Over the last few years my “green” habits have improved.. Not a lot. I still drive an SUV and use plastic grocery bags. But I have made a few changes. I recycle now. I wash all my tin cans, soda cans and plastic containers to prepare them for the recycle bin we have in our garage. I use paper towels much less often grabbing instead a cloth rag from the “rag” drawer to clean up spills or whatever. So in consideration of Earth Day, which was Tuesday this week, I decided it would be a good time to go to my ever growing scrap pile and ribbon drawer and NOT to the files of new uncut papers or rolls of uncut ribbon. I had NEVER done this before so that scrap pile was huge (two drawers full in fact!) I can never bring myself to throw things away so to ease my conscience I have for the last 2-1/2 years just tossed it into the drawers. It was time to see what I could do….

What a hodge podge this card is! Every imaginable shade of red on different pieces of scraps from Real Red to Ruby Red, Really Rust, Cameo Coral, Pretty in Pink and Cranberry Crisp. The only thing newly stamped is the sentiment. Everything else was already stamped. The french knotted ribbon was already done. Only the brads and the card base were not from scraps but are new.

Not from scraps on this card are the brads, stickles and card base. The sentiment was newly stamped on a small piece of scrap Whisper White card stock and punched out with my oval punch. This did create a small amount of waste.

Not from scraps on this card are the rhinestones. Everything else, including the ribbons and card base, is from the scrap or ribbon drawers. I added the paper piercing.

I just realized I didn’t put a sentiment on this card. Oops! Anyway only the card base is new. Everything else was in the scrap or ribbon drawers. I did trim the Bravo Burgundy background piece of card stock which created a couple slivers of waste.

New on this card is the bottom brad and card base. I also added all the faux stitching and the sentiment (which was stamped on a sliver of scrap Whisper White card stock.)

This is a small 4″ X 4″ card. Only the staple is new. The slit punched piece of Whisper White card stock was trimmed. The leftover piece was put back in the scrap pile.

Moral to the story: I need to do this WAY more often. Looking at my drawers now one would never know that anything had changed. They are still filled with possibility!

When I was a little girl there was a huge mirror on our living room wall. My dad used to keep all his cuff links and tie tacks in a drawer to the side of it. Every morning he would stand in front of the mirror and put them on. Often he would let me help him feigning that he just couldn’t manage the cuff links that morning. He would even let me pick out the set for him to wear.

So this fun stamp from the Crafty Secrets Clear Art Stamps set called “Favorite Fellas” really caught my eye. I knew from the moment I saw the tie stamp that there were going to be some ties in need of some tie tacks. It’s been a long time since I’ve picked any out. Making this card was a wonderful walk down memory lane.

I stamped the ties on designer papers from Basic Grey and Cosmo Cricket, cut them out and mounted them on Very Vanilla card stock. They were then mounted on Chocolate Chip card stock and adhered to the 4-1/4 X 4-1/4 card with dimensionals. Oh and I thought these square rhinestone brads made perfect little tie tacks! I know dad would have liked them. 🙂

Stamps: Crafty Secrets Clear Art Stamps “Favorite Fellas”
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, DP Basic Grey “Archaic” (stripe and dotted ties), DP Cosmo Cricket “Strip Tease” (red tie)
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Rhinestone Brads, GG Ribbon

Over Spring Break our family usually vacations in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Since we only have one son left at home, a teenager, we like to make the trip a multi-family deal. (To be alone with mom and dad for a week would be cruel and unusual punishment for a 16 year old!) This year we had 5 families, including ours, from our town each with a teenage son. The boys all play football together on their high school team. We have such fun playing in the ocean, watching the street painters, eating a zillion bbq ribs at our favorite “all you can eat” restaurant. (And believe me, those boys can eat!!) But the highlight is the group’s trip to the ophanage Casa de Hogar. I just had to share a few pictures of our trip this year. The children rarely have a chance to be around and play with teenage boys and men. The women in charge have all said that they love this interaction. So we go and grow and are hopefully able to give the children a moment to just be kids.

I held this precious little girl for over half of a wonderful hour. She fell asleep in my arms at which time I had to surrender her to her sweet caretaker.

(Pictures taken on 4/4/08 by Anita Olmstead)

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Got into the stamp room today and played with some of my designer papers.

The floral design is actually part of the paper and not a stamped image. Didn’t want to cover it up so the card is a simple design, quick, easy and fun.

Stamps: Elegant Cheer
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Cameo Coral, K & Co. DP (Card is mounted on Very Vanilla.)
Ink: Timber Brown Stazon, Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip Marker
Accessories: Scalloped Circle Punch, Flower Punch, Corner Punch, Scalloped Scissors, GG Ribbon, Brads