Jen's World

Blog Candy

2009-11-11T11:08:00.000-08:00

Debbie over at Passion For Crafts has a the best Blog Candy Contest going right now that I have ever seen. Here is link on how to enter BLOGCANDY deadline is Monday November 16th!

Fall/Thanksgiving Cards

2009-11-11T09:31:00.000-08:00

Here are two fall/thanksgiving cards that I have made so far. I plan on making at least one more before I start making my Christmas/winter cards.

This one is made with Paper Make-Up stamps. Here is the second card I made, the main image is Stampin Up! and the leaves & saying are from The {Stamps} of Life second set. ~ Also I did most of this card while waiting for my daughter at her dance class, have stamps will travel :) ~

Finally a neat little tool/gadget I have found in the past week. I don't know if it is new or not but I love the Glue Dots, they now have them in a dispenser. The also have different sizes, regular, mini & craft ones as well. (and of course the refill packs to keep them rolling!)

Halloween Card & Costume sneak peak

2009-10-26T09:35:00.001-07:00

Here are my other cards that I made for Halloween this year. I didn't make any early enough to sell this year but I got them made in time to mail out to family so I am at least that far ahead of the game.
And of course my 3 year old daughter helped me with most of the cards.
This one uses a punch from the Martha Stewart line, I went to 3 different Micheal's stores looking for the goop one but found this instead at the final Micheal's. An old SU set, Martha Stewart punches & sizzix pumpkin die set.
I found this idea in the gallery at SCS. All parts made from various punches and dies.

A sneak peak at the costume that I am making for my 7 month old baby. I bought the fleece before I found a pattern I liked and just got lucky with yardage. He is a little hard to carry with the padded belly & stuffed tail but the look is just adorable. Of course I am not finished. I have the hat & boots to finish today/tomorrow afternoon. But I am just thrilled that it fits perfectly.
(of course I have my little mommy -3 year old daughter- trying to help me out to take the photos, didn't help too much but she is so cute)

And the bonus with the fleece, he will not need a coat to cover up his costume with the Michigan fall weather :)

Soccer Treat Bags

2009-10-16T16:56:00.000-07:00

Here are two cards that I just finished today. Well one card style but Brendan wanted one of them to have the scary face. I used the new October set from the the Stamps of Life collection. Here is how the other ones look.
My daughter gets to bring the snack for her soccer game tomorrow so what better way to use a soccer stamp. Here is the red monster from the Purse Stamp Co. I love this monster & the campfire one too. Her team color is red & is the Bulldogs to that is the reason for the coloring. The grass is from a CTMH stamp set.
Here is the back of the tag.
And the final product with RiceKrispies Treats & fruit snack packs.

New Cards & New Stamps!!!

2009-10-06T12:23:00.000-07:00

I finally am able to post. School has started, my middle child is in a pre-school twice a week and the baby is taking good naps with the older two gone. Yesterday I got the new October stamp set in the mail from the {Stamps} of Life. A great new company. I can't wait until I have time to play with this set. Here are two cards I made with the September Back2Basics set. The sets include a lot of circles that work great with punches. I even have a new punch ordered from SU to be able to really get my circles' on. hehe. (I also ordered the snowman thank you card for kids, love those types of stamps.)

Baby Projects

2009-05-18T10:46:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the projects that I did in the last months of my pregnancy to get ready for Benjamin. Here is a quilt that my now 3 year old help me make. I bought the main image already together at JoAnn's & the back was also already together. Close up of the edge that we put on to make the quilt a little bigger.
The coordinating back side.
I also made some hooded towels since they don't fit in those store bought one for more than a couple months. I also 'had' to make a couple for my daughter too.
Here is a blanket that I knitted.
Here is the other one that I knitted. This one I made with out a pattern and in the next photo will show how 'large' it is!!! It is wider than long though but still works.
It is huge! (in baby scale, it fills the whole crib, yeah I meant to do that!)
I also made two baby slings.
Here is the first modeled my Madelyn & her baby. This one is a single layer fabric.
Here is the second one. It is a double layered for our cool Michigan springs, falls & winters.
Here is a close up of the cute fabric, again Madelyn helped in the picking out of the fabric too. (I am just glad she picked out stuff that matches.)

Finally New Cards

2009-04-21T10:48:00.000-07:00

Funny Monkey:
Here is the card that I created for the CAS11 challenge on SCS. Here is the bedding that I used as my inspiration: MONKEY. It is hard to see but the top left & bottom right corners are pierced. Let's Get Drunk!:
I made this card for my girlfriend. Now that I am no longer pregnant I can finally go out for a girls night out. I used the Aleene's Paper Glaze on the beverages.
New Baby Benjamin.
Here is the reason I haven't been crafty the last couple of weeks. Baby Ben is now 4 weeks old! Time fly's the third time around. I will post photo of the baby stuff that I created while I was pregnant later this week.

