Ocean City Part III

Ok, ok...this will be the last of my vacation posts from Ocean City.  We took LOTS of pics!   Here is a peek at a few more. 

This is everyone except me (I took most all the pics) and my MIL's friend who had already left. 

This pic is from our Date Night.  We took the bus to a DELISH dinner and walked back.  Very nice and relaxing night!  Me and 'honest Abe' as his friend lovingly called him when he saw his facial hair.  LOL!  Don't worry, he's shaved it.  And very handsome =)

Dinner our first night in Ocean City.  It wasn't seafood but was nice enjoying dinner with family.  The Cupcake was glued to my MIL on the opposite side of the table. 

The two youngest BIL's with their two nieces who absolutely adore them! 

It was SO hot and HUMID in Ocean City I thought I was going to pop!  We played put put one night and the Princess enjoyed a spongebob popsicle.  You can tell by the pic how hot it was!  It was borderline miserable!  But being with family made that all better.  ;-)

Next are a few shots from the hotel on the way up and lunch stop on the long drive.  ;-)

The Lil Cupcake didn't want to swim much so here she is playing around on the furniture at the hotel pool area. 

The Princess was a little uneasy at first about swimming.  But by the end of the trip she didn't want anyone helping her.  After all, she is a big girl now!

Me and the baby hanging out pool side while the Princess and Daddy play. 

Anyone recognize this fabulous place we stopped at for lunch?  DELISH, no matter WHERE you are!

The girls enjoying a dry cereal breakfast the morning before we left for our second day of driving. 

And finally, a self portrait.  ;-)  Me, on the drive (as a passenger of course!).  I had to get myself in a few photos, even if they were alone.  Proof, I did vacation too!  ;-)

Our summer is coming to an end.  Can you believe it's already SEPTEMBER???!!!  Wow, time flies!  We are now planning a final trip to the zoo and gearing up for football season!!!!!!!  

Birthday Presents

As promised in an earlier post, I had/have a few crafty projects going on at once and need to post on them!  My first one will be on my latest birthday presents that I spiffed up a bit using my silhouette.  Now, to tell the truth I took my laptop to Ocean City with me on vacation hoping to 'design' my idea and have it ready to cut when I got home.  Could life get any easier?  Nah!  BUT my laptop, the ToSHITa, Toshiba, which has my silhouette software on it bit the dust.  AGAIN!  URGH!  When we got back from vaca the hubby wiped it clean and said "NO INTERNET FOR YOU" until I have a chance to load the virus software (which is still not loaded).  WAH!!!!!!!!!  So I cried and went ahead on my first gift.  See, I lost ALL my silhouette downloads and all my custom fonts when he cleaned it up.  And I can not get those back without internet access. =(  But I did not let that detour me.  Using the fonts and designs preloaded I chugged along.  In comes the first gift.  A friend of mine daughter had a birthday last week.  I purchased a purple lap desk a while back with the intent of using vinyl to decorate and make it PURTY.  ;-)  Well, what I had in mind for design didn't work out because of the Toshiba, however this is the end result:

I was happy with it afterall.  I can just use my other 'idea' for the next lapdesk gift.  I am planning to give one to my niece, Katie, for Christmas.  =) 

Last week was my bestie's birthday.  That heffer took off and went to the beach!  ;-) I didn't get to spend time with her on her bday.  But I am GLAD she was having fun.  Nothing better than being at the Gulf!  Anyway, I am taking her out for a birthday dinner tonight so I had to get busy and whip out her gift 2!  I realized I could download the font files I wanted and use my little thum drive to load them without the internet.  So I downloaded a few and got to work.  I made her a water bottle just like the ones I posted here.  (Font Curlz)  I also had purchased some cute old navy flip flops earlier in the summer.  I threw them in a cute plastic container and whipped out some vinyl for it as well.  I will add something nice from the liquor/package store for her but here's the idea:

My husband has always lovingly called her "nancy pants" (he gives everyone odd nick-names), so I thought it'd be cute to put it on the container.  =)  This font was another free one I downloaded called "chachie".   I am REALLY loving it!   

