It's all about the tools....and how you use them!

Today, I have been diligently working on some Thanksgiving cards.  I saw this super-cute idea while I was at a Stampin' Up party at Deb's, and had to see if I could scrap-lift it!  :o)

As I busily began cutting, punching, scoring, assembling, etc., the tools I was using really started to add up, and I felt like they needed their own post.  It's hard to pick ONE favorite tool, but I would have to say that definitely my MOST USED tool is my guillotine-style paper cutter.  I gave up the notion that one of the "travel" paper cutters would be my best friend a long time ago, especially since I work in a school, and use the guillotine-style ones all the time.  I LOVE them!!!  My husband bought me mine for my birthday,about 9 years ago, and it's heavy-duty and going strong (yes, he looked at me like I was crazy then, and asked if I didn't want something prettier.  LOL)!

Another favorite tool of mine is the Martha Stewart Score Board.  This handy tool allows you to score cards, projects, envelopes, etc. (pretty much anything you want to make), with ease! 

Today, I happened to be using the Stampin' Up Owl and Butterfly punches, along with two other EK Success border punches, a Stampin' Up ink pad with sponge (to add soft brown to the project), the Xyron sticker-maker (adhesive), reverse tweezers, regular wet and dry adhesives, and a white uni-ball pen to add accents.

Because I knew that I was making around 20 of these cards, I rummaged the kitchen, and found my neat square divided tray, so that I could punch, assemble and organize everything instead of having a mess on my table and searching for pieces later.  I would really recommend some kind of tray or divided storage when working on mass-production projects to keep everything where it needs to be. 
Hope you enjoy your tools as much as I do!  Crafting really IS all about the cool tools, even though they rarely get the spotlight. I can't wait to share what all these fun pieces turned into!  :o)  ~Hoppy Crafting!!!

It's for the birds!

Here's another pheasant card using the Stampin' Up "Autumn Days" stamp set.  I used a "fall" colored theme, with yellows, reds, and browns.  The patterned cardstock is from K & Company, which I used an EK Success edger punch to create the notebook page look.
The pheasant is stamped is SU Chocolate Chip, and the leaves in the background are in SU Early Espresso.  I also sponged the scalloped oval with Early Espresso.  I used some gorgeous brown and white twine around a corner-rounded mat.  Finally, I added the pheasant with pop dots, and added bling for it's eye.  ~Hoppy crafting!!!

Happy Birthday, Lisa!

Today is my friend Lisa's birthday, so I made a little card for her.  :o)  I used some pink, brown, and tan cardstock for the base and layers of this card.  I also used the Stampin' Up "Dreams du Jour" set for the sentiment, butterflies on the brown paper, and the "dream" embellishment.  Before adding the top layers, I embossed the tan paper, then spritzed each layer with Tsukineko silver spritzer to add glimmer.  I also used the Fleur de Lis edger punch from EK Success along the top of the faux ribbon.  I popped up the brown faux ribbon, the sentiment, and the embellishment/dangle with foam adhesive, and added light pink ribbon and twine.  Finally, I added color using my Zig markers and sponged the sentiment with SU Early Espresso ink.  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Fall Pheasant

I have a friend whose family it TOTALLY into pheasants.  A stampin' friend of mine graciously allowed me to borrow her Stampin' Up "Autumn Days" stamp set to create some cards, and here's one!  I used the pheasant, wheat, and some light green satin ribbon, along with some fall-themed K&Company paper.  On the fall paper and around the pheasant, I distressed and inked all the edges.  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween!  I made this fun little Halloween card using the Cricut Happy Hauntings cartridge for the jack-o-lantern, the Martha Stewart "Drippy Goo" punch, the "Wavy Circle" punch, and a $$ stamp from a local craft store.  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Birthday Surprises!

Today is my birthday, and I felt very special on this day!  Not only did I have many friends wishing me happy birthday, sending cards and other goodies my way, as well as my students being super excited that yes, their teacher has birthdays, too, but I had some other amazing things happen.  I first noticed something was up, when I walked out my front door this morning to find a green blinged envelope and cupcakes with flowers and numbers heading down my walkway!  The special card told me that I would be receiving quite a few surprises today! 

Each of the gorgeously decorated flowers had a number and a "reason why I am wonderful, exceptional, and so very loved" from my very special friend, Brenda!  I am SO lucky to have such an amazing and thoughtful friend!  She managed to get so many people at my school to randomly deliver and/or "hide" cupcakes in my classroom at random times, that my students and I had to keep our eyes sharp for the next arrival!  Each time we re-entered the room, I would hear shouts of  "I see another cupcake!" or "there it is!".  It was almost a game of "Where's Waldo"! 

Towards the end of our day, I had almost 30 cupcakes with flowers, and it was time to share the cupcakes with my kinders!  They had been "tortured" and "starved for sugar" all day (according to them), and were thrilled that I shared!  (As if I could, or would, eat over 30 cupcakes myself!)  :o) 

Though I LOVED each thoughtful gift, and more than a few made me giggle and almost cry, here are some of my favorite "reasons" on the flowers:  Craft Cave; You love when I sing Disney songs; You can hold it together in front of 25+ midgets; you shake the minds of our future serial murderers; you make amazing fudge (almost as good as Martha, haha!); you nearly always have green toe nails; frogs; you are unbelievably patient; you never give store-bought cards; your cellphone "ribbits"; you're always willing to hear your friends vent...no matter what you have on your plate; you make me feel sane when the rest of the world thinks I am crazy;  and,  you are a craft queen!  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Trick or Treat! Smell my feet.....

