A couple of images all colored up!

Hi everyone! I know it's been a while since I posted here...spring is always an insane time at work for me, so I have had very little time to craft at all, much less post. I'm really hoping things slow down a bit in the next few weeks, although I think the busy times will transfer from work to home life in these next few weeks as the kids wrap up the school year. Are any of you feeling a little overwhelmed right now too?

Anyway, I wanted to share a couple of digi images that I colored with my Prismacolor pencils yesterday. Both are from Mo Manning, and I have really fallen in love with her images. I can't believe how long it took for me to start using her digi stamps, but they are so cute!

The first one is called Bronte Kisses. How sweet is this image??? I colored this one while I was on my lunch break. Lately, I've been either rushing through lunch, missing lunch, or working through lunch, and yesterday I decided I just needed to get off the grid for a bit and have a little "me" time. And although a couple people looked at me a little strangely as I sat there with my bowl of soup and my pencils, blending stumps and Gamsol around me, I had a great time. :)

The next one is called Prince Edward Island. As soon as I saw it I had to have it! My best friend and I were huge Anne of Green Gables fans when we were girls. Have you read the series? It's just delightful - and I have been rereading the first book over the past couple weeks when I have a few minutes here and there. My favorite as a girl was Anne of the Island, and I wonder if my taste has changed now that I am older. But knowing that Anne and Gilbert are finally going to end up together...sigh. :)

This was my first time coloring on kraft cardstock. I used a tutorial over at Dorcas Designs to help me with the flesh tones. Not nearly as good as hers, but I was happy with the result for a first try. I really like how the colors pop on the cardstock. With kraft you don't use Gamsol or other solvents to blend the colors, rather you layer the colors on top of one another. The photo makes the coloring look a lot lighter than it is in person, but still, the overall effect is a lot like pastel chalks on paper. I worked on blending on Anne's face & body, but left her carpet bag less blended, trying for more of a tattered look. If anyone read the book, they would remember that she held onto her old bag when she met Matthew because the handle was broken and she knew the trick to keeping it closed. :)

The next step with each of these images is to put them on a card. Hopefully I'll have a chance by the weekend to do that, although first I have to dig my desk out of the piles that have accumulated over the past couple of weeks. I've also been working on my quilt here and there, and pulled out the knitting needles to work on a preemie hat. I'd like to get a few together and make a donation to the NICU at the local hospital. Ever since my colleagues twins were born at around 21 weeks in October, I've had preemies in the back of my head. The twins are home now, both well over 9 lbs and happy and healthy. Modern medicine really amazes me, but knowing that there is also a little something I can do to help these tiny babies makes me happy.

Lastly, an update on our duck. She laid a total of 11 eggs, but never returned to incubate them. Perhaps she was a young duck and didn't know what to do, perhaps she was frightened off, perhaps (and I really hope not) she was attacked and couldn't return. We kept our distance from the nest for over a week, but never saw head nor tail feather of her. Maybe she will try again next year...but it will have to be in a different spot since I still plan to dismantle the crumbling stone grill this summer.

Oh wait - one very last thing! Today is Teacher Appreciation Day in the states, and I just wanted to take a moment to wish our teachers a very happy day! We set up a lunch for the teachers at my son's school, and my daughter gave her preschool teacher a wooden birdhouse she painted herself. I'll have to post a couple pics of that...her furrowed brow as she concentrated on her art was adorable to watch. She was very proud to give it to her teacher when I took her to preschool today. :) So to all teachers (including my hubby!) - a very Happy Teacher Appreciation Day to all of you. Thank you for all you do for our children!

Diaper Cake!

One of the Kindergarten teachers at my son's school is having a baby (actually she was induced last night, so we're waiting for news right now!) and since Tuesday was her last day we wanted to give her a little gift on behalf of the PTO. Being the "crafty one" (lol), I was in charge of making a diaper cake. I've made a few of them and usually keep mine pretty simple. This one used one package of Pampers and was decorated with some very cute ribbons and a little stuffed lion. He of course needed a touch of color too, so I tied a bow around his neck with the same ribbon. :) Thankfully one of the PTO members snapped a picture of it, because I didn't have a chance before I had to rush it up to the school...elementary schools have lunch so early in the day! After he took it I realized that the top ribbons had shifted so I straightened it before the mom-to-be came into the room. Whew!

I've seen some massive cakes, and one day I may have to attempt it, but for now this 2-layer version works out quite nicely! In fact, it has become one of my go-to baby gifts!

