More Blog Candy Alerts

While doing my blog reading I discovered some fun candy craftin' give-aways by some amazing ladies.


Thanh is celebrating a birthday with this fab offer:



While Nicole is offering up some yummy wrinkle ribbon:

Be sure you check out their candy and amazing work.

Wake-up Call

Shocking I know, but I have completed a 12 x 12 scrapbook page. It has been so long since I have scrapped, but I really do miss it. I love the thought of leaving more that just pictures for my family but also the stories behind them: good, bad, ugly, and silly. More about the layout in a moment. My layout is for the Sketchy Thrusdays challenge and Your Memories Here is hosting. You will love the prize that is being offered.

Isn't that prize just yummy looking! Be sure you play along with Sketchy Thursday Challenges so you can have a chance at winning the goodie prize.

I have been wanting to scrap this moment for awhile now and thought it would look great with this sketch. My boys love to wake each other up and it's always a time of wonderful laughter. I managed to capture them on film one day doing what they do best during a wake-up call: loving and laughing with each other.



I used a background technique I learned about from My Tattered Angels using bleach and Glimmer Mists (of which you can get over at YMH). Such a fun and messy technique but be sure to wear old clothes when doing this. I used a multi-liner pin to draw the lined border and of course the circles where punched from some scrap designer paper from YMH that I had left over from some of my projects I've done recently (one of which I'm still holding out on ya'll until next week).

Blog Candy Alerts

Wouldn't you love to win these goodies. I know I would as almost all of it has been on my wishlist for a while now. Be sure you check out Kadie's blog for the deets about how to get a chance yourself.

Papertrey August Blog Hop Challenge

I can't believe that I finally get to play along with a Papertrey Ink Blog Hop. I really do love this company and had a little bit of time to put this card together.

Here's the challenge: In honor of school going back into session everywhere, we thought it would be fun to issue a Brown Bag Challenge. We want to see what you can do to dress up, alter, change an ordinary brown lunch bag into a paper crafting work of art. You could modify it to become a gift bag with handles, create a card base by folding it in half (complete with a slide out tag), add a window to it or whatever else you can dream up. After the hop is though, we should all have plenty of inspiration to help us create amazing projects with inexpensive brown bags! We look forward to seeing your creations!

While working on this card I was reminded that I shouldn't worry about things just as the butterfly doesn't worry because my Lord is with me, and He will help and take care of me. The new school year started off a little rocky for as I was very unprepared for this first time since I started teaching ten years ago (I still can't believe that I've been teaching that long either). I got to work late on the first day and didn't have time to get my supplies ready for the day before I had to go and pass out schedules to students. As I was worrying about how to get everythign day without getting in trouble I ran into three different co-workers who saw that I was stressing and offered to help. God is good and I believe He put them there at that time for me to ask for help. Today was better and less stressful for me :) Also, my DS #1 started Pre-K and he is just loving it and is so proud of the fact that he gets to go to a school that his little brother doesn't get to go and he even gets to ride the small yellow school bus. I love him so much and just smile when I think back to him telling me about his first day.

I was inspired by the paperbag to create a fall type of card. Since I don't really do small scrapbooks/bragbooks, I had to come up with something a little different. I've been really into making my own flowers lately and found a great tutorial on how to create your own layered flower with paper and scissors instead of a die cut. The only thing I did differently was use a paperbag instead of cardstock. After I got the flowers cut out of a paperbag I crinkled them and sprayed them with some beautiful Golden Terracotta Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels. The leaves were created with some lace ribbon I had gotten from Your Memories Here. I used PTI's Flutterby Friend and Background Basics Text Style stamps to create my background for the flower. On the kraft strip I clear embossed the text stamp before I distress the edges. To add to the vintage, autumn feel of the card I distressed the vanilla cardstock pieces as well and then added three little half pearls to the side to bring some balance. Every piece of cardstock was sponged along the edges as follows: kraft c/s with PTI's Fresh Snow, SU!'s Really Rust with matching ink, vanilla c/s with PTI's Tea Dye Duo Chamomile and Chai. I am really pleased how this turned out since I don't do this style often enough.

Challenges used:

Stampin' for the weekend - anything goes
Stampin' sisters in Christ - Psalm 56:3; create something that reminds you of a life verse
A Spoon full of sugar - choice is yours
creatalicious challenges - vintage
Lord Have Mercy - sketch

there was another challenge this was for about flowers and lace but now I can't find it. Oh well :) If I do I'll post it here too.

Bind-it-all card? Oh Yeah!

