Back to School Feast

I was totally inspired by Elizabeth Kartchner's back to school feast that she posted pictures of recently. I thought that this would be a great way to celebrate a new school year. So I threw the idea past my kids on Friday and they were all on board with it. We decided to have it yesterday, since Sage & Austin meet their teachers this afternoon. (Jonah will meet his tomorrow.)

It was a lot of fun, mostly because a lot of references were made to the upcoming "feast" over the weekend. "What should we get for the feast?" "What are we going to drink at the feast?" "Should we make a cake for the feast?" I love anticipation.... it's so fun!

So here's what we did...

I made some decorations. A centrepiece:


And some straw toppers:


For these I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (stamper's select white, hawaiian shores), stamps (tag it #6) & dies (limitless layers). I also used my star punch and some MME patterned paper.

For our menu, the kids decided that they wanted to make their own pizzas:




While we were waiting for them to bake, we had a time of sharing for what the new school year would bring. And concerns or prayer requests were expressed and then we prayed for each other.

When the pizzas were done, we dug in:


I also made a Sunshine salad with spinach, mandarin orange slices and toasted pecans.




And for dessert, chocolate cake:


I made the little banner with Papertrey Ink cardstock (stamper's select white, hawaiian shores, harvest gold), stamps (tag it #6) & dies (two triangles). Again, I also used my star punch and some MME patterned paper. I put the triangles together and then ran them through my sewing machine to attach them together. I used the threads at the end to tie them to bamboo skewers.


I was super thrilled with how this turned out! (I'm thinking my days of decorating cakes with icing are now over--- from now on, I'm decorating them with paper! LOL!)



One more thing to share:

Before the preparations for the feast, I spent the morning baking these cookies to give to the teachers (our current ones and a few "old favourites", too.)

I made some tags for the cookie bags using this week's Make It Monday at Papertrey Ink: creating backgrounds with non-background stamps.


I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (stamper's select white, kraft), stamps (Big & bold Wishes, Happy Trails, BB:Newsprint) & dies (Happy Trails, Tag Sale #3). I stamped the background with a Happy Trails swirl.


And on the back... my original first attempt for the front. I had decided that including the planes on the front made it a little too busy, so I made these the back instead, where I used a stamp from TT:Valentine for the to & from.



Thanks for looking!

Wisdom from my Lululemon lunch bag

There's a quote on my Lululemon lunch bag that says: "Breathe deeply and appreciate the moment. Living in the moment could be the meaning of life."

I know for myself, this is definitely something that I struggle with. My mind is often on projects, to do lists, etc. and not always focused on the moment.

So for my challenge on the Scrapping Everyday Miracles blog, I chose to focus on living in the moment. My challenge is to create a layout that focuses on the miracle of the moment.

The scrap twist is one of my latest faves: Stamp on your layout. ;)

Here's the layout I made for the challenge:


I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (kraft), stamps (Gratitude Journal) & dies (Journal Tabs, Two Triangles). I also used Lily Bee patterned paper & Just Cre8 stamps (clocks).

And I placed my journaling behind one of the photos:


Thanks for looking!

Yee-ha!

It's September, which means it's time to start planning Sage's birthday party.

This year, we've decided to go with a cowgirl theme, complete with a hayride. Sage & I started on the invitations today, using this week's Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #30: Coloured Pencils.


I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (vintage cream, sweet blush), button, twine and die (mat stack #5. The image is from the internet (I did a search for cowgirl colouring pages, found this one and resized it in Word and then added the sentiment (the font is Bleeding Cowboys-- it seemed appropriate;) ). The patterned paper is Basic Grey. I coloured in the image with my SU! pencil crayons.

Thanks for looking!

Lunchbox card #1

I recently discovered the PTI Lunchbox Die and have decided that I would like it. However, I will wait to order it with the next release, so in the meantime, I decided to make some little 3"x3" cards to put in my kids' lunches when they start back to school next week.

Here's the first one I made, using this week's Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #30: Coloured Pencils.

I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (stamper's select white, pure poppy), stamps (BB: Newsprint, TT: Valentine) and die (mat stack #5). I coloured in the image using my SU! pencils.

Thanks for looking!

Lunchbox card #2

Here's the second 3"x3" lunchbox card I made, using this week's Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #30: Coloured Pencils.

(For some reason, the stamped background and the circle around the cat look grey, but they're actually Plum Pudding.)
I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (stamper's select white, fine linen), stamps (BB: Newsprint, TT: Valentine) and die (doily details). I coloured in the image using my SU! pencils.

Thanks for looking!

Lunchbox card #3

Here's the third 3"x3" lunchbox card I made, using this week's Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #30: Coloured Pencils.


I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (stamper's select white), stamps (BB: Newsprint, TT: Valentine) and die (mat stack #4). I coloured in the image using my SU! pencils and the teal cardstock is SU! Island Indigo.

Thanks for looking!

Lunchbox card #4

Here's the fourth 3"x3" lunchbox card I made, using this week's Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #30: Coloured Pencils.


I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (stamper's select white, new leaf), stamps (BB: Newsprint, TT: Valentine) and die (mat stack #5). I coloured in the image using my SU! pencils.

Thanks for looking!

Lunchbox card #5

Here's the fifth 3"x3" lunchbox card I made, using this week's Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #30: Coloured Pencils.


I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (stamper's select white, simply chartreuse), stamps (BB: Newsprint, TT: Valentine) and die (mat stack #5). I coloured in the image using my SU! pencils.

Thanks for looking!

Lunchbox card #6

Here's the sixth 3"x3" lunchbox card I made, using this week's Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #30: Coloured Pencils.


