Crafting Plus Yummy Food Equals a Fabulous Evening

Yesterday a good friend took me out for a belated birthday dinner.  Before going out to dinner I gave her a b-day gift.  Her b-day is next month.  In case we aren't able to get together for it I thought it would be a good idea to give it to her early.  (She gave me my gift back in April during one of my b-day get togethers.)  This is the card that I made and included with her gift.

For dinner, we went out to a Hawaiian restaurant.

Both of use ordered the same item from the menu- grilled fish with pineapple salsa.

Then we were off to go back to her place to do some crafting together.  She recently purchased a Big Shot and I was showing her how to use it with different dies.  Of course we chatted more than we crafted.  :)  It's always fun getting together with a friend to craft and have a good time of fellowship.

Two Special Cards for Two Friends

I hope that this post is finding everyone doing well.  If you aren't having too good of a week so far I hope and pray that it will get better soon.  Well, today I would like to share with you two religious cards that I made recently for two friends.  This first one was for my friend that got baptized.

This one is for my friend that recently became a Christian.

I wanted to make each of them a special card with the gift that I gave to them to help them celebrate this special time in their lives.  I used the lattice die from Stampin Up to make the crosses.  Thanks for stopping by!

Yummy Strawberries and Cupcakes

Happy Monday!  I hope that all of you had a nice weekend.  My family and I sure had a wonderful and fun one together.  We went on a mini vacation on Friday to San Diego and came home late last night.  All of our days were filled from morning to about 10 pm.  On Sunday night when we left SD, we were a bit sad since our vacation was over, but we were happy to be able to sleep in our own beds since we were all very tired.  One of the highlights of our vacation was going to the strawberry fields where we got to pick strawberries.  We have been to SD many times, but have never been to the strawberry fields.

The strawberries that we picked were delicious.  We can't wait to pick some more the next time we are in SD.  :)  Okay, onto some thing crafty.  I have been taking quilling classes at a local scrapbook store for about a year now, but it was just recently that I started quilling on my own.  Last month when one of my friends from work retired I quilled this cupcake for her.  (She saw a picture of the ones that I initially made at a class and loved them so I thought it would be nice to surprise her with one as part of her gift.)

Awhile back I made this cupcake for a friend as part of her b-day gift.  This one actually made it all the across the ocean.

Quilling I have found is very relaxing.  I look forward to spending some more time soon to put into practice some more of the quilling techniques that I have learned.  Thanks for stopping by!

This Month's Tea Swap

I hope that all of you are doing well and that you are having a fun and crafty week.  I've been having a very relaxing week, but have not been in the mood to do much crafting.  My MOJO must be on vacation.  Today I would like to share this months tea swap.  This month I was fortunate enough to be paired up with Dori, a very nice person that I had the opportunity to have high tea with last summer when I was on vacation in Hawaii.  (I  was able to have high tea with Dori and 2 other ladies that also participate in the tea swap each month. It's always nice to meet people that you have swapped with.) This months optional theme is to make a "masculine" card which was a bit challenging for Dori and I.  Even though it was a bit of a challenge I think both of our cards came out pretty nice.  This is the card that I made for Dori.

It was not hard to pick out what stamp set I wanted to use since I don't have many masculine ones.  For the the background I brayered it to create a sunset and used one of my craft scissors to make the waves.  I don't use my brayer very often, but when I do I have lots of fun using it.  Here is the card that Dori made for me.

Thanks Dori for the teas and fun card.  It's always extra fun swapping with people that I know.

What I Did This Weekend

I hope that everyone had a nice weekend.  On Saturday my family and I went out to dinner with some good friends, Gail and James from SF.  (I initially met Gail through a swap about almost two years ago.  Ever since then we have hit it off. ) We had dinner at Mrs. Knott's Kitchen which is the restaurant that is part of Knott's Berry Farm.  They are known for their fried chicken dinners with biscuits and delicious jam, a salad, ham and cabbage, mashed potato and gravy, and a fresh piece of pie. Here is a picture of the fried chicken dinner and cabbage with ham.  (All the adults ordered this.  My son ordered a burger and my daughter ordered mac and cheese.)

Afterwards we went shopping at the Peanuts store.  If you are a Peanuts fan you could spend hours in there. They have the cutest Peanuts items.  Here is a picture of Gail and I in front of Snoopy's house.

Since Gail and I are both into crafting, we always like to surprise each other with a crafty RAK when we see each other.  This is what I made and gave to her.  (I was hoping to find circular shaped Yorks but could only find square ones.  Gail said that they have peppermint paddles that are circular, but not York ones.)

Here is a picture of the tin open with the candy inside.

She made a very cute box using beautiful paper with Hawaiian print on it. 
  

Check out all the fun goodies inside.    

Thanks again Gail for your thoughtful gift and creative creations.  After coming home from a lovely evening with Gail and James, my hubby and I spent some time together making tags for the Father's Day gifts that we gave out.  This is the tag that we made.

I could not find my "shirt" die so we used another die and had to trim different parts of it to make it look like an "Aloha Shirt."  On Sunday we celebrated Father's Day with my husbands side of the family by having lunch at my in-law's house.  We celebrated with my side of the family a week ago.  Then  for dinner we ordered take out at a seafood restaurant.    This is what we ordered-

a burrito with rice, cabbage and fried shrimp

2 lobster tails, with rice, coleslaw, and bread

tacos with fried shrimp

Thanks for sticking with me on this long post today.  I hope that all of you enjoyed the crafty creations as well as the yummy food that I shared.  

