Aunt Jana Camp Crafts...

"For me, the best work is passionate, fresh, well designed and well executed - the perfect balance of art and craft."

-Judy Villett

It's taken a couple of days to unwind and clean up after the boys left on Saturday; however, I did want to do a quick craft wrap-up from "Aunt Jana Camp" last week. Although most of the activities we engaged in throughout the week involved toy cars, the Wii, or the swimming pool, Thursday was designated as "craft day"--with somewhat of a snake theme.

We used watercolors to paint snake coloring pages which I printed from HelloKids.com.

We used freezer paper stencils to make snake t-shirts, using this process from Say Yes to Hoboken.

We also bought neckties from the thrift store and turned them into stuffed snakes, like this tutorial from Skip to My Lou.

We drew and colored a drag strip/mud hole for the matchbox cars to drive.

And, last but not least, we created a "Welcome home from your trip!" banner to hang from the balcony.

Needless to say, Thursday was a busy day!

Photo Challenge: Day 30

"Hope is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops... at all."

-Emily Dickinson

Day 30 (06/17/11): A photo of whatever you please.

Can you believe that this challenge is over? Can you believe that I posted 30 times in 30 days? Can you believe that I actually finished something that I started?

The end of May and the beginning of June brought lots of changes, some endings and some beginnings. It brought visits from family and friends, some planned long in advance and some more spontaneous. It brought both crazy days and relaxing days. But, with this photo challenge always in the back of my mind, it always brought inspiration.

I finish up the month today on my 27th birthday--no longer in my early twenties. I sit here without a full-time job, without knowing where we're going to live a month from now, without knowing what surprises the next year will bring. But, today, I'm okay with that. Maybe I won't be tomorrow... but today I am.

I'm finishing up a crazy but fun week with my nephews, and my fingers are crossed that Rob is able to make the first flight out of LAX today. I'm ready to see him. I'm ready to kick off this new year in style!

Photo Challenge: Day 29

"The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty.  The activist is the man who cleans up the river."

-Ross Perot

Day 29 (06/16/11): A photo with clouds.

Granted this only has one cloud in the sky. But, crazy enough, out of all of the photos I took this week of the boys, this is the only one that had even a hint of a cloud. Guess that's what happens when your subjects are close to the ground. 

Chase offered to take TJ for a walk while I worked in the front yard. After making it several houses down and back, he came back asking if we could go for a walk around the whole neighborhood to pick up litter. A heavy rainstorm the night before had soaked the ground, and left a lot of wet newspapers. As we trekked through the neighborhood, we played "I spy" with newspapers and then tried to guess whether it was "readable" or not. We left the dry ones, but figured that no one was going to sit down with a soggy paper. 

We filled up the stroller basket with wet newspapers and other tidbits of trash. Chase really wanted to save them to show his good deed to his mama, but luckily I was able to convince him that a photo would do the trick, since the garbage collectors were coming the next morning.

Photo Challenge: Day 28

"Boys are found everywhere -- on top of, underneath, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around or jumping to."

-Alan Marshall Beck

Day 28: An action photo.

This week an action photo is not hard to come by...

If you ask Chase how much fun he had at the park, he will say, " Too hot, too much walking, boring." But this photo shows otherwise...

Photo Challenge: Day 27

“Sun is shining. Weather is sweet. Make you wanna move your dancing feet.”

-Bob Marley

Day 27: A photo that plays with shadows.

After walking down to the neighborhood pool to find it closed, we set up the sprinkler in the backyard. Chase had a blast running through, but TJ wasn't too sure about it! He sat over to the side for a long while trying to get his courage up. 

We've had a great day, but I'm exhausted--there's no down time around here this week. From one activity to the other... go, go, go. Read...Wii Bowling... Library.... Take a walk... Play tennis... Throw the frisbee... on and on and on.

Photo Challenge: Day 26

"Families with babies and families without babies are sorry for each other."

