Tea for you, tea for me, won’t you please come for tea?

The last week has been kind of crazy for me, getting ready for the girls 5th birthday party. It was our first, non-family party with kids invited and I think I went a wee bit overboard. Now why can’t I have this kind of turnout for my stamping classes??? I think we had about 24 total darlings! Next year, definitely fewer kids! All the little girls looked so sweet though, all dressed up in their princess outfits and nice party dresses, it was totally worth all the work.

Just our luck, that San Diego decided to have a record heat wave this week though, so temps were close to 105 today. Our “garden” tea party had to be moved inside, and I was really hoping I had enough to keep the girls entertained! Especially, with the trampoline and swings now out of commission due to heat.

The girls played a pass the sugar cube game with spoons around the table and a stack the sugar cubes into the tallest tower game. Then we had tea (strawberry lemonade) and sandwiches (cucumber, raisin nut and PB&J, of course!) I had been hitting all the thrift stores and had china tea pots and plates and saucers, all mismatched, but that way it didn’t matter if anything broke! The girls did great..no spills and no breaks. Even the two year old table did great! I had hit paydirt at one thrift store and got 50% off everything, so a 30 piece set of china was $10! One of the teapots was $2.79 and everything else was way less, so I felt like I was being pretty thrifty!

Here is the invitation I made for the party:

and here is the (tea bag shaped) pullout with the actual information for the party:

Here are the decorations:

Here is the cake which I thought was kind of a mess but you get the idea. It was going to be $250 at the bakery, so here's the Deidre googled teapot cakes on the internet version:

Forgive the crappy vines, I am a much better stamper than I am cake decorator!

Here’s Joel doing his best Prince Charming impersonation, or Captain Stubing….you pick:

I have to say I was proud of my man fitting in this tux that we got married in, not sure if my wedding dress would still fit or not..probably not!!

And of course the most important part of the party (according to every 5 year old????) The goodie bags!!!

Folded up to look like a tea bag of course! These bags caused quite a bit of consternation on Matty’s part as she wanted one so badly and I did not have enough for them to have one…uhm isn’t that pile of presents enough, Matty? Matilda also cracked me up with her 6 wardrobe changes throughout the afternoon, starting in a tutu with an "I love my mom" tshirt and ending with a cheerleading skirt and back to the "I love my Mom" tshirt. You would have thought she was hosting the Oscars, as many times as that girl changed!

Needless to say I am resting with my feet up and enjoying all my memories of the day! I hope all the little girls had a great time today which is the most important part. I know my two did, and they went right to sleep tonight, they were so tired! My mental notes for next time to improve are:

1) Less Kids, I am thinking about 12 would be good.

2) Get a picture of the family together before the party starts, uhm yeah, totally did not get this!

3) Get a picture of the birthday girls together on the big day, again doh!

4) Take a picture of the place setting...I didn't hand tie all those napkins for nothing!

5) Have it at Gyminny Kids! Ha! Just joking, I really love doing this stuff!

Ciao for now…….Deidre

I. AM. JUST. DISGUSTED!

Some of you have heard this story by now and some of you haven’t so for those that have, I am sorry but I still can’t get over it and I have to put it down in words. When we moved to California last year, all the bedrooms in the house were smaller than our home in Georgia, which is fine, but I had a huge desk that I used for my crafting, that was just TOO big. So I sold it on Craig’s List, and it was a beast getting down those stairs, let me tell you. Since then, I have been using two tables in a L shape. I loved the L shape and it gave me great workable area, so I started looking for an L shaped desk. The heavens opened and I found the perfect desk….the Ashley Brush Hollow Desk…see here:

But alas, the price on this bad boy was way too much for me at $1200 before taxes. Yikes! I am just a stay at home Mom, with a limping along stamping business, that at this point is still in a loss situation ever year! No good! I just kept going in every once in a while and VOILA! around Thanksgiving found out they were having a great sale at the Ashley store. I was able to get the desk (without the hutch, which I really wanted) for around $500, so I was excited about it but the timing wasn’t perfect so I thought...maybe for my Christmas present. Went back at Christmas and they refused to give me the same price...said it is only a sale at Thanksgiving.

I was appalled. I said “in this horrible economy, you won’t sell the desk for the same price that you quoted me a month ago?” They said NOPE! So went home without a desk, again. Imagine my surprise when the same desk of my dreams appeared at the Military Base furniture store! Score! Now I was excited! Price was the same but now, no taxes! And I know military base stores...that sucker would go on sale one of these days.

So I waited and waited and waited! I checked every time I went to base to get groceries…run in, no sale, leave. I searched online, hoping I could get emails or something when they have a sale but the Marine Corps store doesn’t send out flyers like AAFES does. So I just kept checking knowing, one day, it would be mine! I would have drawers again! You can only imagine my horror when I walked in on Friday (after almost a year people!) and didn’t see the desk in the corner…. instant panic. I saw they had put in a clearance room and I thought it will surely be there….nope, no desk. I asked the salesclerk about it and she said, “oh, we sold all of those last week.” AACCCKK! NO! NO! NO! She said it went on sale for $800 last Wednesday, and they sold one, then on Thursday it went on sale for $500 (including hutch!) and they sold the last 4 including the floor model. The guy who had bought it for $800 told his friends and they all came in and got it for $500.