I LOVE fall, it's my favorite season of the entire year!  With fall, comes jack-o'-lanterns and other spooky fare for Halloween.  I whipped up these fun treat bags with some very simple ingredients!  I used notepads that I bought from the $ section at our local Ben Franklin's, and put each one in a small cello bag from Stampin' Up.  I used some awesome purple & black, and orange & black striped paper from a scrap stack, which I cut into a couple of different designs using the "oblong" option on the Cricut Elegant Edges cartridge (5.76"), then folded in half and stapled backwards onto the bags. 

Before stapling the paper, I tried using a trick a friend of mine had shared to seal each bag.  I know there's no candy in these bags, but I wanted to try out her trick, and perfect it, sooooo....I warmed up my trusty flat iron (yes, a hair straightener!!!), and lightly crimped the top of a bag.  The first bag was a total disaster!  Even though I only touched it for a split second, my flat iron was OBVIOUSLY too hot!  I unplugged it, and tried again a few seconds later with another bag.  This time it was WAY better!  By the last of the 10 little treat bags, my flat iron was cool enough to simply seal and not make any plastic shrivel.  Yea!

Now, onto the rest of the bags!  After sealing, I finished the stapling (again, reverse stapling so that you can hide all the sharp spots with decorations).  I was ready for a little blood!  No, not REAL blood, but the Martha Stewart Drippy Goo punch has got to be one of my all-time favorite punches!  I adhered a red drippy goo strip to the top of each bag for add some spookiness!

Next, I stamped "Trick Or Treat" using a $ stamp from Michael's.  Then, I punched each out, using the EK Success Wavy Circle punch, and inked each with SU Basic Black.  I also added dimensionals to the back and stuck them on to hide one of the staples. 

Finally, I could focus on the pumpkins!  I used the Happy Hauntings Cricut cartridge, and cut out some ghoulish jack-o-lanterns!  I layered each pumpkin with a green base, then yellow, then an orange glitter paper.  I love how they turned out!  I also love the DCWV glitter paper!  It cuts beautifully in my Cricut, and doesn't leave glitter residue everywhere!  After they were all assembled, I added dimensionals and stuck them onto each topper to hide the other staple.  Now all that's left to do, is to add names, and away they go!  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Pen Surprises!

I got these awesome 1"x8" cellophane bags from the Stampin' Up mini catalog, and just could not wait to use them, so I decided to make a pick-me-up for some of my co-workers!  I found some cute pens at a local store, and even though I didn't even try to match with the papers, no one seemed to care.  I wanted to use some of my Teresa Collins paper that I had gotten a REALLY GREAT DEAL on at www.scrapbooksteals.com! 
I digress, but, I kid you not, I got a stack of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Teresa Collins paper for around 75% off!!!!  I have a couple of mini-albums and another little project in the works using the paper, but I really wanted something for NOW! 
I used a gorgeous orange patterned cardstock, cut in 3"x6" strips, so folded in half it would be 3" squares.  I backwards stapled each to the top of each cello bag (so that the prongs would be covered when I added the scallop and postage stamp, both SU punches).  Then I threaded some Lemondrop twine from The Twinery (www.thetwinery.com) through the top and tied a bow so I could strategically hang them at people's desks.  The stamp is from a SU hostess set, "Cute by the Inch", stamped in Early Espresso, and I added bling.  I also rounded the bottom corners of each to give a softer look, overall.  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Scored Thank you

Hi!  Today I whipped up a thank you card for a friend of mine, using some Teresa Collins paper and regular orange cardstock.  I started with an orange textured cardstock base in an A2 size card.  I had an 8" strip of Teresa Collins paper left from another project, and decided to use my Martha Stewart Scoreboard (yes, evil Martha...it's a love/hate relationship), to add some fold lines and give the look of using a wide strip of ribbon.  I placed adhesive on both sides of each fold so that it would stay in place, and then added an orange brad in the left corner and some gorgeous Twinery twine around it!  After adhering the whole piece, I stamped "thanks so much" from Stampin' Up's "Curvy Verses" onto orange cardstock, and cut it into a little banner.  I then inked the edges with Early Espresso, popped it up with dimensionals, and gave it a "V" ribbon-esque ending.  On the flower, I added an orange piece of bling.  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Hammered!

I know it has been quite some time since I have posted.  It's sometimes a fact of life, that things can just get away from you and you become so incredibly busy, that there is no time left to enjoy or share the projects that are keeping you sane!
I hope to get back to posting more regularly!  My husband had surgery, school started again, and my husband FINALLY returned to work just a couple of weeks ago (after being out since April!).  My school has been SUPER crazy this year!  I'm a kindergarten teacher, and I not only had to move classrooms over the summer, but started a new schedule, AND we've been overloaded with TWENTY-SEVEN 5-year-olds in each class for over a month (that's 54 kids I have!!!)!  We just finally hired a new section of kinder, and most of our kids have moved over to get our class sizes down to acceptable levels.  I would say it's smooth sailing for a while, but with tons of assessments left to finish (I still have 45 kiddos), and conferences a week away, I fear that, sans tonight, I will have little time for blogging.  The pic kinda shows how all the kinder teachers have been feeling at my school with these incredibly high numbers!  I know "hammered" gives a different connotation, but we've been through a brutal battle of 5-year-old midget alligator invasion! BTW-Midget Alligators are my affectionate name for my kinders.
~Hoppy crafting!