Sqaure-ing it up for 2012!

Hey!! so has everyone survived Christmas?! i surely hope it was filled with love, laughter, joy, family and friends!! well, cause that's how i roll! hehehe... we had a splendid weekend celebrating with family and friends on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day... Kids were delighted, Mommy and Daddy were happy and the eating never ended... LOL... there went my dropping 3 sizes... and Hubby surprised me with some crafting goodies!!! =D all in all, i hope it was a FANTASTIC day for all of you too!!

so did anyone go shopping the day after Christmas??? we did!! yah, it was crazy, but i really wanted to get some stuff before the stores ran out of it... happy to say that the mission was accomplished... i usually get these items well in advance before Christmas Day, but this year has been rough and i told myself, if it's there after Christmas, it was meant to be... AND IT WAS!!! i was SO stoked! now i have the Holiday Barbie 2011 and the ornament to add to my collection.... yippppeeeee!!

alright.... enough chit chat... sharing some calendars i made for the craft fairs...
these are mini hanging calendars... i used my biggest square nestie to cut out some chipboard, then the biggest scallop nestie to cut out my backings... found some great HK paper to accent the calendars completed with PSA HK clear stamps... i know everyone puts magnets on the back of their calendars, but i did ribbon instead... for those that prefer to hang it... i did tell my customers that they could add a magnet if they preferred... first time i made these it sold quickly... then again i only had a hand full... 2nd time around i made a bunch and came home with 1/4 of the stock left... most customers preferred it with the magnet instead of for hanging i guess... note to self for next year.... hehehe!

well, my craft room needs some major cleaning up... with the last minute hustles for Christmas i sorta threw and left things here and there... eek!!! bad no no! now i'm going to pay for it.... LOL...

ciao for now friends!! be back again with some more crafty goodies!

Move over stamps, HK time to shine!

Aloha Friday!!! yay!! well, i'm happy to report that i'm almost 100% better.... still a little stuffy, weak but i can't let that hold me down... lots of prepping for the craft fair this sunday, which means tonight will be a late night.... as long as i can last that is... thanks everyone for the get well wishes!!! your comments really brightened the days!!

back in stock and ready to be snatched up by customers! HK notepads....
just a few pictures of the finished ones i did last night (or i should really say this morning)... lots of new fun papers being used.... these notepads are really tedius work.... the HK's are actually... all are cut with the sizzix dies and YES i do cut out each and every whisker for each and every one that i make... so of course that takes some time... 6 notepads in a day is quite an accomplishment for me.... LOL... the challenge is trying to get different layouts... with the notepad being small and the HK's kinda on the bigger side, it's been hard... guess i could if i didn't use so much DP... hehehe!
and a few more... i have a bunch more to make and will be sharing that soon... gonna take a blogging break (from posting) for the weekend but i couldn't leave you stranded on this friday and was glad i had something done to share with you... so i'm hoping these will spark some mojo in you to get crafty over the weekend!

yesterday i tore up my craft room looking for ONE stamp!! boy did i make a mess in there... eek!! dreaded cleaning up but it had to be done and look who came to my rescue....my lil' monkey!! he was so cute dragging the broom up and down the hallway... =D he must have been saying "Mommy i'll help you clean your craft room, i'll sweep everything out the door and turn it into my playroom!" LOL.... oh thank goodness he can't talk yet! so after he was done i turned around and saw DD2 "flying" on the broom... all i hear is "Mommy look, i'm flying!" LOL.... too bad i was not near my camera to catch the silly moment... it was so funny!

enough blabbing for today.... i had a late start on this post and now need to catch up life! have a great weekend everyone, THANK YOU for stopping by and i'll be back on Monday with a creation for Lollipop Crafts!!

Phew, i'm surprised i made it through....

