Paper Blossoms

Bundle of Love

2012-02-01T10:31:00.000-07:00

Been making some baby cards again :) For this one I used the BB-Hearts from Wplus9 for my background and then the Sending You die and a few stamps for my focal point. The sentiment is from the PTI Bundle of Love set.

My parents got home safely yesterday and are adjusting to a quiter house now that they only have 1 dog. This week has been more calm and for that I am very thankful! Hope you week is going well...thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you so much!

Flourished Thanks

2012-01-31T09:31:00.000-07:00

I needed a thank you card so I thought this new special edition thank you set from PTI was perfect to use. I also played around with making my own pattern paper using Rosie Posie and broke out the big daisy image which I hadn't stamped yet. I love how easy it is to make gorgeous paper with this set. Over the top of all the stamping I added some small polka dots in Antique Linen distress ink and added a strip of the Filagree border. I kept it flat as it needed to be mail friendly.

Last week was a very hard week with our oldest dog dying and then dog sitting for my mom and her dog getting terribly sick all of a sudden and also passing :( I stayed up all night with my mom's dog trying everything I could to help her and she honestly seemed to be pulling through at about 6:00am and then was gone by 8:00. My parents come home today and though they aren't at all upset with me it will be a little hard as they go home with one less doggie. I am hoping for a calmer week. Hope yours is off to a good start!

First Pages of Project Life

2012-01-29T14:16:00.000-07:00

Well, these pics are not great, but it gives you an idea of my first couple Project Life pages. I cut all the journalling tags and mats myself to see if this was a project I could feel inspired and motivated to keep doing and it is! I am not being very specific in how my timeline is, sometimes it's daily, sometimes it will be weekly but the twist I am doing for myself is that it is a journal of thankfulness through pictures and the written tags. I have been keeping a gratitude journal but being able to have pictures to go with my recordings as well as funny things the kids say, do and just life in general is so much more full to me. I had a dear fellow PTI lady rak me a pack of the grid journaling cards which I love and will use a ton, but I think I am going to order one of the core kits as I want to keep up with this but don't want it to take time away from the other crafting I still love and want to do. My hubby gave it a big thumbs up and he said he likes this type of memory keeping even better than the traditional LO's. I'll still do those, but this is a brilliant way to capture so much more since time is an issue. Are you doing PL? If so, I'd love to hear your thoughts and come see your pages as well. Thanks for visiting:)

Light of the world....

2012-01-25T10:01:00.000-07:00

Another Wplus9 set called Guiding Light, used to create this little scene. I love making scene cards, something so relaxing and magical that happens as it begins to unfold and come to life. I love stamping on kraft to color with my pencils and it really made the water colors pop.

I want to do a weekly post of one set 3 ways, but haven't gotten to it this week yet. I have been busy creating lots of tags and journalling cards for the Project Life album I want to start. The way I plan to do my album is to make it a reflection on everyday life and to document the things I'm thankful for...good, hard, small, big. Everything. I have some journalling tags out in my kitchen today so I can jot down things in the moment and am snapping a few pics to go along with it too. My album will be a eclectic style as I am trying to save money and not buy a core kit. But I love the Amber kit and I may give in ;) For now though, I just want to get started and not worry about doing it "right", because really there is no right way. Anyway...I'll post about it when a few pages are done. Any of you doing Project Life? Thanks for visiting me:)

Gardiena Birthday

2012-01-23T22:37:00.000-07:00

I love this floral set from Wplus9 called Everafter. (plus, I love the name of the set as that is one of my very favorite movies!) I wanted to color it like a gardiena as they are one of my favorite flowers and we had a huge bush of them growing up in Hawaii. Oh how I loved to go out to it and bury my nose in all the amazing blossoms. I also used a sentiment from the Botanical Silhouettes set. I'm trying to stock pile some birthday cards for this year. The background was stamped with the border that comes in the Wplus9 Mehindi Medallions set. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment, they have sure been brightening my crafty heart!

Celebrate

2012-01-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

I really love this MIM ghost masking technique, so I tried it again using some very out of my norm colors. For the flowers I used a Wplus9 set called Everafter. I realized I have a lot of the Lemon Tart color cardstock which is my favorite yellow, but I need to start using it more! I hope you are having a relaxing weekend! Thanks for dropping by :)

MIM #49- Ghost Masking

2012-01-21T11:32:00.000-07:00

This weeks MIM was a really easy, but super neat effect technique called ghost masking. I had to resist using Rosie Posie for my first try on this and tried to use another unloved set. So I pulled out PTI's Life set and am really happy I did! I have a huge weakness for silhouette floral images and I really love how this turned out. I kept it compeltely one layer and pulled out my sewing machine to add a bit of texture. I don't have the label basics set so this frame was the closest thing I had that would work. I did have to trim down my positive die cut a bit so that there wouldn't be a line between the full strength ink and the second generation stamping. Now I think I want Label Basics! Hope you like my take on this challenge, I really love how it adds so much depth to a one layer card. Thanks for stopping by!

One Set, 3 Ways

2012-01-18T23:03:00.000-07:00

So, Meredith from the PTI board set a challenge for herself to randomly choose one set each week to stamp with and make three cards with only that set. (unless you just *have* to add something to pull it off) I have many, many loved, but neglected stamp sets and decided to give it a go.

Unlike Meredith I took a very unscientific approach to my random choosing. While she numbered all her sets and uses random.org, I chose to take my stamp index binder, set it on my lap, close my eyes, ruffle through the pages, open it and point to a spot on the page. Whatever set my finger it closest to wins :)

The set that got some inky love tonight was Flourishes, Herbs. Honestly I think I only used this set once and that's only a vauge feeling. So here are my three cards with one set and only supplementing 2 single stamps from 2 other sets.

Since the set is silhouettes of herbs I started with a go-to design that I love for these types of stamps. I even stamped on the die cut button! On this card I used every single silhouette image and the biggest sentiment.

Next up, I spotted the sentiment for the geranium and thought it would work for a birthday card. I pulled out some die cuts sent to me from someone off the PTI board when I purchased a used set from them and it's their fault I now own the picket fence die and the Tag Sale 3 die is on it's way to me! I supplemented a woodgrain background stamp for my fence, otherwise it's all from the original set.

For my last card I took my cue from Meredith to try to come up with a Christmas card. I was stumped at first and then lo and behold there was this tiny branch stamp with the ever so slight curve in it and as I was playing around with it I realized it would make the perfect wreath! So away I went stamping it on my Doily Details die. To add some berries/flowers, I selectively inked with a Tombow pen one of the tiny geranium flowers. The sentiment is from PIT's Tag it's #9.

My experience with this challenge was pretty amazing. I actually felt MORE creative being limited to one set and it made me really think outside the box. I also felt free in not having to think of what other stamps to add...the ones I did add were obvious choices and not hard to decide on. So a big thank you, Meredith! I hope to do this challenge once a week and ink up lots more of those sets just waiting to be discovered. I'd love to hear what you think about my 3 takes on one set. hugs....

Banner Fun

2012-01-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

The card uses PTI Banner Builder and Wplus9 set for the little birds and sentiment.

I held off buying the banner stamps when PTI came out them not sure I'd use them much. But after months of seeing projects and still really liking them I bought a set with the dies off the PTI buy/sell board...and I'm so happy I did! I love the cute little banners and all the different patterns you can stamp them in. I also love that the rounded banner stamp, the one I used on my LO, covers the Buttoned Up dies perfectly! So I can make cute little patterned buttons to my hearts content. I also used the heart frame Tag it's which I think is my new fav. The butterflies and title were cut with my Cricut and I also used a couple of Tiny Tags, a Love Lives Here house and a bird from Little Bitty Bird. Thanks for dropping by!

Decorating the Tree~pages with pti challenge

2012-01-16T23:46:00.000-07:00

Well, the picture quality is terrible, so I apologize! It's SO hard taking good pictures of LO's at night in my craft closet. (My craft space is in my master bedroom closet:) Any tips on how to get a better pic?

Anyway...Leigh over on the PTI board issued another challenge, this time it was a sketch. I usually love to have more than one picture on my LO's, but I just went with this one since it was already printed and ready to go. I cut the title and frame with my Cricut using Art Philosophy. The Fillagree border die was used again and I tried a bit of heat embossing with clear powder for a subtle effect on my background using the big flourish from Silent Night. I like how linear this sketch was...right up my alley :) Thanks for coming to visit me!

The Punches Challenge in the Moxie Fab World

2012-01-15T14:31:00.000-07:00

I decided to play along for the first time over at the Moxie Fab blog where their current challenge is to use punches in an innovative way. I love punches, especially border punches so my "innovative" way of using one was to create a paper bow :) I used an apron lace punch and punched 3 strips to create my bow. I trimmed the strips down to being very thin and then glued all the pieces together making sure to round the bow part out. I added a flower and button to middle to hide the messy part of it ;)

To create my flower stems I used a plain scallop punch and punched the paper on either side so that it created a wavy, almost rickrack type stem.

I also used a large scallop punch to create the edge of my card. I did for the base as well as the pp that I adhered on top. To tie in the apron lace bow I edged the card with thin strips of the same punch and even added one to the inside so that the card looks balanced open or closed.

Finally, I punched some bitty MS butterflies and added some pearls. The tiny hearts are die cuts from the middle of the PTI tiny tag I used for my sentiment.

I hope you like all the punchy goodness! I sure did enjoy creating this card and I think I could do without any other floral set now that Rosie Posie is with me:) Thanks for stopping by!

Pretty Birthday

2012-01-11T09:58:00.000-07:00

This card fits this weeks MIM at PTI. I really love how this card came out and it was one of those rare cards that was clear in my head before I sat down to make it. I cut 4 of the fillagree borders to make the background and then in between stamped one of the images from Stitches and Swirls. This little flower and leaves is one of my very favorites from the set. I then colored them in with Copics. The banner is the longest double ended banner and I folded in the ends, secured with Scor tape and added little green rhinestones to finish it off. I hope you like it too :) Hugs...

Gingerbread LO

2012-01-10T23:57:00.000-07:00

My mom and I bake gingerbread cookies every year with kids before Christmas. This was our 3rd year and I love seeing the changes in the kids, though it makes my mommy heart just a bit sad too as they are growing up so fast. Sorry for the poor picture quality, it's so hard to photograph LO's and I always craft at night so no natural lighting for me. Used a bit of PTI goodies, Simple Circles border, Mat Stack 5 and a Love Lives Here die and a bit of felt. The rest was Cricut and CTMH. Thanks for dropping by!

Love hopes

2012-01-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

Wanted to make a very quick and easy to mail card to send some encouragement to my MIL and pulled out some very neglected stamps and dies. The big brackett die is a Cuttlebug combo die and the stamps have been in my stash so long and are stored in plastic binder pages that I don't even remember the company they are from. But, they got inked and that makes me happy :) I hope you have a day filled with love! Thanks for stopping by.

PTI Princess challenge and MIM

2012-01-08T22:09:00.000-07:00

Amazingly this card fits 2 challenges, the current PTI Princesses challenge and the PTI MIM challenge of make your own stamped background. For my card I used Rosie Posie and Polka Dot Basics 1. The rest of the card is PTI die cuts and a happy birthday stamp from a set I have no idea to which it belongs. Quite awhile back I had moved my PTI stamps to a binder storage system, but in the last few months went back to the CD case system and I had pulled all the birthday sentiments from my older sets and grouped them together. I still like that a lot of them are all in one spot, but the set it originated from is a mystery to me now :) I hope you like it! I think I need to pry myself away from Rosie Posie...I just *heart* it so! Thanks for visiting me:)

Mini Album~Papertrey Princess challenge

2012-01-05T01:12:00.000-07:00

It took me some time to settle on what mini album I wanted to create for the blogging group I'm a part of, the Papertrey Princesses. I finally decided on one of my sweet boy Makaio. Many of you followed and read my story of the long journey it was to get him home and I thought a little album of some of my favorite pictures of him while we were seperated was just the thing. So, here is my mini album of my son, Waiting for you.

The journaling reads:

You were an unexpected miracle, a gift from God. We prayed and hoped and cried while working and waiting to get you home. Twenty long and blessed months later you are in our arms...you were worth the wait. Dec.2009-Aug.2011

I'd love it if you dropped me a comment:) Thanks so much for visiting!

Pages with Papertrey Challenge

2012-01-01T23:45:00.000-07:00

On the PTI forum there is a challenge hosted by forum member Leigh and I decided to join in :) I love using my stamps on LO's and had a lot of fun with this one. The challenge was to use the colors, white, black and harvest gold. I had to cheat a bit as I don't have any harvest gold cardstock, but I figured lemon tart was close enough. My ink is CTMH, but very similar to harvest gold. It was a bit of an extra challenge to use a holiday photo and this one just fit the bill. It's a photo taken of my family 4 Christmases ago and I wanted to journal a bit about how much has changed in 4 years, so the very unlikely color scheme worked. I used the new PTI fillagree border, Stiches and Swirls for the background (boy do I love the pp it makes!) and Vintage labels. The alpha is a CTMH set called Field Alphabet.

Lots has changed in 4 years. We've moved twice, the final time being into our own home we love, we've gained many true and supportive friendships and we've grown by 2 family members! God has certianly been good:) Thanks for stopping by...I so appreicate your visit!

Happy New Year! & Card Patterns sketch

2011-12-31T23:34:00.000-07:00

Welcome 2012! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Mine was good but I am very happy it's all over :) I played along with the current Card Patterns sketch 146 and again used my new Rosie Posie set and dies from Papertrey Ink. I am very smitten with this set *happy sigh*. I also used Tiny Tags, another absolute favorite set. Kind of bright colors for me, but I like how it came out. I used the rock and roll technique on the cabbage rose. One of my goals this year is to have a nice stock pile of cards for myself to use, especially for birthdays and gift sets. Have a wonderful day!

Rosie Posie card

2011-12-28T20:22:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to get some new goodies from PTI's last release and I am soooo in love with all the fun things that came. I love the newest color and this flower stamp set and dies. I have so many flower stamps, but these are already in my most loved category. I also love the background strips in the set, wasn't sure if I would, but they really do look lovely. Hope you like my little creation :)

Refuge and Butterfly

2011-12-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

Getting up before the kiddos do has it's perks. Such as making the above 2 cards :) I got some yummy stamps from Wplus9 a couple weeks back and have been wanting to play with them. The set I used on these two cards is Flora and Fauna 1. The background is stamped with Mehindi Medallions. On the butterfly card see that gorgeous doily?! That was cut with my Cricut using the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge and the Craft Room. I *love* the Craft Room!! It's basically an online Design Studio, but much, much better. Lots of improved features and the really intricate cuts seem to just cut a whole lot better using it versus cutting straight from the cartridge. These two lovlies are going to be in a little set of all occasion cards, boxed up and given to one of my dearest friends. I'm losing internet connection for possibly 2 weeks :( We are changing internet providers and cutting out our land line phone to help save on some monthly costs, so pray for me, it's hard being "disconnected!" LOL Have a blessed Christmas and I can't wait to be back online. hugs....

Love Came Down

2011-12-06T21:33:00.000-07:00

I've been making more gift bags to give out using PTI's Front and Center die. Love it. I also wanted to tuck in a little reminder of what this season is really all about and I got the kids to help me too :) I bought doll pins at Michael's, popsicle sticks and little round wooden circles to create the Nativity family. We painted Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus with acrylic paint, hot glued them together and I cut little tags wrapped with some hemp twine to finish them off. For the baby Jesus you just break a popsicle stick to the approximate length you want and hot glue a little round circle to the top. I really love how sweet they look and I hope it brings some love into people's lives. Thanks for coming to see me...love it if you left a comment :) (I feel like I'm posting to myself)

Gift Bag

2011-11-30T23:47:00.000-07:00

One gift bag down lots more to go! :) This was really fun to make, love the PTI Front and Center Die and how it utilizes lunch sacks, so easy and cheap! The snowflake was cut with my Cricut and Winter Lace and the tag was cut using Art Philosophy (I love that cart so much!). The rest is PTI stamps. I plan on the kids and I making some Tea Scented Biscotti to fill these with as well as little rustic nativity figurines. I can't wait to show you those, so simple and I think they'll turn out super sweet. I also want to include a little bookmark with a lovely Christmas poem that celebrates the true meaning of this wonderful season. When I have a whole ensamble done I'll share. If you come and visit me I just want to say thank you and I'd love it so much if you said hi. hugs...

Simple Thank You

2011-11-29T20:15:00.000-07:00

I needed a thank you card and one that was easy to mail so I pulled out some new TPC Studio stamps and had this put together in 5 min. :) This one is called Butterfly Collage and I love it. So pretty and would look gorgeous in lots of different colors. The sentiment is from PTI. Hoping to get started on some Christmas gifts...how is this time of year already?! Hugs...

Whole Wheat Bread

2011-11-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

I love bread and have been searching high and low for a good, easy recipe for 100% whole wheat bread. That will bake well at 7,000 feet. I think I finally found a recipe that works and if you've never baked fresh bread in your home you should, nothing smells so good. I found the base recipe while surfing and didn't bookmark the source :( but I had to make some adjustments to it myself, so here is the final recipe I used to bake up this yummy loaf. Let me know if you try it!

Whole Wheat Bread (using bread machine for the dough)

*1 cup plus 4 Tablespoons water (you may not need the extra 4 Tblespns if you aren't at high elevation and aren't in a super dry climate)
*1 1/2 Tablespoons butter, softened
*2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (organic is best)
*1/8 cup sugar
*1 1/4 teaspoons salt
*4 teaspoons vital wheat gluten
*1/2 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon yeast

In a large bowl mix together all dry ingriedents except yeast. Put wet ingredients into bread machine container. Put flour mixture into bread machine on top of wet mixture adding the yeast on the top. Use your bread machine's dough setting and start. After the dough cycle, remove dough and shape. Place in buttered loaf pan. Lightly cut diagonal cuts into top of dough. Place in oven and let rise for 30 minutes. Turn oven on to 375 degrees and once oven is heated time for 20 min. and bake until when tapped it sounds hollow. Cool and enjoy!

Welcome Baby

2011-11-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

My Walmart has been clearancing the Cricut Lite cartridges for a while now and I'd had my eye on the Sugar and Spice cartridge, so cute and well anything baby I'm kind of sunk. So after being self-controlled for a couple weeks I caved and bought it for $17.50. Not bad :) This is the cutest little giraffe and there are lots of other images that can be used for boy cards even though it's a "girl" cart. I hope you are having a wonderful Tuesday...Makaio is 11 months today and is always on the move now. Hugs...

How Thanks Brings Change

2011-11-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

When I am feeling wind tossed and bent low I am slowly remembering to turn my mind toward whispering thanks. Thanks for the most obvious, thanks for the unseen, thanks because without it I will blow away and scatter and be lost. It's not an easy remembering....or doing. But the scarifice of it is what makes it have value. To me and to Him.

When I do remember, when I do sacrifice, my heart softens, turns, changes. The feeling in the air shifts and I feel more that I can bend in the wind without becoming broken from discouragement. Being broken from His gentle hand is good, but through thanks He builds up again.

I have been noticing how expectations on my end bring discontent, not thanks. If the expectation is only that God will provide, He will satisfy with all I need then my hope in others fades to where it should be. To letting them be them and me giving thanks for what and who they are. This is hard thanks and I am pressed to remember it this week. I will bend, surrender and say the thanks anyway so that I will be changed.

*Rain in the night
*A dear friend visiting for the week
*New pots and pans
*The best oatmeal ever, cooked in my new sauce pan
*Legos and dolls everywhere
*Crawling baby under foot
*Faithful husband ever providing
*The gift of cooking for those I love

*Hope that never dissapoints

Baby

2011-11-19T21:29:00.000-07:00

It's funny the things that can inspire us to get back our creativity and the more feeling part of joy. For me it came through a cookbook. One of my dear friends enjoys cooking as do I and had a cookbook out on her counter the last time I visited. The title intrigued me, so much so that I ended up doing extenstive research on it, went to my local Barnes and Noble to sit and read it for a good 1/2hr. and came to the lovely conclusion that this is going to be the best cookbook ever and promptly ordered it off Amazon. (I saved $15! ordering from amazon)

So my mojo is finding it's way home to me :) FINALLY! It's only been missing for 3 months!! It has felt so good to feel creative again. PTI just came out with what they call a quarter foil die and it's got a bit of steep price tag, so I went looking through my Cricut carts and lo and behold found this gem off of Paper Lace. It's soooo similar to what PTI just released and it cut with no problem at all to cover my whole card front. And there are lots more covers to choose from off the Cricut Paper Lace cartridge. I am back in the swing of making baby cards for the local shop here in town, so this one is sweet, pink and girly. Throughly enjoyed making it.

So the other thing that transpired due to finding this fabulous cookbook is my wonderful hubby bought me my very first (and last because I won't ever need new ones!) set of high performance and quality cookware. Can I just say I * LOVE* them! We decided on the Calphalon Contemporary Stainless Steel 13 piece set and oh my! Cooking brought to a whole new level for sure. I've never cooked in pans that actually heat up evenly and stay hot! What a difference. Oh, and in case you are wondering the cookbook is titled, The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters. It's also a very valuable lesson, tips and technique book as well as packed with recipes. I can't wait for mine to come and live with me :) Blessings!

What Makes a Day Good

2011-11-16T09:45:00.001-07:00

My frustration mounts and I loose my temper and patience with the kids once again. And once again I feel frustrated by my lack of self control and my choice to not choose grace. I repent to the kids and their eyes shine bright from forgiveness and they lavish me with hugs and there is no lingering of regret in them...for them all is new, wiped clean and good. But for me, the cloud of failure hangs heavy and taints the rest of my day and pours down again and again because I have not chosen to believe that I am truly redeemed, that I am truy forgiven.

