Sweet 16

Happy Wednesday . It is hard to believe it is the last day of April. The months are flying by. Spring is definitely here which makes me very happy but the last few days have been very windy though.
Emilia turned 16 on April 2nd. Where did the time go? She will always be my baby.
I was having a hard time coming up with a card to make for her. After giving it some thought I decided I wanted to have a chalkboard card made for her documenting all of the things she loves since this is a an extra special year. I was able to find this seller on Etsy who created the layout for me and then I made it into a card.I loved how it came out and everyone else did too especially Emilia.

 Emilia is definitely a girly girl so I hired a professional stylist  to come and do her hair and makeup. She did a great job and Emilia really enjoyed it. 

Later that night we had an Italian dinner delivered from Magino's a popular Italian restaurant in Downtown Denver. The cake was made by a local Cake Decorator here in Denver. Johns Deserts. She wanted a Tiramisu Cake and he made it into shape of a purse. He did a great job.Her presents this year were mainly fashion related. Her favorite store now is Forever 21. She got some books and movies too. Rich even surprised her with a special amethyst necklace.  Below is a collage documenting most of the day.

Overall she had a great day and a sweet 16 that she will always remember.
She also got her drivers permit on April 21st along with her cousin.  We were going go right after her birthday but my sister and niece got sick so we had to wait until then. The DMV was hell but we made it though it in less then 2 hours and they both passed their tests so we have 2 new drivers in the family now. Emilia has gone out a few times so far.  Rich is the one that is teaching her. I just ride in the back seat with my eyes closed most of the time.:) She is doing well though just a little heavy on the gas. Unfortunately my sister was still sick and shared the crud she had with us so we are sick now. Emilia has it worse than us though. Hopefully she will be back to driving again soon.

This month instead starting a new party theme I added on to an existing ones. I had a request for a door sign and a 12 month photo banner to go with my farm theme. This is what I came up with.

 

That's all for now. I will be back next month with more to share then.

Little Lady

Happy Monday and the last day of March.The sun is shining but it is very windy here so it looks like it is going out like a lion. At least we made it to spring though.  Hope all is well were you are. It feels like the month flew by. My 45th birthday was on the 25th. Since it was a Tuesday we did not to anything too exciting. It was a beautiful day though and we were able to go to the park for a nice walk. I did get to celebrate with a few of my favorite things though.

My sister got me the tulips and Pinkberry. Emilia baked me some gluten free cupcakes. They were good but I have decided that I like to look at cupcakes more than eating them though. Frosting is just not my thing. Too sweet. I was able to eat just the cake part with strawberries and whipped creme though and it was really good that way.
This month my party theme was ladybugs. This is what I came up with

If you remember I  made the invitation in March of 2011 and used it for my inspiration. The wings on the ladybugs open and close to reveal the number.
Emilia's 16th birthday is Wednesday and we have some fun things planned to help celebrate it so I will be back soon to share that with you. Until then I hope your week is a good one and thanks for stopping by.

Over The Rainbow

Happy Sunday. Hope all is well where you are. It snowed a little last night but the sun is out and it is all melted now.  I can see signs of spring but snow is in the forecast again for next week. At least we are getting closer to spring though.
My mom's leg is continuing to do well. The biggest problem is trying to keep her from doing to much. My sister got sick again this time with a stomach thing but is doing better now. Hopefully we are done with sickness in the family now. 
We don't usually celebrate Valentines day because I think Love should be celebrated every day and not be commercialized one day of the year. I thought Rich was on the same page but last week the doorbell rang. I thought it was the postman but when I opened it a woman was holding these.

I thought it was a mistake but she said they were for me so I graciously accepted them. They were from Rich. He doesn't usually do things like that but it was a welcome surprise and greatly appreciated especially because they were some of my favorite things.  He also sent Emilia these.

  This month I decided on a rainbow party theme. It has been on my list for awhile now. I am very happy with how it came out I hope you like it too.

That's all for now I will be back next month with more to share then.

Lots of Love

Happy Monday. Even though it is the end of January I hope the New Year has started off well for all of you. It is hard to believe January is almost over. At least that means we are closer to spring. The weather has been pretty mild here we have had a little snow though.
My mom is doing well and is hopefully going to get to put her foot in a shoe and be released on Tuesday. We are very grateful that she is doing so well. My sister and I still worry about her doing to much though but there is nothing we can do to stop her. We just hope she continues to do well.
My sister got very sick a few weeks ago with the flu. She had the flu shot but it didn't work. She has a lot of other health problems so I was very worried about her. Thankfully she is doing better now though. Hopefully she will stay that way and nobody else catches it.
I have been busy working on Valentine things. I listed these in my shop about a month ago. Click on the photo to see them close up. 

That's all for now. I will be back next month with more to share then.

2013 Year End Review

I can't believe the year is almost over. I wish I could find a way to slow down time. What a year this has been. One I will never forget. The worst part was everything that happened with my mom. Thankfully she is doing better now and still has her leg. I hope that she will continue to do well in the New Year and we never have to go through something like that again.
The best part of the year was my Etsy shop finally took off. I found my niche with party decor for kids, specifically 1 year old's. I never imagined it would get this big. I am now doing something I love as a  full time job. I am just trying to keep up with the demand and not burn out. I need to be better in the New Year to not take so much on and make time for myself and family but it is hard for me to say no.
I have been so busy with work that I have not had much time for posting on my blog so today I thought I would share some of my favorite projects this year and some that I never had a chance to share until now so without further ado here they are.

January: Finally got the chance to try the Chalkboard technique.

 

  February: Monster birthday party.

 

 March. Monkey Birthday party.

  April: Custom invitations for a nautical birthday.

 May: Pink Party

June: Floral Birthday
                                                                        

July: Princess Birthday

 August : Turtle Party, Sunshine Party, Owl Party

September:Elephants

October: Gingham

                                             

 November: Penguins for Boys and Girls, Winter Onederland

December: Birds and Ribbons and Bows

Which one is your favorite?

It was a lot of work but very rewarding too.  I am also very thankful for Emilia and all her help especially with the cutting and Rich for taking all the packages to the post office to try and solve the shipping problems. I still have a long list of party themes to work on next year so be sure to check back then. I hope you enjoy the last few days of 2013 and 2014 is a great year for us all!

November Papertrey Bloghop

Happy Monday, I hope your weekend was a good one. Today is also the 25th of the month which means its time for another Papertrey Bloghop. This month the challenge was to make a miniature paper house using the template on Nicole's blog and this inspiration photo

 I LOVE little houses and anything that has to do with them so when I saw this challenge I had to participate. This is what I came up with.

I started by converting the template into an SVG file then I added the windows and doors. Next I cut the base and roof  out of Sweet Blush and aqua digital cardstock and put them together. When I was done I used spray adhesive and applied angel dust glitter. The house really sparkles in real life. I hope you can  see it in the photo. I decorated the roof with baby pom pom trim, silver tinsel and homemade tissue paper fringe. I also added digital sheet music patterned paper reduced to 50%. Finally I finished it off  with tiny pearls, the banner from Door To Door which fits perfectly and a silver glitter star with a button hot glued to the middle. I placed the house on a  square piece of white cardstock then attached more tissue paper trim to look like snow and placed it on my cake stand. The bottle brush trees are from this Etsy shop. I also bought some matching wreaths which I was hoping to add to the circular window but they have not arrived yet. When they do I will add them if they fit and update the photo. ETA: The wreaths I ordered were to big so this is how I finished it off instead. The small photo is how it was before.

 

After

 I love how this came out. I hope you do too. I look forward to seeing what everyone else comes  up with now. I hope the rest of your week is a good one and you have a great Thanksgiving if you are celebrating this week. I know we have a lot to be thankful for this year, I hope you do too. As always I appreciate you taking the time to visit and thanks for stopping by.

Catching Up

Happy Wednesday.  I hope all is well where you are. Things have been a bit crazy here and I never got the chance to do an October update like I said was going to in my last post. I am going do that now along with sharing some new stuff for November.
My mother continued to have the IV antibiotics for most of October. She passed out one Saturday morning after my father dropped her off at the hospital for an infusion. Thankfully she was not hurt but nobody took her to the ER to be checked out. They took her up to the infusion center and did the antibiotics like nothing had happened. When she got home and told my sister and I what had happened we called her doctor and she said to take her back to the ER. I don't understand why then didn't take her there after it happened,. Anyways after doing numerous tests they said she was throwing PVC's but didn't think it was anything to be concerned about and said it was normal for some people. After being there for hours they decided to stop the IV antibiotics and send her home. She is still having some issues with feeling faint but no one seems concerned. She had her third surgery last Friday. This time it was for the skin grafts. I was hoping that she would not need them but she insisted on having them done. Thankfully the surgery went well and the leg had healed enough on it's own so there was not a lot of grafting to be done. She was in the hospital for 3 days this time though and went home Monday. She is not suppose to be putting any weight on that leg until Thursday but has already been doing more than she should, I just hope she doesn't do anything to ruin the graphs. We celebrated her 69th birthday on the 8th of October. With everything she went through this year we were very grateful that she was able to celebrate this one. This is the card I made her.

I got the inspiration for it from one that Heather Nichols made here.
I have been having major problems with USPS. It all started in August when they changed priority mail to 2-3 days on the labels. I have had several priority mail packages take over 5 days now and did not make it in time for the buyers parties. Because of that I will not use priority mail for orders that need to arrive in less than 5 days now. I now have to use express mail for buyers that need things in less time or they have to be willing to take the chance. Last week I found out that express mail delivery can only be guaranteed if the package is taken to the post office. They cannot guarantee it will arrive back to the post office in time if it is picked up even though they offer free pick for them. I think  that is totally crazy and is false advertising. It does not say that when you schedule the pickup. It is no wonder they are going out of business. Unfortunately FedEx and UPS are double the price. I do not drive or have the time to be going to the post office if I did. As a small business owner this is very frustrating and upsetting. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.
I was finally able to make the Christmas tag I wanted to for last months bloghop. I got the inspiration for it from Marybeth's blog during the Papertrey Bloghop last month. I wanted to make a version that would fit a gift card so I had Rich draw one up for me then I converted it to and SVG. This is what I came up with.

I used the Polka Dot Parade #9 tree and stamp set. The to and from are from the Tiny Tags Set.

If you would like the svg file I would be happy to share it just send me an email.
That's all for now. I hope to be back Monday with a project for this months Papertrey Blog Hop.  Until then I hope the rest of your week is a great one.