A Happy Birthday

Hi, folks.

Thought I'd show you what I did for Jim's birthday was last week.  While I can't take credit for the initial idea, I did adapt it and made it a little more scrappy-ish by using a spellbinders die and a scallop square punch. 

I typed up 52 (he turned 51 plus 1 for good luck) reasons why I love him on cardstock and then punched them out with a scalloped square punch.  Then I found 52 pics of him which I die cut in a similar shape.  I adhered the reasons to the backs of the pics and then tied them to helium filled balloons.  When he and Logan came home from a baseball game, this is what he walked in to find in our living room.

We had our monthly gamenight that night so our friends also saw the balloons and since we celebrated 2 other b-days that night, the balloons made it quite festive.

You had to see me trying to cut the ribbons the night before.  What a time I had doing that.  My kitties were going nuts trying to grab the ribbon as I was cutting it.  

The funniest thing about this was how my married friends were shocked I still had that many reasons for loving him after all these years of marriage.   LOL

Hint: if you do this, be sure to use 12" balloons and fill them well.  The 9" balloons had trouble holding the weight and didn't last but a couple of hours. 

Wishing you all a happy day!

Combating Discrimination

Happy Friday!

As I mentioned yesterday, here is a little bit about the other event that took place during our very busy weekend.  I'm telling you, these kids keep us hopping!

Logan and Raja recently took part in a six week long video production workshop for young adults.  The workshop which met on Sunday afternoons was designed to give students basic media literacy skills by exploring the impact of media messages and enhance their knowledge about the human rights laws.  The kids were broken down into three groups and each group created a public service announcement video addressing bias, stereotyping and discrimination.  These videos will be used by the NYC Human Rights Commission in hundreds of their annual public presentations in classroom or community settings, new online training formats and in numerous links for web-based social networking.

Last Saturday, the videos were debuted at an event attended by local politicians.  Jim and I had had not seen the videos so we did not know what to expect but upon seeing them, we were blown away by their message and impact.   Here is the video Logan was part of.  I was told by the Commissioner that this was his concept they used.  Here is another video.  This one has Raja's sister in it.  This is the last video.

The lady on the far left is Patricia Gatling, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Human Rights.  She presented the kids with their certificates of 12 hrs of community service.

Here's a picture of all the kids who participated. 

 

Hopefully, the videos these young people who worked together to create will make a difference.

Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy your upcoming weekend!

Romeo & Juliet

So, while we are on the subject of theatrics, I thought I'd show you a few pictures from Logan's stage debut last Friday night.  Apparently, last weekend was the weekend for the arts between Logan and Raja both having acting debuts. 

This was Logan's first endeavor into acting and while he specifically declined any of the lead roles as he felt he wasn't ready for that, he did have 4 small parts in the play.

It was definitely a low budget production as well as a modern take on Shakespeare's work.  It lasted just about an hour and it was quite entertaining.  It was evident the kids had worked very hard.  They made the sets and were also clever in how they went about it as you'll see below. 

Logan was part of the Montague clan.  Hence, the blue headband.  The Capulet side wore red. 

A little sword play.

The Capulets.

A little dancing at the ball.

Don't you just love their take on a balcony?  Clever, isn't it?  This got a nice laugh and applause from the audience.  Those 3 girls supporting the ladder were the narrators of the play.  They told the story in modern day lingo and kept the play moving.  They were very animated and entertaining.

Some more dancing, this time to Michael Jackson's "Beat It" when Romeo is exiled.  This was pretty cool as they did a shortened version of the dance routine used in Michael Jackson's video for the song.

Romeo is in the leather jacket. 

Applause for the drama teachers as they were presented with flowers. 

It was a very enjoyable evening for all who attended.  We were so proud of all the kids who worked so long and hard on this play.   I can't wait for next year's production.

We had another event happen the next day but I'll write about that later as lunch is nearly over and I have to get back to work.  

Have a great day!!!

Red Carpet Debut

Hi, friends.

Long time no blog, huh?  Guess I haven't had much to say or talk about lately.

But!  We had an exciting event happen to our son's best friend, Raja.  Last Sunday we went to the annual Tribeca Film Festival in Manhattan to see Raja's feature film debut.  The name of the movie is "Future Weather" and you can read about it here.  He walked the red carpet with the other stars of the film, had his picture taken about a thousand times and was interviewed by the media.  We very much enjoyed the movie and afterwards the writer, producer and the stars answered questions from the audience for an hr.  It was pretty wonderful to see our "second son" up on the silver screen in a real movie.  We are so proud of him.

Here is Raja. (Oh, by the way, "Raja" is a nickname.  His real name is Anubhav.)

You might recognize these two people.  That's William Sadler (a/k/a Colonel Stuart) from "Die Hard 2" and Amy Madigan from "Streets of Fire" and "Field of Dreams". 

Thanks for stopping by!

Valentine's Day Mini Album

Happy Valentine's Day, friends.

Here is my latest mini devoted to the love holiday.  Speaking of love, I'm loving this new glitter paper from DCWV..  The glitter doesn't rub off.  Fabulous!

Sliding the spinner arrow provides space for 5 pics. 

 I tucked the folded flap under the "xoxo" embelly which easily opens for journaling or pictures.

