And they are back!

They made it back safe and sound. It was a whirlwind trip full of golf and more golf lol. They came back all tan. I'm glad they went and had fun. Emma was really excited to see Leah and Daddy. All while they were gone, when she would come down in the morning she would ask "where's Daddy?" Now things can go back to normal.

I always sort of think I am keeping track of what cards I have shown here on the blog and which ones I haven't...but I'm really not. sigh. But today's card I know I haven't, because I just made it :) I love all the bright cheery colors!

Isn't it cheery? I love how the bright blue butterfly looks with the pink and orange. The pretty label is a Tim Holtz Sizzix one. I just love it--it's really great size. I diecut it out of PTI's summer sunrise cardstock and stamped the text in Wild Honey distress ink. I have used my summer sunrise cardstock so much more since  I discovered how perfectly the Wild Honey ink goes with it! And since I can barely make a card or layout without using kraft somewhere, the base of the card is kraft :)

So glad you stopped by today!! Are you ready for the weekend?!

They are off.

Tomio and Leah left for Thailand. They will be there for a few days--golfing everyday :) Not particularly MY idea of a fun holiday, but they were pretty excited about it lol :) So I'm here with the boys and Miss Emma. They are having fun doing "boy" stuff. They got a new Pirates of the Caribbean lego that they just love. Their current faves for everything are Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones. You can tell Miss Emma has 2 older brothers when she recognizes anything pertaining to them, and calls them "Pirates" and "Jones", respectively. heehee :)

Here's a layout of Miss Emma. I can't believe how little hair she had here lol. And it was straight too. Basically just had fun with this layout. Some stitichin, felt flowers, cute papers. I actually heat embossed the woodgrain pattern onto the buttons--thought it kinda looked like sunflowers.

So glad you stopped by today!! I hope you are keeping cool, it seems to keep getting harder and harder to do that here. So thankful for my air :)

break time.

It's finally summer break time :) I think I might be even more excited than the kids lol. We'll only have about 10~14 days for break, but I intend to enjoy every.single.day. Really, I do :) I think the boys feel the same way too, though, because they have spent the whole day up in their room, playing, fighting and finding toys that have been lost for months :)

Today's card is another elegant one (remember how I like to get out supplies and make several things using them and my scraps?)  This card came from "elegant" scraps lol. I really liked the pink and black combo. And I also used the rest of my one piece of silver cardstock heehee :) The music background is my wonderful huge square one from Impression Obsession. Love how it can cover a whole card vertically or horizontally :) I heat embossed the damask on the circle after stamping it a slow drying pigment ink.

Thanks for stopping by today! I'm going to enjoy my break, hopefully by making some cards :)

I think it's time...

for another layout. I made this one a few weeks ago, but I'm pretty sure I haven't shared it yet. So sorry if  I did!

These pictures are from last year when Miss Emma was first learning to eat by herself. She's eating broccoli :) which was, and still is, one of her most favorite foods. She prefers veggies over meat all the time. And she insists on calling eggs "chicken", which I suppose, isn't too far off, right?! Anyway, back to the layout-- I used some Fancy Pants Papers and some Prima flowers. I stamped, colored and trimmed out some PTI butterflies. Oh, and I die cut the letters out of coasters from PTI too, just for something different.

Short and sweet today. We've got some school to do and then we are going to the kids' first lesson at their new swimming class. Hoping things go well. They are all super excited :)

Thanks for stopping by!!

i don't...

drink coffee. At all. Or tea. Or even hot chocolate. I never developed a taste for coffee or tea, and I figured why try when I know I get more than enough caffeine from my coke, right? And as for the hot chocolate, well, I just really don't like the idea of *hot* drinks. I am completely aware that I'm probably in a very small minority here.Despite my aversion to all the aforementioned drinks, I simply adore cute mugs :) I mean really, what's more fun than drinking out of a really cute mug? So I have several of my own that I use. I simply drink my coke out of them. And if you haven't tried this, I really do recommend it. It is more fun than you might think :)

I also adore coffee and other mug related stamp sets. So much so that I *almost* tried to start drinking coffee just so I could feel more justified in buying more of them. In the end I just reasoned that I could just make card for my coffee-drinking friends with the stamps. I know, my reasoning is exceptional :) Today's card I made with probably cutest set of "coffee stamps" ever. Love their rustic look.

I chose to go with a really CAS card. I love how crisp the white looks for CAS cards. I used a the matching dies to cut out the mug. And isn't the heart-shaped steam too cute?

Oh,  I have to add in a quick brag on my little golfer :) She went to her probably last competition for season on Tuesday, and she tied for 3rd!! She's has been golfing for a lot less time than most of the other kids there, and only been in a couple of competitions so far. So proud of her for all her hard work.

Thanks for stopping by today! Are you ready for the weekend? I am sure--unfortunately our "weekend" finishes today...:)

I guess...

 I spoke too soon. Or I jinxed myself >_<  Miss Emma apparently decided  to make up for behaving during the day by screaming all night long. She speaks tons and can communicate fine, but she still wouldn't tell me why she  was unhappy with me and the world....I'm pretty sure there wasn't a real reason. oh well, sleep is overrated anyway, right?! At least no one else seems to hear her crying and get woken up.

But I still do have a card :) I mean hey, no sleep and no crafty time would be even worse. Gotta have some fun too :)

This card was fun to make :) Kind of just came together as I was playing. That's the best. And as an added bonus Tomio noticed it sitting on my desk and said "hey, that's a great card! The magazines will choose that one."  They didn't, but I still really liked it :) Love kraft and red together, and in case I hadn't mentioned it yet, I {heart} my PTI impression plates. I *need* some more. So far I think this one is my favorite.

Well, thanks so much for stopping by! I'm hoping to get a little more sleep tonight than I did last night :)

enjoying the cool...

I have really been enjoying the cooler weather the last week or so. Seriously,  I don't think I can remember a year where there have been this many cool days in July since I've lived in Japan (and I've been here about 20 years!) Not that I really go out in the heat all that much anyway lol. But since we don't have central air, it's nice not to have to get all sweaty just going to the potty heehee :) And I'm also pretty thrilled with my little Miss Emma lately. Remember, this is the girl that had to go to the corner screaming rather than eat her cookie at the  table. So yesterday she got a "preacher cookie" and promptly walked to the sofa and sat down. So like always, I said "Eat at the table Emma." She looked at me.... and I finished saying "don't want to make a mess on the sofa, right? So we eat at the table." And she did :) She said "I eat at table". I'm not sure if I'm conveying the significance of this, but trust me, it's huge :)

And now for a card.


I've been thinking of making a card with kraft and black for awhile, and I finally did :) I lov bee how they go together, so I will definitely be doing it again. This cute little butterfly is from Hero Arts. Since I cut it out and the antennae were gone, I used some twine instead.

Thanks for popping in today!! Hope you have a great weekend!!