Teacher Gifts

Obviously I made these forever ago but I have just gotten around to posting this.

I made these books for all of the teachers at my son's school and the cards for all of the support staff (educational assistants, secretaries). The books are actaully a journal for the teachers to reflect back on their teaching career. I used Nichole's example HERE as a guide but changed the questions a bit (to make them more Canadian and more relevant). I bought the books at Michael's. They actually have some letters or something under the main image but I knew I'd cover that up with my own creativity!!

I don't normally go so "all out" with gifts at the end of the year but my son is leaving that school and moving on to the Middle School. So, I made one journal for every teacher and left a message on the first page thanking them for making our experience at their school so great. Same with the cards, I made one for all the support staff thanking them for their part. It is really a great school and we will certainly miss the postivie atmosphere they provided over the last 5 years!!

Well, gotta go make a card. Enjoy your day!!

Donelda

Christmas Tin - Gift Holder

Here is the Christmas Tin I made to store my husband's Christmas present in. I am just so excited for him to open it. It is a membership to a nearby golf club. It was so funny because at his staff Christmas Party one of his co-workers was bragging that he had bought the #2 membership at that club. All the boys said, "I wonder who got #1". Well, my hubby has #1 because I was "on the ball" this year and bought it really early. Anyway, I didn't realize how "important" getting the first membership was....now I can't wait for him to open it and see!! Hehehehe!! I can't even stop smiling!! I won't be able to post this until after Christmas because I don't want him to read this (he is very supportive and often checks out my blog ~~ hi honey~~). To make the tin, I first painted the top with a vanilla acrylic paint. Then, I created the bow and snowflake. That snowflake used to be blue (you can see one on THIS card), but I didn't want to do a blue theme, I wanted a shabby look to my Christmas tin with reds and browns. So, I decided to sand off the blue. I wasn't sure if it would work ... but it turned out perfectly!! And you know what one must do to metal...use Alcohol Inks on it, of course (t!m would be proud!!). I used Latte on it, but just a bit so that some of the metal still peeked through!! Then I added that brad in the middle. I saw one like it on THIS project by Suzy and knew I had to replicate it (there are actually 2 similar brads on her page, while I like both, I like the second one best...keep going down the page to the 'gift box gift card holder' section ... and enjoy everything while you are scrolling)!! I used a thin line stamp making it curve a bit (love clear stamps for this reason). Then I used my marker to add some thinner lines. I used a Stampin' Up! build a brad to finish off the creation!! I also added some of SUs new Alpine Originals ribbon ... LOVE IT!! The colors are fab. I cut the read square of cardstock, rounded the corners, and added the swirls using Very Vanilla craft ink. Then, finished it off with some rub on letters for my greeting!! After I had it all put together, I wish I'd done a little sponging around the edge of the red cardstock to pull the shabby look together! Oh well, too late now :-) Supplies: Stamps- Build Your Own Florish (gel-a-tins), Wedding Day (Papertrey Ink); Paper - red (Bazzill), Select White (Papertrey Ink); Ink-Ruby Red, Very Vanilla craft (Stampin' Up!); Other - metal snowflake (Micheals 1.50 bin last Christmas), sand paper, Latte Alcohol Ink (Ranger), Build a Brad (Stampin' Up!), Ruby Red marker (Stampin' Up!), Ribbon Originals Alpine (Stampin' Up!), corner rounder, Purkey letter rub-ons (American Crafts), vanilla acrylic paint, sponge brush, tin (Michaels). Thanks for dropping in for a visit! Donelda

A Boy and His Pajamas

A few days ago I sent my husband and son out to buy some new clothes, for the younger of the two! Well, they did get the few items on the list but they also arrived home with these pajamas for my son. It may be tricky to see in this blurry picture (sorry, evening here but I wanted to get the pic uploaded tonight so lighting was poor!) but they adorned with pictures of Mario from the Nintendo game - my son's latest interest. BUT - they are MEN's pajamas in size small but still wwwaaaaayyyy too big. But how could I resist the two of them when they were smiling ear to ear at their cleverness "You could hem them mom!!". So today, I set to work hemming the pants. I left a lot of room to take down since my son is growing very fast. Regardless, I had to cut A LOT of material off the bottoms. And I just couldn't throw it away. So, I decided to make this little book for him! Not sure what he will do with it but you should have seen his face when he saw it!! He was SUPER excited!! Ahhh, that feels good!

The book was simple. I used some blue cardstock, measured it to fit around the book and scored at the folding parts. Then I sewed the material piece to a mat of Real Red cardstock (my son really liked the look of the sewing). Finally, I printed the Nintendo symbol onto some white cardstock using my computer and the handy-dandy internet. I cut it out and made little slits for the ribbon to go through. I attached the ribbon on to the back of the red cardstock and then attached the whole thing to the blue cover of the book.

It is when I can do special things like this that make this craft special!! I know it was special when my son gave me a great big hug!!

Supplies: Paper-blue (unknown), Real Red, Whisper White (SU!); Other-sewing maching, pajama scraps, computer, red ribbon (unknown).

Thanks for visiting.

Donelda

August Blog Hop - Jewel Cases

That's right. It's another blog hop night. These Blog Hops are presented by Nichole Heady and the team at Papertrey Ink each month to encourage creativity and sharing among readers.

This month's challenge was to use CD cases or jewel cases. Well, I've gotta tell you that when I read the challenge I was sure that I'd never come up with an idea! I mean, other than putting CDs or clear stamps in them....what else could you use them for??!! But then I remembered Nicholes idea HERE and figured maybe I too could figure out some interesting use.

