Scrapbooking Party

Good Monday morning!

The Showcase Pic this morning is of Miss Roxie. She was in the mood to have her picture taken after church Sunday (of course), and Mikie was happy to assist. It's a twofer since she's standing in front of our AMAZING giant white azalea bushes which are definitely showing out this week.

There are very few Gallery Pics today. The "zoo" thing didn't happen... but the "shopping" thing did. I have no pictures of the mall, but Roxie and I did have fun. I'll keep my fingers crossed for next week! I have added a few more pics of Roxie's Sunday photo shoot and Austin's Finals Basket. I decided to go with The Twilight Zone DVD instead of the John Wayne collection. The people who market John Wayne DVDs are brilliant. They only put one good John Wayne movie on a DVD along with three or four other movies I have never seen. I wanted the Good John Wayne Movies DVD, but there is no such thing! However, The Twilight Zone is pretty cool. Austin's never seen that old show.

RANDOMNESS #1 - In case you're wondering, no rhubarbs were cooked or baked this weekend in my home. There was an enormous amount of cooking and baking, but I stuck to the basics. I'm going out today for the ingredients, so pictures should be forthcoming!

RANDOMNESS #2 - This morning when I went through the drive-thru line at a local restaurant to buy my large Diet Dr. Pepper after walking, I accidentally handed my arthritis medication to the young man in the window instead of the $2 which I was holding in my other hand. I may be arrested later today. If there is no post tomorrow, you'll know what happened. I was trafficking fish oil pills to minors!

Weekend Review

Our weekend was different, but very enjoyable. Since I have a few tales to tell, I'll share a little with you today, and finish up tomorrow.

Austin and his JSU friend, Nick, arrived Friday afternoon for a weekend visit. Nick is from a small town in Georgia, and he is also a Marching Southerner. I immediately liked him. He was easy to talk to, had nice manners and a great laugh.

We talked for a few minutes when they arrived (or as Mike and the boys like to call it, he sat through the interrogation), and I learned quite a bit about Nick. He is a Christian (Austin had already told us this). He is a music education major. He sings well. He loves X-Box games. He likes LOST.

While Austin, Nick and Josh played X-Box and planned their evening, I finished preparing dinner... vegetable beef soup and Refreshing Cake. (By the way... this is third Refreshing Cake I've made in a week. We're getting a little burned out on the Refreshing Cake!)

Things were going well at dinner and we were sitting around talking comfortably. Until... "Josh, did you know Nick is a LOST guy."

Well, being from a Southern Baptist background, when you say the word "lost" it means not "saved" which in turn means not Heaven-bound!

Everyone immediately became silent, including Nick. I looked around the table not understanding the problem until Josh said, "Gee, Mom. Why don't you just tell him he's going straight to ____."

By that time, I was back-tracking trying to explain what I meant. "Nick is a guy who watches LOST." Even Nick thought I was attacking his spirituality!

Mike later told me it was worse than the night Austin's roommate, Kris, came to dinner. In the middle of a conversation about finals, Roxie stared him down and asked, "Are you a smoker?" It caught everyone off guard, but Kris answered with the correct response, and everyone went back to their dinner.

I'm pretty sure Austin isn't bringing home any more college friends... and I guess I can't blame him.

Tomorrow I'll talk about feeding Four Men and a Little Lady for a weekend, and tell you why I didn't visit the Birmingham Zoo... after I said publicly I really, really wanted to... really, really badly.

Scrapbooking Party

When Austin was two years-old, I attended my first Creative Memories EVENT, and immediately and forever fell in love with scrapbooking. I was a consultant for five years, and thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of scrapping. The creative outlet, preserving memories, taking pictures, etc.

Seventeen years later, I am still going strong. It was not a passing hobby for me. It is a lifelong passion. Roxie has created her share of scrapbooks, too, and I'm so glad it is something she enjoys doing as well. I hope this hobby continues to be "together time" for us as she goes from teenager to adulthood in a few short years.

Today's party ideas come from http://familyfun.go.com/parties/come-scrap-with-me... and I added a few of my own tips here and there.

1. For the hand-delivered invitations, create a tag with the party information and tie it to a pair of decorative-edge scissors (about $1 each). Ask the girls to bring both to the party, along with photos and supplies to share.

2. Decide on the size of your guest list by considering how much table space you have.

3. To help create as much workspace on the table as possible, string a cord across the wall, then clip shared supplies to the line, including stickers and photos of the girls from group adventures. At the party, the kids will have a great time using the photos on their pages and remembering all the field trips and parties they have shared.

4. Once all the girls arrive, use a digital camera to take a group shot. While they work, print copies of the image on photo paper. The girls can then use the photo and their invitation to make a page about the party.

5. Make sure workspace is separate from snack space (ideally in different rooms). One spilled drink can ruin a lot of hard work! Pretzels are a classic crop snack because they're not greasy.

6. If a houseful of kids with scissors isn't enough chaos for you, try this game! Have one crafter don a special scrapbooking hat. (The writer picked out a lovely tiara.) Each time someone asks for a specific supply ("Can you pass the zigzag scissors?"), the hat gets passed to the next person. At a few random times during the party (set a timer as a reminder), award a small prize to the person wearing the hat. (I love this idea. Fun.)

7. Help them get started. The kids will have brought photos they want to use, which will partly determine their page design. The girls won't need much prompting with themes, but it's nice to have a few suggestions for page starters, just in case. (You can let the girls look through your own scrapbooks to get an idea of what they need to do if they've never scrapped before.)

8. Offer a range of supplies. You provide the following:

Scissors
Pens and markers
Assorted scrapbook papers
Page protectors
Photo-safe glue sticks and/or photo splits
Stickers
Buttons
Ribbon
Small paper cutters
Photos
Craft and hole punches

The girls can bring the following:

Invitation and scissors
Photos
Scrapbook (if they have one)
Any tools or supplies they want to share

This is not a one hour party. I would plan on two to three hours with a specified snack break in the middle. Try to invite girls you know enjoy crafts. If you have one or two who might get bored, you may have a party where half the girls are cropping and half are roaming around wanting to do something else. (If your daughter is a dedicated cropper looking forward to this party, it could cause a problem if several girls wander away.)

This could easily become an annual event for your daughter and her friends, and while it is messy (paper-wise), the clean-up is really minimal if you have all the girls pitch in before they leave.

Enjoy making memories (and preserving them) with your daughter and her friends!

Have a good Monday. If you want your kid/kids to cook a meal for you in the near future, check in tomorrow for a recipe your ten year-old (and up) will be able to prepare. You'll just need to supply the ingredients and the recipe!

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda