TAWS New Release Blog Hop - April 2015

Hi Friends!!  Happy blog hopping day!!  You should be arriving here from the wonderful Marina's blog!  If not swing back to the beginning and start here!

Today I'm using an adorable sentiment set called Say It Don't Spray It.  The flowers and leaves are little accents that come with the set.  Using water color paper and my Distress Inks in Wild Honey, Picked Raspberry and Mowed Lawn I've created my own background.  I first stamped the background of the flower in Picked Raspberry,  I then used the flower outline in Wild Honey.  I then sprayed it with pearlized water in a mini mister.  I let it dry and then masking my flowers I added the various style of leaves.

I decided to not spray it again as I liked the contrast between the blurry edges of the flowers and the crispness of the leaves.  Once everything was dry I added my sentiment using Versamark Ink and Liquid Platinum embossing powder.  I added some clear, iridescent and some bright green sequins.  I stitched around the edge for some added texture.

Thanks for hopping with us today!  Don't forget that this month's "Free With $40" purchase ($40 in product - tax and shipping do not count) is the ADORABLE set Far Out!

Off you hop to N@Ali's blog!

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith

TAWS New Release Peek Day #3 - Zoom to You!

Greetings TAWS friends!!  I'm here today to show you a little preview of the upcoming Alley Way Stamps Release!  The shooting star stamp on the left side of my card is from the new set called Phone Home.  The star burst images, which are heat embossed with sparkly black embossing powder are from two other new sets Far Out and Feeling Groovy.

I loved the look of the multiple shooting stars and ended up creating a rainbow effect using watercolor paints.  I used Versamark Ink and black/rainbow sparkle embossing powder to create the look of stars on the right hand side and used my very favorite Signo white gel pen to accent with a few dots.

I cut apart my sentiments to work for me creating the sentiment 'zoom to the moon'!  I used white pigment ink and white embossing powder to make the sentiment pop.  I also added a bit of stitching and some rainbow sequins as textured touches.

I'll be back tomorrow for the new release blog hop!!

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith

TAWS post #23 - Love You Lots

Greetings TAWS friends!  I'm here today with a water colored creation using Wigwam, Big Chatter and Flower Doodles.

Some of you know that I am a homeschooling Mom with three children.  I have two school aged children and a two year old.  So suffice to say, as much as I LOVE LOVE LOVE to create, I have realistically about ten minutes a day where I can squeeze in any kind of craftiness for myself.  So I try to use my time wisely and create when I can.  I love sitting in our classroom at my desk creating but that's not always realistic.  So sometimes at night when my husband and I are watching our shows, I will stamp off a bunch of images onto watercolor paper, bring this brush and these paints into our tv room and sit, watch tv and paint.  It's very relaxing AND it provides me with ready to go images when I need them!  

I find that the toughest part of getting a project going is the image part - what am I going to use?  how am I going to color it?  when I decide how then I have to figure out color palette...so many questions! This way I have a bunch of colored images and I can pick and choose what to use based on my mood.  

Today I'm using a painted image from the TAWS Wigwam set. I then used a sentiment from the Flower Doodles set and the little heart is from the Big Chatter set.  

I added some stitching and some enamel dots and voila!  

Thanks for coming by today!!

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith

Second post for Saturated Canary Contest

Hi Friends!

Sorry for the secondary post.  The original post for my children's entries into the SC coloring contest is HERE!  I've set this post up as I cannot link to the same post twice.

Here is Tyler's coloring entry:

If you'd like to see their entire process please read more HERE!  And THANKS!!

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith

Saturated Canary coloring contest fun!!

Greetings!!

To those of you who don't know us we are a busy family of 5 living in a suburb outside of Boston, MA.  I homeschool our two oldest children - Kendall age 10 and Tyler age 9.  We also have Ari who just turned 2!

I've been crafting FOREVER and the crafty force is strong in all 3 of our children.  I've been a big Saturated Canary fan for a few years now.  My kids have always LOVED coloring Krista's images.  I find an incredible amount of inspiration in Krista's images, blog, homeschooling life, and her overall vibe.  She's a lovely and generous person.   

Naturally, Kendall and Tyler got very excited when they heard that Krista at SC was having a coloring contest! (yes, they each have the 150 set of Prismacolor pencils...it may seem overkill for children but if you knew how much they colored you'd know that it was a worthy gift for both of them!!)  

Kendall planning her approach...

Heads down focused!

Krista Canary offered two different images to color - this and this.  I gave the children a choice and they both chose the same image.  I love them both but am partial to the 'beach ink' image myself.  I'm hoping to have time to color her but am not sure I can squeeze it in with my lengthy "to-do" list.  

There have been many AMAZING entries by adults in the contest - and they are all really amazingly beautiful.  I explained that the contest is mainly for adult crafters but I encouraged them to join in if they wanted to!  They were VERY excited to do so and were adorable when they were coloring pretending they were fashion designers.  

Tyler dives right in knowing exactly what he wants to do...he's asked me many times about designing clothing when he's older...love!!

They both took this very seriously, knowing that Krista puts a lot of time into drawing her images, and other participants put a lot of time into their creations as well!  They are so cute they keep asking me when the contest is over and do I think they'll win.  

I said that they should be very proud of their entries and that it's obvious that they put a lot of thought, care and interest into their work and that's all that matters.  

We are entering each of their colored images.  

Kendall's entry

Tyler's entry

They both worked with my paper blending sticks and my Sansodor (similar to Gamsol) for blending.  I LOVED watching them hard at work, encouraging and helping each other.

Thanks for popping by!!

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith

TAWS post #22 - Thank you SO much

Hi TAWS friends!  I'm back today with another funky creation I made using the new Alley Way Stamp set Wigwam.

All of my children have dream catchers (or multiples depending on the child! lol!) and we love what they represent and how they look.  Peaceful, serene and beautiful.

I have watercolored this dream catcher using different shades of green.  I cut the image out using some really old Spellbinders label dies and matted them together.  I did a little bit of zig zag stitching to lend texture and interest to the panel.  I then took some sketch inspiration from an older MFT sketch and layered MFT's Flag Stax using funky papers, mostly from Studio Calico.

I did a bit of stitching on the back most panel, added some gold ribbon with long tails - it just felt right to leave them long, and white enamel dots scattered.

I used the fun TAWS set Spell Check to add a speech bubble sentiment heat embossed with white pigment ink and white embossing powder and then fussy cut to add it to my card.

Thanks so much for coming by today!

See you again soon!

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith

Let's Talk About This...

Oh my heart...my children had the incredible honor of attending the Boston Symphony Orchestra last night.  It was a memorial concert in honor of their Aunt Mary.  The orchestra focused on Mozart so during the week we took the opportunity to study his life and work.  The kids LOVED working through this lapbook.

They both wrote letters to their Uncle Jerry thanking him for the amazing night they had.  Kendall was entranced by the decorative building that houses the BSO and Tyler absolutely was enthralled by the ancient instruments that were displayed throughout the building.   I stayed home with Ari while Ian went with the children, his parents, his sister and her husband and other friends and family.  They headed into the city early to enjoy a dinner together at the BSO cafe before the show started.  Everyone is EXHAUSTED as they didn't get into bed until 11:30!  Another perk of homeschooling is that they can sleep in when necessary!

this is what he does now when you ask him to smile ! HAHAHHAH!!  

she's so beautiful that it takes my breath away....

my lovies!!!  

fancy dinner!

I don't think it will ever stop breaking all of our hearts...she is SO very missed....

they got to walk up to the stage during intermission and they though it was SO amazing!!

I enjoyed a quiet night at home with my brother and his fiancee.  They came over (and we took advantage of the absolute quiet in the house! a true rarity) so that we could work through the final design stages of their wedding invitations.  I'm so excited to make them!!  I consider it an honor and privilege to be able to create for them.  I love my brother as deeply and as intensely as if he were one of my own children and if you know us you know why I feel this way.  (getting teary over here!!  lol) But before I get really blubbery (sniff, sniff) let's move on!  

