America Banner

Back in April, I picked out some papers from Graphic 45 that I knew would make the perfect 4th of July banner. I didn't want anything that was *specifically* patriotic, but more within the color families that I needed and patterns that I thought would work nicely. You would have thought that since I purchased them so far in advance, I would have had it ready and waiting to hang. No...that isn't the case. I finally finished it yesterday. Better late than never, I always say! I got it hung and put out some patriotic decorations on my bench in my entry way. In Utah, we celebrate the 24th of July as well since that is the day the pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. We use Red, White and Blue to celebrate as well, so it will all work.

I used the same formula that I use for most of my banners, eliminating some of the extra details since I was pressed for time. Maybe throughout the month I will work on some details and add them here and there. The flags are *food picks* that I have had since Emma's first birthday. I simply added some distress ink and called it good.

I will be back tomorrow with a new SFYTT!!!

Thanks for fluttering by!

*Game Time*

I think we have all recovered from the holiday...finally! I felt really bad missing out on Saturday's SFYTT, but I was way too busy. My son went to his friend's birthday party on Saturday. He had just gotten a new "X Box 360" so we decided to get him a "Game Stop" gift card for his present. Of course I had to *go*with the theme. I had it in my mind that I wanted to make a box or something to mimic the "X Box".

We don't own an "X Box" so I went to the website and found some pictures. I decided to keep things simple and make a gift card holder similar to the controller. It actually was pretty fun to make and find different things to tie in the birthday and the game controller. I also thought it was pretty fun that he is turning ten and *X* is the roman numeral 10. Yes...I am a dork!

For the colored buttons, I used a 1/2 inch circle punch and stamped one letter on each circle to spell his name. For the two bottom buttons, I stamped his age~10. I added some crystal effects on these to give it a more realistic feeling. I printed out a small logo and added that to the top and added some crystal effects to that as well. The finishing touch was the birthday sentiment at the bottom and the circle sentiment on the side. Of course it wouldn't be complete without a few embellishments, so I took some design liberties and added some silver adhesive stickers here and there.

His mom called me the other day and told me how much he liked it and that he wanted to keep it. That always makes you feel good...especially with a ten year old boy. I am hoping to find some creative time this week. I have a few projects that I really want to get done. We only have two more weeks left of summer vacation! I don't think I am ready to send the kids back!!!!! Thanks for fluttering by!

P.S. I thought I would share a sweet little photo of Rowan. I have really dropped the ball with taking his weekly photographs. He is having a weekly birthday today, so perhaps I will get the camera out.

#1 All-Star Coach!

Baseball has just wrapped up for the season. My son played for the Cubs this year with a great group of boys. We had the "end of season" party last night so of course I needed to put a thank you together for the two coaches. I did my standard popcorn/candy/blockbuster gift card basket that I do for all of his coaches. I found the popcorn tubs at "Dollar Tree" and they worked out perfectly.

The tags were made using the Cubs colors, which I was excited about because they are so "All American" looking. All of the candy seemed to match better as well! LOL! I had originally started making cards, but yesterday was one of those crazy days, so only tags got made. I used a SU! set called "Sporting" to stamp the #1 image, I used Star Prints and All-Star Team from Papertrey Ink for the penant and star image and then finished it off by stamping the word coach using a really, really old alphabet stamp from PSX. I punched out large circles out of kraft cardstock and then used the feather stitch on my sewing machine to make the baseballs. The baseball buttons were the finishing touch. They were one of those random purchases a year or so ago and when I was making these, I was so glad I had them.

Yes...I could have added more bells and whistles, but I was truly running out of time. The coaches appreciated it and said thanks numerous times. Now I am happy to take a bit of a breather before the real fun starts....FOOTBALL!!!!!!

You make this world a better place *SFYTT*

Today's card was made for my sweet team teacher at church. I have really enjoyed getting to know her better and she has taught the lesson for me quite a few times, especially after I had Rowan. I have been wanting to do something for her, so I thought I could at least get started with a card.

