All Boxed Up!

Good afternoon! Both of my kids are sleeping AT THE SAME TIME (gasp!), so I am able to get some much needed blogging done!

I have been busy, busy, busy getting ready for craft fairs, and I decided I wanted to include a few boxed set of cards. Well, remember this card?

I loved it so much, I decided to make a card set out of it. I wanted to make something that either a man or a woman could use, so I decided to make 3 girl birthday cards and 3 boy birthday cards.

Easy peasy, right? Right. I happened to have some navy blue ribbon, so I just used blue instead of pink, and leaves instead of flowers, and voila! Done.
Now, I needed some nice packaging. Something new. Something fresh. Cue Lauren Meader's My Timeless Templates. I've been wanting to try these for a while, and for $5 and unlimited downloading, who can resist? I sure can't! So, I tried her All Boxed Up template. It's for a card set, and I LOVE IT!!!!! I'm already working on two others. Here is the front:

When it's all tied up with the cards inside, it looks like this:

When you open it up, it looks like this. The cards are nice and tucked away with the envelopes. I chose to make a girl side and a boy side. Cute!

I had so much fun using PTI's Guidelines set. I can't wait until I am able to get the Guidelines II set. It is so much fun to make your own patterns, and it immediately dresses things up. Plus, you can never get bored, because, as you can tell from the six cards, you can do something different every time!

Thanks for stopping! Tomorrow is the Verve Blog Hop, so be sure to "hop" by and see what's cookin'!

Girl and Boy Birthday Cards

***ingredients***
Paper: PTI Razzberry Fizz and Spring Moss, SU! Gable Green and Brilliant Blue
Stamps: PTI Guidelines, Birthday Basics; Verve Because of You; SU! Delight in Life and Lovely as a Tree
Ink: SU! Pixie Pink, Gable Green, Brilliant Blue

Other: ribbon, rhinestone brads, vellum, brads

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All Boxed Up holder

***ingredients***
Paper: white c/s, PTI Razzberry Fizz, SU! Brilliant Blue and Gable Green
Stamps: PTI Guidelines, SU! Delight in Life
Ink: SU! Pixie Pink, Brilliant Blue, Gable Green
Other: ribbon, My Timeless Template (All Boxed Up), scor tape

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Our New Puppy!

We have a new addition to our family. No, Mom, it's not a kid, it's a dog!!I saw a puppy on Swap Shop (an on-air program to sell/buy your stuff locally) and called about it. Michelle, Micah and I went to see him in Orange City today, and we decided we just love him and we took him home. So far, he is just the best dog ever!
His old family adopted his mother from the shelter not knowing she was pregnant. Well, she is an 18 pound dog and he is already 30 pounds! They already have four children (the family), so two dogs and six people was just too much in one house. The kids really loved him, but the realized that it just wasn't working. I wanted to get another puppy because Michelle is starting to become really frightened of dogs again. I don't want her to grow up like that (I know what it's like to be frightened of dogs as a child--it's kind of a hinderance). So, we have been looking and I think we found a perfect match.
His name is Tajar--sounds like Badger. It's from a children's book- the main character was half badger, half tiger, so the children in the book called it a tajar. So, his name became Tajar, or Taj for short. He's a mix of something, and my sister-in-law thinks it may be some kind of spaniel. That could be-- he always has his nose to the ground, he has excellent hearing, and he has blotchy spots on his legs that kind of look like Dalmation but is probably Spaniel. We'll see what he looks like when he gets older. Tajar is almost five months old. His disposition is excellent- very calm, and he listens well. He is, understandably, a little excitable when we are gone for a while, but I am confident he will work that out as he gets older.

He was taught several commands by his old family, which I love. He knows how to sit, lie down, not jump, and come. He is just super at listening. We went for two short walks down the driveway, and he never went on the road and always came back to me when I called (or had a treat). He is very smart.

All in all, I am very excited about this dog- and that's saying something, because I'm not a big fan of dogs. He loves to be petted, and his calm nature calms ME. I'm glad we have him.

PS- Here are a couple pictures of the kids enjoying Taj's company--they like him, too!

A Week of Cards

Just a quick, no-nonsense post tonight because I am tired and my kids are still upstairs not sleeping!

We had kind of a rough day today and yesterday; Micah has had a pretty high fever and has been really, really cranky. He has also had a terrible rash on his crotch area for about a week. I finally got sick of him being crabby all the time and took him in today. Ears look fine (thankfully), but he has an infection in the back of the throat, and also a fungal infection in his crotch. Sweet. No medicine, though, because it's all viral. So we just have to wait it out. Even more sweet. But, I'm trying to steel him with probiotics and an anti-fungal cream, so maybe tomorrow will be better!

