Tuesday Trigger

I've been really enjoying doing the Tuesday Triggers lately, so I was really happy to do one again this week. It was really hard to come up with something that would be as good as the trigger though. I loved everything about Kimberly Crawford's card.

I loved the overall "feel" of the card, so I wanted to keep that. Here is what I came up with:

The off-white pattern paper is from Basic Grey, as soon as I saw it I knew that it was what I was looking for. I used dark brown instead of black :)( And, YES, it IS more of Bo Bunny's Double dot cardstock! It really is perfect for everything :)) I really like the line of pearls, so I included that too. Then sentiment is from Damask Designs. I love all of those-such a pretty font!! I tied the sentiment tag onto the ribbon with a bit of Papertrey's twine.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you have a good weekend :)

supplies: cardstock-kraft-paper reflections; brown dot-bo bunny; pattern paper-basic grey; stamps& ribbon-papertrey ink; pearls- hero arts; ink-tsukineko

my first time!!!!

Yay!

This is my first time to participate in Papertrey's blog hop! I'm so excited heehee :) I really like the the challenge this time, there are SO many projects by the design team that have inspired me. It took me a little while to decide WHICH one to use this time. In the end, though, I choose this one by Dawn Mcvey. I basically love everything she creates lol. But I especially loved the color combo on this one and the really amazing layered stamping on the background. And as an added bonus, it has a cupcake *grin*.

So here is what I made:

I used the same basic colors and did a different take on the layered stamped  background. I LOVE the look it makes :) I used several of the sentiments from the Cupcake set for the words.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'm so happy to particpate this time :) I've been wanting to for the past few months, but never got up the nerve lol.

supplies: cardstock-aqua-pti, kraft-paper reflections, white-bazzill basics; stamps-pti; ink-tsukineko;gems-hero arts;tag die-quickutz

i'm grateful.

Well, this was not how I had been hoping to spend my time this week. I have several cards I wanted to work on with deadlines and 2 in-progress layouts on my desk. But instead of working on those, I 've picking up tissues, and wiping noses, and washing clothes and blankets. Levi and Miss Emma have been sick. And now Tomio is too. So, all those fun things will just have to wait. :) And since I've been feeling a little under the weather myself and tempted to get down about it, I thought I would make a "grateful list" instead *smile*.

So here are small random little things I am grateful for today:

+gorgeous weather--I LOVE spring weather and it's perfect spring weather here today :)

+I don't have to GO into work and get to stay home with my cuties when they don't feel well :)

+ I am having a nice cold coke from the "coke fridge" in the garage

+Miss Emma still slept well last night

+the big 3 kids are playing quietly together without arguing

+ a well stocked kitchen so I can make something sweet & yummy for everyone

Just a few things that remind me how blessed  I really am.

Anyway....this isn't a new layout, but I LOVE these pictures of Leah:

Just a simple layout with some of my favorite products--kraft cardstock, Fancy Pants pattern paper and felt & Quickutz letters :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!! I hope you have a wonderful, blessed day! I intend to :)

sewing & growing

Miss Emma is 9 months now! Wow, I can't believe how fast time has gone by....I kind of wish she would stop growing. As trying as it can be, there's always something special, and wonderful about the tiny, little baby stage...*sniff* She's definitely past that. She hasn't mastered crawling yet, though she's been able to scoot herself around where she wants for awhile. And now, for the past week or two she's actually been  pulling herself up on the edge of the sofa and walking a couple steps holding on (!!) That's a whole 'nother stage I'm really not sure I'm ready for lol.

Here is picture of her in action.Isn't her little diapered tushy so cute?! *smile*(And case you were

wondering, the caped mystery man is a superhero here to save the day aka Rhys).

                                 

I know I mentioned that I finally got my sewing machine to work for me (yay!), and I really would sew on just about everything I create, if I could heehee :) I try not to do that, but I did sew on this card:

Tons of my favorites on this card :) Of course, the new Bo Bunny paper I adore :) and this is possibly my favorite image stamp from the Everyday Button Bits set. The chickies are SO cute!! lol.Oh, and a big brown bow *grin*. ( I already mentioned the sewing  :))

Thanks so much for stopping by!I hope you have a great day! If I get to make something yummy and chocolatey and make something crafty like I plan, I'll have a wonderful day *smile*.

supplies: cardstock-white-pti, brown dot-bo bunny, pink-basic grey; stamps-pti; ribbon-pti; buttons-pti;label die- spellbinders; gems-hero arts

embellish color challenge~birthday~

I don't know about everyone else, but I had the hardest time ever trying to get these colors to look good together. They are all so bright! This is what I finally came up with:

Really sorry for the terrible photo :( I'm still trying to find a decent place to take them when the sun is not shining...:(

I went with a CAS style since the colors were "wild" enough lol. I used  raspberry fizz PTI's bitty dot paper for the  pink butterfly. I stamped the Enchanted Evening one with one of the text-style basics stamps. The green is from My Mind's Eye. I stmaped the "birthday" in versamark on the textured side of the dark brown cardstock for some interest.

