Show and Tell

celebrate today

This card was made using the colors from Stacey's Curtain Call Color Challenge #71 as inspiration.

 

 

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I really wasn't sure about those colors — I naturally gravitate toward a brighter palette — but I'm pretty delighted with how this one turned out. The flower was made using various punches on So Saffron cardstock, wrinkling up the shapes, inking them with with More Mustard, stacking them up, piercing the center, and securing them with a brad.

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Fillable Frames #3, Mega Mixed Messages, Turning a New Leaf); cardstock is PTI (Kraft, white) and Stampin' Up (Cherry Cobbler, So Saffron); patterned paper is Creative Imaginations; ink is SU (More Mustard, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake); ribbon is PTI (Harvest Gold satin); button twine is PTI (Rustic Jute); doily is Martha Stewart; rhinestone brad is SU (Square Fire); also used  PTI dies (Tag Sale #4, Leaf Prints, Fillable Frames #3), a SU embossing folder (Lattice Square), SU punches (Fancy Flower, Scallop Circle, Boho Blossoms), and an EK Success border punch (small scallop).

This card will be going to one of our preschool staff members. She has worked at the school for about 30 years. In fact, she was our daughter's 4 year old preschool teacher over 20 years ago. Her current job involves keeping our shared storybooks and resources in order. However, she's been having some health problems of late, so we decided to put together a bunch of goodies to cheer her up while she's basically homebound. Staff members brought in puzzle books, notecards, lotions, plus other fun things, and wrote notes of encouragement to her. Since the sentiment on the outside of this card kind of suggests "birthday" I thought I'd clarify on the inside by writing Psalm 118:24 — "This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it" — along with my personal note to her.

I also used this week's Curtain Call colors and made a little tag album of Bible verses, using a variety of Papertrey Ink dies and Fillable Frames sets paired with nearly all the Verve scripture Plain Janes that I own along with a few from other Verve sets.

 
I put all the tags on a ring from the office supply store and tied a few ribbons around it for decoration.

 
I ended up with a lot of tags...

 
twenty-two in all...

 
if you count the cover tag.

 
My prayer is that

 
she will find them to be a great source of encouragement.

 
I packaged the card and tag album together in a large glassine bag,  
tying one more small tag to the outside of the bag with satin ribbon. No picture of it all packaged up... flat ran out of time!

And the reason I ran out of time for taking papercraft pictures is that I was summoned to the toddler room where I saw this...

 
I just spent a bundle of money on a really nice easel with magnetic surfaces for the toddlers to use (you can see a corner of it in the lower left of the photo) and then guess what was discovered? You got it. The classroom door is magnetic. haha! Oh, well. You can't have too many magnetic surfaces, can you?

Hope you have a great weekend! Mine is pretty busy, but I'm planning to hop back on here both days. I've stuff to show... and tell. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by... see you again tomorrow!

Something Different

When I started thinking about this week's Curtain Call Color Challenge, I was in the mood to do something a little different. I decided on a bookmark. And on using one of my new Stampin' Up sets that I got (for free) from the Sale-a-bration catalog.

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But a bookmark by itself seemed a little lonely. So — I made a card, too.

 
A card with a little pocket on the front. A pocket to hold the bookmark. And here's how they look together:

 
I used a blender pen touched to the ink pad to add a little color inside the images. Pretty cute, I think. I do love these colors. In fact, I love them so much that I have an unfinished tag on my work surface using them again.

AND TELL:  stamps are from Stampin' Up (Sweet Summer, Sweet Little Sentiments); cardstock is Papertrey Ink (Stamper's Select White) and SU (Tempting Turquoise, Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss); ink is SU (Tempting Turquoise, Tangerine Tango, Pear Pizzazz); used a SU marker marker for the sentiment (Basic Gray); baker's twine is from The Twinery (Mandarin); also used a SU embossing folder (Square Lattice), SU punches (Fancy Flower, 5-Petal Flower, 1/2" circle) and PTI dies (Library Card Pocket, Bookmark).

So — I had a great time hanging out with the bride and bridesmaids in Raleigh this past weekend. And I took a ton a pictures. But I'm still sorting through them and forming my thoughts on the whole little trip, so I'm just not prepared to do much sharing of that yet. Maybe tomorrow. Because — tomorrow's another day. And this day's almost done.

