"Molly And Her Cake"

Molly's party was a big hit. We had 15 kids. It was nuts. The bounce house was super fun too. I did get in a couple times. It was pretty funny. When ever I fell I couldn't get back up, partly cause I was laughing so hard and partly cause the other kids were jumping around me that I couldn't get my balance.

I just wanted to show you the cake that I got for her. It is a cupcake cake. I had never seen these before. Are they cool or what? They are only $19.99 and this one comes with 33 cupcakes.

Now this was a total impulse buy. I totally didn't need it but it just screamed Molly. She is my girly girl. She also went through a phase where we had to call her "princess" instead of Molly. She even asked me if we could legally change her name to princess. So when I saw this I had to get it for her. She loved it. I promise I will post something crafty tomorrow, but I just wanted to show you the cake.

Oh I also wanted to say something about yesterday's post. When I said I quickly made up those goodie bag gifts. It's because I had some of them already cut and scored. I had all the scallops, circles, and scallop squares all ready punched. I like to keep stuff on hand so I can just grab what I need. When I make a gift set or candy wrapper or what ever, I usually cut and score several more so if I need one in that color later on, I already have it. So that's what I do. Don't get me wrong. It still took me several hours to complete them. Tony was at a movie so I did it when he was gone while I was watching TV.

"Molly's Birthday Goodie Bag Treats"

I made these quick yesterday for Molly's goodie bags. I wasn't going to do them but of course last minute I decided to make the kids something. I really don't know how many people are coming cause people don't RSVP anymore so I made 20 of each item. I made wrapped Hershey bars, gum holders and peppermint sammiches. The picture isn't that great but they are all bold bright colors. We have a bounce house and a sno cone machine and we are going to grill hot dogs and brats too. I bought lots of bubbles and we are going to have a dance off as well. Today is her party so I have to go for now and get ready. It is from 2:00 to 5:00. We got the bounce house at 10:00am and have it until 8:00pm. I can't wait for the kids to go home so I can bounce. Woo Hoo!
Paper: Real Red, Brilliant Blue, Glorious Green, Gable Green, Summer Sun, Only Orange, Pink Passion, Pretty in Pink, Ballet Blue, Lovely Lilac, Lavender Lace
Accessories: SU Scallop Punch, SU Circle Punches, Word Window Punch, Scor Tape, Hershey Bar, Trident Gum, York Peppermint Patties, Glue Dots

BRAK From Sara P & Gayle S

I don't have anything of my own to post today but I do have a couple birthday RAK's to share that I got. The first one is from my friend Sara P. You have to check out her blog. She is so talented and funny. She sent me some paper trey ink paper and this cute hinged tin with ribbon and some images. And look at the gorgeous card she made. I love the colors. Thanks Sara!

I got this neat chip board book to alter and some paper, stickers, and flowers from my friend Gayle. Gayle is in my yahooo group and a great friend. Thank you both for thinking of me and sending me these wonderful birthday RAK's.

"Message In A Bottle"

I made this for my nephew back in MN. I took a 2 liter bottle of pop and washed it out and filled it with a few things for my nephew. I put a flashlight, monster truck, some stretchy bugs, a sun visor, and a box of animal crackers inside. I cut the bottle with a box cutter in three places to make a three sided "door" in the bottle. Then I put the paper inside and filled it with goodies. I used packing tape to close it and taped on an address label cause I am sending it to him in the mail. Cute ha? I added the ribbon just for the picture I am not mailing it with that on it. I have another one that I am making that will not be mailed. For that one I am going to fill it with stuff and then add paper around the bottle to decorate it. I didn't decorate this one on the outside because it is getting mailed. These are fun to give as birthday gifts. For girls you could fill it with a hair brush, some scrunchies, and barrettes. Maybe a stuffed animal. You could put what ever fits inside. They are fun to make and I bet super fun for the person that gets it to try to figure out how to get their stuff out. For the one I am not mailing, I am not gonna tape it closed. That way when they take off the paper around it they can get to their stuff easily. I would also suggest that if you are mailing it I wouldn't put anything "appealing" inside that people can see, so that no one takes it. I got most of the things inside mine with stuff from the $1 spot at Target.

