Frou Frou Gypsy in Combat Boots

I went out shopping the other day and found these goodies at Michael's in the dollar bin. I just love things for $1 or less. I am really excited about this alphabet! I have been needing a smaller one for a while. You can click on the picture to enlarge it if you need to. Hope you all have a nice weekend! always cyndi

What Your Taste in Chocolate Says About You You are sophisticated, modern, and high class. Your taste is refined, but you are not picky. You are often the first to try something new. You are passionate and full of life. You fall in love easily, and you tend to have whirlwind relationships. Your passion sometimes does get the better of you. You have a crazy temper! You love being around people. Friendships are important to you. You feel lost when you're by yourself... so you tend to avoid being alone. The'>http://www.blogthings.com/thechocolateoracle/">The Chocolate Oracle

I have been having a hard time getting use to the idea of the kids being home....ALL the time. I have a few things to show you i just haven't gotten them onto the computer yet. Honestly i have been afraid that my computer will crash after the last scare so i don't want to put too much on here for storage. Maybe i will load some stuff up and make a new picture disc. Hope you are enjoying the last days of May! always cyndi

So, i had this frame hanging in my foyer with an old, not that this is too recent..but an older 10x13 family picture in it. I love this frame because it is black and brown, both of which i have in the room. The point is i wanted to use this frame and hang this newer family photograph but it was only 8 x10. The solution? scrapbook it in the frame! I am horrible at listing what i used, but i used 3 DP, ribbon, some chipboard (that swirly thing on the right) that i inked with su! inks and some eyelets that i got at Walmart on clearance. Just something simple with things i had laying around my stamping and scrapping closet to make the old frame work with the newer picture! have a great day!

well...almost anyway! I worked on some Teacher gifts last week. We have four days to go this week. My mojo was running high so i made the goodies and my BFF is going to make tags for them and package them for us to give to our teachers. Sorry the pictures are so bad...last week was busy! But when the creative juices start flowing...you just go with them and don't fight it. So this set includes an altered composition note book, a decorated lip balm holder, which i got the patter for from "Stamp on This" http://indyemmert.blogspot.com/2007/11/happy-thanksgiving.html . Also a decorated water bottle which i got from "iStamp" http://stampinat6213.blogspot.com/2008/05/tart-tangy-water-bottles.html and key ring post it notes that i got from "Chic n' Scratch" http://chicnscratch.typepad.com/chic_n_scratch/2008/02/post-it-note-ke.html . these are all wonderful blogs and i dearly thank these ladies for posting better directions than i could ever come up ...

ok, now for the bday hoopla details...here is the pin the nose on the clown game that we made thanks to my friend who was able to print this out for us.... here's the bean bag toss we made...isn't it cute? my DD kept insisting that the clown's face shouldn't be white...but she finally conceded! Here are my clown cupcakes. They didn't turn out quite as good as i expected, but hey..i get credit for trying to pipe little frosting clown bodies don't i? The pennant banner i sewed...i was super happy about the way this turned out..It makes me happy, i wish i could leave it up always! Here is the "spread"...cupcakes, ice cream, mini corn dogs, peanuts and popcorn! Remember that bandanna i showed you a few days ago...well here are the pants that i turned them into. I think they are sooo cute. I tried to stamp the clown from her invitation on her shirt..but even though i tried to heat set the SU! craft ink...it came out when i washed it. BOO! Here's...

Here is a glimpse of the week I have had. In our family Birthdays stretch on forever! Not limited to mearly one day! oh NO! Here is a taste of my DD 's 4th Birthday hoopla and i will be back soon to give you more details and more photos of all the fabulousness of it! hope you had a good weekend! In addition to all this birthday hoopla, we have had swim lessons, homework, a graduation and life to contend with. I am glad it was a success and that it is all over now and i can look at the pictures and enjoy all the hard work! always cyndi

My DS is graduating from 5K this week. Well, i guess technically he HAS graduated since they had their end of the year program on Friday, but he has 4 more days of school. It was so cute. they sang songs and they each got a "Class of 2008" medal from their principal. He was such a cutie taking a bow after each song and trying to get the others to bow with him...they never did catch on though. We were also quite surprised that he won a music award. We knew he loves music, but we had not been told ahead of time that he was getting a special award. It was quite a lovely surprise! We are so proud of him. He really has come a long way this year and grown a lot. I can't believe he will be in first grade next year and is loosing baby teeth ! It seems like not so long ago he was a sleepy two year old crawling in bed with Mommy every morning to "snuggle buggle" and go back to sleep. Sigh. They really do grow up so fast! always cyndi

