Crystal and Akiko

A hunka chunk of a baby gift

Whoa....so last night I walk into my studio and TAH DAH!!!!  I have this wonderful hunka chunk of a baby gift waiting for me to open.  All the teachers pitched in and bought me a car seat with two bases......WOW,  I was in total shock and so grateful to have these ladies in my life.  You gals really did outdo yourselves and for the 127th time...THANK YOU!!!!!  Big hugz and lots of slobbery kisses to Ashley, Andrea M, Andrea F, Patricia, Vanessa, Natalie, Sonia, Courtney and Sofia...xo    yup, I'm loved ;-)

I love it when I say "Pose" and this is what I get......bah ha ha

 
(From left to right:  Andrea F, Ashley & Patricia)

I also love how Ashley says she tried to be creative like me so doodled all over the gift....HAHAHA

 

Here's my Primo Viaggio SIP car seat.....WOHOOOO  Can't wait to install it tonight!

 
Speaking of gifts, just wanted to share with you what my cheapo self does to wrap a gift.  I don't know what it is, but I just can't buy wrapping paper....my body physically doesn't allow this....haha  To be honest, it's not the money, I just don't like storing rolls of paper.  Less rolls of paper equals more scrapping space =)

I printed a few sheets of "Happy Birthday Corey" that I designed on my puter in 2.5 seconds.  Glued the sheets together in about 1.5 minutes and wrapped the gift with personalized paper.  He was amazed I found paper with his name on it....HAHAHA

 

So, I was at the office....and needed to do a quick time card for my hunky hubby and wrap his gift before I got home.  Crafting supplies are a no go here so had to do what I had to do.  Grabbed a pad of lined paper and went to town.  When I got home, I stamped a little cake image, added some Crystal Effects and voila.

 

 

 

 

Oh man....soooo looking forward to scrapbooking with Akiko this Saturday.  It's been awhile :-S

Kiko Turns 5

This very special day my furby boy turns the big 5 years old!!!  Of course we will celebrate with delicious wet food that he will be sure to share with his sister.  Can't say she would do the same for him...hehe  He's such a good brother. 

Now when it comes to being a good doggy....well....he wouldn't dare do anything while we're around but is definately a mischevious one while we're outta the house.

Today he won't get in trouble for ALWAYS jumping on the couch, while we're not home, and messing up all the pillows so he can bark at other dogs through the window, or marking his territory on our BEDS (of all places), or leaving his tongue marks all over the glass table, or....the list goes on.  Today we will cuddle him, love him and spoil him with his favourites.

Happy Burfday Kiko boy!

 

A little wiser

Quick post today. 

Made this card for my dad's birthday using a retired hostess set from Stampin Up's summer mini catalogue.  Love the cute glasses on this little dude and even though my dad doesn't where specs, he's definately one we consider to be extremely wise.

Been trying to use up all my scraps lately so most of the paper & inks I've been using are retired.....sorry =(

 

 
RECIPE
Paper (Stampin Up!):  Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Ballet Blue(retired) and Cameo Coral(retired)
Inks (Stampin Up!):  Chocolate Chip, Cameo Coral(retired) & Bermuda Bay(retired)
Punches (Stampin Up!):  Scallop Trim Border

Ben & Corey's Game Night

It was our hubbies birthdays this past week.  Being 2 days apart and pretty much having all the same friends, it's always a combined party.  Seems like we have parties coming out of our ying yangs lately...hehe

I went with a game night theme and it worked out perfectly!  We had different stations set up for yahtzee, black jack, uno spin, wii, rockband and cranium.  It was so hilarious to watch people play, what a great time.  I made up signs for each station and plopped them in some frames I already had.  Here are the signs I printed.

  

Akiko and my mom are laughing histerically at the yahtzee station and here's the tidy cranium station before it was destroyed with 15 players....haha....sooo much fun!!!!

  

Now lets talk Decor!

I made playing card flowers and plopped them around the house.  Love how they turned out and sooooo quick and easy.

 

While Judge Judy and I caught up on some lost time, I wrapped some square vases and tealight holders I have in red & white tissue paper then added some black punched out circles to create dice.

 
We hung up some streamers and a banner I put together in about 5 minutes.  So easy.  I printed and cut monopoly money and bingo cards and picked up a pack of playing cards from the dollarstore.  Ran all of them through my sewing machine and voila....a custom banner that cost me $1 =)  Okay...maybe the cutting took me   h o u r s   u p o n   h o u r s.....

 

Now for another banner.  Using the Accent Essentials & Zoobaloo cricut cartridge I put together this banner for the boys and again ran it through my sewing machine.  Badda Bing Badda Boom!  Kinda went a little wonky since I didn't tie it tight enough =( 

 
Akiko and I decorated my house with all our board games and Akiko's awesome red stones.....loooove them.  Here's me and my little girlie furball.

