Bold and Bright

What?  Two posts in one day?  Yup yup - I'm on a roll.  :-)  I have had some time to sit at the computer and do nothing so I thought I would catch up on some challenges and blog posts.  I might get one more follower.  Ha!
Stamp and Create has a monthly challenge.  The challenge for June is: Bold and Bright.  I can do that.  I thought this project would be perfect because it is not only bold and bright, it is also cheery!

I seriously enjoy making these notebooks.  It is a bit time comsuming even though it is very easy.  I have the Cinch.  I bought mine on sale at Hobby Lobby but they also have it at Joann's, Michael's and AC Moore.  I'm sure they have it at any local craft store.  It is so simple.

You know how every year, on your child's supply list, they have composition books.  Then, when the end of the year comes they send home those same composition books with only 5 pages written in them.  I am positive the teacher has good intentions when starting these books.  They have these ideals of the perfect journal.  I know.  I am a teacher.  Unfortunately, things happen and you get a composition book with only five pages written in it.  Of course you can't rip those pages out and reuse it the next year because of how it is it bound.  Once you rip pages out it ruins the integrity of the binding.
I take those composition books with those perfectly new pages and make these notebooks.  I break up the binding and cut the pages all the same size.  You definitely need a big paper slicer, otherwise it will take forever.  I use the front and back cover of the same composition book and cover it with DP.  In this case I used paper from DCWV Blossoms and Butterflies Stack.  I should've taken a pic of the notebook opened up.  I forgot - sorry.

I used ribbon scraps on the binding.  (Don't throw away those scraps!  They are good for small things like this!)  I will post a pic one day of how I store my scraps.  I have a ribbon obsession.  I have lots and lots of ribbon.  How many of you out there are the same way? Ha!

Obviously this was for my friend, Amy.  The letters are SU Defining Alphabet.  The half pearls around the name is from Queen & Co. (grass green) that I got from AC Moore.

The stamp, Wags and Whiskers Angel Whispers, was embossed on watercolor paper and colored with Twinkling H2Os.  I don't know if you can notice the dog.  I covered the dog in white fun flock.  It's pretty cool in real life.  Fuzzy.  In the girl's hair is another half pearl in Orchid from Queen & Co.

Gracias for hanging out with me!

**Edited to add:  I did have a pic of the inside!  I didn't forget after all.  I just didn't notice it when I added them to my post.  Here it is:

Betty Boop

When I saw the stamp Cheeky Rockabilly from TGF, it reminded me of Betty Boop.  When my youngest was about four years old, he saw a pair of pajamas with Betty Boop on them and said "Look mom, it's Grandma."  I almost died laughing.  I asked him why she looked like Grandma and he said it was because of Betty's crazy hair.  I called Grandma up and she laughed as well.  Of course my mom took it as a compliment since Betty Boop has a rockin' body.  Since then, anytime we found Betty Boop stuff we always got it for her. 
This stamp was no exception.

I stamped Cheeky Rockabilly on watercolor paper and colored with Twinkling H2Os.  I carefully cut her out and put it on an SU Whisper White oval that was stamped with PTI Background Basics: Text Style.  Behind that is some red squares I had in my stash that I adhered to SU Whisper White.  That was adhered to some PTI Pure Poppy.  The buttons and ribbon are also from my stash.

This card is great for The Greeting Farm's challenge: four layers and a button and/or ribbon. 

Gracias for hanging out with me!

Teacher's Pen & Pencil Holder

This is the last teacher gift I will post for now... I have some new stuff that I made for the teachers this year, but they can work as a gift for anyone any other time so I will post those later.  This project is teacher specific.

 This is a terra cotta pot I painted with acrylic paint.  The bottom does look like chalkboard paint but it is just black acrylic too.  I used a white paint pen as the "chalk".  I know I have seen this on pinterest lately but I made this before I was on pinterest.  This idea actually cam from a friend who recieved one like it as a gift a few years ago.  Hers was similar but it had some grassy and other details I was not attempting.  The next few pictures are what each side looks like.

 One of the words says "Shakespeare" because my son's teacher taught the class a lot about Shakespeare, as you can tell from my previous posts.

 I filled the inside with some rocks I bought from the Dollar Tree.

 The pens  were filled with random DP.

The next two pictures show how I packaged it.  Just a clear bag wrapped in ribbon and it also has a wooden book tag that I got from my friend who was a florist.

 Gracia for hanging out with me!

Teacher in a bottle???

Not really - This is actually an Olive Garden salad dressing bottle.  We love Olive Garden salad dressing.  Their house italian dressing is delicious.   So every time we would go to Olive Garden we would buy one or two bottles to take home.  Of course their bottles are too pretty to throw away, so I wash them up and make a gift.  Super Easy!

 It is filled with Jelly Belly beans!

