Time to LEEP

    So, this post will not be centered around crafts, as they usually are. Today is an update on personal life and an outlet for me. Two months ago I went in for the annual exam with the Gyn. Two weeks after I get a call from the doctor's office and they tell me some of the tests came back abnormal, and they would like me to come in for a Colposcopy to take a closer look and do a biopsy. Not really what you want to hear, but ok. We set up the appt. About a month ago, I went in for the procedure and was told I would hear back in about a week and a half. 2 weeks later I get a message from my doctor herself asking me to call her back that she wanted to schedule a loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) to remove the abnormal cells. Um, ok. Never heard of it. And what do you do when you don't know about something...you google it. Not really a fun topic to research. Apparently they use a metal rod with a cone shape at the end that transmit electrical current that removes the cell and then cataches that cell into the cone (used to do more tests on).
    So after researching it and kind of freaking myself out I emailed my doctor and literally 5 minutes later she called me back. She went over the procedure with me and I ask her about the abnormal cells and what caused them. She informs me that they are actually precanercous and are in the range of moderate to severe. I feel like I held it together pretty well while still on the phone with her. But once we got off, it took me a moment to 'compose' myself.
Along with her telling me about the procedure we talk about the recovery process and what that entails. Since the process of using electrical current weakens the cervix we have to wait at least a year until we can try to get pregnant. Maybe longer depending on how long it takes for the cervix to heal.
    Naturally I have been nervous for the upcoming surgery (scheduled for the 6th of October), but yesterday at church I seemed to have had a lightbulb go off in my head.
Since March, Robert and I have been trying to get pregnant. Now we thought it might take a few months or so to get pregnant, but I honestly thought I was going to be pregnant by fall. Now knowing about the precancerous cells I am grateful that we had not yet gotten pregnant. If we had I would have had to decide whether to have the syrgery and have a 95% of losing the baby, or not have the procedure and risk the very likely chance of the cells turning cancerous and spreading before they could be removed.
    I am not overly excited about the idea that it will be another year before I can even think about trying to get the one thing I long for more than anything else, but I would rather have a healthy environment for my baby then taking a risk.
    I am grateful Heavenly Father knows what I need especially when I don't. I truly believe that we did not get pregnant for this reason, that other health issues have refused to stay dormant to cause me to go to the doctor in the first place, and that any strength I have going into this procedure is from Him and my wonderful husband, Robert.
I am Blessed. Thank You.

Babies Galore

So it seems like this is the year for everyone having babies. In the second half of this year I have 7 friends who are pregnant. Here are a few of the baby cards I have made for baby showers.

This card I made for my Mom to give to a family friend, Brook, whose shower was last week.

This card I made to give to that same friend.

I also made a rag quilt blanket for her. It is quite large when it is open, so I just took a picture of it folded up. You get the gist. The front and back have the same pattern.

My other friend Carla, who is also having a girl had her baby shower this past Saturday. I made her a baby quilt, applique'd some onsies, and of course made a card, but I used leftover fabric from the quilt to make the card.

Here is the blanket. The one folded shows the flannel print that is on the back (and also the same fabric I used on the card). The picture below is the full quilt.

I am so happy for all my friends who are having babies. Maybe soon it will be my turn :)

Fingers crossed!

Whoever Family Reunion

Robert's sister, Christine, planned a family reunion for this year at Zion National Park in UT. The first Whoever Family Reunion. (whoever being whoever decides to come). This year it was Robert and I, and the Owens Family which included his sister, her husband John, and their kids Milton and Quentin.

Robert and I got a late start on Thursday, the 15th of July, due to a class he couldn't miss. On our drive we got caught in a thunder/rain storm around Barstow. And the closer we go to Utah the hotter it got.
We ended up staying the night in St George and then getting up and driving the rest of the way on Friday. When we got there it mid morning we set up the tent, unpacked the car, and then went hiking with Christine's family. We took the shuttle up to a couple of trails. It was 108 degrees that day. We came back and ate, lounged around and played.

Here is Robert using his Boy Scout skills to make our tent pole-stnad-thing.

On Saturday I drove Robert and his bro-in-law John up to the beginning of an 18 mile (or something like that) hike. After dropping them off I came back and with Christine and the boys we took it easy (as it was 112 degrees. We went and watched a video on the history of the park and then went to a class by a ranger who taught us about the different kinds of rock the park was made of. It was really interesting. In the afternoon we headed up the trails once again to meet the guys at the end of the trail and to play in the water. After being there for quite some time we gave up and went back to the campsite. The boys finally rolled in about 7 o clock. A little beat up.

Here are a few pictures I took on Saturday.

Sunday was Robert's mine first year anniversary. We woke up, went to church, came back and ate lunch. And then while Christine, John and the kids went to do more hiking, Robert and I relaxed and went down to the stream. At night the Owens Family put on a fun skit, while Robert and I did a campfire sing-a-long. After the kids went to bed, The Owen's introduced us to a new game called Blockus.
Monday, we woke up, packed the cars, headed to St George for some much beloved Bajio Mexican Grill for lunch, Ice cream for dessert, and then we parted ways for our homes.
As part of the reunion each family was required to do a scrapbook page of the family's doings from the past year, and do a family flag that will be used in the upcoming reunions too.

Here is our scrapbook page from out first year. Sadly, we really don't have the many pictures. I really do need to get better at taking pictures. (I don't know why it is sideways)

This is a picture of our flag. We decided to represent ourselves from characters from the Mr. and Miss series. The silver stripe is a bit of our randomness. Every reunion we will also put a patch from the location it took place at. And we left room for our family to grow...
(again with the sideways thing)


The family reunion was a blast. And we look forward to the next one.

Seaworld

So. I haven't posted anything for quite some time and have alot of catching up to do, so there will be quite a few posts in the next little bit.

First off. Robert and I went to Seaworld on July 5th. Yes, it was crowded and hot. But we had a blast. Here are a few pics from that trip.

Here is one of Robert and I walking around.

This is a picture of the one of the pilot whales in the new Blue Horizons Dolphin show. If you haven't seen it and you get a chance...GO! It is very cheesy, but they have dolphins, pilot whales, birds, acrobats and divers. If you ignore the main girl and guy, it is great!

Here is a picture of a couple of the dolphins. They have either 7 or 9 total in the show.

Here is Robert holding a Starfish.

We also went to the sealion and otter show, but didn't take any pictures there. But as always we enjoyed the show. Biff is hilarious. The day and night show are different, but both funny and worth seeing. The day one is a spoof on reality shows like Survivor, one of the dance shows, and etc. The evening show is a spoof on Seaworld itself. So FUNNY!!

And of course who can not go to SeaWorld without getting a picture of "Shamu".

Termination Notice - Effective Immediately

Dear Managements for PCOS, FM, and Hypoglycemia,

This is your Termination Notice to be effective immediately. Through time and thoughtful consideration it has been decided that your presence is no longer welcome.
You will no longer control my life. You will no longer make me miserable and unable to function. You will no longer cause me heartache and tears.
I appreciate the patience you have taught me and the strength I have gained from your involvement, but I am confident your services are not needed.
I have wasted too much time bouncing back and forth between all three of you. No more. It is time for me to take control.
There are important things I want in life that you will no longer keep from me.
I am aware that you may fight to keep your position, and it may take time to completely rid myself of you, but please know this...you will leave and I will succeed.
Please spare me your thoughts, I am no longer blinded by your lies that you are the controller and that I must "deal" with whatever you say.
I am the controller. I am the boss. I am more powerful.
I thank you for your time, but you will not be asked to return.

Sincerely,
Heather

The Finish of Birthday Week

Day 6 Thursday, June 10th
Today is a surprise day. After work I taught my piano lesson and then Robert and I were off. Not quite knowing what to expect Robert headed onto the freeway. We ended up at Grossmont Center Mall. Walked into the mall and right into a place called Caermic Cafe. Inside I go to choose anything I wanted to paint. I picked an adorable penguin piggy bank and Robert picked a very cute garden gnome. We were there painting for about an hour and a half. Once we were done we left out masterpieces (once you paint them, they fire them and so we couldn't take them home with us until the following Tuesday) and headed across the street to Olive Garden. YUMMY!
We got a chicken flatbread appetizer, and I ordered the five cheese Ziti while Robert ordered the Tour of Italy. Too full, we couldn't even finish our dinner let alone have dessert. Such a wonderful day!

My Penguin (you can't tell in the pic, but he also has rosy cheeks)

                     Robert's Gnome
                                                                                                   

Day 7
Friday, June 11th
Relaxtion day. It was nice just to be together after work and relax. Especially after my fun filled week.