New Baby

2009-04-07T06:46:00.001-07:00

Well my new baby - Benjamin Garrett is finally here!
Well it has been two weeks now but hey that is pretty good for me, I totally forgot about this blog. Here are some photos. Benjamin was born on 3-24-09 at 2:05am weighting 6 pounds 8 ounces & 20 inches long. (My smallest baby by an ounce.)
Here I am later in the day....Brian with Brendan & Madelyn....
Baby Benjamin (he has the most hair out of all my kids)
One week old....
Two weeks old.....(just taken a couple of minutes ago)...
Now I may have some time to stamp again. Hey the older two kids will be gone for 3 days so I should be able to get something done in that time! Hehe, maybe even a shower!

New Cards

2009-03-22T15:54:00.000-07:00

I have been pretty crafty lately but of course I haven't been taking photos. So here are some cards that I have made lately. Tomorrow I will post some knitting & sewing crafts too.

This card is for my Daughter's 3rd birthday thank you's. Of course she had to tell me what to do. Here are the Mother's Day cards that I made for this year. The flowers pull out to have room to write a message. I got the idea from SCS of course.
Here are my 3 types of Easter cards that I made for this year....

Birthday Cards

2009-02-04T11:49:00.001-08:00

Well it is almost time for my little girl to turn 3!
I wanted to make her some cards from my photo business for her invitations, so we used all her princess dress and spent some time in our studio taking the photos.
Here are the cards that I ordered today. (I also went ahead and made thank you cards that matched too) What is even better is my photo lab also makes printed press things (calendars, cards, business cards, post cards, etc) and they have a pearl paper that I used to order these.

Here is the Front:
Inside Left:
Inside Right:
Back:

Tons of Cards

2009-01-18T07:58:00.000-08:00

Okay I am way behind in posting photos of my cards and so here goes:
March Birthday's, since the baby is due the beginning of April I figured I better get my summer cards made now while I still have a bit of free time. (It helps that DH takes the kids out either sledding or ice fishing like they are going to do today.)

My grandfather was born on St. Patrick's day so I always make him a special card:And here is one for uncle. I used a challenge from SCS for the sketch, SC204.
Here are one of my 3 different Easter Cards that I am making for this year.
This is one of my new sets that I got after christmas.
Here is my second Easter card. I used SCS challenge SC1 for the sketch idea.
Here is one of my 3 Valentine cards. I am also making (with help from my son) cards for my son's class. I got all the idea's from cruising the valentine gallery at SCS.
Here is the second card.
And here is the third card. I didn't know that the tictactoe was a stamp set in the new catalog, I just thought it was someone's idea. (see the pregnancy brain hits again) So I found a couple different hearts & x's and made my own tictactoe card.

Here are the three things that I made from my stamp camp at my demo's house last friday.
I made all the Valentine's cards and could have made all 7 but I was shopping in the new cattie and trying to think of what to get.
This set uses the Build a Brad. Way cool. I will have to get one of these on my next order.
This is a cute & easy treat box. We have kisses inside.
And my final card with a double door card.

Crazy Ideas

2009-01-17T18:14:00.000-08:00

Okay, I think that I may have too much time on my hands. I went to a stamp camp at my demo's house (I will post photos tomorrow when I have light to take photos with no flash) and of course she had some older stamp sets for sell. So I bought a couple (okay 6!) and was trying to think of a spot to store them (my cabinet is full, small cabinet). And I had also ordered some stamp sets from the new catalog including a wheel. I wanted to try unmounting it since I don't have all the other things that you need for the wheels.

So I went to SCS and searched for unmounting stamping wheels & got hooked on trying to unmount my new used sets that I got since I had extra blank cd cases. Well I got 7 sets in the 5 cases I had. (Two sets went together, twice)

Here are the finished sets, I just need to bring my label maker up from the basement to make labels to go on the spines. I made a sheet from white cardstock to show what is in each case.
Here are the other cases that I have. Now I want to go and make index cards for these sets too. Non of these are Stamin Up sets.

Also I have moved all of my card making supplies & most of my scrapbooking supplies upstairs. I got this microwave cart from my in-laws (so my husband can blame his parents for encourging me, hehe) Of course it is messier than normal as I plan on finishing the projects that I started tonight tomorrow. (But we need the table for breakfast, silly kids what to eat!)
And inside the door is all the good stuff. Scrap cardstock in the top bins, and stamping supplies like inks, then cleaner with clear blocks then $1 bin stamps on bottom. The three drawers on top I got at Michaels, top has large sizzix dies & cuttting mats for cuttlebug along with Madelyn's dies for her cuttlebug, middle has all the dies & embossing folders for my cuttle bug & bottom has all my punches. The turntable holder on top I just move to the table when I crop so that way everything from sissors to tape is in arms length. And the 3 clear bins just to the right I have my current scrapbook paper & photos in one, patterened paper packs in another & patterened paper again in the bottom. (I really need to use more PP!
All in all it works out a lot easier having this up here then having to move stuff around in my basement. Which has also freed up some space down there for me to have my sewing machine up all the time now. Maybe I just might be able to finish the baby blanket before the baby comes in April. I will have to keep everyone posted on that front.

