Weekly Challenge #190

Happy Monday!

What a busy weekend for us!  As i mentioned on Thursday, Artoo turned 4 this week.  So this weekend we had a Dinosaur Party!

Pretty much since he could talk he's wanted to be a Palaeontologist.
Last year he wasn't really into birthday parties yet... but this year he's been talking about his Dinosaur Birthday Party since JUNE! So, we had to do it up right for the little guy.

My little Palaeontologist finding a Dinosaur egg in the sandbox!

We invited his 3 little friends and their 3 older siblings and had a dinosaur egg hunt in the backyard.  LUCKILY the weather this weekend has been absolutely gorgeous so we were able to have most of his party outside!

The party Crew and their Dino Finds

Artoo really loved it, and he kept singing "Happy Birthday to ME!" all day long, even after the party was over.

Blowing out the candle!

This was also a big day for Artoo - as it was the very first time he ate a cupcake, without it being puréed first!  (Because of his syndrome, he's unable to eat solid food that isn't blended or very soft) So that was totally exciting!

Then after his friends went home, he had a nap and then the family came over in the evening for burgers and cheesecake (which i made from scratch, it was amazing!!)

All in all, it was a good day.
Sadly, both the boys are sick now... Chewie started coughing a bit on Saturday, and now Artoo is coughing as well... so send healthy thoughts our way!!

Weekly Challenge #190: "Pink for Ardath*"
I called this Challenge Pink for Ardath because last winter my grandmother Ardath passed away from complications due to Breast Cancer.

1957 Grandma and Dad

 My grandma was a very talented lady.  She was creative in almost every crafty way imaginable, but she was also a very gifted artist.  As a kid growing up, i remember always thinking that i got my musical gifts from my mom's side, as all her family have wonderful singing voices, but i didn't know that the artistic gifts came from my dad's side until i was an adult.  Grandma always sewed; she made clothes for my dolls.  She knitted sweaters and mittens and soooooo many slippers, and she was a very accomplished quilter, but she was a really great artist as well.

Grandma and Dad

Grandma and Grandpa on their wedding day 

One really great memory i have of her that will always stick with me is when i was probably 10 or 11 years old.

I was at her house (that always smelled like cooking ham, in the best way possible) and i was drawing a picture.  She pulled up a seat next to me, and showed me the coolest thing: Watercolour pencil crayons.  And this was in the early 90s! She told me they were very expensive and she had to order them.  They were amazing because you could draw with them, and then use a paint brush with clean water and you'd get a beautiful painted picture.  As she told me about them, she drew a beautiful pink rose on my drawing, and then expertly flicked the wet brush to create a watercolour.

Materials: Zentangle tile, Pink Watercolour Wash, Pink Sakura Golddust pen,
Sakura Pigma Micron, Sakura Gelly Roll white, Fabrico marker in Cool Grey

Materials: Bijou tile, Pink Watercolour Wash, Pink Sakura Golddust pen,
Sakura Pigma Micron, Sakura Gelly Roll white, Fabrico marker in Cool Grey

This week please use pink in some way in honour of Ardath* (*or someone you know whose lives have been touched by Breast Cancer).

Have a great week!

If you have a blog, add the site-specific URL where your tile is posted to the linkey machine below! Don't forget to link back here so that others can join in the fun! (if you don't know how to find this, you can see my half assed tutorial here) Also, please feel free to come back often and visit the links of those people on the linkey machine - don't forget to leave a comment or feedback, everyone loves feedback. ;) 

i'm currently trying to decide what to do about the challenge slideshows (read here)... if you have any ideas i would love to hear from you! 

If you don't have a blog but still want to participate, you can email your tile to me and i will put it in the slideshow. (send submissions to: weeklychallenge at mail.com) [not gmail, just mail]. I just ask that you put in the subject line: Challenge # ________ 

The deadline for each weekly challenge is Saturday night so that i can round everyone up by Sunday. What this means is that i will stop adding tiles to the slideshow on Sunday. You're still more than welcome to do the challenges and add your name to the linkey machine. - although to be honest the deadline is pretty forgiving.
 I will be more diligent with the linkey machine - by editing out the ones that don't work, the doubles, the links that lead to nowhere, the links that go just to blog home pages (this is why we need those site specific urls), and the spam. And there is some spam. PLEASE do not put your *home* page in the linkey machine... please? for me??