Happy Holidays!

See you in 2014!


Lulu

I don't know where to begin today.  I guess I would like to thank God for watching over my family this past weekend.  I live in Illinois and a number of towns near me were hit by tornadoes this past Sunday.  Our sirens went off and we headed into our basement but we were okay.  The tornadoes stayed south of us.  I feel terrible for the city of Washington.  They were hit so bad.  The news were saying they were hit by an F4 tornado but this morning there was talk that it might be upgraded to an F5.  The Washington High School football team are still in the playoffs for the state championship and are scheduled to play this weekend. But a number of kids on the team lost all of their equipment when there homes were demolished.  My son's team is in talks with their head coach to see what we can do to help their community.  There's rumors that we might be taking our equipment and uniforms down there so the team can play.  I think that is so wonderful.  I have tears just writing this.  I can't imagine losing everything.  Even losing something as crazy as football cleats.  It's those everyday little things you just don't think about.  We all think about the big things but not the simple everyday things.

Please keep Illinois and the city of Washington in your prayers.

Thank you!

Lulu

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I just love Halloween but this year will be a disappointing one.  It is raining and it is not supposed to let up until overnight.  Which means very little trick or treaters.  Only the ones that are brave enough to endure being soaked...which means the teenagers.  And we are unable to display our usual cemetery scene because most of our cemetery runs on electricity and is not waterproof.  My headless bride will just have to hang out with me in the house. Along with our zombie Grammy rocking her zombie grandbaby. She's our newest addition.

Everyone please have a safe and happy Halloween!!!!


Lulu

I'm back to crafting this week.  I can't believe how much I've got done.  It felt so good to be creating again.  I made more Halloween goodie bags for my neighbors' kids.  They look just the same as the ones below for J's Halloween party but instead of the orange circle punch I used the Martha Stewart Drippy Goo punch that I ordered.  

In addition we had two parties to go to last weekend and I made cards for both of those parties.  One was a Promotion Party and the other one was a Surprise 50th birthday party.  For the 50th birthday I found a card in a magazine that I recreated.  The party was for a man so those cards I find particularly hard to make. Men don't find things as cute as we women do.  But here is a picture of the card...

I used pop dots to raise the 18250 and the way I took the picture you can see the shadow from it.  But I thought what a great idea for a man's card.  I used purple because he is one of my daughter's coaches and her team color is purple.  I also made him four glasses etched with their team name.  Let me tell you...big hit with the other coaches that happen to be at the party!  I guess I might be busy at Christmas time making more glasses..haha!

LuLu

Halloween Goodie Bags

I made these goodie bags for a Halloween Party J is going to.  I am a bit disappointed though.  Don't get me wrong these bags turned out super cute but my original plan included a punch at the bottom of the cardstock.  Needless to say I ordered the punch and paid for the upgraded shipping so I would have it in time to make the bags and well, never received the punch.  I had to go with the orange circles which are still cute but not quite what I had pictured in my head.  Here is the bag I made...

The bag is 11x5.  I used black and orange cardstock that I got from Michael's.  Cut at 5.5x 8.  The tombstone was cut from the Cricut Simply Charmed Cartridge.  I cut it at 3".  The stamp is from Stampin' Up and the ink is White Cloud color Brillance collection I also bought at Michael's.  The orange circles is a Martha Stewart punch (also bought at Michaels).

Lulu

I am ready for the weekend.  Our plan is to start getting the yard ready for winter.  We are taking down our vegetable garden, closing the pool, and putting up the Halloween decorations.  I really looking forward to the decorations.  I love Halloween!

In addition to all that, it is Homecoming weekend for MJ's school.  Football game tonight and dance Saturday night.  I love seeing him all dressed up.  Just like dad he is so handsome in a suit.  Not all guys can pull off a suit and tie or a tuxedo.  But my boys can.  Love it.