Also I do have a ton of new cards that I have made in the last couple weeks now I just need to take some photos so I can post them on-line. (And to think I am a photographer too!)

Penguins

2008-12-27T14:04:00.000-08:00

I am just in love with the cute little penguins from Unity's Jolly Little Winter set.
Here is a winter birthday card that I made today.
I used stickles on the snowflakes & brads & Snow Writer from DecoArt for the snow covered hills.
I used the Stair Step fold from TLC190 on the SCS challenges.

And of course now that my Daughter has a cuttle bug of her own everytime mine comes out she has to use hers as well. Today she made her first two cards. She just needed a little help with the markers & gluing the first flower down. It is really hard to write or color with a 2 year olds help.

New Cards

2008-12-26T12:37:00.000-08:00

I finally have some new cards to put on-line. It seems that I have spent the last couple of months making & finishing Christmas gifts. Of course I don't have photos of any of the Christmas things I made. But oh well, there is always next year.

I have been shopping on-line with my Christmas money this past week & have placed orders with: Two Peas in the Bucket, Unity Stamps, Lizzie Anne Designs, Ecletic Paperie & 7 Kids College Fund. (I like the name of the last one the best, maybe I should rename my on-line outdoor gear store to 3 Kids College Fund?)

Well today I received my orders from Unity Stamps & Eclectic Paperie. It finally felt like Christmas for me. I can't wait to see what shows up tomorrow!

Here are the cards that I have made either today or in the last couple of days:
My girlfriend just had twin grandson's born so I made a baby card for her & her husband.
I love my nephew's but one really reminds me of a little monkey so the monkey cuttlebug die was perfect along with a stamp from a set that I bought for my daughter.
I love winter birthday's but it is hard coming up with cute saying's for them. With my new Unity set & words from my new stampendous set, they fit perfect.
One of the things that I got with Christmas monies was a Cuttlebug. I just love that little green machine. I always used the embossing folders with my orginal sizzix machine but now I am cutting too. This card was made with only my Cuttlebug. My 2 year old daughter cutting everything out. She also got a kids cuttle bug from Santa so she will be making her own cards soon. (and yes she is only 2! well 3 at the end of March) I couldn't find the snow embossing folders in my local JoAnns or Michaels so this was also from Electic Paperie with the new Stampendous stamp sets.

Halloween Cards

2008-10-09T19:34:00.000-07:00

I finally got some time with my card making supplies this week.
Here are two cards that I made to send out to family & friends for Halloween.
Of course I had some help with the inspiration at the SCS Gallery & the people are given credit there.

Here is the first card: Spooky GhostI used white embossing powder on black cardstock to really make the ghost pop out at you.

Halloween Hi!This one I used black embossing powder on the main pumpkin and shadowed the second one behind. Wasn't quite what I wanted (pumpkins were too large for the space I was trying to use) but overall I am pretty pleased with how both of these turned out.

Son's birthday

2008-09-22T08:58:00.001-07:00

It seems every year my kids want me to make special cakes for their birthdays.
Well after making a batman cake this month for my son's 6th birthday I have come to realize that I better take a cake class so I can really learn how to make all the neat things that my kids want me to make. So I think over this winter that is going to be my one have to do craft goal, find & take a cake decorating class.

Here is the batman cake:

Girl's World

2008-09-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

Over the summer I have been getting some crafty things done.
Here is a purse that I made for Madelyn. She is always wanting to carry my purse but it is too large for her, so I made her one of her own. (it is the perfect size for carrying snacks.)Here are a couple girlie cards that I made a couple weeks ago.
And my new light set-up. I got these two lights on clearance at Lowe's today & they are supper bright. I still need to play around with placement to get that perfect white look. The box is one that I had made a couple of months ago & I just have the perfect place on my freezer chest. Now if I can keep my DH from taking my lights we will be all set.

Where has the time been?

2008-09-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in almost 3 months! Wow, with the summer almost over, school started, and the nice fall air rolling in it is time for me to get back to work.
I took an unexpected break over the summer but I have gotten a couple crafty items done.
I will spend the next couple of weeks getting a photo area set up, it is hard to use the garage studio sometimes and I would like something in the house. Also I am working on a soccer & school albums for my oldest son, Brendan.
And along the way I will also be starting a baby book for my little bun in the oven who will be here in the first week of April. (Both kids are really excited & DH and I are just glad we know we are having only 1).

I will chat with you all tomorrow.
Jen

Year End Party

2008-07-05T17:30:00.000-07:00

My Junior Women's Club had their year end party last week.
I have also found a new web site to make digital scrapbook pages.
(www.scrapblog.com)
Here are the couple of pages that I made trying it out today.

