drawing lessons

J and B are taking these free online drawing lessons, so I figured I would join in and do them as well :-) The class is mostly made up of younger children, but I think there are a couple of adults too.

I have always loved drawing and did quite a bit of it when I was still in school. Since then, not so much. I want to get back into it though. My favorite things to draw were horses and dogs. Didn't do much with people. Hopefully, I can learn from Heather :-)

Anyway, here's my first drawing. Heather asked us to .....

Get your drawing pad and a pencil. At the first new page, draw a picture of a person from your head, the way you think a person looks.

A new lesson will be posted tomorrow!

My Daybook

Hosted by The Simple Woman

(FOR TODAY - May 26/08)

Outside My Window... The sun is setting and the sky is a beautiful pink.

I am thinking... I soon want to curl up and read some of my book.

I am thankful for... my helpful children. They helped me strip wallpaper this morning and then we hauled dirt this afternoon. What a wonderful help they are!

From the kitchen... I can hear one of my boys getting a snack -- a bowl of fruit.

I am wearing... a white t-shirt and some black running pants.

I am creating... a scrapbook page of one of my sons when he was only 20 months old. He was such a sweet toddler!

I am going... to get a snack, probably some nachos and dip.

I am reading... a book that I got from the library.

I am hoping... that the weather will be nice tomorrow. I will be cleaning the boys' room in the morning. Cleaning seems to go better when the sun is shining :-)

I am hearing... my oldest son and two of his friends. They are sitting on our back deck, chatting.

Around the house... things are kind of untidy. When I am deep-cleaning one are, the rest of the house gets neglected.

One of my favorite things... is to scrapbook. I love putting my precious photos on pages so I can share them with others!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Finish moving the dirt from the front of the house to the back, clean the boys' room, clean the main bathroom, finish my two scrapbook layouts I'm working on, do some baking.

Here is picture thought I am sharing..

How can these seagulls poke around is so much dirt and garbage and still look SO white!!?!

What do you do in your spare time??

I don't usually have anyone ask me that -- they can usually see that with homeschooling four children, I would not have much spare time. And ...... they would be right :-) I do, however, need to take SOME time for myself.

Most of my "me" time is spent scrapbooking. It's a hobby I was introduced to by my sister -- a confirmed scrap-addict! I love making scrapbook pages and am gradually filling my albums. My family and I enjoy looking though the albums and reliving the memories. It's awesome! I am also on a design team for Scrapbook Heaven. That means I am sent some product and have an assignment to complete a certain amount of layouts per month in return for the product. This work has a deadline, so some of my personal scrapping might need to be set aside to get this done first.

I like to make time to scrap with friends and introduce them to the fun of putting their photos on paper to be looked at by family. We recently had an all-day crop and it was a blast!

I also bake and decorate cakes in my spare time. This is a hobby my Aunt Rosalyn taught me many years ago. Between my sister and I, we have many shaped cake pans, but the majority of the cakes I do are slab cakes. I have so much fun coming up with ideas for these. Some of the more girlie ones I can treat as a scrapping page :-) and decorate them with doodles and flowers.

Most times I print off a coloring sheet and draw it right on the cake. Lots of fun! Here's one I did for a 50's party and another for a young Webkinz fan.

Cake decorating helps me with my first hobby as the money I make goes to my scrapbooking fund :-)

Another hobby I enjoy is photography. I am still learning, but and enjoying so much getting out and enjoying nature. This one also ties in with our homeschooling. We have been studying birds for several months now, and we recently bought a new camera so we could zoom in and get some shots of our bird friends.

This is not the best photo (our grass is still not green) but I wanted you to see Mr and Mrs Evening Grosbeak. They are beautiful birds and so shy. They don't come around very often and we can't get real close to them.

Our pesky squirrel friend -- he sure is cute, though!

In addition to these hobbies, I love cooking/baking and this is something I am teaching my children as well. I have two that really enjoy being in the kitchen and two that need a little push :-) We are all trying to come up with a plan for some menus and some meals that are healthy and tasty. I started a cooking blog, just so I could copy my recipes out somewhere (I figured online was as good a place as any!). I've been neglecting it lately though

I also LOVE reading books and usually have 1 or 2 on the go at any time. I just finished a set of four books by Brandilyn Collins - Hidden Faces Series. Not my typical reading but I enjoyed it. Time for another trip to the library!

When spring finally arrives (big sigh!) I will get outside to do some gardening, an interest encouraged my my mom. She teaches me what she knows about planting. The beds haven't been touched since last fall, so I'm sure I'll have some serious work to do soon!

So, there you have it -- my "spare time" in one post :-) Hope you enjoyed reading about me!

Want to win a RAK???

Carla has one up for grabs HERE!

Check out the awesome prize!

Happiness is .......... Scrappy Mail!!

Got a kit from Cupcake Scrapshop! I love it! Can't wait to use it :-)

I signed up for a 3-month subscription, just to check it out. The past kits I viewed on the site looked fabulous, and I was not disappointed with this kit. ...... and only $7 shipping! How great is that!?!

Google Reader

I added a few new blogs to my reader today. I love Google Reader -- I get to see updates as they happen, instead of stumbling upon the updates days after they were done.

The Robinson County Post -- added this one because I thought the similarities between us are cool :-) I have 4 kids, am a Robinson, love to sew and I decorate cakes :-)

Nature Notes From Above - great nature blog that my kids are I enjoyed looking through today!

Category Stories - a scrapbooking challenge blog

RiffRaffDesigns - LOVE the chipboard here! ...... and made here in Canada!

Stamping and Stuff - Some great tutorials here! Gonna take a while to go through the blog :-)

Creative Scrappers - another new sketch site.



There you go! That's a lot for one day

What a cutie!

Just a sketch I did a couple of weeks ago. I love these pics of my second son when he was a toddler -- such a cutie!

Happy Mother's Day

"Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth."
Psalm 127:3-4

I am so blessed to be a mother. It was one of my dearest dreams as a child, and I am so thankful that my dream came true :-)

Praying that your special day is filled wth love and thoughtfulness!

DT projects at Scrapbook Heaven

This month, Shannon had TWO kits at Scrapbook Heaven, and I think they are my most favorite yet :-)

I had some supplies from Kit 2. Fabulous stuff!

Here's what I cam up with.....

more layouts....

Did these for a crop at Lovebug Scrapbooking.

Sketchy layout :-)

Did this layout using one of Tina Wilson's sketches as inspiration.