Saturday, May 30, 2009

A Quickie!

No, not that kind of quickie! A quick post for a time consuming card. The kids are waking up, so I'm going to type really fast...

This card is for Verve's Mojo Monday sketch. I wanted so badly to use my new Love Bakes set (SU! 1995, retired, highly sought after, and MINE!-albeit missing 5 stamps, but hey, 29/32 isn't bad!). I made this card as an invitation card for someone, ahem, who reads this blog. I want them to come to my house. They shall remain unnamed. Anyways, the sketch is here: http://mojomonday.blogspot.com/. Not the greatest picture, but I **love** this set, and I like the card.

Isn't this set darling?!? There will be much, much more coming soon!! It's really hard to see (practically impossible), but on the blue, there are rolling pins and flour sacks, and on the red, there are teacups, saucers, and sugar bowls. Much better IRL. I'm sorry; I'm no great photographer.
***ingredients***
Paper: bravo burgundy, barely banana, bashful blue
Stamps: Love Bakes
Ink: bravo burgundy, bashful blue, versamark
Other: ribbon from Making Memories, sponges
****************

PS- Crystal wants me to add that she helped me make my light studio. She says she was fearing for her life because I was hacking away at the box with a large, very sharp kitchen knife. The hacking was completely necessary in order to cut through the cardboard to make the windows so I could secure my typing paper. I want to add that she is fine now and has undergone only a tiny bit of therapy to help her through that traumatic night (just kidding!).


Thursday, May 28, 2009

Crafting away...

First, before I begin the crafting section, I just wanted to update on Michelle.
She had a routine appointment with her ENT, Dr. Korver, today to check on her tubes. Last time, she had a little fluid in one of her ears but she did have a cold. He wanted to see her back.
Well, he pulled the tubes out (they were just sitting in the canals), and found that she has serious, terrible ear infections in both ears. He said it is amazing she isn't miserable. Plus, he said her hearing was probably bad (hopefully temporarily). Plug your ears with your fingers right now. He said she hears at least that poorly. Hopefully that improves.
So, we got some medicine and need to see him back in a month. If the infection hasn't cleared, she'll need tubes again.
******************************
Okay, here's the crafting post I promised. First, I want to show off my new, improved, *cleaned up*, craft "room". Alright, it's just a corner of the living room. And my husband wanted me to keep everything upstairs to open up the living room. I told him no. :) I can hardly go a day without feeling the itch to craft, so at least 6 months? Forget about it!
*****Note- if you are not interested in the least about my crafting space, skip this post entirely!
Virtual tour #3: My Craft Room:
It's nothing like the entire room I had in our Alvord house, but I'm thankful everything is downstairs where I can use it! This is the whole space- I have a lot of stuff crammed in here!
This is my "light studio". My camera just couldn't take nice pictures of my cards, and I wanted a way to take professional looking pictures to take to craft fairs, etc., to show people my work. I found this awesome tutorial here: http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html. This box works like a charm! I love it! I currently have to set it up on the other side of the room, next to the light, stacked on top of the piano bench and a blanket tote. But, it works!

This is how I store my punches. On the side of this white thing that I got at a rummage in Sioux Falls. Its supposed to be a computer organizer or a desk organizer or something. I don't know. I looked at it and saw crafting potential! In the drawers I have markers, ribbon, and various other little things, and on the bottom I store my albums and all my SU! catalogues.

Can you see my poor, abandoned Crictu in the bottom left hand corner? I don't have a place for it yet and it's just been sitting there, unused! :(


This is how I store my stamps. Believe it or not, readers (mostly my family), this is NOT a lot of stamps. Many people I know on my stamping website (Splitcoaststampers.com) have THOUSANDS of stamps. They are not alphabitized, they are not organized in any way. I just shoved them in there however they would fit. And I love it. These racks used to store my paper, but I got a new paper holder...




VOILA! View this in all its excellence. I got this off SCS from a very kind and generous woman who no longer used it. She only charged me for the shipping. Unreal. Michelle and I put it together last week--its so awesome. It holds all my paper, organized, and then some. It rocks. It even comes with a dust cover, so when Mr. Micah starts crawling, I can keep {most of} my paper out of his reach! :)

That's my crafting room. Now, onto a project...

Here's my latest card. I had to quick make a card for Viva La Verve's May Week 4 Sketch Challenge, so I could be entered into the drawing to win some free Verve stamps! You can find the VLV forum here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=218. It's really fun and I love the sketches.

The twist this week was to make a masculine card. Here was my thought process:

1. Hmmm, black and white would be cool and manly.

2. oooh, I love this blue paper. Wouldn't it look awesome as just a splash in the background?

3. Maybe 3 different black and white papers is too much. I'll just keep some of the blue showing.

4. Wow, look at this green ribbon! This would look cool and refreshing.

5. {sound of me tearing, cutting, gluing, coloring, and otherwise putting the card together}

6. Finished! Cool!

I absolutely love how this turned out. It's cool, its refreshing, its manly, it's a man's birthday card! The sentiment says, "Driving by with a birthday hi!". Pretty good for 1/2 an hour's work, huh?! Thanks for stopping! Happy {almost} Friday!

***ingredients***
Paper: black and white dsp (I think Die Cuts With a View?), some unknown blue dsp
Stamps: SU! Loads of Love, Loads of Love Accessories
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black
Other: green ribbon, sponges

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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

"Cwo-cheting"

This is going to be mostly a family post...there will be a crafting post tomorrow. I just have so much to say that I need to split it into two posts or I won't get to bed until midnight!

I took Micah to the dr. today because he has been getting really pus-filled eyes. When he woke up this morning, he couldn't even open his right eye because it was crusted shut with pus! Poor thing. The dr. said that he has a left ear infection and an infection in his eyelids. Weird. No wonder he feels miserable. So I have to give him drops in his eyes 3 times a day. I gave him the first drops tonight; it was torture. I had to lay him on the floor, between my knees, kind of {gently} clamping his head, attempt to hold his arms still whilst prying his eyes open so I could put the drops in. Well, the little bugger screwed his eyes shut so tight I could hardly get them open. And man, did he cry. It was probably harder on me than it was on him. Now, he has woken up three times already and he's only been sleeping for two and a half hours. Hence the need to get to bed! I am also afraid Michelle is getting the infection of the eyelids; her eyes are getting increasingly pussy as the days wear on. We'll see what she is like when she wakes up in the morning. We are supposed to have a play date with one of my friends and her kids tomorrow in the park, so I hope that works out!
I have some pictures of the kids; the first group is of Michelle. She loves it when I crochet- she thinks it is just the coolest thing. Today, she attempted to "cwo-chet":"Now, how does this go in here?"

"Mom, I got it!" (She says this a lot)


"Do I need to use my teeth?"


Very, very carefully...

And a few pictures of Micah--we went to a birthday party in the park on Memorial Day, and we got some really cute pictures of him:

He LOVED the swing!

What a chunk!

And the very last set: Michelle and her cousins Cole and Hannah. My mom is watching these two while my sister-in-law is in Las Vegas with her mom for the week. Michelle and the kids played so nice together when I was over there on Monday--they played outside for the longest time! I caught them in the sandbox playing together (Michelle just learned this skill- how to play WITH someone instead of just BY someone):
Finally, one last picture. Myron got the swingset put up in our backyard last week, and on Sunday, after Michelle woke up from a 3 hour nap, he volunteered to take her outside (without me asking--he doesn't do this very often!). I caught them swinging and playing through the window in the house. I'm pretty sure they were unaware of my presence!
He's just such a good dad! No wonder she loves him!
Good night and thanks for stopping! Check back soon for a craft related post.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

More New House

That's what Michelle calls it. Our New House. She loves it here. It's so exciting to her (at least one of us is excited, right?)
As I promised, here are the rest of the pictures. The upstairs. Ready for this?
Okay, here are the stairs. Very steep, although not quite as steep as our Alvord house. And here's Michelle looking very excited to be in this picture. :)
Here is Micah's room. Remember, ugly carpet and walls? I wasn't kidding, was I? I put some stuff on the walls next to his crib, and it looks a little homier now.

This is Michelle's room. Very cute- Pam had done some freehand painting a long time ago, and it gives it a really girly feel. I love the soft carpet. How do you like her big girl bed? That's her New Bed. She loves it.
Here is the store room off of Michelle's room. When we first started putting things in it, I didn't think we would use all the space. Now, guess what? It's full.
Well, that's the house. Enough room for us all, anyways. What do you think?

Okay, now onto the crafting side of things.
I finished my second crocheted flower today. Except, the pattern only called for five petals, and I ended up with six. Hmmmm. weird.

I also got three cards done in the past few days. I made them for a purpose: one of my friends from church, Heidi, just had her 3rd baby. I wanted to make a card and a little something for her, and this is what I came up with.

She had a boy, so I wanted to use some greens in the card, and I added a dash of purple just for excitement. I have never used this stamp, either, so that was very exciting. This card was for a sketch challenge for Verve Stamps' May Release party. I threw it together quick while Michelle was running around.

