Heartfelt Thanks

I needed to create a few thank you's for students who gave me some Valentine goodies - including the cutest shoe charm bracelet! I had everything except the stitching finished when I finally got off my lazy tush and broke out the sewing machine.

Simple, but cute & effective...perfect for a thank you in my book!

So who else watched ladies figure skating tonight? My heart just broke for the Canadian skater that just lost her mom. What courage that young girl has! I was truly touched as I have been many times over these Olympics games.


Details:
Stamps - I {Heart} Hearts (SU!); Mixed Messages (PTI)
Ink - Real Red (SU!); Melon Berry (PTI); Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper - white, Real Red, Ruby Red, Pink Pirouette (SU!); Melon Berry (PTI)
Accessories - sewing machine, dimensionals

Happy Heart Day!

Just poppin' in to wish you all a very happy Valentine's Day! I haven't been too crafty lately...think I have the winter blues. I do have some stuff to share this week and a get together this weekend, so I really hope that I get out of my slump soon!!

Thought I'd share one final valentine with you. This one was inspired by this card by Charlene (Willow & Paisley).

I just loved the layout when I saw it as I scrolled through Google Reader and couldn't wait to create my own version. Thanks for the inspiration, Charlene!

Anybody watching the winter olympics? I was so happy to see Canada capture their first 'home' gold medal tonight and really excited for Apollo last night....now I'm waiting for my favorite event - curling!! haha - I know I'm weird :)


Details:
Stamps - Simple Valentine (PTI)
Ink - Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Paper - white; Imaginisce Perfectly Posh Fancy Hearts
Accessories - felt, button, ribbon

Valentines from a Nut

As I type this, I'm super duper happy because my street is getting plowed!! Yippee!! They've gone up and down the street a few times with 2 different plows...yea!! I should have one more round of shoveling tomorrow morning then I'm heading out to the post office & possibly my bf's to drop off her birthday gift. Still gotta make a card!!

First I thought I'd start to share some of the valentines that I'm taking to the p.o. - these ones are from Coconut...my cat! Yes, I know this is bizarre....keep in mind, I've been trapped in my house for days now. (okay, I know I'd probably do this regardless of the snow...it's nice to have an excuse for my zaniness sometimes!!)

I picked up this Stampendous Fluffles Valentine set last year - isn't it super cute?! I added some flock (Martha Stewart pewter) to the first card - love the feel, but I like the look of Fluffles w/out it.


Details -Cupid Fluffles Card:
Stamps - Fluffles Wuv (Stampendous); Simple Valentine (PTI)
Ink - Tuxedo Black (Memento), Melon Mambo (SU!); Copics
Paper - Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip (SU!), white
Accessories - satin ribbon (Offray), scallop border punch, corner rounder, white embroidery floss

Details -Cupid Kneading Card:
Stamps - Fluffles Wuv (Stampendous)

Ink - Tuxedo Black (Memento), Smokey Shadow (PTI)

Paper - white, Smokey Shadow (PTI); dp - Ring Around the Posie (Stacy Claire Boyd for CK)

Accessories - heart punch, scallop trim border punch, white Gelly Roll pen, dimensionals

Valentine Bookmarks

I already made Valentine Treats for my elementary students, but I loved PTI's Tiny Treats set so much that I decided to make them bookmarks as well. I absolutely love that I was able to make a different bookmark for each student....a total of 13!! Now I need to work on some food treats for my middle and high schoolers...food is a must for them!

Here are a few of my favorites:

I wanted to add something to the top of the bookmarks but didn't care for anything that I tried. I figured it might be better to make them simple...otherwise I'd be picking up ribbon or eyelets off my classroom floor!


Details:
Stamps - Tiny Treats, Polka Dot Basics II (PTI)
Paper - Pure Poppy, black, white
Ink - Fresh Snow (PTI), Tuxedo Black (Memento); Copics
Accessories - circle punch, gingham ribbon, dimensionals

MyGrafico Monday - A Color Challenge

Good morning!! I'm excited to bring you one of my favorite color combinations as this week's MyGrafico Monday challenge - PINK, BROWN, and OLIVE GREEN. Just perfect for finishing up those Valentines.

This week the design team was asked to come up with creations using Sarah Paris's Keys To My Heart set shown here:

I decided to use one of the sentiments as my focus and created this card:

My ribbon was already curling, so I decided to go with it instead of fight it. I love the whimsical look it gives the card along with the Petal Pink Liquid Pearls I added to the sentiment.

So why don't you join us....create a card with the pink, brown, and olive green color combo and provide us with a link to it on the MyGrafico Challenge blog. You could win this terrific set!



