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This month we...
The professor who chaired my graduate project was the same person who helped get me into graduate school in the first place. I wanted to make sure to thank her for all of her support over the last two years with a little something...
Sean's district had to give the teacher's a furlough day towards the end of the school year to help with budget cuts. We dropped the graduation party invites at the post office, went to lunch and spent a little time on the beach, then I made a scrapbook layout when I should have been grading papers or researching for my last lecture next week. It is far from the ideal way to have a day off, but we were still grateful for a little time together.
I mentioned on Saturday that I was craving a little rearranging, but I promise I had absolutely no plans. Until I stumbled upon this shelving unit on Sunday morning. I figured out at least four places it could go in the house and somehow my little craft room won. Love seeing it all loaded up with books and various supplies...
Having these shelves in here frees up just enough space for the Ikea cart I have been dreaming about. I have been stalking it on-line for a couple of months now and it's never in stock...fingers crossed that it shows up sometime soon.
Hope you're having a wonderful weekend.
1. Untitled, 2. Scraps, 3. vintage painting (2), 4. sometimes truth, 5. Vintage Fabric Stack, 6. Weekend Crafting, 7. Spring Washi tape on doily stack, 8. potted
Just a few favorites...
{Starred posts include recent Flickr Favorites and the blog entries I've found & saved (with a star) in my Google Reader}
I will be spending lots of time with these colors as we start working on all things graduation party related.
Really loving that it's Friday with a holiday weekend ahead...hope you have a wonderful few days.
It took me three weeks to get my first chance to sit down and work on my first installment of this whole Project 36 idea...
Week one included the paper I stamped for the NSD giveaway, a photo from attending an Angels game, and Mac's "amazing light" photo shoot.
Week two was teacher appreciation projects, 12 on the 12th, and Mother's Day.
And week three was graduation.
I discovered that this is a perfectly sized project, so much fun to put together, this satin photo paper looks fantastic and these cards are too cool.
Can't wait to keep going...
Thank you all so much for your kind words about graduating. Honestly, I am still in disbelief that I am done. The next few weeks will still be busy though, finishing up my student teaching (the community college I am at started their semester very late so they finish late too) and doing more research to help professors build some graduate classes next year. And then there is that whole find-a-job thing on the old to-do list.
I made these cards a few weeks ago and actually used a couple as the thank you notes I included in the little gift card packages I made last week.
Way back in the fall of 2007 I wrote about the "anthem" I have for school. I had finished at community college and was transferring to my local state school.
In 2010 I finished degrees in Sociology and Women's Studies. It meant the world to me to have Mac walk with me to get my diploma and to dress him in my cap and gown like we did when Sean graduated from college many years before.
Today, for my master's graduation, I walked all by myself. However as I was getting my hood placed over my head Mac yelled out in a momentarily quiet crowd, "Good job Mom!" and I almost lost it completely.
It is actually a little scratchy, hot, and totally chokes you when you sit down, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
I mentioned earlier in the week that I am officially on the hunt for a community college teaching position. I was actually super busy yesterday putting together my resume packet and teaching portfolio for a mock interview I am participating in next week. Good thing, considering I last interviewed for a job 12 years ago.
With employment on the forefront of my mind today, I decided that if I had to have a fallback career it could be wrapping up gift cards. I have a couple to give to the Sociology department's administrative assistants tomorrow at my last day of work. I wanted to thank them for being so good to me as I have been a graduate assistant and writing tutor throughout the school year...
I slipped them into a brown paper bag with a thank you note and kept on decorating...
These little bags are perfect for gift cards. This is my new favorite background stamp and this idea for making flags has changed my life.
Oh this crazy neon pink fascination continues on and made its way into my birthday thank you notes with some bright embroidery yarn and heart stickers...
I put together these little magnets for a friend last month...they were the spring version of the ones I made for a Halloween project last fall. Now I want to make a summer version.
A gift card packaged up for my mother-in-law and my mom's combo card.
1. This is my last week of graduate school.
2. I will still work as a graduate assistant until May 30th and student teach until June 13th.
3. I am doing my third and fourth lectures this week.
4. Part of my lectures will include My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.
5. Another part will include lugging 52 magazines to class.
6. I have a decent amount of craftiness saved up to share this week, which is a good thing since I won't really have time to make anything more right now.
7. I am starting to think of lots of summer lists.
8. Of course number one on the list is finding a job. Does anyone happen to have a community college teaching position they would like to trust me with?
Dearest Mac,
Thanks for making me a mom. Granted, I was probably a little younger (okay, a lot) than I should have been when I had you. Thankfully, I have become incredibly wise over the last few years, right? I am certainly not the most patient person you will ever meet...and I am sorry you inherited my temper. That does not mean it's a good excuse to use it. I know I shouldn't either.
Thanks for always telling me what a good cook I am. You should thank your grandma for that too since that's where I learned it from. Thanks for writing the canned responses your teachers told you to on the Mother's Day card you made at school this week. I called you on it when you wrote I was your "best friend", but when you wrote on your own that I was a "creative soul" you pretty much gave me one of the best compliments I have ever received. It will make me happy forever and ever that you are an astoundingly creative soul yourself.
Thank you for always laughing with me. You are one of my very favorite people to talk to...even if we're discussing the same darn thing for the millionth time (this is where I demonstrate my lack of patience). Thank you for being such a hard working, responsible and compulsive person. I love that you are detail oriented. I love that you have high standards. And I love that you are a way better morning person than I am.
And thank you most of all for really just having the best fashion sense ever. Never in all my years would it have occurred to me to wear bright plastic sunglasses over my actual glasses. It's just one of the many, many things I have learned being your mom. I am so glad we get to celebrate our 16th Mother's Day together.
Love you...
Mom
(Oh and thanks for insisting we take photos of you last week because you realized, when you were taking the trash to the curb, that there was "amazing light")
I didn't remember to take photos until almost halfway through the day, but thankfully it was easy to find a dozen details to record...
1. Lecture planning 2. Laundry drying 3. It's getting too hot out 4. Flowers from Sean for Mother's Day 5. Lemon water 6. Mac's messy desk 7. A total weakness 8. Almost all day, every day 9. Dinner vegetables 10. A much-needed car wash 11. Cloth napkins 12. The smell of the BBQ
{I'm keeping track of the 12th of each month in 2012...you can see all of them here}
1. Vintage Contact paper Flags or cupcake toppers, 2. Mermag Printable Labels, 3. The Blanket, 4. Smart Small Space Desk Idea, 5. genius of love, 6. Novas estampas de envelope, 7. Ishtar Oliver, 8. Kitchen
Okay, get ready. Here's a whole bunch of favorite finds saved up from the last few weeks...
See? I told you it was lot.
{Starred posts include recent Flickr Favorites and the blog entries I've found & saved (with a star) in my Google Reader}
It was the president of the parent association that suggested the idea as we brainstormed for teacher appreciation week. Ask the preschool and kindergarten students what they loved about their teacher and print each student's response on a slip of paper folded into a "Love Jar". Students in first through 8th grade wrote their own notes for their teachers, but I used the same idea to make jars for all the other instructors at the school...Spanish, Dance, Music, P.E. and the school's three directors.
Some old, colorful patterned paper I've been hoarding (a perfect fit when punched with this), a digitally designed tag, and some twine decorated the jars...
Can't wait to give these last little teacher appreciation week surprises out tomorrow.
When I was putting together the thank you card and gifts for the teachers who let me observe for my graduate project Sean asked me what his thank you gift would be. I joked it would be a Starbucks gift card in half the amount the other teachers were getting. He had other ideas.
