Dominican Republic

I had such an incredible time in the Dominican Republic! Santo Domingo was the first city established in the Americas by Christopher Columbus so there was an abundance of history to see! The day I spent with my sponsored kids was of course the highlight of the trip, though. See below for some pictures...

 

 

 

 

Happy Traveling!

Feliz Cumpleanos

Over the Thanksgiving Break, I am visiting my sponsored kids in the Dominican Republic. Both Yariel and Yunior are turning 4 years old. Happy 4th Birthday, Yariel and Yunior! It is such a treat to be able to meet them! And no, they are not related. I chose to sponsor two boys from the same area, who are the same age, and who's birthdays are two days apart. And their names match. I know, I'm borderline OCD. Below is the card I made them for their birthdays. From their letters, I've learned that they both enjoy playing ball. Of course, I got them books. What can I say? I'm a teacher!

 

I hope you all are as thankful as I am this Thanksgiving! We are so unbelievably blessed!

Happy New Baby

I get so excited when other people have babies. I get to buy cute onesies, make cute cards, and ooh and aah at how cute he or she is... Then when there's a stinky diaper or a face full of tears, I hand him or her back. Below is the cute baby card I made for my coworker, Shannon. Of course, the card matches the cute green and pink polka-dotted onesies I bought for baby.

 

Happy crafting, ya'll!

Chocolatey Birthday Cake

Today is my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom! Although we celebrated her birthday last week by volunteering to package homeless kits at our church, I decided it was necessary to celebrate on her actual birthday with some very chocolately cake. Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganach and Chocolate Sprinkles. Yum, right?

 

HERSHEY'S Chocolate Cake:
2 c sugar
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 c milk
1/2 c vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c boiling water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until smooth. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour evenly into pans. Bake 30-35 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Dark Chocolate Chocolate Ganache:
Courtesy of Martha Stewart
1 1/2 c heavy cream
9 oz dark chocolate, finely chopped
Bring cream to a boil. Pour into heat-proof bowl over chopped chocolate. Stir until smooth. Let sit before frosting.

Happy Baking!

Halloween

Happy Halloween! I'm slowly but surely learning to make some of my cards digitally. This card is proof of my progress. {Believe me when I say that I've come a long way.} I hope you all enjoy dressing up and probably eating way too much candy!

Macaroon Recipe

Chocolate Macaroons
Courtesy of Martha Stewart

1 c powdered sugar
1/2 c almond flour
3 Tbsp cocoa
2 egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar
1/4 c granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pulse powdered sugar, almond flour, and cocoa in a food processor until combined. Whisk egg whites, cream of tartar, and granulated sugar until stiff peaks form (at least 8 minutes). Sift flour mixture over egg whites and fold until mixture is smooth and shiny. Transfer batter to a pastry bag with 1/2 inch round tip and pipe 3/4 inch rounds onto parchment-lined baking sheets, dragging pastry tip to edge of rounds. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake one sheet at a time for 10 minutes, rotating halfway through. After each batch, increase oven temperature to 375 degrees for 5 minutes, then reduce to 325 degrees. Let cool for 2-3 minutes.

Chocolate Ganache
Courtesy of Martha Stewart

1/2 c heavy whipping cream
3 1/2 oz dark chocolate (70% cocoa), finely chopped
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

Place chopped chocolate in a heat-proof dish. Bring cream to a boil over medium-high heat. Pour cream over chocolate. Let stand for 2 minutes. Add butter and whisk mixture until smooth. Let cool, stirring often.

Once your macaroons are baked and ganache is prepared, spoon about 1 tsp of ganache onto bottom of a macaroon and sandwhich with a second macaroon. I like to allow my macaroons to sit for at least 24 hours before I eat them, but that's just me. Those who like chocolate, especially dark chocolate, tend to love them. Happy Baking!

Macaroons

Funny story. Daniel and I were in Vegas with some friends, eating at the all-you-can-eat buffet in the Paris hotel. One friend grabbed the last of the macaroons. She LOVES macaroons! Unfortunately, Daniel then ate all those macaroons. Raquel was needless to say upset and Daniel has owed her replacement macaroons ever since. So for Raquel's birthday, I thought it quite appropriate to make her macaroons. Happy Birthday, Raquel!

Bride To Be

My cousin is engaged! Congratulations, Deirdra! I am so excited for her! She's going to make such a beautiful bride. She grew up in Alaska, but goes to school in Idaho. She met her fiance, Greg, at school in Idaho, but he's from Alaska, too. How crazy is that?!?! Meant to be, I guess.