Details:
Stamps - Keys To My Heart (Sarah Paris for MyGrafico)
Ink - none
Paper - white, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Pink Pirouette (SU!)
Accessories - border punch (SU!), corner rounder, brown polka dot ribbon, button, baker's twine, Petal Pink Liquid Pearls

Wood You Be My Valentine?

Here's a quick card that I made for this week's CARDS magazine challenge - to create a valentine without any reds or pinks. I had a lot of fun with this on, especially since I was able to use my new Stampin Up Cling Mounted I {Heart} Hearts set. Love all the heart designs in this one!!

Details:
Stamps - I {Heart} Hearts (SU!)
Paper - kraft, white, Chocolate Chip (SU!), Lemon Tart (PTI)
Ink - Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Accessories - scallop edge border punch, grosgrain ribbon, button (PTI), dimensionals

Tuesday Trigger

This week's Tuesday Trigger totally reminded me of this card I made last week. So talk about deja-va when I was making my card for the challenge!

Here's the inspiration piece from The Red Thread

and my card:

I love the untraditional valentine colors! Just perfect to send to a friend! Speaking of which I need to figure out what I'm getting my best friend for her birthday which is next week. I think the only thing that we don't have in common is papercrafting! Hopefully I come up with something by this weekend when I'm hoping to go shopping - if the weather cooperates!!!

Have a good one!


Details:
Stamps - none
Ink - Smokey Shadow (PTI)
Paper - Summer Sunrise (PTI), white; Block Party (Summer Daze Collection, Flair Designs)
Accessories - Scarlett Jewel button (PTI), button twine (PTI), heart punch

MyGrafico METAL Monday

Phew!!! I've been busy! We had parent-teacher conferences right after school on Thursday, so I didn't get home until after 8. The conferences continued Friday morning. How exhausting! Thinking I had super fabulous coupons for the Gap outlet, my BF and I headed to the outlets after school in the frigid cold.....guess who's coupons only worked at retail stores!!! Saturday was a great day stamping with the girls I meet with every month. We had such a great time, as usual!! I didn't feel well on Sunday...wonder why! I'm looking forward to a start of a new week and a new month :)

With the start of the new week, we have a new Monday challenge at MyGrafico. This week's challenge is to USE METAL on your card/LO/project. You could use brads, eyelets, clips, wire, etc. The design team is using this fun set from Tainted Sweets.

Here's what I came up with:

I'm completely in the Valentines spirit, so I thought I'd make a Valentine for my mom's puppy Stella. Stella is such a hoot - she's a border collie mix which has to be one of the most pleasant (yet active!) breeds of dogs. I used three brads for my METAL and then covered the backs with a brown heart. The inside of the card reads, "You're Paws-itively Perfect!!"


Side note: One of my 10 for '10 goals was to blog at least 25 times per month. I'm upset that I didn't meet that for January. I already have items for three more posts lined up, so hopefully I'll meet the goal this month! The other goals are coming along quite well!


Details:
Stamps - A Dogs Day (MyGrafico)
Ink - Copics
Paper - Pure Poppy (PTI); white
Accessories - heart punch, ribbon (American Crafts), olive brads (unknown)

Valentine Treats

Just a quick post for you tonight - I'm off to catch up with my blog buddies :)

Here's the Valentine treats that I'm handing out this year - water bottles w/a tag holding a lemonade packet...just perfect with this image from PTI's Tiny Treats Valentines.

I just love these and can't wait to hand them out!!



Details:
Stamps - Tiny Treats Valentines (PTI)
Ink - Tuxedo Black (Memento), Melon Mambo (SU!); copics
Paper - Melon Mambo (SU!), white, Lemon Tart (PTI)
Accessories - Nestabilities circle dies, scallop border punch (SU!), black gingham ribbon

MyGrafico Monday: New Year = New Design Team & Blog Hop

Have you missed MyGrafico Mondays? I know I sure have! As we all celebrate the beginning of a new year, we're also celebrating a new design team at MyGrafico!! And what better way to celebrate than to hold a blog hop. In fact, we'll be holding two - one for the Monday challenge and one for the Wednesday sketch challenge. That's fabulous news for you - two chances to win the super cute set the design team is featuring this week:

I know you're itchin' to get your hands on this, so all you need to do is leave a comment on each design team members' posts. One member of the design team (who's already been chosen) will select a random winner from all the comments on her blog! Who knows who it could be, so be sure to leave a comment on each dt member's blog :) The hop starts at Martha's blog, so be sure to head there if that's not where you started from. You can also get more hop details on the MyGrafico Challenge Blog




Guess what! They're another way to win the set and it's super fun....participate in our challenges this week. On Wednesday, a sketch will be posted for you to use -or- join us for the Monday challenge:


In with the 'old' and the 'new'
**Create a card/project/LO that uses a brand new item and a repurposed item (old calendar pages, mail, packaging, etc.)


