Merry Christmas

Wow, it is hard to believe that another Christmas is here. If you are like me you promised that you would be READY this year. The best laid plans...and all of that. Well, this is the FIRST year in about 20 years that I did NOT mail out Christmas cards. Made lots of samples but failed to pull one of them together in time. I could have spent Friday evening and early Saturday getting some ready to go, but chose to spend that time with my family. 

I would like to share one of a set of cards that I made for someone else. Hard to believe I got 25 done in 3 days.


We got a live tree this year and it was a lot of fun to get (in the rain) and decorate while drinking hot chocolate (mine laced with Baileys) with Christmas carols playing in the background.
Wishing you the Merriest of Christmases and may God continue to Bless and keep you.
Until then.

Football Themed Birthday Party

Happy 12th Birthday to my wonderful son. He has brought immeasurable  joy and happiness into my life.

Once it was decided that yes, he wanted a party this year; we established the theme. I got busy looking for appropriate items. His cake is from Shoppers Food Warehouse and was delish. I found the cutest file at SVGcuts.com and designed his invitation using the football party set. The fonts are from the HungryJpeg.com June bundle. You should check them out. The August bundle is up and it is too cute. 

I created goodie footballs (Svgcuts.com) for all of the attendees. I had meant to create a tag saying, Thanks for attending my celebration. Hope you had a ball. All of the items were round. ha, ha. well,  I did not pull off that one. Here is the basket that sat on the table at the party. I did suggest to the boys that after emptying the football, use some cello tape to hold it together and you can play football indoors. LOL

An inside look at the loot. I am certain that their dentist will send me beautiful bouquets of roses once he realizes I am the reason for his upsurge in business. The treats were purchased in bulk  and divided out using candy bags and twist ties.

I truly believe the winning touchdown were the tumblers (saveacup.com) that I made to honor their favorite football team. The boys were over the moon when they saw them. Many were thrilled because they finally had a cup with the correct spelling of their names. I used black vinyl (Oracal 651) to cut them out of a varsity font found at dafont.com --a first. These cups do come with a coordinating straw in the color of the lid.

Here are two photos of the opposite side. I printed out the logos using the Cricut printable vinyl. This was another first. I cut them on my Brother Scan n Cut and sprayed them silly with Krylon Acrylic sealer. I am hoping that with care, they will last. At least the vinyl names are there to stay. Yes, we had a lot of Ravens fans in the house. Anyone out there with season tickets that would like to donate a few games? I promise I won't turn down your offer. tee-hee.

We had a grand old time and I love that I got to enjoy the party, too. My party host at Ultrazone Laser Tag did EVERYTHING. Took the boys to the laser tag room, returned them. Served the pizza and unlimited sodas (another boon to the dentist's purse), cleared away all the debris and led the boys in singing Happy Birthday and then served the cake (the dentist owes me BIG time). Alls I had to do was sit back and enjoy. He took them for another game of laser tag--I allowed another parent to play in my place--and i put my heels up and practiced my deep breathing. While they were away he returned to clean the room. Afterwards, I supplied all of the boys with tokens for the arcade and then it was pick-up time by the parents. Whew. That hour and 45 minutes flew quickly. This place offers, invites, cake and goodie bags. Being the crafty gal that I am, I wanted to tackle that part of the party.

That night my sweet angel said this was his best birthday ever and that he did not want to close his eyes because that meant the day was over. I told him no worries, we will celebrate the entire month. Oh, how I love that kid.

Thanks for stopping by.

Until then.

Students' Mother's Day Cards

I know this post is a bit late but wanted to share the cards my kiddos created for mothers day. I stamped the image, they colored it in using colored pencils.

Although I had some embossed panels to use, the children selected their own color choices and did their own inking. They were amazed at how the distress inks and applicators worked. I think I made a few converts.

I also precut some Darice quilling flowers and taught the kids how to roll them to create a flower. We put some Perler bead dots in the center. I was in charge of the hot glue.

The stamped image is backed with a piece of craft foam for a 3-D effect. The greenery is a Sizzix three piece die set.

Not everyone had rolled flowers. I had my Prima containers and generic flowers available and others created their own using brads.

That is our school mascot posing with a set of cards. If you look to the upper portion of the picture you will see the brown craft envelopes that we lined. I taught them how to line up, trace around the flap and cut out the insert. 