To Make: Real Red (cardstock, Stampin' Write Pen), Bashful Blue (cardstock, Stampin' Write Pen), Chocolate Chip (cardstock, Stampin' Write pen), Rose Red (Stampin' Write Pen), Certainly Celery (Stampin' Write Pen). The letters b, r, d, e were cut using my Opposites Attract Cricut cartridge.

Love Beyond Measure

Today, Daniel and I celebrate our 3 Year Anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Love! I've been dying to make him a card that says "love beyond measure" with ruler ribbon. You know me and puns. Below is the product. Simple. I love you lots, Daniel!

To Make: Black (button, cardstock), Red (string), Ruler Ribbon. And I used my Doodle Print font from Lettering Delights to print the phrase "love beyond measure" on white cardstock.

Fabulously Fashionable

Today is Nicole's birthday. Happy Birthday, Nicole! Nicole wears super cute dresses all the time so I thought it appropriate to make her a fashion-y card. Yep. Fashion-y.

To Make: Kraft (carstock), Chocolate Chip (stamp pad), Tangerine Tango (patterned paper), Apricot Appeal (ribbon), cream cardstock. Chic Boutique stamp set.

Happy crafting!

Celebrate

It's Daniel's brother's birthday today. Happy Birthday, Philip! He enjoys music, so I thought it appropriate to send him a jazz themed birthday card.

 

Happy crafting!

A Little Birdie Told Me...

It's my Aunt Judy's birthday today. Happy Birthday, Autie Pudie! I love and miss you lots! She's super fun, but lives out in North Carolina so I rarely see her. Below is the card I sent her for her birthday.

To Make: Kraft (cardstock), purple cardstock, Chocolate Chip (ribbon and stamp pad), Certainly Celery (cardstock and stampin' write pen), Perfect Plum (stampin' write pen), Apricot Appeal (stamp pad), A Little Birdie Told Me... stamp set.

Happy crafting!

 

Back to School Giveaway

In celebration of the first day of school, Hadar at Miss Kindergarten and I are teaming up for a Giveaway! A Back to School Giveaway! Miss Kindergarten loves making signs. I love making teacher cans. So our Giveaway Prize will be a matching sign and can combo...

The handmade sign is 4" by 12" and can be customized to say anything you would like.

The can can be used to store student name sticks, pencils, markers, whatever!

There are five ways to enter:

1. Follow Cards and Cardigans.
2. Follow Miss Kindergarten.
3. Tell us what you want your sign to say.
4. Add Miss Kindergarten's Etsy Shop to your favorites.
5. Blog about our giveaway.

This Giveaway ends on Thursday, Sept. 15th. Hadar and I will announce one lucky winner to receive both the sign and the can shortly after that. Good Luck and Happy Crafting!

Back to School

Back to School. Back to School. To Prove to Dad that I'm not a Fool. {Billy Madison, Anybody?} If you hadn't guessed, school starts this week and I'm getting ready by making more Student Stick Cans! This one is for Kimberly. She teaches Math.

Parents: enjoy your first days free from your children. Teachers: good luck on your first days back to work. Everyone: happy crafting!

I'm a Versatile Blogger!

Mrs. Wyand over at Keeping It True in K-1-2 awarded me the Versatile Blogger Award! YAY, me! I'm not going to lie. I feel really cool right now.

So after accepting this award, I do the following:

• Thank the person who gave me the award and link back to them in my post.
• Share seven things about myself.
• Pass this award on to fifteen recently discovered blogs.

Thanks so much, Mrs. Wyand!

Seven Things About Me:

1. I love to craft. Just in case you didn't already figure that one out.
2. I love to bake. Especially cheesecake. I have a thing for cheese, too.
3. I am fascinated with culture and language. If I had the option, I would live everywhere once. And be multilingual. REALLY multilingual. For now, I just read books about other cultures. I'm on sort of a Middle Eastern Women kick right now.
4. I originally went to school to become an elementary teacher, but found myself teaching middle school science last year. I'm starting to love that, too. Middle Schoolers say funny and rediculous things, just like Kindergarteners!
5. I am obsessed with matching. And straight lines. I get giddy when I drive past farming. Oh, and I am obsessed with alphabetizing. I will list several things verbally in a sentence and alphabatize them in my head before saying them. My to-do lists are alphabatized, too.
6. I definitely have a thing for the outdoors. I love to be active. I had a back injury not too long ago that prevented me from doing much by way of activity, so now that I'm better, I just want to run. As if to make up for lost miles or something. And I do yoga, too.
7. I hate technology. Hate is a strong word. Technology frustrates me. I always think that it's going to be so cool! I get excited to do things that I think I can do, but then it never works for me. Everything I touch turns to broken!

Fifteen Blogs I've Recently Discovered:

1. Confessions of a Stamp Addict {Great Stampin' Up Ideas}
2. Craftaholics Anonymous {I think we could all use a little CA.}
3. Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body {Yumm. That's all that needs to be said.}
4. Kate Noelle Photography {Friend from High School. GORGEOUS shots.}
5. Miss Kindergarten {My real life BFF. She's kind of amazing.}
6. Ms. M's Blog {My BFF's BBFF. Great for EL ideas.}
7. My Science Lessons {Fabulous Science Ideas. I use a lot of her lessons.}
8. My Yellow Sandbox {Cutest Hairstyles Ever}
9. P is for Party {Great Party Ideas}
10. Science Fix {More Science. Great Hands-On Labs.}
11. Steve Spangler's Blog {Go-To Science Guy. Great for ALL ages.}
12. Target Treasures {My BFF and I are somewhat obsessed with Target.}
13. Walnut Paperie {Friend from Work. AMAZING stationary. AMAZING.}
14. Wedding Wire {Great Inspiration Boards and Party Ideas}
15. Young and Crafty {I especially love her Decor Ideas.}

Okay. So go check out all of these amazing blogs! And come back on Thursday for a GIVEAWAY! It's going to RULE! Ha. {You'll get the joke if you come back on Thursday.}

Happy Blogging and Happy Crafting!

BBQ Apron

As a thank you to the Warne-McGraws for all their work to plan and prep the food for Daniel's Navy Party, I found them a BBQ Tri-Tip Recipe. They love BBQ Tri-Tip. I typed up the recipe into a recipe card and stuck the card in a paper apron that fit perfectly on the jar of BBQ Baste Mixture I prepared. Thank You, Warne-McGraws!

Happy Crafting, Ya'll!

Navy Party

Like I said in my previous Navy Party Post, the party was awesome! Below are pictures of the decorations and food...

Thank You Hadar, aka Miss Kindergarten, for helping me paint the way cute signs we used. And by help, I mean she totally did it all for me while I watched and pretended I was doing something.

And she helped me fix all the mistakes I made painting stripes on wooden trays. I really should not be allowed to paint. Anything. Ever. I used one tray to hold Margarita Supplies at the bar and the other to hold a Boat, Cocktail Napkins, and LifeSaver Mints.

The Navy Props that were used in all those fabulous pictures. Nicole, my amazingly awesome partner-in-crime, found Temporary Anchor and Heart Tattoos! I know. Way Cool... Ignore the Gorilla Tape. The backdrop was giving us quite a hard time!

Thank You Jan, aka Daniel's Mom, for taking all these fabulous pictures. I was so preoccupied that I forgot to take pictures of all the decorations! I know! Thank Goodness for Jan! Here's the table, from left to right.

Thank You Nicole for all the work you put into planning and prepping the food! She made four different types of Butter as a toppings bar for Grilled Corn on the Cob. YUM!

And my Dessert Table. Nothing but Cheesecakes and Forks.

Remember my Triple Chocolate Cheesecake? Mmm. One of my Favorites.

And another one of my favorites... Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cheesecake.

So happy that so many of Daniel's closest colleagues, family, and friends could join him in celebrating his Commission into the Navy. Happy Crafting! 

In the Navy!

Daniel's Navy Party. Awesome. That's all I can say. Below are just a few of the pictures from the "photo booth" I set up. As you can see, awesome. It definitely helps that we know a lot of really awesome people. I can't stop saying awesome... AWESOME!

 

I know. He's super cute. Both the baby, and my boy. Crazy awesome! Happy partying!

Thank Yous

So many people made such HUGE contributions to Daniel's NAVY Party... Nicole and Ryan planned and put together ALL the food. THANK YOU! Dennis and Elaine, Jan and H.A., and Becky made financial contributions that made the party possible. THANK YOU! The party seriously would not have happened (or been nearly as AWESOME) without you all! THANK YOU!

I will attempt to post pictures from the party later today or tomorrow. Happy crafting!

It's Official!

It's Official. Daniel has been sworn into the U.S. NAVY! I couldn't be more excited and proud!

Congratulations, Daniel!