New Riley

A while back Hanna Stamps rleased a hockey Riley. I just got my new Riley so I had to use it! I made a birthday card for a friend who is hockey crazy. The design is from the sketch challenge at Splitcoast. The paper is from basic Grey's cupcake pack. In real life this card is bold and fun.

Not much is new here other than my rubber stamp. The boys are now yellow belts in karate, they tested yesterday and are very happy to have moved up a belt level. Scott had a birthday Monday and I made him a Strawberry cake. Seth is refusing to eat it, because he is mad I did not make a chocolate cake. I do make a good chocolate cake, but I can branch out with success as well.

I did get the best ever cupcakes from my friend Nana, who is the nicest person I know. Carrot Cake, yum. Now that is my favorite, and Scott's, too. You have not lived a good life until you have tasted Nana's carrot cake! She put them in the cutest cupacke box, too, so the presentation is gorgeous. Everybody needs a nana in their life, she makes the world a better place.

Crazy Neighbors

The pencils in the photo have a pirate motif on them so I knew they would go perfect with the Wee Hanna set from Hanna Stamps. The challenge on SCS today was to use marbles and reinkers to color your paper. I used alcohol inks instead of reinkers and apparently used a lot more than needed as my colors are more vibrant than many of the other challengers. I used glossy paper and I really like how it turned out.

I made a little tag for Teacher Appreciation Week, which is coming soon. The first day of the week is traditionally "send in a school supply for your classroom teacher day." It is followed by days where you send in a sweet treat, a flower, a nice note for your teacher...just little things but the teachers seem to like it.

Noah got a gardening book yesterday which he has been devouring. He got our neighbors to allow him to take a graft of their apple tree so he could plant the graft and try to grow a tree in our yard. I am trying to talk him out of it. I read in the book "The $64 Tomato" that you actually need to different kinds of apple trees close to each other so the bees cross pollinate them in order for them to grow. I asked the neighbors about the grafting thing and their reply was that they'd be moving soon so they didn't care. Well, I do care. Apples can be a lot of work and I'd like to work on gardening more than starting the orchard Noah wants. After all, he won't be doing the upkeep, no matter what he promises. We know better.

Busy Busy Friday

After a year of two of having these socks on the needles and no desire to finish knitting the, I have them finished! The yarn looked so cute on the skein in the store and much less desirable once it was wound. I cannot stand to have things undone though, so I had to finish these once I started.

The hanna Stamps challenge today was to make a 3D item, so I made a clock. I know, I know, you have seen this trick before, but I wanted to do it again. Both my kids want it right now, so we'll see where it ends up. The clock is from WalMart and you can just pop off the plastic cover and alter it to your heart's desire. Maybe altering clocks will become one of my craft night classes in my home,who knows?

The SCS Challenge was to make a card that shows off the colors of a room in your home. Our bedroom is actually orange with a brown accent wall. That was my original goal for colors, but actually, every room in our house is a different color, so I don't mind having a hodge podge of colors in my card. I am very allergic to cats, so I don't have any, and certainly would never kiss one, but I thought this quote was too funny not to use. The cats are from the new Hanna Stamps set, Granny Hanny, which I adore. There is an older lady in the set and she just cracks me up. I can tell it will be a set I use again and again.

We are going out of town this weekend for a family wedding and are really looking forward to seeing everyone and having fun this weekend. I hope you all have a nice weekend full of fun too.

Up and At 'Em

Scott wakes me up in the mornings. It works for me. around 7 AM he comes back up to the bedroom, turns on the TV to the Today show and gently wakes me with sweet kisses. It's a great way to start the day. Well, today he forgot! I rolled over in bed and realized it was a little too light out. It was 7:40. I ran and woke up Seth and told him he'd better get moving. I was still able to shower, dress and make lunch before the bus came at 8:15. Whew. But now that I woke up so quick, I have been moving at high speed and getting things done all day long. It's a great day.

The challenge today is a sketch challenge and I used the Train Riley with some left over die cut train track from my scrapbooking supplies. The cloud paper is from Reminisce and is called Cloud Puff.

I went to knitting class and got help with my killer sweater project and finished one sock. I'll finish the second one tonight while I am at a church meeting, so my life is good.

I Just Don't feel Like Myself

This beauty is called Dress Up Hanna and she comes with several dresses that can be paper pieced and put on her. I used a piece of a basic Grey paper pack for her dress. The color challenge at SCS today is Pink, Red, and Grey. I forget their full names, in all their aliterativeness. I liked the ribbon until I posted the card, and now I think I might take it off and add some greenery to the flowers instead. My cards always look good until I post them for all the world to see, and then I find changes I'd like to make.

I am off to get my hair cut today. I have been putting it off due to the e onomy but there is only so much a girl can take. Great Clips is having a $4.99 hair cut sale, and while it works great for all the men in my family, I just can't bring myself to go anywhere except to Kevin, my hair man. I am sure I will feel better this afternoon after my mini makeover.

Many of you know I have a special needs child (on the Autism Spectrum) and we had the annual case review recently at school. He will be moving into Middle School next year and we needed to decide how much he is mainstreamed in classes and how much he is pulled out for specialized education. If he goes to the special classes, they are smaller and more detailed toward his individual needs. But, he can do okay in a full day of regular classes, he will just require more "extra" help if he doesn't understand something. It is a hard decision, as I think everyone would do better in smaller classes tailored towards their needs, and the desire to want a child who does not require special care and circumstances.

It is cold and rainy here and if I did not have tons to accomplish today I would love to crawl back into bed and start the day over again later. I would do just that, but if I cancel my hair cut, it will take forever to get back in to see Kevin again. I am going to resolve to stay strong and go out into the cold, wet and dreary world.

I lack motivation

Do you see this sweater? Okay, supid question, I suppose you do. I fell in love with it. It is a display model at my knitting store and upon seeing it I squealed in delight and demanded a class just so I could make one, too. Only yellow, as beautiful as it is, probably isn't a great color for my washed out pale skin. So, I chose some yummy blue yarn with which to make this swetaer. And I am having a tough time of it. I have about five inches, maybe 6, done. The teacher of my class was hoping to have me near done with it by this point. But I really am the world's slowest knitter with ADD.

Today I found a mistake in my knitting which means I get to rip back and inch or so. Seriously people, that is days of my life I will never get back. But I like it to much to not knit it, so I just plug away slowly since no one else has volunteered to knit it up for me. I need some knitting fairies in my life.

And papercrafting? Not so interested. I did look at the challenge today and it involved gesso, which I don't own and magazine pages. I just wasn't into it. So I let it go by. Tomorrow is a color challenge, maybe I'll feel motivated then. Maybe not.

Gesso, by the way is a product people use for priming soon to be painted surfaces.

Let me know what motivates you these days. I am going to organize photos now. Not exciting, but needs to be done.

Train Riley

The SCS Challenge of the Day was a sketch challenge and I used a new Riley that Hanna Stamps recently released, Riley the Train Conductor. I can't tell you how much I wish I had this stamp when my boys were little and into Thomas the Tank Engine. Riley is so cute in all that he does. I used acetate that was run through the Cuttlebug and embossed for the background and the colorful papers are from a Basic Grey pack.

I had knitting class today and I had to admit that the sweater I am knitting will not be anywhere near finished by the end of class. It is a cardigan and I am a very slow knitter, so this might take me forever, or just feel like forever. I do like the sweater, so I am committed to seeing it finished. I had an odd conversation at class, though.

Another lady in class, a freindly Grandma,was talking about her granddaughter who lives in Sierra Leone, Africa. Turns out her daughter is a Defense Lawyer for the UN and is currently assigned to the case of Charles Taylor. Taylor is one bad dude. He led a revolution in Liberia and had many people murdered at his command, mainly anyone who opposed him. There is a special court convened to hear his case at The Hague and he faces 11 counts of international violations, including recruiting child soldiers. As much as I believe him to be GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY, if the guilty can't get fair trials, there isn't much hope for the innocent. So, while I hope his defense attorneys do their best, I hope they are not good enough to get him a clean slate.

Whew. Who knew you'd get a dose of African politics here today? I am currently very near the end of reading "Long Way Gone" by Ishmael Beah, a child soldier in Sierra Leone, so this subject I actually know just a tiny bit of a one sided viewpoint about. My friend Maria loaned me the book and now I feel like I need to keep my ears open. Reading this and talking about Taylor in knitting class is an odd coincidence. I will have to keep my eyes open for more on these subjects as I feel I must be gearing and reading about all of this for some reason.