Father's Day

2008-06-05T12:50:00.001-07:00

Well with Father's Day in a couple weeks I figured I had better get started.
Here are the cards that I made with my son for his dad & the kids papa's.
I started out using the bold letters but papa wouldn't fit then I used the script and I like how they came out better but having the help of a 5 year old I wasn't about to do it all over. I got the idea from this months paper crafting magazine.

Here is a birthday card that I made for my father-in-law. Since we are always picking on each other I figured I might as well pick on him with his birthday card too. I used the Diorama Card Technique .

Finally Something New!

2008-06-04T14:08:00.000-07:00

Well I finally have some new things to show off from my crafty side.
Here is a birthday card that I made for someone special who will be turning 2.
Here is a New baby card that I made that is also a gift card holder. On the inside is a pocket to put a gift card into. I found the instructions on the splitcoaststampers site.

Here is my the Birthday Card...Here is a the Baby Gift Card Holder...
Also the kids and I made tote bags for their Grandma's for Mother's Day. Since I was making them I figured I might as well make one for me as well. They turned really cute.

Jury Duty

2008-04-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

It seems again my name has popped up for Jury duty. The first time was right after my son was born, but I was excused because of that. The second time was last year but I was excused out of it. Now I just got the first little question form that they send out when looking.

I think it would be cool, but a bit hard at the same time being a juror. So time will have to tell if I can serve it this time.

Also a crafting update....I am in the process of finding my craft table again. I think the little house pixies when nuts while were on Vacation.

Party Madness

2008-03-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was my DD second birthday party so of course I had stuff to craft for it.
She originally wanted a party based on 'The Dog' line of photos (big & upclose nose photos). So we were having a 'Mojo' party based on our dog~a beagle. So here is her cake:

Also she was being cute while I was taking photos so here is one of my almost 2 year old Madelyn:

I made treat bags for thank-you party favors for all of her little friends that are coming. Inside we have a fruit snack, Dora for the girls & Spider-man for the boys, a mini-Hershey's bar, and she liked the Sugar Babies so there are little boxes of those as well in here:

Water, water, everywhere

2008-03-06T07:40:00.000-08:00

Well with all the snow that we have had here in Michigan melting our basement likes to think of new places to leak every year. This year it chose right behind my small desk in my craft area. So last night DH was nice and repaired the spot for me so I can move all the things back into place today.

Here why I haven't been able to get to my craft supplies for the past couple of days....

Also back in January I started to make a purse. Now just to let everyone know, I do not sew well, and I didn't have a pattern to follow. I broke 3 needles in the course of making this purse and learned a lot of little tips that would help if I ever wanted to make one again. First would be to buy a pattern. But I still have to make handles & the close flap. I am hoping to have this done by spring.

I have been Lost

2008-03-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

I know I have been MIA for quite a while now. But I will try harder this month to update my readers on all the crafty-ness that I have been getting my self into these last couple of months.

~Just a note we will be gone for Spring Break to Savannah, GA on March 24-30!

Guess Who I Met?

2008-01-28T16:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, okay. I met Miss America! At the time she was still Miss Michigan but still that counts.
Every year my women's club hosts the tree lighting at City Hall after the Holiday Lights Parade and the past two years we have had Miss Michigan there as well.
And I have a photo! I couldn't find one of me with her (Brian was on kid duty so didn't take any photos.)

Here are the photos I do have:
Me getting ready to introduce Santa. (Miss Michigan is behind me)Miss Michigan with Mr. Duffy (our grand marshal in the parade this year)

New Cards

2008-01-17T10:57:00.000-08:00

Here are two cards that I made last night.
Here is my Fairy princess for my niece's 1st birthday. I was able to use my new nestablilities and new stamp set from Lizzie Anne Design as well.Here is a card for my nephew's birthday also. He is have a Thomas party so I thought a Thomas card would be best. The train track stamps are from a neighbor.

Also I created a new light box - cost FREE! DH likes that. I used a box that was 12X12 and used tissue paper to create the sides and I didn't have a chance to run out to get poster board yet so I used some of my kids craft/paint paper that comes on a roll for the background.

Gift Bags

2007-12-26T10:43:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the gifts bags with the treats that I had made.

Snow Day

2007-12-16T18:01:00.000-08:00

Well today was supposed to be my day and I was planning on going to the local scrapbook store for free cropping time. Of course Mother Nature had a different idea and gave us at least 8 inches of snow.
So we took the kids out to the snow hill that is close to our house for some quality snow-lovin' time (video on the family blog). Of course not being used to this much snow I didn't even think about going to the grocery store yesterday and went after the kids were done playing in the snow.
So with the snow here I didn't really feel like doing any crafting so I spent the day next to the fire reading a book.

Tomorrow I plan to get some card making done.
But here are some photos of our snow...
Madelyn looking out the front door. Our poor puppy had a hard time walking in this much snow, he had to bounce everywhere.Brendan making Mojo a path to walk better and of course playing with him.