J's busy planning a weekend with her friends in order to get out of the yard work.  Sneaky little thing she is.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Lulu

September 30th...WOW!  Where has this year gone?  I am in shock that today is the last day of September.  Now I love fall.  Fall and Spring are my favorite times of the year.  I can still wear long sleeves and turtlenecks without sweating to death.  But boy this year has just flown by way to fast.  

It is time to close up the pool and tear the vegetable garden down.  It was an okay year with our garden.  Lots of tomatoes but my green peppers didn't get very big.  I enjoy making stuffed peppers in the winter and this year my peppers were not even close to being big enough to stuff.  I think we need to get some fresh dirt in our garden next year.  We do miracle grow and fresh horse/cow manure.  Thanks to my brother who has a farm we get the freshest manure you can find.  I do feel bad for my neighbors when the wind blows in their direction after we put down a fresh layer. :)

Hope you have a great last day of September!

Lulu

Treat Package

I've been busy this past week at my crafting desk.  It felt so good to be at it again.  J's lunch group at school decided to have every Friday be a treat day.  Each week a different girl would bring a treat in for everyone.  There are only six girls so it isn't too bad.  Well last Friday was J's turn.  This is what we did...

I picked up Rice Krispie Treats and wrapped them with a fall colored cardstock.  I stamped the cardstock with ink from Stampin Up and the stamps were from My Pink Stamper. 

Have a great day!

Lulu

Homecoming 2013

Isn't this cute?  It's "ask a date to homecoming" time.  And these days it is no simple request.  It seems that the boys have to do something special to ask a girl to homecoming.  This year MJ has a special girl in his life so we went shopping and he found a very nice and simple necklace to give her.  (Sorry I forgot to take a picture of the necklace...oops.)  He asked me if I could put a box together with "Homecoming?" on it.  This is what I came up with.  He wanted it to be very simple.  I found this small gift box at Michael's.  I cut "Homecoming?" at 3/4 inch on my Cricut on brown cardstock. I then used cream color cardstock to go behind it and cut it to look like a gift tag.  I also used brown ribbon (from Michael's) around the box.  I went around the lid taping the ribbon to the inside.  I did the same with the ribbon on the bottom of the box.  I wanted to incorporate his school colors onto the gift since he was asking her to his homecoming dance.  And by the way...she said yes.  

Lulu

Hi Everyone!

I have been MIA because I have been enjoying the end of summer.  Kids are back in school.  Football has started.  Fall travel softball has started.  It keeps us busy but not crazy which I like.  If you read my earlier blogs I am still busy deep cleaning the house.  I finally finished the kitchen.  That room took forever.  I went through every cabinet wiping everything down.  Now it is off to the family room where my craft desk is.  My desk has turned into the drop everything on desk.  So hopefully I will have that room and my desk cleaned off by next week.

I am so excited I finally placed an order with Stampin Up.  I have never used their products before but have heard so many good things. On a sad note I haven't ripped everything open yet because my desk is such a disaster.  But I am looking forward to putting together some Halloween items.  I'm thinking goodie bags for all of our neighbors' kids.  We have quite a few little ones now on our street.  The little ones are so much more cuter than the teenagers. HaHa. :)

Is anyone else putting together anything for Halloween?  Or does anyone have any suggestions for handouts to my neighbors' kids?  Let me know.  

Lulu

Everything is finally back to normal.  Both kids are back in school.  I am such a believer that kids need structure, routines.  I think without some sort of regular structure kids just go crazy.  It's so nice to have that routine back again.

My cleaning of the house is going good.  I have one more room on the first floor left to do.  That's our family room which shouldn't be too bad as I usually keep up with that one.  While I'm cleaning I'm also starting to put away the summer decor and pulling out the autumn decor.  I was even considering pulling out the Halloween decorations but then realized that would really be pushing it.  I just love Halloween.

Hope everyone has a good Thursday!  The weekend is almost here.

Lulu

Back to School Begins...

Today was J's first day back to school! As many of you know, as moms, the first day of school is sad yet so wonderful.  I took the day off of work so I could send her off without rushing myself and so I could be home when she got home.  She requested chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and a meatball sub for lunch.  That's my girl!

MJ still has a few days left of summer.  He goes back on Monday.  This week though he is gone most of the day for football practice.

Yes, moms...I had the house all to myself.  And what did I do you ask?  I cleaned.  I deep cleaned my dining room.  It sure looks pretty when it is all clean and sparkling.  Now I am very sore.  I sat down when I was finished and that was the worst thing I could have done.  The pain kicked in. But I really enjoyed my day.  I got to listen to my 80s music, played a little air guitar, and sang into my broom handle.  It was like I was 17 again! :)

Now I'm making my family a nice dinner and having myself a glass of wine.

I love the first day of school!


Lulu

I'm Back For The Moment

I can’t believe how long it has been since I’ve been on my blog.  It seems like eternity.  We’ve been busy enjoying our summer.  Between the kids’ schedules and work when we have a day off we just sit and soak up the sun.

The school year ended back in June with the kids looking forward to sleeping in everyday.  All I know is summer vacation means an increase in the grocery bill.  We go through a lot of pizza rolls and mini tacos through the summer.

Our softball season ended in July with a trip to the 13U Softball World Series in Des Moines, Iowa.  We placed 25^th out of just over 50 teams.  Not too bad considering the season we had.  Everything that could go wrong this year did.  Lots of injuries (including J) and loss of enthusiasm for the game. Was just a rough year.  J injured her ankle pretty bad at school and it has been rough trying to get it to heal when she is so active.  We kept it wrapped with a ankle brace and that seems to help.  She is off now for awhile so hopefully it will heal completely now that she can take it easy.

MJ has been busy this summer with football conditioning and hanging out with his friends.  I wanted him to get a part-time job over the summer but dad wants him to stay focus on his sports.  He doesn’t want him giving up his sports for a job like he did when he was growing up.  I didn’t push the job thing too much knowing how important this was to my husband.  So MJ has been enjoying his summer A LOT!  Boy is he in for a surprise when school starts – his curfew will be decreasing.  Ha Ha!!

As for the hubby he has been busy with work.  Suddenly around 4^th of July work has just exploded.  Which is good since he is in the construction industry.

As for me I’ve been busy with work, taking care of the house, and going to softball games.  I’m enjoying the time off right now.  We are in between sports so we get a little break.  I’m doing some much needed cleaning of closets and getting my two kids ready for school.  Wow, where has the time gone.

Lulu

Wow...it has been like forever! I can't believe it has been so long since I have been on my blog.  It's not like I have been super busy either.  I have been in a slump. I'm trying to get myself out of it.  Trying to eat better and get some excercise hoping that might kick my butt back in gear.

Catching Up

Where to begin.  We finally celebrated Christmas with my family.  My brother hosted Christmas this year.  He has a farm with horses and cows that the kids just love going to see.  We weren't able to ride the horses this time because it was too cold. But that is a selling point to taking the long drive to visit him.  Here is a pic of J with one of the horses...

And here she is with the calfs...

In an earlier post I showed pictures of a shadow box I put together with a can opener.  That gift was for my brother.  It was hilarious watching his reaction when he opened it.  He was laughing so hard.  He asked me where I found it and when my husband told him I made it he was quite impressed.  He said it was put together so well that he just assumed I found it and bought it for him.  I love it when that happens.  It's such a good feeling.

On a different note, earlier this week was J's birthday.  She turned 12.  I made her the following two cards one from mom and dad, and one from her brother MJ.

This year is already flying by.  I can't believe next week is Ash Wednesday and Valentine's day. Wow!!!

Lulu

Last One????

I think this may be my last Christmas card I put together that I haven't posted yet.  I was going through my pictures and realized I didn't post this one.

