Stampin' the Good Life

Fall's Here at Last!

2010-10-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

I just really like this card. :) Yes, I made it a while ago. But I like it. A lot.

I NEED to get stamping! It's my therapy. So I'm gonna jump back in. Soon. As soon as I get my craft/music room straightened out. Again.

Here it is sideways, so you can see that the layers are actually popped up:

Here's an inside view:

Okay, off to get Kat from work. Did I tell you she has a job now? YES! She's a Cued Speech Transliterator. Pretty cool! She works 15-18 hours a week and goes to school the rest of the time. I'm so proud of her! :D

Happy Fall,

Pia

A Big Sunday

2010-07-15T13:32:00.000-07:00

Got to visit with some friends last Sunday! They moved out of California last year, and we've missed them sooooo much. Of course, we all went to R. O'Sullivan's Irish Pub and Steakhouse in Escondido -- our favorite hangout! We hadn't been there in pretty much forever, so it was a lovely and FUN reunion of sorts with a whole bunch of people!

In other BIG news, My uncle Jesse was ordained a Deacon in the Catholic Church last month! We missed his ordination 'cause I had to work, but we did get to go to his thanksgiving Mass last Sunday. It was beyond cool to see him up on the altar with the priest! What a blessing to have an ordained man of God in the family. My grandparents would've been so proud. Sorry no pics, but I promised him I'd keep him as incognito as possible. :)

In "Kid" news, Ricky and Kathi are still healing and Selina's moving. Ricky's legs re-fractured when he was put back onto a running regimen, so he's gotta wait several months more before he can go on in his training. He's chomping at the bit to get out there, so this is a hard time for him. Kathi is STILL suffering from that pesky headache. Nothing has really gotten rid of it. Now she's on a restricted diet. Here's hoping that works! Selina is going to be stationed in Florida next year. Oh my goodness, sooooo far away.... no more spur-of-the-moment phone calls telling me she's in port in San Diego and wants to hang out... Thankfully, we have relatives in Florida so I know she's got family to visit when she's lonely out there.

Well, time for me to get to work now. Have a great day!

Gotta run,
Pia

OOHRAH!

2010-03-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

Well, he's done it!! My Ricky graduated from USMC boot camp on March 5, 2010. Woohoo!!! Or should I say, OOHRAH!!

Kat, my mom, and I went to celebrate this auspicious occasion and brought friends with us! We were soooooo proud of our new Marine!

Ricky graduated with a meritorious promotion to Private First Class (only 5 in his platoon of 60 can claim this distinction!), was one of about 15 in his company of roughly 300 to score a perfect 100% on his final practical exam, and was one of the top third in his company who earned the recognition of Expert Rifleman. Wow, we were bursting with pride in his accomplishments!

He is currently recuperating from stress fractures in both legs and one foot. He should be fine again in a couple of months, and then he gets to go to the School of Infantry for the next step in his training.

So that's the news of the month! Hoping to get some more crafty stuff up here soon. :)

Peace,
Pia

Variations on a Theme

2010-02-20T12:22:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of cards I made while I was offline. The "Just My Style" card was a thank you to a very kind couple who gifted me with a nice outfit for Mass. The "little boy" card (I made three of these; only the buttons were different shapes) was for a few friends who all had boys born recently.

The card bases are white and they stand as tents -- the fold is at the top rather than at the side. Both cards are standard size. The sentiment, small image in the top right, and the main image are all popped up on STAMPIN' UP!'s dimensionals, with the main image mounted on a colored square first. The "threads" in the buttons are slivers of coordinating card stock slipped through the holes and tied, and then the buttons are mounted using sticky dots. I ran the Kraft paper background through my Big Shot to get the raised dots all over it.

I like this card sketch very much. Took me a while to think it up, but I really think it will work with a lot of different occasions and images so it's worth the time spent! :)

Peace,
Pia

Back Online... What a Journey!

2010-01-31T10:19:00.000-08:00

Well, life threw us another curve ball. And this one was a doozy! Kathi (my youngest) was struck in mid-September with a severe headache that just wouldn't go away. We thought at first that it was a migraine, but it wasn't. It was accompanied by dizziness, nausea, vision problems, and too many times of her just randomly toppling over. Talk about scary! This went on for weeks, without a single headache-free moment for my girl. They ran every test in the book (some of them more than once), and everything kept coming up normal. This was a GOOD thing, but it was frustrating because we couldn't treat her if we didn't know what she had.

She went into the ER twice in November, and while she was in the hospital the second time they ran even more tests. One was a spinal tap. And guess what -- after the spinal tap, her headache went away for a few hours! Eureka! Her doctors determined that what she has is an excess of cerebral fluid, which causes too much pressure on her brain. The fancy technical name for it is Pseudotumor Cerebri. They gave her a medicine that decreases the fluid, and now she has headaches only once in a while! The headaches she does have these days seem to be stress related (I guess increased stress equals increased pressure for EVERYONE, so this is normal). Whew!! Praise be to God for Kat's doctors and medical team!

She still has vision issues and some tingling, but we're dealing with those with her doctors. The main thing is that her big headache has been relieved!

So, all of this has taken me away from my blogging and stamping and pretty much everything that didn't have to do with Kat's health and my day job (gotta be able to pay for all of this medical stuff, yes?). Sorry for the extended absence. I hope to be back more regularly as things begin to settle down at home. And maybe if I can get Internet at home that would make it even easier. :)

Here's a photo of my Kat, feeling better at long last!

Peace,
Pia

Candy, Candy Everywhere!

2009-09-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

A fellow stamper is posting a series entitled, "Wrapping 101" on her blog -- it's a series showing a lot of different ways to wrap candy! How fun is that! In the same vein, here are some past projects that I found hanging out in my computer. Enjoy! And go check out Martha's blog for a whole bunch of cool stuff!

This is a lollipop cover that I made a few years ago. Really simple, so I could mass produce them for our Trick-or-Treat kids! Inside is a caramel apple lollipop. Yum!

Above are little nugget holders. The top photo shows the ones I made for our Trick-or-Treaters, and the bottom photo shows a slight variation for the teens on a weekend retreat. Super simple to make!

Assorted candies in cellophane bags, with stamped tags.

These are boxes I made to fit different candy bars -- Kit Kats and Hershey Bars.

This last one is a simple wrap using decorative paper with stamps and embellishments.

Too much fun stuff! Don't forget to check out Martha's blog! We've got some fun candies on our STAMP YOUR LIFE blog, too, so hop on over there if you wanna see!

Happy Friday,
Pia

Sympathy

2009-08-23T09:28:00.000-07:00

Our dear friends lost a dad and grandpa last week. He was 90 years old. This is the sympathy card I made for their family.

No matter the age, it's so hard to lose a loved one. May he rest in peace.

~ Pia

USMC

2009-08-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

So my son took his tests for enlistment in the US Marine Corps this past week. He scored a 98 on the qualifying exam and placed in the top 3% on the ASVAB.

His high ASVAB scores give him free choice of pretty much any job he wants, quite a few with hefty sign-on bonuses, so he's quite excited. He passed his physical today, so he will be sworn in on Monday.

He's been talking about joining the Marines since he was pretty young (ha ha, not THAT young... I just really like this pic of us!). While I'm concerned for his safety because of the state of the world right now, I'm so very proud of him for desiring to serve his country (and for scoring so high on his exams!).

Kat's New Look

2009-08-18T10:46:00.000-07:00

So my "littlest girl" doesn't look so little anymore... Kat awoke Sunday morning with the desire to cut off her long locks. We were already at the mall after Mass and work, looking for a costume for her (we're having a Cartoon Mania dance at the church and she's going as Pepe Le Pew!), so we stopped in to the salon there and got it done. Wow, what a change!! She's excited and I'm nostalgic. I guess that's how it's supposed to work, right?

My son turned 20 on Saturday. No longer a teenager... I was blessed to catch him right before he left for an evening of celebration with his girlfriend, so I got to hear his voice on the phone! And not just on voicemail, either! I asked him if he got to have his favorite German Chocolate cake, and he told me he hadn't but he got to have three other yummy cakes in its stead. Lucky guy!

I got to see my eldest daughter last month, when her ship was docked in San Diego. What was originally going to be a really brief visit became a full afternoon-to-evening of fun with her and Kat. We got to meet a few of her friends, took a tour of her carrier (the John C. Stennis), and then the girls played bowling. It was a good night.

Oh, and we got a new cat, too! Her name is Pineapple, and she's 6 years old. She's so sweet (and I'm not a cat person!). So far, she spends most of her day up on top of the kitchen cabinets -- way up by the ceiling. She comes down occasionally, when she thinks Bo is otherwise occupied... He wants to play with her but he's so big and she's so small! They're slowly becoming friends, so we have high hopes. :) This is a photo of Pineapple's first morning at our house. She's hiding from Bo!

Wanna see the new card I made this morning? Stop by my other blog: Stamp Your Life to check it out!

Peace,
Pia

RIP George W. Kayo

2009-05-14T07:41:00.000-07:00

Sad news... Kat's Grandpa passed away Tuesday night, before she could get there to say her good-bye. She's heartbroken, but she has faith that he heard her in spirit and that he's with Our Lord now. Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers.

- Pia

Mother's Day!

2009-05-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day and were spoiled, pampered, and ....... what else is synonymous with spoiled......? :)

Kat and I went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park in the afternoon and then out to dinner with friends. We had such a nice time! Here are some photos of our day.

See those wooden frogs? They're musical instruments! Yep, they're on our list to buy next time we go!

Please keep Kat's Grandpa in your prayers. He had a heart attack late last night and is now in the ICU. She loves him very much, and we're all hoping he gets better real soon.

