Ahoy Mateys!

As promised, I took a picture of Ethan's pirate party invitation! I just love it and I got to play a little too while the kids are napping......they are still asleep so maybe after I post I can scrapbook a cowboy page too! I have the cutest picture of Ethan with his red cowboy hat at the hospital the day that he got his head shaved back in July of last year! It was a very sad day for Mommy so Daddy shaved his head while I was in the shower and "surprised" me when I got back to find my baby without any hair.....I soon realized that hair isn't that important and it will grow back!

I made a cowboy card for Beate's weekend sketch today! http://beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/ I love the paisley embossing template! I can't wait to use this on my scrapbook page.....too bad the cuttlebug didn't come in a 12x12 size.....hopefully Provo Craft reads my blog daily so they can get to work on that!

I'm looking forward to the weekend. I've had a rough week trying to get back into a routine. The kids have been fighting constantly like sibblings do! I'm looking forward to Dave being home to help referee. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Ethan's day 100 is June 1st! Oh won't that be a glorious day. 100 days of isolation.....it puts a true test to the words patience and sanity!

Card Recipes:

Pirate Party Invite:

Stamps: Ahoy Matey (Stampin' Up!)

Ink Pads: Basic Black, Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up)

Paper: Ballet Blue, Read Red (Stampin' Up!), Kraft (Papertrey Ink)

Pencils: Watercolor Pencils (Stampin' Up!)

Cowboy Card:

Stamps: Wanted (Stampin' Up!)

Ink Pads: Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!)

Paper: Read Red, Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip, Kraft (Stampin' Up!)

Ribbon: Offray Red Check (JoAnn Fabrics)

Cuttlebug Paisley Embossing Template

HOPE

It's been a while! Just trying to catch up from "hospital life". It's hard getting a years worth of stuff caught up on. I've been organizing, throwing things away, and just plain old spring cleaning! I love to have things "in their place", but we just don't seem to have enough places to put things.....or maybe I have too much stuff! (I don't think that could possibly be right)!

I've been stamping....quite a bit actually, but not much time to update my blog. We are getting ready to celebrate by having a party for Ethan. It is a Pirate theme so I made some invites....I think they turned out really cute. I saw the idea in a magazine and I didn't stray too far from that card. I usually come up with my own ideas, but I really like how this card looked and I just went with it. Credit goes to the original designer: Susan Stringfellow http://creativelysavvy.blogspot.com/ I just have the page torn out of the magazine so I don't even know what magazine it came out of, but thank you for your wonderful idea! I'll take a picture and post tomorrow (it's too dark to try now)!

We're going to have a lot of fun. This party is all about the kids. We're going to have lots of fun and games. I can't wait and neither can Ethan!

"HOPE" is a tri-fold card that I used for a baby card. The baby's name is actually Hope and I immediately thought about this stamp set and had to use it. The verse on the inside fit perfectly. I made my own patterned paper to go with it. The color is the new color from Papertrey Ink, Lavendar Moon. I designed the card that after it was opened that it could set on a table and you could see the baby's picture and the verse about Hope!

I used some Retired Stampin' Up! sets for this card. Here's the Recipe:

Stamps: Feathered Hope and Illuminations (Stampin' Up!)

Paper : Lavender Moon (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Lavender Moon (Papertrey Ink)

Ribbon: Lavender Moon Satin (Papertrey Ink)

Here are some funny pics of my kiddos eating spaghetti! It was a mess, but too cute to not take a picture!

Are you seeing STARS!

I'm getting ready for stamp club tonight....yes, I waited until this morning to design my card because I was trying to fit way too many things into the last several days. I'm still playing catch up from when we were in the hospital....I don't know if I will ever get caught up, but that is okay! I've learned to look at my piles of laundry and walk away! It's amazing, but the piles look the same even when I come back!

Here's a very simple card that I was intending to be a Father's Day Card, but I like it when cards can be versatile by just changing out the sentiment or adding a ribbon. So here is my take on the same card made 3 different ways!

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Classic Backgrounds (Stampin' UP!) Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)

Inks: Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue (Stampin' UP!)

Card Stock: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla (Stampin' UP!)

Ribbon: Chocolate Chip Grossgrain (Stampin' UP!)

Embossed Paper: Cuttlebug with Swiss Dots Folder

Butterfly Wishes!

Here's a card I made several days ago. I submitted it for Jen del Muro's sketch. http://iheart2stamp.com/2008/05/03/a-sketch-and-an-introduction/ I gave this to my brother-in-law and new sister-in-law for their wedding card this past weekend. We had a wonderful time at the wedding and reception. We haven't gotten to do something like this in over 11 months. Ethan and Ava had a great time and it was nice getting back to reality a little. It was overwhelming too, but we had a ton of fun.

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Just Celebrate (SU)

Cardstock: Pink Passion, Almost Amethyst (SU)

Designer Paper: Almost Amethyst Designer Series Paper (SU)

Embellishments: ribbon (Taylored Expressions), water drops (Michaels), Chunky Sprinkles (SU) Cuttlebug Swiss Dots and Oval Nestibillities

I just got Ava to sleep now if Ethan would take a nap maybe I could go and stamp a little. I'm anxious to try out my new Papertrey stamps. I have the new Bitty Baby Blessings http://www.papertreyink.com/stamps_bittybabyblessings.html Hopefully I'll have some things to post later this week.



Here are a couple pics from the wedding!

Ava was so nervous all night that she kept chewing her fingernails! "Almost" all of us were smiling!

It's Papertrey Party Time Again!

It's almost here, the new release of the Papertrey May stamps. I can't wait to see them. They have a new baby set that I'm very anxious to see. I wanted to share my sample card that I entered for the May Guest Stamper of the Month. They were due by the 13th.....so I would say it is okay to post them now! I really like this turtle out of "Pond Life" and one of the challenges was to make a "Boy Birthday Card". Well, here is what I came up with. I love the little dew drops for the turtle shell! My daughter had fun "helping" me put them on.....she's 2 so you can imagine how much help she was!

Card Recipe:

Stamp Set: Turtles, Pond Life; Sentiment, Trajan Monogram

Paper and Ink: Real Red, Only Orange, Brilliant Blue, Green Galore, Yoyo Yellow (Stampin Up)

Ribbon: Red, Green and Orange Polka Dot (Taylored Expressions)

Accessories: Colored Brads (Making Memories), Clear Pebbles (Michaels), Googly eyes, Cuttlebug

I'm going to attempt to join the release party tonight....depending on what is going on with the kids. Ethan needs his meds at 11:00 and that takes a half hour so hopefully all will go well and I will get to join in the fun. Go to Nichole's blog for more details. You can even sign up to win the whole package that they are releasing for the month!

A little update about our son. Ethan started his trial on Monday and things didn't go as planned. It was actually a very painful ordeal and after many hours of talking to each other, my husband and I decided to remove him from the trial. Ultimately this means we are home and our son is happy, healthy and smiling......and most importantly, cancer free!

Hopefully I'll be posting some cards later in the week!

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope all of you Mothers are have a great day! My kiddos just went down for a nap so I'm taking the opportunity to blog a little and I'm going to make a scrapbook page. I made my Mom a card this morning using a very old stamp from SU. I used the Stripple Hydrangea. I loved the idea from another blog about cutting out parts of a flower and making them look 3-dimensional, so that is what I did. My Mom loves blue too! She'll probably peek at my blog before I get her card and gift to her! The layout of the card is from Jen del Muro's sketch http://iheart2stamp.com/

We are off to the hospital tomorrow morning. Ethan is starting his trial tomorrow so we don't know for sure what to expect. We are praying that all goes well for him. He should be in the hospital Mon-Thursday and we are expecting to get out sometime Thursday. My husband's brother gets married on Sat and he is the best man and the kids are the ring bearer and flower girl. It's going to be a busy weekend, but a fun one! Ethan will be at day 86 on Sat of his 100 day isolation period, but the Doctors said that he would be fine. This will be different for us as we haven't been to anything like this in almost a year!

As always.....here are a couple pics of the kids. Here's one of Ava's 2 year pics and Ethan got to have a friend come over yesterday so he was having a ball!

I'm going to try to make a couple cards yet today to post while I'm in the hospital.....we'll see how much of that I get finished. Hope all of you have a great week....I'm anxiously awaiting Papertrey Ink's new stamp sets.....I think the baby set is a must have!

Time for WATERMELON!

It's been a while! We had a surprise hospital stay over the weekend! Ethan started running a fever late Thursday night so we ended up at our local "ER" around 2:00 am and then to St. Louis Children's at 7:30 Friday morning. Ethan had a line infection so it's a minimum 48 hour stay to test blood cultures. We FINALLY made it home around 5:30 Monday night. We'll be back again next Monday to start Ethan's trial drug and that will be a minimum 3 night stay. Life is so crazy!

I finally got some time....or should I say made some time to stamp today. I got my card finished for the Papertrey May Guest Stamper Contest. Oh I really like how it turned out. I'll post that after the 15th. Tonight I thought I would share what I made for today's sketch challenge on Splitcoasters.....and yes it was a challenge. I had both my 3 1/2 and 2 year old helping me. Ethan wanted all of my cuttlebug scraps and Ava was into everything. I would go get some ribbon and she would then follow and bring me five more rolls. I was trying to do this while they ate supper......why don't I ever learn my lesson! My husband is gone for the day in Chicago....he took the train up for a trade show and will be back late tonight! So it's just me and the kiddos!

When I saw todays sketch, I thought of a watermelon. I have some patterned paper that I thought would be cute for the watermelon center and the seeds I used my ticket corner punch for the seeds. I think they turned out just right. The sentiment is from my computer. I've been working on my photography for my cards....what do you think?

Card Recipe:

Paper: Wild Wasabi, Rose Red DP, Barely Banana, Black (SU)

Ribbon: Wild Wasabi Striped Grosgrain, Black Gingham(SU)

Accessories: Scalloped Punch, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" Circle Punches, Ticket Corner Punch (for seeds) (SU) Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder and Oval and Oval Scallop Nestibilities

As always I have pictures of the kiddos. Ava is at our island eating corn....isn't she a "ham"! Ethan is at the hospital TeePeeing his room! It's a long story, but the toilet paper tubes worked well to tape together for a baseball bat! See what you do when you get bored at the hospital!

Get WHALE Soon!

Here's a quick post....the kiddos just woke up so I have to run. I made a new Get Well card and I have some new pictures of the kids playing outside today. The whale has some of SU's new chunky glitter on it and I used the swiss dots folder for my cuttlebug. I'm really getting into using this glitter!

Why does everyone hate dandelions so much....kids love them. Have you ever scene a stamp with dandelions??? I'd snatch it up if there was.

We got news today that Ethan will be starting a trial so he will be hospitalized starting Monday next week and hopefully if all goes well we'll be home sometime Thursday night. Please keep him in your prayers!