I just wanted to take a moment and show you all the lovely things my Darling Kids made me for Mother's Day. My son made this frame and picture of him at school. It is too cute and so perfect for Me! My parents take the kids to Home Depot on the first Saturday of the month to do their little wood working classes. This time they made these vases and flowers for Mother's Day. Only a hardware store would come up with wooden flowers! The one above is the one my DD did and the one below is my DS's. They painted them once they were at home with Papa and Granny. They are so cute! My DD made this earring holder in her preschool class. I just love it! I totally needed something like this so i could find and keep up with my earrings! I have it hanging in my closet for easy access when i get dressed in the morning and undressed in the evenings. We had a great day. We went to church with my parents and in-laws and then went to Ruby Tuesday's for lunch. The kids were so great that...

well, DH got the laptop back up and running..but i feel like i am working with a time bomb..and one I'd rather have replaced! I did end up loosing some pictures..but they were not that big of a deal. I am sad though. Also, the ones i have on Snapfish...are VERY expensive to get a CD of! YIKES! I was shocked. These ARE after all MY PICTURES! grumble. so...the pictures i was planning to use for my blog are on snapfish and i can't get them back...which totally sucks IMO because I uploaded them to snapfish..i ought to be able to download them too! grrrrrrrrrr! Hope you are having a good week. My DD bday was yesterday and it went well...maybe i will share that with you later. always cyndi

GRRRRRRRRRRR! so, i just sent off my laptop a few weeks ago...remember? to have it fully inspected to see what was wrong with it. Well it came back and all that had been replaced was the DVD drive (for the 2nd time). Well yesterday i decided to restart my machine, and when it went to start back up....it went into this weird cycle where it wouldn't boot. sigh. DH looked at it last night and called MaxAssurace...i think we should have them on speed dial since HP will no longer warranty it...its a whopping year and a halfish old so out of HP warranty! I don't understand all the computer talk surrounding it but apparently he had to completely wipe the hard drive and so anything since the last time we backed it up to send it off...is gone!!! Thankfully i had uploaded my pictures to Snapfish and just backed up my MS Money! but still! DH says that it appears that the hard drive is about to go out and if that is the case...it will happen soon! Apparently we are two repairs away from ...

Next weekend is the BIG party! The little one turns four on Tuesday and so the party will be next Saturday. I have been working on the party for a while now but it is really getting crunch time now! More to come on this later...but let's just say that this bandanna will play an important role in the party and add to the atmosphere and fun of the day! I got this popcorn "box" at the Dollar tree, and i will use it for popcorn at the party, but for now it is holding my treat bags...they turned out pretty cute..and i know they will get brought home, emptied and then trashed so i didn't want to put a lot of effort into them. Now this...has a story. My parents were cleaning out their garage and found this clown painting done who knows when by my Grandmother. Mom saved it because she though i might be able to use it for the party. I used SU! chipboard letters, with DP decoupaged onto them and then glued them to the painting. DH added the grommets for me and with a little...

I started this card at a SU! party a while back...then i spiffed it up. I decided that i didn't want to attach the two pockets, that i wanted it to lay flat and so i decorated the inside of the card as well. I also made a card to go into one of the inserts. so there is a gift card in one side and a card in the other... how cute. This one i made all on my own, which is why it isn't quite so spiffy but cute none the less! All stamps and paper used are SU! and i got the template for this double pocket card offline from a blog but i honestly can't recall now where i found it. The cute little flowers are from the dollar spot at Target with brads in the center that i am honestly not sure where they came from.... Insert a gift card and then i made a little card that fits in as well. I did break out the sewing machine for this one..first time..i was happy with how it turned out. I hope you all have a great weekend and a great Mother's day. always cyndi

has anyone ever stamped on clothing...if so how do you set the ink or do you have to? always cyndi

It was a month full of fun! Hope yours was happy! always cyndi

I told you guys before that my Best friend the Duchess, aka Melissa, is the best bargain shopper i know. She is always finding things on sale or at a discount store. I have composed a list, JUST from April of all the things she bought that were on clearance. This does not include bargains she might have found at stores like Ross or TJ Maxx unless they were on clearance there. Also this list does not include things she got on sale at the grocery store, used a coupon for that ended up costing her just pennies. This is JUST actual clearance items! It is astounding! Caulk finisher .98 (1.99) safety latch for fridge 1.38 (1.99) cup hooks 1.98 (3.99) button cell batteries 1.98 (3.99) 10pk Black and Decker screw driver drill bits 2.48 (4.99) kids toothbrush .67 (.79) 2 Gerbera daisies 2.00 (5.00) potato vine 1.00 (3.00) 2 creative sewing trim 2.00 (8.00) 2 multi quilt thread 1.50 (4.00) cord piping 1.50 (2.48) blanket binding .50 (3.98) blanket binding .25 (3.98) 2 blanket binding 1.25 (7.96)...