Creative Grace

Free time!

Woohoo!  I'm so excited to have a litle extra time this week.  The school I teach as has 3 furlough days sandwiched among the President's holidays, giving me much needed time to get ahead on a lot of work.  It's also giving me the chance to wake up when my body is ready (rather than the usual yucky 5:20am) and wander around my neighborhood a bit.  

I found this little guy hard at work yesterday

and while on my porch planting some flowers, I also found this little girl hard at work - you'd think she'd have the courtesy to at least clean up after herself!

I also found a little time this morning to participate in this week's Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World, which makes me very happy as I've had so few opportunities to do that lately.  

This week's Trigger is based off this sweet little decoration

There's a LOT going on in this image, and I was most inspired by all of the colors and patterns.  After trying a few things (like building an elaborate house, what was I thinking?) I figured simplifying was better.

I like the combination of the papers, the little red button, and the cute bird...

Hopefully all of you out in the blogosphere get a little crafty time this week (anyone can participate in the challenge) and have a happy week!

You are Cu*te

Happy valentines everyone!  Just a quick post to share with you some of the cute mini valentines I made for my hubby.  I think I squealed out loud when I discovered that Our Craft Lounge had fun chemistry related valentines stamps (Molla Cutie and Love Potion).  These are all little mini cards/tags for a few small gifts.  Perfect for my guy, and hopefully you will enjoy too!

 

 

To the moon and back...

Just a sweet little card to say happy valentines to you all!  

Clouds accented in pink Copic (why haven't I thought of that before???) and adorable heart paper... a card made with love :)  

Made with a•muse|studio products.

For Cath (sans CHA) with Love Blog Hop

I'm very happy this evening to participate in a fun blog hop for the wonderful Cath Edvalson, curator of one of my favorite blogs, Moxie Fab World. Apparently she is unable to attend CHA (the big Craft & Hobby Association) Winter conference due to an injury, which I imagine is very difficult for her as she always seems to enjoy it so much every year.  Given how much joy Cath brings to others, the least I can do is participate in a little effort to bring her a smile.  

Here's my card to cheer up Cath:

This card features a brand new stamp set by a•muse|studio - a little eye candy for you girl!  

Cath, you truly are a person that is out of this world.  Thank you for bringing a daily smile to my face with your fabulous blog and inspiring personality.  I hope you are on the mend soon!

Be sure to check out other fun cards for Cath in the blog hop:  For Cath (sans CHA) with Love blog hop. THanks Lorena Cantó and Virginia Lu for hosting! :)

A week to be grateful for

This week has certainly been a big one for me! So much going on that I find myself with my head spinning at the moment...

I know that my younger self would have complained about it all and pouted that there was no free time, but as I sit here today and look at what transpired, I am grateful for a week where I can barely keep my head on straight.  

It means I have a great job and great students.  I am supported by amazing people at my work, who, when I am having a hard time keeping up with things, jump in to help me.  I get to be a part of a program at my school that will hopefully make *some* differnece in how kids treat eachother (we are a Rachels Challenge school). I get to work on the sidelines of it and support our student leaders who did a fantastic job running a big school lunch assembly where over 100 kids came to participate (with wonderful dedicated Moms who made sure they all had delicious treats).   How lucky are we??  This week also reminds me that I am one lucky duck to have a great new job opportunity teaching other teachers in a college night class.  And, at the end of a day where I worked probably 14-hours strait, my hubby will have a martini waiting for me when I walk in the door.

Lots to be thankful for this week indeed! :)

Wild About You

Happy Monday everyone!  I have a cute little card to share with you today, perfect for anyone you are wild about.  

I had a lot of fun yesterday having a crafty day with some friends including a couple new ones, and this was one of the cards we made.  I certainly need to put the pause button on life and do that more often! :)

I was, of course, anticipating this card would be a fun non-red/pink valentintes card, but it certainly would work at any time of year.  Isn't that monkey adorable?

We were, of course, practicing our mad-Copic skills!  Along with cutting skills... he was a tricky one but I think he's super cute swinging down on that branch.

a•muse|studio is gearing up for their new 2012 catalogue (debuting soon!) and this adorable set (called, "The Mighty Jungle") didn't make the cut.  So if you are interested in it and others that are officially retiring, shoot me an email and I can give you the 411.  

A toast to the new year

 

This card was insprired by my hubby, a major beer snob (or "geek" as he would correct me).  I had to cut the handle off the beer "mug" to turn it into a proper pint glass.  Although, in real life, I would never overfill the glass ;)

Here's wishing you all have a fabulous 2012 filled with lots of yummy paper, fun stamps, and washi goodness! 

Tags

Hi interpeeps!  Thought I'd share a gift I made for my hubby's Mom this Christmas.  She's recently retired and has taken to sewing and knitting.  I'm a little late to the party as I know she gave away a ton of things this Christmas, but I wanted to get her some personalized sew-in tags (which I ordered from here) as well as make her some "garment" tags she can attach to the items she makes.  As someone who makes handmade things, I often come across people who don't realize I make the cards I give, so I thought this might be kind of fun.

I made her two different types of tags using mostly blue (her favorite color)

She got 10 of these, but I also had to make 10 that had a little *aloha* (as her husband has Hawaiian roots and they love to travel there)

I've had this "handmade with aloha" stamp forever, don't know who makes it!  Sadly, the shop I had purchased it at went out of business a long time ago.

I probably had more fun decorating the vessel for the tags.  I love the look of them all stuffed into a mason jar

I used washi tape around the jar (*swoon*)

Even the top got decorated with the same gingham paper I used on the tags (the gingham is on the back of the tag).

And I kept the lid gold since it matched the tag safety pins

A fun little gift me thinks :)

Be Merry

Wishing you warmth and love!

Wintery thank you

Hello friends!  I have a quick card to share today - a necessity for this time of year.  I was in need of a bunch of thank you cards that I could make fairly quickly.  I came up with this little design:

I like the simplicity and the punch of red.  There's something about a bird on a bare branch that always makes me smile.  It's a little hard to tell from the photo, but I added just a touch of glitter to the tops of the branches to add that wintery look.  

I like the results!  Hopefully the recepients will as well.  

I hope all of you out there in blog land are doing well and enjoying the season!