Stamp from HL

Here is a stamp I picked up while I was at Hobby Lobby the other day. I wanted to order this stamp a while back but it was out of stock. So I got the single monkey and the one with the banana on his head. I was tickled when I found this one at HL! I also got this paper there too. So I had to make a few cards with this. Now, all the cards look the same, but I have 6 of them. That is normally what I do, I make 4-6 cards each time I sit down to make one. Which is great if I like the way the cards turn out.

Now, the Bella card, I'm not too thrilled with it. But I also have 6 of them! lol I don't know what is missing from this one but it just seems a little plain. Maybe I could add something to it but normally that turns into a disaster, so I just left it as is.

I can't wait until my orders start coming in. I got some money for Christmas and I have ordered some things from MFT, Bellas, SU, and Elzybells. I can't wait- and of course they will get here after I go back to work!

Eat Cake!

Here is another card I made the other day. I'm thinking something is missing from this one. Oh well! I used Eat Cake because I really like that set, however, I have yet to create a card with that set I'm in love with. I guess I need to spend a little more time with it!

Yesterday was a good day for me! When Chris got home we went to Hobby Lobby and I bought some Copic markers with some of my Christmas money. I will give them a try and post my results later. We also went to the book store and I picked up a couple of yoga books. My SIL told me that it might help with my side hurting/Crohn's so I bought some. And I'm going to try to do it at least once a day and see if it helps at all. Things were going well in that department until I ate some chili yesterday afternoon and WHAM! it hit me like a ton of bricks. The crazy thing? I had the exact same chili the day before and it didn't bother me at all. I can only hope the yoga helps since nothing else does. Ooops- I didn't mean to slip into the poor pitiful me act! I'm off to try my yoga and make some more cards!

Another Case

I've been making several cards over the last several days. My craftiness is slowly coming back. I saw a card similar to this on SCS so this isn't really my idea. I used the Christmas set I used for my own Christmas cards but I used different colors so it doesn't look so Christmas like. And I changed a few things. I pulled out my in colors- soft sky, blue bayou, and purely pomegranate. I also used the Cuttlebug to emboss the soft sky background. So, what do you think? I love it! A way to use a Christmas set throughout the year! Yippie!

Christmas Thank You Cards

I decided to make my thank you cards this year and I wanted to make a card where the snowman looks like marshmallows. So I used my square punch and the corner rounder and got busy. I also used the word window punch to make the graham cracker base. I used my Cold Play set to make the face and hands for this little guy. I'm not sure why I always end up using night of navy for snow cards but I do. So here are my thank you cards that I've already mailed for my Christmas gifts.

Where to get tins?

Well, since Lynn asked about eating all those Altoids, I had to share this. I order all my tins from http://www.specialtybottle.com/index.asp. I love this site and their prices are reasonable. I normally order 20 or so tins and it takes me a while to use them all. It is about time to order more. The tins for gift cards are the specialty tin THN4. I hope this helps!

Gift Box

Here is a box I made for some cash I'm giving for Christmas. I wanted to have a cute little box to put it in. I used the SU Christmas paper and a few pieces of chipboard. I also added a little tag that I had and a little bling in the middle.

I have ordered some more stamps with my Christmas money so I'll be stamping again soon. I'm off work for a week or so- so I do plan to make some new things and update my blog.

Things have been so crazy at school that I haven't had much time to do much stamping lately. When I get home I'm worn out! With my time off work I'm going to clean up my stamping desk and make some new goodies!

OK, I know...

... I haven't posted in a while. I have made a few things but none of them are finished yet. I even forgot and gave some gifts without taking pictures.

So I thought I would share something we did at school with my 5th grade class. We dissected owl pellets! The kids loved it! Here is a picture of a skull we found inside one. In case you don't know, an owl doesn't have teeth. So it swallows its food whole. Then all the stuff that it can't digest gets packed in and spit back out as a pellet. The kids loved it!

My Christmas Cards

My Christmas cards are done! This is a complete CASE from splitcoast. They were so easy to make and I whipped them out in a few hours. I used the Christmas DP. Since I had to make 30 cards I used two different designs of paper. I love the way these turned out. It wasn't too hard to do and I can't wait to send them out.

The crazy thing is that I had these made before my Halloween cards. That is so unusual for me but they are finished! I haven't been stamping much lately because I haven't been feeling well. It's been a rough few weeks for me. Maybe I'll feel like stamping again soon! I've just about run out of things to show you so I guess I need to get stamping!

Bee Movie

Tonight I went with the kids from my class to see the Bee Movie. It was pretty funny and it had some adult humor as well. It was funny to hear the adults laughing and the kids had no idea. It was a lot of fun. We normally plan a movie night a few times a year so the kids can bring their families and meet us at the movie.

I thought I would post another card I made 2 weeks ago and didn't ever post. I love this new set and I just haven't had time to play with it much. I used the floral background on the card base. I can't wait to make more cards with this one!

Halloween Cards 2007

For some reason, this year I just couldn't get inspired to make a Halloween card. I tried many different designs and just wasn't happy with anything I made. I finally decided to make these to send out but I still wasn't thrilled with it. But this is it for this year. Maybe I'll be more inspired next year!

Christmas Cards for Mom

Since I don't have the stuff to make my Christmas cards yet I pulled out the stuff my mom bought for her Christmas cards. She bought this she thought she would make the cards but never got around to it. So she just brought the stuff to me. So I pulled it out and started working. These are pretty easy to make. The hardest thing is cutting out those little hearts. She had all the stuff to make them so I thought I'd go ahead and knock them out since I had the week off. She liked them because it turned out just like the ones in the old catty. I plan to make 20 of them and I have 10 done.

Writing Round Up Scrapbook

I thought I would post a little something today. Last week was a wild week at shcool! Tuesday we had a field trip. So needless to say that after that it was hard to keep the kids focused the rest of the week. Then Tuesday night we had an open house and PTA meeting at school. The school's first smart board was installed in my classroom and the principal asked me to do a demonstration for parents who came. I had quite a few parents and kids come in to see how it was used. Wednesday morning we had a fundraiser assembly. Thursday was Colonial Day. The kids made butter, had baked apples, and played some colonial games. Then Friday was Writing Round Up. They dressed up like cowboys and we read cowboy books. Then they picked their favorite and wrote an expository essay about it. We had chili, grilled cheese, and smores. The kids had a great time and so did we! We have a week off from school, all I can say is thank goodness for fall break! lol It comes every year just when we need it.

So I decided to make a little scrapbook to put the kids' pictures in from writing round up. If you read my blog you know I'm not a scrapbooker so this was a challenge for me. Once I got started on these pages it fell into place. I still have more pages to do but this is what I have so far.

I don't know how many pictues I'm going to end up with because we had a lot of parents taking pictures. So I figured if I don't have enough pictues to fill up the book I'm going to do some journaling. This is a little new to me so I'll just work on it and let you know how it turns out.

I'm off work this week so I hope to find some time to stamp and I'll post here soon!

Secret Pals at Work

We have secret pals at work and I made some things for her this weekend. The first thing I made was a composition notebook with the red and black ladybugs. I should have made one of these for myself as well but then she might know who I am. It is a little hard to keep that a secret though because there is just one or two other people other than myself who makes things like this.

I also made some post it note holders, and as you can see, I made a few of these. The one for my secret pal has her name on it. The others I left blank for later. They were super easy to make. One of my past secret pals made me one of these and I love it. So I whipped up a few to give away as well. There is velcro on the inside flap to keep it closed.

And the last thing I made was this gift card box. I plan to get a gift card from Starbucks to put inside this one. I can't believe this is the first thing I have made with this set. It was in the mini catalog last winter and just had to have it. And it has never even touched ink until yesterday. I do like it though and I plan to use it a little more this winter. I have several friends who like coffee so it will make some cute cards to send to them!

