Quote for the Day

"Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that's real power."

-- Clint Eastwood

Quote for the Day

"Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress."

-- Alfred A. Montapert

Quote for the Day

"If you see failure as a monster stalking you, or one that has already ruined your life, take another look. That monster can become a benevolent teacher, opening your mind to successes you cannot now imagine."

-- Martha Beck

Dollar Store Wreath

My front door needed some cheering up!! We have a plain white door and this year I wanted to brighten it up a little. I made a special trip to Dollar Tree and bought the "fixins" for a wreath to make the door look a little more like summer.

I bought 4 or 5 bunches of "permanent" flowers (some call them fake flowers, but since they never die they are permanent!!) and the wreath.

This is the kind of wreath I used, not sure what it is called. I was pretty surprised that they had the bigger size there.

Then I used my trusty hot glue gun and created the final product. My daughter and I bonded while doing this, she helped me the placement of each flower. So I guess this is her design. The sunflowers are my favorite, but I don't think there are enough of them on the front! It turned out pretty well for only spending $5 on the entire project!! Thanks for looking.

Quote for the Day

"Happiness is the true beauty weapon."

-- Susan Sarandon

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is the day we remember all the service men and women who have fought for and those who have died for our freedom. This is a good time to get together with family and remember our family members who were in the service. My dad served in the Navy. He was on an aircraft carrier. He did not like to talk about his time in the service, or there were just too many kids around for me to hear the stories!!! He and my mom raised 5 kids and worked for IBM in Endicott, NY. I know he is looking over me and my family from above. He passed away suddenly in his sleep 10 years ago.


My father in law also served his country. He was a Marine. He was a kind and generous man who welcomed me to his family from the first day I met him. He also raised 5 children, my husband being the baby of the family. I knew him as a proud, hard working man who loved his wife, children and grandchildren. It is hard to believe that he has been gone for 3 years. I know his spirit lives on in my husband.

My 18 year old nephew, Josh, is now serving in the Marines. He enlisted in December 2008. This was very painful for my sister because this was the first Christmas without my mom and then Josh left for boot camp 2 days after Christmas. He also suprised the family with the news of his enlistment, he only told his mom and dad 2 weeks before leaving!!! GASP!! We were pretty shocked.

Right now he doesn't know where he will be stationed, but we pray that it is away from any front lines.

Our family is very proud of his decision to join the Marines and he seems to (so far) like this experience. He is very brave to make this decision and we are so proud of him to defend our strong country.

Quote for the Day

"You can't base your life on other people's expectations."

-- Stevie Wonder

Photo Albums

Recently, I created a couple photo albums for a silent auction for my kids' preschool. This used an candy container (don't remember what was in it) to hold the circles. I just used my Cricut to make the circles, and adhered a ribbon between the front and back to make a chain. It folded up like an accordian to fit back in.

I also used some black gift bags (bought them when they were on sale at Michaels 5/$1.00!!) to make the front and back covers and the pages. Used the Stampin Up sunflower stamp set to decorate the cover. Sunflowers are such a happy flower!!! Then I adhered a piece of white cardstock to the front back of each page then put an additional piece of paper inside each bag, to make more room for pictures, text, etc.

There weren't any embellishments or colorful cardstock because I remember doing this at the last minute and not having enough time to add everything I wanted to. Everyone seemed to like them at the auction.

Not sure if you can see how I did the card stock on the inside of each page.

Quote for the Day

We should never permit ourselves to do anything that we are not willing to see our children do.

-- Brigham Young

Summer is coming!!!

I hate to admit it but time is really flying!!! May is almost over and (it seems like) tomorrow the kids will be running around the house asking "What are we going to do today?" or "What time are we going to the pool!?" It is really funny because it was just last week when the new school year started! How DOES that happen????

To help everyone out, I've been looking for some new tips for sunburns. No matter how well I think I cover the kids with lotion, someone seems to have a burn at least once during the summer months. Does this happen to you?

I've found some tips on the TIPNUT.com to share with you. Hope this helps this summer.

Quote for the Day

I just love Helen Keller, she was a bright, caring person who inspired many.

