I Have to Get More Crafting Time in My Life

The beginning of the school year is pretty crazy. So I should know that my plans to play at night when I get home are all but lost. But every year it is the same story...I don't get as much done at work as I would like so I drag it home. I am exhausted, so I don't actually do much of the needed work...take it back to school. Never ending cycle. (If you are a teacher you are probably nodding in agreement to this)

Back to School Night is done; classroom routines are in place; and I don't feel quite as behind. SO as the title says, " I have to find more crafting time in my life." I have decided that I am going to make myself work on paper projects on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, whether cards, scrapbooks, etc. That will leave me a few days I can drag stuff home and a goal!

On to crafting...

Earlier this summer our friend lost his father to cancer. He was a wonderful man. You can see that fact reflected in his son's life. It seemed that there were many of my friends going through similar losses or anniversaries of a loss about the same time. One of them had posted a wonderful little poem on Facebook.

A Daughter’s Prayer

If sunflowers grow in Heaven Lord,

pick a bunch for me,

place them in my Father’s arms

and tell him they're from me.

Tell him I love and miss him

and when he turns to smile,

place a kiss upon his cheek

and hold him for awhile.

Remembering him is easy,

I do it every day, but there's an ache within my heart

that will never go away...I love and miss you Dad.

(I wish I knew who actually wrote this to give credit.)

I scraplifted, or perhaps craftlifted, this poem along with a design for an easel card with sunflowers to make a series of sympathy cards, for each of the family members, changing the Daughter/Father reference to fit the grandchild, wife, son...Here is one of the finished cards.

I made this card pre-blog, so I did not keep track of paper used or which cricut cartridge made the cuts. Sorry. I will dig around in my cards and see if I can identify the parts. I am pretty sure all of the paper are from Michaels or Joann's standard wracks of loose paper.

Wish I was my cat...

I am extremely tired this evening. I had a blast last night with a great group of ladies, running around Disneyland after hours. We were participating in the annual Minnie's Midnight Madness Castmember fundraising activity. Basically MMM consists of a 4 member team tethered together, walking briskly from one end of the park to the other, multiple times, searching out clues, solving puzzles, acting out Bohemian poetry, or other silly stunts. After each task we had to walk (running is not allowed) to the central hub in front of the castle to return our answer and get a new task. Have to say it is a great night, even if I did crawl into bed about 1:15 am only to be nudged awake by my alarm at 5:30 am. UGH! (that is the drawback, but I will pay the price)

This evening as I have been sitting in my comfy chair vegging, I can not help but think I would love to be my cat, Stitch,. right now. He can always find a comfy spot to sleep, will sleep anytime and in just about any position. Yep, to be a cat! What a great life! Here are a few of my current favorite photos of Stitch doing what he does best.

Stitch helping my friend Kim quilt.

Any place will work for a cat nap...even a paper cutter if it is a sunny window.

This is his favorite sleeping position...REALLY! We call it kitty yoga.

Don't you wish you could bend like that?

Well, I think I am about ready to call it a night. Hopefully tomorrow will find me refreshed and ready to create a few new things for my classroom. Until then, good night.

Stationary Sets

This past month has been all about girly-girl birthdays. I had two nieces to make birthday gifts for. I don't know about you, but I always loved getting mail, and collecting stationary. I saw this great box idea shared on the Cricut Circle. The original directions are found at SplitcoastStampers: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/stationerybox/

For my boxes I used BoBunny, Bazill and some older cardstock, whose maker I can not remember. I also included A2 sized cards made with some of the same cardstock. Use the STRONGEST adhesive you have for this as it is hard to get some of the small box parts to stay put. Especially if you use a gllittered or embossed paper as I did on the blue one.

I used a "One Sheet Wonder" pattern for this. What is a One Sheet Wonder? you ask. These are patterns for cutting one sheet of cardstock into many specific sizes rectangles and squares that are used to make 10-20 cards quickly. By cutting two or three coordinating papers in similar shapes and sizes you can mix and match to make a fun set of cards. Just finish off with some embelishments, such as stickers, a stamped phrase, or a flower or two. These sets go together quite quickly and make for a fun gift. I am sorry I don't have a link to the OSW I used. I couldn't find this as a was getting to post. I will find it and post at a later time.