Runs with Scissors

Hello! You are just in time to help me acknowledge the “dog days of summer”. What, you may ask, is the meaning of that phrase? The dog days of summer, I learned, occur from July 3rd through August 11^th and are a period of lethargy, inactivity and indolence. A star called Sirius, the “dog star” is also involved, but I am too lethargic to go into further detail.

Thankfully, indolence did not rule the day and I have cards to share with you from the Poetic and Celebrate releases as well as Christmas cards made from last year’s Festive Wishes release.

I don’t seem able to put away the Thank You Squares die set. Here I have placed a gold star in the center of the rays and it became the “star in the East”. Those large sentiments from the Holy Night transparent set are a perfect focal point for any Christmas card.

First, I decorated the frame with the holly corner border from the Yuletide Wishes transparent set. I masked off the central part of the sentiment while inking the first and last lines with red ink (be sure to remove the masking before you stamp, a lesson learned the hard way) and then masked off the first and last lines while inking the center with black ink. I think it makes the sentiment more interesting and goes well with the bow I made from the Bow Set die.

Once again, I am using a non-holiday die to make a holiday card. The snowy background was made using the Dots die and patterned paper from the Wintertime paper pack. I colored the sweet girl image with colored pencils and fussy cut it and mounted it with pop dots. Little kids love snow; adults not so much. Non traditional Christmas colors are a good idea when you need a break from the red, green and gold.

Hooray for Teachers

Hip, hip, hooray for teachers!! My recent experience of volunteering at Vacation Bible School was a small peek into the daily life of a teacher, especially at the elementary grade level. My assignment at VBS was the “Builders’ Workshop” where five or six kids at a time spent thirty minutes of their morning creating and building with Legos, Lincoln Logs, Squigs and other creative building toys.

There was no “make and take” project, no deadlines, no standards to meet. It was creative play at its purest. No problem, right?

My experience, however, made very clear some of the challenges teachers deal with every day in their classroom. First of all, while each group was similar in age, they varied widely in their ability to listen, sit still, problem solve, follow directions and have respect for other children. Some had very short attention spans and were quickly frustrated with some of the unfamiliar building sets causing them to throw aside the pieces and move on in a pout to something else.

I noticed that the bright neon-colored plastic pieces quickly became a favorite with the girls, while the Legos “bionics” attracted mostly boys. The Lincoln Logs were shared by both genders. I did silently cheer when one of the ten year old girls made the coolest prehistoric creature ever from the Legos pieces. I predict a career in engineering for her some day.

I only had these groups for thirty-minute intervals and could not imagine spending an entire school day with them. What an incredible balancing act it must be to adjust your teaching so that you include your slowest learners while not losing the quick learners who are anxious to move forward. Today’s kids are used to bright flashing lights, animated images, control of what they want to watch on their electronic devices and rapid change from one intriguing image to another. How can a mere human being standing at the front of a non-electronic classroom compete? I will say it again, “Hip, hip hooray for teachers!”

We have all had a teacher or teachers who affected our lives forever. My first eight years of school were under the instruction of the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Classes numbered about forty kids but discipline was never an issue, so we spent our time learning. We diagrammed sentences until we could do it in our sleep. Memorizing multiplication tables was done early and often – singing, reciting, writing until we knew them inside out and upside down. We calculated math problems in our head; learned about musical notes and scales; dabbled in art history and studied world maps. And, Dear Reader, we practiced penmanship! We pushed and pulled with our pencils, allowing our fingers to “skate” on our paper. Neatness was valued above all.

I loved school and loved all of my teachers (well, Sister Theresa St. John was not as loveable as some) but it was my English teacher in my Junior year in High School who impacted my life the most.

Her name was Miss Martin. She was about six feet tall with red hair pulled tightly back into a large chignon. She wore dresses with billowy skirts and her wrists were adorned with bangle bracelets, the jingling sounds of which I can still hear.

She would have made a great School Sister of Notre Dame! The rules of her classroom were strictly enforced: no gum, no talking in class, no showing up unprepared. No excuses were accepted for late homework or forgotten pencil or paper.

Miss Martin often read aloud to us from the works of Edgar Alan Poe and I can still hear her reading his poem “The Bells”:

To the tintinnabulation

That so musically wells

Bells, bells, bells.

From the jingling and the tingling

Of the bells.

She held our attention with her clear deep voice and staccato rhythm that no electronic device ever could.

Miss Martin kept a little container in her desk drawer of topics for impromptu speeches. When there was a lull in the day’s lessons, she would call someone’s name to quickly pick one of the folded slips, take thirty seconds to prepare and then deliver a one or two minute speech. My classmate, Sherman, was forever remembered for the day he pondered his topic and then turned to the class with the bold question, “Are you fat?” He got our attention immediately and followed with a short speech on healthy eating. Miss Martin was thrilled with Sherman’s effective use of surprise when giving a speech.

We not only learned a love of literature and the English language, but we learned how to think on our feet and be respectful of everyone in the classroom and its rules.

Thank you, Miss Martin, for how my life has been enriched by the lessons you taught.

And now back to summer! I’ve used a mix of dies and patterned paper to make this cheerful summer-themed card. The Hello Framed die cut was trimmed with flowers from the Flower Bunch die set and butterflies from the Flights of Fancy die set. Summer is too precious to fast forward completely. There is still time to enjoy flowers and butterflies.

While browsing through my stamp sets, I realized I hadn’t inked up the Delicate and Dainty cling stamp. I stamped the image with Memento ink and softly colored the buds with Copic markers. I kept the softer look by stamping the sentiment with the Memento ink, too. I trimmed it all up with a bow, some enamel dots and designer paper. I am sorry I didn’t use that stamp sooner; it has such potential.

I created a bold and bright summer sky and green grass with Distress Oxide inks as the background for my hedgie and mouse from the Just for You set. I used the matching Critters die set to cut out my hedgie and mouse and the little bitty bird. Talk about possibilities! There are so many ways to make cute cards using these stamps and dies.

I just love this little guy. That is all.

Speaking of teachers, Alabama schools reopen on August 3^rd. Evidently the powers that be who manage the school system here do not believe in the dog days of summer.   Well, all I can say is good luck with that. And one more reason to be in awe of teachers who must push aside their own lethargy to teach their listless students.

It is difficult to run with scissors during the “dog days of summer”. Lethargy, inactivity and indolence do their best to take over. I am grateful for the Penny Black stamps and dies that tempt me from my doldrums and add to my enjoyment of the beautiful summer months.

For now, I have carefully stowed the scissors, wearily cleaned up my mess, and sleepily put away the Penny Black stamps and dies. And now I must barely wave goodbye as I slowly make my way to the Penny Circle Flickr Gallery for a leisurely tour of the cards you have posted.

Oh, and thank you to Penny Black for the opportunity to, once again, use the word “tintinambulation”.

Shop for today’s featured Penny Black supplies

 Card No. 1: 30-383 Holy Night, 51-346 Thank You Squares

 Card No. 2: 30-382 Yuletide Wishes, 51-212 Bow Set

 Card No. 3: 30-390 Let’s Chill, 51-003 Dots, 51-174 Greetings, 80-012 Wintertime

 Card No. 4: 51-132 Flights of Fancy, 51-199 Flower Bunch, 51-350 Hello Framed, 80-016 Summertime

 Card No. 5: 30-338 Special Thoughts, 40-510 Delicate and Dainty, 80-016 Summertime

 Card No. 6: 30-424 Just for You, 51-033 Silver Linings, 51-359 Critters