Recommended Read: The Testing

I am an avid reader. I've loved books for as long as I can remember. As a 7th grade English and World Geography teacher, I am always on the hunt for new books to put in my classroom library or read aloud to my students. You would be surprised how much teenagers enjoy being read to. 

We usually read The Giver by Lois Lowry sometime at the beginning of the school year. This is an original Utopian/Dystopian novel. I have also been in love with Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix (part of the Shadow Children series) for a long time. Another dystopian novel. Another favorite book of mine is The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, a dystopian novel. This year I finished reading Divergent by Veronica Roth and began reading the sequel Insurgent. These are also dystopian novels. 

Do you see a theme? Dystopian novels are so hot right now with The Hunger Games series gaining popularity in books and film right now. Ender's Game and Divergent are also creating films. I love this tragic world novel where everything is supposed to work perfectly, but doesn't. I also, almost never, read adult literature. Young adult lit is quick and keeps me in touch with what my students do and can read. 

To my surprise, I was walking around Sam's Club picking up supplies for Owen's birthday party when I came across a hardcover book called The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau. First of all, I'm all about getting hardcover books cheap. Second, it claimed that if I loved The Hunger Games I would devour this book...and I did!

So I'm doing my first recommended read post for this book. I'm setting it up kind of like Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and I think I am going to have my 7th graders do this in their reading notebooks this year as well. 

Title: The Testing

Author: Joelle Charbonneau

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Copyright Date: 2013

Genre/Format: Science Fiction/Dystopia

Summary: The Seven Stages War left much of the planet a wasteland. An elite group, several students chosen from each colony, will be able to have a chance to get a college education and help rebuild the planet if they can pass The Testing. 

Cia Vale has waited her whole life to be chosen as a Testing candidate. She is proud, but can feel her brother's disappointment in not becoming a Testing candidate himself. Before Cia leaves, possibly to never see her family again, her father’s explains his "memories" of The Testing and offers a word of advice to his daughter, "Trust No One."
She believes that she can trust childhood friend, Tomas, but is he really who he seems? Can she really trust anyone?

What I Think: I love how the author takes something we all take for granted, a higher education, and turns it into a competition for the best and brightest. Cia seems like a tough cookie who is resourceful and has a good head on her shoulders, but we are also able to see a vulnerable side to her as well. I like that she is a strong female character and reminds me of Katniss from Hunger Games. She is constantly questioning the Commonwealth and that curiosity helps her have an edge in the book. 

I was surprised to find that the Testing is not what it appears at first, or rather, is not what most people believe it is. It is interesting to hear the rationale of the Commonwealth on students who don't pass individual tests. Why would you want to continue to sacrifice so many citizens who can be of service to rebuilding the planet?

Snatch of Text: "My father said to trust no one. But looking back into Tomas's serious gray eyes, I decide to ignore that advice this one time. If it is a mistake, it is my mistake. The consequences will be mine to live with. 

'There's a camera hidden in the skimmer. I spotted two more in the cabin.'

'Are you sure?'

I nod. 

A lock of hair falls over his forehead as he looks toward the skimmer. 'I don't understand. Why would someone be watching us now?'

'Because,' I say. 'The Testing has already begun.'" (pg.58) 

Reason for Selecting this Snatch of Text: I believe this is the moment where Cia makes a life changing decision. She deliberately goes against the advice that her father gives her and trusts Tomas. She realizes that this is her decision and she will need to deal with the consequences of that choice. I believe this is where we see both sides of the character. She is strong-willed and willing to make her own choices and deal with the repercussions  but she is also compassionate and sensitive. She feels a desire to help others, but also to rely on someone and be connected. I believe this piece of text provides a bit of foreshadowing for the rest of the novel. 

Rating: 4 stars

Happy Reading!

Thinking of You Birdie (PPA164 Sketch Challenge)

I am on such a high right now after being selected as one of the picks (mine is the third one from the top) by the Paper Pal Arts staff. I decided to try my hand at another challenge. This week they gave a sketch to model. A pretty simple one too. 

I decided it was time to play with some new Designer Series Paper called Sweater Weather (from the upcoming Holiday Stampin' Up catalog) and a stamp set I have yet to crack open called For the Birds. I decided to turn my card so it was horizontal for a different look. Once I had all the pieces in place, I felt like it was missing something. This is when I punched some small holes all around the edge of the large scallop and lace some twine within them. 

I like the final look and may even try my hand at (dare I say) a Christmas card. 

Polka Dot Crazy

So I've been playing along with the CAS-ual Friday's challenges and this week is no different. I held off a couple days before doing my card, because I had no idea what to do with polka dots. 

I found a cool color combo on the website Song of my Heart Stampers which included Pool Party, Crumb Cake, So Saffron, and Garden Green (color swatch on the far right.)

I have to be honest. I quite liked my card with the Pool Party card base and large polka dot designer paper, but after that I think things went downhill. I actually think it is super ugly now. It just doesn't seem like me at all. I might need to try again. 

Birthday Weekend...Another One Joins the 30 Club!

Today is a super special day. My little sister turns 30! Let me just tell you a couple things I absolutely love about my sister. How about a top 10 list...

10. She makes me laugh all the time. We have stupid jokes and stories and I love every one of them!

9. She is a great mom and aunt. 

8. She is super thrifty (especially at the grocery store.)

7. She would do anything to help someone. She's super caring and compassionate. 

6. She always comes to my rescue when I need her (moth in the bathroom or decorations for a party)

5. She is resourceful and full of knowledge. I can always ask her questions and she is there with an answer.

4. She is an amazing cook. Thanks for always letting me eat over! :)

3. She is crafty and has a lot of great ideas. 

2. She is a great listener (when you need to vent, or just want to chat.)

1. She is the best sister and best friend I could ever ask for!

Here is the birthday card I made for her. I was really excited about this one. I like how simple, but beautiful this card is. 

My hubby, Nick, had his birthday yesterday so we always celebrate together. It was too darn hot and I was too darn lazy to make a cake for them so I resorted to a DQ cake. Nothing wrong with a little ice cream cake on a hot day. 

Here is the birthday card I made for Nick. 

Happy Birthday to two of the most important and special people in my life. I love you both!

Owen's 1 Year Old Mustache Bash

(Warning: Post is long and has lots of pictures)

Earlier this month we celebrated little man's 1st birthday. I spent a lot of time making decorations and planning. Of course, what you envision in your head never ends up happening for real. I became a big ball of stress and worry over a 1 year old birthday party. In the end, it was a wonderful day with family and friends. 

The idea for Owen's birthday theme came from where else... Pinterest. I saw a few wonderful boy themed parties with mustaches... and so I started pinning. I became a little bit obsessed and my hubby thought I was a little crazy for even needing a theme for a 1 year old party. 

My color palette started with a piece of fabric. I used that to create the invitations on Photoshop and to purchase other fabric and decorations items. I also used Photoshop to create some of the other signs for the party. 

I cut and sewed the bunting (all fabric from JoAnn's). I created tissue paper poofs (Sprtiz tissue paper from Target) and my sister made the yarn balls. Apparently those weren't as easy to make as Pinterest says they are. 

Ever since Owen was born, I started creating a Shutterfly book for him. Each page has a picture from each month and a little blurb about what he was doing during that time (another Pinterest idea.) I thought it might be a nice way to remember all the little milestones of the first year. I loved the pictures from each month so much that I found a way to display them at his party. On Pinterest (do you see a theme here?) I found that you could make your own large chalkboard by purchasing a oil drip pan from Walmart and painting it with Chalkboard paint. This is what I used to display the pictures. 

Nick made pulled pork and brisket. We also had potato salad, taco dip, fruit, veggies, calico beans, and lots of dessert. I made three kinds of cupcakes: Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese frosting, Chocolate with Nutella frosting, and Honey cupcakes with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting. I made the little cupcake toppers and bought the plastic mustache toppers from Hobby Lobby. I tried making his smash cake too, but it epically failed the morning of his party. We made a quick detour to the Walmart bakery and Lindsay did some fancy fixing with a pink and blue cake. I don't think Owen could tell the difference. 

Our guests were made up of family and close friends. We only invited friends who spend time with us as a family and actually know Owen. There were quite a few people there and even a couple of my former students decided to stop by and crash. Here are a couple of Owen's guests...

