One of the Friday Five!

My hedgehog layout was picked as one of the Friday Five at Heart 2 Heart Challenges. Woohoo! Be sure to visit and see all the great artwork

Monochromatic Card

I was inspired to create this card:

after seeing these cards on the Archivers blog.

I didn't have the Hero Arts papers or stamps, but I was able to create my own using Textured Cardstock and Treasured Life stamp set from Close To My Heart. Colors were Bubblegum and Watermelon--soon to be retired colors. I liked it, but I didn't have the energy to create a whole set.

I'm taking a class through the Boise Art Museum this week. It's focus is to utilize community partners in lesson planning and curriculum. Basically,we are traveling all over town to all the places that offer unique and engaging opportunities for the classroom. Today was all at the art museum and we worked on some really neat art projects. They were still drying, so I didn't get to bring them home and take pictures tonight. We played with texture, paper folding and using printing press techniques with paint and brayers. I can't wait to play around with some of these techniques with stamping :) I love that I'm learning things that I can use in the class room and my stamping life!

Basic Grey Cards

I love designing and making my own cards, but sometimes it's nice to let someone else do all the creative work. I went to Paper Cottage last night to use my coupon and a gift card from one of my generous students. One of the things I picked up was this fun card kit, Oliver by Basic Grey. It came with pre-cut pieces, die cuts, and rub-ons. I am always in need of more boy style cards, and this was too fun to pass up.

This card was my favorite. It was actually supposed to be a baby card, with a baby bundle hanging from the tree and the word Baby across the bottom. Since I don't have any need for baby cards in the near future, I decided to turn one of the other die cuts into a tree swing.



I just love the cute little monkey! The train card was also supposed to be a baby card, but I changed it up a little. Luckily, it came with extra rub ons and die cuts.

What's Cookin' H2H Challenge

I've been so busy that I missed the last couple challenges for the Heart 2 Heart Challenge Blog :( This week I wasn't sure if I was going to make it or not. The challenge was to use a recipe on a project. I've done several recipe swaps, a family recipe book, and a recipe box, so I wanted to do something different. At first, I was going to take pictures of our favorite daily treat--fruit smoothies. I never remembered to take pictures, and I really wanted to get this done last night. Then I remembered the recipe card my mom gave me: recipe for happiness. I love the recipe that includes helpful advice for anyone. I knew I wanted to scrapbook the card and the memory of receiving it.

The result is a fun layout using Splendor papers and my favorite little hedgehogs from the July Stamp of the Month Happy Forever. I also used my Cricut Cursive cartridge and an alphabet set from an old CTMH promotion (can't remember the name). I sponged the flowers with Moonstruck ink. I photocopied the original recipe card in my mom's handwriting to give it a personal touch.

A close up of the journaling:

You Rock Cards

For these cards, I used You Rock papers, Thank You and Shining Star stamps.

July SOTM Happy Forever

I absolutely LOVE this little hedgehog! He is just too cute :) For these cards, I just stamped on blank cards--no layering. I can't wait to make some more detailed stamps with this set. He is this month's Stamp of the Month. For details on how to get this set for FREE, click here and go to JulyStamp of the Month.

Stamps: Happy Forever, A Little Everything, and Thank You

Tomorrow, I am taking the Praxis Test to renew my credenital, so most of my free time this week is devoted to studying. Though I'm fine with the grammar and teaching questions, some of the literature ones are killing me. I haven't read most of the authors and books that show up since college 10+ years ago. Ugh! I just hope I pass the first time! Wish me luck--I may need it :)

I finally finished all 40 thank yous!!

Such a simple idea. I can't believe it took me this long to finish all the thank yous for my students. I'll post the rest over the next few days. Today I'll share the ones using Splendor papers. I don't know why, but I've had the hardest time with these papers. I don't think it's my style or colors. I do like how these cards turned out, though.


Stamps: Hot Diggity and Thank You

More highlights from our vacation

I took over 300 pictures on this trip, so I'll only share a few highlights. Besides Legoland, the boys LOVED going to the beach. THey had a great time splashing in the waves. The only downside was that they didn't want to stand still for a picture. Most of the pics I took are of their backs as they were running the other way :)

After the beach, I got to have dinner with a friend I haven't seen since high school--16 years. I found her a couple months ago on Facebook (where else). Turns out that she had been living in Long Beach all this time--crazy! It was great to see each other and catch up.

The next day, we went to Discovery Science Museum in Santa Ana. THe best part? They accepted our pass from our local Discovery Center, so we didn't have to pay to get in! We went with my cousin, Kevin, and his son, Matthew.