After

2007-12-14T12:03:00.000-08:00

While it is still clean I figured I better get the photos taken before I make it messy again. But hopefully I can keep it somewhat clean.
Here is my whole general area....Left side is my stamping & scrap booking supplies, middle is my table & behind that my stamping & scrap booking accessory's are stored, and last on the right houses all my 'other' craft projects & my scrapbook albums, card boxes, etc.
Straight on view of my stamping/scrap booking rack.....Top houses stamps, middle is paper & lower is some more other projects. I am using the 15 minute approach to weed out things I no longer use for my other projects of course.
New storage. One for markers/pens, gel pens & color pencils/water color pencils. One for punches, cuttlebug embossing sheets, paper tools & adhesive too. I get these at Target for I think under $6 a piece. I ended up with an extra one from the pens and put it on the bottom of the tools.I tend to haul my stuff up to the dining room table to work where it is warm in the winter so this is a lot better then my old 8x11 drawers that I was using. Plus I can now take all of this to crops for scrap booking now too.

2 of 30

2007-12-13T12:52:00.001-08:00

Here is my second set of cards for the 30 stamp set challenge. I used the All Wrapped Up stamp set and on my Happy Fish I also used fiber that I have had for 5 years and never used! I have to work tonight so I will have time to stamp tomorrow.

My New Toy

2007-12-12T12:48:00.000-08:00

Okay, I have the coolest husband in the world! I got my christmas present early - a Laptop.
No more having to spend time in the basement other than for doing "work" work. Yeah!
Here is a photo of my new toy. Also I plan on getting a pink 'skin' to go on the top part after the holidays.

Me as an Elf

2007-12-12T12:13:00.001-08:00

Your Elf Name Is...

Candy Eggnog Breath

What's Your Elf Name?

Next Card

2007-12-10T12:41:00.000-08:00

Here is the second card of my 1st set out of 30 card set challenge.

This is using the Criss-cross design.
I am also being better about using ribbon.I plan on mailing these out with pictures that my son has made for a recovering soldier in DC.

New Challenge

2007-12-09T12:42:00.001-08:00

I joined a new challenge with my flybaby friends at the SCS web site. To make cards using 30 different stamp sets and each set 2 different cards. So in total 60 different cards!
Wow. First off I wasn't sure if I had 30 different stamp sets, no problem! I have over 30 just stampin' up sets. So now the fun part begins. I am almost done with cleaning and getting everything in my craft space a home so I went a head and made my first of the 30/2 cards.

My Elves Christmas:I have a hard time using ribbon on my cards so that is something that I plan on working on with this challenge.
And also I stamped a special something on the envelope.
Also I wanted a better way to take my photos of the cards so I built a white box until Brian can help me think of something better.

Before

2007-12-06T10:45:00.001-08:00

Since I have been too busy to craft because I was working on Christmas projects I lost my table & walking room.
Today I have shipped off all my out of town Christmas presents so now I can re-claim my area. To prove how bad it got I decided to do some before and after shots.
Here is what it looks like right now.This is my covered table. There is one cleared spot at the end by my son where the presents to ship where piled.

It is so bad that blue bin is full of presents to go under the tree (I am not sure I can put them out due to a puppy & 1 year old) is on top of my trash can! On my chair is a bin that I just put stuff in to make room on my desk to put the presents to ship.

Wish me luck!

Christmas Presents

2007-11-27T12:01:00.000-08:00

Well the good thing about having part of Christmas at Thanksgiving is I can now post some pictures of what the kids and I have made in the past couple of months.
Here are the Nutcrackers that Brendan & Madelyn painted. Brendan did his all by himself (the big one) & Maddie helped me paint the base coat and I get her use the paint pens to color it some more.We also made a Bird house with a license's plate from the Woodward Dream Cruise. Brendan painted the whole thing and I let Maddie paint some in it as well.This next one is one that I did most of the hard work. Brendan helped design the stones on the side and of course both of the kids hand prints are on it along with their name & ages.

Talk about Time Off!

2007-11-19T12:37:00.000-08:00

Can you believe I haven't posted in over a month!?! OMG!
Things have been pretty busy, I guess busier than I thought.
Lately I have been working on Christmas projects so I really can't post pictures or it will ruin the surprise and then of course I wrapped half of the gifts with out taking a photo of it first. Silly me.

Now I am in the middle of packing for our trip down south to visit family. I am sure everyone knows how that goes.

Once our trip is over I will promise to post some crafty photos.

Thanks,
Jen

Halloween Swap

2007-10-07T08:22:00.000-07:00

Well I can't wait any longer. Since I already mailed my treats for my swap I guess I can go a head and post the photos of what I sent.
I saw these cut sucker holder cards so I thought I would try those first and since I didn't know how many people would be in the swap I made extra since they were so simple. Brendan already took one too. I just used a 2x2 square of orange card stock and put two stamped images on opposite corners. I took white card stock and stamped images on this and cut it smaller than 1x1 so I would have some orange around the sides. I glued it down and punched holes at the top and bottom for the sucker stick to go into.

