ROY G. and mustard?

happy wednesday! it's soo nice outside today--mid-80's in Washington, and the Mt. is out, and i had breakfast at a fav. place... omygosh, it's gonna be a good day.

PLUS, i get to have a crafty friend over (the one that was supposed to come Monday and then before that was supposed to come last week... but 3rd time's the charm, right? ;) hehe)

okay, so you may be wondering about the blog title... remember how you were taught in kindergarten what all the colors were? ROY G. BIV, like a guy's name? stood for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet? yeah, well, my tags today don't go all the way through the rainbow, but they sure are pretty :D

so the first set is a maroon bunch... i like them, but really, i was stretching myself in an effort to create something with this color... but i think the end result is pretty cool. i used some SU! flower stickers, buttons, and even a few MM die cut shapes (the guitars and POW! and "sweet" sentiments).

next up is the orange... geez, a whole smattering of stuff slobbered on here :D mostly leftovers. SEI ribbon and paper, Impress stamp, Graphic 45 die cuts, buttons, a MM travel dog tag, a poofy flower, and even a PTI sentiment thrown in there.

it almost reminds me of "I Spy" books... like: can you find the clothespin? hehe :D

oooh! YELLOW!

these tags are probably in my top favs. for the bunch. i used PTI stamps (tiny treats that i bought from Paulina, polka dot basics II), AC gingham orange ribbon, some ric-rac, and then DCWV grade school stack paper :D DUDE >> these are SOO cute :D

with sentiments and images to match, they'd be perfect for gift tags for little kids, boys, or just about anyone. i love the plane image with "love is in the air..." hehe!

okay, i know you may be sick of the green tags by now, but i cut out 3 different kinds of green tags, and i really liked playing with all the shade variations. again, it's a smorgasbord out there :D

some of the tags got a little bit more attention than others, and that's okay--sometimes less fuss is good.

and btw, i'm not even going to try to list off the supplies i used. EEK!

okay, lastly, i have MUSTARD tags for you. oh, these tags made me shudder a little, until i found some awesome paper from K&CO that i had stashed away (it's the floral in the fancy square punch shape), and then paired it with BG's Indian Summer 6x6 pad and some Bazzill card stock. super fun!

plus, those roses are perfect, and the AC ribbon is AWESOME, and the polka dots! like i said, i'm in LOVE.

so different and happy, and i never thought i'd say this, but i like the mustard tags :D

okay, so i don't want to prolong this too long... here are some cards i made for a special order from a teacher at school. they're ones she wanted 'copied' from previous cards she'd seen on the blog...

can never go wrong with owls, right? :D

ooh! then look at more colorful goodness! these are going to be used as a thank you set, i think, and i monogrammed them for her. don't they look awesome like this?

i used the fancy punch again, some pearl stickles things (i know they're not stickles, but can't remember...) different papers from all over to match the card stock colors, and then a 'C' from a Technique Tuesday set that i own.

well, what do you think? it's been fun sharing these tags with you, and i do have a few more to show, but i think i'll save that for later. i want to show you my scrapbook page (good guesses, btw, although i think it wasn't that hard to guess) tomorrow.

so, stay tuned. love to hear your comments! XOXO

'thank you' for spring break!

omgosh! i've had such a busy and fun weekend...

let's see what i've done:

• started spring break on friday afternoon *yahoo!*
• DIDN'T coach any water polo on friday after school *DOUBLE YAHOO!*
  
• hosted an egg coloring party which was as i'd say, a HUGE success on friday night... first real party at the apt.
  
• slept in late on saturday, went to my parent's house and had some yummy breakfast
• colored more eggs (yes, more. this time with my mom)
• had some KRISPY KREME donuts! AHHHH! i LOVE them. you see, i think this might be a downfall for me... i live RIGHT next to a KK place... and they're so cheap and delicious. i will have to resist a LOT.
• met AMY at Jo-Anns to give her some Sassafras goodies that we split up :D sooo fun and awesome--i'm so lucky to have met/ talked with her. (and WHY did i not get a picture with her? grrr...)
• saw my friend's baby AGAIN (he's so cute!) and took her daughters to the library. we checked out some Bill Peet books that my sister Cecelia featured a while back on her blog, and also some Fancy Nancy books... can't go wrong with those, can you?
  
