School's ALMOST out!

Well, another school year, almost done! Certainly, there are THREE people in my household who are THRILLED about this... and ONE person and THREE cats who are Not-So-Thrilled. Not so sure I'm ready for LOUD days, but I guess I could go for trips to the beach, Adventure Island, and Ryan-Available-For-EXTRA-Housework.... (he does NOT read my blog, so I believe I am out of luck). ANYWAYS... I made this card for my sister, Tracy, a few months ago. Tracy - also happy school is almost out! This was supposed to cheer her up and let her know I was thinking of her and praying for her during her very-annoying school year.

SHOCKING, I know, but that would be Cosmo Cricket paper (Jack's World) you are feasting your eyes on! Also, the tree is a cardstock sticker, also, from the Cricket. I sewed buttons on. That's the only sewing I can handle. Here's the inside:

The "hang in there" stamp is a treasure from the Michael's dollar bin a couple of years back... I stamped it on the paper, then stamped it on ivory paper and cut out the box only and taped it on.

Let me INSPIRE you to encourage someone today! You know, with a lovely card:)

Par-tea

I've decided it isn't JUST Rochel who can talk me into doing anything for them, it's Sister-In-Law's in General.  Well, and probably Sisters.  Although,  I prefer to drop the "in-law" part for these girls, anyways.   That makes a whole group of Sisters.  Who-talk-me-into-projects.  Which I don't mind.  

Especially since we don't live close, I was THRILLED for the opportunity to be a "part" of our neice, Chloe's birthday party in some way.  These are invitations I made for her 3rd birthday Tea Party.  She has cute little teacups that are purple, yellow, orange, and green polka dots for all her friends to use at the bash.  We love these kids just as much as the 19 pound pumpkin who lives down the street, so it's really nice to get to do something so simple for them.

ANYWAYS, SU cardstock in Wild Wasabi, and Vintage Violet (I have a serious amount of this shade leftover from Rochel's wedding!!) and, of course, COSMO CRICKET patterened paper from the new Snorkel line (ha!  there are SUPPOSED to be fish with it!), and metal tags from STAPLES (that's for you, Dean... I know you are getting card-making ideas from my blog).  The teapot is from theangelcompany and teacup inside is SU!  Both are "random" (makes me happy) stamps that are actually party give-a-ways.

Here's the angel herself... but this picture is from last spring when her sister was born.  She gets cuter everyday!

Happy Birthday, Chloe!

Celebrating FOUR

In case you haven't heard...

Ben had a little good news today. So, his Card Making Mama HAD to make, what else, a card to celebrate. Once I did NOT make a birthday card for Ryan and he actually commented on it, you know, somewhere along the lines of "you make cards for everyone else? But not me?". Since then, I make cards for the boys-who-could-usually-care-less. We are celebrating tonight, too... dinner out, ice cream, late night Wii championship. There's no school tomorrow, so that helps!

For Christmas, Ryan's mom gave me some much loved Cosmo Cricket paper, which I much love. She said that when she ordered it, they threw in this "not-Cosmo-Cricket paper" that she thought I could definately use for my boys. It's from the "Hello Space Boy" line from Valerie Foster, Cosmic Chaos. Yup, definately came in handy! I cut one of the images out with my Oval Nestabilities and then cut out some SU! cardstock (blue brocade) to mount it on, and while I was laying it out to tape down, it fell sideways and I thought it kind of looked like a space monster eye, and a new idea was born. Add on the tag with the very-important-number-4 and a little ribbon, and it's done!

The inside is stamped with a Michael's dollar bin stamp that says "Way to go" with some stars... we are really proud of Ben!

Artsy Feline

You have to know I'm a Cat Lover... well, I am more of a Cat Tolerator, while Carly is the Cat Lover... That's what I tell myself every day when I am surrounded by the 3 felines I have allowed to invade our home. Miggy is old as the hills and going blind, Elfy is a crybaby who insists on sitting ON me every chance Carly isn't sitting still (which is NEVER) and Cassidy... well, he's our only Cool Cat because he ONLY likes BEN and leaves the rest of us alone... he's gray, and all cats I color are gray because of this... more than you wanted to hear?


