Ben Franklin

While in Maui, I would always visit a craft store called Ben Franklin.  I thought it was a Hawaiian craft store chain and didn't realize that they were "all over the place" on the mainland.  So, after doing some research I found one about an hour away from me in the sleepy town of Grass Valley.

I was impressed by their inventory they had.  And was surprised to see a large Scarpbooking/Stamping section.  They also had Copic markers for $5.99.  Not the best price, but ok for retail.  But I did find a stack of 250 card bases cut and pre-scored for $7.99.  I can finally stop using my good white cardstock as card bases and dedicate them to stamped images only.

Vday RAK!!!

On Valentine's Day I came home to find a box sent to me by my good friend Tammy at thestamperscottage.blogspot.com.  How nice of her to think of me!!!  Well, she sent a sweet Valentine's Day card and an adorable tic tac toe stamp set.

Tammy even gift wrapped the stamp set for me!

I'm already thinking of things to do with this set.  XOXO's on a wedding scrapbook page, mini game sets for a kid's card, or just using the hearts, stars and flowers on their own.

THANK YOU TAMMY!!!  

Valentine's Day 2011

Hello Everyone!  I hope everyone is enjoying their 3 day weekend.  I am so thankful I have tomorrow off from work.  As much as I love my job, they tend to not acknowledge federal holidays.  So, when we are actually given a paid day off from work, it makes me more and more appreciative of the time off!

This past week was Valentine's Day!  I hope everyone enjoyed Vday in their own way!

This is the card I gave to my husband this year.  I made this at a Stamp Camp my friend Lisa hosted.  He loved the card and agreed that "we're good together."  

My Valentine's Day gift from my Hubby.  Love Hello Kitty!

And the matching watch!

Flash Back Friday 8.0

Hello Everyone!!!  Happy Valentines Day!  I hope everyone is enjoying their Happy Heart Day.  I will be uploading my Vday card pictures soon.

But this blog posting is about the newest Flash Back Friday 8.0 Challenge.  8.0's challenge is to post your very first 3D project.  And my 1st 3D project I posted was my stationary box.

Believe it or not, I used pattern paper scraps on the tags, cards and the box.  It pays to keep the scraps, you never know when they will come in handy!  

If you would like to play along, just check out the Flash Back Friday Challenge site!  It's tons of fun and you might just win some blog candy while you are at it!!!  

Happy V Day everyone!!!  

Hawaiian Happy Birthday

Who doesn't like birthdays?  And who doesn't like Hawaii?  Put the two together and it's a match made in heaven!  Made this card for my mother in-law.  I purchased the snow cone and hibiscus stamp while in Maui.  The stamps are Dandelion Designs.

The little hula girl was a stamp from A Muse. The inside of the card I wrote, "Hope your birthday is filled with sunshine and shaved ice!"  

Speaking of shaved ice, the best shaved ice in Maui is Ululani's Shaved Ice in Lahaina.  They made their syrups with real fruit, real sugar and filtered water.  They taste less sickening sweet than the other HFC syrups.  My favorite combo is Lilikoi, lime and tropical punch.  YUM YUM YUM!!!!

SORRY!!! Dang Samsung!!!

I love my Samsung Fascinate phone.  It's a digital camera, camcorder, computer, phone and ipod all in one.   I thought I struck gold when I found this smartphone.  It was so convenient to take pictures and videos of my crafting finished projects for my blog.  And then the glitch started...no longer able to transfer pictures to my laptop, which means...no more blogging.

So, while I wait for Samsung to find a software upgrade to resolve this issue, my blogs will be limited.

Ok, now that technical business is out of the way...how about some great deals?!  A Muse was having a sale on their winter stamps, and well, I can't resist a sale.  And apparently neither could my friend Tammy.  And one of our selections was a super cute ice skating squirrel stamp.

  It's hard to see, but I used my Copic Spica clear glitter pen on the squirrels' sweaters for a little bling.

Flash Back Friday 7.0

Hey everyone!!!  Amy over at Flash Back Friday Challenge is hosting another challenge.  Number 7.0 to be exact.  I was the lucky winner of Flash Back Friday 1.0!!!  What are the odds of that?  Well, challenge 7.0 has to do with GLITTER!!!  I have the task of reposting my first card using glitter.