Of course I plan to spread these goodies out over a few weeks, but I think my secret pal will be pleased with the goodies (I hope). I just got on a kick yesterday and made all these things. I need to look back at my list to see what she likes again so I can make some more goodies for her!

Yucky Swap!

I am part of the secret sisters on SCS. For this round our coordinator came up with a yucky swap for us to do. Here is the information we received:

make a package containing the following:
one or two of your favorite embelishment
half a sheet of cardstock scored in half of your mostundesired, "would not use even if its the last cardstock you have"color
quarter sheet cardstock of your sister's most undesired color
neutral cardstock of varying size for stamping (very vanilla, whisper white, the like)
a couple of punch outs of your favorite color IE: round tab punch, circle punch outs, etcput it all in an envelope, and mail it to your little sis

LIL SIS:when you recieve the package, your job is to make the prettiest card ever with both of your most undesirable color

So here is my end result- I did bend the rules a little because there was no way I could use the whole piece of green and all those punches! Big sis- if you are reading this you really challenged me with this one. I love green but those two colors are the two that I dislike the most! So I added a little pink when I colored in the images and tried to tone down that green. Wow- what a challenge that was!

From last weekend...

Finally, here are the cards I made the other weekend when Chris was at the races. I decided it was time to make pictures of the and get them posted. The first one is a new Bella I played with. I put crystal effects on the boots and the umbrella. I'm not sure if it shows up in the picture but they look like the real thing. I also did paper piecing with the umbrella to make it stand out a little bit.

I got this wonderful paper from Pegi and I just had to pull out the papertreyink stamps to use with it. I LOVE this paper and I thought this butterfly went perfectly with it.

I also traced over the swirls on the butterfly with my glitter pen to make this one sparkle. I used true thyme, pretty in pink, and naturals confetti paper. I must get some more of this DP to play with because I think this is my favorite from the bunch Pegi sent. Thanks so much Pegi!

VSN Dragonfly

Here is another card I made during VSN. I know, I'm slipping down on my job- I have pictures to post but I haven't done it! This week at school has been a little crazy. Today we had our first science club meeting. This is one of my crazy creations! lol It was so much fun, we did forensic science today and tested evidence for saliva. I think their favorite part was when they got to spit on a cotton ball and use it as the control! lol

OK, I don't own this set, but since I was VSNing at Trace's house I got to use her stamps too! I did this one for the resist challenge. I'm not sure I'm crazy about the colors. And a little bit more news- I actually stamped this last weekend. Chris went to the dragraces and he had the camera so I didn't get to post those. I'll get that camera out soon and make the pics so I can post them too!

OMG- have you seen how many hits I have on this site? I can't believe I have that many people checking my blog. I might have to see what I can do about some blog candy soon!

Miss U VSN

I am sitting here this morning waiting to go the the doctor's office. My appointment is late enough that I had to get a sub for the whole day. And the bad thing is that I have to go back for a faculty meeting because I organized this one. Oh well, so I might be able to enjoy a little of my time. I thought I would post another card I made for VSN. This one had to me a miss you card. If you aren't familiar with VSN, you should know that you only have 45 minutes to complete each card. This one I finished early and couldn't figure out anything else to add to it. Plus I wasn't at home with all my supplies so I couldn't add the flowers I wanted to add in the bottom corner. This is the first time I've used this Bella stamp. It really is sad how many Bella stamps I have now! I just love them though!

Stamping with Leaves

This is my favorite card from the VSN bunch I made last night. This challenge asked you to get leaves from the yard and stamp with them. I used fall colors and then sponged some river rock around the leaves so soften it up a little. I embossed the words in gold. I think this might be one I repeat soon!

VSN @ Trace's House

I went to my friend Trace's house tonight to do VSN on SCS. We had a great time. Everytime a new challenge was posted she would print them out and come in the kitchen to tell us what we had to do. She had borrowed this stamp from me a while back so I pulled it out and used it. The challenge was to use the same stamp on the main image and the background. So I stamped the words down the right hand side of the white that says what the symbols stand for. I used her green/copper embossing powder and embossed the stamped image and I colored the black brads she had. I had a lot of fun with Trace and Kelly this VSN. I have more cards to post but I'll spread it over the next few days so I can have something to post!

