I Stamped Today…

Well, hello there! I hope you are doing well and are excited to get to the weekend. Should be interesting around here.

I had several birthday cards that needed to be made for the staff at the girls’ school and I haven’t been able to sit down and make them until today in a marathon session. Thought I’d share them with you.

I didn’t enlarge the photos, just looked at them in the camera screen before I took the cards to be delivered.  I’m sorry to say that the pictures are slightly blurry. But I think you can still get a good idea of what they look like. :-s

  

This one has been sitting on my craft desk for a couple of weeks! I had most of it ready, but it needed to be glued down. The color is Indian Corn Blue (Close To My Heart). I used a Sizzix die for the flourishes (I cut three), a Cuttlebug embossing folder and a Martha Stewart paper “doily.” The sentiment is from Paper Trey Ink’s Birthday Basics. The doily is pop dotted for dimension. I’m pretty tickled with the final result. My inspiration for this card is from Dawn Easton’s Treasure Oiler Designz blog here.

Can you believe I just stamped on this card?! Oh and added a little Doodlebug Twine, hee, hee. The set is Floral Frenzy and it’s an older set from PaperTrey Ink, but it’s definitely still a goodie. My inspiration card is here and was the introduction to the final floral set in the series by Melissa Bickford. I discovered that I didn’t have a straight line stamp for the stem, what’s up with that? So, I opted to just stamp the flowers in Indian Corn Blue, Watermelon and Crystal Blue, with Sunflower centers (CTMH). The PTI birthday sentiment is stamped in Indian Corn Blue as well.  I eyeballed the placement of the stamps, so they definitely are not perfectly lined up. If I wasn’t so down to the wire, I might have added some leaves, but I still like the look of this card. I am wishing I had the plaid flower set as shown on the inspiration card, though. *Ü*

On my list were two male staff members. Since guy cards are so hard to come up with usually, I just made two of this card. I’m pretty tickled with how this one looks! My inspiration can be found here on The Paper Landscaper blog. I used the Cricut for this one. The circle and stars specifically are cut using the Ribbons and Rosettes cartridge. The stars are 2 1/2 and 3/4. The circle is three inches, but then I ended cutting it in half. The green piece is hand cut to get the edge.  I stamped the blue polka dots using Dutch Blue on a PTI polka dot stamp set. The sentiment is also from PTI. The papers are from DCWV’s Green Tea stack. The twine is from Doodlebug.

I was getting down to the wire by this time and had to come up with one more card and something that wouldn’t take too long. The Paper Landscaper came to the rescue again as I starred this card in my Reader. I chose to use Linen Closet papers (DCWV) and couldn’t be happier with the final result. The swirly pearls are from Michaels Recollections line. The butterfly is a cut from Ribbons and Rosettes and I cut one at 3 inches and the other at 2 1/2. These colors really made me think of the teacher who got this card.

Whew, I got them all done with a little time to eat lunch, snap some pictures (albiet blurry ones) and head out the door to go to the school.  Hopefully the recipients will enjoy them!

Thanks for all the happy thoughts about our kitchen re-do. Last night he and his buddy took out the sink and the rest of the cabinets and countertop, while I was at Girl Scouts with Jessica.  The bottom half of my kitchen is well and truly gutted! Amy took a ton of pictures. Pretty much a blow by blow pictorial of what the guys did. Love it. Steve took today off and worked on laying some plywood down to fill in the space needed where there used to be old particle board (what apparently was used way back in the day).

Here are a couple of the shots she took, plus a little self portrait. *Ü*

 

What a happy smile. She just recently got her hair cut short again, but honest, it’s not quite as short as this photo looks.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon!

Jeanne

Changes!

We've lived in our house since 1996. One of the things we've loved about the house is the kitchen that opens up to the living room. It's bright and looks spacious. One of the things we haven't loved about the kitchen is the tile counter top.

Something that has been in the works for a few months, that I haven't mentioned, is we (well, really, Steve) are changing out our cabinets and in the process, will have to get a new counter top. (darn) While we haven't definitely picked out the counter, Steve has been busy working on the cabinets. Remember when I left for Minnesota? He had just started taking down the upper cabinets.  I did help with the first one!

Here's what the new uppers look like:

 This used to be a cabinet with a blind corner. Now it's an easy reach.

It seems strange to have a cabinet along the outside of the range hood, there will be one on the outside of the stove, too!

We're very happy with the upper cabinets. Steve did a good job.

The next phase was to get the lower cabinets out along the peninsula, which he did a week or so ago.

The step after that was to get the peninsula counter top off, without wrecking the walls.

 I haven't mentioned that the people who put this in, did it as a DIY project. Steve had to figure out where the screws were.

 Hence, the strange missing tile pattern. They used a lot of screws, some hefty nails AND a lot of glue.

 This is where he had to be careful not to wreck the wall. It was a bugger to try to pull out. That puppy was in there tight!

