Mother’s Day

Feliz Día de las Madres!

…most especially to ma mère, who will appreciate the tri-lingual touch!

Happy Birthday Mom

Love you!

Show and Share Thursday: Mom’s Gift

Mom received her gift, a day before her birthday:

I’m certain the gift tag was a hint, since I used part of one of her favorite photos on it- the flowers are fireweed.

Inside the multiple layers of bubblewrap, Mom found some Scrabble tile holders that spelled out her family’s name, and this shadowbox:

This was one of the projects featured in Mark Montano’s Big A** Book of Crafts that I told you about in an earlier post.

I started with two copies of a photograph of my grandmother, mother and uncle standing in a field of fireweed in Alaska:

Using a very sharp x-acto knife, I cut around the image of the family, then placed it on top of the unaltered/uncut photo, using two or three layers of sticky adhesive foam squares:

Using the squares gave a 3-D effect, raising my family slightly out of the field:

I had several choices when it came to altering the photo further: doing more cutouts, which I decided against because the focus was the family; adding whimsical details like fairy wings, birds, stamps which frankly, just wouldn’t “fit” my family; and adding lettering, an oh-so-appropriate choice for a teacher:

Chipboard letters, or stickers?

For size and font, I chose the stickers, and went about figuring out placement:

The shadowbox itself was lined with a dull gray mat, so I played with some papers that seemed to compliment the lettering:

Once the papers were adhered to the interior walls of the box, it was time to add the altered photo:

For some reason, the photos I took of arranging the Scrabble tile rack, silk flowers, and pink beads didn’t turn out, so here is the final product:

With the scraps from the second photo, I chose a section of fireweed to use on Mom’s gift tag.

It’s a project I’m looking forward to doing again, possibly working with black and white photos next time- thanks Mark, for the idea and the how-to!

What would a birthday be without cake, preferably, cupcakes?Creampuffs in Venice tried some whimsical mini-cupcakes with very pretty floral icing…Trophy Cupcakes and Party in Seattle was just featured on Martha (oh my goodness they make some beautiful, and apparently delicious cupcakes!)……and while Laura Rebecca’s Kitchen shared this recipe for coffee cake, I’m wondering how it would turn out if the batter was spooned into a cupcake tin instead…

Num, num num num!~

Present in the Mail

Today I put something in the mail for*my* Mommy’s birthday:

I’ll let you know what it is after she lets me know it’s arrived!

Another Tidbit Tuesday

*It was wonderful spending time with Shannon last week/weekend! Crafting, shopping, driving, laughing, and a few hysterical games of Trivial Pursuit with Dear Daughter were just what the doctor ordered. I shared photos of Rosie’s Workshop with you, but I won’t be done with her thank-you chipboard book until sometime tomorrow since I ran out of color ink for my printer. Funny how that happens right in the middle of some fun craft!

*Old Mesilla was windy and dusty for our last excursion, so much so that the weekend vendors stayed away. We visited a few shops, but mostly the kids ran, twirled, and otherwise stayed away from all things breakable:

…while Shannon and I ventured a bit closer to the pretties we found:

A shopkeeper even pointed us in the direction of a little nook inbetween shops similar to the ones that Tara had just posted about :

* It was incredible being part of Oprah’s “webinar” last night, with author Eckhart Tolle, discussing A New Earth. Incredible until everything crashed- my screen froze up, and nothing would load. Apparently with a global community of participants (over 139 countries were represented), the web slows down a bit. Okay, more than a bit. But it was still amazing. I still have to visit Oprah.com to download the rest of what I missed last night. New ways of thinking, paradigm-shifting… very neato topics. We’ll see what happens next Monday night!

* Catching up on my blog-reading, I came across a link to housemartin who posted something that made me think of my mother: knitting. Go look. I want the rug. You have knitting needles that size, don’t you Mom?

* Another link I stumbled across features sock monkeys, but not the old brown and cream ones- these are happy happy happy!

* Sally Jean has posted her list of suggestions for ways to celebrate March…

* And finally, right before the ol’ diet starts up again, Smitten Kitchen posts on homemade devil dog, ding dong, or hostess cake.

Daughter Says to Call This Post “Hi Grammy!”

So, HI GRAMMY!

