Teaching a Child to Read.

"Can you read this?"   "No, I'm just looking at the pictures."

Hi, Friends......

I have a very special project to share with you today.....one that is very near and dear to my heart.  As you might know, my 5 year old granddaughter and her mommy live with us.  Since mommy works a lot, I get to be a full-time grandma.....a very intense but joyful experience!  (I totally see why God gives children to YOUNG parents!!  Ha.)

Our Little Peach has been doing a lot of pre-reading exercises of learning the sounds that letters make, etc..., but hadn't figured out how to hook them all up together to form words.  I hit on the idea of using some of my thousands of sticky alphas (that I rarely touch!) to make little flashcards of letters and letter blends for her.  I thought the bright colors and chunky fonts might be attractive and easy for her to use.  

As I got my supplies together, I remembered I had zillions of non-sticky perforated alpha sheets in loud colors and prints.  Hey, this would be a good way to use these!!!

Some of my barely-used perforated alpha sheets.

I somewhat reluctantly pulled out my closely-hoarded sticker maker.....(reminding myself that there is no more noble cause than using it to teach a child to read!).....and fed strips of the letters in to make a bunch of sticky alphas.

Here's a serpentine line of the alpha strips coming out of the sticker maker.

I pulled out some colorful scraps of cardstock from my stash and began applying the now-sticky letters, singly and in blends, and cut them into individual cards.  I made them double-sided for more letter options.

Put your shades on......these babies are bright!!!

My granddaughter came down for breakfast as I was making these and was totally enchanted!!  She wanted to play with them right away......and I let her do it, even before she ate!  :)  

Within 5 minutes of working with them, the door to reading was unlocked for her!!!!  WOWOWOWOWOW!!!  I don't know why the tiny cards helped so much, but they did.  I am just thrilled!!!

Grandpa working with her on making words.  Sweet!!

We all have had so much fun seeing her pick up on reading.  Even Grandpa has taken time out of his busy schedule to enjoy this milestone in her little life!!!

"Rrr - Aww - K.............ROCK!!!"  :)

Thanks for letting me share this wonderful and exciting happening in our home!  To me there is almost nothing as rewarding as teaching a child to read.  I treasure this opportunity I have with her.

I hope this project inspires you to use some of your neglected (or hoarded!!!) craft supplies and scraps in ways that you hadn't thought of before.  

Back to regularly scheduled Christmas craft projects next......

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this project in the following challenges:
1.  Pixie's Snippets Playground Week #205 - Use Snippets
2.  Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
3.  Amusing Challenge - Anything Goes
4.  DL.Art December Linky Party - Anything Goes

Simple Autumny Cards

Hi, Friends.....

Just a quick post with some very simple fall cards that I had used as birthday cards for my friends who received the decorated jars of candy.  I used a variety of DCWV scraps and stray autumny feathers, leaves, and pumpkins for a last farewell to the season.

A touch of glitter on the feather and leaves lends a sparkly bit of magic.

I love how you can combine any of the motifs in the autumn color family and come out with a pretty card.

No stamped sentiments on the outside....suitable for any occasion during the season with a quick greeting on the inside.

Fan is still on the fritz on my computer, so I have to make this quick.  Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing those in the USA a Happy Thanksgiving this week!!!

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this set of cards in the following challenges:
1.  Pixie's Snippets Playground Week #204 - Use Snippets
2.  DL.Art November Linky Challenge - Anything Goes
3.  Colour Q Challenge #318

4.  Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper November Challenge
5.  Crafty Enjoyments Challenge #1 - Anything Goes with a Decorative Edge
6.  Shopping Our Stash Challenge #229 - No Stamping
7.  Power Poppy Power & Spark November Challenge - Embellish This
8.  Crafty Calendar Challenge - Sparkle, Bling, & Embellish

Decorating the Tree - Frosty Festivities

Decorating or UN-decorating????

Hi, Friends......

Quick post here since the fan on my laptop is dead and I can only be on for brief periods before it overheats.  (Kinda amazing how much more I am getting done around the house!!  Ha.)



I have another card I made for Jennifer Grace's Frosty Festivities 2015.  This was inspired by her post here.  I ran with the idea of a line of trees.....but mine are progressively decorated.  :)





The tree and decorations are two different stamps that have been in my stash for so long that I have no idea what company they are made by or where they even came from!!!  Eeek!

I used scraps from my stash for the red and green panels and heat embossed the images and sentiment.  A little bling added just the right festive touch.

