Inspired Stamps Fun Fold Card

This week at Inspired Stamps we are creating Fun Fold Christmas Cards.  For my Card I took a 4-1/4"x11" piece of cardstock and folded it to create a 3x4-1/4" Card with a pocket for a gift card.  For this card I used the Blessed Little Christmas Stamp Set.

Card Front

Inside showing sentiment and Gift Card pocket

another view of the Gift Card Pocket

I found the tutorial for this card one day while surfing the net looking for interesting cards for my class to make, I had printed the directions off with the name of the blog I found it on, but since I have made several of these, and no longer need the directions I have misplaced them and can't refer you back to the original tutorial. (If you feel that I found the idea on your blog please e-mail me and let me know so I can give you credit and link to your tutorial)  In absence of the original tutorial I will make one of my own. My tutorial will hopefully be posted this weekend provided I can tackle a kid long enough to have them help me with taking pictures.

Now that you have checked out my Inspired Stamps Design Team Fun Fold card please visit the other members of the design team's blogs and see what beautiful creations they have for this week.  The links to their blogs are in the Left hand margin of this blog.  Also don't forget that we are looking for your Inspired Stamps Artwork, in the October Challenge.

Inspired Stamps Fun Fold Card Materials used:
Inspired Stamps Blessed Little Christmas
CTMH Materials used
Wonderland Paper Pack, Colonial White, Crystal Blue and  White Daisy Cardstock, Crystal Blue and Pacifica Inks,  CTMH Glitz Glitter Gel Stardust, CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge
Silver Ribbon from stash

Inspired Stamps Designers Choice

This week it is another Designers Choice week over at Inspired Stamps, so for my artwork I pulled out my current favotire stamp set His Plans for You and created this money holder card.  I intentionally kept it simple so it could be used for either a male card or a female card, with 4 boys in the house it seems I am always in need of  "Guy" cards.



Inside of Card

Wow, what a difference a week makes.  Last week's card took me 3 days to complete, and this week's card took me less than an hour to throw together.  I got my creativity back, thanks to a girl's play weekend with my niece and have been playing catch up.  I have so many other items in progress on my table that I almost forgot to get my Inspired Stamps card done for this week.  So I threw it together right before work one morning.  I love it when the Creativity is flowing. 


Card size: 8x3.5

Materials used Inspired Stamps His Plans for You
CTMH used - Roxie Paper Pack, White Daisy, and Black cardstock, Black and Desert Sand Ink.  Originals Card Confidence book for card design, Puzzle Backdrop pg 91, Licorice Opaques

Weekend with Deanie

This weekend my 11year old niece came over and spent the night.  With her here I was able to get plenty of playtime in and guess What????  I have revived my creativity.  yeah!!!  Nothing does that better than a weekend of girl time.

My niece Nadine, I call her Deanie, loves to play with paper just as much as her favorite Aunt.  When she got here I was mowing the lawn so she went straight to my scrapbook room and the cricut and started creating.  When the CTMH Art Philosophy Cartridge first came out I fell in love with the Butterfly 2 image and cut out several, well Nadine saw them and had to create some for herself.  By the time I had finished the lawn she had created several of the butterflies in different color combo's.  Nadine was choosing colors I would have never put together and they all looked good together.

Here are all of Nadine's Butterflies,
ya think she had a good time with Aunt Jenn

Once I was ready to play Nadine informed me that she "had to make" a sympathy card for one of the 5th grade teachers.  This Teacher had just lost her husband to cancer within the past week, and all of my boys and Nadine's family had had her in school.  Nadine told me that the Chain links club was making "printed cards" for her, but she knew that her Aunt Jenn & her could make a really special one for her teacher.  So with Nadine's help this is the card we came up with.  Nadine wanted this card to be one that was really special, and something that her teacher would keep for a long time, so she looked through all my card designs found a style she liked.

I dug out the supplies and we started working,  This is what we came up with. 

Easel card Materials used all CTMH unless otherwise stated
Magnifique Paper, White Daisy, Outdoor Denim, Sky cardstock
Pacifica, Sky and Outdoor Denim Inks
Comforting Thoughts Stamp Set
Licorce Opaques,
Create a Shade Pearl Paint for homemade shimmer mist
sprayed on the roses.
Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge
Fiskars Border Punch, Irredescent ribbon from stash

Front of card

Inside (base) of card

Nadine picked out everything I just provided a little creative suggestions, and hands to help put it together, and roll the roses as she had a hard time with them because she has a broken thumb right now.

We also made a birthday card for Nadine's best friend, so of course this one had to be special.  While we were working on the next card Nadine told me that she doesn't like store bought cards anymore. Cause when she gives her friends handmade cards, they keep them on their dressers "forever".