 But, we were persistent. I can say we, because I was helping with this part.

 After a lot of wrangling and pounding (it's been really loud around here), it finally gave way and Steve and I lugged that sheet out of the house. Man, was it heavy!

What a difference, huh?! (excuse the messy rest of the kitchen and living room). Those of you who have been to my house, remember the tile went up as the backsplash? Those were gone first!

Now he can put in the lower cabinets that go along this side. 

We can't do anything about the counter top until all the lower cabinets are put in. In the meantime, we'll use plywood, I think.

Getting rid of that tile is a good thing!

*Ü*

Thanks for letting me share.

Friendly Lion

I've been trying to get into my crafty zone for a few weeks and for one reason or another, it hasn't happened. In the meantime, I've been working on a crocheted lion off and on. I finally finished him (her?)last night and thought I'd share. This is the lion I started before Christmas and quickly realized he/she was too big to finish in time to give to Amy's teacher.

 See that mane? That's the part that I've been working on off and on. The rest of it was done, but the thought of having to do what needed to be done to make that mane kept putting me off.

 I had a couple of rows done, but the remaining space looked so big!

 Finally, I decided to bite the bullet and just git 'r done.

 YAY!

I used a mulit-colored yarn for the mane, called melonberry, and would crochet a chain of 10 and make the stitch, then another chain of 10 and so and so on.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are having a great weekend. Amy's basketball team just played and won their first game of this session. They looked and played great! Yay!

Happy New Year and a Little Creative Project

Well, hello there to any of you who may still be stopping by to see if I am still alive and kicking. I am indeed.  Happy New Year to you and I hope 2012 brings you much joy and happiness as well as a little creativity. I’ve been reading blogs, but not commenting and certainly not writing any.

I didn’t intend to drop off the face of the blogosphere, but after my brother died, (still so hard  to have to say that) any niggling of desire to blog that I had, disappeared. Thank you so much for the kind thoughts you left on that post and the sweet cards I received in the mail. My time in Minnesota was very difficult, but I’m glad I was able to help my dad and two of my other brothers  out in some small way. The service that for Jim was well attended and for a guy who was in no way religious, my dad selected the perfect priest for officiating the memorial. Jim loved to fish(the act of fishing was relaxing to him), but didn’t eat fish. The priest (named Jim as well, if I remember correctly) loved to eat fish, but despised fishing and even went so far as to jump off a boat and swim ashore to avoid it. His manner was very laid back and personable and he did an excellent job. Jim’s lifelong friend also flew in from Las Vegas to attend. I hadn’t seen him since I moved out of my parents home back in 198….well, let’s just say it was a long time ago, shall we?

I was able to do a little crafting for Christmas presents, but didn’t take any photos. I made a crocheted frog for Jessica’s teacher and a crocheted flapper hat for Amy’s. I started a lion for Amy’s teacher, but it was too big to be able to finish in time. Oh and a few days before Christmas, Jessica told me she wanted a new teddy bear for Christmas,  with a blue dress. I told her it wouldn’t be done in time, and she was content to wait. I finished the bear by Christmas, but not the dress. The pattern included a basket and flowers. I just finished those the other night. Did I mention this project was a knitted one? Yeah, I’m much slower at knitting than crocheting, but the change of pace was nice.

Steve took the week between Christmas and New Year’s off and one of the days he and his buddy took the girls to the mountains. I didn’t feel like going…the thought of a quiet day to myself was too appealing (mom of the year, I admit, I am not…I do enjoy time away from my kiddos). Anyway, I took some time to work on a project and I thought I’d share it today in an effort to ease back into posting.

 

I saw the idea on a Cricut newsletter called The Chirp and I followed the project to this blog post. I finagled my way through the project and am pretty pleased with the final result. The flower was made with the Flower Shoppe cartridge, but I cannot remember which cart I used to make the swirlys. I know I cut two and trimmed them…shoot, if I figure it out, I’ll let you know.

Thought this might be a fun winter project for decor. Only, it doesn’t feel like winter right now. It was in the upper 60s yesterday! Thank goodness this guy is paper, or he’d have melted away by now.

Okay, I’ve got to scoot for now. I hope to see you again, soon. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Jeanne

My Brother, Jim

Sometimes life throws you a curveball that smacks you in the face. I received such a curveball last night when my brother, Mike, called to let me know that my brother, Jim,  passed away. Jim was 54. Certainly too young. 

