Archive for June, 2010
June 30th, 2010 -- Posted in scrappy / stampy |
This card design can finally be posted because the recipient has received this card… 
I thought this card would be more difficult to create, but it actually ended up being easy to put together. It was based on this great tutorial.
The paper used for the base was Bazzil and the rest was mostly Stampin’ Up colours including Riding Hood Red and Chocolate Chip. The flowers punched out had those colours with some vellum mixed in as well as a Chocolate Chip felt flower. The design on the white paper is actually just a stamped design, not patterned paper. The white paper was punched with a scallop punch at the bottom and then the top part was created using the scallop circle punch and circle punch. The brad was created with the make-your-own-brad kit with Chocolate Chip and Riding Hood Red ink.
The best part was that this card actually fits well into a regular card-size envelope (that fit the standard 5.5″ x 4.25″ sized card). You just need to be careful that you don’t have the top part sticking up too much. Be sure to stick it down at least halfway into the bottom part.
The card ended up looking so cool that I made another one for my brother-in-law (well, BIL to be)…
The style was definitely switched up to be more masculine – I love grays and blacks with red but don’t get a chance to work with those colours much. The darkest gray is this very shiny glittery paper from Bazzil. I also used a patterned paper from Bazzil with really neat designs on them. For the top ribbon I just used a regular-size hole punch and placed the brad on the bottom instead with Riding Hood Red paper and Chocolate Chip ink (with a bit of silver ink for the circle) to create the brad.
These are definitely a fun card to create! Just keep in mind you’ll need a very stiff type of card stock to support the structure of the card. This also means that you’ll really need that Sticky Strip (from Stampin’ Up) to hold it together securely. If anyone creates one I’d love to see it so please post a link!
Happy Stampin’!
June 25th, 2010 -- Posted in blinkies & other cuteness, contests & freebies |
I created these in a much less busy week than this one (although every week seems overwhelming these days it seems), but had saved posting them for “later”. Unlike other posts I had saved for “later” which are still kicking around as drafts, I do intend to complete this one and get it up…
I’d like to share these little family sig tags with you. They could be used on a blog or website as well (or even a Facebook profile page since they are static).
The Royal Family set have an image for the king, queen, prince, and princess of the family. They also have additional graphic for princes, princesses, and counters of how many of each you have. The Bear Family is a simple set with Mama Bear, Papa Bear, and a couple choices for your Baby Bear graphic.
The Family Words set has even more possibilities for it’s use, as the graphics are stand-a-lone words. So in addition to siggies, you could use the images on pictures or as clip-art in your documents, family calendars, whatever you can think of!
And finally, there’s a Bugs and Flowers grouping that I hope to expand on if there’s any interest. Just a few very tiny graphics for tagging your kids’ names and for decorations in siggies and in other places:
These little family tags were mostly inspired by the mommies at the YM Boards that I happen to run (if you’re a young mommy check them out because we have an awesome group!!!). It’s been the style lately to just have really short and simple – but colourful! – family ID tags in the siggies. And mostly everyone has done a great job using colours, keyboard symbols, and all the cute “smilies” that are available.
But of course I’m always looking to create new cute graphics, so I thought I’d combine some of the design possibilities into individual tags. They’re colourful and decorated and some have the same animals and smilies as are on the boards anyways. I hope they catch on just beyond our group!
The complete set of tags can be found in this section of my KStar site.
June 23rd, 2010 -- Posted in family, scrappy / stampy |
Since this week is my kids’ last week of school, we’re now in the process of signing the set of thank-you cards I made and pairing them up with teacher gifts. I wanted to share our choices for 2010 and also give other moms some ideas for this time of year…
For my son’s kindergarten teacher, I created a 12×12 digital scrapbook layout with pictures of my son with the bean plant that he brought home from school. His plant has really been thriving here at home, a long trip from the little Styrofoam cup that the teacher had them start in! I’d captured a really great pic of Avery sitting on the front step after we transferred the plant to a large pot and I knew right away I wanted to share it with the teacher that started that project for him. Giving a 12×12 layout just on it’s own would’ve been tricky, I think! Luckily, I was able to find a 2-pack of top-loading scrapbook albums at our local Costco that was less than $20! I slid the printed 12×12 page into the front of the album, and plan to make a little placard for the front album window that says “Student Memories” or something like that.
He also has a few teachers at his childcare center, but for them I am thinking of making some home-baked goodies (I recently found a great muffin recipe that I tried out last week for a family breakfast and it was delicious!). I’ll use just one Thank-You card for all of them as well.
My daughter’s in grade 6, which means more than just 1 teacher! Since we’re still on a pretty tight budget, we had less to spend on each teacher. This year, we ordered these little notepads that are shaped like apples!
Cute, eh?? I was really thrilled to find this really unique (and inexpensive!) gift and hope it lives up to my expectations. It gets tricky as your child gets older and has more and more teachers… it’ll be even worse next year when she’s in middle school so maybe I’d better keep the link to these notepads handy! I just really hope they arrive in time! Her graduation is coming up this Thursday so hopefully we’ll have enough time to put them together and have them ready to give out that day. We also got some cute pens to put with the notepads.
What about you? Have you bought your teacher gifts yet? If you’re still shopping around for teacher gifts (or childcare providers) for your kids, here are some other ideas I’ve used in previous years or have thought of to use in future years (our family has at least 12 years to go!):
Gift Ideas for Teachers:
It’s great to be able to give something that will actually get used. There’s a change your teacher might be one of those people that enjoy collecting little knick-knacks to sit on a shelf, but there’s also a big chance she or he is NOT. Why give a “dust collector” when you can put your gift budget towards something pretty and practical that the teacher can enjoy and use?!
- Gift cards to coffee places (Tim Hortons here in Canada is a favourite)
- Little practical stationary supplies
- A new mug with some tea or hot chocolate mix pouches
- Wind-chimes or sun-catchers
- Something hand-made by your child
- Something baked (muffins or cookies work well)
- A pretty journal or notebook
- A photo of your child, or of field trips if you’ve been on them with the class.
- Something handy for their kitchen
- A brooch or necklace they can wear
- A stylish new lunch bag
- A gift card to a bookstore
- Teacher “Survival Kits” (look this one up on the web, there are lots of ideas)
- A box of thank-you cards! (many teachers like to send a card back to the parents who give gifts, I’ve noticed)
Gifts to avoid:
From what I’ve heard, teachers seem to get soooo many of these gifts that it might be best to choose something more unique! Unless you’re really stuck or pinched for time, try to give them some variety!
- Sweets like chocolate and candies
- Bubble bath and soaps
- Candles
- Apples (unless it’s a modern twist on this cliche – see above for apple notepad!)
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