"The marvelous richness of human experience would losesomething of rewarding joy if there were no limitations toovercome. The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful ifthere were no dark valleys to traverse."

-- Helen Keller

Quote for the Day

"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you will help them become what they are capable of becoming."

-- J.W Von Goethe

Yellow Card Swap

A couple weeks ago I was involved in a yellow card swap on SplitCoast Stampers. Yellow is my all-time favorite color!!! It is so bright and cheery, it just makes me smile when I see something yellow. I like the deep rich color yellow, not florescent just sunny "happy" yellow. I also think that when black and yellow are put together it makes the yellow look much brighter.

The color on the second one is a little washed out, probably because of the flash. And, probably because I was in a hurry when taking the pictures!! LOL

Quote for the Day

It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.

~~ Albert Einstein

Quote for the Day

Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.

~~ Mark Twain

For My Mother In Law

This year for Mother In Law's Day I wanted to get my kids involved. We made these cookies and then created a bouquet. It was a family effort! She really loved it, and so easy to make!



Next found some older pictures of my kids and my husband. With a $3.99 tray from Michaels (and I didn't have my coupon which really annoyed me!) we created this tray for her to have meals served on! First, I spray painted the tray white. Then, Mod Podged the pictures in place, and covered with 2 additional coats of Podge. Finally, I used a spray sealer to make a nice shiny top coat on the project. It was a big hit! I'm glad she liked it and hope it gets used.

Quote for the Day

"You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence is not an event -- it is a habit."
-- Aristotle

Stamping Tip

I found this great tip for all the stampers out there. Haven't tried this personally yet but it seems like a great idea! Give it a try! Thanks to Dawn on YouTube. Love all her stampin thoughts!!

"It is infinitely more exciting to live a life of catastrophic failures than a life of could-haves, should-haves and would-haves."
-- M.H Meng

Father's Day 2007

I almost forgot about this gift for my hubby!!! My kids and I made this a couple years ago. He went to Virginia Tech - so we had to use the official colors of maroon and orange! GO HOKIES!!!
As you can probably tell this is just made up of the terra cotta planters and some paint. The glass part is just a vase, all the pieces are from Michaels. It is filled with Jelly Belly' jelly beans. It was a big hit, I think the kids liked it more than Daddy did!


My favorite part is the little "holder on the top. I filled it with white jelly beans then added extra Mod Podge to seal it. Finally I used a spray sealer just to make sure the paint is safe.

My husband still has this in his office. That is the part that means the most to me!!! :-)

Quote for the Day

If we all did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.
~~ Thomas Edison

Great Card

Check out this beautiful card I saw while blufing (that is blog surfing!). Awesome work!! Thanks to Leslie at Creative Crafting for sharing her great ideas!

A Waffle Iron can do what....???

While surfing around (instead of cleaning the house like I promised myself) I stumbled on some information for a waffle iron. Read this surprising info on Chow. I have a rarely used waffle iron in my kitchen that can now have another purpose.
They suggest making BROWNIES for MUFFINS in the iron! Never would have thought of that!!


They suggest heating the waffle iron to its lowest setting. When it’s hot, add one-third of the batter to the ungreased iron. Close it and let the brownies cook until they are firm and starting to get very brown on the edges, about four minutes. Remove them from the iron and let them sit a few minutes to crisp up. Repeat with the remaining batter.

The site also suggests making HASH BROWNS in the waffle iron, yummy! I bet they would be very crispy.




Gather the ingredients listed in our Chile-Cilantro Hash Browns recipe. Heat the waffle iron to its medium setting. Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and grate them on the large holes of a box grater. Squeeze the mixture by the handful to release as much moisture as possible.

When the iron is hot, fill the bottom half with 1/8 inch vegetable oil (about 1 tablespoon). Squeeze the grated potato mixture between your hands again to release any excess moisture. Combine the potato mixture, chili powder, and black pepper, and mix until well combined.

Place half of the mixture (about 1 cup) in the iron, sprinkle half of the salt over top, brush the top of the iron with vegetable oil, close it, and cook until the hash browns are golden brown and crisp, about eight to ten minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve. Repeat with the remaining mixture.

I can't wait for the weekend when I can try this out. YUMMY!!

