anyone still out there?

 hello to anyone still out there....my last post was september 2012!! yes, it's been THAT long. and after tonight, i remembered why i hate blogging. or blogger in general. pictures takes SO LONG to upload. anyone else have that issue? maybe i upload too many??? 75% of the pictures i uploaded actually ended up here....the other 25%---- who knows! but you know what? i loved not blogging. let's catch up, shall we?
i've been enjoying the boys. right before the school year, i stopped working. but i'm not sure if anyone calls my 2 days of working previously, work. i made that choice because brybry started kindergarten in september 2012. he goes from 8-11:23am. then brandon goes from 8:15-2:29. not much time in between. i also wanted to be there for the boys for homework and other activities. i took on being the room mom for bryan's class. it's been fun planning their class parties and adding crafts in the mix :)
brandon's a big 3rd grader now!

 the boys also played soccer in the fall. the picture below is bryan in action. he really improved from last year. we got lucky and had the same great coach from last season. he has a great family. i stepped up and was co-soccer mom.

 he played hard annnnnnd, sometimes....played rock, paper, scissors with his team mate DURING the game! LOL

 here is brandon. he played well this season also. he mostly enjoyed socializing out there.

 bryan getting an award during the 1st award ceremony of the school year.

 luckily, the boys wanted to wear the same exact costume as the year before so it's a win-win for me. no need to shop for new ones and saved some money! brandon (as ash from pokemon) with his 3rd grade teacher (she was a zebra).

 bryan was pikachu (from pokemon). they aren't allowed to wear masks so it just looks like he's wearing a yellow suit.

 we were lucky to get the same kinder teacher that brandon had. bryan adores her.

 a picture from their fall feast. bryan in his pilgrim wear.

 and brandon at his fall feast.

 so brandon told me he was "too old" to take pictures with santa this past year. i was sad to hear this but i didn't force him. bryan happily said he still wanted to take pictures with santa.

we had our 1st annual holiday boutique at school. i sold some of my cards and handmade gifts. after giving 10% back to the school, i ended up making a little over $200 and had a few custom orders too. it was fun. i shared a table with a mom friend. she handmakes jewelry. we had a good time hanging out most of the day at school.

here are pictures i took of some of the cards. i was working right down to the wire and failed to get pictures of the clipboards. those puppies did real well! i didn't sell everything but most everything :)

thanks so much for letting me share old pictures from last year! i will try to blog a little more crafty pics soon! and i have to say thank you for checking in on me ;)

pumpkins

sharing this simple holiday card. now that halloween is over, i need to get cracking on holiday cards.

i had these halloween/fall pics loaded on blogger but never finished the post. and i'd have half the photos uploaded here and the rest, would come up with an error message on blogger....anyone else? so frustrating.

we were in SF this past weekend celebrating my niece's 1st birthday. she is SUCH a doll!! took tons of pictures of that cutie and will share some party pics and the boys in their halloween costumes.there were some gorgeous pumpkins!

i like the ugly, bumpy ones and i came home with one.

their choices

which pumkins do we want to take home????

some halloween cards i never got around to posting BEFORE halloween!

silly boys! happy fall! and thanks for stopping by!

cards cards cards and mo' cards!

sharing the 1st 3 cards here that i will be teaching at stamp fever on october 8th from 10am-12. more info can be seen here. contact me directly or call the store to sign up! we have 2 soccer games that day but luckily, one is early in the morning and the other one in the late afternoon!




sharing a card that involes 3 border punches. i racked my brain for a while and i finally came up with this simple solution. try it!

TFL! TGIF! (almost)

august already?

can you believe it's august already? brandon starts school in september. where did the summer go?
getting ideas for my next card class. this halloween one will be one that we will be making. not sure what the other 2 projects will be.

a birthday card for a friend. it's late. i can never seem to get it together to be on time!

thanks for stopping by today. gotta run & entertain the boys!

need a fan?

we are on day 4 of a heat wave....high heat with humidity! yuck! what a better way to cool off than with a fan?! i've been planting myself in front of one everyday! and sitting 3 feet in front of one blowing full blast doesn't help much!
but i made thse cool accordion flowers. very easy to do with a martha stewart scor-board! makes for a fun embellishment for cards!




thanks for stopping by! i need to go back to sitting in front of the fan!

it is HOT!!!

these are pictures from bryan's 2nd private swim lesson last friday. but i can jump in the pool right now! it is HOT here! and mixed with humidity....it's a sweaty, sticky mess here! i am sitting 3 feet away from a fan and i'm still hot! LOL

he's still a little hesitant about jumping in. we'll get there :)

this is at the end of his lesson where his teacher 'dunks' him. he knows exactly what's going to happen and starts to refuse and points his finger up & says no to all of us! of course he cried a little bit but stops when he gets his prize--- a lollipop! look at that pout!

and look at our hot tub.....some kids thought it might be funny to pour bubbles in there the night before. not so much! makes a big mess when the jet is on. just makes more & more bubbles.

my silly boys!

sunday after breakfast, we stopped by an outdoor antique flea market. i loved it! lots to see and buy! i'll have more pictures from my phone but here's what i got.

the lady was asking for $3 for all 6 of these molds. i handed her a $10 but she couldn't make change for it. so hubby dug in his pocket and only had $2. she gave them to me for $2 :)

i'll have to do more research on jello molds but thses were too pretty to pass. there's a "B" etched on the bottom of the word, Jell-O. i wonder if the homemaker shared her molds with other housewives and had to etch her initial to make sure she got her molds back! i love thinking of who once owned all these vintage treasures!

here is the other set of 3. i don't think i'll use these for jello but maybe to put my crafty things in.

and, i finally got an antique flower frog! it's a good size and i got it for $6. it was marked at $6.50 but the lady said she'll give it to me for $6.

it seems like the dealers were very flexible in their prices and if i was more experienced in bargaining, i would've threw out offers. any tips for me?and, this is what i use the flower frog for----to display my cards and to photograph them on.

this was a quick card made out of miscellaneous scraps of paper i had on my work area. TFL! have a great day!