Finally something to post!

To get my creative juices flowin', I joined a challenge on Splitcoast to do 12 scrapbook pages by January 4th. Hmmmm. I've done 3, and one partial. It's now early on December 31st. Guess I better get crackin'!!!

I'm doing a scrapbook for my new little boy, who is now 3 months old. Hard to believe a year ago I didn't even know he was on the books for my 2008!! In any case, I decided that pages 2 and 3 of the scrapbook should be an introduction to who his parents were when he was born. I created a list of questions that I answered and made my son answer. I intend, whether successfully or not, to recreate this every few years to see how much the answers change. I figure my son MIGHT get a kick out of seeing how much his parents change throughout his life. Or at least laugh at us. Whatever.

So the pages are pretty simple, but still take a heck of a lot of planning when it comes to choosing cardstock that my printer likes (I have a great HP printer that I bought when we were stationed in England...but having to sometimes print on the A4 paper size that the Brits use made my printer sort of prissy and sometimes it won't take thick stuff), cutting it down to fit (because of course all I have in patterned paper is 12x12), then cutting it AGAIN to fit in the 8x8 scrapbook. But hey, it gets the job done! I chose pictures of when we were living in England for these two pages: my husband is standing in front of Stonehenge, and I'm on the Autobus down the Seine River in Paris.

In this picture you can see me "pretty" craft table, which is actually one of those fold-up card tables. It works out really well for me because if I ever choose to, I can quickly pack it all up and hide the evidence. :-) On my table you can see various new toys I picked up at Michael's (thanks to my mother-in-law for a gift card for Christmas, and a 20% off coupon I found in Parenting Magazine...I only spent 11 bucks! WOOHOO!!), as well as my baby shower book that I need to figure out what I'm doing with, another scrap page that is half in process, various types of adhesive...seriously, there are three...no FOUR types on this table at the moment, and another few in my craft bucket! Sheesh...

So I'll try and have a few more pages to post this weekend. I'm also going to TRY to participate in the Splitcoast New Year's Eve challenges which will be all day. We'll see if that happens. Having a 3-month-old is time consuming. :-) Of course, it also makes me screwed up on time...it's 2AM as I post this. Boy, tomorrow is going to be loooooooooong!

Merry Christmas!

I'm setting over a new leaf for this blog. In 2008, this will be the second or third post I've done. This is simply unacceptable. Yes, I've been busy (pregnancy, getting my Master's, moving across the Atlantic, giving birth, being a mommy...), but I need to start getting back into crafting and post some new stuff!

A forum that I belong to issued a challenge to do 12 scrapbook pages before January 4th. This is exactly what I need to light a fire under my lazy crafting butt! And I also want to get back into the Splitcoast daily challenges. My son received so many toys for Christmas, I know I can keep him highly entertained while I tackle my creative genious.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and I'll post some craft stuff soon!!

Its been almost a year...

And a busy year at that!





So sorry I haven't posted. I haven't had any time to do crafts. In fact, the only thing I've done is a calendar (that my husband actually just ruined by setting it on a counter that had water on it) and some "just moved" cards. So let me explain WHY I've been so busy...

Announcing Cameron James, born October 2, 2008!

I found out I was pregnant on January 31st. This wasn't exactly a "surprise", but DH and I had actually decided to stop trying because we knew the year would be extremely busy and we weren't sure if a pregnancy would be a great idea. Well, obviously God felt differently! :-)

I had complications from the start. The doctors were concerned with miscarriage, then it was thought I was having twins, then they thought one of the twins died, then I was going to miscarry again...it was crazy! Halfway through the pregnancy there were some concerns from a routine ultrasound, so I was monitored quite often through the remaining months of the pregnancy.

In all of this, DH and I decided we wanted to try and move from England early. The military has a program called "curtailment", which is when you apply to change the date you are supposed to leave a base. So we started this application in March, and it was finally approved in July. We found out we were approved to leave at the end of July, and found out July 31st that we were moving to Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City. We had two weeks to pack our house, sell our cars, get the dog and cat shipped back, make sure I was medically okay to fly...and we flew out August 15th. It was absolute bedlam!

We arrived in Oklahoma City on September 1st, after spending time with my family in Ohio. I was lucky to find a doctor who would see me, as well as a great birthing center. I was "induced" on October 2nd, with the intent of giving me meds all night and having the baby on the 3rd. The baby's heartrate was decellerating and wouldn't stay above the baseline, so the decision was made to do a c-section and get him out! He was born at 10:36PM weighing in at a healthy 8 pounds 8 ounces. My original due date was October 14th, so he was early. But who knows how big he would have been if we had waited any longer!! Plus, when they pulled him out, they found a huge knot in the umbilical cord, so it was good that he came out then.