*****ingredients*****

Paper: unknown plaid, always artichoke, elegant eggplant

Stamps: feet from Hobby Lobby, Noteworthy, Bundle of Joy

Ink: always artichoke, elegant eggplant

Other: brads, sponges

*********************
I also wanted to make her a few CAS (Clean and Simple) thank you cards that she could give to people who give Peyton gifts. I made four in green and four in blue. I LOVE them, and I want to make some more. I was inspired by someone on Splitcoast who made a CAS card.

And here's the blue version...


*******ingredients**********

Paper: gable green, brocade blue

Stamps: feet from Hobby Lobby, Noteworthy, Itty Bitty Backgrounds

Ink: gable green, brocade blue

Other: ribbon

***************************

Okay, that's everything. Thanks for stopping!

Kayla

Friday, May 22, 2009

Our New House-- in Color!!

Well, we have come to the end (almost) of another week. Why is that when Myron is home, the week just flies by? He's been home for 2 weeks, and sadly, he leaves again on Tuesday (or Monday night). We got him a load from Sioux Falls to Louisiana (yay), and I'm so not looking forward to dispatching out of LA. Last time we were there, it was awful, and now, the economy is worse, so I'm sure it's going to be a nightmare week. Oh well. Money is money.

I have some pictures of my new (to us) house. You'll see what I mean by not the greatest. I don't have any pictures of the upstairs, because when I was taking pictures, the kids were both sleeping in their rooms. Well, Michelle was pretending to sleep, but she was really being naughty and was awake. Anyways, there are two useable bedrooms upstairs and one unsuable bedroom. I'll take pictures later today and probably post them tomorrow or something.
Okay, here we go. A virtual tour.
Okay, I just realized I forgot to turn the picture. Oh well. Turn your head.
This is what you see when you first enter the house. Our entryway with our washer and dryer. Kind of nice that they are on the main floor and not the basement. Especially since I've done 13 loads since we got the appliances hooked up.
Here's the kitchen. Nice, big kitchen. Pam (my sister in law) did a really nice job painting. I wish I had a grape/wine themed kitchen. But, I don't. Oh well. The only thing I don't like is there is not alot of cupboard space. I have about half the cupboard space I had at our Alvord house.
Please ignore the gigantic mess. I'm slowly wading through it all, but the kids tend to tear it right apart again. See that white thing in the lower right hand corner- yeah, that's a dishwasher. Albeit, a small dishwasher, but a dishwasher nonetheless. And I love it. One small comfort in an otherwise pretty bleak situation.
Here's the living room. Nice, big room, too. I like that. We have a lot of stuff in this room: two couches and a chair, two endtables, the piano, the computer, the toys, and my scrapbooking stuff.This is the living area. The couches face each other. I like it alot. In the lower right hand corner, there's a bookshelf to tie it all together. It looks very homey.
Here is the last picture of the living room. Bad picture, but you get the idea. I rearranged my scrapbooking stuff, too, and I'm excited to take another picture of that. You can get the before and after feel. It looks really nice.Here's our bedroom. It's right off the kitchen, next to the stairs to the second floor. Kind of small (way smaller than our other house), but it'll be just fine.Here's the outside of the house. Not too bad, right.Now look again...yes, that's plastic over the house. In the summer. Because everyone is too lazy/busy to take it off. I hope it doesn't affect how hot it gets in here. We'll see. Ignore the big dead tree in the center of the picture. We're not going to cut it down. Why? Because it's not our problem.
And one last picture. These are from Michelle. My mom helped her plant them and give them to me for Mother's Day. They are looking a little worse for the wear because we have had 90 mile an hour winds the past few days. But, I just watered them and I think they will survive. I hope. I am notoriously bad with plants. Why I want to badly to have a garden, I don't know. I just do. Another year, maybe.
Tomorrow, I hope to share a few pictures of the kids and the upstairs. That's all for now. My fingers are tired.

Monday, May 18, 2009

A New House



Good morning and happy Monday! It's been awhile since I wrote, but we've been SUPER busy with moving. Everything went well, and I think we're adjusted in our temporary home. Michelle thinks it's great-- she calls it her "new house". We moved almost everyone on Wednesday, but Tuesday was really busy packing, and Thursday was really busy unpacking, and Friday was really busy cleaning at our old house, and Saturday was really busy attending a graduation.


I hope to post some pictures later this week of our house- but I want to clean it first so it doesn't look like a disaster area. Again, it's not a real nice house (we had to downgrade), but at least it's a roof over our head and a place for our kids.


