Sending my Daughter Off To College with Handmade Pieces of my Heart

A few weeks ago, my daughter left for college (Azusa Pacific, which is about 40 minutes away). Even though it's not THAT FAR from home, I wanted her to have a few items that would be helpful, but mostly to let her know that I am there with her, that I'm thinking about her, missing her and praying for her.

Here are a few of the items:












A mini pail to put quarters in for the washer/ dryer in the dorm; an acrylic photo frame to hold a sticky note pad, and a prayer journal. Her colors of her dorm items are Lime Green, Turquoise Blue, and Brown.

Discover Your Wings Dear Friends!

For my dear Friends Mike & Kim who just left California a few days ago to move to Texas. We've been friends for more than 25 years, and it just won't ever be the same without them here as a part of our church and my life. They were such amazing servants of God over the years, but mostly, they were and always will be forever friends. I can't wait to go visit them in Wylie and see where God has placed them for the next part of their journey. Missing you guys so much! Praying you are getting settled and are already seeing God's faithfulness in your new home.


Card (for Taylor's Challenge #TESC118) uses Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive and Vellum Cardstock (SU!) Chocolate Chip and So Saffron Ink, the paper piercer and matt pack, DCWV Retro Prints paper, the Big Shot Top Note Die from SU!, and the Fiskars Border Punch. The stamp set is called "Discover Your Wings" from Taylored Expressions. The lace trim is also from TE. LOVE THAT TRIM! Reminds me of all the little dresses my mom made for all my sisters and I when we were growing up.

Graduation Card Mania

Because my daughter is graduating from High School this year, that means so are many of her friends. And also, because I have been the children's pastor at FBCOL for 10+ years now, I've known this group of kids since 2nd grade, so they are "my kids" too! I've enjoyed praying for them and watching them grow up to love and serve Christ, and I'm super excited to see them move into the big, scary, crazy world to impact the Kingdom of God is amazing ways!
Here are some of the cards I've been working on this week for this group of kids.

This card is for Taylor's sketch challenge, TESC116; It uses the Stampin Up Set "Fun and Fast Notes" which I still LOVE. I wish you could see the ribbon loopy thing made with the black grossgrain ribbon. It turned out really cool. The paper used is Riding Hood Red, Basic Gray, and Black (Because it's for a Lakewood High Graduate, duh!) The scalloped circle is cut with nestabilities, and the image is colored with copic markers, and a silver metallic pen. The circle/ star images are punches with rhinestone brads in the center of each one. This one is for a guy at our church/ Emily's school, so I was pleased with the masculine look, in spite of the little bling... because after all, every graduate is a STAR, right?



The next three cards all use Taylored Expressions stamps, "Oh the Places You Go!" I knew I was going to need a ton of Graduation Stamps this year, so it was a wise investment for me.

Senior Picture Sneak Peek!

If you've been looking for the most amazing photographer in the whole world, look no longer.
Here is a sneak peek at Emily's senior pictures taken by our sweet friend Kristin Eldridge. These literally took my breath away and made my eyes well up with tears the second I saw them, so I don't know what's going to happen when I see the rest of them! Please click on each picture to see a bigger version of it on Kristin's twitter sight. You'll be blown away by the colors! And oh yeah, by the way, that's Emily with dark hair. Shocking and striking isn't it!






We spent about 90 minutes with Kristin at Seal Beach Pier on Thursday afternoon (that's when Kristin says the lighting is best) and Kristin took 5 million pictures and I'm supposed to pick ONE to send out with Emily's Graduation Announcements. Ha! These 2 pictures were posted on Twitter, with a link to post them on your website, so here they are.

Please check out Kristin's BLOG..... you'll be amazed! www.kristineldridge.com Thanks Kristin. I can't wait to see the rest of the pictures.... or maybe not.

Cards & Photos to prove what a busy month it's been!

This has been the busiest month ever! My daughter's 18th Birthday.

We had a HUGE party at Monte Verde park with about 75 kids, a DJ and a Taco Man... and celebrated with her best friend HALEIGH, who's 18th birthday was the day after Emily's.
Here's the CARD I made her for her birthday....




Her starring role as "Belle" in Beauty and the Beast at Lakewood High School! The thrill of a lifetime!








Fun events at church.



Mother's Day! Choosing/ deciding on a college for Emily for the fall (Azusa Pacific was the choice) Prom Dress shopping and preparation for summer... whew! Was all that in the past month! Yes!

