FWF #6 - Happy Valentine's Day!

Hi, Friends with Flair folks! Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you all get some good lovin' - or at least some chocolate and/or flowers! :) Whatever floats your boat...

The girls celebrated Valentine's Day last Friday night at their school's annual "Father/Daughter Dance". We moms got about 2 hours of alone time. I can't even remember what I did anymore - but I think I made dinner. Exciting, right?

Mika had a long weekend - one soccer game and six softball games. I loved it!!! Mika finally got her chance to pitch at the travel ball level - unfortunately, it did not go well. I don't think the ump gave her a single strike - which made her tense up (something she never did at rec level) - but worst of all, she was too hittable (not fast enough, not enough movement on the ball). Coach pulled her out before the end of the inning (we did NOT blame him) and some discussion, we decided that the girls would quit pitching lessons. Mika just doesn't have what it takes to be a starting travel ball pitcher and hey - that's okay! Yes, Marika has one season left of pitching for rec ball but she complains SO MUCH about practicing, that I just want to yank all of my hair out. We decided it was better use of our time and money to move Mika to weekly batting lessons and gamble that Marika would practice pitching for the sake of her team. We'll see! Mika's coach was totally fine with our decision, but did warn he might still call on her to pitch in a pinch - but at least he knows she won't be practicing anymore. Whew! It is a huge relief to have one less thing to worry about.

This week, I'm going to blame my lack of crafting time on the new pooch. Bo had his big appointment at the Humane Society last Friday and got neutered, received a bunch of shots, and was microchipped. The vet tech also could only venture "Husky Mix". What the heck is the other half??? Any ideas? We've been taking it easy this week (until next Friday), since he's on "light exercise" restriction. He had to wear the "cone of shame" for a few days but can you believe... he actually CAUGHT a gopher the day after his surgery while WEARING the cone??? I was impressed! BTW they estimated his age at 5.5 months (and he weighed 39 lbs already).

This week, I chose to use Deconstructed Sketch #138, rotating it 90-degrees counterclockwise. I used Unity Stamp's Handmade Valentines.

 

The front...

 

  The inside...

For the kids' teachers, I used the Lifestyle Crafts' takeout box die. I love these little boxes! I filled them with little Rolos and dressed them up with some ribbon and twine. All stamps used were from Unity's Handmade Valentines.

And finally... I made some tags for the girls' Valentine buckets. Target had these adorable little owl pails - did you see them in the dollar bins? The sentiment is from Handmade Valentines but I also used Unity Stamp's My Panda Balloon - isn't it an adorable image? It's only $1 this week - go check out the sale here! Shipping is only $2.95 for orders over $25.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for visiting and please stay warm/dry! :)

FWF #5 - and how is softball related to Prima?

Hello, Friends with Flair peeps! Have you shopped at Unity yet? They're selling these new & fabulous grab bag collections Check them out here!

 Time flies... here is Mika, 5 years ago during her first season of softball (T-ball)...

And here she is, in her first travel ball uniform as a Firecracker - age ten. You go, girl!!! Yes, she was ready for the next level of play. She's still doing soccer (she is committed until the first week of June), but it was time to step it up and get her onto a real team with solid playing time. This weekend, she has a soccer game on Saturday morning, followed by three softball (tournament) games in the afternoon/evening... and then on Sunday, she has at least one tournament softball game, followed by another three softball games (friendlies).  That's a lot of softball! When they're not playing games, they're practicing for 4-4.5 hours on a weekend day. No more sleeping in!

I love how grown-up and confident she looks. Those sport (transitional) sunglasses really help, too - she no longer looks like a geeky bookworm. Now, she looks seriously tough!!!

So it's getting harder to find time to scrap, but I managed to pull together a thank you card for our lovely neighbor next door. She kindly embroidered Marika's soccer jacket with her name and number. She refused all payment, so we're going to take them out to dinner (DaddyDude will make arrangements when Marika brings over the card). They're great neighbors so it'll be nice to spend time with them, too. :)

Here was the sketch I used... you can link up your own project here!

Patterned papers and rhinestone (My Mind's Eye), stamps (Unity Stamp Co), ink (Tim Holtz distress ink - walnut stain),
chipboard (UmWowStudio), Stickles, markers (Spectrum Noir) 

And here's my card - I used Unity Stamp Co's Sew Cute set. It's a pretty specialized set, but when you know some crafty people, you can find reason to use it. :)

So some of you may be wondering... what does softball have to do with Prima? Well, let me tell you! Mika's softball team is based out of Chino and practices in that city, or very close to it. Chino is where Prima Marketing's warehouse outlet is located! So - even though they reduced their warehouse outlet days/times to the first weekend of every month, I can shop there after games and practices. How cool is that? :)

I love it when things work out! Thanks for visiting and I hope you all have a great weekend - stay warm!!!

