DIY FELT BOW

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Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

I’m having fun with Jessica Jones’ paper bow template and this is definitely not the last post in which I feature this bow because I freaking love it and the fact that she made it and offered it to us all.  This time around I decided to make a bow out of felt.  I couldn’t resist buying this houndstooth pattern at AC Moore craft store.  I found it to be a bit sturdier than other felt squares and the reverse side is plain white making it perfect to trace, using the template, and cut it out without any problems.  I also used glue dots to secure the bow.

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I made this bow for my husband’s father’s day gift (a bottle of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey Whiskey).  He loved both, but we all know which one he loves the most. :)   Cheers!

With the felt you can make these bows into hair bows by sewing a clip in the back or even attach them onto headbands!  The possibilities are endless, which is why this bow template is awesome.


http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-to-make-paper-bow.html

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Building blocks + Mario & friends = FUN!

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Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

I believe the best toy we ever bought after having our first child was a set of colorful building blocks (STEP 2).  From the moment we received them, back in 2008, it has been non-stop fun for both my girls and visiting family members.  We corral and store the blocks in an empty, taped up diaper box.  These blocks have nurtured my children’s imagination, creativity, color and shape knowledge.  Also, let’s not forget the most important aspect of blocks, knocking them down.  If there’s ever one toy to get and keep for a while it’s definitely this one.

Today, my youngest brought out the blocks and decided to include Mario and friends (another great toy purchase because this little girl loves these plush toys to bits).  She asked me to help her build it tall so she can “bust through it.”  Okay, I told her to bust through it and she had a ton of fun doing just that.

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TAKE GOOD CARE ALL.

UNTIL NEXT TIME…

DIY Father’s Day T-shirt Idea

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Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

Since my dad is not computer savvy and I’ve asked my husband not to look at my blog until after Father’s Day, I can share with you a T-shirt that I’ve made for them as a gift.  They always wear them so it’s great to come up with new ideas and see their faces light up once they receive this personalized gift.

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I took pictures of my daughters making silly faces and smiling.  Then I googled for photo strip templates and chose this design.  Using Word, I inserted the pictures that I wanted and printed it out on iron on transfer paper.

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I love the final result!  Just make sure you position the image better than I did, it’s a little lopsided, before ironing it down.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Congratulations…

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Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

Today’s post is very special because it’s for my wonderful husband who’s now an official BLACK BELT in JUDO.  He took the Kata test last Saturday with his sensei and passed.  Yesterday evening, he was presented with his black belt at their Judo club.  Congratulations my love!  You worked very hard and you definitely deserve this high honor.  Your love for learning, practicing, and teaching has enabled you to achieve great knowledge of this sport.  May you continue as safely as you can.

We’re very proud of you!

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My husband, Angel, and his Sensei Lloyd


http://www.gentlewaymasters.org/

Take good care all.

Until next time…

DIY Super Mario and Friends Treat Bags

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Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

This year for my daughter’s birthday we decided to keep things simple.  We found a bowling place and invited Olivia’s cousins who live out-of-state.  Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating making driving dangerous for our out-of-state family (same thing happened last year) so we had to postponed our gathering.  We did go bowling ourselves because we wanted to take her somewhere fun, plus we wanted to check out the place, which turned out to be great.  I also went ahead and made treat bags for my daughters and their cousins.

Here’s what I did:

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I purchased plain red treat bags at Target.  Then I searched online for Mario and friends.  Print, cut and glued the characters onto the bags.

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I found Super Mario and friends mini notepads, erasers, pencils, and pencil sharpeners at partycity.com.  I got all the candy and birdie whistle from orientaltrading.com.  The fruit snack packs, which come in a great family size box (50) are from Market Pantry available at Target.

I labeled each bag and my daughter, Olivia loved her birthday treat bag.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

To my firstborn

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To my firstborn,

Every day I walk by your baby picture and

I’m amazed at how much you have grown.

Today, you’re an official 6-year-old.

Time rushes by and before you get any older

please let me describe what I see in this moment.

