Thoughts of a Grasshopper

I haven't taken much time lately for stamping because it has been so busy at school. We had a scheduled power outage yesterday. I spent about 45 minutes at my desk and put together a card base and an embellishment. They don't go with each other but I didn't have plans and while I know they need more, I haven't come up with what the 'more' is. Of course, the color of one has me wondering what I was thinking. I have put together a few pages of some activities this month.

Thought I would share a couple of RAKs I received this past week. I went nuts looking for my Fifth Avenue Floral set only to find it was sitting right on my desk. I pulled a couple of sets I wanted to make cards with and just haven't used it because I've needed to use other sets at the time. I just addressed some RAKs to go out in tomorrow's mail. There are 3 challenges so I'm sending off one for each. #1 - someone that shares the same birthday month #2 - send to state that borders yours #3 - send to the state you (or family) were born in

Somehow Mother's Day always sneaks up on me. Tuesday I realized I needed to get a card in the mail Wednesday. I was too tired Tuesday night to even give a thought to it by the time all the activities were over and all the normal kid "stuff" happened. I found an hour and half on Wednesday when I could whip up a couple of cards and pop them in the mail. I'm not excited with what I sent out because I tend to like more layers and some embellishment but I justified the lack of embellishments with the fact I was mailing it off and time wasn't on my side. This is a time when less is more (I hope the thoughts expressed inside give it the more). Stamps: All Year Cheer, A Rose is a Rose CS: WW, Celery, Regal Rose Ink: Regal Rose, Always Artichoke (markers: same)

I had a lot of fun with my daughter today. I took her for a pedicure, painting, to lunch and then to a mineral store where she bought a selenite crystal. Looking at the picture I took of her at lunch, I realized how she is leaving the little girl features behind and changing into a lovely, young lady. I used Misti Cato's kit Garden District for this page. I have to say, I'm proud of myself for getting a page done the same day the pictures were taken.

I took advantage of the great sales available for scrapbooking day. I saw a kit by Graziela Mendes called Shades of Brown and I wanted to buy it just because of the ongoing joke we have about the many shades of brown in New Mexico. I used to carry a picture with me of our kids on a green lawn because our front yard is rocks here (as you can see on the page). Green seems so lush to me now and stirs something up within when we visit other states on our trips. Oddly enough, you can even tell when you cross over to Colorado because there is more color than there is here. It is strange how quickly it happens at the state line. Here is the funny thing though. We are moving back to Florida and the grass there is called St. Augustine. Where I'm from we call that crab grass and we try to kill it off - in Florida you want to grow it because it is your lawn.

So it has been pure chaos around here with all of the school functions going on. I feel bad that I'm not helping out with the book fair this week but I'm tied up with the science fair. Truth be told, I like the science fair a lot more. Tomorrow is the judging. We have live animals at the school now. One of the 6th graders brought in an incubator and I hear there was a chick or two hatching. Another 6th grader brought in a rat for their project. I didn't have time today to look at them but I'm hoping after they've been judged I'll have the calculations done and can walk around and look at them all. I have a friend graduating from college next month. A couple of other friends are organizing the party for her. One called me and asked me to help print the invites. No problem. I got everything typed up, a couple of choices for fonts, etc. I ran it by her before printing them to be sure I had all the details that she wanted on them. I came home and opened...

This card just happened. I pulled a set off the shelf to make something quick just to say that I stamped today and played with a texture plate. I've had them for a couple of months and didn't even break the seal on the wrapper until tonight. I'm impressed with how deep the impression is. I read comments from others that they wanted it deeper and were able to achieve the results they wanted by spritzing the paper. I like what I ended up with. I suppose sometime I should try spritzing and see what happens, perhaps I will prefer that more. Stamps: Branch Out, Fifth Avenue Floral Ink: Garden Green, Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa, Tangerine Tango, Baja Breeze, Basic Black CS: Confetti, Tangerine Tango, Garden Green Misc: Texturz BG#1, ghost flower, prima, crystal brad