Teacher Appreciation Week/Day 1: Favorite Flower

Hi all! Hope you are doing well, I keep thinking things will calm down, and then they don't! I bet you can relate. Life just gets so crazy sometimes! And, this introvert can get a bit overwhelmed at times.... I'm definitely a girl who needs her downtime, lately it's just not happening. Then, when I just decide that dropping everything and taking a break is critical, I end up paying for that by falling behind. Ugh! Just that season of my life, I guess!

Anyway, last week Ev's preschool sent home a little flyer about Teacher Appreciation Week. To it, they had stapled a "survey" (4 simple questions) that each of his 2 teachers had answered. It was really cute, I thought. The questions were: favorite flower, favorite drink, favorite snack, and favorite store. Of course it was totally up to you whether or not you'd like to participate.... But I thought, this is a great way to show the teachers how much you appreciate them. For the older boys teachers, I sent in cards with gift cards, since they didn't have these little surveys, but for Ev's teachers I decided to follow the lead given to us by the preschool. So, every day this week, I'll be showing you CUTE, and super *fast* mini gifts for his two teachers. Hope you'll be able to pop in. And maybe, it will give you your own "do-able" ideas that are manageable even if you are as busy as me. :) All 4 days worth of projects times 2 teachers took me less than an hour total, they were THAT fast. :)

Today is "favorite flower." Now, one teacher said her fave was a rose, and one said a hydrangea. My original intent was to make these with the seeds of their particular flower. But the store I was at didn't have seeds for either. I remembered I had a bunch of seed packets that had been leftover favors from my sister's wedding recently. So, in the interest of time I just decided to use those. I stamped "Seeds 2 Plant" on the top of each seed envelope and slipped them into these premade kraft pockets (Recollections). Then I added a DP to the back that I'd die cut with the TCP notebook topper CutUp. To embellish them I added some October Afternoon flash cards, wood banners, and some My Mind's Eye chipboard buttons. I figured they could use them as bookmarks after they remove the seeds. The flash cards are super "teacher-y" and the colors are pretty for Spring. I had Ev write "Love, Evan" on the back of each one. Hope you like them! :)

Have a wonderful day! xo, Noelle

Stamping Royalty 2013: part 2

Hi all! here's the remainder of the Stamping Royalty cards that I promised you the other day. I have been a stamping fool the last few days, though, so there is LOTS more coming up in May ;)

Hope you enjoyed these... Getting comments returned and back into the groove! Hugs to all!

xo, Noelle

Stamping Royalty 2013: part 1/PS SPARKS

Hi all! I hope you are well :) Sorry for my absence, it's been the craziest few weeks! I had a wonderful time at my sister's wedding last week in CA. Here's a few photos, she got married at this beautiful rose garden, it was gorgeous! :) It was a very small wedding, and it was perfect for my baby sister.

I do have lots of crafty goodies I haven't shown you yet, though! Today and Friday, I'll be showing off 8 of the 9 cards I submitted to the Stamping Royalty Contest. The final card I'll show you for an upcoming TCP Challenge. Of course, I didn't win. But I saw that this first card was "on the table"in the photo that Paper Crafts Mag posted on facebook. :)  That is *Such* a huge thrill to know you're being considered! Last year I saw that 3 of my birthday cards were on the table , and I just think if I keep plugging away, eventually I'm going to get there, both with this type of contests and with publications. :) So, it's all good news, really. I'm doing something right! :) 

All these cards use at least one Paper Smooches stamp, so I'm linking up to this week's Anything Goes Challenge at SPARKS, next time I'll get back to specifically making cards for the challenge listed :) The apple card is ALL PS goodies :)

So there's a few pretties, and I'll be back in a couple days with the rest! Miss you, blog friends! :) 

xo, Noelle

Bravo!

Hi all, as you read this, I hope to be relaxing in the CA sunshine, watching my baby sister get married! Ack!! I am so SO excited and happy for her. :) I am also so sooooo grateful to my husband's wonderful parents for taking over for us, watching our house, and our 3 kids (and 3 pets) while we are away, Now that's love, I tell you! "Being us" is no small feat, I realized as I was typing out the schedule for them! LOL. ;)

The Monologue Showcase that I teach to kids was a week ago, and it went really well! I am always SO proud of my students for getting up on stage, completely alone, and performing in front of 75+ people. Those kids are amazing! Every one steals my heart, I just love them, and acting coaching is a real joy for me. To be able to share that with kids is a gift. I'm so grateful to be using my degree in such a way that helps Fine Arts outreach in the public school system. I have always been passionate about keeping the arts in school. I'm so glad that, even though it's a small way, I can be a part of doing that. Next year I will be offering a variety of classes and after-school theater opportunities for kids. I can't wait to get started. :)

Anyway, I like to give the actors a card, and a little giftie to commemorate their performance. Click here to see the things I made for the last group, so you can see. I had 5 of the same kids from the last time, so I wanted to make things a little different, different gifts and cards.

I had ordered cupcakes for the little backstage "cast party" we had after the performance, and the lady told me that the only cupcake toppers they had that would work were stars colored blue and green, and would that be ok, since it wasn't very "theater-ish." I said yes, I knew drama mask cupcakes were going to be impossible to come by at such a late date, and from that point just decided to skip the drama masks for this round and do stars as the theme. I kept the colors in mind, too, and focused in on teal and green.

