Goodbye Summer

Today is the last day of summer vacation. That doesn't mean the summer temperatures have left. We are still expecting triple digits through the end of the week.

Simon will meet his teacher this afternoon and school starts tomorrow. Of course because of the timing with the move we get to drive him 45 minutes each way to school for the first week! It's worth it. The first week of school is important in first grade.

Since I have already packed my craft room I couldn't share a project with these pictures I took last week at our last trip to the Kyle pool. Instead I'm going to just share my favorite pictures from the day.



Relaxing by the pool.



No, she's not really asleep but loves to pose for the camera!



Cannonball!



Again, cheesing for the camera.

Lory Landing

I already posted our favorite thing at the San Antonio Zoo, the butterfly tent. A close runner up (not the lions or tigers!) was the Lory landing. In the Lory landing you can purchase a little cup of "Lory food" (I think it's just sugar water) in a cup and the birds will sit on your hand and eat out of the cup. As you can see in the picture, Simon was not sure he wanted the bird to eat so close to him!



Supplies:
Card Stock: Bazzil
Patterned paper: Rusty Pickle
Tools: Sizzix (Fun Serif)

Butterfly tent

This past spring we visited the San Antonio Zoo. The zoo is full of lions, tigers, bears, leopards, snakes, zebras, giraffes and just about any animal you could want to see. Of course my children cared very little for any of the big animals after we stepped into the butterfly tent. When we were there the butterflies were all from Asia. I must admit, the tent is pretty cool, the butterflies land in your hair and on your arms.







Supplies:

Card stock: Bazzil

Patterned paper: Jenny Bowlin

Embellishments: Martha Stewart (Pearls)

Tools: Nestabilities (circles), Sizzix (vine) Quick Kutz (Vixen) Spellbinders (Butterflies)

Surfing?

I took the opportunity to get a little scrapbooking in before we move. I attended a crop at Felicia's Scrapbooks with some fabulous ladies who kept me entertained all evening! I actually managed to complete some pages while I was there. The layout I'm sharing today was inspired by my daughter's imagination. While running through the sprinkler in my parent's backyard during our trip this past July, Lizzy discovered a board on the ground that wasn't quite even. She immediately jumped on it and began "surfing."



Supplies:
Patterned Paper: K & Co. (surfboards and waves)
Card stock: Bazzil & Bazzil Bling
Embellishments: Misc. flowers from the bin at Felicia's
Tools: Nestabilities (Labels Three), Sizzix (Fun Serif) Quick Kutz (Vixen)

2sketches 4Y Laura's #32

When I saw Laura's Sketch #32 on 2Sketches4Y, I wanted to create a card for Simon's teacher when school starts up. I pulled some papers and really tried to make a back to school card but my heart wasn't in it as I still haven't found a teaching position for the school year.

I stacked up the stuff to make Simon's teacher a card and put it back for later. I pulled out some robot paper by Cosmo Cricket and set out to make a card for Simon.



Originally I planned to use a robot stamp I have from See D's but then I found this tag in my paper pack and knew it was perfect. I think Simon will like finding a card one day in his lunch box. This turned out to be a really simple card. Everything came out of the robot paper pack. I cut the heart out of one of the solid sheets of paper.

Thanks for looking!

Trifold Pocket Card

Splitcoaststampers had a tri-fold pocket card technique for this week's technique lover's challenge. I pulled out some Stampin' Up! designer paper I received a couple of years ago, a neglected Carte Postale stamp set and got to work. This is what I came up with.



The belly band edges were created with the Hello Kitty border strip by Sizzix.



Open.



And under the pockets.

I thought this project would be great to hide some gift cards or little presents in.

Supplies:
Card stock: Bazzil (blue and green) Papertrey (Cream)
Pattern Paper: SU! designer paper (I don't remember which set it was)
Ink: SU! (True Thyme)
Ribbon: Basic Grey (Mellow ribbons)
Tools: Sizzix (Hello Kitty border strips)
Miscellaneous: Jelly Roll glitter pen, Stampendous glitter dots, Prima Flowers, brads

2 Sketches 4U and No Matter the Weather

The sketch this week from 2 Sketches 4U is a really fun sketch. I love all the cards from their design team, so many awesome ways to use ribbon! Initally I wanted to do something with a big bow but I recently picked up the Changito the Monkey set with the umbrellas and rainboots by Stampendous and it hadn't seen ink yet.

Before I go on, I just want to point out that here in Central Texas we are in severe drought conditions and truly my card would be more acurate if it had a blazing sun with baked monkeys under it. The sentiment would still fit as no matter the heat I have not abandoned my husband to spend the entire summer at Grandma's house where it is only in the 70's and 80's. However a girl can dream about rain boots and umbrellas.

I also utilized some American Crafts paper with rain boots that I discovered while doing the scrapbook store tour in Mid-Missouri with my mom. Umbrellas and rain boots would only make a big beautiful bow soggy so I opted out of the bow...this time. I also used the Effervescence punch Fletcher had purchased for me for our anniversary on the long skinny panel. Then I threaded some very skinny ribbon through the small holes. When I had finished coloring the image I went over the lines in the stamp with the glaze pen. If you don't have a Glaze pen, you need at least the black one. It really blackens in the stamp lines and makes them shiny, almost like you had heat embossed the image (which I detest doing!).



and the inside...



Supplies:
Paper: American crafts and Bazzil card stock
Stamps: Stampendous
Markers and pens: Sharpie, Bick, Prisma color and a black Glaze pen
Ribbon: American crafts (rainbow) and Wal-Mart (yellow)
Tools: Effervescence punch by Fiskars

Beach Vacation + Long trip to Missouri = Neglected Blog

I am guilty of neglecting my blog this summer. It started with our annual trip to Galveston. It has been around or over the 100 degree mark in Central Texas since the middle of June. When we arrived in Galveston it was in the 80's. This was our first time to visit the island since Ike. I'm actually impressed with how quickly they have gotten the island back together. I am also awed by the power of a hurricane. The sand dunes are gone and the beach we go to is full of new sand bars much closer to the shore. When the tide is out there are lots of tidal pools that the kids had a blast playing in. My brother, Caleb, came to the beach with us.




We were back for three days and then drove to Missouri to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Before I left for the beach I did manage to finish a Father's Day gift for my dad.


This clock is from Kaiser Crafts. They have really unique and fun books and 3-D items to finish. They're products are also reasonably prices. The paper is by rusty pickle and the embellishments were pulled out of my stash.