Ahhh...back to the routine

Both kiddos start school today - yeah!! I'm so excited for them. Lots of new experiences and friends to make. Summer was fun, but it's so nice to get back into our normal family routine.

While we were at "Meet The Teacher Day" yesterday, we noticed that two other girls in class have the exact same Hello Kitty backpack as my daughter.
OH THE HORROR!!

I promised her that as soon as we got home, I would make a little tag for her to hang on her backpack, so she would always know which one was hers. Crisis averted!

This was super easy to make. About a month ago, I saw clear badge holders at the $1 store in packages of 10. I figured I could use them for a class project at some point so I picked up a couple boxes.

The opening for the image was about 2 1/4" x 3 1/4" - perfect for "Lily". I paper pieced her dress with SU's Bali Breeze and colored the rest of the image with my Copics and Sakura glaze pens. Then I just embellished with some ribbon scraps, flowers and a pink heart charm that I saved from a package of highlighters from the $1 spot at Target. (see...I knew I'd use it for something!)

Hope you like it!

Class Project #2

This is another card I came up with for my August class. I wanted to do something fun and summery (is that a word?)

While I was sitting at Starbucks sipping my daily treat, I noticed a big pile of coffee stirrers. I don't know if it was the hot weather or the icy cold latte, but they made me think of tiny popsicles. I grabbed a handful of stirrers and headed home to play in my workshop.

I broke one in half and attached it to a piece of Wild Wasabi. Then I clear embossed it to give it a little shine and took a big bite out of it with my round scallop punch.




DETAILS
CARDSTOCK: PUMPKIN PIE, BASHFUL BLUE, WHISPER WHITE, WILD WASABI
PATTERNED PAPER: JERSEY SHORE
STAMPS: HAPPY EVERYTHING, IT'S ALL GOOD
SU PUMPKIN PIE RIBBON

Another Hambo

I just love this little lightning bug image by Hambo. The first thing I thought of when I saw it was a night light.

For this project, I used a glass brick from Lowe's and had my husband drill a hole in the side of it. Then I stamped my image with black Staz-On ink and colored it in with my Sakura glaze pens.

After the image dried I covered the entire front of the brick with clear Stickles. Once that dried, I took a strand of clear Christmas lights and pushed them through the hole in the brick.

Voila!

It's Saturday....

and you know what that means!

SKETCH TIME!

Here's Lauren's sketch for today

This is my entry.
I think I'll call it "Frogs in space".
I used my Billy sets from Pink Cat Studio to make this fun little card.
Hope this inspires you to sit down and stamp! Be sure to check out what the rest of the gals on the design team did.

Lauren
Alicia
Dawn
Kim
Kirsten
Kristy
Maria
Tamara

I'll be back tomorrow with another Hambo project for my guest designer spot.

Fool your family Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Fool your family Friday! Today's recipe is Banana Bread

Here's what you'll need:

nonstick cooking spray

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil

2 large egg whites

1 1/2 cups banana puree

1/2 cup cauliflower puree

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 - Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 9 x 5" loaf pan with cooking spray

2 - In a bowl or a zipper lock bag, mix the flours with the baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

3 - In a large mixing bowl, mix the sugar and oil with a wooden spoon until well combined. Mix in the egg whites, banana and cauliflower purees, and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and mix just until combined.

4 - Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 55-60 minutes. Let cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then turn the bread out of the pan to cool before serving.


Have a super Friday. Be sure to check back tomorrow for Lauren's sketch!
Hugs,

It's that time of the month again....

SWAP TIME!
Just got home from my monthly swap group. I sooooo look forward to seeing the gals each month! This is the card that I brought tonight. I used my Lily image from Pink Cat Studio. The cute little nurse hat is one of the MANY accessories that come with the set.

Some were brunette...
And some were blonde...
Copics for blonde Lily
Copics for brunette Lily
Thanks for stopping by!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONICA!

Monica, the Hambo diva, turns 29 today!! Welcome to the club girlfriend! Surprise - this card is just for you!


I thought your cherry sentiment went perfectly with this patterned paper by Creative Imaginations. The card base and focal point are SU's Garden Green with a little bit of Jersey Shore peeking out from behind.

To make the bottom of the cupcakes, I ran my cardstock through my paper crimper and punched out with my Round Tab Punch. The tops were made with the same punch.

Now....to fully appreciate that beautiful button cherry in the middle, you have to know that I've been saving that button for 5 years. I didn't know what I would ever use it for, and so there it sat in the bottom of my button jar, untouched for years. It patiently waited all this time and your cute little stamp gave me the perfect opportunity to use it!

Have a super birthday Monica and make sure you check out what the rest of your design team did - and thanks girls for inviting me to play along!

Asela

Colleen

Holly

Isabelle

Jane

Judy

Kendra

Libby

Taylor

Hugs,

Class Project #1

I hosted my August class on Sunday and this was one of the three projects I came up with. I thought it would be fun for everyone to try a new technique called "faux silk".

I thought SU's "Riot of Petals" background stamp would be the perfect image to showcase this cool technique.

For those of you who don't know, here's how it's done.

First you stamp your image onto tissue paper. Nothing special needed here, just plain ol' white tissue paper from the $1 store will do - gotta love that!
Next, you color in your image with markers or an aqua painter. We used SU markers. You'll want to place a paper towel underneath your tissue paper before coloring, because the ink will bleed through onto your table if you don't.

After your image is colored, crumble up the tissue paper into a small ball and gently unroll it.

Then, cover a piece of cardstock completely with a glue stick and adhere the tissue paper. You'll want to rub it down gently to make sure it sticks, but the more wrinkles, the better.
Here's a close up of my finished sample.
Hope this mini tutorial was helpful. If any of you try this technique, I'd love to see what you come up with!

Until tomorrow...

More Hambo for ya...

Still having fun with my Hambo goodies! Make sure you hop over there if you have a chance!

With school just around the corner, I decided to go with a teacher theme for today's card.
For the apples, I punched out a 1 3/8" circle of SU's Cameo Coral, cut out a small notch from the top and sponged over the whole thing with Real Red ink. Then I just cut the stems and leaves from scraps.

Easy Peasy!
I had my monthly class yesterday, so tomorrow I will start sharing pics of the projects. I meant to do it last week, but there just weren't enough hours in the day!

Thanks for stopping by - Hugs...

Saturday Sketch Time!

It's Saturday and that means it's time for another sketch from Lauren !I have to admit, this sketch was a little tricky for me. I decided to flip the sketch on it's side and that's when inspiration hit me. I just love this "Pattern of Friendship" set by Stampin Up and snatched it up from a mini catalog a couple of years ago. The main image is pretty big, so I "upgraded" to a 5 x 7 card - a first for me.

I paper pieced the dresses with some scraps and used SU's Round Tab Punch to create a spool of thread.
Kind of looks like a spool of thread right??


I hope this has inspired you to play along! Don't forget to check out what the rest of Lauren's sketch team did.

Lauren

Alicia

Dawn

Kim

Kirsten

Kristy

Maria

Tamara

I'll be back on Monday with another guest designer project using my Hambo goodies. Thanks for checking in!