I used some older paper from My Mind's Eye that I picked up last year. I have been so good to stay away from the stores. I don't think I will ever run out of paper!!!! The funny thing about getting *new* things is that eventually they become *old* things, especially if you buy alot or don't use them quickly. Anyway...enough about my frugal behavior! LOL! I paired the cute paper up with a few different Verve stamps that I thought worked well together. The sentiment is also from Verve and is one of my favorites. It fit perfectly into this Nestabilites ribbon label, which I also love.

The images were colored with copics and prismacolor markers. The flowers and pot were cut and mounted with foam squares. My embellishments on the side of my focal image aren't quite what the sketch called for, but I had spent too much time trying to figure it out. I decided in the end to just try my best and do what looked cute. I was pleased that I had red thread in my sewing machine from stitching paper baseballs. You will be seeing what that was all about in a future post. Anway...I thought it turned out cute with the red thread. The finishing touch was a few dollops of Crystal Effects to the center of each of the stamped flowers.

Thank you for all of your sweet comments regarding my photo incident last week. My husband loved the photos.

You won't want to miss the other gals creations!!!!
Jen Del Muro and Andrea Ewen
Amy Rohl
Susan Liles
Amy Sheffer
Leigh O' Brien,
Jenn Diercks,
Amber Hight
Megan Lock
Sony Christoph
Jodi Collins

SFYTT X Three

or should I say...times 4! I needed to make a few Father's Day cards for my husband, father-in-law and step-dad. I decided to make things easy and just make the same card three times. I made a fourth and left the sentiment off so that I could suit it to what I wanted when the need arose. Since I was making three, it seemed silly not to make a fourth since I had already cut the base cardstock and I would have had one left over anyway.

The card itself is a bit juvenile, but I don't care. I don't think boys ever really grow up when it comes to their cars, planes, boats, etc. The images are all from Papertrey Ink which probably doesn't come as a surprise since the majority of my cards seem to be PTI. It really is amazing how their stamps have taken over most of my designs. My poor SU! sets sit collecting dust as well as most of my others. I think it is time for a major stamp over-haul to get rid of the things that I *never* use.

Anyway...on to the card. The paper is from the old slab of paper from My Mind's Eye. I knew that I could find some suitable paper to use for masculine cards. I chose the colors for the plane based off of the colors of the paper. I colored the image using copic and prismacolor markers. I added a few details here and there to give it some detail and dimension.

You won't want to miss the other gals creations!!!!

Jen Del Muro and Andrea Ewen
Amy Rohl
Susan Liles
Amy Sheffer
Leigh O' Brien,
Jenn Diercks,
Amber Hight
Megan Lock
Sony Christoph
Jodi Collins
I had an interesting experience at WalMart today. I try and avoid that place like the plague, but I needed to get some Top-Secret photographs( photos of the kiddos for hubby) printed for Father's Day and I really like the finish that they use with their one hour photo processing. I got there and the photo desk worker found my pictures, but said that there was an *issue* with my photos and that there were some "copyrighted" photos. I scratched my head and told her that I had taken all of the photos myself. She thumbed through them and said that she thought they were okay, but she would need to check with someone else. He proceeds to thumb through them and said how wonderful they were, but they did appear to be copyrighted. I told him how flattered I was that they all thought that my photographs were professional, but insited that they were all taken by ME!!!!! Then, a third worker thumbs through them and brings one over to ask what is on the side of the photograph. If you look closely at the border that I put around most of my photos, it looks like an old photograph with some writing. I told him that it is from my photo-editing software. He proceeds to tell me that if *I* could take pictures that well, that I should be in the business. Again, I am flattered, but really it seems like what they were saying is this: There is no way that a frumpy house-wife, with kids dangling from the shopping card, hair mussed and make-up halfway on, could possibly have taken the photos. He said that it really was amazing that I had known just which angles to use and this that and the other! All in all, they insisted that I sign a copy-right release saying that WalMart couldn't be held accountable if the *real* photographer ever came knocking at their door asking why they had printed *their* designs! It really was humiliating and un-nerving! If anyone understands how horrible it is for someone to take their designs without permission, it is me! It was really horrid having to sit there and insist that I was the one who had taken the photos. I don't think WalMart will be getting my photo business anymore, which is the only business they were getting from me. Although, I did find some *adorable* Mary Poppins clothes there for Emma. The T-shirt says "Perfect in Every way". They had some fun clothes with Kites and a cute shirt that said "Jolly Holiday" but I couldn't buy her all of it, as much as I wanted to. Anway, I will stop venting! Thanks for fluttering by!

