Second Teacher Gift Idea

One of my BESTEST friends gave me a gift the other day that is so cute, I hate to unwrap it and use it. She used a large cello bag and put in some items from Bath and Body along with some shredded paper. The top piece is what makes it so cute. She used her Big Shot and cut out using the Top Note Bigz Die (did you know you could fold it one way for narrow bags and the other way for larger bags?). Anyway, after it was cut, she used the cute "YUMMY" stamp from Sale-a-Bration to stamp "A Little Something for You". Then she used the Big Shot again and cut out the cute butterfly (Beautiful Butterflies) in designer series paper and attached it to the top note and finished it off with a half back pearl from the Pretties Kit. What a simple, elegant and well received gift it is.

Did you also know that the two die cuts used in this gift are exclusive to Stampin' Up and can't be purchased in a retail store? If you like them and would like to have your own, give me a call or email or better yet go to my website http://www.janetelam.stampinup.net/ and order directly online. All you have to do in point to the "Shop Now" button and you're off!!!

Hinge Card using A Little Birdie told Me

This is another card we made at one of my April clubs. This is called a "hinge card" and is really easy to make. You just have to have a 5 1/5 X 4 1/4 piece of cardstock to start, then you add a piece to the bottom approximately 3 1/4" before using the scallop edge punch. The top piece is als0 3 1/4". The bottom overlays over the top portion to fit the underlying 5 1/2 X 4 1/4 base, then attach a brad at the intersecting layers. The bottom portion will be glued down to the card base, but not so high that the top layer can't slide underneath. The top will glide up and down into the base revealing a hidden message on the inside. Isn't this fun?

Etched Glass Plate

I can't remember how long ago I made my husband stop on the way home from somewhere because I HAD TO HAVE a glass etching cream to try on a plate or something. He finally stopped, we got what I was looking for and it sat in the closet for I'll bet a year. I watched something the other day that reminded me that I had it and that I had a number of glass dishes and bowls to use it on. Well, I got out my BIG SHOT and my Tulipe Bigz Die and cut out the image from some vinyl I purchased from Stampin' Up a while ago. I punched out the inside of the image and attached the outline to the bottom of my glass plate. I pressed it down around all the edges carefully so there weren't any areas the etching cream could creep in. I applied my etching cream heavily with a Q-tip and let lay aside for 10-15 minutes while I played with something else.
When I first went back to wash the etching cream off, I didn't think it had done anything and I was really disappointed, but after it was all washed off and the template was removed, I realized as it was drying that it had worked perfectly.
What fun is this??? Now I can't wait to trying else really fun.... don't you want to try this too? If you do, take a picture and let me see what have done.
I know a lot of you are looking for ideas for Teachers Gifts for the end of the year. This is one idea and I have several more that I want to share with you in the next week or so. If you wanted to do one like this, you could give one plate (the dollar store has lots of plates like this, it's very economical). The only other cost you would have is the etching cream if you already have a template for the image. You can also use a solid image for the spotlight and the etching is all around it covering the whole center of the bottom of the plate. To use as a gift, you can purchase a set of 4 plates or maybe a set with a plate, a bowl and maybe a mug (table setting) and etch a matching image on each one.
If you want more information on how to do this, please contact me.
HAPPY ETCHING!!!!!

Kristina Werner Challenge #50

Can you believe this is Kristina Werners 50th Color Challenge? That's a lot of viewing and choosing for her to pick the best pics. I love to do these challenges... like I said before it makes me be creative for myself. I did case another demonstrator's card, but changed the colors, stamps and accessories, but what can work better for this challenge but the Sock Monkey and all the fun colors you can use with him?
I used Riding Hood Red for the Basic card and then I embossed the Summer Sun cardstock using the Harliquin texture plate from Stampin Up and attached to the side. I stamped the sock money on whisper white cardstock and colored him with Close to cocoa and then highlighted him using a blender pen and Riding Hood Red classic ink. The balloon is stamped on the whisper white cardstock and then again on scrap paper, colored, and attached on top of the original stamp with dimensionals. The whisper white cardstock was attached to Close to Cocoa cardstock and attached to the card using dimensionals. Then using my most FAVORITE new punch I punched a piece of turquoise cardstock with the scallop oval punch and then stamped a greeting on whisper white cardstock, punching it out with the large scallop punch and attaching to the oval scallop piece. I attached that piece to the card using dimensionals again. To finish the card and give it more appeal, I went around the riding hood red with a white gel pen using a stitch technique.