Day 8
Satuday, June 12th
OK. So technically my birthday week is over, but a present that Robert had ordered did not come until today. So he considered this part of my birthday week. I actually had alot of fun today though. While Jessica and my Mom went to a bridal shower I got to watch Gabe. We went to Target and then to the park to play for a bit. Then back to the house for a nap and then a battle in the backyard with water guns. Needless to say Gabe got soaked and loved it.
When I got home Robert had already checked the mail. Excited to see my last present I opened the box and found the movies Little rascals and Summer Stock. Two movies I have been wanting for awhile now. Plus Summer Stock is my favorite musical!
So all in all. I am one spoiled girl who had a wonderful birthday with a fabulous husband...who spent too much money :)

Recipe Time! - Honey Glazed Chicken Stir Fry

Since it was so delicious, I thought I would share the recipe with you...

Honey-Glazed Chicken Stir-Fry
Start to finish : 25 minutes

* You can use frozen vegetables to save on the preparation time, but I prefer fresh.

Ingredients
• 12 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast halves or skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 4 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 ½ teaspoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 4 cups vegetables, fresh or frozen (sweet pepper, onion, broccoli, mushrooms, etc
• hot cooked rice or couscous

 Directions
1. Rinse chicken; pat dry. Cut chicken into bite-size strips; set aside. For sauce, in a small bowl stir together honey, vinegar, orange juice, soy sauce, and cornstarch; set aside.
2. Pour cooking oil into a wok or a large skillet. (Add more oil as necessary during cooking.) Heat over medium-high heat. Add vegetables to wok; cook and stir for 3 to 4 minutes or till vegetables are crisp-tender. Remove vegetables from wok. Add chicken to hot wok. Cook and stir for 3 to 4 minutes or till chicken is no longer pink. Push chicken from the center of the wok. Stir sauce; add to center of the wok. Cook and stir till thickened and bubbly.
3. Return cooked vegetables to wok. Stir all ingredients together to coat. Cook and stir about 1 minute more or till heated through. If desire, serve immediately over rice or couscous. Makes 4 servings.

More on Birthday Week

Day 2 -
Monday, June 7th (I skipped Sunday).
Worked during the day. Then evening came and Robert and I went to El Torito for dinner (they sent me a free entree for my birthday...who can resist free food). I love El Torito. I love their yummy warm chips, their salsa and their tableside guacamole (made to order). I was stuffed! But a good stuffed.
After dinner we went to Target to go grocery shopping since I am a slacker and a bad wife and have been sending my husband to work empty handed of lunches. :-(  While there Robert felt the need to buy me another present, the Stargate movie, unedited for $5. Score! Before we could grab up more items to spend money on we went to check out.
We got home, Robert unloaded the groceries and then we had Family Home Evening. Sometimes I can't wait til we have kids to do Family Home Evening with them. Sometimes it is hard with just us two.
After FHE Robert gave me yet another birthday present. Singing in the Rain on DVD!! I am so happy!

Day 3-
Tuesday, June 8th. My actual birthday. Woke up. Worked. Went to a meeting. Got Rubio's for lunch (another "here, it's your birthday, have a free meal on us"; I definitely will be working out more this weekend)
After work, I ran to the store to get a few last minute things for our cooking class. Yes. I still had cooking class on my birthday...and why not? I love cooking and I love my friends. Sounds like a good birthday to me. Robert came home with yet ANOTHER present. This time it was a fishy maze placemat (quick story: we were at Target and some kids were getting superhero placemats. Robert and I made a comment how we like fun placemats. Robert asked if I wanted a superhero one. I said no. While shopping for my b-day he saw the fishy one, remembered our conversation...and there you go. The idea of the fishy placemat), I also got some scarpbook ribbon, and a book from the Twilight series called Bree Tanner (it is a side story about one of the minor characters, and no, I am not a crazed Twilight fan. Just like the books). Whew. Could I be anymore spoiled?
Why yes I could. My friends showed up for class with balloons, presents, cake and ice cream. I tell you. I think I have the best set of family and friends. That night we made a Honey Glazed Chicken Stir-Fry. I had never made it before so I had hoped it would turn out well. And it was delicious! I even ate the brocolli that was in it.
Afterwards Robert and I finished watching the rest of Alice and Wonderland (since he fell asleep half wya through).

Day 3-
Wednesday, June 9th
I know it is still morning, but this is how the day will go. Wake up. Work. Exercise. And then go with the Young Women to do a service project at the DI while Robert and the Boy Scouts play softball.
Oh and if I can squeeze it in, I will be working on my recent sewing project, which I shall post once I am done with it :-)
Still loving birthday week!

Kristine's Mother's Day Album

I forgot to post this...that is why it is a few weeks late :-)

So, after finishing the Mother's Day Gifts I realized I didn't do anything for my sister. I know, she isn't my mom, but I still wanted to do something, but what? (This was on Friday). I decided to do a mini album, since our family loves pictures. Friday I ordered the pictures online at WalMart for one hour pickup. After work...I was lazy, so Saturday morning I picked the pictures up, finished running my errands, helped Jessica start on her Mother's Day Gifts and then started work on Kristine's at about 2:00pm. I finally finished the album at a quarter to nine. The album took me awhile to start since I couldn't get motivated or inspired. But thankfully it all came together. And that she actually liked it. Here is the final result. Again beware...there are quite a few pictures. I put them in order from front cover to the last cover. The album contains 4 "chapters". One for each year of Motherhood.

If you can't read the page..the first "chapter" is called: First year of Motherhood, off to an adorable start.



Second year of Motherhood full of Playing, Laughter, and Love.

Third year of Motherhood brought you Memories

Fourth year of Motherhood brings Imagination and Adventure

I think with each year I will add to the album that way it can continue to grow with Gabe.

Beginning of Birthday Week

With my birthday approaching Robert decided to give me a birthday week. Here is day 1.
Saturday, June 5th.
Robert got the day off of work and planned a surprise for me. I was told to be ready about 10:30 in the morning. Dressed and ready to go we get into the car; I did make one request the night before, that while we were out we could go over to Santee and go to the library since that was the closest one that had the last two books in the series I am currently reading. Being the fabulous husband he is, he obliged my request.
So after he made a secret phone call we leave the house . And drove over to La Mesa to our favorite deli shop called Trolley Stop. When we got there we got stuck in the middle of the La Mesa Flag Day parade. Not wanting to become part of the parade we walked around until we got to a point where we could cross then walked back down to the deli place. The secret phone call was to place the order.
After picking up the food we decide we are too lazy and it is too hot to walk all the way around so we saw a gap in the parade and walked across.
After getting food we decided we better get gas next since the gas light started beeping at us. We head over to Santee to get gas at the Costco, then since we are over there we went to the library to get my books. And wouldn't you know, right behind the library is a park. Perfect.
We pulled into the park, get out of the car and find a nice table in the shade. We sit down take out our sandwiches and discovered he had ordered the exact two sandwiches we had on our first date, which also took place at a park. It was like going down memory lane.
After lunch we went back home, cleaned the house a little bit and then he left to go run "errands". I stayed home and did some work, read a little and then played a video game we had recently bought.
That evening we went to dinner with my family at John's Incredible Pizza (Robert and I had been there a couple of times before, while this was a first time for everyone else). It is similar to Chuck E Cheese...but more adult friendly. It actually is in the mall where Mervyn's used to be so the place is a decent size. They have a salad buffet, pasta/potato buffet bar, pizza buffet bar (which includes normal pizza flavors as well as unique ones like Alfredo, spicy peanut and nacho pizza) and a dessert buffet bar. Then there are 4 themed sitting areas. A Theatre room that shows old cartoons on a big screen, a music video room, a country themed room and a sports themed room. Then there is an area full of video games and has three indoor rides. Needless to say everyone had fun. Gabe loved playing the games (or at least attempting to, with the help of others). And it was fun watching Anthony and Jessica play Guitar Hero while Kristine and my Dad played the Terminator game (a shooting game).
I was given gifts cards and money and Jessica is giving me a back stage tour of SeaWorld (she works there now). Robert gave me my gift when we got home which was the new Alice and Wonderland movie on DVD, which we attempted to watch that night.
And that was the first day of my birthday week. So Fun!!

Mother's Day Albums

About 2 months ago while cruisin' the internet I found this really cute blog that had an even cuter project called the purse album. I immediately wanted to try it out for myself with the help of my cricut. So I decided to use the idea and make them for Mother's Day. Here they are...

