Happy Easter Everyone!!

  SPRING IS HERE!! 

    You know it's April, because it hasn't stopped raining! I'm not complaining though. I lived in Tacoma, WA for about 9-10 months back in 2005-2006. Living in Washington was quite an experience. It rained often, the sky always seemed gray and after a while, I just HAD to get over it. And I did! I can now say, I love rainy days and I am thankful for rainy days! I do however enjoy the warmth of the sun as well and I am so looking forward to absorbing some of it SOON! 

    I want to wish each and every one of you a very, Happy Easter! I feel truly blessed that God is a major part of my family's life! Ever since I was a little girl, I LOVED going to sleep as fast as I possibly could, so I could wake up to that beautiful, CANDY filled basket that the Easter Bunny would bring me. I loved dressing up in the beautiful Easter dresses my mother would buy. Yes, we had the hats, the gloves, the purses and those sweet little patent leather shoes to match! We would arrive at church and all around were smiling faces! We were all so excited to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ! Back then, what I think it meant for my sisters and I was that we could finally eat the candy in our Easter baskets that we had not so willingly gave up for Lent. Little did we know how powerful this day would one day be to us! Now, Easter has such an incredible meaning to me. I'm just so thankful Jesus died so WE may live! 

I have been talking to my daughter, Layla a lot lately about Easter. I want her to really love this day and enjoy all the little blessings that are given to her. I want her to enjoy in her own little way for now, just as I did, because I know one day she will understand just how amazing Easter is! We would normally make Easter eggs with Layla and decorate them with stickers, glitter, dye them, color them with markers or with crayon. This year, I found this AWESOME little idea on Family Fun website and I just HAD to try it out. IF it didn't work, then I would take out the food coloring, and get to decorating those hard boiled eggs! This is the little project Layla, Brooklyn and I created for this Easter :     

 These are seriously one of the EASIEST things I have EVER made!! They take absolutely NO TIME AT ALL!! Here is how you make these adorable little "Nests." 

              Ingredients and supplies you will need:

                   1 Cup of Chocolate  

            (I used Milk chocolate, but I am sure Dark chocolate will do just fine)

                   1 Cup of shredded coconut

               a Piece of Wax Paper

                   Jelly Beans or Chocolate Cadbury eggs,

          which we used, or any other egg shaped candy

            Now: Heat your chocolate just as the directions on the bag suggests. After your chocolate is melted, stir in your cup of coconut. 

           Now you should have a lumpy mixture of chocolate and coconut. I created my "nests" using a tablespoon. I used a heaping spoon full of the chocolate/coconut mixture and placed it on the wax paper. I did this a little "messily" so that they would truly look like "nests." Then I took the same spoon and created a little dip in the "nests" for the "eggs" to sit. After the chocolate cools off a bit, place your "eggs" onto your little "nests" and... you're done! I stuck mine in the fridge so that they'd cool down faster. I think this literally took the girls and I, 15mins to make!

The tags I created for my little "Chocolate Birds Nests" took the longest to create! These tags were inspired by several tags I saw on Splitcoaststampers.com. I used the new SU! set Four Frames. Love this set! I used the large label punch that corresponds with this set to punch out the tag. I then used a little chickie from an old SU! set and to finish it off, I added a pre-made flower. Then I layered my punched frame onto Baja Breeze paper and cut around the frame to create another frame and then did that again using Sahara Sand for my base layer.

 

For this tag, I used the SU! set Four Frames and the I also used the set Easter Blossoms (for the little yellow egg). I used the label punch that corresponds with this set once again and then I layered the punched frame onto Sahara Sand paper and then onto Daffodil Delight. I also used some new White twine from SU!

Below, are the finished products in their cellophane bags made by SU! (We made a total of 5 of these nests with the above recipe). We then finished off the bags by adding some twine and some Very Vanilla Seam binding ribbon. (Can't get ENOUGH of that stuff!) Layla has asked me about ten times today, "Mom, when can we hand out our little nests? I can't wait, Mom! I just can't WAIT!"

