Stamping Challenge

There's a paper crafting challenge over at Stampin' When I Can that is HOME themed. That sounded like fun, so I thought I'd post this as my entry. :) Tomorrow is the deadline, so I'm posting it just in time. :) Check out the comments on her post for more home-themed inspiration!

Cards

I spent some time yesterday and today making cards to help replenish my stash. Time *flies* after school begins, so I am hoping to build up my stock of cards for different occasions through the year. I need to make more, especially of birthday cards, thank yous, and all occasion cards, but here's a good beginning!

Father's Day Cards

I stamped a few cards for our dads for Father's Day. Matt thought they were still a bit girly, but I picked masculine colors and they're not too froo-froo. After I made the cards, I cleaned out the guest room (late spring cleaning) and found some of my more masculine stamp sets. They are staying in the guest room--they have not been relegated to the garage or closet like some of my more seasonal stamps--so I will have easy access to them in the future. But without further ado, here are the cards I made...

Dad G. on the left and Dad K. on the right (inside it says "You light up my life.")

I picked the toaster stamp for my dad, because one of our silly nicknames for him growing up was Pop and Pop-a-lop. :) I used SU! stamps, I think the ink was close to cocoa (or was it chocolate chip?), and I used a brown sharpie to add little embellishments. I also sponged some brown around the beige layering piece of my dad's card and around the actual card base of my father-in-law's card.

Nothing too fancy, but it was the first time I have stamped since Jamie's baby shower invitations. And THAT was the first time in a long time. I love that summer gives me more time to stamp! :) Hopefully I'll have more to share soon. But for now, I need to run to JoAnn's get some fabric to sew a gift for my sister-in-law. Baby Isabella is due in September, and her shower is next week when we go visit Matt's family (and then my family). We can't wait! :)

Finished Invitations

They are in the mail! This morning when I woke up, I got right to work on the invitations for Jamie's baby shower. My goal was to mail them today--and I made that goal! :)

Here is a picture of the final design.

I ended up extending the white paper the full length of the invitation. I liked the look better. I also stamped the pink edges, as you an see. I think they make it look more "finished." Lastly, I used some 3-D tape to make the pink circle at the top "pop" of the paper just a little. Now, on to food and decor!

Neat Reference

Check out this site. It is a stamper's catalogue of her stamps by theme, and then if you click the theme, she has ideas for how to use each of her sets. While I do not have identical sets to her, the ideas are a great resource! Maybe someday I'll have time for something like that (ha!)... :)

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Crafting pictures from 2007

(I couldn't find anything for Jan-March, sad huh?)

April
necklace


April #2 (I didn't have anything for May :-( )
baby blanket


June
pizza glyph for science camp


cross stitch for living room


July
card

napkin


nursing cover


August

classroom decor

September
notecards for newly-engaged friend


October
leaf-covered pumpkin


November
began Jesse Tree ornaments for Joy


December
family apple ornaments


tree in the classroom my students decorated (they made the ornaments)

World Card Making Day

In honor of WCMD, here are a few cards I made right before school started back...

I scanned them, and I realize they'd probably look better if I photographed them. But, here's a glimpse. :)

Note cards

One of my dear friends back home got engaged two weeks ago (exactly, today). In her giddiness she commented to me that she wanted to get some stationery. I filed that information away and set out to find her some as an engagement gift. I searched several paperies and such online, but nothing seemed "just right."

Then I realized, "What am I doing?? I can MAKE her some stationery!!" Thus began my little experiment in note card design. I went through several font considerations and narrowed them down to 4 I really liked for her name. Then I hearkened back to my own wedding planning days and whipped up a couple monograms for her in Photoshop.

I printed 4 cards for each font and each monogram. Then I chose four stamps to decorate each set of cards. They are all SU! stamps, and I used SU! Old Olive ink. I ended up with one bouquet stamp, one short vase, one tall vase, and one wedding cake. :)

I don't want to plaster her full name on the net, so here are just some of the monogram cards. Below that is the monogram I designed for myself, because it was all too easy and fun to create the cards, and who doesn't love personalized stationery? :)