My Proud Mama Moment

My son ran off the bus yesterday with a look of complete elation.  He's in the 3rd grade now & just found out that he could run for student council.  He said he needed to write a speech because the election was the next day... and then he got to work.

My youngest is a natural leader.  He gets it from my husband & both of them have this magnetism that I just can't explain.  People just flock to them, kind of like the Pied Piper.

But... this is where my "proud mama" moment comes in & I just wanted to document it so that I'll remember it one day when he's all grown up.  :)

As he was writing his speech, I told him to think of qualities that he had that would make him a good choice for this role.  He thought for awhile & then had a "light bulb moment."  He said, "Mom, I think I'm different from a lot of other kids in my class because I like to be friends with everyone, & not just certain ones."  He went on to say that there was a new kid in his class that had a deformity & a lot of the other kids picked on him & were bullies.  He said that it really upset him when the other kids acted like that, because this new boy was really nice & he couldn't help that his body was different.

I told him how proud I was of him & how important it was to really be a good friend to this boy.  The other kids in the class really look up to my son as a leader & I hope his example trickles down.  It's times like this when I feel like we're doing something right as parents... even though many days I feel like I've completely failed at the job. ;)

 

I think my son's main objective for becoming a student council member is to change the cafeteria food.  I'm not going to lie.  It's bad.  I wouldn't eat it & I'm not picky at all.  Our schools have tried to be "healthy", but in doing so, the food has become almost inedible.  (My boys begged us not to vote for President Obama because they wanted decent cafeteria food again.  They want to invite Michelle to their schools so that she can see what a "healthy school lunch" tastes like.)  ;)  I use to make my kids eat at school at least a few days a week so that they could get a little more variety, but it has gotten so bad that I pack their lunches every day.  I'm not sure how much pull a 3rd grade student council member has for the county's cafeteria plan, but I'm wishing him the best!

Studio Calico's Sandlot is Here!

We just got back from sunny Florida & I think I still have vacation brain.  (By the way, can I tell you how challenging it is to get my teenager to smile?  Sigh...)  I'm a couple of days behind, but I wanted to share the new August kits with you from Studio Calico!

 

Take a peek at Sandlot:

 

  Card Kit

Project Life® Kit

Scrapbook Kit

If you're like me & enjoy cute, whimsical stamps... you're going to LOVE the Sandlot card kit.  The bubblegum machine is the perfect size for a card front, but it's large enough to use on scrapbooking layouts or party decor & still stand on its own.

The kit comes with both bright & vibrant patterned paper/embellishments as well as soft & pastel.  

I really love the school themed patterns mixed in the kit.  The great thing is, if you don't have school-aged kids, the patterns are neutral enough to be used in many other ways.  (The card above uses the pencil patterned paper.)

If you like more of a romantic, elegant style then the Squints add-on is for you!  It comes with a beautiful, layerable stamp set & sentiments that coordinate with wood veneer pieces.

 I made this bouquet by stamping several flowers & adding them to a cone that I made with a square of vellum.

For those of you who have kids getting ready to start school (Ours start next week!  Crazy!) you'll definitely want to check out the Teacher's Pet stamp/die set.

 I make a lot of school themed cards.  They're perfect for sneaking into lunch boxes & backpacks... but they also are handy for schmoozing teachers.  ;)  (I'm not going to lie.  When you have a house filled with boys, especially a little mischievous one, it's always good to have a card on hand.  Those teachers need all of the encouragement they can get!)

Here are a couple of my other favorites from this month:

These Kraft Daily Envelopes stole my heart.  They're 3x4" & perfect for Project Life®.  I think they'd also make great focal points on cards & are the perfect size to hold gift cards.  I ordered two sets.  I couldn't help myself.

 Another thing that I'm REALLY excited about are these Color Theory acrylic paints.  I recently shared a video on how to create a stained glass effect with stamps on the Studio Calico blog & I can't wait to have all of these colors to work with!

 Thanks for stopping by!  You can find all of the new releases here & a gallery FILLED with ideas from the creative team here.

Making Handmade Butter

I channeled my inner Laura Ingalls today.  I thought it would be fun to let the boys try their hand at making butter from scratch.  I'm honestly not sure who had more fun.  It's such a neat process!  Here's a video sharing how we did it:

The whole process took about 30 minutes.  The cream went from a liquid state to thick whipped cream... and then all of a sudden, the buttermilk separated and the butter was formed!

Once you drain off the buttermilk, the butter has to be rinsed with very cold water.  We added a bit of salt at the end.  (1 tsp.)  I couldn't believe how yummy a plain piece of white toast tasted with the freshly made butter.   My youngest "mmm!'d" for the longest time.  :)  It was definitely a 'two thumbs up' kind of project!

A Peek Into Our Life

OK. So first of all, just to clear up any confusion, my mom is not goth. The caption below is suppose to read, "Mom's 60th B-day Party" but the font choice wasn't the best.  ;)  I didn't notice it until I had already processed the video... so it is what it is.

One of my goals for this blog is to begin to share more than just things made from paper & scissors.  I'd love for you to get to know me as a whole person & not just a crafter.  So, here's  a peek at my family & what life is like living in rural Indiana:

This video was made with the Cameo app. If you haven't tried it, it's a great way to capture life!

My Weekend Recap

This has been a long (but good) weekend.

To start off, my husband earned his Master's degree & had graduation ceremonies & celebrations.  It's been a labor of love & I feel like we've all earned this degree together as a family.  ;)

 Saturday was also NSD (National Scrapbooking Day) & I had a blast coming up with a special layout for the occasion!

 My boys are finishing up their school year & I wanted to make a page that could hold their report cards.  (Their school just prints their reports on standard paper, so I inserted them into these Maya Road envelopes.)

I "traced" a chipboard star with a paper piercer from Amy Tangerine's stencil embroidery kit & then used floss from the same kit to hand stitch the shape in place.  For additional stars, I used one of Basic Grey's orange fuzzy rub-ons, a copper BG star & a wood veneer star from Studio Calico.

The "notes" tab is from Chic Tags.  I love how they're made to just clip over a page or element.

All of the supplies can be found here.

These chipboard glasses are part of Basic Grey's Hipster collection.  I added a layer of vellum to give it a little added fun.

The ampersand is a rub-on by Amy Tangerine/American Crafts.  These chipboard arrows from Studio Calico are a fun way to direct the eye around the page.

Two Peas is celebrating in a big way with fun challenges, freebies & giveaways.  The challenges are open all week, so make sure to check it all out here.

Studio Calico has some awesome challenges too (along with a $100 grand prize gift card!)  So... whether you like to make cards, Project Life layouts or traditional scrapbooking pages, make sure to click here to find out more!

Here is a card I made for the Project Life Team Challenge #3: Go Transparent

I love the new Atlantic printables & wanted to try them out for this challenge.  I imported the images into my Silhouette software & used the circle tool to cut out a window for my card.

The card base is actually made from an office transparency & it gives the illusion that the "love" die cut is floating in the center of my card.  I added patterned paper to the inside to create a space for writing a message to the recipient.

Thanks for taking a peek at my projects!  I hope you'll join in on one of the challenges.  :)  Good luck!

New Lawn Fawn: A Birdie Told Me & Happy Everything

The new Summer releases from Lawn Fawn are some of their best yet... and after you see them, I think you might agree!  Today the LF team is sharing projects made with two of the new stamp sets: A Birdie Told Me & Happy Everything

A Birdie Told Me

Happy Everything

I've been dying to dive back in to my Project Life album & thought these stamp sets would be perfect!  The smaller PL photo sleeves are perfect for documenting those little stories.

I took my boys to Green Apple Froyo - their first experience at building their own tasty "ice cream" treats.  (I didn't tell them it was actually yogurt & they sure couldn't tell!)  I love little outings like this... especially since school was just around the corner.

For the top row, I used a printed journaling card from the Pop Off the Page class kit from Studio Calico & built on top of it.  I typed out some journaling & loved how the word "new year" from the Happy Everything set can be used for so many other things that have nothing to do with January 1st.

I used the same set to stamp "happy day" onto a kraft tab.  The little star from a Birdie Told Me is so perfectly imperfect.  I absolutely love that little image & it makes it easy to add a little whimsy to just about anything.

On the row above, I used some of the new Lawn Fawn Dewey Decimal 6x6 pad & alpha stickers.  The  Say Cheese Too stamp set is a MUST for anyone who likes adding stamping to their Project Life album!  I love how easy it is to add a cute date to my page.

The little smiley face from A Birdie Told Me was just too sweet not to stamp somewhere.  I decided to add it to an arrow tab to highlight the photo of my son's stuffed animals who were also enjoying a little froyo.  ;)

My youngest filled his cup while I was going through the other side of the line & I had no idea how topping crazy he was until I asked him the question in the word balloon above.  I love that the word "everything" was included in the Happy Everything set!

I hope you've enjoyed taking a peek at some of Lawn Fawn's new sets!  Make sure you check out the Lawn Fawn blog all week to see more inspiration & for your chance to win all the new releases.

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