- Pia

Get Well Card

2009-04-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

Here's a card I made for Kat's friend who broke his collarbone. I think this little penguin is just so cute! I remembered to decorate the inside and the envelope, and there's even a little decorated package of gum to finish things off.

I'm baaaaaack! With News!!

2009-04-17T09:02:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally got Kat's (really, really old) laptop Internet-capable so now we are live once again! Woohoo!!

It'll take a little while to upload the photos and things and to catch up on my posts, but I'm soooooo excited to be back!

And the news.... drumroll, please......... Kat and I have become Stampin' Up! demonstrators!! Yes, we took the plunge and are having a blast! We even got a new blog that's just for our Stampin' Up! stuff! Please do go check it out and subscribe. It's called Stamp Your Life -- Kat thought of the name; it's pretty cool, yes? We have one whole post on there already! :)

So I'm off to catch up some online stuff and go blog hopping. I'll be back later with a sample or two of what we've been up to!

Peace,
Pia

Sorry!

2009-03-06T20:08:00.000-08:00

Hi, everyone!

I'm so sorry to be away so long... my home computer still hasn't recovered from its viral ailment... in fact, it's completely dead now. (heavy sigh)

So until I can get a new one at home I have to use the computer at work. That means, sadly, that my posts will be few and far between for a while.

I've been working on new projects that I can hardly wait to share with you! I'll post them just as soon as I can!

Happy stamping,
Pia

Blog Candy!!

2009-01-11T22:27:00.000-08:00

Sally's doubly celebrating!! 39 years with her hubby and 1500 hits on the ol' hit counter... and she's got some fantastic blog candy to share! Hop on over to her blog for your chance to win. Good luck!

Hop over to Stamps, Paper, Scissors, and Donkey Smiles for a chance to win some Valentine blog candy. Quite a cool little prize, that!

And Dannie's got some great candy up for grabs, too! Check it out on her blog. See the Cuttlebug folders? Oh, yeah!!

Keeping Up with My Project-a-Day Plan... and Suffering from SpyWare

2009-01-11T21:31:00.000-08:00

Here's my project from the other day, but I was only able to take a photo of it just a few minutes ago. Oops! Anyway, it's a stationery box. I needed something in which to keep my finished cards, and I wanted to see if I could make it pretty simply. Success on both counts! The base is cardstock and the lid is acetate. I decided to have the lid sit inside the base rather than fitting it on top.

The belly band is a 12" x 1" strip of cardstock. I added clear craft glitter to the flower petals, though I don't know if you can tell in this photo. Also added is a little circle punch for the center of the flower.

Next is yesterday's card. It's a sort of everyday card. I used a Stampin' Up! image and added a Michael's dollar stamp for the sentiment.

Lastly, we have today's project. It's a Thank You tag for people who remembered Kat and me on Christmas. It's attached to a little cellophane bag that contains a couple of small chocolates. Kat and I made about a dozen of these this afternoon.

Off the stamping subject... Kat's computer (which is our only computer) has been hit HARD with spyware and malware. HELP!!! I can't figure out how to get rid of it and, frankly, it scares me. It's shut off my Automatic Updates and new tabs keep popping open when I'm in the middle of stuff. And sometimes it shuts down the computer on us. Even Ad Aware crashes when we try to use it. Aargh..............

Happy Birthday, Chrisi!!!

2009-01-10T08:21:00.000-08:00

It's my second daughter's 22nd birthday today! Yay!!! I made a card to send her the other day. Here are some shots of it along with the matching bookmark and envelope. Sorry I didn't get back to the computer to post them yesterday.... got caught up with other stuff!

I was able to borrow Kat's scrapbooking markers (thanks, Kat!), so now we've got some fun, vibrant colors goin' on. Woohoo!! Anyway, this stamp set is soooooo Chrisi!! I had bought it originally because it seemed to match my girls so well... and I was right!Chrisi changes her hairstyle quite often, so both the long hair and the short worked for this card. I used the slit punch on the bottom right corner of the yellow layer and added a button for some interest.

I took scraps of the yellow cardstock to paper piece onto the two purses so they would have some fun texture. I also grabbed some textured red cardstock for the gift she's holding.

I popped the cell phone onto a dimensional to give that some "oomph" as well.

The circles containing the purse and cake are on dimensionals. Since I don't have a bigger circle punch (long story) to layer the 1" circles, I just used a dauber to sponge some color on them instead.

Here's a side view so you can see how the bookmark is "attached" to the inside of the card. It's one of those over-the-page magnetic bookmarks. The image I used for the front of it is the same long-haired girl with the cell phone; just no dimensionals so it won't get wrecked in the book. You can see the front of the bookmark up in the next photo. I also made one with black hair for Kat. That photo will be up later...

Oh yes, and I did remember to stamp a little flower inside the card to carry the theme through.