Something is Missing...

...other than me from the blogging world. I know those of you who read my blog on a regular basis have probably been wondering if I dropped off the face of the earth! Since school started back I've been so busy and worn out that I haven't been stamping.

There seems to be something missing from all the cards I make lately. I'm just not happy about the way things have been turning out lately. I guess I'm partly pleased with my new huggy bella card. If you know me well you know I'm the one on the right, wearing black and white, my signature colors! I also used the daisy from Martha Stewart. This is te first time I've used them but I do like the way it looks. I just think something might be missing from the bottom. I probably should have used a background stamp on the base so it didn't look so blank down there.

The next bella card is made using my favorite Bella, but again something is missing. It just looks too plain for my taste. But I think I'm gotten in the habit of overdoing so many cards that I don't think this one is up to par.

The final card is the one that takes the cake. I borrowed this set from my friend Trace. I thought about buying it when it first came out in the mini catalog but I didn't because I hated the birds. <--- Did you see that, I hated the birds? Do you see what I stamped on this card? OMG- so not me!!! I must have really been struggling when I thought stamping/embossing the birds on there would be good. It actually turned out okay, just not my taste. And I'm such a silver girl- and I used gold. Someone help me before I make another bird card!!!! lol

My DH is the BEST!

Today he gave me a Three Stone Diamond Ring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I still can't believe it! It was out of the blue and was a total surprise- I am so excited about it and shocked as well! It is a past, present, future ring and it has a total of 18 diamonds in it, princess cut (which is my favorite cut)!

He is such a wonderful husband and he said he wanted me to have it because I have had such a bad week. I found out I'll have to have shots for the rest of my life and was feeling a little down about it. Boy did he know how to cheer me up! lol I told him I need a new wedding band to go with it now, lol, I was joking of course! I love it! I just wanted you all to know that I'm married to the most wonderful man in the world!

I've been MIA!

I haven't been stamping much since school started back. I have been flat worn out when I get home and I normally end up taking a nap before I go to bed! I have been through more tests from a doc and he found out I have a B12 deficiency. I have started the shots and they say I should have more energy. I haven't seen it yet but it may take a while. The doc said my level was 164 and normal is between 200-900, so it was real low. I'm doing shots once a day for now to build it back up and get me going again. I am planning to go to a friend's house and stamp tomorrow so maybe I'll have something new to post.

School Starts Tomorrow!

Sorry that I don't have anything stamping related to post. I started back to work this week. Monday we had meetings all day and Tuesday was our work day/open house. I got to meet my new students and their parents. It was fun and things went really well. Today I presented to the faculty, along with my good friend Kelly. We presented all the wonderful things we learned during our Las Vegas trip.

My classroom is ready, I'm just not sure I am! lol I guess it is a little late now. I'm worn out from the week already but I know I'll get a burst of energy when I see all those new little faces enter the door. I am looking forward to this year. It has been hard getting back into the swing of things. This summer I didn't go to school myself so I just slept late and did what I wanted to. I am having a hard time getting up early again. They say the older you get the earlier you get up, but I'm still waiting for that! Right now I'm sitting here waiting for the washer to quit so I can pitch the clothes in the dryer and go to bed. I just wanted to check in and let you guys know I'm still in the land of the living!

Bee Happy

Here is a card I made with the cute little bee stamps that I ordered. It came in the day before I left for Las Vegas and I have just had a chance to play with it. I pulled out some designer paper from a big package I picked up at Hobby Lobby. I wanted to doodle around the white scallop but I didn't have a blue marker that matches. So I just left it off. I did punch holes around the yellow and then I went back and went around it with my white gel pen. I wanted to use some colors that aren't normally bee colors so I went with blue and yellow.