The Puppy Gets a Name and FWF #5

Hello, FWF peeps! Many thanks for the name suggestions last week and words of encouragement - we're pleased to report that the puppy was not claimed (whew!) and he is officially ours! We did settle on the name "Bo" although after Scrapper Al mentioned "Slugger", I remembered that the 1994 World Cup soccer mascot was a dog named "Striker". So, the girls and I are calling him, "Bo Stryker", which I think makes him sound like a super hero dog. :)

I will admit, however, that he is not responding to his name. "Puppy" seems to be the most effective still! We just weighed him tonight - he's gained 6-7 pounds in the past week! Is that normal??? Maybe he WAS pretty malnourished when we got him, I don't know!

He sat and watched the girls practicing softball for the first time - and I just had to laugh and laugh, because he kept chasing the ball - which we caught - expecting to see it on the ground. On the bright side, he seems to be relatively intelligent, because he figured it out within 3 minutes and just sat down and watched. 

It's a big sports weekend - Marika and I are driving down to San Diego tomorrow for her soccer tournament while Mika has a soccer game and then dashes off to play in her first set of "friendlies" for her new travel ball club, the Firecrackers. I'm really bummed that I'll miss her debut, but I think we'll be able to make her second and third game. I can't wait!!! I'm excited to see if she gets to pitch or not and where they decide to play her on the field. I also can't wait to see how the girls do - they've only been practicing together for about 2-3 weeks, so they won't be very good for the first few months, but... I can't wait!!!

Since I'm missing her big debut, I made a card for Mika to read while she's being driven to her first softball game. The card was based on Mojo Monday's Sketch #330. I love the inspiration stamps by Donna downey - here, I used her "Do More Awesome" stamp for the outside sentiment and "I'm Your #1 Fan" for the inside. I want her to know how much I believe in her and how awesome I think she is at softball. :)

Patterned papers and flowers (Prima), buttons (Doodlebug [I think] and Making Memories), ink (Memories, Inc.), stamps (Unity Stamp Co)

Hope you all have a fun weekend! Are you watching the Super Bowl? Can't wait to see those commercials! :)

The Nameless Puppy and FWF Week #4

I had really wanted to craft more this week, but something came up. You know how you go to the store to pick up a few things and you end up coming home with more than you intended? Well... that's exactly what happened to us on Monday. We were at our local farmer's produce store and one of the workers said, "Hey, are you interested in a puppy?" Apparently one had wandered in and didn't want to leave - nor could she find his owner. We'd been thinking about getting a puppy for quite some time, but hadn't found "the one" yet. I figured it couldn't hurt to take a look... we thought, "hey..... he's pretty cute!" This is the picture I sent my husband, when asking what he thought.

 

I came back a couple of hours later to pick him up and the next day, I went through the steps of becoming his owner - which meant first going through the steps of reporting and advertising a "found" lost dog. I've been scanning the local "lost" ads online every day and no one seems to be missing him. Actually, there are a LOT of "found" pets and most seem to go unclaimed. It's rather sad.

Tomorrow, he's considered to be legally ours - the local shelter said they released dogs for adoption within 4 days (the newspaper ad runs until Monday though).  And no, he wasn't microchipped - but he will be when we take him to the humane society for his shots and neutering in a short while.

He's a bit of a holy terror in the house (he's so excited!) but our greatest concern is his interest in Brownie and Snowball - the resident guinea pigs. Uh oh! We better watch out.

He looks mostly like a husky to me - although my husband disagrees, he can't come up with a better guess either! Every day, too, he starts to look more and more like our first dog, Sebastian - especially from the back (his ears, the shape of his body, etc.).

We think he's about 5 months old (33 lbs) and yes, he's gonna be a big boy. :) He's been running every morning with me and he is a fine partner! I was surprised at what good motivation he's providing - I know he enjoys/needs the exercise and frankly, I really enjoy his fuzzy company, too. It's nice to leave the pepper spray at home, too - even though I'm sure he is a lousy bodyguard.

He does, however, need a name!

 

*bounce* Whee! *bounce*

 

"Why are you taking pictures of me? Why? Why? Why?"

"Seriously - will you please put the camera down?"

"I just won't look at you anymore... then maybe you'll stop..."

 

So THAT'S why I didn't make a layout this week! I only managed to make a birthday card for another one of Mika's young friends. I figured she'd enjoy the blingy cupcake! I used the Unity stamps, Big Polka Dot Cupcake and Balloons to You. It's also based on Mojo Monday's Sketch #329, which you can find here.

 

 

Patterned papers (Pebbles, Inc.), stamps (Unity Stamp Co), stickles, ink (Memories, Inc.)