Well hello there!! i know i missed a posting day (Friday) but it was SO crazy running around with last minute things that day that i just couldn't get on here.... this week i'll be highlighting some party sharings, if you don't mind... =D too many pixs to share on just one post!

the party was a success... our hard work really paid off as we received many wonderful compliments on everything! some called me crazy for doing all that i did, but hey, it's my last "baby" and he only turns 1 once right?! all in all, we got lots of great compliments on the table deco, my candy bar, the banner, the sign in book, the food and most of all the most AWESOME cake the baker has ever made for me... it really topped my wedding cake and DD2's 1st birthday cake(which he did both too).... it was so cool we didn't even want to cut it... LOL... i'm gonna tease you guys on that and not share it just yet.... hehe... because i can... =D the kids had fun as i set up a coloring and name tag station... they were swarmed around the table creating... (you know i needed something crafty)... thank you to my sister and hanai sister for manning that station...

some of our guest even talked to me about party planning as a biz... but i go through so much stress with my own parties do i really want to take on someone's elses?! LOL... i actually have one lined up for next year and maybe volunteered to do one next month... something always comes up! but i love what i do and if it will put a smile on someone's face, why the heck not! hehe!

am very thankful that it's over now, no more worrying about this and that... can i finally concentrate on the holidays?!? or am i pushing myself a tad bit too much right now?!? can i finally find a decent time to sleep?!? LOL... hahaha, probably not!!

today's sharing is a keepsake... i decided to do my own sign in/guest book since i have a Cinch now... i waited to the very last minute to get this going for fear that i'd mess it up... guess what?? i did... LOL... thank goodness it was only the back cover... alright, let's go, lots of pixs...
here's the cover.... THANK YOU BRENDA for making all the critters and sandcastle and sun for the book!! it's so cute i really had a hard time adding them to this book... but i did because it was meant to be.... Thank you Bren!! Love yah girl!!

Brenda made the sandcastle and crab shown on the cover... isn't it CUTE?!?
now we take a look inside.... here are the sun and fish that Brenda also created... you'll see a few more in here as we go along (i didn't use it all, have to save for the other pages).... left the birthday page sorta plain hoping i can cut up some pictures from the party to add around...
about me page and sign in sheets.... just a little story about my son... birth date, weight, height, etc.
this one is a "recipe" for Keenan... listing the parents, grandparents, great grandparents, godparents, his ethnicity, etc.
pictures!!! a MUST!! lots of my fave pictures have been added to this book....
another one...
and another one...
last page in the book.... see the critters again?! =D there are more pictures to actually go in here... but i was so afraid that it would get ruined that i held back on adding more... my intentions now that the party is over is to get these pages laminated, add a few more with the pictures i wanted to add and some from the party and then rebind together... then we can go back and look through it over and over again.....

hey if you've survived this post, THANKS! hehe... that's what happens when i miss posting days... i'll be back tomorrow with another sharing from the party... THANK YOU for stopping by today and for all the wonderful birthday wishes to my lil' one... he had a splashing time!

go and check out this week's new challenge at Lollipop Crafts too... some sweet eye candy for you there....

Gratuity should always be added...

{Long post... making up for yesterday, LOL}

Hello, hello!!! i can't believe it's Thursday already... i have 2 more days before the party... the stress has calmed a bit, although not completly gone... i am almost done with all of my things but very sketchy on what others were "assigned"... i'm very eager to show you some table deco, but a part of it isn't complete yet, leaving me with nothing to put together... soon! hopefully soon!

Week 3 of He-Art Journaling with TGF... i'm sure you've been seeing some awesome pages around blogland from those who are taking the class... i hear it has been inspiring others to take the plunge and try it out too... it's a very fun way to keep a "journal" and best with no rules... Week 3's theme is GRATITUDE... so many ideas flew through my head, but my challenge was putting it down on the paper... and so this is what i came up with....
no painting this week.... tempted but decided to go back to my roots and stamp.... i used 3 different "Thank you" stamps... 2 of which come from TGF sets... "Why, thank you" from the Sweet Message set and "thanks so much" from the Butterfly Wishes set.... the other stamp is an oldie and i can't remember from where.... i searched the web to see if any gratitude quotes popped out to me and there were a few... but i choose 2 that had a lot of meaning.... oh i can't forget that i added butterflies... =D
TGF's Angel Anya was a #1 pick to go with one of the quotes i used... and of course you know why she is in blue!! ;)
the pink heart has one of the quotes i found.... please excuse my horrible handwriting.... LOL... the smaller hearts are just sayings that i always use when ever possible.. whether it's for myself or what i'm teaching my children...
ok, i really, really LOVE this quote.... from the moment i read it i just knew i wanted to use it.... the first image that came to mind was Angel Anya.... because she is praying... how perfect was that match!... if you go back and look at my spread (1st picture) you'll see that i angled the words differently... my intention was to make it look like light rays... yah, it was better pictured in my head than executed.... hehe!