Happy...

Big hugs and lots of love to all the awesome grandfathers, dads, uncles, godfathers, and to all of the men out there that are great role models to us all. Happy Father's Day to all of you! Most importantly "Happy Father's Day" to our Heavenly Father who is the perfect father to us all.


I hope that all of you are having a memorable day honoring the special men in your lives.  

The End of My Work Year

I praise God for helping me put my 110% percent into work this school year.  Since I work for a school district, I get to have the summer off.  Here are some of  students waiting by the door excited for the school to end of for the year.  (One of my friends had her students make these figures of themselves.  Aren't they super cute.)

Today was officially the last day school.  I am FREE for almost two and a half months. I am looking  forward to the time off to spend more time with family, friends, and of course crafting. As a "thank you" gift I always like to surprise some of my co-workers with a little some thing.  These are the gifts that I gave to some of my co-workers.

As you can see, I made a tag for each one.  All the products I used are from Stampin Up except for the rainbow pad that I used.   I used a retired stamp from a stamp set called "A Little Love" and punched it out using the their small tag punch.  After punching it out I embossed it using the Lattice embossing folder.  I used the large tag punch to make a border.  The tag was fun and simple to make.  A perfect one to make since I had to make 26 tags. Here is a close up picture of the tag.  

I also received some fun end of the year presents from my co-workers and from my hubby and my kids.  My hubby and I always give our kids a gift for the beginning of the school year and the end of the school year and they get me a gift too.  

The "Small World" has been one of my favorite rides at Disneyland ever since I was little and as many of you know I love Hawaiian items.  This is why they gave me a Hawaiian doll.  Receiving the presents was a very nice way to end the 2011-2012 school year.  I will miss work and all the people, but am glad to get a break.

Secret Sister Swap for May

It's been a bittersweet week for me with different co-workers that have become good friends to me retire. I am happy for them but at the same time is sad because I will miss them so much. Work will definitely not be the same without them. I am thankful that God has let different things occur this week that has helped cheer me up.  God's timing is always perfect!  One way that God has helped cheer me up is that I have had time to  craft and catch up on projects.  I will be sharing those projects soon.  Today I would like to share what I made and received from the Secret Sister Swap last month.  This is what I made for Linda.  I also surprised her with a few items.

This is the super cute card that Amy made and the thoughtful and fun RAK that she sent to me.

It's always fun participating in swaps, but it's been a little more stressful for me since I have had to do more paperwork at home in the past few months.  Now that the paperwork is slowing down participating in the swaps will be much more enjoyable.

Some Thing Yummy and Some Crafty Stuffs

I appreciate each of you that have taken time to check out what I have to share.  I am even more thankful to those of you that have left me nice comments.  Those of you who do visit my blog, but have not left a comment when you have time please leave me one just to say "hello" so that I know that you have stopped by.  Some of you commented on a previous post about me having "escargot" soup.  That picture of me holding a bowl that looks like it has snails in it is not a real bowl of soup.  I know it looks so real.  Here is a picture of me with a real piece of escargot that was cooked in butter and garlic.

Escargot is one of my favorites and is now a favorite of my kids too.  They tried it for the first time last weekend.  If you have never tried it before you should try it one day.  I promise you won't regret it.  :) Okay now onto some crafty items.  Here is  what I made for the "Anything Goes Swap" for last month for Natasha. I also sent her a little RAK.  I think it's always fun to send a little surprise along with my card.

This is what  she made and sent my way.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a fun and crafty weekend.

A Retirement Party

Yesterday we had a retirement party at work for three staff members that will or have retired.  Two of them will be retiring at the end of this school year and one retired in February.  It was a Mexican theme party.  The social committee I did a fabulous job with all the decorations.

Everything coordinated perfectly.  I especially loved the handmade flowers in the beautiful vases.

We had a catering company that made delicious Mexican food for us.  We had chicken and beef soft tacos, beans, rice, and quesadillas.  For dessert we each had a piece of cake from this beautiful cake.

After the dessert one of our co-workers and the principal "thanked" all of them for their many years of service and commitment to our school family.  They also presented each of them with a gift and a beautiful pot that was decorated with our mascot some some pictures.

It was a bittersweet party.  I will definitely miss my co-workers and friends Virginia and Debbie, but will miss my dearest friend Lorraine the most.

I love them all and work will definitely not be as much fun without them.  I hope that all of you enjoyed this post and the creations that my co-workers made for the party.

Two Aprons and a Card

2012 is going by so fast.  I cannot believe that today is the first day of June already.  I posted pictures of the wonderful and thoughtful gifts that I received for my b-day last month, but did not post a picture of the cute Hello Kitty aprons that one of my good friends made for me.  I could not figure out a way to show off her handy work except for actually wearing it.  So here I am modeling both of the aprons.

I think she did a fabulous job on making them.  I wish I could sew like she can.  They are much to cute to use.  To thank her as well as all my other friends that gave me gifts, I made them each "thank you" cards.

Here is how the cards look when they are open.

I love cherry blossoms so I really had lots of fun making the cards and stamping the Smirk characters on them.  Thanks for spending some time with me today.  See you again during my next post sometime next week. Have a blessed weekend!