A Little This, a Little That, and Just a Few Cards...

I know it must appear that I have fallen off the face of the earth, but I promise that I haven't! May is an incredibly busy month around our house, (as I am sure it is at yours too!), with lots of baby/bridal showers, weddings, retirements, graduations, birthdays, Mother's Day, etc.

The last day of school for Broken Arrow students was Friday. I have 2 days left to work this week then I will be on summer break - WOOHOO!! Along with finally being able to catch up on my blogging, I've got a long list of projects to tackle while I am on break; everything from crafting to gardening to cleaning out closets and drawers...it will be a productive summer for me!

About the only crafty things that I have done lately though, besides working in my garden patch and flower beds, is make a few cards for the celebrations that have gone on this month. Here are some photos of a few of the cards that I have recently made:

The first is a retirement card for my friend David J. who is a history teacher at the school where I work. I printed a bicycle image that I found over at the Graphics Fairy blog onto a page from an old dictionary. I adhered the dictionary page to a piece of cardstock that I distressed by inking the edges, then added brads and jute twine to frame the outer edge, and adhered it to a white card base:

Next up is the sweet and simple Mother's Day card that I made for my mom. I stamped flower stems onto a piece of yellow gingham cardstock and adhered it to a blank white card base. I attached little felt flowers to the tops of the stems with Glue Dots. I then added blingy centers to the felt flowers and placed stamped polka dot circles, that I cut in half, along the base of the card. The sentiment strips on the front were tied with coordinating ribbon and "popped up" using 3-D dots:

Three of my friends and co-workers Linn B., Marilyn T., and Phyllis S. also retired this month. Below is a photo of one of 3 similar cards that I made for these terrific gals! I began by adhering a bright, cheerful piece of yellow gingham cardstock to the front of a blank white card base. I then added a strip of embossed felt flower ribbon in orange, light blue and pink. I printed the sentiment strips on my computer, cut them out, inked the edges and attached them to the fronts of the cards using 3-D dots. I tied pieces of baker's twine to the lower sentiment to separate the words:

Here's a view of the inside of one of the cards. I cut out and inked the sentiment strip to match the strips on the front of the card. I then used my butterfly punch and punched out the butterfly shape from a bright coordinating piece of printed cardstock. I attached the butterfly to the card on the right wing only, and then carefully bent the left wing upward so that when the card is opened it pops up to add a little dimension:

I also made a retirement card for my good friend Joe N., who is the head of the English department at the school where I work, but I forgot to take a photo of it to share with you...arrrgh!! Oh well - guess I'll just describe that card to you - LOL! I used an aged looking piece of patterned paper that had old-timey looking clocks on it. I looped jute twine around the card and tied it up with a cute little silver key. (I thought that I had snapped a photo of it along with the one's above, but I somehow managed not to - sorry!)

On a final note, for those of you who read my blog and live in other states/countries, I am sure that you heard about the terrible tornadoes that have recently hit Oklahoma. Thankfully the area where I live, which is in the NE corner of the state, was spared. My brother-in-law lives in Moore, where the F5 tornado struck, and we are so grateful that he is okay as well. Our hearts break for the families that were struck by the devastation and lost not only their homes and belongings but loved ones as well. Please remember these folks in your thoughts and prayers as the weeks go by...they have a long road of healing and recovery ahead of them.

Thanks for taking the time to drop by today! More projects are in the works friends, so stay tuned for a summer chocked full of crafty and organizational goodness!

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead!