Happy Birthday!

My little Todd turned seven yesterday. What a joy he is. Kind to his friends, and such a sweety (most of the time :) For the next two weeks, we have two 7-year-olds in the house! I'll get a picture of the boys together at some point while they are the same age. And in between their 2 birthdays we will have a joint party for them. (Pictures will come after that, too!)

Yesterday, he got to open a gift (a hotwheels bike, which he loved!!) and we had a DQ ice cream cake as a family. Today, Todd took Wagon Wheels as a treat for his friends at school and then got to go on a date with daddy after school and spend $2 that he got in one of his birthday cards.

Happy Birthday, Todd!
You are very loved.

Imagine Kids Portraits by Revival Arts

Last year, my kids got to be a part of a special project in the Fraser Valley. Revival Arts Studio put together a beautiful book of portraits of kids in the Valley.

IMAGINE

All the session fees were donated to Matthew's House.

♥

It was a great success, and Revival Arts is putting together another Imagine Kids book this year. If you are in this area, don't miss your chance to be a part of this great project! Click on the links I've included above, and you'll be given more information.

Monkeys Monkeys Everywhere!!

Here are the cards we made last night using Sock Monkey. Also, E with her striped monkey, and the authentic, handmade monkey my mom made when I was a girl. Time to make the boys some sock monkeys, I think! They are feeling a little left out!!!

We used Jolly Holiday paper to piece the monkey together. I love it when you can use something for more than its original planned use: Christmas paper doesn't always have to look Christmasy!

Monkey Business

Tonight is my monthly stampers club... we will be playing with a stamp set called Sock Monkey. When I was little, my mom made me a sock monkey, and I know lots of people that could tell stories of playing with their special sock monkeys. A few years ago, they became the rage again, and you could find them on quilts, in scrapbooks, stuffies mass produced and lining the shelves. I love the little guys! And I love it that there is a sock monkey stamp set.

Tomorrow, I will blog about the cards we make tonight, but for now, check out this vintage article that my mom gave me. I wish the year and newspaper source had been written on the paper, but it wasn't. However, the original is yellow enough to prove that it is a few decades old. I scanned it and whitened it up for here.

Looks easy enough to make, eh? I think after I stamp monkeys tonight, I'm going to want to make the actual thing, too!!

♥ Happy Valentine's Day!! ♥

Some people absolutely LOVE Valentine's Day, others might not be such big fans... Personally, I like any excuse for a celebration, but I also think we should show love all year long, and I am super glad that my husband doesn't only wait for Valentine's to take me on a date :)

This year, we made Valentine's Day about the love of our whole family. We spent the afternoon doing all kinds of fun things. Last week, Elise and I went on a date to White Spot and planned our family Valentine party. Here are a few of the things we discussed over french fries and a Pirate Pak:

♥ We should buy paper plates and napkins (which we did in colourful Valentine patterns!)
♥ We should decorate cookies (we ended up decorating 3 mini cakes because I didn't get sugar cookies made and little cakes were just a whole lot less work!!)
♥ We should make Valentines (the boys each assembled 20 treat boxes for their school friends, and Elise chose a random smattering of people she could think of to give treat boxes to, including the girls next door and the Senior Pastor at our church. She is enthralled by him because he remembers her name and visited her Sunday School class in his 2nd week at church!! That makes a pretty big impression on a 4 year old!)
♥ We should watch a family movie. (We watched Evan Almighty, and then I read the real story of Noah's Ark, straight from the Bible so we could straighten out the facts about how it all really went down!!)
♥ We should go on a hike so we could be ♥ Heart Healthy! (We didn't get to the hike, even though the rain held off, the kids ended up playing in the backyard instead. We will hike another day)

It was a day to remember, and Elise said it was the best day of her life! She has said that a lot lately, so I guess 4 is a good age for her :)


Lunch... fun plates and napkins. Pizza, some other goodies and iced tea.


Pencils to attach to the treat boxes for school friends... reminds me of the line from "You've Got Mail" where Meg Ryan's character talks about "bouquets of sharpened pencils in the Spring." I suddenly have the urge to watch that movie (for about the 45th time!) Might just have to do that right after I post this :)

Each treat box has 2 pieces of gum inside and a pencil taped to the outside. The comics are really lame in these, but the gum is yum (for about 2 minutes - then it loses its flavour... but kids don't care!)

Let the decorating begin. They had so much fun doing this, and it was really a treat to watch... but I am not even tempted to share this cake with them after watching them decorate it!!!



At one point, Elise took a HUGE mouthful of cinnamon hearts and there was an instant fire in her mouth. I've never seen her look so panicked! She quickly got rid of them and soothed her mouth with some chocolate chips.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13


A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
John 13:34-35

Sweet Little Girl

I have been so inspired lately by my sewing friends. Here's a little pillow cover that I did this week. I love love love this fabric. It's from the new Occasions Mini from Stampin' Up! called Sweet Stitches and I think it is just darling. I added the image of the girl from the orange fabric to the center of the this block, and it will adorn a pillow once I get it all finished with the back half (the back will likely be the solid blue fabric).

Open House

Want to see and try out the newest products from Stampin' Up!? Come on out to my Open House...

It's at my house
from 7:00 - 9:30pm
Friday, February 11, 2011
Make and Takes
Yummy food
Lots of Fun!
Try out new products and browse the catalogue
Bring a friend and make it a girls' night out!!!

Hope to see you here.

RSVP to stampinsars(at)hotmail.com

Another Club Card

Here is the second card we did on Monday night. I love this paper, Love Letter, and this card is perfect for Valentine's, or for a number of other occasions just by changing the sentiment.




All of the items used on this card are from the Idea Book & Catalogue. I got a chance to use my brand new punch... 119275 Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch.