I blinked and I missed it. Them, rather.

June and July, that is.  I've been crazy busy and just haven't made the time for my poor, neglected blog.

Did I mention that we've been busy? Ryan and I have been working a lot - not a bad thing in the current economy. Ryan's company was sold to another company, which gave us a few weeks of uncertainty, but luckily their jobs transferred over with minimal changes, at least through the end of this year.

The boys had 4 weeks of summer camp scattered in over the last 2 months.  When they weren't in  camp, they had "mom school" with me, as well as plenty of play time, video game, swimming, and reading time.  My mom, sister, niece and nephew came to visit for about a week, and the cousins had a wonderful time being together.

Jeremy has had an eventful summer.  He took part in the Lee Brothers Tae Kwon Do tournament in June (his first ever tournament), and to our delight took first among the white belts in his group.  His favorite part was breaking a board with his bare hand!  A week later he passed the test for his "high white" belt, his first belt elevation.  And then just last Friday, he finally lost his first tooth! He really didn't want to start 1st grade being one of the very few children who still had all of his baby teeth, so this was a really exciting event for him.

Matthew has embraced Harry Potter this summer - really getting into reading the books and playing the new Lego Harry Potter game. 

I spent last week at CHA (the Craft and Hobby Association's trade show), in Chicago, with the ScrapStreet team.  Dora, who owns/edits ScrapStreet, lives in a suburb of Chicago and very kindly hosted 7 of us for the week.  It was lots of fun, with late nights, story telling, and ogling of new scrapping products.  We also picked the kits for the next 6 months of the kit club.  The team tradition is taking a group picture in the marble bathroom.

We are heading to Ryan's hometown shortly for his grandmother's 90th birthday.  Folks are coming in from all over the country to celebrate with Grandma, and we are looking forward to seeing everyone there.

School starts on August 18, so we'll begin the school year preparations soon.  We got the kids' homeroom assignments today, and are pleased with the teachers and classmates they have been placed with.  I am looking forward to this year, as both kids will finally be on the same schedule and I won't have to drive to/from school 3 times a day!

Signing off now with a promise to be back soon...

End of School Year Craziness

One of the other moms in Jeremy's class compared May to Christmas - tons of running around, shopping, and trips to school for all the end of year activities: teacher appreciation week, recitals, field trips, learning who the next year's teachers will be, etc.  Combining that with several work deadlines in the last 2 weeks has made me look like the proverbial chicken with it's head cut off.

I have managed to get a few digital pages done.  This first one is of Jeremy, the weekend he got to bring his violin home and give us concerts. He was just beaming with pride each time he picked it up.  (All images are clickable for greater detail.)

Weekend Concert. Digital Supplies: Paper: Flying South by Jesse Edwards, 

Simple Classics No. 2 by Katie Pertiet, Flowers and Pinstripes by Jesse Edwards, 

Journaling spot: The Good Earth by Zoe Pearn, Calendar: Pick-nics Lil Detail Card 

by Jenn Wilson Designs, Staple: Staple Its by Pattie Knox, Brush: Date Strip Stamps 

No. 2 by Katie Pertiet, Fonts: CK Ali's Writing, Elephant.

Journaling: Bringing home the violin is an exicting time for a Ravenscroft kindergarten student. Jeremy was thrilled to play concerts for us every day and show us what he's learned from Ms. Hitchcock. His favorite song is "See the Little Monkey" and his favorite note is C-sharp.

His class recital was on Monday the 17th.  After the recital, there was a reception in his classroom.  I made this layout to give to his teacher, who does a remarkable job with all these little ones.

Play. Supplies: Paper: Letter Box by Katie Pertiet, Sweet Mystery by Melgen 

Designs, Little Creepers by Mindy Teresawa, Vintage Linens by Shabby Miss 

Jenn Designs, Celebrate Paper Pack 4 by Baers Garden Designs, Frames: Classic 

Curled Photo Frames No. 1 by Katie Pertiet, Swirled edge: Colorful Edgers 

No. 2 by Katie Pertiet, Brush: Musical by Jesse Edwards, Alpha (recolored): 

Katie's Jewels by Pattie Knox, Stitches: Double Straight Stitches by Tia Bennett.