Here's what I came up with for the challenge:

Hee hee!! I love it!! So here's my 'old' & 'new'. Old-repurposed felt from a school project & the image was repurposed from Circus theme to Valentines. New-the lion's mane is flocked with my new Martha Stewart flock that I got for Christmas. I got the whole flocking color spectrum, so prepare to get fuzzy!!



So I bet you're anxious to see what the next dt member came up with for the challenge! Keep hopping and meet our new design team member, Tazza.

Details:

Stamps - Circus by Zenware (MyGrafico)

Ink - copics

Paper - white

Accessories - felt, ribbon (Bazzill), red flocking (Martha Stewart)

Love Potion No.9

I love when I can use stamps in a nontraditional manner!!! Can you say - gettin' some bang for my buck!!

Here I used two Amuse stamps typically seen on Halloweenie items. I thought it would be fun to stick them together for Valentines Day! Hee hee :)

Hope you had a great weekend! I made some fabulous homemade mac&cheese today (here's the deliciouso recipe). I love to cook, but I tend to slack and make the same things over and over. I don't know if it's the new year, watching Julie & Julia a few weeks ago, or watching The Best Thing I Ever Ate tonight on Food Network but I think I'm going to start tracking all the yummy foods I make. I try to track the outfits I wear (yes, I have a little datebook where I keep a record) so I wear more of what I own rather than just my favorites. So why not track the food I'm cooking, too!!

Details:
Stamps - Bernice & Boris (A muse)
Ink - Tuxedo Black (Memento); Copics (E51, V17, YR04, YG06, BG10)
Paper - white (Georgia Pacific), black (DCWV), Melon Mambo (Stampin Up)
Accessories - Cricut w/Georges & Basic Shapes cartridge, Joyful Juliana font, Glossy Accents, fine tip black marker, dimensionals

Finished!!

Here are photos of one of the completed iHeartPods. I made 20! I added plastic lacing as the earbud wire and beads as the actual earbuds. I know they'll be a big hit!!










More info can be found on these posts:
iHeartpod
iHeartpod 2nd generation

Coco's Valentine

I found the Fluffles Wuv set on Ebay, and I had to have it. I just love this cute little guy! I created (with the help of my little furball jumping up on the table) this Valentine. Coco loves to jump up on the craft table to investigate.

After picking the image, I chose my ribbon first to build my color scheme around it. I really like the non-traditional look of pink, green, and blue for the valentine. If you look closely, you see a paw print background on the bottom portion of the card.

Details:

Stamp - Stampendous Fluffles Wuv

Ink - Black, Pretty in Pink, Brushables markers

Paper - White, Pretty in Pink, blue & green scraps

Accessories - Fiskars border punch, Nestabilities, ribbon, brads

I[Heart]Pod 2nd Generation

Here are some more specifics on the iPod even though I haven't finished mine. I'm not happy with any of the string that I have, so I'm going to pick some up either tomorrow or Thursday and then I'll create the earbuds.

I wanted to provide the dimensions on the box in case anyone wanted to create it. My design will get four iPods from one sheet of 8.5" x 11" cardstock.

1. Start with a 4.25" x 5.5" piece of cardstock
2. On the 5.5" side, score at 1/2", 2 1/2", 3", and 5"
3. On the 4.25" side, score 1/2" from each end

4. Crease all score lines inward.

5. Cut all score lines along 5.5" side up to the horizontal score (the 1/2" score lines on the 4.25" side). Do this on both top and bottom. (See photo below)

6. Remove both upper and lower corner squares on left side only.

7. Glue tabs D & H onto inside of F.

8. Glue tabs E & J onto inside of G.

9. Place gum (Trident) inside of box.

10. Glue (or Velcro) B onto outside of F.

11. Glue (or Velcro) C onto outside of G.

12. Glue (or Velcro) A onto outside of I.

13. Decorate and enjoy.

Hopefully, I'll have updates in the next few days. If you have any suggestions for the type of string to use for the 'earbuds', I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks for stopping by!

I[Heart]Pod

One of my favorite things to create are little gifts/cards for my students. I teach gifted students in grades 3-12, and I've taught the same kiddos for almost six years now. They're such a fun (and ornery) bunch that love my little surprises come holiday time. Last year, I made them fun gum holders. Since our school prefers we don't hand out sugary sweets, sugar-free gum is a great option. This year I came across the cutest Valentine iPod idea at the Family Fun website in which a box of conversation hearts are covered to look like an iPod. I decided to use this idea with a twist. I created my own box that perfectly holds one pack of Trident gum.




