And Naturally, She's Gorgeous

Avery Mae. Now, I might be biased, but this baby is mighty cute. The first time I saw her, I fell in love...again. Miss Avery looks quite like her big sister Lily. Big brother Drew isn't all that interested in her, after all, this little usurper took over "baby of the family" spot from him. Grant takes this all in stride; this is the third time for him to be big brother. I won't go overboard with photos, but thought you might like to see some, since this baby is nearly all I've posted about lately.

Check out those chubby cheeks (on Avery, not me!!lol) I believe that Drew, with Daddy's help took this photo. It's a little blurry, but you can see her face. She's definitely a keeper. Cries like a mouse squeek. 

Grandma took these three to dinner at the diner and it's become our tradition to stop here afterwards and take photos. Had a ball with the little ones. Precious babes. They make me laugh. They are constant reminders of what matters. Miracles every one of them. As all children should be!

When I went over to see this little family, I brought a present for the baby, and naturally, I had to whip up a card. Had one sitting here on my desk, but when I looked at it to tuck inside the present, it wasn't what I wanted anymore. So I had to make a new one. I used some new stamps from Newton's Nook. First of all, they're really cute/fun stamps, and then, the quality is utterly amazing! Initial inking was perfect. Clean, crisp images. I highly recommend these stamps. Seriously. And they have a challenge blog too. It's called Newton's Nook Designs Inky Paws Challenge so be sure to check it out. Sweet sketch, and I just couldn't resist playing there with the card I made.

See what I mean about NN stamps?!!! It's a Bazzill white base and scalloped square. Scraps of pink and gingham. I stamped the images with SU black and fussy cut them, including the itsy bitsy teeny weenie heart. Used my Cameo to cut the hearts and scalloped square. Five and Dime store sequins. Katie really liked it, which makes me happy! We've got company from Phoenix, and I owe emails and comments to everyone, and will try to get to that this afternoon later when things are quiet around here for a while. In the meantime, since it's a beautiful Friday, go forth and do a happy dance.

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

Avery May/Mae (mom & dad still have to choose the spelling) was born today at 1:01 pm. She's a big girl, and close in weight to what big brother Drew weighed, but they haven't gotten that far yet...Drew weighed in at 10lbs 2oz. Mother and daughter are doing fine. Daddy's beaming. And this grandma is happy dancing like crazy!!! Will post photo if they ok it, and will add the other details soon. Just thought you'd all like to know.

What a wonderful blessing today!

No baby yet....

Still waiting for #19 grandchild to be born. If my ddil doesn't deliver today, the doctors will start her tomorrow, which is not a bad thing. Tomorrow my sweet granddaughter Jessica turns 20 and to have her cousin be born on her birthday is very exciting. She's quite willing to share her birthday with a new baby. The other grandparents will be there on Tuesday, and I will drive over to Madison on Wednesday, and it will be my turn to watch the big brothers and sister! I will take the three little ones; Grant, Lily, and Drew, plus the two college girl granddaughters, Jessica and Melissa out to the Hubbard Avenue Diner for dinner. If mommy and daddy aren't home from the hospital at dinnertime, then we'll all trek over to the hospital for a quick visit and the girls can see their newest cousin. What a wonderful world we live in. Sharing love and lives. I will post as soon as I hear anything and hopefully, I'll have some good photos to share as well.

I made a card yesterday. It's for my darling friend Mary. You'd love her. She's one of the sweetest people on earth, I swear! She was to take me out for dinner this past Saturday, but a YKW made an appearance, and that was the end of that. Instead, she dropped off a dozen peach colored roses and promises to attempt dinner once more soon! It's my fondest prayer for you all to have a friend like Mary. I made her a special Thank You card. And while I was at it, I thought I play along over at the Little Tangles Challenge. Take a look at their latest color palette:

How pretty is this?!! With all of the rich fall tones out there, this one was a refreshing change of pace.

My card looks like this:

It's really pretty irl.  The base and white panel are from Bazzill, and the pink, yellow, and gray are scraps. And you know, I keep digging in my scrap box of card stock, but it never seems to go down! Wonder what happens when the lights go out in here.... I used, of course, Neat & Tangled stamps, Memento London Fog ink, and some sequins bought at my local 5 & dime store. Inside is blank so I can write some really special thoughts for Mary. And now, it's time for me to get cleaned up, and wait for my friend Karen to pop over with a cup of coffee.We'll have a little coffee klatch, after which she'll go back to work, and I will play a bit more, and enjoy life. I know it's Monday, but do find something to do a happy dance about...well worth it!

Party On.

Although my birthday was this past Monday, our daughter is have a homemade pizza/cheesecake party for me, and for her daughter who will be home from college for the weekend, tonight. Jessica's birthday is this coming Tuesday. She's a sophomore, and her sister Melissa is a freshman at UW.  It will be a quick party, as the girls are going to their alma mater's football game with their youngest sister. These three girls have an older brother, Christopher, but he will be working tonight. Then it will be home and the last of the boys of summer...baseball season is coming to an end.

I actually did make a card today. Playing along with the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. For this challenge, they are asking us to use products which can be found at the SSS store. No problemo! In fact, I've got a few things that qualify: First a designer paper from a Studio Calico 6x6 paper pad, as well as an SC little wood veneer bicycle, and a Mama Elephant stamp from their Up and Away set. This came together fairly easily.

And this is my card:

I just like it. It's 'uplifting'. Sorry. My bad.... Once again for the deets: MME balloon bunch, colored with Copics and Sharpies and inked in StazOn. An SC bicycle and cloud paper. Bazzill white cardstock for the main panel and base. The little flag is the border from the SC paper and I used Newton's Nook sentiment with SU black ink. That's it...at least I'm pretty sure it is....So go now and do an extravagant happy dance because it's Friday. Party on.

Still waiting...

No new grandchild yet. Nope, this little one has decided that he/she likes it just fine in mommy's tummy. And according to my son, this baby is not so little. I'll go with a solid 9lbs when he/she decides to make his/her grand appearance. I'm on baby watch, and will go help watch the three others at home, which ought to be a hoot. It's rather funny...when I head over to Madison to greet this new baby, I'll make sure I text two of my other granddaughters who are in college and take them out to dinner along with the other three. And these two in college aren't even the oldest of the all the various grandchildren. What a wild age range! It's fun to watch them all grow.

I have had a couple of early morning YKWs, but more than that, Mr. Mojo called in sick for a few days... I'm hoping he's back for awhile.

Next week is one of those college granddaughter's birthday. I made a set of note cards for her, so that she can send out cards/notes to whom ever she wants to. I've even put stamps on the envelopes so she won't have to deal with that. I'm not posting the set but I'm certain she'll like them. After I finished the set, I worked on her birthday card. For three days. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Zilch. And the day before her party, I found myself still struggling. I did manage to come up with something. I sure hope it's worthy.

Playing along with City Crafter Challenge Blog. They've got an absolutely gorgeous color palette, and I'm madly in love with it. I also thought I might submit this to CAS(E) this Sketch. My focal point is a little larger than the one on the sketch.... So check out the color palette and sketch:

And after numerous trips over to the recycle bin, an extra cup of coffee to combat the medications side effects, this is what I made:

I think it's bright and fresh enough that Jess will like it. I like the texture. All the aqua paper came out of my scrap box, as did the smaller white piece. The base is Bazzill. N&T silver sequins. Not sure who made the washi tape, MME enamel dots, MFT sentiment stamp, flag die, and speech bubble die, striped dp is from Authentique's Renew 6x6 pad, and Studio G ink for the sentiment, and on the teeny-tiny bit of drywall tape. It's now time for you all to find something that makes you happy dance. 

Have you seen...

No, wait. I think that most of us crafters have, at one time or another, used the kitchen/dining room table as our main craft area, and stuffed our supplies in whatever containers and drawers and closets were available. Or dug out a corner of the basement which is dark and cold. We patiently wait for our children to give up their play rooms, or after they finish college and are permanently out of the house (boohoo), to set up a former bedroom as our craft space. I got lucky 12+ years ago when we bought our current home. One of the former bedrooms had been converted into an office/pass through space. You have to walk right through the middle of my craft room to get to the family room. It's a little awkward, but really, it's a large enough space to put all my stuff in...it works. I can create here. I'm blessed. 

BUT!!!!,  have you seen this latest post from Ardyth????!!!!! Her craft room is a dream. Seriously. I'm almost motivated to haul everything out of here, run to Home Depot, get new paint, order some nice cabinetry and countertops, have my electrician friend Dennis come and put in amazing lighting....well, you get the idea. And it ain't happening. At least not yet. But Ardyth's space...*sigh*....a perfect example for me. Light and bright and organized. If you're still reading this post, stop now and head over to her blog, MASKerade. Oh, and don't forget to come back! teehee

And speaking of Ardyth...I've got a card for this week's Muse Challenge. Totally fell in love with the inspiration card made by Therese Calvird. You will too!

I love the emotions this card evokes. It is dreamy. And my take:

I'll let you decide what this means to you and not interject my own thoughts here...

I used some lovely light blue cardstock of unknown origin. The cloud and frame are Bazzill scraps from my giant scrap box. A little wood veneer jet from Studio Calico, a teeny bit of random beige twine, Memento ink, and the sentiment is from Casual Fridays with the "I" masked off. I cut the frame with my Cameo, and the cloud was embossed with an LC folder, and cut with a MB cloud die. Hope your Saturday is delightful, with boatloads of happy dances.

Beautiful Day!

Oh yeah...it's a beautiful day! Perfect weather, cleanish house, and met up with Jen! We went to My Paper Playground, the most fun little scrapbook store around! Hi Sharon! Then we stopped at Qdoba's for lunch, yummy, and then one quick stop at Office Max for some Scotch Expressions Tape, the removable kind. I highly recommend it for use with dies, positioning papers, etc... because it comes off cleaner than Washi does. Never had it rip paper, or pull the top layers off.

I'm not one for some of the trends going on out there. And that includes the chalkboard look. But I thought I should give it a try and see if I could just get over my darn self. It wasn't as bad as I thought...guess it's only my bad attitude that had stopped me from trying this technique earlier. Little Tangles has this challenge going on:

For my chalkboard paper, I used a section of 'wrapping' paper. Our large family photograph from last year was wrapped in this, and I knew I just had to save it. 

I wanted the whole thing to be bright. So I went with a yellow mat, and some AC brightly striped dp (thanks for having this Sharon!) I'm going to send this off to one of the granddaughters in college in Madison. Random scraps of black (under the stripes), and yellow. Studio G ink, and that bit of recycled paper. Neat and Tangled stamps. Went together quickly and I like its happy look. Get to dancing everyone! It's the weekend!

A couple of updates

Yesterday, and thus far today, I am YKW free!!! I'm so happy I could just dance...(sorry). I am seriously happy about that. Running out of rescue meds until next week, so it's really important that they go away for a while. That's the first thing. And as you may be aware, my sil, Marilyn has been battling stage 4 cancer. It's in her abdomen, wrapped around her omentum and involved her colon and a bit of her duodenum. It has also metastasized  to one of her kidneys and to her liver. Sounds bad, doesn't it? She's had two bowel resections, without a colostomy (thank goodness) done at the same time, and some serious chemo. The doctors are surprised...and while she's not completely cancer free, everything has ground to a halt. Her prognosis has been upgraded, and she's no longer considered imminently terminal!!! She describes her condition as like that of a diabetic patient. Her condition will need to be monitored for the rest of her life, but there is no longer the threat of a truncated life span!!!! I am so thankful. Very happy for her. Thanks for all your prayers and kind wishes. I know, with absolute certainty, that they have helped.

It finally felt right to make her a "get well" card, as opposed to a "thinking of you" card. So I did. And it fits nicely into two challenges. The first is Wednesday Stamp Club Sketch Challenge at My Favorite Things. I've used all MFT stamps, including a new one (freebie!!!woohoo). The second challenge is Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge, where we are to use either wet and/or dry embossing.

Debby Hughes created something special for this, and I'm not going to post it here because you should pop over to SSS and see her card, and all the other wonderful lovlies for your own self! I will show you mine, however...

Again, I apologize for the poor lighting. It seems that no matter what I did, it didn't come out like I wanted...crap! Anyhoo...The cute little nurse, and the polka dots are both MFT stamps. I stamped an apron on a dp scrap, fussy cut it, and slipped it under her clipboard. I colored the rest of her with Copics (how'd I do Kylie?!). I made my own red cross badge my own darn self with my Cameo (big step for a beginner!), and cut the bandaid out too. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder on the red (in tribute to Arielle!), and added three MME enamel dots in the corner. I think that's all...And so, with that, happy dances everyone.