"My Baby Graduated Kindergarten"

This is my baby Molly. She gradutated kindergarten today and it is her 6th birthday as well. What a big day for her. Her dad is out of town this week and she is a big daddy's girl so we got her some flowers from her daddy today to make her feel like he was there. I can't believe that she is going to be a 1st grader. I will have all my girls in school all day now so that will rock! I might have to get a job so I don't go crazy. Or I could stamp all day. LOL

"Diamond Birthday"

So I went to the doctor yesterday and I have good news and bad news. Good news is that I don't have pink eye. Bad news is that I am having a transplant rejection episode. It isn't serious though so don't worry. I have actually been dealing with that for the past year and a half. The doctor wasn't very concerned so that is good. He said that my cornea looks good but there is a little spot where the virus is on the tissue. I am back on my daily steroid eye drops and my preventive pill and I go back in two weeks to see how the meds are working. So over all, I am just fine. Last night my friend Erica came over to stamp. It was a blast. She brought pizza and key lime pie. Yummy! I met Erica from my stamp class. She is super cool and funny. It sure is nice to have another one to hang with and stamp. Thanks Erica for the good time last night.
Ok, on to the card. I love love love this paper. I just love the design. I decided to make that part of the card too. I cut out the bottom of the card to match the pattern on the paper, I think it looks so cool. Of course I had to glitter up the cupcake. LOL The Happy Birthday is from the so many scallops sale-a-bration set. I just used the marker to ink up the greeting.
Stamps: So Many Scallops, Hero Arts
Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Pink Passion, Whisper White, Paper Salon DP
Ink: Stazon Black
Accessories: White Grosgrain, SU Markers, Stickles, SU Circle Punches, Silver Cord

"Best Friends"

So I woke up Saturday with something goin' on with my eye. I blew it off cause I was just thinking that it was allergies. We have hundreds of fires going on right now in California, some as close as 40 miles from me. The air is very smokey and smells like fire. Well each day it is getting redder and more swollen. This morning my lids were swollen and stuck shut. So now I am thinking it is pink eye. At least I am hoping it is pink eye. I know who hopes for pink eye. Well, that would be me. I'll tell you why. I had a bad infection that started in 2003. I ended up having a corneal transplant in 2005. I don't want to go through that again. The virus I had is still in my eye and will be there forever, it also can come back at any time. So I would rather have pink eye that can be treated and will go away than get that virus back. I have an appointment this afternoon to find out what is going on.
Ok, now on to this card. Don't you love the colors of this paper? What a great combo. This is a long card. 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 folded in half.
Stamps: Stampendous, Hero Arts
Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Pink Passion, Whisper White, Basic Black, Paper Salon DP
Ink: Stazon Black, Pink Passion
Accessories: Turquoise Grosgrain Ribbon, Stickles, SU Markers

"Birthday Monkey"

I made this card yesterday with my new Stampendous Monkey stamp. I got it from Sandra Smart. Super cute ha? Sandy is so sweet. She is one of my (what my husband calls) "stalkers" LOL and so very generous. Check out her blog if you have time. Another talented lady. So anyway, my mail carrier showed up with a big box for me from Sandy. She wrapped it in brown paper and stamped all over it. It was very cool. I still ripped it open though cause I couldn't wait to see what was inside.

Sandy sent me, the monkey stamp, two journals, a bunch of coasters, accordion thingys that go inside of altoid tins, flower brads, lock and key shaped brads, some embossed cards, stickles (my favorite) the stickles are lavender which is a color I don't own. Stickers, foam letters, and a cute box she decorated and filled it with Ghiradelli Chocolates. The black box that held everything is one of those photo boxes and I am going to store cards inside it. Thanks Sandy!

"Birthday Cupcake"

I had a fantastic birthday! Tony was gone at a wedding out of town so it was just me and my two little girls. Molly is feeling better when the Motrin kicks in but when that wears off the fever comes back. We did get to go swimming for an hour and that made her feel a little better. She didn't really swim though, she just laid in her tube and clung to the side of the pool with her head down. Poor girl. She went to lay down at 5pm and is didn't wake up until 9am Sunday. I got to stamp all day, my neighbor came over for a while with a some wine coolers and this super cool cupcake, two new embossing folders and a funny book called Girl Talk. Thanks Lupe for the great gift!! Check out this cupcake. Is it cool or what? I have never seen anything like it before. I wanted to eat it but I couldn't, it was too cool. I wanted to show Tony when he got home. When I woke up this morning, all the petals were on the plate. I guess the frosting was too heavy.

"It's My Birthday And I Can Stamp All Day!"

Woo Hoo!! It's my birthday! Yippiee!!! I am going to have a great day! I bought a Red Velvet cake mix and some cream cheese frosting. I don't know if anyone likes this kind of cake but I sure do so I am making my own cake. Tony is going to a wedding of a co-worker of his so he will be gone, Katie is still in MN, Molly woke up this morning with a fever and will be in bed all day watching movies and sleeping, and Sarah said that she is going to take care of Molly for me so I can enjoy my birthday. (what a sweetie) So I am free to stamp all day!!! I can't wait to spread my stuff out and create. I feel like I haven't stamped in forever. Thank you all for the birthday wishes, the cards, and the gifts. I am truly blessed to have great "friends" like you. Time to stamp!

"Wedding Favors"

My neighbors niece is getting married in August and wants some kind of hand made favor to put on the tables for the guests to take home. So Lupe (my fabulous neighbor) and I made a bunch of samples for her to pick from. Her colors are red, black, and white. We are going to make the peppermint sammiches for sure and we were trying to talk her into the bag toppers but she decided on the wrapped Hershey bars. However, she didn't care for the ones we came up with. She wants the wrapper to be embossed with the divine swirl cuttlebug embossing folder and she isn't too crazy about the roses. So we are going to do the black and red embossed Hershey bar wrappers and put a sheer ribbon around them and add a thank you tag and see if she likes those. I will post a picture of that when we are done with the samples. We are looking at about 200 of them to make. Whew. Thanks for looking and you all have a great day!
Stamps: Roses In Winter
Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Real Red
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Crimper, Hershey Bar, Giga and Mega Scallop Circle, Baggie, Silver Brads, Address Labels, Hershey Nuggets, SU Scallop Punch, SU Circle Punchs, York Peppermints

"Belli Challenge #22 ~ Paper Bags"

This weeks Belli Challenge is paper bags. Paper bag albums, gift bags, bagalopes, anything bags. I choose to make a paper bag gift bag. I hadn't made one before but I like how it turned out. Here is where you can find the info on this weeks challenge. I just took a giant lunch bag and cut it so it was 10 inches tall. Then I cut the paper 6 x 10 and adhered it to the bag. I folded the top down twice and closed it with ribbon. The paper is Bo Bunny, my favorite. This is super easy and super cheap way to package something small for someone special. You can personalize it anyway you want.

I punched out the scallop circle with the Marvy giga scallop circle and punched out holes in the scallops with a hand held punch. The circle was cut out with my creative memories cutting tools. Of course I had to add stickles on the image. I put them on the candles and on the "plate" that the cake sits on. I also added jeweled brads for some bling.
Stamps: Birthday Whimsy
Paper: Bo Bunny, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White
Ink: Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Paper Bag, Stickles, Jeweled Brads, Hand Held Circle Punch, Giga Scallop Punch, CM Cutting Tools, 5/8 Inch Grosgrain Ribbon

"Birthday RAK'S"

My birthday is coming up on Saturday. WOO HOO!!!! If you know anything at all about me then you know that I LOVE MY BIRTHDAY! It is my favorite day of the whole year. I know that I am gonna be 39 this year but I still love my birthday. My husband thinks that birthday's are nothing special but I still do. This birthday isn't gonna be one of my favorites though. Tony is going to a wedding of a co-worker and Katie will still be in Minnesota so it will be just me and the two girls. Which is fine cause they love birthday's too. I don't know what we will do but it will be fun.
I got these two Birthday RAK's last week. How thought full of these ladies to send me birthday wishes. This one is from Steph Hargis Thanks Steph. I love this card. I never got the Summer Picnic DP but have drooled over it a lot. I don't know why I didn't get it. Oh well. Maybe they will put it in the new caddy and I can get as much as I want. Yeah right. LOL Thanks Steph for this pretty birthday card and for thinking of me.

