Sister's Summer Swap Card!

I figured it was safe to post this card now! I participated in a swap with my SBS2 Sisters and mailed them all out last week! The theme was Summer and this is what I came up with! I brayered the background with SU! Orchid Opulence, Marigold Morning and Yo Yo Yellow with a rubber brayer to make the sun appear to be setting. I then added a brayered layer of SU! Brilliant Blue for the water. I tore and layered two pieces of Close to Cocoa to make the beach sand and added some sparkle to the water with Stickles. I used a beach stamp from Rubber Necker Co for the focal image. I paper pieced each bathing beauties bathing suit after adding a little color to each. I also popped each girl up off the sand with pop dots and did the same to each hat to make them look 3D! I drew in some birds and added a sentiment with a brad. Making these made me want to stroll on the beach! : ) Hope you like them!

Hanna Pillow Challenge!

I am participating in the Hanna Pillow Challenge this week! Kristi over at Hanna Stamps offers a fun new challenge each week and then matches you up with a partner! I will be sending my creation to Carolina and this is what I made for her using the pillows Kristi picked out as inspiration! I had so much fun making these little britches! I used My Garden Riley stamp from Hanna Stamps and went with the whole garden flower theme! I filled two little bags with chocolate (caramel filled kisses to be exact!!) Yummmmm-o!! and stuffed them into each leg! I sure hope they arrive to Carolina in tact and not as chocolate soup! : ) Hope you like them, Carolina!

Spinning coaster mini book!

I created this mini spinning coaster book with the intention of tracking my weight loss journey! I used some of my favorite colors and stamps to help keep me motivated! I made the covers from coasters and all of the fun add-ons came from my scrap pile! I used my book binder to assemble the whole thing! These spinning cards are so much fun to make and play with!

Stamps: BarBella, RubberNecker Goddess stamp and SU! BoHo Backgrounds
Ink: Pixie Pink and Old Olive
Paper: Misc papers
Extras: Coasters, Sparkle Bling, Stickles, Ribbon scraps, Tag punch, Word Window punch, gold brads, paper flowers

Spinning cowboy card!

This card was sooo much fun to make and even more fun to play with! This was hubby's Father's day card from me. I have a special place in my heart for cowboy's and just love this image from Lizzie Anne Designs. I thought it would be perfect for a spinner card! He flips in circles across the card! Which just begged for an inside sentiment that read "I am head over spurs crazy about you!" Giggles!

Stamps: Lizzie Anne Designs, SU! BoHo Backgrounds
Ink: SU! Ballet Blue and Cranberry Crisp
Paper: SU! Sky Blue, Very Vanilla and Close to Cocoa
Extras: Word Window punch and Stickles

Every man needs a wallet!

I have to say that my hubby is the absolute greatest dad I could ever ask for for my kids! He is patient and kind and loving and caring! He is truly a great dad and I sincerely hope that my kids appreciate how wonderful he is! : )

Thought I would share the crafty stuff we gave him this Father's Day! We usually get him a wallet for Christmas, but didn't buy one this past year! So I thought it would be cute to make him a paper wallet instead! I used Mel's Faux leather technique (linked below in the tool belt post!) to turn card stock into what feels like real leather ** Disclaimer!! No cows were harmed in making this wallet!** : ) . It was very simple and actually looks like a wallet when it is all closed up! Too cute! The pattern came from Jackie Topa. She has a great blog! I filled it with pictures of our kids and each kiddo wrote him a note to go with their photo!

Also pictured is a card my youngest son asked me to make for him to give to his dad! We kept it simple, but the sentiment on the inside was heart felt!

Wallet:
Stamps: Happy Father's Day $ stamp form Mike's
Ink: SU! Brilliant Blue
Paper: Close to Cocoa, Sky Blue & Blush
Extras: Brads and window punch

Card:
Stamps: SU! Seaside Sketches
Ink: SU! Handsome Hunter
Paper: SU! Sahara Sand, generic paper
Extras: Ribbon and paper piercing tools

Father's Day!

Father's Day is just around the corner and I have been searching for some fun projects to make! While blurfing (blog surfing!) one day I found the most adorable project pattern ever! Now I must preface this post by saying that I am in awe of this particular blogger's work! She is absolutely amazing...*Read paper genius* here! She is one of my SBS2 sisters and I visit her blog often for inspiration! This is her pattern and her template. Her name is Mel and she is quite talented! You can find her here! Thanks so much, Mel for sharing! Be sure to check out her blog! : ) You will LOVE it too!!