This time they had to roll their piece through the embossing machine and wanted to know where they could purchase one. They learned how to line the envelope and where to oplace the glue.  The cards are lined on the inside and we used some of my Martha Stewart border punches to create a cool look. They LOVED punching. 

Several of the girls want to come home with me and craft all day. As in the past I will put together craft bags for those who are truly interested. I have more than enough stuff to get them started. Gotta keep this love for creativity going.

Thanks for stopping by and as always keep inking in the name of love.

Until then.

He is Risen

Hello and Happy Resurrection Day. He is Risen. I created this set of Easter Cards using the Bokeh technique. It was pure happenstance that I was able to achieve a natural reflection while photographing my cards. When it comes together it truly comes together.

I had seen many people using this particular style and wanted to give it a go for myself. The changes that I made (weren't you expecting that?) were in the circle colors. I used ColorBox Alabaster, White, Green, Blue and an Orange ink. When you are trying for that blurred background it picks up more than white and I like the effect.

The background inks are TH Distress Inks. The bunnies are from the Easter 2010 cartridge and the greenery is also from one of the carts. The Celebrate stamp and Chevron are from Fiskars-Theresa Collins. I used the DCWV glitter paper for the grass and the bunny bows. He is Risen is one of those dollar stamps from G Studios purchased at JoAnns many moons ago. I used a variety of pearls and rhinestones for the eyes.
I did create my own envelopes since my card was a bit on the odd size. I used the WRMK envelope punch and decided not to line them. 

Love how they turned out. I hope that your Easter celebration is one filled with gratitude for Jesus' unwavering love for us. Although Good Friday was a day of mourning, Sunday became the day of Rejoicing for the grave could not hold Jesus. 

For that I am very thankful and it is well because He is Risen.
Until then.

Mojo Monday Sketch #356

Here is another completed card set featuring MojoMonday Sketch #356. Vee-dio posted below.

The wording is a Cuttlebug die cut. Sort of forgotten that I had it. Used a variety of embossing folders to use on the images from Provo Crafts 'It's a Child's Year' another forgotten cartridge.

These are two more examples. The pup is from the 'Paper Pups' cartridge.

As always thank you for stopping by. Have one more set of completed cards to post. Hopefully, I can get that done in the next few days.

Until then.

Operation Write Home Sketch #203

Hello my crafty friends. This is the OWH Card Sketch #203. What I love about these sketches is that the embellishments are mainly flat and can be kept simple. These cards are perfect for mailing because you normally don't need additional postage.

I am in love with that Spellbinder Mum die set. Wow, wow, wow. The blue and red flowers are dotted with a pearl. The pink one has a Perler bead for the center. I inked the flowers and blotted the leaves for a bit of dimension. The spray of leaves is a Sizzix die. Bought the set just for those leaves. Again this is still part of the MME Hoootenanny Paper Collection.  

The copy and paste stamp and hugs and kisses is HOTP. I traded out the precut purple mat piece for a banner flag to accommodate the larger sentiment.

Thank you to the card sketches creators for getting me back into my creative zone.

Gotta finish the rest of my cards to post. Glad you could stop by today and keep inking and crafting. 
Until then.

Mojo Monday Card Sketch # 363

As promised here are a few more completed cards from my card sketches. For me winter is the best time to crank out some cards and scrapbook pages. I am not a cold-weather girl at all, thus being stuck inside does not deter me whatsoever.

I used that super cute Spellbinder flower die and topped it with my melted Perler beads using a glue dot and the Scotch Quick-Dry glue. Don't want them to fall off. The paper pad is My Mind's Eye Hootenanny collection.

A closer look at the two sets. The banner birthday is an American Crafts Stamp and the Bear is from a set that came free with a Quick Cards Magazine. The fiber is the Craft Cord I picked up from Michaels.

Gotta get back to making more card sets and plan out some scrapbook pages. Thanks again for stopping by for a visit.
Until then.

Mojo Monday Card Sketch 340

Hello everyone. After dealing with a sick child that I had to keep home for a couple of days, I have finally gotten around to photographing my completed cards. Here is one set. 

I tried to do 3-4 of each greeting. The inside is decorated also, but I did not get to photograph that. The flowers are paper clay using the MS mold and the large yellow flower is from Cricut Flower Shoppe. Love that cartridge...really need to buy it.

Here I changed out the sentiment.

These are the final two.

Thanks for stopping by and keep creating. 

Until then.