or what?!! I roughly traced an Xbox controller onto grid paper and made my template.  The template was then traced onto black textured paper.  I then lined it up on a folded piece of grey textured paper and lightly penciled my "dimension" outline on the lower portion.  The "control" buttons are all punched out with various circle punches ( 1/2" 3/4", 1", 1 1/4" and hand held 1/4" punch).  The colored buttons have the topper from SU's build a brad on them to give them the shiny dimension that the real controller has.  The middle "x" button also has a 3/4" clear topper thingy (have no idea what these things are called!) on it.  The other controllers were first outlined by rolling the large "base" along my craft white ink pad and adhered with dimensionals to give the the toggle look.  The gift card present will be attached to the inside.  PERFECTO!! hehe!

Thanks for dropping by again today!! I'm off to get ready for DH to take me out to dinner.  It would seem that we've been married 16 years today! (and if your wondering where the card is for DH.....it didn't get made.  That's why I'm still married to the man.  He just breathed a huge sigh of relief when I suggested that since last week was pure H*** with our schedules, we forgo any gifts and cards and do something special later (dinner does not count, hehe....that's just a necessity! BHWHAAAAAAA). 

The Sound of Music

Is everyone ready for the BIG day?  I feel as if I'm running around like a crazy woman (WAIT!! That is what I do anyways!!)!!  The gifts are bought but no wrapping has been done.  The cleaning has been started on the house but not done.  The menu for Christmas Eve dinner has been planned but not shopped for or the baking done.  Seeing a pattern here?  Lots of pots trying to be stirred at the same time!!

Friday was the last day of school for my kiddos.  This year I conceded to the fact that I could not make the personalized gifts that I usually make for each of the teachers.   In the past I have made gift boxes of "customizable" cards that the teachers can just add the needed sentiment "tag" and for the music teacher, "singer of the day, listener of the day" certificates that he hands out to the younger kids for rewards of good behavior. With having to work pretty much full time this month, I could just not add that time stress to my schedule (you know "mommy" has been a little stressed when youngest started singing "Tis the season to be Gruuuumpy, fa-la-la-la-la!!    OUCH!!! hehe).  So this year teacher gifts were bought.  The music teacher was the hardest one, as his whole being is music.  He doesn't have any other outside interests (that anyone I talked to was aware of!!).  Soooo, I went to a local music store that I know he buys books for lessons from and got him a gift certificate.  But!! I still needed a way to present it.  I really liked the cute beanie gift card holders that Lynn presented for the Try a New Technique Challenge on SCS  but beanies are not really something that is used much in Southern California! But!! It got the wheels to turning and this is what I came up with:

I will once again apologize for the photographers lacking skills.  This was actually taken at 9:00 pm and just in case you weren't aware of it, at that time, there is not good lighting.  And since the photographer has yet to invest in one of those great photo boxes  or just good lighting for her crafting area period...we are now stuck looking at poorly lit projects!!

This was so incredible easy to make once I have figured out a couple of details.  I cut two 5 inch circles from SU's basic black paper, cutting one in half.  I placed my gift card over the full circle with one of halves over it to figure out how high my adhesive could go and hold my card in the "peeking" out position.  Adhered using my Pro Glider.  I free handed the note stem and flag and attached to the top circle and then added the  gold eyelet that allows the top portion to swing open.  Closed the note, grabbed my glue pad and my Regal Accents Flourish stamp that was still out from the last use and stamped the image and covered inj SU's Fine Galaxy Champagne Glitter (thought I had grabbed the gold....OH WELL!! The champagne is very pretty too!).  Simple, yet festive, don't you think?!!

I'm off to go on a cleaning terror!!  I hope you all have a WONDERFUL and productive weekend!! 'Till next time~~~Thanks for dropping by again!!

SCORE!!

*Disclaimer: I tried to see if my technology challenged brain can figure out how to do an auto post. Guess what?! It couldn't. I think I know what I did wrong...but of course, I could be wrong in that! Soooo, over my little lunch break, I'm going to see if I can get this out of "draft" and into "post".


Mid Friday morning, I decided to call the office manager of the clinic where I do some per diem work to verify if I was going to work Mon (or today, if this auto post works correctly!) or Wed of this week. As we are chatting, he asks if we had gotten the birthday invite to his son's party (who is a classmate of my youngest) THAT IS AT 4PM. ON FRIDAY. Uhhhhh, that would be a negative. Seems that the creative mom made this cool postcard with a sports stopwatch on the front that might have been easily confused with a junk advertisement (or if it got in with the junk flyers, may have never been seen period). The mom is all stressed because no one was RSVPing (including family members). Sooooo. Being the good mom that I am, I said that the family would be there.


AAACCCCKKKK!!! First: Load up kids and haul them down to Target to buy school supplies needed by the 20th and pick up a gift card for the b-day boy. Haul home close to $200 dollars worth of supplies (ok, ok...pencils, papers, calculators and rulers do not cost that much. But my newly Junior High student decided that his previous backpack and lunch box were a bit on the "youngish" side. Soooo, new backpack (this thing was not only expensive, but it is basically a full on hiking backpack, and will be used as such also!) for the older one, which of course led to a new backpack (much cheaper one) and lunchbox for the younger one.


Second: Come up with a "totally creative" idea for a card and get it made in a couple of hours (I am NOT known for making speedy cards. Seems that my mind jumps from "basic idea" to "wouldn't it be cool if I did this? OR even better~~that!! With the end result being waaaay too much time spent making basic cards!!)


Anyhoo!! This kiddo just happens to play basketball with my youngest. I know that he has his jersey and participant trophy framed and hung in the main hallway of their house. Just so happens that I have a rather large Quikutz die of a basketball. Start thinking along the lines of my football card and of course that is when I came up with this idea:

The basketball bouncing off the backboard!! (and before anyone asks (because, yes, the males in this household DID ask) : I DID come up with a way to make the "hoop" on the lower part of the card. But I had to have it "fold" up in order to fit inside the envie...and it just started looking crowded and ugly. So the hoop stayed off).

The backboard base is just slightly smaller than a regular sized card~~4 1/4" x 5. I made the "frame" out of textured cardstock and adhered with red sticky liner. The smaller square was made using my rectangle nesties from Spellbinders. I picked out two that nested inside each other and then cut, creating my open frame. This was adhered using rolled up glue dots (that edge is TINY!!).

The basketball is acutally the "card". After die cutting the basketball from Dusty Durango, I did DTP (direct to paper) with my creamy caramel ink pad to "scuff" up the basketball. The black is part 2 of the die cut and was adhered with a glue pen. I then used my old Creative memories circle cutter to figure out the size of my basketball and made a "card" for the inside by keeping one edge of the circle slightly off the fold of the card. The gift card was attached to the inside of the basketball. The basketball was adhered with glue dots along the edge of the white frames so that they would not show on the inside of the clear base. The total size of the card is 5x5.

I think this is a pretty clever idea myself!! hehe. So I give this a personal rating of **** out of *****!! Supplies: Paper: Clear transparency, textured SU whisper white, dusty durango, basic black. Inks: Creamy caramel. Accessories: Quikutz basketball die, rectangle nesties, Big Shot, Creative memories circle cutter, glue dots, 1/4" red liner tape, glue pen.

Thanks for stopping by while I'm at work (hehe). Tonight the boys are presenting a play that they and the other kids, (who are watched by a wonderful lady while parents work), wrote the script for, made the backdrops and costumes based on a book that they all read together. Hoping to have some photos to share!!

TOUCHDOWN!!

I TOTALLY SCORED the winning touchdown on this idea! I know that its been a while since I've posted an actual creation. But seriously, I'm doing the end zone dance on this one!!

Wednesday night I got home from work to find that my oldest DS was invited to a b-day party TODAY (you just have to love "coaches/mom's" who throw in a zinger putting me deep into my own end zone to start the offensive run). The invitation was in the shape of a football. Good game plan to start with. Then I RAN with it. Totally dodging blockers from all angles!! This quarterback SCORED!!

I used a full sheet of the new In-Color Dusty Durango and roughly drew out my football shape. Ran the front though my Cuttlebug with the embossing folder. Took my Creamy Caramel ink pad and ran it over the top for a direct to paper grunge look. Then I used a sponge dauber and some Chocolate Chip ink to darken the bottom edge to give it a more round shape. Cut out the strips from Very Vanilla and dirtied them up with some So Saffron ink. Then my first "down". Actually used some vanilla ribbon to LACE THE HAND GRIP!! (oh yeah, oh yeah!!). Added some black "stitching" and highlighted with my Inkssentials white opaque pen.

Now, at this point, I'm in the zone!! All I can see is the markers flyin' by!! Crossed the 50 yard mark and I'm dodging EVERYTHING!! Then I getting deep towards the end zone. END ZONE!! Oh yeah, BABY!! This one is gonna ROCK!!

(ok, some technical difficulties were experienced in trying to photograph the inside of this card. the top of the card is weighted down by the goal post....so I'm trying to hold open the card, get the camera in a position that it might focus AND get most of the picture to be the card and not my hand!!)

Is this just not the BOMB?!! I covered up the lacing on the inside with another layer of Dusty Durango. I drew out the football field on Wild Wasabi using my trusty Inkssentials pen again (and yes, I know that the one end zone is "short".....genius that I am....I did not design my football to fit my playing field, but rather I designed the playing field to KINDA fit my football!). Then I layered that onto some Garden Green. Made a slit about 1" to make the base for the pop up (I'm about at the 20 yard line now!! hehe). Then I made my goal post. The "pole" is actually a yellow craft stick that I had in my stash of junk (I mean STUFF). It's a tad difficult to see in the picture, but I made a transparency pocket (with a half oval punched out to make a grab area) in the middle of the goal posts.

SCORE!! It holds a gift card!! (oh yeah, oh yeah!!)

Now, I did not spike the ball in the end zone, but I sure did a DANCE!! I am sooooo excited how this turned out!! I'm already thinking about ideas using a basketball!!

I was going to put TOUCHDOWN in big letters across the top of the goal post...but I'm thinking that is about the only area for DS to sign the card!! (btw: I scored double on this card as BOTH my boys thought that it was just "AWESOME". Yeah, I'm going to have to ice my shoulder pretty good for all the self patting I'm doing over here!!) Supplies: Paper: SU's Dusty Durango, Wild Wasabi, Garden Green, 120# Pure Luxury in white. Inks: SU's Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron. Stamps: None. Accessories: Cuttlebug and embossing folder, 08 black micron pen, Inkssentials White Opaque pen, red liner tape in 1/4" and 1/2", Small oval punch (SU), transparency sheet, craft stick.

So, was it worth the game delay?! I'm on such a high, that I think I just might have to try creating something else just to see what wonders I can come up with again!! BWHHAAAAA

Seriously now. I hope that you found a little inspiration in my card today. It was a fun idea to run with. Thanks for stopping by!!