And finally, a layout for/about Ryan.  He's like me, and rarely in pictures.  He prefers to be behind the video camera instead of in front of it. Baseball is his passion, and I think that this page captures it well.

Lifelong Romance.  Paper: Peeking Baseball kit by Ronnie McCray, Take Me Out to 

the Ballgame kit by Dana Zarling; Alphabet: White Felt Alpha with Red Stitching by Amy 

Bleser; Frames: Stuffed Edge Frames and Journalers No. 1 by Katie Pertiet, Basic Bare 

Chipboard Frames by Katie Pertiet, Border: Stuffed Edge Documents No. 1 by Katie Pertiet, 

Journal Spots: Basic Journal Spots by Katie Pertiet, Ticket, Shoe Lacing: Peeking Baseball 

kit by Ronnie McCray, Tab: Cardstock Tabs by Katie Pertiet, Tape: My Family Genealogy 

Clippings by Katie Pertiet, Label: My Family Genealogy Flashcards by Katie Pertiet, 

Software: Lightroom and Photoshop Elements 8.0 (both by Adobe), 

Font: Plantagenet Cherokee.

Journaling: Do you see that glove sitting on the bench? It belongs to my husband, Ryan. It tells the story of his love of all things baseball. It bears the scars of a quarter-century of use. It holds the dreams and excitement of the teen-aged ballplayer. It has been and continues to go to ballgames, in case there is a foul ball to be caught. It is treated with love and respect. It is well cared for, soft from decades of use, but still strong and functional. It now accompanies us to little league games. It helps Ryan share his love of all things baseball with a new group of children, eager to learn. It sits on the bench, after the on-field practice, but before the game, holding one used and one new game ball, ready for the first pitch. It holds the dreams and excitement of the father teaching his sons about the game.

Teacher Appreciation Quilt

We have been blessed this year to have wonderful teachers for both of our boys.  I'm a room mom for Jeremy's kindergarten class, which means I've spent a lot of time with the class and with the teacher.  She's become a friend, and I greatly enjoy talking with her.

After New Year's, my co-room mom and I began discussing Teacher Appreciation week.  I volunteered to make a "crayon quilt", where each of the kids in the class would color anything of their choice on a piece of fabric.  I would then make it into a quilt in time for the end of Teacher Appreciation week.

The kids colored their blocks in February.  We asked them to keep it a secret.

Teacher Appreciation week was this week.  We gave little gifts (flowers, chocolate, home made cards) during the week.  This morning, the kids put on their Mother's Day program (more on that tomorrow).  Afterwards, the moms returned to the classroom to watch the kids give their teacher the quilt.

EVERYONE helped deliver the gift to her.  She's sitting on a chair way on the left of the picture.  I was a little afraid the kids would knock her over in their zeal.

Then she opened it (and luckily, loved it).  And was mobbed again by the kids, all shouting at the same time "That one's mine!" and "I made this one!".  It was adorable to see how excited they were to share it with her.

I think it will be well loved.

Toothless and a Freebie

Another one of my templates is up for grabs on the ScrapStreet blog today.  I used to to make this layout about Matthew losing his top teeth.  He's lost a good 8 teeth in total now, and has had a pretty much continual gap since these pictures were taken last summer.  Jeremy's not been so lucky.  He turned 6 a month ago and doesn't even have one wiggling yet.  It looks like he'll be the only kid in his class to leave kindergarten without having lost a tooth.

Toothless. Digital Supplies:  Template: Framework No. 2 by 4Two2 Frameworks, Paper: Hugs and Artfully Intense by Lynn Grievson, Work Hard Playhard by Anna Aspnes, Other: tooth cartoon downloaded from the internet, Fonts: Jefferson, Georgia.

