A Shiny Red Apple for the Teacher

Pretty soon it will be time to thank all those wonderful people who put so much energy and time into educating our children - I will be relying on this Verve Teachers Count Stamp set quite a bit in the next few weeks.

The Glossy Apple from 3 thicknesses of white cardstock using a Sizzix Original Die.  I coloured it with various alcohol markers and applied several coats of UTEE to make it nice and shiny.

Here's the sketch I used for some much needed inspiration to jumpstart my flagging mojo!

Viva la Verve April 2018 Sketch

I think bringing the teacher an apple is an excellent tradition that should be brought back in!

Less is More Challenge #369 Bring Something Back

The SSS Wednesday Challenge wants us to add some Texture

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Add some Texture

Other Challenges

PINspirational 6th Anniversary Anything Goes Challenge 

Happy Little Stampers April Anything Goes With Dies Challenge

Supplies: 

Verve Teachers Count Stamp Set;

Spellbinders M-Bossabilities Numbers & Letters;

Sizzix Originals Small Apple;

Crea-Nest-Lies XXL #21 Stitched Circles

QuickCutz Nesting Squares #2

Thanks for stopping by - especially if you take the time to leave a comment,

Kate

Tagged Teacher Thank You

A super quick card for Simon's class teacher.  The background had already been stamped with WMS Cabin Plaid Backgrounder.  I usually do a couple of these large background stamps in a sitting as they always come in handy.  The tags and grommet were cut with the largest of the WMS Stitched Tag set. One was embossed with numbers and the other with letters using the M-Bossabilities Numbers and Letters embossing folder.  The background had been stamped with Adirondack Peach Bellini and I used it to highlight the embossing on the tags as well.

Once again I was inspired by Seize the Sketch #24,

Thanks for stopping by,

Kate

Tweet Farewell

Simon finished  music solfège classes yesterday and I made this card for his teacher who has had him for 4 years now.  She has always been so patient with him, understanding the difficulties that he faces  and also recognising the love and gift for music that he has.

The MFT Homespun Bird House elements were cut from scraps of card which had been stamped with WMS Cabin Plaid backgrounder, WMS Gingham and Co., WMS My Island, Green Room Design Heirloom Patterns (also from Waltzing Mouse) and de Stempelwinkel musical score.

The sign was computer generated and I stamped a little frame around it and fussy cut it out.

The current sketch at  Fusion Card Challenge (I've rotated it 180°) gave me the idea to use the bird house with its A-line roof as an "Ecole de Musique" with Simon's "teacher" sitting on the roof seeing him off.

I am also entering this in the current Waltzing Mouse Fanatics Challenge

Thanks for stopping by,
Kate

Feathery Note

I fell in love with this funky feathers set from WMS when I first saw it but as I already owned a set of feathers I hesitated a bit.  However when I saw all the possibilities in the first WMS Pyjama Party I realised I did need it after all.  Yes I had feathers but I didn't have all the beautifully scripted sentiments, plus it helped bump up the order to get free postage (LOL). 

I've used one of the more traditional feathers on this card, because this is for my MIL (the calligrapher) and I wanted a feather which resembled a plume.  The feather panel was first stamped with the WMS Mini Crackle background to give it that aged marble look - antique linen DI and the feather and sentiment were stamped with Versafine Smokey Gray (more of a brown than a grey really).  I couldn't resist the pun on note by including some musical score background as well - Stempel Winkel's Musical Score Background also stamped in Versafine Smokey Gray.  I bought the background paper from La Blanche at Wiesbaden some years ago, it's from the Calambour Postcards Collection.  These were loose 6 x6 sheets for 10c each so I bought quite a few in as many different motifs as possible - they're from Milan Italy.  The Wiesbaden craft fair is coming up soon so hopefully there will be other little gems like this there.

When I had finished I thought it needed a little gold so I sprayed some gold glimmer mist over the finished card - unfortunately this hasn't really showed up very well in the photo because it's not that sunny outside.  Oh well at least it stopped raining long enough to get an outside pic.

Inspiration for this card is Mojo Monday sketch 315 by the very talented Julee Tilman.

Accentuating the Negative

Couldn't resist making another card using the negative die cut as an accent.  I needed  another Teacher Thank You Card for end of school year so I pulled out the WPlus9 Folk Art die set again to create this card.

It's rather bright isn't it.  Simon picked the background paper from a freebie paper stack called Totally Tropical by Kate Knight, and I followed this fabulous sketch from Mojo Monday who are celebrating their 300th challenge.  I've been wanting to try this sketch out all week, so glad I got a chance even though I've just scraped in by the skin of my teeth.

Stamps : The Number Game from Technique Tuesday
               CI-258 Uplifting Words from Crafty Individuals
               Opera Tag Stamps from Waltzing Mouse Stamps

Dies : Folk Art Alphabet from WPlus9 
          Opera Tags from Waltzing Mouse Stamps
          LR0106 by Marianne Design
          Spellbinders Circles

Merci for the Music

A quick card for Simon's solfege (ie. Musical theory) teacher, which explains all the musical imagery.  

Because time was limited, I CASEd a previous card of mine which was based on
Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge WMSC110.  

Stamps : WMS Fancy Phrases, Victorian Frippery, Cabin Plaid

Stempel Winkel Musical Score

Heindesign Judikins F-00601170 (Musical notes), StampWorld Saxophone C174

Inks : Lemonade Adirondack, Smokey Gray Versafine

Dies : Spellbinders Fancy Tags, Spellbinders Classic Squares

Others : White card stock, Pastry Doily, White Satin Ribbon

Thanks to my Sicilian Saxophone Teacher

My Sicilian Saxophone Teacher  retires shortly and tomorrow is my last lesson.  Just so we're clear - that's a teacher of saxophone who is Sicilian, not a teacher of the Sicilian Saxophone (as far as I know there's no such instrument).
I made this card to thank him for everything he's done for me these past two years and also to wish him all the best in the future.
Since I liked the sketch from this weeks Sketch'n'Stash challenge so much, I thought I'd use it again.

Starting with some 6x6 DP paper which is actually a map of Southern Italy (how perfect was that), I inked up some glossy cardstock with yellows, browns and gold alcohol inks to tone in with it and cut 2 ATC cards using the Tim Holtz ATC die.  One I overstamped with a Cities of the World montage stamp from Katzelkraft, and the other with this music score stamp from Stempel Winkel.  On another scrap I stamped this saxophone, and fussy cut it out.  I then mounted this on the musical score with dimensional tape.  This saxophone stamp is really old.  I think I bought it for Gavin's 4th birthday invitations and he has just turned 20 - I'd say that qualifies for digging deep into the stash.

I also used Craft Individuals stamp set CI-239 to create the small elements on the left.  All edges were distressed with Antique Linen Distress Ink.  The sentiment was computer generated and cut with the Spellbinders Nested Pennants set.

Enjoy what's left of the week and the week end.  I hear the weather is supposed to improve here, hope it's good where you are :)

Two more cards for the End of Year Rush

I had two more cards to make for Simon's teachers.  The left most was for his main teacher who is the most wonderful, calmest teacher in the school.  We were very lucky to have her, any other teacher may not have coped as well with Simon's special needs.

The one on the right is for his part-time teacher, who takes him for science and music.  He absolutely adores her and she has said the most wonderful things about Simon.  She has never seen a child come so alive when music is played.

I have always sung to my children even before they were born (captive audience), while breast-feeding (also captive audience), while playing games, feeding time, to calm them down when they were hurt or overwrought, and of course at bed time.  Most of these songs were gentle ballads, so you can imagine my surprise (annoyance even) when at 10 months he started humming "Smoke on the Water" just after his big brother James got an electric guitar - I didn't sing to him as often after that, and when I did I tended to take the tempo up a bit.  He was obviously trying to tell me something !

Both cards were based on this week's sketch from Waltzing Mouse - WMSC105.  What can I say - I like the sketch and my own well of ideas is a bit dry at the moment !

The upper panels on both cards were constructed with alcohol inked backgrounds - Sailboat Blue, Pool and Lemonade, and overstamped with Jet Black Archival Ink.  The left with two stamps from a set called Writing Set from Stampington and Company - the nibs and the calligraphy panel seemed perfect for a teacher, and the right with a music score stamp from Stempelwinkel.  On the left card, I thought I would try using a pair of wings instead of a strip to vary the sketch a bit - these were cut using Tim Holtz's Heart Wings die and stamped with a text stamp from Crafty Individuals.  The strip on the right was a piece of Tim Holtz washi Tape.  The black bird on the right card was made from black felt cut with the Tim Holtz Caged Bird die.  The sentiments and labels were from WMS Paris Nouveau.  I don't think I've ever used a stamp set as often and as thoroughly as this one.

Simon's on holiday after today and I have a batch of very belated birthday cards to make so I hope he gives me a bit of a break.  I also hope I like WMSC106 as much as this one!

