Happy Valentine's Day!

There doesn't need to be a special day for you to know how special you are to me. I need to tell myself and I need to tell you. I cannot survive without others. You mean the world to me and I hope I show you that in everything I do and say.
With that said, here are several creations I enjoyed doing for many friends, family and students.
First, my "swing" cards made from the Close To My Heart cricut cartridge-

And these treat boxes made from a cute kit by Close To My Heart -

Then, thanks to Pinterest, I did these for my students -

Let me end with a story that took me aback alittle today. For 8+ years now, I have done a spelling activity with my students where they are asked to form as many words as they can from the letters in HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY. As a class we've come up with upwards of 60 words each year. This year there was a first, a word that was never made in previous years -  ipad. My, how times have changed!

Enjoy and THANKS for visiting!
Chris

It'll Be A Girl

A P.E. teacher, (that's a Phys. Ed. teacher, not an APE), at school is expecting a baby girl next month.  One of the cards I was asked to make was a baby shower card for her. Believe me when I say, my pictures do not do it justice. So, imagine something in-between...please. I was going for a baby quilt look and I just may have achieved it.

Enjoy and THANKS for visiting!
Chris

A Card Order!

I was honored to be asked to make several cards for celebrations at my school. (And even better, I was paid for my work!) Of course I put the pressure on myself to do beyond my best. Here's the wedding card I created. Check back next week, and I'll post the baby shower card.

Enjoy and THANKS for visiting!
Chris

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just want to share a pic or two of the cards I sent out to family. Also, wanted everyone to know how thankful I am for a very long list of things, including, of course, you, my family (that's you, hubby!) and friends. I appreciate your support of my creative endeavors and all other aspects of my life.

Enjoy and THANKS for visiting!

Chris

Halloween Projects

Hello All! School started, so I've been M.I.A. Time flies, so "they" say, and as I get older, it flies faster and faster. With Halloween now over, I know that Christmas will be here before we know it. It always seems that from Halloween to Christmas is a blur. So although Christmas music is playing at the stores, I'm going to to go back in time four days and share a few Halloween projects.

My Halloween card this year was inspired by Pinterest. I know one of my nephews got a kick out of the "googly eyes."

These candy coffins were made using my Cricut cartridge. 

And finally, my costume...a cupcake! The bottom is a plastic tub with the bottom cut off. It was then covered with silver wrapping paper (the cupcake liner) and hung in place with suspenders. The frosting was made by sewing scalloped pieces of quilt batting onto a men's 3X t-shirt and has sprinkles of colored straws decorating it. The cherry on top is a dollar store hat with a pipe cleaner stem. It was a hit in my school's Halloween parade!

Halloween ended after seven bags of candy were handed out and I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow!

Enjoy and THANKS for visiting!

Chris

Memory Keeper

This project is for my second grade classroom. For several years now my school has had all students do an end of the year writing sample about their favorite memory from that grade. So we always start off by brainstorming events we can remember. This year I thought we could record special events on index cards as they happen and keep them in this memory box to read at the end of the year. Of course, now that I came up with this idea, I have probably jinxed myself and our end of the year writing sample topic will probably change. Oh well, it will be fun anyway and I had a chance to be creative and feel like I was getting ready for school to start at the same time.

This started out as a plain, white, metal container. I painted the top and bottom edge yellow. After applying the paper, I also mod podged the entire thing before embellishing.

Enjoy and THANKS for visiting!
Chris

More from Craft Your Art Out!

Three more mornings of craft Your Art Out flew by. The eleven girls were kept busy creating at least 3 projects a day. Below are pictures of many of the projects we did. Somehow I was kept busy too and forgot to take pictures of several of our crafts.

Water Sponges - a favorite, simply and easily made by cutting 3 sponges lengthwise into thirds. Stack them in mixed order, three on-top of three (makes a cube.) Then tie tightly with fishing line. It will take shape as you tie it. Wet, throw, repeat.

 Here's a mini-clipboard and magnet. The clipboard is just a thin piece of wood covered with scrapbook paper and a ribbon adorned clip holds papers in place. The magnet is made by gluing paper and a magnet on the back of those larger sized clear stones (like melted marbles) from the dollar store.

These are hair ties. A couple of ribbons and several beads and you're all set!

Homemade whiteboards made from cutting and drilling a large sheet of shower board (purchased at any home store.) These were decorated with vinyl pieces I had from Uppercase Living. I would suggest adding a marker with velcro.

Dog toys braided from strips of fleece. Cat toys were also made by tying smaller strips of fleece and feathers to a dowel rod using elastic string.

Enjoy and THANKS for visiting1
Chris