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!

Going out in JOY...

My sister, Mrs. Townsend, asked me to make some cards that she can send to each of her students at the end of the year... This is what I came up with! And since my friend gave me her "Turtles" chocolate tin and it just happend to "match" and fit the cards, I made a box for them to go in... Tracy's kindergarten class is called "KC"... The paper is new from Stampin'Up!, Candy Lane double sided and cardstock is SU, too... STILL enjoying the CuttleBug and Nestabilities, label one. The "circle" of letters that reads "Mrs. Townsend..." is from JustRite Stampers.

The butterfly punch is from Martha Stewart's line at Michael's... and the ribbon charm (above) is Making Memories, letter stamps (above) are from theangelcompany...

.... I think my favorite part is the envelope:

... it seemed appropriate for kids going forward with their lives, etc... plus, our kids school has this "end-of-fifth-grade" tradition of the Clap Out. Last day of elementary school, the 5th graders parade from their classroom outside while everyone else is "clapping them out" and they are all crying. Hysterically. And yes, Ryan thinks this is REALLY funny. So, I'm CERTAIN, my sister will be the "trees of the field" on the last day of school.

... has it been a while since you've read Isaiah 55? It had been for me and I'm glad I took the time to check it out... you can certainly read the whole chapter, but you might start in verse 8, Tracy! Yup, there's a "reason" Chase is in your class!

Feel Better, Mrs. Hicks!

Cheery card I made for my cousin, Kim. She's recovering from surgery, and probably wouldn't mind your prayers for QUICK healing!

This card is made with cardstock from Stampin'Up!, and patterned paper from Basic Grey. The stamp is theangelcompany, hostess set.

True story about my cousin: She got married a couple of years ago and I THOUGHT her "new name" was Kim Hicks and proceded to send her Christmas cards addressed this way. Well, fastforward to January, when I "asked" her to be my friend on FaceBook and noticed that this, in fact, was NOT her name. So, when I "asked" her about it, she let me know that they've been giggling about it for a while now. Hmmm. I've decided she will ALWAYS be Mrs. Hicks to me. Although, I'm sure she was disappointed that I actually "addressed" her card correctly, this time.
Another true fact regarding my cousin, Kim: I secretly love it whenever my mom tells me that I look like Kim. And she says this a lot. It could have something to do with sulky, pensive looks, or eyerolling, but I am honored, none-the-less.

Feel Better, Girl!