Graduation cards & turtle cards with bling

Well, it’s that time of the year – graduations from college, h.s., etc. Since one of my sons was graduating from college, we travelled to it cross-country in our RV along with our furbaby. Today was both the graduation and our furbaby’s 2 year old birthday. I brought along some items to make up graduation cards (also a niece is graduating) and even make a couple cards for a swap. Here are the two graduation cards – can you tell which is for my son (his school colors are hunter green and gold; his program's color is orange...I got lucky and had put in an orangish colored piece, not knowing this in advance!) and my niece? Something about turning 21 yrs old and those keg parties lol. Boy was the town busy with students, parents, family, the campground was full too…and the weather couldn’t have been nicer for it. It was worth the 6 hour ceremony to see my son walk across the stage to get his engineering degree.

And here is the card I made for the card swap, which had an animal theme. I started with a simple design (my upline created these cards that I started with - she does the greatest combos of color that I would never come up with in a million years) with a turtle (they are considered an "animal," right?) and added bling embellishments to it – it was fun punching out the leaf and flowers and then adding a glitter/twinkle on top of them before attaching to the card. I also outlined the card shapes with one of the Sakura glitter gel pens. I think you can see some of the bling sparkle in these pictures….

All the punched out embellishments have twinkle glitter on them now & waiting for them to dry...

Don't think you will ever see a real turtle in these colors though - light green and razzleberry lol.

So did you have anyone in your family or friends who had a graduation? And feel like I do, that the 4 years of college go as fast as them growing up? It is so great that with the internet, they can even broadcast the event live for those who can’t actually attend. It has a bit of a challenge to stay in different campgrounds with a good reliable internet/wi-fi connection though…Thanks for stopping by!

Our furbaby Inu's first live baby encounter

First I have to thank all of you who checked out my blog, the fairy lite, and requested directions!!  It was awesome to have your feedback....and today when I opened my e-newsletter for StampinLNstampers I saw that my fairy lite was the first project on Kelly's list of blog finds for May 19th!!  I almost fell out of my chair...doing a little happy dance here and stayed in the chair.... I wanted to share some pics of our furbaby Inu's first encounter with a real live baby (he's 8 weeks old, Inu will be 2 on May 23rd).  Again, it was too much fun to capture Inu's experience and her reactions....So we go to visit our friends to see their new baby - here is Noah waving and saying Hi.  We played and took a bath....  

Don't you just love that new baby smell and especially after they had a bath?  All this fuss and Inu just had to check Noah out:

She wasn't impressed so pretty much avoided him.  Until she saw one of Noah's toys....remember Inu loves bunnies?  So Noah's blue bunny was pretty intriguing.

Now this was something worthwhile....all Inu has to do is hear the word "bunny" and she gets excited, and here is one right under her nose.....So the bunny "hops" into the playpen....and Inu goes to investigate

You can just see the wheels turning in Inu's mind....do I go in after it?  Or is this blue elephant here gonna have to suffice?  She looked and looked, ran around the other end of the playpen trying to find an easy way in....knowing that the blue bunny is in there.  Finally, with some encouragement, Inu makes it into the playpen

The height of the playpen is set near the top - after all, Noah is only 8 weeks old yet....and Inu is so proud that she got in....but now to find that bunny.  In the meantime, we are all cracking up and laughing to see how hard Inu is working for that bunny.  But finally, she got that bunny!

Now isn't that like a little kid - a $1 bunny can be so much fun?  Inu discovered that Noah has some pretty other interesting stuffed animals too.  Like this elephant - I saw Inu perk up when she spied this - good thing he is up on the dresser or Inu would have found a way to "play" with him!

And see what else I discovered hiding by the wall - they match Noah's baby room - wouldn't these be cute in a shadow box or picture frame?

These match Noah's quilt, flannel blanket, and crib mobile too

And Noah slept through the entire thing....

Gee, even his little pajamas match his nursery colors and decorations!  Next time we visit Noah, he might be crawling, walking, and definitely there will be some food crumbs....won't Inu love that? 

