A couple of things

Hi, how's your weekend going?

Reckon it'll rain tomorrow? Hope so! Please, Mr Weather Man, we want to believe you, we really do.

A couple of things to share.

I posted this card earlier in the week - it's my World Card Making Day one. Click on it to see it larger if you like. Like, larger. You'll see the polka dot background better too. And the glitter on the blue stripes (they were pre-glittered).

I used American Crafts Butter embossing powder on the background and wanted to tell you that I saw quite a few AC embossing powders in Spotlight today. Yeah, I know, I got a bit of a surprise too. Never seen them before either.

They had Butter and Mustard (I used Mustard for the "hi") as well as Gold, Silver, other colours and some glitter ones. The powders weren't really in an American Crafts section or anything, they were on the end of an aisle facing into the middle aisle of the craft section.

Walk down the middle aisle of the craft section and scan the ends of the aisles on your left as you walk towards the back of the store. The embossing powders are at about knee height (ish!), and were 30% (or 20%) off today. Don't know their original price because there wasn't one listed unfortunately.

And Susan...hey, Susan! Remember you asked me where to find the pink polka dot stencil we used in the Polka Dots class and I didn't get back to you with an answer? Sorry about that, I remembered as I was driving home that day. Rats.

Here's my answer! Scan the right side as you walk down that middle aisle. The stencils are all pink (I think) so just look for a group of pink hanging stuff that's facing you as you walk down. You might have done this already! I looked and didn't see a polka dot stencil today. Maybe I got lucky?

Hey, look what I found! Thought you'd like to see. Cool, huh?

I posted a photo of Sarah with her reindeer card earlier in the week and then found it in the cupboard with another one. Yep, there's glitter. Knew it. And what a fun tree. It's a good Christmas card that type of thing. Make a tree out of any shape - hearts, santas, reindeers, presents, baubles, holly, teddies...anything Christmassy.

Love the different faces. You're so crafty, Sarah...

And on that point. It's interesting to see her create because it's obvious she's been hanging out with us creative girlies her whole life. We can see the skills she's picked up and just the general creativeness of it all. I firmly believe that the fostering of her creativity has aided her in other areas of learning. School isn't just about learning content, it's about learning the processes of learning, if that makes sense.

Or, school isn't just about learning content, it's about learning how to think.

Kids might say, "But when am I going to use algebra in real life?" Algebra isn't just about the answer, it's about the thinking process to get to the answer that's the biggest deal. They might not use actual algebra in real life, but they'll use the thinking patterns for algebra for sure.

I'm talking about thinking, comprehending, reading, understanding, thinking things through, being patient, working it out, working the process, following the formula, trial and error, comparing and contrasting, analysing the data, applying knowledge, using common sense, making a decision based on what's in front of you - stuff like that. And when do we use those things? All the time.

Algebra isn't silly, it's a brain stretcher.

Crafting isn't silly, it's a brain stretcher too. Oh, yeah.

And another note on Sarah's creative prowess?

Remember, she's 11.

She made her mother's layered birthday cake from scratch (a packet, but still), iced the thing and decorated it with stacks of strawberries and cream and called it a masterpiece. (She did! And it was!).

And made a whole afternoon tea spread as well.

And got us all cups of tea.

And made breakfast in bed for her mother that morning too.

All by herself!

Grandma was on occasional consultation duty from the other room with the cake, while her mother (my sister) was relegated away from the kitchen altogether. The only input Sue had was answering the, "Yellow, blue or pink?" question, which we found out later was the colour of the icing. So great.

It was nice cake too. And a nice cup 'o tea!

Good on you, Sarah. :o)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!