It's My Birthday!

Yesterday was my birthday and what a great dayI had! From the moment I got up there were flowers from my husband - thank you John, I love you!, and a Jim Brickman CD titled HOPE from my daughter that I listened to on the way to work. If you love piano music and haven't heard of Jim Brickman you are really missing out. He had a Christmas CD out last year that is just so beautiful. He comes to the Phoenix area every few years which I always look forward to.

Anyway, on with my day. I went to work and they brought in lunch, beautiful roses and wine - however, since it is a school, we couldn't open it!!! The secretary Lynne, made me a homemade apple pie (I don't really do cake) that had little cookie cutter apples made from the piecrust on top. How cute it was! Gave me an idea for a card! So to Leslie, Millie, Robyn, Lynne, Christina for the lovely gift and to everyone who gave me cards, thank you so much. It was a real treat. I love you all and enjoy working with you all so very much. Then last night I had my two daughters with me - the first time in about 8 years that we have been together on my birthday. Jenne used to live in San Diego, and Kerin lived here and we never could manage it to be together on the actual day. So this was so special. Kerin's friend Kerry came over and we all played games; drank wine and or scotch!, played more games; had more wine and or scotch; played pool and then you guessed it! Finally had homemade apple pie - wow that's twice today- what a real treat!! So tonight we are going out to dinner, tomorrow I am going to breakfast with Leslie and Jen from work, Sam, my great Wed. stamping buddy is dinner at her house on Monday night, Wed. happy hour with 2 other co-workers and then my Birthday Week will be over. Whew..............................

I got a lot of cards from many friends and I want to thank you all. These are a few from my Wed

group. The pink flowers are from Carolyn- what a beautiful card - very striking. The pink stripe is from Marie-love these colors and now I think I need that punch!!! and the birds are from Sam - how cute is this!! Thank you all - I miss you.

This one is from my daughter Jenne, who is thrilled to have the use of my craft room now!!

I've been "tagged"

I have been tagged by Sylvia over at My Little Corner of the World.
Here are the rules:
1. Get the book on your nightstand (or whatever book you are currently reading).
2. Open it to page 56 and find the 5th sentence.
3. Post the next couple of sentences on your blog, along with these instructions.
4. Do not go and find your favorite book, it has to be the one you are reading now!
5. Tag 5 other people to do the same.

Well, I have to admit that "romance" novels are not very intelligent reading, however, I work out on the treadmill everyday and read while I am pacing along. They make for easy and quick reading while on the treadmill and I can last much longer!!! Here is my sentences - Haven't looked yet but I hope it's not on the "juicy" part!!
He stopped, dipped his hand into the water, made a fist and opened it. "You can't hold it," he said to me. "No matter how you try or how you love or how you sweat." Then he dug into the sand. It was wet and clung together in his hand. " But this," he said, "a man can hold." We never spoke of it again. "When my time came, I turned my back on the sea and held the land."

Wow, that must be the most profound few sentences in this book!!

October Birthdays

Well, somehow this month has just got away from me!!

I was late with everyone's b'day and if you are one of them reading this, I truly am sorry. I don't care for the saying " Better Late than Never" because that gives you an excuse to forget. But, I am glad that at least these 5 people got their cards. This card for my friend SueAnn uses SU Floral Background; HB from SU; and the flower from Hero Arts. Papers are Basic Black and Bashful Blue.

Happy Birthday everyone!! I will try better next year.

This card is for my daughter's friend Kerry.
I used SU Pumpkin Pie; Eggplant; and last Halloween's DP. The stamp set is from Autumn Leaves and the HB is from Hero Arts. Buttons are just a dark purple from my stash of buttons.

This second card was for my friend Lois. The stamp is from SU and I am sorry to say I cut off the label name from the paper before I remembered where it came from. It is really pretty. It is double-sided. This side had white dots that I colored in pumpkin pie and added crystal effects. ( CE was also added on the flowers). Other papers were SU Certainly Celery and Pumpkin Pie DP

This card was for my friend Connie. I love these two colors; Orchid Opulence and Certainly Celery. The background paper is from daisy d's and the stamp is from Autumn Leaves. The HB is from Hero Arts. The ribbon is from the $1 bin at Michaels.

