Off-Topic: Pregnancy Update

I don't mean to leave you all wondering what has happened to me. Pregnancy is going well. My morning sickness has subsided significantly. Still some queasy moments if I try to drink water as soon as I wake up (I'm always SOO thirsty). I'm 13 weeks, measuring 18 or so. Pretty sure I'm not having twins, we just have over-excited uteruses (uteri is also an acceptable plural form, but it sounds creepy) in my family. I haven't gotten an ultrasound yet, but hopefully soon.

We will be finding out the sex of the baby as soon as we can. The Braxton-Hicks contractions have already started, as usual. I need about 8-9 hours of sleep each night or I "pass out" during the afternoon. But if I nap, I can't fall asleep at night. And I would stamp, but I have no energy. Curses.

I usually crave tomatoes during my first trimesters, and this is no exception. I've been drinking large amounts of V8 on a daily basis and eating yummy salads. Salads are a rare treat at my house. My DH is allergic to lettuce, so the closest we get is spinach--which isn't my favorite.

I don't like staying up past 10 pm because then I feel snacky... and then chubby the next day. I'm reading baby name books. My mother's intuition, which has been wrong 100% of the time in the past, says that this is a boy. We'll see. Hope you're all doing well!

Another Valentine

Here's another feeble attempt at a Valentine's card that would be good for someone with whom you are not close or romantically involved. It uses unisex colors. I like this set, but the truth is that the bubblegum image is so huge that you can barely make it fit on a card without it taking up the whole thing. It is fun to stamp the pieces-parts inside it though.

Recipe
Stamp Set: Treat Yourself
Cardstock: Ballet Blue, Black, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, DCWV textured red (hate trying to adhere this to anything)
Ink: Black, Real Red, Ballet Blue
Accessories: Hemp, Aquapainter and Blender Pen, Red staples (to hold the darned DCWV textured cardstock to the card--all four corners)

Love Card for a Guy

The past few weeks I've been so busy that I'm too worn out to do stamping. Very sad. I did finish my taxes (finally) and completed two freelance editing gigs, so I can't really complain.

Given that Valentine's day is less than 48 hours away, I thought I had better come up with a manly Valentine's card for my hubby and quick. These are good colors for my man, and I think the hemp-wrapped edges are perfect. I know it's not terribly mushy or lovey-dovey, but it totally works, I think.








Recipe
Stamp Set: A is for Adorable (Hostess set from 2 years ago)
Cardstock: Ballet Blue, Real Red, Brilliant Blue, Whisper White
Ink: Ballet Blue
Accessories: Hemp twine, hot glue gun (to secure the edges of the twine), dimensionals, red staples

Another Cupcake

I made another cupcake card--this time a 3-1/2" square card. It was so much fun. I used some scrap DP paper that I bought at Joanns or someplace and wish that I had 10 more sheets of it.

I want to spruce it up a little, but I need some ideas. Should I have done a background stamp on the textured green? Please help.

Recipe
Stamp Set: Treat Yourself
Cardstock: Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Gable Green, cheap kraft, and DCWV textured (color resembles Green Galore)
Ink: Green Galore, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Silver brads, white gel pen, gold glitter pen, glitter, dimensionals

Sparkly Cupcakes

I am so sorry for not having posted sooner. So much has been going on, and I've been doing a lot of non-craft (therefore, non-fun) projects--like cleaning out the 2nd half of the garage so that I can park my car in there, too. Cleaning behind the stove. Confiscating all the toys that have littered my house for a week straight. Thinking about doing my taxes. Doing homeschool-preschool. Teaching my girls how to make a cake. Anyways, I'm trying to get back into my groove.

I went over to my friend's house Wed. night and stamped the cupcake parts and watercolored them. Today I cut them out and created a simple Birthday card. It's not fabulous, but it's a start in the right direction. I used the white gel pen to color the candle and the sprinkles, if you can't tell.

I hope you're all doing well!

