Valentine Treats

Hi there friends,
I had forgotten to share the Valentine treats I made for my school chums. I revised my lollypop treat wrapper to better fit the Sees pops I bought. They are the same length as the original ones, but these are not as wide.

Here they are:

Here's a closer peek at one of them:

 I usually add a tiny tad of double sided adhesive to hold the pop in place, but still be able to easily remove it from the wrapper. I used some K & co papers, my heart nesties, & the conversation hearts EF to dec it out.

Here's a peek of the back:

 and from the side:

 See that Cinnamon pop?! Yum!!! It's like one big Red Hot *Ü* They're only available during the holiday season so I grab a few to enjoy!

One other thing about the new wrapper is that I was able to squeeze 5 of them on a 12 x 12 sheet. I will be uploading that from my Gypsy to my computer  & share it with ya soon.

Thanks so much for peeking!
Tootles!

Tags of 2013- February

Hi there friends,
I haven't had much time for crafting, and honestly, I haven't had much mojo to work with. I guess I better start 'splaining....
It all started back in January with a lock down at my school. There was a report of a possible shooting attack so we were on lock down for 6 hours. That rattled the nerves, but the situation was handled and everything was OK.
Then 2 weeks ago, my family & I went to Big Bear for our annual snowboarding trip. To make a LOOONG story shorter, while we were in our loft, we received a phone call telling us the sheriffs were waiting for us outside the door. Someone reported seeing Christopher Dorner in our loft! We were to come out hands up, with IDs ready. So my husband, sons, & their friends (who were there with us) came out to meet nearly a dozen sheriffs, with assault rifles pointed directly at us. I had a million & one thoughts in my head at that moment! Some were of concern for our safety & others just straight stupid stuff!!! Here's an example of the stupid stuff: While we were coming out of the loft, hands up (& no shoes on in the snow by the way), there were helicopters flying above us. What came to my mind was "OMG, my students are going to see me on the news!!! How embarrassing! plus I look a HOT MESS!" Then I look down & notice I'm wearing my "Keep Calm & Kill Zombies" T-shirt in honor of the return of the Walking Dead tv show that night. So I thought, "Why did I wear THIS shirt with "KILL" in huge letters!!!---> stoops, right?! Well, after they went in & checked everything out, we were released & allowed to go back in. Needless to say, we packed up our stuff & flew off the mountain! I wish I could tell you I embellished this detail or that, but this is exactly what happened. So you may be asking:
Question: "why would you go to Big Bear knowing there's a crazy on the loose?"
Ans: We called the resort ahead of time & asked if it WAS safe & they assured us it was. In fact, they said, they were scaling back on police because they didn't think he was still in the area.
Question: How did the boys respond or feel about the frightening situation?
Ans: They complained all the way home about how it was the worst vacation ever since they didn't get to snowboard or do anything else---> since we left early" Forget the fact that we were all safe & unharmed! Ugh...teenagers!
So that's been my January & February :(  I hope March brings me the luck of the Irish because I need some! So that's why my crafty mojo hasn't been around lately....
Before we left for Big Bear, I did get to play along for Tim's Tag for this month. Once again, I didn't have much of the supplies he used, so I had to use what I had & substitute.
Here's my tag:

I didn't have Tim's Queen of Hearts blueprint image stamp, but I remembered I had a similar one from SU.
Here's a closer peek:

I did the same techniques of watercolor as Tim. I did draw the "blueprint" lines to match his *Ü*

I don't know how I have so MUCH of his stuff & yet, I don't have anything when it's time to create his tags??? Ah well, I'll keep subbing til I get lucky...

Thanks for peeking today. Hope to get back on the crafty horse soon!
Tootles!

For You

Hi ya friends,
It's been a bit crazy 'round these parts but things are finally settling down. I got a chance to finish my CAS class, which I really enjoyed. I haven't done all of my homework yet, but I'll get to it like the good student that I am. But today, I have created a couple of cards using the free digi offered on Avery Elle's blog for their challenge.
I hadn't heard of them until the CAS class & fell in LUV with their stamps---> especially the background sets, so I *had* to order a couple :) One cool thing I saw is they also provide the svg file that will cut each image- I haven't seen anyone else do that!

