A Milestone and the Joy of Reading

Did you hear it? A big sigh of relief coming from our household, as my dear hubby turned in his final assignments for the semester - his last semester of coursework for his PhD. Ahhhh! Three years of craziness have finally wound down. Granted, the next few years will hold their own kind of obligations and deadlines: book lists, dissertation, conferences, comprehensive exams, but the roller coaster ride of mid-terms and finals has come to a stop. Whew!

And now, on to the crafting!

I have been so excited this year to begin sharing some of my favorite chapter books from childhood with my daughter, Shannon, who is becoming an independent reader. The Narnia books, Paddington books, and Little House books are just a few of our favorites so far. I really enjoy seeing her discover these treasured stories for the first time.

One of her classmates, who also loves to read, is having a birthday this weekend. I contacted her mum for some book suggestions for gift ideas, and I made her this card with a bookmark pocket on the front, personalized with her initials:




Details:
Stamps - Crafty Secrets - Story of Me
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Vintage Photo
Patterned paper - DCWV - Berry Street Farmers' Market
Cardstock - K&Company (red); Gina K. Designs (natural)
Accessories - markers - Copic Sketch; chipboard letters - Prima; embroidery floss - DMC; ribbon - Michaels; clear plastic - leftover packaging; eyelet - Making Memories

Thank you for taking time to stop by today!

What I Did Over Easter Break - a photo essay

A trip to the zoo:





Lovely Easter morning service at church:




A visit with Nana's baby ducks:


Papercrafting? Not so much. But it was a nice, little break, and I'm planning to get back to the craft room today. :)

Hope you are all happy & well!

Making Birthday Art

My brother, Jason, celebrated his 40th birthday last week, and the one gift he asked for was a painting from Shannon.

Jason and his wife, Megan, are so wonderful about supporting and appreciating the work of the many creative and artistic members of both sides of our families. They proudly display many original works of art in their home.


Shannon likes to work in acrylic on canvas. It's a great medium for kids' art because it's vibrant and gives great results. It's also very forgiving, if you want to change something, you can just wait until it's dry and paint over it. (Also, if after it's dry, your little brother accidentally drops a wet paintbrush right in the middle of it, you can wipe it off with a baby wipe. Don't ask me how I know this.)



So there you have Shannon's "A Hedgehog in a Meadow." She gave the hedgie a heart-shaped balloon, so Jason would remember that he got the painting for his birthday and that she loves him. Sweet, huh?

Bunnies, Wishes, & Blessings

I love so many types of vintage images and illustrations, but I especially love Easter images and animals dressed up in clothes. When I was a little girl my grandmother had a puzzle with an illustration by Molly Brett. It was a winter scene with animals dressed in winter clothes and building snowmen, skating, etc. I can still picture some of the details in my head. I must have put that puzzle together a hundred times at least. So you can see why adore these vintage images from Crafty Secrets.
Here is the little Easter display of vintage candy boxes and animals that I have in our foyer:


The flocked ducks are from a large collection of flocked animals that I have that were produced by Kunstlerschutz in West Germany, later the company was called Wagner. The ducks on the right are the older Kunstlerschutz ones, while the brighter ones in the middle are Wagner.

Here are some more close ups:


My mum is getting some new baby ducks today, so hopefully I'll have some photos of real ducks to share with you soon!



I made this card for last week's Crafty Secrets challenge. Pammyjo asked us to stamp the ribbon we used on our projects. I used Stazon ink on seam tape ribbon and was thrilled with the results!