Apologies for the lousy photograph.  I can't take a decent inside photo and it's been raining cats and dogs here since yesterday afternoon.  Plus I only had 30 seconds to snap a couple of photos before Simon went off to school.

End of School Year Rush

At this time of year I have so many people to thank for their hard work with my darling boy Simon. This card is for Simon's teaching assistant Josie.  Josie has worked tirelessly with him for 3 years now and probably knows him better than anyone else apart from me.  We had reservations about the local school system but he loves it there, thanks in no small part to Josie.  I have to say that I too feel better about leaving him with someone as competent and experienced as Josie.
Simon has had some wonderful therapists and teachers (and doctors) throughout his short but eventful life, but I don't think any of them has influenced him as greatly as Josie.
I loved this week's sketch at WMS so I thought I'd use it again - plus it lends itself perfectly to this stamp set from My Island.
I just love the plaid background.  When I saw one of the cards on Claire Brennan's Blog where she had created a plaid background for one of her My Island cards, I knew I had to have this set as well as My Island - I had planned to get this next month, but decided I couldn't wait.
The plaid was created using Broken China and Wild Honey Distress Inks.  I used these in the Island panel too with Spiced Marmalade and Memento Rich Cocoa for the palm tree.  I was only playing when I started the panel so I didn't measure, I just "eye-balled" it.  It's not perfect but I think it's okay and I'm surprised at how easy it was to create the pattern.  I used the two different sized plaid stamps in the set and had them mounted on two separate acrylic blocks.  I then just stamped alternating between the two stamps one with Broken China and the other with Wild Honey - no in between cleaning, no fuss, no problems, easy peasy.

More than Words

I made this card for Simon's speech pathologist, to thank her for all the work she has done with him throughout the year.
Again my Paris Nouveau set was put to use, for the Merci, the border strip, the label and the flower spray.  Crafty Individuals CI-258 (it seemed perfect for a speech therapist) was stamped onto an alcohol inked background.  I tried to replicate a coral/pink alcohol inked background I made previously, but the colours were too warm so I ended up going for a brown/orange combination rather than coral/pink card.
I used Waltzing Mouse Sketch 105 as inspiration for the design of the card.  As you can see the little circle on the upper left was not part of the sketch, but I wanted to add this locket which has a picture of Simon inside. It seemed to need some form of a mount and the mount didn't look balanced within the panel.  Behind the locket it reads "More than Words".  I'm not entirely happy with it but I had to deliver it first thing this morning so I had no time to tweak it.

Today's card for THINK PINK - well yesterday's actually. The papers are from Basic Grey Sugared Collection. The Scalloped "Flower" was stamped with a Crafty Individuals stamp and cut using a Spellbinders Classic Scallop Circle. The centre was stamped with a stamp from the Kaiser Scrapbook Circles. The Apple is a Sizzix Small Die (original not sizzlit). It's cut from foam board. I used Tombow markers to colour the stem and leaf. The abc were cut using the Go Slim alphabet. The Inspire stamp is from the Basic Grey Inspire me stamp set.

I made 10 of these but I wasn't happy with one of them so I'll probably keep that one.

It's very similar to the ones I made for my friend and sister-in-law who are both teachers. I think it's perfect for a teacher - perhaps an end of year thank you. It thought it might also be good for a graduation.

This is the 2nd "Apple for the Teacher" Card I created. I used different papers - the background is from the Basic Grey sultry Collection, but the others are from the Paper Pizazz Girls to Women book.

As I said in the last entry I ran out of the Inspire rub-on, so I used this stamp from the Basic Grey set "Inspire Me".

The top right corner was a little empty so I used this die cut of a pen from the Sizzix Original die Telephone and Diary.

The ABCs are cut using the Wingo Zingo Decorative Strip die.

I thought it might be nice to decorate the inside with the Phrase "Teachers Rule ok" also cut using the Wingo Zingo decorative strip die. This is for all the underpaid and under-appreciated teachers out there !

I've created this card for my sister-in-law. She's a teacher so I thought an apple for the teacher and all that. She also loves to wear pink so I thought the Pink Lady was particularly appropriate. I have a friend with a birthday next week and she's a teacher too so I might create another one for her. Unfortunately I don't have any more of the "Inspire" rub-ons so I'll have to improvise with a stamp - watch this space. I picked up these rub-ons at K-Mart years ago. I'm going back to Australia this summer, who knows I may find some more.

The papers are from Basic Grey's Sultry Collection. The Apple is a Small Sizzix Original. The Letters were from Sizzix Retro Metro Alphabet Set. I downloaded the Pink lady logo from the internet.