Well, here we are, Tuesday already. How's your summer going? It's
TCP Tuesday time from
The Cat's Pajamas and I'm your Hostess with the Mostess today. It's my job to issue the
stamp challenge this week. Along with the end of school comes the time we as moms have to figure out things to do for and with our kids to keep them from getting too bored (even though we are going to hear about it anyway I'm sure--"Mommy, I'm bored" is what us moms like to call "white noise" and we can tune that sentence out like there's no tomorrow or jump on it like a flea on a dog and find them a chore or two to do pdq).
So when I was thinking about what stamps to choose for us to be using this week for the stamp challenge, I was in the middle of coming up with a calendar of sorts and looking up things to do this summer on the internet, to follow along with our "Summer Schedule". (See my
SUSIE Q-TIP below--you don't want to miss it! It's a classic.) That's when I decided to combine my task with something fun to create and hang on the fridge and use for our summer calendar and came up with
the challenge being to use your ALPHABET STAMPS from
The Cat's Pajamas (obviously because I needed to for my calendar pages). You don't have to make calendar pages, it can be a card or whatever you want.
My calendar pages were totally inspired by
Leigh and this calendar
HERE and
HERE she made a while back. I got my calendar template from
My Favorite Things and you can find that
HERE or
HERE if you want to make something similar to my project. I just printed them on some Georgia Pacific cardstock (it's not that thick) and then cut them down a little bit to fit onto a sheet of 8.5 x 11 that I actually cut a bit off the long edge too, making it really 8.25 x 11. It just looked better to me. I used all three alphabet sets from TCP--
Nightie,
Babydoll and
Coolvetica along with 3 other sets for decoration--
Fun in the Sun,
A Beary Good Year and
Joyride all colored with my Copics. I kept my design really simplistic as I know these are going to get handled a lot and why re-invent the wheel?
Ok, so read on to find out how you can participate and what's in it for you regarding TCP Tuesday--trust me, you want to. Then check out what we call our "Summer Schedule". I know a lot of ya'll have adopted this routine from a few years back as well, but I thought I'd share it again for ya'll newbies to my blog.
Play along with us and add your own design to your Splitcoast Gallery using keywords
TCPTUES113 or to your blog and then use the Inlink button at the bottom of the
TCP Tuesday post on Alma's blog. You could be eligible to be the next
Swanky Stamper of the Month and win 25 smackeroos, that's $25 in Cat's Cash. Here are the simple deets for the challenge:
1. Each a week one of The Cat Pack will host a challenge.
2. The challenges will vary {stamp, technique, color, theme, sketch, etc.}
3. You will have until the end of the month to complete the challenge.
4. Post your design using the Inlink Button at the bottom of
Alma's TCPTUES post. Your design must be linked and visible to this blog post to be considered.
5. TCP stamps are not required, but of course, highly encouraged. {Unless it's for the stamp challenge}
6. There will be one winner each month. They will be deemed that month’s Swankiest Stamper and get
$25 in Cat’s Cash {money to spend on the TCP site!}.
7. Only designs posted to this blog post will be considered for the Swanky Stamper.
8. The newly crowned Swanky Stamper will be announced on the First of the Month and have his/her winning entry posted on The Cat’s Pajamas website where he/she will reign for the entire month.
SUSIE Q-TIP: I'm going to do a re-run and re-post what the girls and I refer to as our "Summer Schedule". We've done this for 2 or 3 years now (notice I mention I have a 4 year old below? She's 6 now, but would still partake in swimming in the bathtub with her bathing suit on if I let her, which I totally will. Why not?). Even before school let out, the girls were already asking me if we could follow this schedule. They LOVE it! I say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!
MONDAY MOVIE DAY--Pretty self-explanatory. Set child/children in front of TV and turn DVD player on. Continuous play buttons are extra handy. No really, after a busy weekend, they need down time. A couple of movies in a row won't hurt, or take them to a movie (Mondays are .50 cent days at a local theatre here), learn about a movie, make a movie.