-Ed Howe

Day 26 (06/12/11): A photo using the sun as lighting.

Early this morning at an unspeakable hour I dropped Rob and his sister off at the airport to begin their journey to Long Beach, CA for their father's funeral. And, now I'm savoring my last few hours of peace and quiet, until my nephews (7 and 1.5 years) are dropped off back at my house after a day at the lake with family friends. Then it will be "Jana Camp" for five days. 

I'm a bit nervous... these two are known to be a handful. My mom and I spent all last week de-cluttering my house, and in ten minutes yesterday, toys, blankets, clothes, and shoes were strewn from floor to ceiling.

But looking at this face all week might make it all worthwhile. 

And... if you have any good ideas of how to entertain these two, please feel free to pass them along.

Kid's travel journal

“You never saw a very busy person who was unhappy.” -Dorothy Dix

In a few days I'm headed out on a weekend trip with my in-laws. 22 hours total in the car with my 6-year-old nephew seems exhausting already, so in addition to the travel games, books, and activities I've collected over the last couple of days, I decided to make a travel journal for Chase to record his memories from his first big road-trip.Of course, I'm known to go above and beyond, and I'm sure I put forth way more effort than necessary for the job. Let's just hope it holds his interest for a couple of minutes. For my pride and more importantly, for our sanity!
I've also created a printable pdf to share with you. You'll find it at the end. I've removed the more personal touches from the original design and made it customizable for any trip (up to 12 days long!).You could choose the print-and-run method: print your pages on black and white, add some envelopes to save souvenirs, and then bind with rings. Or there's also the scrapbook-like route: add paper, stickers, ribbon, etc. to make it one of a kind.
What's included in the book:

• Cover page
• Overall trip plans, including where we are going, a map of the USA, who's going with us, and what we packed
• Section title page for each day of the trip (Days 1-12 are included)
  
• Journal page for each day of the trip
• Envelopes to collect souvenirs each day and a corresponding label for the envelope
• Post-trip/Looking Back section, including favorite memories, additional journal pages, additional drawing pages, and pages to attach a photo

Here are the materials I used for Chase's trip journal:

• I started off with the "so cool" scrapbook journal kit from possibilities by kolette. This really just served as an inspiration point for me, although I did end up using the acetate covers, the book plate, and a couple of the woven tabs. However, each of these can be easily reproduced or adapted for your own journal.
• Two different scrapbook paper patterns to trim pages: the blue map paper is "Road Trip" from the "Destination Vacation" collection by Reminisce and the green iconic paper is "Road Trip" by Karen Foster Design.
• To embellish the pages, I used "Are We There Yet?" rub-ons from Reminisce's Phraseology line and self-adhesive diecut stickers from Reminisce's Genuine Boy collection.
• Green satin ribbon to create the additional tabs for each section.
• White cardstock for each page. I cut the pages to 5" by 6.625" before running through the printer. Yes, I know it's not the easiest size to create, but that's the direction my inspiration kit took me.
• White envelopes to collect the souvenirs from each day. My original thought was to use paper CD sleeves, like these, but in the end I just decided on greeting card envelopes (with the flap covered in coordinating paper).

Now on to the download...
Travel Journal

**UPDATED!! The downloadable file is now available through Google Drive.

Airport Entertainment

“The airplane stays up because it doesn't have the time to fall.”
-Orville Wright

On Sunday morning, we met our flowergirls (and their mom and dad) at the local airport for a picnic breakfast. It’s just down the street from our apartment, and one of the girls’ favorite hangouts. We brought the girls a giant foam glider to play with. It was as big as they were.

N gave it a try for a while, but in general, she was more entertained with the playground.
On the other hand, R was determined to make it fly. She and Rob sent it “flying” over and over again.
Of course, when we let the big boys play with it, bad things happened…
Rob accidentally crash-landed it out onto the runway. And the girls’ dad accidentally hit a toddler coming down the slide.