Hi everyone! I know it's been awhile...I have good reason though :) It feels like I have lost my bloggin' mojo. Probably a result of not crafting consistently for the last little bit. I have been working on a couple things, but no pics of them yet.

The biggest reason why I haven't been too active here? Jeff had surgery on his mouth the beginning of May to attach chains and brackets to two teeth that are impacted in his upper palate. The hope is that they will be able to pull them down and they will be healthy teeth. The srugery was quite brutal for him and caused a significant amount of pain. Thankfully he is past the major pain portion and now deals with the pain when they adjust the chains to pull the teeth down. Ouch!

A couple days after Jeff's surgery, we found out that he was laid off. It was very unexpected. You never do expect this type of thing to happen. We are believing for good things to come out of this and for God's best. He is our Provider!

We'll hop back over to more crafty talk :)

I got it in my head that I wanted to make Bella her own hair ribbons and bows. I started to look online for instructions and found some. I have made her a couple so far and plan to make more. I'm having fun with them and want to make her a whole bunch! You know, to match all her outfits :) Plus I'm going to need a lot because she has done a great job and disassembling a couple I have made so far! I know I took a couple pics of her wearing the first one I made...but can I find it?! NO! I'll keep looking...

The latest project sitting on my table are tooth fairy tins. I have 11 of them almost finished, they just need some finishing touches. They are all stamped and colored. Now they are screaming for some embellishments!

On other crafty news...I have been toying with the idea of putting some of my cards into local gift shops and boutiques. The neat part is that just last week I got an email from a gal I know that is planning on opening a store that will showcase artist and crafters items in addition to secondhand furniture. I'm excited by this opportunity and hope for the best!

We have been having great weather the last week. Lots of time outside and we're getting a lot done around the house. Fun times!

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Cake Pops

Hope you had a great weekend! The weather had predicted it to be a nice weekend, but not so much in these parts. Now...it wasn't nasty out or anything, but we've had enough icky weather here in the Pacific Northwest! We want sun!

Our blessing came today...it was beautiful!!! A glorious 75 degree sunny day!!! The best.



I had to run some errands this afternoon...getting ready for MOPS tomorrow. If I haven't mentioned, I am working in the Hospitality function of our MOPS group this year. It's a good and necessary position, but definitely has its share of work attached to it. We are having our Spring Tea tomorrow and each mom is going to receive a really pretty box filled with inspirational quotes. I had to cut the quotes that had been printed out into little strips to be put into the boxes. That's 50 sets of quotes with 13 cuts each. That means I made 650 cuts with my guillotine cutter today!!! My fingers were tired by the time I was done!



So, no card today. But instead I have something really fun *and yummy!* to share! I have started to casually follow Bakerella's blog. She has some of the neatest creations. If you like to bake you should check her out.



These are cake pops...and they are yummy!

Iwanted to take a better picture...but we ate them all before I got around to snapping a picture of them all, LOL!

The pops I made were done using Strawberry cake mix, vanilla frosting and Wilton Pink Candy Melts. These are really pretty easy to make. If you would like the recipe, here is Bakerella's.

Here's the recipe for those of you that can't wait....LOL!

Cake Pops

1 box cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)

1 can frosting (16 oz.)

Wax paper

Candy melts (1 lb. pkg.)

Lollipop sticks

After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
Mix thoroughly with 1 can frosting. (I use the back of a large spoon, but it may be easier to use fingers to mix together. But, be warned, it will get messy. Also, you may not need the entire can of frosting, so start out by using almost the entire can and add more if you need to.)
Roll mixture into quarter size balls and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50)
Melt chocolate in the microwave per directions on package. (30 sec intervals, stirring in between.)
Dip the tip of your lollipop stick in a little of the melted candy coating and insert into the cake balls. (Insert a little less than halfway.)
Place them in the freezer for a little while to firm up.
Once firm, carefully insert the cake ball into the candy coating by holding the lollipop stick and rotating until covered. Once covered remove and softly tap and rotate until the excess chocolate falls off. Don't tap too hard or the cake ball will fall off, too.
Place in a styrofoam block to dry.

