A Mug of Birthday Tea

Somehow in the midst of life and this insane pandemic that feels like we're on March 432nd, it is in fact December 18th. We're in this weird place where time feels incredibly drawn out and yet insanely protracted. 

I find it's rather like parenting, in fact. You know that old adage, "The days are long but the years are short"? That one? And, as anyone who is a parent knows, it's the truth!

My darling Bitty will be 15 tomorrow and I'm sitting here contemplating how in the WORLD that has happened while simultaneously remembering all those loooooong days. And then, it hits me...three years and that's it. Oh goodness! ALLLL the emotions at once!

When making cards for friends and family I try hard to create cards I know they'll love. My Lil? She loves hot beverages, especially tea. She loves the process of making it and cradling the mug and sipping and feeling warm. 

I knew what images I wanted to use, but couldn't decide how to make it happen. The Paper Players are hosting a color challenge this week so I figured I'd try it out and see what happened. If I didn't like it, I could always make another card. 

I'm not unhappy with the results. :o) 

I'm also not unhappy with the fact Winter Break is finally here and I can get my creative groove on without those other things niggling at the back of my brain. Teaching is always challenging. Teaching during a pandemic? Whew. I NEED this break! 

I don't know if I'll be posting any more cards. I certainly hope to! Stay tuned! 

We Need a Little Christmas!

I just closed out the first marking period--got in grades, chased down missing assignments, worked on report cards--and decided to reward myself with some crafting time. :o) 

As always of late, when I need inspiration, I headed over to The Paper Players to check out this week's challenge. And there it was, right up my alley--CHRISTMAS!! 

2020 has been something else, hasn't it? I always balk at skipping over Thanksgiving and racing right to Christmas, but as my youngest has been singing over and over again, "We need a little Christmas, right this very minute!" 

We've had the Christmas movies playing on repeat and I have been playing Christmas music practically nonstop. ;oP  And, let's face it, it doesn't hurt to get a jump on making the yearly Christmas cards, does it? 

The photo isn't the best quality--because, drat it all it gets dark at noon these days--but here it is. :o) 

Happy week, everyone! It's always a great end if I have crafting time. :o) 

 

Autumn-y Friends

 

I needed to just sit and make a card this afternoon. Being a teacher in 2020 is a whole new ballgame, let me tell you. Suffice it to say I'm exhausted. There's "teacher tired" and then there's "2020 teacher tired". Whew!

I needed a creative outlet after a very challenging day (12 out of 15 kiddos failed to do an assignment I EXPLICITLY told them to do and I was done). 

Where do you go to find mojo when you have none? Why, to The Paper Players' Challenge, of course! 

This week was a color challenge from Ann, and my autumn-loving heart leapt with joy! 

I dug out one of my favorite little sets, "Trendy Trees", found my stamp-a-majig and got to work. I paired it with a sentiment from the "Lovely You" stamp set and voila! 

Then I had to remake the card because, well, Cajun Craze the stamp-a-majig and my arm collided with the card. 

I decided I didn't like the bling on the card that much anyhow so was more than happy to go ahead and remake it...at least that's what I told myself. ;oP 

Honestly, though, my CAS heart just loves the final form of the card--I couldn't be more pleased. :o)

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Paper: Mossy Meadow, Whisper White

Inks: Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, Cinnamon Cider, Mossy Meadow

Stamp Sets: Trendy Trees, Lovely You

Notes: 

I stamped off the "leaves"

I "rock and rolled" the Crushed Curry with the Cajun Craze with the yellow leaves

Happy New Year!

The new school year is upon us. Living in a part of Virginia that doesn't begin until the day after Labor Day (the so-called "King's Dominion Law" because there is a belief we need the high school kids to run all the amusement parks and tourist attractions in this part of the state), I still have a few more weeks before I being with students, although I "report" to work via Zoom next Tuesday. :o)

I come by my teaching honestly. 

My mama (Lissie!) was a teacher and I spent my childhood before and after school in her classroom learning the ropes of the life of a school teacher. In turn, I set up my own classroom, teaching my stuffed animals and a--at times--resentful sister. ;o) And, then, somehow, 20+ years passed, and here I am! 

