Make a Card Monday - Have a Ball

Making boy cards can be difficult especially when they start to hit the tween/teen years. You don't want something super grown-up but a lot of boy images can be too babyish. The stamps I picked for this card bridge that gap.
I used some Arctic Frog (I think) paper that I had in my stash from a CK convention ages ago. It has a great color scheme and hip circle pattern that I think the young man receiving this card will like.
The sentiment on the front reads, "It's your day." The inside says, "So have a ball." Get it? It's punny. :)


Details:
cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white), unknown (blue and orange)
patterned paper: Arctic Frog (circle and stripe)

color: Palette Prussian Blue ink
stamps: TAC Sportz Words and Boyz at Play

Meet the Hydrangeas and Harmony Ensemble

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!
 I've been thinking that it might be good to give us all blog names so that I can talk about the fam without giving out too much personal info. A lot of strictly homeschool blogs do this, and it's always fun to see why the folks are nicknamed the way they are. So in that vein, here's the Hydrangeas and Harmony Ensemble:
Keeping with our music theme (since we're kind of a musical family and I'm totally a music person):
Alto (that's me)

 

I sing alto in church or with groups although I'm really a mezzo-soprano. Technically my range is considered dramatic soprano but I'm not sure I like the sound of being dramatic. I'm not a drama queen. I mean who said I was? I don't get all like 'Wha-ut?' and stuff. *sniff* Really! (Did you catch all the sarcasm there??) I think I'll stick with being an alto. :) I'm the one who keeps things going. The organizer, the home manager, the teacher, the helper.

Bass (that's the hubs)

He actually sings bass so this is fitting for him. He's also the base of our family. The rock. The strength. The one who holds it all together. He's the fun parent and a seriously hard worker. He's a good provider and the support for the whole fam. Appropriate name, right?

Tenor (that's the son)

He's so much like Bass and yet so much like me. It's funny to see how God takes two totally different people and mushes them up into their offspring. And yet, Tenor is his own person. He adds a counter melody in our home with his personality. He's funny, analytical, and a really deep thinker. He definitely keeps me on my toes. Without his harmony, we'd have a hole.

Soprano (that's the daughter)

Considering all her stories and imaginings, she could be a lyric soprano. :) She's all sunshine and light and happiness. She loves animals and people and has a depth of compassion in her soul. She'll tell you that she just loves love! Her personality comes out in the funny things she says which make us laugh 'til we cry. She is our joyful melody!

That's the ensemble.

 

Angry Birds 10th Birthday Party

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!
 We've talked for a couple years now about having a big 'friend' party for Tenor's 10th birthday. We did a big party for his 1st birthday but all the other years, we just got together with the grandparents and aunts and uncles to celebrate. He's really been looking forward to a 'friends' party for awhile. But while we've talked about it for several years, I did not have my act together this year to spend months and months planning and prepping. :) We had to finish our school year, do our homeschool evaluation, my mother-in-law was with us for a visit, my sister was getting married, and we were headed to the beach! We were swamped!
All of a sudden we realized that to fit a party in pronto! That night, we decided to have the party in 2 weeks.  It was a toss-up between a Lego party or an Angry Birds party because both are huge hits in our house right now. The game ideas I saw online totally swayed us to do Angry Birds though.

Using some ideas I had already pinned and some super speedy internet and Pinterest searches, we came up with a game plan. I quick made invites using this neat (and free!!!) party printable set.
I popped the background image into Publisher, installed the Angry Bird font, and just added the pertinent info. We mailed them out the next day.

Then it was time for decor ideas:

Since the party would be boys from the ages of 7-11, I tried to keep it simple. :)

I printed the bird faces from The Party Animal, cut them out, and stuck them on the day of the party. I used old formula cans covered with green construction paper to hold straws ($1 at Michaels) and flatware (Dollar Tree). I found a pig face clip art online and printed up a ton of them for different things. I cut 'em out and stuck one on each can.