I was also able to get to Orange City and see my old teacher, Jolynn. We had dinner and talked-- it was really nice.


In the hustle and bustle of last week, I did manage to get three cards made. I had to, because I needed them for graduation on Saturday. I'll only show you two of them. They both correspond with Viva La Verve's Sketch with a Twist challenge for May Weeks 2 and 3. I really love to do challenges...
Here's the first one. This one corresponds with Week 3, I think. You can find the challenge here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=437333. The twist was to use your favorite everything. Well, I kind of cheated. I am really trying to like this paper, so I used it. And, in this sense, I LOVED it!! I also used my favorite Verve set (right now), Floral Whimsy. It's impossible to tell, but the sentiment says: The future belongs to those who believe in the Beauty of their dreams. There are butterflies stamped in Versamark on the light pink panels. I think it is gorgeous! I wish I had a better camera. Someday...
***ingredients***
Paper: Basic Grey Lollipop Shoppe
Stamps: Verve Floral Whimsy
Ink: Pixie Pink
Other: White grosgrain ribbon (SU!), sponges
****************
This one is a little easier to see. This is for Week 2. The challenge is here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=436260. The twist was to use any shade of blue and green. Nice boy card, I think.
***ingredients***
Paper: unknown patterened paper, bordering blue, certainly celery
Stamps: All Year Cheer III, Delight in Life, Crosshatch
Ink: bordering blue
Other: brads
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Well, that's all for now. Enjoy your Monday!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Lotsa Crafts...

Hello! As usual, it is almost 11:00 and I am not even close to being in bed! Today was a busy day. I taught lessons this afternoon, and then we had church this evening for National Prayer Day. My kids were exhausted when we got home. Straight to bed. Almost. Here are some recent pictures of them...













What darlings they are... Michelle is now 2 and Micah is 6 months old. He weighs 6 pounds less than Michelle, and his head is 1/4 inch smaller than hers. He's huge! I'm weaning him off of breastmilk and onto whole milk right now, and since he started that (and drinking bottles instead of nursing) he drinks 8 ounces at a time, sleeps at least 6 hours straight (before, 2 hours straight was great), and is growing like crazy!!

Onto crafting....I've been busy the past week, but since I didn't have
my memory stick, I couldn't show you! Well, after much anticipation (I'm sure), here it is...

Both of these cards are for my sister-in-law for her mother-in-law and mother. This first card is for her mother-in-law. It also followed the sketch challenge for Verve's Mojo Monday. You can find the sketch challenge here: http://mojomonday.blogspot.com/. I love to do these challenges, and sometimes, you get a chance to win free stuff!
The quote says: You have been my inspiration, my confidante, my frint. Because of you, I've learned to love, to forgive, and to live a life filled with purpose.
***ingredients***
Paper: SEI Chocolat
Stamps: Verve Because of You
Ink: Pixie Pink
Other: Gray taffeta ribbon (SU!), markers
****************





Here's my second card, this time for her mother (my mother-in-law).
This card follows the sketch challenge with a twist for the first week of May's Viva La Verve. You can find that challenge here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/%20showthread.php?p=13999896#post13999896. The challenge was to be inspired by something in your home. Well, this green is the same green in my kitchen (I have an apple kitchen). I have a hard time with three panels like this, but I like the way it turned out. It's hard to see, but I put stickles all over the place for added pizzazz.
***ingredients***
Paper: Green, pixie pink
Stamps: Verve Because of You
Ink: Certainly Celery
Other: wide cream ribbon, stickles
****************
Well, that's all for now. I'm pretty excited- my husband comes home tomorrow! Thanks for stopping!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

A Spring Cold?

What I thought was just allergies on Saturday developed into a moderately severe head cold. I have been pretty miserable, but I think I'm over the hump. Both kids are now sleeping (it's 8:00--this is amazing), so I just need to be responsible, stay out of my craft room, and go to bed at 9:30. Yeah, right. :)
We had an emotional roller coaster weekend regarding housing, but I think that after much discussion, we are just going to move where we originally planned and live there for now. It will have to work. I'll post pictures when we move. We are planning on moving next week. We have to be out of our current home by Friday, and I think my husband is planning on staying home from trucking, so we will move all next week. One good thing about moving- everything gets organized into boxes! I like that. We should move once a year, right? :)
I have some really cute things to show you- a few scrapbook pages, a crocheted flower, and two cards, but I left my memory stick at my in-laws' house so I can't get the pictures off my camera! They are pretty cute, but I guess they will have to wait. Happy Tuesday!