The Mango Boys and Me

You Make My Heart Smile

2013-05-25T05:00:00.000-04:00

Hello friends...popping in today with a super, super CAS card for this month's PaperTrey Ink Blog Hop. When I went down to create last night, I was thinking about a card with a whole lot of flowers everywhere and then I went a completely different direction and went ultra CAS. Hope that you have a fabulous Saturday. We're off to a wedding later this afternoon! It's a beautiful day to celebrate!

Welcome Baby

2013-05-23T21:46:00.000-04:00

Today's card is a just because card. Just because I'm traveling and I don't have any other cards saved off in Blogger that I really like. Just because I love blogging and I want to post something. Just because all of those polka dots make me happy. Just because I love PaperSmooches fonts. Just because I love ribbon and bows. Just because I've had those Jillibean butterfly stick pins in my stash just about forever. Just because...

How's that for a post? Have any fun plans for the long weekend (I hope you get one in your neck of the woods!) I know I'm really looking forward to it!

Thanks

2013-05-22T20:55:00.003-04:00

Hello there friends...my posting schedule is completely off this week! Life is busy...a little hectic really...but is is all okay. So, I'm popping in to share a card for the current challenge at Addicted to fo CAS and more. Their theme this week is anything goes which is perfect for this CAS card that I had yet to share with you. Lots of My Mind's Eye goodies - papers and banners and a couple of miscellaneous buttons. I love simple CAS cards like this.

I had an early flight this morning for work and I'll be back home on Friday afternoon so I'm going to keep it short and sweet and get some shut eye a bit earlier than normal. I hope you are all doing well!

You Mean the World to Me

2013-05-20T20:41:00.001-04:00

Hello there...popping in to share a card inspired by the fabulous Maile Belle's card this week at CASE Study. Man oh man do I love her style. For my card today, I'm playing along with a new set from Verve. The color combination was inspired by this pin over on Pinterest.

Before I go I thought I'd share this picture of Marcel from earlier today. The boys had a lemonade stand going on up the street. Marcel is always out front trying to get people to stop and buy their lemonade. You can't see his sign, but it had prices for small, medium and large drinks. Cracked me up. When I drove by on my way home from work, he asked me to buy him a drink. According to Marcel, "Employees don't get to drink for free." Love it!

Congrats Grad!

2013-05-19T19:52:00.002-04:00

Hello there friends...I'm popping in quickly to share a card for no particular challenge. I have been looking at all of the challenges over the last week or so, but simply haven't had the time or energy to make it down to my craft room to make something new. So I've popped through Picasa to look for cards that I have yet to post. I need a couple of more graduation cards and I thought you might need some inspiration too! We have four graduation parties this year (yes...we're hitting that time in our life when we've moved from baby showers to First Communions/Confirmations to graduations). I'm sure in about 5 to 7 years we'll be going back to wedding showers! Life is good though...so no complaints.

I will be a bit more sporadic on posting over the next week or so.

And for those of you who are interested....I am managing to run/walk. Here's my recap from last week:

Sunday: 3.21 miles/10.44 min/mile; - went a mile longer

Monday: 2.6 mile walk with my great friend, Katie; 16.31 min/mile

Wednesday: 2.31 mile; 10.01 min/mile - almost broke the 10 minute mark

Saturday: 2.32 mile; 11:31 min/mile - an early morning and allergies got the best of me

Hope you all get your week off to a great start.

Ingredients: The Craft's Meow and CAS-ual Fridays stamps

Happy Birthday Sandie!

2013-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00

Hello there...I'm back to preview two new sets from CAS-ual Fridays today, but before I get to showing you those sets...I need to stop and wish my dear cousin, Sandie, a happy, happy birthday! I've posted this card last week so hopefully it has arrived and she is celebrating big for her day. I'm sending her lots of love for a fabulous year! Be sure to pop on over to her blog to check out her gorgeous creations!

This card was made using CAS-ual Elegance stamps.

Now, I have two new background stamp sets to share with you. I love background stamps. The first set is Houndstooth. I also love stamping gradient backgrounds. I also had fun adding different types of textured elements...cork, twine (inspired by this twine flower on Pinterest) and a touch of burlap ribbon. I finished the card off with a sentiment from Frankly Dear.

For my second card, I used the Zigs & Zags sets...so many fun chevron patterns on this set. This is a perfect card for one of my nieces. Nice and girly! The sentiment is from Mums the Word set.

Be sure to pop on over to the CAS-ual Fridays blog to check out the rest of the design team's creations and the chance to win CAS-ual Fridays goodies!

It's Never Too Late to Re-Boot!

2013-05-15T06:00:00.000-04:00

Some days you just need a "do over". Well, I'll tell you what...Michelle designed a super fund set, Tech Talk, just for those occasions. I went ultra CAS for my card today. I think the sentiment speaks for itself. Too bad we can't ctrl-alt-delete and forget a mistake we've made! Wouldn't that be fun!

There are lots of great sentiments and coordinating keyboard stamps! Be sure to pop on over to the CAS-ual Fridays blog for the chance to win and to check out the design team cards!

Congrats! On Your Graduation!

2013-05-14T06:00:00.000-04:00

Graduation time is here...and does CAS-ual Fridays have the first stamp set, Brickworks, just for the occasion. I love the graphic elements combined with the perfect sentiments. There are so many cool designs you could do with this stamp set...the brick backgrounds allow you to create a visual of taking their next step along the road in life. Love, love, love it!

I had fun using these wooden buttons to go with the card along with a sweet little bag for a gift card holder. Pop on over to the CAS-ual Fridays blog to check out the design team's creations and for the chance to win! You won't be disappointed!

Today, He's 16.

2013-05-14T00:01:00.000-04:00

Today, my beautiful boy, Ryan, turns 16 and I have to admit to being a bit emotional. Sixteen feels like a big milestone to me and I know before I blink he'll be moving out of the house for college. There are definitely still days when I think to myself, "How can I be old enough to have a 16 year old? Let alone qualified!" Thankfully, God certainly has a way of easing us into parenthood.

{six months old}

When I think of Ryan over the years, I think of this sweet little boy that had a smile that melted our hearts at a very young age, always wanting to be outside. Standing at our back door, "I go outside, I go outside, I GO OUTSIDE!" He didn't always understand that just because the sun was shining it wasn't freezing!

{on a family trip to Deep Creek, MD...he was actually really mad at this point...can't remember why!}

A little boy who is social, regularly getting his friends together to play a game of wiffle ball in the backyard.

A big brother (that may have found his little brothers quite annoying at times) whose little brothers admire him.

{Shaw Farm Pumpkin Patch 2006}

A boy with a very special relationship with his cousins.

{after a shopping trip with Madeleine and Elizabeth...the first of many! 2009}

{days of the long hair...with Connor and Jonathon getting ready for a 5K}

An older boy who amazed us with his ability to throw runners out from catcher on the baseball field or who pitched tremendous games of baseball.

{summer 2011}

And most recently a teenager with passion for music. One who has continued to amaze us with his musical and acting abilities.

{Saturday night performing a duet at the show choir fundraiser}

{Spring 2011...the villain in the school play...Doc Holiday}

A young man who has always had a perspective a bit older than his age. A young man who doesn't hesitate to initiate an "I love you Mom" to me or reciprocate an I love you from me. A young man who understands the value of family...as he said in my mother's day card, "I know we argue sometimes, but we're family and at the end of the day, I will always love you."

I'm so proud of the young man he is becoming. Here's to many, more years of birthday celebrations for my oldest boy! I love you Ryan.

And here's his super CAS birthday card inspired by the CASE this Sketch design for this week.

