Congratulations to the Ham Family

Hi Everyone!

I've been busy creating cards for my friend Gayle's sons.  Gayle and I have been friends for nearly 26 years. We met when Gayle came to my house to learn about my family childcare program. Robbie was born in July of 1985. Gayle's son, Ricky, was born in August that same year. I opened my family childcare in November, 1985 and Ricky was one of the first children I cared for.  Gayle's son, Brian, was born in January of 1987 and my daughter, Marie, was born in April that same year.



When Rob and Ricky were 3 and 4 years old they attended a preschool program at my house, while Marie and Brian played together at Gayle's house. Then, when Marie and Brian were 3 and 4 years old they attended my preschool program. All four children attended classes I taught for Lexington Recreation and the Teddy Bear's Picnic camp I directed each summer.


For years Ricky and Brian raced around and around on their tricycles on the "road" I had painted in our backyard. They were firefighters, police officers, trash collectors, carpenters and more as they played with our Little Tykes toys. They cooked with Chef Combo and tried the new foods that he introduced to them. They played with the countless batches of playdoh I made and listened to the hundreds of stories I read to them.


Now both of these sweet men tower over me. They take the time to save water bottle caps and other recycled things for me to use in my teacher trainings.


Ricky and Brian both graduated from the police academy this past year and both will be working in the Lexington Police Department like their father, Rich, and their uncle, Dana, did. Gayle and Rich are giving Ricky and Brian a party this Saturday to celebrate their new profession.

I created these cards for Ricky and Brian. I cut a road from black tag and adhered it to some grass patterned paper from dcwv. I used a "Gelly Roll" pen to draw the lines on the road. I mounted the road onto some sky paper and then adhered it to a blank card. The stickers are from the "police officer' sticker set from Me & My Big Ideas. I put some foam tape behind the police officers to add dimension to the cards. I added some Stickles to the headlights and the flashing red light on top of each police car.


It's funny, but as I sit here looking at the cards the expressions on the police officers faces truly remind me of Ricky and Brian!


Congratulations Ricky, Brian, Gayle and Rich!
See you on Saturday night!


Carol

Impression Obsession Encouragement Challenge

Hi Everyone!



This week Impression Obsession has an Encouragement Challenge. I decided to use the adorable small and large Dotsicle stamps and the "Enjoy the Sweet Things in Life" stamp to create a card for the challenge.

I used citrus colored Color Box pigement ink pads and stamped each dotsicle twice. Then I embossed each dotsicle with detail clear embossing powder. I fussy cut one of each color and then used a half inch circle paper punch to "cut" a bite out of each of them.

I used a Fiskars tear drop hand punch to punch some "drips" out of the remaining dotsicles. The dotsicle sticks are adorable mini popsicle sticks that I cut in half lengthwise before adhering one to each dotsicle.

I ran the layering paper for the card through a Cuttlebug embossing folder before I attached it to a blank card. I used a corner rounder punch to round off the corners at the top of the card to make it be "dotsicle" shaped.


Have a great day!
Carol
 

Babies, Babies Babies

Hi Everyone!

If you have been following my blog lately you know that I have been busy creating baby cards for upcoming craft fairs.  I did create a few birthday cards over the weekend, but for the most part it's been babies, babies, babies. 

I think I caught the "baby bug" while I was hanging out with my friend Janet a couple of weeks ago.  Janet had pictures and stories to share about her first grandchild, Sadie.  While Janet was cutting die-cuts, she mentioned that the mascot for Tufts University is an elephant and that her daughter and son-in-law both graduated from Tufts. 

The other day I picked up some K&Company Itsy Bitsy Adhesive Boy Borders and Itsy Bitsy Adhesive Girl Borders.  Both packages had 2 elephant borders.  Well, I decided I need Martha Stewart's Elephant double punch to use with those borders...And then this first elephant card was born!  Look at the punched out elephant.  See how the ear pops out.  I think that is just too adorable.

But...I do want to say this to you.  I don't love the way Martha's double punches work.  They don't always punch all the way through and I have been told that doesn't mean they don't work properly, but sometimes I wonder.  I love Martha's single punches and her edger ones too, but the cupcake, ice cream cone, and the elephant which are double punches do not punch as easily.  If you are reading this blog and have thoughts about Martha's punches, please post a comment about them. 

When Rob came home from work last night he came into the room to see what I was creating.  He looked at the elephant card and exclaimed, "Oh, that is so cute.  I love the colors you used".  I loved the way the elephant border looked with the elephants so much that I decided to create similar borders for some other cards. 

The ducks were created with an EK Success punch.  The water border is from K&Company's Itsy Bitsy Baby Boy Adhesive Borders.

The rabbits and sheep are from Martha Stewart punches.  The carriages were created with a Fiskars hand punch.  The text on all of the cards is from PaperTrey Ink's Baby Buttons clear stamp set. 

I added tiny black pearls to the animals for eyes.  I added baby buttons from Favorite Findings to the baby carriages for wheels. 

I don't have any workshops until tomorrow afternoon so it's back to making cards! 

Have a great day!

Carol

More Baby Cards

Hi Everyone!

What a gorgeous day!  There's definitely a touch of spring in the air.  I quickly snapped photographs of some of the cards I've created recently.  This first card was created with some of the flowers I had leftover from the paper floral wreaths I made.  I used a Sizzx tags die cut to create the tag.  The text was stamped with a wooden stamp from Great Impressions.  I used a white "Gelly Roll" pen to faux stitch around the edge of the  card.

The other cards I'd like to share are all baby cards that were created with images from Inkadinkado clear stamps.  With the exception of the first card the text was created with clear stamps from PaperTrey Ink's Baby Buttons set. 

I used a Marvy Uchida purple circle punch to punch a hole through the pink dotted paper from K & Company's Snuggle Bug 12" x 12" paper stack. I placed some patterned paper from dcwv in the opening and stamped "baby girl" in the lower right hand corner before I ran the paper through a Cuttlebug Hearts folder. Used foam tape to add the elephant to the card.

I couldn't find a button that "worked" with this card so I cut a circle from some scrap paper to create a button.  The pink sorbet twine is from The Twinery. 

This adorable little turtle reminds me of Franklin. 

I think this little giraffe is precious. 

That's it for today!

Hope you have a nice night. 

Carol

Paper Flowers Wreath

Happy Friday Everyone!

It's been a busy week and I for one am happy that it's nearly over.  I have an Afterschool Cooking Class this afternoon and then I have a little break until Tuesday afternoon. 

You may remember the Christmas wreath I created ages ago which was followed by a Valentine's Day wreath.  Next came an Easter egg wreath.  Mickey saw the Easter wreath at Sandy's house and asked me if I'd make a flower wreath for her mother. 

I used a Sizzix "Large Daisies" die to cut some large and small daisies.  Many, but not all, of the papers I used were from the K & Company Snuggle Bug 12" x 12" paper stack.  I used a hot glue gun to adhere the flowers to the wreath form.  I felt that the middle of the small flowers needed something.  I tried white pompoms, but they looked too bulky.  I tried white buttons, but they looked too heavy.  I ended up running a piece of white tag through a Cuttlebug dotty embossing folder and then using a 3/4" paper punch to cut out some circles.  I used my glue gun to attach the circles to the flowers.  Now I was happy.  Those circles with the raised dots added the texture I wanted to the wreath. 

I've been busy creating more baby cards and will share them with you sometime this weekend. 

Have a great day!
Carol

Patterned Paper

Hi Everyone!


Marie's "Black and White" 24th birthday party was a huge success.  The banner I created hung over our dining room table.

I cut some paper with a floral and a circle paper punch to create party picks for the cupcakes.  For each pick I punched 2 flowers and 2 circles. I glued a circle to the middle of each flower. I added a large adhesive glue dot to the back of a flower, pressed a toothpick into the glue dot and then covered it with another flower.  I put a party pick in some of the cupcakes and a candle in each of the others.  I also placed a party pick inside the fold of each of the black cloth napkins.

The largest gift bag was store bought.  I paper punched black circles and adhered them to the bag.  I used the Around the Town Timeless Template from PaperTrey Ink to create the polka dot gift bag and the Rounded Wrap Up Timeless Template from PaperTrey Ink to create the small bag.

The flower on the largest gift bag was created with the largest die from PaperTrey Ink's Bloom Builder's #1 Die Collection.  I also added some baby black ric tac to the bag.  The small striped gift bag was created with PaperTrey Ink's small All Around Town Timeless Template.  The other bag was created with PaperTrey Ink's Rounded Wrap up Timeless Template.



Marie loved her Black and White party.  Cards, gift bags, party picks, and a banner.  All from magical patterned paper.

Have a good night!

Carol

Baby Cards, Edger Punches, and a Snowy Morning

Good Morning Everyone!

I must have jinxed New England when I named yesterday's post "Black and White" because this is the view from my computer chair this morning.  Just yesterday I was smiling at the daffodil buds that were sprouting along the side of my house.  Now they are under a blanket of snow.  It's not a major storm, more of an aggravation than a concern.  But Robbie will need to shovel the driveway and steps to rid them of the wet mess that fell last night and is still falling as I type this post. 

While I was out shopping for some black and white adhesive pearls for Marie's cards I spotted this set of clear stamps from Inkadinkado called, "Welcome Baby."  I instantly fell in love with the adorable elephant and turtle and had to buy the set.  Happily the set was on clearance at Michaels.  It's not on clearance on the Inkadinkado site, but they are offering 20% off of everything in their online store this weekend when you check out with the code "NOFOOLIN". Janet, I picked up this set for you because I know you'll love the elephant as much as I do. 

I have several other clear stamp sets from Inkadinkado that coordinate perfectly with my new set.  I combined stamps to create these cards. 

I stamped the elephants on pink and blue patterned paper with pigment ink.  I embossed them with clear embossing powder and fussy cut them.  I stamped "Baby" along the bottom edge of some white tag.  Then I placed the elephant on the tag, but didn't attach it.  I stamped "welcome" above the elephant, then I removed the elephant and embossed both words.  I ran the white tag through a Cuttlebug dotted embossing folder.  The elephants are attached to the white tag with foam tape.  I used a marker to add color to just some of the dots around the elephants.  I mounted the white tag onto patterned paper and added some baby white ric rac above and below the white tag before I adhered the patterned paper to blank white cards. 

The other day my friend Janet came by to do some crafting.  While we were working I mentioned that I am trying to think of a way to store my edger punches so that they will be within my sight.  Janet suggested that I punch out a sample from each punch and store the samples in a folder.  I thought that was a great idea, but decided to display them in a picture frame that can be hung in my work area.  I think this will add an inspiring touch to my own little corner and there's still room for more samples when I buy more punches!

Today I am teaching cooking in an afterschool program.  The children want to decorate cupcakes.  I need to bake the cupcakes now so they can frost and decorate them during class.

Have a great day!

Carol