A Little Giggle

I don't golf, but this just made me giggle...

Long ago when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft... Today it is called golf!

Blingy Shoes!

My daughter and I added some bling to her shoes the other day. She had a very plain pair of black flip flops (not sure what else to call them - guess I'm showing my age!) that I thought would look nice with a little sparkle. These are so boring!




So I combed through my crafty stuff and found some bling - from the Dollar Tree - that we could use to add some flair. She was very excited and created a pattern. I used the all knowing hot glue gun to adhere the crystals to the bands of her shoes. I thought they turned out pretty cute! THEN she wanted to run down to her father to show off all the hard work. POP, the jewels started coming off as she ran! The glue didn't really stick to anything because the shoe straps were so smooth. That was a problem and she was a little upset. I went back to the drawing board!



These were the final products! I added some ribbon to the straps first then reapplied the jewels and it seemed to work great! She ran around the house to make sure everything stuck - very cute! Worked great for one whole day. Then next day she put them on and one of the straps broke!!! OMG, I was so mad that I spent a good part of the day decorating and then they broke. There is no way to fix them.

BUMMER!!!

Quote for the Day

"I attribute my success to this - I never gave or took any excuse."

-- Florence Nightingale

My Mother's Mother's Day

In memory of my Mother this year I thought I would share some of her crafty work. My mom was very good at toll painting. She enjoyed creating gifts for others. Mom was very good at giving to others. My favorite flower is a sunflower, so she painted this plate for me. I never use it because I don't want to ruin or break it!!



She also made this pretty coffee cup. It goes along with the same sunflower theme. I keep both items on a high shelf in the kitchen so my kids won't accidentally use them! They are both a cheery reminder of my mom who shared so much with others.

What I learned today...

Today I learned that I'm sure my dentist is a very nice person, but he still HURTS me when I "visit" (and I do use that word lightly) him! At this point I just finished my 3rd of 4 visits to my wonderful dentist, and I'd rather not go back to have him finish!

Quote for the Day

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience by which you really stop to look fear in the face."
-- Eleanor Roosevelt

To my MOM

This is for all the Moms out there who have a pain in their heart because they have lost their Mom. This is the second year without my Mom and my heart is aching. I know she is safe and healthy now. She was taken too young and I miss her.

Quote for the Day

Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs... since the payment is pure love.
~~Mildred B. Vermont

What I learned today...

"To teach is to learn twice."
-- Joseph Joubert

What I learned today...

Today I learned that Mod Podge and the hot glue gun are the best adhesives ever created!! They are like duct tape for women!!! I feel like I can make anything with either one!

Quote for the Day

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
~~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Scrabble Pendants

I saw this awesome idea to use Scrabble tiles to make pendants. Check out this site to find the tutorial. What a great idea. Then check here to see the picture tiles. Love this idea! Kinda makes me want to go out and buy a Scrabble game just to make crafts with it. I'll bet you could even make magnet for the 'fridge with the tiles. Hhhmmmmm that is getting me thinking.... This might be some Christmas gifts for next year!! :-)

What I learned today...

Today I learned that this Sunday will be more difficult than I expected. It's hard without YOUR Mom.

Quote for the Day

"Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith."

-- Margaret Shepard

Teacher Appreciation Gifts

This week was Teacher Appreciation Week, and of course when I hear WEEK that means Friday!!! I can never get my act together enough to have gifts ready on Mon - Thurs!

This year I wanted to make a special THANKS for my 2 kids' teachers. They are very nice ladies who work extremely hard every day. My kids really like their teachers which makes the year seem so much better. From my experience as a teacher I know that if a student does not like you the year seems to drag on for the teacher and student!!

In the card I told each teacher that they are a Star in my child's eyes - (a blue plate just seem appropriate here for a STAR!)



Then I said that I would say THANKS a million times for all the hard work if I could but I'll just say it 3 times - Once in German...



Once in French...



And finally in English...



Each child wrote a quick card, and I added my appreciation. I hope they liked the gifts. Now I have to come up with another idea for an end of the year gift!
Thanks for looking.

What I learned today...

Day 6

I forgot to enter anything yesterday so now I have 2 things to learn!!! This is pretty hard, it really makes me think and have to pay attention to my activities during the day.

Yesterday I actually found out a a gift I am getting for Mother's Day!! It was my husband's fault (isn't it always the MAN"S fault??!!!). He had to ask me something about my Cricut and he didn't know how else to find out. He heard me talking about the Sure Cuts A Lot and knew I really NEEDED it! So he ordered that for me!!!! YEA, more crafting toys!!

Day 7

Today I learned that my dog, Anja, is able to hold her PEE for almost 24 hours!!! She is the biggest sissy dog, and won't go out in the rain. If it is raining too hard or I'm running around getting errands done, then she just has to wait for me to walk her. Today she really did refuse to go out at all! It was almost 24 hours since the last time she peed. It is amazing to me that a dog can do that. I need to make more of a commitment to making sure she gets out.

Thank you Cards

These are my all time favorite thank you cards. The watermelons are cut from Sizzix dies and the Thank You is a SU stamp. It is fairly easy to make and looks great - at least I think so. Also reminds me of summer!!! Yummy watermelon, then spitting the seeds out!
The inside reads "You're one in a melon"
Thanks for looking.

Quote for the Day

"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story."

-- Orson Welles

Freebie from Oprah!

Check out this FREEBIE from Oprah and KFC. The coupon is for a 2 piece meal. The "small print" is Coupon available for printing from 9 a.m. CDT on May 5, 2009 to 11:59 p.m. CDT on May 6, 2009. Coupon is redeemable at participating KFC® locations in the United States from May 5, 2009 to May 19, 2009 – excluding Mother’s Day, May 10, 2009.
Be sure your printer is READY because I didn't and there is NO going back. You only get one chance - and I lost mine!

Enjoy dinner on Oprah!

Quote for the Day

Computers will never take the place of books. You can't stand on a floppy disk to reach a high shelf.
~~ Sam Ewing

Mother's Bracelet

I made this bracelet for myself! As you can see one end isn't working well! It keeps breaking. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I really want to wear it so I need to figure something out.
This was my first attempt at make any kind of jewelry, and I know that I need help. If there are any good sites out there to help beginners, please pass along the info.
Thanks so much for any help.

Quote for the Day

"When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that last blow that did it, but all that had gone before."
-- Jacob A. Riis

This quote gives me hope for my diet!! If I KEEP trying to hammer away at the extra SOMEDAY it will be gone forever! :-)

How 'Bout a Cuppa Coffee?

I made this card for a swap I was in on SplitCoast Stampers. The colors didn't turn out very well, that reddish color behind the coffee cup is supposed to be maroon. I thought it blended pretty well with the browns. Also, buttons are my favorite embellishment, here I felt they looked like coffee beans. The steam is embellished with Crystal Effects, stands out a little in real life.

Coffee sounds good to me right now becuase it is cold and rainy outside. Has been raining for about 3 days here in Virginia. My weed garden is growing very well now!! :-)

What I learned today...

Day 5

Today I learned that my daughter may never have perfect eyes. Last year she had 2 operations on her eyes to correct strabismus (lazy eye) and now she is supposed to wear a patch everyday to help support the surgery. She hates wearing the patch!!! We had a doctors appointment today and he stresses to us that she needs to wear the patch at least 1 hour a day to help! At this point I'm sick of fighting with her about the patch, she doesn't like wearing it at all. It has been almost a year since her second surgery and her eye drifting hasn't improved at all. The doctor must think I have no control over her to get her to wear the patch. But it really stinks when she has opinions of her own and knows she can just take the patch off now!! What is a mother to do? She wore it for about 65 minutes today, so I guess I won for today - YEA me!! My goal is 66 minutes tomorrow!

What I learned today...

Day 4

Today I learned that my 4 year old nephew wakes up each morning with more energy than I ever knew! He called this morning at about 8:30 am asking ME to come over and play. I had just taken my kids to school and was ready to sit down with my cup of coffee when the phone rang. I thought for sure one of my kiddos left their lunch in the car or something just as tragic! It was a tiny voice on the other end asking me to play trains with him (my sister lives in the same development as me). She said he was up running around, trying to wake up his younger brother (18 months) when he had the bright idea of calling me! I never realized that he had so much energy so early in the morning!!! I told her to take the coffee AWAY from him and make him play in his own room! He is a good kid with LOTS of energy.

