Potty Training

This is going to be a mostly family post, no cards today. Although, I have about five million cards to show you...but, as I am taking care of five children today AND I am preparing for a stamp a stack party at my house tonight, I don't have any time.

Michelle is doing so well learning to go potty! We started last Thursday (I just set my mind to it because I believed she was ready, just lazy). She went in her panties about 7 times, each time more agitating than the last. She did pee in the potty a few times that day. On Friday, she went in her panties only twice, and on Saturday, Sunday, and yesterday, she didn't pee in her panties at all; she only pooped (we're still working on that...where to start?!). Now, today, she has gone potty immediately after I put her on (we've had to read books and "relax" so she could go...we could easily sit there for five minutes before she did anything)...big improvement! She's been wearing a panty all day, and hasn't wet through! Plus, she is willingly going when I ask. Now, to get her to tell me! I'm sure that will come, though.

I was just so excited that she is actually being potty trained that I had to post! I've waited and waited for this...plus she is getting harder to change (saying she doesn't like to be wiped because it hurts), so I knew it was time.

Keep up the good work, Michelle!

Welcome Back!

Hey, everyone. Sorry it's been so long...I had a long, long, messy October! But, I'm busy getting ready for the Alcester craft fair on Saturday...here's some stuff I've done...

Love, love, love this quote and how this sign turned out! Very basic--black paint, red flourish, white letters. Simple, yet powerful.

Love this, too. Perfect for a child's room. Again, yellow paint (over underlaiment), with white and black letters and stars.

A little more complicated--this one took awhile!

It's hard to tell in this picture, but the outer blue layer and the outer matting of each snowflake is cut with a glittery blue paper. It's gorgeous in real life! Gotta go--kids are crying!

Kayla

Long Time No See

Hey. Sorry it's been forever. We've had a busy few weeks!

The craft fair was a few weeks ago, but I didn't do so well. Sold a few things, but nothing really awesome. Somewhat depressing, but trying to keep my chin up. Going to try again at the Alcester fair in November and the Beresford fair in December. No sense dwelling, though...

The week of the craft fair Micah was very, very sick. I took him to the dr. after he ran a 102/103 fever for a couple days, and he was diagnosed (but not tested for) with strep. He continued to run a high fever, hitting 105 several times during the next three days. When I left him on Saturday morning for the craft fair, his temp was 104.6 and climbing. I felt so guilty. It was so scary to watch his temp just keep climbing while he was always dosed with Tylenol and Motrin continuously. I called the ER once in the middle of the night when it was 105 and once in the evening when it was 104.6. They said there was nothing much they could do for him, just give him a cool bath and make sure he drinks. He never got dehydrated, which was a blessing. My husband was gone that entire week, and I was so scared by myself. On the night I called the ER, I told myself if his temp gets to 106, I was just going in, whether they said to or not. And on Saturday, I told my sister-in-law to call me by noon if his temp was still above 103, and I would come back and go to the ER. At that point (Sat. morning), he had been on medicine for 2 1/2 days. He didn't sleep during the day, he certainly didn't sleep at night---the only person not exhausted was Michelle. Thankfully, his fever broke about 10 am on Saturday, and he slept for about 4 hours. My sister-in-law (a practicing nurse) spoke with a dr. at her hospital, and they both agreed that he probably had the H1N1 flu....we stayed home from church with him the next day. Thankfully, no one else in the family got it. That was so scary.

Here's a card for you...I'm slowly getting some inspiration and motivation back. My sister-in-law (on my side) ordered some cards, and this is the first one. It's a wedding card.

I love how this turned out. It's even better in real life. I used the sketch from Viva la Verve September Week 5. The twist this week was to use specialty paper. I found this loves me/loves me not vellum in my stash, and ran with it. I love how it looks silvery gray in front of the purple. Alot of stamping and cutting involved here, but it was kind of fun and very enjoyable!

Alright, I have to go get started on a blanket I'm crocheting an edge for. Bye!

***Ingredients***

Stamps: SU! Wild Rose, Verve Beautiful You

Paper: PTI Plum Pudding, SU! Certainly Celery, metallic silver, loves me by over the moon press

Ink: Lovely Lilac and Certainly Celery (SU!)

Other: rhinestone brads, sponges

Bookmarks and Card Sets

Well, surprise. Five minutes later I have another post! Here are a few things I made last week that I'm super excited about!

I remembered that I had a whole package of these jumbo bookmarks. I decorated them (they are the same on both sides), and adhered them to the clip with hot glue. They aren't ever going anywhere!