I really like how this card turned out as it was so out of my norm. I took two cupholders from Starbucks and covered them in paper from Your Memories Here. Once covered I sanded the edges to give them a cleaned up distressed look (weird, I know). I then punched the holes in them to bind them. I however wasn't paying attention to where I was punching and punched on the wrong side on one, so I improved the mistake by dressing it up with ribbon to make a pretty bow on the back-side. I added some red sticky tape inside each cupholder along the bottom so that a giftcard could be tucked inside to make the card a cute little gift package too. The inside will have some white c/s added so that a message can be written to the person getting the card/gift. I then punched out the happy birthday message that can be found on one side of some double-sided paper called All Kinds of Happy found at YMH and mounted it on a big white flower (after I added streaks of pink to it). I found some random chipboard number and letter to make the "to you" part of the message. I painted them with some pink and pearl paint. Binding the two pieces together came next and I used a 1/2" Owire (Bind-it-all supplies can be found at YMH) since it I was making a card and didn't and didn't need anything bigger. After I was done with all of that it started looking like a cupcake to me. With that in mind I set out to make the card a cupcake one (as a bonus it will hide the giftcard that was peeking out of the second holder). I cut some white cardstock so that it would fit inside and resemble the top of a cupcake. Then I took the same ribbon I made the bow from and thought it would make for some nice frosting. I covered the top with red sticky tape and then just laid the ribbon down while playing with it trying to ruffle it and fall into a shape I liked. This was so much fun to make and I can't wait until I find the perfect person to get this.

Wee Memories blog candy

Here's another blog candy ya'll will want to check out. It's over at Wee Memories. You'll want to hurry as it's over at noon this Friday. They also host great challenges every Saturdays that you'll have to play into :)

I'm currently working on a project but haven't been able to work on it yet this week. Starting back to the teacher inservices this week has been rough and next week may be harder yet.

YMH Sale

Just a qickj post to let ya'll know that Your Memories Here is having a sale from now until the end of Ausgust: save 25% off your purchase. Coupon code: FOLLOWER

You can stay up to date with YMH by following the blog.

Quick Bind It All projects

I know ya'll want to see the projects, but I've got something I want to say first. My baby is starting school! I'm torn between being really excited for him and sad that he's growing up so fast. My oldest is only 4, but he will be going to a Pre-K program through the district I work with for some speech therapy. Most people who hear him talk (me included) have a hard time understanding him a lot of time. It's worse as he has more to say. DH and I decided to have him evaluated because we can tell that it bothers him when he has to repeat himself several times before he is understood. He's bright in every other way, so I didn't want him to get frustrated with himself before Kindergarden even started next year. This is part of the reason I sent him the TGF card I did a few weeks ago; to encourage him and let him know how special he is to me. We discovered today that his new teacher lives on our street and she really was great with him during the evaluation. He will be there during the morning and then they will take him to daycare where he will stay with his little brother until DH or I get off work. A is so excited about being able to go to two schools now (he keeps telling me that he gets to go to two schools because he bigger and Z can't because he's still too little) and the excitment only grew when we went school shopping. My little boy is growing up. Starting in Pre-K does mean that I get to make cute teacher gifts now :)

Here are two more projects from the BIA class I took from My Creative Classroom. I LOVE how quick this little notepad was. What's even better is that it is two giftcards (no money on them) with cardstock glued to their backsides. I didn't do anything else to them except color in the store's name with black ink as I really liked their designs to begin with. I think these would be prefect for little party favors for a kids birthday because using the white computer paper turns the notepad into a little drawing book for them. Another great thing is that I can add as much or as little filler paper depending on the OWire size I'm using (the one pictured is 3/4").

The second project I did was create a post-it notepad holder with a cover. I used the acrylic 4x4 for the cover and the chipbaord 4x4 for the base with 3/4" OWire. I created a custumized cover useing Adirondeck ink refills and blending solution with the side I pounced on being the underside. I added some Prima flowers and pearl to the corner just to give it a little something extra. The chipboard is covered front and back with some Imaginisce Baby Powder/Oopsie Daisy paper from YMH. Again, this was a quick and easy project would be cute for a teacher gift (or part of a gift set). You can find you Bind-it-all (BIA) needs over at Your Memories Here.

Red, White, Blue Back to School

So I've got a short post today. I wanted to post this cute little mini-gift package set for a WMS mini-challenge. I used WMS Free Spirit set again (this time the circle cloud and the outline of the paper airplain). I think this would be super cute for a back-to-school gift wrapping for a teacher. I emossed the circles in white and then sprayed over it with Denim Blue Glimmer mist for both the card and gift package. The inside of the gift package is sprayed in Red Velvet glimmer mist for a contrast. I love how quickly this all came together by using one of WMS's FREE templates.

Your Memoires Here is a great place to get the glimmer mists.

Sweet Rewards

Here a quick little Bind-it-all project I learned about from my class over at My Creative Classroom. Who would've thought that toilet paper tubes would make for a cute little tag booklet. I used DCWV's The Sweet Stack to cover the TP tubes as I thought it went perfect with Snag'em's Candy stamp from the Hallowehimsy collection (you can get the stamp over at Your Memories Here). I colored the image with copic markers and the sentiment is a mix of computer generated and mini alphabet stickers. You can also get the OWires from YMH. I haven't decided what exectly will go on my tags but you can bet it'll be 'sweet' :)

I love how this paper looks like a chocolate bar, so I made the tag brown as well with a chocolate ribbon pull.

