It is Great to Be 8!

My sweet nephew turned 8 years old today. We wish we could be with him to celebrate. Unfortunatly we live on opposite sides of the country and haven't seen him for almost a year and a half.

Luckily, we will get to see him (and his family!) next month. We are so excited.

I did make him a birthday card and have a present for him. Now I just need to get it in the mail!

My card was inspired by the challenge on the Cards blog to make a card with a window. I haven't played along with their challenges before, but I decided to join in on the fun this week.

Here's the front of the card.

Here's the inside. It just seemed like the inside needed a little decorating too. I left room on the top fold of the card to write a birthday message.
What a fun challenge! Hopefully I will play along with Cards again soon.

Supplies: Paper: The Girls' Paperie; Alpha: Cosmo Cricket

Sunday Morning Pancakes

The first thing I heard this morning (while I was still in bed trying to sleep in a little) was "Mom, what's for breakfast? I'm sooooooo hungry." I was able to get a little more sleep, but then pulled myself out of bed to figure out what was for breakfast.

I was in the mood to try something new, so my son and I browsed through a few breakfast recipes at Tasty Kitchen.

As soon as he saw this recipe, he wanted me to make it. He loves pancakes and berries, so this was the perfect combo for him. He was such a great helper and got out all of the ingredients, cracked the eggs and helped clean up.

I must admit that I don't really get excited about pancakes. I will make them for my kids once every couple of weeks and I don't even take a bite of one. Maybe it's just seems like I'm eating a bunch of white flour and it doesn't sound very appetizing.

The new recipe we found had quite a bit of oats plus wheat flour, so I was excited to give these a try.

We only had regular oats (not quick oats) so I just let the batter sit for about 10 minutes after mixing it up so the oats could soften in the milk. It seemed to work because they really were delicious. They were very hearty and filling. The berry sauce was a little tart and just slightly sweet>>>a perfect combination!

And just to make them a little more tasty, we added a little whipped cream to the top of the berries.My five year old ate four of these. So not only did I enjoy them, but I'm pretty sure they were a hit with the kids too!

Birthdays and Graduation

I hope you've been having a great weekend so far. We enjoyed a graduation party and one daughter got to go to a birthday party last night. I love getting to spend time with our family and friends!

Here's a look at the birthday card I put together for my daughter's friend.The Echo Park papers have been so fun to play with. They are just so bright, playful and happy.

I also put a card together for the graduation party.For the background on this card, I used the cover sheet that came with the collection pack. It had strips of all of the paper so you could see what paper comes in the pack. Plus, it even had the blue scallop along the side. I love it when I can use the packaging on a project!

The paper, alpha, journaling card, banner stickers all came from Scrapbook Circle's June add-on kit from Echo Park. The little "celebrate" and "happy birthday" stickers are Girls' Paperie from the June SC kit.

Last Day of School

Well, the last day of school is here and summer has officially begun. We are starting off our weekend tonight and tomorrow with two birthday parties and a graduation party. We wouldn't want to sit around an be bored! Ha!

Wanted to share a card I made for my daughter to give to her preschool teacher. I can't believe all of my kids will be in elementary school next year. Sometimes I think I'll be a little sad that all of my kids are in school, but other times I think about all of the other things I will do while they are in school. School starts up at the end of July, so it won't be long before our summer break is over and I'll see what it's like having all three kids in school all day.

Hope you have some fun weekend plans!

Card supplies: Paper (Girls' Paperie) and Black/White Tape (Pink Paislee) are from the June Scrapbook Circle kit. Tiny alphas: Cosmo Cricket.

No. 1 Teacher

I'm not sure where the school year has gone, but tomorrow is my kids' last day of school.

I was going to do teacher gifts, but the kids' classes had some leftover money from the class fund we all put money into at the beginning of the year and that money will be buying a nice teacher gift.

Even though we aren't doing a gift, I think it is important that my kids each write a thank you note to their teacher. We've have had amazing teachers this year and I want them to know they are appreciated. So far, I've put one thank you card together. Looks like tonight I'm going to make two more.

I did pick up a small package of chocolate truffles for each teacher so the kids would have a little something to give with their card. You can never go wrong with chocolate, right?

Everything on the card came from the June Scrapbook Circle kit.

Simple Cards

If you are looking for a quick cards idea, I have one to share with you today.

This isn't one of those fancy, layered designs, but just a quick, simple way to make a handmade greeting.

If you have a square punch, that will make this card very easy.

Just punch 5 squares. I used my 1.75 inch square punch.

Arrange the squares on a folder piece of cardstock.
In the open place where you don't have a square, find a sticker or other little embellishment to fill the space.

For the heart and scallop on this card, I cut the designs from fuzzy white vinyl with my Silhouette and then misted them with Glimmer Mist to coordinate with the cards.
These are great for any occasion!

Supplies: White Cardstock: Bazzill, Patterned Paper: Echo Park add-on for the June Scrapbook Circle kit.

Packing Kits and They're Ready to Go

Today Jennie and Diana helped me pack up all of the Scrapbook Circle June and July kits. I just love being surrounded by piles of scrapbooking supplies. There's just something cool about piles and piles of patterned paper around me.

Here's a look at the June kit. I'll have to share some July peeks soon.

More pictures of the kit can be found here.

Now I just need to find some time to play a little more with this kit.