Back to School

I finally found some down-time to revisit my blog. I'm on my last HOORAH before my preschool class starts again. (And honestly, it's been a great run!) We went on a week long camping trip; 10 cities, 6 days, and two over-exhausted children. We also spent some time the grandparents, and even visited a goat farm! The kids enjoyed that the most!

Since my last post, we've had birthdays to celebrate, my daughter started first grade, and I've been running all over town getting supplies for my own class. In between it all, I managed to get some craft time in. Birthday cards, lunch box notes, bookmarks, SHOPPING ;), and even book binding were on my agenda.

With two kids, a husband, and work, I hardly had enough time to sit down and make a stack of lunch box notes for my daughter. Instead, when everyone is sleeping, I use the last bit of my day to make a note for my daughter's lunch the next day. (Yes, I make a new one every night and I'm still going strong.) The best part about it is getting to use different supplies and challenging my creativity. It wouldn't be exciting to receive the same note every day, right?

Check out what I've been up to these last few weeks.

These are the few of my daughter's lunch box notes that I actually thought to snap a photo of.

 

I was inspired by Savanah O'Gwynn's magnetic bookmarks and geometric string art when I made this bookmark. The picture is not geometric, but it was a simple line art perfect for embroidering.

 

My friends daughter just recently turned five and one thing they do is go on exotic vacations. So for her birthday, I made her a "field journal." Yes, the book it 100% handmade. Now I cheated with the pencils, but I thought it would make a great accessory for the book.

I just recently went on a stamp shopping spree, so hopefully I'll have time to do a show&tell of what I make. Also, I just received my second Studio Calico card kit and am excited to try that out as well. 

Until then, HAPPY CRAFTING! 

Like mother like daughter.

This past weekend was quite the adventure for myself and the kids.  We went to five different cities within two days, and drove through too many to count.


Our first stop, on Saturday was to my parents house. My cousin's son was having a birthday at an amazing jump house. It was a day filled with family and laughter! (Along with a bit of tantrums from the grandbabies - mostly my son)

Then comes Sunday.  Our most eventful day. The day we drove to many cities and hours in traffic.  Majority of my west coast family were getting together for more birthday celebrations.  It truly was a great day, even if it was full of traffic.

BUT, before all the fun happened, I had a chance to sit down and make a last minute bday card. My daughter sat down and made one with me, too.

So here's how the card making all began... well, it really just sort of happened. I've never made a bday card for a boy before so I was already struggling to omit pinks and purples and glitter.

The only thing I planned was paper piecing the pair of shoes and using the "Boy, n. noise with dirt on it" sentiment from the SSS All Boy set.  The rest of the card randomly came together while I was on the phone with my mom. I flipped through my collection of 3"x4" PL journaling cards four to five times before settling on this lined herringbone pattern, which I placed on top of a patterned paper from the "Fancy Pants" pack. It had a decorative frame all around, but I cut it off. Maybe I can use it on another project. I embossed a row of dots in with navy embossing powder on some scrap teal vellum. And the sentiment is embossed in navy as well on a scrap of cotton paper. The fishtail banners were die cut using a die from Lifestyle Craft rectangle box die set. I ended up trimming them down to size.

The shoes was the best part of the card. I had so much fun making them! They are half watercolored, and half paper pieced. I also splattered some brown to them when I was done gluing the shoes together. The finishing touch, I ended up popping my shoes up on dimensionals.

As for my daughter, she wanted to play with the new SSS August Kit. She stamped out multiple ice cream images, and colored them in with her own watercolor pencils. (She keeps forgetting she can use water with them.) She chose a few 3"x4" journaling cards from the Kraft kit and layered them together. She even glued the ice cream at an angle like that all by herself. Literally, the only thing I did was cut the images out for her.

I hope you enjoyed the card shares! Most items used are listed below. The rest may either be discontinued or out of stock.  

And so it begins...

The new chapter in my life... blogging.


Over a year ago, I was YouTube searching, learning how to spin yarn. Yes, yarn. As soon as I learned to knit, I was so interested in learning to make my own yarn. It was a hobby that took over in an instant, but never stuck. (YouTube comes in handy with just about any "How-to's" and "DIY's.")


While searching How-to videos, I somehow came across Kristina Werner's channel. I was so amazed with her work that I binged watched almost all her videos in one day! From then on, I was on a search to find all card makers on YouTube.


After months of watching people making cards, learning techniques, and getting inspired, I finally decided to make some myself. Of course, the first few tries are more for trial and error. I remember my very first card took me over 2 hours (of meticulously stamping, coloring, and gluing everything very ocd-like) and my arms were exhausted.


I don't have any of my first takes pictured, but I do have some to share from months after trying. The following cards were created back in January '14.





This was intended to be a birthday card, but it never made it to the mailbox. (Uh-Oh) Nonetheless, I had a great time making it.


I've always wanted the "Say Cheese" stamp set and coordinating dies by Lawn Fawn. Since I didn't have that in my stash yet, I decided to cut my own polaroid out instead. I used a variety of copics to color in majority of my image. Then paper pieced her outfit, as well as the headband. The headband was coated with a layer of glossy accents and I was actually able to pop the cake up. I thought having the cake on the outside of the polaroid was an excellent added touch. My frame was matted with a 4"x5.25" patterned paper, then placed on a 4.25"x5.5" top folding card. Voila!


I was so excited when I completed this card! It was definitely one of my better attempts to handmade cards. ;)





I made this card, and the one below using my very first SSS Card Kit! When the package arrived, I started crafting right away! And my daughter didn't waste any time either.


Honestly, I had no plans or sketch. I just knew I was going to use this corky guy. I used Kristina Werner's technique to stamp the balloon image on the back of the patterned paper and went from there.


My background is distress ink smooshed onto watercolor paper. I did it multiple times for texture and layers. Then I added a very uneven frame around it, about 1/4" in. I used this to completely cover my A2 card base. The clouds were a last minute thought because I thought the card needed it to show my guy floating in the sky. I like how they are laid on top of my line frame. It made for instant depth and dimension.





This card is a larger one. I believe 5"x7". I had a little idea where I wanted this card to go. The only thing planned was my main image, cut into four squares.


First, I stamped the little character and the balloons. Then I covered them with post it's for masking.  I also decided to mask of some clouds for the sky. After everything was masked off, I not so carefully sponged on some distress ink. (Then, I was still getting used to using the blending tool. But I did like the final look)

I colored the little guy with copics. And for whatever reason, I was not having the best of luck with it. It's such a small image. If I remember correctly, I only had two orange markers and the darkest one wasn't dark enough for shade.

To keep the background simple, I just added ink splatters with iced spruce.  The sentiment was from TGF Lovey Dovey. 

I hope you enjoyed my card share for the day. 

Thank you for stopping by my blog! Check back soon for a new card share!