Cards for Co-workers

These are the mini-cards 2"x3" that I use business cards for. The top card is for a new friend. I pressed the edges of the blue paper on an ink pad. The A has pink stones on it (although hard to see the color). The bottom card is also for a new friend that I got to work with earlier in the week. I just did simple squares and wrote out her name with my favorite font.

Another co-worker asked me to make a card for her to send to her grandmother for Thanksgiving. She gave me some ideas of what she wanted and the phrase. I used materials that I had already at home and this is what I came up with. I had a die-cut of a leaf that I traced on the orange paper. The edges ended up being white so I went back with a marker and traced the edges.

Pumpkin Pie Bread

This is not a picture of my bread, but how can you do a post without a picture?! I had so many good comments on this bread, that I thought I'd share it.

I thought that it would be a yummy, fall recipe to try, so I looked around at a couple places to come up with a good recipe. You can find the recipe I used (for the most part) at allrecipes.com. Check it out here. I made one change which was a suggestion in the comments -- instead of 3 cups of white sugar, I did 2 cups white and 1 cup brown. It was delicious!

Since it made two loaves, I also decided to do one loaf with nuts. It was a success too!

Calligraphy Project

Using a light box is the easiest way to do a large project. You just have to make the templates and then set each envelope on top. It's way easy!

You can see the lines through the paper so that I can write, but then it's gone once you take it off the box.

Here's the template and my calligraphy pen. This pen's been with me for almost 10 years! I took a class my 2nd year of teaching because I needed an outlet and had very few friends. It's been a profitable skill!

Here's the interior envelope.

My poor fingers are sore as I've been cranking these out this weekend. I had only 2 weeks to get the 83 done so it was very tight. Hopefully they are just what they wanted!

Look at these savings!

We had an awesome shopping experience over the last week or so and I had to share how great we did! I was specifically looking for items to donate for a food bank. My office was taking up $5 in cash or in a donation of food and then you could wear jeans to work. I decided to try my best to maximize the product I could buy with $5. Guess how much I got?!! I spent just over $5 and got almost $20 worth of items!!!

Out of these four receipts, there was a total of $140.83 in products and a savings of $85.14. That means that we saved 60% on these purchases.

The best savings were on the Kroger receipt --67% savings -- spent $20.49 for $60.87 worth of items.

Hope this is an inspiration for doing a little hard work in gathering coupons and staying up on the sales!

Trunk-R-Treat

Our church, for the first time ever, had a Trunk-R-Treat on Saturday, Oct. 30. We had the walk in the morning and then had our afternoon/early evening filled with setting up and helping out at the event. Our best buddy Judy was the one responsible for the idea for our trunk, but was not able to be there because her mom was ill. We tried our best and this is what we got:

Aren't I just the cutest?!

Barry doesn't seem too excited to be here.

We also had a chili cook-off and some games for kids to play. There was a jumpy thing, too. All in all, it was a pretty good time and we had lots of kids show up.

5 Mile Walk for Breast Cancer

Barry's office decided they were going to participate in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk that occurred on Saturday, October 30. Since you had to participate with a team, I joined in too. We were supposed to work at raising $2500 for our team and I had high aspirations, but with the pregnancy/miscarriage situation occuring in the middle of the time to raise funds, I dropped the ball. I did get $40 from two co-workers which was awesome.
The cool thing about the walk is that we went all through downtown Nashville. We walked across two bridges and down through some of the cool country music places.

Can you see the band of pink balloons at the finish line? Barry was a great sport and made it the 5 miles. We ended up being a few minutes ahead of the rest of the team, but we had a good time together.

We did it! We were with 18,000 others and raised $550,000 (see article here). It was a profitable experience!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

We went with our church to The Pumpkin Place (check out their site) on Saturday the 16th.

We went through a corn maze for the first time!!! Neither of us had been through one before. We got a little lost, but it worked out in the end!

There were lots of pumpkins ready for the picking. It was pretty neat to see the flowers, the green ones and then finally the mature pumpkins all in the same field.

We also went on a hay ride. It was pretty fun!

Here we are cheesily grinning.
(It's a little tough to get pictures of the both of us when no one's around to take it.)

We had a good time and the weather was awesome! I know that the families who came enjoyed all there was to offer.

Another birthday & no regrets

Here is a birthday card that I made with a little bit of sparkly! The turquoise paper had glitter all on it and then the stars are all sparkly too. I used a sticker that I got from a set of birthday stickers and added the paper behind it. It's pretty simple, but it works.

I've been thinking lately on the sermon series that my pastor is doing -- living a life with no regrets (go here to listen to the sermons he's done so far). I had shared about the frog before and not leaving things to tomorrow. The challenge this past Sunday was how we use our money. This is something difficult when you feel like there's hardly enough to pay bills, but when we consider that everything we have is God's, then it reaffirms that we need to consider what God would have us do whenever we pull out our wallet. I hope I can do better here, too.