• had chile relleno casserole (oh how i LOVE that dish... will have to steal and make the recipe myself) YUM
  
• went to ANOTHER party that night... ate TONS of fruit, enjoyed friends and fellowship--stayed late.
  
• slept through my alarm on Sunday, so went to 2nd Easter service and listened to a great sermon. thanks Pastor!
  
• after church went to ANOTHER party at a family friends... they have 10 kids and are just so real and down to earth--can't even imagine :D
• ATE WAY TOO MUCH
• took a nap at said friends house
• went home
• finished one decoration for the wall
• watched a new suspense movie
• went to bed
• SLEPT UNTIL 12pm!!!!

so you see, i've been busy. but it's been amazing. this week will be full of nothingness/ hanging out/ doing whatever. it will be my 1st spring break not at my parents house, so i'll be able to do WHATEVER and sleep till WHENEVER. (maybe you've wondered what teachers do during their breaks... same things the kids do.) i'm planning on seeing the movie "Date Night" featuring Steve Carrell and Tina Fey with my friend Paulina this weekend, but i think i'll be making some time for a few movies that i've wanted to see too... $2 movie theater, here i come!

anyway, my cards were super fun to make, and i made them within a batch of cards... flowers, MM little blue flower, carolyn gavin epoxy sticker, bigger Prima flowers, MM/ DCWV/ WRMK paper, PTI sentiment, and some cricut cuts. ah, some bling there too :D

anyway, i think tonight's dinner is going to be Costco style... so cheap yet yummy :D

thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely Monday!

NaNoWriMo! + CPS #141

oh hey! well, i have something awesome to share with you today--it's my first banner EVER!

(also, if you haven't entered my blog-o-versary giveaway yet, then go HERE now!)

now, i had this idea in my head for school--i have a couple of students who are participating in NaNoWriMo with me (National Novel Writing Month--see more on it in my post HERE), and i wanted to do something special to encourage them...

so, with the help of my amazing Cricut, some new CK goodies, and the CPS Sketch #141 (and kind of a Caardvarks challenge, although this isn't a card [i'll make a circle card to post, i promise!]) i embarked on this journey of my first banner ever.

now, with 9 letters to create the word on the banner, i knew i wouldn't have any room for extra "in-between" spacer spots... so i decided i need my banners to be quite big to fit all the embellies i wanted to include.

so first i gathered all the supplies i needed, and broke out the blue card stock that i wanted to use as the foundation for my letters--i used the Simply Sweet Cricut cartridge to create the bases, as well as the letters (using white paper with the shadow feature, and then a *shiny* blue for real letter).

so here you can see the close-ups of each of the parts--i had sooo much fun making this, and even though it took a while (hey, i was watching Love Actually with my sister, Cecelia, too!) it was sooo worth it.

i have to tell you where i got some inspiration--Mish of PTI fame! she has been featuring some amazing mini-kits of office type paper supplies, and they've been so stinkin cute! :D and since this banner was going to hang in my classroom, i thought that things like paper clips, rulers, etc would be appropriate :D

i bought some October Afternoon goodies at CK, and one thing included the stamp set that has a ruler in it--had to use it here :D ooh, and that border punch that i've been eyeing for a while--it was a total deal at CK too!

you can see some of the bling i got at CK last weekend--i cut apart some of the pieces--they were way to huge to use on these banner bases, and i want to hoard them for a little while longer (good thing i got them in triplicate--hehe!)

see how shiny that blue letter is? it's from the DCWV Citrus Glitter stack, and i LOVE it! i wish i had a couple more pieces of that paper--it's fabulous.

and the felt, brads, and pencil paper are all buys from CK--couldn't wait to get home and use them. O.M.Gosh. can i just tell you that i am in love with Cosmo Cricket paper? it almost hurt me to use this stuff, but honestly, it fit the theme perfectly, so i de-hoarded :D the felt from CK came in packs of four 12x12 laser cut sheets with all these neat-O designs--i've already used some of the pink border for another card HERE.