Seriously, you guys, I thought I was going to vomit in the store. A year of my time on this damn desk and I miss it by a week. The guy who paid $800 tried to return it and get the difference back, but they wouldn’t do it, and he opted to keep it rather than return it and not get it back. Smart guy! So I am just disgusted! I thought, “I will just check Ashley again.” Went over there (it is actually just across the street from the base). Desk is there, price is still the same (plus taxes now, of course) The salesgirl says we had a sale that ended yesterday, but I can’t give you that price now. I could get you about 12% off if you want, which means $1000 plus tax. I said no thanks and walked away broken hearted AGAIN. I really wanted those drawers and the hanging file drawer and a place to hide all my goodies, so my room doesn’t look like a bomb went off every day. Oh well. Such is life.

Maybe I will get a good price on it this Thanksgiving, but I am not holding my breath. I am seriously disgusted about the whole thing. A little word of warning if you shop Ashley...we bought our couch and ottomon there too. Those guys aren’t kidding about their return policy. We tried to return the ottomon on day 5 after receiving it (they have a 3 day return policy) I had decided I wanted something less matchy matchy. No way Jose, would they let me return it. I talked to everyone. I didn’t want my money back I just wanted to exchange it and nope, no go. So if you do buy something from them…you better decide yay or nay in the first three days!

Well obviously, I haven’t gotten over it yet but I am sure in time I will. I keep checking Craig’s list praying that someone bought it just to resell and make some money, but no luck so far. Total and complete bummer I tell ya!

Here are some more pics from convention with lots of cool ideas though....enjoy!!!

stencil on the walls surrounded by empty frames..cool huh?

loved this card..the beer mugs have crystal effects on them so they are all shiny and three dimensional…

magnet board for whose in the doghouse..loved this!

new stamp from the holiday mini catalog which is ready to be inked on my desk right now!!!

Amy and I doing our make and takes. This is what my desk looks like on regular basis, drawers people...I could have had drawers!

Halloween display, so cute!

Cute framed art…

Gingerbread house..love it!

Ciao for now…….Deidre!

Home again, Home again jiggity jig!

It feels so good to be home again! We made the trip back last Wednesday and I am already missing my family in Oklahoma but thank goodness for phone calls! I have been working hard to get the girls back into a routine that will prepare them for school. So we have been going to bed earlier and waking up earlier. We almost have it down, last night they were asleep by 8:15 and awake at 7:15. My goal is asleep at 8, up at 7:30 since we are all piddlers in the morning that should give us enough time to get to the school by 8:50. Can I just mention how much I LOVE the fact that their school doesn’t start until 8:50? Genius I tell ya!! Today we are going on a school tour and to get a new outfit for the first day…big doings in the Mooney house!

I have gotten all my unpacking done, my stamp room is back in order and I will be finishing up the girls birthday invitations today! Just had to get the time finalized and now we are ready! We are having a garden tea party for all the little girls and don’t tell anyone but Joel is going to dress up and play prince charming! Should be a hoot with cucumber sandwiches and scones and of course cupcakes!!!

On a personal note, I did meet with the doctor last week to discuss my miscarriage and my chances of a normal pregnancy if we want to go that route. I never knew I did, until that little wakeup call last month! There are a few tests we can do and then we can make up our mind once and for all.

I thought I would share more pics from convention of some of my favorite swaps…please forgive me that they have not been photo edited….all stamps are @stampin' up 1988-2009

These above were all the ladies that I saw swapping in the phoenix airport..what a hoot! And here are a few of mine that did not make the cut…I will show my officially convention swaps in the next post…

Ciao for now….Deidre

Crazy Stamping Ladies!

Well, sorry it has been so long since my last post, I was frantically preparing my swaps and getting ready for convention last week.  Then we headed to Salt Lake City on Tuesday this week and just got back!  We had a blast and got inspired with lots of new creative ideas and tips on how to build our businesses and be better demonstrators.  When we got to the airport in Phoenix there were ladies already swapping cards waiting for the plane to Salt Lake City!  Here’s a pic of the first thing we saw when we hit the convention center:

 

this was the line to get into Memento Mall and buy lots of neat stampin up goodies..pics of those to come later!

Here’s some of the crazy swapping ladies….these gals had made up aprons to show off their swaps!

Here’s a pic of a gal that had made earrings and a necklace from our filigree brads, crystal brads and other embellishments:

 

I can’t wait to share everything about the trip, but I will start with some pics of the boards at convention (click on them to make them larger):

and one of my favorite yet simple cards on the boards:

 

and check out the pink ribbon on this card, they put two way glue on it and dazzling diamonds and made a glittering ribbon..so beautiful!

more pics to come next time.  I had a total blast..saw two chick flicks (the Ugly Truth..so funny! and Julie and Julia…Meryl Streep was awsome… but I fell asleep in the middle of this one) got to stamp and actually ate hot meals at restaurants for a change!  It was such a great trip!

Ciao for now!   Deidre