We went to campus to set up Daughter’s science fair board last night:

We enjoyed seeing the other entries too (”What’s Aliva in Your Saliva?” was a title that caught our eye, but we didn’t want to freak the entrant out by photographing it…)

And today we’ll return to the Home of the Miners so Daughter’s entry can be judged. Toddler and I plan to roam around parts of campus if we can (parents aren’t allowed in the gym during judging, toddlers are even less welcome, understandably!) and hopefully the sun will cooperate with us for photos.

If you want a terrific college hoops story/movie to watch (you can’t ALL be having Superbowl parties this weekend!), try Glory Road.

Show and Share Thursday: Cameos

Friends, family and students know I *love* jewelry, the sparklier the better! Whether it’s a new teacher-themed brooch, necklace or earrings, or a new bauble from Zales, I enjoy adding finishing touches to all of my outfits daily. My wooden apple necklace goes with my ABC jumper for the first day of school, my Kirk’s Folly heart necklaces and brooches see regular rotation throughout February, and I enjoy wearing a different “right hand ring” each day thanks mostly to my husband. I support his Harley habit, he supports my jewelry habit, talk about a match made in Heaven!

My love for jewelry started when I was a child. My mother and grandmother had jewelry boxes that sat on their dressers, and I remember realizing that for the ladies in my family, it was an absolute necessity to go through them each day, selecting something to wear before ever stepping out of the apartment. Going out without a bracelet, earrings, or a ring on was like going out into public naked! Now I can’t leave the house without having visited my jewelry box first.

Cameos hold a special appeal for me. My grandmother has a cameo ring, bezel set, that she says I used to teethe upon as a baby. The face on the shell has been blurred, rubbed smooth over time, and it rattles in its setting. My mother has a brooch that she also wears as a pendant, and it somehow marks all of my childhood memories of her. Touring Europe as a teenager, my mother was with me when I purchased my first cameo ring, a treasure I inadvertently lost when in a state of delirium, I went on a cleaning spree and tossed everything in my dresser drawers into the trash (chicken pox at age thirteen was NOT a good experience, let me tell you!).

She replaced the ring for my first wedding, a gift that was just for me. It’s the smaller of the two cameo rings in the photo. The larger ring I received when my mother-in-law passed away last year. Helping my sister go through Betty’s belongings, we came across a stash of jewelry given to her by a lover from many years past. Rubies, diamonds, loose stones, pearls, and the cameo ring. The story goes that she, the cameo, was hardly if ever worn, because of her size. On me, she covers up my middle knuckle on my ring finger, and hasn’t been worn while I’ve been doing the stay-at-home-mom thing, though never fear, she keeps good company with my other cameos. The brooch was an Ebay find- I couldn’t resist when I saw the simple cameo set with the millefiori flowers… it’s a fun little riot of color to wear on rainy days.

There’s even a cameo on the charm bracelet I started for myself last year though I can’t remember who it belonged to before that (sorry Mom!). A small ivory bear, lockets, charms, pendants, and even a lone earring keep her company. Transferring all of my rarely-if-ever-worn pendants to the bracelet was a good choice for me (I have some more charms to add to it), and it’s a piece that my students always love to examine when I wear it. They love the blue topaz (“A topaz?? A topaz?!?! Amongst *my* jewels?!?!”), the bear, all of the hearts, and the jingly sound made when I move my hand. I love wearing it because I enjoy knowing that there is a story behind each charm.

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I’ve spent most of this week attempting to recover from a doozie of a cold. Thankfully I’ve had crafts and reading to keep me sane while spending almost every minute indoors. Thank you for the messages and emails wishing me a speedy recovery, every good thought has helped! Here are some links that caught my eye:

Schools Matter shares the story of an elementary school in California that has turned down Title I funds in order to go “NCLB-Free.” Incredible and inspiring.

Cakespy coaxed two incredible dessert recipes from Michael’s Kitchen in Miami: White Chocolate Raspberry Rice Krispie Deep Dish Pizza and Twinkie Tiramisu. Num, num, num!

Planning With Kids charmed me with her advocacy of family time as well as her post of “10 Things to do Before School Holidays End.” She’s in Australia, so it was fun comparing her list to what parents here in the States tend to do.