Halloween Goodies

I can't believe how fast this year is flying by!  Although I started preparing myself for Halloween back in September, I didn't actually complete anything until a few days before!  I swear the last time I had checked, I still had at least a week to get everything done!  ANYWAYS, I made some really quick pouches for my kids classes (85 in all) - and of course, I forgot to get pictures of them before they were passed out!  Oh well.  I did remember to get pictures of a few other goodies I made for my kids teachers and some friends.

I made these for the teachers.  Found the template for them here.

Made a few of these for some GF's after seeing it here.

And what a great surprise it was when I saw Mama at our kids school and she stopped by to give me such an adorable "treat"!  I absolutely love it and all of the other mom's around me were admiring it as well! :-)

Isn't just adorable? There are 5 lollipops behind each of those pumpkins!  I love all the details you added to it Mama!  Thank you so much again!!

Oh, and here's the back!  My DD was so excited when she saw it because we bought her the 5 Little Pumpkins book a few weeks before Halloween and she had been reading it almost daily since then!  She has the words memorized!  So of course after she saw the back of Mama's RAK, she began reciting it all the way home from school! :-)  Oh, and when we got home, she asked me who gets the lollipops!  LOL!!

Well there you have it...Halloween has come and gone and now I'm bracing myself for Thanksgiving, Christmas and then a new year!  YIKES!  We're already starting week TWO of NOVEMBER!!!  Oh boy, I wish I were a kid again and I had the time to truly enjoy the holiday season and all of the joy that comes with it - WITHOUT stress!!  I'm trying to remind myself what makes the holiday season so special for me so that I can stay focused on my family and friends and let the rest of it fall into place accordingly! :-)  Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you're taking time to enjoy the start of the holiday season!

BRAK from Mama

When this week started, I was definitely feeling the Monday blues.  With my DH away for work in Colorado, I have been juggling it all from morning to night (forgot to feed the fishes a few times and almost missed trash day since he usually takes care of that) - YIKES!  So it was such a nice surprise when Mama came by to chat and give me this wonderful BRAK while we waited for our kids to get out from school!  How sweet is she right?   Thank you Mama...I love my goodies and I am truly grateful for your friendship!!

Angry Birds Goodie Bags

 

I had 10 goodie bags to make for my DD's birthday party.  Angry Birds stuff in the stores are pretty expensive - especially when you have to buy a bunch of them.  So I tried to improvise when coming up with things to add to the goodie bags.  I decided to make some tags to add to the goodie bags.  These tags were super quick to make and I think they added a lot to the Angry Birds theme goodie bags.   I printed up the tags on the computer, added a piece of colored CS behind it, and ran them through my laminating machine - EASY!

Since it was a beach party, I picked up some inexpensive beach buckets and scoop nets at Walmart.  I placed the coloring books I made in a clear bag and then added a box of crayons, Angry Birds stickers, Angry Birds temporary tattoos, an Angry Birds eraser, slingshot with fuzzy pompom balls, and water balloon bombs to the bag, tied it up with some ribbon, added my tag to it and placed the bag in the bucket.  When the kids were ready, they removed the bag from their bucket and ran to the beach with their bucket and net!

Well that's it - another birthday party done.  My DD loved her Angry Birds theme party and made sure she let everyone know that she had the best birthday party ever!  LOL!!  I LOVE my DD's enthusiasm and am so glad she appreciated everything my DH and I did to put her 5th birthday party together!  Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a great weekend!!

Angry Birds Coloring Books

Here are the coloring books I made to add to the goodie bags for my DD's 5th birthday party.  I used Teri's punch art designs for both the Angry Bird and Pig.  It was nice being able to put my BIA to use again since it's been sitting, collecting dust, for quite some time now (I almost forgot how to use it!! LOL). 

Inside of the coloring books.  I found the coloring book pages online - there were like 6 or 8 different coloring pages and I added some blank pages to these books for the kids to draw/write on and to add some bulk to them

My kids went to town with these books after the party was over - I'm glad they appreciated them! :-)  Tomorrow I'll share with you the last of my creations for my DD's Angry Birds party.  Thanks for stopping by!

Angry Birds Favors

As I mentioned in my previous post, I found an easy (and might I add, CUTE) Angry Birds punch art design over at Teri's blog.  My DD's favorite Angry bird is the red one so it was absolutely perfect for her birthday party.  My DS, on the other hand, prefers the pigs.  As luck would have it, as I was browsing through Teri's blog, I came across her King Pig punch art and knew I had to add it to my DD's party (thanks again Teri!!)  I had to change the punch sizes for some of the pieces so my pigs aren't quite as cute as hers but the kids still loved them.  I used my Fancy Favor Box die for these and placed cookies inside of them and voila!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're enjoying your week.  Stop by tomorrow for the little coloring books I made for the goodie bags!

