Ahhh, summer...

Yup, it's definitely summer around here.

Days spent lounging by splashing in pools, sucking on popsicles, playing baseball in the yard, washing endless loads of pool towels (and we don't even have a pool!), dinners on the grill.

And lots and lots of time with the boys.  I love it, but it also means that my crafty time suffers a bit, especially when I collapse into bed at the end of the day and only manage to read a page and a half of a book.  

Two things have kept me in the creating mode

this crocheted baby blanket for my cousin's new baby:

And this awesome class with Amy Powers:

Textured Grid Baby Blanket by Bernat

Bernat Baby Sport Textured Grid Baby Blanket

It has been a fun little blanket to hook up.  You repeat 6 rows 12 times so by about the third or fourth set, you've got the pattern memorized.  The crosses add just the right amount of airiness and the popcorns add some fun texture.  I can just imagine a little baby chewing and sucking on those little puffs of yarn.

Happy Go Lucky stitchalong

This class has been so much fun.  I haven't been able to stitch as much as I wanted, but I did get all the planning done:

*wrote my 25-item happy list (see below)

*sketched little doodles to go with each item

*chose a color scheme

*colored most of the sketches and their backgrounds

*selected the fabric, cut it to size and drew in the grid

*colored the fabric squares

*started transferring doodles onto the fabric

I have learned so much from Amy--she is so positive and encouraging and incredibly talented.  I did manage these three squares so far:

colored-in grid ready for drawings and stitchings

 Can't wait to get back to this happy little project!

Hope you are making some time to be creative, even when it's not easy to do.

Thanks so much for looking!

Thank You Cards

A couple of thank you cards I made for teachers.
{just found this post in my drafts--yup, it's definitely summer}

inspired by this card by Danni Reid

Paper Bag Card: the tutorial

I have the best kids in the world.  This morning they have worked in their summer journals, played hockey in the basement, listened to music on their iPods, and read their books so I could edit these pics and post this tutorial.  

Of course, I did bribe them with some M&M pancakes.

These cards came out so cute, I made a few different styles.

For the teachers:

teacher printable found at eighteen25

For the bus drivers:

summer printable found at eighteen25

For my Dad:

father's day printable found at a profitable life

I am so grateful to the amazing designers who create fabulous graphics and share them for free on their blogs!  The links to all the inserts are in the captions above.

And here's the really simple how to

click on the photo to view it larger

A couple of notes:

*I like to cut the top liner paper (polka-dotted one in the card above) longer and tuck the excess into the front pocket to cover up all the messiness in the paper bag.

*I use a circle punch to cut a little notch for the card insert to slip in and out (forgot to show that in the tute).

*On some, I used washi tape to create the band around the card.

If you give this style card a try, I would love to see your creation!

Thanks for looking, and I'm off for some outdoor fun with the boys!

Paper Bag Cards

Just a quick share of the paper bag cards I created last week.

These are very easy to put together and use a plain brown lunch sack as the base.  I'm hoping to write a tutorial before the end of the week, but the boys are now out of school for the summer so we'll see how that goes.

The printable insert I used for this card can be found at eighteen25.

I'm linking this up for Pretty Little Studio's challenge #42.

Thanks so much for looking!

A summer treat

What says summer better than ICE CREAM!?!  Okay, maybe lots of things, like trips to the beach, splashing in the pool, flip flops and running through the sprinkler.  But I can't give anyone those things (unless I know their she size).  So we're going with ice cream:

I whipped these up for the admins at the the boys' schools.  They do so much to keep our schools running smoothly.

I found the cute little containers at the craft store and they even came with little wooden stick spoons, perfect for hanging a pennant that reads, "Hope your summer is a treat!"

I ran some crepe paper through the sewing machine to create a ruffle and hot glued that to the cup rim. Then used tissue paper stuffed with fiber fill for the scoop of ice cream.  

I cut a slit in the tissue before stuffing, and reinforced it with a little card stock to slip the Dairy Queen gift card into.

Just a little something to say how much we appreciate what they do for our schools every day.

Messy Baby

In the midst of all the gift/card making (I'll post pics soon) I took a few minutes today to create a LO.  

product from the June Petite kit

I had the bones of this LO laying on my desk for several days with nothing glued down--it just wasn't sitting well with me.  Then I came across this sketch from the lovely Pretty Little Studio, and wham-o! 

