Holidays!!

Today is Halloween. I so enjoyed playing with CTMH Hooligans. I have a few little ones left and will use them for children's birthday cards.

Which holiday is your favorite? Mine is really Thanksgiving. I adore autumn and all the colors, foods and ideas....today I raked leaves for 35 minutes and they were so beautiful, I felt bad putting them in the yard waste container. They are an especially brilliant red this year.

That said, I do love my Christmas Santas that Mom painted and all the fun of making little gifts...

I am having fun planning the Christmas stamp projects. Pictures tomorrow.

Happy Haunting!! I'm off to walk the neighborhood with my little goblin grandsons :)

Dena

I'm back . . .

It has been an incredibly busy fall. This year school has taken over my life! The students are wonderful - just teaching new subjects (Civics and advanced placement U.S. Government & Politics) and using new textbooks for the U.S. History classes has pushed my time to the limit.

I am enjoying the civics and government much to my surprise. The seniors are delightful - though I've been warned that they don't last much after spring break :>)

Anyhow, there hasn't been much time to sleep or stamp. I had a workshop earlier in October, but didn't post the cards. So that's what you see here.

Thanks for coming back! I promise to post more often again. And please vote on Tuesday.

Dena

I'm working on Christmas workshop now, and hope to have something fun to show later this week.

Projects and fun

Three cards - the first is an invitation to a wedding rehearsal dinner which will be held at a yacht club. The picture is of the groom's sailor suit when he was four and a boat he made with his grandpa. It was fun to work on these with my friend. We made 42 of them!

The next card is a very fun Stella stamp from Bugaboo Stamps. I love their silly characters! My friend has been sewing the elegant satin dresses for two little flower girls for this wedding. She is amazing at this, but it has been a tough project. She even made muslin versions to be sure they would fit, and created a net slip for each to keep the long skirts full. They are gorgeous! I am giving her this card to celebrate completing them. The papers used are CTMH.

The last card is one made from clip art. I saw a card like this and really wanted to make one, but didn't have a cow stamp. I searched for free clip art and printed it and colored it with CTMH markers - drawing in the spots and grass. The sentiment is computer generated also.

Well, school starts Thursday. Tomorrow will be a very busy day - laptop training, finishing up plans for the first few days, September reading assignment calendar for AP Gov. . .this is my 21st year teaching, but I am nervous every year! I think teachers are worse than the kids :)

Hope your week has started well.
Thanks for looking.

Dena

Anniversary Celebration

It hardly seems possible that one year ago we gathered for my youngest son's wedding. It was a beautiful weekend! The celebration this year has us watching the little dog, Max, while the kids go off for fun for a few days.

It has been a long time since I posted - I am sorry for those who check here and found nothing new. I'm getting ready for back-to-school, and that means less time to create new things. But I have also been working on little gifts for my fellow teachers, and several wedding related items for my friend. Photos of those will appear as I finish them.

This card was fast and easy to make, but looks very elegant. Must learn to fix bows before taking picutres. . .

CTMH products used: textured Colonial White cardstock, Happy Holidays (D1431) stamp set, metal-rimmed tag, black and new Cotton Candy inks, a heart charm bead (retired ); other: ribbon from SU!, circle punches, silver cord.

Meanwhile, celebrate the loves in your life. Got to go play with the dog now! lol

Dena

APRON card directions

This is for all the wonderful CTMH gals that have sent requests for how to make the little apron card.

I saw this somewhere and just made up a rough pattern. I took a piece of paper 41/4 X 51/2 - folded it in half and cut from 3 1/2" up to
3/4" from the center fold. This gave me the tracing template for the card base.
I did the same thing with a 4 "x 5 1/4" for the apron top. Folded in half, cut from 3 1/4 up on the side to 3/4" from the center fold.

The decoration pieces on the apron are 4" X 1 3/4, 4" X 5/8

It took about 6"-6 1/2" of ribbon for the top. You could fasten it with a brad, too.
Hope this helps. I tried scanning my template for the apron top...doesn't look too good, but gives you the idea. I think it gets bigger if you click on it.

Dena

Tiny Gift Bags

The local craft store is having sales!! Tomorrow I will go stock up on some of these tiny bags. They were in the wedding section for favors, and are perfect for a little thank you gift with chocolate, cocoa packet or tea bag...

Products used: CTMH cranberry and Sweat Leaf, Heavenly Blue and Chocolate papers and inks; Tasty Treats ( D1427) stamp set; 2" and 2 1/2" punched; assorted ribbons.

Sweet Birthday

A little card to go with some birthday cupcakes.

products: CTMH Life Delights (retired) paper, Lilac Mist, Sweat Leaf and Colonial White cardstock; It's Your Day, Happy Birthday, and Cupcake Sprinkles stamps; Chocolate, SweetLeaf and Lilac Mist inks; ribbon from Sweat Leaf Collection; MS border punch; eyelets.