Fall Beauty

One of my favorite places in Marquette is Presque Isle Park. It was a few miles from my apartment, and a great bike ride. They have the most beautiful colors in the fall. I am really going to miss my rides out there. When my parents were in town for the weekend, we walked around one morning. I love the yellows, oranges, and reds of all the trees.

The patterned paper is from BoBunnys fall line. I love the richness of the colors. I fussy cut some of the extra circles, and mounted them on foam squares for some random dimension. The flower is from Bella Blvd and of course my favorite Thickers.

Almost Summer

The long weekend is winding down, and I am looking forward to summer. We just returned from a weekend away in Door County. We hiked, biked, swam, shopped, and enjoyed some family time. We watched a huge storm roll in off the Bay. I've got 7 more days of student teaching. Then its back to my summer job....and more scrappy time at night.

My sister and I hiking on the Eagle Trail in Door County. This was a spur of the moment hike. Hence the white shorts-which are now laying in the laundry room covered in OxiClean.

 Last weekend, in the middle of garden building and planting, I managed to squeeze in a few more pages of our trip to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. 

This first layout is made from Fancy Pant's End of Summer Paper. I fussy cut the dollie paper, both on the top, and the embellishment on the middle of the left page. I misted with turquoise and gold mists from smooch. The flowers were from petaloo. I love how the water looks turquoise in this area. The water was totally different colors based on the depth and the sun during the three hour trip.

This second page was on the boat ride back to the dock. I love how blue the water looks from this angle. The orange paper was ran through my cuttlebug, and then inked. Again, the paper line was from Fancy Pants. 

This last page is from Lakenenland Sculpture park, just west of Marquette. The paper is a line from WRMK, and I had fun cutting it up into the hexagons. This was my first trip to the park, and it was super fun.

I'm in for a busy week of student teaching. My 3rd graders have a play they are putting on twice tomorrow, my 5th graders have DARE graduation on Wednesday, Thursday we have an early release, and Friday is Field Day. I think it will be a great week. And I'm teaching an writing unit, on our school year memories.

Finally some scrappy time

I'm back in the business of scrapping. I'm learning to be more productive with my prep time, and lesson planning is becoming more efficient. I'm enjoying getting back to my creative self. I'm still trying to balance out my nights with prep for school, the online requirements of student teaching, exercise, and scrapping. But I am enjoying creating again. I definitely have been directing my creative energies differently, so my concentration is different.

Here's my new favorite:
From our boat tour of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

My friends from the education program. We had to take some pictures before everyone went their separate ways.

Our Labor Day Bonfire with my church group. I hand stitched on the bottom, and all the stars are made with alcohol inks.

We built a new raised vegetable garden today. I can't wait for things to start growing and our flower beds to start blooming. I enjoyed being out in the sun. It was a warm day, but it was nice to be productive.

Happy Mother's Day-2012

First, I would like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to everyone. I have enjoyed the weekend with my mom. We traveled up to Door County for the day yesterday. We enjoyed brunch at the famous White Gull Inn. We had their award winning Cherry Stuffed French Toast. It is so rich. They have the most beautiful tulips outside. We also biked, hiked, and shopped.

I'm in the full swing of my student teaching. I've started a separate blog (http://megsteachingadventures.blogspot.com/) to keep track of all my experiences. Teaching and planning has definitely taken over the majority of my free time. But I love what I am doing.

I wanted to share my card that I made for my mom. I used alcohol inks and some flowers to make this creation. The base stamp I was resisting with was from my friend Em.

Some other goods things I found out this week. I have passed the first half of my board testing for my teaching license. I will go for the other half in July. I had a 4.0 semester, which means I will be graduating Sum Cum Laude in December.

Happy Day!

I heard on my student teaching placement yesterday! I am beyond thrilled. I feel like my prayers have been answered. Waiting was really tough, but it was totally worth it. I'm teaching in a bilingual school, in a resource room for upper elementary students. I am so excited, words can't even express it. I talked to my cooperating teacher last night, and she seems really cool and welcoming. I can't wait to meet her and the students.

