Birthday Cards & Gifts

Here are some birthday cards and gifts that I have made recently and haven't posted yet...
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For my SIL Liz - she likes orange - or at least I hope she still does ;-P Happy Birthday yesterday, Liz!

For my SIL Hannah - I really had fun with this card and I took a lot of pics of this one so you get how it looks. I took inspiration from Originals: Window Cutout, but instead of a 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 card, I turned it into a standard sized card (4 1/4 x 5 1/2). I embossed the star from Shining Star with Cranberry EP onto black CS and cut it out - then I mounted it on a piece of white CS and cut out again. then I cut out the center of the front of the card leaving a 3/4 inch border and attached the star. I also used the dot paper from Silhouette (I LOVE that pattern!), some Cranberry Ribbon, Black Waxy Flax, and some Black Bitty Brads.

I played a little more with it after my original pic, adding dashed lines around the star - did I add too much? Which do you like better, the first or second version?

For my nephew Damon who turned 6 last month - just a simple card using the most boyish stamps I own - when you have 3 girls there's just not too much boy stuff around ;-P Brianna picked the color since he is her bud. I stamped the Tool Time stamp sets using White Daisy pigment ink - and used Moonstruck B&T papers, Say It In Style stamp set for the sentiment, and some fun blue staples.

for my nephew Isaac who just turned 8 and was baptized this weekend! I used MCC #34 and Solos (G, R, 8, and the new Punctuation set). I was inspired by a sign at a local fast food place, advertising 'Join a GR8 team!' So I thought it would be perfect for an 8th birthday!

I also made him this journal/notebook - inside the front cover is a picture of Christ getting baptized. This was inspired by Originals: Tie Back Tag but created an 8 1/2 x 11 cover with it.

for my MIL - Happy Birthday today! She loves pink, can you tell? I took inspiration from Originals: Ribbon Envelope but turned it into a 6x6 card. I used Adorning Corners and For Every Occassion - I used some mini clear window circle stickers on the dark side of Blush textured CS to create the embellishment in the corner. I used the light side of the Blush textured CS for the front of the card, along with paper from the Paper Garden pack.

Here is another baby gift - that is LONG overdue! This is a fun puzzle (?) frame that I found - I don't know how else to describe it - each of the squares slides around like those puzzle games. I started this gift right after she was born, then the pics she e-mailed me, I couldn't get to print, so after I finally remembered to tell the mom I needed another picture, I was able to finish it up a few weeks ago when I finally got that picture. I just hadn't given it to the mom and baby yet (sadly she is almost 6 months old now) - I scheduled it to post here so I would finally remember. What a horrible friend I am ;-P

Conference Projects

I finished up these projects two weeks ago during General Conference - unfortunately I got sick on Sunday, so I only got to create during Saturday's sessions, but I'm happy with what I completed!

This was a gift for my cousin who just had a beautiful baby girl. She can just add the pictures! Love this kit from CTMH and I've had 4 sets for over a year now and this is the first I've finally played with it!

This is a long overdue b-day gift for my FIL - the pages are from our Unit Monthly Word Puzzle Swap, but it took me quite a while to pick out the perfect pictures from the last few years. Then I just stamped the year on each page.

I just realized...

...that I never posted this fun card that Laurel sent me at least a month ago - she also sent me some fun new stamped images. Thanks, Laurel, you are such an inspiration! Go check out her blog and her awesome artwork! I love all of the dimension on this card - Bella is pop dotted with an extra pop under the belly ;-) and I love the ribbon strip along the side. Oh, and the pants have fun flock for a fun texture!

Snow Much Fun!

So we passed up Fall pretty quick around here - we got dumped on with about a foot of snow this last weekend and it has been so cold! The girls had fun playing in the snow, and I got some fun pics and videos.

Ultrasound Pics!

We had our Ultrasound earlier this month - I took CTMH's new Voice Recorder and recorded the heartbeat to add to my page - how cool is that? I wish I'd had something like that for my other 3 kiddos. Anyway, Brailee was supposed to be with a babysitter, but she forgot - she's my pregnant friend, so I forgive her ;-) so Brailee got to come to the appointment with David and me. While I was recording the heartbeat, Brailee let out the happiest little squeal, so that recording was definitely a keeper! She loves listening to it over and over again. We got a fun DVD of the ultrasound, which I have never had before, so I thought that was really cool - plus Kaylee and Brianna got to see it, too. Things are looking good - the baby was actually measuring a week or two bigger than I supposedly am, but they didn't move my due date up again. It will be interesting to see when this baby decides to join us!

So yesterday I had a friend come over to scrap while the kids played since they were out of school and I got the following page done. I've had so much fun doing ultrasound pages - I just need more title ideas now so I can finish the rest of the pics I have for the other kids!

Products Used - All CTMH: Voice Recorder, Friendship Alphabet stamp sets, Shining Star stamp set, Star Struck stamp setbuttons, Colonial White Waxy Flax, vellum, Liquid Glass, Sweet Pea paper pack, Textured CS (Baby Pink, Heavenly Blue, Key Lime, and Sunny Yellow)

Trick or Treat! Blog Candy!

This is my 100th post, so I figure it's the best time to have some blog candy! I will have a fun package of goodies (that I haven't quite decided on yet - but I will) that will go to the winner. To enter just share your favorite Halloween costume. If you don't do Halloween or costumes, just share your favorite thing about Fall. I will draw a name on Wednesday the 15th.

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I know some people don't like Halloween, but I just love it - I love to get the girls all dressed up in fun costumes and luckily so far they have all wanted to coordinate (I let them pick what they want to be as soon as they are old enough to care), so it's fun to dress up together! I don't care about Trick or Treating, I just love to get them dressed up! Yes, I make their costumes, but I make them really simple! I love that they are unique from others, even if they are the same character. Here are some fun pics of past costumes...

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2002 - Kaylee's first Halloween she was a ladybug - I don't have any good pictures from that year, it was before I had a decent camera ;-P I just bought black sweatpants and hooded sweatshirt, an antenna headband, and then made a simple red 'cape' with black spots to complete the look. This is the only picture I could find - it's just of the costume!

EDIT: My mom found some pictures of Kaylee in her costume and sent them to me this morning - they're horrible quality, but you get the idea! Thanks again, Mom! Oh, and I tried to edit in Photobucket, but apparently it's not working tonight ;-P

2003 - Kaylee was a little devil and Brianna was an angel - our computer crashed and we lost the pics from that Halloween, but luckily I did have these pics from our regular camera, so here is what I scrapped. For Kaylee I made a jagged skirt from red fleece, found some warm red tights and shirt and some horns, then I made her staff from a stick and foam. For Brianna, I had a friend who had this outfit and gave it to me - it says "I'm an Angel" - I just sewed some silver sparkly garland onto the wings and then made her a little halo out of a stretchy headband.

2004 - The girls were princesses. Kaylee was Snow White and Brianna was Cinderella, but in a pink dress instead of blue. My awesome mom made their costumes for me that year - aren't they cute!

2005 - Kaylee was Princess Dora, Brianna was Sleeping Boots, and I was the wicked witch who put Boots under the sleeping spell - you'd probably have to see the movie to get it ;-) For Kaylee's costume I just made a simple yellow dress and jacket and sewed the ribbon on to match Dora - then I made her little hat out of foam and had some fake hair coming out of the top to match Dora's 'magical hair' - for Brianna I just found red sweatpants and a sweater and then made her monkey ears and tail out of some gray fleece I had around. Notice that we use sweatpants and sweaters a lot - it's Wyoming, you have to be warm for Halloween! Plus, then we can re-use them after you're done using it for a costume!

2006 - Kaylee was a Ghost, Brianna was a Spider, and I was a Mummy (a 7 month preggo mummy, keep in mind). For Kaylee's I just took a sheet of white fabric and cut it jagged and cut a hole for her head - then put it over yet another sweatshirt and sweatpants - white this time. For Brianna, I just sewed spider legs on a black turtleneck and attached them with clear fishing string so they would move with her arms - then I used yarn to create a web on the front of her shirt. Oh, yeah, and for me, I just wrapped myself with torn pieces of fabric and put some horrible make-up on. I look deathly, don't I!

2007 - Kaylee was Barbie the Island Princess (once again inspired by a movie), Brianna was her friend, Tika the Elephant, and Brailee was her friend, Azul the peacock - for her first Halloween. I really struggled making an elephant costume for Bri, but we made what we had work - I tried to sew ears onto a headband and of course found a gray shirt and gray pants. I didn't get very good pics from that year of Brailee ;-( just right before the church party and then she was sick on Halloween so I never took the chance to try and get better pics. For the peacock, I used cardboard and batting to create her feathers - I just sewed a bunch of shapes together to create the look of feathers - I also made her the little hat out of fleece and put it all over what else but a matching sweatsuit ;-)

2008 - stay tuned to see what the girls picked this year - I think this year is the simplest of all!

Family Ties

I finally got this layout finished - it's using this month's Cherish Challenge layout, Duplicate Patterns on page 64. My original title was just 'Family' but then when I finished the layout and after I had added the quote, I decided to add 'Ties' and I'm really glad I did - it's more complete now. I used Chocolate Rub-Ons and Chocolate Waxy Flax, even though the color in this paper pack is Cocoa, and I think they look close enough! The rub-ons were used to number the pictures and then on the tabbed piece that pulls out, it names who is in each picture. On the back of the tabbed piece there is one more picture of my cousin, Peter sleeping - notice there are lots of sleepers in these pics! I didn't get many pictures that weekend and I missed a lot of family shots, so I wanted to at least include all of the good ones I had. We got our new camera that weekend and I spent a lot of time figuring it out and playing around with it, so not all of the pics turned out.

