Dill

Hi! Once upon a time, I planted dill in my yard. The intention was to use it for making pickles. Pickles were made but not with the dill from the yard. It just wasn't enough. As dill does, it replanted itself and has for about ten years now. Still make pickles, and still don't use the dill. Bottom line, the dill needed a purpose. Thus this post. The dill in my yard became the inspiration for my card. The "packet" even has real dill seeds from the plant in it. I like the concept of the card, but think there is room for improvement on the colors.

Enjoy and THANKS for visiting!
Chris

A Box of Secrets

Hi! I'm afraid to say that I'm actually glad it rained today. Still not enough, but better than the nothing we've had for over a month.Of course I don't want the 3" of water in my basement that my mom in the Chicago area had recently, but a hint of green in the grass would be nice.
I altered this tin box awhile back. I think I've been posting several pictures of past projects because I've been spending more time out buying paper crafting supplies than I have been actually creating paper projects.
I can never pass up a good sale. There's always something I need!

Enjoy and THANKS for visiting!
Chris

How Cute!

Hi! I'm often impressed by what others create. For example, any "make 'n take" I ever do, I never use. It gets saved as a prototype/inspiration. Craft shows I go to, I go for the purpose of looking. I might see an idea that I myself would like to make. Sometimes I might even buy one to use as my pattern. Well, what's interesting about this project is that I have decorated these paper mache letters for others, but never one for myself. Needless to say I was surprised and thrilled when I received the gift pictured below. It was from one of my students this past year. I LOVE it!!!

Enjoy and THANKS for visiting!
Chris

Another craft and UL combo

Hello. Just back from a wonderful night out with friends. It was so pleasant to sit out on the patio with good wine,food and girlfriends. (not to mention I started the day sharing a nice breakfast with another friend) Eating out and friends - life is good.


Here's another project hanging in my craft room. Chipboard was covered with CTMH papers and then custom letters from Uppercase Living put the finishing touch on the wall hanging. The papers are some of my favorites and the word encouraging to let my mind wander. There's nothing wrong with DREAMing.

Enjoy and THANKS for visiting!
Chris

Paper Crafting meets Uppercase Living!

I have a passion for paper crafting and a passion for selling Uppercase Living. Often the two meet.  In my craft room hangs this display. How true it is! Can you relate? The board and the chocolate brown lettering are sold by Uppercase Living. The paper background is Close To My Heart.

Need this for your space? Check out my website at chrisspace.uppercaseliving.net

Enjoy and THANKS for visiting!

Chris

Hello, I missed you!

Hi! I've been anxious to get back to posting and here I am. I returned from Vegas on Saturday at 3pm after leaving Vegas at 11pm the night before. Needless to say, I just starting to feel like a real person again. 


I'm so excited that I inked up this stamp for the first time. (Still working towards my goal.) It actually hasn't been part of my collection for too long. I inked the stamp with several colors of distress ink, sprayed it with water mixed with perfect pearls, and pressed die-cut watercolor paper on it 2 times. The first card uses the first stamped image and the second card, the second stamped image (many of you would refer to this as 2nd generation).

Enjoy and THANKS for visiting!
Chris

Oh Baby!

Lately, I am always in need of baby cards. I would hate to say I'm getting old, however, I am quickly becoming one of the more veteran teachers in my building. So, so many now are new and young and getting married and having babies. There must have been 4 or 5 babies born to our faculty this spring, with another one due any day now. For that reason, I designed a simple card and made multiples for both baby girls and baby boys. I'm just glad I'm on the sending end of these cards and not the receiving end!

Well, I'm off to Vegas BABY! It's Uppercase Living's 5th Year Convention. So, I'll be back to blogland in about a week.
Enjoy & THANKS for visiting!
Chris

TGIF

Happy Weekend! Of course I am in no hurry for the week(s) to go by, but we all enjoy weekends.


I'm not a big fan of roses, however, I do like this rose stamp. On the first one, I tried to make the edges darker by rolling the edges of the stamp in the ink. Then I thought Stickles would add a nice touch. In an attempt to add sparkle, the Stickles took away my attempt to make the edges darker. In fact, the Stickles lightened the edges even more. If anyone has a tip for me, I'd be happy to learn.
The second one (with only red roses) is for my husband for our anniversary. For that reason, I kept it simpler - nothing with pop dots or sparkles. I almost used lace (I thought "romance"), but decided against it. I am happy with the results. I'm guessing my husband will too. (He better be!)

Enjoy & THANKS for visiting!
Chris

Dream

Again, what a beautiful day and I can see it clearly since I had my windows cleaned today. First time ever having windows cleaned - what a treat! And somehow I find humor in the fact that it was 2 men that did the job. Not to offend anyone, but it sounds something like "how many men does it take to do what 1 woman can do?"!!! So sorry, it just had to be said.
Now let me say how much fun it was to play with 'never used before' stamps and a few new techniques I recently learned. A few months ago, I took two classes at Buffalo Stamps and Stuff taught by Jennifer McGuire. The classes were all about stamping techniques and I though Jennifer was awesome. She's someone is in "the business" that doesn't act like she is. She's sincerely sweet and down to earth. Okay, okay, I'll stop with the commercial or whatever you want to call it. But, I will add that I follow her blog and you might like to check it out sometime.
           http://www.jennifermcguireink.com/     


And here's the card -

Enjoy!

     Oh ya, and thanks for visiting!
Chris

Be Happy!

We all know how challenging masculine cards can be. Paper makes the difference for me. This paper is Close To My Heart. It took some time to grow on me, but now I'm glad it did. I was pleasantly surprised that a button and a bow of twine didn't "feminize" it at all. 

I inked up some stamps for the first time today. (Gotta try to keep my promise of "seasoning" them all!) I'm excited to put some finishing touches on a few pieces I was fiddling with today. Hopefully I'll want to share them tomorrow.

Be Happy!

Chris

Give Me Those Ruby Slippers!

I not only enjoy making cards, but I enjoy making them specific to the recipient.  So this get-well card was made specifically for a friend & colleague of mine who recently had foot surgery. Now, a high heel on a get-well card may seem a tad mean. Let me explain. Another colleague also has foot problems, yet continues to wear beautiful, but pointy, high heels despite my friend's pleading. Thus the high heel. Now to explain why it's red. The answer is simple...The Wizard of Oz. (I actually like the second card with the black heel better, but that just how it goes.)

Enjoy!
Chris

Petunia

This is the reason my craft room wasn't visited today. I found this cutie, which my daughter has named Petunia, as I was driving down the middle of my street. I swerved to avoid hitting it, then stopped the car to "rescue" it. There were no other ducks to be found. It looked at me as if to say, "Are you my mother?" So, having hatched ducks in the classroom for years and cared for wild ducklings in the school courtyard, I am its mom, TEMPORARILY. My plan is to ask neighbors if they've seen a family around and if not, then find a real family to adopt it. It is so little. Must be only a day or two old. I'm guessing it's a wood duck. Let's just hope this post has a happy ending.

Lazy Summer Sundays

Hello. Hello. Sundays. When you're a teacher, summer takes the stress out of Sundays. Sundays in summer become Lazy Summer Sundays. There's no lesson plans that need to be written or laundry that must be ready for the week ahead. It's just all about being lazy and that's what I was today. I have a get well card that needs to be made, but I didn't even get to the craft room today and that's okay because there's always Monday. Okay, okay, I'll stop rambling and being lazy, instead I'll share a card I made this past spring. All of the supplies are from Close To My Heart. The simple style and the colors are so me.

Oops, didn't realize the side view photo was so blurry. Just wanted you to see that there was a strip of patterned paper on the inside that you could see behind the shaped front edge. You get the idea.
Enjoy!
Chris

Partay!

What a wonderful day today was! I got to see a live feed on the internet of my son's kayak race in WI. It was so amazing. I guess I do need to be somewhat computer literate. This evening I was at a lovely graduation party of a previous student, so here's a few pics of the card I made for the graduate. The pattern was recently on the Buffalo Stamps and Stuff blog. I just did it to match the school colors I needed.

I'll practice taking better pictures.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Chris

Bored?

Is it possible? Could I actually be bored? It's possible, but unlikely. It's only the 2nd week of school vacation. I think I just couldn't get myself super motivated today. I checked a couple things off the "to-do" list, but spent most of my time on the computer. Snapfish has a special that expires tomorrow - 99 prints for 99 cents - only I can only come up with 65 prints. So I need to find 34 more prints I want. I should probably just order 34 copies of one of the pictures and be done with it! It'll still be a deal.

So anyway, here's a card I made in the spring. So cool. Never thought I could do this. Not too hard to do. Just a few steps. Stamp background on plain paper. Clear emboss the flowers next. After that sponge ink over it until you get your desired look. The embossing resists the ink. Like I said, cool, huh?

No post tomorrow, I'll be at a crop with friends.
Chris

Happy Birthday!

Well, this blog thing is encouraging me to push myself creatively. I probably always do, but now I'm more aware of it. I hope the birthday girl likes this. I finally used a Stampin' Up stamp set and the butterfly sizzlet I was excited to own. That's probably my summer goal - to ink every "un-inked" stamp in my craft room. You're laughing at me aren't you? It's a realistic goal. (I think) The hardest part is just deciding which one to use first. I guess I'll just have to shut my eyes and pick one each time.


Chris

So Sorry!

It was a gorgeous day except for the fact that I realized that I sent so many of you the wrong blog address. Told you I was technically challenged! And who knew there was a woman in Germany also named Chris Space! Go figure! So I apologize and thank you for finding the "real" me!

I have a card to share with you today. Unfortunately, it's a sympathy card. I don't really care for the style of the sentiment with the style of the rest of the card, but that's what it is. Enjoy!

I'm off to make a birthday card!

Chris

Here we go!

A good friend of mine recently encouraged me to start a blog. I thought 
‘What for?” and later I thought “Why not?” So, here goes…


Welcome to my blog where I will attempt to become more computer savvy so I can share with you my creations!


Here's a layout I just finished in celebration of my inlaws' 70th birthdays: