So much fun and so exciting with every new day!

I never forgot how much I love having a baby, if I wouldn't get any older and if I had endless amounts of money I would have lots of babies. I just can't think of anything in the world that brings me more joy, I love all babies. But, I can't even think of a way ot express just how much I love and adore my own baby girls, all three of them. Right now, with all the new things Lindsey is doing and as exciting as it is I just can't help but think years down the road how crazy she would think I was if she was able to remember how neat I think it is with all the little things she does now. Right now she is pulling herself up so that she is sitting straight up in her high chair and plays with toys on the tray. I just started feeding her some first foods (applesauce, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, green beans and her favorite banannas) and it amazes me how she just started eating it as if she had been eating forever. She never gagged or pushed it out of her mouth because of the new texture, etc. She just loves her food! The last couple days she has decided she wants to eat her food twice a day so that is what she gets. My other two didn't eat solids until closer to 6 months and it was something we had to ease into so this is kind of a new experience. Also, would you believe she is already waking up with a dry diapy? I think she will probably be an easy potty trainer. Carley was the same way, but I didn't notice that she didn't wet her diaper until she was about 6 months. Both the older girls were pretty easy to potty train and we did it relatively early - Carley just before she turned 1 and Emily at about 13 months. Hopefully it will be the same with Lindsey and I think it will. :) I am also shocked at how fast this little girls is growing. I mean I realize the grow quick, but she is already growing out of her size 6 month clothes! The main thing I am the most thankful for right now is that she is not showing any signs of the CF and I am just hoping it continues that way for the rest of her long life! So, yeah I'm a little giddy over my girls, but that's my job and my whole reason for living so accept me for me. :) hahahaha

Happy New Year everyone!

Where does the time go?

I had so many plans to get things finished up over this Christmas vacation or more politicaly correct "Winter Break" from school. We are working around the house whenever we are home, of course I don't get as much as I would like to do done between the babies, making meals, etc. but I'm trying. :) I just don't get enough done to be satisfied at the end of the day with my accomplishments. I have decided I'm going to start making myself a list to work from - I know I'm slow at catching on to stuff like that!LOL I received an ipod touch for Christmas (I love it!) and I am just going to put my list right on there and starting using it daily. There has to be some way for me to be more organized in getting stuff done that "needs" to be done instead of always just catching up and settling for how I want things done. Maybe with my new habit of keeping and following a list of things to do I will actually end up with some time to play in my craft room a little more often. So, I guess since it's so close to the new year you could say that's my New Years Resolution. I don't usually make a resolution at the new year because I never follow through. But, I am going to. With the baby, the kids and their school, sports, friends, and so on I have got to be more organized.

That's sums it up, my New Years Resolution is to keep a list and work from it AND to find more time to play with my crafting goodies- holding my sweet baby is the most relaxing to me but I think a little "paper craft therapy" will do me some good. Let's face it the "retail therapy" I love so just isn't a good idea right now.

What's your New Years Resolution(s)? Do you usually stick to it if you make one?

Merry Christmas!!!

Stampin Up Valentine's Special coming up...

Well, I know how quickly Christmas has arrived for me, I'm sure Valentine's day will arrive even quicker! Stampin' Up has a new set and a special bundle price (20% savings) for a Valentine set, available to order December 23- January 31. If you would like to view it, click here If you would like to order on December 23 or after please click here and choose order product then go to "promotions" or enter item 2045483 in the search field.

Also, Gift Certificates now available!

One little girls wish...

This article was brought to my attention on a post at pccrafter and it really touched my heart. I can't imagine being here and it is my biggest fear in my life - one of my kids getting so ill. This is the only thing I could imagine when Lindsey was diagnosed with CF, fortunately and with all the hope & faith I can have she will never get so sick. With the way she is thriving now, and from what little they know about the disease we have every hope that she will lead a long and normal life...

Please, if you have a minute or two and a stamp to spare then make or buy a card to send this little girl and say a prayer for her and her family. Then give your baby(s) a snuggle and be grateful for their health--no matter how big they are.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28302834/

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Isn't she getting big?

Lindsey is already 3 1/2 months old! She is just an amazing little human being and I can't imagine starting my dy without her presious smile and cute little coos, I even love all her bubbly drool!

Our Weekend

Wow, it's only been two days but it seems like it's been a whole week! Starting Friday night we started getting ready to leave early in the morning Saturday down to Santa Ynez for Carley's soccer tournament. After school I had to rush around and get Carley some sweats (she's outgrown all of the ones she had), buy stuff for a macaroni salad that I had a feeling was a waste but did what the "team mom" asked of us - I hope she is never on another one of our soccer teams and I knew that within the first few minutes after we met her at the beginning of the season. Anyway, we were going to head down Friday night so that Carley could get a good nights rest before her games. But, once we were home and preparing we knew she'd get more rest here at home...

Okay, Saturday arrives bright and early in the morning! Luckily everone wakes up in a good mood. We are on our way and arrive about an hour early, that's okay though because I hate being late to anything. We get out and walk around a bit to check the place out and it doesn't take long to figure out it is waaay too cold for the baby, it might not have been so bad had there not been that icy cold wind. So, I take the baby back to the car and about 1/2 hour later Emily joined us, feet soaked and freezing! Cris comes back between games and I asked him to take us to our hotel to check in and of course he wasn't happy, but I did mention it might be better for me and the two girls to stay home since it was suppose to rain anyway. So we head to Buellton where our reservations were and decide as we are going through Solvang that it would be way nicer to stay there so we spotted a cute little hotel "The Royal Copenhagen Inn". I checked us in and Cris dropped us off and headed back to the soccer fields. Unfortunately the girls lost all three of their games and so they didn't have to play on Sunday. The whole pot luck deal that the team mom/manager planned out was a total waste just like I thought it would be. I could just kick myself for worrying about it and not just buying a cheap container of macaroni salad! She went way out on a limb and brough bread! Some people brought lunch meats another Mom made some spaghetti --nobody brought eating utensils or condiments to put on the sandwiches! I almost brought mayo, mustard, and cheese because I didn't recall seeing it on the list and I thought about bringing plates and utensils too but decided since this lady has tried to micromanage the way everyone comes to games and leaves that she had it covered!LOL NOT!!! So, 1/4 of the macaroni salad was eaten - did I mention she said to make sure there was enough for 30-40 people? Nobody put it back in the cool bag or on ice or anything so it just went to waste. Again, she said to bring enough tomatoes for 30-40 people - this time I didn't listen to her and I only cut up 3 tomatoes. They also went to waste! It's probably a good thing I couldn't stick around because I probably wouldn't have been able to bite my toungue as I have done all season. I had already planned on bringing our own food, I should have just opted out of her "pot luck" and followed through with my plans. It would have cost me less and Carley would have eaten better than she did I'm sure. We ended up heading back home around 9:00 p.m. Saturday night because Emily wasn't feeling good. I think she's getting indigestion or something because her tummy hurts and then her throat hurts -sometimes she throws up too. She seems fine soon if I give her a tums or after she gets sick. We have an appointment at the pediatrician on Friday for this problem...

Sunday, we went and seen Santa! Lindsey has started wanting only me to hold her and definately not wanting Strangers to hold her. She loves everyone and smiles at everyone but fusses when someone else holds her now and then. But, she seemed to like Santa. Carley handed her to him and she just layed her little head down and I thought she was going to go to sleep!lol Emily sat on his lap and chatted with him for a few minutes--all she asked for was a new Nintendo DS w/ a camera on it or a Gameboy! She sure makes Santa's job tough! He told her he thought he was out of those already but if he could find one at his toy shop he would definately leave one for her. Good answer Santa! I made Carley sit on his lap too and she jsut giggled that giddy little girl laugh and blushed a ton because everyone in line was watching her.

I think we also finished up our Christmas shopping, just gotta get some stocking stuffers and that's it. :) Oh yeah, I bought Lindsey a new pair of shoes today - they are so cute! Here's a picture of her new shoes and a pic of the girls with Santa... Have a great week everyone!

My new job!

Well kinda... I just signed up to be a demonstrator for Stampin Up! I'm so excited about this and ready to give it as much time as I can, it's something I love and my goal is to help supplement our household income. If you love rubberstamping or scrapbooking or if you are looking for a new hobby right now would be a great time to shop with Stampin Up as they have a promotion going on that includes FREE SHIPPING on orders over $70 plus they also have 10% off retiring stamps. If you want to check out the great products, please visit my new website
http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/mommystamps ...

I do remember how to use my Cricut!

Last night I decided I would just see if I even remembered how to use my Cricut... I'm getting warmed up, and really need to get in the groove of things. I made a couple little cards and a couple bandaid tins. They are kinda plain jane but it's a sstart and I enjoyed myself while making them. Just thought I would share... I got a request from Em to make a couple more bandaid tins for the school librarian and the cafeteria ladies so I will try to get that done in the next couple days as well, or maybe get her to help me. :)

Lindsey Ann

I think we may have a little red head on our hands! Lindsey's roots looked very light blonde like Emily's hair color but as she gets more hair it's looking like she will be a little red head. I think it's cute, she's just in her jammies here as she was hanging out in her high chair while I made breakfast this morning. I also tried to give her salt in a bottle of breast milk but she just wasn't having it! I don't know what I'm going to do, I guess just keep trying. I hate to just rub salt on her gums several times a day until we get 1/8 tsp into her but we may have to seeing as salt is medicine to her. Any suggestions are welcome!

A visit to Michaels for the first time in a loooong time

I hesitated to go in because I didn't print out a coupon - I hate that you have to print their coupons now! But, I went in anyway because I wanted to look for some paper for cards-- As if the two 5 gallon totes full of paper that are sitting in my craft room aren't enough.lol Well, it was my lucky day! scrapbook paper was 40% off and stamp supplies were 30% off so I bought a few more ink pad colors. I wish I could have spent more but like most people, we have had to cut back dramaticly and I probably shouldn't have been in there at all. After I take Lindsey to the pediatrician tomorrow I am going to come home and finish painting my bathroom and then I'm headed to the craft room... I may not make it there until Saturday but I will make it there.hehehe

Have a great weekend everyone!

What a day... It wasn't too bad

We had our second visit to the childrens hospital and it wasn't too bad. For being a place I would rather not go to, it really is a nice place full of very nice people who you can tell really care about their jobs and what they do.

We seen a different doctor this time and while he didn't give us any great news (I was still hoping for some kind of miracle) he didn't give us bad news either. Right now Lindsey looks great and everyone that came in to meet her and the rest of the family were very happy to see how healthy she is. They all had to look at her growth chart and comment how well she is doing. We met the dietician, one of the social workers, both CF nurses, physical therapist and another lady who works in another therapy lab where Lindsey will go to first before the CF clinic to check her breathing. That wont start happening until she is a little older though since she can't follow their instructions. So, we met most of the people we will see at each CF clinic visit. We will go back in two months...

We learned how to do the physio therapy with a little soft cup thing that you hold between your fingers and pat on Lindsey different places on her chest and back. We don't have to do it regular as of right now, but they wanted us to know how to do it in case she gets a cold or other respirtory infection. We talked with the dietician and learned that even if she still isn't showing any symptoms when she begins eating solid foods she will still need a high calorie diet. We will also continue to give her salt everyday. She will have another sweat test either at her next visit in February or in between that visit and the following one. Hopefully she will continue doing great and the doctor said if that is the case after she turns 1 we may only have to go to the clinic once a year, but they want to see her a minimum of 6 times until she turns 1 or more if she gets any infections, etc. It is all looking good right now though. Right now our goal is to keep her growth above the 50th percentile and stay on top of our doctor visits so if anything does develop they will catch it right away.

Carley & Emily were very well behaved during the whole visit. I think it's important for them to be involved in the visits so they can learn with us and be reassured that their baby sister is doing good and has a bright future ahead of her.

Thanks for being a part of our life and thank you a million times over for your prayers for our sweet girl.

This upsets me...

I have been trying to stay positive about this whole cystic fibrosis with my baby girl but you know, something as tiny as a few words sure can get me sick to my stomach very quickly! Everyday I am searching for information, resources, education, anything that will help me understand this disease more. I don't think I will ever understand it, or why it's happening to my sweet girl! I signed up for a newsletter from a website that is informative and even helps with checklists to print out to help know what questions to ask our cf specialist. I can't read enough about cf, even though some of it is repeated over and over again I still learn something new everyday. Today in that newsletter it said this in the midst of the information I was reading about why it's so important to start early treatments, "you should know that cystic fibrosis can harm the lungs even if few or no symptoms are apparent. This is because the cycle of cystic fibrosis progression may have already begun before cystic fibrosis symptoms are noticed, and damage could possibly occur even though it is not seen or felt."... Now that is the words that really upset me tonight. Obviously this is what they have been getting at with our doctor visits. This also raises the question again about whether or not we need to have the other girls tested. Well, actually it gives me the answer - but I don't feel like I can handle doing that right now.

I have convinced myself that if Lindsey has no signs or symptoms then she is just fine. Now I am worried that destruction is going on in her sweet little body that we don't even know about. I guess, as I have said before I am just so scared for her future. But, at the same time with all that I am learning I am sure she can/will have a very normal life. And if they start treatments on her early it will just be life as she knows it, right? So, I guess what I'm hoping is that this journey is harder on me than it is on her.

Calgon take me away...

Another Cricut Cart...

Yes, I ordered a new cricut cartridge! Is this a sickness I will ever overcome?LOL I have 3 or 4 cartridges that I haven't even opened yet and I couldn't stop myself from ordering a new one tonight. I tried, I left and went back to creativexpress 4 times and the 5th time I just went for it! I had been trying to think of shapes to put together in the design studio to make an owl. Well, I decided to go see what was new at cricut.com and seen the Wild Card cartridge has an owl! I had to have it, I just love all the cute owl stuff that's out these days. I have always loved those little guys, I think they are so adorable and so mysterious at the same time! The girls always laugh at me because every year at the fair I go find "Zoo to You" so I can see their most adorable little owl. I don't remember what kind he is but he is tiny and just too cute for words! Anyway, I hope I can get busy with my Cricut and use all these cartridges I have. I also hope Cris never figures out that I have so many cartridges and that I havne't even used all of them yet...hehehe

Happy cutting!

Belated Happy Thanksgiving...

WOW! Where does the time go? I'm sorry this is late, I just wanted to make sure I did wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and hope realize all the blessings in your life this day and everyday. I am so thankful for my family & my friends, I don't know what I would do without all of you.

We are heading back to the childrens hospital with Lindsey on Thursday... I am nervous, but I think what Mom wouldn't be? She is still thriving and I hope they can give me reassurance again that she will continue. I know they can't give me a guarrantee or promise me that she will never be sick but I guess I will find comfort in their evaluation on that day -given they agree that she is thriving and dont find any signs of the CF. For her health and for Carley & Em's health as well I am very thankful for right now. These girls are what make my world go round for sure! So, if you could please just say a little prayer to see us through this week and another prayer that Lindsey is going to show us and the doctors that she isn't just a miracle in herself but she is a miracle when it comes to CF too...

I am going to finish priming my walls in the bathroom in the morning and then I'm hoping to sit down and make some cards! YEAH!!! I can't wait until my bathroom is completely finished, I think it's going to look pretty nice. Of course the work wont end there, I still have the family room and kitchen to paint and I'm still trying to talk Cris into letting me wall paper one of the walls in the family room. It's all coming together, hope I find the time/energy to get it completed. Of course I will have to paint the living room and hallway too because I know it's going to look terrible compared to the other rooms once we are done. The girls are about due for a little makeover in their bedroom too and my bedroom still has gold carpet in it from the 60's... My room and the master bathroom are the only rooms I haven't tackled yet with any improvements. I suppose it will always be a neverending job with keeping the house up, ha? I will just be happy to get everything dusted and complete what we've started, then I'll have another project that can drag out for a few months, I'm sure of it!LOL

Love & Hugs to you all...

I need to get motivated! Wanna do a card swap?

I am hosting a Monochromatic Card swap at pccrafter, you can check out the details here:
http://messageboard.pccrafter.com/tm.aspx?m=527948
This will be a huge challenge to me, but I love a challenge and I also love to see what everyone else comes up with. I will share my cards here when I am done and hope others will let me post pictures of their cards here as well. Check back or better yet, head on over to pccrafter and join us! :D

Have you heard about "Blog Candy"?

Tonight is the first time I have heard of or seen anything about "blog candy" and I gotta say I can't wait to share some blog candy of my own. :) You can visit this blog www.passionforcrafts.blogspot.com for a chance to win some awesome blog candy. If you don't know what blog candy is, it's a chance to win something for free - all you have to do is add a link to your blog and post back. How cool is that??? Hurry and check it out, your chance to win ends in just a few short days...

look at all these purse templates!

http://melstampz.blogspot.com/2008/03/purse-templates-galore-little-handbag.html

Dazzling Dragonflies came in #2

Wowwwy, what a weekend! It was the end of year playoffs for my daughters soccer league and it was a long weekend! 6 games and the girls came in 2nd place in their division - it was so close. Carley scored an awesome goal and just put her heart and everything she had into all of the games. Next stop, Santa Ynez... This is so exciting! Nobody, and I mean nobody seen this team having such a great year. They only lost one game and just creamed everyone they played. The one team they lost to was undefeated up until this weekend and that was who they won on Saturday to make it to today. It was just awesome and so exciting! So, it was an exhausting weekend but so worth it, the girls are extremely excited!

Cystic Fibrosis --You can help...

As an Advocate for CF, I let my members of Congress know how they can
support efforts to find a cure and control for CF. The more they hear from
the CF community, the greater the impact we can have on funding for CF
research, access to quality, affordable health care, and public awareness
for this disease. Join me by signing up as a CF Advocate. You will receive
monthly updates on CF-related legislative developments and have the
opportunity to tell your members of Congress how CF affects your life.
Together, we can make a difference for people with CF.

Click on this URL to take action now
http://capwiz.com/cff/taf/

When we found out that Lindsey may have CF and got past the first visit to
the childrens hospital, Cris and I discussed the importance of being
advocates for CF because whether Lindsey had it or she was just a carrier it
will be a part of her life and part of her future when she decides to start
her own family. Now that we know she has it I really feel like it's
important for us to become educated on CF and educate all of our friends and
family as well. Research is not funded by the government at all for CF, we
need to help change that. All research that goes into CF is privately
funded through donations, it needs more attention not just for Lindsey but
for everyone that is affected by this disease. If you want to learn more
about people that live with this disease you can visit this webiste
http://www.cysticfibrosis.com/cftube/index.cfm . You can also learn more at
www.cff.org There are different degrees of the disease and they can't tell
you how one will be affected or when - this is what scares me, the unknown
and the what ifs... I will not lose hope though and Lindsey is still the little sweet pea we welcomed into this world just a couple months ago~ I hope they will learn that a person can have the genes and be well always, living a very long life!

Love from our family to yours,

Cris, Lisa, Carley, Emily, & Lindsey

wood vase with scrapbook paper and hugware graphic

This is another quick and easy craft (my favorite kind)... I made this for a secret sister swap. I simply laid the vase down on the scrapbook paper and traced each side and cut it out. I then applied modge podge to the vase to glue the scrapbook paper on. I printed out the cute angel from pccrafter and cut it out, ran it through the xyron to stick onto the vase. Then added the flower and ribbon using e6000 glue. That's it! You can also paint the inside of the vase too...

Angel Feather Ornament

There are a couple different versions of a poem to go with the angel feather ornaments. You can do a google search to find them, this the angel feather ornament I made. I added some super fine irridescent glitter to it too but it really doesn't show up in the picture. These are quick and easy ornaments to make and friends and family have really loved receiving them. :)

My baby & Cystic Firbrosis

We got the news on Friday that Lindsey does have Cystic Fibrosis. This breaks my heart, but it I am going to keep a good attitude and hope that she will have mild symptoms or better yet NO symptoms and will teach the doctors something new with this disease!

They have only been screening newborns for CF for a little over a year, before this a child usually wasn't diagnosed with CF until around 2 1/2 - 3 years old, unless they had a very severe form of CF would have been tested at birth. They also do prenatal screenings, which I had. The test came back and showed that I was a carrier so we had Cris screened as well, his test came back negative. They told us there was virtually nothing to worry about since it takes two genes (one from each parent) for a child to have CF. What they didn't tell us is the prenatal screening only screens for 34 CF mutations out of over 1300 known cf mutations! I was devistated when the first results came back from Lindsey's newborn screenings saying she had CF. When I told the pediatrician that's impossible because I was just a carrier and my husband tested negative he reassured me then that the second test would most likely come back that she was just a carrier too - in fact less than 1% chance that she had the disease! The second results did come back positive again and so we went to a childrens hospital for a sweat chloride test. That test came back normal - a sense of relief for a couple days! They told us that test wasn't completely reliable in infants unless it was a positive result so we would have to return every 3 months for 1 year. Our other option was to do the gene analysis which we chose to do. I just couldn't imagine going an entire year and making my self the weeks before those appointments every three months. Turns out we did get an answer sooner from the gene analysis, I was really hoping it would prove that she was just a carrier but unfortunately it didn't. They said no further testing is neccesary and made another appointment for us to return to the childrens hospital to "get established" and start working on a plan for Lindsey.

We learned at our first visit to the childrens hospital that they have learned a lot over the past year of screening newborns. One thing that really made me hold out hope that Lindsey was just a carrier is that they said most of the screenings that have been referred to them have been false positives. They have also learned that it is possible for a person to have two cf genes and not have CF. Lindsey has two different genes, but one came from me and one from Cris so that isn't good. My hopes is that she will become an example to them as a person who does have two gene mutations and that is it - no symptoms. I know that is just me being in denial but I wont give up hope until I see the first symptoms!

If you would like to learn more about CF you can look on-line at numerous websites. But, just know that they have made a lot of advancements over the last few years and so I don't believe all the information on-line is up to date and reliable. When i looked I was more devastated afterwards. Since then I have heard about people living with the disease and even getting married and having children! There are many degrees of this disease, I'm praying my baby has the mildest of them... You can learn more at http://www.cff.org/LivingWithCF/CareCenterNetwork/?gclid=CJ-r0vyH6ZYCFQv7agodkheIPg

Thanks again for all your prayers & good through all this.

New SpringWidget

Get this widget!

Charlie!

This video makes me giggle everytime, how 'bout you...

"Merry Christmas" in many languages...

Christmas in right around the corner, I know we need to get through Thanksgiving first BUT as crafters most of us are already working on or planning our Christmas projects. You can say Happy Christmas in many languages and this website will help you!
http://whychristmas.com/customs/languages.shtml

Happy Halloween!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Pictures of the "Bride of Darkness" and the "Spider Fairy" to follow...

Good night...

Good night! It's been a long day... Lindsey was still not feeling like herself and I held her most of the day while she slept. :) I let the girls skip soccer practice today too, it was chilly and very windy. I know if it's like this on Saturday still it wont keep them from playing but they didn't absolutely have to be there today so we came home. They got their Halloween costumes ready to go for tomorrow - Emily is being a Bride of Darkness and Carley is being a spider fairy, Lindsey will be a little black kitty cat. I also had to make a couple batches of cookies for the both girls' classes for their parties tomorrow. The school district frowns on sweets for the parties but come on, what's a class party without goodies? We keep it mostly healthy and the cookies will be their sweets. Anyway, got dinner and cookies out of the way and even managed to get a couple loads of laundry done (with Carley's help).

If I don't make it back here tomorrow, have a Happy Halloween! Lindsey has a doctors appointment in the late afternoon. After that I will go to my Mom's to hand out candy (we don't get tricker treaters since we don't live down in town) and Cris will make it there just in time to take the girls trick-or-treating. Me and Lindsey will skip trick-or-treating this year.;)

Have a great weekend and don't forget to adjust your clocks for daylight savings time...

Painted Chick Feeder (turned candy dispenser)

You can pick up a chick feeder at any farm supply, you can get the aluminum ones and paint them or they also come with a plastic dispenser that you add the canning jar too - colors vary. These make a fun little gift for teachers, the school office ladies, your bank, doctor's office, etc..

You can paint the base and just add a ribbon to the jar or skip painting the base if you buy a plastic one that is already a nice color. You can also print out a strip of paper to go around the jar... These are great for anytime of year but I think they are specially cute around Easter Time with the little egg candies. :)

My favorite Gingerbread ornaments to make

Of course you know if I made more than one it's a pretty easy project!lol I don't remember where I got the instructions for these or even if I had instructions for them to be like they are so I apologize for not giving further credit where credit is due. I will explain the best that I can anyway because they really are easy and I think they turn out pretty cute, hope you do too...


Start with the clear glass ornaments, either the round bulbs or the round ornaments that are kind of flat (skinnier bulb). Mix a brown acrylic color of your choice with snow tex - I think I used Terra Cotta & cocoa mixed together. Use a sponge paint brush and dab it onto the bulb covering well. I attached yard to mine and found a place to hang them to dry. Add hair and mouth with snow tex writer. Once they are dry I add the bows & hanger and then I paint on the faces - no final sealer is neccesary. Let the faces dry and they are done!

I added glitter to this set:

I'm sure someone can get creative and make a cute snowman. I tried one real quick but he's not great but you get the idea:

Another way to use your favorite graphics -trace & paint them!