Here is the pull out tabbed piece...

I created a 6x6 page as an addition to these two 12x12 pages since I had just a couple more pictures to add - it also gave me some more room to add more journaling - plus it was a good way to feature Riley who got Baptized that weekend, and Simon who was Blessed that weekend. Here are both sides of that 6x6...

Products Used (all CTMH): Perfect Day paper, Friendship Alphabet (large & small), Clear Embossing Powder, Chocolate Waxy Flax, Twill Ribbon, Simple Stitches stamp set

Thanks for looking! Oh, and my next post will be post #100, so watch for some blog candy!

Dear Tooth Fairy

The Tooth Fairy has made three visits to our house within the last week - Kaylee lost her 4th (?) bottom tooth at school on Monday and her 1st top tooth on Wednesday - she was pretty excited! After she lost her first top tooth, she was trying everything she could to get the other one out - she tried floss, pliers, etc. She finally lost it while eating her breakfast on Sunday morning and we think she swallowed it because we never found it ;-) So she wrote a letter to the tooth fairy and put it under her pillow with an empty tooth box. That sweet old tooth fairy still gave her a gold dollar - 1/2 of her normal rate ;-P

So now Kaylee is the toothless wonder - just in time for school pictures this week!

Ahoy, Matey!

The girls' school had a Family Night this week and it was a pirate theme. They were told to dress like a pirate if they wanted. Kaylee got really creative and found a ruffled white shirt and a vest, then she added a bandana. To top off the look, I made the girls some eye patches. I just traced the pattern on a black piece of CS and then gold embossed my pirate stamps from the Ahoy Matey stamp set and then attached the stretchy string. This is why I love having a craft stash - I didn't have to buy anything and they took about 5 minutes! The girls loved them, even Brailee, but she wouldn't let me take a picture of her ;-P Here are Kaylee and Brianna just before we headed to the school...Say Arrr!

Kaylee and her 'hook'

Brianna and her salute (?) - that was her pirate pose, anyway!

Fun with Gma Nae!

My mom came last week to spend some time with us - it was good to see her again, it's been 4 months! Here are some pics of her and the girls making Gaudy (sp?) Balls - they were specifically requested by Brianna. They also made some fun Christmas Countdown pockets, but I forgot to take a pic before we put it away with the Christmas decorations, so I'll have to get a picture when we get them out to decorate this year.

Thanks Gma Nae!

I wish I'd had my camera today!

We had a really fun bike ride today - we saw hundreds of geese! Brailee and T enjoyed watching them fly over us and kept watching for more. I was just amazed at how many we saw - we really picked a great time to head out this morning. Then, on the way home, we saw two deer! They got scared before we got too close and I was really bummed that I didn't have my camera to get a good picture. I did have my cell phone and took a picture with that, but it's far away and probably not very good quality. Plus, I don't have a cord to transfer pics to my computer - I really need to look into finding one as I have a lot of fun pics that I've captured when I haven't had my camera.

Anyway, thanks for letting me share!

October Challenges

Reflections Challenge

Title Topper - Photos - page 21

This is a page I made for the girls' dance teacher (that's her in the pics with the girls) - I made her one last year so I thought I would turn it into a tradition - I hope she likes it! She still has last year's hanging up in the dance studio. Products Used: Perfect Day paper pack, Silhouette paper pack, Friendship Alphabet (large & small), Adorning Corners stamp set (clear embossed on the black paper), Black Bitty Brads, coluzzle heart.

Cherish Challenge

Duplicate Patterns - pages 64-65

(my sample can be viewed here)

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Imagine Challenge

Follow the Lead - pages 70-71

Here are some pages that I created last year - sorry, once again I didn't get something NEW completed for this challenge, I already posted a new Imagine layout this month and just didn't have time to whip out another ;-P Anyway, I just love these bath pics of Brailee from last summer, especially the huge one I used on the left page - I just love her features in that one! I don't remember the paper pack that I used here, but I also used Summer Celebration Sassy Strands, Classic Alphabet DE (with two letters wrapped in the sassy strands), and some buttons from the Mini Medley Summer Collection.

Oops, forgot to add the *new* Originals Challenge - it's Right Spotlight - page 29 and my sample can be viewed below in my Fall Open House post - it's the card that says Love is Spoken Here

Fall Open House

Here are some pics from my New Idea Book Open House that I finally held today. I am doing an evening 'session' from 7-8 if anyone still wants to come by!

Here is my Make & Take - I made two different cards for some variety to choose from. I used the new Notebook paper with October's SOTM (Annotations) and new rub-ons for one card. For the other card I used the new Perfect Day paper with the September SOTM (Treasure Life) with a fun vellum piece that has the sentiment and holds the card closed. I used Originals patterns for both cards - the Annotations card was inspired/lifted from the SOTM artwork in the Idea Book - so easy!

Here is my table with new products - I don't have much, but there are some really great new products available - of course I want it all!