Creative Grace

A nod to Mother's everywhere

It's amazing how life ebbs and flows - SO many people in my life are having babies right now.  It's quite shocking, actually.  My husband and I *may* have utterd the word "epidemic" :)  Although we've never felt that calling in life, we both love kids (I would hope so, considering I work with kids every day) and are perfectly content to be in that aunt & uncle / helpful neighbor role.  

Watching some good friends go through this phase is both beautiful and difficult to watch.  It's clearly exhaustive and so much hard work - and such a life altering experience for independent friends who have full lives and careers - but it is beautiful to see how much love fills their hearts.  No question, this is the toughest and most important job on the planet.  

So to all you Mom's out there - thank you for the tireless giving of yourself every second of every day to nurture your little soul(s).  No question you are at the top of my hero list!

Power of One

It just takes 1 person to do at least 1 thing to make a difference.

Happy Earth Day!

 

Products used: a•muse|studio, Lotta Jansdotter, and My Cute Stamps. 

Orla Trigger

Oh... happiness!!!!

I can't tell you how happy I am that I was actually able to participate in this week's Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World!

I had such a crazy week - rushing rushing to get ahead at work as I had to take Thursday and Friday as sub days from the school I teach at so I could chaprone a four-day trip with our music department.  Our amazing musicians headed to a big music competition this weekend (where they were gold winners, these kids ROCK!).  I incidentally checked out the Moxie Fab World web page from my iPad while on the 8-hour bus ride and my heart sank when I saw that this week's inspiration was Orla Kiely!  

I wish I could tell you the depth of my love for Orla Kiely (the love affair goes a ways back - see this post here).  I'm generally not a "name brand girl" (well, unless it's called washi), but there's something about her wonderful patterns, swanky feel, and bold layouts that speaks to my heart.  In fact, my graduation gift to myself was a fabulous Orla computer bag (can you just feel my heart racing????)

Honestly, my heart SANK - I knew we wouldn't get home until Sunday evening and I didn't think I would have time to participate in the challege - I was genuinely crushed!!! (Why couldn't this week be a 2-week Trigger???) Turns out, we had a great ride home (and a supa dupa bus driver), making it back to our hood in record time, and I actually had an hour to throw a quick card together.  Ideally, I'd have more time to get it exactly how I'd want it, but this will have to do as I must now sleep for 2 days straight.  

I played off of Orla's multi-stem signature pattern and fabulous retro colors.  Hopefully Orla will approve :)

edited 4/2 - I noticed the photo I took last night showed the organe as being way brighter than it truly was, so I re-shot this morning (hope that's ok!).  

Lucky friend

Just a little reminder that we are all lucky for those we call friends!  

And lucky for washi tape - no questions!  And lucky for realizing I could emboss on it - haha!

And lucky I still had a stash of these fun glittered clover embellishments!

I realize I'm sending you the luck early, but hope you all have lots of it this St. Patrick's Day!

A week to be grateful for

This week has certainly been a big one for me! So much going on that I find myself with my head spinning at the moment...

I know that my younger self would have complained about it all and pouted that there was no free time, but as I sit here today and look at what transpired, I am grateful for a week where I can barely keep my head on straight.  

It means I have a great job and great students.  I am supported by amazing people at my work, who, when I am having a hard time keeping up with things, jump in to help me.  I get to be a part of a program at my school that will hopefully make *some* differnece in how kids treat eachother (we are a Rachels Challenge school). I get to work on the sidelines of it and support our student leaders who did a fantastic job running a big school lunch assembly where over 100 kids came to participate (with wonderful dedicated Moms who made sure they all had delicious treats).   How lucky are we??  This week also reminds me that I am one lucky duck to have a great new job opportunity teaching other teachers in a college night class.  And, at the end of a day where I worked probably 14-hours strait, my hubby will have a martini waiting for me when I walk in the door.

Lots to be thankful for this week indeed! :)

A toast to the new year

 

This card was insprired by my hubby, a major beer snob (or "geek" as he would correct me).  I had to cut the handle off the beer "mug" to turn it into a proper pint glass.  Although, in real life, I would never overfill the glass ;)

Here's wishing you all have a fabulous 2012 filled with lots of yummy paper, fun stamps, and washi goodness! 

October

Happy October and World Card Making day everyone!  Other than the relentless sinus and allergy issues this season brings for me, it is without a doubt my favorite.  I love filling my porch (and even some pots) with pumpkins, the gorgeous colors of leaves, and the crispness in the air at night.  

I made this card with the inspiration of the colors the leaves on my ginkgo tree turn this time of year.  As the days grow shorder, the green starts to fade, revealing a beautiful citrus-y yellow.

I've had this tree since my early undergrad years when our department botanist was giving a couple away.  It was love at first sight for me.  It was only a few inches tall then, and now it towers over the roof.  The shapes of the leaves are just so beautiful to me.  I even have some twinkle lights in it so I can enjoy it in the evening too :)  Soon its leaves will fall, as these showy structures require too much energy to sustain, but in the spring the most wonderful color of green will start to emerge from each of the buds and I eagerly await each one of them.  

Card supplies from a•muse|studio.

 

Guest blogger {Cheiron} - Big Huge Hugs

Wow!  Can you believe it's already mid-June?  Yikes!  That means I'm in total freak-out mode with big deadlines on my horizon with respect to finishing and defending the beast.  Thank goodness for for all of these fabulous guest bloggers!  What would I do without you girls?

Today I'm thrilled to let Cheiron take over my blog!  I just love this girl - she has big spirit, a fabulous New Yawk accent (or wait, maybe I have the accent?), and girlfriend never fails to crack me up and put a smile on my face.  Oh, and we both share a passion for the Washi Tape - which she cleverly uses in this post.  Take it away Cheiron!

 

Here is my little card for you. I decided to go with the "encouragement" theme and make you a card with a few of my favorite things (washi tape, polka dots and hearts). I hope that getting this card in your mailbox would brighten your day -and let know that I am sending you a BIG hug all the way from NJ. Hope you like it!

I love it Cheiron!  And it was muchly needed this week!  NJ hugs are always the best :)

Baby shower gift

*** Interested in winning some a•muse|studio goodness?  Click here ****

 

Hi friends!

First of all, I want to let you all know I have a *BIG* surprise in store for you!  Be sure to check back here on Wednesday to find out what I have up my sleeve :)

Today I share with you a special card for a baby shower.  Turns out, a couple guys I work with are about to become Dad's.  We are having a special staff baby shower for them tomorrow.  

I always make it my challenge to figure out a way to give a baby gift for fellow teachers/staff that students can be a part of.  I found this cool picture on Pinterest a few weeks ago of a unique "guest book" where guests left a thumb print on a canvas.  The prints eventually became leaves on a tree.  I thought this would be a great way to let a bunch of students be a part of a special gift.  Soooo.... with some help from some great peeps, I managed to get some inexpensive canvas, get a tree trunk and branches cut from paper, and have all of the students I teach who know these two gentlemen leave their print on the canvas.  

I have to admit, I LOVED the canvas with just that, but I was encouraged to embellish a bit. Be sure to check out my Facebook page (Jill Grace {Creativegrace} • A Muse Studio)  to see the end products!

This weekend I tackled the baby cards - my goal was for them to match the canvas.  They are a little *different* from your traditional baby card, but I'm not a traditional baby person I guess! LOL  And it gave me another excuse to play with Washi tape ;)

Hopefully this will make the new Dad's happy!

Keep calm and...

Hello friends!  Just a quick post today to put a smile on your face.  I found this super cute stamp set by Maya Road a few weeks back and just *couldn't wait* to partner it with an old classic A Muse stamp, tini martini.

Perfection, no? :)

The washi tape goodness helps too.  Certainly a fun card that a few friends will really enjoy! Cheers!