Hodge-Podge

First, fair warning - this post could be long and all over the place, but hang in there (or here) 'cause there's some good stuff! ;) With that out of the way, onward I go. The final weekly winners in the Hop To It Challenge and Hometown Assignment are:

• Hop To It Week 5 - Perez
• Assignment #5 - Briel

Next a little Sketch Challenge for this week; due by Saturday evening. Let's start back slowly, create a card with this sketch. The sketch is by our Gloria, and you can see the great things Gloria did with this sketch if you are a member of the Apron Strings Card Kits - if not watch her blog.

So you HAVE to check out Jennifer H.'s blog. You know her for her talented work for Apron Strings with her many multi-photo, 2-pager designs (love that don't we), but check out the simply adorable cupcakes she made for Teacher Appreciation Week - sort of goes along with the whole Teacher thing I've had going on. Keep your eye on her blog for her Apron Strings work later. Hope all the Moms out there had a simply fantastic day. Mine was very nice. I hosted breakfast for both sides of the family and enjoyed simply delish food: upside-down pineapple french toast, ham, eggs Lorraine, homemade cinnamon muffins, this cherry/cream cheese certainly-not-good-for-the-hips danish thing, fresh fruit salad, iced cafe mocha that was more like chocolate milk than coffee (and I couldn't get enough of it) and an assortment of juices - with or without champagne (something else I couldn't get enough of.) After cleaning up and seeing everyone off, Matthew went down for a four hour nap; his present to mommy, the older boys and DH went off to the shooting range, which just left my daughter and I. We watched a little TV and enjoyed our own versions of quiet; though deadlines drew me to work, unfortunately. I was the recipient of two new hanging flower baskets for the front porch (which I hear will need to come inside because we could get up to two FEET of snow) and, best of all, my husband tracked down our wedding proofs. An odyssey that started years ago, with sporadic phone calls to the photographer who could never locate the negatives (yes, I've been married that long.) Well, after my last failed attempt, DH took it upon himself to put the pressure on the photographer to find them. His monthly calls and emails finally paid off and they were unearthed, filed in the wrong year. He spent a lot of time numbering and scanning all the negatives and then having them printed so that I had a catalog and could have an easier time finding the photos I needed to create our album (no, it's not done either) and get the prints we always wanted, but couldn't afford at the time. SO SWEET! And truly touching. Thanks, babe. If you've hung in here this far, and you participated in the April Challenges, you'll want to read this: GRAND PRIZE WINNERS! Grand Prize eligibility was for those who completed all challenges (and for the Hometown challenge, also created a layout using the photos they took.) CONGRATULATIONS TO:

• Grand Prize Winner for the Hop To It Challenge: Perez!!
• Grand Prize Winner for the Hometown Assignment: Briel!!

Congrats to all of you who participated and provided great inspiration and photos from around your town. While I love looking at everyone's layouts, I loved even more seeing where you all are from. I'll be sending out prizes from the weekly drawings and the Grand Prize stuff over the course of the week. Stay tuned for the return of the weekly challenges and National Scrapbook Day Done the Apron Strings way - meaning I'm picking a weekend and we'll have a crop. :) I need to look over my calendar, with end of school and several sports tournaments, I need to find a good weekend.

Thanks for reading all this way with me. Hope your week is starting out great and snow free!