Valentine Cards 2013

Hi Everyone!

It's been a long time!  I love being back in the classroom, but school work consumes most of my time.  Schools were closed yesterday due to a snowstorm that finally ended about an hour or so ago.  I did a little cleaning, made a pot of soup, did a little school work and then chose to spend some time creating valentines.  As I sat here working I realized how much I truly miss not creating at least one card a day.  Since I have pretty much wiped out my stash of cards, I need to and want to make more of an effort to find some time to create something each day. 

I surfed the Internet and visited some of my favorite blogs for inspiration and then got to work creating valentines for my family and a few friends.  I plan to share some of them with you each day until Thursday. 

Everything I needed for this card was sitting in a box of leftovers from last year.  Since the hearts are all stickers this card was a quick and easy one to create.

 

 



This card took a little longer to create, but I am pleased with the way it turned out.  I cut scraps of valentine paper into one inch squares and adhered them to a retangular piece of red tag.  The text was created with a Lockhart sentiment stamp.  I LOVE my Lockhart stamps!

 

I love the simplicity of this card.  The crock was created with a stamp from A Country Welcome.  The heart stems were created with a stamp from Impression Obsession.  The sentiment was stamped with an A Muse Artstamp.

 

That's  all I am going to share today, but I'll be back tomorrow for sure!

 

Have a great day!

Carol

The Stocking is hung...

Hi Everyone! 

It was such a crazy week.  Attended an all day training on Monday, a 2 hour staff meeting on Tuesday night, and a 2 hour First Aid class on Thursday night. In between all of that I taught preschoolers and did the usual day to day stuff. 

There are 17 days left until Christmas.  I have gifts to buy and wrap, cards to make and send, cookies to bake and deliver, a tree to buy and decorate..the list is too long.  By now we usually have more than 500 cookies in our freezer, but there are only about 100. The oven temperature was fluctuating so we waited until the repairman came before we continued to bake.  It was fixed on Friday and now we can get back to cookie baking.  Tomorrow. 

Worked on school stuff off and on today.  My kids LOVE to sing so I made some song props for them and worked on my lesson plans for this coming week.

Wasn't in a card making mood today.  Or a baking one either.  But I have a couple of cards to share with you.

I like the way this one turned out. I might like it even more if I had embossed the layering paper.  Too late for that now!  I die cut a stocking twice-once in red, and once in green.  Then I cut the toe, heel, and cuff off of the green stocking and glued the rest of it onto the red stocking.  Used foam tape to adhere it to the layering paper.  Added a braided thin gold ribbon to the paper along with some holly stickers.  Added some ribbon to the paper too before I attached it to a blank card.  The candy cane is a foam sticker that was in my stash. 

 

 

Bet you can guess what kind of gift card is enclosed in this card.  It was pretty easy to fussy cut the cups.  The stamps were from a mini set from PaperTrey Ink at this link.  The sentiment is a rub-on.

 



This was an easy one too.  The layering paper is from Lawn Fawn.  Paper punched a white circle and stamped Santa's sleigh on it.  Added the text rub-on and the card was done!  Doesn't get much easier than that.

And that's all of for today!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Carol

Snowmen Christmas Cards

Hi Everyone!

Today I have some snowmen cards to share with you.  Here's my favorite.

 

The stamps I used for this card are from Lawn Fawn.  I love Lawn Fawn stamps!  I fussy cut the hat, scarf and mittens and added a glittery edge to the snowbanks. 

 

 

The snowman on this card was created with a Great Impressions stamp.  I've used this stamp probably more often than any of my other winter stamps.  The layering paper is from Teresa Collins.

 

 

I love the black and white layering paper on this card.  I used a Hero Arts cling stamp to create the snowman.  The text is from Lockhart stamps.  Think about this...you can use that sentiment at any time of year.

 

 

I used a die to create this snowman.  I cut a white snowman, a red one, a black one, and a brown one.  Then I cut off the parts I needed and adhered them to the layering paper on my blank card.  

 

Have a great day!

Carol

 

 



Peas on Earth

Hi Everyone!

I am writing this post before I go to work so there's just time to share one card today. 

