NY Trip

And finally I'm back with pictures of our trip to NY.  We love going up there in the summer, not only to see all of the relatives, but to escape the heat - and this was an unusually hot summer in NC.

It was the weekend of the Spiedie Fest and Balloon Rally.  Spiedies are a local type of kabob, with pork or chicken marinated, skewered, and grilled, then placed in a slice of bread.  Yummy!  They also have twice daily balloon lifts.  We went down there Sunday morning.  Walking into Otsiningo Park at 6:30 am, we could see two balloons filled up but not yet launched, just filling the sky over the trees.

We saw them from laid out on the ground, completely airless, through all stages of filling - first with cold air just to expand them, then with hot air to make them bouyant.  The boys were allowed to be right near the baskets and really enjoyed watching the process.

Then we watched them float down the valley.  It was a great morning!

Later that afternoon, we went to Great Grandma's 90th birthday party.  Over 70 folks were there to celebrate with her.  Here she is with 4 of her 6 children:

And here with many of her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

The next day we went down the street to the creek Ryan, his brother, and their friends played in when they were kids.  During the summer, it's only ankle-deep in most spots, and you can walk all the way down to the river.  The kids enjoyed playing in it, looking for 'mud bugs' and fossils, and getting wet.

On our way home, we took a detour into Washington DC.  We spent the afternoon at the Museum of Natural History.  And in the evening we went here:

Matthew has been really into baseball this year, and the Nationals' pitcher, Strasburg, is his hero.  It was Stras' first game back after having been on the DL.  Of course Matthew had to buy a Stras shirt, and insisted on the white one against my better judgment.

Jeremy is not so much into baseball, but he made it to the middle of the first before he asked to go to the playground.  :)  I took him there, then we got ice creams for all and went back to our seats.  We stayed through the 6th, when the fun and excitement of the trip was catching up with the boys - they were clearly exhausted!

Appreciation

The internet is a strange and wonderful thing.  It brings people together who might not have otherwise met, creating friendships.  It provides a seemingly boundless font of information.  However, it has also eroded many of the social niceties.  Consumers will air their customer service issues on public forums, and posting "flaming" threads that have no purpose other than to upset others.

To the lovely ladies at PTI, Jane, Julie, and Nichole:  I was lured to PTI by Debbie Olson's blog, and the beautiful cards she makes.  I purchased a few things, and lurked on the forums to get a feel for what PTI was about.  I was impressed by the courtesy of the community members, and more so by the quality and customer service of the company.  Thanks for all you do - beyond creating your wonderful products - to make the community a good place to hang with friends.   And don't let the turkeys get you down.

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.