Last Day of School!

Unbelievably, the last day of school has finally arrived. After all the craziness of Exhibition, projects and tests, I should be thrilled to see the year end, but I actually have mixed feelings this year. Emily graduated 5th grade on Monday night and it was very bittersweet for me, as for all the parents in that auditorium, I'm sure. Elementary school, especially the one my children go to, is a very special place and time. Middle school is going to be a great adventure, but it also heralds the beginning of really growing up- and I'm clearly not ready, although they certainly are! OK, I have to quit that train of thought because I'm going to cry!

Although we contributed to the class gift instead of getting one of our own, I wanted to make a special card for each of my children's teachers. I have had this school themed paper hanging around for a few years waiting for the right card/scrapbook page and now seemed a good time. I love Heather Ellis' "Pure Innocence" and "Boy With Dog" illustrations, as you all probably know from all my posts using them! I bought two new ones recently and they were perfect for a boy and girl end-of-school card.

I was short on time, so I used the same layout and papers for both cards, but changed the details to make each one unique. I printed the digital stamps on Whisper White paper from Stampin' Up and colored them with Copic markers. For Emily's card, I die cut a scalloped border from More Mustard to frame the image and added some More Mustard ribbon, bronze brads and burgundy buttons for accents.

 Matthew's card is a bit simpler to avoid frilliness that boys don't like or appreciate-LOL! I used a combination of red and brown markers to make the burgundy color for the boy's sweater- a nice trick if you need a more muted shade than what you have. I used a white Uniball Signo pen to write on the "blackboard"- it's the only white pen on the market that actually works! The image and frame were die cut with more masculine shapes- no scallops, please Mommy! Bronze brads finish off the corners of both main layers.

I meant to get a picture of the inside before the kids wrote in them, but I wasn't fast enough! The inside was finished with layers of burgundy and white paper, a strip pf the same patterned paper and a die cut apple. The greeting is from the Stampin' Up "Thank You Kindly" set- it has four great thank you stamps in a variety of fonts- it's one I'll always keep around!

Time for me to get ready for the end of year picnics at school, then geared up for a busy night on call. Two last thoughts that I must keep reminding myself of when life gets busy- they are only little for a short while and take more pictures!!!

 




Supplies:
Stamps: Pure Innocence by Heather Ellis, Thank You Kindly- Stampin' Up
Ink: Close to Cocoa
Paper: "Homeroom" TPC Studio, Kraft, Bravo Burgundy, Whisper White, More Mustard
Accessories: Bronze brads, Sizzix machine, nested dies, Copic markers, More Mustard grosgrain ribbon, buttons

Tea-rrific

Thanks to everyone for all the sweet emails and notes to see if I'm still alive and well! With so much upheaval at work, I haven't been motivated to craft (serious derangement for me!). I finally got some Mojo back the other night because I needed two special thank you notes for colleagues who helped with my daughter's exhibition project for school and had nothing appropriate in my stash (hard to believe actually!).

I have been trying to use some of the paper stash I have been hoarding over the years, so I broke out a pretty pack from SEI called "Juliette" for this card. I wanted some delicate colors for this tea themed card so this fit the bill perfectly.

I layered the small polka dot print and the striped piece onto a whisper white background and tied a bow with some ribbon I had in my collection that matched perfectly- this is probably not a surprise for those of you who have seen my ribbon, um, "collection" (i.e. addiction). This was layered onto a Basic Gray card base- I really like the combo of peachy tones and gray.

The teapot was stamped on patterned paper and cut out, with the bird paper pieced from the peach solid paper. I colored the leave with markers because the leaves were too small to cut out without my glasses! The image background was stamped using a set from Waltzing Mouse, which works perfectly with nested dies. I stamped one on white and the other on the solid peach, then punched a white circle for the middle- this layered approach gives it more visual interest. The greeting was computer generated and punched out with the Modern Label punch.

The inside of the card was finished with a strip of the patterned paper punched with a scallop edge punch- it looks a bit like an awning at a cafe to me! I stamped another teapot using some Cameo Coral ink and left room for the girls to write a small thank you note.

I'm going to pack up some nice tea and a Starbucks gift card inside a mug as a thank you for their time and patience-LOL! Make someone's day today and tell them they're tea-rrific!

Supplies:
Stamps: Unity KOM, Waltzing Mouse Very Vintage labels
Paper: Basic Gray, Whisper White, SEI Juliette
Ink: Cameo Coral, Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: ribbon, Moden Label punch, 1-3/4" circle punch, Sizzix machine, Nestability dies