i'm happy with this layout... on the simplier side, but does it really matter?!? if you are a part of this class or just joining in the bug, i hope you all are having as much fun with this "new" thing as i am... =D

now onto so yummy!!

here's Keenan's 1st birthday cake that we had to celebrate his special day on Tuesday... he loves cars and chose this design himself... it was this or Elmo and he was set on this... LOL.... safeway's cakes are always yummy if you customize it just right... my fave is chocolate cake with strawbery mousse filling and whip cream icing... they don't do the strawberry mousse anymore so i had to sub with custard filling, which is yummy too....
here is the little one endulging in his first piece of cake ever.... he didn't like the texture of it between and in his hands, so in the end we had to feed the cake to him... LOL.... yes, he was a complete mess... but that's ok, he was allowed to be this time.... ;D

next week i'll share pictures of his party birthday cake... it's a Queen Emma from a local bakery that is SO huge... some of you might remember my birthday cake from last year with all the layers of tropical flavor... yep it's going to be that same one on a grander scale... hehe.... for now, you'll just have to picture a full sheet of cake in a beach/ocean theme with the wonderful island flavors of guava, lilikoi (passion fruit) and coconut!! yum, yum, YUM!!!

we are on the topic of gratitude and i want to THANK everyone for sharing in on my sharings each time i post, and for coming by and leaving such wonderful messages... for the endless support and encouragement.... and most of all, the friendship... it's definitely a bond of sisterhood!! i LOVE you all for having a special place in my heart and my life and want you to know that yes, i am THANKFUL for you!! =D

and Keenan would like to send out big bear hugs and THANK YOUS for all the blessings and birthday comments too!! he enjoyed his special day... mommy was a little sad that the year has flown by so soon, but still happy and grateful that the year brought much more happy memories.... =D

come here tomorrow and check out a keepsake creation... probably be the last posting until next week.... let me get through the party first... hehe!! til tomorrow, have a beautiful blessed day and don't forget to GIVE THANKS to someone!

Breaking News: the WORD of the week!

and that word is FRUSTRATE.... it can be used in sentences as is or as frustrated, frustrating or frustration... all listed applies to me... LOL.... how's that for catching.... bwahaha! long post so beware...

seriously though, it has been such a FRUSTRATING few days... it has settled since but still lingers! the weekend ended in frustration only to begin the new week frustrated... seems nothing was going right... i'll get to that later in today's story...

so yes, we did our mini weekend getaway on Saturday to the beautiful east side of Maui... NO i did not fulfill my "early" bedtime as planned... i ended up sleeping an hour before i had to wake up, but with the help of some starbucks, i lasted til 815pm that night... man was i drained... but here is what we drove into at 530am....

sorry, i couldn't get a good picture as the driver was driving faster than i could snap... LOL... there were other beautiful views of the sunrise but with the winding road it was impossible for me to capture...
we finally made it to Keanae at 6:15am and this is the most beautiful view captured on the peninsula... these are the times i say "i'm lucky to live in Hawaii"!! gorgeous and relaxed atmosphere in nature's beauty... the water is so clean and fresh and pure as boats are not often seen out in the water...
here's another view with the awesome waves in the background... gosh i stood there for a long time soaking everything in... it is different than city life i tell you that much... and absolutely wonderful to experience...
miniature horses.... or is it ponies... LOL... i thought they were so cute and wanted to share them with you... they had horse rides for the kids and a little train too.... too bad we didn't have the kiddies... they would have LOVED it!

the event went really well.... sales were down, but it was ok... just being out with the crowd for a good cause was worth my time!! and even though we didn't have a sell out day, i'm totally cool with it because that means less prepping for the next event.... haha! yah right! i was the only one with paper crafts and received extremely hearfelt comments on my products... that made my day as is... not much vendors with products that have interested me but i did find something for my girls....

both of my girlies got new HK blankies!! i wanted one for myself too but hubby said NO! LOL.... if i had my way i would have bought it all...