Instant inspiration.

I was really drawn to the horizontal lines of circles and busted out an old foam stamp (don't you just love using old supplies?) and some white acrylic paint.  I had exactly 20 minutes to create this page from the time I put my son on the bus to the time I had to be at his school for Sing-Along (ahhh, Kindergarten!).  And that's all it took--20 minutes to do everything but the title.  I swear it took me longer to edit these photos than it took to create this page.

Guess that's what a fabulous sketch and fantastic kit product can do for you! 

If this sketch inspires you, why not craft a little something and link it up at Pretty Little Studio.  There's a $10 gift certificate up for grabs!

Thanks for looking!

Memory Box

It's teacher gift time around here.  I've been busy making some gifts to show our appreciation for the fabulous job our teachers do of helping (and dealing with!) our boys everyday.  No gift ever seems big enough to say "Thank You" to a teacher, does it?

Maddox's kindergarten teacher has adorable twin girls.  I can only imagine all the cuteness that happens in their household on a daily basis!  So I created a Memory Box for them to record little memories, little pieces of this and that to help capture their stories.

I started with a pretty box from the craft store.

Then designed a journaling card in Photoshop and came up with 10 little thought starters.

I printed out 20 of each design onto 5x8 unruled index cards, trimmed them down to fit the box, and rounded the corners.

That gives them 200 stories, conversations, sayings, moments and memories.

I typed up a little "instruction" card that reads:

The moments of childhood are so fleeting.  Laughter-filled days of dress-up and fingerpaints, pigtails and dollies--they will be over long before you ever want them to.

The cards within this box will help you record these special moments--the moments you love, the times you want to remember always.  On the lines you can capture your stories, note the conversations, document the cute things they say and do.  All the little details you never want to forget will be safely tucked away within this box.  Keep a small stack of cards in various rooms in your home, in your purse, in the car so you won’t miss a single beautiful moment in your daughters’ lives.  Enjoy them now, and then re-live them again when you read through the cards in years to come.

Each section of cards is divided by a slightly larger card with the date section omitted.

Everything is tucked into the box and ready to give.

I hope that she likes it.  I wish I had one of these when the boys were small.  I always thought I would never forget the way they pronounced words, the silly things they said, or the little details of our days together.  But memory has a way of betraying us, and we can only hold onto so much in our chock-full heads.

May Challenge {from a scatter brain}

I completely forgot to post my challenge for May last month; so sorry about that.  The challenge is open until Wednesday, so if you're planning to scrap over the weekend maybe it will inspire you (and then you can link it up on the Scrapbook Heaven blog for a chance to win a prize).

I found this absolutely amazing video from Janna Werner:

Isn't it so cool to watch her process of creating her page.  I was definitely inspired and created this page using techniques I would have never used before watching her video like smearing gloppy gesso with an old gift card, stamping right into the paint, using torn fabric, and piling on a bunch of thread.  Oh, and those layers!

Here's my page:

So fun!  Happy scrapping!

Reveal Time!

Happy June!

Can you even believe summer is right around the corner in the northern hemisphere?!  I, for one, am ready for some lazy days of nowhere special to be, water balloons, later evenings, fireflies, bbq's and bicycle rides.

What's your favorite summer time to-do?

I have oodles of projects to share with you from the Scrapbook Heaven June kits.

Both kits are brimming with some awesome papers and super fun embellishments:

I created 5 layouts and three cards with the Elite Kit, and I still have lots more product leftover.

Played along with Jules' May challenge to use a border punch to punch into the edges of your page.  I had never thought to do that, and I love the effect.

 a double pager--I need more practice with these!

 I'm thinking this one will be my challenge for June, so stay tuned for that.

I love the MME punch out sheet that comes with this kit!

And some cards:

The base of this card is a paper lunch sack.  I'll do a little tute for this next week (and give you the link to that super-fab Father's Day subway art.)

Whoa, is that a Fastenator staple up there??!  Why oh why did I ever buy that thing? 

 And the {anything but} Petite kit:

Used the super cool Hambly transparency as my background and this Studio Calico sketch.

 Inspired by another sketch from SC.

 A journal heavy page.  Sometimes looking at older photos does that...

Was inspired to create this page after seeing this one by Tina Walker.

Whew!  I think that does it.  Thanks so much for sticking through this one with me!

Have a fabulous weekend!