Happy Easter

I pretty much cased this card, but I made it an Easter Card and used the Bunny from Eight Great Greetings from the Occasions Mini Catalog. I love the LARGE brads and the new Walk in the Park Designer Series Paper. With all the layers of cardstock and the large brads, this card is REALLY heavy.....lol.
Without thinking, I made the card too large for the 5 1/2" square envelopes.... so this will have to be hand delivered.
Make it a Great Day!!!

Nothing better than Springtime

Today is so beautiful. We have a pond (that needs spring cleaning) however, I was really glad to see that we still have our huge beautiful bullfrog. He has grown so large over the last 3-4 years since we've had him. Every year we worry that he won't make it through the winter when the pond is frozen over; but here he is you can see him on the rock in the water. We have another one too that is about half the size of this one. I haven't seen him yet this year, but my husband says he's back. Last year, the smaller one would let me pick him up occasionally, but I think it's been too long for him to remember me, so I doubt I'll have the pleasure this year.



I also took some pictures of a few of our fish. We try to count them and we think there are about 20 fish, but they don't stay in one place too long to be sure; even then some hide out when we're counting so it's hard to say how many we really have.



Last week, I showed some branches on our tree that were getting ready to leaf out.... look at it now, it won't be much longer!!!!!



We also have 5 birdhouses in the back of our yard and 4 of them are being occupied right now. The funny thing is we have one decorative one that's tall and skinny and in the last two years the birds have raised a few families in there. The birdhouse is the blue one and the one in front is a feeder. I found these 4-5 years ago at Costco. I thought they were so cute, but never imagined a bird would also think so.


We call this one the "round" house and it is even occupied in the winter. See the bird poking her head out the hole? The female bird sits on her eggs and keeps her head at the hole always looking around. This is the only bird we've seen do this and we think this is her second year here; in fact, I think she stayed in it all winter too. We saw her in there when it was cold and all the other birds were looking for shelter in the bushes and trees. She had a nice warm (well not really warm) dry home to live in.

We were watching them a little earlier this spring and it's fun to watch new birds come to the houses and start spring cleaning. They come out carrying old "stuff" and sort of spit the stuff out to the ground. It's like they are saying "ptooie" and shake their heads. Just think if we all had to clean our houses with our mouth, yuck and ptooie!!!!

This is our squirrel feeder. We have 3 squirrels that come visit and open the little box lid and take out their peanuts and seeds. Have you ever bought/priced the large bags of peanuts???? This winter, the squirrels were burying the peanuts all over our yard, then the neighbors yards. When I was in my stamp room, I would see a reflection in my computer screen of movement, when I turned around, it was the squirrels running down the fence towards the front yard... When I looked out front those little buggers were running across the street and burying the peanuts over there too. Too bad they aren't smart enough to realize that the box is always full for them and they don't need to do that. What a cushy life we've created for "our" animals.
I'm surprised we haven't seen them yet, but we usually have a couple of ducks that rest in our pond for a couple of months in the spring. We keep seeing them fly over, but so far they haven't landed. I was going to show you some old pictures I have, but they must not be on "this" computer, so I couldn't. They really are pretty, but they make a real mess out of the pond, especially when they decide to fly out and stir everything up, including the pond plants. I'm still not sure if they eat fish. I thought I saw a fish in a ducks mouth a couple of years ago, but I can't confirm that..... so I do worry when they are in the pond that they're here to do more than just swim.

We do have so much fun in our backyard..... but my daughter tells us we're really old since we like to sit outside and watch the birds, fish, squirrels, frogs and our dogs LOL. It is enjoyable and relaxing especially now since our trees have grown enough that we actually have some shade now.
Well, I'm off to stamp....... Hope you all had a Beautiful Easter and remembered what it's really all about.

OK, OK, OK ONE more Try at the Color Challenge #49

Ok, I had to try ONE MORE TIME. I don't know what has me so obsessed with this particular challenge, but it's kicking me and I wanted to be in charge; make sense? I do like this one the best out of the three. It's so hard for me to do these challenges because I case so much better, but when there's nothing to case, then I have to do it on my own. These challenges are good for me to try my own hand at being creative, not relying on others........