Love "my" Cuttlebug!

Here's a new folder that my Mom picked up for "my" (our) cuttlebug. We share one and I got the chance to play with the new folder first. I'm trying to get my daughter down for a nap so I don't have all the details for my card, but I love how it turned out. I used my new fiskars punch and added some shine with some spring moss satin ribbon from Papertrey Ink. The sentiment is lifted with some stampin dimensionals. The patterned paper came from our local scrapbooking store, Scrappin It at their moving sale. There are tiny birds in the embossing and the patterned paper.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend. Alicia

Fresh Cuts!

Here's another card that we'll be making at Stamp Camp. I absolutely love this new set by Stampin' Up! It's so elegant and can be used for so many types of cards. The butterflies are from my new Martha Stewart punch. I used Papertrey's Aqua Mist paper and SU's white and chocolate chip. The ribbon is chocolate satin left over from my brother's wedding programs. The sentiment can be changed out to fit whatever occasion! I love using the vine in this set to stamp along the card edges.....it's hard to see, but if you look closely at the bottom you'll see a faint edging with this stamp! Have a great weekend! I'm looking forward to stamping with some new images that should be coming soon. I ordered my first stamps from Hanna Stamps and from Pink Cat Studio. I've been a fan of Riley the moose from Hanna Stamps for a long time and finally decided to order a couple. They are really affordable and so darn cute. Pink Cat Studio has a variety of stamps, but ever since I saw Lauren Meader's post with Billy and Lily I put them on my "want list"....I really don't have one written down, but the list is very long in my head!

Have a wonderful weekend. The river is starting to come down slowly. It is at 28.75' and I think it has to be under 25' before my husband doesn't have to drive the levees anymore. I'm sure all of the community will be relieved when it comes down too. There have been so many volunteers around the area helping to sand bag, feed the troops, watch levees, drive equipment, spread straw....countless jobs. There has been some stories on the news lately and it sounds as if Quincy, IL will just wash away, but in all reality the danger of this flood is to a few homes and businesses along the mississippi and thousands of acres of farmland. Quincy and the surrounding communities sit high on a bluff, so if we flood, we'll all be meeting NOAH!!!

Faith, Hope, Love

Wow!!! 2 posts in one night!!! I had been wanting to try out Jen del Muro's sketch and I decided I would just sit down and do it! I LOVE how it turned out. These are the colors in my brother's wedding on July 4th and this is their wedding card. This has to be one of my favorite sketches!

Faith, Love, Hope :
Stamps: Fresh Cuts (SU), Everyday Blessings (Papertrey Ink)
Paper: Kraft (Papertrey Ink), Cream, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip (SU)
Punches: Hydrangea punch by (Martha Stewart)
Pearl accents
Brown satin Ribbon

Cuttlebug Embossing Template

Stamp Camp

Stamp Camp is coming up so I'm going to share a few of my creations for that! Life has been crazy once again with the "Flood of 2008". My husband has been going into work at very odd times to watch the levee that is protecting his work, plus he goes in to "work" as well. Hopefully things will start to settle down soon so life can get back to our "new normal"!

Before I share my cards we do have some very exciting news to share.....well at least it is to us. Ava is potty trained!!! She can even sleep in big girl undies and doesn't wet through! No more diapers at ou house! (Well. at least not for a little while) :-) To top this off, she dropped her "BOP" (pacifier) into the toilet this morning so that is "Bye-Bye gone!" She really wanted it at naptime today, but she managed without it!

Here's some of my new creations. I think my favorite is the baby card for a little boy. The colors were an inspiration from Niki Estes. She just found out that she is the newest member on the Papertrey Design Team! Congrats Niki! The layout is from last week's Splitcoast Stampers sketch. I'll post more stamp camp samples throughout the week! I just finished up a new birthday and wedding card that I'll share this week too! So stay tuned!!

