A BLUE CHRISTMAS

I am entering this card in Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge, Wintertime Blues.  I don't know why, but I just cannot walk past the stickers!  I absolutely had to have this one from Jolee's Botique, and I'm wondering whether I'll be able to give it away, or will I have to keep it for myself.  Not, I think.  This is also my first gatefold card, and I see that I have too think a mat inside.  I'll have to work on that...  But I still think it's great.  I have had this blue glitter paper for about a year.  It didn't cut well in my Cricut, but it is perfect for this!

Too early for Christmas, but it was fun to think about it for a few minutes at least!
SiskiyouSue

WINNER!   Expressions by Elaine

I used Random.org to choose a number which was Expressions by Elaine.  Please contact me with your address so I can get the candy mailed off.  Congratulations!  And again, many, many thanks to all you followers.  I just can't believe any of this...

And here is another card that I just finished. 

We're now up to 6 weddings, can't wait until all these nieces and nephews start having babies!  Advice, do not marry into a really big family unless you enjoy buying lots of gifts!  My husband is one of 10 kids, and his dad was one of 12.  We have nieces, nephews, and cousins coming out of the woodwork...  I love them all, enjoy most of them, and wouldn't trade them for anything, but do we really need to buy gifts for everybody!  In this family, yes!  I've given in and am giving gift cards most of the time.  Much easier, especially when shopping is so far away.  Back to the card...  I used Colorblock white cardstock, cut all shapes from Gypsy Wanderings, embossed with Swiss Dots and Elegant Flowers (I think that's the name?) and inked all edges with gold ink.  The ribbons are from my stash, and I got the rings at the dollar store.  Who knew that they'd have a good selection of wedding things?  lol   I think after looking that I'll add a bow to the top of the rings to hide the glue, maybe even put a ribbon through to the reverse side so that they cannot come off???  Hummm.  I'm never satisfies, though I do like this.  Oh, I patted the top layer all over with an embossing pad and used hologram embossing powder to give it an iridescent look.  That was something new that I've been wanting to try.  I realize this is not its intended use, but I like it anyway, and the way to reflects color from the ribbon.

We had sun this morning, but the rain clouds are building again.  I hope the rest of you are having a respite from bad weather, and not getting sunburned!
SiskiyouSue

CANDY!!

I have enjoyed winning a couple of giveaways, so in celebration of reaching 100 followers (or 105 tonight), and in thanks for winning myself, I'm going to have a giveaway.  I'll choose from those who are followers of my blog and those who comment to this post on Monday, June 6 by choosing a random number.  Good luck!

SiskiyouSue

Hello, again.  This will be a fast post, just to post another birthday card.

The chef image is from Chud Tsankov!  Isn't it cute?  I thought it would be great for almost anyone, even a guy.  I really do find making guy cards more difficult.  Anyway, it is pre-colored, which made this very easy.  I chose this unusual card shape from George and welded it to make the base card on silver cardstock.  It's much brighter in person!  I added 3 embellishments, a cupcake brad, multi-colored ricrack and stickles on the frosting.  Oh, stickles on the cupcake, also, just because I like to use them!

Thanks for looking!
SiskiyouSue

My goodness!  I see that I now have 104 followers!  I cannot believe it, though I certainly am enjoying following many other blogs.  Thank you for making me feel welcome here on-line, and for your patience with my learning process.

I'm planning to have a give-away to celebrate my 100 followers.  Will get back with more about that later this week.

Meanwhile, I'm really very productive right now.  Today I had finished two cards by 2:30, and am planning to design at least one more tonight.  I'm enjoying the combination of digis (I love coloring!) and Cricut, but am trying to concentrate more on the Cricut right now because I just don't know how to use it very well.  Thanks to all of you for the tutorials and inspiration!

This is my Father's Day card.  The background is from  signpost is really, really old, from my stash.  The squirrel is from Give a Hoot, made using my Gypsy.  It was really fun.

The inside signpost I made from scraps, the upper sign is a sticker from the same paper.

Oh, and here's my worktable as it looks right now...  My hubby came home just as I finished the second card, and that's the last chance I've had to work.  LOL  It'll still be there when I get back!

Have a great evening.
SiskiyouSue

Hello to everyone!  Hope you enjoyed a lovely 3-days weekend.  I know that I did.  My hubby went off to a wedding in Minnesota and my son was working, so I was home alone for 3 days.  I got a lot of crafting done, mostly because it kept on raining.  It really was great to stay inside and warm and dry... 

I really had fun making this.  The image, which makes me laugh every time I look at it, is from Meljens, colored with pencils.  The paper I printed the image on is a heavy textured watercolor paper.  I haven't liked it for most things, but for the dog's rough fur it worked well.  I'll probably keep some around for times like this.  The green dotted paper is a free digital paper that I've had for a while.  I really like the color variation in it.  And I used my Texture Boutique to emboss the base card.  I'm wanting to get a larger embosser, but can't seem to decide which one.  Any ideas for me?   Okay, now the inside of the card...

