Saturday, February 19, 2011

Never Ending Love

I haven't been making many cards lately, and when I do they are simple. But I was inspired by Julie over at Paper Pleasing Ideas with her never ending card, and had an 'a-ha' moment to make one for my husband's valentine. He's had a rough year and sometimes when he's down on himself, the only thing I can do is say 'I love you' to help brighten his day. So I wanted to remind him that our love is never ending, just like the card.

This is the front:
It opens to reveal this:
And again opens to show this verse from 1st Corinthians (which I heard while watching Walk to Remember before making the card):

And opening it one last time reveals the last panel, which I left mostly blank to write him a message:
Julie also made a good video (here) to give you an idea of how the card works. It went together much easier than I expected so I'm sure I will make another one. Only for special occassions though!
We had a pretty sad Valentine's day (he stayed home sick, I arrived home sick) so the cards were the highlight of the evening. Other than that, we took turns with the couch and the heating pad, watched a bit of tv and went to bed early. I think we had Cheerios for dinner, but I don't even remember!

Today is WINDY so I'm going to sit on the couch and continue working on my friend's wedding invites. At least I'm on vacation this week so I will have time to make something just for FUN!

Smiles,

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!

Last night I stayed in to work on my valentines for my kiddos at school. Nothing like waiting until the last minute....

We're creating a 'kind comments' project tomorrow--actually the whole school is doing it. For the past two week the students have been working on writing a kind comment for each of their classmates. We have hearts cut out of 18x24 paper and the students will decorate one then display and glue all of the comments they received. I've been reading some comments and they are too sweet, straight out of the minds of 6 and 7 year olds. I also left my comments until the last minute and wanted to write them on something special. Then I remembered my word--SIMPLIFY. So the tags I started making to write comments on (cut out with the sizzix) became my valentine/lolipop holder for the class. Then I cut out the pink top notes in the back to write my comments on. Still special, but not at all time consuming to create! In the time consuming department I made a never ending card for my husband for tomorrow....pictures to come later.

Hope your Valentine's Day is filled with love and something sweet! I'm off to finally write the comments...

Smiles,

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Kind Thanks

On my last snow day I plugged away at a few more of my thank you cards, working to meet my promise of 50. Luckily we haven't had much snow to speak of in a week and a half so I haven't had time to do more.



I made 10 each of the design on the left (10 for the job, 2 for me) and a few extra without sentiments similar to the one on the right. That way I'll have a card the next time I need one, whatever the occasion.


I lucked out and don't have much homework for my masters class this week, so I get a bit of a break from doing work all day on Saturdays. Today I'm going to start working on my friend's wedding invitations--a nautical theme. I'll probably get to work on at least 10 thank yous to match as well, fingers crossed! After I check out some blogs of course...



Smiles,

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Simple Thank Yous

Today is another snowy day here in NH and I'm enjoying the chance to catch up on visiting a few blogs today. Luckily my husband didn't have to go to work either so I will have help with snow removal when we venture out in a few hours. I'm just not too sure where the snow will go...

Until this past weekend I hadn't made a card in a LONG time. Actually since August I hadn't made a card. It could be the messy (and cold) craft space, or my masters class, lack of inspiration (doubtful with all the lovely blogs) or just sheer procrastination. My guess is that i was given a job to do. So procrastination it is.

This summer I was in Pennsylvania with my father and upon seeing two cards I made (thank yous from my stash) a family member asked if she could commission me to make some cards. Just thank you cards, 50 of them. I must have been tired from the 8 hour drive and agreed. Actually my dad's cousin could probably talk my cat into doing the dishes. Or it was the cash she forced into my hand that I promised myself I could spend on stamp supplies after finishing the job. Either way, the cash disappeared when my husband had the chance to go to a Red Sox/Yankee game in the fall and I was given a very loose deadline: "When you have time, even if you don't finish them until the family reunion in June, that's fine."

So here we are in a new year where my goal is to simplify. Agreeing to make cards for money is now the last thing I will ever agree to do again. Getting the job done and off my mind is job number one. This weekend I at least put a dent in the job by making the first 10 cards, 5 each of a similar style.

I have another design in mind and I'm headed to the basement to gather supplies and make 10 more cards. At this rate I will at least be done before the snow melts. It probably won't melt until June based on the size of the piles...

Smiles,
Caryl