Materials Used all CTMH unless otherwise noted
Wonderland and Dreamin paper packs (Dreamin is the butterfly)
White Daisy, Outdoor Denim and Crystal Blue cardstock
Pacifica, Sky & Outdoor denim inks
Find your Style and Card Chatter Birthday Stamp Sets
Glitz Glitter Gel Stardust, Licorice Opaques
Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge

Create a Shade Pearl Paint for homemade shimmer mist
sprayed on the roses.



this Easel Card has a pocket in the base so
Nadine can give her friend a gift card or cash.


I have entered this page in  the Art Philosophy Linky Party, to show how you can use this cartridge to spice up your cards.  Since I have gotten this cartridge it has not been removed from my Cricut.  It is my goto cartridge for everything, and I totally love everything about it.  Please feel free to explore the rest of my blog as just about every post from October on has something that was created using the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge.

Feel free to explore the rest of the blogs in this linky blog hop.

Thankful project

Our Inspired Stamps Design Team post this week is too feature Thankful artwork.  I created this basic Thank You card using More Perfect Sentiments. 

I will have to admit I have been in a bit of a creative rut lately. It seems like no matter what I try, I am having the worst time getting my creative gears into action. So this weeks card looks simple but it took me 3 days to complete because I just couldn't get myself into that creative mood.   Now to find my creative side in time to finish the 5 cards and 2 layouts I need done before next weeks classes.  Hopefully next weeks post will be more inspiring.

Materials Used:  Inspired Stamps More Prefect Sentiments

CTMH materials - White Daisy and Outdoor Denim Cardstock, Outdoor Denim ink, Licorice Opaques, Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge, Stardust Glitz Glitter gel
Lace is Martha Stewart, Score Board Martha Stewart
Sandpaper

September and our Vacation (long Post with lots of pictures)

Boy did September Fly By.  If you have ever been around our household you will know that September is a very chaotic month for us.  It starts out with the start of school, football games, and the winding down of summer, then it runs into what the boys & I call the best seven days of September, the Tuscarawas County Fair.  The boys and I are very active with our Local 4-H and so the first 2 weeks of September are spent getting ready for the Fair, and the last week is spent recovering from it.  The boys once again raised Market Hogs to show and sell at in the Jr. fair livestock competitions, and this year for the first time Robbie & Tony took Market Goats.  I had the 4-H booth to design, and  create, a vendor booth for Close To My Heart (with 2 other consultants) so I needed  items ready to sell, and on top of it all I decided to enter several items into the Fine Arts competition for stamping and photography  (what was I thinking :-)  Of course I had to get all this done around work and chasing kids. 

Dillon is #75

Tony #82

Tony & Dillon are both playing football which means at least 3 games a week, and practice every other day.  Of course with Tony being in a Freshman and Dillon only in 7th grade they both play on 2 different teams so of course their games are at different times and I have to coordinate schedules. 





Jimmy is working at Wendy's and has his own car so I don't have to worry about getting him from A to B anymore, and I am loving the fact that I can use him for pick up and delivery of his brothers when he isn't working. 

Because the boys have animals at the fair and I had the CTMH booth, we all took the week off work/school and had a camper set up at the fair, and we enjoyed a weeks vacation of action packed events.  It wall started off with decorating the hog barns Friday night (I skipped the varsity football game, to do this), then on Saturday we had Hog Weigh-In's, the camper was set up, my Fine Arts Entries were turned in and I started decorating the 4-H booth.  This year we lucked out and all 4 hogs were in the prime weigh classes, with Dillon's hog Two-Face weighing 260 lbs, Tony's hog Baby weighing 268 lbs, Jimmy's hog Ida Kno weighing 270 lbs, and finally Robbie's hog Lola weighing 275 lbs.  Surprisingly with all 4 hogs weights being so close none of the boys were in the same weight class. 




Dillon at weigh-ins with his an Jimmy's hogs.




Sunday started bright and early with the boys getting their pictures with their hogs for the buyers signs, then Robbie and Tony went and got the goats, Jimmy and Dillon moved into the camper, while I worked on getting the 4-H booth finished set up.  The goats both made weight with Robbie's Bubba weighing in at 80lbs and Tony's Leroy weighing 85lbs.  Then finally at 6pm after the 4-H booth was done Karen, Betty and I set up our Close To My Heart booth, and we were all ready for the week to begin. 



this years 4-H booth



Monday was the Opening day of the fair and the boys school actually didn't have classes this day so they hung out with their friends while I ran the CTMH booth. 

On Tuesday it was Show day for the Hogs and I took the day off from watching the CTMH booth. The boys & their hogs did fairly well this year Robbie, Jimmy, and Tony all got 5th place in their weight classes and Dillon got 9th, not bad and we all got done in time for Tony to make football practice and Dillon to make his football game.







