My Anchor

Daniel is away at Officer Development School for the U.S. Navy for 5 weeks... With 2 weeks, 1 day, and 6 hours to go before he's home... But who's counting? I miss him like crazy, so I decided to send him a card... He is totally my anchor, calming me and grounding me whenever my emotions get the best of me. I am such a lucky girl! I love and miss you lots ENS Northington!

It's an 80's Party!

It's my friend Erit's birthday so we're dressing up 80's and dancing! What else would we do? Below is the 80's cassette tape card I made for the 80's born birthday girl. Happy Birthday, Erit!

New Neighbors

New neighbors just moved in next door to Daniel... My reaction? "Yes! An excuse to bake cookies!" Below is a little tag and bag of peanut butter cookies I made to welcome them to the neighborhood. (cookie recipe to follow)

Happy Crafting!

come sail away with me

... To Alaska! The fiance and I are taking a cruise to Alaska and I could not be more excited! We're celebrating our engagement {even though the trip was planned before we got engaged}! I like to make him cards for our trips, so I put this one together... I REALLY like how it turned out, too. So calming. So soft. Bon Voyage!

Happy Vacationing! And Happy Crafting!

Thank Yous

I put together Thank Yous for many of my colleagues and support staff at school for the end of the year... Below is the set of Thank Yous I made for my teacher aide. She's awesome, so I wanted to show her how much I appreciate her. The end of this year was a bit crazy for me, but it's over and now I can breathe. Thank God It's Summer! TGIS!

Happy Crafting!

Owl Old Are You?

Sorry. I couldn't resist. Below is the birthday card I made for my BFF, who is totally into owls right now. Happy {belated Birthday, Hadar! It's her golden birthday (turning 28 on the 28th) and I'm going to miss it! Boo! Head on over to Hadar's blog @ Miss Kindergarten to wish her a happy belated birthday!

Happy Crafting!

Father's Day

So I know most people say that their dad is the greatest ever, but they lie. My dad is the greatest ever. Seriously. My dad kicks every other dad's butt... not literally, he's super nonviolent... which is one reason he's the greatest! My dad is unbelievably calm, considerate, dedicated, driven, ethical, honest, patient, and so super supportive! He's so awesome his initials spell dad! Seriously. D.A.D. (middle name Alvin, hehe). So happy belated Father's Day to all the second greatest dads out there. And a special Happy Father's Day to mine!

Happy Crafting!

Boys Baseball Birthday

Every June, I make boys birthday cards to last through most of the rest of the year. And I usually base the theme off of one particular boy (I can't call him little anymore!). I babysat Ethan (and his little sister) when he was smaller, but now he's turning turned 9! Yikes! He's super into baseball, so I made a baseball card. Happy {belated} Birthday, Ethan! And this card will also work well in November for my sponsored kids because they love baseball, too!

Happy Crafting!

Vroom, Vroom!

Did I mention I love June? Yes, well I have one more reason to love June... the boyfriend's  fiance's birthday! I'm pretty sure I've made him sailboat cards for every celebration over the last year, so I wanted something different. He rides a motorcycle, so this card made sense. I love going on rides with him, too. Happy {belated} Birthday, Daniel! I love you lots!

Happy Crafting!

Graduation Time!

I love June. It's warm out, but not too warm (I can wear dresses AND cardigans!). School is almost out. Community pools are now heated. And someone is always graduating! So far this year, I've been to 2 college graduations and will celebrate 2 high school graduations. The card below was made to congratulate Tyler, Jon, Kristin, and Tatiana. Congrats, Graduates!

Happy Crafting!

Happy Bird-Day

I love the simplicity of this card... And of course the pun! The stamp is from one of my go-to stamp sets from stampin' up, Pun Fun. Layer a few pieces of colored cardstock, add a ribbon, and viola!

Happy crafting!

Update!!

Ah! I have not posted in a REALLY long time! I've been crazy busy ending the school year, moving out of my classroom, traveling to Japan, then getting engaged! Crazy, right?!?! And now I'm off to Alaska! I will now be referring to the boyfriend as the fiance... or just Daniel, since by now you all know his name. I can't wait to marry that amazing man!!
So because I am SO behind on my blogging, I will be posting A LOT of overdue posts all at once. I know. You're going to hate me. But then it'll probably be months before I post again, knowing me.

A little sneak peek at the engagement...

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

We do Friday Treats at work and last week it was my pod's turn... I brought Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing. I'll be honest, I cheated a bit on this one. The cinnamon rolls are store bought, but the icing is still homemade!

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes Recipe:

Place individual cinnamon rolls (NOT jumbo size) into cupcake liners in muffin tins. I bought Pillsbury cinnamon rolls (3 packages of 8 rolls) and they fit perfectly. Bake according to instructions on the package (about 8 minutes), remove from oven, and let cool. Ice with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
3 3/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until smooth, 2-3 minutes. Gradually add sugar, then vanilla. Makes more than enough to ice 24 cinnamon roll cupcakes.

Happy baking!

Birthday Tu-Tu

As I mentioned yesterday, it's my cousin's birthday. Meet Alex...

She's modeling the black Birthday Tu-Tu I made her for her birthday. She's required to wear it at least one night in Vegas. And if you look closely, she's wearing a Birthday Pin, too. (I could have made a pun joke there, but I didn't... now you know I was thinking it, though.)

I hope people buy her drinks! And wish her a happy birthday!

To make the tu-tu, I cut and tied elastic to Alex's waist/pant size. I then cut strips of black tool and tied each strip in a knot on the elastic. That's it! So quick and easy!

Happy crafting!

Cheers to Alex!

Alex, my cousin, is turning 21. Happy 21st Birthday, Alex! I still remember when she was born... And now she's 21 years old. I can't believe it! You see, I'm the oldest of the "California Cousins"and Alex is the youngest. Although we're only 5 years apart, I liked to pretend that I was much older growing up. I liked to play "mom"... go figure. I also used to play dress up with Alex's school uniforms... Yep. I was that crazy kid that wanted school uniforms. Weird. I know. So Alex is a junior at Biola University and she's awesome. And she's 21. Below is her birthday card... I'll post her birthday present later.


Happy crafting!

Tangerine Tango

Just a quick post... Below is the card I made for the few April birthdays. I love the Tangerine Tango on Black. It pops, yet it's subtle. Happy April Birthdays!

Happy crafting!

Thin Mint Hamburgers

Apparently in 3rd grade, I did a presentation on how to make thin mint hamburgers. The idea of course came from my very creative mother (that's where my creative genes come from). Below are the thin mint hamburgers that she created recently... nilla wafer buns (with sesame seeds stuck with sugar icing), green colored coconut lettuce, red frosting ketchup, and a thin mint patty... she even got hamburger wrappers from McDonald's (cut in fourths). So cute, right?!

Happy crafting!

Fun and Fast Notes

I bought the Fun and Fast Notes stamp set from Stampin' Up! not too long ago and have been meaning to use it... It's just like it says! Fun and Fast! The stamp set has 8 super cute images with phrases for pretty much every occasion... I made some fast birthday cards and while I was at it, made a fast love note for Daniel. Like I said before, he's amazing and I like to remind him of that. How cute did that porcupine turn out?!

I think this may have to be my new go-to style of card... At least when I'm in a pinch. Again, super fast! Like under a couple of minutes fast! (I often take an hour or more to create and make just one card.)

Happy crafting ya'll!

Happy Anni'fish'ary

I know. Lame title. So Daniel took me to Yosemite over Spring Break. It was absolutely gorgeous! Naturally, I gave him a card. He's amazing and I like to remind him of that sometimes. (It was also our half-year anniversary about a week ago.) So I wanted to make fish with heart shaped lips about to kiss and that turned into heart shaped fins, heart shaped tails, and even heart shaped bubbles! I know. It's Valentine's Day all over again! I still think it's cute, though.

To Make: Layer Kraft, Real Red, Baja Breeze, and White cardstock. Use a 1 1/2" circle punch to cut two fish. Use a small heart shaped punch to punch hearts (5 Real Red, 5 Kraft, 2 Baja Breeze). Use a hole punch to punch 2 White eyes and a small hole punch to punch 2 brown eyes. Glue everything down!

I hope you all enjoyed your Spring Breaks! Happy crafting!

Girly Giraffe

I mentioned in my last post that I have a baby card and clothes addiction... Here's why! I purchased the baby clothes below. Super cute, right?! Then I made the baby card to match. Even cuter, right?! (There are polka dotted ruffles on the butt of the onesie.)

So Miss Kindergarten thinks I should start selling these baby cards (or any others for that matter). What do you all think? Do I finally start selling my crafty creations? Etsy shop? I would love to hear your thoughts (please comment below).