a baby....

card :) heehee! just a card. I don't really make baby cards that often. Probably because I don't usually have a lot people to give them to. But they are so fun to make when I do :) I just found out that my best friend from Junior High is due in July, so that added to the baby fun, I'm sure. She's having a boy, though, so this one is not for her.

I started thinking that this fun plaid stamp from Unity would look great for a baby card. I really love how the white ink looks on the kraft. Definitely will be doing that again.After that I just got my super cute baby button bits stamps from Papertrey and decided on this oh-so-cute cupcake :) I love how it looks paper pieced :) My favorite thing to do when I am paper piecing is to look through my scraps and find  fun patterns to use, and that is what I did this time too. I usually find some of my best things that way :) I made the pink border around the edge a little bigger than I normally do because I wanted it to stand out more and have plenty of room to stitch.

That's all for the card today. But here is a picture of my sweet Miss Emma.

If you look closely, you can see the bandaid under her bangs. Just before we were heading out to church on Sunday, she fell and busted her head open. It made a huge gash and we had to go to the ER :( She ended up with about 5 stitches :( I'm so thankful that she is doing fine now. You wouldn't know it, she acts her same old  feisty self. Definitely not something I ever want to go through again. The surgeon was great, I can't imagine how hard it would be to stitch up a two year old. ( I can barely keep her still long enough to brush her teeth...)
Again, I just thank God for His care and protection.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a blessed and uneventful day :)

makeover.

So remember the not-so-great "shabby" card I tried to make awhile ago? Well, it just kept bothering me, so I took it apart. Then I left it on my desk for a couple of weeks, trying to add something to the base that I liked.
And I finally I did :) Here's what the new, improved one looks like:

Ok, now, really, isn't that a lot better?! I actually really like this version. I added some prima flowers, a sentiment from PTI's Flutterby Friend. And the finishing touch is a clear butterfly, spritzed with a little Glitter mist and thne dipped in white Stazon ink. This is what I usually do when I end up making a card that I don't really like. Sometimes it takes a while, but I like coming up with something that I really do like :)

Ok, short and sweet again today. I'm hoping to get a few things done this morning before all the kids are up.
Thanks for stopping by!! I hope you had a great weekend!!

girly fun and more butterflies :)

Leah is off spending the night at her cousins' house tonight. With Emma so much younger than her, and two brothers, it's a fun treat  for her to stay at a house with SIX little girls. Apparently they are having a night full of  dress up and tea parties :) Lots of fun for her, but I think her daddy's pretty sad that his girl isn't going to be here when he gets home from work--heehee :)

I have another butterfly card for today. But this time it is a different butterfly :)

I really like how the kraft looks with the yellow. I stamped the butterfly with a music pattern in Antique linen distress ink. The butterfly is from Lifestyle crafts. Isn't it pretty? I used my favorite Sizzix embossing plate too. The perfect little sentiment is from Waltzingmouse stamps. I love that font :) And I'm so glad  I finally seem to have gotten my sewing machine to work. I would be so sad if I couldn't  add stitching to my cards!!

Well, I'm off to watch a movie with the boys while Leah's gone :)  Thanks for stopping by!! It's just about the weekend~yay :)

a little reprieve...

from the heat :) It had gotten so hot here lately, I was kind of getting concerned about the summer...But luckily the past few days it has really cooled off. It's actually been quite chilly. Fun :) A little too rainy today though... I wouldn't mind at all if I didn't have to go out in it get groceries. I'm thinking it might make for a good baking day though.

Ok I just realized that today's card uses the same butterfly set as the last card. I think I need to start trying to use something else besides butterflies(!) or maybe just get some more butterfly stamps? Yes, definitely think I should just get some more butterflies.

I usually think this pink polka dot paper is too bright, but I like it combined with kraft for a fun girl-y card. Not sure how well you can see it in the photo, but I stamped a music pattern on the label in antique linen distress ink. Added some stitching and a little gem to finish it off.

Alright, a short and sweet today. Lots of school to get done with the kids before we head out. Hope you have a good day!! Thanks for stopping by :)

tall and skinny :)

Every now and then I like to shake things up a little bit and make a little bit different shape card. So today I went with kind of tall and skinny. Really love these colors.

What's not to love about kraft and turquoise?! And some embossing and buttons and twine :) Isn't that a pretty impressed pattern? Kind of subtle, but I like it. And of course my favorite butterfly! Love how it has a matching die.

Tomio and Leah are all going to be pretty much gone all weekend. She has her first big real tournament this weekend. We'll see how it goes--both of them are pretty excited.
So I plan to spend the weekend stamping if I can :) If I have anything to show for my weekend I'll be sure to post it :)

Hope you have a great weekend!!

since I'm on a roll...

I thought I would share another layout that I made :) I'm actually really happy with this one. I made it for a call Creating Keepsakes was having, but I guess they were looking for something else. But I was really glad I made it. Reading is such a big part of Leah's life right now that I was so glad I documented it.

I used real pages from an old book that was in pieces :)

And I had fun with the journaling. See? I made it look like one of the pages from the book :) fun:)

And I used my favorite buttefly stamps. Did some stitching, and added some fun embossed clouds :)

Leah seriously reads all.the.time. I can barely keep up with enough books for her! She's already had her Nana and Aunt Coo'gug (long story with that name lol) provide her with dozens. Good thing we can get her English books from the library at the American school here.

