June 21st: Greatest Day of the Year

Who knew June 21st would shape up to be such an amazing day? First of all, the Summer Solstice Fremont Fair is going on, and we went down to catch an eyeful. If you've never been to the Solstice Parade, you really should go. Make a special trip to Seattle if you need to. Think crazy outfits and nude bicyclists...and a freakin' MILLION people! I spent most of the parade watching the back of these people's heads. But amazing heads they were. (photo courtesy of sister...I'm sure she'll have something much wittier to say about this notable event).

Second, two good friends got hitched hitched yesterday...what could be more fun than that? Check out their sweet custom-made Koozies:Finally, I was perusing blog land and I learned a fascinating fact...June 21st is Strangely Orange Snack Appreciation Day! How did I not know this? I love strangely orange snacks! AND some strangely orange snacks actually made an appearance at the wedding. CLASSIC. Thank you to this blogger for divulging that information!

Now if the bride and groom had ridden off into the sunset on bicycles with nothing on but a coat of paint....THEN the day would really have come full circle.

School's Out for the Summa!

It's FINALLY here! Summer vacation. I know I really shouldn't complain about working since I do get two and half months off...but I swear I put 12 months worth of work into 9. Serious. Ask my sister/boyfriend/friends/family. Summer is the greatest thing in the whole wide world. I like about a week of fall, winter and spring--can't we just have a week each of those, and then 49 weeks of summer? Who do I need to speak with about this idea?

Speaking of summer, I've recently found an etsian whose work is particularly summer-y. Check out Blue Citrus Art's photography. The picture above is one of her pieces (find it here). I don't know if I really love her work because of the colors, the subjects, or the fact that the photographs remind me of albums full of my parents'/grandparents' old pictures. This one has my childhood written all over it:Off to find a pool to jump in...

Stamping Part II

Gaaaa! End of year craziness! Things are super busy at school with only 3 days to go! I like to have my kids make little presents for the art, PE, and music teachers. Since I've been experimenting with stamp-making, I thought I'd let them stamp some fabric for presents. At first I was going to let them "design" the stamps. . . but I realized quickly that that would be a little more difficult than I'd thought. So I just made a few and let them stamp away.

Finished product: Little pouches made from a pattern from Amy Karol's "Bend the Rules Sewing" (Potter Craft):

Stamp-Off

These supplies:

have been sitting in the drawer for weeks and weeks, waiting and waiting to be put to good use. Well today I finally got my act together and hosted a Stamp-Off: who can create the sweetest stamp? OK, so the only one who took me up on the challenge was Jamie. (Allison + JJ=LAME) Let the voting begin!

my stamp

jamie's stamp

He definitely gets points for cuteness. How dare he beat me at my own game??

So now I'm on a mission to have my students design stamps (I will cut of course) for end-of-year presents....hmmm....

Sister #3

Actually, she is formally known as Sister #1, because she is the eldest and most sophisticated sister of us all (sorry E & A). My sister Shannon has recently become quite the jeweler. This girl has some style. Apparently she has a bit of a phobia about being blogged about, so I'll make this snappy. There are three things you need to know about Shannon:

1. Walking around her house is like walking into a gallery of Things You Wished You Were Clever Enough To Find.

2. You shouldn't mess with her tambourines.

3. She loves tacos.

I believe she channels these three aspects of awesomeness into her jewelry.

smokin hot!

Home-made T-shirts rule.

who wore it best?

Really Stinkin Cute

Hi (12 days left).

I've been trying REALLY hard to be a SUPER patient teacher during these last days of the year. Oh wait, I mean, I'm always 100% patient. (ha!) Everyone is really ready for summer vacation. But we have been working hard and studying Africa. I had the kids make a bulletin board of an African wildlife game reserve. A little scary--leave the entire thing up to them? I wasn't sure what we'd come up with. Well the little rascals made a pretty stinkin cute bulletin board! They were super into it, too. Part of the assignment was to photograph the game reserve and make a scrap book. Adorable!

Giraffe, Owl, Warthog

Hyena

Rhinos

Lions

A salute to budding artists!