Valentine's Tree?

I saw the design for this card here, and I knew I had to make it (which meant ordering a new stamp set). As soon as I got it in the mail, I sat down and made this; it just took me a few days to get it up here. I used the SU Season of Friendship Tree stamp and the hearts are punched with the trio of hearts punch that came with the Love You Much Bundle. I had purchased a book of K&K Company Valentine's Day Paper when I was waiting on my Candy Lane paper to be delivered so I decided to go ahead and use that up. I'm in the process of making several variations of this to use as my Valentine card this year.

Mojo Monday - Week 70

I decided to try the Mojo Monday Challenge this week. It's a layout challenge. My grandmother's birthday is today, and I realized I had forgotten to make her card. I found the paper at my local scrapbooking store. It's two sided and with patterns and coordinating solids. When I was stamping the flowers I realized that the designer of my paper and stamp were the same woman, Karen Neuburger. What a coincidence. I also stamped the inside of the card and the envelope, which was a first for me, but I love the look!

Cute Birdie Card

I recently made this card for a friend of mine that needed a little pick up. I hadn't posted it before now just in case he saw it.

Puppy Card

I am mailing the registration papers to the new owners of my puppies and thought it would be nice to add a card in with them. I used a new-to-me stamp set, Yappy Day. It's so cute and perfect for this!

Composition Notebooks

I am about to start a project in class that requires my students to have a composition notebook. Since it is the spring and everyone is missing lots of class, I've decided to have a book of my own that they can easily see what was missed. I wanted mine to stand out from the students, so I decided to cover mine with decorative paper. I found two beautiful paper packs at Michaels this week, so instead of just one notebook - I made two. I'll probably start using the other one to take notes in meetings so everything stays together.

Baby Afghan

I love to crochet, and I have been making several baby afghans for my good friend (she's the one that got me started blogging). I just finished the third one I've made for her and I think it might just be my favorite. It is for a little girl due to join us this month (I'm a little on the late side with this one). Her new room is done in pink, cream, and chocolate - I love that color combination!

Art Club!

I am friends with the Art Teacher at my school, so I got to join her Art Club. The first project that I've participated in was a Raku clay project. Raku is a Japanese form of clay and special firing. Raku means joy or happiness. We designed a piece (mine is a lotus flower) and let it dry. It is then pre-fired and left to sit for an amount of time. Then it is glazed; I used a combination of a light blue and a copper glaze. The pieces are then put into a kiln and fired until they are red hot. Then they are taken and put into bins that are filled with newspaper and sawdust. The paper and sawdust catch on fire and the lid is put onto the bin. They are left in the bin until they start to cool. The fire and oxidation process is how the color appears. The pieces are then taken and put under cool water. You have to brush the piece with a stiff bristle brush to remove the pieces of burned paper, so it is very much like unwrapping a gift to find what is inside. Every piece turns out differently. I had a blast doing this with the kids. Here are a couple of pictures of my flower.

Altered Art Blocks

My local scrapbooking store offers a monthly kit club. Most months it is a scrapbook layout that you create and take home. December's Kit Club was an altered art project. We glued decorative paper to 1 inch blocks. One side of the blocks spells out Merry Christmas and the opposite side spells out Peace, Love, and Joy with stars as spaces. Pictures are below. We added diamond dust (a fine glitter) to the Merry Christmas side, but I decided not to add it to the other sides. I like the look, but it was a huge mess and this way I can enjoy it both ways.