I used a wood door hanger for this, you can pick them up at Michaels or other crafts stores or buy in bulk on line. I used a snowman from one of my creatables purchased at pccrafter I printed and then traced it onto the wood using graphite paper. Then painted and sealed it! This is another quick and easy gift or a fun decoration to keep for yourself...

You can use other surfaces and use the same steps, here's a journal & wood box done the same way.

I love my Cricut!

Have I ever told you "I love my Cricut"? Again, I just had a baby and I have two daughters that I drive 45 minutes each way to school everyday, soccer practice, girls scouts and other school activities so my day is pretty much filled with little time for my own "play" time. I am in the process of simplifying some things that I do though so that I have more time to play with my toys. Not that I don't love what I do all day, I do... If you're a Mom you know what I mean. Anyway, I thought I would share some cards I have made in the past, until I can add recent stuff this will make my blog a little less boring, I hope... Again, my favorite tool to use when making cards is my Cricut Expressions. But, I also love rubberstamps (rebuilding my supply after selling all the stamps I had a few years ago) and my computer. I am an embellishment junkie too - I have a hard time passing up new kinds of embellishments too. I think some of my favorites are flowers & rhinestones and I can't forget ribbon. After packing up my craft room I think I have more ribbon that Michaels Craft store and I actually believe I "need" more.hahaha

Halloween Cards

One of my favorite things to do when I can is to make cards. It's fun, challenging, and for me it's so relaxing! Here's a few Halloween cards I managed to make last year, I don't think I have made much since then so I'm really looking forward to getting my crafting supplies organized so I can spend a little more time making cards and other things.

The little ghost card I made using my Cricut. I made it before the design studio came out, I keep thinking of ideas to us the design studio software for too - I guess I better start saving my change so I can buy it and use it when that glorious day comes that I get to spend an hour or two playing with all my paper and glue that is waiting to get used up.hehehe



I made this card using a little kit I received in a card swap challenge...




Here's a matching goody bag to match the little ghost cards:

Simple Christmas Ornaments

Every year I make ornaments for certain people, like the nurses at our pediatricians office. Two of the nurses have always been there since I started taking my oldest daughter there 11 years ago. The following year is when I started taking them ornaments and they always go down the list of ornaments I have given them over the years. One of them always tells me about when she's taking her ornaments out for the tree and how she always thinks of me and the girls when she takes those ornaments out. Ornaments make great gifts for teachers, school office, lunch ladies, school yard supervisors, mail people, favorite store clerks, etc...

This year I am starting with some very simple ornaments, I don't know if I will find time to do much more. I bought a bunch of the little white ornaments at the end of the season last year when they were on clearance for like 25 cents each. I planned on using waterslide decals to decorate them but first I will use up some rub-ons that I bought at the same time because it's fast, easy, and I think the end result is pretty cute.

Here's a picture and the simple instructions are below the picture:

Wipe down the ornaments with a cleaner that wont leave behind any residue. Choose the rub on you would like to add - these were the snowman faces, I also have some little winter scenes that I will use in the centers of some of the ornaments. There is no wait time once the rub-on is applied so now you can embellish the ornament some more. I added ribbon and fancy hangers to them and on some I also applied snow-tex and glitter. That's it! It doesnt' get much easier or faster and they are well received too.

You may want to add a gift card or a little sweets by using the same idea on a band-aid tin like this:

Hmmmmm????

Hey Friends!

Okay, so I really don't have enough hours in the day to do anymore than I what I get done - which on some days just isn't very much. Between my sweet new baby, the big girls and their school, soccer, and girl scouts my house really suffers as well as my need/want to do a little crafting. That is okay though, I wouldn't trade my girls for nuttin' at anytime. They will only be kiddos once so I am going to take this chance to make the best impression on them that I can make. :)

So, when I have time I am hoping to keep in touch here and share crafts that I am working on or better yet crafts that I get completed. I will also have to share the biggest part of my life too: My sweet family - husband Cris and my girls; Carley, Emily, and Lindsey.

I am in the process of reorganizing my craft room. It's not going as quickly as I had hoped for but when it gets finished I will be able to do more without wasting too much time. I recently packed everything up in that room and it now resides in my living room and down the hallway. I got new furniture (Thanks to Cris and Carley for getting it in there and put together), I am hoping I will have a storage place for everything now! I plan to get everything put away by this weekend, as long as my sweet baby is feeling better that is.

I look forward to learning more about this "blogging" hobby for sure! See ya later alligator...