Time For Tea

My tea swap partner for January was Josie from Canada.  The optional theme of the swap was "Time For Tea" in the optional colors of green, yellow, and blue. I had a hard time deciding what stamps I wanted to use for her card since I have many tea themed stamp sets.  I finally chose one of the sets from Stampin Up and made this card for her.

This is the card that Josie sent to me.  I love the little pockets that she made for the tea bags.

She also sent me a book marker and a border.

Thanks again Josie for being such a fun tea swap partner. Thanks to all of you for taking time to see what I have to share today.

Secret Pal Gift Exchange and Our Mini Vacation

For those of you that had a 3 day weekend last weekend I hope that you had a fun and relaxing one.  My was very nice. My family and I had great time in San Diego going shopping, eating ono food, and going to Legoland. Today I am going to share about an annual tradition that we have at work each year for Valentine's Day.  We have a Secret Pal gift exchange.  I thinks it's always fun to surprise the person you are paired up with with some fun gifts for a few days and to get to receive some fun gifts in return.  I usually try to find out what the person's favorite candy, place to shop, etc. so that I can surprise them with gifts that they would enjoy.  This time around I was paired up with my co-worker Kathy.  I talked to her daughter to find out what she likes.  I tried not to reveal who I am by making some thing crafty.  Of course I tried to add a crafty touch to each of her gifts.  On the first day I surprised Kathy with one of her favorite candies.

On the second day I gave her candy with nuts in it. I made it more fun by putting it in a heart box.

On the final day I put my crafty touches to work as I revealed to Kathy who I am in the card that I made for along with a hamburger box that I die-cutted and decorated.  For her final gift I gave her a gift card to one of her favorite stores to shop.  Here a picture of the front of the box.

This the top of the box

and the inside of it with the card and gift card.

As I mentioned at the beginning of my post my family and I went to San Diego over the weekend.  It was lots fun and very relaxing.  Here are a few highlights... eating at Phil's BBQ (We got there at 4:15 pm and it was already a 45 minute wait.  It's always a long wait to get to eat there but it is always worth it.),

making a Valentine's Day make and take at a stamp store with my daughter,

eating gourmet cookies (You get to sample as many pieces of cookie as you would like.),

and meeting up with a good friend and her family at LEGOLAND. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Valentine's Day Treats

I feel very fortunate and blessed to have such special people in my life.  I thank the Lord for each of them and like to take time during different holidays to show them some extra love.  Since Valentine's Day is tomorrow I made some treats for my family and friends.  I die cutted hearts

and attached them to lollipops (The hearts are supposed to be like flowers on a stem),

boxes of chocolate hearts,

plastic containers,

and bag toppers.

I also attached them to bags of heart candy for my Sunday School students, but I forgot to take a picture of them before I brought them to church.  :(  My daughter asked me to make a topper for one of her best friends with Minnie Mouse on it.  This is what I came up with.

Inside the bag is a bracelet with a Minnie Mouse charm on it.  Last Friday is when I spent 6 hours putting all the treats together. (Today I still need to make some thing for my hubby as well as for my long distance friends.) I felt super relaxed after getting to craft for so long.  I hope that all of you will have a blessed Valentine's Day and long weekend.

Hello Kitty Treats and a Delicious Lunch

My good friend Esther and I try to go out to lunch once a month just to catch up with each other and to see how we can better encourage and pray for each other.  It is always such a blessing and so much fun getting together.  A few weeks ago we went to an Italian restaurant for lunch.  She is a big Hello Kitty fan so I punched out some circles and scallops after I stamped Hello Kitty on them to put on top of some wrapped chocolate oreos and gave her a few other treats- jelly beans and a Hello Kitty shaped waffle.  The bow using the die cut from Dienamics (Yes I love that bow!) to put on the topper of the bag.

Esther usually makes some thing super creative for me when we go out to lunch but she did not get a chance to make anything this time.  Instead she treating me out to lunch.  What special treat it was.  Check out the two entrees that we shared

along with the super onolicious dessert- cappuccino ice cream, cheesecake, a chocolate souffle, and an apple pie.  I think I enjoyed our dessert the best.

Thanks for stopping by!