Dogs and Babies

My mini schnauzer, Toby, recently chewed up a really nice pair of shoes for the first time ever a few days ago. I bought a pair of quality flats to wear at school since my foot/ankle had been giving me such problems, and these shoes felt like a dream. So yes, anyway, I spent almost $200 on a pair of shoes (yes, I know... $200?!? But trust me, it was worth it) and my dog chewed one up less than 6 months later. The company is WONDERFUL, though, and offered to give me a discount on a new pair if I would send a picture of the shoe and offending pup. I sent them this dog-shaming picture and ordered a new pair the very same evening:

Anyway, he inspired me to pull out some doggie paper and make a few cards. For starters, I practiced coloring with my copics on a piece of yellow card stock. 

Then I made these!

And one of my co-workers lost her cocker-spaniel after a long sickness, so I made her a sympathy card.

I also practiced coloring a new island stamp and playing with Tim Holtz distress inks to make a thank you card.

And for some reason I never posted about this I made in the fall... we had a baby shower at work for one of the ladies. This card was made out of a sheet of white paper and some ribbon (yay Cricut New Arrival and my copic markers!)

 And, being on the hospitality committee, I was responsible for making a banner. A friend gave me some zebra print fabric, so I covered it with starch and added some more Cricut lettering and ribbon and other decorations for cuteness!

"Congrats" Baby Book

One of my co-workers' wife is having a baby girl next month, and each person is to write a prayer/suggestion for Baby Ava. The nurses asked me to make a book for everyone to write their notes in. Here is what I came up with. 

 The biggest difference is that instead of places for pictures to go, the book is filled with white paper for everyone to write their notes on.

 I made one page big, for those who want to write super-small or super-long notes. There aren't quite enough boxes for each member of faculty to write a note, so hopefully this page will get used a lot!

 The last page is a vellum pocket I made to hold any baby cards.

 And the back cover-

A few things to share!

Okay, so life hasn't slowed down much since Halloween like I thought it might. Only two school days before Thanksgiving Break! Anyway, Here are a few things I've been into lately...

One of the teachers at school is expecting a baby boy in January, and her baby shower was last week. 2nd Grade got together to make our gift- a cute little monkey bike! I used my droid phone to take pictures so they're of course blurry and awful, but you get the idea of it. 

 I found a motorcycle license plate template online to write "Baby B." (for the last name) and I think it was the favorite part. It turned out really cute.

 The next project was supposed to be a tutu for my bff's little girl, but apparently her waist is bigger, so I have it to her cousin (who is my sister's bff's daughter). She loved it!

 Super easy and super cute. I used the tulle fabric strips found in the wedding section at A.C. Moores, and tied them onto some beautiful green ribbon. I added vine ribbon (papertrey inc.) and glued on hydrangea petals. Here is a close up of the top. I went around the top with gold ribbon, just to cover the knots. It's tied on with a bow, so even as C. grows some, it will still fit.

 The next one I make will be with an elastic headband, so no matter how big Addy's waist is, it will fit!

And my biggest project... a Tipi made from 8' cedar posts and a 9x12 canvas floor mat. I gathered all of my ingredients, and used my entry-way floor as my table. This project was pretty big. I cut 5 huge triangles (think 4 inches wide at the top, 38 inches wide at the bottom, 80 inches tall), then sewed them all together. Then I added a larger triangle and made two flaps for the doors. This was 56 inches wide.

I drug all of the pieces to school and tied them with jute rope (well, my DH drilled holes in the poles for extra support) and spread it outside so we wouldn't make a mess. 

I taped the flaps so my little American Indians wouldn't wander inside, but gave them permenant, acrylic paint to decorate the outside with symbols that may or may have not been used by the Lakota Indians we were studying about.

After we finished, I sprayed the tipi with mod podge sealer, and drug it inside to be on display in the front hallway. While I had small groups of kids rotating outside to paint, my cohort had the rest of the group inside practicing their symbols by painting onto cardstock "buck skins." We matted those on black paper, and they are a gorgeous backdrop for our tipi. I might remember to take a picture to post of the finished project. It turned out freakin' awesome. Everyone loved it!

And my last project is a card I made for my bff Kymberlee (oops- you'll probably see this before it comes in the mail) as a simple "hello." I hadn't used Simply Scarecrows before (talk about creepy eyes) but the project was surprisingly easy. I used paper from my last Little Red Scrapbook kit.