Quote for the Day

"For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone."
-- Audrey Hepburn

Thank you Gift bags

I made a couple gift bags for my kids' teachers. They were pretty basic but were a big hit with the ladies. I think I like the pink one with the vertical stripes better. Not really sure why, but then again, I like the yellow flowers on the other bag too!! Guess I like them both!!
The white part is kinda plain, I wasn't really sure what to do there, so left it just white. Maybe I should have used my sponges to ink around the edges of the paper. I'll try that next time.
Thanks for looking.

What I learned today...

Today I learned that there is a new group that is really great!! I've always been a country music listener, but then I heard a group MercyMe. They are an American contemporary Christian band with some very inspirational music.

Heard them on a video and had to look for more info on them. Check it out, they are very good.

Enjoy.

APORKALYPSE NOW!!!

OMG!!! This is too funny, now I have my fears about the Swine Flu going around but this is just a cute look at it. I read this on the Understand Blue blog and she just cracks me up!

APORKALYPSE NOW!!!

YOU CANNOT GET SWINE FLU FROM READING MY BLOG!

SWINEFLUSWINEFLUSWINEFLUSWINEFLUSWINEFLUSWINEFLUSWINEFLUSWINEFLUSWINEFLUSWINEFLUSWINEFLUSWINEFLUSWINEFLUSWINEFLU

I'll call it whatever I want lady - you can stick your H1N1 in your hat and smoke it.

Seriously. Relax America!! If people saw a news report 10 times a day on how many people get food poisoning hourly in this country they'd never leave their houses again. Some piggy sniffles aren't the great aporkalypse foretold in the Bible - I think we're going to be okay.

You know who's NOT going to be okay? All the poor mothers in Texas whose children are out of school for no good reason until May 11th! There is not enough tequila in the world for this emergency! I'm praying for you ladies.

Here are some great swine flu websites I've seen and a great swiney video from my friend Lisa of Inspired by Purple.

Click here to find out if you have swine flu.
Click here to learn about bacon lung.
Click here to purchase bacon shirts, aprons and underpants.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't mean to offend anyone, if you know of someone who has the flu this article is not meant to make light of the situation. I know it is a serious illness, just wanted to pass along a chuckle . Enjoy.

Quote for the Day

"There's no secret to getting started. You simply decide and then take your first step. With each subsequent step, the next one becomes easier..."

-- Tom Venuto, fitness expert

What I learned today...

Day 2
Today I learned that my 8 year old daughter was hording Easter candy in her room. I found 20 peanut butter eggs!!! AND, the bad part was that I wasn't even missing them!!! Her excuse was that she was playing store with all the candy. Our dog was sniffing around in one of her dress up clothes baskets, they were hidden pretty well! She is a sneaky one!!!

What I learned today...

When I was teaching, before we had kids, I used to tell my students that they taught me something new every day. Some days it was a real stretch as to what they actually taught me, but I made sure there was an idea, concept, breakthrough, or even they told me a new friend's name. My challenge to myself and you everyone out there in blogworld is to learn something new today and add to my comments or just for your own knowledge. Starting today, I will list something new I learned. My goal is to list new ideas, concepts, or breakthrough for a year! (It seems so far away!)
Day 1 -
Today I learned that my daughter's first grade teacher is going to South Africa for 3 weeks this summer!!! WOW, she is so excited!!

Crafting Sponge Idea

I was thinking about how many sponges I use when enhancing my stamped cards and crafts. Well, I was thinking about the cost of the sponges, so I said to myself - "Self, why not get one of those BIG sponges at the Dollar Tree and cut it up?"



So that is exactly what I did!! On my last trip to the Dollar Tree I bought a car sponge, as you guessed it, for $1.00. So for only one buck, I got almost 20 craft sponges. YEA!!!! Love it when I get a bargain!




They work exactly the same as the other sponges that I was using! LOVE the dollar store!
Try it!!