Happy 7th Birthday, Alexandria!

Wow, I can't believe it, my baby turned 7 years old today! It hardly seems possible, where does the time go? It seems like such a short time ago that she was just a baby and now she seems like such a little lady. She's growing up so fast...I just wish I could press pause every once and a while to enjoy this time. Well, not the attitude stage...that I'd fast forward through! Ya gotta love school for being a place where they pick up the attitude! lol :)

This is the card that I had to make her last night after I couldn't find the one that I had made her originally. I hid it so she wouldn't find it...but I wasn't supposed to hide it from myself, too! Arg! So, I was up til about 1:00 AM throwing this one together. Oh well, she was so happy to find it in her lunch bag today during recess time. She loves surprises and when I went to pick her up at the end of the day it's the first thing she said to me, Thanks so much for the card, Mum! I love it! Ahhh, that was well worth the lack of sleep on my part! :)

This is the inside of the card.

We surprised the girls yesterday with a flight on a Cessna 172. Jim took them up with our friend, Phil, who owns the plane for about a 20 minute flight around the Annapolis Valley. They were beyond thrilled. In the plane, there are two seats in the front and the back is one solid seat where both the girls sat. It's pretty confined quarters. Jim got lots of pictures and a few videos of them so I could see how they liked it. As we were leaving the airport Alexandria made an announcement that it was the best birthday present that she could have ever got! I'm so glad they had fun. :)

Natalia and Alexandria in front of Phil's Cessna plane.

All buckled in and ready to go...

Alexandria with her headset on, grinning up a storm!

Natalia doing her COMM checks...

Well, that's all for now. I'll be back tomorrow with another card to share. I can't share it until then since I don't want Jim to see it yet! Yes, I know he peeks! I say he's a 'closet card admirer,' even though he won't admit it! lol :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Flappy Butterfly Card for WCMD

This is the card that I made yesterday for WCMD...however, I had to finish it for the most part after I got the kiddies off to bed. I find it hard to make cards with the girls and concentrate on my card at the same time. Terrible that I can multitask with a lot of things, but not with cardmaking...that's kinda pathetic, isn't it! lol :) So, I didn't actually finish it until 2:00 AM and by then I was too tired to photograph it and post it here! Gee, I wonder why? Such a fool, I am! lol :)

The reason it took me so long is that I don't actually own the Designer Label punch from SU, for the Blue Bayou layer underneath the 'from me to you'. So I had to create my own - freehand! Not a bad job, if I do say so myself! lol :) After lots of figuring... but, the time probably played a role here, as well! Then, I figured why not challenge myself a bit further and freehand the ivory coloured oval, since I don't own that SU punch, either since the rest of my ovals are the wrong size for this! So, that's why it took me so long to make this card. The little swirlie clip holds the flap closed until you want to open it.

This is the inside view of the first flap of my card.
And, this is the view when you open the inside flap.
I wanted this to be a different style of card to hold a gift certificate that I have for a friend of mine...if I can ever get a chance to get it to her! lol :) Anyway, this way I can tuck it inside and still have room to write in it. I got the inspiration for this card from Beate Johns of the blog, Fresh & Fun.

This is the card of Beate's that I case'd. I couldn't find it in her achives, so I thought I'd share a pic of her original creation that I had in my inspiration folder on my computer. Since she has it watermarked, I figured that was ok.
Well, I need to call it a day, but I'll have more to share tomorrow. We did something pretty fun with the girls today, so stay tuned and you'll find out what we did! :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)



Supplies:
Stamps: Butterfly (Anita's - Sugarloaf, Inc.), 'from me to you' (See D's - Inque Boutique)
Cardstock: Blue Bayou (SU), Chocolate Chip (Bazzill), Ivory (Staples), Vellum Cardstock (SU)
Ink: Vintage Sepia (VersaFine), Jet Black (StazOn)
Patterned Paper: Au Chocolat (SU)
Tools: Classic Circle and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Cuttlebug, Ticket Punch (SU), piercing tool and mat, scissors, 3/16" mini glue dots (SU), Standard Hole Punch (for layer under brads)
Embellishments: Chocolate Satin Ribbon (Michaels), Antique Copper Brads and Swirlie Clip - Hodge Podge Hardware (SU)

WCMD Festivities

As many if you know, yesterday was World Card Making Day, so I decided to have some special time with my girls and make some cards with them. Natalia opted to make two very simple cards for her two home room teachers, but Alexandria decided to put a bit more work into her cards for her teachers. I think she did a great job colouring in her cupcake and cherries with her sparkler pens. They're very shiny cards! lol :)

This is Alexandria's cupcake and cherries card. Cute, eh? :)

This is the inside of Alexandria's card.

Natalia's card is a postcard style. She wasn't much up for making cards yesterday. Pretty cranky from being up so late the night before. I think after getting so much sleep all week she decided that she had no interest in going to bed at a decent hour on Friday night. Ya gotta love the butterfly, though! Straight after my heart! lol :)
I made a card, as well, I'll share it in my next post. Stay tuned...

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Chocolate Brownie Bites

I had to share this very simple, yet VERY yummy recipe that I made this afternoon with ya all! :) Chocolate is my weakness and I wanted to make a little treat, but this is only a half-devilish treat as it uses Splenda sweetener, so it makes it more enjoyable to know that you're not adding a ton of sugar to your body! I also actually used Becel margarine instead of the butter, since I was out of real butter and they turned out just great. Bonus...less fat, too! lol :)

Chocolate Brownie Bites

24 mini paper liners

1/2 cup (125 ml) Butter, melted
1/4 cup (50 ml) Chipits Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, melted
1/4 cup (50 ml) Cocoa Powder
3/4 cup (175 ml) Splenda No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated
1/4 cup (50 ml) Splenda Brand Brown Sugar Blend
2 Eggs
1 tsp (5 ml) Vanilla
1/2 cup (125 ml) All-Purpose Flour
1 tbsp Instant Espresso Powder or Granulated Instant Coffee, optional
3/4 tsp (4 ml) Baking Powder
1/4 tsp (1 ml) Salt
1/2 cup (125 ml) Chipits Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1. Preheat Oven to 350 F (180 C). Line mini muffin cups with paper liners or spray 9" x 9" pan for Brownie Squares.
2. Combine first 7 ingredients in medium sized bowl. Add remaining ingredients. Stir until combined. Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full or pour evenly into 9" x 9" baking pan.
3. Bake muffins in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or until set or bake squares for 20-25 minutes or until set. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy! :)

Happy Fall

I got to make a quick card while Natalia was watching a movie. Her fever has spiked again, but hopefully it won't get high again like it was. She's in pretty good spirits, just complaining of a headache. But, that was one of the side affects of the medication, so I I think she's ok.

Well, we're heading upstairs now to grab some lunch, then I need to start on supper as I have to go to work tonight. It's gonna be a long night...I could just go to sleep! Fingers crossed that it's busy at work so the time goes by quickly!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)



Supplies:
Stamps: Bird on Branch - 97981 K (Inkadinkado), Two Scoops/Swirlie (Basic Grey), Sentiments 1 (Impression Obsession)
Cardstock: Plum (Bazzill), Orange (Bazzill), Gray (The Paper Company), Jet Black Linen (CRS)
Ink: Black Onyx (VersaFine), Plum and Green (Crayola Sketching Markers)
Tools: 1 1/2" & 1 1/4" Circle Punches (Creative Memories), White Gel Pen (Signo - SU), 3/16" Glue Dots (SU)
Embellishments: Plum and Pink Satin Ribbon (Michaels)

Fever has broke

Just a little update, Jim had left a comment on last nights post saying that Natalia was coming around and starting to feel better and eat a little. Wow, her temp got up to 41.1 C or 106 F at it's highest. That was scary...and with it came lots of crazy talk, believe me! I don't think her mind was about her... lol :)

Anyway, this morning she's doing so much better. Her temp is down to 38 C or 100.4 F, just a bit above normal and she's drinking lots and eating a bit. Drinking was my big concern as I didn't want her to get dehydrated, so I'm so glad she's drinking.

Well, she's just relaxing at home again today, recouping from the past couple of days. She's watching some movies...next to my crafty space, so perhaps I'll go make a card while I can watch her. So, I'll have something to show you soon! :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Sick little girl...

Please keep our youngest daughter, Natalia (she'll be 5 years old next month) in your thoughts. We took her to the local children's hospital last night and after some tests they discovered that she has a urinary tract infection. Her temp has been up to 40.8 C or 105.44 F for three days now. It started with off with her throwing up two nights ago and then it progressed to her having to pee constantly and uncontrollably. I knew something was wrong.Her temp is currently down to 39.5 C now, so hopefully it will continue to go down and she'll be able to get some sleep. She hasn't eaten anything in two days and hardly drinks anything. I keep trying to get her to drink as I don't want her to get dehydrated, as well.

But, it's pretty scary as I've never seen a temperature that high with either of my girls. I've been trying my hardest to keep it under the control and praying that the antibiotics that they gave her will kick in very soon. They're nothing worse than seeing your little one sick. I feel so helpless when they're like this.

Well, gotta go check on her again. Just thought I'd ask for a couple prayers out there...

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)