Journaling: Matthew had already lost both bottom teeth, but he didn’t have a “gap” for more than a few days, as the new teeth were in a big hurry to fill the empty space.  Now, however, he’s lost a top tooth, and he’s got a nice gap.  He’s had an ear-to-ear smile since losing it.

ScrapStreet's May edition is out!

Have you checked out the May edition of ScrapStreet.com Magazine yet? It's filled with lots of inspiration.

I've got 4 items in the Cuttlebug article: Hello card, Play layout, Beauty card, and a Thank You card. 

The free kit this month is Hop and Skip - bright colors, balloons, jumpropes and paint splats - perfect for kids playing and birthdays!  I did a layout about my guys hamming it up at the photo spots on Castaway Cay.

Check out the calls here.

A Few Cards

Yep, two posts in one day.  Go figure.

I have all sorts of new scrappy things to play with: paper, stamps, embellishments, markers... the list goes on and on and on.  So since it's raining and kind of yucky this afternoon, I decided to to to my office/studio and play.

First up,  a card for this week's 2 Sketches 4 You challenge.  This is for Laura's sketch 50:

After rotating the sketch, I made this sweet hybrid card using BasicGrey's Green at Heart line, combined with Papertrey Ink's new Dotti Biscotti paper.  (Editorial note:  Even if you didn't like the paper [which I do], how can you resist that name!)  These papers worked perfectly with the butterflies in Amy Wolff's Weekly Gazette pack; I just added a bit of bling for their bodies.  The butterfly wings float over the surface of the card.

Hi:  Supplies:  paper: BasicGrey, Papertrey Ink,textured cardstock: Core'dinations, 

border and letter stickers: BasicGrey, gems: Brenda Walton for K&Co., ink: Clearsnap, tool: Cuttlebug (Provo Craft), die: Spellbinders, adhesive: Scotch, Therm O Web.Digital supplies: , Butterflies: The Weekly Gazette by Amy Wolff Designs, 

software: Photoshop Elements 8.0 (Adobe).

Next I did two cards for Cammie's challenge at the Papertrey Peeps blog.  For the first time, I finally used (and won't admit how long it's been gathering dust) my Medallion stamp from Stampin' Up!  It pairs beautifully with gems.  I did one sympathy card and one thanks card, using different gem placement each time.  The bottom one was embossed with Ranger's Distressed Embossing Powder, and has a really rough texture that nicely plays off the shine of the pearls.

Many Thanks and Deepest Sympathy. Supplies: Kraft paper: Stampin' Up!, 

Stamps: Stampin' Up!, My Sentiments Exactly, Gems: American Crafts, 

Ink: Vivid (Clearsnap), Versamark (Tsukineko), Embossing Powder: Ranger, 

Tool: heat gun.

And finally, I used a sketch from the May/June issue of Paper Crafts magazine; in particular, I was inspired by Monika Davis' card using some magic mesh.  That's a product that's been collecting dust in a drawer for too long.  The Father's Day card follows the sketch pretty well, and I love the tree transparency.

Happy Father's Day.  Supplies:  paper: K & Company, other, 
stamps: Papertrey Ink (Borders and Corners Oval, Daily Designs Sentiments), transparency: Deja Views,mesh: Magic Mesh, brads: American Crafts, 
ink: Stampin' Up!, Fluid Chalk (Colorbox), tools: Crop-a-dile (We R Memory Keepers), oval punch (Marvy Uchida), adhesive: Scotch.

The Key card deviated away from the sketch, but had its origins there. It's actually a see-through card, with the brown frame highlighting the heart and key that are adhered to the inside back of the card.

Key to My Heart.  Supplies: paper: BasicGrey, transparency: Deja Views, 

mesh: Magic Mesh, tools: Cuttlebug (Provo Craft), dies: Spellbinders, adhesive: Scotch.