This cute card I got from Connie M (scrappingirish on SCS)Connie is from Canada. Growing up in Northern MN we were only 4 hours from Canada and I can remember going to visit several times when I was little. I loved it. I also went to the friendship games once with a group of people and we went bowling. I remember that was very cool. Canada Rocks!! Along with this card Connie sent me a packet of Peppermint Menthe Tea. I love tea too so I was excited to try a new kind. Thanks Connie for the birthday card and the tea!

"Smarties Diplomas"

If you know me at all then you knew that I just couldn't let Molly graduate kindergarten without making some kind of candy treat. Oh I gave it a try but it just didn't take. They are still gonna get the play doh kit and now they are getting little candy diplomas. How cute are these? They are smarties for the smarties. LOL Where do I come up with these things? I know you ask me that all the time and I don't even know myself. I wish I did. I do have a lot of fun making things with candy. It's kinda funny too cause I don't eat a lot of candy. And to answer another popular question, yes, I am the teachers favorite mom. I am also pretty popular with the office staff. Ha Ha Ha!



For these, I just printed off the congratulations on the computer on regular printer paper, wrapped it around the smarties and taped it together. I liked them when I finished them but they needed something, so I added the ribbon and then I loved them. Another super easy, super cheap, and super cute treat.

This is what they looked like before I added the ribbon. I like them way better with the ribbon. They look more like "real" diplomas. There are all 40 in this picture but in the picture with the ribbon there are only 20. I ran out of ribbon so I need to get more. Don't you hate it when you run out of supplies in the middle of a project. Good thing Joann's is close. I will be going there to get more red ribbon. (cause I am almost out of black and I don't have any blue) Figures.
Supplies: Printer Paper, Red Grosgrain Ribbon, Smarties

"Belli Challenge #21 ~ Watercolor"

This weeks Belli challenge is watercolor. I don't have watercolor pencils or a aqua brush to do any watercolor so I used water color pencils and a blender pen. Oh duh! I just realized as I was typing this that I could have used the blender pen to watercolor with the ink refills. I guess I am a little slow this week. Oh well It turned out just fine anyway. You can find the challenge information on Chris's blog.
Stamps: Stamping Bella, Stampendous
Paper: Always Artichoke, So Saffron, Whisper White, DP
Ink: Stazon Black
Accessories: Watercolor Pencils, Blender Pen, White Grosgrain Ribbon

"Katie's Vacation"

My oldest daughter left this morning for MN for 2 weeks. I made sure she had everything packed and got her to the airport, so I was busy this morning. I might have been a little annoying with all the instructions that I had too. LOL I am so jealous. I wanted to go with her so bad. My sister in law bought her the ticket for her birthday so she could come and visit. This is her first time traveling alone. She will be fine so I am not worried about her at all. The flight attendants will be with her the whole way so she will never be alone. They even walk her to get her luggage and my sister in law will be there to pick her up when she arrives. Katie deserves this trip. She is a straight A student and works real hard so this will be a great vacation for her. We have lived in CA for almost 5 years now and she still keeps in touch with some of her friends from elementary school and she will be getting together with them too and she will spend some time with my parents and sisters and my nephew. I know I will miss her and her sisters will too but she will have fun and I told her to take lots of pictures. Do you think it was too much to ask to have her take a minimum of 50 pictures a day? LOL She just rolled her eyes at me when I said that.

"Lifesaver Firecrackers"

Are these cute or what? I got the idea from my friend Margaret who got it from our friend Karen. I couldn't pass up making these to give to my neighbors kids and my girls at our annual 4th of July block party. We have the best 4th of July block party in the world. We have a bounce house, dunk tank, cotton candy machine, lots of carnival games, sno cone machine, a one man band, and last year we even had a clown that made balloon animals for all the kids. We eat all day and the kids have a blast with the games and dunking their friends in the dunk tank. When it starts to get dark the kids all line up and do a parade for the adults. Then we pass out those glow in the dark necklaces to all the kids and we blow off fireworks for about 45 minutes. It totally rocks. I am going to make a goodie bag for my three girls and the my friends three girls. I bought some red tin buckets from the $1 spot at Target. I also got some red white and blue pencils and bubbles from Party America. I am also going to put some wrapped chocolate in the bucket too. I can't wait until the party.