Recipe
Stamp Set: Treat Yourself
Cardstock: Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Gable Green, some cheap kraft, and Chocolate Chip.
Ink: Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Gable Green, Chocolate Chip
Assessories: Glue & Glitter, dimensionals, white gel pen, gold glitter pen (for flame)

PS: For SBS1, Niki is withdrawing from the group. So you can remove her link from your sidebar. Let's all wish her a friendly farewell, too.

Sew Thankful

I have a few friends who have helped me out recently that I needed to make Thank You cards for. I think these monochromatic cards will work great.

The photos are a little washed out, but if you look closely you can see that I machine-stitched my first two cards ever! I loved it. It adds such a nice touch. The first card is zigzagged and the second has a straight stitch, both with thread that matches my cardstock.

I also sponged Cool Caribbean around the edges of the cards and the cut-out flowers.

Recipe
Stamps: Delight in Life, Much Appreciated
CS: Cool Caribbean, Taken with Teal, and CS from my LCS
Ink: Cool Caribbean, Craft White
Accessories: Circle Cutter, White Gel Pen, Sewing Machine, Antique Copper Brad

Recipe
Stamps: Delight in Life, Much Appreciated
CS: Cool Caribbean, Taken with Teal, and CS from my LCS
Ink: Cool Caribbean, Craft White
Accessories: Circle Cutter, White Gel Pen, Sewing Machine, Antique Copper Brads, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

PS I'm still sick, but I force myself to do a few things each day, like shovel the driveway, post on my blog, and take a prenatal vitamin. I have heartburn so bad I feel like someone has their hand around my neck. So I just tell myself that there will eventually be an end to this, right?

Cute Scrapbook

During the fun New Year's Eve party I attended, I was able to "buy" this cute scrapbook from the auction with my fake money. It's purple with rub on letters and a few ribbons, and it's own paper and clear sheet protectors. I totally scored. My friend gave away so many gifts; I'm wondering how much she spent on that party. BTW, for the white elephant gift, I got a jar of home-canned raspberry jam and a "Monkey Farts" scented candle (it smells like bananas, LOL. To order: parma_mom@yahoo.com). It was a blast!

Now for the confession...I have never scrapbooked! Not even one page; not even a layout. I don't think I have printed more than two dozen pictures in the past seven years. I bought photopaper for my home printer, but the image quality stunk. So I just did nothing. That needs to change. The problem is that I need a new digital camera since mine won't communicate with my iMac anymore. Jerky thing.

So one of my goals this year is to make a tiny scrapbook of my two little girls, since they are best friends. I'll post the pages as I make progress. Feel free to ask if I've worked on it down the road to re-motivate me.

Another goal I have is to get my stamp line launched! It may take a while, but I'm leaning toward rubber cling because I'm not sold on the clear stamps yet. Perhaps the ones I bought are too cheap?

Lee Geluk Book: Windstorm Wonders

I try not to post non-craft related items, but if you have a minute, visit my personal blog to see what the windstorm did to our neighborhood. You will be stupefied. Lee Geluk Book: Windstorm Wonders

More Scalloped Circles

So when the scallops don't meet up well, I turn them into flowers with a stem, like so.

This first card is done in pinks, but I didn't think there was enough contrast, nor layers. I used the grosgrain ribbon to camouflage the awkward space. What a fun way to hide the flaw! This one is a wedding card, with the images from $1 Michael's clear stamps. The cake stamped clean using basic black, but the hearts looked pretty fuzzy. I'm sure a little glitter will cover that right up. (I even tried erasing the surface of the stamp. No luck. Does craft ink work better, anyone?)

Recipe
Stamps: $1 Michael's clear
CS: Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, DP from Joann's
Ink: Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Basic Black
Accessories: Watercolor Pen, Grosgrain Ribbon, Fiskars circle cutter, slit punch

The second card is similar to yesterday's post, but it's on a standard size card with a different layout. I sponged ruby red and chocolate chip on the white papers (the white strip is actually the red DP folded up), and chocolate chip around the edges of the bottom red DP layer.