these brads are velvety--i wanted to use a lot of texture on every single panel, and i think i love this "a" letter the best--or maybe not ;)

i think that the girls in my class loved these buttons the best--the yellow one is from DeNami Design, and the others are from my stash. here's another piece of the felt!

ooh, and here i'm using a yo-yo fabric circle (isn't that what they're called?) to embellish this second "n."

i don't think you can *EVER* go wrong with pompoms!

another close up--you can see some October Afternoon dictionary paper--it made some of my students do a double take :D

okay, so i got these little packs of pins that i'll be using more on cards--sticking them in ribbon, etc--aren't those little stars adorable?

another ruler on the "o" and some flowers--Bazzill and prima. more felt too :D

i really really love that ruler stamp--i can totally see myself using it over and over again.

okay... the "w" was the midpoint of the banner, and even though i didn't consciously plan this, i think it's my favorite panel of all. i grabbed a golf pencil out of our junk drawer at home and decided to use it here. then there's the bling...

and the felt/ ribbon keeping the pencil together...

and seriously--we're talking about NaNoWriMo here--WRITING! how perfect can you get? i would venture to say, you cannot!

some ric-rac, felt, brads, and a shiny heart cut with my Cricut (same cart.)

this is the "r." you might be wondering what i used to string this all up together--i used some thrift store bolt of trim--it had at least 7 yds of this white, and i thought--i can use this for somthing... right i was!

that flower, button, and felt heart pairing is just too cute, agreed?

ooh, here's the "i" where i used some bigger bling, a broken blue clothespin (w/ ribbon) and a chipboard piece :D

and omgosh--i tricked this next panel out with bling... cutie paper clip ($1 store!) and some more bling, Cosmo paper, and felt...

that crown is so top heavy--can you imagine if it was lifesize how expensive that crown would be? hehe :D

and last but not least, the "o."

i went slightly simpler--those buttons are just the perfect touch, i think.

here's a board-side view of the end of the banner...
when my students walked into class and saw this hanging on the whiteboard, they went up close and examined it--one of the girls asked me "Did you cut that out of a dictionary?!" regarding the October Afternoon paper (cause i'm an English teacher and cutting up a dictionary would obviously be sacrilege! :D hehe). the best part was when they asked me about it, and said, "Who made that?" and i got to reply, "I did." the look of awe on their faces was priceless :D and then there were a ton of girls who said, "Can you make me one?" hehe... they'll be papercrafters yet!

thanks for looking, and please let me know if you enjoyed this banner and whether you'd like to see more of them here on the blog.

hope you have a great day! XOXO

fall pumpkins

fall is definitely coming quickly... i know this because school will finally be starting on Tuesday. agh, TUESDAY! nooooooooooo! that means i'm back to teaching, no more vacation (not like i really had a "vacation," but still...) but also, i've been seeing hints of halloween and fall decorations, so i thought a fall card was in order.

i used the Indian Summer pack from DCWV, and isn't that purple patterned paper just gorgeous? i love the metallic MM alpha letters too... a bronzy feel, plus some gold DeNami Glitter for an extra little flourish. guess where i got that pumpkin? a felt board... you know those boards you used in elementary school--you stuck people, or letters, numbers, etc on them to learn how to count, or read... remember? well, i used one of those and just trimmed the sides(it's a tad bright for the rest of the card, but oh well, i like bright, and the orange grosgrain ribbon from M's balances it a bit) ...so here i am using felt for the "touchy-feely friday" 365 cards challenge, and i never thought i'd do something like this! hope you enjoy, thanks for looking, and have a great start to your fall!

Day 183 - Super Sketchy Sunday

i got to make a card based on Pam's sketch over at 365 Cards. what a fun sketch!

i love these circle stickers with berries! the green was fun to play with (DCWV, Bazzill, and BoBunny) especially with the purple :D

(this is the back... there's room for my "designed by" stamp & signature)

(here's the inside corner--i used DeNami Design stamps)

i hope to play along with the upcoming challenges this week--school starts next week and i won't have the same kind of spare time.

thanks for looking :D

i didn't know they had buttons!

here is a SUPER quick and easy card i made with some pretty patterned paper from a huge value pack... just cut the card to the preferred size, cut down the patterned paper (1/4" smaller), and find embellishments to match! you may recognize the same paper from *THIS POST* a while back...

in my case, the embellishments i pulled out matched the paper perfectly, and were super fun too! (who doesn't love orange :D) i layered some Prima flowers, and tied them all together with some orange twine and an Yves Saint Laurent button. yes, a button! i didn't know they made/ had buttons (i mean, i KNOW they had them on clothing, but i bought the button pack from Michael's that contained this orange cutie...) anyway, i was like, wow!

and there ya go. nothing fancy today, just the basics. i'm coming home today--from Ecuador (read about it in THIS POST). i'll be super super super busy the next few days transitioning into teaching/ coaching from summer, and i'll be re-adjusting to having my sister, Cecelia, home too, but never fear--i've actually pre-scheduled a post for tomorrow, so come back and check it out!

CONGRATS! retirement card :D

WOW! it's been a week since school got out! unbelievable! well, the last week hasn't really meant "Summer" for me because i've been into school every day since we got out on tuesday... i am moving schools/ classrooms/ grades, so that involved packing up 25+ boxes for the district to move, and then taking a carload to my new school. i also had 2 inservice days, so my summer will really start today. i made this retirement card for my friend Skip, who taught the Honors kids in English. he was so easy-going and sincere, i'm really going to miss him! i wrote "oh the places you'll go!" reminiscent of graduations/ Dr. Seuss books on the inside of the card. i thought it was appropriate.

i just LOVE the DoodleFactory stamps, and i especially love this guy named Twinx. i brought him to school on the last day and stamped kids hands with it--they were *SO EXCITED* (and they're 8th graders!) one of my boys said, "Miss Larsen, you have legit stamps!" which cracked me up...

well, like i said, my vacay starts today, and my dad and i are going to our property in Mossyrock, about 2 hrs away from home... we'll have some fun on our tractor, relaxing, and digging post holes for a fence. :D looking forward to it!

i'll post soon--keep checking back. thanks for all your sweet comments :D

XOXO

P.S. Cece, i will post Dad's Father's Day card... but i have to take pictures first :D

new home! & Kazan's #28

i made a congrats card for a co-worker of mine who just found a house! she's been looking for a suitable place for forever, and she finally found a decent place to live close to the water. she'll have amazing views of a marina, the woodline, and Mt. Rainier! how perfect! i thought it was cause for celebration, and also of course, for pulling out a new stamp! i got a DoodleFactory stamp in the neighborhood collection and just cut out one of the houses on the block. plus, i followed Kazan's sketch #28 over at 2S4U where they're having a fabulous contest!

woohoo! so cute, and i love the colors! what do you think?

and i just have to say: 2.5 days of school left! :D

2sketches4you, Laura's #25 "baby boy"

i love weekends, 2sketches4you, Cecelia's *hilarious* blog posts (and being her sister), having a job next year, and birthday parties!

i got this new whale punch from Martha Stewart, and i thought it was perfect for a little baby boy card. i also got a Cricut for my bday (May 1st!) and i used the Accents cart that comes with the machine to cut out the shape. i kept the whole card simple and elegant. i love the little whale... he adds the right amount of color!

as i mentioned before, i love my sister. she is utterly hilarious and maddening at the same time (aren't all sisters like that?) and she's got a blog... probably trying to copy me. anyway, she's hilarious, and even if you don't know her, i'd bet you'd love to read a little about her life because she's just. so. funny.

and in GREAT news: i am not jobless next school year. i had previously gotten a RIF notice (reduction in force. read = laid off) because of district budget cuts, but i got my call back letter (read = we cut too many teachers and desperately want and need you back, pretty please don't say no) today. so phew. and God is GREAT. He is so good to me. thanks for all the prayers. you know who you are.

plus, i love bday's. and parties for bday's. i'm going with my brother Joey to enjoy some Olive Garden and some bowling (i suck at it) tonight. well, really, right after i get off the computer. yay, i love birthdays. and p.s. happy birthday Helene! i had a lot of fun going out last night to enjoy a birthday dinner with school friends. girl time is so essential, yes?

okay, so Joey and i need to get going, but thanks for stopping by and checking things out!

XOXO