And then God speaks to me that He does not lie and that when I repent and He, in that same instant forgives, all is new. All is redeemed. I am redeemed. There is no lingering cloud. And my heart finally gets it. The shock of light in my soul that no matter how many times I may fail, all I need do is repent and go forward knowing I am made new from that moment on. It's long been head knowledge but lives only change when the heart finally learns. It brings joy and peace and patience. Grasping a bit more fully of my hope gives me His fruit...all the virtues I so long to live.

I see more clearly than ever before that forgiveness is our hope. Without Christ's sacrifice and His resurrection, there would always be a cloud over us all, making each day hope void. But every day is a day filled with His new mercies, His grace, His love. Because of His forgiveness all my days can be good.

A good day is not one empty of mistakes but one full of forgiveness.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

Still trying to find my crafty groove. It's slowly coming back as I have made a couple of cards in as many days. Here is one that I threw together very quickly and it needed to be mailer friendly so that helped with the quick factor. I really love this die and stamp set called Harvest Berries. So pretty and works with so many occasions.

I have been working on indexing all (well most) of my stamps in a binder. I've spent probably 8 hours on it and am almost done! I photocopied what I could and tried to avoid as much actual stamping as possible as it would have taken me weeks to finish. I indexed all my PTI stamps, Close to my Heart, Cornish Heritage Farms (even though they are gone I still love them all...and they are re-opening but as digis only) Wplus9, Flourishes and some random companies. I have one more binder full of more random companies and some wood mounted and then I'll be finished. I really think this will help me see what I have and avoid buying similar sets....or for that matter any new sets at all, as oh my! do I have a lot of stamps! I mean, there has got to be an end at some point. Organizing always helps my creativity, so hopefully I'll be back to creating more regularly. Hope you are having a great week!

Granola and a card

2011-11-08T22:57:00.000-07:00

Hello! I made this card for my mom to lift her spirits a couple weeks ago now. I had gone into my LSS which I hadn't done in months and months and since it's locally owned always feel a bit obligated to buy something, so I found this sweet little Prima stamp and snatched it up. Isn't she sweet? I colored her with Copics and added some pretty layers and cut a rolled rose with my Cricut using the Art Philosophy cartridge. If I could only have one cartridge this may be the one, love it.

I've been experimenting with making granola. It's so much less expensive than buying good, organic granola and it's not hard and smells super yummy baking. Here is some that came out pretty yummy. It's a good basic recipe that I started with from a magazine and then tweaked to make it more tasty. In case you want to try it here is the recipe.

Almond Granola

3/4 cup cooking oil

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tspn. cinnamon

1/4 tspn. nutmeg

1 Tblspn. vanilla extract

dash of salt

4 cups rolled or old fashioned oats

1 cup slivered or roughly chopped raw almonds

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

1/4 cup each of rasins and cranberries

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the oil, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and salt in a very large bowl. Add the oats, almonds and sunflower seeds. Toss to coat evenly. Line a rimmed baking pan with foil and spread half the mixture on it in an even layer. Bake for 15 min. stir and bake for another 5-10 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and place hot granola in a bowl to cool. Bake the second half of the mixture the same way. Once granola has cooled add rasins and cranberries. Toss. Eat and enjoy!

The Burning Ache

2011-11-02T21:52:00.001-07:00

It's like fire, consuming, greedy for more to burn and yet purifying at the same time. Painful, yet beautiful...harmful yet benefical. Fire. The only way to get beauty from ashes. To get ashes you have to burn.

My burning has been going on for nearly 10 years now, though the fire is much more subdued and at times I am almost convinced, out. But, there always seems to be one little ember still alive, still fighting to blaze.

The heart issue, because isn't that what it always is, comes to control...I need to surrender control in the area of having children. It's a tangled mess of emotions this ache. And it's not even really about having more kids....or not wanting the ones I have been so graciously blessed with.

It's having absolutely no say in the matter. God has divinely intervened in the area of reproduction and child having and I am still in a battle over my will against His. It aches. A lot.

I feel the urge to defend the children I have, try to convince everyone that I am competely happy, smitten and thankful for each of them because I truly am, while I try to heal this wound in my heart that will not be well. My children and the way each of them came into our home and hearts has nothing to do with the continuing ache....it's a matter of my faith, my trust and my surrender to God. He has chosen to not give us liberty in this area of our lives. And I need to be okay with that. I want to be okay with that.

But I'm not. I struggle. I burn. I want my way. And yet...I don't. So I will continue the fight of faith, that through the fire God is still purifying to prove my faith, to make be beautiful. And though what the world terms infertility, I will re-name and call God's mysterious grace....because through infertility I have 3 amazing blessings.

And so if I ache, I will ache giving thanks....because we all need His fire to burn away ourselves so we can one day see Him.

Linked up here

Never Disappointed

2011-10-31T08:15:00.000-07:00

That's not how I felt yesterday at all. Disappointment and the dull ache of hurt reached into my heart, places deep and insecure. It's almost easier when the pain of let down expectations come from something obvious, a big fight, a disagreement, but when it's a quiet burning that just simmers it scalds me even more. We finally broke the silence before bed, but my heart was still brusied and I feel a bit shaky today....

Through it though God showed me that I need to gaurd my heart against any thoughts of human disappointment being ever equal to how God may disappoint me. Because He won't. It was a soul awakening moment to realize I have been doing this throughout the years, not really consciencely but I have been placing God on the same level as those I love most...and those I love most will always fail me and disappoint at times. But God, God will never disappoint.

