Kristiansand, Norway

We had such a fun visit to beautiful Kristiansand, Norway back in 2024. 

 

Kristiansand, Norway (affiliate link)

I loved scrapping these photos. Between the bright blue skies and lush flowers everywhere, there was plenty of inspiration for making the page. I'm pleased with myself that I managed to include photos of the Salt Skum candy and the Norwegian library books. We were only there for a single day, but I have lots of fun memories from our visit and I'm very glad to have this page in the scrapbook. 

Future Quilt Designs, Inspired by the Star Chain

I've been reading old quilting magazines recently. And when I say old, I mean it. This issue of Quick and Easy Quilting is from October 2002. Since I'm a beginner, all the information is new to me, so it doesn't matter one bit if the magazine is 24 years old. 

 

This Star Chain pattern caught my eye, but it is way too complicated for me. I think I could make it, but it would take me all year. I would rather make a handful of simpler quilts to donate than put that much time and energy into one quilt. Still, I think I'm just about ready to challenge myself a bit by moving beyond a grid of 48 squares and actually try incorporating a few triangles in my quilts. I took the star motif from the inspiration quilt and used it to design some very simple quilts. Each of them has 8 half-square triangles and 40 squares, resulting in a finished quilt that is 60" x 80", as required by Lutheran World Relief.  

This design takes the 4-color square from the inspiration quilt and simplifies it so there are two colors making up the square. I really like this design. With the right colors, it could be very eye-catching despite the simplicity. 

For this design, I took the two colors of the star and moved them across from each other instead of diagonal. 

Here's a design with the star all one color. Just like the previous designs, it has 8 half-square triangles and 40 squares. 

This design looks more complicated, but it isn't. 

For the final design, I replaced the center squares of the star to make it look more like a sun. I really like this option. 

Do you have a favorite among these designs? Which would you like to see me try? Any colors you are envisioning? Let me know in the comments!

Mathemagician Halloween Costume

Last year, I dressed as a chemist for Halloween and sat on the porch with a table full of candy and chemistry equipment. It was so fun being more interactive with the trick-or-treaters than just opening the door and giving out candy. This year, I decided to do something similar, but with a math theme. In addition to candy, I gave out 10-sided dice and taught the kids a math game. They could have extra candy for trying the game, beating me, and/or promising to teach the game to someone else. Affiliate links below. 

Mathemagician Halloween Costume

Materials: 

• magician's top hat
• printable dice pattern
• letter and number stickers
• painter's tape
• 10-sided dice

Steps: 

I started by printing two copies of the dice pattern. I assembled one to put on top of the hat and cut the other apart to use as table decorations. While the glue was drying on the dimensional die, I used letter and number stickers to make three equations on the hat. The multiplication symbol is an x, the division symbol is a lower case i and two dots, and the equal sign is two lower case i's. I attached the die to the top of the hat using a loop of painter's tape. It held firmly all night with no issues. You could use hot glue if you're concerned about it coming off. 

A proper magician's costume would have enhanced my outfit, but I ran out of time to pull it together before Halloween. I ended up wearing all black. Since I was sitting behind a table the whole time, nobody would have seen much of the costume anyway. 

I covered the table with black fabric and decorated it with the cut-out dice. There were two bowls: one had candy and the other had dice in a rainbow of pretty colors. I also put paper and pencils on the table. 

When kids came to the table, I told them to pick out a piece of candy and a die. Then I taught them how to play Lucky Numbers. I simplified the game significantly depending on the age of the kids. For kids younger than school age, I asked them to just identify the numbers when they rolled the die, or to show me the number that matched their age. Some of the kids got really into the game and all of them were happy to be able to keep their special dice. 

Incidentally, I had a big prize set aside in case anyone (child or adult) happened to say, "560, 8, 4." Why? Because those are the answers to the equations on my hat. I thought there was a possibility that someone would spontaneously solve them and I wanted to be ready. Alas, no one did.  

Alameda County Fair

Today I'm sharing the first (of three) layouts I'm making about my mom's June visit to California. I usually only do one layout per event, but we spent our time in three different locations with different combinations of family, so it made sense to split it up. This was from our time at the Alameda County Fair. 

Alameda County Fair (affiliate link)

I entered this page in Game 2 of the BYSS World Series and earned 5 points for the Scrappin' Banshees. The first point was for selecting a fellow member's scrapbook layout and using the colors as inspiration. I chose this project by Gayle Selman. 

I also earned points for putting a critter on the page (the llama), for using an element with a hexagon pattern (the background paper), for including a multi-font title, and for including at least one photo. The Banshees ended up winning Game 1 by only two points, so I hope the five points I contributed this week help us get another win. 

Hidden Money Gift: A Deck of Cards

My nephew, Timothy, turned 26 on Thursday, which means I have another hidden money gift to share. This time, I turned playing cards into a a birthday message and then hid bills between the words. Affiliate links below. 

Deck of Cards Hidden Money Gift

Materials: 

• deck of cards*
• white gesso
• money
• removable adhesive
• Ohuhu Nahuku acrylic markers

Steps: 

Go through the deck of cards and pick out the number(s) representing the recipient's age. Timothy turned 26, so I set aside the 2 and 6 of diamonds. 

Count how many letters you will need to spell your message. I needed 20 in order to spell HAPPY (5) + BIRTHDAY (8) + TIMOTHY (7). Add a coat of gesso to that many cards. While the gesso is drying, use removable adhesive to secure bills to additional cards. I used four in order to separate each part of my message. 

When the gesso dried, I used the acrylic markers to decorate the cards to spell my message. 

I gathered up the first word (HAPPY) and then added a money card. 

Then I put the 26 beneath that and added another money card. Then BIRTHDAY and another money card, then TIMOTHY and the final money card. This is what it looked like when I put the cards into the box. 

*I recommend choosing a deck of cards with a fun card back that fits the recipient. There are so many cute options. Obviously, they won't be able to use the cards as intended, but since the card faces are the only part that gets covered, the themed backs won't be damaged. For Timothy, I intentionally chose a well-used deck of Princess Cruises cards that I got for free years ago. There was a missing card after a Scout camping trip, so they were perfect for painting over. Not to mention, I think it's funnier that I gave him what appears to be just a ratty deck of used cards as a gift. Happy birthday, Timothy!