End-Of-Year Teacher Gifts

 Hi crafty friends!!

First of all I need to apologize for my posts being so sporatic these days.  It's very rare that I feel well enough to craft, let alone get online to post about them.  I absolutely love sharing all of my creations, though...and love hearing feedback from all of my followers! :)   So thank you for stopping by!!

Today I  have some school-themed projects to show you.  My sister-in-law asked me to create some thank you cards that she could give as gifts to her kids teachers this year. I was so very excited because I wanted to do that, but I didn't want to suggest it.  They aren't MY kids, so I feel like I'm stepping on toes when I do suggest something.  So I was thrilled when she came to me and asked!! YAY!!!  I asked how many she wanted for each teacher, and she replied, "How ever many you can make!!"  But since she only gave me three days notice, I couldn't put as much detail and thought into them as I normally do for a single card.  I still think they turned out great though! 

Here's the first set:

The only difference in these are the sentiments, and the black border strip.  Otherwise, they are a matching set.  I made six of each, so 24 for the set.
Here's the second set:

I loved how I could use the notebook paper border punch on the fold of this card, so that it looked like torn-out notebook paper, and still was a functioning card! :)

Here is the packaging I came up with:

It's just paper bags, with a spellbinders die cut out for a window.  I of course placed some acetate over the window, and decorated the bags with school-themed papers.  Each bag contains 2 dozen cards for each teacher. I really, really hope the enjoy them!!!

I also made each teacher a card to give from my niece and nephew. My nephew's teacher like's Mickey Mouse, so here's her card:

 Inside:

And I didn't know anything about my Niece's teacher, so this is what I came up with for her:

Here's a side view of the clipboard top:

I absolutely love this card.  I think it is one of my favorites I've ever made.  Simple, yet cute!  
I also wanted to made something extra for the teachers, so I saw these on YT (I believe??) a long time ago, and thought they were perfect for this occasion!

They are candy pencils!!  It's actually a (tube of?) Rolo Candybar inside! 
I stamped the "No. 2" on the side...I love adding extra details on projects like that!!

 Here's everything it takes to make one:

Super duper simple!  I love the person who came up with this idea!! (I unfortunately don't know who it is though, to give credit where it's due!)
Well, that's it for now.  Thanks for checking out my projects!!  Have a great Memorial weekend!


"Don't glue anything I wouldn't glue!!"
               

School-Themed Happy Birthday Cards..Round 2

Hi everyone!!

I have been busy making more of the happy birthday cards for my sister-in-law.  I made about 35 more this past week and wanted to share them!  Making these are a lot more fun than I expected them to be.  I thought it would be more tedious, but it has been fun!! :)  

That one is probably my favorite.  Although, I did something pretty stupid.  I welded the entire apple, "happy birthday," and the star together on my Gypsy...and then cut it out in all the different layers and put it together. Afterwords,  I realized this was taking me WAY TOO LONG, and I should have just cut out each individual piece and slapped them together instead of trying to layer one "happy birthday" on top of another. (With my bad eyes, anyway!!)  But those cards are still my favorite..even with all my un-necessary work! lol

I also made a few from the Stretch Your Imagination Cartridge, and tweaked them to my liking. (made my own layers, etc.)

And some party hat cards:

What's a birthday without ICE CREAM!??!

I had to make a few without sprinkles...because I don't like sprinkles! hehe

And here are some cute lil' pencils that I just love making!! :) 

And there you have it!  Those are the next batch of my School-Themed, PTSO Happy Birthday Cards!!  They look pretty simple, but I do put a lot of work and time into my cards.  I am glad that I have a little more time to make these than the first batch, because I got to do some inking and extras that I typically do! :)  Now I am over half way done of the total amount she needed...but I still have about 40 more to make.

Thanks for looking!! 

"Don't glue anything I wouldn't glue!!"
                  

School-Themed Happy Birthdays

Hello blog friends!  How are you all doing today?!

I had one busy night last night!  I went to give my nephew his (late) birthday presents after he got home from football practice, and he LOVED his Kindle! I'm so happy! :)  Then his mom (my sister-in-law) told me that she is on the PTSO this year, and she needs a bunch of Happy Birthday Cards, and since I'm the "crafty one in the family"  (HER words..NOT mine!!)  asked if I would make them for her.  I was excited and said sure.  Then she told me she needed 25 by tomorrow morning!! (which was this morning!!)  Keep in mind, this was like 9:00PM that I am finding out.  WHAT?!  I don't think she realizes how long it takes me to make a card!!  Lol!

She asked me how long it took to make that Kindle card, and even with the cut file already designed, it still took me an entire night!!! (I sleep days, and am up nights.)  So she said since I am up nights, hopefully I could do them in a night.

Well.....I did.  But I was sad because I really wanted to put a lot of work into them.  They are for the teachers/staff.  She needs about 90 (I think) total, but she only needed 25 by today.  I originally wanted to make sets of  five of the same card, so that there is a big variety.    I got home around 10:30 and started working by 11:00PM, and I was working on a design that I LOVED and was really pround of.  I made two of them, and looked at the clock.  OH. MY. GOSH.  It was already 3:17AM!  TWO CARDS!!!  Yeah, that's how long they take me.  So I had to totally switch gears, bust out the pre-packaged A2 cards, (the pre-scored with envelopes) and just added a base layer and background paper, and then a cricut-cut cupcake.  Here is what some of them look like: (I just took a few pictures.)

I was sad that I didn't have time to do any inking!! The layers of the cupcake is what took me the longest!  I finished just under the wire at 6:22 this morning, (they were needed at 6:30!) The inside is just stamped with a simple "happy birthday" so there is room for all the teachers and staff and everyone to sign!

