Thank you, Teacher!

Here we go with Changito again! This is the card I made for my son's teacher last fall, after the first week of Kindergarten. It was a huge transition for him (and for Mommy) and I wanted to thank her for making his first week so much fun. Here we are at the end of the school year, and he's still loving it! Yay!

I'm sorry I can't remember where I originally saw this card, but I do know I "copied" it from some very talented cardmaker! I love that it incorporates a pop-tab...doesn't it look like a belt buckle?

I have a few more teacher cards I'll share with you later. Take time to be crafty today!

recipe: Stampendous School for Changito; Tsukineko Graphite Black Ink; Prismacolor Pencils, Goo-Gone, Tortillons; Hero Arts Flower & Gemstone; The Paper Co.; Marvy Scalloped Oval Punch; Ribbon Target $1 Spot

Changito Birthday Cake

Are you tired of Changito yet? I'm not! How can you not love this little guy?

This is my 4th entry for this week's Stampendous Sketch Challenge. I have one more idea, but I don't know if I'll get it done or not. I've had so much fun with this sketch, and I can hardly wait to see next week's.

I sat down last night and looked at the new Stampendous catalog again. My wish list keeps growing! The top of my list is still Changito Baker, though. I just can't get enough of him. The little bees are adorable, too and how can you resist that little trouble-maker Fluffles the Cat? Such a fun catalog! And full of beautiful cards for sweet inspiration!

recipe: Stampendous Changito Birthday; Prismacolor Pencils, Goo-Gone, Tortillons; DCWV Animal Crackers Mat Stack, gcd studios Rose Circles; Tsukineko Graphite Black, Tsukineko Coffee Bean; Making Memories brads; Offray Ribbon; Grafix Clear Craft Plastic; Fiskars Border Punch; Red Stickles, Clear Stickles; Stampendous Pink Ultra Fine Glitter; Liquid Applique

Changito Skates

Hopefully we're done with snow here in the Chicago-area. I, for one, am ready for Spring to stay! However, this little Changito decided to go skating today. I've had this stamp set for awhile, but it the first time I've gotten it inky.

Once again, this card is for the Stampendous Sketch Challenge. I've really had a lot of fun working on my entries for this week. I've been trying to step outside my "comfort zone" and combine patterned papers. In the past, I've just used one pattern at a time unless it was 2-sided paper and obviously coordinated. For this card I used the DCWV Holiday Stack. What a beautiful collection of paper! It was fun to make a Christmas/Winter card that wasn't red and green. I really like this color combination. I hope you do too!

recipe: Stamps: Stampendous Changito Snowplay; paper: Grafix Clear Craft Plastic; Tsukineko Graphite Black ink; Prismacolor Pencils, Goo-Gone, Tortillons; Crystal Stickles; Hero Arts Gemstones; JoAnn's Ribbons; Liquid Applique; Fiskars Border Punch; Martha Stewart Snowflake Punch

Peek-a-boo, Changito!

I'm back again - two posts in one day - I'm on a roll! I wanted to show you another one of my entries for this weeks Stampendous Sketch Challenge. See the following website for details- http://stampendousblog.wordpress.com/2010/04/17/saturday-stampendous-card-sketch-challenge/

I made this card for my oldest son's teacher. Our school will celebrate Teacher's Appreciation Week during the first week of May, and I thought I would send her a card or little gift each day that week. Just a little gesture, but I want her to know how much our family truly appreciates her! My son, TJ, is in Kindergarten and has loved every minute of school this year, thanks to her! She is a wonderful & patient woman, and I wish TJ could have her again next year. With any luck, our youngest son will have her in a few years when he starts Kindergarten, too.

Back to the card. The Sketch Challenge requires that a transparency is used. I haven't worked with craft plastic very much, but I really enjoyed adding this element to my cards this week. It's like bringing the inside of the card out. I've never really decorated the insides of my cards before, so this was the perfect opportunity to give it a try. I like it, and will continue to do so in some of my cards.

