again...

I feel like I keep saying the same thing...."sorry time got away from me"...sigh... Since I homeschool my kids, we can of course basically start the new year whenever we want. The school year here in Japan starts in April, so I went with that when I first started homeschooling Leah 6 years ago in 2005. Back then I only had her and a 2 year old Rhys. Seems like things were a lot simpler then lol. But I do think I've learned a thing or two along the way so that as it gets more complicated, I at least know a little better how to deal with it. Even though the  school year officially started in April before, now I choose when to start depending on when they finish up this year's studies. It looks like we'll be starting in March I think. I want to take this time as a chance to set up some good plans and schedules not only for their school, but for me too. I want to be able to come on here and say "I did it. I got my things done and I got to make a card!" Is that too ambitious?That's my goal anyway. Scheduling and organizing do not come naturally to me. Up until not very long ago, I considered schedules as pretty much evil. I can't really comprehend it coming naturally to anyone, but apparently, it can. Amazing, I know. But anyway, I think it will help everything run more smoothly, so that's my plan...If you have any time scheduling or organizing tips for me, please help me out :)

Okay...enough of that. Time for a card. This was my Dad's birthday card. His birthday isn't actually until Valentine's Day, but he won't be here, so I gave it to him early :) I tried to go for a little more boy-ish colors than I normally do. I really like the Enjoy the Ride set. I should definitely get it out more often. And I have to admit that I have been kind of shying away  from my background building sets lately, kind of seemed like they were too much of a pain to get to work right. But I used polka dot basics 2 and text style basics on this card, and they both turned out pretty well :) I added some glossy accents to the taillights. I love how you can change out what the license plate says. So cute! I couldn't help adding some stitching, but I didn't think it made it look too girlie :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I'm going to go think about some schedules.... :)

Favorite Papertrey

I'm really excited about Papertrey's anniversary celebrations :) I'm looking forward to lots of inspiration and fun new products :) The challenge for today was to post your favorite Papertrey card from this past year....kind of hard to choose. Usually there's a little something I like about one card, and then something else I like about another. But this is definitely one of my faves for sure.  Kinds of different from what I usually make.

It uses two of my all time favorite sets too. Butterfly Dreams and  and Turning a New Leaf . I use these sets all the time :) I love how you can color in these butterflies and give them such a different look. I colored some of the pearls with copics too so they would match. I also stamped the sentiment directly on my card, which I am often too chicken to do lol.
Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you are having a fun weekend. I am :)

big plans.

I think I mentioned it before---my birthday is this Saturday. I'll be 31(!) Fortunately, it doesn't seem much of big deal anymore now that I have already hit 30 lol. Tomio and I have been together since I was 14, and he hasn't missed any of my birthdays ever. Even when I was in college in Canada, he flew out to see me (and proposed :)) So he always takes off from work, and the couple of times he couldn't manage to take the whole day off, he still came home early. This year it's Saturday, so technically he doesn't need to take off from work, but he said he would take off Friday and we could celebrate for 2 days :) Sounds good to me. We'll probably go to Outback as a family during the day, and Tomio and I supposed to go out to a movie at night! Since our girls' Christmas shopping trip was the first time since Emma came along for me to actually get to go out without any kids, it's kind of big deal. I'm excited :)Tomio and I used to go to movies a lot while we were dating heehee :) Anyway, those are our big plans for the weekend.

I like making simple cards. I always end up liking those the best. Usually if I try to add too many layers or embellishments, I end up not liking it as much. So today's is simple again. Really enjoying my Unity stamps. I wasn't really sure if I would be able to "pull them off", but they really are just fun to use :) The music background is from Impression Obsession. It's a huge square cling stamp that can cover a full card horizontally or vertically. The Flourish tree and worn grid pattern are from Unity. Like I said, simple card. I just stamped the grid and then the tree. Then I inked the edges. I adhered it before stitching so I could stitch through both layers. And that's it :)

So glad you stopped by! Happy Thursday :)

February....

It's a new month, so I'm hoping it's a start of good things :) Better to be positive and ambitious, right? :) I decided to change up my blog too. I find a little change of scenery is usually inspiring. I *think* I like how it looks. It usually takes me a few days to work on it and to decide whether I like or not.
I love the way that kids look at things :) I don't have an alarm clock, so I just use my cell phone alarm. And so does Tomio. Usually we have them going off  every few minutes....mine--his--mine--his. Kind of annoying, but it does wake you up :) Levi, who climbed into my bed in the middle of the night, heard Tomio's going off and said "oh yeah...that's Daddy's. Yours is just normal, but Daddy's is more Rock'N'Roll." Heehee :) I think it's the vibration :) I like being able to get up with a smile.

