CraftyEngineer

25 days of projects - day 25: Holiday card!

Merry Christmas or Happy Festivus or just Happy Thursday - Happy whatever you celebrated today!

It's been a fun day around here... kids always make it fun!

This is our Holiday Card this year... and um, no, they haven't gone postal yet... very, very soon though!

All A Muse... it's a 5.5x8.5 card with the letter printed on the inside and a photo our our photo in there too. LOTS of glitter.

Today is the last post of my 25 days of projects... I can't believe I made it through. Did you enjoy this series? Did you have a favorite? I hope that you did find something that was inspiring to you! Now, if I can just remember all of this next year ;). Let me know... I'm really interested in what, if anything, you found interesting!

We wish you and yours a very happy, healthy holiday season.

25 days of projects - day 24: Thank you cards

The wonderfully talented Jenn Shurkus sent me a very cute Christmas card this year. In it was a picture of  her and Mr. Harley. I *totally* CASED her design and used it for these thank yous. I'm ahead of the game for thank yous! Behind on getting those stinky holiday cards done. Let's just say everything in my house has glitter on it. Sigh. Anyway, THANKS Jenn! I *love* snowflakes and she used the Marvy Snowflake punch to punch out the front of her card. I did the same, only I used the A Muse cabana blue cards and folded them with the blue on the inside. 

I also used Julie's very cool trick on the  envelopes. I used A2 sized envelopes for these square cards but I punched out a "decoration" on through the envelope. I used the Martha Steward Collectible 2008 Snowflake Punch. Then I put a strip of acetate inside the envelope. I secured it to both sides of the inside with my adhesive. Now you can see right through the snowflake! Pretty slick, eh? I tell you, that Julie, she's mighty clever!

    
 

For whatever you are doing tomorrow, I wish you peace, happiness, love, laughter, and the possibility to make some beautiful memories.

25 days of projects - day 23: More Ornaments

I just *love* the way these turned out! Definitely will make this for the ornament exchange next year. I wanted to make this one for this year's but the die didn't come in time. I still needed to make some more ornaments. Every year, I give my boys and a nephew an ornament. I usually make them if I can think of something crafty. So, this year, these are it! And yes, I am covered in glitter! I let my boys pick which color glitter they wanted (green and purple!) and then red for my nephew.

No stamping on these but it did take a bit of *thinking* to figure out how to make it 3-d. The die is just the outside star and then the inside star. So, I ended up making 2 of each PER ornament. I have nylon thread in between the smaller star pieces and have it hanging from the bigger one. All glittered first, of course!

Details: Sizzix Starburst Die, Martha Stewart Glitter, 2 way glue, SU! Sheer Ribbon (wide organdy)

   

Happy Tuesday! Gotta get some grocery shopping done here. What are you doing today?

Oh boy! Oh boy! Just 2 more sleeps...

25 days of projects - day 22: Kid thank yous

Okay, so I *almost* cheated on this entry. I almost came here to say that today's entry is our Holiday Letter. Well, we did get that done... at 1:30am last night. But the cheating part is that it's part of our Holiday cards. Um, which I'm still working on. Thought I could get them all done today but I couldn't. I tried to get them done before the 5pm mail but since I missed it, I decided to switch gears and LET GO ... it's okay that my cards won't be done today (or tomorrow probably!). It is okay, really (see how I'm trying to convince myself???). You know, most of my relatives that I send to in India don't celebrate Christmas (big surprise, eh?) AND they usually don't get it for 3 weeks anyway. So, what's one more day (or two) going to matter ;)...  Plus I think *most* of you aren't here reading blogs anymore and that you've started your celebrating! So, you won't mind either then... :D  Rationalize, rationalize...

In any case, trying to get ahead of the game, this project was a team effort: my eldest and I. We made his thank yous today. I *always* wanted to make these... the kind they fill in. My window of opportunity for these kind of thank yous probably has passed since I made him write full thank yous for his b'day in June. But nonetheless, I made this for him and he stamped them. I let him pick ANY stamp he wanted in the entire studio. ANY! He picked A Muse's simple snowflake. He was in a quick, let's get it done mode. Oh well.

As an aside, our school (as I'm sure most do) has a particular handwriting style they teach the kids. I've been working with my son to *improve* his handwriting and finally decided to (with the bookmarks the other day) to buy the font that they use at the school. I am *so* happy I did this. I used that font on these thank yous. I figure the more he sees, it the more it will sink in. Probably not surprising to you but I was a penmanship NUT when I was little. I practiced ALL of the time. Probably why I learned Calligraphy at such a young age and did so many wedding invitations and such. Just LOVED the way things look in handwriting. I often change my handwriting just because I get bored. It's a shame that we don't write things as much anymore.

