Backyard Update

Our backyard patio is coming along slowly but surely. Putting together the "rock puzzle" I mentioned in early March was hard. We only work on this project during the weekends so it is really taking longer than we expected. We have the sod in and as you can see it is actually green, thank God for all the rain! The flowers in the pots are blooming, Alleluhua! Most of the rock work is done, we just need another two loads of rock to finish that. More updates to come....

Teacher Thanks

Today was Micaela's last day at one of her schools. These are the gifts "we" (term used loosely) made for the teachers at the church preschool. The school colors are purple and gold and I had every intention of using only those colors but I couldn't make it work, so I used the 'purple' and added pink and green which are Micaela's favorite colors to match the printed grosgrain ribbon.

The box is a die cut, Sissix die Box #2 from SU and the flowers on the card are the Sissix die "Layered Flowers #3". The cards are 3x3 and I used the Swiss Dot Cuttlebug embossing folder to add texture.

We made 8 sets of these. The boxes are filled with a dozen Dove chocolates. She only has two teachers in her classroom but we wanted to give the directors and teachers from her neighboring class a little something too. The cards for her actual teachers were larger versions of the same card and the cards included gift cards to Kohl's.

I can't believe the school year is over! Making these little gifts was fun and next year I am going to try to do it more often. Next week is the last week at the Spanish school, I plan on making something similar for the teachers there.

Supplies: Lovely Lilac, Whisper White, Green Galore, and Pixie Pink card stocks. Printed ribbon from Dollar bin at Michael's.

Seeing Pink... again

I am fighting Pink Eye for the second time in two weeks. Last week I was home for two days and today I had to leave work again. UGH! I was surprised to find out Human Resources has a strict policy on Pink Eye-- basically you have you leave the premises immediately. So I came home, used more of the drops from last week a took a nice afternoon nap. I must admit it has been nice to be home BUT I really can't craft since my vision is not 100%. Thankfully no one else in the family has gotten it.

Name Frame

My Sister in Law gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on Friday morning. We are elated about having a new neice and Micaela is VERY excited about having a 'girl' cousin to play with. I made a name frame for her room and took it to the hospital when we went to meet her. Here it is...



This is 12x12. The background paper is from the Baby Girl Nursery stack by DCWV. I used the Alphalicious cartridge on the Cricut to make the letters out of Apricot Appeal and Lime Green Sugared/Glittered cardstock. Super simple and came together quickly. I just love making name frames, so glad babies are being born so I can keep making these!

10 Years of Love

My friend Kristi and her husband celebrated their 10th Wedding Anniversary May 15th. I was one of Kristi's bridesmaids and she was our Matron of Honor when we got married 5 years later. Here they are back in 1999, isn't that a gorgeous cake?

This is the card I made for them.

I started making a copper and white card because the 10th anniversary gift is supposed to be tin or metal. I struggled and struggled with that card and in the end scrapped it and chose "ever faithful- can't go wrong pastels" because I know Kristi loves soft colors.

Lots of layering and dimensionals here. I used the Storybook Cricut cartridge for the numbers. The DSP is Tea Party from Stampin' Up!. The So Saffron scallopped and simple DSP circle were done with Sissix dies on the Big Shot. The other layers were done with Accent & Elements Cricut Cartridge. The lime green layer was done with Sugared paper. The inside was layered too but I forgot to take a picture before I sealed the envelope. Hope you are having a wonderful day, thanks for stopping by.

Watercolor Roses

Finally, I am getting around to posting this. This is the Mother's Day card I made for my Mother. I love how this turned out. I used the watercolor technique featured on Patty Bennett's tutorial (HERE). When I saw this technique, I knew I had to try it. I actually had not gotten around to purchasing this stamp set, Fifth Avenue Floral, so I borrowed it and the required Shimmery White cardstock from my sideline Michele. Thanks Michele!

The stems are from the retired Roses in Winter set by SU and the Mother's Day sentiment is a stamp I picked up a long time ago that did not even have a label. Here's a close up of the rose.
My Mom absolutely loves Roses, growing up we always had 20+ rose bushes in our yard and always had a fresh bouquet sitting in a vase under the large Virgen de Guadalupe picture in our hallway.
Try the watercolor technique, you'll get addicted like me! Hope you've had a wonderful day.

Supplies: Shimmery White, Regal Rose, So Saffron and White Card Stock. White craft ink (for roses), Regal Rose craft ink (for Mother's Day) and Clear embossing powder. Leaves were stamped with Mellow Moss classic ink directly on Shimmery card stock. Brads are from Soft Subtles collection and sheer ribbon is from JoAnn.

Many More Monkeys

A couple of weeks ago I posted some baby shower invites HERE I was doing for a dear friend's daughter. Well the shower was today. I made many more monkey things to go with the baby's room and shower theme... This was fun, but I am done with monkeys and the Chocolate Chip & Certainly Celery color combo for a while.

Remember, this was the baby's theme.
Here are a few of the other things I made.


The crib with the bedding was set up in the living room for everyone to see. I made this simple little banner using the scallop and plain circle dies with the Big Shot. The letters were done with the Alphalicious cartridge on the Cricut.


They had a cute stuffed monkey sitting inside the crib. I made this frame/sign for the monkey to hold. The letters were done with the Alphalicious cartridge and the monkey was done with the New Arrival cartridge on the Cricut.

I made another banner for the mantle, same supplies, tools and cartridges as other.


I made a few monkey things to set around. This was one of the large monkey faces I made. It's hard to tell but this is 12 inches in diameter.

I took a stab at making my first diaper cake. I received one at one of my showers and I just loved it. I followed a combination of several online tutorials. I struggled with this because I thought it was plain but since the theme for the shower was quite simple I didn't want to go overboard with stuff. The band around each layer is a 2" wide grosgrain ribbon that is scallopped like ric rac layered with some of the Certainly Celery ribbon from the Sale A Bration bundle. I looked and looked for a plain brown stuffed monkey all over town and never found one so I settled for one made with the Cricut. I mounted him on a chop stick from Pei Wei

The favors were the ones I showed in this post. I used the monkeys from the retired Monkey Business stamp set and the Box #2 die with the Big Shot to make the box. DH even helped me fill them with green easter grass and Hershey's Kisses.

Here's the happy Mom To Be with the adorable cake.

Thanks for stopping by.........

ETA: I used Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa and Creamy Caramel cardstocks for the monkies. The favor boxes were done in Gable Green and the sheer brown ribbon is from JoAnn.