I have to digress... Häagen-Dazs

Häagen-Dazs

That's all I can think about right now.

All 4 pints and one lovely box of Häagen-Dazs ice cream that now sit in my ice box.

Here's a picture of what I received earlier this evening...



ALL MINE!

Häagen-Dazs Reserve® Series Fleur de Sel Caramel Ice Cream
Häagen-Dazs Reserve® Series Pomegranate Chip Ice Cream
Häagen-Dazs® Vanilla Honey Bee Ice Cream
Häagen-Dazs® Vanilla Honey & Granola Frozen Yogurt
Häagen-Dazs® Snack Size Vanilla & Almonds Ice Cream Bar

All this, thanks to my sweet friend, Amy, who blogged that Häagen-Dazs had invited her to extend her sweet treat to three friends. I got lucky in that only three posts were made when Amy offered this on her blog, Familia Bencomo. But for the record, I feel so lucky in that I have a friend like Amy who makes my life sweeter just because she is in it.

I wish I had free Häagen-Dazs® to pass on, but I think the campaign has ended.
You can learn more about them here:
Häagen-Dazs Reserve® Series
Help the Honey Bees

Thank you, Amy!
This is sheer bliss!

Besos!

Kodomo no hi

Today was a very special day in many ways.
Let's see...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KARI! :)

It was Cinco de Mayo. I was craving that margarita ALL day long!

We were married at Hakone Gardens, Saratoga CA.



I made Stamper's Showcase on Stampin' Up! Thanks Steph for the head's up!


My dear friend, Anna, came drove down with her husband and dropped their daughters off with us for the night. What a wonderful treat!

Best friends for life!


The younger two were exhausted after chasing each other for hours!


Most importantly, it was Children's Day in Japan... Kodomo no hi.

Traditionally, May 5th is celebrated as Boy's Day or tango no sekku. Girl's Day or hina matsuri is celebrated on March 3rd.

Today, we celebrated the happiness and health of our children and wished them a very good future.

Monday's Fun Day!

My last Sale-A-Bration set to give away!

Lots of Thoughts:




What do you need to do to get in on this terrific set?

I'm still new to blogging and would love getting feedback on ways to improve my blog.
Since my stamp set is called "Lots of Thoughts", send me just that. Lots of thoughts on what you want to see, what you like and what you don't like. It can even be about what you love about a particular blog or don't like about another blog (please do NOT link or mention names).

For me, I still need to come up with a watermark for my pictures and a banner for my blog. I also need to figure out a way to do the pop-up comment window. Still not sure what to do about the music except perhaps keep it and hope that everyone can find the player quickly enough to pause it or mute their computer... or that the music is gentle enough for most everyone. I was scared out of my skin the other night and have been very sensitive about this every since! lol! Hoping that the slideshow doesn't bother many. Or the seemingly endless number of blogs that inspire me.

ANYWAYS...
I will use a number generator or a number picker (one of my boys) and post a winner on Friday, 3pm PST.

Cheers!

3-D Friday - So berry special strawberries! ~ Monday's Fun Day Winner too!

If you are looking for a site for templates galore, search no more!
Paperscrapz has a variety of templates for cards, scrapbooking, and projects (like the strawberry that I am going to show you today.)

I will call these my "So Berry Special Strawberries".

The strawberry template was submitted to Paperscrapz by Sherry Brickey.

I printed it out and cut out the patterns. Then I enlarged each 150%.

Place the strawberry template to red backside of the cherry paper from Summer Picnic DSP and trace it with a pencil. Then cut it out.




Turn it over and use the black scoring blade on your paper cutter and score each petal to the middle point as well as the end tab.




It should look like this when you are done:



Take a sponge dauber and ink it up in Real Red. Distress the edges for shading and punch holes.




Take the leaf template and place it on textured Wild Wasabi card stock. Trace it with a pencil. Cut it out and distress the edges with a sponge dauber that has been inked up in Wild Wasabi. Punch hole in the middle.






Add a strip of sticky tape to the end tab on the strawberry cut out.
Attach end tab to the inside of the other end of the cut out.




Thread about 11" of Old Olive poly-twill ribbon through the holes of the strawberry cut out. Tighten the top as you go. Fill the inside just before you close it up tight. I filled mine up with watermelon, cherry, and apple Jolly Rancher candies. It makes this smell so fruity!





Take the leaf cut out and use your fingers to curl the ends a little. If you gently rub it between your thumb and forefinger, the warmth of your fingers will help curl the ends without creasing the card stock.




Attach the leaf cut out to the strawberry box by threading both ends of the ribbon through the hole. Tie a double knot up on top.





I hope you think these are "so berry special" strawberries and find this tutorial helpful!



*****************************************************************************

Monday's Fun Day winner!

This one is from:
RANDOM.ORG
Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

21
Timestamp: 2008-05-03 06:42:13 UTC

That makes Veronica (So Many Stamps, So Little Time) my next Monday's Fun Day winner! Congratulations! Email me (whoopsie.daisy@sbcglobal.net) and I will get your package out in the mail on Monday!

Monday's Fun Day!

Ready for today's Monday's Fun Day?

One of my favorite sets and one I wish I could still demo with...




Want to have a chance to win this set?

1. Take the poll ("Do I get rid of the music?") located on the upper left hand corner of my blog.
2. Leave me a comment letting me know what your favorite song is. If you don't have a favorite song, then let me know who your favorite singer/song writer or group is.

You are currently listening to my favorite Hawaiian musical artist, Keali'i Reichel.
There is something about this song, E O Mai, that calls to me. It makes me want to drop everything, jump on a plane, and head for the shores of Hawai'i. Would anyone like to join me? lol!

Me ke aloha

Please take a moment to vote...