On another note, I had an awesome weekend. Friday night was my last scrapbook night at church. I am really going to miss these ladies. We met once a month to scrap together, and it was awesome. Women of all ages coming together over a common love.

On Saturday I had company from home up to visit for a soccer tournament. I got to watch A's game and then we went out for pizza. It was great to catch up with old friends. I haven't seen them since Christmas break.

On Sunday, my church group went out to a sculpture park called Lakenenland. It is the coolest place. All the sculptures are recycled scrap metal. This place has multiple fire pits, and grills. So we had a cookout and then went to look at the sculptures. 

 This is one of my favorites, of the big dipper and the world below. The world is absolutely beautifuly crafted.

 The dinosaur and the fish mark the entrance. It is the first thing you can see when you are on the highway.

 The human weight is always a favorite. We could play on this for a long time. We like to put multiple people on each side.

 My friends and I on the alligator. We put the camera on a stump and set a timer.

 A beautiful tribute to the victims of 9/11

 This is once of my favorites. Its an eagle of made of steel. I love the silver pieces.

 The big snowmobile

One of the other cool features in the mine. The area that I live in is a big mining town.

Life is great. I am enjoying all the time I can with my friends. I slept through their 2am texts this morning telling me the northern lights were out. That is the only thing I still need to see while I am up here, besides a moose. Otherwise, I have made the most out of my four years. I can't believe I am almost onto the next chapter of my life.

I'm on a roll...more cards

I made some cards on Easter night. I was lucky, my students were off the next day, so I didn't rush back to school. Instead I cut the lawn and then played in my scrap room. I am excited to show these off...and I realized I didn't bring any supplies to show my friends at scrap night on Friday.

My first one is another Thank You Card. I realized I have a lot of people who deserve great thanks. I have had some awesome professors and other people in the community who have been wonderful to me. 

 This next one is my friend Em's Birthday card. I had another birthday card, that I forgot to photograph before I gave it to her.

 I really like this last one. Its cooler in person. I might run some twine down the edges for a little dimension.

Its been a whirl wind the last few weeks around here. We had two days with snow last week. 77 degrees and A/C on Saturday. Monday we got pounded with a mini-blizzard. Ice pelts, freezing rain, and snow. It was not fun attempting to open my frozen shut car, and then scrape it glove less. Hopefully this is the last of the winter weather.

Still playing the waiting game on the student teaching assignment. Its not fun waiting. It is really wearing on me, and its hard when all your friends are excited about their placements. Only time will tell.

I'm Still Here

I promise I'm still here. I've only got three more weeks left of college. It's kinda scary to think about it. I have two more weeks of classes, and then finals week. And papers...and case studies...and portfolios. I'm trying to figure out where the last 4 years of my life when.

And packing up my apartment to move 3.5hrs back home to my parents house. I have way too much food right now. Trying to figure how to eat it all, so I don't have to take it back.

Last week I co-taught 7th grade with four other students from the University. We had a classroom of 28 students, and it was a lot of fun. Middle Schoolers are full of energy. We were lucky to have a good class. The kids were very respectful and welcoming. We taught social studies-international trade; science-cell differentiation (aka mitosis and meiosis); and math-i taught special ed math for the week.

For my science lesson we learned about the phases of Meiosis, and then simulated it through art with pipe cleaners. My social studies lesson was pretty cool-we analyses the economies of a variety of countries in the eastern hemisphere. We looked at the imports and exports of countries, and who trades with who. Later in the week, my co-teacher had the students analyzing the flow of goods and the gross domestic products.

Needless to day, I have been super busy. To top it off, this past Saturday I had the first part of my teaching license certification testing. Of course it happened to be the only nice day of the entire weekend...and we were stuck in a stuff classroom.

I did get out to celebrate a friend's birthday after our testing .All four of us are in the education program, and getting ready to all go separate ways. It's going to be a sappy next few weeks. I'm totally ready for student teaching, but seeing my friends all go to different parts of the county is going to be tough.

Coming up this week-I made some more cards over Easter Weekend...and finally got them photographed. Friday night is my final Women's Crafting Night at my church (bring on the tissues). So I will finally get some scrappy time in!