Merry Christmas

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

Make a Smilebox greeting

My little stampin man

Nick just loves to stamp with me when he gets the chance! I think it's super cute and love to indulge a fellow arteest! A few weeks ago I was working on some Christmas cards and he just couldn't wait to make his own. He HATES when I take unauthorized pictures of him and will usually put his hand in front of his face, but he was soooo in the crafting zone that he didn't even notice me clicking away!

Awesome job Buddy!

Marjorie's color challenge # 39

I made this card for Marjorie's color challenge # 39. We were supposed to use at least 3 colors from the combo of Outdoor Denim, Tulip, Heavenly Blue, and Ocean. I used everything except the Tulip this time. The design is cased from a card on pg 35 of the CTMH Autumn/ Winter 2008 idea book. Thanks for the challenge Marjorie!

Only 35 days until Christmas! (and only 27 days until my birthday ;0) yay! )

I {heart} Ribbon!

Last week I put in an order for 5 yards each of 55 different colors of grosgrain ribbon. I know, I know.. WHAT?! But I will actually use it! In fact I've already used some of it on two separate projects, and one of them is a card challenge! I'll have to wait to share the pics as it's actually a card for someone who I know is a regular follower of my blog and I want her to see it first, ;0)

So what does 275 yards of yummy, ribbony, goodness look like? Ta-da!



I've decided to store the ribbon, separated by color, in these food storage boxes that I found at Walmart for $0.50 a piece. It makes it super easy to find the color that I'm looking for and putting everything away again is a snap!


Edited to add : I purchased the ribbon from www.teapartyribbons.com ;0)

Embossed Christmas trees

I was playing around with my Cuttlebug today and came up with this cute little Christmas card. The trees turned out super cute!

I've also unofficially decided today that I can't make any projects with stamped images on them until I can score a few Copic markers, lol! I actually tried to make a card the other day where I colored it in with colored pencils and it was not very pretty. Oh well, I suppose now's a perfect time to start dropping hints for Nate about how much I "need" these markers...did you know it's only 42 days left until Christmas?! Woo Hoo!

It's all about the shoes!

Here's a card I made for a friend of mine who I consider to be a total fashionista. I just love her wonderful personality and her fab sense of style. She loves color and patterns so I thought this would be perfect for her.

Wouldn't it be so fun to own a pair of shoes like this?

Update on Bean

Little Ella went in on Monday for kidney tests and all of her results came back normal! Praise God!

She is such a brave little girl. She barely cried at all during either of the procedures (making it soooo much easier on me). I took her out afterwards and she picked out a tiny little baby doll as a little treat for being so brave. She's such a sweetie!


Thank you so much for all of your prayers!

Rileys and Bellas OH MY!!

Yesterday I received a package in the mail from my oh-so-sweet buddy Sparkle (aka Spark-a-bella) which was packed full of all of these images! Sparkle you rock!

Now my only problem is that I'll have to come to terms with my self- diagnosed cardmaking phobia and use some of these babies up! ;0)

Thursday, Sparkle and I went out for another fun scrap night at Nona's. We always have way too much fun!

I had my project almost finished before I got there, cause I know when I get together with these girls, I tend to do way more laughing and talking than crafting :0). This is a 9x9 album I'll be giving as a shower gift on Saturday. I tried layering the die-cut flowers to give the pages that "lumpy" look I love so much and I really like how they turned out. Can't wait to see what the mommmy-to-be thinks!

Have a happy Saturday!

Scariest day of my life...

Last Wednesday was the scariest day of my entire life. Around 5 am, I woke up to find Ella having a seizure. Her face was white, her eyes wide open and so dialated that there was hardly any blue left in them and her lips were blue. I screamed for my husband to wake up and scooped her up thinking at the time that she was choking. I was so scared, I thought my baby was dying right there in my arms. Terrified , we called 911 and the paramedics raced to our home. By the time they arrived, she had stopped seizing, the color had returned to her face and we could tell for sure that she was breathing. She looked exhausted and she had begun to fall back asleep. I just held her crying and praying for her to be alright.

It was discovered that she had a fever of 106 and everyone thought it would be best that we take her to the ER to have her checked out. On the way to the hospital, she sat in her little car seat, strapped to the gurney in the aid car. She was awake but didn't respond at all to our voices. She didn't cry, she just made this little whimpering sound. Her little arms were drawn up close to her body as if she didn't know what to do with them and she was drooling from the corner of her mouth. She looked like a child with severe retardation.

I kept praying that she hadn't stopped breathing at any point during this ordeal, that she hadn't suffered permenant brain damage. I just held her tiny little hand and prayed. I thanked God for letting her be alive, for letting her still be with us. I was so, so very thankful that she was still with us. I prayed that her tiny body be healed of whatever was causing her to be in distress. I looked at her and thought about how she had been just a few hours earlier; laughing, dancing, singing and talking up a storm. She always amazes us with how advanced she is for a 19 month old! I just continued to thank the Lord that she was still with us. I knew if she had suffered brain damage, I would be heartbroken but at the same time I would continue to praise God that she was still with me.

Once at the hospital, they brought her in and layed her down so they could get blood and urine samples. She began to cry a little bit during these procedures, but still was not quite herself. It wasn't until the decision was made to put in an IV that she let us all know that she was going to be alright. She did not like the doctors and nurses holding her down to put in that IV AT ALL! That's all it took and she was fighting and screaming and calling out for her mommy! I was so happy to hear my baby girl calling for me! I immediately began sobbing and thanked the Lord for answering my prayers again that morning! God is so very good!

After several tests it was determined that Ella had a urinary tract infection and that had caused the huge jump in her body temp within such a short period of time. She had a Febril siezure as a response to this sudden rise in her body temp. She recieved an IV dose of antibiotics and was cleared to come home with us by 11am that morning. By that afternoon she was laughing and playing with her siblings.

We're asking for prayers for little Ella because she has to go in for more testing on Monday. With children under 2 years old who have had a urinary tract infection, it's recommended that testing be done to rule out any anatomical defects. She'll be going in for a renal ultrasound (kidneys) and a VCUG (the bladder is filled with blue dye and watched to make sure it's emptying properly). We're just asking for prayers that her little body is formed and functioning properly and that the Lord comforts her during these procedures.

If you've made it all the way through, thanks for reading this really, REALLY long post. ;0) I've just been playing a bit of catch up as life returns to normal around our house. I've also been working on a couple of projects during the last day or so that I hope to finish and post soon. Fingers crossed!

Give your babies an extra big hug today for me and Ella Bean!

Love....

Supplies used: CTMH Caprise paper packet, cardstock, button & waxy flax; Fiskars "filigree" embossing plate, Prima flower;


My parents will be celebrating their 38th wedding anniversary on Friday. Aren't they cute?!


They recently took a trip across the country to check some items off of their bucket lists. My dad's a HUGE fan of westerns, so he wanted to go visit Monument Valley on the Utah/Arizona border. He was in cowboy heaven!



My mom's choice was Disneyland. It was so funny because they didn't tell any of us that they'd be stopping in Disneyland before they left because they didn't want to have to listen to my kids whine and beg to come along. We found out when they sent us an email from the Buzz Lightyear game! Nice move folks, very clever!


Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

my little artists

The other day, Sammy and Bean got into an box of stickers that I'd been keeping for the kids for school and decided to have at it!



They were busily creating their masterpieces! And their choice of a base for their creations? Canvas? Paper? No! Don't be silly! Why, these two would never limit themselves to such boring artistic media! They are true artists after all, and what is the world but their empty canvas on which to paint, or to stick as the case may be.

(those would be my cabinets they're "decorating")

Here's another set of premade pages that I made this week for my webstore. I can hardly believe it's time for Halloween again!

We were out and about today and took a quick look at a couple of costumes for the kiddos. I thought that I wanted to dress Bean up as a fairy or some other sparkly, winged critter, but today I stumbled across the cutest Little Bo Peep costume! I could just picture her, little beanie baby sheep tucked under her arm, dressed in this big, frilly, pink and white dress, swinging the big pink shepard's crook around, smacking everybody....wait....maybe that's not the best costume choice for a fiesty 19 month old.... Hmm, I'll have to think about that one for a bit.

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Photo Friday Challenge #9 "Autumn"

It's been FOREVER since I had a photo challenge and I really miss doing them so.....


For this week's photo challenge, find a favorite picture that showcases some aspect of autumn that you really love. Be sure to leave a comment with a link to your blog once you've posted your pic for the challenge!


Here's mine:

This ( in the bright yellow boots) is my soon to be 8 year old when he was only 2. He's strolling with his buddy through a field on a farm we used to visit every October. I absolutely loved going with the kids to this farm each year for tractor rides and lots of muddy fun! They always had the coolest hay maze in their big old barn and of course the best pumpkin patch ever!

Shine

This is a super quick and simple layout we did during last month's faithbooking class. These pictures of Sammy and his award winning smile were just begging to be scrapped and fit this verse perfectly.

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." -- Matthew 5:16

A girl I used to know....

This stamp is from a set that was one of my very first purchases from CTMH when I became a consultant way back in 2005! That seems like sooo long ago now! It's from the Flower Girls stamp set and I always loved how these stamps coordinated so perfectly with the oh-so-girly Stylin' paper packet. Back in those days, CTMH hadn't come out with their paper flowers or Sparkles rhinestones yet. But like all of their fab products, they also coordinate perfectly, even thought they came out a few years later. And I just LOVE it when things match, lol!

Here's a pic that shows detail a little better on the bottom of the card with the bling and where I embossed stripes into the cardstock.

More Fall stuff....

I've been working on some new designs for my webstore and since I'm in such a Fallish (did I just totally use a made up word?) kind of mood these days, here's a set of premade scrapbook that seemed just right for this time of year!

It feels kind of funny being all "Yay Fall!" and what not right now because the weather just isn't agreeing with the calendar AT ALL. It's the end of September and we've had 80+ degree weather for the past few days. Now don't get me wrong, I really love warmer weather; It's just that it's been so warm that the caramel apples (a delicious treat for when you're feeling "Fallish") we made with the kids yesterday evening, got too warm overnight and melted all over the my kitchen counters! Oh well, I guess that's just an excuse to make up another batch sometime soon!

Say cheese!

My mom just got her braces taken off last Wednesday...after having had them for 4 YEARS! Ah, yes patience is indeed a virtue ;0) Anyway, I thought this was definitely cause for celebration and made her this little card to remind her to smile big, because she's definitely earned it!

The little mouse is one of my original paper pieced creations. It's kind of hard to tell from the photo but his cheeks and tummy were chalked to make them look rosey.

Hope everyone has a great Monday!

Sunflower card

Fall is officially here as of Monday and I'm loving it! All the beautiful colors outside inspired me to create this cute little thank you card. I paper pieced the sunflower and the sentiment is actually cut out from this adorable Fall Festival paper by Bo Bunny.

Just out of curiousity, which term do you use for this time of year? I tend to call it fall, but autumn looks and sounds so much more colorful, don't you think?

Wishing everyone a wonderful Sunday!

Trick or Treat card

Using up some more of my paper scraps today and I came up with this cute little card. I so wish that I had more of this paper! I think this card turned out way cute! The little bear in the pumpkin costume is one of my favorite paper pieced critters from a set of scrapbook pages I designed last Fall and I thought he'd look great on the front of a card.

I'm really digging this card making stuff today! I think I'll try and see what else I can cook up in my little noggin, lol! Maybe one day I'll even be as good at cards as my buddies Sparkle & Nona! One can always dream, right?

Here's a layout I made today of Bean. I'd been having trouble figuring out how to place this set of pictures and was inspired by the upcoming CTMH Perfect Day workshop. The layout used for the first set of pages of this new workshop was a perfect fit! I think I may still add a small poem or quote to the small rectangle on the right hand side of my pages, not sure yet.... There's a removable tag behind the large photo on the left hand side where I'll place my journaling, whenever I get to that. ;0)

Beary Happy Birthday card

I was trying to use up some of my paper scraps today and thought I'd try making a card for a change. I have to be honest; I have some sort of card making phobia or something. I honestly find it a huge challenge to design and create cards vs. scrapbook pages. Kind of weird, huh?

North Head Lighthouse

We arrived at the the North Head Lighthouse in Ilwaco only to find out that Sammy and Bean weren't allowed inside because it was being renovated and was potentially unsafe for wee ones. Sooooo...... what do you do with a 3 year old who's completely full of energy while his Daddy tours the lighthouse for 20mins? Well, you play an exciting game of "Ring Around the Lighthouse" of course!



"Watch me Mommy, I'm faster than McQueen!"



Then I thought it would be fun to get a group picture of the older 3 kiddos on the steps of the lighthouse. They didn't think that sounded very fun.



Next, I begged pleaded threatened asked very nicely for the boys to sit and get their picure taken together. They responded to said request by repeatedly elbowing each other. Thanks guys.





I ask ya.... Who has more fun than us????

Long Beach - day one

We just got back from a little family trip to Long Beach, WA and we all had such a good time! As I'm sure you can imagine, taking 4 kiddos on any sort of excursion is no joke! But we had an absolutely wonderful time! We got to take the kids to play on the beach and did a little site seeing while we where there, including an awesome trip out to see the Northhead lighthouse in Ilwaco.

The first evening we headed straight for the beach! The weather was absolutely perfect and my kids were in the water almost immediately!

Beanie on the beach


Sunset


Taylor


Sammy


I think Nick really got a kick out of seeing how huge the Pacific Ocean is!


Bean and Daddy making a sandcastle