Dawn K Homeschool

John made the card with the hear punches (isn't it great?), and he bought balloons, the flowers and the Ghirardelli chocolates.  Nathan gave me the heart-shaped box of chocolates while Ben gave me the other.  They are all delicious!

Thank you, Ellen, for your fabulous website.  Seriously, you NEED to check out  this fantastic website because it has some of the most innovative projects for all subjects.  It is perfect for traditional teachers and home educators. Today, John was home from work due to the rain, so he joined the boys in a wax resist watercolor map of Japan project.  The boys were able to learn more about Japan's geography while learning a new art technique.  To download the files for this project, click here . Ben's Nathan's John's

John took the boys to south-west Virginia and West Virginia this summer.  This gave me some time alone to finish preparing for the upcoming school year (and chill out).  Some of the places they visited were:  The Natural Bridge and Wax Museum , the Mill Mountain Star , the the Virginia Museum of Transportation , the Mill Mountain Zoo , the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine , and the New River Gorge Bridge .

We had a suspicion that some nocturnal creature was visiting us, so John set a trap (a harmless one). It was an opossum ! I was happy to see it, because we toted one off a couple of years ago thinking that they were "bad" to have around the house -- sort of like having a rat. I then learned how beneficial they are (they eat slugs for one). So, we released him in the backyard. I hope we didn't scare him away.

Here is my card, and below it is John's. Isn't his cuter? We used this stamp set Hero Arts Lily Pad Greetings and paper from the Die Cuts with a View Spring Mat Stack. We also colored the frog with colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits. We cut the scalloped circles with Nestabilities and a Cuttlebug , and John used a Stampin' Up tab punch. He stamped his greeting inside of the tab.

I met my fabulous friend, Cecilia , tonight for coffee, and we chattered away for 3 hours! When I got home, my husband had warmed up all of the leftovers I mentioned we were having -- AND -- get this: made biscuits -- from scratch -- for the first time!

So, today when I got out of the shower, I asked my husband, "You wouldn't want to do a little project for me, would you?" He answered, "Sure, what?" I asked him if he would make me some rain gutter bookshelves, and he replied, "I love doing things like that." So, off to Home Depot he went. A little while later, voila! I had the pleasure of loading the shelves. I love doing things like that. Oh -- I'm also going to throw in pictures of the Ikea-inspired bed my husband also made for the boys. He deserves some bragging on. :) More credit due: my mom made the curtains. [Obviously the other pictures were taken prior to the gutter shelves.] Directions can be found here: http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=10756

My husband took the three boys to his parent's home for the weekend leaving me home alone to recharge. They went hiking, canoeing, played in the creek, and so forth. I think this is the third year now that I was given a weekend alone in this manner. It is fabulous to have this time before school starts to just relax and have fun. So, what did I do? Friday I rode my bike while finishing up the movie Nancy Drew and starting Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. That evening, I made 10 cards. I have been trying to use up leftover card kit scraps and embellishments I've had around forever! Note: I used my inspiration binder for many of these cards. The "Twinkle Twinkle" and the card with green leaves on a striped background are direct lifts. Many of the other basic sketch designs came from others' card as well. Saturday morning I met a dear friend, Kathy whom I've been friends with since I was 14), and we attended a Stampin' Up! Open House where I bought 7 retir...