sorry, stitches and a layout

I'm soo sorry! I know it has been a really slow couple of weeks here on my blog. Thanks so much for checking in anyway :) I promise it will get back to normal around here now. I actually miss blogging when I don't get to. I mentioned having a bad day on Wednesday. Well, Levi ended up needing his first stitches. He was being a little too wild in the bath and fell and hit his head. He  ended up needing to get 3 stitches :(  I felt so bad. He was so good though. I think the doctors were really impressed with how a four year old did. He didn't whine or cry at all. He goes back in on Tuesday to get the stitches out. It's above his  left eyebrow, so I told him he can match Mama now, with my hockey where I needed stitches above my left eyebrow lol.

Things are back to normal now, with Levi his usual wild self. I'm more afraid of him getting hurt now, but he doesn't seem to be at all...

So here is of the layouts I did recently.

I did it about how Tomio and I have changed in the ten years we have been married. Actually,  in that picture of us infront of the castle, I am only 15 heehee!! The now pictures are of our trip to Disneyland for our 10th anniversary last year.

This one is of our honeymoon at Disney World :) I did some machine stitching down the side. I really like how it finishes the edge.

All the pattern paper and felt accents are from Fancy Pants. I actually do try to use paper from other manufacturers first, but I always seem to end up using Fancy Pants lol.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a GREAT weekend!!!

cakes

I know I promised pictures of the beautiful cakes that Tomio drew. And I do have some for you! I was hoping to get them up earlier but....well just a busy couple of days. Today was just one of those days where you start to wonder if you are good mother....sigh. ANYWAY, here they are:

This is Levi's Batman cake :) I made it, but Tomio did all the decorating and drawing. Isn't it SO great? He draws it with  a tube of chocolate....I love seeing the cakes he draws each year :)

And this is Miss Emma's My Little Pony cake. I just LOVE how cute it turned out. I got to choose hers this year hee hee :) She loves Leah's ponies, so I thought she would like this.

Tomio usually only does the brown and white, but he tried some pink chocolate this time. I really like how it looked.

Anyway, just a quick cake post today. After I actually look at all the birthday party pictures, I'll try to post some of those too. I hope you are having a much better day than I did.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

party day

Well after we had a double "real" birthday celebration last week, we are having a doulble birthday party this week. It will be fine this year, since Emma is only 1 and doesn't really care about the games etc :). Her My Little Pony theme won't really interfere with Levi's Batman theme lol.  I refuse to worry about doing double boy/girl party themes for when they are bigger yet. I can worry later, right? Levi is so excited about his party tomorrow that he wanted to go to bed early lol. Tomio draws the most amazing pictures on their cakes--it is so fun! Even though I know how good it will be, he never ceases to surprise me with how perfect it looks. I will try to post pics right after the party if I can!

Anyway, here is a layout of one of Levi's parties last year. This was his "real birthday" with a store bought cake. I always make the cake of their choice for their party day.

so sorry about the awful photo!! But I still wanted to share the layout :)

I love the little felt car shape by Fancy Pants. But I thought it was a little too plain. So I stiched some orange trim and white buttons on it. Isn't it too cute? lol

Last year I was in the hospital right after having Emma, on Levi's birthday. So he got to celebrate then and after I got home, hence the title :) All these pattern papers are Fancy Pants, as well as  the felt shapes. The letters are of course Quickutz. You know, I never ever use letter stickers. I know they are still really popular, but since I got my {huge collection of} Quickutz alphabets, I really haven't needed any.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!! It's late here and I need to rest up before a party with several small children tomorrow :) 'Night!!

mosquitoes and more Christmas

I really don't like mosquitoes. One of the first things  I remember noticing when I first moved to Japan when I was just a kid was how all the babies  I saw seemed to be covered in bug bites. I thought it was so strange and pitiful. I also didn't know why it seemed to happen to the majority of babies here, when I never really even noticed it happening to  babies in the US.  Honestly, I still don't know why. None of my babies ever seemed to be covered with bites....until yesterday. Poor Miss Emma woke up with maybe 20 or more mosquito bites all over her. I felt SO bad. She looked to pitiful. I don't really know why or how.... I mean, she sleeps with me and I didn't even have one bite. Sigh, I just don't like seeing my little baby like that. And you can be sure that I am taking alot more precautions to keep those pesky mosquitoes out!!

ANYWAY :), I have another Christmas card for you. I know...but I still have a few more to share :)

I love these colors. I like them much better than the traditional red and black. I had this idea for a hand stitched snowflake, and this it what I came up with. It actually took a few tries to get it to look right. But I like how it turned out. I just came with a line drawing of the snowflake and drew it lightly on the blue cardstock. Then I pierced holes all along the pattern. After that I just hand stitched it. I'll be honest though, it took quite awhile to stitch it. But I had fun :) The rest of the card is pretty simple, but I wanted to keep it that way.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you are having a peaceful, pest-free week :)

supplies: cardstock: papertrey ink; stamps: polka dot-cornish heritage farms, all others-papertrey ink; button and ribbon:papertrey ink; other thread

Happy Birthday :)

We've had a fun weekend here :) Miss Emma turned 1 on the 14th and my cutie Levi turned 4 on the 16th! I really cannot believe how fast time has just flown by! Levi is thrilled that he has his birthday with Miss Leah and always tells everyone that he's lucky because of that. It's a traition at our house to celebrate big and fun on your "real birthday". Tomio always takes off from work and we celebrate all day. This year it was acceptable to celebrate Levi's and Emma's birthdays together since a) she doesn't really mind yet since she is just turning one, and b) she was sick on the 14th and couldn't do anything. So we went out to breakfast, went to bowling, opened lots of presents, ate ice cream cake and watched a movie :) Levi was looking forward to his "real birthday" all week, and kept telling everyone that he is 4 now :) Tomio searched and searched and was able to find Levi some actual batman toys. I was pretty sure they wouldn't have any here, but Tomio found 2 sets. Levi was SO happy--there is nothing he wanted more,but I warned him I didn't think they would have any here in Japan.  I love how we celebrate birthdays. It's just so fun celebrating as a whole family. So perfect. *smile*