I did a couple of things different when making my tool belts! I did not add the ink to lighten the color of the Close to Cocoa card stock and I added paper tools instead of those cute mini tools Mel used. (I couldn't find them anywhere!) I added some chocolate to the box and cannot wait to give these to their respective recipients! These were so much fun to make and are just sooo darn cute! they actually feel like real leather! Toooo coool! I made two! One for my step dad and one for my kids adopted grand-dad! Hope they like them! : )

I wet and crumpled the card stock per Mel's instructions. Then I ironed it flat and rubbed it down with my Versamark pad. I cut out the pattern pieces and paper pierced them all and then added the faux stitching with my Basic Black marker. I assembled the whole thing with sticky strip and added the tag! That was that! : )

Also pictured is the card I made to send my step dad! I used my favorite froggy image from RubberNecker and chalks to color it! I added a little Stickles for color on the flower and added some green sparkle bling!

Stamps: none
Paper: SU! Close to Cocoa and Very Vanilla
Extras: Basic Black Marker, paper piercer, gold brads, gold eyelets, crop-o-dile, sticky strip


Have a great day!

A true challenge!!

Ok , so at my monthly demonstrator's meeting our challenge was to come up with a one layer swap card! Piece of cake! (or so I thought!!) This was by far the hardest challenge I have ever participated in! I was 100% stumped! When it came time to sit down and create this card I was stuck! It is really tough to make a card that has no layers!! Every thing I did just felt naked and blah! LOL So I decided to try to think 'outside of the box'! First thing I did was to change the shape of the card! It transformed from a rectangle to a circle via the help of my coluzzle! (LOVE that thing!). Next I used my gold marker pen to outline the edges of the card. I couldn't stand not adding something else to it though so I stamped that cute butterfly and flower from SU!'s Merci on a separate piece and cut them out and attached them with ribbon to the card! They dangle freely and are not layered on the card so my card still fell into the One Layer Card category! : ) Big, cheesy grin! I was pretty happy with the result! I do think it will be a while before I attempt another One Layer though!

Stamps: SU! Always and Merci
Paper: SU! Sahara Sand
Ink: SU! Pink Passion and Old Olive
Extras: Gold pen, Rose Ribbon, Ice Sparkle Brad, Paper piercer and coluzzle

More graduation gifts and a card!

My oldest son's girlfriend graduated High School today! I made her a paper bag album using all the pieces of the invitation she sent to us! Her school colors are red and white, so I used that color scheme through the whole album! Hope she likes it! : )

Stamps: SU! Graduation set
Paper: SU! Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White and Sahara Sand
Ink: SU! Real Red, Basic Black and Very Vanilla
Extras: Gold brads, Red & White ribbons, Sparkle bling, white gel pen and White craft bags

...and the rest!

Thank you cards!

I finally did some stamping! It was sooooo nice to get back to it! I am way over due with some thank you notes and so that is what I started with! : ) These two cards will be going to people that have really touched my heart! The first card is going to one of my very special, very sweet SBS 2 sisters, Lori A! We recently had an image swap and one of the sets that I chose was a 2 step set. Rather than trying to guess what images I would like Lori surprised me by loaning me the whole set!! Sent me the whole thing!! I thought it was soooo sweet. Thank you Lori for being so thoughtful! It meant a lot to me! : ) If you are reading this your set will be going back in the mail today! Thank you!! Thank you!! Thank you!!

The second card is for someone that I have never met! My grandma (who is one of my very favorite people in the whole wide world!) lives several states away from me. She and my uncle have had a tough year due to some health problems. One of my Uncle's school friends stepped up out of nowhere and has helped them both out so much! I truly believe he is an angel that keeps his wings hidden! He has been so good to them. I wanted to let him know how much I appreciate his help so I made him a card and a little gift. Pictured is the card only. I hope he knows how much his help means to me!

Stamps: SU! Fresh Fowers, One of a Kind. Mike's Dollar Stamp
Ink: SU! Pink Passion, Old Olive
Paper: Daisy D's, misc
Extras: Embossing powder, sparkle bling, ribbons, white gel pen

Mom of a Graduate!

