One of my favorite things........

that I did in Orlando last week, while my husband attended the MacDonald's Worldwide Convention, was finding a Fresh Produce store at Universal Studios.

In this store I was introduced to a line of handbags, totebags and accessories by the designer Vera Bradley





They had so many wonderful things in this store and everything was wonderfully displayed. I fell in love immediately. From gift sets consisting of an apron in a recipe box to nifty flip flops that you can change the ribbon to be what ever you feel like and happen to have handy in your craft room. If you are taking the kids to do the Disney World/Universal Studios thing, make sure to find this store at Universal on their CityWalk Shopping.

Doesn't this just inspire me to make purses now??? Yes, it does.

But despite my craftiness, I couldn't help myself, I just had to run back and grab this one..



It's definitely become one of my favourite things!

I did manage to be a little creative last night. I made a thank you card for my Orlando buddy and fellow DSL Inc. wife, Tammy Retz. Not only did she chauffeur us around everyday, she was a wonderful shopping companion, and I had a lot of laughs with her and her daughter Melanie.



Using Stampin' Up's Three Little Words stamp set. I used Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Whisper White textured 12 X 12 and Barely Banana paper. The Baroque Motifs scroll stamp was embossed in white . A white gel pen was used for the dots and the mat pack template and piercer for the sewing line border. Chocolate Chip satin ribbon and Prima Marketing Forever Flowers with a Papertrey Ink New Leaf button in the center finished it off. It's hard to see, but I used a little Dazzling Diamonds on the "T".

I was inspired by a card on Pickled Paper Designs for this one.

No matter where you are, who you are with or where you look, inspiration is everywhere!

I'm back.......

I have been pretty busy (who isn't?) with kids, babies being born, a baby shower, birthday parties, and preparing for a trip to Florida that I went on with my husband. I'm just now settling down to update.

Firstly the babies!

This is my great niece, Caelyn Meredith born on March 26, 2010 to my niece Selena and her husband Paul. Caelyn has a sister, Ainsley and a brother, Brayden.




This is my great nephew, Zack Malay, born on April 4, 2010 to my husband's nephew, Kenan and his wife Stephanie.



Congratulations and love to all of my wonderful family!





The baby shower to celebrate Zack was a lot of fun to plan and have. I tried to just base everything on the colors used in Zack's room. A pale bluish-purple, chocolate brown, cream and a light green. It was the first time I was ever the hostess for a baby shower, but I think everyone enjoyed themselves, including Stephanie, my wonderful niece-in-law. I was able to Skype in her mother-in-law, Avril from Barrington, Nova Scotia and her sister-in-law, Glynis from Detroit, Michigan. Technology is wonderful!







I was inspired by so many creative people on some wonderful sites.

This was the cake that I ended up making for the shower.


I used a great White Layer cake recipe I found at BusyCooksAbout.Com. I was inspired to decorate it by a cake that I saw on the Wicked Cakes website. I made sure to frost the cake with Buttercream first. I have my own really simple recipe for Buttercream Frosting. I have been using it on cakes for many years and just add 1/3 cup of good quality cocoa to make a chocolate version. My recipe is as follows:

2 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. Epicure Pure Vanilla Extract
2 - 4 tbsp. cream

Mix with hand mixer until a smooth spreadable consistency. This will be enough to cover a double layer 8" round cake.

The fondant recipe turned out to be very easy and quite tasty, made with marshmallows. I found it at Peggy's Baking Corner. It was a lot easier to work with than I thought it was going to be. The light purple color of the cake was used to match the of the walls in Zack's room. I used gold cardstock and just ran the letters off with my Big Shot and an embosslit alphabet die. I found the whole cake to be a very enjoyable challenge and it tasted great!


The diaper cake was a cinch and took about 20 minutes and about 84 diapers. I rolled the ones in the middle and secured them elastics and then just layered the outside diapers evenly all the way around. Tie with chocolate brown ribbon, stick in a stuffie and done!




These were the baby shower favors. They are simply glassine bags with perennial sweet peas, the flower for the month of April. I printed Zack's name and birthday, the meaning behind and simple instructions on kraft paper. I was inspired by one of my favorite creative persons, Amy Sheffer on her blog Pickled Paper Designs. Check her blog out when you get a minute or two, she has wonderful layering techniques and insides of her cards are almost as beautiful as the outside!




The banner was inspired by Connie Tumm at Splitcoaststampers. This was so quick and easy to make. All supplies used were from Stampin' Up, with the exception of the letters. I just printed them off the computer. Hung up over the mirror was probably not the best place to have put it to take a picture though.


I truly loved being able to share in Stephanie's happiness in the birth of Zack with her mother, Linda, friends and family. It was a great day.

Well, it's late now on Saturday night. I am hoping to get downstairs and be a little creative and will check back in tomorrow and share a fabulous find from my trip to Orlando!

Easter Stuff

I hope the Easter bunny found you! He found us and the children are in a state of chocolate shock and watching some cartoons. They never woke up until 7:00 a.m. Not bad compared to previous years.



We had a fabulous Easter Egg Hunt in the crescent. There were quite a few kids and lots of fun.



This is Tara with her Easter Bunny.





This is one of the kid's neighborhood pals.

Look at the glow!I wonder if this was what the golden, glowing briefcase in Pulp Fiction had in it?





This was a card I made for my husband, Dave. I gave it a vintage french flair with the black
lace/blue flower strip and green leaves are from Prima Marketing. I used Stampin' Up Elegant Eggplant and Very Vanilla cardstock and polka dot window sheet from the Night and Day specialty paper from the Fall 09 Mini, with K&Company green flourish paper. The image was downloaded from http://vintageholidaycrafts.com/. The sentiment was just printed off my computer and the inside simply says "Nothing" because I didn't think there truly was anything better than a naked lady in an egg.

Small dinner today, just us and my lovely lady neighbor, Kendra. I will be running out to buy some bunny ears for the new Malay that we should be getting a phone call about ANYTIME!

More later! Happy Easter!

Chicks and Baskets.......

Only a couple of things to share today. A little bit of Easter inspiration. I just love these little chick egg cup holders. I can't remember who gave them to us or if I picked them up somewhere it was so long ago. They have a little bit of a malevolent look in their eyes, but I still think they are pretty cute.






Set up with the lemons and the daffodils it gives a little bit of sunshine to my kitchen. The lemons are going to be used tomorrow for lemonade at the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt put on by our wonderful neighbors, Maria and Tom. I'll be sure to post some pics of that egg-citing event (Groan)



The one thing that I got finished today (finally) is the Moses Basket for the newest addition to the Malay Clan. This is a basket that I used for my youngest son, Carson. My husband's nephew and and his wife, Kenan and Stephanie, are overdue by a week now. We are hoping for a baby to soon fill this basket for Easter. I'll have to girl it up with some flowers made with my Big Shot if it's not a boy.



I was inspired by this Moses Basket that I saw online at www.caboodle-place.com. It's REALLY nice! Mmmmmmm........maybe I'll be able to make it too.



Well, it's a pretty busytime ahead, lots to do before Easter Sunday. Until then, have a good night and day.