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.

Lemonade, Anyone?

One of my all time favorite stamp sets is "Tart and Tangy".  I'm not sure why, it may be my love of all things tart and tangy and citrusy.  It may be because it's such an easy set for me to use.  It may be because I simply adore bright sunny yellow and retired Yo Yo Yellow is perfect for lemons.  Who knows?

What I do know is I recently made an Atlantic Beach pie and it made me think of this card, all tart and tangy and slightly sweet and delicious.  :o)

This was another card I made while dropping Lil at Lissie's for Lissie Camp.  I stamped random lemons all over the base.  On a piece of scrap I stamped still more lemons, "sugared" them using glue and glitter, and punched them using a 1.25" circle punch. 

I then cut a couple of those lemon slices into pieces and popped them up on dimensionals. I was thinking of lemonade and Country Time came to mind and I decided the sentiment was perfect in Lucky Limeade. ;o)

Isn't glitter fabulous? 

Alas, this card will not be shipped with the OWH cards due to the glitter.  No glitter allowed.  But, it's still a fun card. :o)

I had leftover lemon slices and wedges and began playing around with a blank card base.  I figured why waste 'em and stuck 'em down.  The top looked a bit nakey, so I hit it with some Gingham Garden washi tape. 

And, hey, why not do one in a vertical as well? ;o)

--Rach

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This card uses:

*Ink: Yo Yo Yellow (retired)
*Paper: Whisper White, PTI's white for the card base
*Stamp Sets: "Perfectly Penned", "Tart and Tangy" (retired)
*Accessories: dimensionals, glitter, glue

An Apple for the Teacher

 Poor neglected blog.  Poor thing.  I'm so sorry I've left you with nothing new.  I've been busy.  That's my excuse. 

But, with school starting tomorrow, I wanted to send in a couple of cards to Lil's teacher and assistant and quickly threw something together. 

This first card is for Mrs. W.  I used a sketch from Stamping 411 and pulled out "Greeting Card Kids" because, let's face it, they're perfect!  They go wonderfully with the "Summer Picnic" DSP (that I have hoarded...) and I think it is a sweet little card.

I used the apple from "Tart and Tangy" to VersaMark the vanilla base behind the image--I know it's hard to see.  

Then, there's this card I pulled together for Mrs. S.  I had meant to make a horizontal fold card, but somehow managed to cut the card stock for a vertical fold.  OOPS!  This is making lemons from lemonade. ;o)

I love love love "Tart and Tangy" and haven't pulled it out nearly enough recently.  I used it to not only make the focal image, but also VersaMarked the lower right corner behind the sentiment, and along the red strip on the inside.

I hope the ladies enjoy their cards.  I certainly enjoyed getting back in my stamping space! :o)

Red and Black--Inspired By Rachael

When Rachael posted her little boxes, it reminded me how much I love the combination of black and red. It is eye catching and I've often worn the combination both in clothes and shoes. As a result, I set out to create a card using these colors. I turned to the same paper Rachael used, Rockabilly, mostly because it has shiny bits on it. Tart and Tangy is a favorite stamp set and the cherry stamp complements the paper. To make the cherries pop, I covered them with Crystal Effects.

Supplies used:

• Stamp Set--Tart & Tangy
• Designer Series Paper--Rockabilly
• Ribbon--Ridinghood Red
• Crystal Effects
• Ink-Ridinghood Red, Garden Green, Chocolate Chip

I took half a dozen pictures of this card and gave up getting a good one. I am hopeless at photography.

--Lissie

Strawberry Inspiration

Aren't these little guys cute? I will periodically make a couple of these little boxes of cards to have on hand to give as a little "thank you" gift. They also make excellent stocking stuffers. :o)

But, why strawberries and black and vanilla? Because of this:

This is the inspiration photo for the challenge over at the Paper Players this week. I was immediately struck with the strawberries and their juxtaposition with the blackberries. I LOVE black and red as a combination. I picked up that light vanilla color from the cheese in the bottom right corner and that was it! I instantly knew I wanted to make a couple of little boxes of cards. :o)

Each box holds four 3"x3" cards and envelopes.

I put two red and two black cards in each box. See how I used the polka-dotted paper to pick up the polka-dotty look of the blackberries? :o)

I also got to play with my "Rockabilly" paper, which I've been squirreling away for a special occasion. :o)

I used my Crop-a-Dile to punch the holes for the ribbon to pass through.

And, of course, I lined the inside of the cards as well. :o)

This project uses:
Stamp Sets: "Tart and Tangy", "Warm Words"
Inks: Wild Wasabi, Real Red
Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, "Rockabilly" DSP, and Real Red DSP from a hostess pack
Accessories: 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, scallop circle punch, Crop-A-Dile, 1/4" red and black gingham ribbons, white gel pen, dimensionals

Now, to whom do I give the boxes...? :o)

--Rach

From the Archives

Since Lissie and I are traveling for the next few days, I thought I would dig into my archives and post some cards. I made this card in the dead of winter 2009 when the grey days were getting me down. The sunny lemons really perked me right up. :o) "Tart and Tangy" is definitely one of my go-to sets--hm, it hasn't seen ink in a while, maybe I should get it out and play. :o)

This card uses (all SU! unless otherwise noted):
Stamp Sets: "Tart and Tangy", "Happy Everything"
Inks: Yo-Yo Yellow (retired)
Papers: Whisper White, Yo-Yo Yellow, Basic Black
Accessories: black and white ribbon--unknown source, just found it in my ribbon drawer, gromits, two-way glue, Dazzling Diamonds, 1 1/4" circle punch (I think), 1 3/8" circle punch (again, I think--I made this back in 2009 after all)

Hm, I think I would LOVE a nice, cold glass of lemonade right now, seeing as our hotel room is about 100 degrees...UGH!

--Rach