**Official disclaimer!! This about to be a loooong, semi emotional post! : )

Well, we did it! We made it through our graduation ceremony, dinner and prom! We spent well over a month planning for this night! It took us 9 hours to decorate and three hours to un-decorate! We transformed two big empty rooms into rooms filled with life and personality! Our theme was masquerade ball (upstairs!) and Mardi Gras downstairs! We had right at 100 people in attendance and 27 kids at our prom! We were not even done taking down the decorations before our kids wanted to know what our theme was going to be for next year and how soon we could get started planning! LOL

I was caught completely in the middle of all of the planning and decorating and doing and the whole thing seemed to just whiz right by. We showed up Friday for a dress rehearsal and to start decorating. It was a typical dress rehearsal! The kind that leaves the person in charge biting their nails and hoping for the best! LOL One of our mom's had decided at the last minute to not participate in the ceremony, our music was not all in tact, there was still a question as to whether or not our decoration centerpieces were going to get done on time (someone accidentally threw away the box with the focal point of 20 centerpieces in it!) and our keynote guest speaker had another obligation that day that was going to bring him in right at the last minute...crunch time! My youngest son was still feeling under the weather. He has a sinus infection and has been running a fever for days. By that time I had spent several nights on the couch with him watching him sleep and waiting for his medicine to wear off and was functioning on about 6 hours of sleep over the span of the whole week! LOL

Saturday was the big day! I showed up early and stood at the entrance to the room looking in at what yesterday was a big, plain empty lifeless room! We hung huge gauzy strips of golden material swag like from the vaulted ceilings with white lights running through them! We hung gigantic banners that said Class of 2008 and huge masquerade style masks from the ceilings. It all looked so pretty! As I stood there running through the 'what's got to happen today' list in my head I was feeling an amazing amount of emotion! My oldest kid arrived there a high school student and was going to leave graduated! I say it so often, but where has the time really gone?! I was proud and sad and happy and excited and tired all at the same time! LOL

The ceremony started exactly on time! : ) Our graduates wore pink (girls) and black (boys) caps and gowns. The speeches were long, but heart felt! Lots of sniffles and wet eyes in the audience! I have been joking with the other home school mom's all along that our goal was an 85% wet eye room! Our kids performed the song 100 Years by Five for Fighting and they were SO AWESOME!!! When I first sat down with our group and suggested that they sing a song they thought I was bananas! I got lots of rolled eyes and hands on the hip protests, but they all wound up doing it and they were amazing! The song is about the circle of life and how a young man meets a girl when he is 15 and falls crazy head over heals in love with her. He goes through the different stages of life with her and at the end cannot wait to get back to her because she had to leave him first. Insert sniffles here!! Very touching!

Dinner went well! There is just something so cool in my opinion about 100 people all sitting down together to share a meal! I am from a tiny family and maybe that is why I like it, but whatever the reason it made me sincerely happy!! : )

We gently kicked everyone out right on time to get our prom started! 27 kids was the perfect number! They had a blast!! 4 Hours of dancing and goofing around! We made each one of them a Prom memory book. It had pockets for their prom ticket and a program. There were pages to fill in memorable happenings and blank pages to add pictures. We had two picture areas set up for photo opportunities! The back had pages to sign each others books and they loved them! They spent 45 minutes running around getting signatures! : )

Then it happened! It was right at 11:00pm and I was downstairs cleaning up. I heard the bump and thump music shut off and it was replaced with the song 100 Years!!! The kids WANTED to sing it one last time! After all the fussing and complaints about me making them practice!! They asked to sing it one more time to close the evening! I came up the stairs and just stood there with real tears in my eyes! Those 27 kids plus several of the parents were singing that song. Suddenly nothing else really mattered! The hiccup with the music at the end of the graduation ceremony didn't matter! The looong hours of working on prom projects and decorating til after midnight didn't matter! All the indecision and debate on the perfect way to do things didn't matter! The multi tasking to get 12 things all wrapped up at the last minute...didn't matter, didn't matter, didn't matter! We had provided a wonderful, long lasting memory for those kids!!!! It was such a nice moment! Everyone all hugged up together singing that song that has meant so much to me for so long! I was so proud and all weepy eyed!! : )

All in all, I would say it was a huge success! The non participating mom changed her mind and was part of the ceremony! The guest speaker made it on time and was wonderful! We worked out the centerpiece fiasco! My kid's fever finally broke! YAY!! And the room was filled with people that I really, sincerely love! I am crazy about these home school kids that I have watched grow up and was so excited to be able to share this night with so many people that are so important to me! My graduate, my son was amazing! He was articulate and precise! He was witty and handsome! As usual, he made me proud! The only thing that could have made this evening more perfect was if my mom, step dad, grandma and uncle could have been with us. They would have been proud as well!