You’re a magnificent little artist,

who uses her imagination beyond and then some.

You just started learning how to read and

you’re tapping out words left and right.

You’re also writing up a storm, asking us how

you spell this or that or once upon a time.

Your yuk yuk laugh is infectious and a lovely sound to hear.

You love to learn new songs and you sing them at full blast.

Your little sister can belt out “America the beautiful”

because you’re a wonderful big sister/teacher.

I will continue to watch you with amazement

because you are my world, my heart, my firstborn.

Angelica Mercado

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Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

My daughter celebrated her 6th birthday today.  She was very excited and the night before I decorated our living room with balloons and banners.

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This number 6 balloon is huge and I also had a big butterfly (just because).  I ordered the balloon banner when Olivia was about 3 years old so it is a good reusable banner.  I made two Super Mario Banners (theme) and came upon the stars at the dollar section at Target.  I just drew in the eyes with a sharpie marker.  I also put up three tissue paper pom-pom balls (again, just because).

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http://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/product.do?vid=1&pid=484345002

I ordered and gave my daughter this T-shirt from Old Navy so she could wear it to school and she loved it.  She jumped into my arms and gave me a big ol’ hug.  You’re welcome my darling.

At school my daughter handed out little treat bags filled with a small coloring page with the number 6, gummy snacks, a raisin box, pretzels, and mini marshmallows to her classmates and teacher.  She later informed me that she had a great day at school.  Always great to hear!

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While my daughter was at school, I was busy at home baking a cake for her and wrapping her gifts.  I purchased the Super Mario and friends figures at Amazon and I found this cute wrapping paper at the dollar section at Target.  The bows were made using this great bow tutorial
http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-to-make-paper-bow.html
 by Jessica Jones.

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We had a wonderful dinner followed by singing Happy Birthday to Olivia and eating great cake.  She got to open her gifts, which included books, a great Spider-Man T-shirt, and LeapFrog headphones.  This little girl was beyond happy and I’m very happy to have given her a great day.

Happy 6th Birthday Olivia!

Take good care all.

Until next time…

PETA to the rescue

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Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

Yesterday, as I was leaving my house, a squirrel almost fell on top of me.  Yup, a squirrel and of course I squealed because 1. it caught me by surprise and 2. it’s a wild animal that could possibly bite me.  It didn’t scurry away immediately afterwards, just hung from the side of the staircase, hiding from me.  Since I was on my way to pick up my daughter from school, I figured it would be gone by the time I got back.  Guess what?  It was still there when I got back.  “What the hell?, I thought.  Why hasn’t it scurried away?  Is it hurt?  Is his tail stuck?”  I was able to open the front door and get my daughter inside safely because it was hiding from us.  When I got upstairs I couldn’t stop thinking about the squirrel.  I looked out my window and it was still there.  Then I thought, ”What’s the landlord going to do to it once he comes home from work?”  I honestly didn’t know so I called 311, which turned out to be a bust.  Then it hit me, call PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)!  A quick search online to their homepage
http://www.peta.org/
 provided me with a contact number.  I spoke with Sarah who took down notes and asked me for pictures of our little critter outside, which I provided without hesitation.

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I took these pics from my window.  I zoomed in with my camera and then uploaded the pics and emailed Sarah.

There was no one around so we figured that the squirrel might be injured or stuck because he was still there for several hours after he fell.  Sarah contacted me and told me that a volunteer would be stopping by to check on the squirrel.  I thought that was pretty cool and twenty minutes later a PETA volunteer, Rosa and her friend came and they kindly coaxed the squirrel out of that spot, but he made his way down to the space where you see that black mat above in the pictures.  According to Rosa and her friend, because I was cowering behind the front entryway door, he was holding onto a stick that was in the corner of the space.  She stated that he was a baby squirrel so he was probably scared or possibly injured.  Rosa and her friend decided that it would be a good idea to give the squirrel some time to make its way out on its own so they promised to return the following day and check to see if it was still there.  Did I mention how kind these women were?  No, sorry.  They were very kind and I thanked them greatly for taking time in helping this little squirrel.  Right after they left the landlord came home and I decided to let him know because I didn’t want him stumbling upon the squirrel.  He went to check and lo and behold our little critter was gone.  I was so happy, plus the landlord said that if he would have found the squirrel injured, he would have taken care of it!  Awesome to know!  I immediately emailed Sarah to update and thank her and I asked her to relay the message to Rosa as well.