This card is just like the one I did earlier.  It is 6x6.  The only difference is I changed the character.  I did a mouse this time instead of the penguin.  This little guy went to my niece.  

I finally finished my scrapbook pages over the weekend from our camping trip last year.  I started them and then got side tracked by the holidays.  So they were never finished.  I am proud to say they are now completed.

Lulu

Christmas project

Good Afternoon!  Here is another Christmas project I did for my brother.  The story behind this is that my brother is preparing for a natural disaster.  In his basement he built a pantry and is stocking it with canned goods and everything he would need if a disaster hit.  You would laugh if you saw this room because he has enough food to feed an entire town.  Last time I saw the pantry I asked him where the can opener was.  He replied upstairs in the kitchen. And I told him that is not going to help if he is stuck down in the basement.  So for Christmas I made him a shadow box with a can opener in it.  Here is my work in progress...

I etched on the glass...

I can't wait to give it to him.  Due to some unforeseen illnesses we haven't been able to get together for Christmas yet.  Hopefully soon.  My sister-in-law knows what I did and she is looking forward to seeing it.

Lulu

Happy Thursday!

Good Morning!

I am so excited today. We are going on a family vacation this year.  It has been eight years since we have gone on a family vacation that did not involve sports.  I can't wait.  I think 2013 is going to be a good year for us.  We decided to do this trip for a couple of reasons. One, it will be our 20th wedding anniversary this year. WOW! Second, this may be our last opportunity to take a family vacation before MJ goes off to college. This all started with friends of ours who got a great deal on a cruise. Told us about the deal and we thought let's do it. It will be fun to have our two families together on a cruise. We have a lot of fun together. 

Now onto my card.  I made this card for the onesie gift I talked about yesterday.

I made this card 6x6. Then added a 5.5x5.5 red background.  I ran the red paper through my Cuttlebug for the snowflakes on the top 3/4 of the paper.  Using the Winter Frolics Cricut Cartridge for the penguin I cut him at 4.5 in and then pop dot him on the card. And used the sentiment Merry Christmas from a Reflections Stamp set.

Can anyone suggest to me a good stamp cleaner? I have to admit I am clueless in that area and don't want to end up buying something that doesn't work.

Lulu

Baby Onesie

I remembered to upload some pictures of a couple of Christmas presents that I made this year.  Yea...which is a miracle because half the time I forget to take a picture.

Let's start with a onesie I created for my kid's hitting coach.  The story behind the gift is that he just became a dad and he graduated high school from the rival to my son's school.  My son and him pick on each all the time over the two schools.  So, I found a brown onesie (my son's school color) and used white t-shirt vinyl to create this...

This is my son's school and colors. He is going to hate it and love it which is why it is so funny!  We will see him next week. I am going to have him send me a picture of his son wearing it. Too cute!

Lulu

2013 begins!

Part of me can't believe it's been two weeks since I've been on my blog but let's face it...I can believe it.  What have I been up to?  Well, we spent the week of Christmas sick. Then the week of New Year's being lazy because none of us had any energy. This week we came back to life just in time for reality to set in.  The kids went back to school and we went back to working full weeks.  The holiday season is so nice for work with the extra days off for the holidays but it makes for a long week when you have to go back to five days a week.

In the past week we pretty much tried to put our house back to normal.  I am sad to say it is still not done.  Our Christmas tree is still up...sad I know.  All the Christmas decorations are packed up and ready to go back into the attic we just have to get them up there. So the tree is bare. I'm hoping to get all that done this weekend but you never know with us.

I did get a couple of crafting items done this week.  That felt nice to get back to my desk. But I feel bad crafting when my home is a disaster zone.  It's pretty bad when last week's laundry is still not folded. And I have to start this week's laundry. UGH!!!

Oh and we celebrated a birthday!  MJ turned 16 and got his driver's license.  He's been researching cars online for the past week.  Giving "great" suggestions on what we should buy him :)

Lulu