I hope you enjoyed my post today. Again, if you have these few ingredients and about 15mins of time, I truly suggest making a few this Easter day! Again, they are super cute, super fun and best of all SUPER easy! 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask!

Happy Easter, Everyone!

~jenna

**NEW** Stampin' Up! Goodies!!!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!!

We are having a beautiful day here in OH. It's a little chilly, but the sun is SHINING!! :o)

I just recently received my new Stampin' Up! goodies. I was soo excited! I couldn't WAIT to ink them up!

The card I created this morning uses a new stamp from the SU! set called, "On the Grow." There's a Vespa and a beautiful vase of flowers!! I LOVE both of the stamps in this set, but my FAVE is this Vespa! I think Vespa's are super neat. IF I were to ever own one someday, I think I'd get one in this blue color... and I'd probably want a basket on the back of it and add a little houndstooth, too!?! :o)

As you've seen on several other cards of mine, I absolutely LOVE houndstooth! I think it's is so "chic" looking. I also used one of the new doily punches that will be available next month for you to purchase. At first I thought... "What heck am I going to do with a doily THAT size?" They re pretty small. But then the wheels started to turn in my head and VOILA!! I thought of using them as a border instead of just a doily!! Pretty neat, huh?? They are EASY to line up, too!!

Well, I hope you are enjoying your Wednesday!!

Til next time!

~jenna

BTW: If you have any questions about my cards, please do not hesitate to ask!

Finally BACK and with A Springtime Wreath....

Hey All!

I have been away for quite some time now! A few weeks ago, I had decided to go to NY for a couple of workshops. It took me a while to prepare and pack for my trip. Then, I was off! My mother took the drive with me from OH to NY. We had such a great drive out to NY! My girls were (are) amazing! They behaved so well. Neither one of them shed a tear! Couldn't have asked for a better 12 hrs in the car, then what they gave me that day!
My stay in NY was awesome!! The girls and I stayed at my mothers house with my sister and her family as well! My girls were able to be with their cousins, Gianna and Gavin. They had SUCH a great time! I will upload some pics soon of our trip!
The week went by SUPER fast. It really is incredible how time FLIES when you are having fun! Wish it weren't that way! :o/
My mom, once again, took the drive with my girls and I BACK to OH. You see, my mother lives in NY. She took a 17 hour bus ride form NY to OH just to get in a car the next day to drive 12 hours with me and my girls! (She couldn't stomach the girls and I to taking that 12 hour drive alone). Believe me, I was MORE than HAPPY to have her with me!! So, after the week was up, she then drove BACK to OH from NY with me and the girls and spent a day and a half with us, then went BACK to NY on another 17hr bus ride! In total, my mother spent 58 hours of traveling! That's 34 hours on a bus and 24 hours in a car! Isn't that INSANE!?! I KNOW she loves me!! :o) Thank you MOM!!!~
It's great to be back home and back into a routine again! It took me about a week to get fully unpacked and re-organized! Yesterday was the first day I started crafting again. I didn't feel like I had any "mojo." So I gave up! Then last night, my most favorite website, Splitcoaststampers.com posted the inspiration challenge. I do LOVE this challenge, so I took and peak and thought, "MAYBE i'll play tomorrow." When I woke up this morning, I realized there was A LOT to do around the house still. So, I got to cleaning and then jolted upstairs to my craft room and got to work! I had an idea before I started crafting and started to take that idea and put it on paper!
This is what I came up with:

I am pretty happy with the way this card came together! I was not a fan of the stamp set, "Nature Walk" because I was afraid of that bird, but no I just LOVE playing around with it and coloring it in! One of my favorite stamps to use now! :o)
Well, I hope you are having a BEAUTIFUL Saturday! So looking forward to the WARM weather to come!!

Til next time!

~jenna