Anyway... 3 more days. The excitement around here is so fun! How is it at your house?

25 days of projects - day 21: Longhorn Cards

My neighbor has 2 daughters: a 9th grader and a 5th grader. In the past year, the 9th grader has become a BIG Longhorn fan. I mean, she knows all the stats for ALL of the players, etc. Doesn't miss a game, bleeds orange, the whole bit...

Whenever I find a young longhorn fan that I know personally, I can't help but foster that enthusiasm. It's not so much about the "football" team as it is that I really do believe The University of Texas has many great life experiences to offer. It was a good school for me, my brothers, my husband, his sister, etc. We all had  different experiences but such good ones that made us who were are today. I'm not saying other schools don't provide this. I'm just saying that this one did for us. So, in keeping with that idea, I wanted to make something for those girls *just* for fun. These were very quick but that's all they needed to be. I gave each of them a set of 10 cards with envelopes. I chose not to put a sentiment on there so that they could use it for Christmas cards to their friends or maybe even thank you notes. Do your kids write thank yous? I have one niece, she's 27 now, and STILL hand-writes these beautiful thank you notes. I need to tell my SIL good job for instilling that in her daughter!

The longhorn is made by Mark of Deadbeat Designs. THANKS MARK! And the santa hat is by A Muse. I did put liquid applique on the hat! The paper is by Stampin' Up! It's the natural white CS.

FOUR MORE DAYS... Are you still checking in or have your holidays started? Mine *officially* started Friday night with a party and I've been *partying* since I suppose. I have a few more projects to finish up (ok, start ... like my holiday cards!!!) but in general, the mood around here is very calm and lots of good family time!

See you tomorrow! Hook 'em Horns!

25 days of projects - day 20: Teacher Gift Card Holders

A while back, the very talented, Jennie Moczan posted this cool gift card holder on her blog. I totally love it and have cased it more than once. In fact, I cased it for an A Muse News Oldies but Goodies card recently seen here. Thanks Jennie! You totally rock!

I used that same card and layout for gift card  holders for the teachers. Our classes (both boys) collected money from the class for a group gift. I made an extra one to give to my next door neighbor, who drives my oldest to school every day! So quick and easy. And of course I had to use that sentiment... it's one of my favorites...

"On Comet, On Cupid, On Donner, and VISA!" HA! HA! HA! It's an A Muse sentiment from the Holiday Greetings II clear set. All the paper is from A Muse, as well and that saying goes so well with Holiday Shopper stamp.

Thanks for checking in. 5 more days... are you ready?

25 days of projects - day 19: 1st Grade Bookmarks

My son's first grade class is a big "do work all day" (his words, not mine) kinda class. I thought it would be fun to make personalized bookmarks for all of the kids to help make reading fun. The real question: Stamp them or design them on the computer? Well, truth be told that I was running outta time. These were due Wednesday morning and as of the cub scout meeting on Tuesday night, I didn't even have a design in my head! ACK! So, the computer won out for sheer speediness. I did stamp one part and color that. Can't not stamp, right? Finally at the end I cranked up the laminator and laminated them for good measure. Have you seen how hard kids are on their bookmarks?

I printed a cute poem I found on the net about first graders:

I thought the poem was cute! It reads:

Now That I Can Read

I used to need somebody

To sit and read to me.

I'd look at every page they read

and listen carefully.

But now that I'm in 1st grade,

I'm filling up a shelf

with stories, poems, and other books

That I can read myself.

How are your holidays going? I think I've finished the shopping except for one inlaw, which my DH will take care of. I pretty much ordered everything online this year. I signed up my son's school as a non profit organization that receives money back from online merchants (like the big ones... amazon, ebay, b&n, eddie bauer, etc, etc.) so for every purchase I make up to 37% (yes, 37% - of course depends on where, etc... but the avg is 3%) of my purchase goes back to my school. Isn't that cool? I signed us up a couple of months ago and it's been fun watching the "free" money add up. Anyway, I'm happy to not go out and shop. I *don't* like to shop. Of course the hard part is figuring out what to give! I haven't started my holiday cards yet but they are on *the* list. So, soon. :) I'm well into the *party* part of the season and have a few more to go to this weekend. But pretty much it's smooth sailing from here on out... YIPPEE!

Happy Friday!

25 days of projects - day 18: Cub Scout Ornaments

Tuesday was our last cub scout meeting until after the holidays. Back in the beginning, the boys came up with a list of what a good scout is. We wrote those on a poster board for them so see at each meeting. We light a candle at each meeting. The candle burns until one or more of the boys do something that is not what a good scout is. When the candle burns down, the boys get a pizza party! So, long story even longer... the boys got their pizza party on Tuesday night. How appropriate to have the pizza party the last day before the break!

I wasn't certain we were going to the party because 1) the weather was awful that day 2) my son is a non-pizza eater (REALLY! I know! WEIRD!) 3) well, honestly I didn't feel like going. But, um, well, yeah, we - he and I did go. So hours (LITERALLY... at 3:30pm Tuesday), we start making gifts for his cub scout friends. *We* decided to make cub scout ornaments.

We are the tiger cubs this year. You would not believe how much time I've spent looking at very, many  manufacturers for a tiger die. Seriously. Well, wouldn't you know it... one of the Cricut cartridges I *ahem* already own has a tiger! (an aside... I am seriously loving that I get to pull out some of my tools/stuff to do all of these projects! So fun to use some stuff I haven't in a while!) And the colors this year are blue and orange. So, 2 hours later, we had 10 of these made. I hope them like them. I did handwrite the year, den and pack numbers (although that's hidden in the picture).

The ornaments are actually the medium weight square coaster that I cut to 3.5x3.5. Then we covered them with SU! Brilliant Blue CS on both sides. I used my Apricot Copic to color the coaster edges so that they wouldn't be white.

Not too bad for 10 in 2 ho urs, right? I was really thinking we weren't going otherwise I would have punted on this project and saved it for something else in the Spring.

But hey, I'm happy that I had a tiger die in my *stash* of stuff. Maybe I should shop more in my studio! LOL!

Happy *last* day of school for us and I hope you, too! Seven more days ... WOHOO!

25 days of projects - day 17: Teacher gifts- Calendar books

OH MY! SCHOOL STUFF IS DONE. WHEW! Last night, I honestly thought I wasn't going to make it through this morning - class party and distribution of gifts! In any case, the *good* news is many projects are done and just need to be posted to my blog.

But have I started my holiday cards yet? Um, no. That's not new though. I usually don't start until school is out. But I DID get a photo made... but then Sam's (where I sent them to print) called and their printer is broken. AAAAGGGHHHH ... will it ever stop? The one step forward, 20 million steps backward?  This is a GOOD time to breathe and remember that in the big picture, none of this matters. "No day but today". Ah I feel better already. :)

Okay, so this year's teacher homemade teacher gift is calendar books. I taught this A Muse calendar class back in November. When I prepped that class, I prepped extras so that I could make these for the teachers. Sounds easy enough. Right. I had made 14 over the past 2 weeks. Again with the assembly line process. One night was gluing, one was stamping, one night coloring, etc. etc. 

I had one teacher tell me it was too pretty to use. I told her in 2010 when she saw it again, she would have wished she did! Use your stuff... just use it. Like your *good* perfume. Don't save it for a "special" occasion. Just use it because you are special! :)

Happy Wednesday!

25 days of projects - day 16: Polar Express Bells for the kids

The Polar Express... it is such a good movie. And a great book, too. :D

Yeah, so okay, this is a similar rendition of a thing I did last year for my son's kinder class. I got the idea from a friend that did something like this for her daughter when the movie came out back in 2004. And I've loved it ever since. I'm going to drag out the belief as long as I can... and I'm sure you know... people out there are just plain mean and tell your kids things that they shouldn't about what is real and what isn't. Already this year, two different people have tried to tell my DS about the man in the red suit and his reindeer. Humpf. Don't do that. But I've been lucky to guide him where I think his heart wants to be. The time from when they get the whole concept to the time they start disbelieving is incredibly (!!!) short. I didn't think I would have the conversations I've had this year about this already.

ANYWAY, so I made some bells (30) with the tag that says:

One thing I got *smarter* at doing this year is color coding my boys' stuff... so one kid got all red and the other green. Makes it MUCH easier to sort out and deliver. They are coded because their "from name" is on the back of the tags. Novel idea, eh? Only took me a couple of YEARS to think of that. <insert rolling eyes!>

See you tomorrow.