I'm back crafting!!!

Well, not only am I back, but I am retired, and my time is my own...  I hardly know what to do with it all!  After teaching and being involved in my children's education for 40 years, this is a new experience.  Every day is Saturday, and I am loving it!!!

Anyway, here are two Thanksgiving cards I made with the monthly free collage sheet from GeckoGalz.  I'm very pleased with how they turned out!

Isn't that image sweet?  I used 3 ribbons that came together on a reel, how convenient was that! They are fastened together with copper wire which is threaded through the wooden flower and coiled to make a center.

The second image is even sweeter, isn't it?  The card is not so embellished, but the ribbons are woven together to create an interesting knot.

Thanks for looking!  Hope we can all find plenty of time for crafting without becoming stressed in this holiday season.

Sis-Q-Sue

You Old Goat

Love this file from PPPR!  I was so glad to have an excuse to use it, my brother-in-law's 70th birthday.

Isn't it great?  I did leave off the final layer for the face, decided I liked it  just the way it was.  Here's the inside:

Thanks for looking!

Guest Designer

I am the guest designer at MySheri Crafts today.  What a nice surprise!  I have made a Center Step Card, one of the fancy folds that I so enjoy.  

Unfortunately, we have gray, cloudy skies today, and since this is already a dark house it was hard to get great photos.  Hope you can see well enough.  The sentiment doesn't show well, I'm sorry.   I am not sure where it or the sand dollar came from, but the rest of the shells are from Creative Pointe.  I was amazed at how well they cut!

 I used Core d'nations Cardmakers Cardstock in Pearl for everything except my sentiment.  It has a lovely pearly sheen to it and I discovered that not only does it cut easily but it also prints well.  My card base was cut from a piece that I printed first in ocean looking pattern.  All I also used a variety of other papers for the shells, mixing for color and texture.

I don't remember where I got the sketch of the ship, but I used my Cameo and sketch pens to draw it...  I do not draw anything (except a couple of cartoons that I've perfected for my classrom, wows the kids!).

Thanks for looking, and thanks to My Sheri Crafts for this opportunity.  I agonized over this card, but had lots of fun with it once I finally decided what to do!

Have a Great Summer Day!
SiskiyouSue

Challenges Entered:  
Silhouette Challenges #26
Jo's ScrapShack #92
Crafty Calendar Challenge

Graduation Day!

Today is the day my great-nephew graduates from high school.  He's been living with us since December, so I'm much more involved than you might have expected.  Our house is pretty much full of relatives already, with lot more on the way, a mini-reunion of sorts.  This is a family that loves an excuse to get together!

It is much harder to make a card for a special guy than for a girl, but I finally found a way to get it done.  He's quite a basketball player, so this is what I came up with.

I grabbed files from a variety of places, including Miss Kate Cuttables, PPPR, and the internet, and the background paper from Create with TLC.  We are so lucky to have so many great designers to choose from!

The sentiment seemed perfect for this kid, he's learning his lessons all the hard way (as do many of us), but he's well on the way to figuring it all out.  I wanted to put an Action Wobble behind the ball, but in all the chaos my supplies are very out of order and I had to settle for foam dots. That made a nice little pocket to slide the money into, which actually seems very clever.  How nice that I noticed it!

One more week of school and I'll also be out and "free" for a while.  I have to take one class this summer and school begins on Aug. 17, so I'll enjoy what I have as much as possible. The great-nephew is spending the summer here, he la1nded a very nice job here, so that will be fun.  I'll enjoy having him and his friends around, and still plenty of quiet time during the day.  Should leave me lots of crafting time, I hope.

Wishing you all sunny weather, plenty of rain to make things grow and a great day!
SiskiyouSue

Challenges entered:
http://myshericrafts.blogspot.com/

Going Places

Hello again!  Just a note to share a card I made last week. It was received Friday night so I can share it now...

I used cutting files from SVGcutting that I have used before and mixed them with files from several other sources.  It all started with the hat.  I don't have any idea why the idea of a hat jumped into my mind, but I thought about a hat shaped card, then settled for this instead.  

I  really love the way the colors all came together.  Hope my friend liked it as well.