Next after I knew how many people were in the swap I made bag toppers. Since I have a whole lot of plastic bags for our photos I used the 6x8 size and made a 6x6 bag topper that will be 6x3 when folded in half. I stamps my Martha Steward halloween fence on both sides (I need re-inker for my brown stamp pad) and used a piece of card stock smaller than the 6x3 and stamps various halloween stamps and attached to one of the sides of the topper. I didn't attach the topper so that the persons who receive it the swap could use it if they wished. I didn't include the candy when I sent out the swap as well (Brendan would have real issues with me if I took that much candy x's 7 from him).

Wood Painting

2007-10-02T07:14:00.001-07:00

I have been in a bird house trend for my Daughter's half of the kids bedroom. I got two more bird houses and a shelf as well.
I think the shelf solved part of my how to display the bird houses.
Once I get all the houses painted and in the room I will take more photos.
Here are the photos.(the shelf is upside down because holding it right side up and taking a photo was just not possible.)

Madelyn's Sweater & Hat

2007-10-02T07:08:00.000-07:00

I have finished both Madelyn's sweater & matching hat. The hat fits perfect and the sweater is a little big but hopefully when I get the buttons on it will make it fit better. Crossing fingers with that one.
Here she is modeling her sweater. ( I have the ends sewn in now too)Here she is modeling her hat.

SCS Friends

2007-09-21T11:18:00.001-07:00

I have added a spot on the side to list all my friends from my stamping group at Split Coast Stampers who also are into Flylady. Be sure and to check out some of their blogs as well.

Doctor's Visit, again

2007-09-21T11:03:00.000-07:00

Well today I went to the doctors again for the second time in two weeks. This time I have a sinus infection. So in the past two weeks I have now spent over $150 on prescriptions at the pharmacy not including what the two doctor visits will be. Thank goodness for good health insurance & a flexible health care spending account.

Hopefully this will take care of it all now and I can get back to normal.

Thanksgiving Cards

2007-09-18T05:28:00.001-07:00

I finally got my new stamp sets and of course I couldn't wait to use them. But I got them right before Brendan's party so I had to wait a whole day before I could play with them. At least I did have time to get them cut out on Saturday.

Here is a card that I made yesterday while Madelyn was taking a nap. The red leave is added with a pop dot so it sticks up off the pumpkin. And it says Give Thanks on the inside.

I also made some cards to go on the bottom of lollipop sticks for a swap I am in.
Now it is time to get some work done on the scrapbook for last year.

Maddie's Sweater Cont.

2007-09-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

Well I have been knitting away on Maddie's sweater. Only one more sleeve to finish and then I get to put the thing together and knit the collar.
Here are all the pieces so far:Here is the back piece.Here are the two front pieces.Here is the one sleeve.Now the true test will be once it is all together whether or not it fits.
Keeping my fingers & toes crossed. (very uncomfortable for long periods of time)

Feeling Icky

2007-09-12T11:02:00.000-07:00

For the last two weeks I have been feeling icky. Finally not being able to take it any more I went to the doctor's office today & thankfully Brian was able to come home for a long lunch & watch the kids while I went.
Well I have fluid in one of my ears & he thinks that the problem is I also have fluid in my inner ear which is giving me all my problems. So I dropped off my prescriptions on the way home and will go out with the kids later to pick them up and hopefully by the beginning of next week I will be back to normal (or whatever is normal for me :)!) He also took some blood just to rule out a couple of things he doesn't think it is but is safe to check for anyway.

New Stamp Set

2007-09-04T10:55:00.000-07:00

One of my stamp orders came in today. It was a Make a Wish! set from Gina K Designs from Stampfreak.
$7 from every set sold will go towards the Make a Wish Foundation. So that is nice to know as well as the set being really nice.
Now it is time to put it together.
Now that it is together I have to find some time to play & create.
Hopefully my stampin up order will get here soon. I have about 3 different cards that I have started but am waiting on my new punches to finish them with.
Waiting, waiting, waiting....

Selling Cards

2007-08-30T13:19:00.000-07:00

I have now sold two cards on my Etsy store.
It is really exciting but also makes me what to purchase new stamp sets.
I have been setting aside a little money each month to be able to purchase new sets and yesterday I ordered 2 sets, 3 punches & got 2 sets on sale so that should keep me busy for the next couple of weeks. Of course they have to come in first.
I am also trying to add more style to my cards and make them stand out a little more. I got some prima's on clearance for $3! and some other flowers and ribbons to hopefully use more often.
Here a couple cards that I made lately.

Madelyn a Sweater

2007-08-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

Since I have made sweaters for both boys (Brian & Brendan) it is only fair that I make one for Madelyn too.
Here is the starting piece. It will take a while as this is the back and I started on either 8/16 or 8/17 and as of today I haven't made it to the part where it will fit closer slightly closer above the waist.
This photo was taken on 8/20.
I will post more picture later on in the project.
Also I have scarves for Brian, Brendan & myself to post as well.

