March 31, 2013

The Empty Egg


Jeremy was born with a twisted body and a slow mind. At the age of 12 he was still in second grade, seemingly unable to learn.
His teacher, Doris Miller, often became exasperated with him. He would squirm in his seat, drool, and make grunting noises. At other times, he spoke clearly and distinctly, as if a spot of light had penetrated the darkness of his brain. Most of the time, however, Jeremy just irritated his teacher.
One day she called his parents and asked them to come in for a consultation.
As the Forresters entered the empty classroom, Doris said to them, "Jeremy really belongs in a special school. It isn't fair to him to be with younger children who don't have learning problems. Why, there is a five year gap between his age and that of the other students."

Mrs. Forrester cried softly into a tissue, while her husband spoke. "Miss Miller," he said, "there is no school of that kind nearby. It would be a terrible shock for Jeremy if we had to take him out of this school. We know he really likes it here."

Doris sat for a long time after they had left, Staring at the snow outside the window. Its coldness seemed to seep into her soul. She wanted to sympathize with the Forresters. After all, their only child had a terminal illness. But it wasn't fair to keep him in her class. She had 18 other youngsters to teach, and Jeremy was a distraction. Furthermore, he would never learn to read and write. Why waste any more time trying?

As she pondered the situation, guilt washed over her. Here I am complaining when my problems are nothing compared to that poor family, she thought. Lord, please help me to be more patient with Jeremy. From that day on, she tried hard to ignore Jeremy's noises and his blank stares.

Then one day, he limped to her desk, dragging his bad leg behind him.

"I love you, Miss Miller," he exclaimed, loud enough for the whole class to hear. The other students snickered, and Doris ' face turned red. She stammered, "Wh-why that's very nice, Jeremy. N-now please take your seat."

Spring came, and the children talked excitedly about the coming of Easter. Doris told them the story of Jesus, and then to emphasize the idea of new life springing forth, she gave each of the children a large plastic egg. "Now," she said to them, "I want you to take this home and bring it back tomorrow with something inside that shows new life. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Miss Miller," the children responded enthusiastically- all except for Jeremy.
He listened intently; his eyes never left her face. He did not even make his usual noises. Had he understood what she had said about Jesus' death and resurrection? Did he understand the assignment? Perhaps she should call his parents and explain the project to them.
That evening, Doris ' kitchen sink stopped up. She called the landlord and waited an hour for him to come by and unclog it. After that, she still had to shop for groceries, iron a blouse, and prepare a vocabulary test for the next day. She completely forgot about phoning Jeremy's parents.

The next morning, 19 children came to school, laughing and talking as they placed their eggs in the large wicker basket on Miss Miller's desk.

After they completed their math lesson, it was time to open the eggs.
In the first egg, Doris found a flower. "Oh yes, a flower is certainly a sign of new life," she said. "When plants peek through the ground, we know that spring is here." A small girl in the first row waved her arm. "That's my egg, Miss Miller," she called out.

The next egg contained a plastic butterfly, which looked very real. Doris held it up. "We all know that a caterpillar changes and grows into a beautiful butterfly. Yes, that's new life, too." Little

Judy smiled proudly and said, "Miss Miller, that one is mine."
Next, Doris found a rock with moss on it. She explained that moss, too, showed life. Billy spoke up from the back of the classroom, "My daddy helped me," he beamed.

Then Doris opened the fourth egg. She gasped. The egg was empty. Surely it must be Jeremy's she thought, and of course, he did not understand her instructions. If only she had not forgotten to phone his parents. Because she did not want to embarrass him, she quietly set the egg aside and reached for another.

Suddenly, Jeremy spoke up. "Miss Miller, aren't you going to talk about my egg?"
Flustered, Doris replied, "But Jeremy, your egg is empty." He looked into her eyes and said softly, "Yes, but Jesus' tomb was empty, too."
Time stopped. When she could speak again, Doris asked him, "Do you know why the tomb was empty?" "Oh, yes," Jeremy said, "Jesus was killed and put in there. Then His Father raised Him up."
The recess bell rang. While the children excitedly ran out to the school yard, Doris cried. The cold inside her melted completely away.

Three months later, Jeremy died. Those who paid their respects at the mortuary were surprised to see 19 eggs on top of his casket, all of them empty.
If this blesses you, share it with others.
Happy Easter!
-- Author Unknown--

March 30, 2013

Word Shape Cards

Good day! I can't wait to share this awesome little word shape card with you! So go grab a cup of coffee and turn you gypsy on and let's get to work on this wonderful little friendship card.