Thanks so much for looking!  Have a great day and enjoy the spring weather if you are lucky enough to have it.

SiskiyouSue

Challenges entered:
Craftyhazlenut's Patterned Paper Challenge
Silhouette Challenges

Hello.  It's rainy and snowy today, typical in this part of Montana on the weekends in spring.  I wonder how it seems to know that the weekend is here?  The weather was beautiful all week, while I was stuck in my classroom...  To make it worse, there is a track meet today, ick!  The kids will freeze.

Well, I've managed quite a bit of wonderful time for crafting in the last couple of weeks.  I'm having a great time!  The first is a simple file from the Silhouette store.  I really love this card, simple but pretty.

I actually made several of these lip balm holders.  (Why did I forget to photograph one of the cuter ones?  I do not like the eyes here...)  This file is actually a sucker holder, In the end, I liked it better than the lip balm holders I had purchased.  Who knew?

And finally, from the LD Grow Old With Me collection, I did a print and cut on an Action Wobble for a friend's birthday!  I really love the way it turned out.  I added the star button in the corner.  When I cut the paper I placed the incorrectly and ended up with a notch in the corner.  So, had to cover it up, and truthfully I think the star worked very well.  Funny how that works out sometimes!

Well, hope you are having a beautiful spring day.  Smell a flower or take a walk in the sunshine!

SiskiyouSue

Happy Birthday

I had the chance to play around with a new file from SVGcutting.  Lots of fun!  I love trying new things, and was extremely pleased with how easily this went together;  It made a great tube holder, though that was not its original purpose.  It also contained a gift card, so I placed a patterned paper behind the stripe openings.

Isn't that cute?  There is no bling except for a tiny bit on the flame and the flower.  Everything else is the patterned card stock I used,so this really was very simple.

Spring is here!  Birds chirping, allergy sneezes, heavy winds and a skiff of snow last night.  Notice I did not mention daffodils or tulips.  It's several weeks to early for them.  There's a little green grass peeking out, but very little.  Farmers are chomping at the bit, trying to get to planting.  They're growing field peas, which need to go in soon so that they can begin planting wheat and barley.  A few have been able to begin, but the fields are generally too wet still.  If the snow would go away the wind should take care of the moisture.  And if wishes were horses...  But Spring is here, and planting will get done, and we'll continue with the cycle of the seasons.  Thank goodness.

Hope you all enjoy a blessed Easter!  Or if not, a very happy Spring day!

SiskiyouSue

Long Time No See...

Hello, friends!  I've taken a break from card making, but it seems that I'm back.  My enthusiasm level is MUCH higher than it was during the Autumn.   And I'm glad; this has been so much fun again!

I have a couple of Valentine's cards to share today.  I waited to post them until they had time to be delivered (I hope) so that I wasn't giving my surprise away.  Hope you enjoy them.

I used my Cameo to cut the openings for the hearts, then inlaid those made from  the opposite color on the cards on the left.  My first try at inlay, not perfect but not bad enough for anyone else to notice.  For the card on the right I made a base by covering a piece of cardstock with washi tape, fun and easy, then layered the cut top over it.  I added small heart stickers for dimension, there's a nice mix of the inlay and the puffy stickers, then added "love" cut on my Cameo.  Couldn't have been easier, and I like them more than any others I have made in years.  

I've been seeing lots of inlaid designs here and there in the blogs I read and I want to say thank you to the many designers who have spotlighted this technique.  I love trying the new things!!!

Oh, big changes here (how could I possibly forget!)  My great-nephew came to live with us in December.  He's going to be 18 in two weeks and will graduate on Memorial Day weekend, so that's easy enough.  However, he came with his grandfather (my brother-in-law) unexpectedly here for the duration, and every weekend is not only filled with his basketball games ( he is quite a player), but this mother, grandmother, sister, her friend, a girl-friend, and sometimes her mother.  There have also been aunts and cousins.  This weekend we have 5 extra people besides the 2 who are here all the time, a huge change from just the two of us alone!!!  And a bit of a problem for me, because I really enjoy (need?) down-time and quiet on the weekends.  While I am enjoying having the nephew and getting to be part of his life before he goes off to college, I'm also glad it is only for four more months.  Good thing I didn't think before suggesting that he stay with us for the rest of the year!!!