Here are some cards and photos to prove it!






Mike's Birthday Card (using Taylored Expressions).

You're a Classic

Masculine card and gift for a friend's birthday. The cars are from "A Proper Gentleman" collection from Graphic 45. Great selection of "guy" papers including old cars, old clothing, etc. Here's the entire collection: http://g45papers.com/product-apg.php





Here's the bag I made for some cookies.... super easy!

I Love It When This Happens!

I've had some good stamping time the past week or so.... and I even had time t straighten up my desk area. After grabbing up some fun new items at CHA, it was fun to get some stamping time. Here are a few things to share with you. The Sewing card was made for a very sweet family at church, the Streelmans, who are sadly moving to Portland. I am in LOVE with their 2 little girls Becca and Natalie and am so sad to see them go. Karen was one of our brand new helpers in Children's Choir and it was so fun getting to know their family and getting to serve alongside of them at church. The good news is, it's always good to have friends who live in fun places so we can go visit them! Card Details: Kraft card base, retired designer paper, sewing machine, buttons, Oval Punch, Scalloped Oval Punch, Puns from the Past SU Stamp Set (stamped in Chocolate Chip Ink), Twill ribbon, twine from Paper Trey Ink, Pirourette Pink SU cardstock for the scalloped oval and some old buttons from my stash.

The Polka Dot Thank You card was super easy but super fun. It's just a bunch of "Bold Bright" circles punched with my various circle punches, and glued to white cardstock. The bottom of the front panel was cut with wiggley scissors, and then the words "Thank You" from the retired SU stamp set called "Wonderful Words" was stamped on the back inside of the card so it shows when you close the card. I made a bunch of these to keep on hand because they were so fun and so easy.

Thanks for looking!

So Very Blessed

Made this card yesterday for a very special guy. My daughter has been shopping for her first car for a while, and 2 people at our church helped us in the search. First our pastor found a great car on Craig's List (a 2001 Accura Integra) and then my friend Dave went with us to take a look at it, drive it around, look under the hood, etc. He said it was a good deal. After we scraped together our money, we went back and got the car! Her very first car. She is on cloud nine. (She's 17 1/2 and has had her license for 6 months and during that time, she and I have been sharing my van and I've been driving her to school and work.) After we got the car home, Dave (he collects and restores antique cars) decided to bless Emily by going one step further... taking the car home with him for 2 days and sanding and repainting the scratched up bumpers. They look brand new and now the car that we paid $3350 for, looks like we should have paid $5500 for it! So obviously, Dave needed a special card to know how much we appreciate him.

This old SU set, called "So Very" did the trick. The paper is from a brand new matt stack from DCWV that I got for my birthday (thanks Michelle) called Glitter Sweet Stack. It also uses Chocolate Chip and Creamy Caramel paper, same colors of ink, and a little snippet of ribbon, button and twine (copied from PaperTreyInk website); with some distressing around the edges of the paper layers. Oval punches and bronze colored brads finish the little details.

Thanks for looking. Pictures of Emily in her new car will be coming soon!!!!!

Clipboard Carnival

These are the first altered clipboards I've ever done and they were so fun. They are for some special ladies in my life, and I hope they love them as much as I loved making them for them. It was fun picking out various designer paper to fit their personalities and their office spaces. The paper is "mod podged" onto the clipboards. Ribbon added to the top, a pad of sticky notes included, some fun clips, a small piece of coarkboard, and a small calendar. The corkboard was a sheet of 18 x 24 corkboard from Joanns that I cut into small pieces and just adhered to the clipboard with tacky tape. The small calendar was the biggest challenge. I typed it in "word" and then just kept adjusting the margins, font size, etc . Not fun but I didn't have time to shop for any or order any online (like smart people would do.) My only "wish" is that I could find some "shallow" thumb tacks for the corkboard. The corkboard is very thin and a regular thumb tack is too deep. Or I should have layered (doubled) the corkboard on top of itself to make it thicker. Live and learn.

Enjoy!

Hot Cocoa for Christmas

For my sister Susie and her hubby Rick for Christmas.... who doesn't need more chocolate! Adapted from a Starbucks frappuccino 4 pack, designer paper, ribbon, punches, and my beloved "Karen Foster Snap stamps" for the lettering. The jars contain: Hot cocoa powder, mini marshmallows, red hots (cinnamon), and Christmas colored M & M's.