I do intend to get back to crafting...I just haven't had any time! With the move, it took forever to get all of my crafts reorganized as well. I'm definitely going to try and post some things I have made throughout the past year...if anyone still reads this!

Withdrawal

I'm seriously going through withdrawal. I have had NO time to do anything crafty in about a month. Other than putting together a box of craft things for my DDSS on Splitcoast...which I couldn't even post a picture of in case she visits my blog...I have nothing new to show!

I'm currently doing my Christmas cards, and I can't even show them because I decided to send the "prototype" to my DDSS for this month's first challenge, which is to create a Christmas card without red or green. Well, considering I don't typically use those colors anyway, the card creation was an easy thing to do. I loved it so much that I decided to use it for my Christmas card this year. So now I'm doing the wonderful 'mass production' part of card making. The card is really cool...but you know how you never really take into consideration just how many layers and different types of embossing you actually include on a card? This one is going to take awhile to finish. It's pretty intricate. :-)

Other than that, I have nothing new to post. I'm going through withdrawal. I hope to actually have time this month to do some scrapbooking and stamping just for fun...but who knows if that will actually happen.

On a non-stamping note, I've recently decided to take my home business to the next level. Yep, now I'm a Stampin' Up demonstrator AND a PartyLite consultant! I just couldn't pass up the free kit if you have a show that has over $350 in sales, which mine did. I might as well enjoy the freebies, and I love having home shows anyway, so I'm looking forward to it! Yippeeee!!!

Enjoy the beginning of December, everyone! :-)

New card!

Yes, I finally had time to stamp! I may have had time a few weeks ago, but since the little hellions I work with find it amusing to see me sick, I've been almost catatonic for the past week and virtually a zombie before that. Almost every time I *thought* I was getting better, some new ailment would present itself. Friday brought Strep Throat (called Tonsilitis in England)...and I don't think I've had that since I was in high school 12 years ago!!!

In any case, I had to stamp this weekend because my monthly Stampin' Up group meeting is Tuesday night and we have two swaps. The first one is a Christmas themed swap, and I'm in love with this card. I absolutely love it, and it'll probably be my Christmas card this year (or at least one of them).

**Card removed for submission**

So, I used some of the new Stampin' Up wrapping paper and Chocolate Chip Satin ribbon, both available in the Holiday Mini Catalog. The snowflakes are from the Snowburst set, which is also from the Holiday Mini Catalog. The sentiment is from Wondrous Gift, which is in the Fall/Winter 2007 Collection. I used Soft Sky and Chocolate Chip inks for the smaller snowflakes, and then used Versamark on the bigger snowflake and embossed with Iridescent Ice EP. Almost everything is on dimensionals...although you totally can't tell from the picture!

In any case, I LOVE this card. The new wrapping paper is really nice and thick, and you get a ton of it on the roll (the roll itself isn't that wide, but the length of the paper adds up!!). I think it's definitely worth the price, because you get one roll each of two designs. The paper above is from the Blizzard paper...and what is great about this is that the blue paper could essentially be used for other holidays or special occasions (such as a baby boy's birth or birthday card). I think I'll definitely be purchasing the Celebration paper to have on hand for other things...it is sooooo nice!!

I hope to post the other card of my swap in the next day or two...once I figure out what I'm doing. :-) Haven't I mentioned before that my middle name is procrastination??

Stampin' Supplies (All Stampin' Up):
Stamp sets: Snowburst, Wondrous Gift
Paper: Soft Sky, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Blizzard wrapping paper
Ink: Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip, Versamark
Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, Iridescent Ice EP, Heat Tool, Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon

Oops

I've been so busy the last 20 days that I barely remember to look at other blogs, let alone post new things on my own. Thank goodness for Google Reader, or I wouldn't even be able to meander through anything at all!