 
More cute pics of my furry children...

And the best part....The Food Table!!!!!  I covered the table with twister, decorated it with more games, dice vases & tealights and my card flowers.  This area was me and my little sweet potato's favourite hangout....tee hee  Btw, Akiko is the best at decorating platters with scrumptiousness =)

 

  

 

CAKE and the birthday boys.

  

And PARTY FAVOURS....wohooo.  Everyone went home with a drink, a little treat and a game.  And here are the custom labels I made for the drinks.  Label making makes me happy....haha

 

 

 

  
lifted the label layout from HERE  To see the label bigger, click on the picture.

We are so lucky to have the friends and family that we do.  Everyone had so much fun that the last of our party-ers left at 4:00AM.....now THAT'S a party!!!!!

Did I forget to mention that in total it cost me $20 to decorate????  That's what I'm talking 'bout...whaaaat!!!

Furball Birthday

My precious furry princess turns 5 today.  Weighing in at 3 1/2 pounds, she's a constant carpet pee-r, makes for a fantastic kitchen vacuum and loves walks on a shady day....it's.....KIBI!!!!  Happy Birthday little nugget...muah

She awoke this morning to a 20 minute body massage, a delicious sausagie treat (making up my own words) and about 154,038,224 kisses.  Later today she will be filled with more cuddles and kisses, a can of wet food - OH she'll LOVE that, some new mouthwatering bones and a short shady walk.  Her pea size heart can only take about 20 minutes of walking...awww I love her.

And for a Twilight Birthday there must be a Twilight Birthday Card.  Hailey is a Team Jacob cheerleader, so how could I not.  Akiko and I have sucked Hailey's soul into scrapbookig...lol, so I bought her a little caddy for all her supplies to bring to my place when the 3 of us lock ourselves in the dungeon.

SUPPLIES
Paper (SU!):  So Saffron, Whisper White & Melon Mambo
Inks (SU!):  Basic Black Classic
Stamps (SU!):  Happy Everything (expired)
Punches (SU!):  Corner Rounder & Modern Label
Cuttlebug:  Happy Birthday embossing folder
Other:  Dollarama black rhinestones & white satin ribbon

Hailey's Twilight Birthday

Team Jacob or Team Edward?

It was Hailey's 11th birthday party on Saturday, and when she told me she wanted a Twilight birthday I drooled in delight - what could be more fun than planning a party around vampires and wolves?? With red, white and black as the color scheme, I quickly jumped into action and planned a twi-hard party in just 2 days. phew! But what fun it was!!!

I have to give huge props to blogger http://www.hostessblog.com - she gave me TONS of ideas in the short little time that I had!

Here is what I did:

I used crystals from my wedding and scattered them on the table tops

I got the red globes from the dollar store!

 

I went a little crazy wtih the streamers...but they looked so cool!

MMM....treats!

I just put drops of red food coloring on the "blood cakes" with twilight tags on them. There seemed to be a lot of Team Edward cupcakes left over...... I guess it was a Team Jacob group!!

These awesome drink labels I got from the blog I posted above, she includes a downloadable pdf version of these labels. Thanks!! They were a hit!

I incorporated each book. Bloody feathers for new moon....

....apples for twilight.....

...and a ripped ribbon for Eclipse!

The girls had a great time, with Twilight theme bingo, Kiss Taylor Lautner (THAT WAS HILARIOUS!) and Twilight Scene it! Game. They also had facials and manis/pedis while watching Twilight (well, attempting to, but after so much cake/cupcakes/licorice/popcorn they were off the walls!!! Oy....)

There's Hailey trying to Kiss Taylor blindfolded....I think she is a bit off!

And there they are with their masks on! Hailey is in the front with the chocolate mask, or as she called it, the "Poo mask" HAHAHA!

Camera Happy

Okay, this is where I admit I am the luckiest girl in the world.  My uncle, Rui Lopes, is one of the most brilliant photographers I know and recommended the Canon Rebel to me as a great Digital SLR starter.  Due to it's price it has been on my list for a VERY long time and well now I HAVE IT!!!!!!!  Yee Ha!!  My dad bought it for me for my birthday - yup lucky!  Now learning how to use it...hmmm  Suggestions anyone???

Check out it's beauty....

Introducing the Canon EOS Digital Rebel T2i

 
I'm in love......

Burnin' Hot Birthday

And "Husband of the Year" award goes to...........Ben Tusim!!!!  Why is he so cute?  He threw me the bestest party ever!  14 of us took a limo to see our friends, Pasha & Anya, in Burn the Floor.  But first, I opened completely unexpected gifts from the gang in the limo.  They seriously out-did themselves - too sweet!!!  Thank you everyone...muah!