I better shut things down before my computer fries itself permanently onto my craft table!  Yikes!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1.   Jennifer Grace's Frosty Festivities 2015 Link-Up
2.   Pixie's Snippets Playground Week #204 - Use Snippets
3.   Make My Monday Challenge - Oh Christmas Tree
4.   Flonzcraft Challenge #38 - Traditional Christmas
5.   Craftin Desert Divas Craft it Up Link it Up Christmas Linky
6.   Penny Black All Sorts November Challenge - Anything Christmas
7.   Crafty Calendar Challenge - Sparkle, Bling, & Embellish
8.   Craft Rocket Challenge #4 - Add a Sentiment
9.   Wow! Embossing Powder November Challenge - Anything Goes with Heat Embossing
10. DL.Art November Linky Challenge - Anything Goes
11 .Cards in Envy - Use Some Extra Layers
12. Craft Stamper Take It & Make It November Challenge - Take a Stamp
13. Little Scrap Pieces Show-It-Off-Saturday Linky Party
14. Power Poppy Power & Spark November Challenge - Embellish This
15. One Crazy Stamper November Challenge - Christmas/Winter
16. Stamping Sensations November Challenge - Festive Florals and Foliage

My Granddaughter's Christmas Village

A cat village in St. Julians,  Malta.

Hi, Friends......

All my posts for a few days will be shorter than usual because the fan on my laptop died and I can only be on for a brief time without it seriously overheating!!!  I guess my screamin', steamin' blog was too much for my poor overworked fan. Ha!

I am posting a fun little project that my 5 year old granddaughter made with a bit of coaching from me.  It is a little Christmas Village inspired by Jennifer Grace's Frosty Festivity kids craft idea here.  Little Peach had sooooooooooo much fun making this.  She generally has the attention span of a flea, but this kept her occupied for hours over a span of several days!  (Grandma needs to remember this!!!)

This is the first time I've let her paint with temperas.  She had a blast.  Kept this very busy and active little gal occupied longer than I would ever have imagined.  




 I knew those toilet paper tubes I had been saving lately would come in handy!

The roofs were circles cut from patterned cardstock she selected from my stash.

Oh, joy!  Oh, delight!!!  Is there anything more fun than playing with fabulous, shiny, sparkly glitter????  She actually did quite a good job of keeping it contained....considering that glitter is one of the most UN-containable substances in the universe!  :)  Of course, peeling the dried glue off of her fingers was almost as much fun as the glitter, itself.




So proud of her little village.  She has had a ton of fun playing with it, too!



And.....for the grand reveal.....

All lit up with those little battery powered tea lights..........MAGICAL!!!

Do these look like psychedelic mushrooms to anyone else besides me?

Super-fun craft!  A big thanks to Jennifer Grace and her Frosty Festivities for this idea!!!

Thanks for visiting.  I'll be back later with some cards I have been making......after my computer cools down!!

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering my granddaughter's Christmas Village in the following challenge:
1. Jennifer Grace's Frosty Festivities 2015 Link-Up

CAS Christmas - FWF 11-20

Hi, Friends......


I am here with another card 
made with inspiration from one of Jennifer Grace's Frosty Festivities 2015 projects here, where she inspired us to use one or both halves of a large stamp separately.



I also am entering this card in the Unity Designer Hop and Friends with Flair Link-Up for this week.  There's a big hop and sale over there, so be sure to join us!!!  

If you hang out around my blog much, you know that CAS (Clean and Simple) is not my usual genre.  Also, it is almost unheard of for me to make a truly one-layer card.  (Too scary!!  What if I mess up???!!!????  I might have to toss out a ten cent sheet of cardstock!!!  Yikes!!)  This time, though, the simple one-layer style seemed to fit.  (Sorry for the shadowy photography...)

I used my Stampendous Jumbo Poinsettia cling stamp....which apparently is discontinued.....and stamped it off the edge of my white cardstock base with Versamark ink.  I used the same ink with a lovely Unity grab bag stamp for the Christmas sentiment.  Then I heat embossed with gold powder.  LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!  I was so delighted with this elegant look that I made four of them.....and I only messed up two of them!!!  Ha.  :)

Hope you like this card, too, and that it inspires you to try out CAS....even if it isn't your usual style.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1.   Jennifer Grace's Frosted Festivities 2015
2.   Unity Designer Hop and Friends with Flair Link-Up
3.   Southern Ridge Trading Co. November Challenge - Christmas
4.   Word Art Wednesday Challenge #210 - Anything Goes Family Friendly
5.   Crop Stop Linky Party #10 - Anything Goes using a brand CS sells (I used Stampendous and Versamark)
6.   Wow! Embossing Powder November Challenge - Anything Goes with Heat Embossing
7.   The Glory of Christmas Challenge #72 - CAS Christmas
8.   Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Christmas
9.   Craft Rocket Challenge #4 - Add a Sentiment
10. Stamping Sensations November Challenge - Festive Florals and Foliage

In Sympathy....

Hi, Friends.....