I just realized I can make the pictures bigger, so they should look better! Here are a few cards that I have made over the past week:

This is a 5x7 card I made for my mother--she needed a wedding card. This was my first try at 5x7 cards, and I LOVED it! So much room! The patterned paper came from the couple's invitation, as did the colors.

This is a card for my sister-in-law's birthday (on Monday). Sketch came from Viva La Verve's July Week 3. The twist was to use the technique Poppin Pastels or Burnt Batik. I chose the easy one, with the pastels. Hard to see, but I used canvas on the aqua mist layer. Also, I cut the scalloped circles with my cricut (who needs nesties?!)

Card for Viva La Verve's July Week 4. This was for my friend Joann for her birthday. The twist was to use vellum, so with the vellum and the circles, I was nervous. But, I like how this turned out. I love the colors!

Finally, this plate is for my sister's wedding anniversary (from my mother). I used a glass plate and mod podged paper onto it. I cut the letters with my cricut (Pooh font), and the charms are from her wedding. I LOVE how this turned out--the wood paper is so awesome. I'm going to buy a truckload of it. I cut the wood paper in strips where the boards look like they would be, and then adhered them on that way. By doing this, I was able to make it look like there were no seams. I modpodged over the entire thing (even the picture, printed on my home printer). Sweet.

Thanks for stopping; supplies are below my signature!

Wedding Card

***ingredients***
Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, patterned paper from couple's invitation
Stamps: PTI Guidelines
Ink: Real Red
Other: Sentiment sticker, Stickles, Ribbon

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Flower Birthday Card

***ingredients***
Paper: PTI Aqua Mist, Raspberry Fizz, Lemon Tart
Stamps: Canvas, Both Ways Blossoms, PTI Birthday Basics
Ink: Versamark, Pixie Pink

Other: Cricut, pastels

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Vellum Birthday Card

***ingredients***
Paper: Raspberry Fizz, Gable Green
Stamps: Delight in Life, Verve-Because of You, PTI Guidelines
Ink: Pixie Pink, Gable Green
Other: Ribbon, Vellum, Rhinestone brads

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Western Plate

'***ingredients***
Paper: Paper Studio wood paper, kraft, cream
Stamps: n/a
Ink: n/a
Other: Cricut- Pooh Font cart, charms from sister, corner rounder

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Poor baby!

This is not a card making post today, this is a life post. Sometimes, it's just nice to catch everyone up on my life all at once instead of telling everyone individually!
Myron left in the truck yesterday. I was so thankful I found a load- and at 8:00 on MONDAY morning, too! That is very unusual. He is out in West Viriginia right now (with absolutely no service :( ), and then his mom (Mary) found a load to Detroit from there. We have a good relationship with a broker from Sioux Falls through whom we get loads quite frequently, and we are picking up a load for him in Ohio to come back home. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't need to find a load today, because...
Micah got tubes. Yes, I know. Surprise, right?
He's been sick with ear infections for about three months straight, and we got referred last week to see Dr. Korver (the ENT who did Michelle's tubes) yesterday. We got there and he strongly suggested that we put tubes in. But, he is going on vacation and is going to be gone from tomorrow until the end of the month. So, here are our options:
1. Wait until his is in Rock Valley again, which is August 7.
2. Drive to Sheldon today (Tuesday) and have Korver put the tubes in there.
3. Have Korver's fill-in, Dr. Jorgenson, do the tubes anytime the rest of this month in Spencer.
4. Wait and see Korver again in 3 weeks to see how Micah is doing.

So, I talked with Myron, and he said I should probably just put Micah out of his misery (in a good way) and go to Sheldon and do the tubes. I called Dr. Korver's office, and they set up the surgery for the sickening time of 7:15 am. I called my mom, who agreed to let us spend the night and then watch Michelle in the morning while I am gone with Micah. She also GRACIOUSLY offered to bring Michelle home so I could just go home from Sheldon (thanks, Mom!). That was awesome.
The sucky, sucky part was that Micah couldn't have anything to eat after midnight. Now, he's a baby who really likes/needs a bottle in the middle of the night. After hearing this piece of news, I promptly began worrying how in the world he was going to sleep all night without drinking. He went to bed at 8:30 (with a bottle), and then I tried to wake him at midnight to drink, but he wouldn't rouse. I got 2 ounces in him and that was it. And then, sure enough, he woek up at 2:00 wanting a bottle. And then was up again at 4:00. And 4:30. And then was up for "the morning" at 5:30. So, we hit the road at 5:45 this morning. Bah. I wish Myron was home.
The good news is that Michelle went to bed at 9:15 and slept straight through the night until 9:00 am. This is surprising to me. She hardly ever sleeps all night.
I got to Sheldon (Micah slept the entire way), and was pleasantly surprised to see an old high school friend was our nurse! That was very exciting!
The surgery went really well, but Micah had a very tough time coming out of the anaestesia. I fed him a bottle right away, and then he cried for the better part of the next hour. We were finally allowed to go, and then he cried for a short while in the car, and then slept for the next 2 1/2 hours! And then slept another 2 1/2 hours in the afternoon. He wasn't tired, was he? :)
Overall, he is doing really well today. I hope he sleeps pretty good tonight. I have already noticed that he seems to hear quite well, and he flips onto his tummy and then back ALOT (like, all the time). These surely must be good signs.
Michelle had such a fun time this morning with my mom. She came home with a bunch of snacks, bug juice, ribbons in her hair, and two new sets of jelly sandals. It was great. Plus, we came home to sheep in our yards--Michelle was THRILLED. She saw them, pointed, and screeched, "WHAT IS THAT!!!!" She was (and still is) beside herself!
Okay, my fingers are tired! Good night!

