Monday Makeover and Other Exciting News!

Good morning!

How's it going peeps? All is well in my neck of the woods. It's a bit chilly for my liking, but when you live in MN, that's to be expected, I guess! Saturday was a beautiful day, so the weekend wasn't a complete bust.

Before I get into my makeover project for today, I have some really, really exciting news to share with you first! Guess who you're lookin' at? An official design team member for Webster's Pages! Wow. Deep breath. I just want to say I am so honored and floored to have been invited to become a part of a company that designs some of the most beautiful paper I have seen in a very, very long time. The papers, designed by the beautiful (both inside and out) Terri Conrad, captured my attention and my heart the minute I laid eyes on them at Summer CHA in Chicago. That day, I had the priviledge of meeting Terri. Her personality is infectious and she has such a beautiful spirit surrounding her that just draws you in. We have been friends ever since. She's encouraging, inspirational and motivational all at the same time! The new design team will consist of Terri (artist & designer/papercrafts), me (cards), and one other very talented designer, but one I don't want to mention her name here yet until she has a chance to announce it on her own blog! So sorry to leave you hanging, but it's the right thing to do. This woman, an amazing designer, is a big ball of energy and infectious giggler! A big thanks to Brandin O'Neill (Director/Product Developement/Webster's Pages) for having confidence in my abilities to showcase Terri's beautiful designs!

Ok, now on to today's makeover! As I mentioned Saturday, Youngest Son's football team finished their season Saturday night totally UNDEFEATED! He is so excited to be able to say that! Today after school the team is having their end-of-season party pizza party. Since the coach did such an outstanding job with the team this year, I decided to make him a little more than a thank-you card. I had an unused quart paint can sitting around my stamp room, so I decided I'd make up a fun little football treat tin for him to set on his desk that reminded him of this great season!

Since I'm still struggling with my mojo, I went over to the SCS gallery to see if there were any great paint can ideas to inspire me. I found this one, created by Lea O'Brien, that was totally adorable. It got my creative juices moving, so a big thanks to Lea for sharing her creation on SCS!

The first thing I did was cover the tin with some fun football paper I found in Lue's stamp room yesterday. I used her handy-dandy ATG gun to adhere the paper to the can. I love that thing because the adhesive is so strong, but on the other hand, it can be a bit temperamental! After I got the paper adhered to the can, I took a narrow strip of green cardstock and glued white lines on it to create the look of a football field! I wrote the yardage markings on the green cardstock using my white Uni-ball Gel pen (by the way, I cannot find this pen ANYWHERE in town anymore!) and glue it at the bottom of the can.

I heavily glued a brass doo-dad to the side of the can to hang a foam football from and to tie a few ribbons to the can for color (adding color was more important than worrying about the male macho-ness of ribbon). Now, before you go thinking I am functionally illiterate when you see that label on the front of the can that reads "we undefeated", please know that this term was what the players would say to each other as the season progressed and they continued winning games! It was their "mantra" so to speak. So my son wanted me to put that on the can for the coach.

Now, onto the inside of the can. I used my SU Sporting Goods set to stamp footballs, stars and helmets all over a bunch of mailing labels, which I then wrapped around each individual nugget for a personalized look! I filled the can plum-full of these chocolate delights! I hope the coach likes his can!

Finally, I made the coach a thank you card. I have wanted to make one of Beate's file folder cards that she featured a few weeks ago for her sketch challenge for some time now, but I was having great difficulty understanding the tutorial (that is NOT a knock to Beate's tutorial, that's a knock to my brain....it doesn't understand writen directions very well!!!! That's the truth!!!!).
So, I modified it a bit (looking at one of my own file folders for a little help), and made this thank you card for the coach....the base of the card is a piece of Close To Cocoa cardstock. I covered it with some football paper scraps I had laying around. The foam letters are American Craft Thickers which I rubbed Ranger Distress Ink in Tea Stain on to change the color from white to brown (any color can be used!). "Coach" is made from alphabet rub-ons. The tab, made with Chocolate Chip cardstock, is glued to the inside panel. The "8-0" is the team record.

So, that's about it. I had a lot of fun creating this fun treat can for the coach. I hope he likes it! Big hugs to Beate for her great file folder card idea!

Well, today is a quiet day, I think. I've got a few errands to run (bank, paper-goods store, Sam's Club) but then I'll be here the rest of the day. We are planning a road trip from Thursday-Saturday this week since the boys have school off Wed-Friday (it's MEA). We're taking the boys up to Bemidji, MN, home of Bemidji State University, our college alma matuer! Eldest Son will experience his very first "official" college campus tour! We are so excited!
BSU sits beautifully on the shores of Lake Bemidji.....it's absolutely FRIDGID in the winter, but the summers are magnificent! Go Beavers!

Hugs,
Amy