CraftyEngineer

Soccer, Soccer, Soccer!

Both boys played soccer this Spring. It was the first time our youngest, really got to do anything but be the tag-along. He really enjoyed it. And even scored a couple of goals last week! They are all so cute at the age.

My older son played when he was 5 (like his brother is now) but then stopped because he really didn't like it. Well, he wanted to try it again now that he's 8. And WOW, has his tune changed since he was 5. He loves it so much that he has taken it upon himself to regulate all his homework and chores and other activities just so he doesn't miss soccer practice. Wouldn't have guessed that 8 weeks ago. He's a different kid now. The whining about doing anything stopped. ??? Okay, I'll go with it.

So, this season of soccer ends today. And both have told me not to forget to sign them up for the Fall. Uh huh. Got it on my list of things to do, boys.

With the end comes coach's gifts. There are 5 coaches between the 2 boys. Team gift cards to the sporting goods store always make an easy and usable gift. But they have to presented in something, right?

Five gift cards means five cards and envelopes. Simple, simple, simple. And quick thanks to that Accucut die because it's a busy weekend!

Hope yours is a happy one!

images: retired a muse artstamps

Kid craft class!

Back in March, my son's elementary school had our Spring Carnival. This year, I helped out with the Silent Auction by soliciting faculty donations and also by assisting classes with making some "AWESOME" art to auction off. I say "AWESOME" because the kids did the art and it looks amazing!

In addition to that, I made a bunch of stuff to auction off: a school scrapbook (just fill in the photos!), an elementary school frame (place for wallet size photos of each year) with our school logo on it, various grade level collage posters, a mosaic of this year's student body, and even 2 card/craft classes taught by me. One of the classes was a kid class and we had it today, after school. It was so fun! The kids were awesome - LOVE how they are so creative and free spirited. When do adults become those "perfectionists" types? 

So, we made 4 things - a personalized chalkboard for notes, a mother's day present, a mother's day card and finally a teacher's gift. Can't show you the mother's day stuff yet because some of the receipants may be watching...

But here is the teacher's gift...

It's a matchbox with 5 Hershey's nuggets in it. We covered the nuggets with stamped address labels.

The box is another Accucut die, called Matchbox #1. I used to make these by hand and cut and score everything. This is WAY easier. ;) Cut and put together, lickety split.

We stamped the labels and the white cover with retired A Muse stamps.

Three of the girls in the class today are in the same class (which happens to be the same class as my son!). That teacher is going to get A LOT of chocolate :)!

Happy Weekend!

This didn't turn out how I imagined.

I was going for a gift card holder type of card. I got that but not exactly what I envisioned. That ever happen to you? I like the end result but I was thinking it would be "more" girly somehow (It was the stamp set I chose). In fact, my youngest just walked in as I'm writing this and saw the photo and said "that's a *cute* card". So, now I *know* it's not girly.

outside.

inside.

I recently went to a SU! party that a friend had. I hadn't been to one since I was a demostrator a few years back. It was fun. But I certainly don't need any more stamp sets. I did get some paper... love some of those colors (not shown here ;)). Well, I got enough stuff to get a SAB set. I used one of those stamps on the front of my card. The inside has a pocket (to hold the gift card) and the birthday cake image on the insert is from Savvy Stamps, I think. To make such a quick pocket card, I used my A2 Card Pocket Die from Accucut.

That's it from here. Lots of crafting to be done as school is trying to wind down. Got the last parts to the teacher's gifts today. Maybe I can crank those out soon. Who. Am. I. Kidding?

Hope all is well with you.

 

 

 

 

The Oak Hill Fires & Our Teacher.

You may have seen this on the national news. Wildfires spread very close to home last Sunday. In fact many of my son's school community was affected. It is a sad, sad event. My son's 3rd grade teacher lives in that area. Her garden was lost by flying embers. Luckily, her husband saw the fire and caught it before it took their house. Had they evacuated (as they were supposed to), they would have lost their house. Anyway, our class loves our teacher and decided to get her some plants and new seeds to replant her garden. Some of us decided to get her a gift card to a local nursery (the Natural Gardener) because some of us (ME!) are not gardening types and wouldn't have the first clue as to what to get her that is in season, that she likes, that works in our climate, yadda yadda yadda. Now, being the paper crafter I am, I *had* to present the class gift card somehow, right? :) Here it is... another Accucut die to make this card (card and envelope). I swear I do use my Accucut everyday. Well, everyday that I craft. The flower is the flower die (#28) I used the other day.

Glad that the fires are out. Thankful that no one lost their life. Thoughts are with those families that lost their homes and those that have so much to deal with. Be careful out there. It is mighty dry.

My favorite card size.

My favorite card size to make is little 3x3 gift enclosures. They are quick, fun, and most importantly the item I use the most, as far as cards go! Grab and go so to speak.

So, I love this size so much that I had a custom die made from Accucut to cut six 2.75x2.75 cards (with score lines) out of 8.5x11 sheet. I already had a 3x3 envelope die! Then, I thought it would be great to design a custom die that would be a box to hold 4 cards and 4 envelopes of this size. Accucut's custom die service is awesome. I've had quite a few dies made over the past couple of years. Now, I have all the stuff (we crafters are all about the stuff, right?) to make little boxes of gift enclosures. Sweet. Accucut also sells this heavy duty plastic that cuts nicely with the dies. That's what I used for the top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, the images are from Unity Stamp Company. The set is called Going Retro. The inside of each card says "Have a groovy day!" Aren't lava lamps cool?

Thanks for checking in. Hope you are having a great day!

Why are baby things SO cute?

A dear friend of mine that I met the seven years ago when my oldest started preschool is pregnant with her third child. She and I have been pregnant at the same time and both sets of our kids are just weeks apart. She has girls though. Well, this time around I'm not pregnant at the same time as her. (phew).In fact, I won't even be playing catch up with her! :)

Her baby shower is this weekend so I wanted to make her a little something.

Which brings me to the title of this post? What is it about baby things? I have this thing for onesies. And well baby feet. A while back I got this Accucut onesie die. Isn't it cute? And again, I made a set of 8 thank you cards & envelopes housed in the Accucut portfolio. I even used the onesie as a tag for the outside (where I tell her "sorry, by design, I'm not prego with you! HA!).

See that little teddy bear on the front? That's piece of a May Arts Ribbon! I'm telling you, baby stuff is cute. Glad she's having the baby ;)

This set happens also fits the Moxie Fab challenge: "The Card Sets Challenge". Please join me in playing along!

Supplies: Images by Saavy Stamps; Cuttlebug Swiss dots embossing folder, Accucut dies, SU! ribbon, Memento Inks

Treat Yourself.

Recently a friend of mine did something for me that was above and beyond. I wanted to thank her so I got her a Sonic giftcard. Do you have Sonic where you are? America's drive-in... gotta love it. I especially love their happy hours from 2-4 everyday for their 1/2 prices drinks! I'm a vanilla diet coke gal. I know many that love their Cherry Limeade... but give me a vanilla diet coke any day! Of course, my kids always wants a watermelon slush...

So, I made a gift card holder. The card and envelope are an accucut die, called gift card & envelope #1. This die may actually be the one that I use the most. The Taylored Expressions Chillax came in handy for the images. And the sentiment is from Stampendous... "Treat yourself". Isn't that perfect?

I used a clear sakura glaze pen over the ice cubes to make them slick.

This card fits the Moxie Fab challenge: The Gift Card Holder Challenge. Please join me in playing along!

Hope you have a great day. Treat yourself!

TE Blast from the Past Blog Hop!

I never had a chance to play in the Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past blog hop before. I'm so excited that I got a chance to play in the April customer blog hop. The theme this month is "Clean & Simple". Of course, I had to play... :)

I used TE "The Places You'll Go" set. SO FUN! I've had it for a while and this is the first time I used yet. It's hard to see in the photos but the card base is dry embossed with random circles (Quickutz embossing folder, I think).

I love the sayings on this set. Maybe because I have kids. Maybe not ;). I think I'll give this card to my son. I'm always excited to see him reading ... such adventures lie ahead for him.

Be sure to check out all the other creations in this blog hop! I know I will!

Supplies:
Images: Taylored Expressions The Places You'll Go
Ink: memento black, versafine black onyx
Extras: copics, DG3 (diamond glaze on steroids ;)), foam tape, QK Embossing Folder

 

Texas Tuesday - sending a big ol' Texas Hug.

It's Texas Tuesday. I haven't played along with this challenge in months. The 1st and 3rd Tuesdays always snuck up on me... yeah, that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it! :)

Here's my Texas Tuesday creation... I love this little bird. I thought he'd look more interesting flocked. Does he? I dunno. Just a fun, little guy that looks like he's trying to give a great big ol' Texas Hug!

Be sure to check out Mark, Betty, Tina and Danielle's blogs for their Texas Tuesday creations.

Have a great Texas Tuesday!

A bucket o' gift cards...

Recently, my neighbors got together to help another family in the 'hood out by collecting gift cards to a local grocery store. I wanted to present them in a fun, spring-y way. And perhaps actually use up some of the stuff I already have. Ha (that'll be the day.).

I do have a surplus of those $ spot Target tins. Who doesn't? :)

I had this vision in my head that the gift cards would be held with some sorta clips things or maybe coming out like flowers out of the tin.  Well, the first attempt was to use pipe cleaners and clothespins for stems and grabbers. That didn't work though. The gift card was too heavy to keep the "stem" straight! On to plan B... I liked the idea of the clipping thing... aka clothes pins. So then I stuck them all around the tin just to figure out what to do next. Hey, those could work as the holder-uppers and the grabber things (such technical terms, I know!). Okay, but these are boring old brown/tan/regular clothes pins. Hmm. How to paint them? And quickly (because I lack patience). Took out all my acrylic paints and quickly started to lose interest on this project. Told you I lack patience. :) Oh, wait, here are my son's DOT markers. Yep, I used those and covered those boring pins and made some bright ones QUICKLY. Only weird thing was that the PURPLE really comes out PINK. ??? Hmm. Stuck the pins on with a glue dot on the outside... just enough to hold the pin up. Added ribbons to the handle and some packaging/grass stuff to the inside. Then the outside needed something quick. Accucut layering flower die to the rescue. Again, I used some Best Creations glitter paper (yellow) left over from my son's card earlier. That cardstock is awesome. I love that the glitter doesn't come off like other glitter papers/cardstock do.

Hope you like this little creation. It was fun to make something colorful and springy/summery. It was even more fun to give it away.

Hope you are having a great weekend! 

ETA - Just found out about the Moxie Fab challenge: The Gift Card Holder Challenge. Please join me in playing along!