Congrats Graduate!

Happy Tuesday friends!  It has been way too long since I've popped in with a just because card!  Life is moving along at lightning speed over here!  Jonathon graduates from high school this Sunday which means lots of fun end of year activities for him (and our whole family really). Ryan is home for the summer which is awesome and Collin and Marcel are busy finishing up the school year. Collin has his first job interview after school today and his clothes are piled on my vanity upstairs waiting for a quick ironing job from mom!  Love all these little signs around us showing that time is passing and they are growing up quickly. Trying to take the time to soak up all these precious moments.

So..while I'm at it, I thought I'd share a couple graduation cards. The first one is for this week's CAS(e) this Sketch challenge. The second one is inspired by a CAS(e) this Sketch challenge a couple of weeks ago but I never made it around to posting!  Both of these are using new goodies from Taylored Expressions.

Hope you are all having a fabulous week and cherishing all that is happening around you as well!

Time Out: The Tassel Was Worth the Hassle

I'm back for a reminder post for the current challenge over at Time Out!  We're gearing up for graduation season over here...Jonathon's graduation is just around the corner on the 26th so it is the perfect time to have extra graduation cards on hand. I though the inspiration words were perfect for a graduation themed card!

Our sponsor is Poppy Stamps.  There are so many gorgeous stamps and dies to inspire you in their store!  Be sure to pop on over to their blog to take a look!  And take an extra stop to see Jeanne from Poppy Stamps playing along with us too!

Please come and play along with us at Time Out and gain the change to win some amazing goodies!  And be sure to pop on over to our guest designer Michele of I Card Everyone - you'll love her gorgeous CAS and witty style. She is awesome and one of the kindest in blogland! 

Congratulations: You Did It!

Happy new year's eve my friends!  Popping in to share a card before we host Jonathon's youth group friends for new years. I've had a great day making appetizers, organizing and best of all crafting!  I'm trying to work ahead knowing that the next several months will be busy.  I'm looking forward to show choir season starting this weekend and robotics have already started with Jonathon.  He's also made his college decision and will be heading to Indiana University this fall...so we're talking about graduation parties too around here!  Exciting times!

So...you'll understand me making this card...could be for any number of things...but thinking this will go in the graduation card area for one of Jonathon's friends! Thanks so much for the fabulous inspiration as always at CAS(E) this Sketch!

Wishing you all a safe and wonderful new year!

What If You Fly?

Posts three days in a row!  That makes me happy as it means I've had more time to create!  Sharing the last of the graduation cards for this year.  This card is for my long time best friend, Sandy's daughter.  We went to dinner Monday night to celebrate Ashley's graduation and I thought this sentiment was absolute perfect as she heads off to college later this summer. And of course, I had to use her college school colors! Playing along with CAS(e) this Sketch!

Dream Big

Happy Sunday friend!  I'm playing along over at CAS(e) this Sketch!  Tis the season for proms, graduations and lots of end of the school year fun events....and I am in need of graduation cards for a few of our friends children and I thought this sketch was perfect. I turned it upside down and thought it would be fun to make it look like the caps were all thrown in the air.

I can't even begin to tell you happy I was to have a solid couple of hours crafting away yesterday. It has been way too long since that has happened. Here's to lots of crafty time for all of us!

And here's a few pictures of Jonathon and friends heading off to their junior prom last night. They had a great time!

Go Confidently in the Direction of Your Dreams

It's graduation season...and with the age of our boys...there are lots of friends graduating from high school...so last weekend I went to work on making the last of the graduation cards for the year.  This card was inspired by Ardyth's gorgeous layout below. It look everything in me not to make a floral card (because I love floral cards and bold pops of pink!).  I was inspired by the layout and the tilted panels. I did try my hand at inking the edges...but honestly distress inks and me are not really friends!  So that panel was thrown in the garbage!  So here's the end result!  Thanks for all the gorgeous inspiration Ardyth!  Enter this over at Muse and Addicted to CAS.

Could...Should...Would...Did!

Well...it's been a long time since I've posted three times in a week and I'm oh so happy to be back here again so quickly. This card I made at my crafting weekend using fabulous Concord & 9th stamps, but hadn't shared it. The current Casology challenge was the perfect change to play along!  This card will go to my niece who just graduated from Ohio State in chemical engineering and is off to San Francisco in August to start her job with Clorox. Crazy proud of her!

Hope you are all getting plenty of crafting time too!

Reach for the Stars

Hi there....graduation season is fast approaching!  I don't need as many cards this year as I did last year (since I don't have a graduate this year!), but I do have several special folks (a niece and a nephew) graduating this year.  So...when I was away on my craft retreat a few weeks ago I borrowed this fabulous Lil' Inkers set.  Love the sentiments on it and made several cards from it. Thinking that set and this one from Lil' Inkers need to make their way into my house :)  This one is going to my niece from my brother and sister-in-law.  They had three to choose from and picked this one as their favorite.

Have a favorite graduation stamp set that you love?  I'm always on the look out for grad sets...comment away if you have a favorite! Thanks in advance.

Hats Off Class of ‘16

Happy Tuesday my friends. I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. We celebrated Ryan's graduation...and it was absolutely fantastic.  A perfect celebration for the kids. I'll be back soon with a few pictures.  I wanted to get this card posted before the CAS(E) this Sketch challenge ends. I needed a few more grad cards so this was the perfect sketch for me to finish those off.

 

Dream Big

We are officially six days from Ryan's high school graduation. He takes his last exam tomorrow and the younger boys all finish school for the summer on Friday.  Life is good with lots of end of year activities.

The two cards I have to share today are for graduation. The first one one top is for the CASology challenge and goes to my sister-in-law. She made a ton...and I mean a ton of cookies for Ryan's graduation party.  I am beyond thankful for her. She loves to bake...so this card will be going to her with a gift card for one of her favorite places.

The second card is going to a dear friend's daughter for her graduation. She reads  my blog (Hi Katie :)!).  So wish we still lived in the same city so we good celebrate together.  Miss her tons! Playing along with Tracey's gorgeous card over at Muse. 

Okay...that's it for tonight!  Off to get ready for the work week ahead.

Ingredients:

Stamps: PaperSmooches Reflections and Thanks Set, Verve (Dream Big)

Stencil:  Tim Holtz

Inks:  Impress Fresh Ink

The Future Belongs...

So...are you tired of graduation cards around here yet? This one is for my gorgeous niece, Madeleine. She graduates this weekend and my sister-in-law asked me to make a card for her. I love this sentiment and thought it was perfect for a new graduate.  On Friday night we get to go see the University of Cincinnati fashion show where her fashion work will be modeled.  Can't wait to see her amazing talent on the runway!

For my card, I used the CAS(E) this Sketch inspiration.  I love the Lil Ink stitched dies that don't die cut but emboss the stitches. They are my favorite dies right now!

Hope your week is going well and that you're finding time to create!

 

Time Out: Go Confidently in the Direction of Your Dreams

We're back with another challenge at Time Out.  You all know that I'm in graduation card mode. This card goes to my very special graduate, Ryan. I always love this Verve sentiment for graduation cards.  Go confidently in the direction of your dreams is oh so perfect. I customized it with his college school colors of green and black.  He'll be attending Ohio University in the fall.  And they quite often say, "OU, Oh yeah!", so I thought the little addition of yeah was perfect.

My card fits for the current challenge of celebrations with an optional twist of die cutting/fussy cutting.

We're being sponsored by CAS-ual Fridays with a $25 gift voucher-random draw for those who use twist.

Be sure to pop on over to the Time Out Blog to check out how our design team was inspired. And of course, also check out our guest designer, Elizabeth!

Grad: Dream Big!

The lists have started for Ryan's graduation party in early June!  One part of the list is having gifts and cards for several of his friends. He has a lot of friends going to Ohio State this fall...so when I was away on my stamping weekend in February I made several of these OSU cards for them.  Their colors are red, gray and black...thus the color combo. Happy to have this marked off the to do list!

Fusion: It’s Your Time to Soar

Aren't those fun little bookmarks just adorable?  I always love the inspiration with our Fusion Challenges.    For my card, I stuck with the primary color palette to make a fun card that could be used for a variety of occasions:  birthday, graduation, etc.   To finish off the card, I added three small strips of solid paper.  Love how the balloons look like they are floating off the card.

