Awesome thrifting finds

Well, I got to visit the thrift stores today and I got some excellent buys. I got this entire bolt of red ribbon for $.50! And the brand new book full of ledger paper- $.50 too! I nearly danced out of that store! Other awesome buys today: a
French workbook, a novel written in some far off language (which is Asian of some sort and looks just beautiful in print! Will make gorgeous paper flowers), and a copy of Child's First Encyclopedia from 1971 (I love old children books- especially ones that I can use for projects!).

Travel Album class

Had a nice small group get together tonight to make a travel journal. Only took 2 hours and we had a great time!

I'm really looking forward to taking trips so I can get some photos in here!

Quick and easy project

Instructions for a quick and easy mini album featuring a trip:

1. Gather various pamphlets, business cards, and a gift bag while on your trip.

2. Cut the bottom flap off the bag, then cut straight up both short sides of the sack. Glue the flaps down (this reinforces the strength of the cut bag). These two halves of the paper bag will be your front and back cover.

3. Place the pamphlets and other items in random order. These will be the pages of the scrapbook. Because every page is different, they won't all be the same size.(I also used 2 partial sheets of pattern paper.)

4. Bind the album. (I used simple office rings- 5 of them to ensure all the business cards and pamphlets would stay securely in the book.)

5. Add photos and journaling. (My journaling consisted mainly of a list of what we did each day with little comments about some of the photos.)

6. Add your title.

Voila! A simple, yet very cute way to showcase photos from your trip!

This album is from my girls' trip. A couple friends from nursing school and I try to take a trip together every year. This year, we went to Fredericksburg. We had a great time! And now in just a couple of hours' time, I have a darling memento of our adventure.

Summer

Ahh, the boys finished school last week. I'm really looking forward to having them home all summer. Sure it's louder and messier around here, but I wouldn't trade it for anything!

The boys gave their teachers an appreciation jar on the last day of school. I popped in at lunch one day and got all their classmates to write a note to their teachers and I put all the notes in the jars. I knew the boys had great teachers and reading these notes just reinforced that fact!

To celebrate the end of the school year, we went camping out at Brazos Bend State Park- or as we call it, "The Gator Park." Sammy was great help setting up the tent. Ethan was not. He spent most the time posing and asking me to "Take this picture, Mom!"

It was beastly hot, but we had a great time! Since it was only a one night trip, we decided to bring Chloe along. She did great. She bought herself another camping trip! I'm thinking we need to wait for cooler weather, though. . .

next class

I've been working all week on my next class. In honor of the time of year: Mother's Day and Father's Day, 2 albums to record your memories of your parents from when you were young. I'm really excited about these!

weekend round up

For the final day of Teacher Appreciation Week, the boys took their teachers framed chalkboards. We added a personalized message to each one.

Saturday was filled with soccer games, then we had my mom over for a Mother's Day celebration. I made her one of her favorite dinners, we played Yahtzee, her favorite game, then we all watched a movie. It was a really nice night.

For Mother's Day, I told Phil and the boys that all I wanted was for them to make me lunch, then do the dishes. I got just what I wanted- and I loved it! It was delightful watching the boys help their daddy. They made Beef Strogonoff, corn, and buttered bread. When they served it to me, they had it in the shape of a tulip (thanks to a cookie cutter). Then they made a cheesecake for dessert. Yummy food and even yummier company!

Thank goodness it's almost Friday!

Today the teachers got flower pens in pots. I helped Sam and Ethan carry them to their classrooms because, honestly, I couldn't trust them to get the gifts there in one piece.

We spent most the night at the soccer field, so I didn't get to do anything creative tonight. Plus I worked today and every other day this week, so tomorrow I'll be playing catch up here at home.

I saw a sign on the way home that said, "We need to slow down and appreciate what we do have." What a nice thought. I'm going to go appreciate the episode of "The Office" I recorded earlier tonight!