Well, that's all for me today!! So glad you stopped by! Hope your week is moving along smoothly :)

two years ago...5 years ago...

So exactly 2 years ago from yesterday, this little sassy girl came into our lives:

And exactly 5 years ago from tomorrow, this awesome little dude came into our lives:

It's funny....we actually tried for over a year and half to get our little Levi. And then when he was 2 and I thought well, if I was going to have any more, I wouldn't want them to be spaced out any more than they that, so I would need to be pregnant right then.... and well, I was :) Definitely a surprise there. And  huge blessing.  Can't imagine life without them!!  While my doctor said my body handled all 4 c-sections really well, apparently that is all it can handle. So I know we are done.

Sometimes I think I might want more. But I guess God must know my limits :)

So each year the kids all get to choose what picture they want Daddy to draw on their birthday cakes. This year Levi chose Superman.

And, yes, Tomio really did draw that Superman directly on the cake with chocolate... Levi was pretty thrilled with it :)

Miss Emma didn't actually choose this time, so we chose something that we knew she loved...Blue's Clues :)

So cute!! Emma loved it too. She would say "Emma's Clue's Clues, Cutie's(that's what she calls Levi) Superman." I extra love how she says "CLUE'S Clues" heehee  :)

I think she enjoyed her cake:

And there were of course presents.

 And more presents.

And some for Miss Emma too.

And some more.

So that's what our weekend was full of :) Fun, parties, and cakes. We'll finish off with Levi's choice of DVD, which looks like it will be X-Men :)

I'll leave you with a picture of what was inside both cakes:

They were quite yummy, if I do say so myself :)

Thanks for popping by! I hope you had a fun filled weekend!!

A layout ~yay!

So I started as strictly a  scrapbooker. Then I think about...3 years ago? I got into making cards more and really got into stamping too. Now I make maybe more cards than layouts simply because they are alot quicker, so even I spend the same amount of time scrapping as stamping, I won't get as many done lol. But I love both so much that if stick to one or the other for too long, I start to miss the other too much lol. Anyway, here is a layout I made of Leah :) These pictures are from 2009, and I can't believe how much older she seems now *sniff* :(

There is a little bit of stamping on this layout too. That actually makes happiest---combining stamping and scrapping :) I drew on the flourishes freehand and then pierced holes, and then stitched over them by hand. I love how they turned out though :)

Just a little journaling at the bottom.

Added a bit of stitching to the felt heart too :)

Took Emma to the doctor yesterday for her cough. She seems have raspy congested cough again. Fortunately, she loves her medicine and is excited to take. Such a blessing :) Glad she'll be feeling better soon too.

Thanks for stopping by!! Hope you are having a lovely week :)

it's over.

Well, Golden Week is officially over. Seriously it felt like it didn't even exist this year. I did enjoy the break from school though :) But all studies and such will resume tomorrow....I hope I'm ready lol.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure I forgot to say how Leah did on her second golf test.......yes, she passed :) Tomio said she was the only one to pass this time. I'm so proud of her :) She still says she wants to be a professional golfer, and it looks like she is on the right path.

Miss Emma seems to *finally* be almost back to her normal self....is this like the 3rd time I've said that? I guess 3rd time's the charm, right? :) She did take a long nap today, which is great for her getting completely better. It's also great for getting some cards done :) I think I got 4 cards made during her nap. And that is A LOT for me. I even got the dishes and straightening done too.

This however, is not one of the cards I made today. I did *not* have time to photograph those :)

Just a simple out-of-season Christmas card. heehee :) I thought the different color combination was fun for a Christmas card. I used the gorgeous Waltzingmouse ornament stamps. So pretty and I love how the work with the Spellbinders ornament dies. Oh, the embossing folder is from Quickutz. For some reason I prefered the debossed look for this card.

Alright, I'm off to get things ready for tomorrow before I go to bed :) thanks for stopping by!!

Just a couple more days.

Just a couple more days of "Golden Week" left. It really was short this time. Leah had two golf tests right in a row scheduled too. She passed the first no problem, of course :) I didn't realize since she seems pass each easily each time, but apparently most kids fail each one a few times before passing. She must definitely take after her Daddy, not me. Her second one is today.


Miss has been quite under the weather the past few days. And as I may have mentioned before, she's not the...easiest of babies :) And, well, when she doesn't feel well....she's even more challenging lol. I am happy to say she is on the mend though.It was soo nice to see her smile come back yesterday :)

Here is a card that I made when I was trying to make more "vintage" or "shabby" cards. I have since realized that it really is just not my thing lol. Sometimes when I see some of the gorgeous Vintage-y cards others have made, I wish I made cards like that. But it just doesn't come naturally for me. Does that happen to you? I'm trying to embrace my clean and simple style though. It is very freeing, if that makes sense lol. ANYWAY, here is one of my attempts:

I know... it's ok, but I'm not too thrilled with it. I'm pretty sure it needs *more* to really be vintage or shabby looking...oh well, I still had fun making it though :)

And just for fun, here a CAS Christmas card that I made last year that I really liked :

 And this definitely came much more easily to me.

Ok, that's it for me. Miss Emma and I have been up since before 6 this morning (yay!...), but now it's time to get the rest of the house moving. Thanks SO much for stopping by. Oh, and could you let me know which style of cards  you tend to make? Are you able to switch styles easily? Any certain kind that you just. can't. do.? (like me...)

Hope you're having a crafty week :)