Teacher... Teacher...

That time of year: Gift Giving...
For the teachers it's always a little 'difficult' for us.
The boyz go to a small school were during any given day almost every teacher in the school is teaching them something. There's a lot of 'class swapping' so that they get the very best out of every staff member there...
I think this is great, one of the many reasons we're on cross-boundary transfer to keep them there....
buuuutttt, a bit of a pain at Gift-y Times. :O)
My solution is to make small little tokens with more 'heart' than wallet in them.
This year we put together packages of Snowman Poop!
Now come on... what kid doesn't want the joy of giving one of their teachers...
um, well... POOP?!!!
These are the finished bags.
Must say they smell sooooo good. The candy is Mint Snow Drop... oh yum.
I was good. All 90 baggies are full and I didn't snack... much. ;O)
I made enough for the teachers, office staff, 2 custodians and the 6 teachers in my other sons special needs school.
I figured while I was at it I made enough extra for a few neighbours, babysitters and the Grandparents.
Printed off the labels, and the tag toppers... then attached the tag toppers to cardstock and stapled them to the top of the baggies. Stapled to make sure they get to school un-snacked. ;o)
Happy Holidays 2009!

Bad Girls Project 52 Challenge #5: Calender Girls...

That time again... Bad Girls Project 52 Challenge!

This time round it's ATC (Artist Trading Cards).
~Series of at least 4
~Theme Life or Death
~Use of Transparencies
I decided to go with LIFE...
A Birthday Book.
I made a series of 12 ATC's, one for each month of the year.
The backs are covered in notebook paper (washed over with a thin coat of white paint) so that the date and names can be written down. I punched a hole in each one and will be putting them on a single binder ring.
...and I dug out some pretty ladies to grace the 'pages'.

My series of 12 ATC's:

Calender Girls

Front Group Shot:

Back Group shot:

Ms. January:

Ms. February:

Ms. March:

Ms. April:

Ms. May:

Ms. June:

Ms. July:

Ms. August:

Ms. September:

Ms. October:

Ms. November:

Ms. December:

The Cards are DONE...

... and so am I! Sheeesh... I'm so far behind on my Christmas-y sh-tuff this year, it's driving me nuts! lol

But at least I can say the Cards are: Fini!

This year I *gasp!* ...CHEATED... just a bit.

I decided to flack off on the cutting, folding, prep-torture that is card-base preparation. (yuck) I bought some of those inexpensive blank note-cards (with perfectly matched co-ordinating envelopes) they always have at Micheal's. You know the ones that have HIDEOUS designs... (for the most part). I decided to go with a 'face-lift' rather than starting from scratch.

I used some Karen Foster Paper, cut to cover the design, inked the edges... instant face-lift!

Printed off the inner message too... everything was cut, inked and assembled.

Add Ribbon Trim...

Easy-Peasy!

I wanted to spend the bulk of my effort on hand-stamping & embossing the images, then coloring them in...

Hope you have a 'Hoppy' Holiday!!!

~Sarah~

Bad Girls Project 52 Challenge #4: Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy...

Time for challenge #4:
http://wendyrago.typepad.com/project52/2009/11/new-art-challenge-4-and-a-winner.html
This time round we needed:
~Paper Doll
~Metal
~Theme of Sadness and/or Joy


Here's my take...

I choose to go with JOY!!!!
I'm getting married in September 2010, just recently we held a Celtic Betrothal Ceremony (Sept 2009). I incorporated elements from/for both the past & the future events.
The Frame was a FreeCycle finding... Preloved and perfectly worn.
I trimmed a lovely piece of Wedding Theme paper to fit and 'dry brushed' fall colored ink all over it in overlapping circles to make the background. This was placed under the glass...
I applied liberal amounts of Craft Goop just along the inside edge and added lots lots & lots of polished semi-precious stone chips. I also attached the Metal Picture Frame with the Goop.

To make the Dolls I printed off copies of the Dress I'm hoping (praying, sweating about getting..) to wear and the Traditional Scottish garb my fiancee will be wearing as the Doll Bases. I also printed off a copy of the Cooper Plaid from another picture, a strip of Elliott Plaid and pictures of both our faces that would fit onto the Doll Bases. I glued the Bases onto stiff cardboard (back off of a ScrapPad), cut out and adhered the faces and Plaids. The Male plaid was uh.... fun it was a jigsaw puzzle to make sure the 'non-Cooper plaid' was totally covered.

Then I used an exacto-knife to trim around the now made-up Paper Dolls.

I finished the Paper Dolls off with brads, bling, some broke metal jewelry bits, chain and a tiny 'tuft' of stuffed animal 'pelt' (for the Sporran) and some Barbie Hair tinted to the right shade with ink. The Dragon fly is very significant to us... it's one of the 'themes' for the Wedding. Same with the Fall Leaves, Blue & Green Ribbon, Red Roses and Sunflowers all part of our Wedding...

PLEASE NOTE:

**NO Stuffed Animals were harmed in the making of this Project.***

***All materials donated to the Arts by the already deceased!!!***

The Heart Trim was a piece of lace from an auction, more bling, 1/2 a Prima Flower and some printed Twill.

Yes it should say 'belong', not 'belongs'... it's important to us. :O)

The Ornament that's attached to the Project is VERY important to us. It was the Favour we handed out at our Betrothal Handfasting. Baked Salt Dough (with sand mixed in for texture), Stamped, then colored with Sharpies and Spray Shellacked.

Short Picture History for the Ornament Below:

~September 26th, 2009~

So.... that's my take on Bad Girls Project 52 Challenge #4.

~Sarah~

Bad Girl... Me? Let's see...

Dug out my supplies to try my hand at The Bad Girls Project 52 Challenge #3.
http://wendyrago.typepad.com/project52/
This Challenge involved:
~Paper-Mache Form
~Self Portrait
~Found Objects
This is what I came up with...

I LOVE the form I found. I looked at many shapes and sizes of forms but this one was just begging to be used for this project... all those sections... just the right size... perfect!
Coming up with the 10 'sections' was much, much harder. I don't think of myself as that complicated a person...
6 were easy, after that I had to stretch myself.
But, hey! That's just what doing these projects is about for me!

Coffee Whore:
This was a no-brainer!
COFFEE: my muse, my addiction, my obsession.... my prescription for the medial condition I have (really, truly I am REQUIRED to have 4 servings a day!)... ahhhh the Holy Bean Nectar. I was so pleased to be able to use one of the many Cup Wraps I had around the house (though attaching the corrugated cardboard was a PITA! lol) a sticker, some lace, bling & a keep-heat stick. Very happy with this slice!

Media Junkie:
Another Background I was most pleased with... the TV Guide from the newspaper and paint. Blinged up with a few scroll stickers, hand crocheted lace and 2 leftover stickers from an album did last year. I looooved that this project let me use up some of my bits and pieces... really tried to incorporate as much 'thrift' as I could.

Broken but Healing:
This was a hard one for me, I debated on whether to include it or not... how to represent it... lots going on here. After almost a decade of abuse it was only fair to add it.
I am who I am because of all the things that have brought me to this point. Not including this part of me (my past) would be dis-honest and not a true representation of the ME that is here TODAY.
'Nuff Said!
I went with a textured, hashed up red paper base, covered in Stitch Rub-ons and Band-Aids (yup, real Band-Aids!) a leftover die-cut heart, quote sticker and an earring in the shape of handcuffs (From a Halloween Costume in High School... I was a Bad Girl then!) and some red 'fluff' trim.

Mom to 4 Boys:
This slice is CRAMMED! 'cause with 4 boys... so is my life! lol
Queen Bee sticker, a few epithet stickers (you clean up around the toilet enough time with 4 boys... you'll understand, trust me), a hamster on a wheel (oh yeah, that's me!) Canadian Flag, Black Bunny punch out (for our cute little Hope), candy heart stickers, heart locket, heart charm (from an earring) and a necklace charm (my birthstone on the heart, each of the boys birthstones held on the heart).

sometimes... Girly:
I had fun hunting up the sh-tuff for this slice. Make-Up! Real applicator, eyeshadow, lipstick sample and tester nail polish... loooove it! The lips are a plastic stick-in that was on some Valentine's cupcakes, Pink Marabou (off a pencil) and bling... gotta have the bling here. :O)

Book Slut:
Pretty self explanatory... I wish I could have found something small enough from Chapters, that's all that's missing here. I love reading, pretty simple. I'll read anything if it crosses my path.
The 'book' was taken off a busted picture frame (school years thing), the background was a sacrificed (*sob*) page from a book that had fallen in the bath (oops!), sticker and sharpie... 'bookmark' made from a scrap of ribbon and a locket.

Have S.A.D ie. Solar Powered:
I do not do well in the dark... I need SUN and SUMMER... ask anyone who knows me. :O)
I garden, read in the Sun, love my fleurs and am an all around happier/nicer/more productive person in the Summer Months. Enjoy the Little things... like the Ribbon says.
'Garden' is all broken jewelry bits mixed with a few paper and dried flowers, green lace 'grass', pin watering can/bunny, Sun zipper-pull and a Smell the Flowers sticker. Voila!

A.D.D Artist:
um, uh yeah... I'm always working on something then OOOoooohhh! SHINY! Something else comes along... I bead, make soap, candles, skin & bath sh-tuff, scrapbook, sew, paint, rubber stamp, make paper... too much! lol
Attached paintbrush, stickers, paper, ribbon, string, rubber stamps, eyelets, brads, googly eye, 'quill' charm, beads, sequins, felt shapes, buttons, bling and a broken Button. Very glad to have a good place for this Button. Wore it on my jean jacket through High School and College...
My Motto:
I am not Messy, I'm Creative!

Jesus Freak:
I'm Christian. Also 'Nuff Said...
Fishy Paper, Rub-on, several broken bits and pieces of jewelry, a few stickers, snip of yarn and some lace.

Last but not least...
Holiday Diva:
I LOVE HOLIDAYS!!!
I try my best to do a little something with my boys for as many 'days' as we can... decorating food, making crafts, giving gifts or just reading a bit about and trying our hand had following traditions whether they are old or 'new to us'. We've had a lot of 'ugly' in our past... now is the time to CELEBRATE each day we have.
Die-cuts, sticker and bling... all leftovers from other projects.
Woot for thrift!

and...
There you have it.
My 'Self-Portrait' in 10 sections.