Now wasn't that easy. Just remember to set up a little template of 4.25x5.5"  for yourself so that you can check the sizes of your finished card a little easier. Also be sure to make it two up so that you end up with 2 finished cards; one to send and one for your stash for the future.



Now that was really easy to put together wasn't it? Notice how I adjusted after making the first card to make the second even nicer. So easy to do when you make 2 cards at a time.


Look how cute this turned out. I really think this paper has a western feel to it don't you? The out side or base of the card was from The Guys Stack from DCWV, white the inside lining and the top of the horse was the back of CTMH Footloose paper.


Here are the finished cards. Aren't they just too cute. I know I will be making more of these as they make a great friendship card.


Close up of the finished card.


Another closeup and this one shows you just how great those papers go together. You would thing they came from the same stack! I sure hope you enjoyed today's post. I know I enjoyed sharing with you. Thank you for your sweet sweet words of encouragement. Your comments continue inspire me to continue sharing with you. Have a blessed day.

 

March 28, 2013

Shabby Chic Butterfly Clothespins




Hello! Leah from PaperBlossoms here to share a simple project making some shabby chic butterfly clothespins. My daughter's birthday party is coming up and the theme I chose this year is garden party, so butterflies and flowers are for sure a part of that! I wanted to make some little clothespins for decorations and also to use as favors (I'm thinking the mom's for this one;)  so let's get started!

I bought my clothespin at Walmart and you get a whole bunch for about a dollar. I chose to paint mine with some acrylic paint, also from Walmart for a dollar. You'll want to let them dry completely before the next step, but it's doesn't take long, just a few minutes.


What's shabby without a bit of glitter? :)  So I used my very favorite dry adhesive, Scor Tape. I just cut two strips of it to fit the front of the clothespin and sprinkled my glitter on. Love that there is no wait time for it to dry.


I wanted a layered look for my butterflies so I chose a PTI die and for the white butterfly I found a cut off the Art Philosophy cartridge that layered with it nicely on page 41 and cut it at 1 1/2". After die cutting I dry embossed the white butterfly with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dot folder.


Then comes the fun part, putting them all together and embellishing! I used scor tape to adhere all my pieces together and for the different centers of my butterflies I chose to use a button with embroidery floss, a little felt flower with a brad and a rolled flower with a pearl center. To tie them together so they are different but cohesive I used a silk hydrangea flower for each of them. The rolled flower was cut using the Flower Shoppe cartridge, page 13, cut at 1 1/2".

I hope you enjoyed my little project and if you make any I'd love to see them! Leave me a comment here or on my blog and I'll be sure to come take a peek:) Thanks so much for joining me today!

March 27, 2013

Oh No! I Need Eight Easter Cards By Noon!


Good morning. Let me share I was in such a tizzy yesterday as I had only 3 hours to make, run to the bank for cash to stuff and adress to make the noon drop at the post office! You see I wasn't prpared as I got stuck in Chicago last week and lost my craft day! So this is what I did. I went to Google images and chose a couple of Happy Easter images and sized them to fit 4 up on a sheet of standard cardstock. I ran out 2 of them and the trimmed to fit.


I then cut 4 sheets of 8 1/2x11 sheets of paper and scored them to make a standard A2 card. I grabbed my scraps and trimmed to fit 4x5 1/4 to offset the artwork. The above image I sized incorrectly so I just ran a line of ATG and placed little flowers on top.... turned out cute and my little Carissa will love it.

After I got all the fronts put together I typed the sentement and ran that out... All it said was...
Happy Easter
I hope you have a Hoppy Good Day!
Again I made that 4 up on an 8 1/2x11 sheet of cardstock cut and trimmed to fit on the inside. I signed each one, stuffed with a little cash and then addressed the envelope for each child. Boy was I thankful that I had a return address stamp! LOL

I made it just in time and it went out in the mail and will reach Chicago in time for Easter! Sometimes you just have to do quick and this worked great.
Thank you for joining me today, I hope you enjoyed my little post. Thank you for your sweet sweet words of encouragement. Your comments continue to inspire me!

March 26, 2013

A quick card

Hi all,

Today I thought I'd share with you a card I made following a sketch from Friday Sketch Challenge.

It's a nice clean and simple one. 

Here's my card following the sketch


I recently got this stamp. It's a My Favourite Things one. It stamps beautifully.
The papers are from the First Edition pack up, up and away.

A big thanks today aswell goes to Sheila for having me today.

