GRADUATION CARDS.......

Ahhhh, high school graduation. A new chapter in life. The theshold of adulthood. They do not know how much they are going to miss being kids.......

The first card I did was for my husband's cousin's daughter. She actually had a dual graduation --- from high school and from the local community college. You go girl!!!! That had to be alot of hard work. I CASEd a gift card holder from our Stampin' Success magazine, which is a monthly demo magazine from Stampin' Up. Her school colors are maroon and gold (I hope). This is the card closed:

And here it is opened with a little treat stuck inside:

I loved the cap so much, I used the design for the front of my nephew's card. The colors for his school are red and black. The template used for the gift card had to be downsized to fit on the card front.

The inside sentiment:

My nephew's girlfriend also graduated and I CASEd a card from Stampin' Pretty with Mary Fish for her. Isn't this the cuteset little owl, armed with his degree? She attends the same high school as my nephew, so it was red and black again.

The inside:

Good luck to all of this years graduates!!!!!

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES - PART 3......

The last of the teachers stuff is the cards to go with the gifts. I used the same DSP as used for their framed word apples from my last post. I did not put anything on the inside so that my son could write his own words of thanks.

This one features the fabric brad that matches the DSP and is no longer available. I CASEd this, but the picture I printed has no identifying items whatsoever. If you know where I saw it, please let me know and I will update this with a link.

 I added a pumpkin pie button and ribbon on this one. It was CASEd from an email for classes from Jill Hilliard. Check out her blog Jill's Card Creations.

Stay tuned --- I am going to show you the graduation cards I did next time. Have a great day!!!

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES --- PART 2....

The second gift I did for the teachers this year was inspired by my friend Beverly Cole. She found this really cool website that will fill in shapes with words of your choice. See the details on her post. My take on them is much more simple (mostly because I did not have any of that wide ribbon to match and, let's face it, I can't make the gorgeous bows that she has on hers).

The first one is the one made for Ms. Witt and it uses the Summer Smooches DSP.

The other one is for Ms. Beyrau and uses the long retired Jersey Shore DSP (no relation to Snooki or the Situation --- this paper came and went long before them).

Are they not the cutest idea for teachers???? Thanks so much, Beverly!!!!

Have a great day, everyone!!!!

CON"GRAD"ULATIONS, LOGAN......

I watched my son graduate from 5th grade today. If I am so emotional for this, I can only imagine how bad I will be when he graduates from High School. I really didn't think I was going to get emotional, but then one of the teachers started crying when she was giving out awards. And then, to really add to it all, three of the 5th grade girls sang the most beautiful song in remembrance of a teacher who passed away this year. Then, there was the slide show that showed all of the kids going from babies to now. It got to me. I am so not tough. Here is my little man with his cap (they did not wear gowns) and "diploma":

Way to go, Logan!!! Your dad and I are so proud of all of your accomplishments. We love you!!!!

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES - PART ONE......

Tomorrow my son will graduate from 5th grade. This means that --- other than the fact that he is growing up way too fast and I am rapidly getting older --- I will no longer have any kids in elementary school. I will only have middle schoolers. What the heck happened???? Where did all of that time go????

So, in order not to beat my head against a wall over how fast everything is moving, I occupied myself with making gifts for his teachers. The first things I thought to make is an altered picture frame turned message center. This one is for Ms. Witt, his homeroom teacher:

A couple of closer views:

I used the now retired Cheerful Treats DSP. For the "notes" label, I used the Sweet Shoppe Alphabet Lower and added the vine at the bottom from the Borderlines stamp set (both retired). The verse is from Pursuit of Happiness and is cut out using the Labels Framelits. I added corkboard to the center with a few push pins all in a row and tied a dry erase marker to the side using a length of baker's twine.

This one is for Ms. Beyrau, who is the other 5th grade teacher:

The close ups:

This one uses the new Floral District DSP. The "Details" is from Notes & Details (retired). This one uses the Apothecary Accents Framelits to cut out the sentiment. The Rich Razzleberry border is made of two of the labels cut and attached a little off up and down. Ditto from the first message center on the other details.

These are only half of what I made for the teachers, but since this post is getting a bit long, I will save the other part for another day. So until then............

Have a great day!!!!!

BIRTHDAY BIRDIE...........

This is a card I made for a friend here at work, although she has since retired (lucky dog!!!). I just adore the Aviary stamp set (and, luckily, it did not retire in the new catalog). To think I was not going to buy it. On this card, I mixed it with the now retired Nursery Nest DSP (it's not just for babies, you know) and the retired Hostess set Swirls and Curls Verses for the sentiment. I blinged it up with a little bow at the top of the cage and  a row of pearls along the bottom of the cage, as well as a couple on either side of the sentiment. Very simple, but eye catching (I think, anyway).

The inside:

Have an awesome day!!!!!

SWIRLS & FLOWERS.....

This is another birthday card that should have been posted months ago. It is the card I made for my friend and fellow Simply Paper Design team member, Cindy. The stamp set is Button Buddies. It is a really cool (and still current) set that you can replace certain spots with buttons. Of course, the images are great without embellishing them, too. On this card, I glue-dotted flower buttons where the stamped flowers were and popped up the cut out vase. The bottom layer was all glued together and then ran through the Big Shot to get the swirlys on it. The "Happy" circle is from the retired set It's All Good and I added a little loop of ribbon out to the side. The bottom corners were rounded off with my corner punch. I really loved this color combo, which I copied from the Ice Cream Parlor DSP -- Pink Pirouette, Bashful Blue, Melon Mambo, Old Olive and Concord Crush.

The inside:

Luckily, even though I am slow as a snail on posting this, the card arrived on time for Cindy's birthday in November. Actually, she and my daughter share a birthday --- so I had better not forget sending her card, huh?

Have a great weekend!!!!