Back from the Bunker

Well, as you may have noticed....I have been a little incognito as of late. I have been stampin' just trying to get those teacher gifts done and working on convention swaps that I can't show you yet, because then they wouldn't be a surprise. They are sooooo cute though. I am little proud of them, maybe a little more than a little. Anyway.....

For teacher's gifts this year, I made paper bag albums. If you haven't seen these albums before....they are really kind of neat. The base of the album is made out of paper lunch bags. In my case I used brown, but I know they come in all kinds of colors. I just happened to have brown and being my usual "think ahead" self....I started this project on Sunday night. Yes, I am forever the procrastinator....actually, I think I just live in a time bubble. I really do not have any sense of time anymore....but that is a problem to be solved on another day. I need some of that memory stuff. Ginko something. If you know what it is, let me know. Needless to say after many nights in the bunker after the kids were asleep...I finished these just in the nic of time. The teacher's really seemed to enjoy them and I really liked the way they came out. It was sort of therapeautic, but also a little saddening because this is the end of preschool for my little guy. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. I made one for each teacher.

Here are the front covers.














Here are the inside cover and one of the inside pages. Each child got their own page.















These are really easy to make. A little time consuming, but easy. I might try to post a tutorial a little later down the line for you all. The inside pages featured each of the kids, with their names and then a quote (I found online) about teachers. I also included the class picture in each one.

In the pockets I made a little 5x5 page that coordinated with the preceeding page so that the teacher could pull it out and add their own photos or journaling about the year. The bottom quote says "Favorite Things About This Year". I printed this on the computer onto cardstock and then mounted it on a bigger sheet. This way the teacher's can personalize the album a little more.

In the wee hours of the night, I managed to squeeze in a couple of cards too. You can't really give a gift without a card...right? I didn't stamp my gift bags....but please don't call the stamping police on me. I just ran outta time. I had to resort to the dollar store. Luckily I was in a hurry or I could have spent the rest of my 401K there. Crazy store....everything's a dollar. And, they have everything there. Need some peanuts...they got em. Playdough...got it. Plastic bin...got it. It's easy to go nuts in there. Also, a great outing for the kids on a rainy day. Whoever thought of the dollar store is counting way more than dollars, I can assure you.

These were my teacher cards. This one of course I used Doodle This because let's just fess up at this point, I am totally addicted to this and Doodle That. If they don't make it into the next catalog, I think I will go on a chocolate and wine bender. It's not gonna be pretty. For the background, I used the swirly dude (this is totally the official name. You can call Stampin' Up! and ask em'. I swear!) Anyway, stamped that in Vintage Violet (which is retiring too - boo hoo) and then I used the fine glue pen and added the dazzling diamonds glitter to it. The flowers were stamped in black stazon and then watercolored with the watercolor crayons. One is mounted on Taken with Teal and the other is mounted on Pink Passion both placed on the diagonal. The saying is from Warmest Regards and is in a pewter oval piece of HP hardware. The ribbon is from Jody's ribbon swap. The back of the card is also Taken with Teal.

This card was made with chocolate and purple. I thought this might be kind of cool combination. Again, I used Doodle That for the background stamped in Basic Brown ink on Whisper White CS. I put little purple blings in the centers of the whole flowers. The middle flowers were also stamped in Basic Brown and then watercolored with the watercolor crayons (again) and then yellow blings in the center of those. They are mounted on Chocolate Chip which is laid over a piece of Au Chocolat paper that I sponged with Lovely Lilac ink. I would have brayered this were I to do it again, but I didn't have a foam brayer until about a week ago and this was a whoopsi from a class that I did. I couldn't very well throw it away no could I? Psh. That's what I thought! The thank you again is from Warmest Regards (I am totally gonna miss this set too!) stamped in Brown to match and tied off with some old SU fibers that I found in my stash, also in purple.

Lastly, but not leastly....today is my parent's 38th Wedding Anniversary. Congratulations Mom and Dad! This is the card that I made for them. Wow! 38 years. That makes me feel a little old, but also proud that they have been married that long. For this one I used my cuttlebug embossing folder "swirls" and then mounted that on Real Red CS. I used my scallop scissors and cut off a chunk and then added polka dot ribbon and a heart bling to that bottom edge. On the inside edge I stamped "Love" from Wonderful Words in Basic Black. The heart is from Doodle That and is stamped again in Real Red and mounted on the same color. The ric rac and ribbon are again from Jody's share. Love that Jody!

Well, it looks like rain again. I am going to try and get down to the bunker before the boys wake up. Off to work on the mystery swaps. Bwahahahahaha!

Happy Stamping!