I can't wait to start making the next batch!  I am glad that I know in advance so I can take as much time as I need for them.   I do think these turned out ok for the rush job that I did.  :)

I also wanted to post another card I made a couple nights ago.  This is for a good friend, for no reason at all...just an "I'm thinking of you" type card.  Here it is:

 Thanks for stopping by!!  Have a wonderful day!!


 "Don't glue anything I wouldn't glue!!"         
        
   

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone!!

Did you have fun hunting those Easter eggs today?!  :)  I hope that everyone is having a lovely Easter!

I just wanted to share a few quick Easter projects that I've made over thepast couple days.  Nothing too special, just some quick and easy packaging mostly.

Here are a few of the gift bags that I decorated for the kiddos in my family:  

 Like those carrots?  :)  They are the same boxes that I make all of my cakes with, just cut very, very smaller!  (4.5")  I filled them with Hershey Kisses, surprisingly it fit about 5 of them!  Here's a better picture of the carrots:

  I ran them through my Cuttlebug with the ...whatever the 'branches' folder is called. (they really need to print the name of the folders ON the folders!)  I wanted them to have that look that actual carrots do!  And the leaves are manipulated versions of the leaf on the Doodlecharms Cricut cart. That was the closest I could make to an actual carrot leaf/stem.  :)

I also made some pillow boxes to hold gift cards:

  That IS a bunny head!!  My brother said, "Lori, I know you can't see .... but that Mickey Mouse head looks funny!"  I said, "That's because the 'mickey' is actually a BUNNY!!  Dork!"  Lol.  He must have forgot what holiday we were celebrating!  Haha.

Since we all know that gable boxes are my absolute favorite type of box, I had to make something Easter-ish with one!!

 I saw something similar to this on the Cricut MB the other day, and had to make one for myself!!  The nose/mouth is from the bunny on the Create A Critter cricut cart, but I free handed the eyes and whiskers, (and you can OBVIOUSLY TELL!!! lol)  The Gable Box is from the Elmo's Party Cart, and it's funny because I have cut that box out so many times, but I have always manipulated it some how. I have never cut the actual Elmo one!  Ha.  Here's the box before folding:

I also made a couple "Beside-the-Phone Notes" to give a gifts to a couple friends of mine:

(I don't understand why the Post-it notes came out PINK in this picture?!?!  They were a dark purple!!  Dang camera/lighting!!)
And here's the other one:

And with the notes attached:

And that's it for my projects, but I have to share a couple things my mom made recently!!  I've mentioned that one of my nephews is a Chargers fanatic.... so she made him PJ bottoms:

Awesome, right?  My brother requested a pair of 49ers PJ pants now! haha.  My mom also made a tissue box cover.  I have a John Deere Couch tissue box cover, and my nephew loved it and wanted one.  So my mom made him a Chargers Chair!!

I love how it turned out!!  One thing that I really wish I would have inherited from my mom is her sewing skills!!  I was able to do basic sewing before I went blind, but nothing ever like her!!  And now, I can't see to sew at all.  But that's ok, because I have my mom to do it!!! :) 

That's all for today.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!!!

-Lori

Shocked Turkey!

Hey paper pals!!

I can NOT believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving!!  I feel like the turkey on my card...shocked that it is here already!!  I had the idea for this card in my head for a long time now, and just got it made earlier this week.  Then, last night I was youtube-ing, and saw a video of the (almost) exact same card!!!! That is freaky when that happens, right?!?!  

And now I feel bad because I had planned to put a link/shout out to that gal, and I can't for the life of me remember who it was, or find the sheet of paper I wrote it on!!!  So if you see this post, I am SO SORRY!!  :(  But I did love your card!!! :) 

So here is my card: 

The [live\] turkey is from Create A Critter, the thought bubble is from Smiley Cards (with a few extra little circles from head to thought bubble) and the baked turkey is from Doodlecharms.  I threw some over sized  google-eyes on the turkey to make him looked shocked, like they were popping out of his head.  Haha. The background paper is from a Specialty  photo mat stack by Cloud  9, and if it has a name, I can't find it.  But it has fall papers, Halloween, and Christmas.  I love it!  I bought the 12x12 and the photo stack.  

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a super nice Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Babies Make Me SMILE!

Hey Paper Pals!!

I just love babies!!!  My good friends are pregnant with their first child!!!  A BOY!!!  Oh my gosh, I am so, So. SO excited for them!!   I am sure the next few months, my craft time will be dedicated to 'baby' things!  Well, minus the time for Holiday cards/gifts.  I'm planning on making them a "Baby's First" book,a scrapbook-style baby book where they can document all of his "firsts."  His first word, first time turning over by himself, his first time crawling, first steps, etc.  And there will be space for journaling and for pictures.  In my mind, it will be adorable!!  We will see how it actually turns out!  Ha!  

Another idea that I have is to make a "Parent's Advice" book.  I've seen these at baby showers and as gifts before.  At baby showers, they have them open to where each guest can write a piece of advice to the new parents!  They always turn out really cute!  I thought it might be cute to have one already made and finished as a gift for the baby shower, use pieces of advice from other parents I know, my parents, and maybe even famous people.  Again, we'll have to wait and see on that one too! :)

So for now, here is a gift card holder that I just made.   (I actually made two of them, because I couldn't decide which patterned paper I liked best.  A gift card fits perfectly  inside, (I made those little corner slits for it to tuck into.) And it could also just be a greeting card.   I am really pleased with how this turned out!!

Here is the first one:

Here is the second one:

The little teddy bear and bottle both come out of the pocket on the front, and the rubber duckie charm are coated with an embossing powder to make them feel 'plasticky."  (My Sister-In-Law makes fun of me when I saw that word. Haha!)  

I am super pleased with how this turned out!

Thanks for looking!