Hugs

March 25, 2013

Punch Storage

Hi folks,

Ian, here, from A Newbie Crafter!  Today I'm showing you how to upcycle something you may not need anymore!  Recently I purchased 3 large stamp organizers from Close To My Heart.  Since I had been storing my stamps in the smaller ones I realized I didn't need them anymore so I wanted to find a way to upcycle them.  I realized that I could fit 2 large punches from Martha Stewart in them so I decided to label the organizer so I knew.  I used a plain grey cardstock cut at 3" and then used Art Philosophy for the letters.  I chose the set with the circles in them so that it added an extra flair.  Since the letters would not fit side by side, I had to off-set them a bit to make sure everything fit on one side.  Now, what can you upcycle?



Craft on,
Ian

March 24, 2013

GMS Tri-Fold Coyote Card Revisited



Good morning! Sure hoping you are having a great day. This week I am revisiting the Tri-fold card with a new design. I made this card for a dear lady that you probably know; Audrey from Cute And Some. She has been busy taking care of an ill family member for the last couple of months and has been away from crafting and blogging. All that know Audrey, know that she is a special lady that always has a sweet word of encouragement to those around her. So I had to come up with something special for her.
I absolutely love the Tri-fold design on a card as it is so unique, almost like a shape card on steroids so I had to do another! This design is similar to Amy at The Stamping Tree, I scraplifted a card that she made from my Gone Fishin' Shark Card. Amy did a wonderful design and I have been wanting to give it a try ever since I saw it.
So grab a cup of coffee, turn on your Gypsy and let's get to work.



Now see with this easy template it is very each to make a card of your very own. Click HERE to down load the Tri-Fold template.



I wanted you to see the steps I take on some of these cards to make them stand out, expecially those with the old cuts with no layers.

This is what the coyote looks like before and after it has a little inking. Dont you love the difference? I used some Tim Holtz distress inks and a black marker.



See how nicely this card comes together. I ready all the little pieces first and then assemble it. I used a lot of different ink from Close To My Heart. I reuse the daubers but keep them in there own little case that is labled thanks to Ian over at A Newbie Crafter. Ian designed the lable with all the Close To My Heart Ink names for the dauber case and I love it.
Here are just a couple of photos showing what it looks like as you open this card. As you can see there is plenty of space to stamp a sentiment of write a little note.

I just love the inside of this card. I had plenty of room to write a little note to Audrey and I sure hope this card put a smile on her face.

Here is a close up of my Saguaro Cactus. I couldn't remember the name of it if my life depended on it while making that video! Don't you just love the effect of the sponge on it? It looks like litle needles all over it.


With this close up you can see the little Micro Beads on the moon, isn't it awesome?



Don't you just love how that little coyote just peeks out and howls at the moon? Click HERE if you would like this card file too. Don't forget I made the card two up so you will have two cards when you complete it.
Here is what my finished cards look like. You can see I added a couple of hand drawn stars with a gel pen on the one on the right and I really like that. I hope you like today's post. I sure had fun making and designing this card and I am sure Audrey will love it, don't you? I hope you have a great week.
Thank you for your sweet sweet words of encouragement. Your comments inspire me to continue sharing with you. Have a blessed week.

March 23, 2013

Easter Blessings! Updated with Part 2!

I was recently asked to hold a Easter card making workshop for a group of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders at church.  This is really out of my comfort zone!!  I usually work with adults! Sunday night, March 24, I will be working with 10-12 children.  Fortunately, my daughter has agreed to help me!  Thank you, Amanda!!

Happy Saturday!  This is Carolyn from...
Carolyn's Creative Corner
Update....To view the update to this post, please scroll to the bottom for a link!!
We are to make 30-35 Easter cards for the shut-in and elderly of our church. We will have a limited time to work, so the cards need to be simple and easy to make. Stamped sentiments made into stickers will make the project easy and quick!
I used a package of A2 cards/envelopes from JoAnn's Craft Store. I cut a solid colored piece of cardstock to fit the front and then layered a slightly smaller piece of colorful paper on top.  This step is already completed for all the cards.
All the card fronts will include a cross.  The child can then select the sentiment/s to add to the front.  All the sentiments were hand stamped on various colors of cardstock and then run through the Xyron sticker maker.
For the inside of the card, the child will choose from two sentiments.  These sentiments were stamped and run through the Xyron sticker maker.
The envelopes have a sentiment stamped on the outside.
This is my professional carrying case for the project!!  Everything fits into a gallon storage bag!! When all the cards are completed, we should have 30-34 cards ready to be mailed!
Simple, but effective!

The workshop was a success!!  Here is the link for the rest of the story!!
Easter Blessings...Part 2!

Thank you for visiting "She's a Sassy Lady" blog!
Please come back real soon!!