I started out by making the "gifts," I had some plastic snap together buttons/pins in my stash. I formatted some text in a circle that said "Best Actress" and then "RXI Monologue Showcase 2013." I only had one boy in the class, so one "Best Actor" was also made. After I printed them out, I used a Spellbinders die to cut them out, and I added a die cut star, some teeny stamps, and a gem to each one before snapping them securely inside the button.

These cards were so great for several reasons; they used up a lot of old things, many elements were pre made and they were super-quick, they also used up some unopened things, and finally they were really simple. I used the outer stars that were left from making the buttons, I'd used the TCP 3x3 Stars CutUp, if you click you can see how there's both an outer and inner star on each die. I was in Michael's last week, and found these Jolee's Star cabochons on clearance for only 99 cents a package! I bought one gold and and one silver pack. Quick and cute! Plus, since they weren't being mailed I didn't mind that they were very 3D in nature.

I found the stamp in a set I'd never opened. It was one of the many sets I'd won from the Spotted Canary prize packages I got a few years back. Seemed to work well for this! The banners are cut with a Paper Smooches die from white scraps. Those glittery photo corners I bought years ago. I've used up all the gold and silver ones, but still had plenty of the teal ones. The paper is downright ancient, from a DCWV pad that I've had for half of forever called "Mod Retro."

Well that's all I have for today, after I get back to CO, I'll have some more fun things to show you and I'll be catching up with comments and blogland then too!

xo, Noelle

CraftStorageIdeas.com: Reversible Craft Table Cover/Daring DIY

Hi all! I've got a new post up over at Craft Storage Ideas today! It's a feature on the reversible crafty table cover that my friend Annie showed how to make on her blog! Check it out if you get a chance.

Hugs! Noelle

Vintage Window Decor

Hi all, I am just swamped, but here's a fun project I made a few months ago and I thought you might want to see. I'd bought this cool vintage window at a Salvage place, it was only 8$ + the hardware cost made it around 20$ total. I knew I wanted to do something with the Cricut and vinyl. I'd pinned this great sign, and decided to make that my jumping off point, and I knew I wanted to add photos. I used several different cartridges to make this, and it would have been impossible without the Cricut Craft Room. That is such a great FREE resource. I highly recommend it if you have a Cricut. Anyway, I have this in my family room right now. Still not sure if I'll keep it here or move it to a wall somewhere. either way, I'm thrilled with a good-sized customized to our family piece of art for such a great price. :)

Have a great day! Noelle

Fleurs (TCPTUESApr13)

Hi all, here's my second go at this month's TCP Tuesday Challenge. I turned the kissing booth in Gimme Some Sugar into a flower booth. I covered up the lollipops with flowers die cut from the Lacy Floral Doily CutUp, and as you can see, I used the Cloud Border CutUp, too. 

Here's the deets from the Top Cat's mouth, this is from Alma! :)

This month it's all about flowers. They say that April Showers bring May Flowers, but, we want to see those flowers, NOW. So, your challenge, if you decide to accept it, is to use flowers. And, not just as an embellishment, but as the main focal point of your card.

and here's the rules:  

1. The First Tuesday of the Month Alma will post a challenge on her blog. 
   The challenge will also be posted on our Facebook Page and on our Splitcoaststampers thread.
2. If you want to play along you just upload your design to Alma's blog using the InLinkz button. (The challenge button will be posted on the right hand column)
   If you want to display your pretties on Splitcoaststampers using keyword TCPTUESApr13.
3. The Challenge will be a month-long challenge and you can play as many times as you like during that month.
4. Cards and projects must have at least one Cat's Pajamas Stamp or CutUps die in the project.
5. On the First Monday of the Month a winner will be chosen from the previous challenge and crowned Swanky Stamper.
6. The Swanky Stamper will not only be acknowledged as the Swankiest Stamper for that month, but will also receive some of the stamps from our next release and get to play along with us at our Pajamas Party and Blog Hop. AND... They'll even get a special spot in the Gallery highlighting the project that won them the gig AND as snazzy badge to display on their blog.
7. The winner will be announced the First Monday of the month on Splitcoaststampers, Facebook page and on Alma's blog.

Trust me when I say, you DO want to be crowned Swanky Stamper, it is so fun to get all those free goodies and come play the next release with the Cat Pack! :) 

So, did you notice that Ms. Sprinkle has two different prices listed for her flowers? She has a 5 cent tag on her hat, and I used the 7 cent teeny stamp from Commemorating You to accent the banner with. I guess she will take whatever she can get! Or maybe she's using the 5 cent sign to draw them in, and then uses the 7 cent price after all! LOL, I don't know that I'd put it past Sprinkle, haha. 

The  banner at the top was paper pieced and the letters for "fleurs" are the Coolvetica Alphabet. The sentiment at the top is from Simply Said. I decided to go with "fleurs" instead of "flowers" because the banner wasn't long enough, and I figured Sprinkle would be fancy enough to use French on her banner! ;)

"Gimme Some Sugar" is such a fun builder set, and you really could turn the booth into any myriad of booth type. It could be a kissing booth, a candy booth, a bake sale, or even a Peanuts/Lucy type "psychiatry" booth! ;) This set would also pair well with some of the circus sets we have at TCP. 

The final touches on this card were some gems and pearls, plus a little Diamond Stickles on the band of Sprinkle's hat. I sure hope you like it and that you can come play with us at TCP this month! :)

Hugs, Noelle