It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 7.29.13

Thanks to Jen over at www.teachmentortexts. and Kellee now at www.unleashingreaders.com for their take on this Monday meme first created by Sheila over at www.bookjourney.wordpress.com where we share what we've read over the past week.

It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted for this Monday meme - I've been out of town the past couple of Mondays but have been able to finish a few chapter books. 

Here is what I've read:

 

I really enjoyed Eleanor and Park and liked it, A LOT, but I didn't LOVE it like others have seemed to.  I thought the writing was excellent and liked the third person omniscient point of views and thought that Rowell executed this well.  I enjoyed Park's parents tremendously and appreciated the nuclear family Rowell included in the story. 

 

Something Blue and Summerland are both adult novels by authors that I tried for the first time this summer and really enjoyed both of them. Summerland was excellent and could even be considered somewhat of a crossover read, in my opinion.  The story is told from various characters' points of view in third person omniscient, and a few of those characters being the teens in the story.  Here is the synopsis from Goodreads. 

 

I am currently reading:

 

 

 

And not sure what to read next (when I will be in the mountains enjoying the great outdoors and some fishing and hiking):

       

    

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

Summer Card Camp 2 Week 2, Day 1

Hello there!  I just returned from spending a week at the beach and it was lovely! But I definitely had a crafty, paper, and inky itch.  So I fiddled around today and created a card - I have a lot more "homework" to catch up on.  I will be gone again for a few days and will be even further behind but oh well. 

So here is the card I came up with today following sketch 1 and the new color combo for this past week:

This is the first circle card I've made and I need some practice! I used my Cricut to cut the circles and it seems to cut the circles a little bit off - or I needed to turn the circles around until they matched up better.  I also need to work on the sizing of circles - hard to tell in the picture, but I had to create a fold with the blue circle piece as well so that the card could fold up. ( I think it's time for me to invest in some circle framelets dies.)  :)

Thank you for stopping by!

Summer Card Camp 2 Day 5

Hello everyone! Below is the card I made for homework following one of the color combos given today (top one on the right color combo).  I used gelatos for the first time on the background (with an embossed resist) - they are FUN to use! And I LOVE the shimmery colors.  LOVE - LOVE - LOVE .  I didn't try any of the techniques shared today because I desperatley wanted to try using out the gelatos and just focused on that using a color combo. (It's hard to tell in the picture but the lace and string are a cream color.)

 And this card below I made the other day - the one on the left is the way I had it originally and I didn't like the sentiment and the way it looked, so the one on the right is how I ended up changing it.  I like the one on the right better! What do you think? :)

BEFORE

AFTER

Summer Card Camp 2 Day 3

Today was day three of Summer Card Camp 2 and a few guest designers were on board today sharing their expertise.  So for my homework today I focused on creating backgrounds with stamps on two cards, which is not something I normally do.  I also created a card after being inspired by Tami Hartley's card from day 2.  It was a fun day experimenting!

Here are the cards I created:

Card #1

I created this background with what I learned from this video by Kristina Werner using the Simon Says Stamp July card kit stamp set and followed sketch #3. I really like that background effect! It took a little time but I think the end result is worth it!


Card #2

Card #2 I created with Tami Hartley's card in mind from day 2. I really liked her effect with the paints and the black.  I don't have the materials she used to create a card using her techniques so I went with using my Distress Inks on craft sheet with water to create the background and found a similar flower stamp in my stash to use.  I 'm not crazy about the greeting part and thinking I might do some card surgery... Thoughts???


Card #3

And card #3 I followed sketch #2 for the week, and had Kelly Purkey's idea of creating a background with a greeting stamp of some sort.  I used some Paper Smooches sentiments that I placed together to create this background.  This is the first time I've done this background and I like it!

Thank you for stopping by and I welcome thoughts and feedback! :) 

Summer Card Camp 2 Day 2

Day 2 of Summer Card Camp 2 was about techniques - and oh, how I loved them. Especially Sharri Carroll's. But I only played with one since I don't have the materials (yet) to play with the others. But I immediately went online and purchased those gelatos - what fun! Now I need that stamp set as well that Shari Carroll used.