This card was for our Office Secretary, Lynne. I used an old paper from one of Joann's stack packs; SU Lovely Lilac; CB swiss dots and filagree. The crystals below the flowers are green and really match the green in the paper.

The flower stamps are SU and the HB from Hero Arts.

Black and White Wedding Cards

Another co-worker asked me to make her a wedding card. The invitation was in black & white so since she didn't know the exact colors, she assumed that the wedding may be black & white. Here are the cards that I made going with that theme for her to choose:

First Card:

Recipe:

cardstock whisper white; shimmery graySU

ink: going gray

stamps: Inkadinkadoo wedding; SU Natural Beauty (cut out the flower and embossed in pearl gray)

accessories: leaves from (?); CM circle cutter; CB embossing folder; pearl gray emb. pdr. from Joann's

silver stickles

This is my favorite card.

Recipe:

cardstock: whisper white; shimmery gray SU; shimmery black (?)

ink: going gray

stamps: Inkadinkadoo wedding

accessories: Mega scallop oval punch; sheer white ribbon; small oval punch SU; CB emb. template

Third card:

cardstock: basic black; whisper white; SU clear vellum

ink: Archival Ink - Jet Black

stamps: Inkadinkadoo wedding

accessories: ribbon and crystals from Joann's.

This is the fourth card I made for the "selection"

Recipe:

cardstock: whisper white; basic black

stamps: Inkadinkadoo wedding; SU

ink: versa mark; black emb. pdr.

accessories: pearls from Target; SU scallop punch; CB emb. folder

Happy Birthday "Pat"

My friend Pat is 70 years "young" today. We are having a party for her tomorrow night. I got her a gift card and made this purse card to put it in. I found these cute note cards at The Dollar Tree and used them as a pattern. The paper is from Heidi Grace.

Wedding "Bliss"

A co-worker, after seeing the custodian card I made, asked me to make her a wedding card. Since she didn't have wedding colors, I just went with whatever. These are the results.

Sets used were Inkadinkadoo (wedding couple); Verve Visual (birds); and Darcies (wedding cake).

Custodian Day

Today at our school was Custodian Day so I was asked to make him a card. We gave him scratch tickets so I also made a box to put them in. We had a lunch for him and he was very surprised and thankful of being appreciated. It's always nice to be on the custodian's "good side".

I used a very old stamp set from D.O.T.S. for the tools. The sentiment was my own that I made up and I used Going Gray; Bordering Blue and Close to Cocoa and C to C DP. The box is a paper from Cloud Nine. Love that company! As always, if you have any questions, just email me. Thanks for looking.

Day Off From School

Hooray, we had a day off from school today, so I didn't have to work and instead just played in my room all day. Now, most of the morning I spent re-organizing AGAIN! But after lunch I got inspired. I just purchased the new "Holiday Cards" magazine from Paper Crafts and it is a GREAT ONE! On page 7 is an advertisement for the new "Card Creations" magazine coming out in a week. I saw this sneaker card and thought "How cute". Well, since I didn't have the pattern, I do what I usually do and that is to go onto Clip Art and find one. So, I found a sneaker, blew it up on Windows and VOILA! my own sneaker creation. I used some paper that I have had forever from a Joann's stack pack, and Real Red. Very simple. I used Circle of Friendship for the saying punched out holes and added eyelets and laced it up with 1/8" grosgrain white ribbon. I can think of endless possibilities for this card. It could be done in the colors of someone's favorite team; a baby card; or a girly girl sneaker. Let me know if you want the pattern.

Welcome James

The slide show below is the scrapbook I made for my friend and co-worker, Jennifer, who had her baby boy, James, on Friday. I made it so that she could add pictures and journaling at her leisure (although I don't know that she will have much leisure since she has Joey, a toddler, at home). Although I am so happy for Jen and her family, I sure do miss her at work. If anyone has any ?? about any products I used for this book please email me. Enjoy the show.............

I've taken the plunge!

Digital Scrapbooking here I come! Those of you who know me, know that I am not computer savvy at all. Well, after seeing all of my friend Lois's digital scrapbooking pages on her site: gingerbreadaholic, I decided I had to try it. I signed up for Jessica Sprague's class as Lois did, and just completed Lesson 1 - Week 1. It took me quite awhile to figure it all out even though Jessica's videos are very exact and so easy to follow. Like I said I am not a computer whiz! Anyhow, I can't wait to get to week 2. Here's my first digital scrapbook page of my darling kitty Price Tag (see his video book below) who died last November. GO ME!

Oops!!

I was so in a hurry to get the pictures of the paint can and candy cake below for Jen's shower on my blog, that I forgot to mention all of my daughter, Jenne's, help with these projects. Together we created and brainstormed throughout the weekend to get these done. The frog and dragon (or dinosaur?) in the train were hand done by Jenne. Isn't she clever!! And the ribbons on the cake was her idea as well as help with the block on the top. Thank you Jenne for all your help in brainstorming and putting these projects together; trips to the craft stores, and for being such an inspiration for our creativity together. I can't wait till you move here so that we can do so much more together. Love you so much.

Jen's baby shower

Jennifer, a co-worker, had her baby shower yesterday at work and since she is such a special person to know and work with, I made her 2 very special gifts. The first is a candy cake in all baby blues because she is having "James". These cakes (see the birthday one below) are just so special, fun, and easy to make. They are made using Hershey nuggets attached to styrofoam and covered with scrapbook paper. However, I don't know how you would ever be the "first"

to take one off!!! I made the block at the top using a 2 inch cube and spelled James on each side using the Cricut cartridge George. All the paper was from Joann's paper stacks as well as the teddy bears and signs from the baby department.

The next gift was a paint can using Autumn Leaves DP; Oxford from Bazzill; SU Old Olive and Really Rust. I used the New Arrival Cricut cartridge for the plane and train and clip art for the banner. The frog and dragon were done by hand. On the top of the can I created a poem about saving all those little things that are Jen's baby boy. It made her cry!!!

Back to School Tags

Just thought I would show you the tags that I made to go on the baskets that we made for Pal II ( see story below). Oh, I made a mistake (REALLY! LOL) Pal II is only 4 -6 not 4-8. I am sure they are happy about that!! These tags were all made using the Grade School DCWV.

Back to School "Survival" Bag

The school that I work at is a K-3 school and grades 4-8 are located in another building on our campus. Tuesday our entire staff is going over to their school as a goodwill gesture. I made this bag as one of the things that we will be bringing. I hope you can read the poem as we will be filling the bag with those things. I used Grade School papers and pop ups from DCWV. If you are unable to read this please let me know and I will send it to you.

Suzy's Zoo "Witsy"

My friend Alyce had done a card using this adorable little duck so I had to borrow this stamp and create some cards. I looked online to find the name of the stamp and came up with "witsy".

On the first card you can't tell but the beak and feet have crystal effects on them. The paper is from Paper Pizazz and SU Brocade Blue and Barely Banana and Whisper White I colored her in with Barely Banana marker and Apricot Appeal marker. The scallops were done with SU's new scallop border punch. The Shh...... at the bottom is on the inside that I positioned via the computer and used the word window punch on the outside.

The second card is Barely Banana and Bashful Blue and Whisper White. It's a Shower was done using alphabet stickers from Provo Craft called Alphabitties.

The third card is Bashful Blue and Whisper White and paper from KaiserCraft called "Little Man". Stamp set is SU Mini Mates

3 x 3 cards and box

I found this box in Michael's for $1 and discovered it was just the perfect size for 3 x 3 note cards. So I painted it brown and then used the Berry Bliss DP to cover it. The scalloped circles are Mega & giga punches and SU's scalloped punch. The brad inside is from SU's Build a Brad. I used the label punch with the "Just a note" from Mini Mates. Ribbon is from Michaels. Then I created the note cards to be put inside. Great little project - I must say!

Halloween treat box

I saw a pattern for this box on Lizzie Anne's Designs website. Since I am having a "Halloween" attack - meaning I am in to making Halloween stuff now - I decided to try it - it is really simple to do. The paper is from SU Pumpkin Pie DP and last year's Halloween DP and a spider web paper that I got at Hobby Lobby. The spider is from Cricut and the bats are from my stash of 3D stickers. I used the SU label punch for the handle and the ribbon I got at a local scrapbooking store.

Jenne's Frames

My daughter Jenne, who is an avid stamper (not a fanatic like her mom!) and part time scrapbooker has created these two frames for some friends of hers. The first frame is for a friend and her father who just took a trip up the coast of Calif on a Harley. The second frame is for a friend and her husband who have just moved into a new house in Calif. and love the beach.

Great job Jenne! Well, Jenne is soon moving to AZ from San Diego to be near her mom (yeah, me!) so I will try my best to turn her into a "fanatic" also. Of course, since mom seems to have it all she won't need to BUY anything LOL!

Our Wednesday Group Creations

Well, this may be my last time to meet with these wonderfully talented friends to make cards; share ideas, and enjoy some very good food. In two weeks school will start and I will be back to work!!! Boo Hoo!!! Although I am looking forward to going back to work, I truly will miss these Wednesdays. So, here are 3 cards that we did. We actually did 4 but with Marie "s (and I apologize) I tried to tweak her card to make it my own and totally flubbed it. I will just go back and do it her way and will post it then.

This first card is Lois's. She found the pattern from an old Papercrafts magazine and adapted it to make it her own. The front flap is a rectangle that opens. Love that "piece of cheese" charm on the inside. Colors used were More Mustard, Chocolate Chip and Summer Sun - cuttlebugged with Swiss Dot and edged with MM. Not sure about the font or where the charm came from.

SU hardware is on the front.

This next card is also Lois's and is just so feminine and baby girlish. I just love her color combos.The base of the card is SU's new pink in-color, cuttlebugged with Filagree. The dotted is Whisper White using a swiss dot background stamp. The next layer (green print) and the printed rectangles were just paper she had "laying around" (Imagine that LOL!). Regal Rose is the scalloped square - swiss dotted with CB and the green is green galore - CB swirl. The heart may be nestabilities but not sure. Ribbon is from Michaels and the flower brads again were just "lying around" I am going to put the following saying inside that I found online somewhere. The site that had it said that they changed the words a bit, and I again changed them to make this my own words. It is for a very wonderful friend having her first baby - a girl. (Love to you Natalie and Carlos)

I do not have a face to see

Or put inside a frame

I do not have soft cheeks to kiss

Nor, do I have a name.

You cannot hold my tiny hands

Nor whisper in my ear,

It's still too soon to count my toes

Or cuddle me so near.

But come this December

When my birth date is due

I will be your brand new daughter

And can't wait to meet you two.

All I ask before my birth

Is your love for me to grow

I promise I'll be worth the wait

More than you will know.

So as you're waiting patiently,

To see the real live "Me"

Please know that I'm impatient too

To make this family "three".

Now on to Carolyn's card. Her card uses Mellow Moss (when was the last time you looked at that color LOL!) and Groovy Guava and Ruby Red. Love this color combo. The red flowers are embossed white. She embossed the leaves also on her card. Filigree CB on the MM.

Just Some More Cards

Just thought I would post my latest cards that I have worked on. Now, there are a couple that I saw on SC and tweaked to my own liking, but I apologize that I can't remember who to thank for their design. So, if it is you, thank you for your inspiration. Here are my cards without any fanfare. If you want to know specifics please let me know and I will tell you what stamps; papers; and/or embellishments were used. Thanks for looking.