making the grade

Good Saturday morning everyone! I hope you all have fun and exciting plans for today or at least that you get to stamp a little!

I have had three graduation cards to make this year. Two for college graduations and one for high school. Two girls, one boy. So, here is the first of my girl, college graduation cards. This cute little worm is from the Cornish Heritage Farms set called Making the Grade. Most of the cards that I've seen on blogs with this set are with the owl from one of CHF's other sets but alas I don't have the other set so I had to figure out how to make this one work on its own. The sentiment are also from CHF and is called Script Essential Expressions. If you are in the market for a great sentiment set....you should be looking at what CHF has. These are very versatile, high quality and at a great price! Thankfully I had a Mojo Monday sketch to work with. Some fun DCWV paper and I was all set! This card is for the youth director at my church. She is graduating with a masters in Theology (I think it is theology and not an MDiv).

Well, I'm off to work on my recipe swap. Have a super fantastic day and I'll see ya all tomorrow! Oh, and please check below for the winner of the Glory from Lorie. Charmaine has until noon tomorrow to contact me!

and the winner is...

Now that my boys are up and picked a number I can say that Charmaine is the winner! Congrats Charmaine! I tried to click on your name to get to your blog but, unfortunately, it doesn't take me anywhere. You have until Sunday at noon to send me an e-mail or leave a comment on this post with your e-mail address. Thanks everyone for all of your kind words! I hope you will all try the one sheet pocket book! Make sure you scroll down to see today's post!

Charmaine said...

What a great prize and filled with Bellas. I don't have any yet so it would be a great way to try them out. Thanks for the chance to win!

Charmaine

May 29, 2008 7:11:00 AM PDT

mini photo album

I know I told you guys some time ago that I had made a mini photo album for my brother for his birthday but I haven't shown it to you yet so...here you go! The tutorial is on SCS HERE and as usual is easy to follow and produces terrific results.

I do not recall exactly what the name of the argyle paper is but I think it was from American Crafts or something like that. The green is the opposite side of the pattern and the blue is Night Quite Navy. The "f" on the front is from one of SU!'s chipboard packs and the little letters are rub-ons from a SU! package too. The pages inside are made with coasters and then covered with paper.

I really had a hard time with the cover of this album simply because I wanted it simple for a guy but to still look nice. I haven't actually sent a gift to my brother for his birthday in years so I really hope he likes it!

Update on the image swap. You can click HERE if you'd like to see who has sent their images and who has not. Of the last four that I am waiting for three of them have been sent. If the last person doesn't get theirs in then I will stamp some images to share with you all. Would that be okay? While I know that we have some people that are a little late getting their images here I do want you to know I will not let this drag on forever and they will be sent out next week. I believe everyone deserves grace and mercy as we all know how life goes sometimes. I'd also like to know what kind of swap you'd like to do next. I know my friend Courtney has the 6x6 recipe swap covered (sign ups are HERE for July's swap!) so I don't need to do that. Shall we do images again, cards with a specific company, cards with NVR, 6x6 scrapbook pages for pictures?...what do you all think?

Oh, yeah...you guys want to know who won the Glory from Lorie, huh? Well...I can't tell you right now because my boys aren't up to pick a number yet! I'll be back in about 20 minutes to announce the winner! Mwah!

sweet n sassy sack purse

Don't forget to get signed up to win my Glory from Lorie HERE.

I joined Sweet N Sassy's Yahoo Group not to long ago and got in on a challenge that they have going on right now. If you win you get one of their stamp sets...not sure which one but I can't really say that I care that much...it is a free set from SNSS!

Anyway, here is the sack purse that I made. I used the SNSS set Bee Happy. The paper is from SU! Cutie Pie designer series paper (again...can you tell I like how happy it is?). You can see by the picture on the left that the bag is made with a white lunch sack and the sack is 5"X5". The finished bag is 5 1/2" X 5 1/2". The handle is made with PTI's Lemon Tart Twill ribbon.

Oh, and I keep forgetting to tell you guys about Eclipse Tape. You can find it HERE. This is the best "tape" for making masks for stamping over, under, or around (not really...teehee!) other images. It is more of a light weight paper with a not extremely sticky backing on it but it is perfect for masking! If you do a lot of masking or would like to you have to try some of this.

I'm not entirely sure what I'll use this for but I do think it will be a great bag to give a little gift in. Put a little shredded paper inside, attach a to/from tag (with a bee or two on it) and I'm all set to go.

Alright my lovely readers. I guess that is all I have for you today. Please know that I appreciate you all so much! You support, kind words, e-mails, and RAK's just really make me feel special!

Have a great Thursday everyone!

one sheet pocket book

One of the good things about having a Monday off is that it makes the week go by very quickly! I can't believe it is Wednesday! Is your week going well? I sure hope so!

Today, I'm going to show you the One Sheet Pocket Book that I made. I got a very easy to follow tutorial from HERE. Susanna does a weekly Best of the Blogosphere (that someday I'd love to be featured on) and this tutorial was one of them a couple of weeks ago. The tutorial shows you how to make a One Sheet Pocket Book with a Bind It All binding but if you look at Vicki's blog you'll see an alternate way of binding it which is also super cute!

You can see that I used a sheet of paper from SU's Cutie Pie designer series paper pack. Then on the front I used a sentiment and bouquet from MFT's called Bundles of Bouquets. I just thought the sentiment was perfect for the paper that is filled with flowers! Now, on the inside I have put some Bella images. Some are Bella's some are from the other lines that Em carries. In the back two pockets are some embellishments. What a cute and fun way to give someone some images, huh? Yeah...I think so too sooooo remember when I was talking about doing some Glory from Lorie? Well...this is it! Leave a comment, with a way to get a hold of you, on this post and on Friday morning when I type up my morning post I'll have one of my kiddos choose a number to be the winner. Sound good? Now, it won't earn you any extra entries or anything but go ahead and tell your friends about this Glory from Lorie, post it on your blog. The more the merrier! I do have to tell you that I made this little cutie just for the purpose of giving it away so you know that lots of love and prayers was put into it just for the winner!

I forgot to tell you guys that it looks really good for Kyler and the Christian School. We had our interview which was like getting together with old friends as we knew both the board member and the parent association member that was there to interview us. The board member told us it shouldn't be a problem so...Kyler is going to the Christian school in the fall. YAY!! Todd suggested that we have a couple of get togethers with the kids from the class (even though Kyler knows most of them they have all changed in the last 2 years). So, that means more fun with making invites with a theme and such. We will wait until it is warmer so we can BBQ hot dogs and get out the water slide. FUN!!!

Alright you guys. That is it for today. I hope you LOVE the Glory from Lorie and sign up to win it! Have a wonderful Wednesday!

what to show you?

I have had so much fun stamping recently that I don't know which thing to show you. Hmmm....
Okay, here it is. This is a card that I made just last night with my newly won Verve Visual stamp set called Petals and Stems. Isn't it just lovely? I know, I know...that is thinking a lot of myself but I truly love this card. I followed Julee's Mojo Monday sketch for the layout (it was perfect for this card) and Susanna Boyd's tutorial for the 3-D butterfly. I think the colors and everything just go so well together and make it a very happy card. You can see all the details of colors and such HERE. I will be sending this card to someone whom I am long overdue on getting a thank you card out too. I hope she forgives me for taking so long!

I also wanted to show you a little picture of the 3-D butterfly. I did clean it up a little by trimming the wings to match and sponging a little more color on them but you get the idea.

It should be a good next couple of weeks for me and crafting as I have a couple of friends that I need to create some birthday presents for and a special friend to make a gift or two for.

I have a question for you. I'm planning on making a set of name blocks for a friend. But I'm afraid to start because I'm afraid that I'll totally screw it up and I only have one or two extra blocks. How do you pull the trigger to get over being afraid and just start making them? I would really like your feedback so please leave me a little note, k?

Okay, Image Swap participants...I'm sure I'll see lots of envelopes in the mail today...right? LOL! Really, hopefully the rest of the images will come today or tomorrow as I will be mailing them back to everyone on Friday.

Have a terrific Tuesday everyone!

Memorial Day

Scroll down for todays creative post.

the other two

Here are the other two very cute cards from the Kid's Card Swap. These are made by Meredith Socha. I love the back of her card as it has her "stamped by" stamp and then a "for more information" stamp with her e-mail and blog on it. Pretty neato idea. HERE is a link to her blog. I really like what I see so go check it out!

Today we go for an interview to see if we, as a family, will be accepted into the Christian School here in town. Kyler went to school there from K-2 then we pulled him out. We believe that it would be best for him to go back so... since it has been two years that we've been out we have to go through the interview process again. First though, we'll go to the cemetery for their Memorial Day services.

My dad called last night to let me know that my great-uncle Ed has died. It was actually quite the shock. I only know my great-uncle a little but what I remember about him was that he was much fun. My mom just adored him. Please pray for his family.

I hope that you all have a super fantastic day. Take time to think about the freedoms that you have because of the loss of a brave soldier.

first 3 kiddo swap cards

As promised...here are the first three cards I received in the Kid's Card Swap. This swap is probably one of the best I've been in on SCS. The swaps I host here on my blog are always very good but sometimes the quality on SCS is not what is desired...so...here you go! Enjoy them!

The first Passion Pink card is by Sara Phillips. HERE is her gallery on SCS. I have Karen Foster mini stamps that I could use to personalize the little pink strip. So cute this is!

The next card is made with Cowboy Kid. There is no name on the back of the card so I can't tell you who made it but I can tell you that it is a great card! Love the crinkled paper and Close to Cocoa to "age" the paper. And the hemp...adorable!

And finally look at that super cute pig! I'm not sure if you can see it or not but the pig is completely covered in glitter and the pig on the inside is on a scalloped circle. What a fun card! Oh, and no signature on this one either.

I wish people would sign the back of their cards so that I could give proper credit. That doesn't take away how cute they are though!

I had a great time stamping yesterday and got two really fun projects done. One is a sack purse and one is a mini photo book that was the tutorial on SCS this week. I'll link you to it HERE. What have you been doing creatively? I'd love to see if you want to link me to it.

That is it for today! I hope you all have a super relaxing Sunday and I'll see you tomorrow! Don't forget that tomorrow is Memorial Day. Please attend ceremonies at your local cemetery if you can.