Frankly, My Dear

2013-05-13T06:00:00.002-04:00

It's the second week of the month...and guess what that means! It's time for another CAS-ual Fridays sneak peek week! I guarantee you won't be disappointed. We have five sets to preview this week and I had fun getting inky with them! The first set is called Frankly Dear and you will adore the sentiments!

I made the sentiment the highlight of my card and also had fun creating a background with one of the images as well. You won't be disappointed by the versatility of this set...be sure to pop on over the CAS-ual Fridays blog to check out what the team has created!

Way to Go!

2013-05-13T00:01:00.000-04:00

Hello there and happy, happy Monday! I'm hoping for a nice, sunny week so that we can spend lots of time at the baseball field. Last week featured lots of rain outs...so we need to get some gains in quickly!

Since it's Monday, it's also time for another PaperSmooches Sparks Challenge. This week is we have a great sketch. My first thought was to replace the banners with flowers (but I use flowers a lot...) so I decided to change it up a bit!

Instead of flowers I went with speech bubbles from the He Said, She Said said. I had fun using a touch of patterned paper. The sentiment is from the Sentiment Sampler set. Let me tell you that sentiment set has seen a lot of love from me!

Pop on over to the PaperSmooches Sparks challenge site and play along! To check out the designs of the team, be sure to click on their links below!

Happy Mother's Day

2013-05-12T12:35:00.004-04:00

Hello friends! I hope everyone is having an absolutely wonderful Mother's Day today! The boys started my day with breakfast in bed and handmade cards from all of them. Marcel's card made me laugh...he filled out a question and answer sheet from school and it said, "My mom is smarter than a bumble bee." Love their analogies. The best is them explaining why they wrote/colored something just for me. Makes my heart so happy!

I had some time to craft this morning so I'm popping it to share two cards. The first is for Pat's mom. She loves all things blue so of course her mother's day card had to have blue on it! It follows the Fusion Card Challenge Sketch.

The card below is for a dear friend who recently lost his dad to dementia. So sad, but also a blessing for him. He was very devoted to his father. This card is inspired by CASE this Sketch and Maile's fabulous CASE Study card that is a gorgeous tone on tone sympathy card.

Enjoy your beautiful Mother's Day! I'm off for a pedicure with my wonderful mum in just a bit!

Congratulations!

2013-05-10T05:00:00.000-04:00

One of my co-workers is getting married in a few weeks. I loved making this card for her. It came together really quickly. The panel pieces (with the exception of the ribbon) are from her actual invitation. The font on the invitation is also eggplant. I love when cards come together easily! We'll be celebrating with her on Monday by throwing her an impromptu wedding shower!

I based the card on the current RetroSketch!

And here's my update on running this week. This week qualifies as a long week for a variety of reasons, but I stuck with my commitment of running. Here's the recap

Sunday: 2.32 miles 12.02 min/mile
Monday 2.31 miles 11.27 min/mile
Tuesday 2.32 miles 10.25 min/mile
Thursday 2.31 miles 10.07 min/mile

I'm using the Map My Run app on my phone to track my mileage...have to say it is a great motivator. Except Sunday I ran in the early evening after work/baseball. I have been tired due to several long work days, but I certainly feel a ton better when I exercise. I'm give another update next Friday!

Happy Friday my friends!

School is Awesome!

2013-05-09T05:00:00.000-04:00

Laurie has a great teacher appreciation card for the current MUSE challenge. I saw it and realized I have never inked up my school Technique Tuesday set. It is a bit more focused on scrapbooking first days of school, etc, but I loved this sentiment as a teacher thank you! I'm getting ready to put together card sets for teacher gifts...so I think this sentiment is perfect!

Have any fun ideas for teacher gifts? I'd love to hear about them!

Start Where You Are...{and a Marcel story}

2013-05-08T05:00:00.000-04:00

I have lots of cards to share this week, but before I get to that I have a funny Marcel story to tell you. Obviously, Marcel is a fairly unique name (he's named after my dad who was Paul Marcel). The other day, Marcel suddenly comes up to me. "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy! Where did my name come from? I mean, what state did my name come from, because I am the ONLY Marcel in the whole entire United States." Me...laughing a little bit..."Do you mean what country?" "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy! I mean what state in the United States? There aren't any other Marcel's." I explained it was French. And then five minutes later, "What state is my name from again?" Cracks me up that little man. And he is 100% a Marcel!

Now back to my cards today...I love my first one layer card inspired by the Fusion Challenge and using the awesome CAS-ual Fridays Breathe set.

When I posted my card for Festive Friday last week I knew that I might make another card for this challenge. This one is super, super CAS...added a touch of glitter to the bottom for the feel of snow on the card. It's hard to see but it does add a little extra to the card. Happy hump day my friends...hope your week is zooming along!

Deepest Sympathy

2013-05-07T05:00:00.000-04:00

Hey there, blogging on Monday night for Tuesday morning. It's a rare week night without baseball now that we're in full baseball season. Ryan had show choir tryouts and Pat took the little guys to the Reds game (thanks to awesome free tickets from my company). I am fighting a sore throat (telling myself I'm not getting sick)...and so I'm taking it easy and of course, that means sneaking into my craft room!.

I made this card tonight and have to say I love it. Thankfully it is going in the stash instead of having to be sent immediately. It has a few more elements than I normally put on the card. My favorite is more of the gorgeous May Arts ribbon from Erin. I'm entering this for this week's CASE this Sketch.

On Sunday, I also made another card for CASE this Sketch. I love this sentiment for graduation cards. I added a sticker from Simple Stories and an enamel element to finish off the wood butterfly. A card ready to go for one of many grads we'll be celebrating this year!

Stamps: Verve

Patterned Paper and Stickers: Simple Stories

Inspired by Maile

2013-05-06T05:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday my friends! We had a rainy afternoon yesterday so it was the perfect day to pop into the craft room. I think my craft room was taken over by my die cuts. I think I need to reorganize how I'm storing them because clearly they weren't making it back into where they should be stored! But enough of that...you might have come by to see a card! I have two to share with you both inspired by Maile's gorgeous card over at CASE Study. To say that I love Maile's style would be an understatement! Both cards use the inspiration to have a die slightly over the edge and lots of white space.

My second card below also using one of Maile's signature elements...silk ribbon bows. This entire card was inspired by the My Mind's Eye chipboard Dream Big banner that I had. I used the colors on the plaid to determine the colors of my stamped image. Have a favorite? I'd love to hear what you think!

PS A big huge thanks for all of your comments on my post from yesterday. I appreciate you all so very much!

I'm irritated...

2013-05-05T11:21:00.004-04:00

with myself. My blog title might be a bit strange, but I am very irritated with myself. And I'm writing about it to hold myself accountable. The first weekend in May for the last six years, I have participated in an event at Cincinnati's Flying Pig Marathon. It started with my first ever 5K, then a 10K, then the marathon relay, my first half marathon, another relay and my second half marathon. But this year, I didn't do anything. I'm so frustrated with myself. To give perspective, up until six years ago, I had never run anything in my life and really would not consider myself a regular exerciser. I had changed that habit up until the last six months. I told myself I didn't have time to run the half marathon. It is a huge commitment and there are reasons I made that decision, but I'm posting today to hold myself to not making that choice again. I've gain about 6 pounds since the beginning of the year and I'd really like to be about 16 pounds lighter than I am today. So to hold myself accountable, I'm changing my habits today:

I have to run at least three times per week. I started today with a walk/run of 2.3 miles (after loading the MapMyRun app onto my phone) at a pace of 12.02 min/mile. Not fast, but I ran more than I did the last few times I was out there...steady progress is my goal.
I have to drink a ton more water and a lot less diet coke. I'm sitting here with my water now.
I have to eat more protein and a ton less carbs.