"But as for me I will always have hope. I will praise you more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteousness all day long and of your salvation though I know not it's measure." Psalm 71:14-15

*Another new day, full of God's mercy, together.
*Quiet nights
*Woodburning stove
*My mom
*My children who spontaneously recite scripture we've been memorizing
*My son reading and loving it
*God's strength in me, because I can't do it alone

A Card! Can you believe it??

2011-10-20T21:33:00.000-07:00

Well, I think my mojo is finally finding it's way home :) It helps to have a purpose to craft again and since we had a birthday party to go to last week I made this card for our friend's daughter who just turned 1! All stamps are PTI and I used my most favorite floral set for making backgrounds called Sending You. I love how easy it is to stamp and then color in with Copics, no blending. The birdy, sentiment and frame is from Tiny Treats Birthday. I am also starting to make baby cards again! The shop I sell them at told me people have been asking where my cards were and that they miss them :) That sure does help the ol' mojo!

**Makaio is getting to be quite the mobile little guy. He officially started crawling last week and is now pulling himself up to standing. *sigh* It's fun to see all his firsts and I sure am thankful he's with us, but he'll be walking and talking before I know it! It goes by so fast......give the ones you love no matter how big or little a hug today and tell them you love them. hugs....**

Checking in

2011-10-06T23:46:00.000-07:00

Hello! If anyone still comes to visit me I thought I'd pop in to say hi as it's been so long since I posted anything. No one has inquired where I've gone, so maybe no one noticed, but just on the off chance someone was wondering, well, I am still alive :) Last week and for some of this week I've been sick, so that throws crafty time out the window and as our family life is still making some adjustments to baby #3 I'm just busy and then tired and I think I lost my mojo somewhere between here and Ethiopia. If anyone finds it would you mail it to me? I miss it. A lot. I'm hoping this weekend I feel like and have some time in the same moment! So, since I don't have any crafty goodness to share, I will share a pic of my sweetie. Thanks for coming to see me....

Easy Canvas Prints- a review

2011-09-23T13:32:00.001-07:00

I had the wonderful opprotunity to do a review for Easy Canvas Prints, a company that will turn your pictures to canvas prints. I have been wanting this particular picture on canvas for years, so I was very excited to have the opprotunity to see it come to life. In our home we have a dedicated spot for all our Ethiopian and other cultural keepsakes and made this striking photo on canvas my focal point. This picture was taken on our first trip to Ethiopia when we brought our first son home and it is such a beautiful and heart breaking encapsulation of the the life there. I used my Cricut to cut the vinyl for my verse above my canvas and am very pleased with how it all came together. The picture quality on the canvas is excellent, no pixelation, just a clear, beautiful photo. The size I chose is 16x20" and I think it's the perfect size, not too big, not too small. It was super easy to hang as well, the canvas comes with the picture hook on the back. I hope you'll go check out Easy Canvas Prints, they have lots of specials going on too! Thanks for stopping by :)

A Card! & cousins

2011-09-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

Oh my! If you couldn't tell I am still trying to get back into crafty mode! I am really starting to miss it. This card I made a bit ago for my MIL who just graduated with another degree. I really love this set from PTI called Harvest Berries. So pretty and really fun with the coordinating die.

Well I couldn't not post a recent pic of the kiddos now could I? Here are my 3 with their 2 cousins :) Such a happy bunch. I am going to be doing a review on a super cool product soon, just finishing up some final touches for it. I love it and know you will too. Hugs...

Finally well and just busy

2011-09-04T21:39:00.000-07:00

Everyone is finally all better from that yucky flu they had. So we've been getting back into the groove of homeschool and more "normal" life :) It is such a joy to have all 3 of my sweeties together and Kai is completely adjusted. He is just a happy boy, sleeping through the night and loves his big brother and sister. We finally got to go to church today and show him off and it does this mommy's heart a lot of good to see that he didn't want anything to do with anyone else :) I am SO thankful for the quick bonding and security is showing. I have been doing a little crafting, more for practical home stuff. Like I just finished a Scripture Memory box. I'll have to take pics and share as I love how it came out. I am also working on making thankful tags for our thankful tree that sits on the dining room table. It's not for the Thanksgiving holiday, but for each day, a designated place to write what we are thankful for so that it is always before us. I'll share that when I get those done too. I hope you are all enjoying the Labor Day weekend! hugs....

Little Hands

2011-08-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

Hello! Well, the kids and hubby are still not 100% better, lots of coughing still going on and general tiredness, but I think the worst is over. I still have remained healthy, which I am so thankful for!

The picture quality is not the best, it's hard to get a good one with light reflecting off the glass, but I wanted to share it anyway. I finally got some crafty time and felt like doing something as well! Yeah! I had this idea when I got home with Kai, to convert this frame I've had up that held a couple pictures of Zach and Ayana, and make into more of a keepsake wall art. I had taken ink prints of all the kids handprints either as soon as the boys came home to us and right after Ayana was born, so I trimmed them down, did some stamping for the background paper, their names, the hearts and the sweet saying.

It reads:

"I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always,

As long as I'm living my

baby you'll be."

Robert Munseh

The we are so blessed frame I bought at a store called Real Deals, love it! I hope you are all enjoying a relaxing weekend. I am hoping for a much healthier week on our end! hugs....

More pictures

2011-08-24T09:40:00.000-07:00

These were taken the very first night we were home.

Both Zach and Ayana were so anxious to hold their new baby brother.

Happy boy!