Gotta head out now. Kat's got an internship task today! I really hope Chrisi likes her card. :)

~ Pia

Non-Christmas Cards

2009-01-09T09:23:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to do one stamp project a day in 2009. Doesn't matter how big or small, or whether it's a card or a 3-D project. I just want to keep those creative juices flowing! So far, I've missed a couple of days but I think I made up for that yesterday with three or projects in one day! I find that I tend toward the more simple layouts, but I'm going to stretch myself this year... eventually...! Anyway, here's what I've been working on over the past few days. Mind you, I haven't bought any new stamping supplies in many, many (too many!) months -- with the exception of that Curly Punch bundle I keep talking about! So these are all made using things I have in my stash.

The first card is a Thinking of You card. I just wanted to try something with a wider ribbon than I normally use. I'm trying to remember to carry the theme of the cardfront into the inside as often as possible.

Next is a Thank You card. Wow, this one was a toughy for me! I wanted to use the scraps from the Christmas gifts and cards we made, so here's the result. I started with the striped paper and then tried to match everything from there. Not "perfectly" matched in all cases, but I think it works.

Third is a Friendship card. I started out with the intent to try Sketch Challenge 201 over on Splitcoast Stampers, but I had to improvise because one of my stamp images was too short! Ha! It's my first time trying my hand at a Sketch Challenge, though, so I'm being lenient on myself. Every layer on the front is on dimensionals with the exception of the big green base. And I remembered to carry the theme through to the inside on this one!

Hmmm... well, I've got to get to my "regular" work tasks right now. I'm putting together two retreats that are coming up at the end of January and mid February, and having a BLAST! I love my job! So I'll post yesterday's card and projects up when I take my next break.

~ Pia

A Few More Projects to Share

2009-01-05T16:42:00.000-08:00

Just a few more Christmas things that we've been working on.

The first is a set of Pirouette cookie gifts. Wanted to show off the cute little snowmen (I especially like the baby in the middle!). Each one contains four cookies... two vanilla and two hazelnut. Yum!

Next is a bag cover for one of Kat's friends' gifts. We used a set that I had purchased long ago but never mounted until now. The image of the girls on the cell phones really fits! Of course, they're colored to mimic the two young ladies. I gotta get some more vibrant colored pencils... the ones I used are just some from the stationery aisle at one of the department stores.

The third one is a Christmas/Thank You card for a young friend of ours who did A LOT of work on our fundraisers for our latest trip to World Youth Day (he's very much into computers). Again, we used a set that had been purchased long ago but not mounted until now. I originally bought that set to use for my son, who's a computer wiz. The computer actually is colored grey, though I don't think you can tell from the photo. Really gotta invest in some new pencils! :)

Lastly, Kat made a bag cover for another friend. She thought the little Eskimo girl resembled her friend, so she snatched it right up! She added some way cute eyelashes to our miss Eskimo and gave her some wonderfully rosy cheeks. Too cute!

Papercrafts by Rach -- Blog Candy

2009-01-05T09:13:00.000-08:00

Hop on over to Rach's blog for a chance to win some pretty cool blog candy! We're talking raffia lace, flowers, brads, eyelets, stickles, new stamps... WOW! Good luck!

Challenge Card

2009-01-02T11:19:00.000-08:00

Today was the funeral of a beautiful young lady whose family I've known for a little over 5 years. She died suddenly on Christmas Eve... she would have been 21 years old next week. This is a family whose faith is firmly rooted in Christ and in the hope of resurrection and eternal life. When looking for just the right images and text to use on the family's sympathy card, I came across a set that I had ordered long ago and had never used. It wasn't even mounted yet! The set had a lot of butterfly images, which was just perfect for the theme of being born into new life. For the text, I used one from a retired Sale-a-Bration set that just seemed very well suited for this occasion.

I cut out each butterfly individually so that I could mount them wherever I wanted them. The big butterfly is stamped in Vintage Violet and adhered flat on the cardfront. Then I mounted another of the same image in Cool Carribean on top of it (slightly askew so that the darker one becomes its shadow). I glued down the body and added dimensionals under each wing to give it the semblance of fluttering. The two smaller butterflies in the upper right are adhered flat, and the third little butterfly is mounted on a dimensional near the text, which is also on dimensionals. The background stamp I used is the Script Background from Stampin' Up! which I chose because it is a nice prayer for the family. I wanted the large butterfly to represent the young lady whose soul has flown to new life in Christ. The three butterflies on the front also (by happy coincidence) represent the three family members -- mother, father, and sister -- who are remembering this young lady specially on this bittersweet day.

Inside the card, I mounted another butterfly on dimensionals to carry the theme through. In this photo, you can also sort of see a couple of the dimensionals on the front of the card.

I stamped the small flowers from the same butterfly set along with another little butterfly on the envelope to tie everything together.

This card is being entered in the "Something New" Challenge on Stamp Something. I think it qualifies because of the new-to-me stamp set that I used.

~ Pia

How 'bout Some Fabulous BLOG CANDY to Start the New Year off Right?

2009-01-02T08:11:00.001-08:00

Starving Artistamps has got a very generous giveaway to kick off 2009 -- over $40 worth of fun new rubber!! Check it out! Such CUTE designs! Good luck all!

~ Pia

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T09:24:00.000-08:00

Welcome to 2009! I hope you all had fantastic celebrations last night, remembering with fondness the blessings and challenges of 2008 and looking forward with hope to whatever 2009 has in store. Kat felt well enough to venture out for a bit (going out with her brother and his girlfriend for a couple of hours on Saturday wiped her out and she's ended up nearly bed-bound ever since -- but she says it's absolutely worth it!), so we almost headed to a friend's house. Yes, we were invited; we weren't crashing their party, ha ha! But just before we left, we gave our friend a call and lo and behold, she wasn't home! Talk about all dressed up and nowhere to go! No worries, though, we went to see a movie instead: Bedtime Stories (the new Adam Sandler flick) and had a good time!

Here is our Christmas card... well, the version that got sent to most of our family and friends anyway... I just couldn't decide how I wanted this year's cards to look. The finished product is fashioned after Shalae's card, which can be found on Shelli's blog. Her card is so cute!! And what a fun idea! I didn't have the tools that Shalae had, so I put my own spin on it. My cards are almost-4-inch squares. The photos inside are just 1/4" smaller than the card stock. The corners are notched using the corner of my curly label punch. Boy, did that punch get A LOT of use this season! I really like the texture on the card front (I'm not one to usually go for textured papers, but this worked out nicely, I think). And the little bird on the background stamp (French Flair; retired SU! stamp) showed up in just the right spot! Again, most of the materials used are from my stash (hence the variety of colors). The only thing I bought this year was the Curly Label Punch Bundle from Stampin' Up! -- yay, me!!

Thanks to everyone who's been dropping the wonderful comments on my posts, by the way! I can't figure out how to send you an e-mail reply... help, please?? I do want you to know that I totally appreciate your kind words and encouragement and sharing! I get so excited when I open up my e-mail to find a notice that I've got a comment to moderate!

Oh, and in other holiday news, my son and his girlfriend came to visit!! It was so nice to have him here with us again, and his girlfriend is just too cute!! They really do seem to be a good match -- she even got him one of those metal brain teaser puzzles for Christmas, and it has him totally stumped (no easy task!). The visit was all too short, naturally. I also got a call from my eldest daughter, who will ship out again in a couple of weeks. This will be her last tour before she gets out of the Navy (she'll be gone six months this time). Kat and I are putting together a little care package to send her... hope to mail it tomorrow.

Well, it's back to crafting for me! I'm taking full advantage of these wonderfully lazy days before I head back to work on Monday. I just love vacations!

~ Pia

Anniversary Blog Candy!

2008-12-31T09:04:00.000-08:00

'Tis the season to celebrate, and Katarina is celebrating her 10th anniversary with her fiance this month (Dec. 4th, to be exact)! Congratulations, Katarina! In honor of this milestone, she is giving away some Valentine blog candy. The beauty of this giveaway is that it grows with every new comment! Yes, that's right, the more comments Katarina gets on her blog candy post, the more fun stuff she's giving away (within reason, of course)! So hop on over to Katarina's blog to check out her contest and to wish her a hearty CONGRATULATIONS!

~ Pia

Blog Candy!!

2008-12-30T07:07:00.000-08:00

Yummy blog candy can be found on Claudia's blog! And there will be THREE winners!

Fun candy on Mary's blog, too!

And on Andrea's blog as well -- this one with FIVE lucky winners!

Wow, what an awesome way to end the year!!

~ Pia

What a Week

2008-12-25T22:07:00.000-08:00

What a week it's been... Monday night, I took Kat to the emergency room. Turned out she had acute appendicitis. She was transferred to a hospital about 30 minutes from where we live (the original hospital was only 5 minutes away from home) in order to get in to surgery as soon as possible. Well, after a very long-feeling 2-1/2 days in the hospital (leaving her appendix behind) she came home last night.

We went to Mass this morning and then spent a very quiet Christmas day at home. Which is way better than spending it in the hospital, as far as Kat's concerned! She was determined to get home on Christmas Eve! Praise be to God she made it and her surgery was a success. I'm utterly exhausted... 60 hours with very little sleep and almost no eating wears a person out.

Kat's sleeping now, so I've finally got a free (well, okay, stolen!) moment to update my blog so here are a few of the projects that we've been working on. These are gifts and cello bag toppers that we made for our friends and family. They were a lot of fun!

The hot cocoa gift boxes are tall 2-4-6-8 acetate boxes filled with 3 packets of hot cocoa mix (in 3 little zip lock bags), 3 mini candy canes, and a whole bunch of Hershey's kisses.

The snowman on each topper was assembled piece by piece using the Cold Play stamp set from Stampin' Up! -- I love that set! The sentiment and snowflakes are from Stampin' Up!'s Polar Pals stamp set.