Michelle needs...

I saw this on a few people's blogs and I thought it was pretty funny. I saw it again tonight on Deb's blog and I decided to give it a try. To play, you just type in your name needs in a search engine to see the first 10 phrases that show up as a result. I used google and this is what my search came up with:

1. Michelle needs your help
2. Michelle needs a family that will be patient, consistent, kind, loving
3. Michelle needs to exercise her right to shut the f*** up.
4. Michelle needs to move on with someone else since Tony’s no longer around.
5. Michelle Needs Help (No, Literally)
6. Michelle needs to just shut up.
7. Michelle needs money so she can travel to Canada and the US to meet bloggers
8. Michelle needs to look for ways to increase her income
9. Michelle needs a home that can accept her limitations
10. Michelle needs to keep her @** in the LPGA and win something.

Monkey Cup

I picked up this coffee cup from Starbucks this summer. I used a gift card that one of my kids gave me at the end of last school year. They know I love coffee and I was tickled to get a gift card. There was quite a bit on it so I got the cup and several stops at Starbucks. Now we even have a Starbucks on the way to school! Too bad the giftcard is all used up! lol

So when I got the monkey stamps I just had to add them to my cup. I know it is not real fancy but I still love it! School starts Monday so I'll start using it then! BTW- I teach 5th grade and I love it! This year I get to teach Reading, Language, and Science (my favorite subject)!

I love my Bella sistah, Kim!

I got home from working in my classroom all day yesterday and there was a box on the front porch from my Bella sistah, Kim. So I open it up and there is a paper sack. with a guest check on it.

In case you can't read it in the picture it says: 1 Lg. Ribbon Rolls $5.95, 1 Lg. Sweet & sour flowers $7.95, 1 Lg. Brad fried rice $9.95, 1 sm. Button drop soup $6.95 = Fun! Fun! Fun!

When I opened up the bag there were four cute little take out boxes tied up with ribbon. And inside each of them was all the things listed on the ticket. Is this not the cutest thing ever?!!??!? I was so excited to get this package- thanks so much Kim!

Here are the cute little boxes all tied up before I opened them.

Here are the pictures of Button Drop soup, ribbon rolls, brad fried rice, and Sweet & Sour flowers!

I'm back and ready for school!

I know it has been a while since I posted but things have been busy since I got back from Vegas. Of course, I didn't take any pictures in Vegas, which is why I don't scrapbook! lol Kelly and I had a great time. We learned a lot at the conference and we are excited to share it with our faculty. We have finished the powerpoint for the presentation we have to give. I have also been spending a lot of time in my classroom getting everything ready to start back to school. I go back Monday and the kids come back Thursday. So that has kept me busy. I tried to post yesterday but when I signed in blogspot said they thought my blog was spam! Imagine that, lol. So I'm back and I have a few things to post.

Off to Las Vegas

Hello Ladies! I just wanted you to know that I'm off to Las Vegas. I will be back late Wednesday night so I won't post until at least Thursday. I have been tagged by Deb- check out her blog at http://inkydaze.blogspot.com/. I guess I'll go ahead and post the 7 things about me. I'll have to go back and find the blogs when I get back from my trip.

1. I teach 5th grade and I love it! This will be my 6th year to teach. Before I moved to 5th grade I taught 1st grade for 3 years.

2. I enjoy relaxing in the tub everynight and I read while I'm in there. Chris normally knocks on the door to make sure I haven't fallen alseep in there!

3. I love Dr. Pepper and I drink it all the time. I also love coffee!

4. My favorite candy is plain M&M's and Nerds.

5. I have a problem with digestion- they can't figure it out but it could be IBS or IBD. All the doctors tell me they have no idea but my body tells me something is wrong!

6. I collect frogs. They are all over my classroom and at home too! The bathroom is decorated with frogs. Some of the kids in my class counted the frogs in my room last year and they said I had over 60!