so back to the word FRUSTRATE... LOL... ok, i'm already late with my son's birthday invitations and instead of taking a break to recover on Sunday i started working on it... but there were lots of things that happened in the process... 1. the CS for the base did not cut porperly so it wasn't an even 4.75x5.5 cut... 2. my printer was not printing on the vellum correctly and i've wasted almost the whole pack... it still isn't printing properly but there's nothing i can really do... 3. the adhesive we used to glue the inserts to the invite was not sticking on the corners, we tried to fix but it wrinkled the paper and it looked worse... now you see where my frustration is going... LOL... by the end of Sunday i was giving up hope that i would ever get the invites done... i have people yelling at me that they need to go out... YES PEOPLE I KNOW!!! but what they don't understand is that it's just me! and producing 100 invites mainly all by hand and with just me, umm, i can't possibly finish in a day... LOL... anyway so the invites was just not working out to my liking... so how did i solve this problem??? i THREW it ALL AWAY! LOL.... wasted money but there was no way in fixing... so yesterday i went at it again... back to square one... went to the craft store, picked up more paper and i'm pushing overtime to get these done... i hired some HU-PREPS, the opposite of my RO-PREP, lol to help with the easy things... adding double sided tape to the CS.... hubby did some cutting and i'm doing the rest... but i've found that even with the easy things, my helpers had a hard time complying.... AAAAHHHH! i hear things like, oh nobody will notice or doesn't matter, but truthfully it does matter and i notice... LOL... as of right now i have about 30 completed invites.... and i mean completed... no having to go back and add this or that... phew... tired as heck but i must go on... i'll be MIA until i finish that... which hopefully is tonight... these are the times i wished i lived closer to my blogging sisters... being the only crafty one in the family(this household), it's hard to expect things to be done correctly or atleast to my expectations... it is really easier for me to do it myself.... haha! so invites sneak peek coming soon....

alrighty, thanks for sharing a part of your day with me and listening/reading my rambling and complaints... hehe! just had to share my non-perfect moments... hahah! i miss everyone and have been trying to sneak on to check out creations... i have yet to make it to commenting and to start playing in challenges again... this 100 invites in 2 days is already a challenge in itself but i'm going to do it! but then again that's what i get for procrastinating... hehe.... which isn't entirely true, since i had good cause for the procrastination... be back soon!

Felt Flowers....

Happy Sunday Everyone!! i have to admit... with school getting out on a Thursday and a 3 day weekend, i have my days sorta mixed! hehe! oh well... main thing is it's enjoyable right?!

apologizing for the lack of posting... with summer officially starting as of Friday, i was catching up on some family time... Friday we went to watch Kung Fu Panda 2 with the DDs... so CUTE and the girls LOVED it! Mommy and Daddy did too... we ended the day with the girls doing a quick ride around the mall on this cute little train... something new that the mall will be having on Fridays... then yesterday we had another family day spent at the ocean center.... this time the lil' man got to join in... here's a pix of the kiddies before we started our adventure....

we had LOTS of fun there.... lil' man was interested in some of it... things that really caught his eyes... oh especially the huge deep water tank where all the sharks roam... he had a kick out of that... =D and of course my days ended with craft time... LOTS of it... boy am i trying to touch up everything... managed to finish this card too....
ATS challenge this week is FELT! i knew i had a stash of some felt things somewhere and glad that i found it... the 2 felt flowers with the rhinestone middles don't really match on this card, but that's pretty much all i could find... at first i thought the clouds were felt, but after touching it, it didn't really feel like felt... idk! LOL... anyway, i used CC Designs Gretel and Butterfly Fence as my image choices... used my MS flower border punch and even punched and cut the different colored flowers... whoa, so time consuming... hehe... i tried to use very subtle DP so that it wasn't too busy and the main focus would be my little flower garden scene... overall, even if the felt flowers didn't quite match, i'm happy with the results of this card! =D

that's it from me for now.... need to get some shut eye.... the morning (after some sleep) will be another busy day, house cleaning for summer... ugh, i think i feel a cold coming on.. haha! stay tuned for an exciting week here with LOTS of happening and sharings... and come back tomorrow for a new challenge at Lollipop Crafts with some important info.... ta-ta!!

Thank you cards....

Hello!!! i missed a day!! yikes... did mr. mojo take another vacation?? actually no, but i did... had to take care of biz, run errands and dwell on somethings.... crafting has been a big help lately on taking my mind off some things... technically, being in the craft room in general has helped! did some crafting, rearranging, sorting, "some" cleaning and moving my nesties from my big binder to cd cases.... so i've kept myself pretty busy despite on the things happening... i just needed to... ever have those moments?!?!

anywho... hope you all are having a terrific week... i have 2 sick kiddies in my household so the quiet time comes and goes... good news, bad news and everything in between has happened so far, but i'm still smiling... today's post is a crafty one but not created by me... well some of it is... =D

