Jose Castillo Cabello

The Lord took my dad home this week.  He was battling bile duct cancer.  I am reeling from loosing him, but I haven't truly lost him.  He gave his life the Lord so I know I will be re-united with him in heaven.

 My dad loved me very much.  I was his little girl and he always made me feel like a princess.  He is the reason why I always felt I could achieve anything I wanted.  Nothing was too great for me and he imparted that in me.

 My dad grew up in Michoacan, Mexico.  He was from a small village.  He met my mom there.  He made the very best carnitas.  He also loved raising livestock.  He and my mom had 11 children.  He always had a smile for everyone.

My dad loved Jonas.  He called him his son.  I know he was very happy I married Jonas.  They had a special bond.  It always warmed my heart to see them interacting...both of them trying hard to communicate in English and Spanish.

 He also loved Grace.  She brought him joy and made him smile.  Even in his last days, she would make him smile.

I was glad that he met Caleb.  He was amazed at what a big boy Caleb is and how great a disposition he posses.  

Papi, I will miss you dearly.  I am so glad you gave your life to the Lord and I look forward to seeing you in heaven.

Blessings,

your Chabelita

Travel Centerpieces

I recently created four of these bad boys for a retirement party.  It was a travel themed party, the retiree plans on visiting places she never was able to while she worked.  Sounds great, right?  Can't wait to retire and do the the same.  I have a long ways to go till then...boo!

 I used my Cricut to make the centerpieces.  I used the My World, Going Places and the Alphalicous cartridges.  I cut out black silhouettes of the various locations.

 I had left over embellishments from travel scrapbooking supplies that I adhered to each of the suitcases.  I wanted it to give the impression of stamps on a well worn suitcase.

Not too bad, huh?  They were pretty large and they looked great at the party.

Blessings,

Beth

Summer Vacation! At last!!

At last!  I am on summer vacation.  This school year went by fast, but not fast enough.  It has been a busy school year with the birth of Caleb, maternity leave, and adjusting to two little ones at home.  Lot's of plans for the summer...crafting, dance and swim classes for Grace, resting, working out, and we also have a fun vacation to Santa Barbara planned.  We will also be traveling a lot to Central California to spend time with my dad.

I took this video this past weekend while we were visiting my parents.  I had taken my mom to get a haircut and Grace entertained herself by "sweeping" the floor.  My little helper!  She's changing and growing every day right before our eyes.  She's so tall!  That just adds to the feeling that she no longer my baby, but a toddler soon to be kid...

Speaking of growing up right before our eyes, Caleb is not to behind.  He weighed 20 pounds at his six month doctor visit last week and he's 29.25 inches tall.  Grace weighs 27 pounds and is about 37 inches tall.  We have tall children!  Here is Caleb this morning reaching so hard and rolling from his tummy to his back.  He's an expert at rolling from his back to his tummy, but this was his first time doing it the other way around.  He'll be rolling and crawling in no time!

And Jonas shaved his beard/mustache today!  He looks so different.  He promised himself that when he met his weight goal he would shave it.  I have such a handsome hubby!!  :-)

 Now I need to get on the ball!  I have signed up for a half marathon in January.  More than enough to time to train.  Gotta dust off my running shoes and hit the road!

 Grace was so excited!  My mom, Abuelita, gave her all these Ty Beanie Babies that she had lying around.  She's been playing with them since we got home.

First time giving Caleb a sippy cup. He loved it more for it's teething properties.  He actually did get some water in at one point and it caused him to choke a bit.  He'll get used to it!  Awww, he's growing up too fast!  He's well on his way with baby food too.

As for action on the crafting front, I'm currently working on making sock monkeys.  So far so good.  And I need to finish up a few more tutu hairbow holders that I started in April and never finished.  I am also working on decorations for Grace's Elmo birthday party.  She turns 2 next month!!!  Yikes!!

Blessings!

Beth

Farm Chipboard Album

I made this cute Farm themed chipboard album for a friend's daughter who just turned 1.  The birthday party was at a farm.  So I was inspired to create this cute album.  I used my Cricut to make the barn shaped album and also for a lot of the die cuts.