I took the wrapper off of the lifesavers and wrapped my own with the red, white, and blue paper. I used my paper piercer to poke a hole in the top of the lifesaver pack to put the garland in. I just cut three pieces and put them in the hole to look like firecrackers. Super cute ha? You could do these for different occasions with different garland too. I will post the completed project when it is completed.
Paper: DCWV Summer Stack
Accessories: Scor-Tape, Garland, Paper Piercer, Lifesavers

"A Couple Days Off"

I am taking a couple days off from blogging so I don't have anything to post today. I have my class tonight and I am getting ready for that so I hope to have something to share this weekend. Thanks for understanding and happy stamping. See ya soon!

"Yummy"

Sara P said I should have named my other cupcake card Yummy so I decided to name this one Yummy. It does look Yummy too. Do you think I could say yummy one more time. LOL This image is also from the 4 pack of Hero Arts cupcake stamps. The sprinkle paper is from Basic Grey. I colored the image with prisma colored pencils and topped the frosting with diamond stickles and yellow stickles on the flame. I am so glad that I finally have cupcakes. I started to feel like I was the only one with out. If you left off the stickles and colored it different colors you could totally use this one for a guy.
Stamps: Hero Arts, Warmest Regards
Paper: So Saffron, Brocade Blue, Whisper White, Basic Grey
Ink: Black Stazon
Accessories: Prisma Colored Pencils, Stickles, Word Window, Brads, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig

"Cupcake Birthday"

I seriously need to come up with some cooler names for my posts. Cupcake birthday is pretty boring. Oh well, I totally fell in love with this stamp when I saw it at my local stamp store. It comes in a 4 pack from Hero Arts. 4 different cupcakes! I think they are all cute. The paper I used is Bo Bunny. It is actually Christmas paper. It is called Jack Frost Stripes and Jack Frost Dots. It is kind of shimmery, which I don't think you can see on the scan. I stamped the cupcake on the stripe paper and cut it out and pieced it on the cup cake. I love doing that. I think it adds a lot to the image. I colored the cupcake with creamy caramel and you can't see it in the scan but I used a glitter pen on that little dot on the cherry.
Stamps: Hero Arts, Warmest Regards
Paper: Ruby Red, Brocade Blue, Basic Black, Whisper White, Bo Bunny DP
Ink: Stazon Black
Accessories: Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, Black Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals, SU Markers, Glitter Pen

"Play Doh Kit"

I decided to make something non candy for the kindergarten graduation treats. Of course they don't graduate until June 27th so things might change. I thought it would be fun for them to make their own play doh. I included the flour, salt, and kool-aid for color. I also included directions on how to make it. I made 20 of them. I used 2 containers of salt and about 1/2 of a 5 pound bag of flour. I packaged the salt and flour in baggies. I taped them and wrote if it was salt or flour on the baggie with a sharpie. If you could have seen my table. I should have taken a picture. I had 40 baggies of white powder. It looked like I was packaging drugs. LOL I printed out From Molly on the computer and punched them out with the SU tag punch and backed it with the large tag SU punch.
Here are the directions for making the play doh if you want to try it or make it for your kids classes.

Play Doh
½ cup boiling water
1 Tablespoon Cooking Oil
¼ cup salt (included)
½ cup flour (included)
1 package kool-aid (included)
Stir water, oil and salt until dissolved
Stir in Flour and Kool-Aid
Mix until cool enough to knead to desired consistency
Put in air tight container or zip loc bag
Store in fridge

"Thanks For Letting Me Grow"

I made these pocket cards for the girls teachers. I love forget me nots and I thought it would be perfect for the seed card since the point I am trying to get across is don't forget me. I just printed the greeting on my computer. Super easy, super fast, and super cute.
Cut card stock 9 1/4 x 4 1/4
Score at 3 1/4 and 3 3/4 Round the corners and decorate outside, I used brads to close it but you can use eyelets too.
Paper: Certainly Celery, Whisper White, DP
Accessories: 5/8 inch Celery Grosgrain Ribbon, Silver Brads, Seed Packet, Corner Rounder