Jim was the second of 5 boys in my family.  I am the youngest. He was a very unique individual. Growing up, I remember he LOVED the Beatles and baseball. He was huge into music of all kinds. He worked for a music store called Licorice Pizza for years (I don’t think they are even in existence anymore). He then worked for distributing company in their music department until he was let go a few years ago due to downsizing.  He also loved trains and history. He could remember things in great detail. He was a collector, both of things and trivia.  He was always interesting to talk to because he was knowledgeable about so many things. He wasn’t very sociable, however. He was shy and could have been considered quite grumpy and he made no bones about sharing his opinion about things, popular or not. He never married. After my mom passed away, he and I formed a pretty strong bond. We always called each other on birthdays and holidays and it was like we had just talked last week. Jessica shared his birthday. Unfortunately for me this year, I didn’t get to call him on his birthday. I was caught up in my volunteer commitments and Jessica’s birthday. He understood (I had sent him a card and emailed him), but I will regret not calling him that day or even a couple of days later.  I am grateful for the 2 hour conversation we had on my birthday however. It was a great one and I told him in his birthday card how much I appreciated that chat.

I hadn’t seen him in years, but this past summer he got to meet my girls when we took a side trip from South Dakota to Minnesota, where he and Steve’s aunt lived. Steve’s aunt is ill and we wanted to visit her. Of course, we had to stop to see Jim, too. We had a great lunch. I’m so glad now we made that stop, even though it made for an extremely long day.

Jim, I love you and will miss you terribly, but will take comfort in the knowledge that you have met up with Mom and are probably catching up, big time.

My dad seems to be doing okay so far. He’ll be heading out to Minnesota and my brother Jeff (the oldest) will most likely head that way too, to help him. I don’t know for sure anything beyond that.

Thanks for reading, if you got this far. Hug your loved ones tight while you can. Please don’t get too busy to make a call or send an email/card.  You just never know.

Jeanne

Halloween Themed Birthday Card

Well, hello there! How have you been? Good I hope! Do you know where the last several weeks have gone? I seem to have blown right through them and November is right around the corner. It was not intentional to have seemingly disappeared, but I managed to, didn’t I?

I’ve been helping out at school.

Need I say more? LOL

Now that we are at the end of October and we just had our Trunk or Treat on Friday evening, the volunteer commitments should ease off a bit.  Jessica had her 9th birthday in amongst all this too!

She got this neat t-shirt from my friend, Kelly. It’s from Kohl’s and it came black and white with markers in a bag. You can color the shirt with the markers. You wash it and the colors wash out, so you can color it again. Very cool. I was so busy with the party, I didn’t get many photos, except her opening her gifts (lots of Barbie stuff). She had fun and that’s what matters most.

On Tuesdays both girls do an after school activity for an hour(at least until December when Jessica’s ends). That means I don’t have to pick them up until an hour later. I don’t know why, but I feel like I have so much more time on those days! And I’ve tried (not very successfully so far) to use that day for crafting. This past Tuesday, I had a ton of projects I wanted to work on. I had one card I had to make for a teacher at the school and once I was done with that, I was going to work on fun ideas for Halloween.

I only managed to finish the card for the teacher. Erggghhh! It’s been a frustrating process for me recently, this trying to make cards gig.

  

Here’s my version of this card. Only without the broom. Because I was running out of time! I did use the Cricut to make the shoes. I don’t have the Top Note die, but the Storybook cartridge has a very similar shape, so I used it and fiddle-futzed to get the shape similar. I ended up reducing the size of the same shape used on the shoes for the sentiment, which is computer generated. This particular teacher’s birthday is on Halloween, hence the theme of the card. I just put the card in her mailbox, so I don’t know if she liked it. She may be tired of getting birthday cards that are this type of theme. The edge punch is a Martha Stewart border punch.  I discovered that Archiver’s carries some twine now. This purple and white is on a card with a few other colors geared for Halloween. It’s put out by Doodlebug. So, I’ve joined the twine wagon, kind of.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are having a good weekend. Happy Halloween!!

Jeanne

Birthday Card Inspired by Cardmaps Today

My friend, Becky recently gave me this:

 

Thanks, Becky! I really like the cards and designs.

And I came upon this card, which I thought was super cute.

And I found out this morning that today is the birthday of a mom friend of mine at our school. Her kids and mine are good friends and we hang out for a bit after school most days, if the weather cooperates.  She had never mentioned it was her birthday, a little bird told me. So, I ran out and got a little something, something for her and made this card:

I really wanted to do the accordion fold, well, I DID do the accordion fold piece, but I was running out of time and I couldn’t get the folds to stay down,  so I had to come up with Plan B real quick, which was the scallop punch and circle with the button on top. I would have LOVED to have dressed this up more, but Wednesdays are early release days at the school and I literally had like 5 minutes before I had to leave to get to the school after trying to get that accordion piece to stay down.

My friend loved the card, whew! I used papers from DCWV’s Autumn Gathering stack and some kraft cardstock. I punched the butterfly with a Martha Stewart punch and used and a glue dot to put the butterfly onto a Making Memories stick pin. Happy Birthday is from Papertrey Ink.

My friend has been having a bit of a tough time recently and I’m so glad I was able to pull something together to bring a smile to her face.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you are having a great week!

Jeanne