creative means – fields of poppies

March 27, 2023 – 2 more weeks until spring break.

I am looking forward to my break in Panama City, Florida this year. I have never really taken the week of break for a vacation – in more than 20 years. Teachers and administrators around here are hanging on by a thread and the teenagers are ready for the warm weather…they are all twitter-pated. (shout out to Thumper)

Char’s Heart, inspired by my granddaughter, has been an amazing creative outlet for me. Click the image to see the whole shop, so far.

I am grateful that my recovery has brought me the ability to live one day at a time and reminds me that no matter how crazy things get – I can choose joy.

This weekend I had a lot of grading done in my yard. It’s a muddy mess, but I am excited to see things happening. Although I was supposed to be working on National Board Certification during this bobcat episode, the beep, beep, beep prevented me from being able to focus. The photo of the bobcat is right outside the open window where I was working. So, I chose a different endeavor (I love that word!) I made a t-shirt for my Etsy shop that reads “I choose joy”, pictured above.

My three things this morning are this: I am grateful for the time to grow, time to grieve, time to have fun…just time; I am grateful for finding new and fun creative outlets and, of course, a little time to explore them; I am grateful to have a special person in my life who makes it his mission to treat me like a Queen and make sure that I have all I want and need. Look at those roses! He didn’t just buy them, he also arranged them.

#choosejoy #charsheart #3things #gratitude

Love it!

www.etsy.com/listing/1439408395/heart-filled-with-love-period-mother

Visit my new shop on Etsy and check out my products. I am having tons of fun.

New from Char’s Heart – my latest endeavor.

www.etsy.com/listing/1416406420/keep-it-simple-comfy-t-recovery-mental

Smash book!! Gearing up for my my next adventure in Italy!

I am about two months from leading my fifth student tour abroad. This time…10 days in Italy! For each trip I like to make my own smash book to record all of the wonderful moments of our journey.

For those of you that don’t know about the smash book – read this.

getting ready; another smash book

As I prepare for for my trip this summer with students I am continuing my tradition of keeping a smash book throughout the journey. I can’t wait to fill it!!

We are traveling with Education First Tours (EF Tours) and will be visiting Germany, France, Spain, and Portugal on a 16 day trip. I have the largest group yet, at 27 travelers. I encourage them to write about their experiences while we are traveling and I model this with my smash book. Writing down the little jokes and other things that make you laugh; exploring your feelings as you are far from home in a new culture, recording your memories for years to come…these are the things I tell my students when they ask “what should I write about?”

Thanks for reading my post! Read more at Fields of Poppies. The original SMaSH Book post is here.

baby boy brag book

I posted the baby girl book – I felt I needed sexual equity – here is the baby boy brag book. Blue, yellow, and green with lots of ribbons and buttons.

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baby girl brag book

I recently made this paper bag album for a colleague. I so enjoy making these little brag books. The color scheme – pink, green, and yellow – ridiculously cute. Ribbons and buttons are two of my favorite cuteness tools.

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Stonehenge and Day 13, 2015

Day 13 of a 14 day trip – one of the best and the busiest. I visited this site in June of 2015 with a student tour from EF Tours (Education First) . I love using this touring company to lead student tours. Anyway – this stop, one of the last on the tour, far surpassed expectations. A bucket list item for years and years, Stonehenge and the surrounding area truly boggles the mind. As you can see from my SMASH BOOK page we did quite a lot on this last day on tour. In fact, because we had ditched the middle school group that had been traveling with us – it may have just been the best day on the tour! I have difficulty in declaring this because I loved every country we visited on this tour (Ireland, Scotland, Whales, England).

I know the photo of Stonehenge does not look any more remarkable than any other photo you may see on the internet, but when I am able to take it myself something amazing happens. Visualization becomes more reality based. I firmly believe in putting the camera down and living in the moment. I encourage travelers to encounter the environment and experience the wonders without looking through the lens (or phone). Still, as an avid photographer, when I look around sometimes all I see is “the shot”. Like this one of the teenager and the horse head at Stonehenge. Why not?

The slide show contains photos of cathedral and smash book.

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We started our day in Salisbury with the Cathedral and the a viewing of the Magna Carta. Displays of honor and remembrance of local veterans from WWI and WW II fill the halls and alcoves of the cathedral. Also, a display on a wall (in honor of the language of change) amazed us as the illuminated words and letters seemingly moved to avoid our touch – only to form new words. I profess that words are power daily in my classroom. So, to see this presentation and read first-hand about the Magna Carta felt somewhat cathartic and validating – just plain cool. Amazingly, there was no security surrounding this precious document – not like our own Declaration of Independence. It merely rests under glass in the center of an unguarded room in a small tent protecting it from harsh lighting. It is all very unassuming.

The day’s journey across the English countryside revealed the fields of poppies to me for the first time. So beautiful – and again – unassuming.

We took the Underground to the fictional home of the fictional character and found a real store…221B Baker Street. The statue of Sherlock stands nearby.

Next – we traveled a bit more to satisfy the dream of one of my travelers…visit Abbey Road. My son and I – and the rest of the group – did our very best at trying to recreate the famous Beatles cover as we crossed this very busy street. Our tour director, Steve, told us how annoyed the locals get at the tourists in this spot. I try very hard to be respectful of these types of things, but the heart wants what the heart wants. The white building in the background was then and is still now a music studio. We rode our first double-decker bus back to the hotel for the night. Quite a full day.

If you would like to climb to the top of Mt. Vesuvius in Italy or tour the ruins at Pompeii I would for you to take a look around!

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Decoupage Collection – Pretty in Pink

One of the things I love about crafting – the beautiful paper. Paper can reflect my mood almost as wonderfully as words, music, and photos. Expressive decorative paper brings me joy.

These all started at unfinished wood. The pink with white flowers makes me smile every time.

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Memory Keeper Box

Great for special occasions and trips!

When I had my Etsy Shop (Miss Elaineous) I sold many memory boxes…they were so fun to make! I used an unfinished wooden box from Michael’s Crafts to start. I would decoupage the outside and the inside – leaving the inside side walls of box and lid bare and natural. Inside, I would put an embellished journal and an original paper bag photo album every time. Other items were usually jars of some sort to hold trinkets or souvenirs of some sort. This one was for a honeymoon couple. The jar pictured was for sand from the beach.