Thanks for stopping by! I'm off to visit the in-laws again:)

supplies: card stock: white, blue-pti, brown-bazzill basics; pattern paper: pink-pti, green-my mind's eye; stamps:pti; label die-quickutz; butterfly punch- martha stewart crafts

super heroes and challenges...

All 3 of the big kids are really into super heroes lately. I love all super hero type movies, but Tomio isn't a big fan. So, he rented one f the X-men movies for my birthday heehee :) I had fun, but the kids LOVED it. Levi kept pretending he was Wolverine lol. Now they have discovered The Justice League on Cartoon Network and are hooked on that. Levi wants to be Batman, Leah wants to be Wonder Woman and Rhys chose Flash Gordon...looks like I'm going to have my work cut out for me this fall when its time to make costumes :)

I really love doing challenges. They definitely force me to do layouts or color combos I would never have come up with on my own. But sometimes, they can be a bit too challenging lol. I have been working on 3 different cards for 3 different challenges, and I have yet to come up with something I like...sigh. So, I don't have any of those to share today, but I DO have a card that I did just for fun :)

Yes, more stitching *grin* I want to do it on all my cards now :) And yes, there's my new butterfly punch again. The big brads are from American Crafts. I don't usually use ones that big, but I thought it might be fun for a change lol. I stamped a srtiped background from Cornish Heritage Farms on the yellow panel before stitching on it. The text on the white label is from Papertrey.The sentiment is from Papertrey's Everyday Button bits. I love all the images in that set, but the sentiments are so useful too.

Thanks for stopping by! Tomio and Leah are at the driving range. Rhys and Levi are asleep.So, if I can get little Miss Emma down too, that means I get some crafty time :) Hopefully:)

supplies: cardstock-papertrey ink; pattern paper-ki memories; stamps-lines-chf, text & sentiment-pti;butterfly punch-martha stewart crafts; label & scallop border-quickutz; brads-american crafts

Polka dots!

 Lucy's challenge this time was not even a challenge at all :) I have to keep myself from using polka dots on everything lol. So I wanted to be sure to participate this time.
Here's my card:

I'm sure I'm the last cardmaker to find this, but I just got some of Bo Bunny's polk dot cardstock for the first time...and WOW. I just LOVE it!! Beautiful colors, great size of polkadots. So perfect for just about any background. I got mine on sale at 2Peas, but I will definitely be getting more :) I also used my new Martha Stewarts butterfly punch-yes, I broke down and got it anyway lol :) I think this might be my first ever monochromatic card *gasp* heehee :) In general they just don't work for me, but I liked how this turned out. The sentiment is from Papertrey's Everyday Button bits. I also got my sewing machine stitching to work now--yay! I was happy to finally get it worked out *grin*

Thanks for stopping by! I'm off to put all my cuties in the bath :)

supplies: cardstock: brown-pti; polkadot- bo bunny, kratf-paper reflections, white- bazzill; pucnch- martha stewart crafts; label die- quickutz; stamp- pti; buttons-pti; gems- hero arts;flower- prima

After Valentine's day

Did you have big Valentine's plans? How do you usually celebrate it? My dad's birthday is Valentine's Day, so we always had birthday celebrations on Valenetine's when I was growing up :) In Japan, only the girls give the boys something (chocolate) on Valentine's. I didn't realize that normally kids in American schools give Valentines to everyone in their class and was caught by surprise my first year at an Amercian school...(Then there is "White Day" on March 14th where the boys are supposed to give the girls something). Tomio's not a big chocolate fan, so I usually make him a cheesecake instead :) And of course I give him a card. This year I'm made him a New York cheesecake, luckily he shares with everyone heehee :) When Levi heard that it was for Daddy, he almost cried thinking he wouldn't get any lol. And I am very happy to say it turned heavenly....yay! So glad to have finally found the perfect New York cheesecake :)

After church we spent Valentine's Day at my parents' for my dad's birthday. It was a fun wild day- heehee(lots of grandkids means never a dull moment when everyone comes over...) The kids all made cards for Tomio and "Papa"(what they call my dad).

I made Chicken and Dumplings for dinner yesterday. I always loved it growing up and  I realized my kids never got it. Levi is not into trying new things, but we always insist that he at least TRY things. But I didn't have to do any coaxing with the chicken and dumplings. I thought they would like, but my word, they LOVED it! They all went on and on about it. I was SO happy. It makes cooking that much more fun when they all enjoy it :) Tomio loved it too :)

No more heart cards to share, so how about a butterfly one?

