happy valentine's day!

happy valentine's day! been busy making some cards for the boys. these ones here are for bryan to pass out to his classmates. each one is handstamped. i printed out labels that said, "have a BALL this  valentine's day", slapped it on the back of the card and bagged it with a super bouncy ball (he's obsessed with those right now) in a treat bag. i had him print his name on the back of all 30 of these.

seems like a lot of work but not
really.once you have your design, it's all assembly style. can you see the glittery wings?

remember pop rocks? and the whole deal about if you ate pop rocks & drank a carbonated beverage, you'll explode? i totally believed it when i was little! i made these for brandon to hand out to his classmates. suitable for a 3rd grader, right? again, i handstamped everything on these bag toppers. he had to print out all his friend's names but i helped him out on stamping his name :)

the 2 cards below will be going to their teachers.

some really quick and easy cards that can be for valentine's or not. stamp, color & add a piece of washi tape. (on the S&P card, the strip of 'tape' is actually a strip of paper cut to look like tape) these are great to slip into your child's lunchbox to let them know you love and care about them!
s
i sent this one to a friend who was nice enough to make me some of these cute tiny bingo cards.

this one is going to my BFF. again, i used strips of paper to make it look like tape.

one of the teachers at school lost her mother recently and this was for her. looking at it now, i think the ribbon was a bit too much. perhaps too big....
 
thanks for sticking through all these pictures with me. been running again and maybe that's giving me more energy and helping me be creative once again.

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 ;)

the summer rundown

we are in full school mode now. but here is a summer rundown of what we did (for those who are still out there ;)

 

we sure went to the pool A LOT this summer. at least once a week if not more!

 i swooned over this chair and really wanted it but passed....outta my price range :(

 took a trip back home to SF in july. brandon has been wanting to go fishin' for a long time and we finally did. it was windy & cold. we didn't catch anything but the boys had fun.

 our main purpose for the SF trip--------to meet this little guy, evan, my brand spankin' new nephew! he weighed in at a whopping 11 pounds 14.5 oz!!! he was about 11 days old when i took this picture. he's such a cutie! thanks to my sis & BIL for letting us come to meet him and to stay with them so soon after his birth!

 the boys were super excited to hold baby evan! brandon even got to feed him!

 we got to have some time at the playground with big sis, jadeyn. she is super smart & super adorable!

 one treat i discovered while in SF was this flavor of it's-it. i was so happy to have found it at 1 grocery store back here in SoCal!

 back home & back to reality.....4 new tires for my car. we had some more maintenance done and it was costly!!

 added to our list of "improvements" this summer were getting these puppies out. brandon had severe over crowding in his mouth and after a ortho consult, they suggested brandon have 4 teeth extracted. OUCH! i was not looking forward to it thinking i'd have a very cranky kid after but he did extremely well---both times. they pull 2 teeth a visit. i am so proud of brandon for going though this. we were told after the 4 teeth gets pulled out, it'll make the teeth erupting out over the existing ones fall back into place and you know what---it has and his teeth are looking a lot better!

more pool time

 adding to the improvements this summer was replacing our tile. i cannot believe we ever had this! we had to be out of the house all day while they demoed & blasted out the tile so what do you do all day w/ 2 boys?

 have a picnic. and go to the library. and the bookstore. and drive around.

 caught some work in progress. the boys though it was hilarious having the toilet sitting outside in our backyard!

 looks SO much better than tile don't you think? and it changes the whole look of our house.

 random pics

 bryan is still afraid to take swim lessons but miss jessica noticed that bryan would just sit around while brandon had his lessons so she convinced bryan to come dressed in his trunks the following week and she said she'd take him in the water. bless her for taking him on her break time. she tried to make it fun but he still does not want to learn.

 the OC fair is a must for brandon every summer.

 super giant turkey leg and corn dog

 clowning around

 one of my favorite meals

 went into a store and bryan's eyes lit up and said, "what is this?" it's a rotary phone my dear boy....

 my plate would be the one on the left...

 and more pool time

 i convinced bryan to go on a big boy roller coaster with me. he was nervous waiting in line but he was brave--didn't back out. i could tell during the ride, he was silent and scared but after the ride ended, he said, "let's go again!" big bro brandon chickened out...

 summer treat and someone grew a goatee!

thanks for sticking around! hope to be back on track soon!

back to school clipboard

hi all! our summer is coming to an end but we've sure been busy! getting ready for back to school and made a quick back-to-school project.
this a a dollar store clipboard covered with lawn fawn's newest paper line, "dewey decimal" with mod podge. (LOVE that stuff!) this paper is so fun!
the above is the front side. there is a piece on the clipboard that can be hung as a decorative piece in the classroom for important notes.
the bottom picture shows the backside with bryan's kindergarten teacher's name. he's going to have the same teacher brandon had :) i wanted the name on the backside so when she totes this clipboard around or when she's jotting down her notes, her name is visible on the outside




thanks for looking! hoping to get back to blogging but i must say, i enjoyed my summer with the boys!