Well, getting back into a normal, or new normal routine, is proving to be a bit challenging! For the last week the entire family, except me, has been very sick :( They are all starting to feel better, but it's been a little exhausting caring for everyone including hubby. But, there are good things too, like lots of snuggles all together on the couch and just really being home. The poor kids though are very tired of being sick and keep saying, "I don't want to be sick anymore." Makaio is doing fabulous, sleeping through the night already too!! He loves to eat and is responding to his name and for sure knows who mom is. He goes to the DR. today to get a check up and be sure there are no pesky issues that need to be taken care. I am so enjoying these long warm days of the end of summer and hopefully will start our homeschool routine again next week. I haven't really had time or felt an inclination to get back to crafting yet, but am starting to miss it which is good. Hopefully my next post will have some crafty goodness in it. Hugs....

Home!

2011-08-17T14:20:00.000-07:00

The very first moment we saw each other again. A huge smile for me!

Makaio and I are home. So thankful to be home, so jet lagged and tired, but adjusting well. The trip was both uneventful and smooth and at the same time so hard. I didn't expect to be so solitary the entire time and that was rough. It really is such a big help emotionally and physically to have other families to meet up with and talk with and help each other out, but that just wasn't the case this time. The guest house I stayed at was okay but was so lonely as everyone else who was staying there had their own schedule to keep and so it was just Kai and I for hours on end. The Embassy appointment was flawless and they got the Visa packet to me on time by Friday, so that was all wonderful. Friday afternoon I became very, very sick with food poisioning and had a really long night of vomiting and caring for Kai. The next day was spent trying to rest and recover and pack up. They took me to the airport 4 hours early which began our 32 hour trip home. The first leg of the trip was the worst. We were seated next to a very young man who was so rude and made sitting for 6 hours so hard. He kept leaning into our chair and falling asleep and I kept trying to push him back and was so frustrated. Makaio had the hardest time since it was the middle of the night and he was exhausted and cried and screamed for an hour straight and I cried too. Finally the flight ended and the rude guy got into the aisle and was getting his bag down and dropped it onto our heads! It hit me mostly, thank God, but poor baby had a red bump on his head for a good while. I just lost it then and was crying when this sweet woman stopped and asked how we were and I lost it even more. She was truly a God-send as she helped me with my bags and got us off the plane and then walked us all the way to our next gate. I was quite worried about the next flight as it was our longest, 11 hours. I honestly didn't think I'd be able to make it through without a basinet seat for him so I asked the counter if they could possibly change my seat. The counter guy was nice and told me it was really too late to do anything and I said okay but was so disappointed. Then about 10min. later I heard my name called and he said, I changed your seat, here's your new boarding pass! I was SO thankful. So the 11 hour flight was not too bad since he could lay down and sleep. We got home on time and it was the best thing in the world to see my family waiting for us at the airport. We are all ajusting well, Zach and Ayana love their brother and it feels so good to be in this new phase of our family life. Thank you for all your prayers and support....more pictures to come!

Oh Baby! Here I come!!

2011-08-04T09:36:00.000-07:00

After almost 20 months of waiting, paperwork, ups and downs, delays and rushes ahead we are finally at the long awaited end of our adoption. I leave MONDAY! to go get our boy. Our gift...our Makaio. I just got some new pics of him this morning and this one was taken the day we got Embassy approval....maybe he knew! It's uncanny because I have almost an exact picture of my oldest just like this one, they look like twins! I am so beyond excited and thankful that the time has finally come and that he will finally be home with us. I hope to be home Sunday night, Aug. 14th, but may have to stay through the 15th. Thank you for sharing in this journey and I can't wait to share pictures of us all together. Hugs....

We Got Our Miracle!!!

2011-08-02T05:48:00.000-07:00

I certianly have received one blessing after another, even through the pain of waiting and anxiousness. I got the long awaited and much anticipated email very early this morning declaring that our case, our Makaio, has been CLEARED by the US Embassy for me to go get him!!!! We have no issues with our case, no delays...just a few more days of waiting to nail down the exact date of my leaving to go get my boy HOME! Thank you for all your prayers, support and standing with me, I have no doubt that this is a miracle and you are all a part of it! Rejoice with me, as in just a few more days I will be finding out when I can go and will be on that plane (well several *lol*) to bring our sweet baby boy home. I am overwhelmed with thankfulness and excitment...I will keep you posted on the progress! Hugs to you all.....

Little Dancer

2011-07-30T13:54:00.000-07:00

I made the roses using my Cricut and Mother's Day Bouquet. The key is lots of crinkling of the paper and making the very center look like a rose bud, tight but not too tight.

The buttons were made using a PTI die and then stamping them and then using Ultra Thick Embossing powder to give them the glaze and shine. I love how they come out this this! I use the coasters to cut them out so they are pretty sturdy to start with but the UTE they are really sturdy.

***We haven't heard anything specific to Makaio but we did hear that overall all the children with pnuemonia are doing well with the treatment. As far as we know he hasn't been hospitalized and that is a good sign. If you would continue to pray for us with the Embassy I'd be so grateful. We learned some very upsetting things this week that could possibly make the process months longer to get him home or loose him forever. Basically the Embassy has final say and if they refuse to grant a visa our boy will never get to be ours. BUT, we haven't heard yet, so there is still time to hope that we will get a miracle and just get approval and travel dates. We may hear next week...I'll keep you all updated. Thank you for all your prayers and thoughts, they are helping me get through this.*****

Please Pray

2011-07-27T09:17:00.000-07:00

As of yesterday we found out the Makaio is very sick. He has had pnuemonia as well as other respiratiory issues and is being treated for them but we are not sure how he is really doing. He has not been hospitalized which is a good sign of it not being totally out of control, but he is not well. We are at the one week mark of waiting for the Embassy to give us clearance and we have no assurance of when that clearance and subsequent travel dates will come. We've been told it could be any day now or a couple more weeks or the really reassuring, we just have no way of knowing, answer. This just adds so much to the anxiety of the unknown. If you would pray for Makaio's health to improve and for my emotions and sanity to be kept at a more even place I would be so grateful. I feel very broken hearted and it is extrememly hard to watch my baby grow up through pictures. I'll update when I hear anything more. Thank you...