The green and burgundy one was for Robert's mother and the blue and yellow was for mine.

As you see the albums closed look like little purses. You can't see but both have straps on them made from ribbon. 

On the inside are two separate albums that hold 4x6 pictures. I used my bind-it-all to make the albums. I left some blank pages for them to include more picture but about 75% of the pages I filled with pictures of the families.

These were not the only items in their gifts. During one of my Young Women's lesson  we were talking about "Journal Jars", which are mason jars with strips of paper folded up inside and on each strip of paper there was a question. And those questions were meant to be answered in a notebook...or journal. After both sets of my grandparents have passed away I realize that there are so many things I wish I could have known about them. I don't want my kids (or myself) to feel the same way about my parents, or Robert's. So I also decided to give each mother a Journal Jar and a notebook. After they answer the questions, I will take the notebooks back. Type it up and then make a copy for each of their children to have.

I have a included a picture of their "Mother's Day Loot". This is my mom's loot. My mother-in-law's, Dennise, is just like it but with the colors of her album.

And that is what our mother's got this year.

Robert's T-Shirt

Since I have met Robert, he has, on a few occassions, mentioned that he would love to make T-shirts. If he hears a funy one liner or sees something, he makes a comment "That would make a good t-shirt". So I decided that while he was at school I would bring one of his t-shirt ideas to life. I went and bought a plain black t-shirt from Target, fabric paint and freezer paper. With my cricut I cut the image and letters out of the freezer paper to create a stencil. I then, ironed on the freezer paper to the shirt, used the fabric paint and a sponge brush. Since I was also working on Mother's Day presents (which I will post pictures of after Mother's Day...just in case my mom looks at my blog), I did the layers of paint in between working on the other projects.
Below is the final result. Needless to say he loved it :)  And I am pretty happy that my first attempt at this turned out so well.

This is part of his "I'M...Line" If the paint holds up well, I will be turning more of his t-shirt ideas into reality. Plus who doesn't love one of kind clothing?

Young Women-Handout (Journals)

For those of you who don't know, I am the Young Women's advisor in my ward. So I teach every Sunday except fast sunday. I always try to have some sort of handout or goody for the girls to take with them when they leave my class. This past week the lesson was on Journals. Being so excited about it, and wanting the girls to get excited too, I decided to make them Journal Addendums. Since I figured most of the girls would already have journals, I didn't want to give them another. So I made these books for them instead.
On a website I found a link for this journal called "My Life-According to Me". On each page it asks specific questions about their childhood and their favorites right now. I liked the idea because I think it is fun to recall my favorites from when I was younger. I know personally when I write in my journal I don't usually put what my favorite color is, or my favorite food, favorite game, favorite movie, and etc.This will help them remember those simple of fun things.

To make the books I printed the pages on regular paper (I was going to use cardstock, but then the book would have been pretty thick), then cut them in half. The covers are cardboard covered in patterned paper. The whole thing is punched with a Bind-It-All (another nifty tool) and tied together with an assortment of ribbons. They took FOREVER to make, but thankfully the girls actually seemed to like them. Since the website also had a My Life journal-Adult Edition, I made them for the leaders as well. They basically were the same except the adult edition had more to do about college, children, and etc.

The picture is just a few of the journals. I made 14 in all; these are the leftovers, plus mine.

Family Signs

Yesterday was my sister, Kristine's, birthday and for her birthday she wanted their last name in blocks for a ledge they have in their house that is currently bare. Deciding this was a perfect time and excuse to purchase vinyl and use it with my cricut I decided to make it. Finding the best deal for vinyl wasn't too difficult since I think I am pretty decent at finding deals online. I bought the wood from Dixieline (which my Dad cut down to the sizes of blocks I needed), Robert helped me with the finishing sanding touches on the blocks and painting them, and the cricut did the cutting. Here is a picture of the final result. (The last letter missing. My Dad accidently cut one of the blocks and needs to fix it)

While up in Utah for conference I went with my friend her her mom/sisters to dinner and shopping during the  Priesthood session. Of course we had to stop off at Robert's (an arts and crafts store). And being in Utah it has WAY more stuff than Michael's or JoAnn's down here. I found an unpainted wood sign that I had actually been looking for since I wanted to do a name sign for our house. So excited, I purchased it (oh and of course they always have amazing sales during conference weekend so everything was from 40%-75% off).
Since I had to purchase vinyl for Kristine's present I purchased vinyl for me at the same time...saves on shipping costs.
Here is the final result...kind of. I am probably going to add some embellishments to it.

Blog of a different kind...

This blog was to be a "documentary" about the Funktastic Faulkners...aka Robert and Heather. But having very few interesting things happening on a regular basis it became a semi-craft blog. So for today, I have decided to revert back to the intentional blog and give an update on the doings in our lives.

Last week was Robert's birthday and this being his first birthday as a married couple I wanted to make it special so I decided to have a "birthday week" instead of just one day. Some things didn't go quite the way they were planned...but when does everything go perfectly, right? The week included coconut kisses (a candy recipe I found), a fondue night with his choice of movie, meringue and hershey cookies (which did not turn out quite right), We still have horseback riding, but that got postponed til next week due to some unplanned events. It was a fun week and look forward to more birthdays with Robert.

This week Robert and I will be going up for an extremely fast trip to Utah to attend General Conference, Robert's mission reunion, and luck in timing, my cousin Lindsay's baby's blessing. We leave Thursday after work and come home Sunday after conference ends. I am really excited about this trip. Both Robert and I get to see friends neither of us seen in awhile, I finally get to eat Bajio's again, and really just get to spend a few days away from reality. This time, I just need to remember to actually use my camera :-)

And that, is the update on our lives.

Mom's Birthday Card

My Mom's birthday was last week so I decided to make her a special card. I got the idea from a craft blog online and then modified it. The first picture is of the card in it's "presentation form". And yes, it's a box.

When you take the lid off the sides fall down and reveal the card. On the top side there is a gift card holder.

 

 

In the middle I cut out the 'Birthday Girl' along with balloons and butterflies. 

Wedding Cards

Well, it is almost time for weddings to begin and both my mom and sisters requested cards for weddings they had coming up shortly. Here are the cards for those events.

The first one is the one I did for my mom. (Sorry, but for some reason it kept loading sideways onto the post). I decided to go with their wedding colors of a bright pink and green instead of the traditional looking wedding cards I have seen. I made it a long narrow card and made the envelope out of a patterned cardstock I found on sale at Michael's (which is where I get most of my stuff).

This second one (below) is for my sister. It is for my bro-in-law's best friend who is getting married later this month. I wanted to make this one a little more personal, since I actually know these people, so I put their names on the card. I also used their wedding colors of pink and brown for this card. Surprisingly a lot of people are having pink as their wedding colors. I made a matching envelope to go with this card as well.

I have discovered how to make envelopes and now will probably do it for all my cards. I like when it all goes together. :-)

The Amazing Cricut...in action

Here's a brief explanation of how the cricut works. You can do two different types of cuts.

The first is a single cut. The picture below is an example of this. This daisy border is one single piece of paper with the "unwanted pieces" cut out.

The second kind is a piece cut. You cut out each piece individually and then attach them together. Here is an example of a lady bug piece cut. Some piece cuts actually have a solid background that you attach the pieces to. 

Once you put all the pieces together you can add your own embellishment like so...

My New Toy = New Creations

So in the last post that I did (2 seconds ago) I mentioned this new toy I got for my cricut. I Love It!. But you need special kind of files to use it with the cricut machine called SVG files. You can find a ton of those files on the internet but quite a few of them cost money. I am cheap right now since we are trying to watch our money, so I decided to create my own cut out files. To make these kind of files I had to get another program (that was free) to create my design in the free program and then save them to use in the other program with my cricut (It's not as complicated as it sounds, it's actually really easy to use). You can also use the free program to alter clipart, fonts, and other picture files to create a design.

These are my first two attempts in the creating a design from scratch. (The stork backdrop for the card, I used a clipart image and then made it into a silhouette).

For my first design I decided to go easy first so I did this bear who is made up of circles and ovals, which I then tweaked to make the body and legs. After I cut him out I accented his eyes and used my pastels to add rosy cheeks and little bit of a wear on the body.

The second design I did I decided to use the same design as the bear but just further tweaked it to make the body and parts of a pig (the ears were the hardest part). After I cut out the pieces I used a black marker to make the feet and then my pastels to add the rosy cheeks, the lighter parts of the ears and the wear on the body.