Storybook Stew

Matthew's first grade school play was yesterday. The four classes put on Storybook Stew, and each did an adaptation of a different fairy tale. Matthew's class did The Sky Is Falling and he was one of the forest squirrels. They had two showings, one at 9:30am for the Kindergarten and pre-K classes, and one at 1pm for the parents.

Since I was way back in the theater, I bumped my ISO up really high (1600) and got some decent, if grainy, pictures of the kids on stage. Matthew's the one to the immediate left of the tree in the first picture, and directly in front of the tree in the second. He had a great time, and we could hear him from our seat. (Yes, he is the loudest human alive.) We were a little surprised, though, because he's always telling us he doesn't like to sing where people can hear him.

After the play they had a cast party. Here's a picture of all three of the play's squirrels.

Aren't they just the cutest?

Groovy Challenge

A few years ago, I scanned a bunch of slides for my parents.  Naturally I kept copies of all of them.  Tonight I decided to do a layout of one of them. This was a lot of fun to create.  My challenge to you is to pull out an old photo in similarly, uhm, attractive clothing, and post it on your blog, Facebook or in a card or layout, for all to see.

Groovy, Baby!  Digital Supplies: Template: December Daily by Ali Edwards, 

Paper: Summer Safari by Jessie Edwards, Classic Cardstock Christmas by Katie Pertiet, 

Edge: Sand Scratched Photo Frames 1 by Anna Aspnes, Swirl: Flocking Christmas 

by Anna Aspnes, Font: AR Christy.

Journaling:  The early 70s were not kind to fashion. Bright, screaming yellow must have been “in”.   Mom was dressed up for an evening out, and we were in our pajamas, ready for the babysitter.

Being Satisfied With Doing Less

Many of you know I started back to work with a number of steady contracts in mid-December.  I've spent that time enjoying working again - I truly love medical writing and getting into the data.  But trying to re-balance my other household and child duties meant that my craft time suffered.  I'm finally feeling a bit more balanced again, have learned to streamline some chores, and am getting more time for crafting.

The March 2010 edition of ScrapStreet.com Magazine highlighted BasicGrey's Origins paper line.  Here are my projects:

Happy Birthday.  Supplies:  Paper: BasicGrey (Origins),Stamps: Papertrey Ink, 

Twill: Stampin' Up!, Flower: Prima, Tools: scallop punch (Fiskars), acrylic block, 

Specialty ink: Tattered Angels, Ink: Ranger, Other: leaves.

Friend.  Supplies: Paper: BasicGrey, Rub-ons: BasicGrey, Stampin' Up!, 

Pen: Copic, Specialty ink: Tattered Angels, Ink: Clearsnap, Ranger, 

Twine: Stampin' Up!, Dies: Spellbinders, Sizzix, 

Tools: circle punches (Marvy), Cuttlebug (Provo Craft), rub-on tool (BasicGrey), 

Adhesive: ThermOWeb, Scotch.

Welcome, Little One (a layout of my sister's Christening).  Supplies: Paper: BasicGrey, 

Stamps: HamptonArt, Papertrey Ink, Ribbon: Making Memories, other,

Twine: Papertrey Ink, Tools: scallop punch (Fiskars), corner rounder (Creative Memories), 

fingertip knife (Fiskars), glass cutting mat (EK Success), acrylic block, sewing machine, 

Markers: Copic, Zig, Ink: Clearsnap, Ranger, Other: thread, button.

So my recent scrappy obsessions (when time permits) include Papertrey Ink products, Copic markers (and coloring pretty images with them), and hybrid projects.  I have had this wonderful photo (ca. 1973) of my grandparents feeding the calves on their farm in a frame in my house for years.  But a long time in the sun has taken its toll, and it's time to put the photo into an album or risk it fading to nothing.  This Webster's paper, with its old-world feel, combined with some of Katie Pertiet's digital stamps (the cow one in particular), made for a fun layout.

