A Surprise For Our Good Friends

Last Friday, Benson and I dropped off a surprise to our good friends at church that will soon be having a new bundle of joy in their family. They just found out recently that they will be having a girl. To celebrate this happy time with them we gave surprised them with the following items:

I went with my friend to a Paul Frank store recently and she told me that she would love a Paul Frank diaper bag when she finds out the sex of the baby. We wanted to surprise her with the diaper bag before she purchased it. I made a tag to put onto the diaper bag addressed the note to the baby and made a card addressed to the whole family.

Here is the tag on the diaper bag.

We also gave her son a little some thing to congratulate him on becoming a big brother soon. We all had a good evening together and ended it by having some yummy dessert.

My friend gave me a RAK before I left. The items that she gave me are super cute.

Fun Swaps from June

What a fun month June was. I really enjoyed making the swap and receiving the one that I did. For Mary for my Aloha RAK swap, I die cutted flowers and put magnets on the back of each one. I glued on buttons for the center of each one since the theme of the swap was "buttons." I also made a matching card and sent her some cute sticker buttons.

I put everything in a bag and made a bag topper with her name on it.

For some reason again I did not receive an Aloha RAK swap. Yes, I have still been having some issues with my mail. It's odd that we get all our bills and other packages, but I have not been receiving a few of my swaps.
I received this from my One Card Swap partner, Jenny.

I love it! She cut the Hello Kitty using her Cricut and Make the Cut Software. She also sent me the following goodies:

Thank you Jenny so much for all the work that you put into making such an awesome card and for your thoughtfulness in sending the extra goodies my way.
This is the card that I sent to her.

It has been so much fun participating the monthly swaps that I sign up for. I have met so many talented and creative people through them and have even become friends with some of them. If you are ever interested in joining any of these swaps, please let me know.

Our 4th of July Weekend

Yes, I have a second post for today. Are you surprised? I just wanted to share a few pictures of what my family and I did on July 4th weekend. Like what I meantioned in a preivous post, we went shopping and celebrated Benson's b-day on the 4th of July. Then we watched the fireworks.

The next day we went to Sea World which was blast. We had a great time watching the shows, taking picture with the Sesame Street characters, sitting on rides, and just spending time together. It was a perfect weather to go to an amusement park.

Having Fun With the Cricuit

Happy Friday! It has been super hot here. For those of you who live nearby I hope that all of you are staying cool. My family and I have mainly been staying home enjoying the cool A/C. :) The 4 of us hopes that it cools down a bit since we will be going to California Adventure on Sunday to watch the new water show.
Today I would like to share what my good friend Sandy I did together last Wednesday. We had a good time having our little play date with our Cricuts. Before we started playing I gave her a few goodies along with a little card that I made for her.

Here we are with our machines. She has the bigger version of my machine.

Benson and the kids gave me the Cricut for Christmas, but I have not had a chance to figure out how to use it. Sandy was nice enough to take some time to show me how to use it to cut some very cute items.



She told me that it is really to easy to use. It sure is! I love my Big Shot machine, but my Cricut is coming in close. :) While we were playing with our machines, our kids had lunch and played together. Thanks again Sandy for letting Zach and I come over last weeek. We both had a lot of fun. We hope to get to be able to do it again before school starts in the Fall.

Something Beautiful

I was not going to post anything until tomorrow, but decided to after what I got to see this evening. Benson and Zach went outside to take a little walk and came back in with a beautiful picture of a rainbow that they took a picture of.

It indeed was beautiful. It always touches my heart everytime God places a rainbow in the sky because He sends it as a reminder that He always keeps His promises. That is so awesome! He indeed does keep His promises. Millons of years ago God placed a rainbow in the sky for the first time for Noah and his family to let them know that He promises to never bring another flood upon the earth. From the true story about Noah and his family, God teaches us that He will always keep His promises. If you are interested in learning about what happen to Noah and his family or about what kinds of promises God has made for His people, please don't hesistate to ask me. I would be happy to have a chat to you about it all. :) Be sure to check back tomorrow for some fun projects. Good night!

Receiving and Spreading Some Extra Aloha

Along with spending time with Benson and my kids this summer, I have also been able to spend some time making cards. I have also received some very nice cards. For June this is what I made and gave to one of my good friends from church, Susanna, for our monthly swap. It's always so much fun to see what we surprise each other with.

This is what she made and gave to me.


I made the same Hawaiian card for another friend,Kris, but also surprised her with some extra goodies as she will soon be having a baby. I put all the goodies in a bag and attached a tag that I made using my build a bear stamp set from Stamping Up, the Two Tags Stampin Up Sizzix die, and textured it with the square lattice embossing folder.

I think the tag came out pretty cute. Here is a closer up picture of it.

Here is a fun and creative card that I received from my friend Cary through snail mail.

It is always so much fun using my stamps and accessories to make cards to add some extra aloha to someones day and of course it is lots of fun receiving cards to add some to my days too. Maybe one day soon you I will send a hand stamped card your way. :)

The Celebrating Continues

Over the weekend we celebrated Benson's b-day two more times. Yes, the partying continues. On Saturday, we had an intimate gathering at our house with some good friends. Several friends for one reason or another was not able to attend the party, but it worked out nicely. This way Benson was able to have more quality time with his friends. Here is the yummy mango cake that we had for dessert.

Yesterday we went with my family to Todai's to celebration his b-day. We all had a nice time together eating and chatting together. The kids especially had a good time talking and playign wth everyone. Benson received some very generous gift cards and this yummy cake.

Zach, Kylie and I hope that Benson had a memorable time celebrating his birthday (since he got to celebrate 5 times this year) and pray that the Lord will bless him and watch over him for many more years to come. So sorry that this post as well as the last two posts did not have anything crafty to share. Most of this summer has been spent with the kids, but have had some time to sneak in some crafting time. Stay tune for some fun crafty items that I will be sharing this week.

Happy Birthday Benson/Daddy

Today is Benson's birthday. As his present the kids and I asked what he wanted. He told us that he wants a video camera. So that is exactly what we got him. Zach also drew a picture and wrote him a special note all by himself.

Kylie baked a zero calorie cake for him.

We celebrated his b-day a few days early while we were in San Diego. We ate at one of his favorite restaurants- Anthony's Seafood restaurant. They gave Benson a mud pie to help us celebrate.

Besides celebrating in San Diego he also celebrated his birthday on two other days already. We celebrated with some good friends at Tokyo Lobby and at Islands.
They surprised Benson with some very pretty and delicious pieces of cake.

Benson will be celebrating with some more friends on Saturday at our house and on Sunday at Todai's with my side of the family. We will post pictures of the gatherings that he will be having on the weekend some time next week.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July and a "Happy Birhthday" to our country! I have some ATCs to share with you as well as a card that fits in perfectly for today. It's a "Red, White, and Blue" themed ATC swap that I recently participated in and a 4th of July card that my friend Nancy made for me. As usual, when I post ATCs, mine is the first one in the set.

Some More ATCs and May's Aloha RAK

I can't beleive that it is July 2nd already today. This summer is sure going by very fast. I hope that all of you are enjoying your summer. My family and I are even though it has been so hot. As promised in a post a few days ago, I have some more ATC swaps to share with you. The first one is a Flip Flop swap.

The second one is a Riley/Sofia the Moose swap.

Today I would also like to share with you what my Aloha RAK partner Jonta from May sent to me.

This is the second RAK she sent to me because the first one for some reason did not make it to me. Another lucky person is enjoying the package. Thanks you so much Jonta for taking time to make and send me another RAK. I am so sorry that the first package you sent to did not make it to me.
I hope that you like what I have to share today. Have a wonderful 4th of July weekend.