Just a little catching up...

It is so hard for me to believe that my daughter will be entering her 4th year of college in August. Even harder to believe that my baby boy started the 7th grade this last Tuesday. Here is my handsome young son on his first day of school. Seems like just yesterday my daughter was starting 7th grade! Wow! I planted 4 pumpkin plants a couple of months ago. This is what they looked like a month or so ago. This is what they look like today! WOW!!! I think I am going to have lots of pumpkins!!! It has been so much fun to water them and watch them grow!!!! I can't wait for the harvest! Pumpkin pie anyone?

I just love the blooms! I sure hope I get some nice big pumpkins this fall!
Other than school starting and watching pumpkins grow, I have lots of irons in the fire.

Still working on my parents 50th Anniversary cruise in February. And although, we aren't officially planning our small wedding until after that, I have been doing some internet surfing and have found some cool wedding cupcake tiers, some cool favors and have found the style of wedding dress I want. Just saving the info for later.

Thanks for stopping by! Sorry I haven't posted in a couple of weeks.

I have 2 crafting dates scheduled for August so I promise to do a couple of crafts posts soon!

3 cool things to share! Blogging madness!!!!

Wow! I went from barely posting at all to having so many cool things to share that I squeeze 3 posts into 1!!!

First I must thank Emily at Bunch of Scrap for making me the coolest basket liner for my bike!!!
Here is the finished product lined nicely in my Bell basket!!!

Emilie wasn't sure of her sewing skills, but check out the matching zippered pouch she made with the leftover fabric. I am so impressed!!!! I don't even sew, let alone figure out how to deal with a zipper!!! Great job! I say thanks thanks thanks for sewing for me! I may hot have any sewing experience, however I know my way around paper and ribbon :)
I saw the tutorial for this purse over at Card Scraps Blog. I didn't think it looked too difficult so I gave it a try last night. I was right, not too difficult at all!!! Luckily, I had the top note and scallop die cuts from Stampin' Up. Just needed the adhesive, ribbon and embellishments and voila!! a cute little purse!!! I think these would look so cool in leopard and zebra print paper!!! I wish I had a luncheon or shower coming up to make these for!!! Anyone need some for a special occasion? I would love to make them!!!!

Lastly, just something cool to share! Did I tell you I love Chinese Lanterns? Well I do.

When we had my daughters high school graduation party I decorated the backyard with them.

I found these nice bright colored nylon lanterns in the Avon catalog of all places! These lanterns take 2 AAA batteries. They look really cool in the trees. When summer is over I will remove the batteries and store them away until next summer.

Hope you are having a great week!

Emilie's Scrappy Saturday & a bike basket liner

I am just like a kid at Christmas today! My friend Emilie at Bunch of Scrap posted a pic of her cruiser bike with a basket and basket liner she made for it! I love it!!!

I have had my Electra Hawaii Cruiser for a little over 3 years and I love it!!! We ride to Lodi Lake alot! We also haul them to Monterey and ride there as well.

Here are our two cruisers loaded in the back of truck ready to head to Monterey on 5/30/10.

Here we are with our cruisers in Monterey at Lovers Point on 5/31/10, the day we got engaged. Awwww :)

A couple of months ago I saw this Bell bike basket at Wal Mart. Not very expensive, but I didn't buy it. I was waiting, not sure why, but I waited.

Then behold, last week while visiting my blog friends I saw this darling liner in the exact basket I wanted over at Emilies.

I shared my excitement with Emilie and was going to get the pattern and head over to my moms for some help (I don't sew, I don't even own a sewing machine). But, Emilie was so kind, she said if I bought the fabric she would make it for me!!! So here is the fabric I picked. To see the finished product head on over to Emilies Bunch of Scrap today! If you go there today you can also participate in her "Scrappy Saturday" feature!!!! So hurry click on and go!

A little bit of crafting time....

Happy Friday!!! This was the last official day of my vacation. I haven't won the lottery so I will be showing up to work Monday! CRAP!!!
It has been a week of little things, like going to see Grown Ups and Eclipse, window shopping and swimming. Got to spend some real quality time with my son.

Today however, I had some time to make a mess on the kitchen table and whip up a little something. What a great week!!!!!!

I recieve weekly emails from Splitcoaststampers.com. There is usually a cute project and a link to the tutorial. This week, I got really excited about the project I saw and couldn't wait to try it.
It was this drawer box and matching cards.
I kept the design pretty simple. Using some vintage design scrapbook paper that I am sure came from Julia. This project was very simple!!! The most important tool you need for any box project is a good scoring tool. (I use the Martha Stewart tool purchased at Michal's)

If you like what you see and want to give it a try, here is the link for the tutorial.

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/drawerbox/

Have a wonderful weekend!!! I am hoping to "make" time for my crafting, so come back soon to see what I get going for Halloween.

Getting Ready for Halloween! :)

Yes I know I should have weeded this little pumpkin patch a little better before I took the pic, but too late now.
This little triangle was a weed and junk patch not too long ago. Thanks to some hard work from John, Zach and myself we are now down to a minimum on the weeds and zero on the junk.
This is now my little pumpkin patch. This is the first garden I have ever had.
I have been watering these little babies every morning for the last month. I had to be out of town for a couple of days, so when I called to check on my kids everyday I also checked to be sure my pumpkin babies were being watered and that they were still alive.
Hoping for some nice big pumpkins this fall!!!
Fall/Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. I become inspired to craft and decorate!! So I guess I am off to an early start this year! Hope to have some crafts going on real soon!!!
Come back later to see how my crop comes out :)

A little time for baking and some card making!

Don't know how it happened but I had a free evening!!! No one home but me! I have a friends birthday tomorrow and a family bbq at my house Saturday, so I took advantage of my time to make lemon bars, and try a new recipe for Pecan Pie Cupcakes. OK, they don't look so pretty, but these pecan pie cupcakes are addicting!!! Not only are they delicious they are easy to make!!! This recipe is from http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Pecan-Pie-Cupcakes-61081 and it only has 5 ingredients!!!!

Recipe:
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup melted butter
2 eggs.

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Combine all ingredients and mix well
3. Spray a miniature muffin tine with non stick coating spray
4. Fill each 3/4 full
5. Bake in preheated oven for approx. 18 minutes.

I had a little batter left so I made 3 more little cupcakes for tasting ;)
Ooooh, and they tasted so good!!!!
OK, not by any fault of my own, but I think I have become a Stampin' Up addict!!!!
It all started when my friend and craft mentor Julia signed up as a demonstrator. She has shared many ideas and supplies. She has done craft day at my house twice.
Sadly, Julia lives far away :( so I don't get to craft with her very often.
However, a couple of months ago a co worker told me about a Stampin' Up monthly club nearby. I missed my monthly Moments craft group so much, I had to sign up!
Between Julia and the club I am hooked hooked hooked!!!
I guess baking and paper crafts are my "thing".

This card was made with the Stampin' Up top note die cut, the butterfly die cut, the bird punch, oval and scallop oval punch and stamp set. Then I made this little box/bag with 2 pieces of 8' X 8" scrapbook paper, scored at 1" on 3 sides. Made 1 cut at each corner and used two sided tape to put together. Used the bird and butterflies again and now I have a gift bag/box to hold the matching birthday card I made and some candy.

I hope you are having a good week! And I hope you get a little time to yourself to do whatever your "thing" is. :)

Father's Day and a little catching up.....

If I have any blog readers left, I apologize to you for not posting for soooo long. I think since Mother's day. What the heck is wrong with me?

I posted on Mother's day, so I have to post for Father's day! Can't forget dear old dad!
John found an alphabet stack of scrapbook paper at Marshalls for $5.99 a few weeks ago. I have used it to make 3 cards already! I think I have already gotten my moneys worth!!! This is the Father's day card I made for my kids to give to their dad. It was way too simple!!! A black piece of paper. The B and everything else are cut from 1 piece of paper! Just needed some glue!
Here is another use for the alphabet stack, peppermint pattie bags for Dad. Way too simple as well!!! Found a set of clear stamps at Marshalls for $3.99. Little circles with sayings for Valentines day, Mother's Day, Fathers Day, Easter, Halloween, Graduation and Thanksgiving. These are the perfect size for the Pearson Peppermint Patties. I think I have already gotten my moneys worth from these stamps too! Score!!!!! You can't tell with these pictures, but this paper is glittery! Love it! Johns birthday was May 30th and we went to Monterey to celebrate. We took our bikes and had a wonderful time!!! We both love Monterey! Once while we were there we witnessed a couple getting married at the park at Lovers Point. We both thought that was pretty cool! We have talked getting married there ourselves.
When we took the exit to get home in Lodi, John said he needed to make 1 more stop. I had a funny feeling something was up and I was right. He took me to the place where we first kissed and asked me to marry him.
We plan on getting married at Lovers Point in Monterey next June.

Again I apologize for not blogging much lately. If you are reading this, thanks for coming back to check on me!