January Club Layouts--La Belle Vie

These are our club layouts for January.  I planned on using the coordinating Stickease, but they were sold out before I ordered.  Instead, we used all the bling!  I am now in LOVE with the Sparkle Flourishes (in this case, black).  The papers are beautiful, but with two boys, I have a hard time using the more girly papers.  My mom, however, has tons of photos from Paris to scrapbook, so I told her she could have my other layouts to add her pictures.  

The first layout worked out perfectly to celebrate our 14th anniversary.  The main photo is from our actual anniversary.  We went to a local French restaurant called, Le Coq Rouge.  Hands down the best restaurant meal I've ever eaten!  We will definitely go back.  The rest of the pictures highlight our year. I love that the boys are old enough to entrust to take pictures.  We actually have some of the two of us :)  The big blank spot is for the journaling.  My printer did not want to cooperate and print on cardstock.  I'll have to figure that out.  

Layout number two is straight from the Workshop on the Go.  I love this layout, but WOW, what a lot of cutting!  It definitely shows off all you can do with the Artiste cartridge!  I also adore the stamp set that comes with the WOTG.  The lantern, Eiffel Tower, and sayings are all on there.  There's also an adorable bicycle one I didn't use.  Definitely want to use it on a card soon.  

The last layout is simple, but elegant.  I used some (gasp) non-CTMH ribbon on both pages.  I found the sparkly ribbon tape at JoAnn's, and I couldn't resist!

 Actually, looking at how fun the layouts turned out, I don't know if I'm going to be able to part with them :)

Curling Up With a Good Book (I wish!)

As anyone who knows me can attest, I LOVE books!  Reading a good book is one of my favorite things in the world, a fact my family just accepts, even when it means I am completely tuning them out. Sadly, I haven't had much time as of late.  While I love my job, the demands of teaching, grading and editing writing in particular, sometimes overwhelm my time.  As a result, I have a serious backlog of books.

My growing pile of books to read.

At the beginning of December, we had our school book fair.  Between the gifts from generous and parent and the spending of some of my teacher funds, I racked up a number of young adult books.  I like to read them before I put them in my classroom.  Then I received a number of Barnes and Noble gift cards for Christmas, and right now for teacher appreciation they are offering 25% anything for teachers (not just books for the classroom).   I added a few more to my ever-growing collection, including Divergent and Insurgent, which my students have been telling me I HAVE TO READ.  I love that my students come to me to share books they've loved and ask for recommendations.  I just wish I had more time to spend reading!  The above photo doesn't even deal with my Kindle list!  Mike bought me a new Kindle for Christmas, which I am loving.  I have a bunch more books on there I'm working on.   He bought me Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies.  He heard about them on NPR and knew I would like them because they take my place during the time of Henry VIII, my favorite historical fiction time period.  Such a thoughtful hubby!

I have one more setting of writing to grade before I can reward myself with some serious reading time.  With the temperatures like this, maybe there's a chance.

On the other hand, today is National Popcorn Day, so I'm sensing some movie time in our future, too.  

Sneak Peek Chantilly, Card #3

This is the third and final card of the kit.  It makes 15 cards in three designs.   I added just card bases and a sheet of Kraft cardstock to make 30.

The main stamp for this one is a fun one.  Everything that is stamped in Desert Sand is one long stamp.

Sneak Peek Chantilly, Card #2

Here's another of the cards from the Chantilly Workshop on the Go Card Kit.

I love this cake stamp!  I see lots of cards in my future with this one.  Love the little flags, too.  And yes, all the stamps do come with the kit.  

Sneak Peek--Chantilly Card #1

Only a couple weeks until the new Idea Book is available for orders.  I am loving EVERYTHING in it!  One of the things I ordered is the new Chantilly Workshop on the Go card kit.  It has everything you need to make 15 birthday cards, perfect for anyone!  Are you excited yet?  Not only does it make 15 cards, but by adding card bases and one sheet of Kraft cardstock, I was able to make 15 more.  I love it!

Here's a sneak peek of one of the cards.

I love the colors and the fact that it isn't gender-specific.  I am always needing lots of birthday cards.

Snow--in Haiku

Oops--I didn't get on last night to post.  I've decided that Friday will be our poetry day at school, so I did have a little poetry to share from yesterday.  Literature classes yesterday wrote poetry about the novels they're reading.  I went a different route for mine (although I did write one on the book we're reading in class as an example).  I wrote a couple haiku on the snow.  One reflecting our snow day and the other reflecting the drive to school yesterday, although it wasn't too bad for us on our route.  Some students, however, were an hour late due to all the accidents on the interstate.

Snow in Haiku:

Snow, glimmering white

Falling softly, quietly

Through the cold window

Slick, icy black roads

Treacherous in the darkness

Praying for safety

Come back later today to see the 30 cards I made during our snow day.  I still need to take some photos.

A Snow Day Today

Yippee!!  We had a snow day today!  It was crazy weather: ice, wind, blowing snow.  We stayed inside where it was nice and warm.  The boys went out for a little while this afternoon, but not for long.  

I'm a little worried about tomorrow.  Though most of the snow has stopped, they are saying blowing snow and ice on the roads and a wind chill around zero tomorrow morning.  I can't see them closing school again, but it doesn't sound like the conditions will be fun for the drive or for getting students to Mass in the morning.  I guess we'll have to wait and see.