I decided to mail him a little note to work to tell him how I could not have completed this project without all of his support. A few days before I had sent my sister-in-law a card I made with washi tape (here's a photo of it) so Sean got a repeat of the same idea...
Of course for Sean it had to be in his very favorite green and gold.
It's halfway through Teacher Appreciation week at Mac's school. So far we've had the kids each bring a flower to make a classroom bouquet (I made button jars for each classroom to use as a vase) and this morning we had breakfast muffins and coffee (thanks to Sean baking three different mini-muffin recipes on Monday night). Tomorrow is little notepads and colorful pencils...
Thursday we will be serving the teachers a big salad for lunch. And on the last day all of the teachers will get notes from their students. The preschool and kindergarten classes were asked what they loved about their teachers, each response was printed on a strip of paper and placed in a "Love Jar" (haven't taken photos yet). First through eighth grade students each wrote their teachers a note. Sean made thin little boxes for each teacher's stack of notes and I made some flowers with the fabric leftover from the bunting we made to decorate the teacher's lounge...
I have to admit I really love these wonky flowers.
Here's hoping the second half of the week goes well too...
The title of my graduate project is, "Creating a Strong Parent/Teacher Partnership for Students: An Introductory Support Booklet for Parents of Students Enrolled in a Resource Specialist Program". Short and sweet, right?
In order to accomplish this, I observed parent/teacher interactions at student's yearly IEP meetings. In addition to observing the meetings held by the teacher I am married to, I also observed two of Sean's colleagues.
I wanted to make sure to thank them since I could not have completed my work without their support, so I got them each a Starbucks gift card and reveled in the details of this little thank you gesture...
I used a sketch for the cards.
Wrapped up the giftcards.
And stuck them both in a vellum bag.
I love that these Catslife stamps fit perfectly in my favorite labels.
I was able to make four scrapbook layouts on National Scrapbooking Day. That pretty much equals my productivity from the last four months total. It was so nice to return to this hobby and love just as much as ever...
One of the layouts I finished included all the photos from the recent Week in the Life documentation. I decided to throw every photo all onto one layout again like I did last summer. It is so much fun to have this kind of project quickly completed among all our other memories.
I have three other layouts, more cards and other projects to share soon too...
(A card made with some scrapping leftovers and this stamp)
My mom is here tonight helping us do just about everything, but scrub the toilets so I had her randomly pick a number for the giveaway. She picked lucky #13...especially since her birthday is coming up this week on the 13th. So the stamp set goes to...
It's one of my favorite days of the year (here's 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2007)...and I have managed to set aside a little time for scrapbooking today. We will see how rusty I am at it.
I also wanted to celebrate with a giveaway. I couldn't resist this stamp set earlier this week and decided to grab an extra one to share with one of you...
Just leave a comment if you'd like it...I'd love to hear about your plans for this very important holiday.
This month...
{G3 is a end of the month wrap-up for our little family}
Mac's gift wrapping and birthday flowers from Sean.
The Catslife Press stamp goes to comment #12...
Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes and kind words about Project 36. Keep an eye out for another giveaway on Saturday too.
With all the inspiration swirling around for months now (I extra super duper love Lisa's, Jamaica's, Vee's, Ann-Marie's and Chelsea's) I just had to join in on the Project Life-ing. But I decided to keep it small (lots of these 6x8 page protectors) and document my 36th year starting today...
I have been waiting to be this age for the last few years because it turns out thirty-six is the magic number when I finish up eighteen (almost continuous) years of school and will finally be appropriately trained to attempt my dream job of teaching. Thirty-six is the year I will have a son in high school too. It's going to be a big year of change around here and I can't wait to keep track of the details.
When I saw the new Catslife Press stamps a few weeks ago I gravitated towards the "Love This Day" stamp since I've had this project in mind. Susan, the owner of Catslife, has kindly offered one for me to giveaway...so please leave a "Pick me" if you need this sentiment for whatever projects you are working on this year.
Kathleen please e-mail me your address.