Recipe
Stamps: $1 Michael's clear
CS: Handsome Hunter, White, DP from Dollar Store
Ink: Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Linen Thread, Sponge, MM Antique Copper Brads, Fiskars circle cutter, slit punch

Monkey Bean Bags

These are my wonderful monkey bean bags. I made them for the teachers in my Primary (LDS children's Sunday school). I used leftover yellow and burgundy fabric because I still have big plans for the nice fabric that I have had for years. *well-intentioned smirk*

First, I serged the two short sides (one long side is a fold) and then flipped them right side out. I tacked the stitches in the corners with hot glue just to guarantee these won't break open all over the church floor.

Second, using the fabulous-smelling StazOn black ink, I stamped the monkeys on one side and the bananas on the other side. That way it has a "heads" and tails" for any games they want to play. (I'm giving them a doc with over 60 learning and review games to play using a bean bag.) The images still show up will on the dark fabric, but the picture is deceiving.

I gave each of my girls a big bowl with a scoop and several pounds of beans, rice, and lentils. They helped fill the bags and then I sewed them shut (which was the most difficult part--I learned quickly not to overfill the bags). I currently have beans and rice ALL over my kitchen floor. But it was entertaining for them.

As I was taking this picture, my two-year old daughter was in the process of stealing one of the yellow bags. So I made them some green ones to play with. Such a fun and easy project using scissors, sewing machine/serger, and stamps! My kids have kept busy for an hour with these little guys.

Stamps: SU Monkey Business
Fabric: 8" x 4"-5", folded and stitched

Square Card

This is one of my first square cards that I've ever made. I got the idea from my SBS sister Lesa's recent post. Anyways, I got a fiskars circle cutter (see 2nd photo) for Christmas and wanted to see just what it could do.

I cut out a 4" circle and then remembered Sarah's tutorial on using the slit punch to create a scalloped circle (she uses the coluzzle). I cut out a 2" circle in the middle and began scalloping. It didn't match up perfectly each time (you'll see that card on my next post), but I was thrilled to have my first scalloped circle! I need to make some thank you cards for Christmas, so I thought a flower with rich colors would work well.

The trick seems to be having a 1" border left intact on the large circle. The card measures 4-1/4" square. The green circle is 3" in diameter, and the red one is 2-3/4" in diameter. I just used the gold circle that I cut out of the larger circle in the first step, and the white circle is 1-3/4". I used DP from the Dollar Store and $1 Michael's clear stamps (series 7, I believe). The "Thank You" image didn't stamp too crisply, so I re-stamped (I guess that's the beauty of clear) and then went over the letters with a brown glitter pen. Overall, I'm tickled with my circle cutter and the cute cards it made.

Recipe
Stamps: $1 Michael's clear
CS: More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, White, DP from Dollar Store
Ink: Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Fiskars circle cutter, a brown glitter pen, slit punch, sponge

Pretty Princess

A miracle happened. I've been really sick from this pregnancy for a week. Sunday was bad, but I was determined to make it to church. I've actually been feeling okay ever since. (I even went to a New Year's Eve party last night until 11 pm--don't worry, it was good clean LDS fun.) I wasn't able to hold down milk this morning, but I stomached jelly bellies. Go figure.

Here's my first card in a while. It would be perfect to give to my daughters or nieces for their birthdays--especially since "princess" is usually the theme.

Anyways, now that I'm feeling better, I had the energy to get out my new Studio G ($1 Michaels) clear stamps that "Santa" put in my stocking. I must admit that the clear stamps didn't turn out as crisp as I'm used to with rubber. I've been trying to find my darned eraser to rub on the clear stamps and hopefully improve their ink-taking abilities.

And I also had time to figure out my new Fiskars circle cutter. The circles on this card are 1-1/4" 1-1/2" and 1-3/4".

Recipe:
CS: Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, textured Black, DP from Joann's
Ink: Basic Black, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, YoYo Yellow
Accessories: Rhinestone Brads, Circle Cutter