Update (kind of lengthy)

I feel so bad for completely neglecting my blog for the past week and a half or so.  Last week was our spring break, and I thought I was going to be on here every day and just crafting away. However, that obviously did not happen.  My youngest brother and his fiancée came up for a visit and for me to take their engagement pictures.  We had a blast.  I really love natural looking pictures so we went to the park and flew kites!  Of course there were some posie ones too, but it was really fun.  I did work a little bit in my craft room.  I may have mentioned before that for one of my major projects this semester I have to create and illustrate 10 books.  I have several written and I finally used my Bind It All to bind them together.  It was my first time using it, and after a little frustration I got it to work in my favor. I also finished illustrating one that I wrote about the state symbols of Arkansas. 

This is the main character, Susie... Isn't she a cutie? She was created with Everyday Paper Dolls, and her face is from non other but Peachy Keen.

She is joined by her teacher and the new kid named Matthew.

What I do for my books is make the illustrations then I scan them and attach them as pictures to the text in a PowerPoint format.  Scanning them really helps when you are wanting to laminate the book, and then you can use the actual paper illustrations as props while reading.  PowerPoint works really well if you want to create your own book because you can print out the whole pages.

Other than that I have been working on mostly research (yawn).  But I am going to show you the wedding/engagement gift I made for my brother.  You are going to have to excuse the photo quality because it was taken with a cell phone.  I took my favorite from th shoot and framed it with their (future) last name and "established" year under cut from vinyl.  It is hard to see but I also etched their names above and below the picture (between the photo and vinyl).

And lastly I will leave you with a couple of the pictures from the shoot.

Have a great night,

Olivia

21

So, I totally didn't realize I used the same sketch for the past two posts until I was looking through my posts yesterday.  Lol.  Oh well, I guess y'all noticed that I really like this months Imaginisce challenge  =-).  It's simple but sweet.

Well here is something different, and I promise it does not look the same... This card is actually from the current Peachy Keen Tuesday challenge.  I made it for my brother who will be turning the BIG 21 a week from today on the 24th.  Sadly we can't throw him a big party because he is in Afghanistan serving in the Marines, but I will defiantly be sending this his way for now. We can party when he gets back; my family and I aren't drinkers, but we can still throw a good, fun party!

All of the paper, the rope, and the fun numbers are from the March kit from Artful Delight (I really love this kit).  I inked the numbers with some brown ink and used some lime green Stickles.  The circles from Plantin Schoolbook at 2.5, 2.25, and 2 inches.  The studs/bling are done with my iRock, and the ribbon is just some I got from Hobby Lobby I believe.

I am planning to work on some layouts tomorrow. I haven't done any in quite a while, and I really want to get back to it.  So, stay tuned; hopefully there will be some fun stuff coming this way!  =-)

Oh, and I wanted to give a shout out to all of the comments I have had lately.  They are all so sweet and encouraging. I love reading them.  Thanks  for all the kind words!

Olivia

Spring, Spring, Spring!

I love the warmer weather we have been having lately.  I don't even mind the rainy days like today as long as I don't have to bundle under 5 layers  =-)  

I wanted to create a card to celebrate the emerging season. 

This is actually a Critcutless card...  Shocker I know...  I didn't even realize it until I was finished with it.  I popped up the entire layer because the rope was so bulky.  This card coincides with a couple of current challenges.  

Imaginisce Monthly Challenge:  This challenge called for the sketch used; 3 pieces of patterned paper, 3 colors and 3 embellishments

Off The Wall Craftiness Challenge:  This is a color challenge, and called for the colors pink, yellow, and blue.

My Pink Stamper Pinkalicious Blog Hop Challenge:  This was to make anything spring related.

Have a great night,

Olivia

With Sympathy

Well, I am home sick today.  My husband kept a fever of 103 last weekend; we were told it was the flu though he never had an upset stomach.  I thought I was in the clear, but it hit me today...  =-(  

I hate being at home with nothing to do so I went ahead and made a card for a lady in my office who just lost her grandmother.  I know losing loved ones can be hard. I have lost 3 grandparents and an adorable cousin.  I know everyone is different, but the way I (and my family) seem to cope is to celebrate that person's life.

I printed this sentiment for inside of the card off my computer then just mounded it on card stock.

The patterned paper is from the March ArtfulDelight kit I talked about in an earlier post.  I really love this kit. The card stock is from a Recollections pack and the paper for the bird was some scraps I had from Christmas.

Have a good rest of the weekend everyone!

Olivia

So just thought I would post an update about what I have been working on for most of the week.  I am teaching a Kindergarten lesson on sequencing Monday and this is some of the materials that I put together.

It is a folder game where the students will have to layer all of the pieces of the dinosaur together to create the example.

 

There are five different layers to this dino.  The cut is from Create A Critter (I believe they are all cut at 4.75 inches) so they are really simple to layer.

On the back of each layer I put a magnet so they the layers will stay together while working.

 

In the end, if the children "sequence" the layers correctly they get the end result.

I made 12 complete folder games (enough for 24 students if they work in pairs).  And everything had to me laminated, which I did with my Yourstory.  There are a couple other things I made go along with this lesson, but this was the main part.  

On another note I was really excited with I got this in Friday.

It is the March kit from Artful Delight.  If you have never checked them out you should.  She has really great kits, inspiration, and a monthly sketch challenge.

One last note.  If you have some extra time and want to check out some really great blogs go check out Jenn's Birthday Blog Hop presented by Jenn from Scrappin Lil Turtle.  There are 36 lovely ladies all helping Jenn celebrate her 32nd birthday.

Have a great rest of the weekend everyone.

Olivia