Throw Out Your Scraps!!

I don't know what it is about the end of the school year/beginning of summer, but it sets off my organization mojo like nothing else!! I've been working on the craft room which has turned into a bit a cave lately. I'm reducing, purging, cleaning out and guess what happened in the middle of it all?????? I decided to make some cards from the scraps I was about to toss.

I made a total of 5 cards thanks to some inspiration from SCS and from my blogger pal Siobhan's Use It Tuesday challenge.

And now....(in no particular order)

CASE of this card:

It works for the Use It Tuesday challenge (use the colors red, white, and blue) as does this next card. And yep, I broke out the sewing machine!!

Did you notice that I had a lot of scraps from this dp? I love the little strip of brown at the base of the card!

Up next, a CASE of this card on SCS:

And my final two cards from my scraps:

The best part was pitching the rest of the scraps......

or looking at this cutie pie enjoying the extra space!

Since I used scraps in these cards, I'm not listing the ingredients. Please feel free to email me if you're curious about something I used :)

A Typed Thank You (kinda)

'm a bit of a stinker about certain things. While I could care less if you wear white after Labor Day or if you park facing the wrong direction on the street (even if I have gotten a ticket for it), I do think thank you's should be handwritten. I'm not a huge fan of my handwriting, but I think it's this little bit of effort that really conveys your gratitude. Well, that is, unless it's illegible and that's another post.

Here's a card I made in about 10 minute (including the embossing) for today CAS challenge over at Splitcoast.

Hope you had a great Monday. I was super productive - measured out my new classroom (now I can break out my graph paper & start design - yes, I'm geeky), trimmed shrubs, baked a pie (strawberry - yummmmmm), and blogged :) Here's to a Tuesday where I have just as much energy...fingers crossed!

Ingredients (All products A·Muse Studio unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Just My Type

Paper: Sugar, Onyx, Cherry

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Versamark

Accessories: Embossing Powder - White, dimensionals

You're Berry Sweet

Don't you love lazy Saturday mornings? It's a bit cool here in western PA for late June, but I'm not complaining! The hot, humid days of July and August are right around the corner.

I've been busy making thank you's and have been loving the Fruit Fusion: Berry from PTI. I love strawberries and always have. When I was really little, my mom would send me to the garden with a colander to pick strawberries. I'd come back with 3 or 4 and a red stained mouth.

Recently, a recipe for strawberry pie came across my Google Reader. Can't wait to give it a try. At least enjoying these cards results in 0 calories!

The first card is fairly self explanatory. I really like the double banners die from PTI. I got the coordinating stamp set but haven't inked it up yet. Soon hopefully :)

This next card has a bit of an Oops...even though you wouldn't realize it at all. I wanted to go for a letterpress look, so I inked up my impression plate from PTI. I didn't get much of an impression because I totally forgot to place my embossing pad in the Big Shot. Oh well it did give me a nice polka dot background & didn't damage the impression plate.

You're Berry Sweet ingredients:

Stamps - Fruit Fusion: Berry (PTI)

Ink - Cranberry and Lichen (A·Muse Studio), Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Paper - Cranberry, Sugar, and Onyx cardstock (A·Muse Studio), Aqua Mist (PTI)

Accessories - Fruit Fusion Berry & Double Ended Banners dies (PTI), gingham ribbon (Bazzill), Onyx stitched ribbon (A·Muse Studio), silver pearls

Thank You Berry Much ingredients:

Stamps - Fruit Fusion: Berry (PTI)

Ink - Cranberry and Grass (A·Muse Studio), Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Paper - Kraft, Grass Gingham, Sugar, and Onyx cardstock (A·Muse Studio)

Accessories - Fruit Fusion Berry die & Polka Dot Basics Impression Plate (PTI), red felt, Onyx twine (A·Muse Studio), black Stickles

The end is here

Ahhhh....the school year is over! The month of May is always hectic for me with all the individual meetings with my students and their families to discuss their programs for next year, trips for competitions, and wrapping up the current school year. This year set a different stage - one that I hope to never encounter again. In the state of Pennsylvania, times are extremely tough for education. All employees at my school received furlough notices in May and six talented teachers came in for their last day a week ago. It's been a heart-wrenching and nerve-wracking time for everyone, so you can see why I haven't been in much of a bloggin' mood.

But we all need to look toward the future - yes, I'm one of those teachers that takes time over the summer to plan for the upcoming year as well as look back over the accomplishments of past year. I also can't wait to take time for myself - yea, more stamping....more blogging!

To start, here's a quick card I made to send to a student thanking him for an end of the year gift. I had the lawn mower stamp out making my father's day card, so I inked it back up to create this fun CAS card.

Ingredients:

Stamps - Hey Man (A·Muse Studio)

Ink - Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Paper - Sugar, Gingham Grass (A·Muse Studio)

Other - Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils