happy new year!

is she not the cutest? she's such a doll!! we finally got to meet baby jadeyn for christmas! what a great present! she's 2 monhs old now. so adorable! i will have so much fun spoiling her with girly things! i got to get that out of my system....having 2 boys, their stuff can only be "so" cute!
side note, we gave my sis what she wanted from the boy's clothes when they were babies. this is one of the outfits! so sweet to see it again!

the pretty tree my BIL decorated. he did a super job!

the monkey in the middle, mocha, is flanked by bryan & brandon's brobee (L) and cappuccino (R) in the high chair.the night before we left for SF, i let the boys open their gifts....BEFORE CHRISTMAS !!

at the mall

what is looking up at?this is was what he was looking up at. grand, isn't it?

a new year card. it can be seen here also.

same stamp, different orrientation.another card using the same stamp. working with glitter embossing powder is definitely a hazard! not only is it messy but when you work it with the heat gun, stray ones blow up----sometimes into your eye. that's probably why i don't emboss cards much!TFL! i am under the weather again! i've been sick since end of october. then i was better for less that a week and now i'm sick again now. i had some stomach bug for a few days, body aches, the chills, joint pain, headache and a fever. but my boys took good care of me! i pretty much slept all day thursday.

merry christmas all!

greetings from san francisco! we were lucky that the rain stopped for us to make the drive. i think it rained for 6 days straight! finally go to meet my brand new baby niece, jadeyn!! she's such a cutie! so in love with her!! pictures of her to come. she will be blind by the time i'm done with her from all the pictures i'm taking of her. (paparazzi i am)
this is a card i made for jadeyn. so happy to get to spend her 1st christmas with her! you can also see this card here.have you seen the decorations at nordstrom's? love it! all their trees are decorated with a bird theme. i want to decorate mine one year like that. one day.......

in my area, nordstrom hires a santa to take pics for FREE!!! and this is the same santa from last year. he's a great santa, knew the drill and did exactly what i wanted for the boys' photo op. he totally orchestrated the visit: 1st bryan sat on santa's lap, then he asked brandon to come sit too, then bryan off so brandon can take one alone w/ santa.

he even asked the boys what they wanted.

me with santa. naughty or nice? well, what do you think? LOL!

merry christmas and happy holidays to all! i still have cards to mail out.....they'll get to you eventually---before the new year?

hustle & bustle

we did A LOT of shopping the past couple days. little boys do not like shopping..... feel bad that we have to drag them with us but what can you do? plus it's been raining NON STOP!!!! not great shopping weather. i hope it stops real soon......i have a brand new niece i am dying to meet! we are driving to SF and this rain needs to stop---- NOW!

we sat down for a moment at macy's for the boys to write a quick letter to santa. brandon wanted to make sure santa knew he will be in SF and to deliver his present there!

bryan just copied the 'dear santa' part and wrote his name. he also added a picture of him and santa holding hands.sets of cards & calendar before i bagged them for brandon's teacher gifts.

added a tag & tied them around with crochet string. then i put them in clear cellophane bags and sealed them with colorful packing tape.

the covered pocket calendars for the front office staff.

i made these for brandon to pass out to his classmates on the last day of class before winter break. wait---- let me rephrase that...... i bought these gingerbread cookies and packed them. thank goodness for running labels through the computer to put on the bags! time saver! plus i found a free candy cane font online.

last night, i packed 20+ of these puppies for hubby's staff. at least i had a bit of his help this year! but i was up until 3am-ish still packing & wrapping stuff while listening to hubby's [loud] snore!

santa pics to come soon! i got great ones again this year :) me, happy. this was last year's.

party squared

i've been working feverishly on card sets and gifts for brandon's teachers, principal and front office staff this past week. here's a peek at them all bundled ready to be packaged. i had brandon deliver them on wednesday-friday. even his kinder teacher told me she uses the covered calendar all the time SO, naturally, i had to make her one again this year. i've gotten lots of compliments already! :) so happy when i see that the recipiant really likes something handmade!a couple weeks ago, we had 2 birthday parties to go to in 1 day. whew.....what a day! i made some quick cards using a digi image from here. so cute! love the monster! most of them were just scraps i had out.

party #1: bowling party. all i have to say is thank goodness for the gutters!school friendsso nice when they are at this age where they don't say 'ick' to girls!

a group pic

party #2: bounce house

bryan after coming down a loooong slide!

weeeeeeeeeeee

group photo

we have 2 birthday parties this weekend. brandon is off school til the the 3rd!! 2011!! wow, this year just flew by!

TFL!

cranking out the cards II

we had a few days of high 80* temps so we headed to the beach late sunday afternoon. yes, the beach in december. the boys enjoyed collecting seashells. i just sat back & relaxed!speaking of winter, another wintery card. i changed up the colors a little bit from the cards in the previous post.

i dunno why i do this to myself year after year but i am in a mad dash to get card sets done for teacher gifts.

sorry the picture collage cuts off the whole card but you get the idea. the very last picture is a covered pocket calendar. you can buy those ugly ones at target for $1 or at michael's for 50cents. this set is a bit more crazy in the color scheme. i did no stamping on these cards. coordinating paper & die cut packs helped with piecing the cards faster.

i have more card sets to show you soon. TFL!

[and don't be jealous of our sunny, hot weather.....we are about to get 5 days of rain]

cranking out the cards

crunch time! cranking out cards for family & friends. these ones are fast & easy to make. i'm all about fast & easy!you can also see these cards here.

these below were made from coordinating sheets of a scrap paper pack i received called 'ornament sensation' from here. love how easy it was to make a bunch of holiday cards in no time flat!

TFL! have a great weekend all!

hero arts blog hop

You’re invited to join Hero Arts on Friday, December 10th for a fun-filled, inspiration-packed blog hop featuring ALL NEW stamps from the upcoming 2011 Hero Arts Catalog!

We’ll hop between the blogs of more than 20 Hero Arts designers and friends, previewing the new stamps and sharing idea after idea. You’ll be able to leave comments along the way for a chance to win fabulous prizes — 2011 Catalog stamps, of course!

So excited! Can’t wait to see everything!! So come join the fun — it all starts right here on the blog the morning of December 10.

ooops, my bad!

i originally made this for a bloggie friend who recently sent me some goodies. i was all excited and happy i got it all made and ready to send. then this:

haha! LOL! perfect right? would anybody be offended if i sent you a card that was upside down? the flower is cute, no? i made it myself ;)

happy friday!

priceless

on sunday, we surprised the boys by taking them to a live yo gabba gabba show! they were so excited!!tickets: $650* souvenirs: $104 popcorn: $5 parking: $15
reactions on the boys' faces=PRICELESS !!!!

this is DJ Lance Rock

this is DJ Brybrythis is the actual person who is DJ lance rock

they were so excited when the show got started!
the gabba gang

although bryan didn't get up and dance til the 2nd half of the show, he loved seeing them live. i think he was mesmorized by the whole live show concept! the last pic is from the after party.brandon got up right from the beginning of the show to shake his thang and dance!

and, the show must end =(

at the after party, we got to meet the human beatbox, biz markie. brandon got to interact a little with him too at the after party. BTW, biz doesn't really smile...... famouse for this song.

bryan with his favorite guy--- brobee! it was a very memorable day for the boys and for us as parents. to just see your kids' reaction and pure happiness is priceless!

*we bidded on these tickets on charity buzz. our bid benefits habitat for humanity. we were a bit disappointed when we got our tickets and saw our seats were on the terrace and NOT on the floor like the terms of the bid said. but what are you going to do? the kids didn't know where they would be sitting and thank goodness we didn't tell them they were going to be sitting up close. we ended up in the nose bleed section! we really bidded so we could get the party package which included tickets to the show and entrace to the after party for food & to take pictures with the gabba gang. in the end, it was an experience of a lifetime and everybody enjoyed themselves!

TFL at allllll these pics! everybody survive thanksgiving? i sure had a hard time waking myself up AND brandon for his 1st day back to school after a week off!