All this to say, my life has always (always!) revolved around the school calendar. Whether it was beginning daycare in September or starting school (and later college), or now, as an adult, setting up my room and making plans for the year, the school calendar drives my life. 

Every September I call out, "Happy New Year!" because, to me, this just makes sense! It is, without a doubt, a new year!

Starting a "new" year in January? 

Nope. ;o)

This week at The Paper Players the challenge was to make a CAS Back to School card. 

I've been trying to forget my summer of "freedom" (um, really? Freedom? In the time of Covid-19?) is ending and put off this card to the last possible moment. :oP 

The beginning of the year is always hectic, chaotic, and exhausting, and this year will undoubtedly be more so. We will be starting all virtual and this is going to present its own unique challenges. I hope my family's ready for Teacher Rachael to come on in and shove Summer Rachael on out of the way. LOL!

For now, I have a few more days of leisure before I hit the ground running on my New Year. :o) 

 (I always laugh at what a huge mess I make when making such a crisp card.)

Stamp Sets: Teeny Tiny Wishes, Tart and Tangy

Ink: Real Red, Shaded Spruce, So Saffron, Early Espresso, Memento Black

Paper: Whisper White (both), Real Red

Miscellaneous: basic pearls

Notes:
That apple stamp has always bothered me a bit because when you slice into an apple, in general, it is NOT red (or green!). That said, I have seen pink-y streaks in an apple so I wasn't too bothered by the touches of red on the "flesh". My biggest dilemma was trying to figure out what color to use for the fruit inside. 

I inked the stamp up using my Stampin' Write markers and used my trusty and old faithful Stamp-A-Majig to place the apples.

Always Love You

 

I'm starting to get that "summer is almost over it's mid-August and I have to go back to work" feeling. ARGH!!

Summers are so important to teachers. We need that time to recharge our batteries after giving 200% of ourselves during the year. This coming year is nothing but uncertainty and looks like it's going to be one heck of a roller coaster ride...

I'm trying to put off those thoughts. All of them. Darn it all! I don't "return" until the 25th, so I still have time! Forget about that deep cleaning that still needs to happen! There's always time for that! :oP Let me get in the offudio and create!

Liss and I have a new Saturday and Sunday morning routine. Saturday we check to see The Paper Players' design team picks for the week and then Sunday we check out the newest challenge. 

I know I said earlier I usually have an easy time with colors. Well, this time, I struggled a bit. Then I looked at my desk and saw a brand new stamp set staring at me, and I knew. :o) 

This is proving to be a versatile and lovely little set and I'm off to play some more. :o) 

As for work...well...it can wait. ;o)

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Stamp Sets: Branch Out (butterflies--oh how I love those little butterflies!), Field of flowers

Paper: Whisper White (heavy and regular), Night of Navy

Ink: Night of Navy, Melon Mambo, Mango Melody, Pool Party

Miscellaneous: brayer

How to:

I used the brayer to lightly put in the Pool Party for the background. Because I didn't want it super dark, I rolled it off on a scrap piece of paper and then rolled it on my paper. 

For the Newlyweds--A Paper Players Challenge

In an effort to keep the mojo flowing, I'm continuing to play along with The Paper Players. 

This week's challenge was a theme from Laurie:

I had to give this challenge quite a bit of thought. I'll be honest, Brien and I aren't the most romatical of couples so I wouldn't create a really fancy card for him. And, I'm fresh out of weddings to attend. That said, It never hurts to have a card in your stash for those "just in case" emergencies. In my building at school, you never know when you might need a shower card, and to be honest, in the middle of the year, I don't have as much time to craft as I would like. 

I thought about the next wedding we have coming up in the building (in October if Covid behaves!). The sweet bride is a modern young woman with elegant yet simple taste. 

I pulled out my embossing folders to see if anything inspired me (since I have NO stamps that did so) and lo and behold, there was this gorgeous paisley swirly one. :o) 

Because I'm not sure what her "colors" are, I went with my favorite, the lovely Smoky Slate. However, it still didn't "pop" with me like I wanted it to so I pulled out my pearls and starting putting them in all the holes. (Anyone else find their "pokey tool" is a godsend when placing bling?)