DD1 had a cookie fundraiser for her elementary school, and we picked up all the orders last week Thursday... before then, i had her create some thank you cards to go along with the delivery of the cookies... and this is what we did....

we used TGF's OA - Just for you set (Amelia) with the "thank you so much" sentiment from the Butterfly Wishes set... DD1 colored all the images and i had die cut the circles and scallop circles and punched out the sentiments... generated a little thank you note for the inside and she addressed each one... we then stuck the image and sentiment onto some cards and that was it!

she's so proud of her creations!!! i am too!!

it's extra special because she created them... she loves to craft, but still on a beginner's level... i hope she continues to craft in areas she enjoys most... who knows, maybe in a few more years i'll have a crafting buddy... =D

short and sweet today... my mind is doing a 180.... hopefully some crafting later will help ease the dizziness... stop by tomorrow for some spotlight creations! enjoy today, because you can never get these moments back!! aloha, until we meet again!!

Happiness!!!

Thanks for all the sweet comments on yesterday's post friends!! my mother's day was good because i was with my kiddies.... even though they drive me crazy, i LOVE them bunches!!! my little vacay on the other hand, in general, wasn't too good but i do have some highlights of my trip that really made the bad moments MUCH BETTER! so i have some sharings today on some wonderful RAKs i've received from some special people dear to me who turned my frowns upside down... lengthy post so beware....

for starters i got to meet up with the dolls, Linda and Joy for some shopping!! wish our time together could have been a little longer, but the weekend was crazy enough on timing for all of us! we had some laughs and actually stood in line and fought the crowd at Bath and Body!! it was the opening week and just filled with people waiting to get in... Wow, that was crazy! not to mention the store itself was crowded... some parts of the store people were packed like sardines.... oh and if you bump into people, even on accident, they give you the stink eye.... LOL... so thankful i had Tae helping me grab things i wanted... she was tiny enough to slip through people and snag some goodies... Thanks Tae! walked around a bit and caught up with each other, not something we can always do being on different islands... the time together was indeed wonderful and i already miss them... i think i have to plan another trip to visit soon!! so as always in local tradition we greet each other with omiyage (gifts) and this is what these FABULOUS girls surprised me with....
this one here is from Linda! look at that CUTE bag... in my FAVE color too!! it's so cute and i'm so sad it got a little smashed on the trip home.... but i still love it!! even that cute tag she made to attach to the bag... totally SWEET!!! i am aware that it says Happy Birthday, it is a belated birthday gift... who said you couldn't celebrate your birthday on another day?!? hehe!
look what was inside!! i can't wait to play with it... in the white envelope is tape for the dispenser and wrapped up in that little tupperware container is more tape... Thank you so much Linda for thinking of me! how you know i needed one?!? LOL... this will work great for me when i'm producing a lot of creations... Thank you again!!

this one is from Joy and Taelyn!! isn't it beautiful?!? i just love the flower (and might have to own this die)!! the box is pretty big and can be stuffed with all kinds of goodies... the sentiment is very beautiful too and touching....

and this was stuffed inside my box... YUMMIES!! THANK YOU Joy and Taelyn for thinking about me... i'm stashing the yummies for a sugar rush!!

getting together with these dolls was one major happy part of my trip... THANK YOU sistahs for a FABULOUS time... wish the other dolls were available to get together too, but it was mother's day weekend and everyone had different plans... next time sistahs!

i managed to hit a craft store (J's) to try and do some supply shopping, but time was limited again and i couldn't really browse like i normally do... so it was a quick look and just grab sort of shopping... and it was packed with customers so it was one sweep through the store instead of my normal walk around the store twice or more, LOL... here's some goodies i found and bought... oh and because it was coupon weekend at BF, i had to find some time to stop at a BF there... got to check out the Market City BF and make good use of my 40% off coupon... and these are the goodies i got there....

added another set of HK stamps to my collection, some ribbon, a pack of flowers that i missed out on getting at the store here, candy stick bags and my very 1st stamping bella stamp! hehe, i had an extra coupon so i asked the hubs to get me the HK stamps and i used my coupon on the stamping bella...

