CTS #372

Good morning again and happy Thursday!  I hope you all are having a great week.  I am getting ready for the boys to start wrapping up school work this week. It has been very interesting around here. Since I homeschooled all the kids until 7th grade, it was a pretty easy adjustment for us to switch back to doing stuff at home. The kicker was, it wasn't so easy of an adjustment for the schools and teachers. Turns out only my high school guy is required to do work from home as far as my two in brick and mortar schools go. So, he is watching his middle brother goof around while he has to do some work. Ha ha! Luckily, the teachers have adapted quickly and are SO organized. I commend them because I know how hard it is to take a brick and mortar school concept and try to make it work at home. OH BOY DO I KNOW! Our first year of homeschooling was rough to say the least. My youngest is still at home doing online schooling so we were pretty sure it wasn't going to change anything for him. Turns out, we were wrong. There were a few weeks where the state wanted the virtual school to shut down also while the administrators argued that it didn't make since because we are all at home doing what other schools were going to have to switch to. Luckily, that all worked out quickly and while we were "closed" we still had access to the online curriculum and could keep working. I was relieved to have at least one thing functioning normally but I'm not so sure my little guys liked not getting a break. Ha ha! Regardless, the little and the oldest are wrapping things up and the middle is still enjoying his slacking off time. Maybe I am one of the few but I didn't make him do optional schooling. I'm not worried he will get behind or lose skills. If there is one thing I have learned as a homeschooler, sometimes kids learn more by being kids.

Something else that I have learned is that our CAS(E) this Sketch challenge for the week is awesome and I am really bad and sticking to the sketch.  The sketch is super fun and the cards the team created are AWESOME!  I hope you'll check it out.  Here's the card I created using the sketch...kinda but close enough:

Since cleaning and organizing my stamps, I have found tons of things to play with that I forgot about. This card is fairly clean and simple using one of Frantic Stamper's Vertical Christmas Triptych Panels as the main focal point. I cut it in craft and layered it with portions from another panel to add shining stars. An ombre backdrop reminded me of desert sand which finished it off well. I added some pattern to my card base with the Diagonal Stripe Stencil and Versamark Ink. The main image is grounded with some vellum strips and a small sentiment from the Retro Label Maker Christmas Sentiments. Here's a closer look:

I hope you guys are having a great week and will join us at CAS(E) this Sketch.

Some of the product links included are affiliate links. You can use them at no cost to you with a big thanks from me!

Franitc Stamper Vertical Christmas Triptych Panels Shop at: Other	Franitc Stamper Diagonal Stripe Shop at: Other	Frantic Stamper Retro Label Maker Christmas Sentiments Shop at: Other	Gold Cardstock Shop at: Other
Lawn Fawn Kraft Paper Shop at: SC	Bazzill Basics 40lb Vellum Shop at: SC	Hero Arts Nautical Cardstock Shop at: SC	Concord & 9th Dip-Dyed Cards Shop at: Other
The Stamp Market Navy Shop at: Other	Versamark Shop at: SC	Scrapbook Adhesives Foam Squares Shop at: SC	Scotch ATG Adhesive gun Shop at: SC
Sizzix Big Shot Shop at: SC	Bone Folder Shop at: SC	Mini Score Board Shop at: SC	Xacto 12 Inch Laser Paper Trimmer Shop at: SC