Time to dust off the blog - Christmas creating

This must have been the craziest end of year, birthdays and back to school yet.  So these holidays while I had projects on the go, it was all I could do to keep up with them.  My holidays were well spent making memories and reading and relaxing.  Finally I am back to somewhat of a routine and am wanting to do so much more here.   First what have I been creating?  Christmas - yes I gave a sneak peak in this post and then didn't show the end result.  It all started with this card as inspiration.  With lots of great tags to use I mixed and matched the different elements and added some little details.

Colours: crumb cake, cherry cobbler, always artichoke, very vanilla, early espresso

Stamps:  vintage labels and postmarks (PTI), merry christmas (kaiser)

Finishing touches:  handmade holidays papers and tags (simple stories), rhinestones (SU)

Next there was the teachers gifts

 In our Stampin Up Christmas swap I received a beautiful set of Christmas cards.  The wise owl always works well with teacher gifts so I added some more using the sets that I have and I had my cards sorted.

Colours:  white, rich razzleberry, old olive

Stamps:  wise owl (PTI), all year fun (SU), dress up lily (PCS)

Finishing touches:  doily die (couture creations), dimensionals, dazzling diamonds glitter and rhinestones (SU)

 For the school teachers some stationery bits and pieces, clips, post its and magnets in fun colours.  And the kindy teachers, yummy apples with caramel dip.  

This one went down really well.  They all asked for the recipe.

And last on the Christmas front was my Stamp Club Christmas swap.  Sorry the photos aren't that great.  I realised in all the busyness that I hadn't taken any photos and my phone isn't that great.  I had pinned the ideas for recycling books and thought it would be great to fill with goodies to give as a gift.  Once I started making bits and pieces I was hooked.  As such I have lots that didn't go in so will have some fun creating my own cards.

Colours:  daffodil delight, baja breeze, not quite navy, certainly celery, garden green

Stamps:  just the ticket (PTI), punctuation (KP), ciao baby and a round array (SU)

Finishing touches: book, envelope, for the record papers (echo park), embosslits beautiful wings,  lots of tags die, round tab punch and chevron border punch,  7/8 scallop circle punch and petite curly label punch (SU), buttons, ribbons, just the ticket die , ric rac die (PTI)

As you can see I have been a busy girl.  Lots of fun when I get creating.

A gift for a teacher

My son's student teacher was finishing in their class and he wanted to give her a gift so together we made a gift and card to give her.

I had pinned these fun bookmarks.  I already had the buttons and ribbon so just needed the hair ties (not something we have around our place). A little fiddly getting the sizing right so we made a small and large one for different size books.

In one of the latest Papertrey Ink releases there was a teacher word die.  I came across this card by Christina at My Paper Secret and we put together our own version using similar elements and making our own.

Colours:  night of navy, cherry cobbler, daffodil delight, white
Stamps:  family greetings (EB), little pieces (SU), notebook paper (verve)
Finishing touches:  school papers (KI memories), apple cork sticker (LYB), rounded rectangle die (verve), headline alpha die (PTI), circle punch, maraschino bakers twine (the twinery)

Teachers Gifts - Post Its

Thank goodness for pinterest.  I found this post by Tracy at Paper Wings and was able to put together a little something as a thank you for my boys teachers.  It was nice to do something a little different from the Christmas decoration that I have done in the past. With all these ideas to draw I am looking forward to being even more creative next time. 

Colours: not quite navy, rich razzleberry, old olive
Stamps: words of wisdom (verve)
Finishing touches:  acrylic photo frames, post it notes, striped grosgrain ribbon (SU)

A wise owl

My goodies from Papertrey Ink arrived in time to put together a card for my son's teachers. I have had the wise owl set on my wish list since I discovered Papertrey Ink so I had to have a play. I remembered the santa hat from Pink Cat Studio's Dress up Lily set. A great finishing touch.

Colours: very vanilla, always artichoke, riding hood red
Stamps: wise owl (PTI), merry christmas (Kaiser), dress up lily (PCS)
Finishing touches: spiral punch (SU), stitching, button, red and copper embossing powder, bakers twine (the twinery)

Thanks to a special teacher

I still remember my first teacher. Next term Kyran is heading into a new year one class that has been created as more new entrants start in his old one. So I wanted to send a card for his first teacher. He has had a super start to his schooling and always enjoys what he has been doing. Full credit to her hard work and creative ideas.

I saw a school themed card on Nichole Heady's blog from Papertrey ink {you need to scroll down as it is in the middle of the post}. Having my new library ledger set made it easy to create the same look. I matched it up with some school papers from K&I Memories and found some great little details to finish it off. I am loving the rickrack border die.

Colours: old olive, cherry cobbler, basic black
Stamps: mini scrapbook series library ledger (PTI), all year fun and lots of thoughts (SU)
Finishing touches: school days paper (K&I memories), rickrack border die (PTI), stamps and typewriter alpha dies (cuttlebug), cork, brad