I am here with a sympathy card I was asked to make a while back and hadn't ever posted.  It was for a gentleman in our community who had lost two close family members in a short period of time.  I made it big enough so it could be passed around at church for anyone to sign that wished to send heartfelt messages.

I used a large panel from an old DCWV Photo stack and cut it into three pieces for a window effect.  The sentiment panel and mat beneath are scraps that I die cut with my Sizzix - Fancy Labels Dies set. I used Core'dinations cardstock for the mat so I could dry emboss it (Darice - Interlocking Circles folder) and sand it to bring out the design.  The sentiment is from my Verve - Scripture Medley 2 stamp set.

It was a challenge to use ribbon on the card and still look appropriate for a man.  I layered my blue raffia (before I was down to my last scrap!) over some sheer brown ribbon to help it not get lost amongst the busy print.  I was pleased with the look for a masculine card.  What do you think?

The ribbon was wrapped completely around the card front and covered on the inside with a blue liner with lots of room for writing greetings.  I really like how the card turned out.

That's all for right now.  I hope to be back later with some more cards.  See you then..........

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1.  The Male Room Challenge #23 - Remembrance or Sympathy
2.  Word Art Wednesday Challenge #210 - Anything Goes Family Friendly
3.  Pixie's Snippets Playground Week #203 - Use Snippets
4.  Country View Challenge # 33 - November - The Color Blue
5.  Crop Stop November Challenge - Anything Goes + Use a brand CS carries (I used Core'dinations and Sizzix)
6.  Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #46 - Use Scraps
7.  Craft Rocket Challenge #4 - Add a Sentiment

Quick Autumny Gifts

All safe at home together.  These are our three youngest kitties.....littermates, born last year to my daughter's cat, Cleopatra.  The little female, Judith, in the upper right had been missing for a couple weeks or so.  I was heartsick because of all the predators we have around here, but I kept hanging on to hope that she was still alive.  Our recent weather has been cold and violent, in turns.  Last night the wind was gusting around 50 mph.....not exactly clement weather for a little lady kitty all out on her own.  But today she came racing on to the back porch area......dehydrated and skinny, but okay.  It was sweet to see her tonight all snuggled together with her two brother kitties:  Caspian (left) and Brian.  Judith has the best spot with Brian half-lying on her.  :)

Hi, Friends....

I have been doing a little crafting (in between naps!!) but haven't gotten anything posted for a while.  One fun and easy project I worked on recently was a set of autumn decorated jars filled with candy that I made to give to some girlfriends who had birthdays.  

I used some recycled almond butter jars and wrapped either some burlap ribbon or sheer ribbon around them.  (I scored these ribbons at 90% off at Walmart!!  Woo-hoo!!)  I attached some autumn leaves over the sheer ribbon, but left the burlap ribbon by itself.  I used my Sizzix - Circles, Scallop dies to cut scalloped circles from some DCWV autumn scraps for the jar lids and topped with some autumn leaves I had glittered and some gold bows.  I filled them with some yummy wrapped caramels, toffees, etc.  Super easy peasy!!!

Another little thing I usually include in gifts for my girlfriends is a set of A2 sized notecards.  I do the very simplest thing imaginable.....I choose pretty DCWV patterned paper, trim and fold.  On these particular sets, I rounded the two outer corners of each card.  I tie together 2 each of 3 prints with white envelopes with a coordinating ribbon and package them in a zip-close sandwich bag.  So super easy, but they seem to like them.  :)  For these girlfriend gifts, I also included a purchased autumny kitchen towel.  You can see the gifts for these three gal pals in their sets below:

Hope this has given you some ideas for simple and quick autumn gifts.  Wouldn't some of these make a nice hostess gift for Thanksgiving?  And the ideas can be adapted for Christmas or other occasions by varying the prints and patterns.  You could even try making more masculine-looking jars, since some guys really like candy. These would be easy to make ahead and have on hand for quick gifts!  (I say this in theory, only, because I don't know when I have ever made a gift ahead of time to have on hand!!!  lol..  Well, maybe my notecard sets, but nothing else!)

Thanks for stopping by!  I have a bunch of Christmas cards I've been making that need to be blogged, too, so you might be seeing a lot of posts coming soon...if I can muster up the energy!!!

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering these decorated jars in the following challenges:
1.  Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #46 - Use Scraps
2.  Pixie's Snippets Playground Week #203 - Use Snippets
3.  Tuesday Throwdown #271 - Shopping Spree
4.  DL.Art November Linky Challenge - Anything Goes
5.  Little Scrap Pieces Show-It-Off Saturday Linky Party - Anything Goes
6.  Amusing Challenge - Fall Colors
7.  DRS Designs Challenge #201 - Inspired by Color