Kind of a different colo combination for me, but I like it :) I think I like just about anything with Aqua mist though *grin* I couldn't get it to show up in the picture well, but I stamped the yellow panel with Papertrey's Damask Designs.My versamark ink was running out though, so I had a hard time getting a good image. ( I got some more now though yay :))

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you are having a cheerful week! It has been so rainy and cloudy the past couple of days we barely get to see the sun. Maybe at least we'll get some snow for the kids :)

supplies: cardstock-papertrey ink;stamps-sentiment&stamps:pti, stripes-chf;scallop punch-martha stewar; butterfly-eksucces; ribbon-pti

You've been pinked!

I saw this week's  Tuesday Trigger, and new I wanted to play along this week too. Such a fun photo! The bright white and the bold pink are what really stood out to me.

And this is what I made:

Really simple again, I know lol.  The pinks in the photo just screamed "doodlebug designs" to me lol. So I used a Doodlebug button :)This was the first time I used this embossing folder from Quickutz, but I really like it. It was exactly the look I was wanting :)

Thanks for stopping by! Sorry for the really quick post. Miss Emma is finally feeling better, but that means I have several things to catch up on around the house now. Hope you have a fabulous day :)

Supplies: cardstock: bazzill basics; button: doodlebug desgins; ink: tsukineko; embossing folder: quickutz; twine- from my stash

favorite layout.

This is one of my all time favorite layouts. I *LOVE* these pictures of Levi, and the page is about his love for the color orange, which is a favorite memory that I always wanted to remember.

All these pattern papers are Little Yellow Bicycle. All the shapes and letters are Quickutz. I didn't have the right color of orange for the hearts, so I just used some dye ink and covered my white cardstock. I also used Doodlebug sugar coating on the middle heart.

The little flower is just hand cut from kraft cardstock. I embossed it with the Cuttlebug swiss dots folder before I cut it out. I printed my journalling out on more Little Yellow Bicycle pattern paper. ( I printed it out once on regular copy paper first to get the placement right.)

I like the contrast the brown buttons add with all the orange and blue :)

Thanks for stopping by! Miss Emma hasn't been feeling well for the past few days, so she needs extra snuggles hugs!

supplies: cardstock: diecuts with a view,pattern paper: little yellow bicycle; diecut shapes and letters: quickutz; buttons: autumn leaves; glitter: doodlebug designs; embossing folder:  provocraft cuttlebug

A birthday post

I mentioned in my last post that we celebrated my birthday. Yes, I turned 30. It's kind of weird....I think I never actually thought I would turn 30 lol. Though in all honesty, it feels no different than 29, or 28 or 27....lol.

Anyway, I didn't mention what Tomio got me for my birthday. Now, Tomio is always spoiling me with getting me way too many presents heehee :) This year, he got me a new oven. No jewellery or clothes or shoes like usual.  But I absolutely LOVE it. You see, he did mention jewellery, but after 15 years of birthdays together, and even though I wear 13 rings and 6 earrings at all times, I still have more than I need :) A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned to Tomio how much I loved baking sweets lately, just in passing. But he remembered and looked for the best oven for that. And, I love toast. But we don't have room for a toaster, plus I don't like mine toasted on both sides(yes, I know I'm strangely picky). Our old oven took a total of at least 20 minutes to make toast once you preheated etc. And my word, for some reason it was really loud! But the oven worked fine. Tomio knew about all that, and found an oven that not only is ideal for baking, but it makes the yummiest toast in a just a few minutes and you can't even hear it! He also got me 2 cookbooks that he spent over an hour choosing that are full of yummy looking sweets :) I really love the oven he got, but what makes it so special to me, is the reasons he got it and all the thought he put into it.

This picture has nothing to do with my birthday, but since I was reminded of how much I love my sweet hubby, I thought I would post one of my favorite pictures of him. (This is of whenLevi was only 1 :))

Thanks for stopping by! I plan to have something scrappy to share tomorrow! 

valentine inspiration

I saw this Tuesday trigger on the Moxie Fab blog and I thought it would be fun to play along. I also thought it would be a good chance to make another Valentine's day card for Tomio.

Several different ideas went through my mind, but I went with the first thing I thought of.

Very simple card, but I like it alot.  I love these colors. The purpl heart is Papertrey's Bitty Dot pattern paper. I stamped the pattern on both of the aqua mist hearts. The top one I stamped with the text background stamp in Papertrey's hearts background set in brown. The bottom one is Papertrey's Damask Design in versamark. The sentiment  is from Verve. I might be leaning toward giving this one to Tomio, because it seems less girly lol. Which one do you prefer this one or this butterfly one ?

