Rainbows & Butterflies

You ever see something that you have to lift right away because you love it that much? This card was on the cover of the May/June PaperCrafts Magazine & my eye kept going to it until I broke down & made a few versions....because I can't make just one!! ;)

I tried changing it up a bit by using the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots on the background....
then I went for the cleaner look....which I have to say I like better.

Then I thought why not flip it? And just for the record the ric rac is straight IRL. ;)

All the papers on these are the Jillibean Soup Staples since I have a thing for polka dots.

And speaking of Jillibean Soup...my work was on their blog today!! I can't tell you how excited I was to hear about it this morning from Laura, who also prompted me to submit it. Thank you Laura for the push!

A few cards...

So back at the beginning of the month when I was making a birthday card for Laura, I decided to make a few more since I never have birthday cards when I need them.

I also wanted to try out this Jillibean stamp so I pulled out some Jillibean Soup Soup Staples papers & went at it. I stamped the pennant on each color of paper then trimmed out the triangle & stuck it to another banner stamped on white paper. Then attached it with some pop dots to more Soup Staples & added the "b-day" using the corrugated alphas--love those!
This one came together pretty quick. Used some things I had laying on my desk actually. I inked the pink diecut, pop dotted the circle then just added the cupcake sticker (got that at Michael's--Martha Stewart there's a lot in the package, going to be stocking up on them--so cute!!), then stamped the Happy Birthday with a Hero Arts set & embossed it with some ZING.

I had to play with this stickers some more--so I made this super simple card. My only problem was the embossing with the Zing powder sticking but I'm rolling with it & calling them "sprinkles". LOL!!

School's OUT!!!

As I type that I keep hearing the song from High School Musical in my head. LOL!!

Gianna had her last day on Friday. Since the last 2 days of school are 1/2 days they swap the AM & PM classes so the AM class's last day is Monday with the rest of the school. Gianna actually lucked out with that.....sorta....since we still had to be up to take Marissa to school today for her last day.

But now it's over!!!

This is a pic of Gianna's classroom as their teacher was handing all the kids a shovel & pail for summer fun. This was bittersweet...we found out that morning that their teacher is being transferred to one of the other schools in town to teach 1st grade. She was tearing up at dismissal. I'm not sure the kids understood it but the parents did & there was a lot of tearing up....

I'm so done with the craziness of these 1/2 day classes of Kindergarten. It really breaks up the day, taking one to school then going to work with Gianna then rushing home to change her into school clothes & lunchtime, then taking her to school only to go back at 3. Luckily next they will both be in school full time in the Fall!!

Took this real quick after school. It's Marissa, her BFF Ariel & her brother Donovan (he didn't want to be in the pic) LOL!! I can't seem to wrap my head around Marissa going into 4th grade. She's almost done with this school then it'll be off to middle school. Yeah I know it's still 2 years away but it goes so fast!!

So now Summer is officially here for us. It seems like it took forever to get here!! Looking forward to (somewhat) lazy days! Bring on the sunscreen!!!

Monster party for a Girlie-Girl

Makes sense right? If you know Gianna then you'll understand. She is a girlie girl in every way. But if you cross her then the "boy" in her comes out!! So WATCH OUT!!

She has wanted her birthday party at Monster Mini Golf since the first time Joe took us there. This year she got her wish. I even made her cake look like a Haunted Mansion to fit the theme better. She was thrilled!!Here are the kids all lined up waiting for their turn to hit the ball....The invitation tells people to wear white so they glow in the dark & most kids came prepared!! At the 11th hole they make a big to-do about the birthday child since it's a tough hole to score on....They made her put on these werewolf hands & gave her a special club & glow in the dark ball & "helped" her out a little.She had the best time!!

Thankfully I had to pass my camera off at one point & the lady offered to take a family pic. I got to hold Gianna's game tickets that she was presented at the 11th hole so I was the "mummy".A few hours later we had the family over for cake & coffee....yep you can call me crazy!! I kept it simple though & all she cared about was opening all her presents! Let's be real! LOL!!

While we were waiting for everyone to come over she lost the tooth that she's been wiggling at me, grossing me out for the last few days. We told her we believe the Tooth Fairy doubles the amount she normally leaves when it's your birthday (& that extends to parties). LOL!!For the house I wasn't going to go crazy(er) making another elaborate cake so when I found this in one of my many baking magazines I figured it was easy enough (and it was). Her new favorite color is yellow so I made that as the main color & the handle is from airheads candy that I warmed in the microwave & rolled out then twisted. She loved it!

One of her favorite gifts was the Alice In Wonderland DVD. She has been asking for this since the movie was still in theaters!! She goes around the house yelling "OFF WITH HER HEAD" all the time!! LOL!She was on a birthday high all day & had so much fun! She's a lucky little 6 year old!!

My Baby's 6!!!

Just home from the hospital, in Daddy's arms....1st birthday...very dependant on her nuk...Just learning to walk, still wobbled around (14 months)...she had the best walk too...holding her arms up godzilla like stomping around...LOL!!2 years old & shows her love of cake....going after what was on the table until someone helped her out & gave her a slice....see the sugar coma in her eyes?

Made her dream come true...she got to celebrate her 3rd birthday at Disney World & had a makeover at Biddidi Boppidi Boutique. Love the little hand gesture!!
The sassy 4 year old....she cracks me up!!