Thanks so much for stopping by for a little visit. I'll be back another day. And I hope it's tomorrow. :) See you then! 

A Two-fer

So, today I'm doing something that I rarely do... I'm posting one card that was made for two challenges. There's only so much time in the day, so combining Stacey's Curtain Call Color Challenge {Act 69} with Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday: Vellum Sentiment Strip, just seemed to make sense.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Fun colors. But, go figure... it's close to 80 degrees outside today and I'm posting a winter card. Doesn't make a lot of sense, but that's just the way it is.

To make my vellum sentiment strip, I scalloped both long edges and then scored lines just inside the scallop. I was originally planning to put my adhesive under the scored lines (as Nichole did on her example card), but ended up cutting slits to thread ribbon through and tying it securely around the card. It's so tight that it doesn't need adhesive at all. I was pretty excited about that! (Would've been more excited if I hadn't accidentally slipped with my scoring tool on one end and later stamped my sentiment crooked, but... no do-overs around here....)

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (On Ice); cardstock is Stampin' Up (Cherry Cobbler, Vellum) and Papertrey Ink (Stampers Select White, Vintage Cream); ink is Stampin' Up (Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Real Red, Early Espresso); ribbon is PTI (Scarlet Jewel satin); baker's twine is from The Twinery (Maraschino); also used PTI dies (Large Scallop border, On Ice skates), a Cuttlebug embossing folder (Snowflakes), a gray SU watercolor pencil and blender pen for the ice skate blades, and a Scor-Pal.

So what are you doing this weekend? The Maid of Honor and I are driving to Raleigh tomorrow to shop for Bridesmaid dresses, do some wedding-related paper crafting, eat at some of the Bride's favorite places, and attend a concert featuring the band that has been hired for the reception. It'll be a girls' weekend and lots of fun. I feel pretty honored that they would invite an "old lady" like me to hang out with them. Hope I don't slow them down any! :)

Thanks for stopping by for a little visit. I hope to be back early next week with something new and exciting. (I have no idea what that would be — just thought I'd let the anticipation build a little.... haha!) Have a great weekend!

be mine

Here is a card made using Stacey'schosen colors of the week for the Curtain Call Color Challenge {Act 68}. Yummy Valentine's Day colors. Perfect for a sweet, girly card.

 

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Yeah, I went from yesterday's creepy bird to today's cute little one — colored in what I refer to as "Maile-style". Love the way she uses a Copic marker to color the bird's belly (so I shamelessly copied her).

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Mat Stack 3 Collection, 2009 Autumn Tags, Little Bitty Bird, Heart Prints, Daily Designs Sentiments); cardstock is PTI (white) and Stampin' Up (Pink Pirouette); ink is SU (Pink Pirouette, Wild Wasabi, Melon Mambo); ribbon is PTI (Sweet Blush Swiss Dots); pearls are SU; also used PTI dies (Mat Stack 3, Little Bitty Bird), a Copic marker for the bird's belly, pinking shears, and a Sizzix embossing folder (Damask).

I actually thought that I would post another card today — one for the Papertrey Ink color challenge. When I got home from work, I immediately started working on a card using Dawn's colors, but when I started writing the post I realized that I had forgotten a color. Oh, well. I also used the PTI Make It Monday challenge so I'll rephotograph the card in the daylight and post it tomorrow. And for today's give-away challenge? I'll just have to rely on my comment rather than making cards using the designers' color schemes for more chances to win. Again... oh, well.

So — here's a funny little story from today...

The teacher was reviewing the story of creation from the Bible with her class of 5 year olds. She read from the children's Bible that on the fourth day, God placed special lights in the sky. Pausing, she asked her class, "What would those lights in the sky be?" With no hesitation one little boy raised his hand and called out, "I know! Satellites!"

And with that, I'll leave you for the day. Hope yours was wonderful! Thanks for spending a bit of it here with  me. :) 

hello

Here is a card for this week's Curtain Call Color Challenge, #67, on Stacey's Stamping Stage. I did not love these colors at first. But, after I made the card, I love, love, LOVE them together! When Stampin' Up introduced Cajun Craze, I really didn't like it much at all. My mind has been changed.