It's not a lot of glitter, but you can kind of see the strawberry and cherry glazed over with stickles!  I gave these cards to my bosses for Boss' Day!

Play along!  Flash Back Fridays are so much fun, and a walk down memory lane.  And it enters you a chance to win a free stamp set!  Woo Hoo!!!

New Years Clean Up

My goal this weekend was to clear out some old items from closets and make donation piles.  And I am pleased to say, I stuck to my goal and cleared a lot of old items out of my house!

While cleaning the closets out, I noticed I had purchased fleece fabrics years ago with the plans to make Barkley a new blanket.  Well, the fabric got shoved in the back of the closet and buried under years of odds and ends until I discovered it once again!

I decided to to a quick and dirty no sew fleece tie ended blanket.  Plus, he wouldn't appreciate quilted lines, applique and double stitched ends anyways.

Here you can see I started cutting my fringe ends.  I thought this pattern was so cute.  Just perfect for a little boy doxie.

And once it was finished, little Barkley hopped up on the chair and then the table to test out his new blanket.  Looks like it's a winner!  Now, GET OFF THE TABLE!!!  What's gotten into you dog???!!!  LOL.

Food Coma

Is everyone recovering from their New Years food coma?

I made shrimp and pork gyozas for my New Years celebration.  Need to hurry up and eat all of these up because DIET starts TODAY!  LOL.

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Years everyone!!!

These past couple of weeks have been so busy, yet exciting for me.  Birthday, Christmas and now New Years!  

I must have been a good girl this year because Santa gave me enough money and gift cards to get my Kindle!!!  I am not a huge reader, but the Kindle is so amazing, that I actually enjoy reading!!!  I even downloaded my very first book.  I chose Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.  As a foodie, I love his perspective of food, culinary secrets and his bad boy behaviors!  I am about 1/2 way through the book, but highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good read. 

Rather than purchase an expensive Kindle cover, I decided to whip out the old sewing machine and see what I could scrape together.  I found a cool pattern online and decided to give it a whirl.  

If you decide to use the pattern listed in the link, please note that I had to cut an extra couple inches off the width.  The Kindle was sliding back and forth in the case and didn't seem secure enough.  Also, my button function on the sewing machine was messing up, so I decided to use velcro instead.  

And as you can see, I made the interior lining the quilted portion and the solid fabric as my exterior.  I plan on making another cover and will have the quilted side as my exterior.  

Happy New Years to everyone!  

Merry Christmas!

Ok, I am seriously embarrassed by the amount of time that has gone by from my last post.   December is a crazy month with Christmas preparation, birthday celebrations and preparing for New Years.  So I sincerely apologize for my lack of blogging.

I received a surprise present from one of the ladies in Payroll at work.  It was a stuffed animal Max from "The Grinch that Stole Christmas."

It was the cutest thing!  I couldn't stop hugging it all day long at work.  Well, as my way of saying thank you, I made a Christmas Tag set for her.  I made them with the Cricut "Create a Critter" cartridge.  

I also had a "To: From:" stamp from A Muse that I used for the back.  I finished it off with a silver elastic cord tie.  

I placed the tags in a clear card box, created a divider with double sided patterned paper and finished it off with a bow.

A special Merry Christmas to Tammy!  She sent me a beautiful birthday card with a handmade embossing buddy!  Thanks Tammy!  You are the best!

And a special Merry Christmas to Amy!  Amy sent the cutest Christmas card!!!  Thank you Amy!

I hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas!!!

Why Pay $4?

Last week I was standing in line at Barnes and Noble and noticed a section of greeting cards.  I am always looking for inspiration so I took a look at what was on the display.  They had a bunch of cards that looked easy to replicate so I made sure to take pictures of them.  After taking pictures of them all, I looked at the price and was shocked to find them going for $4.00 each!  Wow!  I need to make sure I remind my husband that every time we use a home made card, we save $4.00!

Barnes and Noble $4.00 baby card.

VS.

My version of the same card.  $0.00

I just happened to have a left over chipboard letter "B" in blue, blue card stock, white cardstock for the scalloped edge, white adhesive lettering and left over blue gingham ribbon.  