His cousin Austin

Mom and Dad's Guy Friends

Mom and Dad's Girl Friends and Owen's Friends Eli and Paige

Aunt Larissa and Uncle Mike

His cousin Sawyer

Mom and Owen

Uncle Sammy and Aunt Larissa

Papa

Dad, Owen & Mama

Dad's Family

Student Party Crashers

Aunt Lindsay and cousin Colton

One of my absolute favorite pictures is when Owen started taking his first bites of cake. He loves anything that is sweet. 

 Silly little Owen. We know he won't remember it, but we hope that all the people there will be able to tell him how much fun his first birthday celebration was.

 I think I might need to start thinking about and planning next year's party. 

A Blue Ribbon Grad

My mojo has been working overtime lately and I'm excited about it. This is the reason for a double post today. Paper Pal Arts (#163) has a challenge this week to use the following colors in a beautiful card. I struggled with last week's color palette (which was pretty much the same color selection) so much that I ended up tossing three different cards. Sometimes you need to know when to quit. 

I modified a graduation card that I made for the graduation of many of my former students and jazzed it up a bit with the use of the new Stampin Up set Tape It. Although I love this set, because it looks like washi tape, I am finding it difficult to use. I think it is a simple card with a big impact. 

I think that might be all for today! Night!

Update: Guess what? I was chosen by PPA as a winner for this color challenge. So pumped! Thanks to all that took a look. 

Busy Weekend

This weekend is going to be busy. My sister-in-law is getting married on Friday, my hubby turns 32 on Saturday, I also have a baby shower to attend on Saturday, and my wonderful little sister celebrates the big 30 on Sunday! I have been in card making overload and even joked to Nick (the hubby) about how glad he should be that I can make cards instead of buying them. 

I have never been much of a fan of the Stamp-a-majig before. It always seemed too tedious to me, but then I got the Hello There and Mosaic Madness stamp sets and knew that there was no way I would ever be able to line those suckers up right. Therefore, my need of the Stamp-a-majig was born. 

Once I started to use it, I couldn't stop and it led me to creating two of the cards I needed for the weekend. The first is a very simple, yet sweet card for my sister-in-laws wedding. I love the champagne glasses from the Essential Events stamp set. It allowed me to add a little bling with rhinestones for the bubbles. Love!

The second card was created for the baby shower I am attending this weekend. Our dear friends John and Becky are having a little girl and the Essential Events set came to the rescue again with a cute little duck toy. I am in love with both these cards. I hope the recipients love them as much as I do.  

Now on to creating those birthday cards! 

Color Throwdown Challenge #250

I am trying to find any excuse to be crafty and making cards seems to cure that itch lately. Once Owen lays down for a nap, I have the urge to do something, anything. Most of the time I'm scouring Pinterest for a few hours and then regret not doing something more after he wakes up. 

I have done some Color Throwdown challenges in the past, but stumbled back upon their page this week. Guess what? It's their 250th challenge! That's 5 whole years or color challenges. I decided to participate, even though the color combo was a bit wild for me. Click the link to see other CTD250 card challenges. 

Here is what I came up with. I really like the paper doilies. I think it takes a bit of harshness away from the bright colors. I probably should have added an embellishment or something, but I always get nervous about adding too much! 

Material Girl Challenge

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July. I know we did. I have a post coming later for our July 4th recap. However, today's post is going to focus on this week's CAS-ual Friday Challenge (CFC108): The Material Girl Challenge. This week's goal is to create a clean and simple card using material. 

Now this shouldn't have been hard since I have a stash of fabric in my craft room, but it was because typically I don't put fabric on my cards. Immediately I thought that I should make a rolled ribbon flower, but the card felt too bulky. 

I wanted something really clean and basic. I chose two Stampin' Up In Colors, Pistachio Pudding and Crisp Cantaloupe and my go to background Crumb Cake and started playing. I decided that various thicknesses of straight lines felt clean and there was something a little vintage about the color palette. This lead me to using burlap for my fabric...another vintage and rustic feeling. I like the small, basic "hi" message that gets right to the point. 

Although not one of my favorite cards ever made, I think sometimes you just need to go where the card takes you!