 

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The flower is made with eight layers of white tissue paper that I punched all at once and then stamped individually with a small damask image on each petal. Afterward I cut between each petal toward the center to provide a little more fullness. Love the soft, pretty look. (You can probably see it better in the photo below.) The flower center was punched from cardstock and stamped with an image from Simply Stationery (Papertrey Ink).

The ribbon was tied into a bow and then I just snipped the loops to give it a different sort of look.

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Damask Designs, Simply Stationery, Fillable Frames #4, Communique Curves Sentiments); cardstock is PTI (white) and Stampin' Up (Chocolate Chip, Almost Amethyst); ink is SU (Cajun Craze, Almost Amethyst); ribbon is from Michael's; brad is from my stash; tissue paper is from a PTI order; also used SU punches (Boho Blossoms, Fancy Flower) and PTI dies (Fillable Frames #4, Banner Borders).

So — I was giving a preschool tour today and ended up in the music room when the 3 year old classes were doing a parachute activity. Then, of course, I had to go back with the camera when the 4 year olds were in there.

 
The circus is in town and they had been talking about it. So, after a few other activities that had to do with the circus tent and the circus parade and the circus performers, they had to talk about the circus food — namely popcorn. The highlight for the kids was "popping popcorn" (giant cotton balls) with the parachute.

So, what do you think I had for a snack when I got home? Why, popcorn, of course! I know. It's all about the power of suggestion with me. So glad they weren't baking cupcakes. Those just don't work well with my "lose 10 pounds before the wedding" plan. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today. It's always good to hear from those of you who leave comments. I read and treasure each and every one. "See" you again soon!

 

The Evolution of a Card

So — today I thought maybe I would give you a rare glimpse into the way I create a card. :) This card was pretty typical of the way it goes with me. I'll be interested to hear if you're the same or if I'm just weird. (Sorry if you're just here because you actually know me and want something newsy from the Hayes front... this post is going to bore you to death. You might want to check out now...)

First of all, I often start with a challenge for fun and inspiration. This one is the Curtain Call Color Challenge {Act 65}. Fun colors this week. Kinda made me think party. And when I started thinking party, I started thinking banners. Time to pull out Papertrey Ink's Banner Builder set (again).

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And, here we go...

Pull out the ink pads of the challenge colors — and PTI white cardstock. (Love their cardstock!)

I had in mind a white card with a white textured panel on top — the bottom edge punched with an interesting border. The pennant banner with the baker's twine and the sentiment banner at the bottom were part of the original idea.

After assembling the panel, it just looked too blah on top of a plain white card. So I tried adding more texture by using an embossing folder on the card's front. Yikes! Way. Too. Much. Texture. Maybe it was the folder I chose (Stampin' Up's Square Lattice), but it was way too busy. (Funny thing to say when all that busy-ness was pure white.)

Set aside the textured card and pulled out another blank — this time thinking background stamp. PTI's music background in red worked well.

But now something else seemed to be missing. So I pulled out PTI's Little Bitty Bird. Since everything was already textured and adhered, I had to use post-it's to mask off the stamped background and the pennants. Stamping the branch was not easy with the texturing already done and everything up on dimensionals, but it worked out OK... except that there was ink on the acrylic block and some of it smeared onto the textured cardstock. Grrr.

I was already planning the bird, but now its placement became critical since it had to cover the ink smear. So I stamped the bird in black (music still masked off) and covered it with the matching bird die cut in blue. Putting it on dimensionals made the smear too visible and I still had to tilt it slightly to get the excess green ink covered. (Thus, his legs don't match up too well... oops. Maybe it's not too noticeable.)

Decide on a paper-pieced wing. A green wing. Cut it out, glue it down and — oh, no! — too much green on the card. Doesn't look good. Can't get the wing off. Cut out another wing... this time orange. Glue it on top of the green wing. Better.

And that is how this card came to be. Funny enough — they talk about the rule of threes, and somehow, quite by accident, in the color department, this card follows the rule pretty much completely. Three orange elements. Three green. Three blue. And three red (kind of...).  

So — cardmakers, do you do that? Does your card just evolve as you play around with your stuff or do you start with a complete idea of what you want to do and that's what happens. I rarely have the completely finished product in mind when I get started. Maybe that's why it takes me so long to finish anything! haha.

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Banner Builders, Background Basics: Music, Little Bitty Bird, Fillable Frames #8); cardstock is PTI (white) and Stampin' Up (Pacific Point); ink is SU (Real Red, Pacific Point, Wild Wasabi, Pumpkin Pie) and PTI (True Black); baker's twine is from The Twinery (Maraschino); also used PTI dies (Banner Builder Collection, Little Bitty Bird, Double-Ended Banner), PTI impression plate (Background Basics: Diamonds), and EK Success large edger punch (Circles).

I think that's it. I sure know how to make what could be a very short post a very long one, don't I? :)

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a really wonderful weekend!

You make my heart sing.

First of all, thank you to Stacey for choosing my card for {Act 63} of her color challenge as one of the Top Five Show Stoppers. What an honor! (And what a surprise!!)

Of course, I had to play along again. This card was inspired by the colors selected for this week's Curtain Call Color Challenge {Act 64}.

 

 

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Whew. Didn't realize quite how blurry that photo was until I saw it here on the screen. Oh, well. I doubt if I'd get a better picture if I took one now — it's kinda grey and dreary here today.

Since I didn't have a stamp that said what I wanted the card to say, I hand wrote it — adding the heart stamp to be cute. And to save space... I was running out of writing room. :)

I've been playing with my Cricut machine a little over the past few days. I don't use it nearly often enough, so I played around and cut a bunch of shapes, including these ribbon-y looking brackets. You'll probably be seeing more projects with Cricut-cuttings in the coming days. Fun stuff, I tell ya. 

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Background Basics: Sheet Music, Heart Prints, Luck of the Irish); cardstock is PTI (Stampers Select White) and Stampin' Up (Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler); ink is SU (Marina Mist, Pacific Point, Cherry Cobbler); marker is SU (Marina Mist); also used Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots embossing folder, PTI's Heart Prints die, Cricut's Storybook cartridge, and Scor-Pal. 

Well, last night's football game had a disappointing outcome. Too bad, but time to move on. I'll just have to keep my Duck shirt for next season. Good thing I'm not defined by how my football teams do, isn't it? At least University of Oregon made it to the championship game. The Carolina Panthers earned their way to the top draft pick by having the worst record in the NFL. 

Two days off of school this week and I've horrified Ken by staying in my jammies until way after noon and not being very productive around the house. But — Britt is coming home this weekend and we're going wedding dress shopping. Wow. If that doesn't make this all real, I don't know what will. So, in preparation, I've been spending time looking at wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses, and various other wedding related things online. I'd hate to not be ready, you know.

She also decided on a ceremony site — and we paid for it. That's the other thing that makes it real... the money flowing out of our bank account at an alarming rate. But, we press on and hope to be even poorer by the end of the week as she'd like to get the reception site and photographer decided by then. After that it'll be time to start on some of the more fun details. And I think I'm ready. Better be, cuz ready or not, here it comes!

Hope you've had a great Tuesday. Thanks for spending a bit of it here with me. I'll be back tomorrow with some age-related birthday cards. (At least that's the plan.) See you then!

happy everything

Remember yesterday I was talking about having new toys? Well, this card uses a couple of them. I made it for Stacy's Curtain Call Color Challenge, Act 63.

 

 

 

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I decided not to stamp the little birds' legs. I wanted it to look more like they were sitting on the tree and cloud than like they were perching precariously on their lofty spaces. You know... relaxing. Taking in the view. Whatever.

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Little Bitty Bird, Banner Builder); cardstock is PTI (Spring Rain, Stampers Select White) and Stampin' Up (Cajun Craze); ink is SU (Always Artichoke, Cajun Craze, Chocolate Chip, Marina Mist, Craft White); gemstones are Kaiser; also used SU's Stampin' Write markers (Always Artichoke, Marina Mist), a Uniball Signo white pen, and PTI's cloud and bitty bird dies.

There is one thing that's been bothering me for some time now. See the little white dots that I made for the flower centers? Almost all of them are to the right of center. I've been noticing that my vision must be off. I used to have a great eye and could easily get things straight and centered. Lately, most everything goes to the right. It looks fine to me when I'm doing it and then when I step back I'm like... Oh, that's so not in the middle. Hmph. Well, I have an eye doctor appointment tomorrow. Hopefully he can fix me. If he can't, I may need to find a new eye doctor because this is getting quite frustrating! (Because you know how I feel about doing things over again!)