She has such a zest for life. The simpliest things make her happy & she's not afraid to show it.
Making a wish as she turned 5 on her actual birthday.And again with the rest of the family...
This is such a bittersweet birthday for me...my baby isn't a baby anymore. She still likes to snuggle but differently now. She's getting so big but (luckily) occasionally I get a glimpse of the "baby". Mostly when she's asleep I can still see it & I could watch her sleep for hours...with her lips all puckered up...she melts me. But she's not a baby anymore, she's a little girl. **sniff sniff**

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY GIANNA!!

Love her to pieces!!

Brownies No More

Today Marissa's Brownie troop held a "Bridging Up" ceremony. They are now "Jr. Girl Scouts"!!

It was cute. They each read a part in a poem, & sang a couple of songs. Then there was a "jr. girl scout" troop there to help "bridge" them over in becoming "jr. girl scouts".

Now the thing is this, their leaders stepped down & the troop is now leader-less. Unless someone steps in (not me) our troop will have to disband. :(

Most of these girls have been together since Kindergarten. It's sad to think they may not be doing this anymore. But on the other hand I was pretty over the whole Girl Scout thing (yes I know it sounds mean). I know Marissa still wants to do it so we'll have to see what happens.....but don't expect me to change my name to "Troop Leader Sara"!! LOL!!

Father's Day

Making this quick since my F-I-L is coming over for some grilling....

Wishing all the Dads out there --Especially my Hubby-- a

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

Kindergarten "Program"

In our school when the Kindergarteners go on to 1st grade they don't "graduate". They have a "program". The kids sing a few songs & some read poems, then have refreshments afterwards. It's cute. The kids have fun & are so stinkin cute!!


Gianna kept hiding her face when she saw I was trying to take a pic--the stinker!! Little did she know I was taking this one! ;)Finally I had to bribe her to behave & take pics & I got this lady like pose. They had these cute dances while they were singing.





Big group shot (best I could get anyway) of both am & pm classes. The theme was "We are family".Friends forever from day one.....Daddy's little girl....

Me & my baby...***sniff sniff**....she'll be in 1st grade in the fall...no more shadow....no more special time together....it's bittersweet. But on the other hand I won't miss running back & forth to school every 2 1/2 hrs to drop off/pick up. And then there will be more homework.....Yeah bittersweet. ;)

With that, 1st grade here she comes!!

3rd Grade Field Trip

This year the 3rd grades went to Ellis Island for their field trip. Actually every year the 3rd graders go to Ellis Island but that's besides the point! ;)

I was lucky enough to be chaperoning & got to hang out with these 3. Here we are waiting to get on the ferry to take us over to the island. Unfortunately we wouldn't be visiting the statue of liberty but we'd be able to see her from the boat.Once in the museum, our tour guide gave us a lot of great information about the island's history. Their teacher had been teaching them about it in class & they were excited to see all the interesting pieces from different countries. All the girls swarmed to these boots as soon as they spotted them. You know how girls are when it comes to shoes!!! ;)

Displayed are things that were left behind in the buildings before they were renovated.

I like seeing all the baking equipment from years ago.......looks like some stuff used today. After everyone had lunch we went to the wall with names of people that came through the island. We brought paper & crayons & made rubbings of the names of people we found from our families. There were a lot of Rossi's there but not much from my side of the family. Still fun to look for.(There's more pics but I don't want to bore anyone.) The whole tour was scheduled perfectly to make sure we'd make the ferry back in time to go back to school. I would have liked to spend more time there but luckily it's not too far that we can't go back.

They also had a display of Barbies dressed from a bunch of countries. Marissa was excited to see the doll from Italy looked like her. ;)This is Marissa's class. All three classes went but each class had their own tour guide.
This is the view we had of the statue from the ferry. We got real close since the ferry had to stop there to pick up more passengers (we just couldn't get off there).

It was a great trip! I'm happy I got to go & spend time with Marissa. I love the one on one times we get to share together. Hard to believe she'll be in 4th grade in Sept. It's going by so fast!!

I'm calling her Dottie....

Awhile ago I stumbled on this blog & was quickly enabled. I loved the little bird!! I was going to make that card!

And I did.

At first I was going to just play around & see how easy it was. I was intimidated since in the video she uses a Gypsy for her Cricut. My not knowing about it made me put off the card for awhile.

Finally the other night, when everyone was in bed I was able to play her video (over & over) while doing the steps. Apparently, it was a lot easier than I thought! I stuck to how she made the card just used what I had on hand (some scraps too). I found some googly eyes for the eye--cuteness!!

I pulled out some OLD Making Memories paper for the background thinking it was ok if I messed it up, since at the time when I bought it I was just starting out in scrapbooking & literally stocked up on it! hee hee!!!! ;) When I saw how cute & easy this was coming together I pulled out some Bo Bunny for the body. Then I punched the edge with this border punch (messing it up just *slightly* (but hey it was 1am!!), then stamped it with this Hero Arts stamp.

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!!

When I was all done I noticed there is an OWL on the cartridge....LOVE!!! I will be playing with that little dude very very soon!

Products:
Light pink polka dot pp -- O-L-D MM
Pink polka dot (body) -- Bo Bunny
Dark pink polka dot (wing & flower) -- Bo Bunny
Bird -- Cricut "Create a Critter"
Card -- Cricut "Tags, Bags, Boxes & More"
Border punch -- EK Success Dotted Scallop
Stamp -- Hero Arts All Occasion
Bling Flower -- Hero Arts