Kiddie Valentines!

Hi friends!  I'm starting to get a little behind on my blogging again- ack!  Today I want to catch up a little and finish posting my Valentine's Day cards.  These are the valentines I made for my dad to give to his 3rd grade class.  A few years ago I had bought a package of SUPER cute die-cuts by K&Co, and of course hoarded them because they were too cute to use.  However, this is my dad's last year of teaching, so I figured it was now or never if I wanted to use them up.  You'll see later in the post that my dad has 24 students, but I had used one of the 24 die-cuts for Chris's valentine a few years ago, so I had to make my own die-cut.  ;)

I made 2 of each card; you can see all 12 designs below.  The die-cuts were rather large, so I cut my paper (single panel) to 5 1/2" x 6" and made my own envelopes with my new We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board (LOVE this tool!).  

You can see that I scattered a lot of hearts and flowers and things all over the cards.  The die-cuts came with a ton of those small pieces and I wanted to finish them up, so they result is a very sprinkle-y card, but I think it's actually pretty cute.  And!- you know I love my puns!  LOL  So these cards were very simple to put together, but I'm totally in love with them.  :)

Okay, so I mentioned before that I had to make my own die-cut, because I only had one of the robots.  I scanned and printed the robot I had and added glitter to the knock-off version.  It didn't come out exaaactly the same, but I'm hoping the 9 year-old who got that card didn't notice.  ;)

Lastly, I want to show you what I did with the envelopes.  The envelope maker I just bought is super awesome.  It was only $20 and you can make up to 60 different-sized envelopes.  It's great for making wacky-sized cards like these.  It also helps you use up tons of patterned paper!  LOVE that!  :D  I tried to use 24 patterned papers that had an all-over design, so you wouldn't think one side of the envelope was upside-down.  

On the front of the envelope, I die-cut a circle and added a treat cup from Stampin' Up! filled with tiny erasers!  (I also wanted to finish up the treat cups!  LOL  I had had them for a few years and never knew what to do with them, so they went into my use-it-up pile.)  

I bought some pencils to go along with the erasers, and a tiny granola bar and some graham cracker Goldfish to finish off their treat bags.  I'm really sad that my dad is retiring; I've really loved making little crafty projects for his students.  It's always helped me use up a lot of product, and I love crafting with kids in mind.  I guess I'll just have to wait until I have kids and start crafting for their classmates!  ;)

Thanks so much for bearing with me through this long post today!  I hope you enjoyed my kiddie valentines and inspire you to use your treat cups for something other than candy!  :D

Thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Valentine's Day 2013 Card Parade

Hi friends!  I'm a few days behind, but I wanted to share the rest of the Valentine's Day cards I made.  I'm still desperately trying to finish up all the bits and pieces I have in my stash- SO many images and embellishments are from swaps I did years ago, so I don't know the manufacturers.  I still have a TON of stuff left in my Valentine's Day pouch- it's amazing how much I've accumulated!  Anyway, I hope you enjoy my picture parade, thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Love isn't Purrrrfect

Hi friends!  Just popping in quickly before work to share these scrappy cards I made over the weekend.  I used lots of older products- images and heart banners were from swaps, the paper is DCWV and the heart border sticker is We R Memory Keepers.  I matted everything on Hawaiian Shores card stock (PTI) and dark grey card stock a friend gave to me (not sure who made it).  I hope you like these valentines, thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Celebrating 30

Hi friends!  Today is my good friend Tamara's birthday!  She's the first of my high school friends to turn 30- luckily I don't have to think about that until September.  ;)  I just got some new goodies from Papertrey Ink, so I used my By the Numbers dies on some Vintage Cream card stock and taped some fun patterned paper from SEI behind the negative space.  I stamped "Celebrating" from Big Birthday Wishes around the border and adhered the whole piece to some Hawaiian Shores card stock with some foam tape.  Inside it says "amazing years."  

This is a more clean and simple look for me, but I really like how colorful the numbers are and that the "30" is the star of the show.  I hope you like it, thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

PS-  I successfully made it through my new year's resolution to post every day in January!  That really made me feel good, and I'm excited to continue posting MUCH more frequently this year than I did last.  Thanks for continuing on this journey with me!

happy home

Hi friends!  I am not one to scrapbook (mostly because I don't take many pictures) but I think I did alright with this layout!  In the picture are Chris's sister and her fiance, Victor.  They had a get together over the summer at their new apartment, so Chris and I gave them this framed layout as a housewarming present.  All supplies are by Echo Park from their Life is Good line.  I chose that collection because of all the house stickers ;)  

This picture is actually one that Brittany took and shared on facebook because she liked her gift so much!  She's very much into photographs, and I think she was really touched that I made something so personal for her.  :)

The paper supplies didn't cost very much, and the frame I got from Michaels for $6 (with my 40% off coupon, of course).  I would definitely make one of these again for a housewarming gift... it was really simple to make and a "wow" kind of gift.  I hope you like it too, thanks so much for stopping in!

-Suzanne :O )

Sweetheart

Hi friends!  Just popping in with another of my use-it-up Valentine's Day cards.  This one uses old patterned paper from Doodlebug, a sentiment from Joann's and some ribbon from American Crafts.  The gray heart was die-cut with my Nestabilities and the pink heart and rosebud embellishment were both from swaps.  

How are you coming with your Valentines?  I've done all of the cards for my friends and family- I just have to make a few more for my mom to send.  I also have to come up with gift packaging for my dad's class.  I bought graham crackers and granola bars for him to give out- I just want to come up with a cute way to package them.  :)

Hope you like today's card, thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

A Gift for Grandpa

Hi friends!  Tomorrow at work we're having a grandpa shower for our school social worker who just had his first grandchild a couple of weeks ago.  I got him a picture frame and a book, so I thought it would be cute to package them in a handmade bag.  (I had a little trouble getting the bag in my light box, so please excuse the picture!)  I used an 8" x 10" bag and adhered a piece of DCWV patterned paper.  I added an old chipboard giraffe from Basic Grey and thought about adding more embellishments, but decided to make a tag to fill the space instead.

I die-cut the larger tag from Clear and Simple Stamps (Tags 1) and stamped a tag outline from Trendy Tags.  The wagon, stack of presents and sentiment were stamped from Cart Pals: Baby.  I wanted to keep everything from getting too frilly because I'm giving it to an adult male (but this was tricky because the baby is a girl!  LOL).

Of course I needed to make a card to go with the gift, so I used a scrap from the same DCWV paper and used a focal piece I had made for a previous card, but ended up not using.  To finish off the card I added some old chipboard from Colorbok.  I hope you like my little gift ensemble, thanks so much for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )