project life: weeks 3 thru 10

I am so far behind on my project life, it is ridiculous.

It's the nature of the project, and I was prepared for it. . . well, kinda.

I was a few weeks behind from being so non-committal at the beginning of the year.  And then a few more weeks behind trying to catch up on those first few weeks.  Then throw into the list of excuses the mix getting a job, and well, I was destined to fail.

But I'm not giving up.

Weeks 1 and 2 are here.
Here's a quick look through a few more weeks:

Week 3:

Sorry for the glare.  I hadn't learned how to perfect the art of photographing layouts inside their page protectors.

Week 4:

took me until week four to figure out the whole color coordinating piece of PL!

Week 5:

 Week 6:

a little flip book of archetype me's

Week 7:

eeeks!  now you all know how old I am!

I can't remember where I had seen this great idea to include cards in bags.  I put the two younger boys' class valentines in glassine bags adhered to a reinforced strip of double-sided card stock.  Then simply clipped the bags closed.

Week 8:

Week 9:

Week 10:

Week 10 insert:

when i have lots of photos i stick them in these 8 1/2 x11 coin sleeves.

mason jar how-to

The end of another school year is upon us.  This year is fun because I'm viewing it from both sides of the classroom door.  I am doubly excited to have my boys home and to get my first "real" summer vacation in years after having returned to teaching a few months ago.

And because I am back to work, I needed end-of-the-year gifts that I could put together in a jif.  Here's what I came up with:

I mean who doesn't love the mason jar craze?

To make these, you will need, a mason jar with lid and band, a straw (I found reusable ones at the kitchen store), a silicone grommet from the hardware store, and crop-o-dile punch (or drill and block of wood).

 Remove the lid from the band and punch several holes in a cluster to form a hole large enough to fit the grommet.  

The first one was a bit of trial-and-error, and then I used that one as a template to punch the rest quickly.

Then simply insert the grommet, slide in the straw, reassemble the jar, and you're done!

Don't you just love the vintage blue color they brought back? (Couldn't resist keeping one of these for myself!)

I placed an iced tea packet into the jars and topped them with cute little flags I printed from here.  I used the Print and Cut feature on my Silhouette Cameo to make it even easier.
These ones are to thank the administrative staff at the boys' school:

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut and piece little toppers for my colleagues' jars:

And for my oldest son's teachers, these jars wrapped with crochet cozies {pattern here}:

Thanks for popping by for a visit!

Have a great weekend!

scrapbooking on canvas

Our middle son has had the same teacher for the past two years.  We love her!

So I created this scrapbook page mounted on canvas as her end of year present:

Originally, I wanted to frame the layout, but when I couldn't find a frame I liked, I opted to mount it on a 12x12 gallery wrapped canvas.  Sometimes things work out for the better--I loved working on the canvas and being able to go over the edges with some of the embellishments:

My process:

1) choose and cut papers and photos, and layout without gluing

2) prepare background paper (cutting, misting, stamping, painting, etc)

3) add stitching where desired

4) paint edges of canvas to coordinate with background paper

5) use Mod Podge for Paper to adhere prepared background to the canvas

This stuff, as my boys would say, is BOSS!  It's acid-free and won't yellow over time.  Its matte finish makes it barely noticeable, and any ripples and waves that occur during application magically disappear when it dries.  

Paint a thick coat onto your canvas, press the paper down.  You can touch up the edges and even put a thin coat on the top of the edges to adhere them down well.  Fingers work well for this.  I also put a coat over my cut words to keep all the little letter pieces down.

6) add any embellishments as you normally would

And you have a ready-to-hang piece of canvas art!

Happy Creating!

wish-i washi

I spend altogether too much time on Instagram.  Probably, if I could tear myself away from all the inspiration over there, I would have a whole chunk of time to create some stuff.  

Sometimes it's just easier to look at what everyone else is creating.

When Sherri Funk's washi tape layout appeared in my feed, I dusted off the ol' scrapbooking supplies and created this:

So fun to be inspired to create, and even more fun to have something to show for it!

The challenge comes from Chic Tags.  They post a new challenge every Sunday.  Check them out!

hello, my little blog

March 15th?  

Is that seriously the last time I've posted here?

Sad.

Well, let's catch up.  

I went back to teaching after about 14 years.

I love it, but it was a bit of an adjustment.
Planning, reading, relearning, creating and organizing new materials, early mornings, no more sweats.

But hardest of all, is my lack of time to be creative.

Some days all I can muster is a quick stroll through Pinterest

Or a few stitches of crochet:

Throw into the mix our crazy over-lapping winter and spring sport's seasons:

But that hasn't stopped me from picking up a few supplies:

And trying to keep up with project life (post coming soon, I hope!)

Thank goodness for Instagram, for letting me quickly and easily document our lives through pictures (and have a little visual content to be able to include in this blog post).

I can't make any promises, but I hope it's not another 2 1/2 months before I can stop by here again!