Once again, I used my favorite little monkey on this card. I just can't get enough of Changito.

I have one more card in the "works" for this week's Stampendous Sketch Challenge - hopefully I'll get that one done this afternoon while my little man takes a nap. You guessed it, Changito makes another appearance!

Don't forget to check out http://stampendousblog.wordpress.com/2010/04/17/saturday-stampendous-card-sketch-challenge/ for details on this week's Sketch Challenge.

recipe: stamps: Stampendous School for Changito, Stampendous Book Border; The Paper Co.; Tsukineko Graphite Black, Tsukineko Moonlight White inks; Prismacolor Pencils, Goo-Gone, Tortillons; Marvy Punches

Rainy Day Changito

Edited to Add:  Beginner's Luck!  This card was one of the two that was chosen as winners of this week's Sketch Challenge!  I'm so excited!

 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again! I love Changito! This little guy just makes me happy! He is so much fun to get good and inky!

I made this card for this week's Saturday Stampendous Sketch Challenge. It's my first attempt at this, and I am really excited to be a part of it. This week's sketch requires that you incorporate a transparency. This was the first card that came to mind, and I have to tell you it actually turned out almost exactly how I pictured it in my mind's eye. That never happens.

If you've never checked out the adorable Changito, you really should take a look at www.stampendous.com. They have a whole line of beautiful stamps and so many cute ones, too. Everytime I look at their beautiful catalog, I see another one or two or three that I HAVE to have! At the top of my wishlist currently is Changito Baker, Biker Bee, Changito Fireworks and the adorable Patriotic Pair. I also NEED the "gor-juss" Cling Music Score stamp. I have so many ideas for that stamp. It is so elegant!

OK- enough of my rambling. Thanks for stopping by today, I'll be back later with the other card I've created for the Stampendous Sketch Challenge.

Edited to Add: The second photo shown above is the inside of my card. I've never decorate the insides before, but have noticed that so many stampers are doing this now. (I love to look at the galleries on SplitCoast Stampers for inspiration!) So, for the first time I decorated the inside, and it was so much fun - just seems like the perfect finishing touch!

recipe: stamps: Stampendous Rainy Day Changito, DCWV Glitter Mat Stack, Water Paper ?; Ink Tsukineko Graphite Black; Prismacolor Pencils, Goo-Gone, Tortillons; Ribbon: JoAnn's; Sakura Star Glaze Pen, Fiskars Border Punch, Grafix Clear Craft Plastic

Let's Connect!

Vicky at Clips and Cuts is celebrating 100 posts and is inviting all of us to connect via our blogs. When you add your blog's URL and it will show up on everyone else's page too...so cool and such a fun way to connect with fellow bloggers and friends! Vicky's goal is to reach 1,000 so let's try to make it happen. Vicky has great ideas and check out her free downloads too.

Paper Crafts blog hop!
1. Add your blog!
2. Copy the script below and paste it on your blog post while in HTML view

I'm late!

I love this cuckoo clock image by Hero Arts. I initially got it because I had forgotten to make birthday cards for my brother and my brother-in-law (who both happen to have the same birthday, April 1st. What are the chances of that?) This card was for my BIL, my brother's was a bit different, I'll post that another time. Inside this card I used the computer to print "Oops! I'm late! Hope you're birthday was happy!"

I colored the image twice using my Prismacolor pencils and then cut one of the images apart and layered them with pop-dots. This is a nice way to create dimension, without the added bulk of a ribbon.

I like to use the computer to customize the insides of my cards. A lot of times I have a hard time finding just the right sentiment on a stamp, so I make my own on the computer.

recipe: stamp: Hero Arts Cuckoo; paper DCWV neutral stack, Prismacolor pencils, Goo-Gone, Tortillons; Crystal glaze, Sakura Star Gel Pen

Thanks for popping in! Take time to be creative today!