 La Vie Est Bonne.  Supplies: Paper: Webster's Pages, Bling: Prima, Ink: Ranger,

Specialty ink: Smooch (Clearsnap), Pen: atyou Spica (Copic), Tools: finger tip knife (Fiskars), 

glass mat (EK Success), minimister (Ranger), Adhesive: Scotch, EK Success, Digital supplies:  Brushes: Countryside Clusters and My Family Genealogy Definitions by Katie Pertiet.

 A few of the Street sisters and I entered a digital card-making contest.  Alas, we didn't make it too far. My challenge was to do an easel-style card.  Digital stamps of Alice and the mushrooms, paired with some Fancy Pants rub-ons and Cosmo Cricket papers, made a fun card to send to my niece.

Spring Wishes. Supplies: Stamps: Papertrey Ink, Paper: Cosmo Cricket, 

Kraft paper: Stampin' Up!, Die cuts: Fancy Pants, Markers: Copic, Ink: Clearsnap, Ranger, 

Twill: Stampin' Up!, Tools: acrylic block, Cuttlebug (Provo Craft), Die: Spellbinders, 

Adhesive: Scotch, Therm O Web, EK Success, Glue Dots,  

Digital Supplies: Stamps: The Greeting Farm.

Earlier this week, I decided to try out the Copics on some highly detailed digital stamps. I selected and sized them using Photoshop Elements, then printed them out and colored them in the evenings while watching TV. I really love how this card came out. 

Spring Bird.  Supplies: Paper: Webster's Pages, Cardstock, stamp: Papertrey Ink, 

Markers: Copic, Ink: Ranger, Bling: Walmart, Cloud 9,   

Digital supplies: Paper: Classic Cardstock: Cleansing by Katie Pertiet, 

Brushes: Birdwatcher Silhouettes No. 2 by Katie Pertiet, Birdwatcher Clusters by Katie Pertiet, Software: Photoshop Elements 8.0 (Adobe).

And finally, I'm trying out a new venture.  I've begun to make some digital templates and quick pages, under the name 4Two2 Frameworks. Grab the freebies on the ScrapStreet blog:  Framework No. 1 and Castle Cutie Quick Pages.

I made the layout below with one of my quickframes: Jeremy's hands holding a frog.  Can you tell I'm a mom to boys?

Spring Doings

Spring blooms are nearly done here, but I thought I'd share what's around my yard:

The early season cherry trees were really beautiful this year:

And the lorapetalum put on quite a show as well.  Here is a photo of the nearly 5-foot tall bush in front of the house...

and here is a close-up of one of the flowers.  I think they look like exploding fireworks.

This is the later-season cherry tree that's in the backyard.  When we moved in nearly 9 years ago, it barely reached the eaves of the roof on the shed next to it.  Now it towers over that whole area.

And the phlox near that cherry tree is so pretty, nestled up in front of the day lily leaves:

The day before Easter, we went to the NC state zoo in Asheboro.  They were giving "Easter egg" treats to a number of the animals.  They blow up a ballon, cover it in paper mache and paint them to look like Easter eggs.  Once it's dry, they deflate the balloons and put snacks into the eggs, and place them around the animals' enclosures.

The cougars were such fun to watch!  They really went into hunting mode, and stalked their prey before pouncing on it and ripping it to shreds.  Here's one climbing up a tree to get the egg:

The black bears weren't quite as observant as the cougars, and it took them a while to figure out food was available.  But once they figured it out they had a ball getting their treats out.

The boys were on spring break last week, and it got into the low 90s on several of the days.  We traditionally open the pool at Easter, and by Tuesday, when it hit 92 or so, the pool was ready to use.  Ready from a balanced chemicals and clarity perspective, that is.  The water couldn't have been more than 63 degrees.  But that did not stop my boys from getting in.

They were freezing, but managed to submerge and have fun for a good 15-20 minutes before they were cold enough that the testosterone was no longer in charge of their brains.

Oh, and the dog went too...

I'll have a few scrappy creations for you tomorrow or Friday.