A Fun, New Swap

Happy Fall!  Now that it is Fall hopefully the weather will stay nice and crisp in SoCal.  I recently joined a Pocket Letter swap that a good friend organizes.  I could not resist joining last month and this month since they are in two of my favorite themes.  Last month's them was Hello Kitty.  My brain was hurting thinking of what to put together for Jayne.  When I was done I was pretty happy with how it turned out.  Here is the front

and here is the back.

This is the Pocket Letter that Jayne made for me. (The pocket letters have been folded up in the envelope that she sent it to me in.  Sorry it is a little bent.)

Both of us surprised each other some goodies.  I gave her kitchen themed gift because she likes to bake.

Jayne surprised me with these fun things. (Sorry that the bag is a bit wrinkled.  I just took it out of the envelope that Jayne sent it in.)

Stay tune for what I made for this month's Pocket Letter Swap. Have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Using Stencils

Hope that everyone is going well.  I've been more stressed at work than I would.  I purposely made time this week to craft to help me to relax.  I whipped out one of my new stencils, some stamp pads, and sponges to make some cards.  Pounding the ink onto the stencils sure helped me relieve some stress.  :)  Here are the cards that I made.

I am happy with how they came out.  I can't wait to use more of my stencils one day soon.  Hope that all of you have a wonderful weekend.  Thanks for stopping by!

In Honor of 9/11

I can't believe that it was 16 years ago that the 9/11 tragedy occurred. I remember it as it just happened yesterday.  That day will forever be remembered as one of the saddest days in history, but also one of the best since it united our nation. Praise God evil did not prevail! Each year on this day my family and I talk about the event, pray for the our country and all that were affected, and honor one of our local fire departments.  I made this this card this year.  My hubby and I wrote them a special message.

My kids each made them a card and wrote them a message too.

Here are the goodies that we surprised them with.

Thank you for stopping by!  God bless you all!

June/July Secret Sister Swap and a Festival

It has been super hot in SoCal. The temperature has been in the triple digits.  I am so grateful to have AC.  My family and I are fortunate that although our AC went out yesterday in the late afternoon that it was able to be fixed by last night so that we do not need to go through the weekend without it. Today I will be sharing with you what I made and received for the June/July Secret Sister Swap.  I was asked to send happy mail to Patty.  A little birdie told me that she likes pandas, Stickles (I couldn't find any so I purchased glitter glue.) and blue grey.  This is what I made for her

and surprised her with.

Kim was asked to send me happy mail.  She made a cute gift card holder

and surprised me with all this.

Before I end this post I wanted to share some fun pictures with your from the Nissei Festival. Check out these beautiful kites.

The parade was lots of fun to watch.

My daughter and I were fortunate to get to take pictures with two Sanrio characters.

One of my favorite parts of the festival was watching a tea ceremony demonstration.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful 3 day weekend!