7. I don't mind washing clothes but I HATE getting them out of the dryer and putting them up!

I'm headed off to pack and get ready for my trip! Talk to you all when I get back!

Monkey Crazy!

When I got this monkey I fell in love with him! lol So when I saw the sketch challenge on SCS last week I had to use it. I made one little change, the scalloped circle. So I pulled out the DP that I thought would look good with him. I used my papertreyink.com words and the little flower. I drew the stem myself. I added some glitter on the flower with my glitter pen and then put the rhinestone in the center. I also punched holes around the scalloped edge and went around it with the white gel pen.

Tonight I couldn't come up with anything so I just made another monkey card. I pulled some more papertreyink.com stamps for the words and the flower. I think this little guy would cheer up anyone if they got him in the mail. He makes me smile! I have also ordered the one with the banana on his head. I want the one that has the two monkeys on it but he was sold out. Oh well, I'll just have to wait for later on that one. I'm waiting for that package to come in so I can use a different monkey!

I LOVE this monkey!

I picked up this little monkey stamp at the LSS today. I just had to use him on something so I stamped him a couple of times and pulled down my SU monkey set. I used Wild Wasabi, Choc Chip, and White. Then I stamped the heart and put it on a pop up dot to make it stand up. Isn't this too cute?!?!?!?!?

Trace Don't Read This!

I borrowed Carte Postal from my friend Trace. I can't believe how much I like this set. I believe my taste is changing because when this was first in the mini catalog I didn't like it at all! But now I have borrowed this one and I also bought Baroque Motifs!

I also used my Cuttlebug on the light pink. I have got to start using that more on my cards because I love the look of it! I also used the glitter embossing powder on the burgundy swirl thing, but I don't think you can see it very well in the picture. I was going to stamp some swirls on the bottom of the main card but I forgot and stamped the other on the vanilla and all I had was white craft ink. Oh well!

Here is the part I didn't want Trace to read yet! This is the card I made for her birthday. I used the Baroque Motif set and the words are from my Little Lady papertreyink set. I really like these new colors- I used River Rock on this one. This is the first time I've used the slot punch to make scallops on the bottom. It took a little while for me to figure out how to do this so it looked right but I finally got it done. My center flower is not quite centered but it's handmade! lol That is the excuse I always use when something isn't lined up just right.

I may have some time and creative juices back so I'll post again soon!

Sketch Challenge & Petal Rut

When I saw this sketch challenge I knew what I was going to do. I have had this Penny Black stamp, the sensations, for a while. But I have never made anything with it. So I pulled it out! I colored the image with reinkers and a blender pen. Then I used the ticket punch on the corners and added some heart brads. I also used my papertreyink words. This stamp reminds me of my friends and I just had to make this card. It is perfect! I'll be sending several of these out to my close friends.

I have been trying to come up with something to make with my Pick a Petal set from SU. I'm not sure I'm crazy about any of the cards I have come up with yet. The first one is the brown and pink one. I think maybe there are too many polka dots. It needs something to break up all the dots, but for the life of me I can't come up with anything to do with it. I also punched two word windows and wrapped around the outside edge. I colored in some of the dots with a blender pen dipped in a reinker.

The second card was inspired by some DP I have. It looks a little drab but it is all I could come up with. I used chipboard to cut out the petals for the flower. I didn't even stamp them! I used some of the new colors on this one. I'm not sure why I'm having such a hard time coming up with something to make with this set. It is so cute and there are so many cute cards on SCS. Maybe I should just CASE something so I can make something I'm proud of.

BTW- I'm still waiting for my catty to get here. This wait is killing me!!!

South Park Characters Chris and Michelle

OK, I saw Sarah's blog and I just had to see what my husband and I would look like if we were SouthPark characters. I'm not a big South Park fan but my husband watches it a lot. This just cracked me up! Want to see what you would look like? Check this out!

I know, I need to stop playing and stamp. I did make a few cards last night with Pick a Petal and nothing was turning out right. I just got frustrated so I quit. Maybe my mood will be better and I'll try again today!