The Very Hungry Canerpillar

This is the second year Greg has been involved in a great cause: Canstruction! Greg's work put together a great team of people to build this replica of the classic children's book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to raise awareness and donations of food for the Second Harvest Food Shelter.

The event is organized by the Society of Design Adminstrators, of which I am a member and treasurer on the local level. Events like this happen all over the country throughout the year, so even if you're not from the Twin Cities, be on the look out for one near you.

Greg's team spent all day yesterday building this structure, and has spent the last few months organizing, designing, practicing, and fundraising/donation collecting.

This year's event raised over 14,000 pounds of food and over 14,000 cans which will be distributed to people and non-profits in need. As you can see, Greg's team did a fantastic job on their giant sculpture and were rewarded for their efforts with the "Best Use of Labels" and "People's Choice" awards as well as an honorable mention for creative and quality and creation of an icon. The other three entries can be seen below:

A Minneapolis Icon

The team from ATS&R took home the "Best Meal" and "Juror's Favorite" for this can-made replica of a Minneapolis icon: the cherry and spoon sculpture from the Walker Art Center & the skyline in the background. Their theme was "Tuna Salad in the Park" and was created from, among other things, the canned and boxed goods needed to make a Tuna Pasta Salad. The Juror's noted the great ability to carry theme through, the attention to detail (like the cherry is made with cans of cherry pie filling and the back of the sculpture is the logo for the event), and the quality as reasons for picking it as their favorite.

St. CANthony Falls

The part of downtown Minneapolis that is depicted here the St. Anthony area. The most iconic part of that district is the Stone Arch Bridge, which you see depicted here in the black and gold cans on the right hand "wall" of this sculpture. You can see the river depicted on floor, including a reflection of the bridge. The back wall depicts the city skyline. This sculpture was created by a team from LHB, who participated in the event for the first time this year. They were the only brand-new team this year, and were very perseverent...their structure fell down about a third of the way through the allotted construction time yesterday, and yet they started on over and succeeded in creating this sculpture by the end of the day. They were awarded an honorable mention for the sensitive use of organic foods.

And last but not least...

This can structure was done by the team from Cuningham Group and their theme was "wiping out hunger one can at a time". So they had this tornado tearing up the land, and aiming for the word hunger, which was most legible when viewed from above, but also legible from the side view. Considering the venue (Mall of America) where the upper stories of this area can overlook the sculptures, it was neat to see them play up the two views. This structure won the "Stuctural Ingenuity" award for the design of their tornado.

Cardmakers: Check out this cool blog!

I found a great card-making blog with lots of sketches and ideas. Take a peek...it's very inspiring!

http://cardsketchaday.blogspot.com/

Have a great day!
Michelle

All of this....

This is what I started with this year (back in May). When I was growing up, my mom and I planted flowers on Mother's Day weekend. So, around that time in May is when I start keeping an eye on the weather to gauge exactly when I can start planting. As you can see, I waited long enough...my hostas and irises and lilies were already going to town. So, one fine afternoon I set out to the garden stores and filled up my basket with all kinds of lovely things (also shown above). Went home and spent about six hours planting, weeding, transplanting, mulching, and watering. About an hour after I got done, a huge storm blew threw town, dumping hail on my flower bed and just shredding all my plants. Needless to say I was pretty sad that all by efforts had been for nothing. Of course, it was still early in the season, and they did just fine...

...Lead to this...

As you can see, the hail ended up not ruining my garden in the end! Hurray! I was so excited to see how my garden filled in, and except for some planting at the beginning of summer, and good waterings throughout, it was pretty maintenance free! It has taken five years for the perennials to fill in like they have, and now I have things in bloom all season. I have really enjoyed this little flower bed, and look forward to the day when we have our own house with a yard (which equates to a much bigger canvas) to build a garden we can permanently enjoy. It's getting to be that time of year when you don't know how much longer these flowers will last, so I thought I would share them with you.

Do you see it?

The ever so slight hint of fall!?! I'm so excited. Fall is my favorite season of the year. I love the crisp cool air tinged with the smell of fires burning and the sound of leaves crunching. I love the abundance of color in nature and the cool nights with windows wide open, sleeping under piles of blankets. I love the scents and tastes of fall foods: beef stew, apple crisp, roasts, pumpkin bars. I love the return to routines. I love Sunday afternoons of football (not because of the game, but because I get to scrapbook or read or stitch while Greg watches the game)...time together but enjoying our own thing. I love fall activities: Halloween parties, pumpkin patches, apple orchards, and corn mazes. I love the cozy feel and a great preamble to the warmth and glow of the holiday season. It's when we celebrate our anniversary. It's when we practice and celebrate thankfulness. It's when we get out the warm comfy sweaters. Can you tell I love this season?

Birthday Layout

Here's a layout I did with pictures from Greg's 31st birthday this year. He had celebrations stretched out from late June to the first weekend in August, by the time we were able to travel to see all sides of the family and he enjoyed that. He went on a bike rally the weekend before his birthday, so I was able to greet him with a deluxe birthday dinner upon his return: beer can chicken, potato salad, bake beans, and strawberry meringue frosting on homemade white cake.

Papers by Creative Imaginations, scallop edge created with Fiskars threading waters punch, scallop circle punch by Marvy Uchida, rubber "happy birthday embellishment and photo turns from a CKU kit, numbers cut from a Cricut cartridge, then covered in Stickles by Ranger Industries.

Zoo Layout

Back on the first weekend in August, my sister-in-law and her family went to Omaha to visit the zoo. Because we were in town visiting my family, we were able to spend part of the day with them. We didn't have a lot of time, we did manage to get through the aquarium (one of my favorites) and grab some ice cream. I also got pooped on by a bird! Can you believe that? I worked at that zoo for 5 years and never once got pooped on! And then we're standing there, minding our own business, waiting for ice cream and I become the target. Oh well, we still had a great day. This was one of the first times, too, that Jaedon was able to recognize us without prompts from mom. He greeted us "Hi Gegg. Hi Shell." Lovin' that for sure!

For you scrap-minded readers: the paper is We R Memory Keepers exclusive line for Archiver's, the stickers are by EK Sucess, the scalloped rectangle cardstock is by Bazzill, the lines for journalling were created using an Autumn Leaves stamp, and the circle behind the pelican sticker was created with a Close to my Heart Stamp & ink topped with Stickles by Ranger Industries.