Today Was My Birthday!

Well, there you have it - today was indeed my birthday :-) But somehow, it just isn't as much fun as when I was a kid. It seemed like every other day in many ways; I still had to feed the kids breakfast, still had to make lunch, still had to do laundry, still had to clean, still had to change diapers, and yes, I still had to shower! I even had to make my own birthday cake, but that's a story I refuse to go into right now :-)

But I also got to sleep in an hour later, get two hours of kid free shopping :-), buy new jewelry from my favorite sterling silver boutique, buy new stamps and ink from Michaels, get cards in the mail, get phone calls from friends and family, dance with my kids to music I like, eat birthday cake (YUM!), eat at Outback (yet again YUM!), and eat the birthday sundae at Outback (yet again YUM!).

So I guess all in all, even if it isn't as much fun as when we were kids, it's all in how you look at it!

Happy Birthday to me and to anyone else who is blessed to be born on this day!

P.S. I am 25 again for anyone who is wondering - that was such a good year *wink* I think I'll stick with it!

Itzy Bitzy, Cutey Patootey?

I love, love, love these little bugz from C.C. Designs! They are so adorable! I was going to give this one to my husband, just for being such a great guy! But after I added the flowers, it really doesn't fit his personality anymore :-) I think I might add another little flower to the other bugz head and send it to my cousin Tricia, who I have written about previously. She has had a really rough week, and I think she could use a little pick me up.

Anyway, I just got these Luv Bugz from Christine at ATS this week, and I couldn't wait to do something with them. I had purchased the Junkitz Salsa Pad a few weeks ago, and I thought that would work great with these little bugz; it's such fun paper!

The base and the red are from Bazzill, not sure which colors exactly, I bought them at the CKC convention in preformed packs.

The base is 4 1/2 x 4 1/2. The White is Papertrey Ink's Stamper's Select, of course! I stamped the Itzy Bitzy Luv Bugz with Brilliance Graphite Black ink. I cut that out with a Marvy Giga Scalloped Punch and then highlighted the edges with a light blue gelly roll pen. The bugz are colored with Prismacolor Pencils and OMS. I added Xmas Red Stickles to her flower, and then put a little blue gem in the middle for some dimension and sparkle. I layered that on the Bazzill red and added blue dots again with the gelly roll pen to mimic the circles in the paper.

I glued that on to the Salsa paper and then added my primas and brads before gluing that layer on top of the base to hide all my work. The brads are all Making Memories. I think it turned out so cute! I was very pleased with this one, and amazingly, this one didn't take me all that long. (I can stare at my desk forever trying to figure out what to do; my husband says that's because I have too much stuff - GASP - Blasphemy!)


Hope you enjoy your day today! Thanks for visiting!

Let's Pay It Forward!

I found this on Angel Wild's blog Angelosity, and I think this a fabulous idea! So, I wanted to send it forward to anyone who would like to do the same. This is a great way to make some new friends and to send something to make someone's day (I know how much I love to get fun mail!). Plus, did you ever see the movie "Pay It Forward"? If not, I highly recommend it - one of the best movies EVAH! This is a small way to maybe make a small difference in someone's life - we all love new goodies, right? :-) So, I will send some goodies in the mail (ribbon, chipboard, this-n-thats) out to the first person who comments here. But, please remember you have to put the icon on your blog and send some goodies out to someone else. Thanks for visiting!

P.S. send me your home address via my email at kaceycant@yahoo.com

Funny Thing About Life...Well Maybe Not So Funny...

OK, in the midst of a not so funny (ha-ha!) world, I have managed over time to find some humor in it all. Most recently in this... I took my daughter for her checkup a little while back and the doctor asked if she was talking. I said "Uh-huh!" Doctor: "Is she putting two words together?" ME: "UH-huh!" Doctor: "Is she putting three words together?", ME: "Uh-huh!". Doctor: "She is talking in full sentences?" as if in disbelief (she doesn't speak in front of him, only cries, HYSTERICALLY!), and I again I reply "Uh-huh!" He looked surprised, but in a non-believer way. So, she goes for her two year checkup, he comes out into the waiting room to get a parent who has brought their older child in, and sees my daughter talking away to another child, older than her, having a full fledged conversation, hand motions and all. We go back to see him, and he apologizes for not believing me when I said she could talk. I just smiled. I had a feeling he didn't, but who really cares, right. I know she can talk, and many times a day wish she would stop (LOL!), so who really cares. This brings me to the funny (not funny as in ha-ha!, but funny as in huh?) things I am finding...

Why do we place so much importance on what other people think or feel about us? Today I got an "email" from someone asking why it is that she can't seem to make and keep friends, or make relationships in general work when they are the things she wants the most in life. Yes, an email! Rather personal question for a mass email (at least 10 people on this list). I wanted to reach out to her, even though I myself have mixed feelings about her. My first instinct was to address it honestly, but given this person's history, I called my husband and asked him for guidance :-) (I often stick my foot in my mouth). He said, "tell her to talk to me", he is a lot more tactful at times like these. My counseling side screams out for honesty! Sometimes in real life I have to surpress that side of me :-) or it gets me in trouble.

Here's my problem these days, I don't care about insignificant things like this anymore. I can't! I want to, but I can't! This is why: that cousin that I wrote about last month, she had her first shot at Chemo, and they learned she was allergic to Taxol, the drug used in this particular type of treatment. They pumped her up with steroids a week later and tried again. She did ok for the first few days, and then developed a high fever, only to find out that she now has a Staph infection, MRSA, probably the worst Staph as it is immune to almost every antibiotic. They can not continue with the chemo until she gets rid of this infection, if she gets rid of it! I talked to my aunt, who is obviously distressed, and she begins to cry as she describes her daughter asking her "Why is this happening to me?" Her reply, "I don't know." Who does?

Then we learn that the niece of a very dear friend of ours was in a car accident this past weekend, and her friend who was in the passenger side was killed on contact. His niece is alive, and considering the accident, she is very lucky to be, but imagine the guilt that child (only 17) will carry around for the rest of her life. No amount of counseling will erase that.

So you see, I am having a hard time being concerned about "everything else" these days. I don't mean to sound callous and certainly don't mean to offend (see I even feel the need to apologize for what I write). But, these "life altering events" or "teachable moments" as I like to refer to them are putting things into perspective for me. Focus on what's important in life, and please STOP WORRYING WHAT EVERYONE ELSE THINKS ABOUT YOU; it gives them way too much POWER! Live your life for you and ENJOY it!

Nuff said!

She's 2!

Well, it's official, my kid's are growing up! (tears) I can no longer refer to my daughter's age in months, she is officially two years old! UGH! She turned two this weekend, and it suddenly hit me that I have no idea what happened to the last two years of my life! It all seems a blur! Anyone else feel that way? My kids didn't head off to school like everyone else today,

I can't even imagine what that will be like... I feel the tears developing already, and the anxiety too! Oh, how I digress...

This was the card I made for my daughter's 2nd birthday. I love this paper from Junkitz, called Salsa Celebration. I got it from All That Scraps a few weeks ago and bought it for this card specifically. I've had this cupcake stamp for a while now, bought it at a Clearance sale at Joann's for .25, love that! I hadn't used it until now, but it has been waiting patiently for some ink :-) I stamped it in Brillance Graphite Black on Papertrey White, and colored it with various Prismacolor Pencils and OMS. Then I added some Stickles to it for some sparkle (little girls love sparkle!), and topped it off with some bling and a flower punch to match the little cupcakes in the paper.

The turquoise and the pink are from a paper stack I bought a while back, not sure who makes it, but they matched the cupcakes perfectly. I punched tiny flowers out of the Salsa paper and used them to surround the cupcake in the circle, the cupcake seemed a bit lonely without them. I pierced the center circle as well as the scallop I punched with a Marvy Giga punch. Added a little yellow bow and a sentiment from Papertrey, also stamped in Brilliance Graphite Black. You can't see it well in the pic, but I also stamped three flowers from Papertrey's Paper Tray set in the upper left hand corner with versamark.

That's about it! I really like this card, it was fun to make. Plus I want my daughter to look back on it one day and know how much she is loved. Especially if I'm not around to share it with her.

Have a wonderful day!