Well, I was headed down to my 9 year old son to ask him what he thought I could do (he is very creative!!) when I saw the Crystal Light packages on our mini fridge. They looked the right size and were nice and flat. Voila, an idea was born.

I placed 6 tubes of Crystal Light in the CD case. Then I wrapped some pink cardstock around, scoring the places it would need to fold over the edges. I made sure the tops of the Crystal Light packages were peeking out the top and these colors are what I based my color combination on. The 12" sheet of paper doesn't quite go all the way around so I added just a small piece to the back to ensure it closed. I stamped the open dot from Polka Dot Basics on this using Versamark. Next, I moved onto the belly band. Using the circle stamp from the Limetless Labels, I stamped with Orange, Turquoise, and Pink. Then I trimmed off the edges and matted it with some bright yellow. This got scored similarly to the pink cardstock and adheared. Then, I stamped a circle of dots and added the good luck sentiment. Again, I matted this with the same bright yellow. Since the Crystal Light packages were printed using a dark blue ink, I did the same with my sentiment.

I used the same theme and created a simple water bottle vest to match. While certainly not my typical color combination, I love how vibrant it looks with lots of wow power. I have a friend who is running, wants to do a marathon some day. I decided this would make a great gift to encourage her on her goal. I think you could also give it to someone who is taking a long trip or maybe even someone starting a diet.

Supplies: Paper-Pink Passion, Summer Sun, Whisper White (Stampin' Up); Stamps-Limetless Labels, Borders & Corners {circles), Polka Dot Basics (Papertrey Ink); Ink-Pink Passion, Tempting Turquoise, Only Orange, Night Of Navy, Versamark (Stampin' Up); Other- 1 1/4" circle punch, Pampered Chef scraper (for scoring of course!), corner rounder.

Well, I'm off to see what everyone else came up with!! Do you have an intersting idea?? If so, please share :-)

Thanks for dropping in.

Donelda

Yoga Tea Anyone???

My friend has a new job and is moving to Edmonton. For a farewell present, I decided to buy her some of her favorite tea that she buys when we go out for lunch -- Yoga Tea. Since it came in this boring brown paper bag, I obviously HAD to dress it up a bit, right ;-) As well, Sharon, over on her blog No Time To Stamp? has given a challenge to use "hot or cold" in a card. Well, it isn't a card but it uses a "HOT" :-) I hope this counts!! I know with Sharon it is all about having fun so I know it will be fine. Head over and see her card, it is amazing!!!

This little mouse is a stamp I got from my SU! demo, it didn't come with a name but I think it is one of the promotional stamps that demo's get for giving away... I think.

Anyway, I stamped him with black ink, then watercolored him in with Purely Pomegrante and Chocolate Chip classic inks. I also added a bit of black for the shading on the saucer and in the teacup. I matted this onto a piece of Purely Pomegranate cardstock and then onto a large scallop circle (thanks for sharing your Marvy punch Robin !!). I used the individual small polka dot stamp from Polka Dot Basics (Papertrey Ink) to make the dots around the scallops. I added some Purely Pomegranate double stitched ribbon around the whole bag. Finally, I finished it off by using some letter stamps to spell out "yoga tea" and matted it on a bit of PP cardstock.

I added this little gift to a basket of "tea things" and hope my friend will like them all!

Thanks for visiting.

Donelda

Ducky Baby Gift

I've wanted to stamp on material for a long time but I don't own many craft or pigment inks. However, I just bought a package of ColorBox Fluid Chalk Cat's Eyes Queue (the Pumpkin Patch group as those are a group of colors I use a lot).



I used them to stamp on this white "onsie" for a friend's baby. Then I made a card to match. When I made the card, I started out making the strip with the ducks on it. Then, I scored above and below the ducks (I don't think you can see it in the photo). Then, in order to get a perfect match, I sponged on both edges of a strip of white cardstock that I matted the row of ducks on. Then, I stamped the letters for BABY in a green, added the word welcome on top and another one of those cute little ducks on the bottom. As you can see, I stamped 3 little ducks on envelope too.

The rest of the gift consisted of a larger onsie with the same ducks stamped on it too, a duck hooded towel, three duck face cloths, and a ducky tub toy! It looked great all packed up in a basket and wrapped up nicely!!

Supplies: Stamps-Trajan Monogram, Limitless Labels (both Papertrey Ink); Paper-Whisper White (Stampin' Up), Yellow (unknown); Ink-Yellow Ocher, Olive Pastel (Color Box); Other-Coluzzle, baby onsie.

Thanks for visiting.
Donelda

Admin. Assistant Thank You!

Our admin assistant, Jenny, is a sweetie and enjoys scrapbooking so I decided to make her a little package of things she might use around the office.

A long and thin note pad for the many lists of things to be done, one of those cool pop-up sticky note holders (I got it from staples - really cool, it kinda sticks to the desk with a rubber circle!) and 3 megnetic clips (I also found at staples and knew they'd come in handy some day and they are perfect for altering!!! Check them out!).

I know that Jenny likes bright colors so I decided to create the ensemble using this funky and colorful paper from an older Provo Craft pack. The colors match better in real life. The sentiment "a little note" was perfect and was in one of the little packages of clear Studio G stamps that you can get at Michael's for $1.50 (hey, how come we are still paying &1.50 for this stuff????) as were the 3 different flowers that I used throughout (they came from 3 different sets).

When I packaged it all up, I added a small 3x3 card that matches the long note pad. I hope she can put some of this stuff to good use.

Thanks for visiting.

Donelda