Be sure to play along with us over at Fusion!

PROCEDURES:
1. Play with just the sketch challenge.
2. Play with just the inspiration photo challenge.
3. Or you can create FUSION by combining BOTH challenges into one card.
4. Use the challenge graphic and link back to Fusion in your post.
5. Please read the other considerations on the Our Rules Page before playing along.

Pop on over to the Fusion Blog to check out the fabulous cards by our design team showing you how it works!

Aim High

It's been one week since I came back from an amazing crafty weekend away...and it's time to get caught up on the blog!  One of my goals last weekend was to get a lot of graduation cards done.  In three months we'll be celebrating Ryan and many of his friends graduation.  If you've been around here before you know how much I love one layer cards and a touch of collage stamping.  These are Avery Elle stamps. Thankful to be able to borrow stamps throughout the weekend.

On my way home I caught up on my Project Life pages about this weekend. Words really can't express how much this weekend fills up my heart.  Love these ladies so very much!  A huge thanks to Amy and Laurie for organizing such a fantastic weekend.  Wonderful to reconnect with old friends and make many new friends.

I hope you are all having a fabulous weekend.  I'm sitting here blogging and waiting for Ryan's show choir to perform at about 11:40 EST via live stream in Mississippi. Pretty thankful that even though I'm not there I can still watch them perform!

Class of 2016

In just over 3 months...Ryan will be walking across the stage getting his high school diploma.  Crazy how fast time flies these days!  I figured it was time for me to get started on making graduation cards as we'll be giving quite a few to his friends this year!  

This one is a super CAS one...right up my alley...and easy to mass produce!  I used PTI stamps, a Frantic Stamper die and Lil Inker stitched edging to finish off my card.

Dream Big

Have I told you lately that I love making collage stamping cards?  Well I do!  My sister-in-law asked me to make a graduation card for one of her best friend's sons who just graduated from Ohio State.  I new immediately that I wanted to use two retired sets that I have from Karen Baker.  I love these two sets for making graduation cards. This card was done in about five minutes flat. Love, love, love one layer cards and collage stamping. Think I'll be making several of these for Ryan's friends that will all be graduating this year!

What's your favorite stamping style?  Do you like collage style stamping?  

Go Confidently

My cousin's daughter just graduated from university (in England) and is about to start her first "real" job. I'm thrilled for her as she has done really well with her studies and will be working for a great investment firm.  I'm so pleased for her!  Wanted to send her a quick note of congratulations in the card above.  We were thrilled that Elizabeth (on the right) with my niece, Madeleine, was able to come on vacation with us a few weeks back.  My card features one my absolute favorite sentiments from Verve.

Fusion: Go Confidently in the Direction of Your Dreams

Hello!  It's time for a Fusion Challenge.  I printed off the inspiration photo/sketch a couple of weeks ago and I was ready to pull out a sailboat die that I have yet to use...and then the sketch spoke to me!  I needed about eight more graduation cards when I made this card and I'm happy to say this one got reproduced in a variety of school colors.  This one is going to my next door neighbor who is heading to WVU in the fall.

How about you?  How are you inpsired?  By the sketch, the inspiration photo or both?  We love seeing your cards in the gallery!  Be sure to come play along!

PROCEDURES:

1. Play with just the sketch challenge.

2. Play with just the inspiration photo challenge.

3. Or you can create FUSION by combining BOTH challenges into one card.

4. Use the challenge graphic and link back to Fusion in your post.

5. Please read the other considerations on the Our Rules Page before playing along.

Congrats '15

This week's CAS(e) this Sketch almost had me stumped...but I'm glad I kept thinking about it!  There will be several more graduation cards popping up on my blog over the next few days, and I love how this one turned out.  My Cricut has been getting use by my cutting out little graduation caps and it was used to cut out these super tall numbers to use as a mask for this card.  Think this design will go into mass production next year when I need a ton of graduation cards. In real life the distress inks are a bit more vibrant.  What I like is that I could easily turn this into a thank you card too.  My mind is starting to plan for Ryan's graduation next year. Can you tell?!