Photo Friday- Back to School 2016

It is that time of year again.  The smell of new crayons is in the air, the shoes are shiny and new, and summer is over.  Yep, it is back to school time.  My guys went back to school yesterday and had a wonderful time in their new classes.  The boys are in 8th, 5th, 4th, and 2nd this year.  How did they all get so big?  How did I get so lucky to have such handsome sons?  I will admit I had a little momma moment on the way to school and teared up just a bit when I thought about this being the last year that all of my boys will be in the same school.  I took a deep breath and then all was well.  They are all ready to be back in a routine and with their friends and I am ready to have some quiet time.  Here's to a great school year!

Photo Friday- One Fantastic Family

A Photo Friday has been long over due and I have the perfect family to showcase today.  I have been friends with Nick and Katie for over 15 years! I knew they would make awesome parents and when their little guy arrived this last November they showed me that I was right.  George is one of the sweetest little guys I've met.  He is so laid back (just like mom and dad) and maybe fussed 15 minutes total the entire weekend they were here!  The love they have for this little guy is evident in every smile and look they give him.  He is one lucky little boy and I have never seen two happier parents.  I'm so glad they came up so we could meet him and I could capture this little snippet of their family at this stage!  Not only did my house get super clean (can we say four boys make a pretty big mess and Legos aren't for 7 month olds) but we also got some wonderful photos.  Here are just a few of my favorites. Thanks for stopping!

Sending Hugs and Prayers Card

Once again I am combining the challenges from the Simon Says Stamp Monday and Wednesday Challenges to make my card.  This week the Monday Challenge is Monochrome and the Wednesday Challenge is Mask It. I used these prompts and this is the card I made.

Using my MISTI tool I stamped the daffodils and masked and stamped some more.  Once I had all the stamping done I did some super simple coloring using my Spectrum Noir markers.  After I had all of my coloring done I die cut the word prayers.  I also die cut the word prayers from some fun foam and put that in the negative space gluing the colored one on top of the foam.  I added some Wink of Stella Clear Glitter and that does it!

 I love the dimension the fun foam gives.  What an easy way to add some wow. Thanks for stopping!

Supplies:

• cardstock: Recollections (110# white)
• stamps: Simon Says Stamp (Prayers, Friendship Blooms)
• dies: Simon Says Stamp (Prayers, Friendship Blooms), Lawn Fawn (Small Stitched Rectangles)
• ink: Simon Says Stamp (Intense Black) 
• markers: Spectrum Noir (CT1, CT2, CT3, CT4), Zig (Wink of Stella Clear Glitter)
• misc: MISTI tool, fun foam    

Dreams and Wishes Card

I'm getting this post up later than I planned on because school is out!  That means the kids are home and we are all trying to get adjusted to our new schedules.  I guess late is better than never right?!

Today's card is for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Make a Wish and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes.  I decided to make just one card for both challenges. 

This card was really easy to make!  I stamped the child image in gold ink wiping away the spot where I wanted the sentiment and then covered the gold ink with clear embossing powder and heat set it.  I then stamped the sentiment (a dream is a wish your heart makes) with VersaMark Ink and heat set it with clear embossing powder also.  Once that was done I colored select areas with my Tim Holtz Distress Markers and then sprayed the whole panel with water.  I wanted a pale dreamy effect and I think I got just that.  I trimmed out the image and glued it onto my card base.  Super easy and quick.  Sometimes it's nice to throw in a simple card once in a while.  Thanks for stopping.

Supplies:  

• cardstock- misc, Master's Touch Watercolor Paper
• stamps- Stampers Anonymous (Phrases 2), Wordsworth (Sleeping Child)
• ink- Encore! (Gold), VersaMark (Watermark)
• markers- Ranger Distress Markers (Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade, Forest Moss, Stormy Sky, Dusty Concord)
• embossing powder- Ranger (Super Fine Clear)

Felt Emoticon Card (SSS Monday/Wednesday Challenge- Felt That/Fun with Felt)

It has been a LONG time since I've been on here.  I'm really hoping to change that.  I have some goals to get card making and scrapbooking more on the top of my to do list.  Dishes, laundry, and then crafting.  It's all about priorities.  One of the ways I'm going to get more crafty things done is to do the Simon Says Stamp weekly challenges.  They have new challenges each Monday and Wednesday.  This week the Monday challenge is Felt That and the Wednesday challenge is Fun with Felt.  You are challenged to use felt on your projects.  I will admit that I had no idea what to do with felt but I went with it.  I guess that is the point of it being a challenge.  Here is what I came up with.

I started with a white piece of felt.  I tried cutting it with a die but for whatever reason it wouldn't work so I just used the indention left by the die as a guide and cut it with my scissors. I decided to use my Distress Inks to color my white piece of felt.  I smeared the two colors on my craft mat, spritzed them with water, and then swirled the felt around in it.  I let them dry overnight and I love the way they turned out.  If you want a unique background this will be different every time. 

Emoticons are so fun and I couldn't resist using them on this card!  I stamped them on some white cardstock and then colored them in with my Spectrum Noir markers.  I only have a few of these markers and am still learning how to use them for coloring and shading so I did some really simple coloring with CT1, CT2, and CT3 just to give a little dimension.  You could just stamp them on yellow paper if you don't have markers to color them in with.  I then used my Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush and Glossy Accents to make them really pop.  Once I hand cut them out (I didn't have a circle punch or die that matched exactly) I used a black marker to ink the edges.  The sentiment is embossed with white embossing powder on some scraps of black cardstock.  Against the white card and colored felt this really pops.  I centered the emoticons over the sentiment for a nice clean look.  I used my Tiny Attacher to add this strip to the felt and glued the whole felt piece to my card. 

I hope you will try using felt on one of your cards.  It was a fun thing to try and I just might do it again sometime.  Thanks for stopping!

Supplies:

• cardstock- misc scraps
• felt- misc scraps
• ink- Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Picked Raspberry, Faded Jeans), Simon Says Stamp (Intense Black), VersaMark
• stamps- BoBunny (Emoji Stamp), Hero Arts (CL342)
• markers- Spectrum Noir (CT1, CT2, CT3), Zig (Wink of Stella- Clear Glitter Brush)
• misc- Ranger Embossing Powder (Superfine Detail White), Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, Ranger Glossy Accents