International Talk Like A Pirate Day!!

AHOY!!!

So..... a few years ago... probably five years, I purchased a book by Paper Crafts Magazine.  It's called "A Card A Day" and it actually has a card for each day of the entire year!  It lists all of the regular holidays, and then it also has cards for other occasions such as Wedding, Baby, Back To School, etc.  But my favorite part of this book, is that it has all of those quirky and offbeat holidays!  Today is one of them.  September 19th is "International Talk Like A Pirate Day!"

I have wanted to make cards for this 'holiday' for the past four or five years, and each year I have just been to sick.  I even say, "I'm going to start on them WAY early," and.... yeah... I never have!  This year I thought was going to be the same. I was excited to start on the cards the first part of September, but my Gastroparesis had other plans. :(  BOOO!    I went into a pretty bad flare (these are the ones that hospitalize me for about a week out of every single month.)  Plus, I never fully recovered from my August one!  UGH!   Well, I am home and feeling a little better, and have even been able to craft a teeny bit!   So I got to make cards for Pirate Day this year!  I filmed a video that I will post here, but I will have pictures below the video in case you don't want to watch it. :)  

 Thanks for watching!  Here are the pictures of my projects:

The first card is for mu youngest niece.  She just turned 3, and loves pirates! (There are some cute pirate themed cartoons on for preschool age kids on TV right now!)  So I turned a Hello Kitty Cut (from the Hello Kitty Greetings Cricut cartridge) and just turned her into a pirate!! 

The background paper is a pirate map from a DCWV stack called "Boyhhood" (I believe that's correct.) It's one of their 8 1/2" x 11' stacks.  The "Ahoy Matey" is from a Cricut Cartridge as well. (I can't remember which one off the top of my head, but if anyone wants to know, I'm more than happy to look it up.)   The map she is 'holding' is a stamp from Stampendous.  It's a pirate set, and I can't find a name on it. Then the gold coin she is also 'holding' is a sticker from a Kids Club sticker pack I got at JoAnn Fabrics.  Then, I just added some gemstones to bling it up a bit.

This next card is for my 7 year old niece. (They are sisters.)  I made them similar, but of course, I couldn't make them exactly the same!   Since her favorite color is purple, this Hello Kitty has a purple and skulls outfit. 

The background paper is from that same DCWV stack (in the pirate section.  There are like three more pirate themed papers in that stack too!  That's an awesome stack, and so versatile!  It's a boy stack, and here I used it for two girl cards!)  All the other details are basically the same as the card above. 

And the last card is for my Nephew.  He is 13 now, so he will probably think this is pretty lame.  But he is SOOOO GOOD to his little sisters.  So I wrote in his card that he can put on his eye patch, and teach them some pirate lingo!  Haha! Here is his card:

For this card, I just cut a skull and crossbones from the Cricut. (if you want to know the cartridges, I can look, just ask!)  This card is very simple, because like I said, he's 13.  The sentiment is on the inside of this one, and I made it say "Yo Matey!"

And then for the kiddos, I gave them a goody bag with Hershey's Nuggets, wrapped in pirate paper, and a cute topper. (Forgot to take a picture of these, but they are in the video)  Also in the goody bag is a pirate eye patch, a fake pirate earring, and a gold coin necklace.  These items are found in the party supplies section of stores.  I got the eye patches from Walmart in the party favors section, and the other earrings and necklaces at Hobby Lobby. (I did get some eye patches there as well.)   See, these eye patches were leftover from my birthday the year I started to go blind.  I had just had my first laser surgery (the doctor tried that to see if it would help slow down the rapid deterioration of my eyes before he preformed the actual surgeries.)  Well, I couldn't see out of one eye at all, and my other was real bad.  But I did still have a little vision, so I invited my friends and family to go bowling, but the catch was.... they each had to ALSO wear an EYE PATCH!  Lol!  If I couldn't see to bowl, neither could they!  Hahaha!  (A couple months after this, is when both retinas detached, and I went completely blind.  Thank GOD for my Ophthalmologist! He is one of the best and most caring doctors I have ever met. (And I've seen a thousands!) 

Wow, that was a lot of unnecessary rambling wasn't it?!  Ok, here are the pictures of the finished goody bags:

Thank you so much for stopping by today, and checking out my projects mateys!!  Don't forget to talk like a pirate today!!  AAARRRGH!!

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

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!!"