No card today....just a fun birthday post for my cuties :) I'll be back next time with som crafty-ness :)

I hope you had as wonderful a weekend as I did. And get to spend time with your families :)

Thank you so much for stopping by!!

fevers and snowmen

Had a slow yet busy day today. Miss Emma had a fever all day, which means I couldn't really get anything done, yet I still needed to get everything done lol. She's finally down for the night it looks like. I hope she feels her normal self in the morning! It is so pitiful when they don't feel well.

No time to craft today, but here is yet another Christmas card I made the other day :) (But really, who doesn't love Christmas cards?!)

I *LOVE* how the text in Chocolate looks stamped on the Berry Sorbet cardstock. LOVE. And this little snowman is the whole reason I get this set from Papertrey last Christmas. Isn't he too cute?! I decided to give him a scarf though, by piercing some holes on either side of his neck and threading some rustic button twine through. I secured it with just a dot of liquid glue. The snowflake circles are up on popdots, just for some added dimension. I also used some twine to handstitch down the sides. You can only see a little of the dark brown base, but I think it adds a nice touch. I added a strip of Melon Berry cardstock at the bottom just for a splash of color :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!! I hope you have a SUPER day :) I'm off to check on my littlest one and give her some extra snuggles.

supplies: all supplies papertrey ink :)

hi:)

Hello!! How's your week going? Ours started off pretty well :) We're having some dreary weather right now though. I got my latest Papertrey order this weekend though!!! Yay :) I can't wait to play. I always like to sort of forget what I ordered so I can be a little surprised when I open my package. heehee :)  A little silly I know, but still fun! I'm in the middle of a couple of album projects though, so I'm making sure I finish those before I play with my new stuff.

I

I hope you don't mind a Christmas card in spring :) Christmas cards are some of my favorites and I like to make them all year long. I started with a kraft base, no surprise there :) Then I stamped a text background image from Cornish Heritage Farms on a Hibiscus Burst panel. I love how it softens the bright pink. Sometimes it is hard for me to use them when they are SO bright. Then I stitched it onto some Sweet Blush strips. I heat embossed those pretty snowflakes from Verve with some sparkly white embossing powder. Then I diecut them in circles with my Quickutz. I colored some pearls with my copics to match. The ribbon is Ocean Tides from Papertrey. The sentiment is from Holiday Button bits. I love how it came together. I want to try this color combo again for sure!

Thanks SO much for stopping by! I hope you have an awesome day!

supplies: cardstock: kraft-paper reflections, all other-papertrey ink; stamps- background-cornish heritage farms, snowflakes-verve, sentiment-papertrey ink; ribbon-papertrey

Enjoy today :)

Things started back pretty well for the first day after break :) I did get the boys to bed on time and Miss Emma went to be like she used to too, yay :) The weather was so nice this morning though, that we decided to pack up our school books and head to the park. It was sooo nice doing school outside on our blanket, then taking breaks to run around. A great way to ease back in to studies.I only wish I would have thought of it sooner so I could have baked some cookies to take with us, but I did make some when we got back heehee :)

This is a card I made before the break. I love these colors!

I used Papertrey's Turning a New Leaf for the leaves on the kraft panel. I inked the edges a bit too. I love the way dark brown looks on kraft...sigh:) I used versmark to stamp the text on the spring moss cardstock. For the butterflies, I punched them twice--once in white and once in clear acetate. Then I stamped the same leaf image from before on them with white Stayzon ink. I adhered them with glue dots and put pearls on top. The sentiment is from Verve's Black tie Birdies.

Thanks so much for stopping by!! I hope you enjoy today :)

supplies: cardstock: papertreyink; stamps-sentiment-verve, all others-papertrey ink; ink-tsukineko; punch-martha stewart crafts.

a layout in progress...

So sorry, again! I hadn't realized it had been so long since I posted...I am here :) I've just been at home, cleaning and making cards :) Tomio has been taking Leah golfing I think every day this break. Apparently, he met the father of last year's junior golf champion at the driving range a couple days ago. Tomio said that he noticed him watching Leah's practice.  He told Tomio that Leah had an excellent swing :) Tomio had been telling me all along that Leah had a great swing, but he was so proud that the "champion's dad" thought so too :) :) :) I love it that Leah enjoys it and works hard at it. I'm so proud of her :)

Anyway, here is a layout that I created recently.

Just some pictures of my silly cute boys:) I really like the hand stitching I did around the edges. But to be honest, I think I it is missing  something in the upper right section. I debated about it while I was making it. But it was until I took these pictures that I was sure. SO, most likely, as soon as I am done with this and if Miss Emma stays content :), I will be adding something there. I'll post it again once I do and you all can see if you agree with me :)

I think all the patten papers are from Fancy Pants. I buy from several manufacturers, but Fancy Pants ones almost always turn out to be my favorites. I love Basic Grey too, but I often find those a little harder to actually use for some reason. That never stops me from getting them though heehee :) And when I DO use them, I always like them.

Well, thanks for stopping by!! I've enjoyed the break we had here, but it has really messed up everyone's schedules, especially Miss Emma's. I'm hoping to get everyone back on the right track tonight and tomorrow so we can start back happily:) on Thursday. I hope are having a fun week!!