A few cards

This is a duplicate card that I made for my co-worker. I had made one for a birthday and then was asked to make one for a friend of theirs. I used 5 papers. I added bff stickers to a piece of iradescent piece of paper and added it with 3-d tape. I also put a vellum sticker on the bottom square and added a sequin in the middle.

I made this card to put with a gift I sent with my boss when he visited the city that my brother lives in. I used this paper that had all kinds of family members all over it. I added the polka dotted paper and different stars to match the colors on the paper. I traced around the edge of the stars and added we love you! to the stars.

This is a birthday card that I made for Barry's brother. It was his 40th birthday. He is big into deer and hunting. I did the fall-ish colors since his birthday is in the fall. I added bronze brads in the upper right corner.

It's been a busy few days and we're trying to get on top of things. Hopefully things will settle down in the next little bit and we'll be back on track.

Thank Yous for Church

There were several people at church that I wanted to let know that I was thinking of them so I designed this little card to send out to them. I have these cute flower stickers that I used for the color scheme. I used a die cut to get the Thank You and the star under the a. I used yellow paper and pink paper to add more color. I think they turned out pretty well. I cut the cardstock to fit some envelopes that had been given to me.

Isn't it amazing how just hearing Thank You can make everything feel a little bit better? I know that there are people who do so much -- not expecting anything -- but just a simple thank you can encourage them to keep going. I hope that as a leader people realize that it is important to give compliments and not just "You should work on...."

Hope you have a great weekend -- especially if you're serving at your church!

Glasses & GPC

I've been struggling for a couple months with my contacts and couldn't figure out what the deal was. I just had my annual check-up in June and wondered if it was the new contacts. But after trying different pairs, it just wasn't making a difference. My eyes were itchy (but not red) and at times the contact would fold up into my eye.

So, Friday, I went to the doctor and found out that I have Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis (GPC). Basically it's bumps on the underside of my eyelid. So, there's irritation because the longer you wear the contact the more stuff sticks to it and rubs against the sore eyelid. The doctor said that it's something that takes a while to show up -- probably I've had symptoms for 4-6 months and just didn't know it. He had to flip my eyelids (like what little boys do to gross out the girls!) to see that this was the problem. Women are 5 to 1 more likely to get GPC.

So now I've been doing eye drops and should be back to contacts over the weekend. I CAN'T WAIT! I'm so sick of glasses! He also suggested that I try a different contact solution so I'll do that too. There's no way to really know if this will happen again. They don't really know what causes it.

My friend, Judy

You know, it's interesting when God puts someone on your heart. I had made this card thinking I was going to give it to one of the ladies at my church who's had surgery. But, as I was writing in some of the other cards I had made, God put the idea that I should send it to Judy. Judy & Dave are dear friends of ours from church. Dave has been out of a job since May and very actively looking for a new one. Unfortunately, with the field that he's in, it's more likely that they will end up moving. In any case, we're trying to enjoy their company while we have them here. So, through various events over the weekend, I thought I'd let her know I was thinking of her. I got this text from her, "I got your sweet note today. It was such perfect timing... you have no idea of how it made my day." Isn't it neat how God uses us?

I used this turquoise sparkly paper and added some purple organdy ribbon and a white chip board flower. I wrote on the flower, "thinking of you." I tried to make the flower look like the ones on the background paper.

Birthday Cards for Ellie

My boss's daughter was turning 6 and he asked me to make two cards -- for her party & her actual birthday. Since he calls her Ellie-bug, he wanted one with lady bugs on it. I found this really cool paper that had the lady bugs all around the edge. Then I wrote in the funky font that I like. I used a piece of grosgrain red ribbon that I've had hanging around and also added some ladybug stickers.

The second card he just wanted something to just say "I Love You." With that freedom, I used pink papers and an "e" sticker. There is a piece of pink organdy ribbon too.

He had me make up a couple other cards for some other birthdays too. I just didn't get pictures of them.

It's amazing how when you have to stick to a certain theme how hard it can be, to be creative! I struggled with the other cards I made for him because of the parameters that I had to work with. Sorry I didn't get pictures of them.

First Frog Fix

I was checking out the Pioneer Woman's website the other day and came across an article that has had me thinking (go here). She listed out some things that she's learned while blogging. Now, there is no way that I'll ever have a site like hers -- she has multiple entries a day, but in seeing what she found as valuable, it made me think about the purpose of my blog.

Initially, I only wanted to have a record of the things that I made, but the more that time passes, I realize that other things are important to me too! I've added pictures of family and things that my husband & I have done. I've added pictures of recipes that I've tried. But, in all of this, I've been pretty superficial.

So, today is a new day! I'm going to work at keeping more of a record of what I'm thinking/doing/experiencing as well as the crafty side of me in hopes that it may be helpful in the development of me. I am committing to do better at writing a few times a week.

Continuation of Cards

Did you see this design/papers before?! I'm making duplicates because there are some ladies at work that are recovering from surgery and I wanted to have some cards made up for people to buy.

