Back To School Already??

The Back To School sales are on and it's time to start thinking about school clothes, schedules, after school activities and...gulp...homework.  I have mixed emotions about school starting.  On the one hand, I look forward to seeing my preschool kids who I've really missed this summer.  I love watching my own kids play their various sports and, hectic as it is at times, I look forward to it.  On the other hand, I love the lazy, unscheduled days of summer and being able to be more relaxed about bedtimes and the ability to spontaneously take off on an adventure.  This is what crossed my mind when I saw this challenge over on the Blockhead Stamps blog to make a mini book.  If you are a stamper and haven't heard of Blockhead Stamps then hold onto your seat and zip over to their website to take a peek.  There are stamps there for every style.  I have been so impressed with their speedy delivery and excellent customer service.  Check them out.  Seriously.

About the book...my little project looks at what we love about summer and how the kids feel about returning to school.  I used all scraps from my stash for this little project..  I also tried to pull out stamps that I haven't used in a while (or ever!).  Here goes...

The background stencil is one I just got in the mail the other day from Blockhead Stamps.  Love it.  The title kind of got lost so I doodled around it to make it stand out more.

The book is bound using a pamplet stitch.  I added some beads and a little worksheet button to the ends of the bakers twine that I used for binding.

Ahhh...summer.  Bountiful gardens, the breeze whispering through my curly locks and days at the beach.

Camping and ice cream - two of my favorite things about summer.  It's criminal that we haven't gone camping once (yet) this summer.  I used the stencil again on the cone.

The background page is a math worksheet that I printed out for one of the kids thinking they would want to stay up to speed on their math skills during summer.  Ha-ha.  Fat chance, Mom.  On the left page I stamped the days of the week using distress inks.  Then I added some water to make them blurry.  The idea being that I frequently have to stop and really think about what day it is during summer.  The summer half of the book is done; time for back to school with the date circled on the mini calendar on the right hand side.

My oldest doesn't mind starting school too much.  Other than the early wake up time she's good with it as she gets to see her friends every day and flirt with random hotties.  It's all about the social life, right?  My middle child is less than enthused.  I often have to go in several times to wake him up on school days.  Strange.  He can have a 5 a.m. alarm for hockey and he hops right out of bed.  Hmmmm...

My youngest is somewhere in between the other two.  He isn't crazy about school starting but he'll suck it up and get with the program.  He's my laid back, go-with-the-flow kid.  On the right page I stamped the days of the week again, clearly this time.  Our fall schedule is insane between school stuff, soccer for some, hockey for some, etc. Never a dull moment.  The hokey pokey sentiment was kind of poking fun at ourselves and a reminder to keep all in perspective.

Finally the back cover.  I love my coffee and between my work schedule, my Etsy shop, the kids' activities and my husband and I both playing on adult teams (hockey and soccer respectively) a little jolt of caffeine now and again is just the jumpstart I need.

If you have indeed read this far thanks for taking in my babble.  :)  Until next time...

Psst...Here's the Scoop...

Did I get your attention?

I don't really have any juicy news.  But here's a new card.  I have no clue where the inspiration for this card came from.  We've had thunderstorms today (love it!) - very uncharacteristic for the Seattle area.  Maybe that's what led me to using my cloud dies for a double scoop ice cream cone.  It is summer after all.

I made this for the CASual Fridays Let's Strip challenge.  I know what you're thinking.  Let's not go there.  Instead picture me reaching into my drawer that houses pink and red paper scraps.  Oh...the card...here 'tis:

I glued itty bits of assorted pink paper scraps to a piece of cardstock and cut them out with my Memory Box cloud die (same for the double scoop of green polka dot paper).  The cone part is kraft paper that I cut to shape and embossed.  Distress Ink around all the edges and a few strategically placed foam dots finished off my ice cream cone.  A bit of twine and a stamped sentiment and we've got a card!

Thanks for taking a peek.  :)

Happy Summer!

Doing a little more dabbling today with paper, ink & stamps.  This one is for the Tuesday Trigger challenge over at Moxie Fab World.  This is the inspiration:

First I was thinking of doing some kind of banner thingie - those triangles were calling my name.  But then I thought about a card I saw this morning (which of course I can't find now) during my daily blog crawl.  It had the word "birthday" repeatedly stamped down the left side of the card and then "happy" on a banner stretching across the top - hard to describe but really great design and in bright, happy colors. 

I used both of these as inspiration - the colors from the image above and the repetitive words from the card I came across to come up with this one:

The "happy" stamp is from the Stampin Up "Happy Everything" set  I bought a long time ago - great purchase.  I'm constantly reaching for stamps from this set.  "Summer" is from a Doodlebug alphabet set - great font.  The bakers twine is canteloupe from Divine Twine.  A bit o' bling in the shape of orange Stickles tops it off (can you see them on the sun?).

I really like the happy, summery colors of this and think I'll be sending it to my mom tomorrow to brighten her day, too.

Thanks for stopping by.

Mini Album Mania

I'm going to be participating in a local craft fair next month and am pondering some things I'd like to bring with me.  In the past I've done cards and gift tags but I'm thinking of whipping up some mini albums.

I love to make mini albums.  They can be completed in a reasonable amount of time (I am a painfully slow scrapper when it comes to 12 x 12 layouts), lots of little hidden pockets and things can be included and you end up with this little gem to hold in your hands.  Here are some 6" x 6" accordion albums I made as teacher gifts a couple of years ago...

I'm also debating a couple of really itty bitty ones like these...



What do you think?  Should I try to channel my scrapbooking muse?  She has been very quiet for quite some time now...