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)