Tuesday Trigger Hearts

moxie fab world has a beautiful tuesday trigger on right now, and i ♥♥♥ anything hearts. here's my take on it:
i used different shades of pink paper, scallops, hearts and patterned paper to try to match the pic. i also added a clear heart, which i punched from some plastic packaging. the sentiment is a srm sticker.

we had a 4.8 earthquake here yesterday. i felt it, the boy didn't, although we were both sitting at the kitchen table.

Holly Days

i had a bit of time during the little muffin's nap to make a quick card:i got the idea from the lovely card on the cover of the nov/dec 2010 edition of papercrafts mag. i used kraft paper, the wording is cosmo cricket and my handwriting.

we are getting into a routine around here somewhat these days, and i seem to have a bit more time, though it tends to go to preparing for school, laundry, cleaning, etc. :) time sure flies though, the little muffin is growing so fast and doing new things every day. school is almost done for the semester, the city is getting all prettied up for the holidays, and it remains fairly warm although they are calling for snow in the next few days.

Thank You Clean & Graphic Style

over at moxie fab world, it's card style week, featuring different card styles (all of which i'm going to try to do). this is my card for the clean and graphic style, which is a style i love!!week 3 of heat wave ... yes, i realize that the weather is all i complain talk about these days. but my due date is two weeks away, and it's just hot, sitting and waiting. moms, you know what i'm talking 'bout :)

i did manage to meet up with some friends from school on the weekend at starbucks. it's the first starbucks to open in budapest. while i don't like the idea of having one on every corner in any city, it is nice to order a tall iced decaf latte with non-fat milk without getting a strange look :) budapest has acquired quite a coffee culture in the past few years, lots of places with the comfy chairs and sofas to hang out in.

Wedding Cake Card

i made a card for my cousin's daughter's wedding, which is this weekend in romania. the card stock is the same purple i used for their invitations. the cake i cut out free hand, added some lace and pearls, and made the wire stand. i based it on the sketch this week from 2 sketches 4 you.

i went to lake balaton (affectionately known as hungary's "sea") this weekend. it's about a 3 hour drive, and there are many beaches all along it's shores. then we took the (10 min) ferry across to tihany, had a lovely dinner and came home. it's always nice to get out of the city for a bit. it was slightly cooler, but not much :) the other night we watched the game at one of the parks here, where they have set up a large screen to watch the world cup. there was a thunderstorm, and the rain had just stopped at this point.

You're the Coolest

card patterns has an awesome card sketch again this week, this is what i came up with:i made the felt sun and cone while watching the world cup. don't tell the canadians, but i think i like soccer better than hockey. less violence and slightly less spitting :) i outlined the velum circle in white pen, the stickers are pink paisley, the paper some left over digital freebies i printed out.

the weather has cooled down a bit, it's been sunny, and i've been out and about enjoying it! i went to the pool the other evening. it was supposed to rain but it never did, so there were hardly any people there. budapest has many baths and waterparks in the city; they are very accessible and fun to hang out at, even if i didn't go in the water.

another reason i love this city... i'm continually amazed at the kindness shown to my belly. people are practically falling over themselves to give me their seat on the tram and bus; twice now people who were standing made people who were sitting give me their seat! and opening doors, and not having to wait in line at the grocery store or post office! maybe this happens in other countries, but i've never been pregnant in another country! so it's totally not presumed, but very much appreciated :)

thanks for dropping by and enjoy your day!

ETA: oh wow!!! i just found out i made the card patterns super 6 for this card!! such an honour, considering how much entries they got this week (and every week). they have another lovely sketch up now, and i'm hoping i can find some time this week to come up with something for it. i'm also really looking forward to seeing who their new design team is :) thanks card patterns!!

I've Been ...

reading ... i found a used English book store a few weeks ago and bought about 7 books. i finished these two and highly recommend them both.

i'm currently reading this one, and it's pretty good. i've liked all the oprah book club books so far, so i think i'll order them if i can't find them here. i see there's lots on the list since the last time i checked.

baking ... oatmeal cookies, apple muffins and these awesome chocolate chip cookies. i finally had to give them to the boy to take to eat at work, because i had no will power at all, could not just have one or two at a time. :)

making ... my cousin's daughters wedding invitations... 250 of them!! i didn't realize they needed so many when i offered to make them, but i got them done finally! they will be getting married in romania, and we are planning to go. it's about a 3 hour drive, so we will just go and come back the same day. i love romania (on the top of my list of fondest vacation memories) but i don't really want to deliver there!! :))) i blurred the details in the invite, but you get the idea. the original sample i made had the ribbon woven through the paper at the top; it was the bride's idea to have the bow at the corner. attending ... prenatal class, and so glad i did. there were 4 sessions: "giving birth in hungary", "labour", "newborn care". and "breastfeeding." i learned a lot (so much to know!!). i've also been going to a mommy-baby group every week. it's been great meeting other expat moms (from all over; swedish, german, american, asian, english) and again, hearing their experiences and getting lots of great info.

shopping for ... baby stuff! there's so much, and so much to choose from. not easy to narrow it down, especially stroller/car seat. there are so many brands, so many choices, quite overwhelming. we almost had one picked out, but now it depends on whether or not it'll fit in the elevator... but hey, we're lucky we even have an elevator, as many apartment buildings here don't have one. i am also looking for a baby wrap/sling (moby, ellaroo?), and ordered a book on attachment parenting.

enjoying ... lemonade. this is my current phase/crave. i make it myself (after the boy squeezes the juice) because they don't have it here in the stores, only in restaurants, as shown in this pic from dinner out a couple of weekends ago. what have you been up to?

Easter Greetings

still averaging a card a week... grrr. i'm thinking i need to work on my priorities!! i made this easter card finally, which has been in my head for the last 2 weeks or so. the paper is rayner and i took apart a plastic flower stem and put the petals together, and added a couple of buds. the tag i made myself, and i did a bit of stitching in pink. the inspiration is from the lovely sketch from 2 sketches 4 you this week. i think it's so nice that the ladies there take the time to comment on the submitted cards; its such a nice added bonus, i think!

i leave you with a pic of what we did this weekend. festival season has begun! here's the boy devouring enjoying an extremely greasy, and equally yummy, semi-traditional lunch. we were at the annual easter festival at one of the squares.
it's another gorgeous warm, sunny day here today, so i'm off for my walk! enjoy your day!

Grateful For You

we went to menza last night for dinner and i had my usual - pumpkin soup and grilled goat cheese salad, yummy. i also had a lemonade (pronounced lemonaaadeh) which is a lemonade with lemon, lime and orange slices in it. most restaurants here have a version of it, and i plan to consume as many as i can this spring/summer! we walked there and back; so nice that the warm evenings are here now!

the boy* (as in bf, partner, so, fh, boytoy, etc) and i were celebrating our anniversary. in addition to dinner out, i got 2 bunches of flowers. the poor guy had no idea what was in store for him when he left his simple, routine life in the netherlands, and it's been quite a ride so far! and although our cultural differences surprised us both many times, i am very grateful for all that he does and he does work very hard for us, in many different ways. here's the card i made for him:
the paper is from a spring mini kit freebie from kevinandamanda. the paper is actually teal but i used the colour balance in photoshop to add more blue, then darkened it using levels. the ribbon i bought here, the brad came with a kit, and the border punch is fiskars. the "grateful" is my handwriting and i put it together in indesign and printed it directly on the kraft paper. we just bought a new printer (epson stylus photo px700w) which i'm liking a lot so far. the inspiration is from this week's sketch at 2 sketches 4 you.

thanks for looking!

*he's younger than me, i called him that from the beginning and it's stuck :)