Wendy

I have three beautiful sisters and I was lucky enough to get to see two of them last week, Wendy and Lynda. (Sorry Melissa, missed you!) At Wendy's apartment I saw that she had her portrait up that I drew for her as a wedding present. I just had to take a picture and share it with you. I think this was the first time I drew a picture of someone and not only did it actually look realistic, but it looked like the person I was studying!

Me and and Wendy.

I dug up some photos I took of the drawing before I framed it and gave it to her. I had to crop out some of the dress in order to frame it.

This is a close up... obviously. Happy 5th Anniversary Wendy! (this spring)

Homemade Valentine

The cool thing about this card is that it is so cool that you can just reuse it every year. ;)Ryan came home early before I had a chance to make him a card this year. I pulled out this one I made for him 2 years ago. I don't keep all my cards, but this one is pretty fancy. I found the pattern on a very dangerous website, marthastewart.com and encourage you to check it out, but use caution. It can be very overwhelming!

Along the borders I put the words to one of my favorite songs, "The Book of Love" by Peter Gabriel.

Now doesn't that look fancy!?! Don't worry, it wasn't that hard.

I love you Ryan. Happy Valentine's Day! Thanks for asking my to marry you 9 years ago today!

Cupcakes!!!

I *heart* Cupcakes, yes, I do!! And where is the BEST place to get them? At "gigi's cupcakes" at Hilldale Mall in Madison. You have to go early in the day so there are lots to choose from. Being the smart lady that I am, I know that the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach, so... is was a cupcake Valentine's Day for Ryan!

Delicious, delicious, delicious! I also had a box with just one cupcake in it for me. (Don't worry, Ryan will be sharing those four as well...) The cupcake I had got dropped upside down in its box in the store. *sniffle*. It seemed to be okay, though a little smashed on top. On the drive home it again took a slight beating and ended upside down again! Fortunately there was plenty of frosting to take the blow. Finally at home I took out my tattered cupcake and set it on a plate so that I could cut off a portion for little Joshua. I handed it to him and then CRASH! Down went the cupcake, down went the plate. (The plate I've had for 8 1/2 years and has held off breaking until this very moment). You would think landing on a fluffy Raspberry Truffle cupcake would cushion such a fall, but no. Shards of glass showered onto my precious dessert. Happy Valentine's Day to me. BUT, Gigi's cupcakes are SO good I brushed off the glass, cleaned up the mess (well, actually Ryan did...) and I ate that cupcake darn it!

Okay, these are not "Gigi's" but not too shabby for Mrs. Connelly's first grade class I'd say. Unfortunately my son was sick and missed the Valentine's party today and these little masterpieces are still sitting on my counter being unappreciated. Oh well, there's always tomorrow... unless he is still sick, then they are going to Mrs. Miller's Kindergarten class with my other son.

Purple and Pink, my favorite colors! (I bet you are all really surprised.)

Valentine Cookies!

It just wouldn't be right to have Valentine's Day without Mom's Cut-Out sugar cookies. (Mom being my mom's recipe... which she probably got from her Grandmother). With a hint of almond and some chewy skittles on top you are in for a real treat. (Okay, I'm the only one who likes the Skittles, but you get the point).

This kept us all happy after church!

Delicious!

All in all a good time had by all... maybe.

Quilted Grab Bags

I really had a good time this year getting ready for Christmas. Along with the card boxes I gave my sisters I also gave each of them one of these quilted grab bags. Ryan headed off to China in the beginning of December for work, so out came my sewing machine. I love this pattern and besides making them for my sisters, I have also made 3 for myself. Yes, I did wrap one of these up for myself to open Christmas morning!

It was also fun to machine-quilt these on my sewing machine with my darning foot. The free pattern from allpeoplequilt.com did not say to quilt the bags, and you certainly wouldn't have too, but why not!? I just couldn't contain myself.

These bags are reversible as well! I love to take mine with me to run errands. It holds my wallet, cell phone, check book and even diapers and wipes! I have also used mine as a scripture case. It happens to be just the right size. When I do carry my large diaper bag I like to throw my little grab bag in so that I can easily locate my things among all the cheerios and board books.

More Cards!

These are the cards i made to fill the card boxes I decortated to give my sisters and Mom for Christmas. I actually began making the cards back in Septmeber and worked on this project off and on through the fall to have them ready for Christmas. I suppose I could have made them all one week in December, but where is the fun in that? Each box of cards contained 16 cards, four from each set. This way everyone got a set that contained all four themes: baby, birthday, wedding and thank-you/anytime.

Welcome Baby! Cards

Happy Birthday Cards

Wedding Cards

(I think these ones are my favorite!)

Thank You and Anytime Cards.

Card Boxes

I hope Christmas was beautiful for all of you! This year I some how was able to make homemade gifts for my parents and sisters. Had I started this in December it most certainly would not have been fun, but I gave myself enough time and really enjoyed myself! For my Mother and Sisters I created these card boxes. Each one is decorated to match their personality (in my opinion) and then filled with a variety of homemade cards.

I found the boxes to decorate at Michael's in the $1.oo section. They are recipe boxes and a great find! I cleaned them out and snatched their last four boxes.

I had planned on mod-podging the papers on but found that spray adhesive held everything in place fine enough. To unify the boxes I rubbed the edges with a sepia ink pad.

Like I said, I cleaned Michael's out of recipe boxes. I ended up paying 2 or 3 dollars for my box which is the larger one. It works though and is fun to look at on my desk. (Yes, I have been known to give myself gifts!)