MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!

WILL - 5 MONTHS OLD

Butterfly Project

(These samples done by Dan as seen on his blog... http://dan99.blogspot.com/2008/11/butterfly-project-freebie.html)


The Holocaust Museum in Houston is planning a major exhibition in Spring 2012, to commemorate the 1.5 million children who died during the Holocaust. They will display 1.5 million butterflies, one for each child lost. They are encouraging people to participate by making butterflies and sending them to the museum. This is a project which really grabbed at my heart. I'm sure that is partly due to my Jewish heritage. My mother was Jewish, born and raised in New York. I had relatives who were incarcerated and died during the Holocaust. So, I wanted to share this project with you so that you might also have the joy of participating. This would be a wonderful project for families with children or for my teacher friends to do with their class. I intend to challenge our church's scrapbooking group to make some butterflies at our next crop in November. As you visit the site, be sure to look at some of the samples. Click butterflies to access Butterfly Project.

God's Sweetest Blessings...

are grandchildren!!!!

And we've been enjoying our newest grandson for the last couple of weeks. Will is growing so fast. He's a very sweet natured, happy baby and just getting more fun every day. He's now 3 1/2 months old
!

BABY Word Book

I had so much fun using my Cricut and Cricut Design Studio to create my first 'Word Book'. I'm sure this will not be the last one that I do! I made this B-A-B-Y word book as a present for a young friend who is having a baby girl. It's so simple. You just open Design Studio, use your basic shapes to create a rectangle - whatever height you want your book to be. I made mine about 4 inches tall. Find a font you like (fat!) and make a Capital B. Now, enlarge the B to fit the height of the rectangle. Nudge it onto the rectangle and weld the two together. Mine was about 3 inches width total. Save as 'B.A page'! Then,I was actually able to put the A on the same mat. Pull another rectangle and move it over the first page (the welded B). Size the rectangle to where it covers the 1st page. Now move it back to the open mat space and make an A. Size it, then nudge it over to the rectangle and click weld. Make note of the measurements of the 'A page'. Save this mat again and open a new one. Form a third rectangle the same measurements as the A page. Form another B, size it, nudge it to the rectangle and weld. Make note of the size of this page. Save as 'B page' and open a 3rd mat. Form a 4th rectangle the same size as the 2nd B page. Form a Y, size it and weld it to the last rectangle. Save this mat as 'Y page'. You might have to play around with the pages, but basically you're done. I used these to cute not only the chipboard, but the patterned paper as well. I use recycled cereal boxes to make these little books because the box is thin enough to cut with my cricut but stiffer than cardstock. You may have to use some ink or acrylic paint on the edges to cover the color of the cardboard. Cover the letters with pretty paper then embellish! There's plenty of room for cute pictures! I've seen books done using words such as FALL, SMILE, FUN, FAMILY, TRIP, a person's name... the possibilities are endless. I used my Bind It All to bind it but you can punch holes and tie ribbon or use 'O' rings with ribbon tied on them. Have fun!!

1st Day of School

Last week was the first week of school for 3 of our grandchildren. Caleb and Kaytlyn both started Kindergarten, and Bethany is a big 2nd grader! Here are Caleb and Bethany with their new teachers and Kaytlyn ready to go!