Is it stupid to care about a squirrel?  I don’t think so, but to each his own.  I just couldn’t stop thinking about the little critter and PETA is a wonderful organization that truly cares for every single animal.  Their response was great.  I was very impressed.  Thank you Sarah, Rosa, and friend!

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Summer blues and an apology to you

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Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

I would like to extend an apology to you all for being such a slacker blogger.  I haven’t posted anything in a while because to be honest with you I’ve got the  summer blues along with a nasty case of allergies that don’t seem to want to go away.  I’m a fall/winter kind of gal.  I enjoy that type of weather, but 80 degrees and above, plus humidity, not so much!  I don’t enjoy getting burn by the scorching sun (no matter how much sunscreen I apply and reapply), having my energy drained away by the NYC humidity (it’s pretty disgusting over here), and most of all the MOSQUITO BITES (they become sickly looking spots, especially on my pale, but soon to be burnt legs.)  Yes, I’m a total bombshell during this season.  Needless to say, I’m in a funk, but trying my best to get out of it by concentrating on my work for this blog.  I wasn’t blogging last year during this time so I hope this will help me keep calm.  Thanks for visiting and yes I understand that there are people with far greater problems.  I acknowledge them and wish them all the best.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

The State Museum of Pennsylvania

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Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

We spent our Memorial Day week-end visiting family in Harrisburg, PA.

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My daughters were very happy to see their Grandma Lucy, Auntie Vera, Uncle Alex, and little cousins A.J. and Victoria!

My mother-in-law barbecued some great food, little cousins played, laughed, bickered and made up together, and we got a chance to visit a great museum.  If you’re ever in the vicinity you should really check this place out.


http://www.statemuseumpa.org/

The main entrance is on Third Street and we immediately made our way to the CURIOSITY CONNECTION section of the museum.  This place is awesome for kids five years and under.  It’s a hands on play area.

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We were totally over the moon with this GIANT chick.

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Sophia loved petting the pigs as well as sitting on top of them.  There was a neat play room with a tunnel that led into the enchanted forest where you could read books sitting on top of mushroom stools and hear an owl hooting nearby.  Such a magical and endearing place.

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Olivia played in the build your own truck section while Sophia picked apples from the tree in the farm section.  The apples and the tree had velcro on them.  Too cute.  There was also fabric covered carrots that you can pick from the ground as well as cabbages.  The kids took turn acting like a farmer and taking the produce to the pick up truck.

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Olivia turned into a flower fairy and made music stepping on a big floor piano.  She had a lot of fun!  There was also a section that had lincoln logs, toy cars, and Lego parts to build whatever your heart desired.

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After we bid adieu to Big Chick and pigs, we explored the rest of the museum.

We were greeted by a big statue of William Penn.

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A.J. really wanted to show us the dinosaurs and the bones of a massive Mastodon.  It was very impressive.

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At the Man and Machine: Industry and Technology Exhibit we saw cars, planes, and trains.

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The following day we visited a playground called Possibility Place. This is a wonderful place where the kids can play (swings, fort, slides, mini rock climbing wall, monkey rings, rope bridge, etc.), ride their bikes or scooters on the nearby path and you can even have a picnic at the benches, which is completely shaded!  There are clean bathrooms and when it’s really hot outside there’s a sprinkler door frame to cool the kids off as well as the adults at the playground.  We love visiting this place.


http://www.yelp.com/biz/possibility-place-harrisburg

We had a wonderful time visiting great places and spending time with our beloved family members.

Take good care all.

Until next time…