I am loving using my silhouette for jazzing up gifts!  I've always loved the idea of getting personalized gifts so I hope that my friends and family are enjoying getting them.  They are sure to keep coming unless they tell me otherwise ;-)

What about all of you?  Have you been up to any crafty adventures lately?  I will be linking to my usual parties listed on the side bar so go check them out for some inspiration!  =)

Vacation Recovery

Ever need a vacation, to recover from your vacation???  That's what I'm feeling like!  I know you are thinking, well, you have been back for a week already, right?!  Yup.  Still not back into the swing.  Whew!
So coming up, after my recovery, I have a three crafty projects to share.  YES, I said three.  I have pics of one of them so I need to get it ready and post it.  I used my silhouette for a bday present.  =)  I love that thing!  The other two are so close to being finished I can taste it...but not quite there yet.  And they are SUPER DUPER easy peasy.  Have I said I am still not recovered from vacation, LOL!  Also I still have the last set of pics from our vacation to share.  My BIL's are going to kill me if I don't get these bad boys posted on FB (LOL!).  I STILL can not find the time to get them off the camera and edit so they can be posted.
Also we got a bed for the Lil' Cupcake.  I will be doing a post on her big girl bed soon.  =)  
So, stay tuned.  I have not given up on blogging.  I will be back sooner than later with some crafty posts and family posts to share.  Yall have a great day! 

Game Day Snack

I'm linking up with The Getts Times today for Game Day Food Bon Appetite Party! 




Today I'm sharing a Ranch Chex Mix Recipe!

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted 
• 9 cups Corn, Rice or Wheat Chex cereal (or combination) 
• 2 cups bite-size pretzel twists 
• 2 cups bite-size cheese crackers
• 1 package (1 oz size) ranch dressing mix 
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 250 F. In ungreased 13x9-inch pan, melt butter in oven. Stir in cereal, pretzels and crackers until evenly coated. Stir in dressing mix and cheese until evenly coated. Bake 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes. Spread on waxed paper or foil to cool, about 15 minutes. Store in airtight container.

Break out and enjoy while Yelling WAR EAGLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OR

Go-OOOOOOOOOOOOOO  GIANTS!!!! 

God Gave Me You

We should all feel lucky to have love.  Love of our spouse and love of our children.  At some point in my life I longed for them both.  This song just reminds me of how much God loves us and does give us the desires of our hearts.  =)  Have a good afternoon y'all!

Ocean City Part II

Here are a few more vacation pics.  I still have to get some off of my point and shoot camera.  It has the ones of me and the hubster together.  ;-)  Had a BLAST!  Thoroughly enjoyed the visit with family =)

Obviously we were not dressed for family shots but this is about as good as it got.  LOL!

The Princess

My Lil' Cupcake having LOADS of fun

The Hubby and his 2 younger Brothers

More Boogie Boarding Shots

Hope y'all are having a great week!  I'm super busy.  Trying to remember to breath.  LOL!  Oh, vacation, you were SO much fun while you lasted.  We must meet again and soon!

Day 1: Ocean City Vaca

We are having a blast in Ocean City.  I took lots of pics on day 1.  Gotta get the camera back out soon!  =)

Hubby Boogie Boarding

Mimi and her girls

Youngest BIL boogie boarding

My hottie

BIL and his super sweet and cute girlfriend

Hope yall are having a great Wednesday! 

Be back soon!

We are vacationing with family.  We just arrived last night. In the last two weeks I've been running around trying to get all my responsibilites at work done and get us packed and keep my house clean enough to show. lol! So lack of posting because we are so busy. It's so worth it now. Ok, I'm out, we are getting ready to head to the beach! =)  I'll catch up with you guys later ;o)

Wedding Gift (more vinyl!)

So I mentioned in my last post that I was planning to make a gift to take to a reception.  The invitation said 'no gifts please' but I hate to show up empty handed.  So, I decided to make something for the lovely couple.  =)  I've seen the idea of making coasters ALL over in blogland.  I could not tell you where I originally saw this idea.  I've mainly seen them mod podge with scrapbook paper and then initials or names on them.  I decided to go with a more classic look for these.  I started out with a (set of) blank tile(s) from Lowes. 

I cut out a "S" and "Est. 2010" in black vinyl and applied.  (this pic was taken before I sprayed on the gloss clear acrylic coating for protection, but they look the same)  They look like this:

I still have to run to hobby lobby tomorrow and pick up some flat round corking to stick to the back, but I played around with some ribbon and plan to present the gift like this (except my tiles will be straight, I am just that anal picky.)

Like I said, not my original idea. And frankly, I've seen them so much I have no clue whose orginal idea it is....but it's a goodie, that's fo' sho!   =)

Hope you all like them!  I am linking up to all the applicable parties on my side bar!  I love going to them for inspiration!!!

