2 Cute Ink Birthday Cards

August is a busy Birthday month for friends and family members of mine. I decided to make everyone cards this year. I dont know about you, but receiving bright & cheery cards in the mail brighten my day. What I love about 2 Cute Ink Digi Stamps, is you can find a cute stamp for all occasions and holidays that are perfect for kids, women or men. Here are a few of the birthday cards I made over the past couple weeks.

Happy Birthday to my sister Julie!

Happy Birthday to my dearest friend Jenna!

Happy Birthday to my Dad!

Stamps used:

2 Cute Ink: Birthday Pug Digi Stamp

2 Cute Ink: Heidi and Cosmo Digital Stamps

2 Cute Ink: Cupcake frog digital stamp  

  

All images copyrighted (c)Heidi Arrowood

You are Sew Sweet!

I made this card for my mom. She's always been extremely crafty and encouraged my sister and I to be creative. She would ask us to help her sew or make various crafts as Christmas presents for family while growing up. Crafting and making something was a staple in our house. My mom loves to sew and she also loves stamping & card making. I thought this digi stamp was a perfect fit to send her a little note to let her know I miss her.

I used a Digi Stamp called Sewing Cat by one of my new favorite Digi Stamp Artists, Heidi Arrowood. I love her simple designs that just scream... CUTE!!! If you haven't seen her work, she has the cutest Digi Stamp shop on etsy called 2 Cute Ink.  You can also check out the 2 Cute Ink Challenge Blog Here.

Sewing Cat Digi Stamp (c)Heidi Arrowood 2 Cute Ink.

Just like old friends...

One thing that my husband frequently tells me that he admires about me is the fact that I know how to choose good quality friends. He finds it a special quality when two friends can be apart a day, a month or over a decade and when they get back together, neither one of us skips a beat and it’s just like old times. I take pride in choosing new friends, and I think I just naturally gravitate towards good people with the same values in life. Friendship is like a tree. it can take time to nurture , so it can grow become strong.

Elizabeth is one of my old friends that came to visit this weekend. She had been contemplating on possibly moving to Houston and wanted to visit to see if she would like it here. I thought it would be a great way to catch up, have some fun and show her as much of Houston that we could fit into the weekend she’ll be here.

The moment I saw her, sure enough it was just like old times. We had a blast together and I’m hoping she got to see enough to come back for another visit later this year or next year. 

Texas Style BBQ @ Rudy's Country Store And Bar-B-Q

Katy, Texas

 

Sew Busy!

 

Over the past month, I’ve been extremely busy running my Etsy Shop Cuddle Monkey Baby Boutique. Sales have been great and it couldn’t have come at a better time since losing my regular 8-5 job. The extra income has been a blessing and it’s also helped me master my sewing skills. Blankets aren’t hard too hard to do, but considering I haven’t had any sewing classes and I’ve taught myself from the beginning, I feel I’m doing a pretty good job.  

My next project might be baby quilts, then maybe a large quilt for myself? I  don’t know why, but quilting has been intriguing me. I'm not talking about boring quilts someone's grandma made. I’ve seen a ton of quilts that are really cute. I’d like to learn how to quilt so I could *hopefully* make my own child a special quilt someday.

How cute are these?! I love the bright colors & fun prints.

 

Apple Blossom Quilt by: Carlene Westburg 

  

Kumari Garden Quilt by: Proffer Love

  

The Boys in Blue Baby Quilt by: Nooches

 

 

Coral, Gray & Teal Chevron Baby Quilt by: Nooches

  

Chevron & Mustache Baby Quilt by: Sunnyside Designs

 

 Gray & Yellow Baby Quilt by: Now and Then Quilts

A Huge Thank you!

I need to give a huge shout out and Thank you to my best friend Jenna!  Without her, I probably wouldn’t have been able to create my new blog. 

When you want to start a blog, it’s an exciting new venture. But the number one question lingers… “What will I name my blog?”  I racked my brain for days, Googled tips on naming your blog and still couldn’t come up with anything. I wanted something that didn’t necessarily tie me to any main topic since I have multiple hobbies & interests and then it happened…Jenna texted me. She let me know she came up with a name for my blog. Just then it was like the clouds parted, the sun was shining and birds were chirping. “Simply Hollister”, she said. And TA-DA!  Here I am!

Thank you Jenna!!!

Check out Jenna’s blog if you get a chance. She’s an awesome mother, a great cook, super creative crafter & all around greatest friend!

www.serendipitykisses.blogspot.com

Spring Gardening Spruce Up

Growin up in California, sadly didn't prepare me for the gardening knowledge I would need as an adult living in Texas. We always lived in apartments where the landscaping and gardening was always taken care of. I was never instilled with the grueling pain of pulling weeds, mowing lawns or being given yard work type chores as a child.  Fast forward to today, and I'm left with very little to no gardening skills.

It's embarrassing, we've been on our HOA's naughty list  and we keep receiving nasty-gram letters letting us know we need to clear out the weeds in our flower bed, as well as in our grass, and we also need to re-mulch our entire flower bed. It's spring time, so everyone is trying to repair their yards from the mild winter we experienced here. I'll admit I've been putting off any sort of yard work just because I start to feel overwhelmed and I dont know what to do. Weed pulling is one of my least favorite things to do, and last year my husband broke our lawn mower. Dont ask me how he did it, but I'm starting to think he might have been secretly trying to get out being our official lawn mower. So We hired a landscaping company to help us get our yard back in shape since my husband and I don't know the least bit about how to get out yard looking presentable again. Our landscaping company is great, they've been helping get the weeds, clovers and fire ant hills under control in our yard. Our grass is starting to look so much healthier and better compared to last year.

In efforts to help spruce things up, I took it upon myself to buy some mulch, and a few flowers just to get the ball rolling on our yard make over. It will be a slow process to get make over our yard since there's much to be done, but  I wanted to make as big of an impact on my tiny budget to hopefully appease our homeowners association for the time being.