I'm still working on this, but my phone has been ringing like crazy and I'd like to get some dinner. I wanted to post an initial photo. I still need to add some earbuds. I'll be back later to post some more photos including the details on how to make the box.

Thanks for stopping by!!

L-O-V-E

So I was browsing some of my favorite blogs, and I came across a great challenge at Lauren's Blog. The challenge is from Pink Cat Studio's Design Team and requires participants to create a card that uses elements which begin with each of the four letters in LOVE. What fun!! Don't you think?

Here's what I came up with:


My LOVE elements include:
L- labels (or love sentiment) (or layers)
O- one ribbon
V- Valentine card
E- Elegant Eggplant paper and ink(or embossing)


I came across the label card technique at the Hero Arts website, and I CASE'd a card by Shari Carroll. Check it out here. I just came across the Hero Arts site last week, and I've really enjoyed checking out all they have to offer including some fantastic contests and loads of inspiration.

Details on my card:
Stamps - Inkadinkado Hearts (97637)
Paper - White, Elegant Eggplant, Ruby Red. Inkjet labels (sponged with Elegant Eggplant ink)
Ink - Elegant Eggplant
Accessories - White grosgrain ribbon, letter stickers, white embossing powder, Fiskars Treading Water border punch, pop dots


Hopefully the weather reports turn out to be right, and school will be cancelled tomorrow. I have a few ideas I'd like to work on, and the extra time would be great!! I will curse the cancellation at Easter though when I've lost my long break :)

Knock Knock...

Okay, this card may be my favorite of all time. The only downfall was the amount of time it took to put together. I got home from Panera (yummy!!), and I wanted to create an entry for the Hero Arts Valentine Challenge. There's some amazing prizes up for grabs, and I really want to be in the running.

Front of card


First opening:


Inside of card:


I knew that I wanted to use my 'Whoo Loves You' set, particularly the owls and the branches or trees. After a little brainstorming, I came up with making a Knock Knock card. I found a Valentine knock knock joke on the web and followed that with thinking of a layout. At first, I thought I'd create a tall card with the punchline on the inside of the card. Then, I changed my mind and went with a tri-fold card. Boy, what a good decision. I'm just so happy with my creation. I really tried to handwrite the joke, but I'm way too critical of my handwriting. So, I resorted to printing clear mailing labels to attach to the card.

I used a 12"x12" piece of cardstock cut in half then scored at 4" and 8". The card contains lots of dimension and glitter - perfect for Valentines Day!

Now, I'm off to clean up the mess I made. Ugh!!

Hero Arts - WHOO LOVES YOU?

I bought the cutest Valentines' set last night, and it's been a great addition for the VSN going on today at SCS. Check out the two projects I've already used the set on:

Love Me Tender Challenge:

This challenge required the use of something soft in your design. My little squirrel is flocked, so he's definitely soft. I added stickles to the tree and love how it turned out.

Hope Chest challenge:

For this challenge, we had to create a container of some sort to hold special items or to give to someone special. I purchased this cylinder container at Michael's on clearance right after Christmas. It had 'Merry Christmas' all over it until I covered it with DP and ribbon. I'll be filling it with Buckeye Balls (chocolate covered peanut butter balls) for a Valentine's Day treat.

Bugs & Kisses

Couldn't resist making another Valentine when I came across another SCS member's Bugs & Kisses card. What great inspiration for this week's sketch challenge. I included the sentiment on the inside of this card for my aunt. She sent me a great card today about shoes. I'll have to post a photo - it's hilarious!

I love the black, white, and red. I think I could use black in almost every card. I love how it adds crispness and makes everything pop. Ribbon is from Michaels.

Lip Therapy

Here are the chapstick holders that I made for my middle school students for Valentines' Day. My elementary kiddos are getting gum holders. I wanted to use the pig from MFT Punny Farm, so I could add the sentiment Hogs & Kisses. However, I didn't have much time. I used Me & My Big Ideas DP - isn't it cute. The ribbon went perfectly - I'm sure I'll hear complaints tomorrow about the knots :)

Here are the dimensions for the chapstick holder:
Outside:
5.75" by 3.5" (Score at 2.5" and 3.25" on longer side)
Inside:
5.5" by 3.25" (Score at 2.375" and 3.125" on longer side)
Cut horizontal slits in center scored section at 5/8", 1 1/8", 2 1/8", 2 5/8" - Slits need to extend slightly beyond score lines