So I have a card to share :) Yay :) Really been trying to make sure I have time to do some fun things that I like too. It makes for a much happier me :)

I used an embossing folder on this--I don't think I've used those on my cards in ages. Love how it turned out though. I almost never like to leave my cardstock just plain. I'll at least use versamark and do a tone on tone subtle pattern. But I struggle with that sometimes because it really doesn't show up very well on really light colors, like this yellow. Then I thought, ohhhhh TEXTURE lol :) And that's how I decided onthat. I definitely think I'll be pulling them out a lot more. It's just the right touch sometimes. I used my new Baby Boy Plaid background from Unity on the green base. Really glad I got that stamp. The pretty frame stamp on the label is from Papertrey's anniversary set. It's not for sale though :( To be honest, I haven't really used many of the other stamps from the set. But I do really like the frame that matches the mat stack die :) The butterfly die is the one that goes with the Butterfly Dreams set. I just opted to use it without the matching stamp this time. I like it when the dies can work well with the stamp or without. I decided to loop my ribbon just for fun lol :)
Finished off with a few pearls. Didn't think it needed a sentiment.

Thanks for popping by! I hope your week and month have started off well. I expected it to get colder, but it has actually been a little smidge warmer these past couple of days. Fine by me :)

I feel like I've been neglecting my blog lately :( But the truth is, I haven't been able to do much crafting at all lately...I haven't been good at "making time" like I should be. I really hope to get things all worked out this week though. My birthday is this Saturday :) and definitely want to spend some time crafting during my birthday week :)

We went to visit Tomio's dad over the weekend for his birthday. It's a little far, but the kids are used to the trip. Miss Emma doesn't seem to like staying in the car for that long though, because last time and this time she decided to throw up all over herself....and me. I had a change of clothes for her, but not me. It turned out ok though. We pass by this really cool used clothes store on the way, so we stopped there. We could have just gotten a really cheap shirt for me to wear, but Tomio said we might as well get something nice. So he got me this great Aber Crombie and Fitch hoodie :) Heehee--guess getting puked on isn't so bad after all :)

Besides, how can you be upset with someone this cute anyway?!

Thanks for popping by! I hope you are ready for a new week to start! I'm trying to be :)

Papertrey Blog Hop

I really didn't expect to get to participate this time around. After Tomio and Leah finally got over the flue, I ended up with it. But I was SO happy that I got better in time to actually make something. The problem for me is, I don't have any sets that haven't seen ink yet. And while I DO have couple of sets that are collecting

 dust(!), there is a reason for that....I have couple of sets that I haven't ever gotten to work well for me. One of those was Heart Prints. So I challenged myself to use it. And this what I made:

I also used some scarlet jewel, which I really haven't used in ages either. I did use my go-to woodgrain background, but that's ok since I combined it with my "dusty" set, right? I also finally got my sewing machine to cooperate again :) yay!

Thanks so much stopping by! I hope you are enjoying the "hop" :) I'm just glad I got to create something this week :)

still here...

Well here we all are, still at home. Tomio is still home with the flu. He is doing tons better now, but still not supposed to go to work. Nana and I hauled all the kids to the doctor yesterday to see how they were doing. The boys are fine, but poor Leah has the flu too. I could tell she just wasn't her normal self. So glad to get her some medicine right away . Now she gets to stay in the "sick room" with Daddy and read books all day. Miss Emma doesn't have the flu, but she does have a persistent cough like before, so she has some medicine too. Fortunately she likes it and actually asks for more when I give it to her :) It also makes her sleepy, which isn't necessarily a bad thing :)

I have another card I made when I was just playing with my stamps the other day.  I really like all the dies that are available to match stamps lately. I loved diecutting before I got obsessed with stamping, so combining the  two is perfect for me :) I just got the spiral notebook die and the mug die. I *love* this Warm Happiness and Warm Happiness Too stamp sets. And now that they have the matching dies, I like using them even more :)  Almost makes me want to take up drinking coffee...But then I figure, I already get plenty of caffeine from my coke, I don't need to make an effort to add another addiction....heehee.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you are having a healthy week :)