Editing to add:
Hubby nearly dislocates jaw at Karate today – now it doesn’t close properly!		And he wonders why I don’t want to join Karate!!
But even more important to add:
Bank has caught the bad guys and put the money back in our account!		Hurray!
Kidlets are feeling better.  After 3 days of Harper being really sick the meds are starting to work and she is less like a zombie!		She never gets sick so when she does it is a doozy – glad she is on the mend!
Sun is shining and it is 70°F outside!		I’ve taken the kidlets outside for some fresh air and it is doing everyone some good!!  Ahh, spring!
And really awesome to add:
Totally forgot it was Mother’s Day this weekend so guess what I am asking for??		Oh ya – some scrappin’ time!!  (Oh and some breakfast in bed of course!)

So Happy Momma's Day to everyone out there who is a Mom!  Hope you get spoiled. :)

Not I bumped my head, banged it on something or even fell and then bumped my head.  No, it was more like – Go straight to falling on head; do not pass Go, do not collect $200!

Want to see whose fault it was?

I am pretty sure he is toying with going to the dark side.  Just look at him mocking me with what looks like a thumbs up!  Remember you heard it here first - Obi Wan Kenobi is thinking of going over to the dark side!

So this is how it went down.  I was innocently walking through my bedroom and was unaware of Obi Wan’s evil plan.  You see he was laying waiting in the middle of said floor and I was barefoot.  As any parent knows stepping on a toy such as this will cause weirdly strange pain (especially if contact with the bare arch happens!) So I stepped, Obi Wan got my arch, and I tried to make a strange hoppy movement to stop the crazy, weird pain.  I, of course, lost my balance and instead of falling like a normal person I went directly down on my head.  Right in the middle of the forehead.  Now that is pain!  My hands did try to stop the fall but they were useless.  (I am pretty sure Obi Wan knew this would happen!)  I have to admit that even in the pain I laid there thinking – wow!  I wish someone had seen that ‘cause that was hilariously funny.  I mean movie funny.  Like that could only happen in a movie and no real person falls that way.

Again, I am pretty sure this was Obi Wan’s plan all along.  He is going to be one evil dude if he converts to the dark side.

So, throbbing headache still, I am taking it easy today.  Was supposed to be making some scrappy stuff but my head is hurting too much.

So today I will share another sample for a class I am teaching.

This is from my class Paradise Point.  It is offered at all 4 GASCs but I believe both Arlington, TX and Chantilly, VA are sold out.  That leaves it open to the folks from Grand Rapids, MI and Chattanooga, TN.

Class is sponsored by Fiskars and Heidi Grace and we make a really fun mini album.  See for yourself.

Lots of fun texture, clear pages and easy to make - great for any photos.

The class is offered on the Friday of the above shows – 4:00-5:30pm.

OH and one more thing.  I have had some inquiries if I am going to be selling some class kits online to people who live too far away from the GASCs. 

I am looking into it.  Some of the products in these classes are donated so I obviously cannot sell any kits that have this but I am looking into getting everything figured out.  So if you are interested in any of the class kits you see posted, then shoot me an email.   I have started a list.  There is no commitment – if I can get it arranged I will email you and you can decide then.  If you change your mind I will just move to the next person on the list.  OK?  Questions? Email me.  I don’t bite ;)

Progress. :)

These are my book layouts.  All of them.  Some I haven't seen for a year! Approx 18" tall!

Returned to me because my book is done!  Woohoo.  You see your art gets sent in for photography and then they need to hold it just incase something needs to be re-photographed.  When your book is finally printing they send it back to you.  This is progress.  Book progress.  :)

And it makes me very happy.  :)

So, enough about me.  What are you doing for National Scrapbooking Day?  Scrapbooking I hope.

Me?  I'm hoping to get the kidlets occupied and spend some serious time with my scissors, paper and adhesive.  They miss me.  I've been neglecting them.

So today it is official.  It is Magnus' "real" birthday.  I had trouble explaining to Magnus that Saturday we celebrated his birthday with a party but his actual birthday was today.  He responded with, "So I am having a fake birthday and a real birthday?"  Well, I guess.  Kind of.  So hard to explain these things to a four year old who sees in black and white.  I have to say his logic did make me smile. 

And today he woke up asking if he was getting a real cake today for his real birthday. I think he has probably been reading this book too much.  All about a real vs. pretend (great book by a Canadian author)

And the best moment from his birthday party on Saturday?

When he opened the above present and exclaimed that he had wanted it for years!  Made everyone laugh with that one!

And now I wanted to ask you - Should I start up the Friday Challenges again?  I sort of stopped cause I got really busy but there were a bunch of you playing along and must have a little book half full and waiting for more.  Let me know in the comments if you want to do them again or email me.

Oh and don't forget to visit me at MyCraftivity.  You will see I have turned into a Crazy Craft Stalker there - read here to find out more. ;)

You may already know this but I bet there are some out there that don't so I thought I would share.

A lot of times I crop my photos directly on the computer before printing but that it is not always possible, especially when printing a lot all at once.  So sometimes they getting printed even though I know they would look better with some simple crops to take away distracting background details.  For example see the photo below.  It would definitely look better with some of the bold background taken away.

So I make manual crops with my paper cutter. But it is easy to crop to much or too little - and the cuts are permanent!  So I use these.

Pretty boring looking aren't they?  I made them myself out of black cardstock and they are about 2" wide.  I just used some scraps. But look what they can do for you quickly.

By moving them around it is easy to get a visual of what the photo will look like cropped.  Once I have a crop I am happy with I just make small marks in the corners and then get busy with my paper cutter!

So simple and so easy to make.  Hope it helps someone :)

(Oh and thanks to my sister who is the person in the photo - she made a great photo model for this demo!)

So we are prepping for a big day in the Jeffrey Rieger household.  Tomorrow we celebrate Magnus turning 4.  Every birthday party for the last few months has been torture for Magnus as he struggled to understand that is wasn't his birthday yet.  But now the big is almost here.

Yesterday we went and chose the cake and spent way too much time in the party store deciding on a theme and decorations. :) After much deliberation on his part he finally decided on a "Cars" party.  Believe me, it was a hard decision!  And then Magnus wanted a new shirt for his birthday.  A Cars shirt to be specific.  To match the cake and the decorations.  We went and looked and looked and nothing.  (Funny  - and irritating - that you can not find things you see all the time when you need them!) 

So as an alternative (and because Magnus is learning his numbers ) I altered a t-shirt for him.  He has been facinated with the number 4 (go figure!) so this is what I made him to wear to the party.

Yup!  Felt letters that I normally use on scrapbook pages have made their way onto this cute little t-shirt.  I just pinned them in place and handstitched around each letter with embroidery floss.  Took about 25 minutes and now he is the proud owner of this personalized tee. I like this better than a boring old Cars t-shirt anyway!

Have a great weekend everyone!