P.S. I thought I would share one of the Top-Secret photos. I have quite a few different ones
to give to my husband for Father's Day. I took the kids a few days after Memorial Day. It was perfect because the sky was overcast, which made conditions ideal so that the sun didn't get in their eyes. I thought this one was precious. I love my kids so much.

It is my 12th Wedding Anniversary today. It is crazy how fast time goes by. We will be taking the kids to see Toy Story 3 , but then we will have the evening to ourselves.

From the bottom of my {Heart}!

Our Principal and Assistant Principal will be leaving our school at the end of the school year. I have really had a lot of fun working with both of them as I have volunteered with the PTA and in the kid's classes. I was in charge of getting the going away gifts, so I volunteered to make the cards to go along with them. Who would have guessed? LOL! Anway, I was short on time so I kept things super simple, but really wanted to add this quote that I found the other day.

I computer generated the sentiment and printed it out onto white cardstock. Then I carefully die-cut it using Nestabilities. The heart is from this stamp set and coordinating punch. That is the only stamping that this card has! I really wanted to try and stamp a smaller heart over the large word "heart" on the sentiment, but I couldn't chance it not looking right and having to start all over. I will have to try it again sometime. I actually have two extra quotes printed out, but I had spaced things incorrectly when I was printing them, so I couldn't use the nestablities using only one sheet of paper. Thus, I have two extras and I can play around with those

The cards are almost identical. I used two different backgrounds using paper from Pink Patterns. I added some ribbon and buttons and called it good! They were a hit. The assistant principal said that I should *go into business*! I guess even the simplest of cards are sure to impress! I am off to create dinner! Thanks for fluttering by!

Fluttering by to say "Hi" *SFYTT*

I am so excited! This week's SFYTT has been sponsored by Skipping Stones Design!Thank you, Thank you!!!!!! I chose to use this stamp set called "Dandelion Dreams". I just had to have it, especially because of the sentiment that I used on my card. Isn't it perfect?! I am sure you will be seeing it on quite a few creations in the future. I am loving this week's sketch, too! It was fun using all of the different panels. I have said it before and I will say it again; I don't know how Jen comes up with her fabulous sketches week after week! Speaking of Jen....she will be giving away not one, but two *unreleased* Skipping Stones Design set! You will definitely want to stop by her blog( link at the bottom of this post) to find out all of the deets!!!!!!

I already knew which sentiment I would be using and of course I needed to add the butterfly images, etc. I decided to use some more October Afternoon (Fly a Kite) paper. I chose to use a few of the patterns that I hadn't already used on any designs. I love the color combo, especially paired with the Kraft. I chose to use Kraft since the images I was using were silhouettes and I wanted them to have a shadowy effect rather than color. I like how soft it turned out.

I let the pattern paper do most of the work as I do so often. I did add a little bit of glitter to the flower image and a bit of black ink splatter. A few scallops and inked edges and it was good to go! I really enjoyed putting this little creation together.

We will be going to the annual Scottish Festival today. It has been a tradition since I was a kid. My brother played the bagpipes in the Utah Pipe Band, and my sister and I trained in percussion so that we could become drummers for the band....that never came to fruition, however! My family went to Scotland in 2003, but I had just given birth to Emma, so our little family didn't go with. I hope to go there someday!

You won't want to miss the other gals creations!!!!

Jen Del Muro and June Guest Designer
Amy Rohl
Susan Liles
Amy Sheffer
Leigh O' Brien,
Jenn Diercks,
Amber Hight
Megan Lock
Sony Christoph
Jodi Collins
Thanks for fluttering by!