The penguins on the last cello topper are also from the Polar Pals set. I think that penguin stamp is just too cute!

I hope you all had a very blessed and merry Christmas day with your loved ones. Today begins the Christmas season which, for us Roman Catholics, ends with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord on January 11th -- I learned at Mass this morning that Epiphany as the end of the Christmas season is rooted in the Eastern Orthodox church. Well, in either case, the celebration has only just begun! Woohoo!! Merry Christmas to everyone and a very blessed New Year!

Our Tree

2008-12-21T21:51:00.000-08:00

Here's our tree! We traditionally decorate it with ornaments that we've made/collected as the kids have been growing up. I've posted pictures of four ornaments here, made in 1996. That was the only year that I did these painted-ball ornaments, and I put on them the milestones of that year for each child. I'm not the greatest artist (which is why I love rubber stamps!), but I think they turned out okay. :) The tree topper is one that we've had for 20 years. It's Mother Mary holding Baby Jesus. And lastly, a photo of our full tree. Yay!

That Long...???

2008-12-20T08:05:00.000-08:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been a whole WEEK since I posted anything!! Time has really flown by... Last weekend's parties were great fun (particularly a rousing game of Fa-la-la Feud!). And Bo spent a couple of days at his doggy daycare so we could get some housecleaning done and set up our Christmas tree.

Yes, we got our tree! And it's a REAL one this year! We walked onto the tree lot, and Kat picked the first one she saw. I asked her if she was sure (she said absolutely), we checked to see if it was a healthy tree (it was) and had no holes in the branches (it didn't), and grabbed it right up! I'll share a few pictures next post.

We had pouring rain and freezing cold a few days this past week... nothing like the weather back east, but a definite change for us SoCal residents that's for sure! Kat had to walk the shelter dogs in the downpour (well, they gotta go to the bathroom even in the rain!), and I did some Christmas shopping while she was working. I do have to say, it was a really nice relief from the blistering heat that we'd had in the last few weeks. Now it's sunny and brisk. Nice December weather!

I am officially on vacation as of today! Woohoo!! We're taking Bo to the park and then coming back to make some more little gifts for the people in our Folk Song Circle 'cause we've got a music meetup tonight. We haven't been since June (wow, that's a LONG time) due to illness (mine) and we've missed it so much. Tomorrow, we head over to the pub (where Kat sings occasionally) for Family Night. Haven't been to that in a while either, due to my work schedule. It will be good to see our friends again!

Still working on Christmas cards. We had some photos all picked out, but then Ricky said he's coming down so we decided to include him in the most current shot (by the Christmas tree, of course). Which means our cards will not get sent out until just before New Year, but that's okay! Christmas season doesn't end until Epiphany (January 6th)... you know, the 12 days of Christmas... so we've got time. :)

Well, gotta head off now. I'll post some pictures of our latest projects either today or tomorrow. Have a great weekend!

Christmas Crafting

2008-12-13T12:11:00.000-08:00

So I rewarded my nose-to-the-grindstone last several weeks at work (putting together two retreats, parent meetings, teacher meetings, you name it it got done) with some focused stamping and crafting time. Here in this post are the fruits of those crafting labors.

But first, the good news... my son called to tell me that he and his girlfriend are coming down to visit for Christmas! Woohoo!!! They'll be here the day after Christmas, and they'll stay in the area until New Year so he says they'll spend a couple of those days with us! What an AWESOME Christmas gift!

Kat and I spent several hours working and here's what we came up with for my teacher/volunteer/co-worker gifts. As you can see, we are totally loving that curly label punch and its coordinating (sold separately) stamp set! The tall skinny items contain individual packets of Cafe Mocha (I've posted a photo of the included packet for you).

We made some more 2-4-6-8 pouch boxes, this time containing an assortment of mini holiday chocolates (3 per pouch). We used a bunch of scrapbooking paper and ribbon that we had stashed away, which is why these are not traditional Christmas colors. I kind of like the variety!

The little square boxes are those way cool peppermint patty boxes (directions found on Rochelle's blog). I don't have my square punch anymore (a story for another time!), so I used the curly label punch for the window instead. No scallop circle punch either, so I used a big snowflake from one of Stampin' Up!'s retired sets and cut it out. Worked okay, I think. But I much preferred putting four little Hershey kisses (candy cane, cherry cordial, mint truffle, pretty much every kind of kiss you could get) in there instead. They fit quite nicely, and I stuck them to the bottom of the box so they wouldn't float around inside.

Next, though we actually started our crafting session with these, are the Ghirardelli chocolate holders. Directions can be found here. So quick and easy! And yes, we had to sample the chocolates since we'd never actually bought these before... Yummy!!

Here's that little box from a previous post, decorated at last.

The next series of shots shows everything put together into little gift sets. Just one sample of each color set so you get the idea. We have LOTS of these!

