Happy Thanksgiving! I have so many things to be thankful for, today and everyday. I am thankful for my family, my friends, my job, and for having a hobby that not only brings me joy, but brings joy to others, too. Yesterday I showed you the cards that the 5th Graders were making for the veterans living at Haven House, which is part of the VA here in Los Angeles. The kids made the cards assembly line style, with each of them taking part of the task. (If the picture looks funny, it’s because I blurred out their faces.)
They worked so hard, and so well, that they completed twice as many cards as I expected! I had to cut more cardstock before the second class came! All together they made 105 holiday cards for the veterans to send out to their families and friends. And they loved making them! They each took their assigned job very seriously, and the cards they made turned out fantastic.
I feel so fortunate to work in place that not only lets me share my love of what I do with the students and see them enjoying it also, but to be able to help others in the process as well. I hope you have many blessings to count as well.
Our Service Learning coordinator was told by the VA Hospital here in Los Angeles that they have a great need for Holiday cards for the veterans to send out. Since we work together on cards for the Jewish Home, Lisa came to me to see if it was something I was interested in doing. Of course it was! We decided that this would be a great project for the Fifth Graders to take on. I need to come up with a card design that would be easy enough for the kids to make, but wouldn’t actually look like a 5th grader made it. This is one of the cards I decided to use.
Stamps: Four the Holidays Ink: Night of Navy Paper: Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Whisper White Other: Northern Flurry Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Basic Rhinestones
I was looking for more ideas of what to put in Stampin’ Up’s fabulous 1″x8″ cello bags. I’ve seen lots of them look super cute with M&M type candies, but that also means someone has to touch all of those M&Ms! Since I wanted to have my after-school kids class make something cute for Halloween, I was looking for wrapped candies. A little more sanitary that way. I was at a party store looking at Halloween costumes, and I saw that they sold Pixy Sticks individually. I bought a bunch of orange ones, and this is what we made at the after-school stamping class this week.
Stamps: Batty for You Ink: Basic Black, Tangerine Tango Paper: Basic Black, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White Other: 1″x 8″ Cello Bags, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8″ Circle Punch, 1 1/4″ Circle Punch
I let the kids choose which stamps and which colors they wanted to use. In addition to the Basic Black and Tangerine Tango, I included Old Olive for the Frankenstein’s Monster stamp. They loved this project!
Yesterday I showed you the birthday card I made for Eve’s good friend Simone. Her birthday party was at California Pizza Kitchen, and in addition to the apron’s they provided, Simone’s mom got chefs’ hats for all the girls. She wanted to make them a little more fun, so we decided to stamp all of the girls’ names on them! We had a little hat stamping party one day after school.
Here is Sofia with her hat. We used the Jayne’s Type Alphabet — it was nice and bold, but also whimsical with the swirls.
And here are all of the hats lined up along the counter at CPK. Their certificate for a free pizza was paper-clipped to the side, making it a super cute party favor!
The kids in in my after school class have been stamping with me for a few years now, and are ready to move beyond the basics. So for tomorrow’s class we are going to be focusing on Heat Embossing. (Which ties in perfectly with this week’s Pals Paper Arts challenge!) Below is one of the cards we are going to make. It uses the Baby Wipe Technique to stamp the butterflies, then the entire image is covered in VersaMark ink and then Iridescent Ice Embossing powder for the Dazzling Diamonds Technique. I think the girls will have a ton of fun with this one!
Stamps: Butterfly Patterns, Flight of the Butterfly Ink: VersaMark, Pacific Point, Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo Paper: Pacific Point, Melon Mambo, Whisper White Other: Butterfly Punch, Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder, Scallop Square Clear Bigz Die, Stampin’ Dimensionals
Plus they get to use the Big Shot to cut out their card base, so what could be bad?
Eve had her birthday sleepover last weekend, and I figured instead of just giving the girls party favors, I would have them make them! We ended up making them Sunday morning after they woke up, which was great, because they woke up earlier than I had expected and it was a great way to fill an hour! First they made these jumbo paper clip book marks:
Stamps: Jayne’s Type Alphabet Ink: Pacific Point Paper: Pacific Point, Melon Mambo, Whisper White Other: 1 1/4″ Circle Punch, 1 3/8″ Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Jumbo Paper Clip
Then they covered and personalized matching mini notebooks. This sample one is actually for my mom. I let the girls pick their choice of the Ice Cream Parlor Designer Series Paper from Sale-a-Bration. I also gave them a choice of which alphabet set they wanted to use.
Stamps: Lovely Letters Ink: Daffodil Delight Paper: Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Beyond the Garden Designer Series Paper Other: 1 1/4″ Circle Punch, 1 3/8″ Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Mini Notebook
They really enjoyed making these, and it was a fun way to end the sleepover.
For our school’s benefit each year, the teachers are asked to donate an “outing” of some kind, which is then raffled off to the students. This year I donated a card making party, which we had last Friday. At the party were two third grade girls and two fourth grade girls. I remembered the Nugget purses that I had made for Valentine’s Day, and thought these would be super fun for the girls to make as one of their projects. The girl who won said that her favorite colors were blue and green, so I based the design off of that. Each one holds one Hershey nugget.
Paper: Pacific Point, Beyond the Garden Designer Series Paper Other: Bitty Punch Pack, Basic Rhinestones, Whisper White 1/4″ Grosgrain Ribbon, Hershey Nuggets
Each girl made two, so they could keep one and give one away. Or keep both. Whatever. Robin has great instructions for these on her blog.