Soon...I'm going to set a goal. Not sure which race I'm going to run in, but I will come up with a goal. To hold myself more accountable I'm going to post on my Friday posts how much I've run for the week. And if you've made it through my rant :), I'm sharing two cards with you today.

When I saw the MUSE card last week, I wanted to play with the yellow/blue color combo, but I ran out of time. Then I saw the current Dynamic Duos color combo and decided to play along. I tried to add blue buttons/gems to the card below, but I liked it without the blue. This card is going to my co-worker who just had her knee replaced.

But I stilled wanted to make a card with the color combo...so I pulled out my new PTI set to play along! And I noticed that I used Pool Party instead of Baja Breeze...woops!

Hope you all are having a fabulous weekend! And thanks always for listening!

Hats Off!

2013-05-04T22:41:00.004-04:00

Hello there...I had a few minutes after baseball games today to sneak in a card. I had this little Doodle Bugs graduation cap sticker waiting to be used in my craft room! The colors on my card are the Ohio State colors so this card will be going to my niece, Elizabeth, in a few weeks as she'll be heading to OSU in the fall. Erin shared the fabulous pleated May Arts ribbon with me and I had to put it to immediate use. A very quick CAS card but I think the end result is perfect! The current Retro Sketch is fabulous.

Hope you are having a fabulous weekend!

Elizabeth's Senior Prom

2013-05-03T05:00:00.000-04:00

Hello there, I'm popping in quickly to share a card for this week's Retro Sketch. I'll be giving this to my co-worker who is celebrating his 5th anniversary in a couple of weeks. I love this sketch...and had a lot of ideas for it so I'm sure I'll be back using it again soon.

Before I go though, I wanted to pop in and share pictures of my amazing nice, Elizabeth. Saturday was her senior prom and if I do say so myself, I think she looked absolutely stunning! Her friend, Taylor, did her hair and make up and it was perfect. I took a few close ups of her hair so that you can see it. In the top right...I love the eyes she is making. She's had that particular look since she was a very little girl.

Here are a few more shots of her dress and she and her boyfriend, Allen. He looked very handsome!

I love this picture of my mum and Elizabeth...they were cracking up about how much taller Elizabeth was than her since she was wearing heals. Their smiles make my heart happy! I feel so blessed to have so many of our family members close by so that we can share these occasions!

Time to Celebrate

2013-05-02T05:00:00.000-04:00

Hello there...I've been out of town for a couple of nights this week so I am popping in quickly with a super easy card! This card is all washi tape and an SRM sticker. So very easy and one layer so it's great for mailing!

I'm playing along with the photo inspiration challenge at Just Us Girls! I love the color combo of hot pink and black!

CAS-ual Fridays: Eight Happy Nights

2013-05-01T06:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Friday Eve! I can't believe May is here already! Time certainly flies. Today is my day to share over on the CAS-ual Fridays blog. I have been working on my holiday cards for friends/family as well as my cards for the craft fair I'm attending in early November. So...it was the perfect time to break out the Eight Happy Nights set from CAS-ual Fridays. This is a great set for paper piecing. I love mixing/matching patterned papers too!

For the second card I made the sentiment the star of the show along with the stars. More fun paper piecing!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and checking out my cards!

Hoping Your Birthday is a Grand Slam (CASE Study DT Entry)

2013-04-30T05:00:00.000-04:00

Hello there, I love seeing the amazing creations for the CASE Study Challenge each week and welcome the opportunity to play along! It's so cool to see how we all interpret each other's work...so I thought I would take the opportunity to try out for the CASE Study DT. I immediately went to work looking through Moe's blog. Moe has such amazing talent! Her ability to mix/match patterned papers, add embellishments and the absolutely perfect sentiment is incredible. At first, I was going to CASE this card with all of these gorgeous flowers, but I make a cards with flowers, so I kept looking through her gorgeous creations and came across this card. It was the perfect opportunity to use my new PTI Seventh Inning Stretch set and matching dies. You can tell that I took the inspiration from Moe's layout. Instead of the circles for curling, I created a baseball diamond. Also, instead of the bow, I used a touch of twine.

