Thursday, December 29, 2011

HE'S HEEERE!:

Our new little guy arrived right on schedule. Quinten was born at 6:09 and weighed a whopping 4lbs. 12 oz. The doctors thought he'd weigh in at about 5 pounds, so they were pretty close.

Quinten was 17 inches long and had an Apgar score of 9, so he's doing great. Mom did wonderful too! Olivia was in labor for only 7 hours, although to her it probably felt like an eternity!










Thank you for all of your prayers. We're so thankful for this healthy little boy!
I get to go preemie shopping tomorrow!!! Squeeeal!!!Thank you for coming by. Have a good night!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

BABY'S ROOM:

Happy Wednesday to you! I don't have any projects left to share with you, so I thought I'd show you what I have been working on. We've got Quinten's room pretty much ready, we're just waiting on him. We thought he was going to be here yesterday, but it was a false alarm :(. Looks like it will be tomorrow!

I'd like to get a thing or two for the walls and we have lots of shelf space to fill, but I'm sure he'll get plenty of things in the hospital.

Now that I have his room in order, I no longer have an excuse to get out of cleaning my craft room. That's my project for today-for the rest of the week is probably more like it!

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some pictures of Quinten to share with you! Now off to tackle the horribleness! Talk to you soon!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

ONE MORE CHRISTMAS CARD:

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I sure did! I was going to post this yesterday, but made an executive decision to take the day off. Actually I worked in the baby's room all day getting it ready for his soon arrival. they're going to induce Olivia on Thursday morning, so around 11ish, we should have  our new little grandbaby-and I do mean little. The doctors say he'll probably only be about 5 pounds. Can't wait to get my hands on that little peanut!

I found the idea for this card on Splitcoast. Christine Miller made a tag using this tree that she came up with. You can go to www.mystamplady.com to see a video on how she made it. I think it's adorable! I made some thank you cards and mugs & mats to deliver to a few of my customers who came to my rescue earlier. I meant to get these delivered to them before Christmas, but I ran out of time. So that is my game plan for today.

I ran some Garden Green DSP through the Big Shot using the Scallop Circle and Scallop Circles #2 Dies. I folded them and put them on a piece of Blushing Bride DSP. I added a strip of the Dotted Scallop Ribbon in Pretty in Pink underneath it. I added a White Baker's Twine bow at the top and added a Basic Rhinestone to finish it off. The sentiment is from Short and Sweet. It says Very Merry Thank You in Garden Green on Garden Green Cardstock.

(Sorry this is sideways-I don't know how to fix it.) I ran out of Garden Green DSP for the big scallop circles at the bottom, so I made a couple with just 2 tiers, but I think they turned out just as cute. Well I better get busy on my deliveries-our new little guy could come at any time. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to each one of you!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

STITCHED STOCKINGS CARD:

Here is the last card we made at card night last month. It uses the Stitched Stockings set and Stocking Builder Punch. I'm sad to say that the punch will no longer be available after January 3rd! SU! will not be carrying this over to the next catalog. So if you're interested in getting this punch before it's gone for good, let me know by Friday, December 23rd, as I'll be putting in one final order for the year. This punch also makes an adorable reindeer, hobby horse or baby booties. Let me know soon if you're interested!

Back to the card...I also used the Frostwood Lodge DSP and the Warmest of Wishes Hostess set from the Holiday mini. I used a Crumb Cake base and Early Espresso and Cherry Cobbler ink. I added a tiny Garden Green heart punched with the Heart to Heart Punch, and topped it off with a Bitty Button and Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine. I added a strip of the Chocolate Chip Dotted Scallop Ribbon and finished it off with one of the adorable Mini Clothespins.

I don't think I'm going to get to my Christmas cards...waaah!!! I'm running out of time. But I'm hoping to have one more to post here tomorrow. We did some power shopping yesterday and was hoping to get all done, but not quite yet. So I've got some more wrapping to do and then on to baking-can't wait!

I think my poor hubby will get stuck with cleaning. Boy, will he be ready to go back to work on Friday! I hope you're all keeping your sanity as you're getting ready for the big day. And baby is still happy where he's at-all snuggly warm in mommy's tummy. I'll let you know when he decides to join us! Talk to you soon...

Monday, December 19, 2011

PENNANT PARADE CARD:

Here's another one of the cards we made at card night last month. I got this idea from Mindy Bingamon, aka Minders, in the Splitcoast community. I loved the colors she used and I knew my card ladies would love the simplicity of it. I added a Rose Red bow and rick rack trim made with the Taseful Trim Die, but it was also really cute without it. I used Pear Pizzazz and added 2 scalloped strips in Pool Party, also with the Taseful Trim Die. I stamped the Whisper White strip in the middle with Pennant Parade in Pear Pizzazz and Rose Red. The sentiment is from Word Play. I finished it off with a little Rhinestone bling at the top.

Sorry to post and run, but I've got a big day of wrapping presents! Can't wait to crank the Christmas tunes and get busy! Stop back tomorrow for another Christmas card. I LOVE this time of year! See you soon.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

CHRISTMAS LODGE CARD:

I'm finally getting to those Christmas cards from last month's card nights. This one is made with the Christmas Lodge set, stamped in Always Artichoke on Very Vanilla. I used a peice of DSP from Frostwood Lodge and ran a Crumb Cake Spot around the edges to tone down the white. I mounted that onto a piece of Crumb Cake Cardstock and that on top of an Always Artichoke base that I embossed with the Framed Tulips Embossing Folder. I added some Cherry Cobbler Striped Ribbon to the corner and on the tag, and finished it off with some Dazzling Diamonds. I had seen a layout for this card on Splitcoast and tweaked it a bit. I can't remember who came up with the original design-if it's you, please let me know!

Well, I'm off to finish some gift tags and then start on my Christmas cards hopefully. I really should clean first, but naah! Stop back tomorrow for another card. And I can't wait to be able to share my 24 projects with you, but that will have to wait until after Leadership-end of January sometime. See you again soon!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

FOUND THEM!

Hi there! Sorry for the break! I had a mountain of projects that I needed to create and send to SU! by Friday. I finally got them done and sent on their way. 24 projects in 8 days! Now I need to make some gift tags, Christmas cards, wrap all my presents, bake and clean-all in 8 days. Ought to be a snap after the past 10 days,huh? I keep telling myself that!

I found the last 2 tags I had made for my Downline gifts at our Christmas Party. This tag used the Tags Til Christmas set. I stamped the snowman in Melon Mambo and put a Wild Wasabi scallop circle under him. I added some of the fun Mica Flakes also. I've tried to use them on a few other projects and they were too muvh, but I think they work perfect for this tag.

And this tag was made with the Gift Givers set from the Holiday mini. I punched out a stocking with the new Stocking Builder Punch in Real Red. I stamped, colored and cut out-which was kind if a pain-the little reindeer and popped him up with dimensionals on the stocking. I added a red brad for his nose and a little strip of the Chocolate Chip Dotted Scallop Ribbon under the cuff. I've had a lot of fun with this stamp set-I hope it carries over!

I also wanted to share this cute little stocking that I made for a Hostess gift earlier. I hope I didn't already post this!?! I have another one I wanted to show you, but naturally I can't find it. I'll find it eventually!

This is our daughter Olivia at one of her baby showers. We went to her doctors appointment with her on Thursday and they called her to come back in to do a stress test on the baby. The doctor said he looks healthy, he's just going to be little.

The doctor also said that they wouldn't let her go past December 28th-so we're going to have our little grandbaby here in 2 weeks! So exciting-I can't wait!



...playing a round of Pin the Sperm on the Egg...

Crazy girls!...I'll keep you posted!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

MUGS & MATS:

I have a couple of cute tags left to show you, but I can't find them, so I'll go with plan B. These are the Hostess gifts I made for my Club Members this month. I think I saw the idea on the Demonstrator website last year. I made several last year, and thought I'd make them again with the Merry Trees Decor Elements and the Candy Cane Christmas Fabric. I know some of you got a great deal on this fabric during the Online Extravaganza-60% off, I think. That helps this time of year!

I added a little tag and a couple of the sweet Holly Berry Bouquet Buttons. I stacked 2 pieces of the fabric, with a layer of  Warm & Soft or whatever that batting stuff is called, in the middle and ran it through the Big Shot with the Scallop Square Die.

I sewed a little X in the center and 3 corners with embroidery floss, and the buttons in one corner. That is the extent of my sewing abilities. I know all of you who sew could do some really amazing things with this fabric.

And here's the adorable tag that Becky came up with for our Make & Take at the Christmas Party. I changed the ribbon that she had used so I didn't use hers up.

She used the Owl Builder Punch for the reindeers head and the Snowflake Punch for his antlers, and sat him on a Top Note tag. Isn't he adorable? And so easy to make-you could knock alot of these out in no time.  I'll try to find those last 2 tags for tomorrow and then we'll move on. Thanks for coming by!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

MORE TAGS:

Welcome back! Thank you for all the wonderful Birthday wishes! This is one of the adorable Stitched Felt pieces. You could easily add someone's name with a tag tied to the wreath. So cute and quick & easy-which is the name of the game this time of year. Which I haven't mastered yet---we had our Tags class last night, and some didn't leave til 11:00, and they still didn't get done! I definitely will need to do it on a week-end next year!

This tag was made with the Hostess set Warmest of Wishes which I got for free at Convention! I heat embossed the tag and added some of the Black Scallop Dots Ribbon. I think I have a couple more tags for you tomorrow, so be sure to check back. Sorry so short, but I've got 24 projects to knock out in the next 10 days! See you soon.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

MORE TAGS:

Well today's my birthday-49! Not sure how I feel about it...at least I'm getting to the point where I can start blaming things on my age. It was a great day and I was really spoiled-I got not 1, but 2 Starbucks! Score!

Here's a simple tag using the Holly Berry Bouquet DSP and Stocking Accents Die-a little simpler than in the previous post.

Hmm, wonder what happened here-it's kinda painful to look at-talk about a pain in the neck...I'm tired!

Here's another one for you. I can't really tell what it is. I left my glasses upstairs and my bones hurt too bad to go up and get them-oh boy, here we go with the over the hill business.  I have been prepping non stop for the past 2 days getting ready for my Tags Class tomorrow night, and I'm still not done! I hope I make it by tomorrow night. Why does it always take so much longer than I think it's going to ?  Someday I'll figure it out.  Well, time for this old lady to hit the sack. Check back tomorrow!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

DOWNLINE PARTY PART TWO:

I meant to post these last night, but I had a surprise visit from my little buddy. My grandbaby, Gabriel stayed all night, so we did all kind of fun things-made some gift tags, circled ideas in the catalogs, had some snacks...then some more snacks, and this old lady was done for!

So back to the party...we started out with chili for supper, then had some coffee and cookies-stamped of course! Next we did the Christmas exchange where you steal from each other-I can't remember what it's called, but we do it every year with my side of the family and it's a blast. Not all of my downline could make it, so we ended up opening all the presents and they got to pick something they didn't already have.

I made these sugar cookies with a gluten free mix. They turned out really well. I made them into little balls, rolled them on sugar and stamped them. They worked great. I frosted some and sprinkled them with a little sugar. After they sat a bit, I stamped them. I think if I would have waited a little longer, they would have turned out better. But I was really happy with them!



After we opened presents, we did a quick Make & Take. Becky came up with a cute reindeer tag using the Top Note Die and the Owl and Snowflake Punches. I'll post a picture tomorrow. We had a great time and kicked off the Holiday season. I'm really blessed to have such a wonderful group of gals!

I wanted to share this with you also. I put the tree up the day before Thanksgiving, and my little buddy was over to 'help'.  I have no idea where he found this ribbon, but I heard him say...'the finishing touch' and I looked over and saw this addition. He keeps adding more-he's been a busy little elf!

Here's a few more tag ideas for you. I'll get to those cards eventually!

Check back tomorrow and I'll have some more for you. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas---LOVE IT! See you soon.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

DOWNLINE CHRISTMAS PARTY!:

Happy December to you! I can't believe we're here already! It's my most favorite time of the year, but it sure got here quick! Tonight was my first Downline Christmas party and we had alot of fun. This is the invitation that I sent them, which they got today-it's a good thing I sent them an e-mail earlier to let them know about it! My snowman originally had the Stitched Felt mittens for arms, but I had to rob them off of him for the invites. And I had already sealed all the envelopes. My poor brain is at full capacity I think. He was much cuter with those mittens.

These are the favors I made for each of them. I just wrapped some of those sinful Ghiradelli peppermint bark squares with Whisper White Cardstock and decorated them. They were so much for to make...and eat...

I thought they coordinated pretty good. I love the color scheme-Whisper White, Bashful Blue and Cherry Cobbler.

I hadn't done too much with the Holiday Stocking Die, so I needed to break it out. It started out as a utensil holder, and afterwards it hauled some more peppermint bark for them to take home with them. I had to get it away from me. I had a 3 pound loss at Weight Watchers this week-after Thanksgiving even-I know! I'm on a roll and don't want to blow it. Who knows how long it will last!

I adore those Winter Wishes Stitched Felt pieces. I wanted to use them for card night this month, but I'd need about 40 of the same style, so I couldn't do it, but they worked perfect for this smaller group.










I don't know what I did, but I messed this post up somehow??? I think I'm going to hit the sack and continue this tomorrow...stay tuned! Have a great night!