Amelia Earheart Day

Well - it has been a very busy day - after visiting several blogs I like, tears came. I keep returning to http://www.aliceart.net/proddetail.php?prod=Safe1. I do not know the artist, however, I do have several pictures she has done - they are wonderful reminders of God's love for all of us.

We have been working on rebuilding an old barn that blew partially down. One DS is using this activity towards one of his Boy Scout merit badges. It is a lot of work, but the kids are enjoying themselves (so am I :))

Homeschool - still plugging along looking for the right curriculum, however, it is slow going at the moment. If you have a senior year program you like, please let me know (Biology, Comparative Anatomy, Biology, and Chemistry have been completed so far)

Scrapbooking: I have been participating in a circle journal for the first time. So far, so good. Below are a few previews (though I won't say whose just yet)

It's National Vanilla Ice Cream Day --- Woo Hoo!

What a fun holiday! I know with this weather it will be fun to celebrate!

I've been working on more swaps and trying out new techniques lately (new to me). I started crinkling tissue paper for card elements - I think I am going to like the results - the textures are great. I figured out that I like the Wackytac glue - it seems to dry quickly and gives a bit of a shine to my projects.

I was working on some paper bag purses the other day - it would help if I had seen any before, but below are my results - still trying to get them the way I want them.

It is Ratcatcher's Day??? Never heard of this one before!

Ratcatcher's Day commemorates the Pied Piper of Hamelin, the most infamous of Ratcatchers. I know my mom won't be doing cards for this one.

On the homeschool front, still working on determining the exact curriculum to use for science projects this year. It is tough with all the fun, pre-assembled kits available. Right now I am looking over robotics and physics materials. There is a lot more out now than even two years ago!

Scrapbooking experimentation will be going on today. A friend and I will be trying out some new techniques - maybe some will show up here!

Below is a picture of some letters I cut out by hand for various word books I was experimenting with. I have yet to put any of the books together with pictures or embellishments - I don't care for my sizing. Still working on this part - maybe these will end up as titles with some tags or something.

Happy National Tug-O-War Tournament Day!

Have some great old pics of kids doing tug-of-wars! All before I had a digital camera, so will have to search to find anything to post.

Currently working on pics of camp kit swap pages - I really love the little album I have almost done (just need to get the pics developed and put in). Thanks again to all the great ladies who participated. You are all very inspiring.!! Hope to get something posted this week. Below is the cover that I am still finishing - I used some of the "scraps" after creating pages to make this. The little frog is absolutely wonderful - I need to figure out who created him and find out how he was made! Love the Heidi Grace album - can't wait to finish everything up.

Below are two cards I made while hanging out at Scrapbooks Too in Bloomington, MN. Patty, one of their designers, was working on the bird card for an upcoming class (I don't live in the area, so she let me borrow her die cut - THANK YOU) - I still need to add the stickles like she did to the tail (and she used other colors, but I like purple), but totally love the little bird. The blue card (turned on its side in pic???) is one from a class I took while I was there. Great fun and I met some wonderful ladies.

Tags are finished!

With all the running this past week - I ended up with some uninterupted time to wait - so I was able to finish up my tags for a tag swap I am in - pics below. This is my first tag swap, I am happy with how they turned out - I hope the members of the group enjoy them. They are medium tags - only 2 3/4 inches long, but they were fun to make. (also look better "in person") I used bazzil bling for the front of the tag, some pp, copper inking, wire (from floral), beads, feather (from fly line area of sporting goods shop), leaf punches - I cannot remember the paper brand, eyelets and other materials - I don't remember brand names.

A quick posting

Well - it now takes quite some time to navigate the swaps board at CKMB, so I have been doing some checking.

I am not currently hosting, but have found several other sites that offer swaps

Splitcoast Stampers
All Moments Remembered
3Scrapateers

I am participating in one or two swaps at each board to see how they go, then, if ckmb keeps up the group thing, once my current swaps are done, I may be moving to a new home to host. I won't make the decision until after the old site goes down, but it is so difficult to navigate the new one that I can't justify the excess time.

