Christmas In July Blog Hop!!!

Welcome to the CHRISTMAS IN JULY blog hop, 

hosted by the 

Cookin' Up Creations Master Chef Challenge Team!

We hope our projects and craft ideas will help you get a head start on your holiday crafting. If you have been following the hop route, then you should have come from Jan's blog. If not, and you would like to follow along the complete blog hop itinerary, please start at the Cookin' Up Creations Blog so you won't miss any of the fantastic projects and inspiration the "chefs" have cooked up for you.

My holiday project is an easy to make gift card holder.  I can't take credit for coming up with the original idea as I found it on the
  Hero Arts Blog...  

First, cut a 4 x 12 strip of  cardstock for the body of the card:

Score at 4" from each end (in other words, divide into 3 equal parts)

I used my cutter as a guide you can use the scoring blade or a scoring stick..both work perfectly..

Take center section and score in half

Cut slit for gift card to go into

glue section together

Not sure if you can see the glue but go along the edges leaving an open space in the middle where the gift card will go.  Don't glue the slit closed!!!

Decorate card... I wanted to bring out the fushia from the ribbon so I backed the card on matching paper and used some on the inner section too.

I used a sticker on the middle section that will also hold the gift card in place.  

I hope you  enjoy the finish product..these would be perfect for use all year round!!

 Now be sure to go next to Michelle's blog to see what holiday inspiration she has cooked up for you.  So you can make sure you have visited everyone, here is the list again...

Cookin' Up Creations

Annette

 Annie

 Barb 

Cassy 

Jan

 Jo( you are here!!!) 

Michelle 

Sandy 

Tamara

 Our blog hop continues through Sunday evening, July 22 and be sure to stop by the
  Cookin' Up Creations forum for our
 CHRISTMAS IN JULY CROP
this weekend, starting Friday, July 20 and continuing through Sunday, July 22.
There will be more Christmas and holiday inspiration, challenges, and games. 

And for those of  you who have made it all the way to the end of this post, there is a treat for you.  Become a follower of my blog and post that you did and you will be entered in a drawing for some goodies from me!!

Blog Hop and Online Crop at CUC!!

Come join the fun... The blog hop will start here...

June...

Well, I guess I haven't posted in a month.... make that almost 2... So much went on during June so here is a quick summary...

We started the month with 8th grade promotion events for Izzy...
The Dance...

 The Ceremony....

Then that weekend was Brock's Company party at their new site...

of course, another opportunity for a photo of Izzy!!

Then a trip to the San Diego County Fair...

Izzy submitted a photo and received a ribbon...pretty good as there were thousands of entries!!

Doggie haircuts...

A trip to the LA markets to clothes shop at the sample sales..

One of my layouts got picked up for Layout of the Week at two different sites in the same week!!

 Veggies are planted......

   Now on to July.....

Happy Birthday Cookin Up Creations!

Come join us for a party...a scraping party that is..

There will be lots of challenges, games and prizes!!!

CHS Prom 2012

Prom time is here.  I have loved seeing the photos of friend's children all dressed up!!  Well,  our turn happened yesterday!

Here are some photos of Juliet and her date Shon before they went to meet up with the "group".  We took them to the beach and took some nice shots.  I will remember that heels and sand do not mix in the future!!

They were so cute doing the flower exchange...a true life skill...how to pin on a boutonniere without stabbing yourself:

We still have 4 weeks of school which are going to be very busy!!  

Spring Break in San Francisco

Juliet and I took advantage of the week off to plan a trip to San Francisco.  Of course, it rained a lot but we had a good time.  Our primary goal was to visit some schools...and we did have 2 full days of doing just that! Of course, we didn't take photos of that...only the tourist sites we visited!!  Our hotel was near Fisherman's Wharf so we spent a lot of time there.

The view of the wharf...with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

The cable cars were the easiest way to get to down town San Francisco... which was perfect as there was a stop just a block from our hotel!!  Here is our view from the bus stop.... and down the hill was a perfect view of Alcatraz.

We met some interesting people on our daily travels.  The brakeman for the car was a great guy...loved his job and knew a lot of the locals who rode his car.  He insisted on taking a bunch of photos of us!

We went to Ghirardelli Chocolate but the line for the ice cream parlor was out the door...and even in the cold and rain...but boy did it smell delicious!

Our cable car went by the top of Lombard street.  Of course we had to get off once and walk down!!

 By the 3rd day, we were much better at catching the trolley cars...there is a secret...don't go to the first stop on the route...there are lines there but if you walk a couple of blocks to the next stop, there will be spaces...or at least a spot to hold on ...which is part of the fun!!

Our last night in San Francisco was quite exciting.  There was a major storm with amazing lightning...I am posting this photo from the news...I love it!!  We didn't see this happen but we sure saw a lot of flashes!!

Good to be back home..

March Madness!!

March has come and gone...so quickly...where did it go??? 

 We had a busy month with visits from family, Spring Break for Braxton and the general school/play/work things that keep everyone going.

 Here is a glimpse of things around here...

 The birds love our fountain...This hummingbird was so cute taking his bath...I almost forgot to take his photo before he flew off!

  

A cell phone photo of my oldest on his Spring break road trip...no, I don't think he is supposed to be on that rock!!

We have  bananas!!!  Not sure when to harvest them or if they will be edible or not!!

I must have planted some iris last year because they are springing up all over my cutting garden.  I love getting mystery bags from the clearance rack!!

Izzy and I discovered a trail behind the golf course last weekend...Of course, the camera went along too!

Climbing on the retaining wall for the tee at hole 10!  Okay, maybe the rock climbing runs in the family(see above photo!)  Yes, she does have red hair.  She has had a hunk of red underneath for about 4 months now.

BTW...Little Red Scrapbook kits have been really fun lately...here are a few layouts I did recently.

January Lily Bee Kit

February Kit...My Mind's Eye - Miss Caroline.

Thanks for looking...Have a great April!!!