Happy St. Patrick's Day

And Happy Birthday to Mom. (The birthday wishes are from Tally, and you can't possibly get mad at that little sweetie.)

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A Birhtday Message From Tally

Can't wait to see you next week!!!

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Fashionably Late

Cuz sometimes you just get behind...

I stamped the dress image on the white paper, as well as on a sheet of orange. Then I cut out just the dress of the orange paper, and taped it on top of the white. So, you get a pretty orange dress, with the hanger lined up perfectly on the white paper behind it. Stamps, "Humor in High Heels" from Stampin' Up.

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Happy Birthday Kitty!

HistoryGirlie's daughter Kitty is turning 2 today!!! And to celebrate, she's having an Elmopolooza birthday bash, complete with Elmo cake, Elmo decor, Elmo outfit... and so on and so forth. (Side note - don't you miss the days when your birthday party could focus solely around your absolute favorite thing at that particular moment, and it was totally acceptable? I want a Starbucks-banana-loaf themed party.)

Anyway, in honor of Elmopolooza 2009, I sent Kitty the card below. Normally I like recipients to see their cards in person before I share them with the blogosphere, but in this case, I have no clue how long it's going to take to get to her, so I'd rather Kitty (or at least her Mom) see it on her actual birthday.



Happy 2nd Birthday from Elmo, NavyGirl, and NavyGuy!!!

P.S. What birthday party theme have you always wanted to have? (I'll admit, when I was younger, I actually really wanted a Babysitter's Club themed birthday party... we'd all dress up like our favorite characters and have a pretend meeting, and make Kid-Kits... and... too much information?)

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#497

A big birthday shout-out to NavyGuy's dad today! This isn't actually the card he'll be receiving in the mail (because I forgot to photograph it), so instead I'll share the card that HistoryGirlie received last week for her birthday (yep... August is quickly becoming a busy birthday month for our family).
This card was a Sketch For You to Try from Jen Del Muro - I love how the little bow on top of the present turned out! Happy Belated Birthday to HistoryGirlie :)

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The Post Office Strikes Again...

Well, this was the birthday card that TWP was going to receive on her birthday this Saturday. Sadly, a few problems have arisen...


1) I didn't get it in the mail in time. My fault.
2) It was just returned to me by the post office because it "allegedly" did not have enough postage on it. Bah. USPS's fault.
3) TWP is in California for her birthday!!! Sort of her fault, but we'll blame it on her hubby :)

The card was inspired by Maren Benedict's style. She has a talent for combining lots of patterned paper and seemingly unrelated products to create really colorful and unique cards. The celebrate doodad on the front is a chipboard sticker that I got in a $1 spot pack from JoAnn's.

Hopefully TWP is having a marvelous time in wine country and FlowerGirl hasn't driven her completely crazy yet :) Perhaps I'll have managed to get her card re-sent back to her by the time she gets back from her trip!

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Happy Birthday Lucy!

Sister's dog is celebrating her second birthday today (oh yes, they celebrate big time), and after Sister's big blog shout-out in April, Brother-in-Law wanted to make sure Lucy got the same attention.

(Here she is in her bumblebee Halloween costume that Auntie Mugs made her wear...)

Two years old and still a crazy puppy! Hope you have a wonderful day playing with the other puppies at Happy Hound puppy day care today - (click here to go to the webcam and watch Lucy play in realtime... yes, completely ridiculous, but totally irresistible).

And tonight's birthday dinner is a burrito bowl with rice and chicken... yum! Enjoy your day Lucy!

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Cheers and well, more cheers!

Cheers... to getting my latest Stampin' Up order!!!! Check out these schnazzy stamps I've been playing with (constantly) for the last twelve hours:

Polka Dot Punches (I got these through the Sale-A-Bration 2009 catalog, which sadly, is no longer available)

Congrats (another Sale-A-Bration set)Warm WordsYou can expect to see lots of cards featuring these stamps in the future!

Cheers... to a great babysitting job last night. The little one couldn't be cuter (and he's super well behaved), and he even made me a birthday card!

Cheers... to spending all day today with NavyGuy, celebrating my birthday! :) Of course it'd be better if all my family and friends were here, but I'll take what I can get. I'm officially in my late 20s now (I consider 27 the brink of late 20s); I probably still have a few more years before I need to start acting like a real adult, right?

Hope everyone else has a marvelous day!!!

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The Cheap Gal's Birthday Card

I opted for a different take on NavyGuy's birthday card this year. Since he's been getting handmade bday cards from me for some years now, he's pretty much gotten one with each of the various birthday themed stamps I have...Now, usually, that would be a perfect justification for buying new stamps! But, I'm trying to exercise a modicum of restraint and think outside the box. So, for this card, I chose to go a completely non-stamp path.

But NavyGal, how did you get the adorable quotation on the front of the card?!?!

Why readers, I'm so glad you asked!

See, basically - I cheated. I have no cute stamp that has that exact phrase, spaced out the way I needed it. Instead, I googled birthday quotes, retyped one I liked in a word document, played with the fonts and sizes, and then printed the quote on a piece of blue cardstock, fed through our printer. Voila! I felt guilty for all of eight seconds, and then I was pretty pleased with myself for coming up with a solution that didn't require spending any more money.

The rest of the card is fairly straightforward; take a green strip of paper and cut a bunch of slits to make the grass. Layer two different size circles, and draw a face pattern to make the sun. Cut various strips of ribbon (it could be all the same color, or a variety) and glue them down on the blue background first, then attach the circles on top using foam tape or pop dots. The butterfly is double layered, created from a Martha Stewart butterfly punch that I will take to the grave with me. In order to give the butterfly dimension, you only put glue on the "body" of the butterfly, so that the wings are not attached to the card and you can bend them upward.

NavyGuy was pretty happy with his card this year, and I like how colorful it turned out. I used the "cheating" technique in another card, so I'll explain more about it in the future.

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Party Time!

In celebration of NavyGuy's 27th birthday (I know - isn't he old?), we had Roomie #1 and another good Navy friend join us for dinner, cake, and presents. Sadly for NavyGuy, he had to do most of the cooking on his own birthday!

The menu was steaks and potatoes on the grill (see potato recipe below), Caesar salad, rosemary bread, and...... Ice Cream Cake! (Lucky for NavyGuy, I did not take a photo of him once he devoured his piece of cake - his lips and tongue were stained scary blue from the frosting.)

Awww... he looks so happy to be celebrating! Now make a wish...
Yeah, he definitely spit a little bit on the cake. We ate it anyway. It was ice-creamy good.

Campfire Grilled Potatoes
Spray aluminum foil with Pam (liberally) and then layer sliced potatoes. Add shredded cheese and chopped onions. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the potato mound with another sheet of aluminum foil and pinch all of the sides together to make a giant pouch. Then, cook on the grill for about 40-45 minutes (depending on the amount of 'taters), flipping pouch a couple times.

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