We came up with the final design and now the fun begins!  I am sourcing out papers, enclosure folios, fonts, printers, etc!  Fun fun!!

We've had a VERY chill day today and the kids are enjoying building Legos together while Ari naps and I'm doing what I do!  They are going to have movie afternoon and an early evening to get everyone caught up on sleep.

This weekend will involve starting to plant our seeds (indoors obviously) and we're headed to a bluegrass concert on Sunday with the kids and Ian's parents and then back here for family dinner.  Awesome, amazing and fun stuff.  We are very blessed.

DEAR time - for everyone!

Homeschool co-op dance class!

while Ari is in dance class, the kids have science class!

lol!

happy Spring everyone!!!

TAWS post #21 - Hello Dreamer!

Greetings TAWS friends!  Popping in today to bring you a watercolored creation using Wigwam and Big Chatter.  I started by stamping my image using Hero Arts black dye ink.  It does not run when wet so it's lovely to use water color with.  I first stamped the dream catcher and then wet the paper all over, including on top of the image.

Next, I barely added a touch of color to the feathers and let the water do the blending job for me.  I did the same with the background.  I would pick up color with my brush and barely touch it to the wet paper and it would blend and move for me.  Once I let it all dry, I added my cardstock layers.

My first layer is a very pale blue cardstock from one of my Studio Calico kits.  I folded the cardstock and tore it purposefully to have the raw or deckled edge showing.  I then added a layer of kraft cardstock and used my notebook punch along the bottom edge.  I added some stitching to pull it all together.  I used the TAWS set Big Chatter to add my giant sentiment, a strip of sparkly cardstock and some sparkly star stickers as a finishing touch.

I added some Wink of Stella pen to the center of the dream catcher for some added sparkle and I added some white Martha Stewart glitter around the very outer edge of the dream catcher for some dimension.

Thanks for coming by today!!

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith

And onward we go!

I find that I blink my eyes and weeks fly by!  This needs to stop happening!  =)  If only I could slow down time - just a bit!!

 After a couple of weeks of super fun birthday extravaganzas (Ty's 9th and Ari's 2nd) we're sufficiently partied out!  The boys had great independent celebrations and have both calmed down (birthday time always gets everyone whipped up around here!).

We finished our unit on Ancient Greece and were about to move onto Ancient Rome when an opportunity arose for the children to attend the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  The symphony is performing a selection from Mozart so we are waiting on Rome and have been studying Mozart this week.  We're reading about his life and listening to his music.  The kids are loving hearing the music and they always love creating a new lapbook.

We've been able to get outside for walks...yes I said OUTSIDE which has boosted everyone's spirits.  We've done some indoor planting.  The catalyst for this was attending the Boston Flower Show last week during which the children visited a booth where they were given mystery seeds to plant.  When we got home we were able to look up what the seeds were and how to care for them.  We've created a mini-book for the trip to the flower show and we've added the information about our flower in there.  We'll track the progress and see how it grows!

We're still working on times tables, fractions, subtraction with borrowing, addition with carrying and Roman Numerals.

We're deciding what to do for our next research projects along with planning our Spring/Summer gardens.  We continue to work on our Spanish alphabet, group reading, independent reading, grammar, vocabulary and a plethora of other subjects.  It's interesting how it continues to morph into something I never imagined it could/would be.  For those of you who have children, I relate it to this...especially when they are little just when you think you have a groove or a rhythm going 'just right' something developmentally changes and poof! you have to switch gears and start all again.  That's sort of what happens on a daily basis with us.  Everyday is different and unique and wonderful.  It's definitely VERY challenging with Ari being 2 and napping a bit less than he used to.  In the Fall he napped for about 6 hours of the day with naps in the am and pm.  Now he's on one nap mid-day for about 3 hours so we definitely have less time without him than with him.  Which is great as he's in such a fun stage but the kids are having to learn to work with him around.  It presents a definite distraction but we're all learning to work around him while he plays and enjoys himself while we do school.  Some days are not as productive as I'd like but we push through those and have other days that are immensely productive.