Lastly, we have a modified gift card holder. The gift certificates that had to go into it are a little longer than gift cards, so I changed the pattern a little to accommodate them. The directions for the original gift card holder can be found here. I packaged the gift certificate holder with two of the Ghirardelli packets behind it (it's a husband and wife team) into a cello bag and added a topper.

Okay, that's it for now! Getting back to the crafting so as to be ready to give these gifts at this weekend's parties!

The BIG Question

2008-12-11T09:27:00.000-08:00

So someone asked the big question that's traditional at this time of year... What do you want most for Christmas? That's an easy one to answer, though I know I won't get it. I want to celebrate the holiday with all four of my beautiful children (who, honestly, aren't really children anymore). We haven't been all together for Christmas since 2002. Sigh... I can wish, though, and celebrate with them in spirit... Maybe one day we'll all be together again, if even just for a few hours. Now THAT would be the ultimate Christmas gift.

Anyway, today begins the Christmas crafting in earnest. I've got a couple of Christmas parties at work (it's part of my job to do holy-day celebrations, yay!) and teacher gifts to make, as well as gifts for my fellow staff members. The parties are this weekend. Have I begun prepping...? Of course not! They'd revoke my Procrastinators Club membership card if I started more than two or three days ahead, ha ha! I do have all the supplies, so "all" I have to do is put everything together. Thank God for my creative crafting daughter, Kat. She and I will be busy little bees over the next couple of days!

Hope you're all enjoying your Advent season and Christmas preparations. Peace be with you.

Got a Little Stamping Done!

2008-12-10T08:06:00.000-08:00

Here, at last, are the 6" x 6" pages that I promised oh so long ago. I still haven't figured out what's up with the scanner, so I photographed the pages instead. :) Very simple layouts 'cause I didn't want visual overload with all the photos I crammed in there... Ha ha, I couldn't decide which ones to leave out, so I just kept them all in!

The white 2-4-6-8 boxes are a couple from a batch we whipped up for the ladies in our rosary-making group. Kat had the genius idea of leaving the green ribbon loose so that the gift tag can be used by the recipient on another gift! We filled the boxes with mini Three Musketeers bars.

The treat boxes were just a fun experiment with my brand spankin' new curly label punch! Woohoo!! Just HAD to play with it the day it arrived! I didn't have any acetate lying around for the birthday box, so I used a lollipop bag instead (to make the window). It worked like a charm! I got a few sheets of transparency paper a couple of days ago, so I used a sheet of that for the plain-jane box on the right. Not done decorating it yet.

That's all we've got for now. Still working on the house and my stamp area so we can be more free to get some crafting done. We get to pick up our tree next week, so we're soooo excited!

Have a great day,
Pia

Getting Ready

2008-11-29T08:23:00.000-08:00

Hmmm... I can't seem to get the scanner figured out! I'll have to ask Kat to troubleshoot for me. Sorry! Those layout shots will be up soon, I promise. Just don't get your hopes up for something "wow" 'cause like I said, they're very minimalistic -- just a whole lot of photos and very little of anything else, ha ha! While I'm thinking about Bo, I thought I'd post his Christmas photo here for your viewing pleasure. That's his new Elf costume that Kat just couldn't resist getting (and at only $5, how could I refuse?)!

Oh, I'm so excited! I've ordered the Curly Punch Bundle from Stampin' Up!'s Holiday Extravaganza!! It's a splurge for me, and an early Christmas present. I can hardly wait 'til it gets here... Just got notification that it shipped yesterday morning. Yay! Splurged a bit for Kat, too, getting her a little webcam. She's quite the entertainer, so I hope to see some fun video blogging from her in the weeks to come!

I've been pulling out my stamp-and-scrapbook supplies, trying to get a creative space set up in my room so I can soon begin the pre-Christmas crafting frenzy. That's my biggest project right now. It's hard, because I keep wanting to stop and play with my stuff! But I'm holding that out as a carrot at the end of my nose so I'll get done sooner. So far, it's not exactly working, ha ha... I've stopped to stamp a cute little mini pizza box for a friend of mine already. Photos to come soon -- I know the camera works! For now, here are a few photos of projects from my not-so-distant past. And please forgive the hodgepodge look of this entry... I'm still trying to figure out how to put photos exactly where I want them!

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving with your families and friends. My Kat and I spent the holiday quietly at home, relaxing with Bo and watching a few DVDs. Such a nice change from all of the running around we've been doing lately, between her new internship at the humane society and my crazy busy work schedule! I can't tell you how much we've been enjoying sleeping in... at least as late as Bo will let us... :)

So tomorrow begins the Advent season, the weeks in which we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ and look toward His second coming. Wow, the year has simply flown by! We'll be pulling out our Christmas decorations today and then looking for a tree in a couple of weeks. We get a real one this year! Time to start on those Christmas cards and gifts, too. I love this holy season!

Park Day

2008-11-25T08:52:00.000-08:00

Sunday brought us some crisp Fall weather (FINALLY!), so we celebrated by taking Bo to the park. While the day started out grey and chilly, it was only about an hour before it got sunny and hot again. Gotta love Southern California weather! Still, Kat and Bo had a good romp in the coolness and very much enjoyed themselves.

Bo is such a silly guy; he's huge (just under 90 lbs) and fierce looking (well, okay, maybe not in these pictures!) so he tends to scare people when we're out walking him, especially at night. But once we introduce you as a friend and he gets to know you ... he's a real lovebug and so playful! He leaps and bounds like a deer when he's excited and rubs up against us like a cat when he's happy. He's the perfect guard dog and companion for Kat: giant teddy bear most of the time and a valiant protector when needed.

I made a little 6" x 6" layout yesterday, so as soon as I can figure out how to get my scanner working again I'll post it. It's really a very simple 2-page spread ('cause I had a lot of pictures to put in there!) but I think it turned out nice. Will post as soon as I can!

Thinking Christmas Before Thanksgiving, Just This Once

2008-11-23T07:01:00.000-08:00

It's coming up on the Advent season (wow, end of this week... time flies!) and I'm beginning to look toward Christmas so I thought I'd do this Christmas meme:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper with pretty ribbon and cool gift tags!

2. Real tree or artificial? We had an artificial tree for years (much more convenient), but this year we're going real (love the fragrance!)

3. When do you put up the tree? Around the 2nd week of Advent. No particular reason, just happens that way.

4. When do you take the tree down? Epiphany!

(Where'd 5 go...?)

6. Favorite gift received as a child? A Winnie the Pooh stuffed doll. I still have him... he sits on my bed. :)

7. Do you have a Nativity scene? Oh yes, a few. My daughter has her own, we have a family set that we've had for about 20 years, and I inherited my grandmother's set when she passed away in 2005.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My brother. He's got everything already!

9. Easiest person to buy for? My eldest daughter. She loves anything with Sleeping Beauty on it! Did I mention she's 22 and in the Navy?

10. Worst Christmas Gift you ever received? No such thing, as it's the thought that means a lot to me.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Snail mail, definitely.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? This year, it's The Christmas Shoes (a Hallmark movie).

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Around Thanksgiving time is when I start really thinking about buying things, but mostly we make our gifts so that's an Advent project.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I honestly can't remember!

15. Favorite things to eat at Christmas? Honeybaked Ham, Yams, Mashed Potatoes, Turkey with Gravy... pretty much the traditional stuff

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Depends on the year.

17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Depends on the year and our budget. All our family lives several hours away, so sometimes we make the trek but we've been known to stay home for a quiet Christmas as well.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolf... did I get them all? Had to sing the song in my head!

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Mother Mary cradling Baby Jesus in her arms.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning (I don't know why I can't "unbold" this answer....)

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? People getting pushy and irritated at the stores. Gosh, that's not what the season's about.

23. What is the “silliest” family tradition you do, or miss doing? Taking the kids' Christmas pictures by the tree: after they did the "posed" shots, I let them pose themselves and the result was always a series of hilarious, fun photos that we used in our cards! Three are grown and moved out now, sigh...

24. Ugliest Christmas Decoration ever invented? Don't know.

25. Which looks best, theme trees or homey trees? I like both, though my tree is always decorated with the Christmas ornaments that my kids made and collected as they were growing up.

26. Gingerbread or sugar cookies? Sugar cookies all the way!

27. Do you like Fruitcake? Not particularly.

Well, that's it!Big thanks to Corinna for this meme! You can check out her way cool blog here: Corinna's blog

Have an awesome day!

Passion For Crafts

2008-11-21T16:10:00.000-08:00

Fellow stamper Debbie has some awesome blog candy to give away! Check out her way creative blog and the "yummy candy" here: BLOG CANDY!

When I Grow Up, I Want to Be Like You!

2008-11-19T09:04:00.000-08:00

This is a card that I made for my Kathi last year. I don't tell her ENOUGH how much I love her (even though I tell her every single day... that doesn't feel like enough to me!).

So this card has pull outs that have little things I love about her. I think it turned out cute! I used the "Just Delightful" Simply Scrappin' set from STAMPIN' UP!, Delight in Life stamp set (also from SU!), some Prima flowers, ribbons, and brads. Inside the card it says, "When I grow up... I want to be like you!" from a retired SU! set.

Kathi is so courageous and willing to be silly and ready to love everyone and very compassionate and caring. I hope she never loses that. I really do want to be like her!

What's in a Name?

2008-11-19T08:43:00.000-08:00

What's in a name? I don't know, but names have always been important to me. I am very particular about getting someone's name right. I'm intrigued by the origins of people's names, and why they were give the names that they have.

Nicknames? Very cool! How'd they get those? What's the story behind them?

Pictured here are just a couple of the name frames I've made for people. My daughter Kathi made the "Neveah" frame for her cousin's birthday. She did a really nice job, yes? I wish I'd taken pictures of the others. And I still need to make some for my kids.