Under the Weather

When I saw the Spring Sampler set, I knew I had to have it to use with the Bingo card but I saw the little frog and the umbrella and knew they would make a cute get well card.  The color challenge over at FabFriday was the perfect combination for it.

Topsy Turvy Birthday Card

When I started this card, I was headed in a whole different direction.  I love when that happens if I am happy with the results.  This is going to be a birthday card for my niece who is turning 14 this year.  She is past that little girl stage that is easy to make cards for but not totally into the flowers and all that yet.  I thought Topsy Turvy would be perfect.  I used the color challenge over at Create with Connie and Mary.  When I saw the colors, I was thinking of using the Swallowtail (my new favorite stamp) but then I realized that I had loaned it to someone so I headed in a different direction using Topsy Turvy.  

First, I stamped the cake using the Stamp-a-ma-Jig.  This is my favorite tool when I want something perfect. Since I am not a perfectionist, I don't use it often but if something needs to be lined up, it is my go-to tool.  I then used the paper piercer and the Labels Collection Framelits.  The Designer Series Paper, Sunshine & Sprinkles has all three colors in it so I pulled some of that out but stayed away from the parts that were a little heavy on the blue.  I added a gray button from the Neutrals Buttons and voila!

More Organizing

Since I posted the menu board yesterday, I thought I would share another organizer that I made.  This one was done in MDS.  I made a 12x12 sheet for each boy and placed them in their own 12x12 frames.  I then used Crystal Effects to glue a few clothespins onto the glass of the frame.  We have been using them to keep track of chores, allowance and other stuff.  The boys like them and I am more deliberate about keeping track of their chores.

Menu Board

I will admit that I have a problem.  I am addicted to everything that has anything to do with organization.  And, I love taking an organizational tool and making it into something pretty.  That is where my problem comes in.  If I would just make something and use it, that would be great, but I have to make it pretty before I can make myself use it.

A couple years ago, I got the idea to make a menu board for the kitchen.  I like to cook but I struggle with the planning ahead of time.  I thought if I had a cute little board hanging in the kitchen, I would want to plan meals.  I got a magnetic white board and used the "Eat" Decor Element across the top.  I then put a piece of DSP on the bottom, tied a ribbon around it and hung it in the kitchen.  Well, the board was cute but it wasn't practical for what I wanted to accomplish.  For the last couple years, it has served several purposes.  At Christmas, it has held up cute pieces of artwork made by the boys.  At other times, I have hung recipes that I want to try and sometimes it holds coupons that I want to be sure to use.  I have looked at it over the last couple weeks trying to figure out how to make it more useful.  I think I finally have it and finished it over the weekend.

I'm really happy with how it turned out but, more importantly, I'm hoping it will help me plan a weekly menu. I used the Sycamore Street DSP for the background on the board and my meal strips.  I went through and typed out my family's favorite entrees and sides so that each strip is a complete meal. I did that in Microsoft Word with some fun fonts to make them appealing to look at.  If I had more time, I would have made them in MDS with a picture of the entree but I decided I needed to just get them done.  For the magnets, I used the soda pop tops, round disc magnets and DSP punched with the 1" circle punch.  I used Crystal Effects to put them together.  So, now it is up and I have to actually use it.  We'll see how it goes.  Happy Monday!

Sunday Swap Share

Just wanted to share a few swaps from Leadership starting with one of my own:

I love this stamp set and the reason I got it was to make a masculine birthday card. I like how this one turned out.

Supplies:

• By the Tide & From the Heart stamp sets
• Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake & Not Quite Navy Ink
• Not Quite Navy & Very Vanilla cardstock
• Parker's Patterns DSP, Linen Thread & Vintage Trinkets

 by Twila Mooneyham

 by Allison Okamitsu

Million Dollar Moments

The sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches is really cool this week.  Using a sketch or a color challenge helps me so much because it gives me some direction.  For those of you that struggle with the creativity side of stamping, I highly recommend looking for sketches.  On The Freshly Made Sketches site, you can even access all the past sketches!  Find a sketch you like, see what stamps will work with it, pick a color that you want to work with and then either use the Color Coach to help with the other colors or pull out some dsp for the color direction.  These are the steps I take and they really help me when I need to make something original.  Here is the sketch:

And here is what I created:

Supplies:

• Million Dollar Moments Hostess Stamp Set (125137)
• Window Frames Collection Framelits Dies (129021)
• Sunshine & Sprinkles Designer Series Paper (126922)
• Cloudy Day Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (127022)
• Lucky Limeade Ruffled Ribbon (122977)
• Colors: Whisper White, Lucky Limeade, Basic Gray & Marina Mist

CCMC239

When I saw this Sketch Challenge over at Create with Connie and Mary, I got really excited.  The sketch is one of my go to layouts.  I tend to put the image on the left side but it is pretty much the same.  I decided to ink up the bike in Sentimental Journey and go from there.  Here is what I came up with after playing around with some different color combinations.

 

Supplies

• Stamp Sets: Sentimental Journey & En Francais
• Colors: Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Summer Starfruit
• Accessories: Vintage Faceted Buttons, Sycamore Street DSP, Linen Thread, Stitched Ribbon
• Big Shot: Windows Framelits

Sunday Swap Share

Some of my favorite swaps from Leadership this year:

by Joanne Rolston

by Patti McDermott

by Vicki Edwards

A FAN{TACHE}TIC Greeting

I will be the first to admit that I am not a big fan of Valentine's Day.  I don't like the pressure that comes with it but I will take advantage of every opportunity that I get to be crafty.  I showed you the shovels that I did for Reid's class yesterday so today I thought I would show you my MDS creations for the older boys' classmates.  These were so easy to make.  I put four on a sheet and printed them on my printer.  I attached the lollipop with tape and voila!

Hope you have a wonderful valentine's day!

Handstamped Valentines

As the mom of three boys, I know the day will come when I can no longer make valentines for them to take to school.  I did make ones in MDS for the older two but I had to make sure that they were cool enough before I printed them.  (I will share them in another post.)  For Reid, I wanted to do something cute since he is only 2 and in preschool.  I grabbed my go to stamp set for almost anything I need to make for a boy, I Dig You.  I stamped the digger and then stamped "I Dig You" on each tag before tying it onto the shovel.  Since these shovels were on the bigger side, there was no way that I was going to fill a bag with that much candy and send it home with all those 2 year olds.  So, I decided to fill the bags with pretzels instead.  I picked up these shovels several years ago in the after summer sale. I had enough to do pink ones for the girls and blue ones for the boys.  I even stamped the digger in pink for the girls.  Enjoy!

MDS meets Mickey

Tuesday has become my favorite day of the week.  I love seeing all the new MDS downloads and coming up with new and fun ways to use them!  Right now, I am finishing up the boys' valentines and will share those tomorrow.  Today, I want to share a fun project that I did for our trip to Disney World back in January.  I love for the kids to get the characters' autographs but I have never really loved the books that Disney sells.  I decided for this trip that I would make my own books for the boys.  I was even more excited when my 10 year old told me that he liked it.  I made it as a swatchbook.  The first picture is the cover and then I just copied the signature page on the front and back of each following page.  I think these little books would be fun for a number of trips on which you would get autographs.  I've already started thinking of sporting events that I could make them for or even an end of the year book for each child to sign and write a little something to the teacher.