Happy Fall Owl Teacher Card!

Hello friends! I can't believe how quickly August is flying by! It's all too easy for bedtimes to be pushed a bit later and the girls seem to adjust to sleeping in all to quickly. With back to school coming September 2nd, I'm feeling the need to try to get back to a bit of a routine while still enjoying the warm weather and lazy days. We spent the last few days doing lots of organizing - I know when I get that feeling I need to grab a hold of it since I'll run out of steam or time soon enough. The funny thing about organizing is it's addictive! Pretty soon the girls are cleaning their rooms and Mike's cleaning the garage... and then we are all left feeling great about our accomplishments. Now, don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of spaces left to purge, clean and organize, but for right now there's a few very tidy areas that have me smiling every time I walk by them. When I'm feeling the need for a little break I just grab a few crafty supplies and colour up some cute images, which today turned into a very sweet teacher card ready to tuck into a new backpack for the first day back to school.

I started off with a Distress Oxide Inked background from a piece of paper I was playing with a few days ago. I used my craft mat to squish the inks on my mat, spritzed them with water and dipped my paper in, drying in between dips until I had an effect I liked. I had a CTMH alphabet embossed folder which I used to emboss the background and then sponged on some brown Oxide Ink to highlight the raised areas. 

The cute owls from the Lawn Fawn So Owlsome Set are coloured on Bristol Cardstock with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers. I used some white gel pen to add highlights and added Glossy Accents to the green apple. I used a Happy Fall Line Border diecut sentiment that was included in one of the SCT Sampler Packs and added trees and a small cloud from the Lawn Fawn Center Window Picture Card Die and Add On sets along with Studio Katia Clouds cut from some pre-inked papers in my stash. The larger apple is from the CTMH School Kids Stamp Set. 

Inside, I used a 'hello' sentiment from Hello Bluebird Just Sayin', 'teacher' from Studio Katia Kobi Loves School, and you're owlsome' from the Lawn Fawn So Owlsome set. I love how well these all worked together!

I had fun pulling out all my teacher/back to school stamps and crafty goodies to create a cute card. Just by having a few different sets in front of me at a time I was able to combine them and their sentiments for a lot more options. Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a wonderful, crafty weekend!

PDE Friday Linky Party - Homemade Granola and Crocheted Owl Basket!

Happy Friday friends! I'm sharing this recipe for Homemade Granola over at the PDE Linky Party blog today.  This is something that I made as a gift for my sister, including it in a handmade crocheted owl basket with a few other yummy goodies. You can find the recipe online here!

I recycled a jar that I cleaned well and added a pretty hand dyed ribbon along with a label sticker and a circle of patterned paper to cover the top of the jar. I really believe presentation is everything, and even a small gift can be very special with a little effort!

I added the jar of granola to this cute owl basket along with some chocolate covered popcorn and some Banana Bread Tea from David's Tea - one of my fav tea places!

I followed a pattern that was in a magazine, but I did find a free online pattern that looks very similar here. 

After my sister took her goodies out of the basket she filled it with some pretty red ornaments. 

Thanks so much for joining me today! Be sure to stop over to the PDE blog to see all the fun things the other designers have come up with and enter your own creative project in our Anything Goes Linky Party! 

PDE Friday Linky Party - Hand Stitched Felt Owl!

I'm sharing this adorable stitched felt owl over at the PDE Linky Party blog today, and I just had to share the details with you! I actually found a pattern I had printed out a very long time ago and decided to use it to make this cute owl for my sister at Christmas time. I totally think this sweetie could be used as a tag, decoration, or on a gift at any time of the year though! I was really excited to actually find the website where I downloaded the pattern from originally so that I could share it with you! You can find it here from the Juicy Bits 131: give a hoot blog post.

I cut the felt and then handstitched it together. Since it's so little it really goes together very quickly. There's something so relaxing and therapeutic about sitting down and handstitching! I actually used black brads for the tiny eyes.

Here you can see a pic my sister took of it on her tree, along with a gift tag my 4 year old wrote to her :)

Thanks so much for joining me! I hope you'll stop over at the PDE Linky Party blog to see what the other Design Team members have come up with this week, and since it is always Anything Goes, please share your crafty projects with us too!