Cards for Eileen

I have been a busy, busy bee making cards! My old piano teacher (whom I adore, still) requested that I make her some cards (birthday and anniversary) to use. The two from the previous post are for her, and all five (yes, five) cards in this post are for her. I made/collected (from my stash) 10 cards for her, and now I'm ready to send them in the mail.The first one is a kid's birthday card. I'm not sure I like how it turned out, but a kid would probably love it. I know Michelle thought the pony and cow were "awesome" (yes, she says that).

Up next is another birthday card. The coloring and lighting on this card is poor; it's a very cute masculine card IRL. I used my Loads of Love set, which I love. Stampin' Up just came out with a new addition to this set with things that you can pull, and I can't wait to get it! I paper pieced the pickup and colored in a few spots, too. The quote says, "Driving by with a birthday hi."

Next card is an anniversary card. The "Smile" sentiment came from Verve's Circular Sayings, but I received it as a "thank you" for ordering from Verve one time (She is so great about that!).

Another anniversary card. I used the poppin pastels method for my flowers (I haven't used that for a long time!)

Finally, my absolute favorite of the bunch. This is another anniversary card. I've been hoarding this beautiful Bella Rose paper--it's my last full sheet, and the paper is now retired. I finally cut it up to use it, and I love how elegant and gorgeous this card turned out! I even broke out my sewing kit and sewed two buttons onto the ribbon!

All the ingredients for each card are listed below my signature. Have a happy Thursday!

Animal Birthday:

***ingredients***
Paper: unknown DSP (I think it's called Gypsy, I got it at Wal-Mart)
Stamps: LPS Fun on the Farm, PTI Birthday Basics
Ink: Ranger Distress Walnut Stain
Other: scallop circle punch, circle punch

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Pickup birthday:

***ingredients***
Paper: Flowers for You
Stamps: Loads of Love and Accessories
Ink: Bordering Blue
Other: Ribbon, sponging

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Smile anniversary:

***ingredients***
Paper: Bordering Blue, Pretty in Pink, unknown dsp
Stamps: Verve Circular Sayings, Verve Because of You, Soft Swirls
Ink: Bordering Blue
Other: ribbon, scallop oval punch, CM cutting system

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Love Anniversary:

***ingredients***
Paper: PTI Razzberry Fizz, PTI Colors- green and Lemond Tart
Stamps: Noteworthy, Happy Harmony

Ink: certainly celery, basic black
Other: ribbon

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Bella Rose Anniversary:

***ingredients***
Paper: Bella Rose, Real Red
Stamps: Verve Beautiful You, Watercolor Minis
Ink: Real Red
Other: ribbon, buttons, sponging, circle punches

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Quick and simple cards

Well, one is quick and simple. The other is a little more time consuming. I had some more time yesterday to make cards, and I came up with two (I'm a slow poke, I know)

Okay, here's the not so simple one. This is for this week's Viva La Verve sketch with a twist- the twist was to distress. I was really nervous to try this, so I put it off until yesterday. Well, it turned out to be easy (even though you can't tell from the photo- use your imagination!)

I used my PTI Guidelines set on two of the blue layers, and then used my "distressing tool" (aka my scissors!) to rough up all the edges. I also sponged on the sentiment panel to give it a little bit rougher look.

***ingredients***
Paper: Bordering Blue, Bashful Blue, Brilliant Blue
Stamps: Verve- Beautiful You
Ink: Bordering Blue, Versamark
Other: Bashful Blue ribbon

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Quick and easy card: this works for sketch challenge 25. I wanted something to showcase this paper. I love it!! This card took me about 2 minutes to throw together.

***ingredients***
Paper: SEI Chocolat, Pretty in Pink
Stamps: Verve- Beautiful You (No one does sentiments like Verve!)
Ink: Ranger Distress Walnut Stain
Other: Pretty in Pink ribbon, circle punch, circle scallop punch

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Thanks for stopping! Happy Thursday!