I hope you enjoyed the blog hop this past weekend. I know I did! And I have a ton of new techniques to try! As promised, here is the tutorial video. It’s actually the second one that we filmed. The first one, Eve filmed and Jack the Great Dane kept sticking his nose into it! I’ll include a link to that one at the bottom of this post.
Didn’t Eve do a great job? She’s such a fabulous helper! Here is the card she made afterward. She used the butterfly punch on the piece that she decorated.
I seem to have run out of time to show you the rest of my Valentine projects, since today is Valentine’s Day, so I’m just going to post the last three items here. First is the Valentine that Eve made for all of her classmates. This was a family effort again this year, with everybody but the dogs lending a hand. I am really proud of her for wanting to make her own again, and for coloring in all 44 bears herself! Here is the finished product. (I couldn’t take a group shot of all 44, because the last stop on our assembly line was stuffing the envelopes. This is a 3″x 3″ card. The little envelope is stamped on Pretty in Pink card stock, cut out, and popped up on a Stampin’ Dimensional.
Stamps: Beary Best Friends Ink: StazOn Jet Black Paper: Real Red, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White Other: Watercolor Pencils, Stampin’ Dimensionals
The next project I want to show you is the Valentine that I made for each of the second grade teachers. I used Tanya’s amazing book box, with great instructions! It was perfect for me, as a librarian, to give out, and since it uses the Matchbox Die, it holds four Hershey Nuggets. The below picture shows it tied shut, the front cover without the bow, and what the inside looks like.
Stamps: Valentine Defined, Language of Love Wheel Ink: Basic Grey, Real Red, Blushing Bride Paper: Basic Grey, Whisper White, Love Impressions Designer Series Paper, Glimmer Paper Other: Matchbox Bigz XL Die, Big Shot, Blushing Bride Ribbon, Full Heart Punch, Hershey Nuggets
I have a regular group of friends that I eat lunch with at work each day, and when I saw these amazing little nugget purses on Krystal’s Sunday round-up, I thought they would be a really fun Valentine treat to hand out. They are so cute! They would make great baby or wedding shower favors. Each one holds a Hershey Nugget inside. It’s a little hard to see because of the flash, but that is little rhinestone on top of each heart.
Paper: Real Red, Love Impressions Designer Series Paper Other: Real Red 1/4″ Grosgrain Ribbon, Small Heart Punch, Basic Rhinestones, Glue Dots
Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you had a good one! I’ll be back tomorrow with some bold colors for the ColourQ challenge!
Welcome to the latest Stampin’ Addicts’ Blog Hop, celebrating my favorite Stampin’ Up event of the year, Sale-a-Bration! You may have just arrived from Krystal’s blog, where she showed you the cute Wellness Wishes stamp set, or you may be starting here. Either way, all of the stops link together in one big circle, so you won’t miss any of the great ideas and projects.
I am very excited to be featuring the adorable Build-a-Bear set, Bear Hugs. This is a set from the main catalog that is one of the choices at the back of the Sale-a-Bration catalog. I’ve had this set for awhile, and I love it more and more every time I use it! It makes great baby cards, and can be used from baby showers all the way through a first birthday!
The first card I want to show you is based on Lauren Meader’s original baby onesie card. This bear image is just perfect to decorate it! I stamped the image in Basic Gray for a softer look, then used my markers to color it in.
Stamps: Bear Hugs Ink: Basic Gray, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, So Saffron, Pear Pizzaz Paper: So Saffron, Whisper White, Pawsitively Prints II Designer Series Paper Other: 1 3/8″ Circle Punch, 1 3/4″ Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, 2 3/8″ Scallop Circle Punch, Subtles Brads (So Saffron)
My second card is another shaped card, this time a baby bib. (I believe this idea was created by the incomparable Jackie Topa.) It’s so easy to change the gender of the baby bear just by changing the color of his or her socks! I used my Aqua Painters and reinkers to color in the bear this time.
Stamps: Bear Hugs Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Crumb Cake, Marina Mist, Pretty in Pink Paper: Marina Mist, Whisper White Other: Marina Mist Taffeta Ribbon, Scallop Circle Bigz Die, Clear Circle Bigz Die, Big Shot, 1 3/4″ Circle Punch, Pewter Jumbo Eyelets, Crop-a-dile
My third project would work great as a baby shower favor — just fill it with chocolate and you are good to go! I stamped my bear in Basic Gray on the different colors of card stock, then cut them out and paper-pieced it together. It is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals.
Stamps: Bear Hugs Ink: Basic Gray Paper: Crumb Cake, Blushing Bride, Whisper White, In Color Designers Series Paper Stack Other: Blushing Bride Poly Ribbon, Mini Milk Carton Die, Big Shot, Paper Snips, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Crop-a-Dile
My final project is by Eve, my favorite guest designer, and 7-year-old daughter. The Build-a-Bear stamps are a HUGE hit with the kids, and this one is no exception! How great is it that Stampin’ Up gives us a way to earn free stamps, so we don’t have to worry about letting the kids share them?
Stamps: Bear Hugs Ink: Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron Paper: Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Whisper White Other: Small Heart Punch, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Scallop Trim Corner Punch
I hope that you enjoyed this stop on the Stampin’ Addicts’ Occasions Mini Catalog Blog Hop! I am honored to be part of such a talented group of women! Your next stop is over to Carmen’s blog to see the awesome Extreme Skateboard stamp! Enjoy the rest of the hop!