Angry Birds Invite

My DD recently turned 5 years old.  She told me she wanted an Angry Birds beach party...here's the invitation that I made for her party.  During my hunt for an easy Angry Birds punch art design, I came across Teri's design.  I absolutely loved it and knew it would be the way to go (thanks Teri!). I ended up using her punch art design for some coloring books I put together for the kids goodie bags and for the party favors as well (I'll share those a little later).

Having both my kids in school now has definitely been an adjustment.  Since I'm a SAHM and both of them are in school, I thought I'd have more free time on my hands during the week - um, I was definitely WRONG!  With all of the homework and afterschool commitments on top of my volunteer work in both of their classrooms, I am finding little time to do much else - especially crafting!  But I wouldn't change this time for anything in the world.  Being able to be there for my kids in and out of school (while they still LET ME) is something I'll cherish forever!

Happy Mail

About a month ago I received some happy mail from my GF Brenda (sorry Bren for taking so long to post this!)  It was such a great surprise and I absolutely love the photo book that she made me.  I have already put it to use!!  Thank you again so much Brenda for always remembering and being so thoughtful!

Bridal Shower Slider Gift Card Holder

Here is a slider gift card holder I made for a bridal shower I attended this past weekend.  I went browsing through some blogs when I came across a beautiful card created by Lorri of Confessions of a Stamping Addict.  Her card provided me with some much needed inspiration for this card. 

I decided on a slider gift card holder after seeing a few of them during my browsing session. Here's a tutorial I found on how to make this type of card - really easy!

Card slides open and close - I placed a gift card inside and it opened and closed with ease!

Thank you for stopping by.  I hope you're having a good week!

Birthday Swing Card

Here is a card I made for my MIL a few weeks ago for her birthday.  I used my Mei Lin stamp and some of the other goodies that I won from one of Debi's Sister Stamps blog candy giveaways (thank you again Debi!) to make this swing card.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting my blog.  Hope your enjoying your Monday!

Framed Birthday Anya II

I made this 4x4 card for my cousin who recently celebrated her birthday.  I decided to make another folded paper frame card just for fun.  I kept this one clean and simple so that the focus remained on Anya! :-) 

I did hesitate using the folded paper frame for this because it covered up the image a bit much but once I cut Anya's legs off there was no going back!  LOL!

I had fun putting this card together.  I was actually working on four different cards at the same time.  I started one, got stuck, started another one, got stuck again, etc. etc.  I finished my Cupcake Birthday Card first and then this one.  I still have the other two sitting on my table.  Those are the two that I started like last month and they have been almost in the same spot ever since!  YIKES!  Oh well, hopefully I'll figure out what to do with them soon!!

Hope you're having a good week!  Thank you for stopping by! :-)

Some Kisses and Roses

My family and I just went to watch my BF's daughter's (the same one I just made the Cupcake Birthday Card for) dance performance on Friday night.  I decided to make her a bouquet of Hershey Kisses roses after I saw a few tutorials on how to make them on YouTube.  These were SUPER quick to make!!

Decided to just bunch them all together and tie some ribbon around the "stems" since the floral tape left a kinda sticky feel.  I made a quick tag to add to it using some of my SU! supplies. :-)

Can't believe how quick these came together.  I made 18 of them in less than an hour!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Cupcake Birthday Card

Here's a quick little card (literally little - 3x3) that I made for my bestest friend's daughter.  These small cards really work for me when I'm in a pinch for time!  Sorry for the junky picture...had to use my phone to take it since I couldn't find my camera at the time.  Hope you're enjoying your weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Back to School Survival Kits

Yesterday was my DS's first day of first grade and today is my DD's first day of kindergarten!  Their differing personalities was quite obvious in the way they handled their first days - my DS was quiet and nervous and my DD was yaking away, jumping around, and excited!  Needless to say, I was quite nervous for the both of them - a little more so for my DD though!  I know my DS will adjust well once he gets comfortable in his new classroom but this is my DD's first experience attending school so...hopefully all goes well for her!