Here's the inspiration pic:

Here's my first card, a la CAS:

 I created an ombre effect with the chevrons by cutting them out in 3 different shades of yellow. I added some crystal fine glitter around the frame, I colored the flowers & then popped them up on the leaves for dimension.

Here's card #2, not so CAS:

I enlarged the image slightly ;) to make it the focal point. The flowers are fussy cut & popped up. The little chevrons across the tickets were the left-over pieces from the die cuts. I cut out the sentiment & popped that up. Lastly, I added pearls with my partner in crime- my Viva pen along the ticket frame.

That's it for now. Oh, this weekend I got my flip camera to work! I thought it had died because it hadn't turned on for a couple of years, but thanks to the fabulous tip by ShandtinaSays on You Tube I got it to work! Soooo, there may be some more videos headed your way---> if you can stand to see more! *Ü*
Tootles!

CAS continued

Hello friends,
I'm back with the next two CAS class cards.
The first was for a one layer card- rainbow effect
Here's my card:

 I luuuuved this technique and best of all it was fun & easy!
Here's a closer peek:

 The watercolor background was created with watercolor pencils. I also debossed around the sentiment with the deckled edge Nesties. I can totally see myself doing this technique again.

Next class: repeat stamping to create an ombre effect:
Here's my card:

This was another really neat technique. I realized I don't have much in the way of border stamps so I guess I'll need to do a little shopping ;). Even though this is CAS, it is more in my league *Ü*

So, I feel better about the last couple of CAS cards. There might be hope for me yet! *Ü*
Thanks for peeking.
Gotta Go!

CAS Day 1

Hello there friends,
So here I am, ready to reveal my homework (LATE) for the Clean & Simple Cards 2 online class. As they say, teachers make the worst students and i would be the proof of that since the class is on Day 9 & I'm barely posting for Day 1! Ugh... well, there are a few things I have realized about CAS cards:
1. CAS doesn't necessarily mean a 5 minute card!
2. The "Simple" part in CAS doesn't mean it's easy to make!
3. CAS leaves very little, if any, room for error. I don't likey that! If I have a ton of embellishments on my cards, it's because I have a ton of mistakes I'm covering up! *Ü*  CAS doesn't lend itself to that philosophy. It truly is my Kryptonite :(

Anyhoo, here are my cards for Day 1:
Technique Focus:
One layer cards & Masking

 For this card, I die cut a circle & used that to guide the "leaves" of the tree. I felt like it was...so...simple, so I decided to try it again with a bit more color.

Here's card #2:

 I no likey this one either :(  Scrap it!
Moving on to card #3:

 I did like this one best of all but I still felt like it needed something more! BUT, I forced myself to walk away & leave it alone. Look ma- one layer... sigh...

So those were my attempts at the techniques for Day 1. So am I in my comfort zone? H- E- double hockey sticks NO! Honestly, I think if I sent any of these cards to my family & friends they would wonder what was wrong with me. Maybe I should try it & find out!

 The class was good, but I am one tough cookie to crack! Speaking of cookies... now that I think about it, I don't even like CAS cookies! I like my cookies chunky & chock full of stuff! Am I hopeless or what?!  I'm off to Day 2!
Gotta Go!

Sweet Valentine

Hi ya friends,
I have a card to share today that I had so much fun creating. It's my last card of this type, for now, as I catch up on my CAS card homework. Sniff...sniff...

Here it is:

 Yup! That's the same paper I've been using on the past 50 cards! Ok, maybe not 50, but several! I just luuuv that collection! It's called In Bloom by MME. The banner sentiment was embossed "with love" with my neglected CB embossing folder border. The sentiment stamp was from the $1 bin at Mikes. The banner was from the Fishtail Flags die-namics fro MFT.

 Here's a peek of the innies:

I used my new Heart border die-namics along the bottom.

One last peek at all the layers & foo foo...

 The pattern paper was embossed with the square lattice EF from SU.

I used this week's awesome sketch at the Sweet Spot:

 I reeeeeally luved this one!


Next, onto my CAS cards. We'll see if it will be all good or a CASualty! *Ü*
Tootles!