I am pretty happy with my very first attempts. I have decided to make a whole animal line. I have now designed a turtle and an elephant, but haven't had the time to make them yet. I will post them when I do.

Baby Coming Card

So my sister has a group of women she plays bunco with and they have a "secret sister" type of thing for the month of March. The women she has is pregnant and my sister asked me to make a card for her. I have never done a pregnancy card before and wasn't really sure how to do it, so I searched the internet for ideas. Not really seeing anything I was overjoyed about I decided just to wing it.

This week I got a new toy for my Cricut called the Design Studio where I can design things and cut it out with my Cricut. I LOVE IT! I decided to do a stork as a background for the card and this is the end result (after 3 or 4 tries). I wish it had turned out a little bit better, but I am still happy about it.

The two holes are where I am going to put some ribbon...but I don't have the kind I want for it so on my way to my sister's house I am going to go pick some up.

The envelope doesn't really match, but I made the envelope when I made the first card that had the same pattern, but then didn't end up liking it. I think it is still a cute pattern for the envelope so decided to keep it.

For the inside I found a cute little poem that I decided to use.

Valentine Cards

I decided to try my hand doing gift card holder cards for Valentine's Day. I am pretty happy with the first set that I have done. I did two different patterns, one with a traditional red, white and pink combo and another one that could also be used as a card for a wedding as well as Valentines.

 

Each card has a slide-able band with a mat topped with an embellishment of words and heart stick pins. that keeps the card closed. Inside the card there is a pocket in the middle that can hold a credit card size gift card leaving sides for writing a personal message.

Gabe's 3rd Birthday Card

I will be honest and say that I have been very lazy when it comes to using my mountain of craft supplies. So, I decided since Gabe's third birthday is this weekend that I would make his birthday card. Choosing what kind of theme to do was a little difficult since I had a lot of ideas (I will be putting those other ideas to work shortly). Finally looking through all my stuff I came to a conclusion. My excitement began! Even though I don't do it as often as I would like, I love to do this kind of stuff. So here is the final product of Gabe's Birthday card. 

The first picture is the card itself (the right side). It has Gabe dressed as a Super Hero. 

The second picture is of the envelope. I was going to make the car &buildings smaller, but I realized I didn't have to worry about putting an address on it, so I made them big. I also put the 'G' in a spotlight; like a Batman thing.  

So there you go. My first crafty blog :-)   More to be coming...

Disneyland Trip 1/14/10

Robert and I decided to take a trip to Disneyland before he started school as a way to celebrate (and it was the last time we would be able to go for awhile).

We got a late start due to some unavoidable things, but since the park didn't open til 10 anyway we weren't worried too much.

We finally reached the parking structure after a lovely detour, rode on the tram, got off the tram and decided to hit California Adventure. Our first stop was a newly favorite ride, Toy Story Mania. If you have never been on that ride...you need to go. It is so MUCH fun!! You wear 3-D glasses while sitting in a two-seater and each person has a type of launcher/gun. As soon as you sit down you are in for a whirl wind of fun. you get taken to a practice screen where they show you how to use your "gun". After the short practice you get spun to another screen and for a bout 30 seconds or so you are playing carnival like games; either popping balloons with darts, breaking plates with baseballs, playing ring toss with the martians, and more. At the end of the ride they tally your score and you get ranked by animal. This is a picture of our score screen. Robert is blue and I am red. He always seems to get a higher score than me, but I have better accuracy. I am proud though...I finally reached the cat ranking!


It is a quick ride, but we believe it is worth the wait. The line gets pretty long fairly early in the day so we usually hit that one first.




After that we did our usual stint around California Adventure. Muholland Madness and Soarin' over California (we didn't visit Bug's Life this time). Then we ate lunch at the Rainforest cafe.

Then off to Disneyland! The Haunted Mansion was closed...very sad. But we were able to get on all the others rides we wanted. Since most kids were back in school the park wasn't very crowded. I believe our longest wait was about 15 minutes for Peter Pan...maybe 20. But still a good wait time for that ride which is usually at least a 30 minute wait.

At the end of the day we decided to take one more jaunt over to Adventureland where we got pineapple whip floats from the cart next to the Tiki Tiki Room. We wanted to see the show, but it was closed.  So we took our floats, walked down main street, said our sorrowful good-byes to the Happiest Place on Earth and walked out of the park.

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