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you had a great weekend. Since Friday was my  (30th!!!) birthday, Tomio took the day off and we spent the weekend doing some of my favorite things--eating ice cream, watching dvds, going to Hard Rock Cafe, eating cheesecake...all fun stuff we cuold do as a family :) Levi kept saying "happy birthday Mama" all day--it was  so cute :) Definitely a great birthday.

supplies: cardstock-pti; pattern paper-pti; stamps-pti & verve;heart die-quickutz

embellish color challenge

I played along with one of the Embellish challenges before, and when I saw this week's challenge, I new I wanted to try to make something.

These colors are so pretty and I pretty much always use ribbon :) Here is what I came up with:

I decided to make a Valentine card. Since I always make at least different cards to choose from to give to my Tomio, I thouht I would start now :) I wasn't sure if it was too girly, but I figured it was ok for a Valentine :) I did some machine stitching on the light turquoise panel. I stamped a damask pattern on the chocolate base. I wondered about scattering some pearls on it, but I decided that the ones on the butterfly might be enough. The challenge calls for ribbon, so I did my very favorite thing to do with it-tied a big silky bow :)

And since Miss Emma looked so cute sitting and waiting while I took pictures of my card, I thought she should get her  picture taken too :)

Thanks for stopping by!

supplies: cardstock: pti; stamps-damask-pti, script-chf, sentiment-verve; ribbon-pti; butterfly-quickutz; gems- hero arts; label die-spellbinders; ink-green-pti, versamark

Birthday Bash

I thought I would join in with Papertrey's celebration :) I really wasn't too sure about using a digital graphic on my cards...I just don't really ever DO that sort of thing lol. BUT, I absolutely LOVED  Heather Nichol's cupcake!!! loved. I always love her designs--and well, it's a cupcake :) So I printed it out on PTI Stamper select white. And this is the card I created:  

I used lots of Papertrey :) I really like the aqua mist, lavender moon and kraft combination. So pretty! I did some stitching down the sides although my sewing machine is STILL not cooperating with me..wah!!  I really like the nice detail the stitching adds. Just a simple quick card for the celebration :) I love me some Papertrey and I'm excited to see what else new they have coming out heehee :)

Thanks for stopping by!!

supplies: cardstock: pti; pattern paper: pti; background stammp: chf; digital image: heather nchols(pti); label die: quickutz; other-machine stitching

it's time for some mojo again!

This week's Mojo Monday sketch was a little bit harder for me than last week. But I figured it was probably better for me to stretch myself anyway :) Lately I seem to always make Thank you cards lol. But I guess you can never have too many thank you cards in your stash, right?

I stitched on this card too :) Although, my sewing machine STILL seems to be having tension problems argh!!( if anyone has any tips as to how to keep the tension from going wonky when you're sewing on cards PLEASE help me out!!) I my pretty new music background stamp from CHF on the light green panel. The  border punch I used on the kraft strip is also new to me from Martha Stewart. I think I like how the Raspberry Fizz looks with the light green and kraft. I was afraid it might be TOO bright lol. I really like the look of twill, but I have trouble making a regular bow look nice with it,  so I did a double loop and secured it with a button instead.

Thanks for stopping by! We got some snow today, and the kids were thrilled. I must admit I liked seeing it too. Unfortunately, there really wasn't enough to play in. They did all get some snow off the balcony and make some snowballs to throw lol.

Supplies: cardstock: white, green-pti, kraft-paper reflections; pattern paper-pti; stamps: sentiment-verve, background-chf; ribbon: pti; buttons: pti; punch-martha stewart crafts; other-machine stitching

I am so blessed to have my kids :) I try to actually remind myself that when I'm having "one of those days" *grin*. But I really do know that....and I am never bored :) Levi announced to us yesterday that he was spoiling...How can I help fix that I asked. By giving him something to eat of course, because, he was spoiling *smile* My favorite though, is when he said,  obviously very upset, "mama, my belt is just useful!!" Heehee :) Apparently, a useful belt is a belt that needs to be put back on properly.(I bet you didn't know that.)
Anyway, here is a layout I did of my silly boys:

 These are pictures from 2008. All of these pattern papers are from Cosmo Cricket's "The Boyfriend" collection. I wasn't sure if I would be able to use them much even though I thought they were really fun, so I almost didn't get them. but I really love them! So great for boy layouts.

 The thin label outline at the top is from Quickutz. I have been wanting Spellbinders Label 8 dies forever, but they are always out of stock, everywhere. So I got these from Quickutz that are very similar. They don't have as many sizes, but the make this fun outline too.Of coures they make the solid shape too. I might end up getting the Label 8s too if I ever find them, but I'm really liking these too.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope your February is starting off well. I LOVE February because its my birthday month, and Tomio always spoils me *grin*BUT....it's a big one this year...sigh lol.

supplies: cardstock-white-cored'nations, kraft-paper reflections; pattern paper-cosmo cricket;  die cuts-quickutz; buttons- autumn leaves