Instead of the three little flowers, I just did a larger flower and a small one. I attached the flowers with that 3-d tape. It gives a lot of dimension to the card.

I duplicated the papers, but not the design of this one. I wrote out a verse around the edges of this flower (John 14:27a) and think it gives it a little pizzaz.

This one is a design that I've been doing a lot of lately. I'm made it for a friend at church. There is organdy ribbon, a cutsy butterfly sticker, and an "a" for her first name.

This is another one for the stash at work. I wish I had more of those stickers to do this design over and over. But, there was only one flower with the sparklies (I added the sequin), one butterfly with those colors, and the chipboard letter color worked just perfectly (again only one!).

I only made one of this one as I had only one brown die cut flower. I attached both with the 3-d tape to make them stand out. The papers matched perfectly and I just wrote get well soon at the bottom of the card.

Hope you're getting your fill! I've got more cards to make for family with birthdays coming up. Keep on reading!

Get Well & Various Other Cards

The ribbon on this one says Happy Birthday so it was a subtle way to get the birthday wishes out. I used a variety of papers and the "k" is from a set of chipboard alphabet letters that I got on clearanced at JoAnn's.

Here's a flowerdy card that I made for a friend at church. I've had these die-cut flowers for forever and they fit pretty good for this paper.

I made up this simple card for a friend that I've been thinking about lately. It's neat how the greens are so similar. I used white organdy ribbon, but found that I had picked up some wired ribbon by mistake.

This is a birthday card for a co-worker. I used 4 different papers and that wired white organdy ribbon.

I missed getting a picture of the other card that I made with these same papers -- but it was a birthday card for my good friend from church. They both used these same papers and flower die cuts. I liked how the flowers popped out on this design.

I tried to make 2x the amount of cards by repeating the designs & papers. It helps to get a bunch of cards made and since they were going to various people, none are the wiser (except you who read my blog!). See the next post and match up the same ones!

Thank yous & such

Here's a card that I made for my department to give to the executive director at my office. We had a going-away celebration for him on his last day.
You'll have to turn your head to see these ones... I made up a few 2"x3" cards to give to some co-workers. We've been doing a lot of extra work with a computer conversion and I wanted to give a few words of encouragement.

Here's a card that I made for a couple at my church to say thanks. It's pretty simple, but just a nice note.

This note of thanks is for a friend at church who's done a bunch of things for me lately!

Last of all, here's a birthday card for my husband's mom. She'll be turnng 60 on Thursday!

I had a few more other cards that I made for family birthdays and such, but I didn't get any pictures of them. :( Oh well. I have a few more things to make and hope to get them done tomorrow.

Fun Visit with the Fam

Since there are four birthdays in July, those of us in the South decided to get together to celebrate!

Doesn't Luke look like he's having fun?! We stopped by the new Bass Pro Shop.
Here are Luke & Caleb driving around the store!

Aaron is getting to be quite the little boy. He's crawling now!

Emma & I had a grand time together! She wanted to do everything with me.

We only had a few days together, but we crammed in lots of family time and enjoying each other's company. We played in Nana's kiddie pool, made lots of meals, played with all the fun toys, went to the park, and hung out together.

Cards Catch-Up

It's been well over a month since I last posted. Shame on me. So, I have a variety of cards to share that I've made over the last month. There have probably been a couple more in between that I didn't get a picture of either. Oops! I think that life is settling down again so maybe I'll do better!

We're starting off with birthday cards for my brother-in-law & brother.

I used the same design and figured it would be okay since one's in Tennessee & one's in South Dakota. It's a very easy design especially since my sister let me have her Sissix. I love doing stuff with the stars.

This card was for a friend at church that got married. I didn't know the colors they used, but figured red roses was a good stand-by. There was no particular design that I followed for this one. I did use 4 papers and some red ribbon.

I made this card for the Flowers family as a thank you for having my husband and I over. I tried to do a flower below the f, but it's hard to tell.

I made this set of cards for a co-worker's daughter who is getting married. After a similar project for my sister-in-law's sister who is getting married, I thought this might be good for her too. Her colors are the dark pink and yellow so I hope they come in handy when she's writing the mountain of thank yous.

Here's a close up of the card. I wrote in calligraphy on the side.

This card was for my friend Mallory who had a birthday in early July. It's hard to tell, but the ribbon says happy birthday on it. I used several different items on the card - pink metal hearts, 3-d tape with the letter M, and a flower attached with a brad.

Here's a thank you card for a friend at church who's been helping me a lot with the children's dept. I used three papers and a leather flower. I think it's kind of cute.

I haven't quite figured out if I'm finished with this card. It seems like it needs something else. I'm making this for a friend who just had surgery and is in the hospital. I have a little time before she heads home and I'll send it to her.

Here's the last one (for now!). It's a birthday card for a friend at work who's birthday is Thursday. After I got into some better light I realized that the sticker in the middle (that I based the whole color scheme & papers off of) is actually brown and not black! ARG! Oh well. I think that it looks okay.