More pics of Fairy Lites in the making and my first challenge design win

Since I've been traveling cross-country in our RV to my son's college graduation later this month, I brought along the swap project I was doing, which were 11 fairy lites.  Here is a picture of the supplies I put together to bring.  These are the fairy lites that I did an earlier post on.

Now I had to bring the items to make them up, so I put them in one of those cardboard box bottoms you get when you buy 24 water bottles, to make them contained while riding - don't want my supplies flying all over and onto the floor when you hit some of those bumps, and boy, have we been over quite a variety of roads, in different conditions, and types of weather.  Here is my portable box o' fairy lite items in it, ready to be worked on. 

I worked on them off and on, and finally got all 11 of them done, just in time to drop them off for the swap meeting a week early....

I even  had 2 extra, so played around with changing them up a bit - see the one in the center and the one to the left?  One of the mini-tags lost it string, so I had to attach it differently, and used another rhinestone brad for that (I love bling).  And the other fairy lite is the reverse side of the designer paper....it's really cool how Stampin' Up's designer paper can be used like that, and all the papers in one set coordinate - makes life easier for me!!  Don't look too close at the center fairy lite - that's my boo-boo one lol.

Here's one more picture of the fairy lites before I dropped them off:

I entered a Stampin Up demonstrators' designer challenge with my fairy lite, and I actually won!  (squeal and clap). Thanks to those of you who voted for my fairy lite....Wow, my first win....Guess I will have to post more of my projects on other sites.  If you want more deets, pictures, or the tutorial and template on my fairy lite, leave me a comment, and/or subscribe/follow, along with your email, and I will be glad to share it with you.  Thanks for looking!

Fairy Lite Bag - A little bit of magic Stampin Up set

Well, we all love fairies right? - just think of Tinkerbelle and how much fun it would be to be her....so when I saw the new Stampin Up sets, I had to get the fairy set.  And got it in the new clear mount set, which costs less than those mounted on the wooden blocks. Now I have tried stamping once with a rubber stamp that wasn't mounted on anything but the rubber foam, and since I was "rving" it, didn't even have any stamping stuff with me.  So I did some research online because what how did they stamp before the stamps were available already mounted? 

I learned how you could use a foam pad (like my computer mousepad!) and the back of a spoon to stamp (rub) your image on paper....course I had to practice it a little, and it takes a little bit longer, but I sure felt like a pioneer woman!  I did this for the first old-fashioned dog card I made, which is in one of my earlier posts (and you can get the directions free from me for the card, which is a gate card that opens in the middle).  It is much easier to use the clear mount acrylics!  Now I wanted to use the fairy stamp for something fairylike, and I love the little tealight stuff; I also needed to come up with something using items from the new Stampin Up Summer Mini-Catalog (which also would be eligible for a designer challenge), so that is how my fairy lite bag was born.  I thought a little tea bag would be more like a light you can carry around with you, versus a box.  It took me 3 tries to come up with this!  I used some of the new designer paper, new satin ribbon, and a mini-vintage tag, along with a butterfly from the bridesmaid designer paper (I LOVE that paper, sure will miss it), the vellum paper, kraft cardstock, and a rhinestone brad.  Oh yeah, the opening is punched out using the xlarge petal punch - just the right size. Here is the final result - have a look and see what you think - here are several views of it, with and without the battery tealight on:

Can you see where I stamped "dream" on the little tag?  The ribbon threads thru holes and ties in back...The tealight is kinda visible in this picture. Here is what it looks like when it is opened up:

Since the vellum picture is scotch taped on, you can take it off and color in your picture if you want, or even put in a different picture(s) - or even ribbon.  Notice I covered the tealite itself with matching paper?

Here is a picture of the fairy lite bag and the battery tealite beside it:

Now this was the hardest picture to get, because I took it at night with the tealite bag's light turned on, so it is not as clear as it could be - hey, it was dark both outside and inside and I only had the fairy tealite on lol:

If you would like me to email you the directions and template for the Fairy Tealite, leave me a comment and/or subscribe, or follow along with your email, and I will send it to you ....glad to share!  Long live fairies!