On the lid I used DP from SU Summer Picnic paper.  The ribbon along the lid and tied on the handle are scraps from my stash.

The bottom has uses a stamp from PTI Teacher's Apple.  The shape was cut from SU Very Vanilla using a PDC Shaplie.  The pears are from Stamp and Create.

Gracias for hanging out with me!

Warrior Charlie

Still more teacher projects....

As I had said in my previous post, last year, my son's fourth grade teacher was amazing.  She taught them so much and she created a bond with the kids that is incredible.  That class was so close and still this year, my son stops by her class daily to chat with her.  I don't know what he is going to do at the end of this year when he will no longer be at his school.  In our county, elementary school only goes to fifth grade.  In the fall, he will be attending a new school. 

Anyway, Gabriel requested the following card specifically for her.  I had to order the stamp from my friend Lacey from her store Stamp and Create.  The good thing is that she lives close again, so after I placed my order I picked it up a couple days later.  :-)  He asked for a knight because he played one in their little Shakespearean play. 

This is Whiff of Joy's Warrior Charlie embossed on watercolor paper and colored with Twinkling H2Os.  He is sooooo cute.  I absolutely adore this stamp.  My son picked the colors as well.  The card base is SU Taken with Teal.  The DP is DCWV Taj Mahal.  I printed the sentiment on SU Very Vanilla.  and distressed it with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Tea Dye.  I also added some brown jute.
This card was inspired by another one I found on Splitcoast Stampers by suzannejdean. 

The next picture looks like I took it and the flash went off.  I was actually outside and the sun was shining on the paper.  The Taj Mahal stack has some really nice shiny paper. 

Below is what Gabriel wrote in the card.  It was so sweet I had to take a picture of it - sloppy handwriting and all.  :-) 

Gracias for hanging out with me!

Teacher's Box

Another Teacher Project?? Sure.  Why not?!
This is a box I made last year for my youngest's 4th grade teacher.  She was pretty awesome.  She is a phenominal writing teacher.  She also tought them about Shakespeare and even had them do an adorable play.  So I made this box to look very regal.

This is just a paper mache box I got from either Joann's or AC Moore.  I painted the bottom dark purple and the top black.  I embossed some flourishes in gold and added some red jewels.  The letters were cut from gold paper with the Cricut.   

 On the bottom, I had taken the box to school and let the kids write their names on it with paint markers.  They really liked doing that.

 The inside is filled with goodies!  She loved it!  The kids were thrilled as well.

Gracias for hanging out with me!

Gardens for Teachers

I know there are cute little gifts for teachers talking about helping your child "grow". The following gift could work for that. As it happens, when my oldest was in fifth grade, his teachers actually liked to garden. So I made this gift fairly quickly. 

 For both of these I used the template from MTME called Trendy Tool Tote.  I'm very simple when it comes to embellishments.  Please click on the link to check out the gallery that shows fabulous inspiration with this template.  For both of them, the base is PTI Kraft.  I cannot remember at all where the DP came from.  I believe it is from SU, but I am not sure.  The ribbon above is from my stash and the lace below is from Joann's.  I added a cute pot that I found at Home Depot as well as some seeds.

Gracias for looking!

School Projects

It has been forever since I posted.  Of course I don't have too many followers yet - so its no big deal. :-) I have been crafting though.  Not a whole bunch but enough to keep me busy.  I have a BUNCH of pictures that I would like to eventually catch up on posting.  Hopefully this summer I will be able to.

I guess since it is almost the end of the year I will post pics of teacher gifts that I have made.  The pic below is a set I made 4 years ago.  Yes, I said 4!  It is something I make for the teachers every year now because it is so practical.  The first time I posted one was a set I made 3 years ago.  I recieved one from my friend Lacey back when I had her daughter in my Kindergarten class.  (Sorry for the bad pics.  I had taken the pictures indoors in the evening because I was giving them to the teachers the next day.)

 These first two are the pictures of a notepad holder.  They are the small 8x5 notepads I got from Sam's.  It is made in a way so that when they are done with the notepads they can easily replace it and use it over and over.  The base is SU Certainly Celery.  DP is SU Summer Picnic (retired a looooong time ago).  The stamps are also retired SU Tart and Tangy.  The name done using SU Best Friends Alphabet.  The button is also from SU. 

 The above pic is a post it note holder using the same paper and stamps.

The card uses the same paper and apple stamp from Tart and Tangy.  The sentiment comes from SU One Smart Cookie.  The ribbon is from my stash.  I cut the orange circle/star with my Cricut.

I also made an orange set since that year because that year one of my boys had two teachers.  Again - I apologize for the poor picture quality.  This one is had a base using SU Pumpkin Pie.  I used the same stamps and DP.

The card has the SU Bashful Blue starbust that was cut using the Cricut also.

Like I said, I love making these every year for the teachers so I definitely have more to post...eventually.

Gracias for coming by!