Paper in bloom....

I created a few of these totally cute pocket cards today. I followed THIS tutorial......Stephanie's directions are fantastic!

Materials: KiWi Kiss cardstock, Bella Rose DSP, white Gel Pen, Scallop Punch, 5 Star Flower Punch for leaves, Big Shot, Cherry Blossom Embosslit, brads, dimensionals, & Very Vanilla Taffeta ribbon

Here is a view with the card removed:

Here is the section that pulls out with your message:


~Sorry, pictures are somewhat blurry....having trouble getting clear pictures lately.~

These girly cards could be used for a variety of occasions.
Mine will soon have new owners!

My first crochet project!

The Arts & Craft Center on Post had a crochet class that I took several weeks ago. My Grandma had taught me some basic stitches when I was probably 8 or 9 years old and that was about the extent of my crochet skills....the only thing I remembered how to do was the chain.....YIKES!! I also had no idea how to read a pattern so I had/have a lot to learn.

I chose to crochet an afghan throw for my oldest son as my first project. I really like how the pattern has a completely different look and feel on both sides. My son liked the pattern and picked out the colors.....not bad for a 14 year old.

Here are the results after the first time I sat down to work on the project:


The ladies at the Arts & Craft Center helped me get started. One of the stitches is a front post double crochet (fpdc) which took a little figuring out!

Materials: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Almond, Terracotta, Hazelnut, and Cactus, & N15 hook

Here is a picture of the side that has a raised texture:


Here is the opposite side that is smooth:


On a different note....
I was supposed chaperon a trip with my daughters to Europa Park this weekend with Girl Scouts. I had to back out on Friday because both my 5 month and 2 1/2 year old were sick. When sickness hits it hits hard with 5 kiddos! Anyway, I dropped the girls off at the Girl Scout Hut on Saturday morning at 6:30 (shocked I made it there at that ridiculous Sat. hour). This is the first time they have gone somewhere overnight without me. The house has been much quieter and less messes have been made, however, I'm looking forward to them returning tonight. I'm sure they had a great time and can't wait to hear about their trip!

Words of praise....

April 22nd is officially Girl Scout Leader Appreciation Day. This year we planned to have an appreciation luncheon for all of the Leaders at the Zum Stern. I wasn't able to attend today because I'm home with 2 sick kids and to top it off I'm feeling awful. I hate being sick....thank goodness it doesn't happen very often.

We made a nice little gift package for each of the leaders with products from Bath & Body Works. I made a thank you card to give with each of the gifts. I've had the supplies for these cards out for several days because I thought I was going to work on them way before I was actually able to. I planned to emboss the "Thank You" on the front of the card, but when I went to use the embossing powder it was no where to be found. I imagine a curious little 2 year old has hijacked it! I'm sure I'll eventually find an empty little jar somewhere around the house. I LOVE the look of embossing because it just adds a nice finished and professional look. Overall, I'm happy with the cards, but sure wish they were embossed.

My 2 year old was sitting next to me, well practically on me, as I was making these cards. As I tied the first ribbon I heard, "you gonna cut that Mommy?" and I said yes. I then snipped each end of the ribbon and then I heard with much excitement and amazement, "good JOB Mommy!" with big eyes and a huge smile. I heard this praise 19 more times until I finished the last card..... just too cute!!

Here are the cards that I made:

Supplies: Kiwi Kiss & Basic Black card stock, Raspberry Tart Designer Paper, Thank You Kindly stamp set, Cameo Coral ribbon, Black Brads, Scallop Punch, Paper Piercer, Black StazOn, and Dimensionals

Outdoor living complete

I mentioned in my last post that we had purchased flowers for our terrace. We have an awesome outdoor living area! It looked really nice last summer and then somehow it just went down hill and I mean way down! There was broken glass from something that blew over, lots of dead plants, and dirt that has landed up there over time.

Here is a glimpse before we cleaned and planted:


The kids helped me plant LOTS of flowers which they situated all over the place (spared you a picture of every one...was tempted though). We also planted herbs, green onions, kiwi, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, and beef steak tomatoes. They are very excited about the strawberries!

Here is the terrace now:

....and 2 of my little helpers

All we have left to do is hang the "See Rock City" birdhouse that I finally put together. Purchased it just before we moved here almost 1 1/2 years ago!! I needed a bigger helping hand so that will be for later today. You can see it sitting in the chair waiting for my oldest son to get home from school.

Tulips are in bloom....

I absolutely LOVE flowers! I've been ready to plant for a while now, but knew it was just too early considering the unpredictable weather here. I feel like now is the time so we headed over to Vogelweh today to purchase flowers for our terrace. I take it one area at a time....so the front yard is next....woohoo! We made a pit stop on our way in Landstuhl and boy am I glad we did. We saw a beautiful field full of tulips. I was excited and the kids couldn't wait to get out to pick their favorites. They were somewhat disappointed when I said we'd have to stop on the way home because I didn't want them to wilt waiting for us in the BX. They got over it, however, They didn't let me forget when we were leaving with our trunk full of flowers and soil. "Mom the tulips...don't forget to stop ok" is all I heard until we were finally there.

I've found that people here are very trustworthy and use the honor system quite often. We found this "honor system" used at a castle, flower fields, and at horse lessons that my kids were taking. A field is planted with flowers (variety throughout the season) and then a sign is hung listing how much each flower costs. It is assumed that everyone will put their money into the little money slot. The tulips were only .30 Euro each which is a bargain in my book! There is one of these fields close to my house which I'm looking forward to going to once their flowers are in bloom. Will miss this trust when we move back to the states!

So, we headed to the fields which looked more like my kids running and me trying to stop them before they break off the flowers or trample them. We already look a bit freakish to the Germans because they see me with 5 kids and wonder are they ALL hers?? My 2 1/2 year old did manage to grab one before I could get to him, but that's ok. There was a wonderful variety of tulips and colors to choose from. We brought them home and created a few bouquets around the house.

Here they are:

And here is a picture of a few that I purchased yesterday on my way home:

Did I mention that I LOVE flowers??

My 1st official blog entry!

I remember going over to some stranger's house to purchase a Humanities II text book and somehow hearing that her boyfriend was writing on something he was calling a blog. I thought that was the weirdest thing I'd ever heard of...I mean WHY would someone want to journal on the internet of all things??? Sad to say, but I thought the same thing about the internet when I opened my first email account in '95 which was done because it was a course requirement...now I don't think I could survive without the internet! Crazy, but true.

So....here I sit typing my first post on this strange thing called a blog which I've been wanting to do for quite some time now. Tonight seemed like a good time to get started and so I did!

This was a wonderful day spent with friends and lots of creativity. I am very excited about a project that I was able to finish today, well almost finish, for 2 special pieces of wall art that are waiting for pictures of my children. I just need to take a couple good pictures AND get them printed to complete the project (this is the part where I procrastinate). A picture will hopefully come soon!

The frames for this project were purchased at the IKEA in Metz while searching for the perfect fabric to create curtains for the Girl Scout Hut. The material was found...all 28 meters....and still sits untouched mainly because I'm dreading measuring and cutting ALL of that fabric! The soon to be orange and blue curtains will look great in the Hut ....Goooooo Gators (that's for you Babe!). Yes, we did search another IKEA that was a little closer, however their selection was slim so why not go on a little road trip??