Special Ocassion Booklet!

I have a stack of cards that I have received from people over the years from special occasions.  The messages that people have written to me are so special that I want to keep the cards.  I have been looking for an idea of what I could do with them rather than just let them collect dust in a drawer or throw them out.  After looking at some of the scrapbooking books, this gave me a great idea.....making a special occasion booklet.

I stacked some of my cards according to size.

And then hole punched them like a book.

And I found these cute little clip rings to use to bind the cards into a book.

Slowly adding the cards  to the three rings to create a book.

You can still turn to each of the cards and open them to read them.
Love it.

it could use a little embellishment, just for fun.

So cute you could even set it on a table for display. So cute!

I think the mantle would be a nice display too.

Now I can view the cards in the little special occasion booklet, & whenever I am blessed enough to receive a new special card I'll add to my book.  Fun Fun!

Keep Calm!

There has been a fun new craise online with the  phrase "Keep Calm and Carry On!

This poster originated  by the British Government in 1939 just before the start of World War II to calm the fears of the public in the case of an invasion.  The  posters were distributed all over the country of England.  There are only two original copies left to day.  But in the yr 2000 the phrase resurfaced and has become a
catch phrase in the U.S.,  Keep Calm and.... add your own ending.

And even a cute rug at the front door to remind you to Keep Calm.  There also  are varaitions of the same idea changing the wording altogether..
My favorite is...

Or my Hubby's Favorite

even one for the Holidays!

it's hard to beat the original for any ocassion.

Love it!

Sister Fun at Bearizona!

Recently I noticed half price tickets to "Bearizona" on "Groupon", couldn't resist. With the days of summer winding down,  my sis and I decided to make one more day trip for some sister time and Fun!  Bearizona has been on our summer bucket list for a while now so we decided to make the 30 mile trek west of Flagstaff to Bearizona.  It's a small drive through wildlife park  with animals from the habitats of Arizona.  I loved it so much and we had the best time I had to share it with you.

Beautiful sunflower fields on the way there.

Burros

Bison & Big horn Sheep

White Bison

The Bears of course were the star of the show!

Up close and personal is an understatement!

A very nice bird show as well...

 A walk through  zoo area, with bear cubs and farm animals.

  

So if you're in Flagstaff for a few days you just might want to check out this neat llittle wildlife park.  

The Lord Blessed us with a perfect day, of blue skies, 78*,  and a beautiful drive back home.
Bearizona - I highly recommend it!

At it again... with a Classroom Bouquet!

Yep I'm at it again. My sister thinks I've lost it, "decorating her classroom"?  Well yes, I have decided that it is very much like decorating the home.  What we are really after here is Comfort.   Feeling comfortable in a space.   We want our children above all, to be comfortable and "at home" so to speak here in this enviornment so they can have the best chance for learning.  I think making that space Beautiful and Fun is what it's all about.   And so... while my sister was away last weekend I also made her a cute little flower arrangement for  her desk.  I am sure you have seen many versions of this..... here is mine.

Using an old wine gift box, I cut it down to the size of the pencils.

then glued blue construction paper around it so the wine design would not be seen.

Glued the pencils all around the box in a rainbow pattern.

Tied a cute school themed ribbon around it and added some colorful Gerber Daises. 

You can count on Bright Primary Colors to make a Big Impact.

They look really Cute Cheerful and Inviting on her desk!

A great gift for Teacher Appreciation....and to show you sis how much you love her!

Another Super Cute Classroom Idea

While searching the classroom websites for ideas for my sister Sue, I came across another idea that I thought would be totally cute for her room.  She didn't have an idea for her door quite yet  so I saw this wreath to make  for the door.  She was off on a little weekend vacation so I decided to surprise her.

Again really easy to make and very inexpensive!  I bought a styrafoam wreath 12-14" and covered it with ribbon.  You could use any ribbon or fabric and just wrap the wreath to cover up the back and what shows through.  I just used whatever I had in my craft closet, so it cost me next to nothing.

I purchased some crayons for $.25 a box...great sales for back to school going on. 4 boxes, but I think I only used three.  Lay them out in a rainbow pattern.

Start glueing  the crayolas  onto the wreath with a glue gun, making sure the word crayola is facing up.  Gradually curve the crayons around.  I have seen the wreath made with the crayon points facing out instead of in...it might be easier to keep them straight, either way is fine.  

I had tied a piece of ribbon on to hang it with, but I wanted to embellish the wreath with some flowers or something.  I happened to have  some cute school fabric...so I cut a long strip 36" X 3" or so and folded it in half and sewed it up to make a ribbon and bow to hang it with.  Next I cut another piece about the same size, cut it in half and gathered it up into a circle to create a flower and glued them on with some cute sunflower buttons that I had .  To make the chalkboard I just cut a piece of black  scrapbooking paper and framed it in white and wrote on it with crayon to create chalkboard look added another button. 

I think it turned out really cute and she was surprised when she went into her classroom on Monday morning and there it hung.  Fun Fun Fun Craft Idea !