{ the baby gift }

When my friends have babies, I like to give them a different type of gift. My good friends, Katie and Jason, are expecting their first child at the end of July. A few friends of mine gave her a baby shower this afternoon. Below is a picture of Katie and Jason's present.

I have made several of these the past couple of years.....and I must admit, this is my favorite word album so far. I think it's the colors that makes me love it so much.

This is the card I made for the shower. Isn't it adorable?

Post a comment; let me know what you think!

{ the spanish art }

This week is what I like to call "The Spanish Teacher Has Lost Her Mind Because She Thinks Doing Projects With 300+ Students All Under The Age Of 10 Is A Good Idea Week!" That's right, it is Project Week in Spanish class at Joyner. Usually, I dread these weeks because the students all work at different speeds. I'm not only helping some students complete their project, but I also have to keep the others busy once they have finished. HOWEVER, this week has been different! I have never witnessed these students working so hard and staying so focused on their projects. The results have been spectacular!

We have been making Huichol Art (a type of Mexican Folk Art). The Huichol people are ones that live in the Sierra Madre Mountains in Mexico. The art they make is pictures they decorate with yarn and beans. Sounded simple enough to me! I found a picture of a cerdo (pig) with cool designs on it, so I made copies on green construction paper. Why green? It is my favorite color, and white paper is BORING (I have an unusually high amount of green construction paper in my office)! I loved doing this project so much that I decided to make a few of my own. Here they are:


Tuesday's pig...I had left the yarn at my house, so Tuesday's classes used only beans!


Wednesday's pig...I remembered the yarn. I love, love, love this one! I worked on it during all four of the classes. Yes, it took me all day to do it!


Thursday's pig...it's not finished just yet! And yes, I have been working on it since 9:15 this morning. This one received the best ratings among my peers. I think it's because the flowers are a little more detailed!

{ the workshop in march }

This stamp set is Sip by Sip. I love it....it's probably my favorite! I am a coffee lover! And if you haven't heard, I gave up my Starbucks for Lent. Now, this may not be a big deal for most people, but I was having Starbucks everyday. It is like an addiction (I assume)! Well, I am proud to announce that I have been Starbucks sober for five whole weeks! Go me! But I digress...our monthly workshops are held in the loft above Beans 'n Cream in Columbus. Shout out! In the spirit of environment, I thought a coffee card would be appropriate. The quote on the card reads, "Enjoy life sip by sip, not gulp by gulp." I thought that was pretty profound. The colors are from the Earth Elements family (and one of the In Colors) - Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun, and Whisper White.

{ the workshop in february }

I have a monthly workshop with a group of creative ladies in Columbus. Every month, we make two projects. This card was one of the projects. I like to call it "Sweet Flowerpots." Stupid...I know! The stamp set it Sweet Stems. I used Certainly Celery and Barely Banana cardstock. The pots are made using the round tab punch on Really Rust cardstock. This is a cute spring-like card. I think the ladies like it! The other project was the candy box. I posted those a while back!

{ the baby album }

A friend of mine had a beautiful baby girl back (named Sarah) in December. I made this word album for little Sarah. You can get these at your local Hobby Lobby; they have FAMILY, FRIENDS, BABY, and LOVE. They are fun to do....a little time consuming.....but fun! The paper is Stampin' Up!'s Rock-a-Bye Girl Simply Scrappin' Kit. It came with stickers and embellishments! So awesome! I put a layer of Mod Podge on all of the pages. And by the way, Mod Podge is my new favorite accessory. I have done a dozen of these word albums before. This was the first time I used the Mod Podge on one. Love it!!!!!! Jamie really liked and appreciated the album! I cant wait to see it once pictures are put in it.

{ the birthday }

Today is my very good friend's birthday! So, of course, I made her a card. This was her birthday card. I found this layout on a website I frequent. It is soooooooooooo simple to do! The only thing that is stamped is the bow at the top. I used one of my favorite stamp sets...Pick-a-Petal. Just to jazz the card up a bit, I added a little irredescent glitter glue. I just love glitter glue! It adds a POP to a card! I think I am joining Glitter Glue's Fan Club!