I found the animal set (SU! Zoofari) off a rummage in Hull for $4.00. What a steal! I thought they turned out so cute! The other animal didn't really fit in the circle, so I just used some patterened paper. I'm going to sell these for $.50 each.
***ingredients***
Paper: BG Lollipop Shoppe
Stamps: Zoofari
Ink: varied, all SU!
Other: jumbo clips, scallop circle punch, circle punch, colored pencils, hot glue
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Here's another little card set I created. These are thank yous for teachers to give out. They are 3x3 cards, and I made six identical ones. The apple pattern does vary, though.
I found the card box in the Resources section of SCS- super simple to make! I used my last sheet :( of PTI Pure Poppy and decorated it almost the same as the cards. I think it is just darling! It's hard to tell, but I made the handle a little more decorative by using my CM wavy trimmer and attached it with brads on each side. I also cut a notch in the top of the bo with my circle punch to allow the cards to peek through. I cut the envelopes by hand; I found that template on SCS as well a long time ago.
This is also my entry for last week's Viva La Verve. The twist was to go tiny!
***ingredients***
Paper: PTI Pure Poppy, white, unknown green, wal-mart dsp
Stamps: PTI Teacher's Apple, unknown "thank you"
Ink: real red, certainly celery
Other: top note die shape from cricut, scallop from corner rounder, 3x3 card box from SCS, 3x3 envelope from SCS
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Thanks for stopping (again!). Have a great Monday!

Some gifts...

Good morning! I made a few things over the weekend to share with you. The first are some blocks for my niece and nephew's birthday. They turned 5 (boy), and 3 (girl). Happy birthday, kids!!

I used a girly, butterfly theme for Hannah's. She loves butterflies, and I thought "Sweet Dreams" was appropriate!

***ingredients***
Paper:SEI Chocolat
Stamps: n/a
Ink:n/a
Other:cricut; free font (pavane),

mod podge, wood blocks

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I used some western paper and embellishments for Cole's. He's a true cowboy (in the making!). I got these blocks from my husband after they finished building something; he sawed them down for me and I sanded them. Cheap!

***ingredients***
Paper:Carolee Adornit!
Stamps:n/a
Ink:n/a
Other:cricut, free font (Boyzrgross),

start sticker embellishments, mod podge

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Can you guess who this is for? I thought it would be cute to have a mailman appreciation gift for the upcoming holiday season. My dad is a letter carrier, and his job is HARD! During the hot summer months and the freezing cold winter months, and the rainy spring months, I'm not sure I would look forward to being outside in the elements all day long! He works hard to get mail to all the postal patrons, and I know I appreciate his job. Where else can you mail a letter to anywhere in the world and have it arrive safe and sound in (most of the time) under a week? They deserve more credit than we give them.

So, in light of that, I created this gift. It would be perfect to put in the mailbox during Christmastime to say "thanks" to your mail carrier.

My mom bought these stamps off a rummage for me in Sioux Falls (it's a set of three; the other stamp is a post office). I cut the top notes from my cricut, and colored the pictures with colored pencils. I used a total of 8 dimensionals to adhere the top note to the blue paper.

***ingredients***
Paper: Cloud 9 Designs; Pure Poppy (PTI), white
Stamps: Simply Stamped mail set, PTI Teacher's Apple (sentiment)
Ink: Basic Black
Other: cricut, free top note die shape from internet,

1 1/4" and 1 1/2" circle punches, dimensionals, red marker, colored pencils

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Well, thanks for stopping! I do really have lots to post, but the craft fair in Akron is on Saturday, and I'm not sure I'm going to have any free time this week to blog. I'll try to chip away at it, though. I have some cute stuff to share!

Our Little Family

Just wanted to share our family picture that we just had taken for our church directory. It turned out really well, and it gives you a chance to see the people I talk about all the time. Have a great night!

Kayla

A Sad Sunday

The kids are keeping busy, so I wanted to use a few minutes to share some sad news.
Yesterday, our (almost) brand new puppy, Tajar, got hit. He was chasing the van, and we hit him in our own driveway. He died shortly after that.

I was pretty sad yesterday...the first dog we had that I really, really loved and he's dead after only a month. I'm beginning to wonder if we are supposed to actually have a dog. This was our third- the first two ran away. Tajar was just such a good dog; he had so much potential. I really thought he was going to be the dog that stayed with us....well, forever. Hopefully, this means something is going to happen soon that will make us unable to have a dog.

Michelle is struggling to understand what "death" means. She's not really sad, but she is a little confused as to where Tajar is. She watched us bury him this morning (I told Myron I didn't think I could handle it if he fed him to the sheep :) ), and now tells people (when they ask about Taj) that "Tajar's dead," "sleeping very tight," or "Daddy covered him up." See what I mean about a little confused. When we were going home, she said, "Tajar's going to chase," and she just wanted to go outside and play with him a little while. Bums me out.

Just a dark spot in our week, I guess. It's lonely around here now without him.

Kayla