Hope your weekend is/was nice. We have great weather for once (64 yesterday, unbelievable for this time of year in northcentral Montana) and a three-day weekend!  Oh, joy!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

SiskiyouSue

Summertime

Isn't it wonderful?  We finally have summer, sunshine, warm air, even hot, all welcome here!  Until the first official day of summer we were still cool, gray, and rainy.  I am SO thankful for the change!

I have a birthday card to share today, another box card.  I love these, so much fun to make!

 I used a variety of things besides things I cut on my Cameo for this because I'm trying to use my stash as often as possible this summer.  So a punch out that is more than 10 years old (oops!) and stickers and cardboard shapes and everything I could find.

 One thing I have noticed about other box cards is that while I like to stuff mine full, many are much less stuffed.  And easier to mail, for sure!  But I still like the way this turned out.

Now, one more thing!  We spent the week of July 4 in Glacier Park.  One of the highlights for the group (my husband, our daughter and 3 friends, and a close friend from here in Sunburst) was to ride the Zip Lines at Big Mountain Ski Resort near Whitefish, Montana.  This is a series of 7 zip lines with hikes in between, so you had better be sure you want to do this!  They had a blast, so I hope I can post the video here to share!  No, I didn't go.  I'm not fond of heights, but I will consider it next time now that I've seen how it works.

Doesn't that look like fun?  Well, that or lunacy, depending on your point of view!

Hope your July will be relaxing and truly summer!
SiskiyouSue

Good Bye and Good Luck Box Card

School is out for the summer, hurray!  I'm suspicious that I am as excited as any of my students are...  We had a great school year but summer is always lovely.  I have a day or two of special ed. paperwork to complete, cleaning up files, making sure my i's are dotted and my t's are crossed.  This school district will be monitored by the state for compliance in September and I am planning to pass, or die trying.  Always tricky!

Anyway, in spite of that, I have been having fun with Box Cards.  They fascinate me, so many different ways to decorate them.  I needed a good-bye card from the staff in my building to a teacher who is leaving the district and this is what I came up with:

As you might guess, the person leaving is an FCS (Home Ec.) teacher, hence the cookies, rolling pin, and other kitchen goodies.  She loved the card.    Here's a picture of the outside where the rest of us signed:

I was impressed with the amount of room to sign, more than I had expected.  Often on a "normal" card we have to squash our comments together, so this is nice.  I think it will make a nice momento also, if she wants to keep it.

Thank you for looking.  It's more fun when I can share my creations.

Happy Summer!

SiskiyouSue

Baby Card

Hi.  I have been playing around with my Cameo again.  I am totally in love with that machine.  I always have fun with it.  The only problem I have with it is that no matter how much time I spend with it, it always takes more time to complete the card away from the machine.  I want it to be the other way around!

Anyway, here's my card:

Isn't that sweet?  I do not know where I got the file, but I will be using it again as soon as I need another.  It was fun to make and very quick.

Thanks for visiting me.
Happy Spring!
SiskiyouSue

Winners, winners!

Hello!  Long time no see.  I have a card I made for a man's birthday to show you.  I'll do that first, then I have a totally non-crafty brag to share, about the school district here where I live.

First, the card:

I just love this chef!  He's so proud of that little cupcake, makes me laugh.  The digi is called Special Delivery, by Di's Digi Downloads.  And the base card was cut on my CAMEO with a file from Lori Whitlock.  I put a blue liner behind it  to add color to a very simple card.

I have non-crafty news today, just something that is too exciting not to share.  If you are interested only in crafting, well, I'm sorry, but you'll have to leave me now.  I plan to be back to crafting more very soon!

I have talked before about this very small town where I live, Sunburst, Montana.  Our population here is about 350, and has been in a steady decline for a long time now.  I know it is hard to imagine how a town that small can even exist, and I have to tell you that in many ways Sunburst isn't doing very well.  Our only restaurant closed about a year ago, we haven't had a real gas station in at least 15 years, and our only grocery store will be closing at the end of this month.  (I could really cry about that!)  But in some ways Sunburst is thriving, and I think this will show you why.  It's the people who live here and in the surrounding area who keep the town going.  They are awesome in the way they support each other.  So here is the best example I know of how a community keeps itself together in spite of all the odds.

