Time to get back into the saddle...

I thought it was high time I started participating in challenges at other websites (I'm still mourning the demise of Linnecards.com). This sketch (posted at yourscrapbookstash.com) caught my eye and since I had a little bit of time this evening (despite Mika being at home sick today with an ear infection and fever) and was able to complete a layout - yay! So here is the original sketch...
And here is my take on it (and yes, everything I used was pretty old... must work on using the stash!)...

Patterned paper: (Little Yellow Bicycle - Sharon Ann), cardstock (Bazzill), twill ribbon and *sunkissed* embellishment (Provo Craft), mirror heart (Heidi Swapp), pen (Sakura Micron), cardstock alphabet stickers (Making Memories), border punch (Fiskars - apron lace) and corner rounder (Marvy Uchida).

Poor Miss Mika... she's been suffering from an ear ache since last Friday afternoon. We've been treating her with eardrops since Sunday (she cries pathetically each time)... she stayed home from school today due to fever of unknown origin... then went to the doctor this morning, where she cried and whimpered some more... and left with a prescription for an antibiotic. Hopefully she will be better tomorrow morning (but it's not looking good right now, poor baby!). Grandma is coming to visit tomorrow and I am hoping that that will lift her spirits immensely...

If you like sketches...

If you're a sketch-lovin' scrapper or cardmaker, you'll want to check out Pencil Lines (found through a link in the blog of a SoCal scrap store: Yourscrapbookstash - they have low shipping and a great clearance section, by the way! Oooh, and they're having a 20% off birthday sale this month). If you're time-crunched like me, using sketches to plan layouts can save you oodles of precious time (although, if you're like me, it will still take you forever to find the right combination of papers!). Not only does this blog showcase fabulous sketches and scrap celebrity talent, but there are also tons of examples. Perhaps best of all, you can download a pdf for most of the sketches here. If you have time, look around the blog - many of the designers have their own blogs demonstrating techniques and other beautiful layouts.

And have you checked out Basic Grey's new website? It's gorgeous! And in case you didn't know, BG has monthly newsletters - you can check out the archives here. These newsletters are beautifully designed and there is a monthly layout and crafts inspiration project.

The sun is back!

Yay! After several days of heavy rain, the clouds finally cleared and the sun broke out this morning. Don't our mountains (Lake Arrowhead is up there) look gorgeous? We'll be sure to thoroughly enjoy the sunshine and good weather until the next storm system comes again (in a mere few days).

In other news... Daddy Dude has been watching A LOT of Food Network lately (Mika now shouts, "It's Bobby Flay!" at the TV - kind of cute and kind of scary at the same time). Just a few days ago, there was a waffle throwdown. And thus, Daddy Dude was inspired - lucky us!

Ooooooh, so pretty! They were light, fluffy and crispy waffles. We didn't have any fresh strawberries (with all the rain, I didn't feel like going grocery shopping this week!) but we did have some whipped cream and powdered sugar. Wooohoo! They were delicious! I think we'll have to persuade Daddy Dude to make them again soon... =) Aren't I lucky to be married to a man who cooks? =P And not to gloat, but he even barbequed some salmon tonight, too... =)

Silly Is, As Silly Does

Sometimes, the girls are just a bunch of goofballs... but I sure do love hearing them chortle with laughter!

Patterned paper (Basic Grey - Obscure), newspaper flower embellishment (Junkitz),
twill ribbon (Provo Craft Et Cetera), cardstock stickers (S.E.I.), ink (Cateye chalk),
sequin ribbon (unknown)

A new pet for Marika (not for the squeamish!)

Check out my favorite bug girl and her new friend!

We went to visit the local reptile store, which had recently moved and was in new digs. It was a beautiful store with amazing creatures inside. Of course we don't know anything about reptiles and had no intention of coming home with anything, but it was nice to see what was out there. I was pleasantly surprised to find they were selling Madagascar hissing cockroaches as feeder bugs (crickets and mealworms I knew about, but not the roaches). Of course I had to get ONE (not two! I don't want little roach babies everywhere!) for my girl. They told us they live 1-2 years but according to Wikipedia, it's up to 5 years. At least we won't have to check it into the kennel when we go away for a few days...!

Okay, here's a close-up of Marika with her (scrapper al - you may not want to look!).

Pretty cool, eh? She's a good-sized bug (I think it's a girl). The guy at the pet shop even made one hiss so the girls could hear it. Way cool!

We also bought a few crickets for Marika to rear... they'll only last a few weeks, but at least she'll learn more about the molting process and if we're really lucky, maybe we can get the crickets to lay some eggs that we can hatch out.

Ah... you just can't take the entomologist out of somebody! =)

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Today is my mom's birthday - Happy Birthday! Woohoo!

We actually celebrated her birthday last week, since she came over to visit while Mika was still out of school. I made her favorite inarizushi (aka "football sushi"), she brought some sashimi (yummers!), and we baked her a marble cake. The girls were totally thrilled to be able to "throw a party" and so, made a big deal of wearing party hats and using blowouts. =)

My mother is an excellent cook. She also puts a lot of effort into making things look especially appealing. This was my tempura udon lunch. Oooooh, it makes my mouth water, just looking at this! Yum!

The girls also thoroughly enjoyed having Grandma braid their hair a few times. Grandma was surprisingly good at this - and why am I surprised? During my entire childhood, my mother NEVER braided my hair. Like, ever. Although... I suppose it's possible I didn't want to sit still long enough for the process... =P

Oh, and did I mention? I may have discovered Mika's talent! She may become a fashion designer - check out the clothes she made for Holly's yarn people. I laughed with delight when I saw these.

Honestly, I just can't figure out why my girls love to wear dresses so much. Me... I'm a jeans/shorts kind of girl (it's nice to be comfortable!). But, getting dressed up sure does make me want to take pictures of them... here they are outside of the local library...

Oh, but before we went to the library, we went to our favorite donut shop (it'd been awhile). Mika constantly gets white powdered sugar all over her face, but on this day, Marika had chocolate whiskers. What really struck us, though, is how she kind of looks like her cousin, Mirei - don't you think? So cute!

And last but not least, we have some new gardeners doing work for us in the yard. Yeah, it's been awhile since I weeded the backyard (just before Thanksgiving) - and we've gotten quite a bit of rain since then. *sigh* It's a never-ending cycle! But thankfully, I finally pruned the roses last weekend. Whew!

At long last... a layout!

Patterned paper (Basic Grey), rick rack ribbon (Bazzill), rub-ons (Making Memories), ink (Memories)

I've had these pictures sitting on my scrap table for several months now, but finally... it's done! This is based on a sketch by Becky Fleck. I've had that BG Obscure paper for a super long time now... never knew what to use it for... but this seemed like a good fit.

And thankfully, Marika hasn't thrown a tantrum on this scale since that party. We think her expression on the highlighted photo is priceless, but Daddy Dude's expressions are pretty amusing, too (though nothing was funny at the time!).

Remember, if you want to enlarge the picture, just click on it!

And so begins the New Year...

On the first Sunday of every month, this museum offers free admission. Our sports schedules don't usually allow us to go, but this afternoon, we had time!

For the first time, we checked out their Exploration Station, which featured live animals. On the way, we passed some interesting old artifacts. Here, the girls are posing in front of something called a "Mormon Logger". It helped them move felled trees, but how it works, we have no idea. I just googled it and couldn't find anything! So, if anybody ever finds the answer, please feel free to enlighten us!

The Exploration Station was a great place for the kids - they had lots of displays filled with live animals. The girls got to pet a baby ball python and Ginger the bunny rabbit. There was a tanned Nile Crocodile hide, which was really interesting - I'd never seen anything "tanned" and it almost had a bronzed quality to it.

Of course, I had to take pictures of these cool cockroaches! The ones on the left are "cave cockroaches" while the ones in the middle are "hissing cockroaches" (we always joke that Marika sounds like a hissing cockroach when she's congested - a bit of entomological humor that she does not appreciate). The white cockroach on the right is a freshly molted hissing cockroach... pretty neat, eh?

The girls probably enjoy the bottom floor of the museum the most, since it's the natural history section. There are fabulous displays of preserved animals (can you tell I have a keen interest in taxidermy?).

The museum also has a lovely insect display...

And here are the girls in front of a Sugar Pine slab cut in 1900 or so. When it was felled, the tree was 457 years old. Look how big it is!


And in other news... the girls and I spent most of the weekend at my first soccer tournament (DaddyDude was a real trooper and went Saturday for three games!). My team had signed up for the 30+ league, but were told Thursday night that no other such teams had registered so... our captain put us in the open league (meaning teams with 16+ years and older could play). To make a long story short... there was a lot of catfighting on Saturday but we were among the top two teams (out of 4) so we played the championship game this morning against the team we had tied yesterday. However, today, we were without 3 of the 4 "young" people (the captain had felt compelled to add them at the last minute) - and were down to one sub. We lost 4-1, but it was a good game - no fights and lots of playing time for everyone. Anhd hey, we still won a trophy! =)

All in all... it was a good weekend... =)

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas - and wish you nothing but the best for 2010!


We had a very relaxing break. Last Monday, we went on a hike with some of our friends to the San Bernardino National Forest. We knew it would be cold, but it was a very pleasant surprise to find enough snow for the kids to romp around in!


As you can see, everybody had a lot of fun! (If you click on the photo collage, check out the photo in the middle of the top row - you can see all the woodpecker holes in the tree!)


They say lichen is a good indicator of air quality - which is why we never see any of it where we live!


We actually visited three different trails. This was the second one, with a great scenic view (and of course, a very large stump).


We also strolled down to the lake, which was mostly frozen. What a sight!


This is how thick the ice actually was - quite strong, but still breakable.

We had a good hike, but DaddyDude and I were pretty exhausted later, because we had to carry Marika a little bit. She's not all that heavy, but we were wearing all bundled up and trudging (uphill) through the snow wasn't the easiest thing to do...


Yesterday, we decided to check out a new Lowes store, to get ideas on home organization. I think this store has a couple of new loyal fans with these shopping carts... =)