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This week at school was Patriotic Week at Fairview. During the month of May, students brought in loose change, which we presented to the Glendale Heights VFW Post 2377. They will use the money to purchase phone cards for the brave men and women serving overseas. The students all wore red, white and blue and serenaded the VFW members and three active soldiers with the patriotic songs they have been practicing in music class all month. I have to say that hearing 600 students sing
And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I won't forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.
gave me goosebumps and brought tears to my eyes. I made this card to thank Judy, who planned Patriotic Week, and for our music teacher. More importantly, I would like to thank all of troops and veterans for keeping us safe! Happy Memorial Day!
We have our own little treasure just a few blocks from our house. The Schaumburg Park District has a beautiful Nature Center where we have taken many nature walks. Today we came across these baby Robins. (Notice how great my photo turned out, thanks to the Groupon photography class I took just yesterday...Thanks Mom and Dad for the clever Christmas gift!) If you look closely you can see the proud Mama higher up in the tree. Attached to our Nature Center is the Heritage Farm. We spend hours upon hours there as Sydney loves to visit with all of her animal friends. In the summer she takes Farmers Boot Camp where she gets to feed and clean up after the animals, milk the cows, collect the chicken eggs, and brush the horses. Considering she is such a girly girl, I was shocked to see how much she enjoys farm chores! Last night, she, Mark and I participated in a Sundown Supper on the Farm. We got to do all of the farm chores, and then cooked and ate a traditional pioneer dinner, of ham, potatoes, bread, and cookies. We fed all of our left overs to the pigs. At first they wouldn't touch "Uncle Joe" but then decided to polish him off! Thanks Farmer Dick and Miss Monique for such a fun and memorable evening!
I am very involved in the PTA at Sydney's school. As the year winds down, I wanted to thank a few moms who devote a great deal of time and energy to making Fairview the best school ever for our kids. I used a new color combination for me, SU's Elegant Eggplant and Melon Mambo. I used SU's Fresh Vintage set. I normally would not have purchased this set, but got it for free from hosting my last SU party. After using it, I decided I like it much more than I expected! I "rock n rolled" my stamp to get the two-toned effect. If you look closely, you can see some rhinestones and Stickles added for some extra bling!
By the way, Hurricane Sydney invaded my scrap room last weekend to create cards for upcoming birthday parties. Look at the disastrous results! You'll have to check out her blog to see her creations at http://www.sydneysspectacularblog.blogspot.com/ She'll be posting her cards over the next few days!
I want to wish all of the special women in my life a Happy Mother's Day! I am blessed to have each and every one of you!
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to all of the hardworking teachers and school staff out there in blog land. I made these cute apple cards for the dedicated teachers that are part of Sydney's life this year. The white craft ink on the black card stock makes me think of a chalkboard. We got little gifts also. I think the favorite part of their gifts, however, will be the letters of recommendation I wrote for their credential files. You don't need to spend a lot of money to show your appreciation for teachers. A sincere letter of recommendation for their portfolio is invaluable to any educator.
There is a teacher's aide that was in Sydney's kindergarten and first grade class. Mrs. H will always hold a special place in Sydney's heart. Her daughter is getting married soon. Since Mrs. H has done so many kind things for my daughter, I decided to do something kind for hers. I made this wedding shower card to match her wedding colors. I think the pearls and rhinestones on the shimmery white card stock make the card very elegant. I used one of my favorite SU sets ever, Blissful Bride.
A dear friend of mine is having a major surgery tomorrow. We are sending prayers and wishes for a speedy recovery her way. She, my mom, and I took a class at Archiver's years ago. We made cards similar to this using Glimmer Mist sprays. None of us were big fans of the clumpy splotches on our cards! For this card, I instead opted to sponge the color on after embossing the images. I think it turned out much better than the Glimmer Mist debacle! I used Yoyo Yellow and Pixie Pink SU stamp pads for my sponging. I love the orange that appeared where the two colors met. The rhinestones add some cheerful bling. In her care package, I also included an iTunes card and a face mask - definite necessities while she rests and recovers. Best Wishes!
Some of you may be wondering why I haven't had many blog posts for the past few months. That is because I edited my daughter's elementary school yearbook. The committee consisted of me, me and me! It was a big, but FUN job. The printed books arrived today, and I couldn't be more thrilled with the results! We are fortunate at Fairview to have yearbooks printed in full color. I took photos throughout the year at school events. (This is how I could justify last spring's Canon Rebel purchase...Oh and I can't forget the various lenses and cute backpack!) Then I laid out all 56 pages. I cropped and placed over 550 candid photos of the students and staff. Oh my! Actually, the hardest job was sorting through my THOUSANDS of candid photos and dwindling them down to just 550! I wish I could show you some samples of my work, but I can't display any of the student's photos on-line. Drats!
We work with Balfour Publishing. I have to give a shout out to my fabulous rep, Bryan, and my tech support hero, Patrick. Thanks guys! I couldn't have accomplished this without your help! (By the way, I made the above thank you card for Bryan and Patrick. Obviously, my design was inspired by the yearbook cover.) If anyone is in the market for a yearbook publisher, I highly recommend Balfour. Now I get a couple of months off before I start all over again in the fall! Until then, I should be able to work on more cards and scrapbooks!
Today my parents are celebrating their anniversary. I just found out that they bought each other the EXACT same GPS. I guess great minds really do think alike! I wished them many more years of happiness together with this card using my Denami Designs Elegant Floral Wreath. It only took me two years, but it finally dawned on me that I can use my Cuttlebug border folders on both the top and bottom of my cards! Duh!
I also made this cute thank you card for a dear friend and fellow lunch mom. The hot chocolate stamp is a random one that I received for free when I placed a large on-line somewhere. Sadly, I don't remember the website, but I was happy to put it to good use. A perfect card for February in Chicago - although you wouldn't know it. We are expecting temperatures in the high 40's tomorrow!
Sydney and I were busy working away on valentines this weekend. I used my new Close to My Heart Tic Tac Toe set to make these adorable cards. I made a smaller version to use as tags for teacher gifts. As a former teacher, I realize that they get lots of chocolate for Valentine's Day. I thought cupcake liners would be a nice change of pace. Happy Valentine's Day!
Many of our friends are welcoming new babies into their families. I made these adorable onesie cards for all of the adorable babies on the way. I used the Denami Designs Sheep along with the Petite Patterns set from Stampin' Up. To make the neck and leg holes and trim, I used the SU Scalloped Circle punch along with a one inch circle punch.
On another note, I finally got to play with one of my Christmas gifts today. My husband surprised me with a Mini Photo Studio from Kaezi. It is a little portable desktop light box studio that comes with lights and a tripod. It has a nice nylon carrying case, and it also has four different backgrounds to choose from: white, black, blue, and red. I will have to play around and experiment with different backgrounds and lighting.
