uuggghhh!

I feel emotionally drained and warn down but school, but the end is near.  One more semester of classes then student teaching so by the end of December next year I will have my special education degree then its just a matter of doing 5 classes of literacy.  I'm excited, but sooo stressed.  It seems like the last 5 weeks are going to be project after project due.  I just can't wait for my winter break.  The sad thing about being so crazy with school and work is that there is no time for creating.  I'm hoping to get some in during the break I have.  I have to play catch up and share the last few card classes as soon as I have some time.

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Trying something new

So I started collecting monster high dolls a few months back. I used to collect cabbage patch but frankly they became pretty boring. I like monster high because they are smaller and their not Barbie (I love Barbie but if you have seen one you've seen them all.  In my collecting i have come across some defective dolls and for the most part Mattel has been awesome about replacing them. The neat thing is that some of them they haven't wanted back. Which works out nicely for my nieces and nephew.  Well the last defective doll I got had a "lazy" eye.  The placement was all off and I couldn't just dump it in the kids toy basket so I started looking up how to customize her. I wipe off her make up and went to town.  I started over about 5 times. Certain things just weren't coming along the way I wanted, so I started over. Well today I finally finished her.  I am super critical but I realized that she is my first and she's not too bad. So here she is before: 

Cleaned: 

Midway: 

Finished: 

Her eyes are a bit intense.  I wish I got them to be a little softer.  Maybe the next one will be a little better but it's all a learning experience and takes time and patience. I got her a new outfit. I was on the fence if I will try again but I might... We will see. 

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Unity stamp Jen girl stamp-teacher card

So I HAD to buy the Jen girl stamp set from unity stamp company.  Why? Cause she's a teacher of course.  I love these new girl stamp sets and this one was a must have.  So I have been working on coloring her in a million colors.  And making these cards and I finally put them together today.  I used a green paper that was supposed to look like lined paper.  On the sheets that the red margin was missing (cause I cut it) I drew it in.  I added so alphabet ribbon so it looks like the border that is in just about every classroom.  Then simply glued the chalk board on and popping up the teacher.  Then stamped "thanks for teaching".  I think they are simple but cute.

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As usual..

The summer was not a very crafty time. Other than work of course and even that felt a tad stifled this year. But I did a few fun things with the kids. Amazingly enough I really didn't use as much string as I did last year.

So what did I do this summer? planned my card classes as always.  Continued my crazy doll collecting habits. monster high dolls are what I am currently collecting.  The company in charge of cabbage patch kids bored me. More of the same stuff over and over. I will probably get this year's 30th anniversary doll but only 1 cause I'm out of space. It's time to purge a few.  

Any way back to crafting.  This week I made my nephew a fishing pole for his male monster high "action figures" lol. I give him extra boys I find because he is very interested in my collection and they fit in his cars that he pushes around. My dad didn't like him playing with a ken doll. But he seems okay with the monster high dolls (probably cause they are "monsters")

I found the instructions on YouTube a user named myfroggystuff. She has great instructions.  

The next thing I made last night and that was a tshirt "necklace" I found the instructions on Pinterest. They are super easy to make. 

I made myself a pink one from a shirt I got at the Salvation Army. Then this morning I made this one:

In red and tie dye yellow to wear to this years red knights convention. I used a shirt I just got at kohls but raven ripped a hole in and a shirt I tie dyed at work last year and haven't worn.  I think it would have been cooler with some black mixed in but I think it came out cute. I might make another one to sell. We will see. I'm not sure what I'm up to next craft wise. The next couple weeks are going to be busy. We have a big ride on Saturday. It's going to be an emotional day it's the first and final ride for Karen (someone I truly considered family) she was the best example of a strong woman I have ever seen. Nothing got her down... I'm sad she passed but I know she still with us. And Saturday is going to be hard.

The red knight convention is coming up in Vermont a lot of my chapter will be there I'm pretty excited to go blow off some steam and hangout with my awesome family and ride! We are suppose tour Vermont teddy bear factory and Ben and Jerry's along with a bunch of other stuff. It should be fun. Then I come home and it's back to the grind of classes. I'm looking forward to it this year I'm taking classes with two of my favorite teachers and so far the books are looking pretty good and useful. I'm nervous about the work load but I think I'll be okay. Then September will be here and the little kids will begin school which means work phone calls will start. I had a dream I was getting calls already lol. I can't believe summers almost over. Well I hope you all are able to craft and have fun.  

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A graduation present

So my "little sister" graduated from high school Saturday I wanted to give her something special that she could have in her room to remind her that she can do anything she puts her mind to.  I saw this quote on Pinterest and it inspired me.  I dug out my tim holtz grudge board letters and painted the letters I needed black then I found my Heidi swap paper (the stuff you can spray and wipe and only parts will take color).  This project inspired a trip to Michael's ...which many do lol.  I got the Heidi swap sprays in pink and yellow.  I sprayed some parts yellow and some pink and were they met it become orange.  I popped it in a frame and she seemed to love it.  I would have probably done more if I had more time but like with many things I waited till the last minute.  

A picture of the beautiful graduate. 

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One design multiple quotes

I was playing with this cute paper that I got from hobby lobby called Lola and luca it's really cute black,white, green and pink papers. I used my CTMH Wishes book for the main layout of the card with some modifications. I used my new scrapbook statement-women stamps.  I love them! I changed up the cards with different quotes. 

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Stamp organization

Close to my heart stamps are the majority of my stamp collection.  I at one point considered purchasing their stamp cases, but they had as many perks as downfalls. So when I first started buying CTMH stamps I had a bin in the house I started using.  Then I found these guys I started with 1 blue and 2 green ones.  They hold a lot more then the close to my heart ones and they were easy to thumb through. So when the collection expanded some more I ended up buying a bunch more and was happy to find white ones at target for $2.99 each.  This pack week I added two more cause the collection was getting congested. With that I decided it was time to organize my older stamps into the new themes (alphabets, everyday life, holiday, seasons and nature, occasions and flair, and I have two special baskets one for the last catalog and one for the new catalog. I then sub divided some the CTMH themes everyday life was broken into masculine, feminine, family and generic. Holiday was subdivided into months/dates, Halloween, Christmas, Easter, valentines and Father's Day. Seasons I just divided it into winter and one general one. Occasions (my biggest theme) is handmade, general/multiple occasions, sympathy, new home, love/wedding, and birthday. Then last but not least is my flair which is divided into miscellaneous, journal/frames, flowers, and background stamps.

I start out with post it notes on the basket which gave me the option to move things around when needed. 

Then I made labels using my CTMH glamour lowercase alphabet stamps, Tim Holtz shabby chic paper and my spellbinder diecut.  I started off packing taping them to the baskets but for some reason it didn't stick very well so I Velcro dotted them instead.  I figure that give me some wiggle room in the future cause as a consultant I won't stop buying their stamps any time soon.  

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