Here's Moe's inspiration card up close and personal! It's it absolutely fabulous?

And since my card has a baseball theme, I couldn't help but share pictures of baseball from this weekend! Starting in the top left...could Marcel be any cuter? I love the eye black underneath his eyes (one of his teammates brought it). They look very professional. I have to say Marcel is terrified of batting. We're working on it! Next up is Collin...he is so tiny but he is very confident at the plate. He took last year off and is enjoying baseball a lot more this year. And the pictures of Jonathon...you can see where he gets the nickname "Slim Shady". He's so skinny and has hit a bit of a growth spurt. He's pitching for the first time this year. Pretty exciting...and I'm sure these will be the first of many photos. Ryan isn't playing this year (he's all in for show choir and drama)...but he and Jonathon are both umpiring so I'm sure I'll snap a few pictures of him at the field too!

Happy Birthday...And Many More...

2013-04-29T00:01:00.000-04:00

Before I get to my card today, I have to take a minute and thank you for all of your super sweet comments on my post from yesterday. They all made my heart so very happy. Thank you for taking a minute to share a bit of yourself too. I really appreciate it.

Now onto my card for today...we have five Mondays this month, so that means it is time for an Anything Goes challenge over at PaperSmooches. It's your chance to play along with your PaperSmooches stamps and dies and create anything your heart desires.

I have been pinning a few more things lately on Pinterest and decided to make a card inspired by this pin on Pinterest. I loved the way the buttons were attached. Instead of making a bracelet, I thought it would be fun to make this card. A great guy birthday card if you ask me! I added two sentiments from the Birthday Sampler and we were all set!

Come play along with us at PaperSmooches...we'd love to see what inspires you! Don't forget to check out the gorgeous creations by the other design team members!

A Quiet Saturday Morning

2013-04-28T05:00:00.001-04:00

Yesterday morning started off quietly. I woke Ryan and Jonathon up at 6:20 to head out to the umpire meeting/scheduling at about 6:40. Dropped them off, picked up McDonald's for them and went home for a bit until they needed to be picked up at 8:15. As we were driving there, I was thinking in a few short weeks, Ryan will drive them to the umpire meeting on his own. His 16th birthday is fast approaching. Some of the best one on one conversations with him are in the car when I'm running him or his friends to an activity. It will be so strange to have fewer of those moments. I recognize they aren't big moments, but a lot of little moments that form our relationship. Then my mind goes to spring time and graduations happening. My niece will head off to college in the fall, soon it with be Ryan, followed quickly by Jonathon and my little guys. Time is passing, but life is so good. In the busyness of it all, I'm trying to cherish it too. Some days I succeed; others I could be better. Rushing along to get to the next to do. But yesterday morning, I stopped. I stopped as I pulled into the driveway before I went pack to pick up Ryan and Jonathon. I love all the spring time blooms, but what I loved was all the the things around my yard amid the blooms of spring. A basketball sitting in the gorgeous freshly cut grass (a sign of Collin and Jonathon's basketball games next to each other), footballs right by the gorgeous flowers (a sign of Pat/Jonathon practicing throwing), a golf ball in the mulch, an oversize bat from a "battle". It all made me smile. Little reminders of our life and our house filled with boys.

After snapping a few pictures, I came inside to this sweet sleepy little boy. I asked him why was downstairs so early (he's normally my sleepy head). I gave him a kiss, he smiled, and kept on sleeping.

So...this is my little break...my little reminder to cherish the little everyday things...rather than the hurry up to the next thing! I'd love to hear what little but oh so important thing in your life that you cherish today.

And if you've made it this far, I have a fun anniversary card to play along with the current Verve Diva Dare. Happy Sunday my friends.