Mid-Month Catch-Up

It's hard to believe it's already the middle of August and my busy summer schedule is starting to wind down.  July is a very busy month at the library because we do programming for school-age children as well as the preschool programs we do year round.  This summer, as in the past several, I co-taught a craft class for elementary age kids as well as a "Dangles and Bangles" jewelry making class for  the middle and high-school crowd.  Not only do I have more classes to prepare for and teach, I also have my own girls at home that need to be dropped off at camp before work and picked up afterward.  Now all of that is done, so I can breathe a huge sigh of relief and pat myself on the back for surviving another season!   Although I didn't have a lot of creative time or energy for the past month, I did manage to whip up some new polymer clay earrings for myself and my co-workers.  We end the library's summer reading program with a big ice cream party so I thought these would be fun to wear.  My partners in Youth Services got chocolate and vanilla soft serve cones (but I was in such a hurry I forgot to photograph them!).  My favorite (obviously) is mint chocolate chip!

Even though I didn't have energy for creating,  I managed to get into a few great summer books after work.  Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews was one of my favorite books this summer.  It's about a group of women who've known each other since grade school, but now, in their thirties, rent a house on the Outer Banks for the month of August.  I think I chose it because I most desperately wish I could spend the month of August on the beach!  This book has a little bit of everything - mystery and suspense as well as humor and romance.  A very nice virtual escape!

I also enjoyed How to Eat a Cupcake by Meg Donohue, below, about a young woman opening a cupcake bakery with a childhood friend, who is financing the new store.  The two have some past history to work out, which adds some drama and holds your interest throughout the story.  Another nice diversion. 

Cupcakes really seem to be big these days, so for my middle daughter's birthday yesterday, we baked these for dessert.  Chelsea loves color and when we opened the box of 4 neon food colors to tint the frosting, she wanted to use them all!  She also has lots of fun experimenting with our makeshift pastry bag and tips, as you can see.  She is having a full-blown teen party on Saturday evening, complete with special-effect lighting (a strobe light AND a black light!), neon paints on tee-shirts, trampoline jumping, and maybe even hot-tub dipping.  (Hope we survive...!)

 Finally, I created one more prayer flag this week.  I had to work another Saturday at the library and I anticipated it would be a slow day, so I gathered some scrap fabrics we had lying around and came up with this:

 Now there are four:

 I hope I have time to make one or two more before the summer officially ends.  For the rest of the month I will be spending a lot less time at work and a lot more time at home getting organized!  We've also managed to squeeze in a beach vacation to the Jersey shore the last week of the month, so I have that to look forward to!  Thanks for stopping by!  Leave me a comment and let me know how your summer's going!