guess another good part of the trip was some shopping... that's always a plus right?! just very hard with time limits... kids got to find some goodies too, which is good since a lot that we found can't be bought at home... checked out Party City and started picking up decorations for my son's 1st birthday... there was another craft store i wanted to check out but didn't have time to do so... oh well, next time... and another major part of my trip was visiting with family... some i haven't seen in like 7 years... but there were also moments of stress and negativity that really mad me frown and feel sad on this trip... BUT, when i got home and checked my mail, i received something from a sweet and thoughtful friend that changed my mood for the remainder of the night! look...
Sweet, sweet Brenda sent this to me for Mother's Day!! she is always so thoughtful and giving and really brightned the rest of my night... isn't her punch art beautiful?!? check out her blog, she has a tutorial on how to make this bird of paradise! sentiment has some serious meaning too when you think about life in general....inside was a mini card she made and more YUMMIES for my sugar rush!! hehe! oh yah, i'm going to be full of sweetness with this and Joy's goddies... THANK YOU Brenda for the wonderful surprise gift, for making me smile after a bad day and for thinking of me!!!

wowza! are you still with me?!? LOL... sorry, i figure i share everything with you at once... hehe! i have a few more RAKs to share with you tomorrow, not as long as this one... so if you made it this far, thanks for stopping by today and sharing in some joy in my heart and come back and visit again soon!!

Ben Franklin Crafts Spring Fair

**Image lifted from BFC Ideas and Inspirations Blog**
Happy May Day Everyone!!!

Don't forget to join us today from 9am-2pm at War Memorial Gym!!

Lots of crafts from vendors around Maui and outer islands!! Come by and say hi!!

ok, way past my bedtime.... need to be up in 5 hours!!! have a beautiful Sunday all!!!

Check! check!

Happy happy!!! la lala... yes, i'm pretty delirious at this time of hour... haha!! hope your weekend is going well.... mines a little tad bit itty bitty busy... yah, you know what i mean...

i thought i was going to have more finished projects done, but with running errands and celebrating a friend's bday, i ran out of the time i wanted... i do have a crafty pix to share but also wanted to share with you the mess i was in...
this is just part of the craft room... i had to bring in another folding table to give me space to lay out things... total hurricane as of 12am, but now, a little tidier... LOL... not for long... seriously it was a total mess until i cleaned it up an hour ago... not a very good clean, but enough to work around... paper everywhere, some of the finished projects in containers already... my messy push cart that i LOVE because i can just pull it to me...
part of my desk... no wonder i can't find anything right?!? hehe... i've cleaned that up a bit too....
i was working on making more HKs, but the mess was really getting to me... more like frustrating me cause i was losing pieces... so i gathered it all up with the help of some claws and put it aside to clean... i really need to invest in a wand... either from Sleeping Beauty's godmothers or Cinderella's... =D
here's the crafty pix... while watching the lovely royal wedding last night-this AM, i was working on checkbook covers... tracing fabric, ironing, cutting it and then stuffing it into vinyl holders... this is some of the new fabrics i'm adding to the ones i've shared before... very labor intensive with tracing on 2 fabrics, then ironing on the adhesive, then to the CS and then trim.... this isn't a project you want to just stop in the middle of, so last night was perfect for the final steps of completing it...

well, well.... look at the time... guess i'm gonna finish up some of the HKs, take a HOT shower and call it a morning... hopefully i can sleep in for a few hours before heading right back into the craft room... it is officially the last day i have to finish up all the items for the craft fair... CAN I DO IT??? hehe!! Thanks everyone for all the well wishing on doing good at the craft fair!! it is my first official "craft" fair, as the others i've participated in were basic community events and i'm not sure what to expect for myself... this is my actual targeted market compared to the browsers and light buyers at Keiki Day, Whale Day, etc.... so i'm crossing fingers big time!

so until the craft fair is over... take care!!!

P.S. Make sure you finish the bunny hunt game by midnight tonight! Winners will be drawn late Sunday night or Monday....

This and That...

Hiya!! I was suppose to post about this creations on Sunday, but opted to break over the weekend to 'try' and rest... quote, try, of course it didn't happen... i'm feeling pretty good gaining control on blogging life again and decided that i needed to "make" time to keep up with my blog... it makes me extremely happy to be sharing more often and stopping by to see what everyone is up to... and i've even sneaked in some time to play along with challenges, which i MISS oh so much! with that said, here's a card i made for TGF's FFCB Mystery Mondays CASE-ing Markie's Mom....
i was so surprised and jumping with excitemet to have found out that this card was randomly picked as the winner for that challenge!! WOW-WEE!! Totally made my day!!

Madelyn is my FAVE from the TGF Twinkle Tots line... she's adorable with a bit of sass and total CUTENESS... i CASEd the layout on Markie's Mom's card and see the beautiful crochete flower??? that was made by Kim! Thanks Kim, i finally found the perfect card to use the flower on!! All the DP is a new line that i picked up over the weekend at BF, i can't remember the company but the line is called April's Showers... so pretty for spring themed creations... i'm getting a little better with blending my copics and the more i practice the more satisfied i am with the color results... what do you think about this one?
over the weekend i got a FANTABULOUS surprise RAK from my GF Brenda! Lookie at what she sent for Easter!! i'm sure you've spied these cutie baskets on her blog already, but i'm sharing it again... Thank you Brenda for the CUTE basket and all the yum yums inside... it's my sugar stash for late nights! hehe! Brenda's a pro at whipping up these Cricut Critters...
and last but not least... my lil' monkey wanted to say HI! he's all tickled in laughter... hmmmm, i wonder why?!

ok, time to try and get creative again... i have 2 weeks before the last craft fair... still haven't taken inventory, still unsure of what creations need more of... i think my mojo took a break over the weekend too... trouble is, i think it's still on break! might have to fire that one and find a replacement!! LOL... thanks for coming by today and please come back tomorrow for more sharings!!

RAKs, BRAKs, and just because....

Oh my YONKERS!!! this was suppose to go up on Friday, but of course when i thought i was up on top, i fell right back down again!! things are better in my hood, and it should be smooth sailing from here... or atleast i hope! haha!

Well, Happy Sunday Friends!! Hope you all are enjoying the weekend... and for those of you on spring break, wow, it's the last day already... how time is flying right past us huh.... i got some goodies to share with you from my bday and just because... pictures are smaller than normal , but you can always click it to enlarge... so let's get going... and be warned, it's a long post...

This one here is a sister swap from Karen... I partnered with her last month and she sent me this beautiful card that she made and this cute little HK magnetic pin holder! Love it both and i was able to case the pin holder, without the HK though.... Thank you Karen for the beautiful card and lovely HK! visit her blog for more of her wonderful creations...
Also, she surprised me with this RAK too... it came after our swap as a "thank you"... cute sushi embellie stickers and pretty die cuts! Thank you again Karen for the wonderful goodies! isn't this just the cutest?? this little kitty was given to me by my kiddies for my bday.... and tucked around his neck is a beautiful birthstone pendant!! Lovely! DD1 chose the necklace and DD2 chose the kitty! so much meaning behind this gift! i LOVE my kiddies!!!!
i wouldn't normally do this, cause i hate my feet, LOL, but i had to show you one of the gifts from my hubby!! he sent me with my bestie to have pedis on my bday... and as a present from my nail tech, she blinged out all of my toes... LOL... might not be able to see it but she added rhinestones to every toe and gave it a little deco... her work is fantastic!! this isn't the only thing hubby gave me.... he also purchased my copic refills and some other knick-knacks and took me to an "ONO" dinner at Outback!! Thank you hubby for a wonderful day!
the pix above and below is a BRAK from the talented Brenda.... who is the punch queen and now i have to say Cricut queen! she sent a bunch of goodies, that i admit, i'll probably hoard, LOL... all the cutie critters and the sand castle card in the middle was made with her cricut... too cute right?! and the 2 build-a-bear goodies was made using her BAB dies... the bumble bee themed creation is a photo album and the other one is a notepad... yah i'll more than likely leave it in it's plastic bag and use for display only! hehe! Thank you so much Brenda for all of the beautiful creations!! check out her latest creations by visiting her blog!
oh, and this is the inside of the card she sent.... LOVE IT!!!
and this here is from Amy Y. she really surprised me with this one... she snuck it in the bag of the yummy blog candy that i won from her newest release... (i will share that another day)... the image you see here is one of her creations too... LOVE the sassy pose of the fairy, don't you? the card is beautiful, and very spring and warm feeling!! Thank you Amy for helping me celebrate!! for more sneak peeks of her newly or upcoming images, or just to see her awesome creations, hop on to her blog!

okie dokie... thank you so much for visiting with me today! hope you enjoyed my sharings as much as i was head over heels to receive such fabulous gifts!! don't forget my surprise birthday candy ends tonight at midnight... link is above to go to that post... and come back tomorrow for the winner and also for a new challenge at Lollipop Crafts!