Happy Fourth!

This Pure Innocence stamp is so cute, I just love it! I wanted to create something patriotic to frame and place in the bathroom for all my guests to see tomorrow. Nick actually picked out the Pink Paislee papers from my local scrapbook store and they were a perfect fit. I also recently bought my first set of Dienamics from MFT to create the star. Happy Fourth of July!

My Neighbor

I made this card for a neighbor of mine. When I moved into our new neighborhood, it took me a while to make new friends. Immediately, Kim and I hit it off. We're both mothers, teachers, and North County girls at heart. And, we are only a year apart in age and suckers for Big Brother (yes, the trashy reality tv show). Today is her birthday, so I whipped up a card using Karen's Sweet Sunday sketch with Simple Stories paper. I am also sending over a batch of lemon bars. Yum.

The Birthday Boy

The kids and I had so much fun spoiling Brian for his birthday. We decorated the house, made him an angel food cake (yes, it's a little crooked), surprise-attacked him with water balloons, and made him one of his favorite dishes, lasagna. His birthday always has a way of kick starting our summer. We love celebrating our favorite guy!

Baby Boy Burp Cloths

My hairstylist is having her first baby next month, a boy. I really wanted to give her a little something when I get my haircut tomorrow, so I sewed up a few burp cloths and made a card for her. I used the Simplicity pattern 2924 for the burp cloths, with flannel and terrycloth. For the card, I used my Papertrey Ink - Hanging Out set with Authentique papers. I hope she likes it!

Lovebirds

This weekend I'm attending a coed wedding shower on the beach. I'm so happy for the two getting married and am excited to celebrate their bliss. These little Amuse stamps always come in handy when I create a card in the name of love. I used last week's Sweet Sunday Sketch, along with Bo Bunny coordinating papers.

An Apple for You

I actually found time to do a challenge. Yes, today is the last day, but I did it! I used this sketch as the inspiration for Paige's teacher's thank you card for giving her a great year of kindergarten. Paige got truly lucky to get her as a teacher. The image is from All That Scraps and the papers are Cosmo Cricket, along with some good ol' kraft paper. And I sewed on the card too, woo-hoo!

And here is Paige with her teacher, Ms. Gilbert. It was taken last night at the school's Open House. I have to be honest, I choked up when we arrived. I was reminded of that first day of school, dropping her off. Now the school year ends in two weeks. It has gone by so fast. It didn't help that on her desk was a note Paige had written, "I am special because my mom and dad love me." Arrow straight through my heart.

NYC Mini-Album

My mini-book is finally finished. We went to New York City for Spring Break and while we were there, I tried to document as much as I could, so that we can relive how much we actually did (which was a lot!). Once again, I used Simple Stories - Destinations for this project. I love mini-books because they are short and sweet. However, what I don't like is they are a lot of work, you can't fit enough pictures, and I still plan to scrapbook the trip for each of the kids' scrapbooks which makes it even more work. So, not sure if it's all worth it in the end. 

Mother's Day

The Simple Stories "Fabulous" line was perfect for my Mother's Day cards. I'm so blessed to have the best mom in the world and a wonderful, sweet mother-in-law. My next purchase is going to be their "Summer Fresh" stuff which is perfect for scrapping our summer bbqs and days at the beach. They should pay me for endorsing their products! ;) My next plan is to catch up on the kids' scrapbooks (a la project life style). Paige's kindergarten years is almost over, I truly can't believe how fast it went and I want to make sure I capture as many memories as I can.

A Simple Thank You

I simply cannot get enough of the Simple Stories papers. They are so cute! I made this card for my dear friend on the East Coast that opened her home to us while we were there. It was so sweet of her and her husband to let us bombard them like that. Our kids had so much fun playing together and we had a great time catching up. So, thank you Amy and Anil! 

Pillowcase Dress

Hanna Andersson is selling these dresses for $28. Granted, their fabric choices are bold and beautiful, but seriously, $28? When I saw this pattern by Simplicity for pretty much the exact same dress, I decided to go for it. Especially when on the pattern, it says "It's So Easy". I went to Joann's, my second home next to any crafting store and found this bold, red pattern that I thought Paige would like. After reading and rereading the directions on the pattern, with the assistance of my mother-in-law at times, I finally was able to piece it together. I forgot how confusing these sewing instructions can be sometimes. I made my client happy once again and got good practice in for Paige's Rapunzel dress that we will be making for Halloween this year. Thus the reason her hair is getting so long!

Celebrate.

I recently discovered a great line of papers from Simple Stories. I love the coordinating paper and the ease of which to use for scrapbooking and cardmaking. I used the balloon stamps from Stampin' Up to create this card. I also sewed on a card for the first time! 

Sew Happy

I can't even remember how long it's been since I have been wanting my own sewing machine. I must have been a good girl this year, because Santa finally brought me one. The days of borrowing everyone else's is over, yay! My first project was to make a simple skirt for Paige. I choose Valentine fabric and searched the web for a pattern that I thought would be easy to follow. I found one at The Long Thread, a great website for those re-entering the world of sewing after a long hiatus. Although, I struggled with the basting and gathering part, I think it came out pretty good. And the fact that the client was happy made my day.

Happy New Year!

2012 has arrived and while most kids have gone back to school, we have a few more days left to enjoy our beautiful weather. The kids and I went to the park today to meet some friends from Paige's class. I took advantage of the time to grab some quick photos. Paige lost her top tooth last night, so I had to capture her in all her toothless glory.

Merry Kissmas

We are giving a group gift to Nick's preschool teachers and I offered to make the cards for each. Since I order printed Christmas cards for our friends and family, I love having the opportunity to make a Christmas card, from the heart, for teachers and other special people in our lives. This Pure Innocence stamp is so adorable, it's hard to resist! It certainly warms my heart just looking at it. And how cute is the sentiment, "Merry Kissmas"?

We're Camping

We went camping this past weekend along the coast with my best friend, her husband, and son. Even though it was raining on Friday, we took a chance during a break in the storm to set up our tent. Ten minutes into it, it started pouring. Brian and I were soaked from head to toe, but chalked it up to a character building activity. It rained until about midnight, coming down very heavily at times, but luckily the kids slept through it all. My best friend has a different story to tell about that night, but I'll leave it to her to tell it. What a whooper! We woke up to a beautiful day. We spent four hours playing and exploring the beach. Back at the campsite, we went on a family bike ride, grilled burgers, and made s'mores. We made great memories and can't wait to return to the great outdoors, but next time, when there is no rain in the forecast.

The Birthday Girl

My little Halloween birthday girl turns six today. The six things I love about Paige are: her genuine sweetness, caring for others, affectionate, smart, loving, and silly-goofy side. I'm not biased or anything. For her birthday, she really wanted a pool party. So when we decided this last month, we made sure she knew that it was based on the weather. She must have been saying her prayers each night because we had a gorgeous sunny day here yesterday, perfect for a Little Mermaid pool party. Paige and I made bracelets and magnets for her guests using bottlecaps and beads. Most of the papers are from the Cosmo Cricket Sea Salt line which is perfect for a pool party. 

The Cove

We had a nice time exploring the cove yesterday. The sea lions stole the show and won the kids' hearts as best sight of the day. They are ready to go snorkeling there, but looks like we'll have to wait until next summer when the water warms up again. Plus, I have this little thing in the back of my mind that sea lions are at a certain place on the food chain and where there are sea lions, there are...cue the Jaws music.

Little Frankenstein

I saw this Frankenstein Billy from Pink Cat Studio and thought of my little nephew, so I whipped up a simple Halloween card with  him in mind. I can't believe Halloween is just next week. Let the sugar rush begin!

My Little Pumpkin

I made a simple scrapbook page using pieces of the latest kit. I look back at these pictures of Nick with such nostalgia. I can't believe that he no longer is that little baby. Bate's is such a great place to get photos of the kids and a great place to wander about. I don't think we are going to make it there this year, for I have a feeling Brian is "over it". And in some small way, I am too. But, we'll always have our memories and there's always next year (just in case).

Trio of Pumpkins

Brian and I got into a pretty lengthy discussion about pie and how much we loooove pie. I would take it over cake anyday. After all that talk about pie, it got me thinking about Thanksgiving. Then, that got me thinking about my scrapbook kit from last month that I hadn't touched yet, but knew was full of Fall goodies. So, I inked up my Verve pumpkin stamps and made my first Thanksgiving card. And I paper pieced again, my new favorite technique. I'm also having fun making square cards. I might have to save this card for Paige's teacher, along with a homemade loaf of pumpkin chocolate chip bread. Ah, I just love this time of year.