The pearls were the thing! I finished it off with the beautiful scripted "For the Newlyweds" from Teeny Tiny Wishes stamped in the lower right corner. 

Perfect! :o) 

I don't know if we'll be together to celebrate this beautiful couple, but I do know how USPS works so I'll get this card to Miss Madison one way or another. ;o)

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Stamp Set: Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Whisper White (heavy and regular), Smoky Slate

Ink: Smoky Slate

Miscellaneous: Basic Pearls for the win!! 

Hopeful Butterflies

Yet another card I created on rainbow Friday night. :o) 

I have no clue what actually inspired this. I had the butterfly punch out, I had the rainbow paper scraps sitting there, and I just...did it. :shrug: 

Do you ever have those moments of "I wonder if...?" That's what happened here. I punched them, then I had to have something to do with them. Doh!

I started putting the pieces together to make whole butterflies and this is what clicked with me. I covered the "seam" with some pearls to create little butterfly bodies, and paired it with one of my favorite sentiments. 

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Stamps: Hope Happens

Papers: Whisper White (heavy and regular), Flirty Flamingo, Poppy Parade, Mango Melody, Pineapple Punch, Lemon Lime Twist, Coastal Cabana

Ink: Gorgeous Grape

Miscellaneous: pearls for bling 

Rainbow Night in the Offudio

It started with a simple enough plan: punch some hearts to create a border and then put colored paper behind them. 

I love rainbows. I have this thing where I NEED colors to be in Roy G Biv order. When folks say, "It's a rainbow!" and are talking about multi-colored and NOT Roy G Biv order, I'm bothered. Greatly. 

Things should be in order: Roy G Biv and ombre! It makes my heart pitty pat with delight! 

I've been known to reorder displays in stores in order to fix it for them. ;oP

In this case, I'd made the rainbow teacups a couple weeks back but didn't feel I'd worked all the rainbow out of my system. 

I pulled the card stock and cut it into 3/4" strips and got to work. 

I punched more hearts--this time a bit lower--and repeated the process. 

But then, I had rainbow scraps left behind...

I didn't want to just toss them and saw my heart punch lying there, and well, this happened:

Be still my heart!!

And then, well, there was that punch Nana had just given me, just lying there as well, and, there those scraps were so this happened:

Doncha just love it when things come together??? :oD 

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Stamp Sets: Friendly Phrases, Express Yourself

Paper: Whisper White (heavy and regular), Poppy Parade, Mango Melody, Pineapple Punch, Lemon Lime Twist, Coastal Cabana

Ink: Gorgeous Grape

Miscellaneous: Dimensionals

Tips:

*I cut the bases at 5"x3.75" so I could mark the mid-point at 2.5". 

Then, I marked the card like this. I LOVE working with the grid paper behind me, it makes it incredibly easy to draw straight lines using a ruler!

You can see I marked an additional line 1/2" up for the second card. (The first, I just popped the punch all the way up.)

By marking that 1/2" line, I was about to line up the heart punch like so, making my border relatively even. 

And, as those who know me well know, I believe in keeping it real. Look at this mess!!

Whew!

I lose stamp blocks, stamp pads, Tombow, etc. in this mess!

Oy!

It's amazing I can get anything done, lol!

But, this is mess is what led to the creation of those cards. When you have stuff ust lying around, you can pick things up and put them together. ;o) 

Playing with Challenging Sketches

As I mentioned in my last post, I made five cards on Wednesday. I'm not sharing two of them--they're SO bad!!--but I'll share these two. 

I was playing along with The Paper Players sketch for challenge number 501 and really struggled with it. The diagonal element in particular stymied me quite a bit. 

I finally settled on the card above, but it still felt a little too busy to my CAS loving heart. 

So, I made card number four:

Same stamps, same sentiment, but with fewer layers. I think the card above this is lovely, no question, and I really do like the combination of Granny Apple Green with Gorgeous Grape (which is such a rich color). My life is so cluttered and busy lately, this simpler card appeals more. :shrug:

Here's to less time on screens, less time scrolling, and more time being creative. It feeds my soul in a way electronics just don't. 