I printed the banner letters from The Party Animal. The 'appy' birthday idea was clever but we weren't sure the kids would get it. So When we printed it, I just printed an extra 'h'. To add color, I taped them on bright 8.5x11 pieces of cardstock. We strung them with yellow curling ribbon I had in my stash and attached them our badminton net poles. We splurged a bit on a pig tablecloth and bird napkins from Oriental Trading. We saved money by getting plain red plates and plain red and yellow cups from the dollar store.

I made a cute tissue paper red bird "wreath" that we hung on a stake in the front yard but I forgot to take pics. It looked kind of like this pig one.

That was it for decor. Not too bad. :)
We kept the snacks pretty simple too:
water and lemonade, chips, pretzel fish, and baby carrots, 2 flavors of ice cream, and angry bird cupcakes. I saw some online that looked super cute so I had to copy them. The hardest part of making the cupcakes was digging the exact amount of colored jelly beans out of the Jelly Belly dispenser at the grocery store. Those big plastic scoops are a little awkward when you're trying to get 1 more blue bean!

 

 

Favor bags included an Angry Birds eraser, a sheet of Angry Bird stickers, a bag of Angry Birds gummy candies, a slingshot, and 6 mini porcupine balls. I got plain red lunch bags at the craft store and then printed extra red bird faces from here. They turned out cute, kind of like these.

Next up, the most important part of the party... games!
We had a can toss game like here. (With more formula cans and pig faces.We borrowed the angry bird dog toys from my folks who had just purchased them the previous week for their doggy.)

We clipped a bunch of green balloons (also with printed pig faces) onto our laundry line with clothespins (like here). We had a basket of wooden handled slingshots and mini porcupine balls for the boys to shoot the balloons. (The tarp was to keep too many balls from getting lost in our firewood stacks.) Later the slingshots and balls went into the favor bags for the guests to keep.

I printed more pig faces and made up some point values using the Angry Birds font and taped them into our old living room window (that was sitting in the trash pile). The boys used suction dart guns to shoot at the pigs and point values.

On the driveway, I set up our giant bowling set (complete with a red bird face taped on the red bowling ball.) I forgot to get a picture of it though. You could do something like this if you don't have a bowling game handy.

We set up ladderball but it didn't get much use.

 Mainly because we had this....

 

Yup... Bass built a 5' slingshot with 2x4s and a beach water balloon launcher and some cable ties. I saw an idea online that he worked off of. It was kind of a MacGyver project but we tested it so that it would be sturdy and safe. The boys had a blast trying to knock down a stack of boxes and some pigs (more formula cans.) I found mini kickballs at the dollar store which worked great.

Even some of the moms gave it a try at pick-up time.

More party shots:

Introducing everyone

Snacks

Singing to the birthday boy

Present Time

 The best part.... a very happy 10 year old!

Linking up to these great blog parties:

Sunday: Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming; Show Me What Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife;
Tuesday: One Project at a Time at A Bowl Full of Lemons; Tuesday's Treasures at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia;
Wednesday: Wicked Awesome Wednesday at Handy Man, Crafty Woman; It's Overflowing at Overflowing with Creativity; Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts;
Home Decor & Organizing at Organize and Decorate Everything;
Thursday: Delightfully Inspiring Thursday at Delightful Order; Thrifty Thursday at Thrifty and Fabuless;  Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Creek Cottage;
Friday: Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest; Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring;

Make a Card Monday - Teddy Bear Bookmark

This is a great way to send a card and a small gift at the same time. I made the card base as usual. To create a pocket, I cut some clear vellum and stapled it to an A2 size piece of cardstock. I glued that piece to the front of my card base (which hides all the staple backs.)

Then I stamped a sweet bear image and sentiment and matted it with 2 layers of cardstock. I tore the first mat and lightly sanded the bookmark base. A quick hole punch and some ribbon makes it into a bookmark.
To mail, just slip the bookmark into the vellum pocket. Another easy-peasy, lemon squeezy card!


