81 Days of Summer Vacation - The List

As I was talking with a friend that works full time I realized that I am really fortunate to be able to stay home with Julia while I go to school.  I often find myself consumed by the "things" that need to be done and put off spending time actually playing.  I decided that is going to change!  I only have 18 months left in school before I will be back working full-time.  I want to make sure that I make the best of that time with Julia and learn to let the "things" wait.  
While watching Phineas and Ferb, the theme song gave me a great idea!  I have 81 days that I will be home with Julia between now and Labor Day.  I have made a list of 81 things for us to do together.  We will pick one thing from the list to do each day.  Some things are going out and about, some are nice rainy day activities, and others are just fun things to do at home together.  The point is, 

I will make the best of our time together!

Here is our list of activities.  They are in no particular order, so we can do what looks like fun each day!

1. Millennium Park Beach
2. John Ball Zoo
3. Fishing
4. Blow Bubbles
5. Make Lemonade
6. Finger Paints
7. Water Fight
8. Make Popsicles
9. Swim
10. Drive-in Movies
11. Splash Pad
12. Cook out
13. Hike
14. Visit a Farm
15. Sidewalk Chalk
16. Picnic
17. Fireworks
18. Parade
19. Library
20. Feed the Ducks
21. Pillow Fort
22. Make Applesauce
23. Build a Sandcastle
24. Visit the Residents as Busia's work
25. Handprint Art
26. Visit the Firestation
27. Sleep in a Tent
28. Road Trip
29. Sponge Balls
30. Paint Rocks
31. Paint Coffee Mugs
32. Public Museum
33. Children's Museum
34. Pudding Finger Paint
35. Peanut Butter Playdoh
36. Ice Cube Painting
37. Eat Watermelon
38. Craft Day
39. Catch Fireflies
40. Pick berries
41. Visit a Dairy Farm
42. Make and Decorate Cupcakes
43. Story time at Barnes and Noble
44. Discover a New Playground
45. Visit a Nature Center
46. Make Rootbeer Floats
47. Eat Dinner Outside
48. Picnic at the Beach
49. Visit the Airport
50. Mail a Letter
51. Children's Garden
52. Stanwood
53. Ice Cream
54. Boulder Ridge Animal Park
55. Binder Park Zoo
56. Farmer's Market
57. Visit Tunnel Park
58. Ride the Trolley
59. Musical Fountain
60. Go to GR Festival of the Arts
61. Book Fest
62. Blues on the Mall
63. Polish Festival
64. Run Through the Sprinkler
65. Hot Dog Restaurant
66. 4H Fair
67. Bring Ice Cream to a Friend
68. McDonald's Playplace
69. Rice Table
70. Sandbox
71. Little Pool
72. Take Babies for a Walk
73. Make Our Own Bubbles
74. Grand Haven Beach
75. Garage Sale-ing
76. Make Necklaces with Pasta
77. Play Paperdolls
78. Paint With Water
79. Do Puzzles
80. Stickers
81. Open Gym at Radiant 

The fun begins tomorrow!

It's that time again!  Join me at Scrapfreak.com for the Summer Points Challenge!

The points challenge is simple. Everything you create between June 1, 2012 and July 31, 2012 will earn you points. Every patterned paper, photo, rub-on, washi tape, brad, etc. will earn you points. The goal is to get stuff done. The more you scrap, the more points you earn. 

This year, you'll have two choices on how to play…you can play along just for the fun of it ORyou can play along for prizes. To play for prizes, you need to send me $8 via USPS by June 10th. All prize money will be used to award and ship prizes at the end of the challenge. 


The prize categories will be:
Most Points Overall Whether you scrap 10 layouts or 100, the person with the most overall points wins.

Most Layouts CompletedDon’t use a lot of embellishments? No problem. The person with the most layouts completed wins.

Random Drawing(s)Random drawing(s) of everyone that participated in the prize portion of the challenge. 

The exact number of random drawings and amounts won for each category will depend on the total prize money collected. You may only win one category. In the event one person would have both the most points and the most layouts, one of the prizes would be given to the runner up. 


Get your friends to play and pay for more points:
The more people that play the better the prizes so we’re going to give you 25 extra points right off the bat if you convince someone* to play and pay! Know a freak that hasn’t participated on the site in 2012, get them back here (they have to say you convinced them) or get a friend to join for the first time. Both you and the friend will earn the points if you both play and pay. 

*Applies to anyone that hasn’t participated on the site since January 1, 2012.

Details, details:
- Points will only be awareded for new layouts created between June 1, 2012 and July 31, 2012. 
- All players must keep track and log their own points in the points thread. Points thread will be created on June 1, 2012.
- All layouts must be uploaded to the Scrapfreak gallery and linked to the points thread with your point details. 


So, are you ready to get some scrapping done this summer?!

I Mustache U a Question: gel-a-tins DT layout

Casey sent me this picture one afternoon while Luke was at work with her.  I think it sums up his personality!  I loved using it to create this layout for gel-a-tin stamps!

Supplies:

Mustache Mania stamp set - gel-a-tin stamps

watermark ink - versamark

black ink - studio g

Twill tape - Stampin' Up

black alphas - American Crafts thickers

journaling spot and word banners - echo park This and That Charming line

U - pink paislee

I had fun with the Mustache Mania stamp set!  First, I stuck the mustache stamps all over my acrylic block to create a fun background stamp and used Versamark ink to create a tone on tone background paper.  I then stamped a mustache in black ink onto cardstock and cut it out.  To get a more worn out look with my image, I first stamped onto scrap paper, then onto the cardstock.  

I also used the stamps again to create a patterned ribbon.  I used repositionable adhesive and stuck the ribbon down to my work surface.  I then added my three favorite stamps to my block.  I then stamped the images repeatedly on the ribbon.  

One of my favorite things about gel-a-tins stamps is that I can add a bunch of the stamps onto the block so that I can stamp a few times and get multiple images.  It makes it so that I can get the effect I want without having to stamp each image individually.  It makes stamping a background paper a lot faster!

Mustache Monster- gel-a-tins stamps

Today is my first day being featured on the gel-a-tins blog!!!  I love the quality of the stamps!  


I saw this stamp set and knew I had to make a card to send to my friend! Who wouldn't enjoy a mustache card?!?

Supplies Used:
gel-a-tins Mustache Mania stamp set, Studio G black ink, Maya Road Avocado Metallic Mist, Sassafras Lass monster paper and brads, Pink Paislee rub-on, My Little Shoebox letter stickers, American Crafts button, Twinery twine, and Becky Higgins grid journaling spot.

Instructions:
I wanted to use the mustache stamps as a background, so I made a background stamp out of them! I randomly placed the mustache stamps on my acrylic block. That way I could stamp several mustaches at one time. First I misted the white cardstock to give it some color and stamped over the misted area.

Scrapfreak's Wonderful Wednesday

The Wonderful Wednesday card challenge at Scrapfreak is to create a card that has key elements that are nature oriented. Think trees, wood grain, flowers, butterflies, animals.  I knew instantly that I wanted to use my new Love Knots stamp from gel-a-tins!

5.11 Freaky Friday-Mental Health

May is Mental Health Month, so in honor of this event, we are challenging you to creative a page about mental health or illness. It can be as simple as what you do to take care of yourself mentally, like ways you de-stress or help maintain balance. Or consider documenting something more serious like a mental health issue you or a loved one has dealt with. Sometimes its the tough pages that can be the most rewarding to create.


Here is my layout:

This was a great thing to scrap for me.  I have recently begun to see the signs of depression in myself.  One of the things about going to school for Social Work is that I often see the signs of mental illness in others, but I have been ignoring my own signs.  I have now set an appointment for myself!

Sniff, sniff. My baby is TWO!

I can't believe that Julia is already two!  It's bittersweet.  She is as independent as ever.  She is talking like crazy and repeating everything she hears.  I miss my sweet little snuggle bug, but I love watching her grow into a big girl that is full of personality!

We had her birthday party on her actual birthday this year.  I had so much fun getting ready for her "Princess Party"!!  Of course, I was having so much fun that I forgot to take pictures of everything.  Thank goodness I have a picture happy family, so they picked up my slack!

We turned the house into a pink and purple explosion of glitter and tulle!
I made tulle pom-pom decorations for the cake table.

Grandma bought Julia a beautiful pink princess dress to wear for her party.  She loved twirling the skirt around!

I decided that instead of games at the party, the kids could decorate crowns and wands!  I used the Cricut Princess Party event cartridge and cut out cute little crowns with a number two in the center.  Then the kids used foam stickers and jewels to decorate their own party crown.  I also used my Cricut to cut out stars for the top of the wand.  I ran the stars through my Xyron and then stuck two together with a dowel in the middle.  I added some curling ribbon on the stick and we had wands!

Julia thought that the stickers were really cool, but she just wanted to play with them.  She didn't want anything stuck on her crown or wand!

Here is Kadymn with her beautiful crown!

Grandma also made Julia pink strawberry cupcakes with pink buttercream frosting and purple sugar sprinkles.  And, since Julia is a goof ball, she decided to eat her cupcake without using her hands!

And she thought she was SOOO funny!

Everyone knew exactly what Julia loves!  She received tons of babies and baby accessories. 

And Uncle Jason knew exactly what kind of Barbie she wanted.  One without clothes of course!

And Uncle Mark and Grandpa sure know how to spoil a girl!  They bought Julia her very first car.  A Jeep Wrangler just like they both have!

We loved having everyone here to celebrate with us!  Even if it was cold outside so there were 50 people stuck inside.  Everyone had so much fun and Julia was so happy to have her family and friends here with her.  She told me all day long that she was happy!!!

Woohoo! My first gel-a-tins package!

After returning from a super fun, yet equally exhausting, trip to Chicago I found a package from gel-a-tins waiting for me!!!

I am so excited to start creating with the stamps I received.  Since I am so excited about them, I decided to give a sneak peek at what I will be working with this month.

First up, a sweet background stamp!  I love the look of woodgrain.  Combine that with sweet heart shapes and you get Love Knots!

Next is a really fun set!  Mustaches are so trendy and fun right now.  I have several ideas for silly gifts to make with this set.  Check out Mustache Mania

I will be uploading projects using these sets on the gel-a-tins blog, so make sure you check it out!