Here's some gift opening fun...
  

 

Ben made these t-shirts for our gang with Pasha & Anya's face saying "Pasha & Anya Rock My World" so when we stood up to give them a standing ovation - it would be quite the shocker and it was...their faces were hilarious...haha
 

My over-towering 3" spikes

All of us after the show with Pasha & Anya

TIME TO EAT!!!!!!....oh and some t-shirt signing - I feel famous...ha!

Back to the limo for Sambuca shots....blah!

The next day (my actual birthday) I opened my gift from Ben....WAHOOOO!!!!!!  Prismacolor Pencils.....yeah baby!!!!!!
 

One of my students bought me a box of Krisy Kreme donuts but unfortunately they didn't last long enough to earn a photo....lol....I loooooove me some krispy kreme.

Thanks Babe for being you...muah!

Enough with the photos, tomorrow will be a scrapbookers post....yay!

My Birthday

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Having a blast and will fill you in on Tuesday with all the fun I've been having.  See you then!

P.S.  Hugz and kisses to all my students, facebookers, friends and family that wished me a happy hoppin' birthday....muah!

A Day in the Life of Akiko's 28th Birthday

Akiko's birthday was the longest day of my life, yet soooooo much fun, especially when you're with your best friend all day =)

Here's how a day in the life of Akiko's 28th birthday panned out:

6:34 am Crystal wakes up to pre-make bacon, eggs and hash browns for a surprise breakfast visit to Akiko's place

7:31 am  Crystal wakes up Ben to get ready to leave

7:58 am Ben and Crystal arrive at Akiko's place with party hats, non-noise makers, balloons, a ridiculously large gift that Crystal was too lazy to wrap and breakfast

7:59 am Crystal rings the doorbell numerous times as if she were being chased by a dog while Ben videotapes

8:00 am Barely awake Akiko opens the door and Ben and Crystal blow their non-noise makers and begin to sing and dance Happy Birthday while bursting into Akiko's house (all caught on video, but cannot be shared due to the unsightly state the 3 of them are in)

8:15 am The 3 of them force a party hat on Tobi....haha
 

8:16 am They eat their scrumptious breakfast - notice the faces have been cropped out? Unsightly indeed!
 

8:36 am Akiko opens her gift from the crazy couple
 

9:30 am Crystal and Akiko attend Hot Yoga for the very first time and instantly fall in love

10:47 pm  Crystal and Akiko attempt waxing after hot yoga **disclaimer - do not attempt this following hot yoga

12:03 pm  Crystal and Akiko part ways to become "so fresh and so clean" for lunch

1:32 pm Crystal and Akiko arrive at Moxie's for a de-ri-shus lunch and FREE birthday dessert.  For the safety of the birthday girl, Crystal taste tested a few large scoops
  
  

3:05 pm Crystal and Akiko sing and dance whilst they shop for the soon-to-be-bride's shoe's, jewellery and garter
  

4:14 pm Crystal and Akiko head over to La Senza for some wedding/honeymoon lingerie goodies

5:12 pm Crystal and Akiko buy cold drinks from Starbucks while Akiko is sandwiched by some woman from behind leaving her no room to make any sudden moves...haha

5:17 pm Crystal and Akiko trek home during joyful rush hour

6:30 pm Crystal and Akiko part ways once again as Akiko has a Private Lesson and Crystal has to cuddle a little with her doggies

9:00 pm Akiko picks up Crystal and they TRY to sing some Britney to get their party started as their GPS leads them to the airport to pick-up Corey

CLICK HERE TO SEE A VIDEO OF THEIR SCARY PRE-PARTY SINGING

9:45 pm    Akiko and Crystal are dizzy from the circles they're making at Arrivals so make a pit-stop at Timmies to grab some toasted cheddar cheese sandwiches....yumm

10:03 pm  Corey is picked up at pole number 16 and the 3 of them make their way downtown Toronto for some Hip Hop Karaoke with their windows down the majority of the time - who knows why? <wink wink>.......hahahaha

10:45 pm  After they FINALLY find a parking spot they wait in the cold for 5 mins, hit coat check and meet up with the rest of the gang, Akiko's twin-sister, older sister and some friends, and they have some hip hoppin' fun!
  
 
1:42 am Crystal, Corey and Akiko speed walk their way back to their car, take their parking ticket off the windshield and Corey drives the gals home while they sleep with open mouths catching flies.
 

Sunday, April 18th
12:30 pm  They continue Akiko & Tiffany's (Akiko's twin sister) birthday at a Surprise Lunch with their whole familia and Ben and Crystal

And the Birthday has officially ended!