Anyways... every Mother of a Cat Lover needs to have in their stamping arsenal a fine collection of feline stamps to entertain their small Cat Lover. I have indulged my girl with yet another fun set, from, who else, TAC. This card will be an "end-of-the-year" card for the Art Teacher, who we all really love. Since my husband (the Librarian) is considered a "specials teacher", we try our hardest NOT to forget the Specials Teacher's in our end of the year and Christmas well-wishing.


stamps: TAC, felinefabulous
paper: Cosmo Cricket (more girl friday), SU cardstock pink pirouette, old olive
other: circle and scallop nestablilities, martha stewart border punch (doily lace), prima flower, rhinestone brad from target dollar spot.

Dreamin' bout BUGS!

My kids will tell you that when they are off to college, Mama's gettin' a bug. As in, Car. We are unclear on the color (one would think I'd want red, but I am partial to the light blue one, too)... Big VW fan, and I had to "settle" on the more "child friendly" Jetta a few years ago. Love that car, too. ANYWAYS.... theangelcompany retired a stamp set a couple of years ago called groovybug that I REALLY wanted to get, but really only wanted it for one stamp, so hard to justify (as if one can EVER justify the purchase of rubber stamps! ha!). They are running a special right now where you can get a bag of random stamps that might be from retired sets, or currents sets. I figured, why not? THRILLED that my bag included THE BUG STAMP!!!! If you aren't aware of how I feel about RANDOM things, let me tell you, this made me smile for a while!

paper: Cosmo Cricket - girl friday paper (of course! Perfect stamp, perfect paper), SU cardstock (icky sage shadow)

stamps: TAC groovybug, TAC awittlebug (also in the bag of fun)

ribbon: SU old olive grosgrain

other: oval nestabilities

It is also important to note that after PAYING for my kids non-negotiable college education, I'm certain this car IS really just a dream... but what a fun one!

OH! And YES, Tracy, Carly DID punch me when she looked at my card, screaming in that giggly voice, "Punch Bug No Return!" THANK YOU so much for teaching my children that "game". Hmmm, another reason to stick with the Jetta... no injuries.

Make some Stamp Cleaner

Ok, I haven't TRIED this out yet, but I'm going to! I've been trying to find out how the make your own stamp cleaner since I'm kind of tired from buying it from Stampin' Up!... you know, for over $8 a bottle. Yes, I know you can clean your stamps with baby wipes, but honestly, never cared for that method. So, here's the recipe, as posted on www.splitcoaststampers.com (ever go there?!?!? It's a fun website!)

2 Tablespoons glycerin (in the Rx dept.)
8 oz. distilled water
1 teaspoon baby wash

It sure would have been nice if I had TRIED it before I posted, but REALLY I needed somewhere to put the recipe until I get all the stuff... for some reason our word processor takes WAY TOO LONG to load on our crazy computer.

Umm, Rochel? Can I "borrow" some baby wash?!?!

Ok... I will post my results.... eventually.

Carly's Challenge

One day, I thought it would be fun to let CARLY challenge ME in my cardmaking skills. I let her pick out a stamp set and a piece of patterned paper and I created this card for her. You have to know that the girl loves CATS! I love this set from theangelcompany... a MUST HAVE set for any Mama of a girlie-girl. The "Delight" stamp is actually from Stampin'Up! (now retired)... but it was originally a background stamp with about 30 other words, and it just wasn't working for me in that format, so I cut the whole thing up and now use it all the time, individually. The patterned paper is from Die Cuts with a View paper pad from JoAnn's (Old World... I've actually gone through a whole pad of this stuff, and had to buy another!). Cardstock from SU!

I did make Carly her own card, but for her's, I add some glittery stickles-dots in the bottom left corner of the cat image... the girl needed some BLING! They didn't really look that great, but Little Miss LOVED it and I think THAT might be why she told me it was a "very good card". Ahhhh, approval!