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Author Archives: Jennifer

A Birthday Card for Aric

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Our friend Aric’s birthday was last week, actually the same day as Lori’s. He is a big fan of baking bread. We gave him Bernard Clayton’s New Complete Book of Breads 30th Anniversary Edition. Hopefully, he’ll bake something up and let us try it.

I decided a motorcycle card was in order. I had wanted to use some glossy accents on the headlight, but I was running short on time and didn’t want to mess it up by putting it in the envelope too soon. I think Aric liked it.

Aric's Birthday Card

Stamps: Bird’s Cards Motorbike, Stampin’ Up On Your Birthday
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Basic Gray, Basic Black
Ink: Dell printer; Stazon Jet Black
Tools: Prismacolor pencils; Stampin’ Up Key Tag punch

4th of July Recap

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We dog-sat for Bella, my brother’s Jack Russell Terrier, starting last Wednesday through today. She is such a good little dog, although the fireworks scared her. Jessica likes Bella, although sometimes I think she’s not quite sure what to do with Bella.

Bella

James’ parents came into town for the weekend. We had a lot of fun.

They arrived Friday night, too late to get to play with Jessica as she was already asleep. Saturday, they got lots of Jessica time. After her afternoon nap, we went and toured some model homes in Falconhead West, a neighborhood in the Bee Cave/Lakeway area. We’re starting to think about moving as we will need more space once we get pregnant with baby #2. We’ll probably move the early part of next year. If we want to build, we will have to decide soon, but for the size of house we want, building may be out of our price range. The houses were really nice though. Jessica did great. I thought she might get fussy, but she only got fussy for a few minutes and that was when James’ Dad, who was holding her, got out of viewing range of James and I. Then we had a nice dinner at Mesa Rosa, where Jessica enjoyed her butternut squash and bananas that I brought for her.

Sunday was more time spent just relaxing at our house. The quality of this next picture isn’t the greatest (I must have moved), but I love the expression on Jessica’s face.

Jessica and her Grandpa

Jessica is starting to pull up on things, especially her crawl and cruise jungle.

Jessica Playing

Jessica with her Nana and Daddy and buddy Bella

I love Jessica’s expression in this next photo. She has some great expressions.

Jessica with her Nana and Grandpa

James took some great photos of me and Jessica. Don’t you love the little sailor outfit?

Jessica with her Mommy

Sunday early evening, we went Aric & Kristy’s house, for their 4th of July party. Kristy wants to make it an annual occurrence. It was a lot of fun. Jessica did really well and we actually stayed until almost 9 o’clock. James’ parents actually left shortly before 8 to hit the road back to Midland. They had commitments early afternoon Monday and didn’t want to get up super early, so they decided to leave late and sleep in.

Jessica and Silly Daddy

Jessica with her Nana

Saturday, Sprouts had blueberries on sale for $0.97/pint so I picked up two pints and cooked one pint into a nice puree. I took some of it along with some butternut squash to the party for Jessica to try for the first time and she loved them. It kinda looks like she got into Mommy’s lipstick, doesn’t it?

Jessica After Eating Blueberries

Texas Tuesday

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My friend Geeta is part of this group called Texas Tuesday. They post a Texas-themed (whatever makes you think of Texas) card on the first and third Tuesdays of the month.  After being inspired by her last card, I decided I wanted in on the Texas Tuesday action. This is my first card as a member of the group.

Growing up in west Texas, Texas makes me think of dirt. Granted, within the city limits of Midland, there is a lot of green from people’s lawns and trees, but the wind is a frequent visitor. And it blows dirt around. A lot. So I decided I needed to have a dirt colored card base, so I used some Kraft cardstock.  I decided a Texas card needs some armadillos. Once on a walk around my apartment complex when I used to live  on the edge of north Austin, I came across a pair of armadillos getting it on. You’d think they’d want some privacy, but they were in the middle of the sidewalk for all the world to see.  But according to Wikipedia, armadillos have poor vision so maybe they didn’t know they were within sight of the whole world. A lot of people think of horses when they think of Texas. I don’t necessarily think of horses, because I had always wanted to take riding lessons when I was a kid (remember The Saddle Club books anyone?) but I never did. And howdy is the epitome of Texas twang. I actually ended up making two cards, because I couldn’t decide if it should have a bow or not. What do you think? Both of these cards will go to Operation Write Home.

Howdy Card - Take 1

Howdy Card - Take 2

Stamps: Deadbeat Designs Texas Rider, Howdy,  Small Armadillo
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Kraft, Brilliant Blue
Ink: Stampin’ Up Close to Cocoa
Accessories: red grosgrain ribbon
Markers: Stampin’ Up Brilliant Blue, Real Red
Tools: Nestabilities Labels Three; dimensionals

Don’t forget to check out the other Texas Tuesday cards: Libby, Mark, Tina, and Betty.

Pina Colada Fruit Salad

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I recently organized a South Austin play group via Circle of Moms (a Facebook app). Our first play date was Wednesday and it was a lot fun. We had four mommies and six kiddos, four under 1 year of age and two 3-year-olds. I set out sandwich fixings and this fruit salad I made. You could probably make this with pretty much any fruit as long as you included the pineapple. It was delicious and I will be making it again.

Pina Colada Fruit Salad

Pina Colada Fruit Salad

Source: Simple & Delicious May 2010

Ingredients:

  • 1-1/2 cups green grapes (I cut the grapes in half because of the kiddos)
  • 1-1/2 cups seedless red grapes (I cut the grapes in half because of the kiddos)
  • 1-1/2 cups fresh blueberries (I used blackberries since they’re cheaper right now)
  • 1-1/2 cups halved fresh strawberries (I quartered instead of halved)
  • 1 can, 8-oz., pineapple chunks, drained (I actually used a 20-oz. can)
  • 1/2 cup fresh raspberries
  • 1 can, 10-oz. frozen non-alcoholic pina colada mix, thawed
  • 1/2 cup sugar (I might try this with confectioner’s sugar next time, which might make it less soupy)
  • 1/2 cup pineapple-orange juice
  • 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon coconut extract (I omitted since I realized I didn’t have it on hand)

Directions:

In a serving bowl, combine the fruit. In a small bowl, whisk the pina colada mix, sugar, juice and extracts until sugar is dissolved. Pour over fruit; toss to coat. Chill until serving. I definitely recommend serving this in bowls, not plates.

Yield: 9 servings

Ranger’s Birthday Card

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Yesterday was our good friend Ranger’s birthday. We had a hard time choosing a gift for him, so we ended up just doing a gift card to Academy since he enjoys  running and playing tennis. He even enters tennis tournaments, so I’m sure he’ll find something good there.

For his card, I decided to use this dragon image. I picked up the digital image for free from the blog of Dustin Pike, the current illustrator for High Hopes Stamps. Ranger was quite impressed with the personalization of the card and wondered how I did that. When I said I hand wrote the sentiment and name, he was surprised.

Ranger's Birthday Card

Stamps: Dustin Pike FB020319
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Basic Gray, Almost Amethyst, Wild Wasabi
Designer Paper: Stampin’ Up Uptown
Ink: Dell printer
Accessories: yellow brads
Tools: Prismacolor pencils; Stampin’ Up Basic Black marker

I made a second card without the name that will be going in my pile for Operation Write Home.