If you've never made one before they are relatively simple. The diapers are usually arranged in one of two ways: individually rolled and formed into a "cake" shape, or by fanning a stack of diapers into a round shape. I prefer the second method...while it take a bit of patience to fan them evenly and shape the circle, individually rolling each diaper seems mind-numbing to me. Some people use a tube in the center to help form the circle of diapers, but I don't bother. I can usually coax a good circle with some patience. I always top mine with some sort of stuffed animal...in fact I usually let the stuffed animal decide how the rest of the cake will be decorated. I tried finding an animal to match the cake and it was nearly impossible, so I learned my lesson! This little lion was perfect. To add a bit of color I tied a matching ribbon around his neck (think a cute stuffed animal is even cuter with a giant bow!). I then added a little note card with a die cut lion on it with a little message from the PTO.

One of the other members (who is equally as crafty!) made a sweet little onesie. She used fabric paint to recreate our schools eagle logo on the front and put little eagle "foot" prints on the backside. We rolled it up, tied it with a ribbon and added it to the top of the cake.

Here is another I made last year:

Do you have any special gifts you like to make for babies/weddings/etc?

Pencil Vase

As we get ready for the first day of school I can't help but think of the line from "You've Got Mail": "If I knew your address I would send you bouquets of sharpened pencils." Sigh...no wonder Meg Ryan fell for Tom Hanks with a line like that. :)Ok, enough sappiness.

School starts the day after Labor Day in Michigan, so this week the teachers are back in their classes getting things ready for the adoring little faces who will fill the halls next week. I was elected Secretary of our PTO this year which will bring it's own set of challenges as I add it to the list of things that fill my day. But I am excited by the idea of helping my sons school as much as I can. We decided to treat the teachers to lunch today...nothing too fancy, just some sandwiches, salads, a little dessert and some drinks. I made a fruit salad, which the kids were very happy to help with (though I had to check that they did get all of the stems off the grapes! ha!). I also made these vases to decorate the tables. I found the idea here.

The teachers loved it and we plan to raffle it off to them. For the lunch we just filled them with some silk flowers, but they will look so cute with any kind of flowers.

Here's a video I posted at YouTube about it:

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp_QjQ7dvyk

Enjoy!

Flower Pens!

What do you do when you wake up at 7:30 (on your day off!) realizing you left the hot glue gun plugged in all night? Well, once you've determined that you haven't burned the house down, you realize since it's hot anyway, you might as well do some more crafting! :) Or is that just me....?

We're (the PTO) preparing some goodie bags for the teachers at my son's school. I think I mentioned that I'm the designated crafty one in the group so I was given the task of making some flower pens. I stopped at the Dollar Store yesterday and found the rest of the supplies I needed, so this morning I sat down to work. Here is how I did it:

You will need:

• Pens
• Silk Flowers
• Floral Tape
• Glue (Hot glue is great for this!)
• Sissors
• Wire Cutters

Start by taking the top off the pen to give access to the tube. I didn't think about this when I bought my pens so I had to cut the tops off. It's a pain and does slow things down, so maybe keep an eye out for pens that have a tip that pops out (i.e. Bic Stik is one I know of). If you have to cut the tops off, just know they fly everywhere if you aren't careful so don't aim it toward anyone.

Now cut your flower buds off the bunch. I prefer using wire cutters for this rather than sissors since the wire in the stems can damage the blades of your sissors. I actually had my son help me with this. With supervision, a 6 year old is perfectly capable of doing this and he had a lot of fun. Just leave enough of the stem to fit into the tube. I didn't want it to interfere with the ink chamber, so I'd say I had about 1/2" to work with.

Now it's time to attach the flowers. I added a bit of hot glue into the pen tube (It won't need much) and pushed the flower into the glue. Hold for a moment and it should be set. If it oozes out of the top of the tube you can wipe it off, but remember that hot glue is HOT! I'm convinced that it's even hotter at 8am...

Then take your floral tape and begin at the bottom of the pen (the writing end). Stretch the tape a bit to activate the adhesive and then wrap the tape up the length of the pen to the flower. When you tear or cut the tape and roll it at the top the end will blend in nicely with the rest of the tape so you really shouldn't be able to see where it ends.

And that's it!

What I learned:

• This is a super fast craft. I made 2 dozen in about 2 hours. With a different pen it might mave been a bit faster.
• Back to school time is a great time to find pens cheap.
• I really don't care for silk flowers. Some people make amazing floral arrangements, but it's just not my thing. Which is good...I have enough other supplies to keep me busy for a very long time. :)
• My cat will find a way to cuddle when I craft no matter what.
• This would be cute in arrangements for showers or somewhere where pens have a tendency to disappear. This doesn't tuck into a pocket too well without the person knowing. As an accidental collector of pens it would help me!

Have you tried these out before? What was the occasion? Did you make yours differently?
Have a wonderful day!