{ the wedding favors }

Victoria wanted wedding favors also! These are what I like to call "Sour Cream Pouches." These are fun because you can make them for any occasion. The ones for the wedding had chocolates with a "D" on them (Victoria made those.) and Jordan Almonds. All of the papers are Stampin' Up! I printed a script D on So Saffron cardstock, then punched them out and put them on scallop-punched cardstock...all tied together with Old Olive grosgrain ribbon!

{ the wedding book }

As if you didn't already read the title of this post, these are the pens and guestbook I did for my friend's wedding. The idea was "stolen" from a local gift shop. And I like a challenge, so when Victoria asked me if I could make one for her, I accepted. I was incredibly proud of these. She wanted a guestbook where not only could the attendees sign, but they could write a message. I had a pretty good message, if I do say so myself....and I do! My message is the one in the picture. It says, "There is only one happiness in life, to love and to be loved. Congratulations to you both! Love, Jennifer." The pens are super cool! It is just a Bic pen that is wrapped with ribbon. Then at the top of the pen is a rose (made out of ribbon). I love how this looks.

{ the ribbon }

Now, the stamp is not Stampin' Up! But the card stock, ribbon, and ink colors are. I love the softness of these cards. And I love how the ribbon color changes the look of the card, yet they are equally appealing.

I can't choose the one I like best.

{ the butterfly pop-up }

This was a card I did for a make-and-take at the January workshop I had in Columbus. It is a bit time-consuming, but the outcome is beautiful.

On the front of the card, I used Designer Series Paper in Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, and Chocolate Chip...three of my favorite colors that I ALWAYS use. And when you open the card, the butterflies look to be in flight. I love the stamp set (Flight of the Butterfly) because you can mix and match the design of the butterflies. The spiral part is just a circle that I cut.

On the difficulty scale, I give this card a 2.3 out of 5. It is rather simple to do, just tedious. You have to cut out all of the butterflies...ugh! But once it is finished, you are like....OOOOHHH!!!! AHHHH!

{ the AC/DC shadowbox }

I thought this one was so cool! A co-worker asked me if I could shadowbox some items for her husband's Valentine's present. I love getting to do crafty things for people, so I accepted the challenge. The background is a shirt she bought the night before thinking it would look nice in the box. Now, I have to admit something. When she asked me to do the shadowbox, she didn't mention adding a shirt! And those are not easy to sew down to the mat (you know, making sure it is folded evenly....yipes!!!). So, the afternoon she brought me the items, I visited "The Hob" for the second time that week. I was looking for an easy way to incorporate the shirt. Well, after Rolodexing through my mind all of the possibilities, I decided to take a shadowbox apart. I put the mat inside the shirt....and the rest is history. I think this frame looked so neat with the shirt as the background.

At the bottom are the concert tickets and the band's latest CD. Now, I know it doesn't look centered...but a picture that she doesn't have yet is going on the other side of the CD.

I was really proud of this one! Let me know what you think!

{ the pin shadowbox }

This is a shadowbox I did for a co-worker. Her daughter had these pins from a softball season a few years ago. The angle of the picture is awful....I mean AWFUL! But I was trying to keep the flash from reflecting on the glass. Mission: FAILED! Oh well!

I had a lot of fun making it. I used to do tons of these when I worked at "The Hob." I haven't done one since I quit that job four years ago. My, my...how I have missed it!

{ the valentines }

I love this card! The brown background is the envelope. The red scalloped cardstock is the card. On the back it says, "Happy Valentine's Day!" So cute, so simple.

This layout was borrowed from one of my Stamp-a-Stack Christmas cards. I find it to be a universal layout.

{ the candy boxes }

These were party gifts for the Super Bowl/Karaoke Party my friends and I had. The design was to hold four Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares. I, however, chose to put Reese Cups in them. I thought they were cute. My stamping group in Columbus will be doing these at our workshop this month. More photos to come...

