A New Year, an Organized ME!

What a busy week this has been!!! Busy is good, busy makes me focus. I don't usually talk about my New Years resolutions because they are more like goals for me, not really resolutions. This way I keep them; goals make me work harder, and they seem more attainable to me. I have learned over 36 years that if I make resolutions per se, I just forget 'em! :-) So, one of my goals this year is to get me and my family more organized. I bought one of those "Mommy Calendars" with columns for each person and a block for each day of the month - LOVE IT! I organized my kitchen drawers this week, called Habitat for Humanity to come pick up some furniture we were planning to get rid of in the future (the future is now!), and cleaned out my bathroom cabinets (it is amazing how much make-up and hair stuff I buy and never use). The good news is that today I learned more about a free-market place that might actually take these toiletries that I don't use and give them (yes give them!) to people who would love to have them. How great is that!!! I know what I'll be doing next week :-)

Well, in a long, round-about way that leads me to finally sharing the teacher gifts that I made for my sons teachers at Christmas. The reason I am linking the two... I just hope they don't throw these away or give them to the free-market :-)

I think I mentioned before that my son has a total of seven teachers in preschool, the kids actually rotate from room to room for each "subject." My son loves it, he really enjoys the variety, and of course each teacher has a different style and personality, which is good for the kids to be exposed to. But boy, when it comes to gift-giving, it sure made for a lot of work!



Anyway, they were fairly easy once I figured out a design. For simplicity, I kept them pretty much the same, just different papers and colors. The quote is the same on each and it reads:

Kind words from a teacher can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are endless.

Sorry for the dark pics; I took them at about 2-3 AM the morning of their Christmas party. Now do you see why I am trying to get myself more organized???!!!

First I painted each frame to match the paper choice. After adhering the paper (with Mod Podge) I sprayed them with Plaid Acrylic Sealer. I used Spcriptina font for the quote and printed them on vellum which I then cut using my Labels 1 dies. I stamped another sheet of vellum with white ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder. For the butterflies, I did a base butterfly in a solid color and a vellum butterfly in the same shape and used versamark and Pebbles Chalk Inks to shimmer them up. Added some bling, dew drops and flowers here and there and wallah! My full list of supplies is below.

I have some fun cards to share in a few days. We are off tomorrow for a trip to visit the family (I hope!). My dad had his final surgery today, so if he is feeling up to it I really want to get up there to see him and the rest of the family.

Hope you all have fabulous weekend! As always, thanks for visiting!

*HUGS*



Supplies Used:

Stamps: Fancy Pants Pollen Dust (flowers), Autumn Leaves Elegant Flourishes, Inkadinkado Floral Flourishes

Paper: Vellum, variety of My Mind's Eye Patterns and DCWV

Ink: White Craft SU!, Versamark

Miscellaneous: White EP, heat tool, various ribbons, Mod Podge, Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Labels 1, Martha Stewart Butterfly punches, Pebbles Inc. Shimmer Chalks, Acrylic Sealant, Dew Drops, Acrylic paints in various colors, wood frames from Michaels, flowers Prima, and rhinestone brads are MM.

Hello 2009!

I am extremely happy that 2009 has finally arrived! From the start it felt like 2008 was jinxed for us and it seemed to be neverending. My husband and I have decided that 2009 has got to be a better year and we are looking forward to so many wonderful experiences for our family. We have some family resolutions that we are excited about and I hope we look back on 2009 with fondness and not a sense of relief as we did this past year.

Although I did not share many of my projects the last few months of the year, I was still creating. I just couldn't find the time to blog as much as I would have liked. I spent a great deal of the end of November and early December making over 70 Christmas cards, and that was after I cut the list down! I vow to make it even shorter next year! On top of that I made some all occasion card sets and a thank you card set for another friend. And I also made my son's prechool teachers each a special frame (there were seven of them) which I will share a little later.

Now I know that Christmas is long gone, but I thought I would share the Christmas cards I made with the hope that they might inspire someone out there.

This was the first card I made. I sent out about 50 of these to family and friends, until I ran out of that fabulous ribbon. I was so excited to use something up from my stash, but now I am sad that it is gone. I bought that Martha Stewart ribbon at Michaels end of season clearance sale after Christmas 2007 for something crazy like $1.50 for 7 yds. What a steal!

Here is a close-up of the glitter. I outlined the entire card with white glitter, like snow. LOVE it! (Now if we could just get some snow here - I would be so happy!) The snowflakes also had glitter on them for that added sparkle. Of course it is hard to capture that in the picture, but they were way more sparkly in real life!
Here is the second card I designed. I wanted to use a less traditional color scheme on this one because quite frankly I was sick of red! This one also had glitter on the medium sized snowflakes for a little extra glitz.

Although I was pleased with both cards, I have to say the red one was my favorite.

I need to leave you with a little note... After re-reading my last post I felt like I may have left you with the notion that I was a complainer or a whiner of sorts. I really do try not to be that way in life. I was just a little disheartened. I believe that after 2008, I have a stronger sense of purpose and even more of what is most important in my life - my family! It doesn't matter how much money you have, what car you drive, or how big your house is - what matters is the love and support of your family and cherishing every moment with them. I have a stronger appreciation for my husband, my children, my friends, my family, and most of all for good health. Sometimes it is important to find that silver lining...

Thank you for visiting! I hope to be here more often!