Thank You, Teacher

Still having trouble getting in the groove after a {meh} week last week. So this is just a quick card today to re-insert and play along with two challenges (both new to me) that are ending today: Go Fish! Challenge #3, a color challenge to use orange, yellow, and white, and Skipping Stones Sketch Challenge #99 I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge, which is an "Anything Goes" challenge.

All stamps are from TradeFish Designs' Back 2 School set, which I was lucky enough to win earlier this month.

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

Back to School with Friends with Flair

Today I'm sharing a project I made for Unity's Friends with Flair blog hop. Anyone with a project made with Unity stamps can join in! You can find details, prize information, and a full list of players on the Unity Stamp Company blog. It's great to be back with FWF again after a busy summer!

I made this card for the Unity Back-to-School Challenge and for the current {ippity} 1-2-3 Challenge, which is to use 1 stamped image or sentiment, 2 colors of cardstock, and 3 different patterned papers. This was a little trickier than I thought it would be! But I love the result.

My 1 stamped image is from the {ippity} set Books a'Flutter and was colored with my trusty colored pencils. For some reason, when I think "back to school," I think red, yellow, and green. Why is that?? I really couldn't envision this card any other way, so I just ran with it--straight to my trusty BasicGrey June Bug pad for some scraps of great DP for the 3 different patterned papers requirement. And, obviously, I went with red and golden yellow (it's actually Crushed Curry, a retired SU In Color from a few years ago) for my 2 cardstock colors.

I kept this nice, flat, and mailable--just adding some black zig-zag stitching for contrast and popping up my stack of books on foam tape for depth. Done!!

Thanks so much for stopping by for my little slice of bliss for today!
Emily

Stamps: Books a'Flutter from {ippity} by Unity Stamp Co.
Paper: Crushed Curry textured CS from Stampin' Up!, red CS from The Paper Company, white CS from Mark's Finest Papers
Ink: Versafine onyx, Ranger antique linen distress ink
Accessories: 1" circle punch, 1.25" circle punch, colored pencils, foam tape, sewing machine, sponge dauber
Techniques: machine stitching, sponging

Unity FWF~~Teacher Thanks

Today I'm playing along with Unity's
Friends with Flair!

You can find out all of the details over on the Unity Stamp Company blog. (You should check it out--there are prizes involved!)

First, you should know that I am a thank-you kind of gal. I thank people for holding the door, for bagging my groceries, for stopping to let us cross the street. I thank my kids for emptying the dishwasher, my husband for mowing the grass, my neighbor for taking my son to school. I say thank you, I write thank you, I sing thank you. I'm teaching my kids to do the same. I'm a big believer in "Thank You" and its power!!

That said, I think June is the "Thank You" season! My kids' last day of school (June 22) is fast approaching, and we have a long list of people to thank for their leadership and service this year: teachers, helpers, coaches, scout leaders, youth advisers. The list could go on and on! So I'm trying to kick the end-of-year thank-you-gift-and-card-making into high gear!! And today I'm sharing a thank-you project that I collaborated on with my 8YO son for his second-grade teacher.
I stamped the adorable books image from {ippity}'s Books a'Flutter kit on a piece of notebook paper, and my son colored it in with crayons. The sentiment is a digital one that I downloaded from Paper Crafts magazine (here). I sorted through my kids' crayon boxes to find four that were still in decent shape (quite the task, I tell ya!) and used them to frame our notebook panel. Glossy Accents was perfect for gluing on the crayons!!

The background paper is actually a page from the 1964 edition of Webster's New World Dictionary. I bought it at a used bookstore last year for $3, specifically to cut up in paper projects. A great investment! (And in the long run, so much cheaper than buying text patterned paper by the sheet.) Anyway, I used the "T" dictionary page that included "teacher" and cut up the page so that the "teacher" entry would peek out strategically at the bottom of the panel. Fortunately, that approach to cutting also ensured that the entry for "teat," just one line down from "teacher" in the next column, was eliminated from the layout. Whew! As wonderful and fun-loving as Mrs. Berry is, I doubt that she would have found that amusing.