Some of you may remember that I wrote about a beloved teacher (speech therapist) being killed last May in an accident on the highway just outside of town.  That accident was caused by blowing alkali (a common substance that leaches out of the ground in many places) that caused white-out conditions just like a blizzard,  and led to a 15 car pile-up, a very unusual circumstance on a piece of broad flat freeway.  It was an awful thing and made a huge impact of the students in town since many of them had that teacher for speech services for several years.

In the fall one of the junior high teachers read about the Solve For Tomorrow science contest being held by Samsung that provided 2 tablet computers to the school for getting to a certain point with a student project.  She proposed to the 8th graders she was working with that they should investigate possible solutions to the blowing alkali problem and the kids took that idea and ran with it.  Now, you need to understand that this 8th grade class has only 5 students in it.  That is much smaller than the average class size here, probably about 15.  (Yes, if you want an individualized education, this is the place to be...)  So what they accomplished is truly amazing.

These kids worked until January on their project, coming up with several possible solutions that they felt were worth looking at.  Their teacher enlisted the help of the other 2 middle school teachers and they turned their project into a presentation.  The kids made relief maps, presentation boards, graphs, slide shows and with a teacher's help, a video.  The video was sent off to Samsung and was chosen as a finalist in the first round.  Wow, were we impressed.  They received a award of technology for the school and everyone in town cheered for them.

Their project went from there to the second and third rounds. Samsung planned to fly 1 teacher and 2 students to Austin, Texas for Round 3.  The school and the community got together and raised the money to send the other 2 teachers and 3 students along also.  They were gone 3 days, the trip of their lives for several students who had never been out of state before.  The team was chosen as the first to present and the 5 kids went onstage to explain their project.   Our team came home tired and happy, but thinking they were done with the contest.  After all, the other schools were huge compared to ours and their teams had been together for many months longer than ours, some had been working together for several years on their projects, and their teams consisted of students who were seen as gifted and talented.  Our team, being the entire class, covered the spectrum from gifted to perfectly normal.  We were all very proud and happy they had this experience.

There were two ways to win at this level.  The first was to be chosen a finalist for the presentation in Austin.  The second was a sort of "people's choice" award.  We were asked to vote for our team every day for several weeks.  We did, and we used Facebook and other media to spread the work.  Soon Sunburst alumni, who are spread all around the country and even overseas, joined in.  One thing about this town is that people are not ashamed to have come from here.  There have been doctors, lawyers, researchers, oilmen, all kinds of people who have moved on from here.  There are even Sunburst days get-togethers in places like Tuscon and Seattle.  If I hadn't lived here and seen it happening, I probably wouldn't have understood or even believed the effect that Sunburst has had on people.

To make a long story reach its end a little more quickly, I will tell you that yesterday the middle school was surprised to learn that they have received one of the final awards, based on their performance along with the results of the people's choice votes.  They had received 5566 votes!  Amazing... The students have won a trip to Washington, D.C. and for the school, $140,000 in technology.

Sunburst has a long, proud tradition of being tops in anything related to science.  Through the years our high school students have taken too many awards to count including top honors at the International Science Fair that is held every year.  The teacher who led the program for over 40 years is retired, but was replaced by a much younger teacher who has continued to lead students to prize after prize.  This is the first time a younger group has ever done anything quite like this.

I have a friend who moved here about 8 years ago from Connecticut.  She tells of bursting into tears when she first saw the town.  Now, she hates the thought that they may have to move again.  The people here really are special.  Aren't I lucky to live in a town like this?

If you would like to watch the students' short video presentation, here is the link:

Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, Sunburst presentation

If you stuck with me all the way through this, thank you.  I just had to share this amazing story with everyone.

SiskiyouSue

Hello again!

Well, I'm still here, just haven't had much time or energy for blogging since school started again.  I have 3 new students and 4 who were here last year, and in my high school special education classroom that adds up to 9 subjects that I am teaching plus study halls for freshmen, sophomores and juniors.  I frequently have multiple subjects going at a time.  Thankfully the school did give me a paraprofessional this year, which really helps.  I hold down the fort in my classroom and she either follows students into other classes or works with groups in the room across the hall.  She has already proven herself to be wonderful, I don't think I could be effective with so much going on and no para. 