I have included a photo of my hubby giving our youngest daughter a corsage. She was invited to stay andd participate this year! The other photo is a group shot of our prom attendees right before pom! They all made their own masks! : ) I did not get many photos because I was busy playing hostess, but am hoping the other mom's will share!

Have a wonderful weekend! : )

The mom of a graduate!

Warning!! Warning!! Major vent about to take place!!

Hello!! We made it home safe and sound and my life has been a total whirlwind since we got home! : )

My planner this month has been so full that just thinking about it makes me a little dizzy! I have had stuff scheduled every day and it feels like there are just not enough hours in a day! **Beep, beep, beep!! Disclaimer: This may sound like a giant complaint, but actually it isn't! : ) I prefer to be busy! I try to be a do-er and boy am I doing this month! LOL This is more of a gentle unloading of stress upon you, my new blogg-y friends! (Hey! Thanks for listening by the way!)

The biggest to do on my list, the icing on the cake is coming together this weekend! My oldest son is graduating high school! Sounds simple enough, I know! However, because we home school that makes graduation 'my' function! I am the teacher, principle, guidance counselor, career counselor etc... I co-run our communities Home School support group and in addition to my son we have three other graduates! We have been scheming and planning and making and doing for our own HS graduation all month long! There will be a graduation ceremony followed by a dinner followed by a prom! We are expecting approximately 100 guests! We have 25 teens that will be attending prom this year and they have chosen Masquerade Ball as their theme! So, giant masks...check! Huge banners...check! Music, balloons, table centerpieces, food, food, food...check, check, check! I will be putting the final touches on decorations today and hope to get everything done before our weekend deadline! I still have a to do list for today and tomorrow as long as I am tall though (which includes finding something to wear!)! I am starting to feel a little pressure! LOL Then on top of everything, my youngest son is sick! He started to feel bad Sunday night. I think it is a sinus infection, but after a very early morning trip to the doctor (an hour away!) he has been diagnosed with a virus that 'needs to just run it's course'. Sigh! There is NOTHING worse than when your kiddo looks at you with those eyes that say pleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaase make this go away and all you can do is try to keep him cool and comfortable. His fever was 104 Tuesday night. Poor little guy!

Ok, so if you managed to make it through all of this dribble...thank you! Thank you for listening to me vent! Big cheesy grin! : ) Saturday is the big day! Think me some happy, good luck vibes if you would and wish them my way!

I promise to become a more regular blogger once May is behind me and June is here!

I have included some photo's of the graduation announcements I made for my son with the RSVP card. I used black 12 X 12 paper and silver embossed the hat and tassel and swirls! I used a silver pen to outline the rectangle on the front. This was my proto type and the pen smeared a little bit. I folded a flap up on the inside to make a pocket to hold the RSVP card and directions. I silver embossed inside and on the front of the RSVP card! These were so much fun to make! I added a little sparkle to each one and Viola'! Hope you like them!

More from me soon! : )

And finally...!

Here are some photo's of us goofing around! Photo #1 is hubby and I at the Aquarium! Photo #2 is he and I taking my famous reach your arms out and do a self portrait photo photo! (I have a ton of these and keep promising to put them all in one album!) I took about three of these, but he insisted on closng his eyes to aggrevate me! Photo #3 is of my oldest daughter and I using the same photo method! LOL
I didn't include any of the photo's of the graduation because I want to keep those hidden until I give them out as framed gifts. The graduation went very well! It was very entertaining and included traditional Louisiana jazz! It was held in the SuperDome (where all of the Hurricane Katrina folks were taken for several weeks after the storm).
I hope you guys enjoyed your virtual tour of Louisiana! : ) ((Hubby laughed at me today and told me I was such a tourist! LOL)) We will be traveling back home tomorrow! Think about us on that loooooong drive! Have a great night!

Even more photos...!

Photo #1 is of my kids at the Aquarium in front of a tank of fish! This place was soooo awesome! I could have spent all day in here watching the fish! Photo #2 is my kids on a giant frog! LOL Photo# 3 was a group shot in front of Camilia Grill. The graduate is in the center! Also pictured are my mom in law and her husband, my hubby and my kids! Photo #4 was a man painted silver! He was a hoot! Moving around like a robot and collecting cash on the street! He was pretty amazing! Photo #5 was of a statue in the park that I thought was just beautiful! What a fun day!