Monday, September 10, 2012

retrosketches #28

Good Monday, all!

Today marks the kids' first full week back at school... I'm still dragging my feet to get into the routine of rush-rush-rush in the mornings... "did you brush your teeth?"  "don't forget to put your lunch into your school bag!"  "whaddayamean you don't want a sandwich?  You just watched me make it!  You're gonna eat it!"  "no, those clothes don't match together!"

Doesn't everyone with school-age children have those sweat-inducing kind of mornings? ha!

I am very happy to report that Thomas excused himself from our dinner table last night with a lispy: "maman, je veux aller à la toilette, s'il vous plait."  (mom, I'd like to go to the washroom, please.)  He looked so proud of himself, we were all beaming, and maybe even clapping.  Language does not come easy for our little guy.  We have been working with him all summer to get him ready with some basic phrases for his french kindergarten... this is..... a start :)

In crafty news, I'm happy to be joining in the retrosketches fun for the second week in a row:


That "hi y'owl" greeting cracks me right up.

The polaroid frame (by PTI) got a paisley treatment, courtesy of a new (to me) stamp set by Paper Smooches.  I colored in the paisleys and the background with copics.  I actually die-cut 5 polaroid frames and adhered them one on top of the other for a much chunkier frame.  When it was all dry, I dry-brushed a very thin layer of glaze over-top.  I like the texture and aging effect it had on the paisleys.

Inside the polaroid, I stamped an owl (and since I'd just used my CSS owl, I decided to stamp with Lawn Fawn's this time.  I believe in equal opportunity for all owls. hee hee.)  I wanted to keep the card very monochromatic, so the owl, log, and even inside of the sentiment banner, were all colored with the same 3-4 copic markers... the speech bubble was stamped in a soft brown (literally, hero arts' "soft brown shadow ink.")


I hope "y'owl" like it! *groan*

11 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness this card sounds like a lot of work! 5 polaroids glued together?! It sure does look cool, though. That sentiment cracks me up! It sounds like a very busy morning over at your house...awesome job with the French, though :) Oh by the way, I like your new pic of you by your profile!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. aw, thanks! I almost always look awful in pictures - my hubs snapped this one with his phone and those instagram filters are a lifesaver ;)

      Delete
  2. This is so cute and I love the soft colors - great sentiment!

    ReplyDelete
  3. so fun...love the monochromatic look.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love the card with that paisley and the colors give it a natural feel. So...cute! Your house sounds like mine many,many years ago. I ended up creating magnets for the fridge. They were gentle reminders of what he needed to do before going out the door (brush teeth, comb hair, lunch, feed fish, make bed etc.) These worked like a charm and he soon took on the responsibility of moving the magnets to the "finished" side and I no longer had to be the voice that reminded him to do this or that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. you.are.a.genius. As soon as I can clear some space on my fridge, I'm making these magnets! (and all of a sudden, I'm feeling sad that "fish feed" won't be one of them... our goldfish of 3 years just kicked it...)

      Delete
  5. Super adorable card and I love the monochromatic coloring. That speech bubble is darling. What stamp set is that from? Which reminds me, you posted a die-cut doily card a little while ago -- do you know what die that was? I'm desperately looking for a good doily die where the small pieces come out easily.

    I agree that your new pic is gorgeous! Let Laurel know if you want to swap out this one for your old one on the Lawnscaping sidebar (although I think your old one is beautiful too!).

    Sorry to hear about your goldfish!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Fabulous card, Elena! Love your woodgrain background and the paisley together. Beautiful colors!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Lovely! Your cards are always so well balanced. Good luck with the back to school routine!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Such a sweet card. Love that owl, and how you did the paisley. As a mother of a 13 and 14 year old, I have to say that (unfortunately) my mornings still sound just like yours....Except I no longer care if my girls clothes match. If they are willing to go out in whatever, that's fine with me. And, they have uniforms, so it's not so bad.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Stunning card. So creative design. Designing is so tough job to me. I have worked for the Scratch Cards Printing and designing company and there i have realized that it needs so effort and concentration. Your design is great. I appreciate your work.

    ReplyDelete