Its a pretty big album.  A little over 9 inches tall and almost 10 inches wide.  Which is great because it leaves a lot of room for decorations and pictures.

 What's a farm without trees, fruit and a tractor!  I should know!  I grew up on a farm in the farmlands of the Central Valley.

 Here's my little farmer girl die cut and her pig.  Too cute!

 This page screams "Old MacDonald."

 I thought it would be cute to add animal sounds to these two pages.

This was a really fun album to make.  I hope it will be a treasured keepsake for my friends and their daughter.

Blessings!

Beth

Finally Crafting Again...

It's been a rough month.  Life has been busy and stressful.  I am also dealing with some sad events in my family.  So I needed to craft!  Crafting keeps me sane.  I made this cute album for a birthday gift...more pictures to come.  I want to send off the gift first before I post more pictures.  

It was a farm themed 1st birthday party.  And since I was making die cuts for the album, I made a couple extra of these cute little guys...

It's a farmer boy and farmer girl die cut set.  Cute, right?  I made two extra sets and posted them on my Etsy store.  I can't help myself but to craft!

We have all been sick this past week. I took Caleb to the doctor this morning.  He has a bad cough, but no fever.  He is still his happy little self.  He's 5 months old now and he's huge!  He weighed 19.04 lbs!  And he's about 28 1/4 inches long.  BIG BOY!  Here he is in his 5 month pictures.

And Grace, well she's as cute as ever and such a toddler!  She is becoming an expert at many things, especially throwing tantrums.  I took a picture of her in action.  She loves throwing herself on the floor.

I think I might show this picture to my students.  Birth control!  Maybe I should video tape her in action and make my students watch it!!

I have 4 more weeks till my summer vacation!  I can't wait.  I have lots of plans...more things than I can get done in 6 weeks.  But most importantly, I will be spending lots of time with my munchkins.  What can be better than that?

Blessings,

Beth

Need A Pick Me Up??

Ballerina Tutu Hairbow Holders

Don't ask how, but somehow I managed to craft. I decided to make a Ballerina Tutu hairbow holder for a friend who is having a baby girl. I hesitate to work with fabric because I can't sew, but I was able to make this without touching needle or thread.

I had enough materials to make three additional tutu hairbow holders. I posted them on Facebook and just like that two of them sold. I also had orders for two purple ones.

I had enough materials to make two additional purple ones. So now I have one pink and two purple ones for sale on my Etsy store. I love how they came out. I am going to make a few more pink ones to update the one in Grace's room and for friends as gifts. I love how these turned out. I've seen these on Etsy and I didn't like them because I felt that the combination of fabric and colors being used were not very girly. Hot pink and zebra stripes?? Not what I picture in a girl's room. I purposely chose colors and a pattern that I thought was girly and fun. And these hold a lot of hairbows and clips.

Aside from these hairbow holders, I haven't had much time to craft. With two little ones and work, life has been busy and crazy. I come home, try to spend time with the munchkins, make dinner, get them ready for bed, get every thing ready for the next day, try to spend some time relaxing, and then off to bed. Doesn't leave much time to craft. But it's my therapy, so I am glad when I'm able to carve out some time to create. It makes me happy!

Speaking of things that make me happy...

Easter Sunday was great. We had wonderful weather, a great church service, and a yummy lunch at Claim Jumper's. It was fun getting the kids dressed up. We took them the day before to get their pictures taken. Caleb did great, but Grace kept having meltdowns. So we didn't get the greatest picture of the both of them, but we'll have a story to tell with that picture.

Also, on Easter, Jonas and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary! Wow!! It's been a great 6 years and I am looking forward to many, many more.

As a pre-anniversary celebration, Jonas and I drove up to Big Bear for a zip line adventure. It was great! I was a little nervous, but it ended up being an awesome adventure. Jonas loved it! He was a monkey on those zip lines!

I have about two months left before summer vacation! The count down begins...

Blessings!

Beth