Like most kids, my children have a bazillion toys and games to play with, and yet the "b" word still gets uttered around my house - bored! As I'm sure many of you out there have experienced, every time I suggest a specific toy or activity, it is immediately shot down. I have made the activity jar full of suggestions, but that, too, has failed. So this summer I have taken a different tactic. I created challenges instead; a list of items to gather that must then be turned into a game. Objects to collect outside for use as an obstacle course. Challenges involving water, since it is summer, after all. I typed up over 30 ideas, printed them out, glued them to patterned cardstock and laminated them with my Xyron. We now have a deck of Kid Creative cards for emergency periods of boredom, and from the use they have gotten so far, have met with approval from my kids. If the "b" word is flying around your house this summer, I've uploaded a copy of the challenges for your emergency intervention; just click here. You could print them and mount them on cards as I did,  print the list, or even read one out loud from the computer. If you do try them at home, please give me your feedback. I'd love to hear it!

Instead of sitting in front of my sewing machine, we spent the weekend pricing out floors, vanities and tubs for the bathroom. You see, there was a minor flood in  the kid's bathroom, and the hubs ended up pulling up half of the vinyl. Once we started looking at new floors, we thought why not the whole thing? Never liked the stuff that's in there anyway, especially the dreadful tub enclosure. So now the bathroom looks like a disaster zone, and fabric is still stacked on the table. Oh well.

We were able to set aside a sizable chunk of time to relax in the warm weather. Cleaning the car lead to an art project (makes perfect sense, doesn't it?); custom car seat covers. I had painted their previous covers, but this time the kids wanted to do it themselves. Getting the paint out of the little bottles was a harder task than they expected, so the headrests ended up with a modern art look. I admit that I asked to "help" Max with his, which was looking more like someone had smeared a few paint bottles and crayons across it rather than an intentional piece of art, but all in all the work is still his. And they had fun.

What about the snail traps, you ask? Well, a quail momma and papa and eight little babies moved into our front yard this weekend! How I wish I had pictures - the chicks are little balls of fluffy on spindle legs! We were afraid that the babies might drink the beer, so the traps have to wait. I hope my lettuce and zucchini can wait, too!

Whew! Summer's here, and I've been able to play a little. I sent off a package to Somerset at the last minute (but still by the deadline!) for their black and white call. I am finally starting to get back on track with projects for the Artist's Circle Yahoo group, and we're doing Beryl Taylor again. Happy about that one, since I was too busy to play round one. I actually ordered Mixed Media Explorations this time, and I'm so glad I did! Beryl gives great examples, and more importantly to me, lots of instruction on technique! I highly recommend it. I do want to give a brief plug for my upcoming mini-album class on June 21. Check it out at the right!  Okay, on to the challenges!

Did you hear that great sigh of relief? It's been a challenging school year, and I am so very grateful for the start of summer vacation! It's always hectic at the end of the school year, so I didn't have time until now to do Lisa's fabulous ATC challenge for My Daughter's Wish. I cheated a little on this one - I didn't have an accessible childhood picture of myself that fit the theme, so I used one of Madeline instead. I had a little fun in Photoshop with it (hurray, just got my new Elements!) and then added the ever present paint and text.