Sweet Baby Girl Tag

A dear friend and her husband had their second baby girl this morning. I’m headed to the hospital tonight to take them a gift and needed a tag.  I decided to use the Button Card die and my little kraft bags for this. The Bitty Dot tag is backed with a solid piece of Hibiscus Burst cardstock so I could write a personal note to the baby
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Recipe – all PTI unless otherwise noted
Paper: Bitty Dot; Hibiscus Burst cardstock
Stamps:  Little Bitty Bird; Night, Night Moon
Ink: Versamark; Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)
Other: Ribbon; mini kraft bag (both from my stash and I don’t have labels/manufacturers for them)

My baby is four! and Tiny Treats: Birthday

My sweet baby boy is four years old! I can’t believe it.  The time has flown. It seems like just yesterday he looked like this (February 15, 2008):

And today at his birthday lunch he looked like this (February 18, 2012):

Sweet, sweet boy and I love being his mom.

When I was searching for Tiny Treats: Valentine ideas a couple of weeks ago, I ran across this froggy card by Debbie Olson (she’s so fabulous)
So many ideas went running through my head for ALL the Tiny Treats! I decided to start by using it as the basis for Harrison’s birthday card.

Now, let me tell you, I do not have steady hands at all. Therefore, my stitching leaves a lot to be desired. I admit it. So, with that out of the way, I’ll show you my take on Debbie’s card.

And a close-up [of the crookedy stitching] (but really, Harrison doesn’t care):

The little squareish shape was made from a Half & Half die flipped 180°.  I used some Frayed Burlap (Distress Ink) to age the die cut. The pirate boy and sentiment from Tiny Treats: Birthday were stamped on it and I used foam dots to elevate it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe, all PTI unless otherwise :
Cardstock: Kraft, True Black, Pure Poppy
Stamps: Background Basics: Houndstooth; Tiny Treats: Birthday; Birthday Bash Sentiments (inside card)
Die: Half & Half
Ink: Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko) Frayed Burlap (Distress Ink)
Other: Pure Poppy Top-Notch Twill, Pure Poppy Buttons; Maraschino baker’s twine (The Twinery)

Scratch-Off Valentines

The PTI anniversary challenge from Nichole’s blog today is to make an interactive card.  Um, Bad Mom Moment #2Billion…I completely forgot to get Valentines for my kids!! ACK!! I’ve been so focused on dealing with Harrison’s birthday that it completely slipped up on me. Ugh.  But, Nichole’s challenge means I can MAKE them Valentines! And that’s way more personal.
Several weeks ago my aunt emailed me a link to Better Homes & Gardens Scratch-off Valentine Cards.  I thought it was really cute and something I definitely wanted to try. Ah! Scratch-offs are interactive!! Yay!!!  I set to gathering my stuff to make the scratch-off part of the card:
clear Contact Paper, metallic acrylic paint, dishwashing liquid, and the card template.

Mix one part dishwashing liquid to two parts paint. Those little medicine cups you have multiplying like tribbles because of all the Benadryl and Dimetapp you buy? They’re perfect for this. {I know I can’t be the only mom out there who buys that stuff by the gallon}.
The mixed product:
Because I didn’t have a lot of time to get these done before I needed to start work, and I needed to make four of these,  I decided to use BH&G’s template for the inside of the card {edit once, print four times} This would be pretty easy to stamp, too. I chose four things I knew would rock my kids’ world:

No Chores Tomorrow!; Stay up an extra 30 minutes; You choose the game {when we do family game night later this week}; Skip one school subject {and just between us…the school subject would totally get made up later this week or sometime next…they’ll never know! but getting to skip it one day makes for a happy kiddo}
I laid my strips of clear Contact paper over the hearts, and started painting. I admit I didn’t read the instructions closely and I just laid the strip down and started painting. Cutting them would’ve made it look more professional when finished…just an FYI. (learn from the errors of my ways, people)

And yes, the North Pole candle you purchased to help a friend’s child’s choir makes a perfect weight for the contact paper. And smells good, too. Word to the wise, make sure it’s not lit.
I did two coats of paint on each strip of hearts and it was plenty. Once dry…

(that’s the view from the sticky side of the Contact paper) I stuck them on the cards…

By the way, I also trimmed all the red off the edges of the cards because (1) I didn’t want to be confined to only red cardstock and (II.) there was no way on earth that red was going to match PTI’s fabulous Pure Poppy red.
We now interrupt your cardmaking to fix a child’s lunch…this is what happens when your craft studio is also the chopping block in the kitchen and one of your children realizes she has not had lunch:  She fixes her own (bless her) and she does not care what you’re doing. She will totally break out the Wonder bread, Miracle Whip (aaaaaaack! She belongs to her father, that’s all I can say), cheese and turkey and just go to town. Love that girl.
So, once turkey sammich is made and everything cleaned up, I got out my PTI stamps and cardstock. I made the fronts of the cards very simple because I have no imagination. At all. None. I used Background Basics: Houndstooth (because apparently I’m a closet Alabamian…love me some houndstooth) and Tremendous Treats: Valentine {I would link but the PTI website is undergoing some massive renovations right now and I don’t trust direct links…so just go here http://www.papertreyink.com and you should be able to search for whatever you see that you love).
Elizabeth’s card – Raspberry Fizz cardstock (she’s my RazzFizz lovin’ girl) and one kitty…because she’s my first-born:

Nin’s card – Plum Pudding cardstock for my purple lover – and two cupcakes because she’s my second child:
Her whole card shot was better than her close-up – this is basically what everyone’s card looked like. Really bare, rather boring and I promise next year I’ll do better!
Annie’s card – Ripe Avocado since I didn’t have any Simply Chartreuse for my green girl – and three bunnies for our third-born:

Harrison’s card – Blueberry Sky cardstock. I stamped airplanes on his and tried to make it look like an airplane doing a loop-di-loop…but didn’t quite capture that effect so you’re getting a close-up look at how cute the airplane is in herringbone:
Here is the gathering of everyone’s cards – Elizabeth’s is open so you can see the scratch off (and her brother insisted that she have the dinosaur stamped on the inside):

Hope you had a great Valentine’s Day. 
Oh and for scratch offs – they got:
Elizabeth, Nin and Harrison all got the same one: no chores tomorrow. They do have to pick up after themselves – but they don’t have to empty the dishwasher, put away folded towels, etc. etc.
Annie scratched off: Skip one school subject. She was beaming as she told me she wanted to skip reading. Ah well, we’ll be working on speech therapy send home stuff…and it’s…ahem {reading}. She just doesn’t want to crack Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons {that aren’t really all that easy, quite frankly}. And that’s okay. We won’t.

Decluttering and Organizing the House

I'm on a mission to get my house decluttered and more organized. I am ready to start throwing stuff away or donating it. I don't care...just get. it. out!  Spring must be on its way - and none too soon, I might add!

I ran across an article I'd pulled out of the January 2011 issue of Better Homes & Gardens on 25 ways to declutter (it was for the New Year rather than spring cleaning - but really, six of one, half-dozen of the other).  And there are several ideas I like.

1. They suggest that every three months of so, you reserve one Saturday morning for a "family cleanout." Set a timer for 30 minutes and have each person in the family find things in his/her own space that can be thrown away or donated. Donated stuff is to be boxed up and donated right away. They then suggest that you reward the family with lunch out. That could be fun. I like the idea of a timer (making it less overwhelming), getting it out right away, and then there is a reward at the end of the work. 
2. Focus on one room at a time - and within that room, one section at a time. Efforts have more impact that way. Makes sense. 
3. Do I love it? Do I use it? Could someone else use it? 
4. Set up a solution that is a natural extension of your habits. Set up solutions where the clutter collects to deal with it immediately. 
5. Create a repair center - clothes that need to be mended, toys that need new batteries, stuff that needs to be glued - put it all together in one spot so when you have time to tackle something, it's all right there.
6. Sentimental items that are boxed up and stored away are of no use. Take a picture of it and then donate it. We actually did this with some baby blankets (some I kept, others I've passed on to our Baby-Cousin)
7. At seasonal clothes change over, go through your closet. If it doesn't make you feel wonderful or look fabulous, it's OUT of there! Donate it right away!
8. Keep a tighter focus on your to-do list  in order to clear mental clutter. Deal with your three most important tasks and then move on - only after those three are finished.
9. Spend a few minutes every night putting order to your purse. 
10. In the kitchen, tackle the junk drawer first. Remove what is not used at least monthly and then completely fill the drawer with drawer organizers so you can't just stash stuff in there. 
11. Every time you come home from somewhere,  clear the car of anything that doesn't permanently belong there. Nobody leaves the car empty-handed!! (We have started doing this and it makes a big difference!!)
12. Use a ceramic egg tray for office supplies storage (paper clips, thumb tacks, etc) - this is a great idea and I have a really cute egg tray that is going without use...which is wrong, given how cute it is
13. Make two coffee dates with a friend. First date, go through her kitchen cabinets to get rid of lidless plastic containers, mismatched glasses, petrified spatulas, old spices, etc. Second date, do the same in your kitchen. 
14. Declutter your calendar, too.
15. Give the kids a list of exactly what should be done when they are to 'go clean their room'. 
16. Procrastination breeds clutter! Have a do-it-now policy for everyday tasks like the dishwasher, folding and putting away laundry before starting another load (man...do I wish I could get someone to pay attention to that one)
17. Tackle the attic and garage first as they're prime candidates for purging. Stuff we never use ends up there!

Cherish

Two days in a row! It’s a papercrafting record! I’m continuing to participate in the PTI challenges that are posted on Nichole’s blog. Today’s challenge is to create a project that incorporates hearts. I also chose to use one of the sketches from yesterday, Sketch 5:

I love Heather Nichol’s patterned paper pack, Pacific Vineyard and another thing I love is that her Tag-Its 12 is has the same vine pattern on it (it also has a heart as part of the stamp set…but I didn’t use it).  I may give this to Brad for our anniversary instead of the card from last night. Or maybe I’ll give him both. Or maybe I’ll give him one to give to me…teehee!

Recipe, PTI unless indicated otherwiseCardstock: Ripe Avocado, Fine Linen
Patterned Paper: Pacific Vineyard
Stamp: Tag-Its 12
Die: Limitless Layers 1.75” Circles; Mat Stack 4; Tiny Tags
Ribbon: Ripe Avocado Saddle Stitch
Ink: Frayed Burlap (Distress Ink), Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)
Other: Fiskars Corner Rounder