Christmas Cards! And a bereavement note...

I guess after the halloween day I had a couple days ago, my mind was moving right along! Today I created 4 Christmas cards while waiting for some inspiration to hit for a card I needed to make for a family member. 

The inside I kept simple with "Peace on Earth" so I could write a little note to whoever I send it to.

The words say, "May the Lord bring good tidings of comfort and joy this Christmas to you and your family."

This card says, "May our God of hope fill you with joy and peace this Christmas and all year through."

This is the only non-Christian specific card I made, but I'll probably add a verse when I sign our names. I just love that little Santa!

And here is the card I made for a relative in honor of their relative who passed away. I wrote a note on the inside before I remembered to take a picture, but it was just matted floral paper with a different yellow pattern I wrote on. I think it's simple yet satisfying.

Halloween Cards

 I made four halloween cards this afternoon... even though it's still July! :-) Allergy season became my inspiration, since I had this cute monster tissue box sitting in my craft room. Halloween cards are always easy and fun to make, although I don't ever give them away, since it's not really a holiday we celebrate.

Asking 4 Seconds

I probably should mention here that I have a new blog, Asking 4 Seconds, that I created for my school-themed items. I opened a store on Teachers Pay Teachers to sell some school-related things I've created, and figured having another blog to keep it organized would be handy. Some things crossover (like the back to school wreaths) into both blogs, but otherwise I'll be keeping my crafting and teaching stuff separate. Feel free to check it out! I'd love some followers!!  

My {New and Improved} Craftroom!

Back in March I moved my craftroom upstairs and bought new furniture to go in the freshly painted space. I started using it right away and finally today I decided that it was probably as clean as it would ever be again, so here are a few pictures of it. The lighting isn't as good as it was downstairs (My husband says he will install a new light fixture as soon as I find one I like!) but everything else is about a million times better.

Here is a piece of artwork I made (!!!) using leftover green spray paint (from my baskets), pink acrylic paint (to match the bows on the curtain valance) and a black copic marker. Love it!

I painted some of my ikea drawers with black chalkboard paint (I had to sand it first) so I could write what I have in each and can switch them around as I please.

I brought this from my room downstairs. It holds all of my ribbon spools, fake flowers, buttons, glitter, and other random crafty things. I used the space on top to hold some of my projects.

Here is my answer to "making curtains that still let plenty of light in." I used a large needle to string a piece of white twine through a bit of tulle, then tied on pink bows.

I love it! I chose the color after purchasing the blue ikea cart that my stamps are in (you can see it in the second picture) and I am thrilled with my color choice. There isn't a single thing I wish I had done differently. The only thing I'd like to add is more stuff on the walls. I'm not sure if it will be art for prettiness or shelving for practicality, but it definitely needs something! 

Another Wreath

I made this wreath last night for my mom to hang on the office door at school. It doesn't have a "Welcome to Our Class" sign so it can be used anywhere! I love it.

Back-to-School Wreaths

Today, after many months of thinking about it, I finally made a new Back-to-School wreath for my classroom door. Except I didn't make just one... I made three! I think they all turned out great; I'm going to have a tough time deciding which one to hang up and what to do with the other two. I left them all blank so they could be customized (name/room number) with chalk or a marker. I tried to get a few pictures of each one, but the lighting and shadows are just awful at my house.

Wreath 1: My WM only had 1 grapevine wreath, so I used some of my heavier items to decorate it with. I first wrapped the wreath with a strip of dark red tulle, and used typical school stuff (crayons, markers, pencils, highlighters, glue, paperclips, erasers, ruler, hand sanitizer) as well as a small piece of corkboard and black chalkboard paper. I finished it off with a postcard that says "Welcome to our Class!"

 Wreath 2: I wrapped a styrofoam wreath with wired ribbon decorated with school buses, then used a measuring tape to wrap over half. (I also used the measuring tape as the hanger, if the door needs it.) I found the most adorable ribbon at Michaels on clearance last year, so I made a cute bow to glue on top. I added many of the same items as the first wreath, however this postcard looks a little different. It's also a bit smaller than the grapevine wreath.

Wreath 3: If you've browsed through other pages of my craft blog, you might have noticed a wreath I made last year that looks very similar to this. I used the same concept, buy gluing pencils in pairs, then sets, but this time I glued wooden dowel rods behind the back set to brace them a little better. This wreath is very simple in design. I have several big cut outs of school stuff (WM last year on clearance) and so I glued the ginormous glue bottle onto my pencil frame, then added a few crayons (those weird colors that didn't match wreath 2) that matched the ribbon accents. I added a touch of corkboard with notebook paper (customizable!) and a binder clip for effect. The shadow was super bad on these pics (oops!) but I can promise you it looks AMAZING in person. Thanks for looking!

A Couple of Projects

To have a place for my small supplies at school, I bought this small toolbox from Lowes and painted it red. I used packaging tape to adhere scrapbook paper at the front of each drawer, leaving a pocket for labels. I used clear packaging tape (folded in half so it sticks together) and sharpies to make removable inserts. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. 

And this morning I made some more laundry detergent! Back in April 2012 I first made some (you can look in my archives to find directions) and it lasted until Christmas. I made a bit more in December, and we just ran out again this week. I like the liquid version as well, but this powered stuff is SO freaking easy. The hardest part is grating the soap (which is like not hard at  all!) I guess that means I can take the afternoon off from housework now? haha. I'm tutoring a rising Second Grader twice a week, so I can't let myself get too lazy or I'll forget the time!

A Few Cards

The start to summer is always busy for me, and as we have yet to turn on the AC, it's been almost too hot to even think about going upstairs and working in my craft room. Here are a few things I've made in the last couple of months, though I did make several more but forgot to take pictures.

A special little girl I know found out she had diabetes recently, so I made her a tear-bear card letting her know I was thinking about her.

Here is a birthday card. I think it was for my little sister. It's been awhile back, so I can't exactly remember. I made a couple more similar. I can't remember who I gave them to, either.

For my birthday in March, I moved my craftroom upstairs. I painted the walls blue, spent a fortune at Ikea buying new furniture, and over spring break put it all together. Here is some wall art I made to go on a blank wall.

This card I made for my Grandma's birthday.

A friend of my sister's got married and asked for a card to send them.

So yeah... that's it for now :-P