 



Hope everyone has a great weekend! Marika has a soccer tournament out in San Juan Capistrano so I am waking up at 4 am to take the dog for a run before driving off at 5:30 am to get there by 7 am to check the team in for their 8 am game. Sounds like fun, right? They play again at 11:45 am and then we drive back home. Whew! DaddyDude will drive her there again on Sunday while I take Mika to another 4-hour softball practice.

 

And hey, we could really use some help naming this pup! If you have any ideas (or think you know what kind of dog he might be - I'm sure there are several types mixed in there), please leave your thoughts in the comments. Thank you!!! The ideas we have so far are: Scooby, Oakley, and Beau but he doesn't answer to any, nor does he look like any of those names.

 

Help! Please!  

Friends With Flair - Week #3

 

Hello! It's been a quiet week, with everybody going back to work and school. Ahhhh.... :) For this week, I decided it was time to start making layouts again, so I found this awesome sketch from Sketch N Scrap.

 

Here's my take on it... I used the following Unity stamps: Fact of Love, SMAK 1/12, and KOTM 9/13. By the way, this is a great time to stock up on past kits at Unity - they're half off!

 

 

Patterned papers: My Mind's Eye, stamps (Unity Stamp Co), chipboard (UmWowStudio), distress ink (Tim Holtz - festive berries),
brads (Making Memories), markers (Spectrum Noir)

 

For my card, I worked with Deconstructed Sketch #134. I really liked this sketch design!

 

Patterned papers (MME), cardstock (TPC), stamps (Unity Stamp Co), distress ink (Tim Holtz- Walnut Stain),
black ink (Memories Inc), pop dots, rhinestones

I used the following stamps from Unity: Blossom Stackers and A Friend Loveth. Hey, did you notice how I managed to nicely align the sentiment within the circle? My stamp-ma-jig arrived last week so I pulled it out and oh, I am so happy! Thank you, my FWF friends, for suggesting I get one! You guys rock! :)

Hope you all have a splendid weekend! Thank you for visiting!

Friends With Flair - Week #2

 

Hello, hello! I feel... discombobulated. This is the third (and final) week of "break" that the kids are on, and DaddyDude has been on vacation for the last few days. While it's been nice that the family has been together, I'm starting to feel fidgety that my regular schedule has been upset! Do you know what I mean? That's all right... next Monday, it's back to business as usual! :)

There have been a couple of birthdays this week to celebrate... Mika is at a sleepover this evening, but we're picking her up at 10 pm. Why? Oh, because she has softball practice early in the morning - with her new travel softball team (she has to be there by 7:45 am - and it's 35 minutes away from our house). She was happy to be with her friends and I'm sure she'll be happy to sleep in her own bed. So, the card below was for her friend Abbie, who turned 11 and is one of her dear soccer teammates. It's based on a "Sketch ~N~ Scrap" sketch and used the stamp, Balloons to You.

 

Patterned papers (MME), chipboard (UmWowStudio), stamp (Unity Stamp Co), ribbon (unknown)

 

And then... it's my mother's birthday this Sunday. Yeah, I know, it's going to get there late! She and her companion came to visit us earlier this week and we celebrated her birthday then. This card is based on sketch #327 from {Mojo} Monday and used the following Unity stamps: Candles and Cake {wit and wisdom} and Becoming that Person (I just love those adorable little hearts!). I've been following {Mojo} Monday for awhile, but this is the first time I'm actually playing along.

 

 

 

Patterned papers (MME), stamps (Unity Stamp Co), ink (Memories Inc.), markers (Spectrum Noir)

 

And speaking of stamps, you should run over to Unity Stamp Co to check out Angela's awesome birthday sale - all stamps are 50% off, even the "kit of the month" sets! Woohoo!

 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Thank you for visiting!

 

 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Have you formed your resolutions? I have only a couple so far.. today is the first Friends With Flair post at Unity Stamps. I've resolved not to miss a single week - wish me luck! I'm enjoying some quiet time without the stress of a design team, so I guess my other resolution is to FINALLY organize my craft room. What this really means is... *ahem*... that I'd really like some more floor space! :)

Patterned papers (MME), cardstock (TPC), distress ink (TH - walnut stain), ribbon (unknown), stamp (Unity), rhinestone (MME).

For this week, I was playing along with Unity's color challenge (see below) and Sketch #132 at The Deconstructed Sketch. I used Unity's Everything More stamp set. I'm still waiting for my Stamp-Ma-Jig to show up (next week!), but a big shout of "thank you!" to my FWF peeps with those kind suggestions a couple of weeks ago. :) 

I'd love to hear what New Year's resolutions you've decided upon for yourselves! The way I figure... the more you talk about it, the more you are committing yourself to succeeding at it. :)