Card Camp Take 2

Another busy day over here, but thought I'd pop in and share a quick card I made during G's nap today.

It's using the color combo from Summer Card Camp again.

 Everything on this card is from PTI. I love those little birds.

 Also, I made homemade chewy granola bars Sunday night. They were all gone last night. I'll share the recipe later.  I would have taken a picture, but they were gone before I had the chance!

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Camp Day 1: Technology-1 Danielle-0

So I am participating in Summer Card Camp 2011, yesterday was the first day.  I was pretty excited. I know, some of you think it's silly to get so excited about something like this, but it's a deviation from my everyday norm and a way to get creative. I anxiously prepared breakfast and got G situated, flipped open my laptop to log on, and clicked the sweet little Safari icon...I waited and waited and waited.

No internet! Fail. I tried everything under the sun to get it to work, no luck.  I finally had the husband call Comcast  and they said they could send someone out today.

Success! I have internet again.  Luckily I was able to open the PDF on my phone and could see the color combo for the week (even though I couldn't read anything because the font was microscopic). So, below is the color combo, and my card.

 I really do love these colors, so bright and summery. (I used Distress Inks for all 3 Hero Arts butterfly stamps). I hope you enjoy, there is a lot of talent floating around Camp, so I'm a little nervous to share my work!

For now I am off to check out what's going on for day 2 of camp.

I've abandoned doing supply lists for now just because of time. If you want to know what products I used, or how I did something just comment below or shoot me an email neatandtangled@gmail.com

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Any Gardner's Out There??

I planted some beautiful lily bulbs 2 Fall's ago.  Deep orange, and deep purple (almost black).  They bloomed for the first time last summer, and were beautiful! Just the colors I was searching for...

My lilies have bloomed again this season...I have my beautiful deep orange, and red. Yes, I said RED. Not purple. Red.

Here's the orange...

and purple turned red?

What happened? I told my mom about it, she said something about the acidity of our soil. I have no idea. I tried to Google it, but had no luck. Anybody out there know? I mean, they are still beautiful, but they don't quite fit with the color scheme I have going. Will they be red again next year?

I also have some gorgeous Clematis for those of you who care

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Coffee, my friend.

Yes, I still indulge in a cup of regular coffee every now and then even though pregnant. Judge me if you will, but the doctors say you can have up to 200mg of caffeine a day and be safe (yes, I do actually measure my cup of coffee to determine how much caffeine I ingest, it's the scientist in me).  I had a cup every so often with little G too, and he turned out all right.

I bought this stamp set from Hero Arts months ago, and finally put it to use.

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Flowers

So, a month or so ago I ordered a silicone mold from Mold Muse on etsy.  I love the look of resin, but wanted to try it with clay first before I invested anymore $$.  So, here's the result...

I first tried it with a whitish-gray shimmery clay, so easy to do!

 Then I decided I wanted to try to color the clay.  I figured alcohol inks might work...

Semi-success...I tried to make it purple, but it ended up more of a bluish.  I would have had to use the whole bottle of ink if I wanted it to be a dark purple like I was trying for. Next time I'll just buy different color clay.

Then I thought to myself, "Hmm...maybe I could paint them with alcohol ink".  Another partial success. I'm pretty sure it could have turned out better (more even color), but I was too lazy to walk downstairs to get a paint brush.  I just put a few drops of alcohol ink over the top of the flower and tried to use a paper towel to get it in all those little petals.  Not too bad.

Can't wait to add these to cards or make them into cute jewelry.

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It's About Darn Time!

Here's a card! I made it for the current challenge over at The Playdate Cafe. I loved the color combo so it was pretty easy to come up with something. I also threw it in for the CAS-ual Friday challenge (my first time playing over there!).

I also didn't have a whole lot of time (or space) so I kept it pretty CAS.

I even braided the twine for a little extra somethin' somethin'

(I tried the photobucket trick but my pictures are STILL coming out blurry, I don't know what the problem is. They are super crisp when I view them in iPhoto and I use the same settings I always have...)

 Well little G and I are off to swim at our cousin's pool for the afternoon!

PS- I took my first prenatal yoga class last night and just about fell asleep by the end, very relaxing.

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Simply Delicious Sunday

I'm always trying my darndest to make healthy meal choices, especially now that I'm pregnant.  I generally feel better when I stick to a pretty fresh diet, but I also have terrible sweet tooth.  Hard candy, chocolate, ice cream, soda, you name it, if there is sugar in it, I'll like it (if you've seen the movie Elf, I'm pretty much like Buddy).   I am pretty good about keeping my sweet consumption in check, I mostly satisfy it by eating lots of fruit.

Every now and then I like my ice cream though, so here's my attempt to "health it up" as I like to say. It is actually quite refreshing and delicious (although chocolate ice cream will always be my favorite).

Ingredients:
1/2 gallon vanilla frozen yogurt (I like Turkey Hill Vanilla Bean)
1 container frozen lemonade concentrate (12 ounces)

Directions:
- Let frozen yogurt soften, empty it all into large mixing bowl
- Add about 1/2 container (6 ounces) of lemonade concentrate (more or less if you want more or less lemon flavor)
- Mix! (I use my electric mixer)
- Put mixture back into yogurt container and stick in freezer (or eat immediately like I do)

I also thought it would be yummy to add some fresh berries, but have yet to do so.

Let me know if you try it!

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It's a bird, it's a....

bunny!

 

Many of you guessed a bird as my work in progress, and to be honest at that point it could have gone in any direction.  Perhaps I will run with the bird idea for my next project.

In other news, I have been organizing my craft stuff for the move to my new room.  The basement passed the final inspection and now I can put everything in it! I got a few of these CD boxes as well as magazine holders for my stamp sets and cardstock.

 I still have yet to decide on a desk(s) for my room.  We are going to be making another trip to Ikea in the next week or so to pick up a few more items, so I will have to make a decision soon.

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Well Looky What I Did

As you know, my posts have been lacking anything crafty lately.  The past few months I have focused my creative energies on picking out paint, furniture, organization, decor, lighting, etc for the basement and new nursery.  I had been sketching some ideas for cards, wall art, and crochet projects along the way, and now that there is a brief intermission in home projects I finally sat down to work on something.  Seeing as how all my stamping stuff is in boxes, I picked up my trusty crochet hooks and got to work.  While I love the look of traditional amigurumi (just google it), I usually don't crochet in that style.  Well, lets just say, my little creation is pretty cute already and I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot more like it. Expect to see some new things in my Etsy shop soon.

I finished half yesterday, and I plan on doing the rest tonight.  For now, any guesses on what the finished product will be?

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Beach Baby

When I was little my parents didn't have tons of disposable income, so we never really went on any extravagant vacations.  I honestly could have cared less, at 3-8 years old it didn't take much to impress me.  Year after year we went to the same hotel at the same beach and I loved every minute of it. Mornings at the beach, afternoons in the pool, and evenings on the boardwalk. My parents were probably bored out of their skull with the monotony of my daily wishes, who really wants to watch their kids swim in an indoor pool for 3 hours?  But they would indulge me by playing Marco Polo, doing swim races (can't tell you how many times I kicked my dad in the face), and whatever made-up games I could imagine.

We could only afford to go for a few days, but I was always over the moon.

As I got older, my parents financial situation improved, and our vacations increased in length.  We still always went to the same place. We walked the same streets and boardwalk, played the same games, rode the same rides (with the exception of a new one every few years), ate at the same places, fed the same angry aggressive geese (which I was scared of, but still insisted on going to see).  These places became such a part of me. Some of my best memories are from those vacations. I remember so vividly the sounds, sights, and smells. I always dreamed of the day when I would be able to have my own family, and do the same things.

As I got older, our family situation began to change, life changed, vacation changed. Every summer I still thought of my favorite beach. Even though the family that used to drive 2 hours listening to The Beach Boys on repeat, wasn't what it used to be, I still clung to those wonderful moments that I had been blessed with. 

*****

My birthday was this weekend, and so last minute the husband suggested we head to my favorite place for a few days to relax and celebrate.

The weather was perfect, and little G soaked up every minute of everything we did.  The poor kid was so pooped at the end of each day. He played in the sand, and jumped over waves with Dad (his new favorite game). He got to walk on the boardwalk, play a few games (he is still too little for most of them), swim in the hotel pool, eat ice cream (which we don't do at home), and stay up late.  One of his favorite things was playing with the mini fridge in the hotel room (doesn't take much for an almost 2 year old).

I could look in his eyes and just see him taking it all in.  Every sound, smell, and sight. It was like a dream for me. On our last morning, we went to breakfast at my favorite little breakfast/ice cream parlor.  A man and woman were sitting behind G, and he kept turning around to say hi (pretty sure he's going to be a politician when he grows up the way he says hi and waves to everyone).  The woman turned to talk to him (she also said she had 3 older boys, and wanted to steal G because she missed having a little boy around), she was really sweet to him.  We chatted for a few minutes, and she turned to go back to her meal. Before she did she looked at our little family, and at me and said "You are so blessed".  I looked at my table and said quietly, "I know". I went back to my pancakes (a special birthday treat), and tried my hardest not to cry.  Being pregnant, I cry pretty easily these days, but I'm pretty sure I would have teared up even if I wasn't.  

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