A Mother's job is really....wow - An Ode to Motherhood

A friend shared this story with me that describes what a mother's real job is in words and jargon that other professionals in the workforce can relate to!  I love research....Hope you all had a nice Mother's Day...
        Motherhood – just a mom?  A woman, renewing her driver's license at the County Clerk's office,
Was asked by the woman recorder to state her occupation. She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself. 'What I mean is, ' explained the recorder, 'do you have a job or are you just a ...?'
'Of course I have a job,' snapped the woman. 'I'm a Mom.'
'We don't list 'Mom' as an occupation, 'housewife' covers it,' said the recorder emphatically.
I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself
In the same situation, this time at our own Town Hall.
The Clerk was obviously a career woman, poised,
Efficient, and possessed of a high sounding title like,
'Official Interrogator' or 'Town Registrar.'
'What is your occupation?' she probed.
What made me say it? I do not know.
The words simply popped out.

'I'm a Research Associate in the field of
Child Development and Human Relations.'
The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in midair and
Looked up as though she had not heard right.
I repeated the title slowly emphasizing the most significant words..
Then I stared with wonder as my pronouncement was written,
In bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.

'Might I ask,' said the clerk with new interest,
'just what you do in your field?'
Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice,
I heard myself reply,
'I have a continuing program of research,
(what mother doesn't)
In the laboratory and in the field,
(normally I would have said indoors and out).
I'm working for my Masters, (first the Lord and then the whole family)
And already have four credits (all daughters).
Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities,
(any mother care to disagree?)
And I often work 14 hours a day, (24 is more like it).
But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers
And the rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money.'

There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice as she
Completed the form, stood up, and personally ushered me to the door.
As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career,
I was greeted by my lab assistants -- ages 13, 7, and 3.
Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model,
(a 6 month old baby) in the child development program,
Testing out a new vocal pattern.
I felt I had scored a beat on bureaucracy!
And I had gone on the official records as someone more
Distinguished and indispensable to mankind than 'just another Mom.'

Motherhood!
What a glorious career!
Especially when there's a title on the door.
Does this make grandmothers 'Senior Research Associates in the field of Child Development and Human Relations'
And great grandmothers Executive Senior Research Associates?'
I think so!!!
I also think it makes Aunts Associate Research Assistants.

Mothers Day projects & mom birthday

It's May already, and Mother's Day is this weekend. So what are you doing for your mother?  My mother's birthday is also on Mother's Day, so when I make her Mother's Day gift/card, I also make her birthday card and mail them out together. Here is what I made her for Mother's Day - I did most of the project at a local stamping event recently, and add my own touches - good thing she likes pink! It is a butterfly card box - here are pics of it with the 4 cards - one is the box closed and the other pic is the box opened up:

Here is the box with the cards and envelopes in it


Now the pink birthday present:




Can you tell it is an easel card with a drawer?  I also made three 4x4 mini cards with the house designer paper and put a pink post-it-notepad on it. If I had a little pink pen to put inside it, I would have!  But now to get them gift wrapped:

Now here's another gift for her - the yellow ruffled paper flower pin on the gift on the right -  here is a closeup of it:

It was getting late, late, late, so I did a quick yellow tag and used a little gold safety pin to attach the Happy Mother's Day tag to the yellow striped ribbon, that I tied around the cellophane Easter bag.  When you have to mail things, you are kinda limited on how you can wrap them so the postage costs are minimal - got to love that bubble wrap.  My mom always says Oh, it costs so much to mail stuff, so don't send anything....but since she has a degree in art, I know she appreciates my hand-made crafty stuff....and she is the one who taught me to sew at age 10.  Okay now her gifts are all ready to put into a box and mail....So what are your plans for Mother's Day?  Have a great and safe Mother's Day no matter how you celebrate it! 

P.S.  Here are the two blog addresses that inspired these projects:

http://gettincrafty.typepad.com/gettin_crafty/2009/12/january-stamp-camp-get-registered.html

http://www.funpapercandy.com/  (see April 1 posting)