Me llamo Raquel. [mexico + some new stamps]

For six days I was in paradise.  My family went to Playa del Carmen on the Rivera Maya in Mexico.  We stayed at the Viva Wydham Azteca all inclusive resort and it was great.  As you can see, the beach was beautiful.  The sand was sandy and the water was warm.  Highlights include:  bike rides, swimming in the ocean, snorkeling, reading and relaxing on the beach, speaking Spanish, beach soccer,  and getting our pictures taken with monkeys.

 Also,  since I just had my birthday I have some new stamps to add to my collection.  My grandparent's got me these ones and I used some birthday money to buy some stamps from papertrey ink.  When I got home from Mexico this and this were waiting for me.  Here are some things I have made:

I really love making things out of old maps, because not only do the end results look pretty awesome, but they are also earth friendly.  In general I love reusing things that are just sitting in my basement or in the trash.  Now go forth and make something out of something else! 

p.s. click the photos to see them larger.  Some of them might be too small to see all the details.

i am twenty!

 

  

I figured now might be a good time to blog about my birthday- considering it was two weeks ago.  My birthday was Sunday July 18, but the festivities started on the previous Friday when my Dad took me to St. Louis for a father/daughter surprise date.  We ended up at the airport for "dinner," but during dinner Joshua (my boyfriend) showed up.  It was the best surprise and exactly what I needed.  It had been a month since I had last seen Josh.  A month is a very long time. There aren't enough words for how happy I was to see him and to get to spend 4 days with him!  Since Josh lives in Seattle we've only gotten to see each other twice this summer (including the birthday surprise).  Josh said we were stealing time from summer on my birthday weekend.  We spent our blissful four days swimming in the lake, riding bikes, hanging out with friends and family and staying up late.  On my actual birthday friends came over and we made a delicious dinner.  (peanut chicken saute, vegetable curry, grilled tomato sandwiches, focaccia bread and cookie dough cupcakes.)  After dinner we played Norwegian Table Manners and Spoons.  Fun games and fun friends.  I am blessed and so thankful for amazing family and friends.

Also, on a crafty note, I am loving paint and moleskin cahier notebooks together.  These pocket notebooks are the perfect size for short-ish quotes and what not.  I buy them in packs of three on amazon.com.  I recently got small bottles of acrylic paint on a super sale (5 for $1!) at Michael's, which is what I have been using to paint these beauties. 

Look for these in my shop!

sunny saturday

A happy song for a happy day.
Have a great Saturday!

thank you's + a quote.

These lovely thank you notes were inspired by this card and I'm planning to donate them along with some other cards to The Supply Education Group for an awareness event they're having in August.  I kind of just want to keep them and look at them.  I guess that means I should make some more.

These cards were pretty easy to make and SO cute.  First, cut the cardstock to the size you want.  Then the fun part- choosing the paper for the circles.  I used a tiny circle stencil and cut out the circles by hand.  Some people have a special dye-cut machine thing, but not me.  I'm too cheap for that.  I picked a coordinating neutral color for the strip in the back, glued it down and stamped "thank you."  I arranged the circles  and then glued them down.  I added some buttons and tied some string (embroidery floss) around the card just below the "thank you."  

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."  -Mother Teresa

Fruit Pizza

 

I made this fruit pizza for a World Cup party at my house on Sunday and it was delicious!  Here's the recipe:

2 packages of sugar cookie dough

8 oz Cream cheese

8 oz Cool whip

3/4 cup powder sugar

2-4 cups of fruit   (If you use bananas, first dip them in pineapple juice to keep them from turning brown.)

Glaze:

1/2 cup white sugar

pinch of salt

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 cup orange juice (i used fresh squeezed)

2 T lemon juice

1/4 cup water

1/2 teaspoon orange zest

Press the cookie dough into a circle pan and cook according to instructions on package.   

Combine cream cheese, cool whip and powdered sugar and spread it over the cooled cookie.

Spread the fruit over the pizza.

To make the glaze, cook all the ingredients except orange zest on medium heat in a sauce pan.  Stir.  Let it come to a boil and boil for 1-2 minutes or until thick.  Take it off the heat and add zest.  Cool it for a few minutes, but don't let it set.  Spoon over the fruit.

Chill the pizza for 2 hours before cutting and serving.

Enjoy!

*I used bananas, peaches and blueberries because I had those on hand.  If you try this, let me know what fruit you use and how it turns out!

the one thing I will miss about Germany.

Schweinsteiger.

For those that follow the World Cup, you know that Spain beat Germany today. Although I do like Germany, I like Spain more, so I am please with the outcome. However, I will miss one thing about watching Germany play and that is Schweinsteiger. Just say that name out loud a few times. It's fun, I know. I do it approximately 20 times per game.

So long, Germany. Let's go Spain!

envelopes.

Due to two unfortunate events (one more serious than the other), I have been feeling uncreative and unmotivated to do anything related to paper and crafts. First unfortunate event- leaving Seattle. I cried in the airport. Kind of embarrassing, I know, but it is hard to not see your best friend for two months. Even harder than that is what my sister is experiencing right now. One of her best friends died in a car accident last week. That sort of thing is absolutely devastating. I hardly knew her friend and I was feeling depressed all week.

So, I started making square envelopes out of a roll of kraft paper that I rescued from a trash can. Who would throw that kind of thing away?? I was more than happy to save that paper from going to the dump. I have a square envelope template, which I used, and I sort of made up the envelope liner on my own. To make the envelopes sealable I used double sided tape with protective paper on one side. Any suggestions for a better way to make handmade envelopes sealable? Once I made some envelopes, I got inspired to make some cards. A little inspiration from Ali Edwards' blog helped too. Here are some pictures of the envelopes/cards I have made.




These flowers are in my front yard. Nature is absolutely amazing.