I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (stamper's select white, dark chocolate), stamps (BB: Newsprint, TT: Valentine) and die (doily details). I coloured in the image using my SU! pencils.

Thanks for looking!

A birthday card

I wanted to share the birthday card that coordinates with the Gratitude Journal I made for my sister-in-law (which you can see here & here.)

To make it, I used this week's Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #30: Coloured Pencils.


I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (ocean tides, vintage cream), stamps (falling leaves & botanical silhouettes (sentiment)) and die (mat stack #5). I also used We R Memory Keepers patterned paper and coloured in the little birds stamp by Inkadinkadoo.

Thanks for looking!

Gratitude Journal part 1

When I found out that my sister-in-law, Sally, was reading the book: One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, I decided to make her a Gratitude Journal in which to keep her list.

I ordered a kraft binder from Papertrey Ink, as well as some Rustic White cardstock. In Word, I designed my lines and printed them out on both sides of each 8x5.5" sheet of cardstock. I also printed the lines on the back of several sheets of patterned paper to add to the journal.

For the whole journal, I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (rustic white, vintage cream, fine linen), stamps (Falling Leaves, Fall Elegance, Fancy Flourishes, Leaf Prints, Modern Woodgrain Mats, Gratitude Journal, Iconic Images), dies (Journal Tags, Mat Stack #4 & #5, Leaf Prints) & felt (ocean tides). I also used We R Memory Keepers patterned paper & a Hero Arts little owl stamp.

So here's the first part of the journal. You can see part 2 here.

(I should add that for every two page spread, I added some stamped images on one of the pages. So you could see them better, I just took a picture of the page that had the stamping on it. The other side just has the lines.)
















For this page, I used this week's Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #30: Coloured Pencils. I used my SU! pencils to colour in this little Hero Arts owl stamp.

Here's a close up:





I love how I was able to curve some of the sentiments to match the curve of the flourishes or branches.




Thanks for looking!

Gratitude Journal part 2

Here's part two of the Gratitude Journal that I made for my sister-in-law's birthday.
You can see part one here, as well as the list of supplies that I used.
























For this page, I used this week's Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #30: Coloured Pencils. I used my SU! pencils to colour in this little SU! bird stamp.



Thanks for looking!

Five for Friday

1. This summer, Austin & I read the Harry Potter book series "together." Not out loud together, but at the same time. Most of the time, I was one book behind. They were excellent.

Then, we watched the movies together. This would take place in the evening, after Jonah & Sage had gone to bed. Some nights we would stay up late and watch a whole one, but other nights, we'd split one movie over a couple of evenings.

On Monday, I took Austin to Winnipeg to see Part Two of the Deathly Hallows. I didn't realize until we got there that it was in 3D (Austin was super excited about that!) And, we almost had a private viewing, as we were the only ones in the theatre for a while before the movie started. But right at the end, four more people showed up. Still, it was great!

2. Last night, my friends, Susan and Mandy, and I went out for supper for our birthdays and then came back to my house to scrapbook together. I worked on a Gratitude Journal for my SIL. Such a great, much-needed, girl time!

3. We are pretty much ready for back to school, next Tuesday (for Austin & Sage), Wednesday (for Jonah) and Thursday (for all three, all day.) Their backpacks are packed and ready to go. The only thing left is to make some treats for their teachers. I'm thinking of making these cookies and wrapping them up in some fun packaging. (Stay tuned, as I'm sure I'll post photos here in the near future...)

4. We got a game from Trevor, Tatiana and Noah when they were out in June. It's called Chromino and it's been quite the hit this summer. It's like dominoes, but with colours and is really fun. The nice thing is that all of my kids can play on their own and it's pretty even. Sage won this evening. ;)

5. And because I like to post a card or a layout...


I made this layout a few weeks ago, but I don't think I've posted it yet. (Forgive me if I have already...)

I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (stamper's select white, raspberry fizz), stamps & dies (Wonderful words). The patterned paper is Cosmo Cricket.

Thanks for looking & have a great (long) weekend!

Pages with Papertrey -- Challenge #1

I'm sure it's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Papertrey Ink. Not only are their products amazing, but their forum is first class and filled with the nicest crafters! Since joining their boards back in March, I have felt so welcomed and encouraged!

So, in an effort to "give back" a little, I've decided to issue some scrapbooking challenges in the scrapbooking forum there, seeing as there is a bit of a need in that area. I'll be issuing two challenges per month, one on the 1st and another on the 15th, with the 15th's challenge being a sketch.

So, here's challenge #1: Use a Papertrey Ink stamp set and die on your layout. It doesn't have to be coordinating (i.e. Turning a New Leaf stamp set with Turning a New Leaf dies), but it can be.

Bonus points if you use a PTI Impression Plate, too. ;)

Here's my layout:


I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (stamper's select white, plum pudding), stamps (Gratitude Journal, In Bloom), dies (Half & Half), impression plate (Woodgrain), buttons & twine. I also used Lily Bee patterned paper & Fancy Pants brads. For the title, I used my Cuttlebug Harmony Alphabet dies.

Here's a close up:


For my journaling, I stamped one of the Gratitude Journal stamps on a piece of white cardstock that I'd cut out with my Half & Half die. I then used the Gratitude Journal lined stamp to make the lines for my journaling and tucked it all behind my photo.





So, if you'd like to play along with Challenge #1, you just need to link your layout to this thread in the PTI forum. If you do so before October 1st, you'll have your name put in the draw to win a prize, generously donated by Joyce.

Thanks for looking!