{ the swaps }

Not everyone knows what a swap card is. Let me explain.

Swaps - cards that you make x-amount of the same one. You keep one for yourself, and swap them with other people that have made x-amount of theirs. It is a way to get ideas.

And I am all about getting more ideas. I am consistently interested in doing swaps. Not only do I love getting ideas, but I also love sharing my ideas.

I always make 5-10 more than are needed for the swap, so I can send them to friends. These are just a few of the swap cards I have done with my stamping group in Columbus.

Pick-a-Petal stamp set, Kraft and Cameo Coral card stock, Chocolate Chip ink, Chocolate Chip 5/8" grosgrain ribbon.

Garden Whimsy stamp set; Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Soft Sky, and River Rock card stock; Chocolate Chip ink; Corner punch; Bronze eyelets with Crop-a-dile; Cocoa linen thread

Enjoy Every Moment, Hi and Hello, and Daisy Field stamp set; Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore, YoYo Yellow card stock; Green Galore, Pink Passion, Pumpkin Pie, Brilliant Blue ink;
Paper crimper; White 1/4" grosgrain ribbon; file fastener.

{ the toast }

We are still in the month of January...so I think 2009 is still in the "new" stage. I hope the remaining 11 months are filled with wonderfully blessed events for you and your family. Cheers to you!

This was one of my New Year's cards. I have always thought martinis were fun to look at. Looking at this card, I think I am right.

I used the stamp set "Cheers to You." It is awesome. It has the words on this card, a martini, a beer, a hurricane drink, champagne glasses, and a margarita. So, so, so cute. This can be used to make cards for any social gathering, a congratulations, girls' night, etc.

Let me know your occasion...I would love to make something with this set for you.

{ the checkerboard }

The board side

The checkers

The side view

The flat view...more details to come.

{ the tickets }

My sister is gonna kill me when she finds this on here.....but a few posts ago I told you about Jessica's Christmas present....the Celine Dion tickets. Well, every year at Christmas Jessica mentions how much fun it would be to do a scavenger hunt for our presents. Good thought, Jess! Thanks! This year, or last year rather, I wrapped 5 packages for these tickets. The first four contained scavenger hunt clues; the fifth one had the tickets. These are the pics (not in any particular order) of Jessica's search for her present!

{ the bleach }

I learned the bleaching technique from MY Stampin' Up! demonstrator, Dane (she is my Upline)! This was fun to do...I think I made 12 of these in several different colors. Stampin' Up!'s cardstock bleaches very nicely.

For this card, I stamped my image in Versa-Mark, which is a watermark pad. Then, I embossed the flower using clear embossing powder and a heat gun. The embossing gives a good outline for bleaching. I used a watercolor brush (the cheap one for children's watercoloring) with plain bleach. I think I repeated the bleaching one time to make it really white.

I used the Pick-A-Petal stamp set for this one. It is by far my most-used set! The cardstock color is Ruby Red. Another commonly used item. It is one of my favorite colors.

{ the window }

I love putting stamps and Designer Series Paper on black cardstock. The black just makes everything else "POP!" This was a card I demo-ed at one of my September workshop. I used the stamp set Window Dressing and Bella Rose Designer Series Paper. With this stamp set, you can put anything in the window. There is a little girl, a snowman, a cat....why don't I just post a picture of the set! There is so many different types of cards you can make with this one.

Do you see all of the cute things you can put in that window? Oh, I just love this set. Let me know if you have an idea for a card. I will make it just for you!!!

{ happy thanksgiving }

These were the cards I made for Thanksgiving 2008! My apologies if you did not receive one. I only made 6 tree cards and 6 pumpkin cards. Five of each to give away...one of each for me to keep. The cute little turkey card was in my Stampin' Success magazine. I made it for two teacher-friends that wanted them as their own Thanksgiving cards. Of course, I made one for myself! I thought they all turned out cute!