Holiday Re-cap

We escaped Thanksgiving in the Bay Area and went to the Islands, and did a lot of this.

Saw several whales during a trip to Lanai - see the tail?!  No clue who these two are but their heads kept getting in the way!

Brave kiddos - jumping into the ocean to snorkel!  I thought I saw a shark prior to taking this photo.....

I'm a bad Mom - allowing my 11 yr old to jump into said shark-infested waters.

I could look at this all day.

This too ;-)

Suddenly we HAD to climb a volcano.  We lost no one.

Back home, we made cake pops and stuck them onto mini ice cream cones.  Of course, totally not for fun.  It was the girl's 9th bday and I HAD to bring goodies to class.

And look at what you can do with dollar store tea lights (instructions courtesy of Inking Idaho).  Not getting paid to show Cuttlebug or MonoAdhesive.  However, if you work for them, I'm for hire.

One must have snowflakes!  Next time I'm using glue and water to stiffen the snowflakes.   Don't waste your money on the Alene's stiffener.  Bad stuff!  Makes limp snowflakes.

Went back and made boxes for snowmen tea lights.  The boxes took longer to make than the snowmen.   I better not find the boxes in the trash, my gift recipients, heh, heh!!!

Aaah....the very relaxing tradition of putting together a gingerbread house (girl screams, "Mine! Don't eat those!"  Boy yells even louder in his big boy voice, "You're contaminating the candies - don't touch those!!")

Then trying to relax by crocheting hexagons via Attic 24's instructions.  Very bubble gummy colors, I must say.

Did I say that I made 18 of these? - only cost me $6.  I'm a very creative cheapskate.

Happy 2013.

Chicks, Worms and an Intruder?

Look what has hatched in my daughter's kindergarden class! Cute little chicks!! They are noisy little boogers but adorable.

And look at these little guys....they are silk worms and these things can chow! They eat Mulberry leaves. My son also has silk worms in their classroom but they've all cocooned. Cocoons look sorta like styrofoam peanuts with cobwebs.

Now take at look at the following photos of my craftsroom:





No, there was no break-in...this is what happens when you are attempting to pack and keep getting distracted LOL!!!

The photo with all the blocks of wood is the result of my frustration with trying to stamp straight. I "skinned" 95% of my rubber stamps and gained back a cupboard and a half of storage. I bought some EZ Mount and plan on mounting the naked rubber when we get to the new house (get your mind out of the gutter!). Was going to pack the wood blocks too (thinking painting them, stamping or sticking with letter cutouts then attaching magnets for homemade alpha block magnets) but nah...I'll be busy unpacking the entire summer.

Look at these altered cuteness! These are flip flops my daughter and I bought at Michael's for $1 a pair! I had branches of "silk" flowers from the dollar store so we just got to layering them and cutting coordinating ribbons and glued them on with Ultimate Glue. The Cuttlebug Flip Flop die was from the dollar bin at Michael's - gotta make matching tags for them! The flipflops are cut from fun foam and the foot die was cut using SU! Blush Blossom cardstock. These will go to my daughter's friends for their Kindergarden graduation gifts.



Now I better get to bed! No more coffee for dinner but it sure helped - I packed 9 boxes! 500 more to go....

450+ Yards of Ribbons!

Ok - am obsessing with trying to win something (since am not earning any money selling anything on my Etsy shop) so here's another card am submitting to PaperTrey Ink for their Ribbon challenge. Prize package is $280-worth of ribbons!

I took liberty with the sketch that Nichole designed...the sentiment is from PTI, embossed rectangle was done with a Cuttlebug folder (can't recall what it's called), butterfly is also a Cuttlebug die, gold organdy ribbon is an OLD, retired ribbon from SU and bling are from Jo Ann fabrics and cardstock are SU.



Mini Paper Purses Instructions: Will post them tomorrow

Scone Recipe: Will also post tomorrow

Meanwhile, there's PTA Treasurer work to be done and assisting my son with some Wolf badge requirements for Cub Scouts

I hope I win! and Please help us pray

Ok, this is totally self-serving and posting the following pictures so I can have a chance to win a contest at PaperTrey Ink.

These paper purses and bags are my own creations. If you're dying to get a hold of how I made them, you can leave a comment and I'll send you the instructions.

Here we go!

This first one is my version of the paper hat box. As you can see, it's very small but large enough to put a few chocolate eggs inside!


This suitcase is also a mini-version. What's inside? Look at the next picture - a few "shirt" bookmarks (thanks to Martha Stewart for the idea - I made mine out of patterned papers and used mini brad buttons for the buttons and textured paper for the ties).





My personal favorite - a recycled coffee bag using one of my favorite coffees (Tully's)! The only problem with this is that all my coffee-drinking friends and family now save all their coffee bags for me so I can make more of these little coffee card purses. This bag can hold 4 mini cards and 4 mini envelopes.


Doesn't this remind you of the beach? This one uses lots of PaperTrey sentiments (along with a few SU! stamps - mainly the sand and the shell die cuts are Cuttlebug). The plastic mesh you see on the front of the mini purse is a garlic bulb sack from Trader Joe's (gotta recycle more plastic!). This little beach bag measures about 3" x 4" - yep, I LOVE miniatures! All those cards fit inside the little purse and I also made matching envelopes but didn't get a photo of them.


This last photo are all the different versions I've come up with for that mini 3" x 4" bag. All can hold those mini notecards. Patterned papers you see there are all Amy Butler.


On another note, my Dad has gotten more bad news. I don't think he'd want me to write here what he now has but suffice it to say that it is very serious. He continues to battle MDS and CHF but the latest is the scariest. My son said that he wished Pokemon is real so he can take his Grandpa to the Pokemon center and cure him. Then my 5-yr old said she wished her magic wand is real so she could just wave her wand and her "Boppa" would be better. We believe in the power of prayers so please help us pray for my Dad to get better; and pray for my Mom too to stay healthy as she is single-handedly taking care of him. It's times like these that make me wish that they just lived next door and not 3,000 miles away.