Wind machine--this is Brendan at 70 miles per hour.

The boys in the Space area. This exhibit was fascinating. We got to see the effects of things like earthquakes and Tsunamis on the Earth. Plus it was nice to sit for a few minutes (the grown ups anyway).


"Driving" a zamboni.

The boys loved the Tinker Toys, dinosaurs, and rockets, but their favorite exhibit by far was Grossology. It explained all the more disgusting bodily functions. I just love Brendan telling everyone that he went on a slide where he went in the mouth and out the rectum--lol.


This picture I'm keeping to remind me that on my worst days teaching, at least I'll never have to do this as a job. These are deoderant testers--gross!

After the museum, we headed over to my aunt and uncle's house for swimming, bbq, and of course, s'mores.

Friday was part one of our three part trip. We went to Hesperia to visit friends. The boys got to play with their friends. We took some fun pictures, but I don't want to post pictures of other people's kids, so I'll just share my favorite picture of Austin.

Saturday, we headed to Las Vegas. It was 116 and miserable--yuck! We did have some fun though. Mike's best friend was there celebrating his 40th birthday. We went to dinner at Dick's Last Resort. It's different to say the least. The theme is that all the wait staff are rude. They yell, throw food and napkins, and randomly place hats on people's heads. Most of the hats said things I really couldn't reprint here. The ones the boys got were tame, though.

After dinner, I took the boys swimming at the hotel so that Daddy could go gamble with his friend. Even at 8:30, it was HOT!

Sunday morning, we headed home.

Oops, missed one picture. This was my favorite picture of the trip. My grandpa putting a puzzle together with Brendan.

If you're still with me, thanks for letting me re-live the memories. Hopefully, I have a chance to scrap some of these pics soon! I will be working on some cards in between studying for a test I'm taking on Saturday for recertification.

Legoland Fun

Checking in on our trip. Having no internet really stinks! We're sitting here in Starbucks for a few minutes. Thought I'd post a few pics from Legoland. The boys had a great time, and I can't wait to scrap these pictures with all the fun, bright colors. Haven't uploaded the beach ones yet. Off and running again :)

A couple cards and summer fun

Two more cards done. I'm still aiming to have them all done before we leave Saturday, but with packing, cleaning, and running errands tomorrow, it's doubtful. Here's hoping.

The first card uses You Rock papers and some star die cuts I had. Love the colors, and I want to make a few more cards with these papers, since they make fun boy cards.

The second card was a stamped image someone sent me, so I'm not sure of the name or company. She's adorable, so if you know where she came from, I'd love to know :) I used Magic Moments scraps and Thank You stamps.

Yesterday, the boys wanted to try out their new camera, so we headed over to the MK Nature Center. It's free to the public and features underwater tanks for viewing fish, as well as trails, and a museum-type center. The boys love to go there and walk around and see different birds, fish, and animals.

My budding photographers:

I didn't post any of their pics (I'll save that for their pages). They need some practice waiting for the picture to finish before moving the camera--lots of blurry "action" shots :) Don't you love how serious they are, though?!

The fish:

Gorgeous flowers:

I'll try to get on here and post again before I leave. I'll try for some planned posts, too. We will only have internet a couple times on our trip.

One last note, I'm LOVING the updates from the CTMH convention in Washington DC. Lots of fabulous stuff coming soon. I should be worried, very worried about my upcoming spending ;)

Kidding Around

I signed up for a class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking called Kidding Around. I'm really looking forward to it. It's designed for kids and their moms. Each week, you get a fun summer activity, a writing assignment, and a photo assignment. It starts on Thursday, but there was a preview assignment to make the Paper Pals that will accompany the boys on their summer fun. This is what they made. They picked the papers for the clothes, and I cut out the clothes and the people (I put them on cardboard, so it was easier for me to cut them). The boys colored and drew in the faces. I have no idea why Brendan's is green. he said he wanted it to be--lol!

To make it even more fun for them, I bought them an inexpensive digital camera at Walmart. That way they can take pictures themselves, without me worrying about them using my camera. They had a ball tonight trying it out.

Just to prove I wasn't kidding about needing to clean my scrap room to find space to play, here's a few pictures I snapped earlier today. I don't know why I feel the need embarrass myself. I have a 6 foot and a 4 foot table set up in my room and there was zero space on either of them--yikes.

I'd like to say it looks better now, but I only managed to clear off part of the 4 foot one. I'll blame it on my brother's girlfriend, Kaitlin. She loaned me the first half of Glee Season 1. Love that show! I got caught up in watching, and didn't get much accomplished. I guess you can say I'm now officially a Gleek :)