Happy Birthday to Me + Fall-To Layout #128

Happy birthday to meeeee. Thank you for the birthday messages through Facebook, text, phone, and even snail mail! Y'all know how much I love snail mail! See fun examples below: my sister drew/sent the one on the left and my friend Laura sent the one on the right. The lady looks so fashionable! :)I decided to take the day off work and do some fun things. First up, a haircut! The last time I had one was over a year ago. I didn't like the bulkiness at the bottom and I didn't like that it was all one length. The salon that I had gone to last time had closed, so through reading reviews on Yelp, I found another one that was nearby my house. The lady that cut my hair was really nice and gave me many tips on how to keep my 'do looking nice. For the first time in a while, I actually have bangs! Here are the before (left) and after (right) shots. What a difference, right? I guess it would have helped if I took the pictures facing the same way, but whatever...After the haircut, I went to a mall that was further away from my house. I wanted to investigate Big Lots, since I had seen many YouTube scrapbook hauls where people had good luck there. I only came out with 1 pack of paper from g.c.d. Studios. I didn't see a lot of Basic Grey or any stamps there though. Marshalls and Joann's were in that same shopping mall, but I didn't get anything in either one of those places. :/

I went home, ate lunch, and went back out to do some grocery shopping. I had my sights set on making Creamy Taco Mac and Red Velvet Cupcakes (from scratch) this afternoon. I found the Annie's Eats cupcake recipe through TasteSpotting.com (new favorite food site to browse). I haven't frosted the cupcakes yet, but I will tomorrow. I ate one as a test, and it was fabulous (it will be even more fabulous with the frosting! Frosting has that effect on desserts). As for the Creamy Taco Mac, it was yummy, definitely something I'd try again. I added one large red bell pepper in the recipe to add some texture and vegetables.Here's my take on this week's Fall-To Layout (#128). I had a white cardstock panel sitting around with floral Dear Lizzy paper, so I figured I could start with that. I broke open the package of red cardstock I got last week and ran an embossing folder over it, adhered it to a pale blue piece of cardstock and stuck the duo onto the Dear Lizzy paper. Then I worked on the label/flowers/sentiment part.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird, Yellow Ochre, Warm Red. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Wild Honey, Broken China.
Paper: American Crafts- Dear Lizzy (pink floral)
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug (Victoria)
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 8
Stamp: Fiskars- Just Between Friends (sentiment)
Foam adhesive: Thermoweb
Other: Brown Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Birthday festivities will continue tomorrow and next week. Stay tuned. :)