AHOY SAILOR RECIPE:

Stamps: Bitty Baby Blessings (Papertrey Ink)

Paper: Aqua Mist (Papertrey Ink), Real Red (SU)

Patterned Paper: Real Red Polka Dot, Designer Series Paper (SU)

Ribbon: Aqua Mist Satin Polka Dot (Papertrey Ink)

Red Brads

Cuttlebug Swiss Dots template

Large Oval Punch (SU)

Sweet Pea Recipe:

Stamps: Green Thumb (Papertrey Ink)

Paper: Sweet Blush, Green Moss (Papertrey Ink)

Ribbon: Sweet Blush Satin Polka Dot (Papertrey Ink)

Dew Drops (Michaels)

Cuttlebug Swiss Dots template

Large Oval Punch (SU)

Cherry Picking!

We had a great weekend and one of the highlights Sunday was Cherry Picking. The kids only lasted a little bit until they got bored, but they had fun while it lasted! The cherries are delicious. We gave away most of them, but we kept enough to make a cherry crisp and boy was it yummy and simple.....I say that as my husband pitted the cherries and my Mom made the crisp. I was the taste tester!!!

As you can see....we went swimming! Oh was this fun! Ava got a little scared after I got her hair wet, but she soon got rid of her fear and was trying to climb in as we were getting ready to quit for the day! Ethan had a ball. He jumped in time after time and was sooo cold! He refused to give in though!

I'm heading to my stamp room!!! I have to cut cards for tomorrow night at stamp club and I am going to scrapbook. I always save that for last, but it is my favorite thing to do so today I'm going to make sure I make a page! I'll post tomorrow and show you how my page turned out!

The kiddos are napping so I better get moving!

Papertrey Ink Contest Entries

It's Father's Day and my husband is getting ready to take a 3 hour bicycle ride. He's been wanting to go so the kiddos are down for a nap and he's about to take off. We're planning on going swimming when he gets back so that will be fun. Ethan hasn't been swimming since before he was diagnosed last summer so this will be bitter sweet. He still has his broviac, but the Doctors said we could take him as long as he gets a dressing change immediatly after. Ethan is super excited about going.



I've had a very busy weekend making cards for my upcoming stamp camp. I'm pretty excited about the cards I've come up with. I'll take some pictures this week to share. I want to get all of my supplies ordered so I will have time to get everything cut and ready. My brother gets married on July 4th so it's going to be a busy June/beginning of July.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Project Recipes:

Baby Diaper Rag
Stamps: Bitty Baby Blessings (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Staz On Black
Ribbon: Lemon Tart and Sweet Blush Grossgrain (Papertrey Ink)
Others: Fabric No Sew Iron On, Pink, lavendar, yellow and polka dot fabric, diaper rag

Cards:

Stamps: Bitty Baby Blessings (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Basic Black (SU)
Paper: Lemon Tart, Lavendar Moon, Sweet Blush, cardstock (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: Bitty Baby Blessings (Papertrey Ink)
Ribbon: Sweet Blush Grossgrain (Papertrey Ink)

Stamps: Bitty Baby Blessings (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Basic Black (SU)
Paper: Summer Sunshine, Spring Moss cardstock (Papertrey Ink), Whisper White (SU)
Patterned Paper: Bitty Baby Blessings (Papertrey Ink)
Ribbon: Summer Sunshine Grossgrain (Papertrey Ink)
Punch: Window Word Punch (SU)
Other: Janome Sew Mini

Ava's Crazy Hair!

Ava woke up this morning and she had "Crazy Hair". She had a little "tail" as she likes to call them on the top of her hair and it was wet when I put it up so last night when I took it out before bed it was a little wild and this morning it was out of control! Ava is really into her hair and clothes and she just turned 2 in April! She will tell me what color she wants to wear, whether she wants a bow and sometimes she even picks out clothes for me....what am I going to do when she is a teenager???

I made a very simple clipboard that I've had forever from SU. It is 9"x9" and I plan on putting it on display either by my stamping work station or above our computer in our office. I used patterned paper, cardstock, and ribbon from PTI. These would make a neat little baby gift too.

The butterflies are from one of Martha Stewarts punches. I love the little butterflies.

I'll be back later....hopefully to post my PTI submissions. Ethan is napping, but Ava is fighting me!!! Go figure! She fell asleep on the way home from town so she got a little catnap! We'll see how this battle goes, but as of right now, she is winning!!! Thanks for looking!

Ride Em' Cowboy!

I absolutely adore this page! The picture is just perfect. This was the day that Ethan had to shave his head. It was in July of 2007 during his first round of chemo. I was so sad and Daddy did it while I was in the shower at the hospital. I had tears in my eyes to see Ethan that way, but his hair was falling out and it was only a matter of time before it all fell out. He did look cute, but his hair is all growing back now and he looks like such a "little man"! I bought this scrapbook cowboy paper kit at Scrappin' It. The company name is Flair Designs http://www.flairdesignsinc.com/ I cut the title "Ride 'em Cowboy" out of one of the patterned papers. The embossed paper I used my paisley folder for my cuttlebug and then brushed with a dobber with chocolate chip ink from SU. The blue cardstock is Not Quite Navy from SU and the ribbon is from JoAnn Fabrics. the horse card I made and posted a while back, but that uses a set from SU called "Wanted". I have this page on display right by my stamping desk!

This weekend I'll share a clipboard that I made for Ava. It is really cute and very simple to make. I'll also upload my PTI submissions. I've been sketching away all morning while the kiddos were playing out on our porch. I just moved the laptop and my notebook with me and sat on the kids Spiderman table and drew up a few cards. I'm getting ready for my Stamp Camp that I'm having on July 11th.

Hope everyone has a great Friday. We're having a good day here. We just finished up with lunch and are getting ready to take a nap.....well at least Ethan and Ava are. (Somedays I sneak a nap in too :-)

Ahoy! Ethan's ARRRR Better!

My dear friend Nicole, designed t-shirts for Ethan's Pirate Party that read Ahoy! Ethan's ARRRR Better! They are too cute and all 15 kids wore their shirts on Sunday at Ethan's party. It was so much fun! It couldn't have turned out any better than it did! I'm attaching a picture of Ethan and his buddy, Bryson riding in the train car that my husband got from his work to pull the kids behind our lawn mower. There are 7 cars and the kids doubled up and went for rides back and forth down the road in front of our house. They had a blast. We still have them here at hour house so we've been taking the kids for rides each night and I've been tagging along too......it's fun watching the kids having so much fun!

The card I have is for Ethan's Dr. She was the best Doctor and will be missed as she has taken a job at a different hospital in the midwest. We gave her this card and Ethan made her some paper plates painted in blue, yellow and orange and tied together with a green string. I tried talking him into giving her the canvas board that he painted, but he insisted that he wanted to make her these plates. I had ordered her a necklace from http://lisaleonardonline.com/ that had a tag that said "BELIEVE". She truly BELIEVES in our Ethan and loved the necklace that I have that says in a circle "BELIEVE IN MIRACLES" She really liked her gifts.

I have a few samples to show sometime tomorrow, possibly Saturday. I submitted them to Papertrey for the Guest Star Stamper. I have a new scrapbook layout that I'll show you tomorrow.....it has my little cowboy on it! I was inspired by Shannon http://withfeathersandsequins.blogspot.com/ the other day so I got out Ethan's picture in his cowboy hat and made my page. It turned out really cute.

The kiddos are about to wake up from their naps!

The Perfect Cake!

It's been over a week, but what a busy week it has been. We made over 200 programs for my brother's wedding coming up in July, made 21 invites for a couples shower, a bridal shower card, 17 party favor goody bags......but it has all been fun! Ethan will be having his Pirate Party Celebration tomorrow to celebrate with his friends. Since Ethan was diagnosed with cancer last July, our social life has pretty much been haulted, but tomorrow Ethan will get to play with his friends that he hasn't seen in almost a year. It will be so much fun and I wanted to share a few pictures before the big day! The last photo is of both Ethan and Ava. Ava was reading a book to Ethan and it was too cute. This week I will hopefully just get to stamp for fun! I have some exciting projects (at least I think) to share that I'm submitting for the Papertrey June guest star stamper. I've had some cards made for a while now and I'm going to finish up one project at the beginning of the week! I'm going to be sewing......scary I know!

Here's my pics.......isn't Ethan's cake just PERFECT!!