Luisenpark Field Trip

Recently I traveled with Jordan's class to Luisenpark, a beautiful city park located in

downtown Mannheim. The field trip was a bit of a nightmare as we waited outside in drizzly weather over two hours for our bus to show up and rode over an hour on the bus only to be

told by the two teachers in charge of the field trip that we would barely have an hour to explore the park before having to drive back to Ramstein. Not the best planned field trip I've ever been on but we had a good time for the short amount of time we were in the park. The majority of our time there was spent on the gondoletta, an inexpensive boat ride across the lake inside the park. As you ride you can see peacocks and storks roaming the park, the stork's nest, flamingos, pelicans, and we had enormous carp and a mama duck swim right up to us with her babies in tow.

Even with the park overcast and dreary, we still enjoyed the beauty of the park.

Once we got off the boat and began to make our way back, one of the park caretakers stopped my group and asked that we be careful going down the path as two geese were coming down the path with their babies. Sure enough, we got to watch the little family taking their babies for a stroll...or

a waddle, as the case may be! I made sure the boys stayed

back since the mama and daddy geese would attack if they felt their

babies were being threatened.

They didn't seem to mind us too much as they led their babies to

the water.

Aren't they adorable?!

Group photo near the penguin exhibit. Jordan on the way back, looking a little tired :)

Ryan decided to help him cheer up a bit! Jordan and I agreed that it

would be worth going back to the park when the weather improves,

especially since we missed seeing so much of the park. It would be the perfect place to spend an afternoon since there are so many places to picnic and play. I hope you enjoyed the photos of our latest adventure!

Back in the Crafting Saddle Again

I can hardly believe that it has been over two months since my last posting. So much has happened in the past two and a half months, including the fact that today is the first time I've done any crafting since my last post. At the end of March I flew to California to help my family as my uncle required care during his recovery from open heart surgery. My uncle is the primary caregiver for my grandmother, who is in the latter stages of Alzheimer's Disease, and there was no way he could take care of himself and my grandmother at the same time so off to Fresno I went. My time there had its share of ups and downs but I will always be grateful for the time I was able to spend with family: my uncle, my grandma, my dad and step-mom, my in-laws, and my mom. It was the first time since the beginning of my marriage that I really got to spend a little time with my in-laws and that meant so much to me. And I will especially cherish the time I spent with my mom and the opportunity we had to draw closer through the circumstances that brought me to California. After three weeks, I flew back to Germany and it has been the usual whirlwind of activity since then but somehow I couldn't get myself back into the spirit of crafting. In a way, I think I've been a little depressed (skip ahead if you want to pass on my little pity party). My kids are growing up, with Jordan having just turned 10 and Alex about to finish up her junior year of high school which means discussing college and goals for her senior year. Joe has been coming and going quite a bit. My business has grown pretty quiet and for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to sit down and make anything or get things going again. But a ray of light came through the clouds last night as I spent some time talking with Joe. As a result, I gave myself a good talking to and this morning I finally sat down in my decrepit office chair and crafted. Ahhh, to have ink on my fingers, glitter on my pants, and a few projects finished...a little heaven on earth! I wish I could say I came up with some stunning project but I needed to make some thank you gifts for customers and friends so I opted to start small and get out project leftovers that needed to be finished, which is how I ended up with the project featured in the photos.

This charming little organizer box is a printable template called Filed with Flair, a template featured through Papertrey Ink. The template also comes with a base that fits three boxes side by side, which I will definitely have to make in the future. I had two or three printed templates leftover from a class I taught awhile back and thought this would be a good way for me to get back in the crafting groove.

I created six cards from previous card designs for inside the box, mostly with German sentiments since this is going to a German friend of mine. The color scheme is an unusual mix of Stampin' Up! neutrals: Kraft, Basic Gray, Going Gray, Basic Black, Sahara Sand, and Very Vanilla. The box is large enough to easily fit eight to ten cards with envelopes. I'd also like to design an acetate top to fit onto the top of the box since I think it would make it look more finished for gift giving.

This is just a single note card front which allows you to make four from one sheet of cardstock. Perfect for jotting down a quick note. The flower strip is made from a left over scrap of cardstock from another project. I love making the most of my scraps!

Here's the box packaged and ready to go, except I forgot to make a tag for it before I took the photo! As I said, it's not an earth-shatteringly stunning project but I enjoyed putting it together and it will still be a lovely gift. Thanks for stopping by!