A Teacher's Journal

I'm posting another Bind-it-All project I've finished and should have another one for you before the weeks out. I've trying to finish up the project from the class since it's over this Friday. I've just got the one I'm currently working on and then two more to complete. The good news is that one of the two remaining projects shoudl be easy to make and I really can't wait to show you it.

The project I've showing today uses Bind-it-all's Cover Alls Flat Spine. What's really great about these covers is that I can change out the inside all I want and never have to redo the cover. I painted the cover with a white base coat and then applied a butterfly mask from Hedi Swapp before I spay painted the cover with a light turquoise color. Once everything was dried I painted in the butterflies with some sliver shimmerz to give the cover a little bling. Finally I stamped the Unity saying in white stazon.


For the inside, I printed the pattern paper on one side of plain computer paper and the envelope template on the other. To re-enforce the bottoms of the envelopes I used cardstock. To separte the journal pages into month I put in cardstock in a reainbow pattern. Each "divider" has a little calendar for the month as well as having the first three letters of each month stamped. I'm going to use this journal as a way to keep track of my 10th year of teaching. For many Bind-it-all needs be sure you check out Your Memories Here.

Sweet Tree

Wow! It's been a week since my last post. Guess the hops took lots out of me ;) Here's my first official project as a Yours Memories Here DT and it's not a scrapbook page. I'm hoping to get some paper scrapping in next week. I went with a card today and am really liking the end result. The designer paper is from Imaginisce All Kinds of Happy and Oopsie Daisy as well as Prima's Flights of Fancy Collection that you can get from YMH. The tree stamp is a Snag'em Stamp from the Fairest of Them All collection and can be found at YMH. I am so seeing me use this cutie of a tree again too as it can be a tree of most seasons. On the card base I used my new PTI canvas/linen impression plate. I also covered the tree image with Crackle Glossy Accents although I couldn't really get a good picture of the cracks.

Be sure you check out all of the great inspiration over at YMH blog.

Challenges used:
Mojo Monday - sketch
Crafty Cardmakers - punches (wave, corner, circle, scallop circle)
Cupcake Craft Challenges - distressing
Lollipops Craft - anything goes
Cutecard Thursday - angything goes

Amazing blog Candy

Have you seen this amazing blog candy yet? The amazing Amy from A thousand sheets of paper blog is offering 1,000 sheets of 6x6 paper (broken up into groups of 200) to some lucky winners. And if that wasn't enough there is something even sweeter, but you will need to hop on over to her blog to check it out.

TGF Blog Hop

**Don't forget to check out the Verve Blog Hop one post below**

Happy 2nd Birthday to The Greeting Farm. I thought it would be fun to join in the celebration with such a fun company. I'm really digging their latest line with the Oliver and Amelia stamps and am hoping to get some as soon as my pocketbook allows me to.

The image I used for this hop is Prince Ian as I have it in their digi line (as I do most of the TGF image I have). I think he is so cute and have been wanting to use him in a card for a while now. I stamped different PTI text stamps on the background of the blue scraps for a watermark look. For a regal look I then embossed the edges with silver (a little bling without the glitter). I did keep the color monochromatic and was inspired from the classic Disney princes.

The card itself will be going to a very special little boy: my oldest son. He loves getting the mail with me and has reached an age where he always asks if there is any mail for him. He takes catalogs or form letters and gets so excited and starts "reading" them like his mommy and daddy. I think it's time for him to get some real mail and he is one of my princes.

To find out where to go next be sure to go back to TGF's blog for the hopping order.

Challenges used:
Cute Card Thursday - use text
Dare U 2 Digi - sketch
PaperPlay - anything goes

Anni-VERVE-sary Blog Hop

Welcome to the Anni-VERVE-sary Blog Hop! Verve turns three today and we’re celebrating with a hop, hop, hop! If you've already been hopping along, you arrived here from Lisabee's blog. If not, head on over to Julee's Blog (owner of Verve), for all the info on how to win prizes (after all, what's a party without presents?), and to start hopping from the beginning. If there's a hiccup along the hop, you can always head to the Master Hop List to get the full list of links.

For my project I used Verve's Up, Up, and Away. I love hotair balloons (in fact, taking a hot air balloon ride is on my gotta try list) and thought this would be a great set to play with. I even made a matching gift basket for it. I seen several project in blog land where the balloons are layered over each other and I wanted to give it a try. Most focused on the balloons in the air, but I just had to be a little different: what if they were floating over a skyline (stamp from stampabilities). I also decided to add some sunbeams (stamp from Practicing Creativity). I used the same sunbeams for the matching gift bag. To punch up the balloons some I added glitter to the big one and then covered the white one with a mix of glitter and CE (crystal effects/glossy accents). Then the ones on the card were covered and I spattered a mix of yellow markers.

Thanks for hopping by! Now it's time to hop on over to Sara’s blog, for a little more Verve-y goodness.

Challenges:

Off the Wall Craftiness: color inspiration