Adios 5th grade!

My son just competed his last day of the 5th grade on Thursday.

He just started a charter school this year, and it has been a big

adjustment for him.

The workload is quite daunting, and his overall morale is a bit low.

I keep telling him it's for the best, and they are preparing him for college, but with only 6 weeks off for the summer and then back to school on August 3rd,

he's not buying it. 

So, to let him know how much his Dad and I appreciate his efforts, and his good grades, I made him this little card.

This image from Dustin Pike was perfect!

I made a boo-boo on the upper left corner, so I embellished it

with some not-so-matching fibers.

It's all I had!

My kiddo loved the card and got the message

that we love him and are very proud of him. 

MIA

Okay, I am finally back, and have renewed my vow to blog more regularly. For the past few months my husband and I have been trying to buy the house where we currently live. First we were told of the foreclosure, then we attempted to purchase the house as a short sale, then the house went to public auction where the bank bought it back from itself(?), and then, due to the hard work and diligence of an old friend from junior high, we signed the paper work on the house Friday and everything should record tomorrow!

What a wild and crazy ride that was! Not so much fun either. I can't say that I have enjoyed any of the process at all. Now I am looking forward to finally, completely moving in and unpacking all of my stuff that I haven't seen in three years!

With all of the excitement going on lately, I did manage to make a few cards for some special folks going through some tough times of their own.

My FIL had knee replacement surgery just before Christmas and I thought he might get a kick out of this image from Dustin Pike (who by the way, is coming out with a line of RUBBER stamps).

Dustin's images ROCK! They are so much fun to color.

My Aunt had some surgery to remove something ("It was the size of a softball", was all I heard before I blocked out the rest of the conversation), and I chose the same image from Dustin Pike, but I colored it in differently.

Aunt Laurie loved the card and was "tres impressed" with my skills.

I'm off to hang some more shelves in MY house so I can be more organized in MY craft room! When I am all finished with my craft room I will be sure to post some photos so you can see where the madness dwells.  

Ouch!

Toot! Toot! That's me, tooting my own horn about this card and how super cute it is! I am beyond cuckoo for these Dustin Pike digital images. He was having a special "one night only" deal, and sold over 100 images for $25. I almost had a private moment, but focused and immediately made my purchase. Best $25 I spent that week!!

I have been wanting to color in this "Ouch Dragon", but no one was sick, so I colored it anyway. Then I got the most heart wrenching e-mail from my cousin(in-law) who was writing to tell of his mother's recent brain tumor diagnosis. What?! His step-father had just gone through brain surgery (for a tumor) not six months ago! Not to mention the fact that my cousin was the sole survivor of a Sheriff's helicopter crash a few years ago. It almost killed him (and his parents).

I believe it was Mother Theresa who said, "I know God won't give me anything I can't handle, I just wish he didn't trust me so much."

Well, my Aunt is already out of the hospital 4 days after surgery! She is doing fantastic and is home resting and getting better.

Sooooo, long story short (too late!), I sent her this card to perk her up and let her know we are thinking of her since she can't have any visitors yet .  There's just something "happy" about a pink dragon.

Suckah!!!!

The perfect sentiment for the most adorable image! I think I'll make more of these since they were so easy to put together. The most time consuming part is all the coloring. It's very therapeutic, so I don't mind.

Another color combonation. I just love this ribbon I got from Michaels (I call Michaels my "boyfriend" when I talk about the store in front of my DH - we think it's funny). The ribbon is super shiny/metallic, but it doesn't show up that way in the picture.

LOTS of candy to color! This took what seemed like a week to color! I colored 4 of them in like, 20 minutes! Then I went over everything with a Versamark marker and clear embossed the image. Labor intensive, but cute. Seems a shame to hide it on the inside of the card.

Monster in the closet

I just couldn't resist getting in on the fantabulous deal Dustin Pike was offering today/tonight only. Almost all of his images (over 50 easy!) were for sale this evening for $25! That's right! Quite the bargain, and for me, that's all I need to rationalize this unplanned/unbudgeted purchase.

I adore this monster image and I think it goes pretty well with this sentiment from Hambo (I've got a better one for the next post though).

Sugar and Spice...

My dear friend Chris' daughter just had a baby girl named, Kaylee. I thought this was a good reason to color in another DustinPike free digi image and make an adorable baby card. I don't have too many opportunities to make baby cards so this was fun.

My favorite part is coloring in these great images! Sometimes I just sit and color for hours. I find it a very therapeutic and calming way to deal with the stresses of everyday life.

Swingin' New Pad

My dear friend, Dani and her new husband bought a home and just moved this weekend so I wanted to make them a "congrats on the new pad" card. I have recently become addicted to Dustin Pike's artwork and his freebie Wednesdays. Every Wednesday (or Thursday) he releases a free digital image on his blog site. I was not open to the whole digital images concept when I first heard of it, but now that I have worked with some, I can honestly say that I really like them and LOVE the price. My Copics work just great with the printer ink and I get a great image every time instead of smearing ink or not pressing hard enough. I got this monkey image from Dustin's freebies and I LOVE the way the card turned out.