*recipe instructions Bakerella's

These were SO good! I preferred them chilled from the frig as opposed to room temperature. Personal preference.

I had some issues with them not dipping well...things like falling off the lollipop stick and such. I discovered that I had made my cakepops too large. Keep that in mind when rolling the balls, around a quarter size is probably the best for dipping. I'm thinking next time I try these I will see how a small cookie scoop would work for making them into little balls.

I hope you have fun and enjoy these if you give them a try. Let me know, I'd love to know how it went for you.

On completely different note. I am SO excited for my most recent purchase! I got the ok from my dear hubby to get a photo tent kit!!! I have been wanting one for ages. We have terrible light in our house for taking photographs, so it is a challenge for me to get nice photos of my creations. This is especially challenging when I would like to list some of my creations on Etsy. This includes my paper creations as well as the doll clothes that both my mother and I create. I can't wait for it to come. Hopefully it will be her within the week!

Construction Card

Hello world! Here I am *again* LOL!!!

I guess you could say I took a little break from blogging for a bit. It wasn't planned and wasn't intentional...just one of those things. You know...busy living life...enjoying my sweet little Bella and husband, time with friends, etc.

Good news is I'm back and I have a card to share!

This card is for our nephew's third birthday. He turns 3 and is having his party this afternoon. I was racking my brains trying to think of something to get him. Keeping in mind that whatever I get is going to be for both his brother and himself. He has an older brother...they are 3 & 4...yup, I know what you're thinking...busy family, tired mom!

So I'm wandering the aisles of ToysRUs trying to find something. They are into the typical boy stuff...cars, construction, planes and the like. I ended up getting him a Matchbox cars construction set and extra construction vehicles. Along with the game Memory. What kid doesn't love Memory? I remember I did growing up.

On to the card :)

I whipped this up this afternoon while Bella was down for her nap. Ahh....I love nap time!

I had the perfect images for his card that I had received from the PIF image swap over at SCS. These cute little construction vehicles are from an old Stampin' Up! set. I'm not sure of the name, sorry.

I think these guys are SO cute! They were a lot of fun to color in too. I used my Copics...and of course I didn't keep track of what colors I used.

The layout for the card is Lauren's Saturday Sketch found here, I chose to use sketch mytimess30. This was a super fun sketch to use! I find I am using sketches more and more often as a starting point for my cards. They really help me. I often don't follow them to a 'T' but I love them as a place to begin. You can find the sketch here.

I used some creative liberty and flipped the layout so that it was vertical rather than horizontal. This just worked for me with the images I was using.

If you notice this is not your normal card size. It is roughly 3 1/2" x 8 1/2". So long and skinny. As an FYI...it fits nicely in a normal letter size envelope. Which is super nice and a great way to use up envelopes you already have at home!

All of the images were cut out using my detail scissors and them I pop dotted them onto the front of the card. The sentiment down in the bottom right corner is also pop-dotted, but with a double layer so that it sticks up a bit higher than the images.

If you're a follower of Lauren's blog (I *heart* her blog!) you'll know that she's looking to revamp the way she does the Saturday Sketches. Part of this revamping is looking for a new team to work with her sketches. I thought I'd join the chase and see what happens. It would be kinda fun to work with her...just an eensy-weensy little bit!!!

Gotta get ready for the birthday party! Have a great afternoon!

ETA: Jeff and I had the wrong day for the birthday party! We showed up at their house and found out the party is tomorrow! LOL! Luckily, our friends (Jeff's best friend...like family, hence the nephew) were home and we got to visit for a little bit with them...and laugh over our mistake!!!

Quick post...

Hi!

I just wanted to pop in real quick and let everyone know that the rhinestones arrived! Yay! I will work on getting them packed up and on their way this weekend.

Just as an FYI, my mom had surgery today to repair a hiatal hernia. It went well! But she is supposed to be released tomorrow and I am the one who is picking her up and making sure she's ok and all that good stuff. I don't foresee any reason the rhinestones should be delayed in getting out, but wanted to let you know :)

Have a great weekend!

Blogaversary!!!

Happy Blogaversary to Me!

Happy Blogaversary to Me!

Happy Blogaversary toooooo Meee-eeee-eeee!!!

Wow...I've been blogging for two years already! I can hardly believe it. I know, I haven't been the best of bloggers and by no means the most consistent. As I'm sure many of you can relate...I have the best of intentions and lots of ideas I want to share...I just don't seem to get that all translated into a blog post :)

I have hopes of being more consistent this year. I really want to share some recipes with you all. I already have some pictures on my computer of some things I've made. Can you say Caramel Apple Pie?!?! YUM! It is truly the one of the best I've had....love it! Hope you don't mind if I throw in some recipes from time to time.

I want to do something fun for my blogaversary...maybe some blog candy! I have to think about it and fiugre it out. Which I'll plan to do during my nice hot soak in the bath this evening. Ahhhh! R-E-L-A-X!

Thanks to everyone who peeks in here and especially to all of you who leave comments. They really do add a bright spot to my days. I enjoy the love that you all leave with your comments! Thank you!

Shopping Organizer

Happy Thursday!

I have a fun little project to share today. But first a little bit of background...I know, I know...you just want to see and hear about the good stuff! LOL.

I was at a MOPS meeting a month or so ago and our topic was about saving money, smart shopping and coupon clipping. That type of stuff. We had a gal come and share her secrets to shopping with coupons, getting deals, etc. Well, the gals at my table got to talking about this and one shared a little shopping organizer she'd picked up at the local office supply store. It had pockets for reciepts and coupons. But it wasn't CUTE. You know it lacked some personality!

Anyway, we got to talking and I was looking at it and thought "Hey! I can make one of those!" *Lightbulb Moment* And I've got everything I need to make it too! Bonus! LOL. So we got to talking about it at our table and one of my friends said she'd get one from me if I made it. So here it it! Gina, if you're reading this, I'm sorry this is so late.

She likes brown and green, so I chose the papers with that in mind. I had a lot of fun putting this together. A little measuring here and there and wha-laa!

The most tedious part was putting the whole thing together with my Bind-it-All. I had to pull out my instruction booklet and make sure I had everything in the right order. Punching the holes threw me for a loop. I need to work on that some more and figure out some tips and tricks. I know there has to be a better way than what I was doing. Especially considering I was going with the good ole' "eyeball it" trick.

If anyone has any tips for the Bind-it-All....please share!

His Holy Name {1}

This post is leaving me torn. I am super excited to share it with you, but I can't stand the photo I took! This picture does NOTHING to show how cute this project really is. *sigh* It is so bright and cheery in life and this photo makes it look blah and dismal.

To begin with, I've decided to play along in Patter's bi-weekly challenge this year. She is hosting a challenge study of God's attributes. I am SO excited to join in and play. I am hoping to play all year long and end the year with a scrapbook full of goodness :)

The first weeks challenge was the word Holy. You can see the details of it right {here}. There is also a grea post {here} with links to the introduction and each weeks word.

I really enjoyed finding the verses that were meaningful to me. I actually had three verses that I wanted to use, but there just wasn't room for the third one on the page I was making. I'm sure I could have squuezed it in and made it work, but I had already glued down some of the pieces. LOL.

Here are the verses that I chose:
Exodus 3:5
Psalm 77:12-14
Revelation 3:6-8



About the photograph. Argh! I think it stinks. I took the picture late at night, which is half the problem I'm sure. And the lighting in my craft room is not the greatest. You would never guess from the picture, but I used the brand new PTI Raspberry Fizz on this! The base page is Raspberry Fizz, which I love. It is such a bright and vibrant color...nothing at all like it shows in the picture.

And the rhinestones I used....they hardly show! I put rhinestones around the circle, which has the definition of holy. And there are also some rhinestones on the brackets that endcap the word holy as well as the brackets on the bottom of the page.

I need to work on my photography skills. I think I have a big lighting problem and need to find a work-around. Maybe I should try taking photos in my hallway, we have a bright florescent light out there.

If you have any tips, I'm open. I'd be happy to hear them!