That's all for now!  I'll leave you with a VERY lengthy review of the last few weeks in photos!

Enjoy!

we're all so sweaty from jumping!!!

all jumped out!

awwwwwwwwww

sleepover and cake for breakfast!!

yes, yes those ARE "hamburger" cupcakes! 

so handsome!!

Happy Birthday Ty!!!  

just hangin' with Popeye!!

who doesn't love a Chimera?

so much building to do!

He LOVES the salad bar at Roche's!

off we go!!

she's so excited to be out walking that she had ribbons of what we all call "jowl juice" !  so gross!!

lots of post-birthday building

still building!

fabric shopping!

group reading

some screen time, too!

sweet tower!

playing at the library!

Thank you Auntie for this book for Ari for Christmas!!  He LOVES it!!

busy busy!

SO much Lego building!!

Happy Birthday Ari!

wowwwwww!

As you can see I'm VERY excited!  lol!  he blew out the candles on cue!  hahha...it's the little things

YUM!!

he LOVES Mr. Roger's Neighborhood and it's spin off Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood

ding ding!

his new trolley!!

wowwwwwwwwwww

the AMAZING sensory play book that Kendall made for him in her sewing class

all of my new birthday friends!

cheesssseee!!  My new Daniel Tiger sweatshirt!

deer tracks in our driveway!!

out for a BEAUTIFUL walk!

i LOVE this hat on him!!!

pure beauty

playing hopscotch at Whole Foods!!

I love that they continue to play with all of the awesome fantasy creatures we have!

new bday dragon

science class with our HS co-op!

Ari's dance class - he loves to dance around and play but not so much on the following instructions yet!

science class!

9 year well visit!! 

You're up  next buddy!!  

Then it was off to the flower show!!

Kendall meeting her favorite author Tracy Kane!  She was BEAMING!!!

Ty's "creation" a cheese burger with fish sticks on it!  Thank you Legal's for obliging my son's culinary curiosity!!  

cheeseeeeeeeeeee!!  

out in Boston!

out for a morning run with my furry girl!

Wait, before we start here people, let me stick my hand in it!!

SO excited!!!

I can't believe he's 2!!

hahahahah 

Helping me make banana bread!

He received a yo-yo for his birthday and he LOVES it!!  

Daddy installing the new tv - our previous one simply died on Sunday morning...such a bummer!

prep for Monday!

Sunday evening lap book work

GO BOSTON!!!!

They were making predictions about how many balloons it would take to hold up some of their toys.  

early morning play

lots of pre-teen angst...she is not happy here! 

Kendall was having a LOT of pre-teen angst on Monday.  I had her write this in her journal as it was what she was really feeling.  The next day we re-read this and talked about how there is something to be grateful for every single day.  Then we laughed about how silly this was =)

we love science class!

it's the little things

group reading about Mozart

off we go!

How I've missed this view!  Like his little preppie parachute cord bracelet?!  He insisted on wearing it...it used to be Ty's...awwwwwwwwwww

so happy to be out

snuggly girl

total Q-T

returning from a walk!

reading to his little brother!  (a total swoon moment)

my loves...

SO very busy cutting up his fruits and veggies that he received from Auntie and Grandma for his birthday!

One of my favorite digital stamp companies is having a coloring contest so I had the kids enter!  They were adorable pretending they were fashion designers!

with a colored pencil set like this - there's no way she can lose!  ;)

group reading time

lapbook work

practicing Roman numerals

So excited to plant!

Spring is SO close!!  

Love those gardening hands!

This is the mystery seed that they planted!  So beautiful!

working away!

they LOVE the laminating machine!

Assembling using some stickers and info we received at the show - we will be putting in photos that we took at the show as well

Kendall's garden show journal

The daily schedule - we did without this for a while and I found the kids had a hard time switching from subject to subject so we've gone back to it.  My kids like to know what's coming next.

I love that he's learning to smile on cue!