Missed opportunity...

I certainly miss creating for PaperCrafts Magazine...  Their calls for submissions always helped me think outside the box and let's be honest, gave me an excuse to shirk my household duties...at least for a few hours...  I went online the other day, visiting some of my old haunts, only to find many of them gone.  Ah, such is life!  However, some of the old standbys were there for me, Papertrey Ink, My Favorite things, and lots of bloggers I liked to follow.  It was like visiting a friend you haven't seen in a  few years, but its like you were never apart!  I love that feeling....  They helped me on Wednesday revisit my creative side with their challenge, its a great feeling to get those creative juices flowing!

 I originally wanted to submit this for the Paper Trey Ink contest, but after putting the girls to bed for the night, I forgot to do it.  They put up this image as inspiration for your creation:

I used the water color look and the grey outlined letters as the starting point and went from there.  Not my favorite creation of all time, but it will work for Lily's teacher for next week's last day.

Christmas in May

 Hello All!

Just a quick one from  my crafting session yesterday...so much fun!...    As I was pursuing the blogosphere yesterday, I came across a Christmas card challenge site called Muse: Christmas Visions.  I thought I'd give it a try since John wants to make our holiday cards this year.  Yes ladies, you read that right...HE WANTS TO MAKE CARDS FOR CHRISTMAS!  Not only is he cute, funny, and the love of my life, he's embracing my creative side! ...I've got a keeper!...  I certainly hope you are all equally as blessed as I am!

I whipped up this quick card using my favorite holiday color combo: robin egg blue, soft green and  yellow...in this case gold...  I've had these crazy glitter deers for years sitting in a drawer just waiting for an excuse to be used.  Since the inspiration photo had a deer, I went for it.  And, if it didn't work, off to the donation pile for the move!  I kept with the same layout...deer on one side, square background, sentiment in the right corner...but added some pizzazz! I kinda like how it came out, so soft and pretty.  However, this would be a very expensive card to ship!  Perhaps we could do this for our cards for neighbors this year and hand deliver them?  Time will tell....  Well, off to pack up a few more things!

Hello, goodbyes and a new life

Hello strangers!  Actually, I'm the stranger, because I am shocked to see it has been over 3 years since I last posted!  SO much has happened in since I was last in my crafting space.  My girls and I have a joyous new life and part of that includes moving back to my home town to be with my new husband John...well, 11 months new...  We are incredibly excited about this adventure we are embarking on!  But it's now time to say goodbye to the house, neighbors and school friends that have supported us these last 3 years.

John and I are busy beavers prepping the house to be sold, including painting, purging and updating.  After spending the weekend cleaning out my craftin space, I realized how much I miss this creative outlet!  Party planning has been fun, but I need a less stressful way to channel my creative tendencies.  I decided to take a break today from the hustle and bustle of moving, and before I have to pack up all my wonderful things for their new home, I took time to create a few things for the girls teachers.

This first card is for Elizabeth's 1st grade teacher Ms. Doody...yup, that's her name...  Elizabeth absolutely LOVES her and she is the most patient woman in the world!  I decided to start back off where I left off 3 years ago, with Paper Smooches and the May Rainbow Challenge.  I was honored and loved being a guest designer with them Feb 2013...which was my last post, YIKES!....and adore all Kim's images!  Once I get set up in my new space, I will have to re-invest in some updated sets...  This is from the 'I Heart Art' set.  It's super adorable and makes me smile.  

I also made a book mark for Elizabeth to match, she loves to read and hopefully when she uses it, she will think of her favorite teacher.  I kept it simple and thin, so I could laminate it to be more durable.

I've really enjoyed being in my space again...I certainly hope I can get my new space up and running soon in our new house!  Until then, I may leave packing up my happy place till last....