Details:
cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white), DCWV (card mat and base; bookmark base)

embellishments: Making Memories staples, ribbon (unknown)
color: Palette Cognac ink, Prismacolor watercolor pencils, Pebbles chalks
stamps: TAC Teddy Bear Picnic

Make a Card Monday - Wedding Wishes

 

Love is in the air. My little sister is getting married so I was inspired to make a cute wedding card. I think it could work for an anniversary too. The card base is a DCWV embossed A2 size card. In the center there was a little blank square perfect for this cute cake and happy couple. A bit of Stickles adds just the right amount of sparkle for this simple and sweet wedding card.

Details:
card base: DCWV
embellishments: Stickles
color: Palette Belle Rose ink, Tombow markers
stamps: TAC Wedding Wishes

Make a Card Monday - Road to a Friend's

This is one of my favorite images to create a 'thanks for your hospitality' card. There's nothing better than enjoying the wonderful hospitality of a good friend.

Details:
cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white), unknown (red mat)
patterned paper: DCWV (layer and strip)

color: Palette Noir ink, Le Plume and Tombow markers
stamps: TAC Road to a Friends

Weekly School Summary - Last Week of School! (May 21-25)

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

 School's Out for Summer! We finished our very last week of school! We got our evaluation done so all that's officially left is to take our portfolio to the school district. Then we'll be ready to prep for next year. (But I'm not ready to think about next year quite yet!)

Here's what we did during our last week:

Math: Back to our regular schedule. Tenor had 4 days of math lessons to finish up Saxon 54. Soprano had 2 lessons to complete Saxon Math 2.

Reading and Language Arts: Soprano had a final evaluation for "The Little House in the Big Woods" from 'Across the Centuries'.

She's finished her third Phonics book with several reviews. She also completed her English. She only had a final test to wind up Spelling by Sound and Structure 2, and a few pages of handwriting to finish that book as well.

Tenor finished his 'A Reason for Handwriting C'. He also completed his writing workbook.

He finished 'The Family Under the Bridge' from 'Across the Centuries C Level 2' with a worksheet, some discussion questions, and a story sequencing activity. English and Spelling (Rod and Staff Level 4) both finished up this week too. 

Electives:
Typer Island for their typing instruction and completing their SOS Elementary Spanish.

Tenor finished all of Spanish while J did a half year of lessons.

Phys Ed.: Just Tae Kwan Do and outdoor time.

With all those 'finished', 'completed', and 'winding up's, the kids both did all their scheduled work for the school year! Huzzah! I found some promotion certificates online which I printed for each of them.

I was able to take time over the holiday weekend (since M's mom was visiting with us) to finish compiling their portfolios in preparation for our evaluation. PA state law requires that we meet with a qualified (as outlined by the PA state law) evaluator at the end of the year. We met with the aunt of a friend who was super nice and did a good job going over our year's work.
Other things we need to do at the end of the year to fulfill the law:
Submit a portfolio of samples of the child's work
Submit a log of work done
Submit a log of books/media used
and Submit any standardized testing scores (if required for the child's grade level)
We also needed to show our evaluator proof of our attendance but that's not required in the portfolio that gets turned in to the school district.

Thanks Granny for keeping the kids occupied!

 So now, the bulletin boards are cleaned off....

the work log clipboards are empty...

the file sorter got cleaned out and filed....

and we had a party! After pizza and a movie, I gave the kids little end-of-the-year gifts.
A new pack of Craz-Erasers

A lego set

and a new Dollie and Me outfit for Soprano and her 18" doll

Now, I think we're all excited for a break!

Somehow it doesn't feel quite right that a year's worth of work can be summed up into 2 binders each. But it is nice to have completed so much wonderful work this year! I'm so proud of my younglings.