Chalkboard Valentine

Happy Thursday!

Well!  I HAVE to say that yesterday was one of those "perfectly balanced" days.  It ran like clockwork!  I did a little bit of housecleaning, a little bit of paperwork, a little bit of bill sorting, a little bit of "working" (aka card making!!), a little bit of excercising, a little bit of relaxing, a little bit of baking with the kids and I even made a "proper" dinner.  Ahhhh - felt great!  Especially when the day COULD have gone so wrong!  I woke up quite hormonally emotional.  Ever been there?  I KNOW you have!  You know what I'm talkin' about.  You get up, look in the mirror ... do your daily search of your chin for any stray black hairs growing ... and you find one ... that is about an INCH LONG (HOW does this happen???  Every day I look ... every day I find nuthin ... then one day I find something that looks like it should be growing out of my dad's EAR ... NOT my FACE!!!  AND ANOTHER THING!  WHEN the hell did I get to the age where I started looking for stray black hairs in my face???!!!) ..... but I digress .... yes ... the day didn't start off on the best of notes.  I dropped the girls off at school and as I was pulling away I could feel my eyes starting to well up with tears (been THERE?)  I was all set to get home, have a good cry and spend most of the day having a little pity party with me, myself and I (and the cat and the dog).  But half way home I made a decision.  "They" say that happiness is a choice.  So I mulled it over.  Maybe today I would choose to be miserable.  Then I thought better of it.  Nope - I decided to choose to stay positive ... and that's what I did!  I got home, grabbed my "I Choose Journal" and wrote "Today I Choose to be POSITIVE!".  Ya know what?  It worked!  I turned the day around and had a GREAT day.  I guess "they" are right ... and I'm glad :)))  So!  Now that you know a little more than you wanted to about my morning face-searching ritual how 'bout we get to some projects *lol*?

Here is the project I put together last weekend for the girls' classmates for Valentines Day this year:

Three Pixie Stix fit PERFECTLY into the SU 1" x 8" cello bags.  I used the Heart Framelits to punch out the hearts and THEN stamped the sentiment from Wacky Wishes (hostess set) in either Real Red or Pacific Point ink.  I punched a hole with my "pokey tool" and threaded some Bakers Twine through it.  I then stuck the cello bag sticky strip down, with the Bakers Twine under it so the tag wouldn't slide off.  For about the first dozen or so I tied a nice bow on each one ... then I realized I'd be there until NEXT Valentines Day if I did that for all 63 of them so for the rest I just knotted them.  I somehow don't think the 7 and 9 year old crowd will mind :)

Yesterday my mission was to create a quick "male" Valentine card using the chalkboard technique (for class this Friday).  Mission accomplished!  Approximately 7 minutes later I was done.  This is what I came up with:

It has been "guy approved" by Craig.  Yes, this is his card ... and yes I had to show it to him yesterday just to get the endorsement :)  I wasn't sure I would keep it of the Technique card ... it's quick and simple!  ... but in the end I decided to get over myself and leave it as it was.  Guys don't WANT fancy, frilly or sparkly ... and it's supposed to look like a chalkboard ... so how fancy can you get anyway??!!  It's so easy to get this great look.  I started by very lightly and very gently swirling some white Staz-On onto the black card stock (that's when I thought SU no longer carried theWhite Craft Ink).  Now that I know I'll use the Craft Ink ... it "moves" better.  Another method to get a great look is to simply tap the black cs with your embossing buddy so the white powder "poofs" onto the cs.  It looks great ... but doesn't stay in place so I prefer the craft swirling method :)  I stamped the "Love You" which was one of the single stamps you could purchase up until January 3rd.  Did they carry those over?  I don't think so ... I have to check into that.  It's the perfect sentiment for MY guy ... we're not all mushy gooshy in our cards ... a simply "Love You" is perfect for us (we leave the mushyness for the inside *lol*).  I used the heart image from Hearts a Flutter and the "love" from Pennant Parade.  Those were all stamped in the white craft ink.  A little strip of red and a rhinestone colored red with a Sharpie and you're done!  The quickest card EVER!

I'll leave it there for now ... but pop back tomorrow for an AWESOME card which will be another one we are making in class Friday.  LOVE IT!!!  Until then ....

Have a stampy day (and stay positive!!!)

Tam