Eli's First Day of Kindergarten

Wow... did this really just happen?

Our oldest boy just left for his first day of school!

I can hardly believe how fast time has gone when I look at a picture like this.  He melts my heart!

We almost missed our bus! I should've planned a little better to be out there at least 10 minutes early.  We were running down the driveway but Eli was still all smiles. I didn't get to pray WITH him as I had planned, but I covered him in prayers on my walk back. We are so blessed by The Lord with our fun, smiling and caring boy. Eli is happy and now I'm looking forward with some time with our other boys. 

Praising God for all He has done!

My mother is one of the most creative people I know.  I know she would've done this sort of thing for us but I cherish the memory of our "first day of X grade" being written on a plain composition notebook. - nothing fancy - no chalkboards, no pinterest printouts...

But I also love to create and decided last minute that I wanted to make him a sign instead of doing the notebook.  I made this last night at 1030! (yawn!)

I used the Layered Letters Alphabet for my letters.  I sponged the black cardstock with Whisper White craft ink and framed the chalkboard with strips of Soft Suede cardstock that I stamped the Hardwood background stamp on.

I added the cute little apple tree using the Thoughtful Branches bundle.  This was a special only for the month of August, but when I looked last night, this item was still in stock and available.  If you'd like to order your own set, you can order it here.

The "adventure awaits" flag comes from the stamp set Places You'll Go.  

I also stamped this sentiment from the same stamp set.

One other thing that I made was this little lunch box note using the Foxy Friends bundle.  When Eli went to pre-k 2 years ago he had a very special teacher that read this book to the kids on their first day of school.  I had never heard of it, but it became an instant favorite.  We read it again last night and I knew I wanted to make this to remind Eli in the middle of his day that we love him!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  

Blessings,

Holly

One Last Card for Thoughtful Branches

Well the day is here and I bring you a little bit of sad news... 

Thoughtful Branches will NOT be returning in any future catalog with Stampin' Up!  I hope that you have your set already because today is the day to buy!  They are not guaranteed after today (they are while supplies last) so make sure you get your own copy of this beautiful, versatile bundle!

If you would like your copy, I'd love to send you a gift for purchasing the set through me.  Please use hostess code: SM4QQ3KS at check out and make sure you do not have the "no contact" box checked.  I need to know where to send a gift :)

You may have seen a few of my cards that I made with this set but I'll be honest - I didn't get to use it as much as I had hoped.  It will certainly be one that I hold onto though!  If you need more inspiration, the Stampin' Up! Artisan Design Team have done a few blog hops featuring only this bundle and you will be amazed.  So much talent!

Here is the card I made with the fun tree cut out.  I love the look of the leaves!  This card was pretty quick and simple to make too.

What really caught my eye with this set is the font.  I absolutely love it!

A close up of the leaves and bird... Love the dimension of this set!

I also wanted to share my cute board!  Right now it's working perfectly for my background for photos, but I really want to use it as a headboard or put some shelves on it for plants.  I found it in a pile of "free" stuff on the side of the road! Score :)

I hope you all have a great rest of the week! Check back Sept 1st for new SPECIAL DEALS from SU! and the start of the new (AMAZING) holiday catalog!!! :)

Blessings,

Holly

Stamp Review Crew - Thoughtful Branches

Welcome to a special Stamp Review Crew hop!  Usually we hop on the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month, but Stampin' Up! has an exclusive, while supplies last, one month only set that will be released Aug 2 called Thoughtful Branches, so we decided to show off the set to you.  The Artisan Design Team for SU! has already shown some great previews to the set and we hope to do the same! I don't have a picture of the matching framelits, but here is what the set looks like:

I fell in love with the font right away.  (It's called Madina Script and I think if I ever buy a Silhouette machine, it will be the first font I purchase!)

Anyway, I made two things with the set that I wanted to share today (and the rest I will share over the next few days).  I really like the bare trees and decided to focus on them for my projects. First is a card that I made with a "Christmas in July" concept.  

I filled my Aqua Painter with Soft Sky Reinker and some water and brushed it on SU! Watercolor paper.  I then stamped the tree image over the background in Versamark.

One of the great sentiments in the set is this (large) "You're in my thoughts" stamp.  I love that it's big and fills about a 2" circle.  I stamped the tree image again in Soft Sky ink and then embossed the sentiment with Gold Emboss Powder.

I love stamping on the insides of my cards too - so this was no exception.  I think that you could even stamp "at Christmas" on the inside to make it a "thinking of you at Christmas" kind of card. :)

So that was my card.  What do you think?  Like the new set so far?  Here's another use of the trees - this time used with the "Thank You" sentiments.  With all of the negative news, we decided to make some cookies for our local police station to say thank you.  Our 5yo even added a sweet little note.

For the box, I used a retired gift box from SU! (measures 4.5"x6") but with the Gift Box Punch Board, you could make a similar box.  

I stamped the trees and stars around each side of the box in Crumb Cake ink.  

I stamped the "thank you" image all over the lid as well in Crumb Cake.

Tip:  When packaging cookies in a box with a Window Sheet, put what you want showing through the window opposite of the ziplock.  For example, here I put the cookies in the bag upside down so that when I turned it back over to put in the box, the cookies were facing upward and the ziplock was on the underside.

We made some of my favorite chocolate chip cookies - this time with some M&Ms.  If you're not putting pudding in your chocolate chip cookies, you're doing it wrong. =) Just trust me.  Here's the recipe I used.

Thanks so much for scrolling through my post! I know it was long :)  Make sure to continue around the hop to see all of the ideas for this exclusive stamp set!  Remember, August 2nd is the first day you can order from your demonstrator!  And if you order now during July, you can earn bonus bucks to have credit towards the new set!  Win-win!

Head on back to Bruno B or on to Kelly K! :)

    

Blessings,

Holly