Turning 30: A Birthday Celebration

Yesterday, September 1st, was my birthday. It was a very special birthday indeed, because I turned 30! Some people feel weird about leaving their 20's behind, but I think that my 30's will be even better than my 20's were.

For the last two years, school has started on my birthday. It was a weird feeling to be up in front of a new sea of faces on such a special day, but I came to really enjoy it. It was very strange for me this year to not have that happen.

I spent lunch with my mom at an amazing Italian Bistro. I had meetings at school all day...most very stressful. I got nothing done and I am no closer to being ready for kids to start next week, but we will manage.

My husband bought me a new lens for my Cannon. I am so excited because I'll get to take way better (up-close and personal) pictures of kids for the yearbook. Not to mention I am excited to try this little baby out in Europe next summer.

I went to have a sushit dinner with my hubby, Nick. Then later we bought an ice cream cake (picked out by Nick) and took it to my sister's house to celebrate with the family. We shared cake with my sister, brother-in-law, and nephews. All in all it was a pretty great day. I love birthdays!

Clean and Simple Birthday Card

I love a good clean and simple card and layout, but often times I find myself over-doing a card. You know what I mean...adding too many layers, too many embellishments, or too many colors. Sometimes it is best to follow the clean and simple method. This is difficult for people because it requires you to feel okay about leaving LOTS of white space.

This is a card I made using Design Seeds color selection (well a couple of them) and my new favorite stamp set...Delicate Doilies.

This is a birthday card for one of my teaching team members whose birthday is the day after mine. It was quick, simple, and beautiful. Well at least I think so.

Gently Falling Thank You Card

Today was our all staff meeting for the school district. It is electrifying to see and hear hundreds of teachers buzzing about the upcoming year. This day is humbling and exciting. It is amazing to me to see lots of people in the same place, with the same passion, and the same excitement for learning and children. I always cry (if only a few tears) at something that is said or presented. Today a quote popped up that made me shed a few tears... Some people only have five or six people in their life that truly remember them, but teachers have thousands who remember them and what they have done. It makes me feel so small in the big scheme of things.

I have some great teaching partners and they have been through thick and thin with me. One team member in particular has been through a lot with me and I wanted to show my appreciation for the shoulder to cry on, belly laughs, and talks that require a glass of wine. She is an inspiration and she keeps pushing me to do great things and be a great teacher every single day.

I made this card for her which features the new Gently Falling stamp set from the Holiday mini catalog. I am excited about this set because I love fall and leaves. Perfect-o! I also used Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Challenge 132 and the Color Throwdown 156.

Halloween Treat Bags

The first day of school is just around the corner. I can say for the first time...I'm not ready to go back. I love school, don't get me wrong, but this summer has been so relaxing. The beginning of September is always exciting for me...my birthday, school beginning, and the start of my favorite season...FALL! I love fall because of the cool weather, apple picking, carving pumpkins, leaves changing colors...I could go on forever.

I have been on top of my game lately and I have a cute Halloween idea. Yes, I said Halloween! I used some old Stampin' Up DSP and whipped up some cute treat bags for the neighbor kids. I think they are adorable and I think the kids and parents appreciate the personal touch.

I'm making a variation of this for my September stamp club for our Trick or TREAT class. We will focus on treat packaging. I'm so excited to share other goodies with you this week for my 30th birthday! Cupcakes are on the horizon.

Message Monday

Aren't we all a bit of an explorer in our own way?

Another Egg Carton Revamp

My sister gave me a couple egg cartons that hold 12 eggs. I decided to package the Banana Cupcakes that I spoke about yesterday in these egg cartons. Not only are they the perfect amount to give as a gift, but they hold mini cupcakes so nice so they don't plop right over and smush the frosting.

These egg cartons also allowed me to customize them with whatever Designer Paper I might have on hand. This was some extra Stampin' Up designer paper I had from the last catalog. I can't use it for stamp clubs anymore, but I can use it for awesome gifts of goodness.

I made a matching thank you card and attached it to the egg carton using twine. I am in love with Crumb Cake cardstock right now.

Needless to say that my school secretaries, Carol & Anita, loved the cupcakes and the packaging. Glad I could be their little ray of sunshine.

Banana Cupcakes

Last week I hepled with registration at school. I watched earlier in the week as our two wonderful secretaries pulled everything together for these crazy and long days. As a treat of appreciation, I decided to make some mini cupcakes for them. They always support the staff and students and I figured it was the least I could do for them. Plus it gave me an opportunity to test out a new cupcake and frosting flavor.

This recipe consisted of banana cupcakes, which tasted a lot like banana muffins, and honey cinnamon buttercream frosting. The sweetness of the frosting balanced the mild flavor of the banana cupcakes. I was really happy with how this turned out.

Tomorrow I'll share the egg carton revamp I did for this thank you gift as well as a cute and simple card that accompanied the cupcakes.

August Card Workshop

Well it's August and not only am I gearing up for school to start, I'm gearing up for my monthly Stampin' Up workshops. I decided to do something different this year when it came to my club.

I have always relied heavily on the seasons/holidays to drive my card designs. This year, I realized that I needed to have a different focus. I decided to design my months around different themes. Most of these themes have something to do with maximizing your products. We all know that stamping and scrapbooking are not inexpensive hobbies. Why shouldn't we do our best to save as much money as possible and use our products as effectively as possible.

Thiis month I took one stamp set, Delicate Doilies, and used it three ways on three different cards. If we are going to spend the money on stamp sets, we should know how to use them to the max. Get our monies worth, don't you think?

So on the first card I just used the stamp as the main image. I love these big doilies and how they take up a lot of space.

On the second card we created our own textured DSP using the Big Shot and Square Lattice embossing folder.

On the last card we created our own 3-D embellishment. We all know how expensive these are in the store, so we made our own. We used the Perfect Pennant die and Big Shot to create the cut out doilies.

Next month...preparing for Halloween with Tricks & TREATS. Our class will focus on treat packaging.

Message Monday

Something I remind my students of all the time. I'm amazed of how little integrity there is in the world these days.

A Baby is Born

Before my sister left the hospital last week she called me and asked if I would make a special page for baby Sawyer's scrapbook. She said I was the best woman for the job and I was honored that she would ask me. Since she was there, she wanted the nurses to get a foot and hand print for his book. I quick whipped up these two coordinating pages for the front of his book. The first will include his picture and his information. The second page is for the prints. I decided at the time to leave the pieces off the page. I thought this would make it easier for the nurses. Lindsay was thrilled with the results. I was too. I liked the classic look that the Celebrations DSP provided...perfect for our new little guy.