On a better note - it is nice to be sitting in the a/c - it is hot and humid outside so indoors is the nicest place to be right now.

Quick Day Listing

I have to run all week so I figured I would at least get the days listed! For the record, often some days have several observances, I just pick one I like to list!

Monday - 7/14/08 - Pandemonium Day
Tuesday - 7/15/08 - Cow Appreciation Day (time to hug those cows)
Wednesday - 7/16/08 - Roald Amundson Birthday (first person to fly over North Pole in Durigible)
Thursday - 7/17/08 - Yellow Pig Day
Friday - 7/18/08 - John Glenn's Birthday
Saturday - 7/19/08 - National Rasberry Cake Day
Sunday - 7/20/08 - National Ice Cream Day (3rd Sunday of Month)

Hopefully I will have some time later this week to post some camp kit layouts I am working on/plan to finish!

Happy National Pecan Pie Day!

It is the weekend!!! I am hoping to get some cleaning and organizing done today. Storms last night, however, they went around our location, though some people have been hit by wind and/or tornadoes.

I may have to try some Pecan Pie - here is a conglomeration of recipies I have found - do you have a good one?

Pie Crust
1 cup corn Syrup (dark or light)

1 cup Dark Brown Sugar (or light or mixture)
1/3 cup Butter
1/3 tsp Salt
2 tsp Vanilla (some use 1, some use 3)
3 eggs (some use 2, some use 4)
1 cup Pecans (anywhere from 1 cup to the entire bag)

mix all (except pecans) - pour into pie crust. top with pecans - bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Some recipes toast the Pecans first, others boil the all ingredients (except crust, eggs and pecans) to softball stage, then mix hot stuff and eggs, then this mixture goes with the pecans, then the whole thing goes into the crust bake as above

ok - so it is not really a full recipe, but if you like to play (like I do), you can do some experimenting! If you find a good combo, let me know.

Some of the gift cards/boxes I made for people last Christmas. Time to get to work on more!

Anniversary of Skylab Falling to Earth - 1979

I just realized - I forgot about yesterday's holiday/celebration event. It was the anniversary of Wyoming becoming a state (1890).

Today is hot, humid, humid and hot. The cows are going out on back pasture to help them escape the bugs and heat (somewhat). Seems like quite a while ago that the barn lot looked like this (snow) - this picture was taken Easter Sunday (the bull had broken the post and leaned on the fence, but the calves were looking cute)

CKMB - oh boy - causes a headache if looking at the new color combos for too long (in my case 15 minutes!) Well - on the bright side, I won't be spending much time there anymore.

Just finished some fall page projects and will get them into the mail. Working on some fall tags - I need to use two techniques. Not sure which ones sound good, so if anyone has some ideas - I am all up for hearing them.

Trying to get through some school stuff here - need to work on history curriculum and figure which stuff I need to get ordered for science labs. Right now the older kids are using Spectrum Chemistry (totally love this curriculum) and Rainbow (same author). The fact that it is 3 days per week, but lab intense is a huge plus. They are being exposed to more concepts than what is offered in public school science courses. After experiencing Spectrum Chemistry this year, I would agree that it is comparable to a college level basic chemistry course.

Well - off to help with brat sales, so if you are in a/c - hang out and be happy. Will be in the humidity all day today, but an ice arena tonight - so I will get a chance to cool off! Have a great weekend!

CKMB Beta Site and Homeschool Spelling Programs

I have been posting to the new site - boy is it different! Once I finally figured out how they will be doing swaps, I was able to post, but I miss some of the old features! I hope we get to go back to boards at some point, but if we dont, might as well get used to the new site. There are some advantages - being able to read other posts without having to scroll three different screens and the posts can be deleted. Oh well - me and change - sometimes we don't get along too well.

Old cd's - any great uses? Below is a card I made (last year) with Tim Holtz inks and an old cd. I hate to throw them away, so I am always looking for new uses.


On another note, I am looking for a new spelling program for one of my older children. I have used

• Spelling Power - totally love this one - it works great for most of my kids. After using for three years with now high school age girl, she can spell basic words correctly (most of the time) now, but still having issues. (She is a prolific writer - 50/60 page stories are not an issue, but remembering how to spell the words is - started in public school with the method that you spell how it sounds - boy has that stuck. Spelling Power was able to pull another child out of that method, but just isn't working for her as well I hoped.) The boys all love drawing out the large letters in sand, soap, whatever we are using that day. Terrific in that it incorporates more than just standard writing into learning.


• Abeka - not a favorite around here - way too much bookwork involved, but excellent vocabulary sections. We used the word lists to help with vocabulary, but used them in our writing rather than as written.


• Spelling Workout - a good basic program. The word lists are like I remember from grade school. It takes a lot more time than Spelling Power. If your child enjoys seatwork, this would be a good option, but with boys, I wouldn't recommend it - too much seatwork.


• Two others that I no longer remember the titles, but both were similar to the Abeka and Spelling Workout curriculums

Debating teaching her Latin and/or Greek - maybe using a foreign language would help?

National Sugar Cookie Day - Yum!

Gotta love this one! If you have a great recipe you would like to share - just post as a comment!

I finally finished putting together my summer page kit album!!! It was from a swap on the ckmb that we finished a while ago. Thanks to Scrapper Lady for helping me get started. There was absolutly no good idea flowing until she showed up! Pics of the layouts are below. Sorry I cannot credit everyone who contributed - several people didn't label their stuff. I know fellow ckmb'rs Kimmo, Cmriker, Scrapperwest and Scrappingirish all contributed, but I don't know who else (without trying to look back through old threads). Thanks again - I love the album and can't wait to fill it with pics!

It is always fun to see what someone else's interpretation of your products became!

Some of the images are missing a bit on the edges (about 1/4") due to my scanner. Sorry, but I think you can get the idea. (My camera has gone into hiding - uuugghhh)

Ckmb fun!

A couple of facts: Today is Video Games Day! Don't know that we will be recognizing this one, but just want to keep everyone up-to-date with another obscure holiday! Back in 1889, the Wall Street Journal published its first issue.

It is also the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence being read out loud in Philadelphia (1776)

Next - I have to confess - I really enjoy scrapbooking! (Big surprise - huh?)

Anyway, figured I should maybe post a few pics of my favorite pages here - what you will see below is one that I just like - with all the heat the past few days, I sometimes think of cool winter days. The winter in this picture was a bit much - we had to dig out fences three feet on either side so we could get in and feed cattle. The barn doors in the background are big enough for draft horses to easily go in and out - just to give an idea of how much snow we had.

The page was done for a scrapbook challenge (though I cannot remember which one now). It incorporated a coaster, multiple colors of ribbon, vellum tags, black ribbon, and though it is difficult to see in the photo, some silver metalic filament that is more commonly used when making your own fly fishing luers.

Happy National Strawberry Sundae Day

I love to find little known holidays and post about them. I love fresh strawberries and with some ice cream it sure sounds yummy!

We had a great fourth - hope you did too! Some friends of ours put in a mini-golf course in their backyard! It was a lot of fun to play a few rounds! (four holes - we may have to try this)

A fun Graduation card I made a few years ago. I didn't take pictures of this year's cards, though you get the basic idea from this one. The locker opens up, put some money folded into a t-shirt in there - it did latch. Then, the entire card opens up for a graduation greeting.

Wednesday

Well - not much work on formatting done on this site yet.

I received this image via email - I don't know who took the picture, but it is great!

Have a great fourth of July!

It has begun!

Getting a blog started has always been a thought - now it is becoming a reality! Stay tuned as I figure out what should (or shouldn't) be included on this site.