Southern Scraps

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. ~William Arthur Ward Yesterday was National Teacher Day, which is now observed on the first Tuesday of May. This entire week is National Teacher Appreciation Week. Don't worry that yesterday has passed. You can still send your favorite teacher a thank you by the end of the week. You can also participate in a great project to be unveiled next year. Send an e-card or regular card to the Teacher Thank You Card project. I love an opportunity to make a handmade card and brighten someones day with it. Here are a few details from the press release. To contribute to the Nation’s Largest Teacher Thank-You Card Project, individuals can visit www.teacherthankyoucard.org and send a free e-card or post a video thank you. Thank-you cards can also be mailed to: The Nation’s Largest Teacher Thank You Card Project, c/o NEA, P.O. Box 66458, Washington, D.C. 20035. The cards colle...

I missed posting a daily quote last month. I guess the daily blogging thing is not for me, even when all I had to do was post a quote. Anyway, I'm still doing my best to keep it going and keep it interesting. By my calculations I owe you seven quotes. So here they are. These will complete my thirty favorite quotes. The earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson Time is too slow for those who wait, Too swift for those who fear, Too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice it, but for those who love, time is eternity. - Henry Van Dyke Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Ralph Waldo Emerson Happiness is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to deal with it. Unknown Everything is always okay in the end, if it's not, then it's not the end. Unknown God gave us memories, so we would have roses in December. Unknown Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. Albert Camus

I found these cool shoes made from recyled materials tonight in a catalog I received in the mail. Since I did an Earth Day series this week, I thought I'd share them. They can be found at gardeners.com The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there. ~George Bernard Shaw, The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God, 1932 God made rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done. ~Author Unknown

Lastly, the least you can do to be environmentally responsible is GIVE BACK. How? If you must drive, you can give a tax deductible donation to an organization like carboncounter.org which funds projects to offset carbon dioxide emissions and damage. Last year at Christmas, I gave these ornaments as gifts. For each one sold, a tree is planted. Also remember to purchase post consumer recycled products when possible. Scrapbookers will be pleased to know the following about BasicGrey. "Not only are BasicGrey papers certified acid and lignin free, but our papers are green. “Green,” you ask? Yes, for every tree that is harvested to print BasicGrey paper, two new trees are planted in its place. Although paper mills are required to replant any tree that is harvested, our paper mill goes above and beyond by planting two. In addition, we do not source our paper from any paper mills that practices clear cutting or deforestation" - from the April retailer's newsletter Remember to d...

3. REPLACE disposable items with permanent, reusable ones. Some examples from my favorite place -etsy! Paper or plastic? Neither. Bring your own tote. You can even get a stylish one like this one by Jenny Hofer Designs B.Y.O.B. Water bottle that is. One refillable water bottle is less waste than numerous empty plastic bottles. Besides, that stuff didn't really come from a spring. Replace the paper coffee sleeves on your take out coffee cup. Take your own and have the coffee shop keep the paper. You can find some awesome stylish designs at jenngee Replace paper towels with microfiber towels. Use the microfiber and wash. Replace paper napkins with cloth. These napkins from ingy are so cute. Replace disposable diapers with cloth. No not your Mama's '50's or 60's plain whites. Check out these from monkeysnugglesdiaper For those of you who would counter argue that washing uses more energy and water, make sure you have a FULL load when you wash and remember to use the w...

Earth Day, celebrated on April 22, is a day dedicated to making our environment safe and sound. Arbor Day, nationally celebrated on the last Friday of April is coming up as well- April 25. Arbor Day celebrates trees, one of greatest natural resources. In honor of these days, I will be sharing five ways to go green - become environmentally responsible. So check in each day this week for a quick tip, idea, or maybe even some "green" crafts. 1. RECYCLE- Okay so this may be the oldest, most common way. It never hurts to have a reminder. Recycle newspaper, paper, glass, plastic, and aluminum. Have you also thought of these? electronics- There is a proper way to dispose of and recycle these items. Learn more here http://www.epa.gov/ecycling/index.htm oil- Do you change your own motor oil? Tips for dealing with this here http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/recycle/recy-oil.pdf running shoes- Yes, these can be ground up and used for other purposes once they are too worn to wear - ht...

I missed posting a quote yesterday, so here a two about one of my favorite things- butterflies. The butterfly counts not months, but moments and has time enough. Rabindranath Tagore What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly. Richard Bach

No cards or project by me this week. But I would like to turn your attention to this great tutorial for a wax paper resist technique at Splitcoaststampers. http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/waxpaperresist.php I haven't tried it yet, but it looks amazing. Here's a beautiful card from splitcoaststampers member "crooked river" using this technique. Today's quote: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. unknown

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. Dwight D. Eisenhower Someone sent me an email today with a link to this site. It is well worth sharing. We take a lot for granted in this country and whether or not you agree with the reasons behind wars we fought and are fighting, you should be grateful that someone is willing to fight. Take a few minutes to watch this. http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/fullmovie.php

Here's today's quote: A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words . unknown Sorry you're not getting much more than this out of me lately. Work, yard work, and house work are killing me and not leaving much time for crafting or the energy to talk about it.

Image from freefoto.com . Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. Abraham Lincoln (The photo and quote have nothing to do with each other. I just like to add eye candy.)

Busy weekend. I didn't sit down at the computer much, so I didn't post a daily quote the last two days. Here are two to catch up: The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. Henry David Thoreau There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded. Mark Twain These are rather deep. Maybe they can provoke some serious journaling if you need it for your scrapbooking.

Today's quote: Happiness is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to deal with it. Unknown.

Don't forget about the Mother's Day promo at etsy . Mom deserves the very best! No techniques this week. I will share the measurements and steps to this very simple card I made for hubby's coworker. I don't have very many masculine stamps so I used clip art from PCCrafter. This is the artwork of Dwight Kirkland from a set called Father's Day. 1. Open clip art in your graphics program (Print Shop, Adobe Photoshop elements, etc.) and size as desired. This piece is approximately 2 in. x 3 in. Print and cut out. 2. Cut mustard card stock to fit card front. Mine is 6 1/2 x 5 in. 3. Cut a strip of olive card stock 6 1/2 in long and about an inch wide. Trim one edge with wavy decorative scissors. 4. Cut striped paper 2 1/4 wide by 6 1/2 long. Adhere to edge of olive strip. 5. Adhere to mustard piece and adhere to card front. 6. Mount cut out clip art image with foam squares. 7. Stamp sentiment in brown ink in lower right hand corner. Quick and easy. I liked this layout so...

EtsyGreetings Street Team is having a promo on Mother's Day cards. Check it out in the forums or at the etsygreetings blog . Free shipping on any Mother's Day card with purchase of another item. Here's one of my cards: Today's quote: Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul. And sings the tune without words, and never stops at all. Emily Dickinson

Are you a sketch artist or do you draw or create with Prismacolor pencils, markers, etc. ? Then this challenge may be for you: http://contest.prismacolor.com/ . I was doing some research for pencils and watercolors, and found this. I'm not this type of artist. I don't think stick figures would get me anywhere. I only plan to use the pencils to color something already drawn for me, but I thought I'd share in case anyone with this talent was interested. Today's quote: Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. unknown

I'm in an etsy treasury! Our EtsyGreetings Team is gearing up for a promo for Mother's Day. One of our members created this treasury to help promote the event. The sale will begin Wednesday, April 9. Check back for more details coming soon. http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=6429 Today's quote: Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own. Robert Heinlein

Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons. ~Ruth Ann Schabacker

Today's quote: I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. ~William Penn How true it is, for we never know when we are only going to get one chance to be nice to someone or not get a chance to make up for some wrong deed. So just be nice to start with. Some folks were nice to my co-workers and I this week and provided lunch for us. So, to thank them I made this card. The circle and butterfly are applied with pop dots for dimension. The butterfly was stamped, colored, and cut out. The background paper is a little busy, but overall I'm happy with how this turned out.

Today's feature is this awesome bracelet by ButtonEnvy at etsy. It's made with eight Scrabble tiles! How cool is that? And how it that for repurposing and altering? She has 21 of these currently listed in all sorts of designs, inlcuding birds, flowers, and vintage designs. I happen to like butterflies so this one got my attention. You'll also find other "repurposed" jewelery so head on over and check out her shop! Today's quote: The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough. ~Rabindranath Tagore