I have a new card today, a sympathy card made on my CAMEO.  The cut file is a freebie from Cards by Bird.  I highly recommend her files!  Unfortunately this is another sympathy card, but I'm happy to say that I'm getting (a little bit) smarter, I made 2, one for today's funeral and one for my stash.

There is no school today and tomorrow, and, hurray! my hubby has to work so we "have" to stay home.  I cannot think of anything nicer right now.  We've been on the go almost every weekend. I am already enjoying time to slow down and get a few home things done, read a book and craft, craft, craft.  I hope...


Have a great week!

SiskiyouSue  (Sis-Q Sue)

Time Flies!!!

Bet you had already noticed that time flies. Silly me, I thought that when my children were grown time would slow down a bit.  Wrong again!  Today is my first day back at school.  Am I ready?  Ha!  Surely you jest??  Seems like I got about half of my projects started, about half of those finished.  Too much to do!  And too much time away from home, though I am not complaining about that.  We purchased a new/used fifth wheel camper and spent as much time as possible in Glacier Park again this year.  It was wonderful.

But enough, card-making is why I am here!  Time for another sympathy card...  Seems like that's all I make sometimes.  This one uses a flower digi from Floppy Latte, some Stickles and ink, not much else.  I used the pre-colored digi in the interest of time and because I love that color.  I will make a couple more like this to keep on hand. Maybe if I have them ready I won't need so many (4 this summer!).

Had to make an envelope, and I love that it has those pretty swirls on it.  I have had that paper for ever, this was the last piece.  I remember that my hubby bought it for me shortly after I fell in love with card making, but I have no idea what brand it was, I'm sorry.  I'd buy more if I ever saw it again!

Now, something totally different to share with you.  Have you ever seen a Yellow Zucchini?  My friend gave me some and I am swooning over the color!  Such a beautiful golden yellow!

They are not Summer Squash, as you can tell from the shape.  I grated them up though I hated to because they looked lovely laying on my kitchen counter.  They are even beautiful grated in the bowl!

I wonder whether they will look that beautiful when I pull them out of the freezer to bake or cook with this winter?  It will be interesting to see!

Thanks for checking my ramblings out.  I'd appreciate any comment you might choose to leave.  Have a lovely day and a wonderful end to your summer!

Siskiyou Sue (Sis-Q-Sue)

World Travel

Hello again.  I'm back with some scrapbooking elements that I've made for my daughter to use in scrapbooking of her recent trip to Turkey.  I used World Travel from SVG Cutting Files for the girl, her extra suitcase and the plane.  They were incredibly fun to work with, using lots of scrap papers.  I cut no new paper in this process.  I was surprised at how easily these cut on my Cameo and how easily I was able to assemble them, considering that the girl is about 4 inches tall, meaning that there were lots of little pieces.  Thank goodness for zipper baggies!  Oh, these are not mounted on the blue paper, only laying on it for photographing.  They will be mailed to her in those zipper baggies...

 For the cat, cup, and both mosques, I found free images online and traced them, then filled with patterns on my Cameo.  Boy, the more I do, the more I love that machine.  I'm so thankful for all the great tutorials posted online to show how to do things.  It really is awesome.  A little inking on the edges and I was done.

Well, this has been a crazy summer.  We leave tomorrow for a long weekend in Glacier Park, our third so far.  We have sold our 25-year old camper and will pick up the new(er) fifth wheel camper tomorrow.  I am very excited!  At the same time, I really miss the time to craft.  I'll take some printed digis to color and cut so that I don't have too much withdrawal.  This camper has enough room to take more than that and my plan is to take the Cameo and enough paper to play with when we are going for longer times, i.e., after retirement in a couple of years.  Hurray!

Hope you're enjoying your summer.  Our heat wave is finally over, but I see that it has moved east from here.  Hope it isn't too awful wherever you are.

SisQ Sue

Challenges Entered:
Make It Monday #149 
 Through the Craft Room Door