Maddie's Dress

2007-08-20T10:47:00.001-07:00

Here is the fairy dress that I have made for Maddie. I still need to put trim around the collar and above where the petals are at the waist.

Dream Cruise Booth

2007-08-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

Selling t-shirts for the Woodward Dream Cruise is one of the largest fund raisers that the Berkley Junior Women's Club has each year. We sell the Friday, Saturday, Sunday & Monday one week before the official day of the Cruise. This I work all 4 days from about 4-5 till 10 each night. We set up in about 20-30 minutes and pack up in about 15.
Here is a photo of some of the girls who worked with us during this time.

I am President

2007-08-05T09:34:00.000-07:00

Last night I was officially sworn in as the President for the Berkley Junior Women's Club.
It was a lot of fun. Even thought I didn't drink due to my mouth hurting from the wisdom tooth that I lost on Thursday we still had a great time.Here is part of the new board, there is only one missing here.
Miss Suzanne with her shell bra, by the end of the night a couple of girls had tried it one.

Brian cooked up some smoked pork for us, which was great. Almost 4 1/2 pounds and there was just a little bit left by the end of the night. We had a couple different kinds of girlie hawaiin drinks and of course the guys had beer from Fred's mini keg.

More Wisdom Lost

2007-08-02T13:24:00.000-07:00

Well I have just lost more of my wisdom. Again via having yet another wisdom tooth taken out. This one was not bad at all. It just literally popped out. Even my dentist was surprised with how easy it came out.
Now it the not so fun not chewing anything for a couple of days. With the kids at grandma's house for the night it should be a little easier.

Making Maddie a Dress

2007-07-30T07:02:00.000-07:00

Well for the Renaissance Festival coming up soon and then Halloween after I wanted to make Maddie a dress. When I went to JoAnn's they had all the Simplicity patterns for $1.99 so I got Maddie a Princess one that has Tinker Bell on it. So now for fabric. Since this is the first thing that I had made from a pattern I had to ask for help on what some of the things were. I also wanted a pink fairy instead of the tinker bell green. So I got a pink satin for the main part of the dress.

Now is the real test and making the thing. I figured I would start with the bloomers first since those didn't look so hard.
I DID IT! Boy was I surprised. Here is a photo of them (oh and they fit too!)

Fishing

2007-07-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

I know that I am a girl and all but I love to go fishing. I just bought a pink fishing pole and a pink Barbie tackle box (it was the only one that was pink) some pink fish thingies and some pink bobbers. So I am set.

I will post some photos of my new pole after our UP camping/cabin trip with Mom & Dad Andrews later this week & next week.

Finding the Craft Table

2007-06-27T14:00:00.000-07:00

With my grand plan to rearrange the basement (see family blog) to give more room for the kids I ended up with a smaller space. So while in the middle of putting everything in that 'special' place and then moving it 3 or 4 more times until I find a spot I like, there is a whole lot of stuff on my table. Which I got from the kids since there isn't enough room in the play room for it. But Brendan will be able to use it too.

So in about a week since I started moving the basement around today was the first time I was able to sit at my craft table (after a hour of moving stuff off of it) and make some cards and Brendan even help me make a scrapbook page. It feels so nice to almost have everything where you want it. Then again I will probably move it in a week or two anyway.

Finally

2007-06-26T09:42:00.000-07:00

We have our new computer so I am able to post some photos now. This is a card that I made for summer.
I got some stamps sets from a friend that I am also selling some sets for her too. So once I have the basement put back together I will be able to make some more cards.

Wisdom Tooth

2007-06-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

Well I had my first wisdom tooth pulled last Tuesday and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Yes it was not fun but wasn't overly painful. But that is also given that I have had two kids and both of which I had kidney stones during their pregnancy's & also my ectopic pregnancy that blew-up as we like to remember it.

Now our major problem has been our business computer that decided to die on us. We ordered our new one-a dell- but it will take 2 weeks to get here. So that means for me one more week without a computer during the day. Which I have decided is as bad as it sounds. You never really know how dependent on these things one becomes. Just being able to check your e-mail once or twice a day for someone who is used to jumping on and off randomly during the day is proving to be difficult in and of it self.

More to come when we actually have a working computer and I can write during the day instead of at a quarter to eleven at night.

Dentist

2007-05-31T13:04:00.000-07:00

It is that time of year for us when we have to visit the dentist. Today I learned that my mouth is not big enough and my lower wisdom teeth need to come out. So in two weeks they will do one side of my mouth & the other side at a later date.

Other than that things are warm here. The kids and I went to JoAnn's and I am going to try to make somethings that I like in the Pottery Barn cattie that I don't have that much money to spend on those type of things. One is a bed skirt for Miss Maddie's bed, next I am going to try a braided rug, Brendan wants a cool blanket for his bed with guess who?! all his super hero friends on it. I am also painting some canvas' & bird houses for Maddies part of the room to make it a little more girlie for her and I am going to do flags for Brendan. We will have to see how it turns out. Stay tuned for more details & of course photos.

Berkley Days Weekend

2007-05-21T07:45:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was Berkley Days here in Berkley. I was quite busy with different events that different groups were doing. On Friday from 7pm-11pm & Saturday from 12pm-12am I was working the Friends of the Library Beer Tent ~ Libations for Literacy. Also on Saturday from 9am-12pm I was with the Berkley Junior Women's Club hosting the Pooch Pageant. What a blast this weekend was.
Here are some photos and a little bit more about each event.
The Juniors 3rd Annual Pooch Pageant. A dog show for the household pooch.During the Beer tent I had a dance studio come out to perform in the early afternoon. They had tent filled up fast.On Friday & Saturday nights there was live entertainment from some local musicians. The same guy opened for the bands both nights~local up and coming artist.And a band the performs at a local restaurant was there on Saturday evening.It was nice to have this event back a Berkley Days.

Making Cards Cont.

2007-05-16T13:43:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of the cards that I made today with my new stamp sets. These may be coming to a mail box near you. Hehe.

Mother's Day

2007-05-14T13:40:00.000-07:00

For Mother's Day the kids & Brian gave me some money so I could buy more stamp sets, so also with the eBay money here were the sets that I got. Quite a few~ 12 here with one more coming for my demonstrator from Stampin Up.

Making Cards

2007-05-13T18:02:00.000-07:00

I am part of an on-line group that chats about Stampin' Up products & card ideas and the joys of being a 'Flybaby' (www.flylady.net). In this cyber world we have challenges and games and just chat about what is going on.
One of the games that I am taking part in is your basic Tag. You mail a card to someone and you get a card back. Let me tell you going to the mail box now is a lot more fun. Here are the cards that I have received in the last week.And here is a card that I made last night to send out back to them.

Work Time

2007-05-10T07:50:00.000-07:00

See I really do work sometimes. I created these cute photos of Miss Maddie with some flower pictures that I had taken a couple years ago. I think this is something new that I will start offering for my business.

Basement

2007-05-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

In the basement we have the office for all the business stuff to go. Behind that Brian has his 'man hole'. And the rest of the basement is for all my crafting stuff and the kids play area. So of course as the more crafting stuff that I acquire the larger space I need. (The zen never seems to be right down there) I am always in a phase of moving stuff around. And now that Maddie is up and about she has her own set of toys. Something had to be done! So I re-arranged their room to allow Maddie a safe place to play with all this demo/remodeling going on around her. And most of Brendan's toys have a spot in our room so he has his own spot to play with all the toys that have small pieces that Maddie can't be around (you know that she won't leave him alone!). Now the basement has more room for arts & crafts area. I took Brendan's train table and knocked the legs off (they got water damage from the leakage in the basement) and had Brian put treated 4x4's on instead but with the table now up side down to have a flat top and painted it with the chalk board paint. So once again the basement has under gone a rearrangement of all sorts. But now it is nice to have a TV down there to have keep Brendan working on projects longer.
Pictures:
My craft area.The whole basementFinishing painting the legs on the kids craft table.Of course I am in the middle of cleaning so I will have to post more pictures when I am finished. I have a huge pile of baby things that Ashley didn't need that we are donating to a baby good drive at our church. (things that were too large to ebay) And I have my next pile of things to put on ebay. Busy, busy these days.
Oh and I do have to mention that I do sometimes actuality work. The past two days I have been labeling, addressing, and stuffing about 330 envelopes for our High School Senior mailings for Berkley high school. So every once and a while I really have real work to do.

Berkley Junior Women's Club

2007-04-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

Last night I had my Junior Women's club general membership meeting, we had our yearly elections...I will be President for the next year. Can you believe it, me in charge! I am excited and looking forward to it. We also have 2 newbie members who are also on the board so that is exciting too. Hopefully we can get our Junior's web site up and running (www.berkleyjuniors.org), and also get some new members for next year. One of the good things about being president is that it is a easier position than vice-president & I don't have to be on as many standing chair positions. So basicly a little bit of a break.

As a group we do some cool projects within the city, we host: the tree lighting (Christmas), a Halloween Spooktacular, Breakfast with the Bunny (Easter) & a Pooch Pagaent in May. We also: sponser a family at Christmas (buy food & presents for the family), give scholarships to high school seniors-this year we are giving 2 $1000 scholarships, put up corn stalks in the downtown (Thanksgiving time), that is all I can think of right now.

Welcome

2007-04-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

Okay my kids have a blog, my husband has a blog. Now it is time for there to be one all about ME! Yes, scary I know. But oh well.

This will give me a chance to talk about the things that don't fit on the kids blog, like my love for Stampin' Up stamp products right now. And my new crazy life selling anything that doesn't move on Ebay, bye-bye baby stuff. (Which is good b/c now I can buy some new stamp sets!)

So here are my first photos-of course they are cards that I made-my newest past time habit.