She's 3

Our Little Missy Princess is 3, make that 3 and a half actually.  She is such a sweetie pie.  She loves to sing.  When you think she isn't listening much to the music that's opening to a cartoon she has watched one time...just play that cartoon the next week and she will repeat the opening song word for word.  Sharp as a tack!  By the way, I'm referring to what has become her FAV cartoon.  Strawberry shortcake!  "That girl's so sweet just like her name Straw-b-b-b-berry Strawberry Shortcake"  Uh-hum.  Sorry, it's an addictive tune.  LOL!  So the princess, she likes to color and draw.  She often asks me to help her color in the lines now or to 'draw' her name.  And many times she will mother our lil' cupcake.  Taking care of any need or making certain I do if she *thinks* it is being over looked.  She is an awesome big sister.  BUT occasionally she gets annoyed with her "baby" as she calls her.  If the Lil' Cupcake gets to curious about some current toy that the Princess is playing with, like say, a hula-hoop.  All heck can break loose.  And we will see things like this:

    Or this:

But soon, very soon she ends up like this:

I think it must be a symptom of her age that she cries so easily.  She is ultra dramatic.  Just the other night I told her no powdered donuts because we were literally going to eat dinner in like 5 minutes.  The water works POURED down.  You'd have thought I told her she was going to bed without dinner!  LOL.   She is my sweet girl though.  She is so sensative and also takes direction fairly easily.  For punishment we send her to her room and have her sit on her bed for a while.  She typically has the waterworks dried up before we get back to her room (which is minutes).  Anyway, we are getting ready for a LONG roadtrip to get to have a vacation.  We've promised her a Pillow Pet (as seen on tv, yah, thanks Saturday morning cartoons!).  The pillow pet comes with a cost...she has to try to be on her best behavior.  I picked one up for both girls the other night at Walgreens.  Did you know they carry As seen on TV stuff?  I got this one for the Princess (it was the one she was requesting):

and this one for the Lil' Cupcake:

I think they will keep them occupied for short spurts of time during our FOURTEEN hour drive coming up.  If you disagree please just don't tell me.  LOL!   (And no we are not going to Disney World for this vacation.  But this should prepare us as to whether or not we want to fly when we do end up making that happen.  LOL) 

And here is one more set of pics from my Dad's bday week to share:

I have some crafty things coming up to show you soon.  Yes, you guessed it....more vinyl.  I picked up a little something to make for the girls to use during our upcoming roadtrip.  I also have a wedding reception to go to for a very dear friend.  The invitation says "no gifts please".  I plan to make a 'little' something to take.  I'm sure it's nothing new to those who have been around blog world but it will be my first try at it.  I hate to show up empty handed.  Anyway, I will post on those soon so stick around!  ;-)  I hope you all have a wonderful Friday!!!

Vinyl Again?

I've been using vinyl like CRAZY in my crafts for the last two weeks! I have one more post to share with yall on what I've been creating using my silhouette. I actually meant to get this post up sooner, but here goes.
I mentioned in earlier posts that my dad's bday last week!  I grabbed a shirt for him (his usual gift) and then thought I wanted to do something a little special. I decided that I'd ask him what his favorite Bible verse was and create something for him to hang on his wall. He quickly responded with Phillipians 4:3 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"
So what did I come up with? I ran across ax 11x14 simple black frame at the local dollar store for less than $10. I removed the back and paper filling and replaced that with ribbon and scrapbook paper that I already had on hand. Next I used my Silhouette SD to create the words of the Bible verse using different fonts. That's the joy of a silhouette SD. Fonts cost you NOTHING, NADDA, ZIP! If it's available for free download as a font, you can have it! =) I went with black vinyl and cut out the words and applied them directly to the glass. With a little creativity using the fonts and size of the wording I wanted to emphasize, here is what I came up with:

What do you think? My dad loved it. I can't wait for him to get home and hang it up so that he can read that verse everytime he walks by. =)  Oh, and I also made him a coconut cake.  It's his favorite. 

Are you wondering if this is the end of my vinyl posting? Nah, you know it's not! I have some heat transfer vinyl ideas just brewing in the back of my head. The only thing is those projects will likely take up more time! I will have to work hard to find some so that I can get to work and show you all what kind of fun that can be 2!  Maybe after my vacation which isn't for 2 more weeks. 

I am linking to the applicable parties on my side bar this week =)