Gratitude, Kids, Cards and Amazing Women

Today's post  is all about gratitude for the amazing Crafting Community out there! Usually I try to keep my blog straight paper crafting and nothing personal. This is an exception as some very kind and generous people really need to be acknowledged.!!  I want to share some projects that the grades 5, 6 and 7's did in my paper crafting class.  You see I had a family emergency that put me 2 and a half months behind in my work.  Paper Crafting class is twice a week, that is  a lot of projects and a lot of kids!! and I like to challenge their abilities and try to do more advanced things with them.
I was feeling extremely overwhelmed and my mojo was nowhere to be found.

 I never ask for help, so when help was arriving in my mailbox and on my doorstep I was thoroughly thrilled and  surprised and ever so grateful!!  I always try to put my own spin on a project so I will show you what was sent and then what we did with them.

First up is projects sent by the Divine Miss Emily aka Stamp Muse
 I did not get a picture  of the first project she sent me....my bad, but the kids loved it!  Here is her second project.....

This is the project that was sent with the card stock all cut and designed!  Emily knows that because of the size of the class one set of stamps is never enough. I already owned the Impression Obsession Cover a Card Clouds and Treeline stamps as well as the Mega Mount Block. She had sent duplicates and a second block so I could do this in the class! WOW!! The kids did excellent with the Mega Mount!

I think the fall card is beautiful but this term we are concentrating on winter/christmas projects so I redesigned it  and this is what I came up with for the kids to make with this .  I liked this card so much I cut more and made it my christmas card this year!

Card made by Cassie grade 5

 We stamped the CAC-Clouds in Adrirondack Stonewashed ink and sponged the edges with Memento Danube Blue ink.  Next we mixed glitter with silver embossing powder to do the CAC-Tree Line.

The sparkle doesn't show very well in the pictures but it is very sparkly.

Next the IO sentiment-C5175 was stamped through the window in Adirondack Espresso ink. Added an Ek Success Snowflake in Silver Mirror Paper with a rhinestone and a ribbon.  Cassie had a lot of fun making this card, she especially loved using the Mega Mount block.  I want to thank Cassie and Rebekka for making these cards to send for thank you cards!  I had no shortage of kids to volunteer to make the thank you cards!

Here is Emily third, yes I said third project...........

Emily's Sizzix Gift Card Holder Front

Emily's Sizzix Gift Card Holder Inside

Emily donated the Gift Card Holder Die and The Sizzix Holly/Flourish Die and her brilliant idea!

This is what I changed it to for the kids to make...........

My Gift Card Holder Front, inspired by Emily

My Gift Card Holder Inside Inspired by Emily

 We cut out the gift card holder in green and embossed it with Sizzix Snowflake embossing folders.  Sponged Memento Bamboo leaves around the edges. We used a Spellbinders to emboss our Impression Obsession-Happy Christmas sentiment in gold.  It was purchased from Dolce Stamps and Cards. We decorated it with the Holly/Flourish Sizzix Die and an Martha Stewart Reindeer Punch.  Instead of using these for regular gift cards the kids had to come up with gift from the heart to write down on the insert for the recipient.  Some of the gifts I read were......I will give you Mom 15 foot massages, Clean your car 5 times, do the dishes without being asked and the one that got me the most was one of the boys was going to give his gift to an elderly neighbor it said...my christmas gift to you Mrs BLANK is this winter you don't have to worry about shovelling snow all winter, I will do it for you!!   I wish I would have had time to peek over all their shoulders. ( Yes kids,  I snooped~LOL) Aren't these kids fabulous!!!!! Thanks so much Emily for this wonderful project!!!

Next up is the Fabulous Diane Fischer-  I Luv 2 Scrap blog. Diane is my sweet friend that always raises the bar for me. She has mega talent and is the number 2 in sales for Close to my Heart.  Diane cut all the pieces for these cups and dropped them off at my house. We were going to make these into message cards but the kids asked if they could do hot chocolate holders with them so that is what we did. The kids loved your cups girl! Thanks!!

Hot Chocolate Outside

Hot Chocolate Inside

We used Scor-tapes and added Glitter Ritz Micro fine Glitter to the biggest red stripes on the designer paper. Sponged the cup with Memento Desert Sand and Rich Cocoa.  I think the sentiment is from an old Stampin' up set. The Hot Chocolate was put in a cello bag , folded over and Scor-taped shut. To finish of the inside we used a Sizzix Tim Holtz Styled Label and folded it over and added  a snowflake and rhinestone.

The measurements for this Hot Chocolate/Candy Cane Holder are........

Cut a piece of card stock 3-3/4" x 6-1/4"

Score at 2-3/4" and 3-1/2"

Measure 1/2" from the top and the bottom and cut between the score lines  to accommodate the candy cane.  Easy Peasy Project!!

Next up I want to thank the most marvellous  Betsy Maguire of Seattle,WA for donating 50 stamp pads and a whole set of markers!!! You Rock girl! They sure are coming in handy and speeding things up with so many kids!!  Hopefully I will see you next summer!!

I  also want to thank my neighbor Dodie Martin aka camera girl on SCS. She has been there helping me cut, package kits, haul stuff to and from school as well as demonstrate at the same time as me and working with the kids.  You are a complete inspiration to me!

Next is a project that I found the tutorial on  in 2007 and can't find the link anywhere but I do know there are some videos on You Tube. The kids always love to do origami and I make sure every term we do at least one project using it.

 

Oragami Tree made by Logan grade 6

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I want to thank Logan grade 6 and Camryn grade 5  for making the extra origami tree cards to mail out for thank you cards!!
We used this beautiful Graphic 45  to make our trees. This is a wonderful quality of paper!


 This is a card that Annika from my drama club in grade 4 made for me with crayons and an iron.  Isn't this amazing and creative!!!

made by Annika grade 4

These next two cards I received from Rebekka in grade 7.  She has an eye for colour and design!  

made by Rebekka grade 7

made by Rebekka grade 7

Isn't the Paper Crafting community a wonderful place!  With all of the commitments I had , I was only treading water and now I am all caught up thanks to you fabulous ladies!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!  I appreciated everything you ladies did and KNOW the kids did!   I have a few of my school kids read my blog and that is the reason I try to explain the smallest details. These kids are all amazing little budding artists!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a very merry christmas!!!

Ellen