I was hanging out on SCS yesterday in the forums and found one about blogs with a poll. Currently, 205 people have said that they dislike music on blogs. Yikes! I had NO idea! Some have even posted that they "hate" music on blogs. Hate is a pretty strong word.

So I want to know... how many of you dislike music blogs and want to see the player be taken off of mine? Honestly. I will take it off if it helps make my blog a better place to visit. Seriously!

Please vote and let me know what you want.

Happy Friday!!

I hate to post and run but I am watching one of Ken's dear friends for the next two nights and we are having a blast! We need to jet off to bowling tonight.

I didn't want to wait until midnight to post Monday's Fun Day winner.

My dear friend Amy picked our next winner... #13!

Congratulations, jib!

She wrote:
Love and Happiness....

My very very first experience I will have to say is my husband David of 20.5 years! When he came into my life 21.5 years ago I finally understood love and happiness.

Then it was my daughter and then my son!!!

Please email me your mailing address and I will get your rub-ons and surprise goodies in the mail on Monday. whoopsie.daisy@sbcglobal.net


Me ke aloha

Going Green! Celebrating Earth Day

I thought I would celebrate Earth Day in my own way by posting a few of my favorite green products that I love to use. Then you can share some with me!

Re-useable bags:

So I always knew that plastic bags were not good for the environment but it didn't dawn on me that paper bags were equally bad for our Earth, since they take our trees away. Well, DUH! So I have been doing some research. I found this website and will be ordering some bags from them, especially with my oldest starting elementary school in the Fall and will be needing a lunch bag eventually. Ken thinks these are the greatest! Built NY Munchlers. I was checking these Pack-N-Tote Grocery Cart Helper bags.

I will be going to the grocery store tomorrow and buying several totes for a few dollars each. I will keep a couple in my trunk at all times and rotate them so that I will never be without! Thanks, Theresa! I think Target has some bags as well. Trader Joe's too.

Bath / Body Products
Serendipity Bath Co.
Ashley and Tiffani make the most heavenly bath soaps, sugar scrubs, and whipped shea butter! 100% natural Simply Soap line is made from all vegan ingredients. Wild Child line is phthalates, parabens, laryl sulfates free.

My favorites?
Whoopsie Daisy! - I don't see it online any more! :(
Brazenberry
"Gimme Some Sugar!" Body Scrub
"Body Bling" Whipped Shea Butter

Burt's Bee Products are paraben and sodium laurel sulfate free.
My favorites are:
Replenishing Lip Balm with Pomegranate Oil
Orange Essence Facial Cleanser
Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Creme
Baby Bee Buttermilk Lotion

Soy Candles:
I know this very talented girl through bowling in local Japanese bowling tournaments over the years. I just love her soy candles. They are fragrant and last a long time! I received one at a bridal shower and had to hunt her down at one of the local boutique shows for more. Check out what else she has to offer! R M Creations

Getting rid of plastic water bottles!
Brita!
I think it's time to get a filter for our faucet.

If you are not into buying organic fruits and veggies, I have found a fruit & veggie wash that is quick and easy to make.

1 cup water
1 cup distilled white vinegar
1 Tbsp baking soda
about 20 drops of Grapefruit Seed Extract

I saw this on Oprah today. Be forewarned that when adding the baking soda, it will rise quickly so prepare this in a large bowl! lol! After adding the drops of GSE, pour the mixture into a spray bottle and you are good to go. Spray onto your produce and leave on for 5 minutes. Rinse off. Quite a bit of pesticides and such will be taken off with this wash.

Now send me some of your favorite GREEN products and ideas!

Try This! Tuesday Techniques - Stamp-a-ma-jig

Ever wonder how you could get the perfect image placement when you are two-step stamping or shadow stamping? How about when you are trying to stamp a word across the page in a straight line? How about a mirrored image?

With a Stamp-a-ma-jig, all this and more is possible!
You can even go back and stamp over an image that was stamped unevenly!



For the tutorial, I will use Basic Gray when stamping with the Stamp-a-ma-jig so that you can see it well.



Stamp set: A Beautiful Thing
Ink: Ruby Red, Pretty in Pink, Cameo Coral, (Basic Gray)

First thing you want to do is to create the stamped image on your imaging sheet (shown here). The imaging sheet is a square plastic sheet that has two sides. One side is smooth and the other is textured. I use the smooth side with my Classic Ink pads. I use the textured side with my Craft ink pads and waterproof inks.

Line up the imaging sheet up against the handle.


I inked up the outline stamp in Basic Gray (any dark color will do so that you can see the image on the imaging sheet) and slid the stamp against and down the handle until it was flush tight against the corner of the handle.


Next I added a tiny bit of adhesive on the back of on my Whisper White card stock to keep it from moving around. Then I stamped my word stamp in Ruby Red.


Then I stamped my bold stamp in Pretty in Pink.
Be sure to note where the bottom of your stamp is as you stamp, since your outline stamp will have to be held in the same way.



Take your imaging sheet with the outline stamp already stamped on it.
Place the image over the stamped image on your card stock.


Line up the handle against the imaging sheet.


Carefully hold the handle down in place as you take the imaging sheet away.



On the original card, I inked up the outline stamp in Cameo Coral and stamped that over the Pretty in Pink bold stamp. However, for you, I inked up and stamped the outline stamp in Basic Gray so that you can see the image. Be sure to bring the inked stamp up against the handle and slide it down the handle until it is flush against the T-handle - then stamp down.




Repeat again for the second flower:






Then for the final touch, I inked up the small accent stamp in Pretty in Pink and stamped off once each time before stamping on the Whisper White card stock - creating my own background without interrupting the stamped images.





Final card:


Let me know if you have any questions!
I hope this helped!

Happy Stampin'!