Framed poem

My boss requested that I make a framed wall-hanging of the poem "Invictus" for her cousin. His office is green - that was my direction. This is what I ended up with. The dp is basic grey paired with cream colored paper and black. Simple, as a wall-hanging should be, in my opinion. I really liked the way it turned out.

Cupcakes and valentines

We have a family supper club at our church, Grace Episcopal in Hutchinson, KS. The host family has it either at their house, or the church usually (although we've met at the State Fair and other offsite locations before) and supply the main dish and beverages. Last night we had tacos at the Steens. I agreed to bring dessert. I had originally planned to take Margarita cupcakes in addition to these for the adults (there is tequila in the frosting), but as I suspected, the limes available at our local grocery store were not good. So - fried ice cream cupcakes it was. They are not exactly like fried ice cream - at least the kind I've had, which is Carlos O'Kelly's. The cakes are chocolate - basically a lot like the chocolate cake recipe I usually use, but with cinnamon. The frosting was supposed to be a can of white frosting with a jar of caramel ice cream topping. I don't like canned frosting and thought that sounded gross. So, I made my own caramel frosting. The fried ice cream part comes in with crushed graham crackers mixed with cornflakes. All I had was cinnamon graham crackers, so I used them. Then you top with a cinnamon tortilla chip (brush with butter, sprinkle with cinnamon and bake until crispy). Despite being exactly like fried ice cream, they were pretty tasty and seemed to go over well. I made the cupcake liners with my cricut cupcake liners cartridge. More time consuming than I thought, but very easy and cute. Just a tip, if you've just bought your own or are considering buying your own, you can cut the liners at 8 inches with cut to length selected. However, you can only make one at a time in order to use that option.

I made these today (nothing like procrastinating) for Kai's valentine party at school. I made some green, pink and blue ones as well, but these were the most "valentiney". I used real red and black paper with sheer black ribbon. The stamps are inkadinkadoo rockstar stamps. These were originally supposed to just be pencil pouches, but my son thought valentine's day would be incomplete if he didn't help his friends rot their teeth.

Happy birthday - again!

Things have been pretty busy at our house the last week or so. My daughter had a banquet to go to since she is eligible for a big scholarship at the school she will be attending next year. So, I took a couple of days off work to take her there for two days. Since, I was gone from work, I had to hurry and play catch up before I left to get things done that had to be finished before I left.
But, we're back and I took a break from doing laundry to make a card for Kai's friend who is having his birthday party tonight.

I used a stamp from doodlefactory's The Great Outdoors, called Pogue. He's a cute little guy and I think he looks like he's singing. So, I printed the sentiment using Times New Roman and Opus. The card is made using Poppy Parade (yeah, I'm liking that color!), Night of Navy, some Bo Bunny dp I had and a little bit of green polkadot My Minds Eye paper leftover from Kai's birthday projects.

Double Birthdays

Today is my birthday. So, what did I do? Well, I snuggled on the sofa with my youngest boy, had breakfast served to me by my daughter, listened to the kids bicker (while I reminded them that it is my birthday and I'd like to have a nice day), went to lunch with my youth group (thanks for lunch, Andy!) and finished up the birthday projects for Kai's birthday, which is Thursday.
I posted the invitations and a banner earlier with the same theme. This is the treat bag the kids will each get to take home. I used buckaroo blue, poppy parade, and peach parfait paired with my minds eye dp. I used SU Beary Best Friends and a build-a-bear logo that I printed from the internet.
The bags include a mini composition notebook, box of crayons, 4 mini playdoughs, a bag of gummy bears and of course, the bear that the child will "build" (not shown).
I had such a fun time with these projects, fully aware that this is my last chance to do a "cute" party - although the bears do have karate costumes and John Deere overalls. Next year, Kai will want to do a "cool" party.
But, that's ok, I've been browsing the batman cricut cartridge anyway :)

Break

My littlest has been sick the last two days. Luckily, my daughter hasn't started classes yet, so she's been staying home with him until my son gets home from school to take over. Then I take the third shift, which means snuggling on the sofa constantly - even potty breaks are difficult. Thankfully, he's feeling better, although he still has a fever. But, I managed to get away this morning and make this journal for one of my daughter's friend's who is having a birthday today. I used my last office max journal with purely pomegranite, baha breeze, gable green and basic grey dp. The cross is cut using the Indie Cricut cartridge. I used a scallop corner punch from SU and I'm not sure where those little gems are from - I've had them forever! Hope she likes it!

Ouch!

Well - I have had good intentions to create when I get home in the evening. However, my hip has been hurting me and it's worse when I sit in my studio chair for a while. So, I sat on the sofa last night with an ice bag on my bootie and rested.
Sunday evening, I did finish the "happy birthday" part of Kai's birthday banner, so now the whole thing is done. Maybe I'll make him feel special by hanging it up early and taking a picture of it.
Hopefully, I can get a card made tonight. I found out Sunday that my vocal teacher from college slipped on ice and broke her wrist and arm, so I need to send her a card.

A Banner Day

Used the same supplies as the party invitation from a few days ago. My Minds Eye DP with Cherry Cobler - I think that's right...like I said, I don't remember the new names. I cute the flags using Cricut Lyrical Letters and cut the red freehand using pinking shears. The buttons are from Hobby Lobby. The oval shapes are nesties and the letters are cut with Cricut Classic Font. It is strung on jute. There will eventually be smaller flags to hang above it that will say "Happy birthday". But, I'm tired tonight, so we'll save that for another day.

Here's a pic with a little more detail:

Also - must share a deal I found. I was looking through the Hobby Lobby clearance stuff and found some Spellbinders for $5.39! I bought two and I'm thinking of going back and getting some more!