So, there you have it!! My son will write a thank you note inside following his patented thank-you-note-writing formula (which is suspiciously similar to the paragraph-writing recipe he learned from Mrs. Berry this year. See? They do pay attention! And won't that make Mrs. Berry proud?): greeting, opening sentence, 2-3 details, wrap-up sentence, "love."

I know it makes me proud.

Thanks for joining me for my little slice of bliss for today!!
Emily

5.5" x 5.5" Card Recipe:
Stamps: Books a'Flutter from {ippity} by Unity Stamp Co.
Paper: Wild Wasabi CS from Stampin' Up!, red CS from The Paper Company, notebook paper, page from vintage dictionary
Ink: Palette noir black
Accessories: crayons, Glossy Accents, craft foam sheets, Martha Stewart loops punch-around-the-page set

Back to School

I was in a panic earlier this week when my DH mentioned that our August vacation was coming up very quickly and that we would only have one week of summer break left after that before the kids go back to school. How could that be??? There are so many more things that I want to do with the kids this summer--it can't be over yet!!

Of course, it's not (over yet, that is) and they don't go back to school until September 7, so there's time, but I've got to make sure it doesn't get away from us. Adding to my panic was the matter of back-to-school supplies. My DD starts middle school in the fall, and she received her class schedule and supplies list in the mail this week. With my new awareness that time is flying, I was afraid that if we didn't get a handle on school supplies now--before our vacation--that nothing would be left in the stores (or on sale) by the time we get back. SO, we hit the back-to-school sales yesterday and today, and I'm happy to report that DD is now completely provisioned with her middle school supplies! She was a huge help in surveying what could be re-used from last year and is tickled pink over all of her new stuff, including her 3-ring binders, highlighters, calculator, Wite-Out, and 4GB USB flash drive, all of which are making her feel so grown up. She can't stop looking at it all and has been carrying her loaded school backpack around the house today. It's so cute!! DS hasn't received a supply list from his new teacher yet, but second grade supplies aren't nearly as complicated, so we guessed. New crayons, colored pencils, glue sticks, and an assignment folder are safe bets, so he got to pick out all of those. If he doesn't need them at school, we're sure to use them at home. When his list does arrive, we'll take a quick trip to buy anything that's missing at that point. Whew! I'm feeling a little less harried now!

With the fresh scent of school supplies still in my head, I had so much fun this afternoon kicking back to make this "Back to School" theme card for the Paper Sundaes #28 Challenge! I don't normally send back-to-school cards as such, but I thought it would make a great teacher thank you card later in the year, so I'll put it aside for that. This is also for:

• today's SCS challenge, WT281, to incorporate woodgrain in a card. I don't have anything woodgrain, so I tried making some faux woodgrain (by dragging my burnt umber ink pad across a scrap of kraft card stock). Here's a close up. Not too bad, I thought!
  
• this week's {ippity} challenge IHHC34, which is a your-choice 1-2-3 challenge. I chose 1 great sentiment, 2 punched butterflies, and 3 buttons.
• this week's Unity Addicts' Challenge UAC11, to make a card with no designer paper. No problem! I ripped a page from an old dictionary as my background paper, plus used {ippity}'s A Bit of Burlap background stamp in several places, and, of course, a panel of my faux woodgrain!
• Flutter By Wednesday #115
  
• Card Patterns Sketch #74 Challenge, which was a bit tough. There's a lot going on in this one!
  

I'm looking forward to meeting a friend for dinner tonight. I've hardly seen her this summer! So it will be great to relax and catch up. We're going to a local grille famous for its barbecue. My mouth is already watering for one of their pulled-pork sandwiches!! Can't wait :)

Thanks for dropping by to share my little slice of bliss today!!

SUPPLIES:
Stamps: {ippity} Books a'Flutter, {ippity} A Bit of Burlap
Paper: PTI kraft CS, various Paper Company CS, book page ripped from vintage dictionary
Ink: Palette burnt umber
Accessories: SU tag corner punch, MS royal butterfly punch, colored pencils, OMS, paper blending stump, buttons from my stash, brown burlap string, glue dots, dimensionals
Techniques: gamsol magic, faux woodgrain