Details:
Main image: Crafty Secrets - Seasonal Booklet
Patterned paper: Webster's Pages
Cardstock: DCWV (blue); Stampin' Up! (brown)
Ink: Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Linen; Stazon - Timber Brown
Accessories: seam tape ribbon - Rebecca Sower Designs; flower - Prima; brad - Making Memories; edge distresser - Heidi Swapp

And, this is the card I made for this week's Crafty Secrets challenge that I am hosting to use texture on our projects:


Details:
Main image: Crafty Secrets - Easter Creative Scraps
Patterned paper: Making Memories (pink); Chatterbox (striped)
Accessories: velveteen ribbon - Cosmo Cricket; stick pin - Maya Road; edge distresser - Heidi Swapp; distress crackle paint - Ranger; embossing powder - Ranger - Powder Puff

Hoping your day is full of sweet, little happy things too!

Easter Card & Auction Basket

Happy Friday!

I wanted to share one last card with you that I made for my daughter's school auction:


Details:
Main Images: Crafty Secrets - Easter Creative Scraps
Cardstock: Bazzill
Patterned Paper: Melissa Frances
Accessories: seam tape ribbon - Rebecca Sower Designs; pearl buckle - The Little Pink Studio; corner punch - Fiskars

All six of my cards are being offered in a Local Artisans Basket at the auction. One of the other mums from the first-grade class arranged everything so beautifully in the basket:



Other items in the basket include:

A Gorgeous Hand-knit Angel Hair Scarf by Mandy Corbett
A Quart of Pennsylvania Maple Syrup from SweetWood Maple
Handmade Jewelry from RagTrader
2 - 16 oz Hand-poured Soy Candles (Green Tea & Lemongrass and Fruit Slices) from Beatty Country Store

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to this wonderful basket! I am sure it will get a lot of attention at the auction.

Wishing you all a lovely day!

Child's Play

I got a chance to play in the craft room a bit over the weekend, and here's what I made:

A door hanger for Shannon's room, inspired by some I saw over on the Cosmo Cricket blog awhile back and the lyrics: "Won't you come over and play all day? Be my friend now, whaddya say?" from one of Shannon's favorite songs.


Details:
Wooden door hanger - Darice
Acrylic paint - Apple Barrel
All other materials from the Cosmo Cricket line, Jack's World.

A kid's birthday card for my auction donation:


Details:
main image - Crafty Secrets - Wacky Animals Creative Scraps
dp - DCWV - Grade School Stack
cardstock - unknown
stamps - Stampin' Up - A Happy Hi (sentiment)
Accessories - marker - Sharpie; ribbon - Offray; corner punch - Fiskars

A thank you card for a troop mother, who taught Shannon's Brownie troop about Mexico for Thinking Day:


Details:
Stamp - The Greeting Farm
Cricut cartridges - Base Camp & Storybook
markers - Copic Sketch
cardstock - various

Hope you get a chance to play soon too!

Easter Chicks & Two Chicks' Day Out

This week really got away from me, and I didn't get as much crafting done as I'd hoped. I'm looking forward to a relaxing Saturday, though, with just crafting and a good workout at the fitness center on the agenda.

I want to share with you an Easter card I made that was inspired by this week's Crafty Secrets challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. Lori Lynn asked us to use a color blocking technique on our projects. Basically, you take a piece of paper that's smaller than your card front, adhere your main image and your sentiment, cut them out, then use the left over scraps as spaces for additional images or embellishments. Finally, you adhere all of the pieces onto the cardfront with an even amount of space between all of the blocks. This is a really fun technique that would result in different looks and layouts every time you use it.

Here's my card:



Details:
Main Image & Sentiment: Crafty Secrets - Easter Creative Scraps
Patterned Paper: 7 Gypsies (fleur de lis); Bo Bunny Press (plaid)
Cardstock: Bazzill (yellow); DCWV (blue)
Ink: Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Linen
Accessories: rubons - Hambly Screen Prints - Doilies; felt rick-rack - Offray; Easter basket charm - A Charming Place

Shannon is on Spring Break this weekend, so yesterday she and I went on a little adventure just the two of us. We went to a local toy store/gardening center, where they have a very elaborate, animated Easter display, then we went to Pat Catan's and did a little craft shopping.



Don't you just love these fun, family traditions?

Hope you have a wonderful weekend ahead!