So I've done no stamping in September, except for creating the following card for my friend Christine. Her husband deployed to Iraq two weeks ago, so we made this card for him to send from her so he'd have something nice/thoughtful/creative to display in his barracks. I'm not even sure if she mailed it yet...but we made it a week ago. :-)

So Christine basically chose what she wanted to do (with a little prodding from me, the "expert"...hee hee). She knew she wanted the card to be blue, so I chose Blue Bayou and Soft Sky, two of the current In Color colors from Stampin' Up. She wanted the sentiment to be something about love, and it turned out that this saying worked perfectly for her. She and her hubby have this "thing" they do where they will ask each other, "Do you love me more today than yesterday? Will you love me more tomorrow than today?" So it was as if this stamp was made specifically for her! She then used all of the other sentiments featured in this stamp set on the inside and wrote her own message for Tylor. I love how it turned out, and I sure hope Tylor enjoys it as well. Christine even made me sign the back saying that I made the card...even though I wanted her to take full credit with Tylor. What he doesn't know won't hurt him, right?

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps: Love Matters
Cardstock: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla
Ink: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Night of Navy (sentiments on the inside...I really should have taken a pic of these as well, cuz they turned out too cute!!)
Accessories: Blue Bayou stitched ribbon, eyelets, ticket corner punch, Cuttlebug and hearts embossing folder

On a non-stamping note, I've been extremely busy with work, Master's classes and various other events. My friends and I are going through a pro-Party Lite mentality right now, so it seems like every week or two one of us is having a party. Add to that little get-togethers, moving house, having babies (you know how us military wives are...we just pop 'em out all the time!!)...September has been exhausting!! It looks like October will be even busier, as I'm now in the full swing of teaching at school, and have added Literacy and Math to my Gifted & Talented classes, plus I'm running a Conservation Club with another colleague two times a week after school.

It's hard to believe it's autumn and Thanksgiving and the Holiday season are right around the corner! Fortunately I'm already getting into the spirit because it has cooled down dramatically in England, with temperatures not rising out of the 50's much for the past week. We've even had to turn on our heat...and in my hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio it's been 90 degrees all week! I absolutely love the weather here, if you can believe that. The air has that crisp feeling, the leaves are turning, and I just can't wait to bundle up and drink hot chocolate in the evenings. Christmas will be here before we know it, and then Jason and I should have less than a year before we will hopefully move back to the States. We desperately miss home and hope to move back to Colorado, where we were stationed last. Here's to hoping the military sends us where we want to go. Wishful thinking!!

My first coaster box!

Yep, it's taken me awhile to jump on the coaster craze. I've had a bunch sitting here that I got from my neighbor, just never done anything with them. Now I'm hooked, and am waiting for a large bulk order I went in on at Emily's blog.

So here's what I did:

I wanted to make my own patterned paper using the new PaperTrey set Beautiful Blooms, and I basically decided to use everything new I had received recently. You have to love that mentality! My table looked like a garden (albeit a fake craft garden, but you get the drift!) had just thrown up everywhere. After seeing all of this, you can kind of understand why. :-)

Soo....I used the Beautiful Blooms set and any kind of Stampin' Up ink that I had, including craft ink (note to self: don't attempt embossing with versamark over not-quite-dry craft ink on white paper) and I threw in some Versamagic inks and Pallete Inks as well, just for kicks. The ribbon is May Arts ribbon from a share with Jody (I think I have an addiction problem with craft shares coming from individuals who reside in the state of Texas).

To add to my insanity, I also purchased the Flower cuttlebug dies, which are randomly adhered to the coaster box, as well as the Maya Road flowers (both velvet and clear), which I made into individual bags complete with primas and brads holding the bags together. Then I about broke my doggone crimper because it took so long to crimp this paper....am I crazy or what???

I will say that I attempted to add a little sheer shine to this project after all the stamping was done by taking my PaperTrey Borders & Corners Circles set in various sizes and embossing with Iridescent Ice EP and Versamark. While it shows up slightly in real life, it doesn't show up at all in this picture. Oh well, I attempted it!!

Stampin' Supplies:

Stamps: Beautiful Blooms and Borders & Corners Circles by PaperTrey, Much Appreciated by Stampin' Up

Paper: Whisper White and Rose Red by Stampin' Up

Ink: any ink by Stampin' Up, Versamagic and Pallete. Seriously, just whatever. I couldn't list them again if I tried to match 'em up!!

Accessories: Cuttlebug flowers die, large silver brads, Maya Road velvet and clear flowers, May Arts shimmery ribbon, Prima Sprites and Prima something-or-other (check the PaperTrey website for what they sell...I'm beginning to lose my mind with this post and I seriously can't remember the name of this flower!!), coasters, Crop-A-Dile, Crimper, Crystal Effects (to glue the bottom coaster to the top four...that stuff is like super glue!!), Iridescent Ice EP, Versamark, Heating Tool...my sanity...my time...my table...etc etc.