 On the next few pages, I added double sided tags which slide under the picture mats.

 Again, the folded flap is tucked under the "romance" embelly. 

 By removing the jeweled paperclip visible in the picture above, the cardstock opens to allow for 5 more pictures.

Hope you enjoyed seeing my newest mini.

Wishing you lots of love tomorrow and every day!   {{{HUGS}}}

New Christmas Mini

Hello, everyone.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas filled with love and loved ones.  I also hope Santa was good to you by bringing you lots of goodies.

Here are some pictures of my newest creation.  This is yet another book I've finished for a paying customer...yay!  

This chipboard album says Ho Ho Ho.  

Front side of the first " H ".  That small green Christmas tree actually lights up when you press the little red button on the base of the tree.  I love that! 

Back side of the first " H ".

Front side of the first " O ".

Back side of the first " O ".

Front side of the second " H ".

Back side of the second " H ".

Front side of the second " O ".  This page has a pocket into which is inserted a double-sided tag for pictures.

 Back side of the second " O ".    Another tag in a pocket.

Front side of the third " H ".  One more tag and pocket.

Back side of the third "H ".

Front side of the third " O ".  Yet another double-sided tag inserted into a pocket on this page.

Back side of the third " O".  This is my favorite page.  When you move the spinner arrows, the red cardstock opens up to allow for more pictures and journaling on both sides.  I tri-folded the cardstock and held each side in place with spinners then tied them down in the middle by using eyelets and ribbon.

 Here is the front last page.   I neglected to take a picture of the back page but it's covered in a lovely red textured, patterned paper with red foil accents.

So that's my newest mini.  I sure hope my customer will like it and that you enjoyed seeing the pictures of it.

Thanks for looking.  :-)

St. Augustine, Florida

During our vacation last week, we took a little day trip to the historical part of St. Augustine which is about a 2 hour drive northeast of Orlando.  I had no idea what to expect but once we'd gotten there I was not to be disappointed.  What a lovely place St. Augustine is not to mention the history it boasts.  It is the oldest city in the US, established in 1565.  This was right up my alley.  I love to take Logan to places where he can learn something and still have fun but not feel like he is learning.  Sneaky, I know. 

We took one of those jump on/jump off tram tours around town but didn't really have enough time to enjoy all that was available for us to explore.

In the town square there was a lovely gazebo which I couldn't resist making Logan get up on.  I love this kind of small town stuff.  

Here is my cousin, Maddy.  She's Josh's sister.  She and Uncle Ken were with us this day.  Sadly, Josh had school so he wasn't able to come with us. 

Here is a view of the draw bridge. 

I found this building interesting once I read the plaque on the front of it.  Below is a picture of what was inscribed on the plaque. 

Notice the year.  That's right.  According to the tram tour guide, Spain didn't recognize us until 10 yrs ago. 

This is a view of one of the many quaint streets in St. Augustine.  It's lined with adorable shops on either side.  It was very hard to resist going into each one of them.

This is the opposite view of the same street. 

Does this building remind you of New Orleans?  It should.  It's done in the same style as the French Quarter in New Orleans which is really constructed in Spanish design.  The original French Quarter in New Orleans burned down so the Spanish rebuilt it in their style. 

Here we see the fort.  It was too late in the day by the time we arrived here to take a tour of it so I only have outside shots of it.

Forgive the bars of the tram blocking part of the picture but you can clearly see how large this oak tree is.  It's terribly old, I forget how old the guide said it was but aside from it's immense size what's most amazing about it is...look at the next picture.

There is a palm tree growing right out of the center of it.  See it right there in the middle between the thinner limbs?  Quite amazing, right?

Next we have one of the reasons St. Augustine makes the list of prettiest cities in which to live.  Look at this tree-lined street.  I love how the sun light caught in my lens.  The opposite side of the street was equally beautiful but the tram was bumpy so my one picture of it is blurry. 

Another view of the draw bridge.  This was taken from the hill where the fort sits.  We actually got to see the bridge as it was raised to allow for a passing boat.  Silly me forgot to take a picture of it in the up position.

You can see the lighthouse in the background.  That is an oddity in it's own way.  It's painted blue.  Not many lighthouses are painted blue.  It was way off in the distance but that new zoom lens Jim bought me brought it up nice and close.  Thank you, Jim!

Here are my boys at sunset.  What a pretty background. 

This is the jail house.  We took a tour of this which was delivered by a man in full period character.  We were taken inside and put into the actual cells.  I was very glad when the tour was over.  The cells gave me the creeps.

The actual gallows where hangings took place.  Not surprisingly, more people died of diseases in the prison than they did at the gallows.

Jim was selected from our tour group to demonstrate how a prisoner was put on display for his crimes.  Back in the day, this cage would have been suspended in the air for all to see and throw spoiled food at.  Notice the tour guide.  Can't you just hear his accent? Of course, he was acting the part but it was hilarious.

Scarlet O'Hara's restaurant.  Rhett also has his own somewhere in town but we didn't get to see it. 

What a grand building this is but alas, time was running short so again, only facade pictures.

This building is to the right of the Alcazar hotel pictured above. 

I hope you are enjoyed this picture tour of lovely St. Augustine. 

Thanks for stopping by.