Butterfly Girl

Patterned paper (American Crafts), diecut title (Quickutz), Fiskars border punches, bling butterfly (YSS)

I just finished this - I'd been planning to submit this for Challenge #8, but the linky unexpectedly closed early. Oh, well - c'est la vie! I wish I had had time to start those challenges earlier but at any rate, I'm grateful to her challenges, since I made a few layouts and a card. =) I may end up submitting this for YSS's sketch contest as one of the layouts, but I'm not sure.

I'd been meaning to make this layout for quite some time - it's Mika's first "clothing" for a real person. She has - since then - gone on to making angel costumes, suits of armor, and shoes... =) What will be next?!

More challenges...

Ah, more challenges to work on! Another Crop Chocolate gal held a crop challenge last weekend at her blog (Chocolate Daily),with the submission deadline of tonight. Her challenge #7 was to create a card or layout with a primarily red, black and white color scheme. Here's mine... (which is, incidentally, based on a YSS sketch)...

Challenge #3 was to create a card or layout using glitter or fiber. I used some Glitz Design glitter letters, along with an old Making Memories crystal brad and a foil diecut embellishment from K & Company. This was loosely based on another YSS sketch.


Patterned paper (Making Memories - Cheeky), diecut felt border (Queen & Co), canvas tag (MM Just Chillin'), glitter letters (Glitz Designs), embossed flower (Prima), diecut embellishment (K&Company), crystal brad (Makig Memories), ink (Signa-Uniball)

For Sketch Lovers Out There...

One of the gals at cropchocolate.com recently began a new sketch site called Sketch Mania - check it out! Since I'm a huge fan of sketches, of course I wanted to participate in the weekly challenges. It's been awhile since I've scrapped... I've just been feeling.. a bit tired and unmotivated. BUT - no more! Sketch #1 is no longer open, so I made cards for the next 3 sketches and used (primarily) materials purchased from Crop Chocolate to post on their Sweet Talk (so that McCall can take those pictures and post them under the product when they are listed). It's always nice to see your work out there... =)

Here's Sketch #2...
Here's my take on it, rotated 180-degrees...

Patterned paper (Making Memories Whimsy Collection), diecut flower (MM Whimsy), ink (Colorbok chalk ink)

Here's Sketch #3...

And here's my take on that one (rotated 90-degrees clockwise)...

Patterned paper (Making Memories Just Chillin' Girls Collection), cardstock (Bazzill), staples (EK Success Fastenater), creme tricot ribbon (yourscrapbookstash.com), printed ribbon (Heidi Swapp), flowers (Prima), glitter (Stickles), love sticker (Heidi Swapp), ink (Colorbok chalk ink), scalloped square punch (BossKut)

And finally, here's sketch #4...

And here's my take on it (rotated 90-degrees counter-clockwise)...

Patterned paper (Pebbles - May Bouquet Collection), flowers (Daisy D's), rub-on (Scenic Route), buttons (Autumn Leaves), tools (Fiskars border punch, Marvy-Uchida corner rounder, EK Success corner punch), glue dots

Are you a scrapper looking for something fun and free to do?

Check out the Big Idea Festival sponsored by bigpicturescrapbooking.com. This class begins on August 12th and runs for 13 days. You don't need a kit to participate - just use the instructors' ideas to be inspired! You do have to register but the class is FREE! =) I'm signed up (this my first class as well) and looking forward to it - the timing couldn't be better, since the kids will be back in school!

Other free classes are offered as well.

And so it begins...

Today, Miss Mika officially began taking piano lessons from me. I played for 10 years while growing up (aren't all Asian children tortured in this way?) and was pretty good at it. Yes, I'm well aware that there may be issues. It's not like either of them are destined to be concert pianists or anything, so I think I should suffice.

I chose to wait until Mika was finally picking out tunes by ear on the piano. She was able to learn how to read notes right away so now we need to get her fingers used to moving across the keyboard. Even as I type away, Mika is playing some Hanon scales (without the music). I think she's starting at a good age - hopefully she will progress quickily (versus if she was five).

Marika can read well, but she didn't grasp the note-reading readily, so she was excused from lessons for the time being. She's still young and her hands are tiny. At any rate, it'll be easier to teach Mika alone (and I know Mika will enjoy teaching her little sister after her own lessons).

I have to admit, I would welcome little piano recitals by the girls, versus their singing/dancing routines. =) I cannot possibly imagine the piano recitals making the house so messy either!

Hangin' out...

Both girls successfully completed their swimming class (and were promoted to the next level). I thought it would be better if the girls spent the rest of the summer "practicing" and becoming used to being in the water, rather than taking more lessons. Thanks to Daddy Dude's employee benefits, we can get into Open Swim for free (passes otherwise were 10 for $45 - kind of pricey, if you ask me).
Here's Miss Mika teaching her little sister how to do the starfish float. Not surprisingly, it's been pretty darn crowded at Open Swim, since the temperatures have been near or above 100 degrees out here.

We finally got together with our good friends for dinner last Friday. These kids have known each other for practically all of their lives (they certainly can't remember a time when they didn't know each other) and get along marvelously well. Holly gave the kids some tokens for the arcade and naturally, the kids had fun winning tickets. The selected prizes, though, were... interesting.

Here's my buddy Collin with his fangs. =) The rest of the kids chose erasers!

Some enabling for (frugal) book lovers

For those of you who love reading but lack bookshelf space, consider the ebook. If you're on the fence, check out barnesandnoble.com - right now, they are offering free ebooks (12 this week, supposedly more each Friday), all of the classic variety. It's easy to download their BN eReader (free) and if you travel with your laptop, it's a handy dandy way to bring a bunch of books without the bulk!

If you're the type to like hard copies of book and enjoy browsing through the store, check here (expires 7/25/10) and here (expires tomorrow,7/18/10) for some printable coupons. At the very least, it's a great place to chill your heels in this hot summer weather!

Speaking of books... if you have a youngster, you can pick up a B&N reading program flyer from the store (grades 1-5, I believe). Kids have to read 8 books. Mika handed in her completed sheet today and chose Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. She's been on a reading tear, thanks to the intense reading program at the local library - she's actually reading books on her own now, instead of being poked and prodded. =)

Scrapper al may be super impressed to know that I have now collected 7 out of the 9 Little House on the Prairie books - especially since I've probably only paid $3.82 so far. Only two left to go... On the Shores of Silver Lake and The First Four Years. I'm also trying to collect the complete Anne of Green Gables series now - and already have 6 of 9. Mika should be ready to read these within the next year or two - I can't wait for her to enjoy them!

Here's another bookstore recommendation: Betterworldbooks. I haven't ordered directly from their website, but they are my favorite seller at half.com - their customer service is phenomenal (they truly stand behind their products)! They offer free shipping and right now, there's a bargain bin area, where books are 5 for $15.