Party Paper

I just love to make wrapping paper. I started doing this about a year ago and was not happy with my results. Now that I have some Copic markers I decided a couple of months ago to try again. Those turned out just how I wanted. So now I always make my own paper. It's really not as difficult as it sounds. Today I'm showcasing a more in depth paper which involves outlined images which I then color with the appropriate colors. For me this is great. My husband thinks I'm crazy but I love to color. Sometimes when I'm frustrated or just having a bad day and need to relax I pull out one of the boys coloring books and go at it. Give it a try sometime and tell me what you think. The main image on the card is a piece of the left over wrapping. It's a great way to tie the two together.

For this project: Kraft, Not Quite Navy, Pumpkin Pie paper, Crab & Company, Canvas, Basic Black Ink, Versamark, distressing tool & hemp twine all from Stampin' Up!, Copic markers.

Tomorrow I'll show you an easier way to stamp your paper.

Until then,

Last day of school

It's hard to believe that the school year is over already. My older two had their last day yesterday and my youngest has his today. He has really come along way this year. We have been blessed this last year with fabulous teachers (all of them). I don't know how we got so lucky. Now I just have to try and wait patiently till the end of the month to see who will be teaching them next year. Well at least for the younger two. My oldest son's teacher is moving to third grade next year and he gets to move with her. YEA!!!! She has got to be one of the best teachers I have ever known. My son progress this past year was just amazing. I can't wait to see what they accomplish together next.

I thought I would share a card I made a couple of months ago for Jennie's swap. Gotta love polka dots. I'm off now to make some more wrapping paper. I'll be back tomorrow to show it off.

for this card: all paper, ink, stamps and ribbon by Stampin' Up!

Till next time,

Season at an end

Well, the season is over for our Tigers. They put up a fight but were just a step behind on their fielding. The kids had a great time anyway. I think we as parents took it harder. We had a grumpy umpire making bad calls and our opponents were rude. Personally, when you are dealing with 6, 7, 8 year olds you should be building up both teams players with praise (which we do) and not calling them an "easy out" (which their coach kept yelling to their team when my son was up). They also took two of our players down by purposely running into them while fielding. Ok, Ok, I'm done venting now. I do have to say this was the best team we have ever played with and are hoping to get to stay together though the seasons. All the kids got along great and the parents all did too. We had the opportunity to play with some old friends and make new ones too.

School is out tomorrow. I can't believe the year has gone by so quickly. It seems like just yesterday Kindergarten was starting again and now they'll be in first and third. WOW. My older two will be traveling this summer and leave tomorrow for their first two week stint. Wish me luck with the adjustment to just one kid and his adjustment to not having playmates. Hopefully I'll have a chance to post more with the extra free time.

Lastly, I'll share a card I made last week using the Coffee Break stamp set from A Muse.

for this card: notecard and stamps from A Muse; paper, ribbon and ink from Stampin' Up!; marvy punch, spica glitter pen, scallop scissors.

Until next time,

Ooooo, Pie, Yummy!

So this last week was so crazy. Not only was it the last full week of school, but Cub Scout bridging, and the start of Little League playoffs. Luckily homework this week for the second graders was not too difficult and actually a lot of fun. They had to make their own pie. Thy had to do all the measuring, mixing, baking, the whole shebang. My oldest picked Chocolate Pie, which is actually surprising because he doesn't really ever eat chocolate. I was very proud of him. He even made homemade whipped cream to pipe on the top and finish off the pie with chunks of chocolate bar. It was the hit of the class. Well, if one does something in my house it usually means the others want to as well. My six year old's pie turned out just as creative as he is. When it came time for him to pipe his whipped cream no mere swirl would be acceptable. He had a picture in his head and used his bag like a marker. Can you see the boy, the sun, some clouds and grass? And when he said he needed pieces of chocolate for the eyes I thought he meant little pieces. Oh no, He went with whole pieces of the bar sticking straight out of the head. I loved it. Not too bad .

We are also very excited in our house that our Tigers are 1-1 in our Little League playoffs so far. We lost the first one but won our second game after two extra innings. It was so stressful on all the parents. We were jumping up and down. Next game is tonight. Keep your fingers crossed.

Happy Mother's Day

I know, I know. Mother's Day? Sure, it was almost two weeks ago but my mom got to spend that time in the Dominican Republic laying on a beach or by the pool relaxing. She is now back and I'm sending out her Mother's day gift. I love how this card turned out. The colors and stamps led to this simple but elegant design. I rubbed the edges with Chocolate Chip colored chalk to soften the look.

Things have been busy here. The older boys got their new reading glasses yesterday. One is very excited, the other not so much. I can't believe how much older they look in them. My oldest was assigned his first research project. He chose to study Italy. Which of course made his brother want to do it to. So my 6 year old is writing a report on France. Little League playoffs start next week. GO Tigers!

for this card: paper, stamps, pastels from Stampin' Up! sentiment from A Muse

Playing Catch Up

Boy, time sure flies. I can't believe it's been so long since my last post. I had some problems with my computer and camera but it seems both are cooperating today and are on the road to being fixed. I thought I would play catch up and show you the rest of the projects that the boys and I came up with for Teacher Appreciation Week. My oldest son really wanted to bake cookies, so we came up with these cute take out boxes filled with different colored sugar cookies. The tags were fun to make and I added some stickles in the center of each of the flowers to add a little extra something.

For this project: Stamps by A Muse; Paper, ink and fibers by Stampin' Up!; marvy punch, stickles and jumbo brads.


Friday brought a party for our teachers. I made two different batches of cupcakes. The top picture is regular cupcakes sprinkled with mini chocolate chips for the kids. The bottom picture are gluten free cupcakes. One of our teacher is allergic to gluten and hadn't had a cupcake in over three years. She was so excited to see these. A couple of the kids wanted to try them and told me they were really good "brownies". I found a great recipe here. I didn't have time to make whipped cream for the tops so I sprinkled them with powdered sugar instead. (You will want to check your powdered sugar though as some companies have started mixing their sugar with wheat instead of cornstarch. Crazy, I know)
Well, I wish you all a great start to a new week. Keep checking back because I have a bunch of new cards to show you.

Until tomorrow,

Happy Tuesday!

I can't believe that it's Tuesday already. We had a wonderful weekend camping with Cub Scouts at Lake Mead. Although we were reminded very early that when you camp with a toddler and the sun comes up, it doesn't matter what time it is, it's time to get up and play. Even if it's really only 5 am. I was able to keep him quiet till almost 6 but by then he was just too chatty

Yesterday was the start of Teacher Appreciation Week at school. Since I have three boys that means six teachers. That is a lot of gifts. We missed school yesterday due to the older boys visiting the eye doctor (reading glasses, yea!) so this will be our official start. For today I made a set of personalized note cards for each of them. It is a set of five different colors with matching envelopes. I hope they enjoy them.

For the cards: paper and ink from SU!, oval frames set from A Muse, raffia for tying them together and the word window punch from SU! for the tags.