Nailed It: Jori's ETA project

Good Morning! Today I'm pulling a project from Nov/Dec that Jori worked on. A little background first...Jori is a Freshman studying in the Engineering & Technology Academy within our high school. One of his projects in the fall was to develop a parcel of land in the Blackstone Valley. They incorporated their core classes into ONE project - History: the history of Blackstone Valley, English: writing proposals for their land parcels, Math: the math required to design and make a scale model, Biology: green technology and Engineering: schematics, design, etc. The scale model is what I would like to tell you about this morning.

He was assigned a parcel that was designated recreational and you could team up with kids with land next to you have bigger developments. So he teamed up with a friend who had the park area and he built a basketball complex. Finding items to scale was the hardest part so we had to get creative and that's where mom and her scrap supplies came in handy. Here is a pic of the work in progress...the fencing is black burlap ribbon, telephone poles are cut black wire, hoops are Jolee stickers. The courts are Bazzill paper and the grass is standard diorama grass sheets.
We also bought air dry clay and mom lent a hand in making benches, lamps and for his friend's project, art installations at his "Peace Park". I used Queen & Co.'s bling for the lamps. 

The boys spent TWO days holed up in my scrap cave working on their park before delivering it to school to prepare for their open house. I didn't quite know what to expect but walking...WOW...they had laid out all the land parcels around the canal on the cafeteria floor. It was amazing!!!

It took a bit to find the boys' parcels but here they are...came out great. I helped with the clay and then left them on their own except to explain how certain glues and tools worked.

Students also had tri-fold boards that displayed their research and design work. They encouraged the parents and family members to talk to the students and have them explain their work. Doesn't he look all grown up?

I have to say, the kid Nailed It!

Share A Card Tuesday

 

A little fun with a cool saying, fun Stampin' Up punch and really cool wood grain textured American Crafts cardstock. It's a card-lift..found the orginal on Pinterest.

Weekend Wrap-up

We started the weekend with a baseball game. This year, the boys are on a team together and it is so much fun to watch them. The Mr. is also helping out in the dugout so, I either roam the field taking pics or bring Diego with me. It's one or the other as I can't watch the puppy and take pics. By next year, fingers crossed, he will be ready and he has been doing really well at the fields.

This photo...this is why I try to attend every single game they play. Back story is he threw the pitcher out on 2nd in the 1st inning and now we're in the bottom of the 6th (they play 7 innings) tied game with him as the go ahead run (the boys supplied the lingo, I'm not that good). He was told to steal 2nd, took a huge lead and the pitcher tried to catch him stealing. They did this EIGHT times...what a battle and both boys, teammates on the high school team, had big grins on their faces the whole time! Be still my heart...love that he loves playing the game! ps. he stole his way to 3rd, brought home on a sac fly and they ended the game in a tie since they ran out of time.

We got home and got to work on the yard. A Mother's Day gift...they weeded, mulched, lifted and helped with the vegetable garden. The best kind of gift, don't you agree?

Sunday, we headed into Boston for our favorite brunch, dim sum, followed by a walk to and through SOWA Sunday. It was a beautiful day to spend walking around and exploring the markets.

 The Mr. saw these "shops" and said, "That's what you need for the store!" Wouldn't that be awesome? I could drive up in my truck, park, open the doors and voila open for business. No lugging it in (or out), setting up and breaking down!

I had to get a pic against this backdrop and somehow I always forget to hand over the camera :(

Flashback Friday

I started Time 2 Scrap back in 2009 and was with I Remember When for 4 years prior. In that time, I've met a lot of scrapper friends and in the last few crops, a few have mentioned how big my boys have gotten. I get a lot of , "they were so little when we first met you." So I thought it would be appropriate to post a Then & Then & Now pics for Flashback Friday.

Way back in 2006

At Cool Crops' last Mom & Me, May 2012 at the Bayside on the Cape

 

Fast Forward to 2015...14 & 13...yikes!!!

Nailed It: A Year of Dates

Remember this post? I finally put the album together while I was at the Point Sebago crop. The benefit of having crop space at an event. I shopped my own store and used an October Afternoon SNAP album that I had in stock...especially since I had the refill pages too.

Washi tape, papers pulled from different lines/scraps and words (months) I had pre-cut on my Cricut Explore before the weekend. I wasn't sure about the wifi at the campground and didn't have space for it in my car.

I left one 3x4 pocket open for each month and wrote our date details on a Project Life 3x4 journaling card. I then sealed it in the envelope with tickets, gift cards, etc that I had bought in advance. One envelope per month and 1-2 pocket pages per month depending on the activity. Obviously if it's dinner and a movie there will be less pics than, say, going on a hike.

Here you can see the envelope has been opened and I've slipped the journaling card into it's spot. For our anniversary month, we will visit the Worcester Art Museum to check out their Samurai exhibit and then head out for a sushi dinner. The "WTFS" is a coincidence...the paper was a calendar type page and it was for days of the week ;)

The gist of my "Year of Dates" album is to go out at once a month sans kids. We will open the envelopes on the 2nd (our anniversary date), pull out a calendar and pick a day to go. A few date ideas I included are hiking, bowling, paint nite and even a couples spa day.

Share A Card Tuesday

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!!!

Sharing some cards from my stash made with Uchi's Design bilingual clear stamps. I love how crisp the images come out as well as the Spanish/English choices.

Weekend Wrap-up

I spent the weekend at a new to me event...the Point Sebago Scrapper's Weekend in Casco, Maine. It was such a beautiful setting and I loved having a Park Home to stay in. Walking to from the crop room to the dining hall and back and forth to my park home was so nice in the beautiful spring weather we had.

Check out the views. This shot was taken right outside the crop room at dusk. 

Best of all, I had my own table to scrap at and even got some scrapping done. Hung out with the coolest chickies...there were more but I don't have that pic so I'll share the one I do have.

  

The crop ended at noon so I even made it back in time to watch the second part of J's double header with my trusty sidekick, Diego. 

 

The girls were very welcoming...THANK YOU LADIES!!! I had a great time and have reserved my spot for next year :) 

ps. there was an awesome 10th year crop anniversary that I will share when it goes live.

Fave Five: The Scrapbooking Edition

I thought I would share with you my go-to tools when I'm scrapbooking, card-making and any general craftiness. 

1. My pink scotch ATG (adhesive tape glider) - I used to think it would be big and bulky. Not anymore. Can't scrap without it. Even did the math and its pennies per yard compared to other tape runners. My boys steal it when they have projects to work on 🙀

2. Tonic gulliotine trimmer - so glad I invested in it as well as the 12" platform version. It travels well and best of all, it is self-sharpening. Too bad they don't make them anymore 😞

3. Cutter Bee's Honey Bee scissors - can't say enough good things about it. If you've taken one of my classes or put together one of my kits, you know I love my fussy cutting. This one is even non-stick!

4. Quickstik tool - one end is a piercing tool and scraper (it pulls out and has 2 ends) and the other end has poster tack to help pick up tiny pieces of paper (large ones too). I use it to pick up and place bling on my projects. 

5. Squeeze and Roll glue pen - I avoided wet glue as much as I could until I discovered this glue pen. It's so easy to manipulate and just glides along. Glue is blue initially and turns white when it's tacky. It dries clear and is strong enough to "write" twine words!!!

Do you have any must-haves to share with me? I'd love to hear what you have to say. 

Nailed It

More iron-on vinyl projects to share with you. This was done with my old cricut and the SCAL software. Now that I have had a chance to play with my new cricut explore air, I'm finding things about it that I wish I had known before I bought it. I have to say I love how well it cuts and all the fun features...just wishing the software could do more and that I didn't have to be online.

I made team shirts for the boys for their annual New Year's basketball game at my in-laws. They're the "young ones" and "the old ones or old farts". I used glow in the dark iron-on vinyl and it definitely came in handy for the 1am New Year's Day game.

I used a dingbat font for the basketball players and then welded some letters together. All in all it took me about 3 hours from start to finish for 8 shirts.

Share A Card Tuesday

Putting my Cricut Explore Air through it's paces and decided I needed to try out a .svg file cut. I looked for one that would be fun and came across this minion file. It was super easy to work with and after a few hiccups, still learning how to use this new machine, I put him together and made it into a card for a friend of mine. Isn't he just too cute?

Comment here and I'll randomly send YOU a card in the month of May :)

Weekend Wrap-up

Spent the weekend freezing at the ball field. We had to split up on Saturday since the boys both had games at the same time. Initially thought I would go watch J since his coach had told him he was the starting pitcher. Good thing I didn't since D, on his very first outing on a big field, was also a starting pitcher!!! And boy did he rock it on top of playing an inning at center field and catching 2 innings. J did great at his game too.

Hubby and I did sneak away for a dinner date without the boys. It's so nice to dress up and head out although our age is telling, we were home by 9pm more 8:30am start games on Sunday 😞

Sunday saw us at the field by 7:30am for a doubleheader. It was a cold one...why have  I never brought a sleeping bag to the field? It is the smartest idea I've ever come up with!!!

We took Diego with us and boy was he busy. Felt like I had brought a fully charged 2 year old to an open field. Walks and runs (D ran him on the football field) didn't tire him out enough to lay down and watch a game. We realized at the last and final inning, he just wanted his own chair. He jumped up into my chair, cuddled up into the sleeping bag and went to sleep. Seriously?

There's a crop next weekend and I will have cropping space (say what?) so I will be packing/planning for it tonight. Gotta get some time in the scrap cave one way or another!!!

Sneaky Sunday

Two new layout kits in stock...

Cross Country is a TWO page layout using a blend of Bo Bunny and Moxxie lines. This layout comes together quick and easy.

Another hard to come by theme...Let's Bowl is a TWO page layout using Imaginisce's family fun line. Fits multiple photos and the color scheme is bright & fun.

I Am...

soaking in the sunshine and stopping to admire the crocus'.

checking my calendar twice but it still says baseball every.single.day!

looking forward to a new to me event...Point Sebago crop next weekend.

knitting (still) a hat I started way back in February.

wanting a new sewing machine so I can quilt/sew again. My old machine is being super cranky.

sitting on a pile of packages that need to go out but can't quite get my act together, need to write in 1 card and add a few things to another.

making a list of layout kits to put together in the next few weeks.

loving  the family photos we took while at my in-laws over the holidays that I just finished editing

going on long walks with the puppy to tire him out and to meet my 10K steps daily goal

working on getting this blog back up again

Nailed It

 

I have a brand new nephew and have been wanting to give this idea a whirl for the longest time. It was the easiest handmade gift I've made so far. The hardest part was buying the onesies. Why do they come in 5 packs? And why doesn't the store have all the sizes in stock?

Looks great on him doesn't it? And I didn't stop there, I made an extra set for a friend's baby. On the docket is another set but I'm going to have to wait to hear if it's a nephew or a niece :)

Share A Card Tuesday

Not sure if I've ever mentioned that I collect stamps. Over the years, I've collected quite a few sets and, some of you know this, have been trying not to buy more. The reason being...I don't make cards and didn't put them to use. The last few weeks in an attempt to do something crafty daily, I've made quite a pile of cards and other items that I have actually been mailing out. I wanted to share a card I made in under 30 minutes before D was dropped off at a Bar Mitzvah. 

I used Core-dinations' Tim Holtz Weathered Wood cardstock, inked the background with a Stampin' Up set from way back using Weathered Wood distress inks. Heat embossed the greeting, cut out the banner and layered it. It needed a little something else so I added stars (from my star punch) and bling.

Added some cold hard cash and off D went. Quick & easy! Want to see more cards? I think I'll make it my Tuesday feature.

Weekend Wrap-up

Vacation week here in Massachusetts and it's raining. Stuck indoors, boys are doing homework and I'm back to blogging. I've missed sharing with you and have been busy with the family but finding time here and there to play as well. There are quite a few layout kits to share with you as well as some projects.

I thought I'd start off easy and share with you, in pictures, what I (we) have been up to since Feb 13!

 Finished editing family pics we took on Jan 1

Started an hour long walk in the morning with him to tire him out...life is never dull with him around

 Wrapped up hockey season

 Wrapped up THREE back to back weekends at Cool Crops Portsmouth

 Bought myself the new Cricut Explore Air...love this thing and still learning how to work it

Started baseball season and hopefully hiking, canoeing and fishing season

It's been busy, going to be busy and I doubt things will let up for a while. And it's ok...life is good. See you back here tomorrow!