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving All!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Very short post today.  Have work, last minute shopping, baking and getting ready for Turkey Day!

Big Happy Birthday to my Mom!  Enjoy your special day Mom!!!

I posted this picture before on here.  But wanted to post it again for Mom's Birthday!

Also, Happy Birthday 25th Birthday to Katie!!!

Watch Out!

This past weekend we took my car in for servicing.  On my way to the car dealership, I noticed this man driving a mini van going approx. 75 mph while writing on an etab with a stylus.  Yes, you read that correctly, both of his hands were on the etab and stylus.  He was diligently taking notes and believe it or not, switching lanes at the same time!  Needless to say, we stayed clear and as far away from him as possible since he didn't seem to be driving with his hands.  But I couldn't help but take a picture of him as we passed him up.  And this time, she was looking at and taking notes on his clipboard now!  I swear!

Luckily, we avoided the crazy no hands driver and made it to the car dealership.  However, on my way out I passed the Kia dealership and saw the worlds largest Hamster!  It's the hamster from the Kia Soul commercial.  

Enjoy the commercial.  It's so darn catchy isn't it???

Christmas Tag Time!!!

Earlier this year I bought the cutest Christmas stamp set from A Muse.  And get this...the set was on clearance for $5.00!  Can't beat that right?!

I decided to use the stamped images as gift tags.  I colored them in with copics, layered with red scallop circle and finished them off with silver elastic cording.

Welcome Back!

Hello everyone! I know I've been away for a while. I apologize for the lack of posting. Ever since I got back from Hawaii, I have been struggling to get back into the everyday grind. Its hard going from a carefree vacation in paradise back to the stressful world of the city. But I am happy to say, I am back!

I made a card for a coworker of mine who surprised me with some candy I used to eat when I was a child. Brought back so many good memories. Words alone couldn't say thank you, so I came up with this card. Hard to see, but I used crystal effects on the cupcake icing, and copic spica glitter pen on the heart.

Sorry again for the lack of postings. Until next time, have a great weekend!

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More Maui...and WOW!!!

For those of you who know me well, know that Maui is by far my favorite place in the whole world!  And thanks to my generous parents, I was able to spend 4.5 days in Maui this past week to relax and unwind before the stressful holiday season that is upon us.

And as promised, here are a couple of pictures from the amazing island!

The view from my beach chair on Keawakpu Beach.  Great view, shade under the palm trees...all I needed was a Corona and a lime.

Picture of the Palm trees that were shading me on the beach.  (The hot pink thing at the bottom was my mom's floatie for swimming.  You could spot her a mile away)

Went back to Secret Cove beach in Makena.  This is the beach where I was married 7 months ago.  It was exactly the same as I remembered it.  

Another  view of Secret Cove beach in Makena.

View from the condo.  Tennis courts along the bottom of the photo and glorious ocean up top!  I miss that place already.

And onto my "WOW" moment...how about those San Francisco Giants!  WOO HOO!  GO GIANTS!  Great game tonight and great season overall!  Congrats boys, you deserve all of it!

Special shout out to Timmy!  Great game as always!  I knew you could do it!

Picture I took of Timmy pitching from earlier this season!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! It just doesn't seem like Halloween to me. Maybe because I went swimming in the ocean, tanned on the beach and ate breakfast on the lanai all before noon. In the spirit of Halloween, I've got to give you something sweet. Here is a pictures of the fresh hot malasadas I got to eat everyday! Hot, sweet, light, pillowy dough coated in sugar. Just insane.

Happy halloween! More pics to come tomorrow.

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Aloha and aloha!

Aloha is a universal saying for hello, good bye, thank you, I love you, etc. Seems like yesterday I was saying a hello aloha to the beautiful island of Maui. And tomorrow sadly I will be saying a goodbye aloha. (especially since its a beautiful sunny 84°, and I've heard it is dark and raining at home in CA)

My stay was a mix of emotions. Sadness that I was leaving my husband at home. But happiness that I was able to spend quality time with my parents and share the beauty of the island with them.

Pictures to come on monday! Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

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