Easel Card Tutorial, Lemon Muffins recipe, and Homemaking Link Up Weekend

   
Who loves a great card tutorial?  I do!  I've recently really been getting back into card making more as I'm anticipating an upcoming scrapbooking retreat! This Easel Card is so easy and fun to make---I'm trying to find a good reason to make a whole bunch more!

Start by cutting a 12x12 piece of card stock into thirds so you have 3 pieces that are 4x12.  You will only be using one strip for the card so one piece of 12x12 will make 3 cards!  Score the paper at 4", 6" and 8".  I use the track of my cutter as a guide and use this bone folder from Martha Stewart to score my lines.

Fold the paper at the score lines and adhere one 2" piece to it's nearest 4" piece on the inside.

Stand up the glued piece to look like an easel.

Decorate the face of the card in your own creative way.

You can use anything you'd like to act as a "stopper" for the standing piece.  Buttons and foam-backed embellishments work great.  I used this cute typewriter key egg embellishment and was reminded of the Cadbury commercial where the bunny lays the Creme Egg!  I loved that commercial as a kid!!

   
When you've finished your card, why not send it to a friend and invite her over for tea and muffins? 

Lemon Muffins  (makes 12-18)

2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup sour cream or yogurt 

2 large eggs
5 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon extract

Mix the dry ingredients together and then make a well for the remaining ingredients.  Mix until combined and spoon into muffin pans.  Bake at 375°F for 15-20 min. or until the muffins are light brown on top and done inside.  Let cool in pan for 5 minutes or so and then turn out onto a wire rack.  Yum!

Linking up with:
Bubbly Nature Creations Project Party Weekend 
Beverly's Pink Saturday 
Whimsical Wednesdays at AudraSilva.com

Golden Tone Effect Challenge

My friend Rachel from Bubbly Nature Creations has been flexing her photo-recreating muscles today and has come up with a fun challenge!  She found an AWESOME site called, PicMonkey, where users can do all kinds of funky adjustments to photos for FREE!  She's even offered a tutorial to add a subtle (or not so subtle in my case) golden-tone to your photos using the site.  

Jamie took the photo on the top the day before yesterday when I was wanting a new profile pic for my various online communities.  This was one that could have been ok, but I wasn't totally thrilled with it.  But, now that I've messed around with it on PicMonkey, I think it's sorta groovy.  In fact, one time I went to visit my grandma and she had a picture of her mother, my great-grandma, on a table in her living room.  When she left the room, I quickly snapped a picture of it so I'd always know what she looked like.  It was taken the in early 70s but was really faded out so it had the same coloring as the one I just adjusted there on the bottom.  So...yeah, that was random ---but it's kinda cool in my mind.  

Anyway, I said all that to say this:  Go visit Rachel and check out her "Golden Tone" Effect Challenge and let me know how much you LOVE the PicMonkey site!

Learning About Holland with Elmer's #CBias #gluenglitter

Last week, the kids and I had a blast creating this fun display board for the country of Holland.  This was the first time I had used an Elmer's Tri-Fold Display Board for a project and, believe me, poster board is now a thing of the past around here!

    
I plan on buying these boards about once a month so we can start making a collection of different displays for countries and other interesting things we learn about.  The kids really enjoyed this project and were worried we might have to give it away to someone.  They want to keep it for our homeschool!

Before beginning our project, we had to run to Walmart for supplies.  Selah really wanted to get this Elmer's Classic Glitter Glue, but we decided to get a package of 10 Washable Paint Pens in Classic Glitter Colors instead.  For more pictures and commentary on our shopping trip, visit my Google+ album.

When we got home, it was time to start creating!  I cut out some strips of construction paper to make a flag.  Cainan cut some grass from construction paper and, along with some of the other kids, colored some strips of scalloped border that I printed from TeacherHelp.org.  Elisha and a couple other kids colored the letters to spell out Holland.

It was really important to me that our project reflect each one of us in it's different creative elements.  One of my favorite supplies to use when we're doing group projects is Elmer's Craft Bond Extra Strength Glue Sticks because they aren't the least bit messy and they dry clear!

We had borrowed this book from the library and Lynzie made a little miniature book with a book report written on the inside.  We glued it in one corner of the display board for a "book recommendation" section.

Selah and I were both really excited to try out the new paint pens!

I wanted to try out this purple one as it had big chunks of glitter in it and reminded me of things I had when I was a little kid.  I love the way it looks---but it did get stopped up easier than the other pens and would sometimes come out a little globby.  Once I got the hang of it though, it was fine.

Selah picked green---her favorite color.

There are many great elements to add to a country display board.  It's basically a big, visual, book report.  We had an info section that listed basic facts about Holland and included a photo of some tulips there.  My favorite painter happened to be Dutch, so we added a little art info section.  Depending on the country, we might change out that section to have information about musicians, political leaders, food, etc.  We also printed a map of Holland from Europeetravel.com.

In addition to wanting the project to reflect each kid's creativity, I also wanted there to be something on the display to appeal to each child.  For some of the older ones, the Art and Holland History sections, as well as the Book Recommendation section, would be most interesting.  The younger kids prefer the map, flag, and colorful pictures.  No matter how you choose to do your country display, I can't recommend enough that you use an Elmer's Tri-Fold Display Board for a sturdy display and easy folding storage!

Happy Creating!

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.  #CBias.  All opinions are honest and are my own.

#gluenglitter

Linking with:  What's Working Wednesday @ NextGen Homeschool