Teacher Appreciation

It's been a rough year at Chesebro Elementary.  We started the year off with a new Principal, moved classrooms and teachers around for about 3 months before finally settling in.  We had H1N1 to deal with and then one of our precious little students passed away. 

We came back in January to announcements of budget cuts and then many of our teachers were told they were being let go.  We've dealt with some serious family illnesses, including pnemonia and cancer and experienced loved ones lost.  

Then, interviews began this week for those re-applying for teaching postitions.  It's been an emotional and stressful year at Chesebro and yet we've helped each other through it all.  I'm so proud to be a part of such an amazing staff.

This week at Chesebro, we are showing our teachers how much we appreciate them.  They certainly deserve to be celebrated!

We have some special treats in store for them, including several power point presentations by students, lots of heartfelt notes and pictures from students and a little gift bag of goodies.  I was asked to make the tags for the bags and had a great time with it!  I made 22 tags and each one is different. This is a small sample of my favorites. 

I used stamps and paper from the Imaginisce Teacher's Pet line that I was fortunate enough to win from Papercrafts several months back.  I knew they would be put to good use one day! 

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you're having a super week!  Blessings~ Patti

Owl-ways Thinkin'

We've been on the go here, so there hasn't been much time for posting, but I have found a little time to play here and there.

My daughter, Sarah and I like owls, especially cute ones on t-shirts, bags and stationary. Even though there are some very nice owl stamp sets out there, they weren't quite what we were looking for. After searching stamp stores and sites for several months, I started sketching out what I had in mind. The sketch sat in my notebook for a few more months.

In the meantime, a co-worker started a home-based engraving business. She shares my joy of papercrafting and we got to talking (wondering) if her little machine could cut stamps. To our delight, it can! Thus, my first stamp design was born!!!

It's not much, but it sure has been fun to see this little owl come to life! I've enjoyed coloring him with my Copics and paper piecing him with a variety of patterned paper. He's so cute and just what Sarah and I were looking for!

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your weekend~Patti

Hello Monday!

Whew! What a weekend! Lots of laundry, errands and cleaning coupled with a percussion concert and a spaghetti dinner fundraiser.

Justin is part of a new A Cappella group at school named Enharmonic Fusion. They are going to New York in a couple of weeks for a national competition. It's a bit pricey to send 21 students to NY for 4 days, so we threw together a fundraiser. It was loads of fun with all the parents pitching in to cook and serve and the students performing. They sound amazing!

I'm really excited about this trip because I get to go along as a chaperone. Justin has a solo in the competition so I'm looking forward to being able to share in this experience with him.

In spite of the busyness of the weekend, I did find a few minutes to stamp. This is Delightful Dahlia from PTI's March release. So much fun to color!

I have a confession to make, I'm addicted to patterned paper. So, I'm prone to keeping the smallest of scraps. Silly, I know. But in this case it was worth it! Basic Grey Euphoria is perfect for flowers.

Looking forward to a quiet evening tonight. Definitely an early to bed night. Thanks for popping in! Take care~ Patti

Butterfly Thank You

TGIF! It's been such a full week. I am so thankful that the weekend is upon us! I'm looking forward to some quality time with my hubby, my kiddos and my stamps. ;)

Just stopping in for a quick post to share one of my favorite PTI sets from the February release. Butterfly Dreams. I'm a huge fan of butterflies and this set is so pretty. It has a great variety of butterflies and there's also a matching die cut.

Stamping is proof that it's the little things that make us happy. :) Hope it's a happy Friday for you! Enjoy your weekend too! ~Patti

Thanks...for Everything

I'm trying to get in the swing of things after spring break. I thought I might catch up on things over break; finish painting the trim in two of the kids' bedroooms, clean the kitchen appliances, maybe relax a bit, visit with friends, spend a day at Starved Rock or go to a movie.

Instead, we took Justin up to Northfield, Minnesota to visit St. Olaf College. They had a Junior Preview Day. Since we were driving 6 hours each way, we decided to take in as much of the college as we could and also attended a band concert, 3 choir rehearsals, orchestra rehearsal, jazz band rehearsal, percussion ensemble rehearsal and a music theory class. We also toured the campus and music building and ate lunch in the caf. Three days later, we arrived home. :)

Needless to say, the appliances still need a good cleaning and the paint trim isn't done. Maybe I'll get to them over summer break. lol

I did find a couple of hours to stamp. Yeah! This simple thank you is for the gals at Paper Trey Ink. It hardly seems like enough for the wonderful gift they have given me in "a year of free stamps", but it's from the heart.

The Violet stamp set is beautiful! I so enjoy coloring the big blooms and leaves with my Copics! Looking forward to spending more time with it soon!

Blessings~ Patti

Lucky

Some call it luck, some fortune; I call it a blessing. I was chosen the random winner of "Free Stamps for a Year" from Paper Trey Ink. I can't tell you how blessed I feel to be receiving such an awesome gift! I certainly didn't do anything extraordinary to earn it. Yet, my little box of 10 stamp sets arrived on my door step this past week. Lucky me! Fortunate me! Blessed me!!!

I feel compelled to share my blessing, so I'm going to try to make it a priority to post some of the cards I make each month with these lovely Paper Trey gems!

Since I'm Norwegian, I haven't ever purchased St. Patrick's Day or Irish stamps, but I have to admit that Luck of the Irish is one of my favorite sets from PTI's January release. With phrases like "You're my pot of gold and Lucky to count you as a friend", it makes for some very sweet friendship cards. And those are my favorite type of cards to make.

This one's off to Texas! One of my dearest friends, Priscilla, moved there in November. My daughter and I went to visit her and her family last month. It was such a treat to be able to chat with her face to face and to see her new home and community, but I am missing her again already.

It feels good to be back to blogging. I look forward to sharing more PTI designs as well as what's new with my family in the weeks ahead. Thanks for visiting! ~Patti

Copic Coloring Fun!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend. I had a terrific time sharing Copic coloring tips at my first Copic Class yesterday at the Peddler's Den! Tonya has a lovely store with lots of fun goodies including Copics, Nestabilities, Great Impressions stamps and lots more!

This first class was all about the basics of coloring, blending and shading.
It's been quite a while since I've taught a stamping class, but I really enjoyed sharing about Copics, meeting new people and teaching again. Thought I'd share my cards from the class. I tried to keep things simple as to focus on the coloring, but wanted everyone to take home some finished cards.

I'll be teaching my Copics 102 Class on August 8th at the Peddler's Den, where I'll share about coloring images black and white, coloring skin and hair, stamping with Copic ink and doodling with Copics. I think I've got a lot to do in the next month. ;) Thanks for visiting today! Warmly~ Patti