Robbie & Lola,
Lola got 5th place in her weight class




Jimmy & Ida Kno
Ida got 5th place in her weight class




Tony & Baby
Baby got 5th place in her weight class



Dillon & Two-Face
Two-Face got 9th in her weight class


Then on Wednesday (It wasn't a good day) I watched the CTMH booth in the morning, then the boys had How showmanship at 4pm.  While I was on my way to the hog arena my Aunt and Granny stopped me, wanting to find my Dad cause my Mom had fallen and was being taken to the hospital by ambulance.  (Panic time) Luckily it didn't take long for us to find him, and while my Aunt, Granny, Dad, and Brother's family went to the hospital to be with Mom I got to watch the boys do showmanship.  It was not a good year for the boys in showmanship, Dillon did a good job showing but didn't make the final cut, Tony was complemented by the judge and you could tell he really wanted Tony in the final cut but Baby had other ideas and would not cooperate.  Jimmy did make the final cut and ended up with 5th place, Robbie automatically got first place as he was the only 18 year old showing.  Wednesday night finished with us in the ER again as Jhett, a good friend of Jimmy's,  was hurt on a ride and taken by ambulance to the hospital, so it made for a long night.

Thursday came and made up for the events of Wednesday.  Our day started bright and early as we had made arrangements the night before to help get Jhett's goat ready for the show, as we weren't sure he would be out of the ER in time to show.  (He made it with 10 minutes to spare).  This was our first year of taking goats so we were a little unsure what the judge would be looking for, though Dani did a wonderful job teaching Robbie how to show a goat cause Robbie got 2nd place in the 1st year showmanship class.  Once we got to the individual weight classes where they judged the goat and not the 4-H we hit jackpot.  Robbie got first place in his weight class!!!  Then Tony got last in his weight class, bummer but he has a couple of years left to show, for Robbie it was his last harrah. 


Robbie and Bubba getting first place in Weight Class 2




Tony walking Leroy in Weight Class 3


the best part of Thursday was when they brought in all the first and second place goats from the 4 weight classes and the judge picked out Bubba as the 2011 Tuscarawas County Fair Grand Champion Market Goat.  I don't know who had the bigger smile, Robbie or Dani. 





Robbie and Dani with the Grand Champion banner
and Bubba in front of the Ag-Land booth
where Dani works and the buyers of Bubba


After the goat show on Thursday, the rest of the week went pretty quickly.  the boys sold their hogs Thursday night and got the best overall price per pound we have gotten since they started taking hogs.  Jimmy got $3.25 a pound, Robbie & Tony got $2.75 a pound and Dillon got $2.50 a pound, we were very please with the results.  Friday was pretty much a wind down day as Tony & Dillon had the varsity football game that night, and the rest of us just hung out at the fair.  Saturday the boys sold the goats with Robbie getting $750 for Bubba and Tony getting $225 for Leroy.   Sunday came and we were in clean up mode, we cleaned out the camper, the animal pens,  tore down our booths, and said goodbye to all our fair friends for another year.  In all the 2011 Tuscarwas County Fair was a good one, and we were all sad/happy to see it come to an end.




This is the make shift sign that this display
made after my Mom fell when she missed the
step.  I of course had to snap a picture of
it for her scrapbook.



Inspired Stamps Designers Choice artwork

This week over that the Inspired Stamps Blog, it is a Designer's Choice Week, meaning we can create anything our hearts desire.  For my design I have created another 5x5 canvas, using the His Plan's For You Stamps Set.

I have fallen in love with creating these tiny canvas projects.  They are so easy to create and make great gifts.  This canvas was actuallyone of the many items I entered into our County Fair stamping competition.  This one was entered in the Embellished artwork catagory and it took second place.  It combines my favorite things,  One of my favorite and most used Inspired Stamps Set His Plan's For You Stamps Set, hand rolled flowers, Cricut die cuts, glitter and butterflies.

Close up of the Flowers

Close up of the butterfly.  To Create this butterfly, I used packaging tape to
gently lift off the negative image left on my cricut mat.  Once the entie image was off the mat
and stuck to my tape I sprinkled the whole thing with Prisma Glitter
and then covered the back with another piece of packaging tape.
I then taped this glitter butterfly onto a solid cardstock butterfly
and cut it out of the tape.



Materials used:  Inspired Stamps His Plans For You

CTMH Products used:  Roxie Paper pack, Black, Colonial White cardstock, CTMH Exclusive Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge, Mocha Opaques, Prisma Glitter, Black, Desert Sand, and Smoothie Inks, Smoothie Re-inker, Create a Shade Pearl Paint, Versa Mark Ink, Clear Detail Embosing Powder, Liquid Glass

JoAnn's- 5x5 Canvas

Other - Packaging Tape

For those who were looking for an update from my vacation, it is coming, things have been just a little crazy around here with 2 boys getting sick, one starting college, and one getting ready for his first homecoming dance, not to mention football and all the other normal fall activities.  All this means mom doesn't get any time to play.