The only thing I really wish I had done differently was to use more mats for the white rectangles on both the front and the inside.  Don't know why I am not consistent about that, because I really prefer them matted.  Oh, who knows!

Have a great week!  I'll be thinking about all of you hard at work people...  School is out and while I will be going to work still to finish up paperwork, I can set my own hours and do what I want.  That is really very freeing!

This is another wedding card.  Family, my hubby will take this when he leaves tomorrow for the wedding in Minnesota.  I have really struggled with this card.  I wanted something elegant and all white, but it just wouldn't come together.  Finally, when I saw the new release "Cinderella" from A Day for Daisies, I thought I could make it work.  Purple wasn't at all what I expected.  Funny, isn't it how sometimes your creations aren't really yours at all, but have a life of their own?  Anyway, I'm very happy with it, though I'm still wondering whether I should havew added the swirl at the bottom...  I just loved it so I put it on, and now I'm not sure whether I should have, or maybe I should have put it below the digi...  Guess I should quit second guessing it.  Anyway, the swirl is from pebbles.  I don't remember who made the lace, isn't it beautiful?  I love it. 

As with the rest of you, I am concerned for so many people who have been affected by the storms this week.  Every night the national news has a story about new tornado caused death and destruction, and our state news has stories about flooding caused by a combination of melting snow in the Rocky Mtns. and heavy rainstorms.  I hope we can all agree to pray for an end to the horrible weather and a return to more pleasant summer weather.  I wish the best for everyone out there.

SiskiyouSue

The Reader

I needed a card to send to my sister today.  I remembered that I have colored a few digis and put them in a file for "just in case."  For once I had a great idea!  I whipped this up in about 15 minutes after I got to work!  I just grabbed the digi, papers and ribbon along with the base card to use, then headed out.  It was a great chance to demonstrate how I put a card together for my student, and I ended up with this pretty card.  The butterfly paper came from WalMart, the ribbon was in a package of ribbon pieces, the teal paper was from the Taj Mahal mat stack that I picked up about a month ago.  The white base card is from a pack I got quite a while ago on sale, from K and Co.  Really handy to keep around.

I had a great time coloring this, think I'll try it out again because it's going to be one of my favorites.

Thanks for looking!
                                                  SiskiyouSue

MY NEW GYPSY
.

I love it, love it, love it! I finally got some time to play, now that graduation is over. Update for anyone who cares, all four seniors graduated! Hurray!!! And a total surprise to me, three of them were awarded Heisey Awards for improvement. I've only had one or two who got that in the last eight years. You can imagine how happy I was for them, that the rest of the faculty noticed what I had been seeing...

So this is the first card I made with the Gypsy. It took a while, had to watch several videos, but I did it! And I love it. Can't wait for one of our out of town trips this summer when I can take it with me, that's why I bought it, but I don't think I'll be doing much without it now unless I'm using MTC. And I'll make a couple more cards like this, now that it's all laid out for me. What a treat!

I used: Winter Woodland, base card (with envelope) from K and Company, other papers from a pack of scrap I picked up at a small store in Billings, MT called Sisters. Fun place to wander!

I'm going to enter this in a challenge, I think. Fun to see what others think!

Thanks for looking!
SiskiyouSue

BLAST OFF INTO SUMMER Blog Hop

Hello friends!  I'm really excited to be participating in my first-ever blog hop.  I couldn't resist when I saw the call for participants.  I always like to do something to send my students off into the summer with a good feeling about the last year.  After all, I will have them again in my classes next year, so it really is a good idea.  

Choosing a project is always a challenge.  I'm teaching high school so my project can't be too "cutsie" but  it has to be a little bit cute or it isn't worth bothering with.  I decided to make boxes to put treats in and cut them on my Expression using an MTC file.  Then I decorated four boxes for the boys, bet you can guess which ones?  Of course, the tape measures with eyes...  I had picked the tape measures up at a dollar store in the teaching area.  They're intended to be calendar markers, but I really like the way they turned out.  The boys will get a kick out of them.  The girls boxes are all different.  I couldn't decide on one design, so I just used whatever I found in my stash left-overs.  Actually, kind of fun, because I had forgotten that I had chipboard butterflies!  Will have to see what else I can do with them.

I hope you're enjoying this hop.  Have a great weekend!
If you got here by accident, please click on the button at the right, which will take you to the beginning.

Here's the line-up for your next stop:

Suzy- http://scrapwithsuzy.blogspot.com     NEXT

Baby Album and Amazing Giveaway!

I don't usually do this, but this is too good not to pass along.  Melissa, from Creating from the Heart, is having the most awesome giveaway, a Martha Stewart punch around the page set along with a $100 gift card to Michael's!  (Yes, that IS $100, no mistake.)  So is you're into crafting, head on over there, if not, sorry for wasting your time.

Now, this is the first album I have made.  I'd welcome comments.  I bought a chipboard album ready-made to decorate, but almost wish I had not.  I wanted to put so many things into this.  It is for my friend who is a first AND second time grandma, twins, a boy and a girl.  How perfect is that?  tried to put a tag on almost every page to give more space for photos and journaling, and I used almost all freebies.  There are so many great things being shared.  Seems that many, many talented people are very generous!  Luck for those of us who are less gifted...  definitely me!  I cannot draw at all!  But I surely have a great time coloring...  I'm sorry that the pictures are out of order.  I'll have to work on that next time I make a multi-page album. 

I think my tags are probably too big...  I was trying to give as much space as possible.  Hope she covers them with pictures soon, they'll look much better.

Hope you all have a great week planned!  I'll be back on Saturday for sure, as I'm joining a blog hop for the first time.  I thought that would be a great way to celebrate the end of a good school year and the beginning of a great summer!  See, I'm think positively!

SiskiyouSue

An Apple for the (Student) Teacher

Tomorrow is my student teacher's last day.  I've used Locker Talk and Cricut Classic Font cartridges  to put together my card.  The colors are terrible, don't know why.  Should be tan paper with black and red!  My students would really hoot at the pink letters.  The sun over the school represents our town name, Sunburst.  I cut the tall school from Locker Talk, then cut it down because it really does resemble our building this way.  Have I said I live in a very small town, about 400 residents?  This should give you some idea of how small we really are.

The inside of the card has lots of room for students and teachers to write notes on, it is one 12x12 piece of paper.  There is no sentiment because I plan to have another teacher hand letter the apple with "An Apple for the Teacher" tomorrow morning.  I do NOT do hand lettering myself (I love my Cricut!).  I think it will serve the purpose anyway, and the kids will enjoy it.  That's really all I care about.

Have a great day!

I've been out of town, so haven't had any time to craft or post until today.  I'm sorry!  I can't believe how hard it was to be away from my crafting.  We went to a wedding in Sidney, MT, which is about a 7 hour drive from here.  It was nice to go because we used to live there and 50 miles east in Watford City, ND.  We visited some friends there whom we haven't seen in 15 years and were amazed by the changes in the area.  There is a big oil boom going on and there are people and vehicles everywhere.  It's amazing to see so much activity in a rural area.

The wedding was beautiful, although it was rainy and the power was out during the ceremony.  Fortunately there was a small generator, enough to run the little white lights they had decorated with, so the wedding went through without any other problems. The bride and groom look very happy.

And as soon as I got home, I finished the third of the wedding cards I need for this month!  I really wanted to do something different, and you'll have to agree it is that!  No wedding couple, bells, etc., just the statement.  I actually like it, and it should stand out in the crowd, which makes me happy.  The quote is one that I really like.  I used Microsoft Word to print it. The cardstock is AC and the patterned paper Colorbok. 

Now, really, really great news!  It has finally turned warm, expected to be 70 tomorrow!  Hurray!  Hope things have settled down in the southern and central states and we can all begin to enjoy the weather for a change.  We have commented over and over that at least the cold and snow were all we had to contend with. 

Have a great day,
SiskiyouSue

I just finished these two wedding cards.  The first was a digital that I printed out, background paper, digi stamp and sentiment.  I printed 2 copies so that I could cut the bride out.  I ran the ribbon under her, inked her edges ( rose red) and then but crystal stars on her headpiece. 

The second card was cut in two layers.  I really tried to keep both of these cards simple since they have to be mailed.  Some of the lovely layered and embellished creations I see would be very difficult to mail, and I suspect that in some cases would not arrive in good condition unless they were packed into a padded mailer.  I just do not have the patience for that.  

I have seen a lot of wonderful creations on your blogs lately.  Wow!  I am amazed at all the talented people out there.  Thank you to everyone who posts things so that the rest of us can learn from you!

SiskiyouSue

Challenges the first card may have been entered in:

Make it Monday (anything goes)
A Spoonful of Sugar (white and one other color)
Stamping Scrapping Challenge Central (anything goes)
 

Hello.  I'm sorry to say that after a week I still don't have any work to share.  I ran out of adhesives last weekend, only Scotch tape and Duct tape left...  Not okay!  My order arrived (thank goodness for internet) in record time, only 3 days from Custom Crops.  I also ordered some punny sentiments and a new cartridge, Paper Doll Cress Up.  I'm going to have SO MUCH FUN this summer (only 4 more weeks).  If you need me I'll be in my craft room...

I had to chaperon Prom this weekend.  We spent Friday and a good part of Saturday decorating,  opened the school in the afternoon and didn't get home until about 12:30, far, far past my 9:00 bedtime. LOL  The kids had so much fun, I don't know how they keep it up for so long.  And they looked amazing, guys and girls both.  Awesome.  Today was clean-up, and as expected most of the kids didn't show up, so it was myself and 5 students for an hour.  Thank heavens 2 parents showed up at that point and we were done in another hour.  And now I've (again) misplaced the memory card for my camera.  So you won't see anything for a day or so.  Hope I find it soon!

We had snow again this week, but it got warmer again much more quickly and it really seems like spring is here.  Hope you get a chance to enjoy it!


Sue