I think that's it for today. I could just blog all day long and keep re-working and fine-tuning, but I do have a life also! Time to go do some of the stuff that it requires. Even if it is not as much fun as talking to you!

Hope you've had a great day — thanks so much for spending a bit of it here! See you soon.

 

Birthday Sprigs

A weird post name for another birthday card. Sometimes you just can't come up with clever names, you know? Anyway, this card uses the colors from Stacey's Curtain Call Color Challenge 60.

 

 

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Can you see that the sprigs are tied together with baker's twine? Just a little detail I thought I'd point out. :) 

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Background Basics: Woodgrain, Turning a New Leaf, Floral Fusion); cardstock is PTI (Stampers Select White) and Stampin' Up (Real Red); ink is PTI (Dark Chocolate) and SU (Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Real Red); ribbon is PTI (Dark Chocolate Twill); also used Martha Stewart baker's twine and SU's Boho Blossoms punch.

This morning was our staff Christmas breakfast at a nearby restaurant. It's always fun to get together in a relaxed environment away from school. We have the best weekday school staff in the world and I love being able to take a bit of time at Christmas just to honor them. But more about that another day.

Now I've got a million things to do and really need to get back at it. Thanks so much for stopping by. Believe it or not, I've been making cards and stuff like crazy and have quite a few partial posts lined up and almost ready to go. So — you may be hearing from me every day for awhile. Hope you don't get sick of me. :) Now, go and have a great weekend!

Thank You {berry} Much

Actually, this is the only time I've wished for that sentiment on a stamp. I'm not overly fond of punny sentiments, but having that particular one would've been nice for this situation.

I knew I needed to make a thank you card for Ken's sister and her husband who came to our house at Thanksgiving. It needed to have a strawberry on it so when I saw the colors for this week's Curtain Call Color Challenge (Act 59) on Stacey's Stamping Stage, I knew that I could use it as inspiration for my card.

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I've eyed this challenge for awhile on the blog of former Curtain Call Design Team member Shelley, but need to thank another blog friend, Maureen, for the indirect nudge she gave that finally got me to participate. So thanks, Shelley, for my first introduction to Stacey's challenge, and thanks, Maureen (current Curtain Call Guest Designer — woohoo!), for finally getting me to play along!

AND TELL:  stamps are from Stampin' Up (Tart & Tangy, Thank You Kindly); cardstock is Papertrey Ink (Stampers Select White); ink and markers are SU (Basic Gray; Real Red, Always Artichoke); ribbon is from Michael's as are the bells; baker's twine and glitter are Martha Stewart; also used a Creative Memories silver metallic pen, SU's Ornament Punch and a Cuttlebug embossing folder (Snowflakes).

I wasn't planning on the card being so Christmas-y, but I guess I'm in the mood. When the idea of putting a strawberry on a glittered ornament popped into my head, I just had to go with it.

And, here is the reason that I wanted a strawberry on Lynne & Mike's card:

 
Mmmm. Lynne had fancy chocolate-covered strawberries from Shari's Berries delivered to our house. They were so, so tasty. Wish I had one now... (And, yeah, it would've been nice if I'd thought to snap a picture before we started to dig in!)

And here's a photo of Lynne & Mike, taken right before they climbed in the car for the trip back to Indiana.

 
Hard to believe that Mike just celebrated the second Thanksgiving that he was not supposed to live to see. Just so you know... cancer may seem like a death sentence, but it can be a "life sentence", too. I think Michael has done way more living in the past year and a half or so since his diagnosis than he'd done in a very long time. God is SO GOOD! And we've been so blessed to have both Mike and Lynne celebrate Thanksgiving with us for the last two years. Looking forward to doing it again in 2011!

That's it for now. Today's 2 year old Christmas program went well. None of them cried! And most of them stayed in the general vicinity of the church sanctuary steps (their "stage"). So — we do it again tomorrow. Hopefully that group will do as well. Time will tell...

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back tomorrow with a birthday card. See you then!