Monday Made It #3

I am so glad that I've joined up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics to get so classroom projects completed this summer!  I am back with my third week.  I actually completed more projects that I'm showing you this week, but this is all I've had time to photograph.  I guess I save the rest of my goodies for next week's fun!!

I have had this chair floating around the house for years and I decided it was time for a makeover.  I spent less than $5 on this project.  I only had to purchase the fabric because everything else I had on hand.

Here is the Before---->

I found the really cute owl fabric at Hobby Lobby.  I did injure myself in the making of this project! :(  I know the owls on the bottom are facing the wrong way, but after all those staples, I was NOT about to pull them all out again!!!  Maybe next year!! LOL  It will still look great behind my group table!

Here is the After------> 

On to the next project.......

My mom found this owl chalkboard on one of our summer Michael adventures.  It was too plain so I decided to dress it up a bit!

Here is the Before----------->

I added some vinyl that I had on hand, took a couple of paint pens to the eyes, and added some ribbon!!  What do you think?

Here is the After------> 

Thanks for looking!! Let me know if you have any questions!!

Birthday Card Swaps

So school is going to start soon and before I know it, I'll be back to work with no time on my hands.  I decided now was a great time to build up my swap supply of cards for the next few months.  FYI swaps are cards that I make for a monthly stamp group that I attend.  We each make 12 of the same card and bring it to our meeting.  We then "swap" cards so we will all come home with 12 cards that are different.  I use these cards as ideas or to send out when needed.

                                                 
I was browsing Splitcoast Stampers the other day looking for a bit of inspiration.  I haven't pulled out my Crazy for Cupcakes Stampin' Up! set in quite some time, so I decided it would make a perfect swap card.  I found several cards that were lovely, but this one caught my eye.  I, however, did not want to hand cut all of the images so I decided to use this lovely invention to help me out!!

Well, I'm falling in LOVE with my Silhouette even more!!!  So the silhouette has this great Trace feature on it.  (Don't get me wrong!  I still love my Cricut too, but this is something that my Cricut cannot do!)  Here's what I did:
     * I stamped the images from this Crazy for Cupcakes Stampin' Up! set onto plain, white copy paper.
     * I then scanned the page into my computer and created a .jpeg file.
     *I then used the fabulous 'trace' feature in the silhouette software and traced the outer edges of each image.
     *I also used the 'offset' feature and created a little "border" around the stamp lines.
     *I went back and deleted the original traced image, copied the offset image about 12 times, lined up all 12 images onto my paper, then cut the images out.

I LOVED that I did not have to "fussy cut" around all of the cupcakes and balloons that I used on these cards.  I am NOT a very patient fussy cutter, nor am I very good at it, so this was AWESOME!!!!

After all of the stamping fun, I colored in the images with my Pink Pirouette, Cool Caribbean, Smoky Slate, So Saffron, and Only Orange SU! markers.  I also coated the sprinkles, the flame, and the balloon with SU! glitter glue.  I used an embossing folder to emboss the pink paper on the one side, stamped the greeting at the bottom of the other with smoky slate ink and called it done!!!

If you have any questions, please let me know!  Thanks for looking!!!

Friend Card

Well, my BFF is moving. :(  But luckily, she's only moving an hour and a half away.  While I'm still sad that she doesn't live 2 minutes from me, she is moving to a place that I can drive to and spend the weekend when I want!!

I decided to make her a card to go with a little "send off gift" I picked up for her.  I have a closet full of stamps and I couldn't decide what I wanted to use.  I remembered that this odie but goodie Loads of Love & Loads of Love Accessories Stampin' Up! stamp sets have a "moving" option and a cute phrase to go with it.

I purchased the Tim Holtz distress marker set a couple of months back thanks to an amazing Blitsy sale (link in the side bar).  I have been dying to play with them.  I also picked up some of the Tim Holtz watercolor paper that I've been seeing some fabulous bloggers use recently.  I pulled out all my supplies, inked up the stamp set, and got to coloring.

It's been so long since I've watercolored anything and I realized how much I missed it.  I need to jump on the watercolor bandwagon that has been going on and do more of it!  I added the image to some Stampin' Up! solid cardstock and then pulled out a MME paper pad from Hobby Lobby for the background paper.

In true AmyR fashion, I stamped the image that's in the back of the truck multiple times onto the bottom edge of the inside of the card.  Before watching her videos, I never decorated the inside of my cards.  I did, however, forget to take a picture of that part.  :(

So, I have a little *review* of the Tim Holtz distress watercolor paper.  I have seen many designers use this paper and several have wet it before using it. They did this mostly when they were adding a large amount of color to the background.  It might work to wet the paper first and then add the color, but I did not like this technique when using the markers to color in the images.  When I got the paper wet before coloring on the paper with the marker, I had a LOT of pilling.  The marker seemed to grab bits of the paper as I colored and then it would show up on my image.  So, in the future, I will color directly onto the paper with the marker and then add the water when using this paper.  I do love that it is a true white and not a vanilla/off-white color like most watercolor paper.



If you have any questions, please let me know.  Thanks!

Monday Made It #2

Hey!!  I'm back with another Monday Made It post!  I'm linking up with Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics with a project for school.

For the last five years, I have used these bins from Lakeshore for my daily papers.  I would take time on Friday afternoon and get everything ready for the week and put them in the corresponding bin for each weekday.  That way, if I was out for whatever reason, everything was ready for the sub.  Well, fast forward to this upcoming school year.  I'm moving to another school and since the bins were part of the school's property, I couldn't take them with me. :(  I was going to just purchase them for my new classroom because they worked so well for me in the past, UNTIL I saw the price!!! Seriously!!!! $60 for bins-I think not!!!

That led me on a search for another solution.  I've seen examples of these drawers floating all over the internet and I decided that I would give them a try in place of the ones for $60.  I have an owl theme in my classroom so I went to TPT in search of an owl themed set.  I found this one and I fell in love!  I liked that she gave you a file that you could edit and make work for you however you needed it to!

I found these sterilite drawers at Walmart for just under $10 a piece.  I picked up three sets and I now have a drawer for each day as well as a set of file, copy, and grade for my desk.  The best part-they were HALF the price of the ones from Lakeshore.

I do, however, have a little tip for you.  I printed mine out on white card stock and laminated them with my Scotch thermal laminator that I purchased at Walmart a couple of years ago.  I do NOT recommend doing that.  My thinking was that I wanted them on the outside and I wanted them sturdy.  I did not think about the drawers being curved.  If I ever have to redo them, I will print them on regular paper and then laminate them.  I ended up having to hot glue them to the front of the drawer with quite a bit of hot glue.  I tried double sided tape and they ALL popped off overnight.

Thanks for looking!  If you have any questions, please let me know!