Thanksgiving Memories

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! We enjoyed spending time with family and still have one gathering left at our house tomorrow. Below is a picture of our family at my parent's house.  37 are pictured with about 10 unable to attend this year!!

It is so much fun to get all of the generations together :)

And then later my sister Katy and her husband Kyle took my family's pictures. They are wonderful!! Katy and Kyle make an incredible team!  Here are a few pictures from our shoot. I compressed the pics for loading, so as you would imagine, they are much better quality in person.

Have a great weekend!

Bountiful Blessings

With Thanksgiving tomorrow, I decided to use my oh so cute Home Made Template to make a house of blessings!  I love this little house and I can see myself using this template from PaperTreyInk  a lot.

So here is my plan.  I am going to cut a bunch of strips of paper and have everyone at Thanksgiving write something that they are thankful for onto the paper.  We are going to fill the little house with praise!! (I’m then gonna scrapbook the thanksgivings some year in the future)… The roof is a separate piece and so the house makes a really great little box :)

I can’t wait to see what everyone writes down!!

And just from a decorating standpoint… yeah, I know I could have down a MUCH better job on my little house, but Kylie is having a 3 month growth spurt and crafting while nursing is rather difficult!  Isn’t she adorable :) You would skimp on the design details too if she was yours!
 

Oh, and by the way.  I’m going to have the big girls make these houses into Christmas decorations, so I’ll post more soon. We’ve gotta do something on these “stay at home” days!

Fancy Nancy, meet Fancy Lexi and her friends!

Lexi’s 5th birthday party was last Sunday.  She had a Fancy Nancy Tea Party… well it was Fancy Nancy, but no tea!  The girls all dressed up and had fun making tissue paper wrist corsages and butterfly placemats. We then ate fancy cake and snacks and drank pink punch out of fancy cups!

We had the party at my parent’s house.. in “Maxwell Hall” as deemed by a friend of mine :)  It really was the best location for a fancy birthday party!

Look at all those camera’s.. must be some scrapbookin’ mommas! :)

Fun was had by all and Lexi loved all of her fancy gifts!Thanks to everyone who helped celebrate Lexi’s special day!

Fleece, Fleece Everywhere!!

Over the last few days, my art students have been working with some of our special needs students in our school creating fleece tie-blankets and scarves. It has been an incredible experience for everyone. I am exhausted and a little overwhelmed.. but totally in a good way! I have bought a ton of fabric, but I am about to run out and get more as we have ORDERS to fill!! I am so excited that not only is the project a great learning experience for all of our students, but that the students who are for the most part differently-abled are creating things ON THEIR OWN and doing a Great job!!

My classroom is a mess and I am covered in fleece fuzz, but the love that these kids are putting into each item they make is totally worth the effort. Here are a couple pictures of the kids hands hard at work. I am going to post a whole series of pictures on my art website, but I have to make sure and get all of the permissions first :) So for now, enjoy the hands!
Have a great day and I hope that you get the chance to work with some incredible teenagers on a project sometime! And if you don't know of anyone to work with, go volunteer at a local school!!

Emily

Technique Tuesday: 3”x3” Gift Boxes

 So sue me… I had a change of heart and did a little crafting today.  :) I decided that the bible study notes I’m writing, the thank you notes I’m behind on, and all of the stuff piled six inches high on my desk could wait!!! A few minutes creating centers me like nothing else!

This is my take on an origami gift box. All supplies are Close To My Heart Emporium papers and coordinating inks.

Here it is open. And there you have it! A simple yet cute gift box!  I’m not sure who will receive these lovelies yet, but I will be making a dozen more of these in the style of Fancy Nancy for Lexi’s birthday party Sunday afternoon! 

Have a great day!

Emily

A Little Yada Yada and a whole lot of tired!

In case you haven't heard about the Yada Yada books or have read them yet.. let me be the first to say.. GO GET THEM!!! These books are incredible and dare I say life changing..

There are seven books in this series and then another series picks up using some of these same characters. I can say without a doubt, that you will not waste your time reading these books. I have a renewed sense of purpose and a new joy in my spirit and all that from some imaginary characters.. who would have thought??

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You may have noticed a lack of creative posts these days. I just can't seem to get moving. I have lots of projects in my head, but I don't have time or energy. I absolutely love my job, but it is hard work and I am on my feet almost all day interacting with my 100+ students. We are making altered books right now and they are doing great, but X-Acto knives and classroom of students is a little unnerving!

I am also remembering how draining it is to work all day, do kid activities and practices and try to nurse a baby who has missed me and wants to nurse for comfort from 4pm to 10pm every night. Of course she doesn't get to do this most nights, but life is so short, I want to savor these precious moments with baby Kylie!

So crafting will have to slow down. I am making an altered book along with my students, so I am creating, I just don't have anything to show for it at this time :) And, Lexi's 5th birthday is next week! We are going to have a Fancy Nancy Tea Party!! I can't wait to show you all of the fun we are going to have!

The Kidney Walk.. a Success!!

(The entire team consisted of Maddie’s Team and Team Carnes [Jerry’s team] pictured are: Doug in the back. Middle row: Hudson in Libby’s arms, Melody, Sissy in Katy’s arms, Kylie in the sling with me, Jennifer, Jerry and Morgan.  front row: Abby, Maddie, Lexi, Dillon and JD.)

The morning started bright and cold and getting our household out the door for a day filled with adventures was a feat in itself!  But we did it and arrived at the park for the walk on time.. whew!

Here we are getting ready for the walk and along the trail.  We did really well for a group that had as many young children and strollers as we did!     
About a mile and half into the walk there was a spot where you turned left and circled around a while and came back.. we did the come back.. by that time Maddie was lagging behind and coughing and I was carrying Kylie in the sling, so Doug and I willingly cut the 5k down with Maddie.  Everyone else kept on going and finished the course with Jerry (our cousin’s husband who has had a kidney transplant).  Maddie was really hoping to be able to do the entire walk, but she has to pace herself.  2 miles this year, maybe the entire thing next year!  The last thing we wanted was to push it too hard during the walk and end up in a relapse.Here comes everyone else at the finish line!
You might have noticed in the pictures the changing of stroller pushers along the way.  It was quite fun :)
Maddie and Ripples the Kidney Awareness Kat after the walk.

Thank you everyone who supported the walk monetarily and with encouragement! Maddie’s team raised $770!! We can’t wait to see what we can do next year.