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Stamp Sets: Sweet Essentials, Summer Silhouettes, Branch Out (butterflies)

Paper: Heavy Whisper White, Gorgeous Grape

Ink: Granny Apple Green, Gorgeous Grape, Pool Party

Branching Out My Creative Muscles (see what I did there??)

I've not been as good about crafting as I had hoped to be, getting distracted by my tiny handheld computer screen (I'm looking at you, iPhone old friend). After a quick day trip to the mountains failed to remove the weight of anxiety and bluh I was feeling, I put my phone down.

Not completely. It's a bad habit, you see. I pick it up when I need a quick distraction (because IG is just so darn FUN!) and then get sucked in. This week, when I find myself starting to scroll, I've been doing something crafty instead.

I've done a lot of coloring (SU! Blends are so delightful to color with!), and today (after Lissie once again poked and prodded ;oP) I decided to see what I could do with this week's challenge over at The Paper Players.

When I used to play along, I found color and theme challenges fairly easy to do while sketches often stymied me.

This week was this sketch:

*GULP*

A sketch.

Of course it would be a sketch. 

:insert laughing face here:

I made five cards. Three of them were okay and two were awful. 

But, wait, I made FIVE cards! When was the last time I sat down and did that?!? And, you know what? Even with the two horrible duds, I had FUN!! :oD When was the last time I said I really had fun scrolling on IG? 

So, once again, thank you, Paper Players, for inspiring me to stretch my creative muscles and have fun getting inky and messy. :o)  

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Stamp Sets: Branch Out, Sweet Essentials

Paper: Heavy Whisper White

Ink: Coastal Cabana, Granny Apple Green, Lemon Lime Twist, Poppy Parade, Mango Melody, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Memento Tuxedo Black

Miscellaneous: dimensionals

How To:

*I inked up my D block with Coastal Cabana, stamped off twice and then used it to create the background

*The sentiment is a mashup of two in the Sweet Essentials set. I covered the words I didn't want to stamp with washi tape, inked the word I wanted, and then peeled the tape off. I had to use the Stamp-A-Majig because there was NO WAY I was positioning those words where I wanted them otherwise!

Tiny Teacups for a Birthday

2014, huh?

Seems it's been a hot minute since I posted anything over here...

Oops!

You see, my infant turned into a toddler who turned into a real live preschooler whose only way of living seemed to be "GO GO GO!" And, before I knew it, she was starting Kindergarten and swimming (any swim families out there??) and my older daughter was off to fourth grade and art classes and cello lessons.

That was in 2015.

Because that wasn't enough, I returned to work full-time. Trying to get my feet back under me was a super huge challenge and even after 5 years, it can still feel like a struggle at times (third-grade teacher, if that helps).

All my free time was no longer "free" and was instead eaten up with lesson planning and grading and running mom's taxi service. No more time to play with paper and visit blogs. No more time to explore ideas.

No. More. Time.

ARGH!!!!

Lissie has been after me for years to get back in my stamping space and make cards and I resisted. I had ZERO mojo left. Everything just seemed to be "meh" at best.

That said, I need the crafting outlet. With the uncertainty of the upcoming school year and whatnot, I'm a leeeeeeetle bit anxious.

Enter cards!

I've made a few here or there, but not posted.

Liss started to jumpstart her mojo by playing along with The Paper Players. I used to love playing along and decided this week's challenge was right up my alley.

I figure my cards are nothing if not CAS. Perfect!

And, I needed a birthday card for Paul. Teacups for the gent who loves nothing more than a good cuppa. :o)

Here's to a nice hot cuppa and a happy birthday!

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Stamp Set: Tiny Teacup, some sentiment from a long ago SU! Paper Pumpkin
Paper: Heavy Whisper White, Whisper White, Mango Melody
Ink: Poppy Parade, Mango Melody, Pineapple Punch, Lemon Lime Twist, Coastal Cabana, Gorgeous Grape
Miscellaneous: dimensionals to pop up the image