A couple of cards that have been hiding in my camera

What happens when it's too hot to go into your stamp room and then you also can't find the cord that you use to upload pictures from your camera to your blog? It means you don't post anything for a very long time. I finally found my camera cord yesterday, (darn those kids!) so here are a few cards from the past few months.

This card is for my new friend Lilly, who just turned 4. Her dad is my "boss" and one of our new pastors at church, and Lilly's mom is a new friend that I really love hanging out with! Lilly is fun and smart and adorable, has blond hair and loves looking cute, so I made this card with my brand new "Cricuit" machine for her for her birthday. :)

This card was made for Karra and Craig for their engagement. I've known Karra for 10 years, and have watched her grow up from high schooler, to college student to young adult, from being my kids first babysitter here in California, to one of my day camp counselors, then one of my day camp directors, to now having her own classroom as a teacher.... and now I get to help celebrate her marriage to a great guy named Craig! This card is made on Basic Gray cardstock, with printed vellum on top of it. The black strip is punched with the Martha Stewart eyelet punch, then I added some rhinestones,buttons, and a few different kinds of ribbon. Congratulations you two! I am so happy for you!

And finally, this card is for my friend Chuck that lives in Atlanta. He and his wife (Pam my very best friend!) share the same birthday!!! I didn't have a guy card that looked like Chuck's personality, so I thought this goofy pair of monkeys said it all. The DP is called "East Coast Prep" from Stampin up! and the cardstock is More Mustard, Riding Hood Red, and Tempting Turquoise. The sentiment is a separate stamp, but made to coordinate. Cool huh! I think I'll get lots of use out of these 2 stamps. (From Stampendous!)

Happy STamping... hope you don't lose your camera card anytime soon. It's not a good thing!

TECC70

A fun layout for Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #70! Uses one of my standby favorite sets: All About U and one of the newer sets from saleabration. Colors are Bashful Blue and Celery. Twine is from PaperTreyInk.

Parisian Quilt Card

First of all, let me share something with you that was NOT made by me... a beautiful gorgeous, quilt given to me by a wonderful family at my church.

This was a thank you gift for working these past few years with their son in my children's choir program, our Wed. night club program, etc. They wanted to express their appreciation for my time and love. Wow! I was/am overwhelmed! I have made one quilt in my life, when I was in my 20's, and it didn't turn out too well. I was proud of it, but it was far from perfection. So I know how much time and energy this took. When I make cards for people, or small handmade paper-crafting gifts like photo frames, candy tins, etc, they might take 1-2 hours per item... 3 at the most, but a QUILT? Seriously? I can't even imagine how much time this took. Here's another view... every square is DIFFERENT! How amazing is that?

So now, here's my card, made with the Quilter's Sampler set from PaperTreyInk , which has been on my wish list for a very long time. I kept wavering back and forth, waiting for the wallet to cooperate. Well, obviously, when I received this quilt, I knew I had to have this set to make a thank you card, right? I know quite a few quilters, so I know I will get a lot of use out of this set. I also got the additional phrases, called "Quilters Sampler Sentiments," and boy, oh boy, are there a ton of sentiments in these 2 sets.

The base of the card is Kraft cardstock from Stampin Up, then a layer of Parisian Breeze designer paper. The quilt images are stamped on Vanilla paper, and then layered onto Baja Breeze, and colored with a combination of Copic makers and SU markers. Some piercing, some faux stitching, and a button (tied with PaperTreyInk's new rustic twine!) completes the project. I'm anxious to get this into the mail to this sweet family... and even though my card didn't take as many hours to make as their wonderful gift to me, it is still filled with love and appreciation!

A couple of challenge cards

Emily was away this weekend on a Carnival Cruise with her choir group (Madrigals) to Catalina (supposedly to Mexico, but that didn't happen!) so I had a very quiet house... TOO QUIET actually... but at least I was able to squeeze in a little stamping time. Here are two challenge cards: The Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge card and the "Sketch for You To Try" card.

Here is TECC69:

The base of the card is "Lovely Lilac" followed by a layer of Green Galore, and then the FUN paper from DCWV called "Nana's Kids." It's already covered with sparkle and texture, so it really packs a punch! This is for a couple at church who is expecting their first baby, and they don't know the sex of the baby yet, so I was going for "gender neutral." The buggy is colored with an SU marker, then highlighted with a glaze pen, some Tiny Twinkles from the Taylored Expressions store, & some blue star buttons. The green dotted ribbon adds some finishing fun!

The next card is for "A Sketch for You To Try" from iheart2stamp.com. This is the first time I've posted to this sketch, so I'm so happy that I had some extra time this weekend to play along. The "trick" was to do something unique with the right hand edge of the card, so I decided to use pearls along that edge and make this into a wedding card. I also used by brand new background stamp from StampinUp! called "Bella Toile." The BG is stamped once on white paper and once on Pink Pirouette paper, and then the layers are "matched up" and adhered on top of each other. The cake stamp is from "Fun and Fast Notes." (SU!) one of my favorite sets. There are also mini pearls on the scalloped oval punch (marvy), some glitter pen and stickles on the cake image, and a stick on flower (I think I got it at Big Lots.)

Hope you all had a fantastic Memorial Day Weekend! (even if it didn't include a Carnival Cruise!)

Dearest Friend

Here's a simple card using the new SU set "Forest Friends" from the Spring Mini. The deer is stamped with Sahara Sand, (I think the first time I've used this stamp pad) and one of the individual stamps from the back of the caty! It says, "So Glad You Are One of My Dearest Friends." A special family just recently got laid off (the dad) and I am really hurting for them, so this is just to give them a little extra encouragement. Thanks for stopping by!

Chocolate Sky!!!

Wouldn't that be awesome? (Remember the song, "If all the snowflakes were Hershey Bars and Milkshakes?") This is for Taylor's Cupcake Challenge, TECC68. Here's the original post so you can see the sketch first hand. It's a great sketch, and fun to work with. I love this beautiful loopy flower stamp from Stampendous, and thought it would be perfect for the circle image in the sketch. The paper used is Chocolate Chip, Vanilla, Soft Sky, and Baja Breeze. The chocolate layer is clear embossed using chocolate chip craft ink (SU!) and the Filigree Background Stamp (retired SU). Several layers are pierced and the scalloped Baja Breeze layer is made with a corner rounder.

Make it a Grande

As soon as I saw this new set "A Little Caffeine Set" from Just Rite Stampers I had to have it! I usually wait a long time and think about my stamp purchases for a while before jumping in, but not this one! I ran right over to Taylored Expressions and got me some adorable coffee stamps! I put some ink on it right away, even though I didn't have the right size of wooden mount. So what did I make? A gift card holder for a Starbucks card, of course!

I used Chocolate Chip and Groovy Guava paper, along with Vanilla from SU! The Designer Paper is called "Paisley & Petals" from SEI. A super simple layout, with just a few simple additions: ribbon, scalloped punch, corner elements, and scalloped scissors (for the circle around the main image on front of card. ) I'm really looking forward to getting ink on the rest of the images in this set!

Prom Night

My daughter Emily is off to the prom tonight at the Disneyland Hotel with a friend from her Madrigal singing group, Scott. A huge group of her friends met at one of the girls' house to catch the limo/bus thing. Biggest thing I've ever seen! Emily found her dress on clearance at Windsor, and I was very proud of her for being such a good shopper. My mom took it in (because it was way too big) and I added the sequin trim. But by the time you add Limo, dinner, prom tickets, flowers, shoes, nails, hair, spray tan, jewelry, and photo's (and whatever else I'm forgetting), and oh yeah, did I mention HAIR??? it's still a very expensive evening and more than most of us spend on a family vacation or a month's worth of groceries! It's crazy! But they sure looked beautiful and I'm sure they are having a blast.

Fabulous Riding Rood Friend! TECC65

Another Cupcake Challenge from Taylored Expessions (TECC65) using Riding Hood Red, and Pink Pirouette. What are we gonna do when those colors retire in a few short months? I love them paired with the Bella Rose paper. This card also used the "Friendly Words" jumbo wheel, and the new set "Oval All" and scalloped oval punch. There is a double layer of the scallop border, the one underneath is "Riding Hood Red" and the one on top with the "Friendly Words" wheel using R.H.R. ink. The final touches: Pink Pirouette ribbon, and some paper piercing in the corners. Thanks for another fabulous sketch Taylor! This week was so full of birthday celebrations, preparation for our children's choir musical at church (which happens next Sunday, May 3, which I direct), and a potluck dinner for single moms, that I wasn't sure I was going to be able to squeeze in some stamping time or not..... Yeah for stamping! A weekend without stamping is never a good weekend! I just wish the weekend could be longer, don't you???