I tried out Jennifer's technique: multi-inking with masking.  Here are the two cards I made:

With the top card, I used the technique as Jennifer showed.  The card came together quickly and I like the end result.  I didn't ink up the stamp very well with the yellow and orange colors but I liked the way it ended up looking so I left it. I don't really have a whole lot of stamps that I can use this technique with, but now I will look at stamps differently now knowing about this technique.

With the bottom card, I did a take with the #2 sketch and tried out Jennifer's idea of taking a a greeting and using multiple ink colors.  I played around using ink daubers to color the "Make A Wish" sentiment the three different colors.  I like the end result of this card too.  And I am in love with that cupcake from the Simon Says Stamp July card kit!

Thank you for stopping by! :)

Materials used from: Hero Arts, Simon Says Stamp, Penny Black, Papertrey Ink

Summer Card Camp 2 Day 1



Hi all! It's been a while since I've posted any cards and how my card making is going but I am participating in an online card class, Summer Card Camp 2, for the next THREE weeks and will be posting some of my card making and what I'm learning.  I won't be posting much next week as I will be camping and won't have any Internet connectivity for my computer but will post this week and the third week of class.  Anyway, here is what I created today after learning on day 1:

Day 1 introduced a color scheme to use and three different sketches.  I created three cards (two of which are the same) using two of the sketch options.  The first card I used vellum and embossed it to create the background. I tried the Rock and Roll inking technique with the card on the bottom with the orange flowers (not the way it was shown in class) and I really like it. I attempted to do the half and half inking Rock and Roll technique first and it did not come out very pretty.  So I tried the technique the way I saw it on You Tube here.

(Stamps, inks, and materials I used were from Simon Says Stamp, Papertrey Ink, and Paper Smooches.)

It's Monday! What are You Reading? 7.8.13

Jen at www.teachmentortexts.com and Kellee now over at www.unleashingreaders.com, created this Monday meme following Sheila's, over at www.bookjourney.wordpress.com,  original meme where we recap what we've read over the past week.  Jen and Kellee brought it to the picture books - YA level. 

I am finding that I am really in the mood for some "lighter" reading material.  I tried picking up Ender's Game (for about the third time) but was not into it at all. So instead I picked up a middle-grade novel to start off my week.  I finished two chapter books and two picture books and am about 3/4 finished with an adult novel.

 

 

Madam President is classic Lane Smith humor and puns and I enjoyed it very much.  H.O.R.S.E: A Game of Basketball and Imagination would be a great book for boys and those who enjoy sports. 

 

The chapter books I finished were:

 

 

 

  

I absolutely loved both of these books! The Lions of Little Rock is one I wish I had read sooner, but better to have read now than not at all.  I absolutely loved Marlee as a character. A must have for all school and classroom libraries. 

I read Jessi Kirby's Moonglass a couple of years ago and truly enjoyed it and absolutely loved In Honor as well.  Kirby has a great way of describing setting and she pulls me in immediately.  (I am also a sucker for anything country and beachy and In Honor has both.)  This would be a good one to put into the hands of that really mature 6th grade and up reader who is looking for something beyond what middle grade books have to offer as far as maturity goes.  There is a scene in this book where the main character, Honor, becomes drunk one night but Kirby addresses the circumstance and consequences well. 

So arriving today on my doorstep is:

 

And I am currently reading:

 

 

Thank you for stopping by and have a fabulous week of summer reading!

 

 



 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 7.1.13

Please visit www.teachmentortexts.com where Jen and Kellee take this Monday meme, originally started by Sheila over at Book Journey, and focused it on books for little ones up to young adults.

Well, my posts are becoming very irregular and I apologize for that.  Life has thrown some unexpected curveballs at me this past month and am now coming to a point where I can focus energy again on my blog and reading life.  I haven't been reading all that much this past month so that made it challenging to blog about anything.  But here is what I read and have been reading over the past few weeks. 

I finished:

We read this for bookclub and most of us enjoyed it.  It's not a phenomenal read, but a good beach read for adults.  It becomes long-winded at some parts, but overall I enjoyed and made a lot of personal connections.

I read a few picture books:

 

I truly enjoyed all three of these picture books.  Although picture books, I think they are more suitable for the middle grades and up.  I thought The Dark was fantastic! I'm thinking of many ways to use this with my 7th graders for reading and writing workshop.

I'm currently reading:

 

I am almost finished with this one - should finish today. It's been a good read, but not quite the page turned I was hoping for. 

 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a great week of reading!