March 19, 2013

Owl Love You!

Hi all my crafty peeps.  It's Karon here from Karon's Krafty Korner, thanks for letting me come share each month.

I spent yesterday morning in the craft room, having a play around and finally came up with this card. Hmmm, wonder who its for :-)


I wanted to share with you, how I made the metallic background.  Firstly, I have to show you what I used!  You can get it in Lowes and it is near where they keep the other shelf savers, you know the plastic you can can put on your shelves to protect them.  This roll cost around $10.


Firstly, I cut a piece of cardstock and then covered it with the peel and stick.


The I cut this to the size I wanted, which was 4.5" by 3".


Now I didn't want it all shiny and new, so I decided to use my Spectrum Noir markers (TN7 & TN8) to make it look a bit rusty.


I used the TN7 first, going over the peel and stick every couple of inches, then using the sponge to dab it lightly.  You have to work quite quickly, as the alcohol marker dries quite fast.  Do this until you cover the whole piece.


Next, I did the same thing with TN8 marker.


As I said, it dries really quickly, so I then ran it through my Cuttlebug, with a new purchase folder by Sizziz Tim Holtz Alterations called Riveted Metal.


Doesn't it look like rusty metal.  So pleased with how it turned out.  Next I cut the piece into 6 equal pieces.


Then I used my ATG gun and placed these on a piece of backing paper from my stash.


Then all I had to do was layer it up on my card.  The owl stamp was from the $1.50 bucket at Michaels and was perfect for what I wanted. I stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black and then I used two brads to accentuate his eyes.  He is then placed up on pop dots and added to the centre of the card.


I also added another four brads to the four corner pieces. I inked all the edges of all layers and for the inside, I used the same papers and also found another little owl to stamp.  


I hope you like the result that I got with the peel and stick, it's so nice to work with and embosses beautifully.  

Thanks for stopping by today

Happy crafting.

March 18, 2013

HERE COMES PETER COTTONTAIL


Thank you, Sheila, for once again allowing me the privilege of posting on your site.  I'm Charlotte C and
I just love this stamp from Stamps Happen that I’ve had for years so I decided to share an old technique with all of you so that the bunny “dances” across the card when the tab is pulled.  I used Distress Markers to color him, Stickled the star and cut him out of heavy card stock. 

Create a top fold 5 x 7 landscape card base and adhere a 6 ¾ x 4 ¾ mat to it

For the actual card front, cut a 6 ¾ x 4 ¾ rectangle from heavy patterned card stock.  Cut a ½”  x  5 ¾” slot opening about 1 ½” up from the bottom, centered left to right; scallop punch all four sides and ink the edges. 

Glue together two pieces of card stock sized at ¾” x 6 ¼” and set aside.  This will be your pull tab.

Cut a scrap of heavy card stock 2 ½” x 1 ¼” wide.  (Note: the width can vary depending on the image you will be using).  Score at ¾”, 1”, 1 ¼” and 1 ½”, crease well and fold as shown.  Let’s call this the tongue, because I don’t know what else to call it. 


Push that tongue through the slot from the back to the front of the card. Apply red line tacky tape close to the fold on each side of the slot (don’t take the protective liner off yet).


Slide that tongue over to the edge of the slot that would be the extreme left if you were looking at the front. Adhere the pull tab to the tongue.  Be sure it’s straight across. Using tacky tape, adhere a small scrap of card stock above and below the pull tab on the right side to keep it in line. (Use talc over any exposed tape to prevent any stickiness where you don’t want it.)


Apply foam tape or pop dots in the corners and above the slot.


Add your image with tacky tape to the tongue that’s sticking out (ha ha) on the front of your card.  Test that your tab pulls in and out smoothly before adhering this final layer to your card base.

Here’s two of my finished cards.  I put both up so you can see that the distance from the bottom of the card to the slot is flexible.  All depends on the size of your image. 
I used a very tiny stamp set from Martha Stewart to fit Happy Easter and Hippity Hop Hop in the slot and on the pull tab.  The carrot is from Create A Critter (cut at 1 ½”) with a Peachy Keen face.  The banner is cut from Artiste (4.01 x .70 unlinked) with computer-generated text. 


And then I had a DUH moment – no envelope to fit the card!  I followed Sheila’s directions she posted last year (see here), but here’s the quick measurements and a photo for you.  Cut your paper/lightweight card stock at 12 x 9 ¾.  Score at 7/8” along both 12” sides.  Score at 3 3/8” along both 9 ¾” sides.  Cut out between the score lines, round the corners before folding in and gluing.


I wish you all a Very Happy and Blessed Easter.