To help their teachers get off to a good start this school year, I put together some Back to School Survival Kits for them.  These are not very "crafty" but I thought I'd post them here anyways.  The only crafting I did was to stamp out the teachers names for their boxes (I made four of them since both of my kids are in double classes), made tags for each kit, and stamped out the "Back to School Survival Kit" on the back of each tag.

Found these cute boxes at Price Busters - they were the perfect size for these kits!

All of the goodies that I included - a box of cereal , a bag of chex mix and a couple of Nature Valley Granola Thins , a bottle of water and a packet of ice tea mix, some Wisps toothbrushes, a pack of Wet Ones, a pack of face and hand wipes, lotion, lint roller, sewing kit, mini first aid kit, manicure set, Shout wipes, antibacterial hand gel, a couple of packets of vitamin C, and some Excedrin!

This is the back of the tag that I stamped out...I had to stamp each letter one at a time because of spacing issues.  The front of the tag is a simple To: and From: stamp from SU!  I added a rose to the front to pretty it up! :-)

Anyways, there you have it.  Since my niece was spending the week with us last week I didn't have any real time to craft.  So I had the weekend to try and put together some quick gifts for my kid's teachers and these kits definitely fit the bill.  Hopefully their teachers will be able to make use of the items in their kits! :-)

Thanks for stopping by!!

Cruising to a First Birthday

Here is a birthday card that I made for a special little boy who just turned 1 .  I've been so busy that I kept putting off making his card...until I realized that I had to do it since his party was the next morning.  As it usually happens, I was up late the night before the party, not feeling in the crafting mood at all, and was trying to figure out where to start.  So I sat at the computer, browsing the internet trying to get inspired!  When I came across this card here I knew that was the way to go.  I altered the car punch art just a bit and decided to try a recessed window card after watching a great video tutorial at SCS.

Used my blue Ink Potion No. 9 mixture for the sky

I thought this SU sentiment was perfect for the inside of the card

A full look of the inside of the card...I would've added more but I was too tired to pull out any more supplies! :-)

Well that's it.  My DS started first grade today and my DD will be starting kindergarten tomorrow.  YIKES...I can't believe my DH and I have made it to this point where we have both of them in school.  Next thing you know, they'll be graduating from high school! 

 Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!!

Simple Thank You Cards

My MIL asked me to make some thank you cards for her last night and she needed them first thing this morning.  Since I just made a thank you card for my DD's teacher the day before, I decided to use the same stamp and same simple layout. 

Used some scrap DP for these cards!

I love it when I can find ways to use my scraps!  These 4x4 cards were the perfect size for the it!

All 8 cards completed by 8am this morning....PHEW!

I'm really liking square cards now.  It is a little easier to figure out a layout for them I think.  And simple layouts like this makes mass production a lot easier...which is always a good thing! :-)

Thank you once again for taking the time to stop by and check out my creations!  I truly appreciate you taking the time to visit my blog!  Have a great day!

Busy Bee Thank You

My DD just completed her last Tiny Tots class on Monday.  She has been taking classes every Monday with Miss Linda for about a year or so.  DD absolutely loved her Tiny Tots class and her teacher.  I must say, I loved Miss Linda too!  She is such an excellent teacher, always coming up with creative projects for the children and keeping them engaged along the way.  

So I wanted to give Miss Linda a little something from us to show her how much we appreciated her.  I made her this tissue box cover (got the instructions here) and a little card for my daughter to write a little "thank you" note in.  I added a GC too just for a little something extra.

Used my Create-a-Critter cartridge for this project

All of the images are from the (CAC) bee button selection

I thought all of these images kept the box bright and cheerful

Miss Linda is definitely a Busy Bee...she's always on the go and even makes sure to start each class off with some exercises for the kids!

A quick and simple card to go along with Miss Linda's gift.

I can't believe that my DD will be starting kindergarten in a few weeks (sigh)!  Time surely has gone by too quickly!  I sure hope she does well and I can adjust well to not having her at home with me!  LOL!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Birthday Card for a Princess

Here's the birthday card I made for a party my family and I will be attending on Saturday. The birthday girl wanted a Princess themed party so I decided to ink up my Princess Anya stamp. I had so much fun making this card since I was able to make use of my Ink Potion supplies again and I also got to use my new SU! border punch.

I actually sprayed Princess Anya all over with my clear shimmer Ink Potion mixture...although you can't really see it in the picture and the border was punched out of white CS and sprayed with my light pink Ink Potion mixture. I used SU! Dazzling Diamonds for her crown and princess wand.

This is the inside of the card...just added some 3D stickers to dress it up a bit. Oh and inked up a few stamps from my new SU! Happiest Birthday Wishes set! :-)

Well thank you again for stopping by. I'm hoping to be able to sneak in a little more crafting time before school starts again but this month has been crazy busy! (fingers crossed!) Have a great day and a wonderful weekend!

Bring on the Cake

Here is the card that my mom got from my family for her birthday. It's a simple easel card and I had so much fun making it.

A long while back (like a year or two ago), my MIL and I were shopping and were able to catch an Ink Potion No. 9 in-store demo and were amazed by the results! So, being the generous person that she is, my MIL bought me a bunch of stuff so that I could start creating with it at home. Of course, once I got it home, I never got around to using it and slowly but surely it got lost in a sea of crafting stuff. Okay, so I cleaned up and kind of organized my crafting stuff and what do I find? hahaha....yes my Ink Potion No. 9 stuff.

This time I decided to actually put it to use. I mixed and sprayed and mixed some more and had fun making different colors and loving the shimmery effect of the Ink Potion No. 9. In the end, I decided to use the purple that I mixed together since it's my mom's favorite color.

Oops, wasn't quick enough snapping a picture of this card...my kids already signed it! Oh and I used some green distress ink on some white CS before I sprayed my purple mixture over it so there is a subtle hint of green at some of the edges (since I was going to initially use it on the card my dad gave to my mom)!

Made a matching little gift bag (using my SU! Fancy Favor bag die) for my mom's gift. The purple circles are punched from white CS sprayed with my purple Ink Potion No. 9 mixture.

Well, there you have it. I'm hoping to start using this product more because I really do love the results. Thanks for stopping by again! Have a FANTABULOUS holiday weekend!

Double Easel Birthday Card

I made this card about a week ago when I was still amped up on crafting!  Soon afterward, things began to get hectic around my house and I never got around to taking a picture of it and posting it.  Well yesterday was my mom's birthday and my dad needed a card for her.  Okay, let me be "real" now.  He would have been perfectly fine not having a card and handing her present to her in the shopping bag that her gift was placed in when he bought it...but how sad is that??  I have two young children and so I try to make these things a bit more exciting for them you know?!  hahaha!!  ANYWAYS, here is the card that I made for my dad to give to my mom.

Made this flower using my Fun Flower Bigz die (finally)

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you're having a great week!

Hitched Wedding Card

My family and I will be attending a wedding soon and since my DS is on summer vacation I actually had some time to work on the card....ahead of time....not the day of which is my usual M.O.! :-)  I realized I only have one real wedding stamp which is kinda funny/sad since I have so many stamps at this point.  I think it's probably because I didn't really get into crafting until after I made it through the "wedding phase" of my life.  You know the phase when all of your friends and other people in your life all seem to be getting married one after another??   Well, there haven't been much wedding for us to attend for the past few years and now this year we have 2.  

ANYWAYS, I colored this image up using my color pencils and added some stickles on the brides dress and veil.  Oh, and used my Copic Atyou Spica pens to add some sparkle here and there on the groom as well.  This is a super quick image to color up which is probably why it's the only wedding stamp I have...I like quick! :-)

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 Added little touches of bright pink since the wedding invitation we received was bright pink and orange

Decided on a gatefold style card with a pocket on the inside for our "gift"

I forgot how much I love using Stickles to bling up images! :-)

Well, that's it for now.  Thanks for stopping by once again.  Thinking that maybe I should use this time to get a jump start on some crafting.  I'm starting to realize how fast this year is going by and thinking about all of the crafting that will be in my near future since both of my kiddies will be in school now and the holidays are quickly approaching!  YIKES....okay, okay, getting ahead of myself...breathe - just gotta take it one day at a time, one day at a time! LOL! :-)  Have a great day and a wonderful weekend!!

Hello Kitty Duct Tape Wallet

Yesterday I posted the Hello Kitty duct tape coin pouch that I made.  Well here is the wallet that I put together.  I kinda watched a few tutorials and then decided to wing it...seemed easy enough.  I decided to add a magnetic closure to my wallet to help keep it closed.

Wallet closed

Inside of wallet....I would probably omit the silver duct tape on the bottom of the ID pocket if I were to make this again

All the pockets that I added.  The majority of the wallet is made with the regular silver duct tape and I placed the Hello Kitty duct tape over it. 

My DH seemed to like this creation.  He wanted me to try and sell it.  But I still can't wrap my head around this duct tape stuff.  I need more convincing that it's the "in thing" I guess. LOL!  Thanks for stopping by to check out my creation!