Merry Christmas!

I am going to Mel's parents house today and from there straight to San Diego to see my family!! I am very excited and hope the weather is as nice as the company is going to be.  We had our Christmas at the house last night and the boys got to open there gifts.  The best one by far was this shark we got Chicken, he just carries it around where every he goes and he even slept with it last night.  Success!  However, I think I got the best gift, a gypsy!!  YAY!!!  I've been wanting one for a while and I helped Mel pick it out during black friday/thrusday so we got a great deal.  It took FOREVER to get it synced up, I was ready to send it back at one point...it comes with NO DIRECTIONS!!! WTH.  I finally got it working this morning and all my cartridges are hooked up and ready to go.  I also found some directions online that I am waiting to print so I plan on figuring out how to use it during my flight to CA.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!  I will be back on the 29th and will have some exciting new projects to show you!

The boys in their Christmas sweaters/shirts before we went to go look at the neighborhood lights last night.

 

Gifts for Coworkers and Bosses

Hey guys!  Sorry it has been so long since I posted, I know how heartbroken you are...I have been having some medical issues and haven't much felt like crafting or blogging much because I've been in a lot of pain.  I have made several things for Christmas, but most of them I can't post yet, or else there will be no surprises for some of my special followers :)

Anyways, I wanted to show you some cute gable boxes I made and decorated.  I filled them with Lindor Truffles and gave one to my principal, vice principal, and custodian.

I would have liked to do more with them, but I made them at like 8:00 after our Holiday concert and this was all I was able to do.

This card I made really quickly when we had a 2 hour delay because of rain and ice...I went to school and no one was there...it was a bit of a bummer but I was still glad we had 2 hours off!  This one went to a teacher friend at my old Elementary School.

I will have a bunch more stuff for you guys coming up so stay tuned!  Thanks for making it this far!!

Blog Candy

Check out this AWESOME blog candy from craftie charlie.  They are from the UK but will ship anywhere. 

Who wouldn't love to win all this?  Be sure to enter here, contest ends December 8th.

Vintage Card Making Class

On Sunday, I took a vintage card making class at Archiver's.  It was the first card making/scrapbooking class I've ever taken and it was a TON of fun!  I loved getting to sit around and create with other card makers...I will definetly be signing up for more classes.  Anyways, check out what I made!

We used tons of Tim Holtz products and did soo much distressing!  I hard card flakes all over myself!  Be sure to follow my blog (click the button on the left!)

Thanksgiving Card

I just got my new 3 birds on parade cartridge in the mail today so I had to make this Thanksgiving card.  I really think it turned out cute!  I know just the people that this card is going to!  The picture makes things look just a little off, but that is no true in real life...I just am not the best photographer.

Paper and Ribbon: Papertrey Ink
Stamps: My pink stamper
Ink: Stampin' Up

I also decided to enter this card in the following challenges:

Creative Card Crew- Give Thanks
Paper Take Weekly- Autumn colors/
The Crazy Challenge- Thanksgiving- http://crazychallenge.blogspot.com/
Cricut Cardz Challenge #51- colors blue, brown, orange, yellow and white

I hope the card is received well!  Fingers crossed!!

Archiver's Make and Take

A couple of weeks ago Archiver's was doing a make and take weekend.  I went one Friday after school and made this card and acrylic ornament.  You were supposed to be able to decorate a clear paint can, but they stopped doing that by the time I got there (very sad). 

The tree is actually embossed with green embossing powder.  I also got to use Tim Holtz's distresser which was really fun and I love the way it made the lighter card stock look!  I used the tiny attacher to make the ribbon look like this (but I ran out of ribbon!)

I've never worked with acrylic but it was really fun!  I used white paint dabbers on the back, embossed the acrylic with a stizzx embossing file, and got to use a corner chomper for the first time. 

I am going to try to decorate the clear paint cans by myself and see how it turns out.  It would be perfect to put some cookies or something in to give to my custodian, the secretaries, principle, vp, and other 2nd grade teachers for Christmas gifts.  Although, I won't be shopping at Archiver's again because their stuff was way over priced.  I will just be using them to take some classes (I am doing a vintage card making workshop and a home decor workshop- both of them are going to be really cool!)

Riley Rose turns 10

Our neighbor, KT, had a birthday party for her dog Riley Rose in Piedmont Park last weekend.  So, in order to celebrate I made her this adorable card from all my babies.

Inside- I just love the bone!  I got this stamp from Hobby Lobby.

Back of the card: I always like to put a "Handmade By" stamp- but this is the first time I did it on a bone

Ron in his party hat!

Taking a break from fun (the dogs loved playing together in the dog park)

The birthday girl

Ron taking a small break from eating birthday cake (KT made it herself!)

Supplies
Paper: Papertrey Ink: Spring Rain, Dark Chocolate, Raspberry Fizz, Plum Pudding, Lavender Moon, Rustic Cream
Ribbon: PTI: Dark Chocolate
Stamp: My pink stamper and TPC Studio
Cartridge: Create a critter
Bling: PTI
White Pen: Ranger

Experiment with Perfect Pearls, Tim Holtz

I made this card about a month or so but never got around to posting it.  When I was finished with the mat (where all the images are), I accidently dipped it in water when I was apply the adhesive to the back.  It smeared the lion image which was unfortunate.  The card also did not glue together very well (as you can see from all the wrinkles-maybe it wasn't completely dry).  But, I decided to post it anyways, I am sure the next time I try this method it will be better.  It's pretty cool because the lion looks different depending on how you move the card.

Halloween Party Decorations and Prizes

For our Halloween party we made everyone dress up and we picked out who had the best couples costumes, scariest costume, and funniest costume.  It is too bad that I did not take pictures of the winners, but these are the awards that I made for them. 

I used Tim Holtz distress ink, Tim Holtz stamps from Stamper Annoynous, ribbon from the collection, I cut the coffins out from Happy Hauntings (cut at 10"), and used the Martha Stewart Drippy Goo Punch.

I made these adorable coffins, again from Happy Hauntings (cut at 11 1/2 ").  I used Tim Holtz crackle paint to try to make them look older...


I also made a banner to hang in the kitchen.  It took A LOT longer than I thought it would to make this, but, I'm happy with how it turned out.  I used the Happy Hauntings, October 31st, and the Serenade Cartridges.  It spells out BOO!

 There was a wide range of products used on all of these pendants.  Let me know if you are interested in any of them and I'll tell you what I used.  I don't want to make this post any longer. Except to show you this......

Mel was a werewolf for Halloween and when I saw her I literally gagged!!  haha  The contacts were just so gross!!  The nails did not stay on very long either.

And of course... THE DOGS!!!  I was going to be a vampire from Fangtasia (the vampire bar in the Sookie Stackhouse books or better known as the bar in the HBO show True Blood)..so of course, my boys had to match!

Ron as a scary vampire.

Chicken with bat wings and Ron as a vampire (mel sewed the cap to the collar!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Front Yard Halloween Decorations

I had to post some pictures of what our front yard looked like for Halloween.  The only thing missing is the huge coffin Mel made out of a cardboard box (maybe I'll sneak in the backyard and take a picture).  I put all the tombstones in and it took forever!! (but I think it turned out nicely).  Mel made all of the pumpkins so I guess she is my guest designer for this post!!  Thanks Mel!

Hope you like them!!  I will be posting more of my Halloween stuff today.

Hello Thursday

Check out all of Prov Crafts new cartridges at Obsessed with Scrapbooking.  I think I have my eye on Wrap it Up cartridge.... She has some great giveaways going on now too!

Back Sprain

On Sunday I sprained my back trying to carrying the crate that holds all my students papers.  It was so painful I thought for sure I messed up one of my disks...I went to the chiropractor but he couldn't do a whole lot because the injury was new (he did energy manipulation).  Then, I went to primary care and got pain pills, motrin, and muscle relaxers!  Praise the lord.

Anyways, I probably won't be posting for awhile - at least until I'm feeling better.  Also, thanks Mel for taking yesterday off so you could drive me to all of my appointments!  You're the best!!!

Embossing Trial and MPS Challenge

Hey friends!  This card started out to be an experiment in embossing since I just received my versamark and embossing powders from Papertrey Ink, but I really liked the way it finally turned out.  Cutting out the card and designing this one was really easy.  It was the embossing that turned out to be tricky. 

At first I could not get the stuff to melt!  I sat there with my hairdryer blowing on it for like 10 minutes.  I kept dropping the paper and when I tried to anchor it, it still blew away and ended up scrapping off some of the embossing powder.  So, I had to remake the tag and the red portion of the mug. 

I went online to do some more research – I didn’t know if I messed up the stamping and applying the powder, if my product was defective, or if a hair dryer wouldn’t work (but come on…if that is not a heat tool what is??).  Online they kept saying you could see the powder melt (had not experienced this yet) and that it had to get to 200 degrees before it would melt.  So, I decided to try using a lighter to melt it.

I went on our front porch and pulled out the trusty Zippo.  While I was trying to melt the paper the crazy cat lady across the street came out to tell me that she was taking a bunch of cats to the vet… She had one in a cage and I really didn’t catch the rest because my paper caught on fire!!!  I tried to blow it out but it just made it worse so I dropped it on the ground and had to stomp it out.  Through all of this the lady kept telling me about her cats!  BUT it did melt the powder!  So I stamped up some more paper and took it outside to emboss with a lighter (no more Zippos).  It worked great and I just barely burned my finger.

Anyways, I loved how this card turned out.  I started out wanting to try embossing and I needed an entry for the My Pink Stamper challenge.  You had to make something cute!  I think this qualifies!

I hope you like it!  Oh, and I couldn’t resist taking pictures of the paper that I ended up burning….

Recipe: All products are Papertrey Ink and Stampin’ Up

Paper: Pure Poppy, Old Olive, Brown (forget the name), and Kraft paper

Ribbon: Pure Poppy, twine (papertrey)

Embossing Powder: Silver from Papertrey Ink

Versamark stamp

Cartridge: Winter Frolic

Stamp: My Pink Stamper

Holiday Challenge CCCB#25

City Crafter Challenge Blog is having a holiday theme challenge this week.  I just received my order from Papertrey Ink and was so excited I had to make a Thanksgiving card.  I think if I could do something over I would have put a solid color piece behind the sentiment to make it stand out a little bit more, but I still really like how it turned out!

Recipe:

Paper: PaperTrey Ink

Ribbon: Papertrey Ink (Orange Zest)

Cartridge: Create a Critter

Gold Stickles

Stamp: My Pink Stamper

Pride!

Happy Pride my gays!  As most of you know by now, I am in a lesbian relationship and am head over heels in love.  In the past I dated men, but for me it is all about the person on the inside.  Anyways, it is pride weekend here in Atlanta and so I made two of my friends "Happy Pride" cards.  Shockingly there are not many crafting supplies devoted to this special event.  However, I think I succeeded in making the gayest cards humanly possible!  Enjoy and be proud of who you are!!

Version 1

Version 2

It's hard to see in the pictures (I have light issues) but these are actually really bright colors (not the pastel that is showing up for some reason).