TUESDAY TOY DAY--Don't you just love all the toys they have, but never play with (and then they complain they don't have anything TO play with?)? This is the day to say, play with the TOYS! Even outside toys are renewed when summer hits! Break out the rollerblades and bikes. Make a toy, have a puppet show, buy the toy you've promised them as a reward, build something.
WEDNESDAY WATER DAY--This one is fun. Take child/children outside and spray with water. They love it in the eyes. Get creative with this one. The obvious ones are play in a play pool, sprinkler or bathtub (seriously, my 4 year old loves to swim with her swimsuit on in the tub!). We don't have a pool, so if you don't either, take them to a waterpark or sneak over to your neighbor's pool while they are gone, making sure they don't use the dye that turns color if a potty accident occurs. This is also a good time to do science experiments that involve water or anything liquid. Read about the ocean and/or ocean animals. Potty train.
THURSDAY THOUGHTFUL DAY--You may have to force this one. The intent is to teach your kids to think of others, but the thoughtfulness concept is still an embryo until the age of 21, so keep that in mind. Today, make something for someone else, write a thank-you note, make a card for someone (who'da thunk and here's your chance to stamp), clean up something you didn't do. Make/send some flowers to a neighbor. Anything charitable or helpful toward others. The good thing about Thursday Thoughtful Day is that you get to play that card when they don't share and then they don't get the reward toy the next week on Tuesday Toy Day, totally forcing them to play with what they already have. If you're low on dough, have your radar ON for this.
FRIDAY FRIEND DAY--Farm your kids off for the day to a friend's house. If you're extra lucky, said friend will have them stay the night. Ok, if that's not possible, make Fridays a day where they get to have a friend over, or go do something with a friend. Scheduled "co-op" times between moms to take each other's kids, even for a couple of hours is greatness and majorly helpful for your sanity (remember this on Thursdays). Do I have any takers?
Seriously, this is a FUN weekly thing to follow and kids enjoy the structure of having something to look forward to. It's not imperitave that you stick to it and the activities don't even have to last all day. However, I think in the long run, you will have more time to get some stuff you want to get done if you just set that aside for a bit and share some time with them first. Only after that can you then also pull the "Now it's time for Mommy to play" card. I actually made a few of these days so that I'd have "built-in" stamping time. (But chores and laundry also have to get done--maybe I'm the one in need of a schedule!) I'd love to hear any suggestions of ideas for any of these daily things to do. If I get a lot of ideas, I will compile them here in a later post. Thanks for reading!!
Well, I'm getting to this blog post a little later than I had hoped. Things didn't quite go as planned this morning. Audrie got asked to go to a friend's house earlier than I expected, so I went ahead and took care of the errands that needed running this morning while she was gone, rather than this afternoon, so my blog post time got pushed back a tiny bit. I'm sure nothing like this has ever happened to ya'll! Same thing, a little different, right? As Audrie says, "I guess I'll just have to deal with it". Great 6 year old wisdom! Thanks for "dealing".
Anyway, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this card AND it's insides! It's another Pure Innocence girl from My Favorite Things that I had colored a LONG time ago while Eric was getting one of his chemo treatments. I was so tickled by the color combo! I can't believe it took me this long to use the image, though. I think I forgot I had it and then when I went to look at what I was going to make last night for today's post (long story--I thought I had another card, but realized that I can't show it to ya'll until next week! And since I promised a post today...I'm a girl of my word!), she leaped out of the stack and begged me to use her! She's called Heart Stripes and she's a particular favorite of mine as the "Hi, it's me" sentiment was my idea (sounds like the 'Windows 7 was my idea' commercials), really and truly! 
Okay, so here I go again (the song, Promises, Promises from The Naked Eyes comes to mind here. Gotta love the 80's music!)--I'll have another MFT blog post for ya'll tomorrow as we've got something a little special going on! Then be prepared--I'll be posting Friday AND Saturday as well! I hope I've got something left to say, or ya'll are just going to have to deal with pictures only! I'm sure I'll come up with something. Any suggestions? What do ya'll want to know? Maybe I'll have a little Q & A post!? Throw me some questions, people! (Said in my best Ty Pennington voice--he's so cute!)