The layering paper is from Lawn Fawn's "Fa-La-La" paper collection.  You may not be able to tell from my photograph, but there are doves on that paper.  As you know doves are a sign of peace.

The "peas" were created with a Lockhart stamp and the message was created with a stamp from Inky Antics.  Cards with puns are fun to create and receive.

Have a great day!
Carol

Welcome Christmas

Hi Everyone!

In October I found just one package of dimensional Pebbles "Welcome Christmas" stickers on a shelf in Marshalls.  I decided they belonged in my stash, purchased them, brought them home and put them in my container of Christmas embellishments.  Last weekend I used them to create some cards.

I cut up a piece of SEI paper for the layering paper on 3 of my cards.  I used a PaperTrey Ink stamp to stamp the message "'Tis the Season" on those papers.  Then I ran 2 of the papers through a snowflake embossing folder and the third one through a Christmas tree embossing folder.  I added some ribbons from my stash to each of the papers before I adhered them to blank cards.  Then I added 2 of the dimensional stickers to each card.

 

 

 

 

I used a paper from "Christmas Home" from Teresa Collins for the layering paper for the next card.  I added some ribbon and rhinestones from my stash along with the remaining stickers from the package of "Welcome Christmas" stickers. 

 

 



Have a great night!

Carol

 

Christmas Cards

Hi Everyone!

I am finally taking the time to share some Christmas cards with you.  I didn't start to make these cards until last weekend so I decided to make some clean and simple ones so that I will actually get them done and in the mail before Christmas. 

I used paper punches to create the cards that I am going to share with you today.  Punches are a quick way to get an image.  I love using up scraps for those images.

 

 

The mug was created with a Martha Stewart punch.  I punched the mug from patterned paper and then punched a second time from white glittery tag for the whipped cream.  The steam was created with strands of tiny pearls from Recollections.  The mugs are attached to the card with foam tape.  The text is a stamp from PaperTrey Ink.

 

 

 

 

The jingle bells and the bows on the bells were created from Martha Stewart punches.  I used a silver tag to create the bells.  The branch was created with a PaperTrey Ink stamp as was the text on the green polka dotted card.  The text on the second card was created with a rub-on that I found in my stash.

 

 

 

I used a Martha Stewart holly punch to create the sprigs of holly on this card.  The berries on each sprig were created with red Stickles.  The ribbons were in my stash.

 

 



 

The door on this card was created with a die.  The wreath was created with a Martha Stewart wreath and bow punch.  I put a piece of clear transparency behind the door to make it look as if there were glass windows in the door.

 

That's it for today!  Would love some encouragement to post more cards. 

 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend. 

Carol

 



 



Blog Break

Hi Everyone!

I am finally taking the time to write to all of you.  I know by the e-mails that I have received from some of you that you are wondering where I have been. 

Many of you know that I lost my job about 2.5 years ago when the store I had worked at for 13 years suddenly closed.  I started my blog a short time later and had more than enough time to create and post each day. 

For the past 2.5 years I have presented early childhood trainings and done consulting work which kept food on our table and papercrafting supplies in my craft corner, but I needed something steadier to do. 

Happily early this September I was hired to teach preschool.  I hit the ground running and haven't stopped yet.  I have 17 students who range in age from 2.9 to 5+ years old.  Some of them do not speak or understand English.  All of them are adorable and a lot of fun.  They burst into the classroom each morning with huge smiles on their faces and eagerly look to see what I have for them to do.

Throughout September and October all of my creative time and energy has been invested in my classroom.  My papercrafting tools and supplies now serve a new purpose.  I use my Crop-a-dile to punch holes in my vocabulary cards: my Xyron machine to make magnetic puzzles, to laminate, and to apply adhesive; my punches, dies, and patterned papers to create manipulatives and props. 

Instead of creating cards I have become a scrapbooker of sorts. I take lots of pictures of my students and display them in photo sleeves or in an album for them to "read".  I use my patterned paper, borders, dies, punches, markers, adhesives, and stickers when I create my pages.  The children love seeing their pictures and spotting the "spider" stickers, the "pumpkin" cutouts, and the "apple" borders.

I am still planning to create holiday cards and gifts so I hope you'll continue to stop by to see if anything is new. 

Hope to talk with you soon.
Carol