PTI Princess Challenge!

2011-07-22T09:37:00.001-07:00

Hello fellow Princesses! So sorry I am a day late...wasn't feeling well yesterday but am much better today:) My challenge to you is to create a card or other project that you will actually give to someone within the next week. For my card I made an anniversary card for a very dear friend who's anniversary is next week Tuesday and I'll see her Monday to give it to her:) Who do you have a little something you could make something for? We all need encouragement, so get your stamping goodies out and create a little sunshine for someone you love. Can't wait to see what you make! hugs...

Supplies:
PTI stamps: Tin Types, Tag it's #5
PTI Doily Details
PTI Lavender Moon c/s, ribbon and inks

You're Fabulous!

2011-07-17T15:45:00.000-07:00

A little card today. This is a new image for Heart Song Designs. I did my best to shabby it up and had fun adding all the layers and little bits and pieces. Hope you are having a good weekend. Thanks for dropping by!

Farm Fresh Challenge

2011-07-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

I played along with the Flourishes challenge which is farm fresh, use a fruit of veggie for a focal image. I inked up the beautiful Strawberry set and colored it with Copics then fussy cut it out to mat it onto the Seed packet stamp from Seeds of Friendship. For my bow I made 3 individual bows and layered them on top of each other using 1/4" Scor tape to adhere them together. I love using Scor tape for ribbon, so easy and great hold. I also broke out my poor neglected sewing machine, I forgot how much I love stiching on my projects! I hope you like it:) hugs...

A couple of baby cards and good news

2011-07-08T00:10:00.000-07:00

I finally felt like creating and that is a great feeling :) Used a couple of new PTI sets...baby stamps always get a lot of love from me since I can sell a ton of cards in a local shop. The flower on the stork card is made out of used dryer sheets, just die cut some flowers with a Cuttlebug die and layered them, makes really pretty, sheer flowers.

We got some good news today on Makaio! We got his birth certificate which is a huge step forward, now we have a week or two before we officially start waiting for travel dates. It still could be a long time...think September, but I think we have a good shot at sometime in August. So even though it's still disheartening how long it's taking, any move forward is great. Please pray that the Embassy doesn't want any more info and just approves us, we will travel so much sooner that way. Thanks for visiting!

Giving Thanks Anyway....

2011-07-05T22:36:00.000-07:00

There has been much sacrifice in giving thanks lately... painful sacrifice. My heart aches so intensley each day that it's hard to find words to describe it, only tears say enough. And lots of those have fallen. And yet, God remains, unchanged, the only true good in this cruel, long, heart wrenching process...and I am slowly learning to keep my eyes, my heart, a little more focused on Him. We got a few more pictures of him today....I don't want pictures. I want him. In my arms. For good. We are still waiting on Embassy submission...we aren't even "in line" yet for a travel date. We thought we'd go this month...but it is now just another month of empty arms. It takes my breathe away. A glimpse of what Christ suffered for me...coming while I cried "crucify Him!" and Him only wanting me back, to hold me as His own, forever. And so we wait because we have no other choice...and I try to give thanks anyway.

1. Rain, like tears from God Himself today on our dry, cracked land.
2. Zach and Ayana, giving me so many hugs and kisses...balm to my soul.
3. Dear friends who cry with me and for me and will be there to rejoice when this too passes.
4. A supportive husband who aches too.
5. My garden, finally my own garden again after all these years. Something to tend, to watch grow.
6. Another day past in this wait that I grow more weary of.
7. For friends who are lifting me up in their prayers...this is how I am surviving.
8. Pictures of my smiling boy...a reassurance that what we are doing is real.
9. The song "Blessings" by Laura Story.
10. That God never changes and that He will finish what He started.

Everyday With YOU

2011-07-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

I love getting back to doing so many more LO's...there is just nothing like preserving those memories. These are just a couple of pictures the kids and I took one day before we went grocery shopping, just an everyday memory. I used the Lovely Floral cart for the font (love!) and the leaves, Cindy Loo for the flourishes and them some PTI goodies of Doily die cuts and some Love Lives Here dies cut from felt. I think I have to just accept that I am a very minamal scrapper...what do you think? Do you like it? Thanks for stopping by:)

Poppies

2011-06-28T23:23:00.000-07:00

Don't you love it when a card comes together super fast. That's how this one was. It took me all of 10 minutes. It helped a ton that I had already colored the image days ago and all I needed was some finishing touches. The image is from Heart Song Designs called, Poppies. I colored them with Copics and used a couple of lacy Nesties to help frame them.

Still no word on travelling to go get Makaio, but our paperwork is progressing. It has not been easy, this last phase of waiting, to say the least, but I know once that little bundle is in my arms it will all be forgotten. Keep praying for us....oh, and one major decision we've made is that I will be travelling alone to go get him. There are lots of reasons why this just makes more sense and seems right, and honestly I'm really excited about it. It will be my third time to Ethiopia...let me tell you, never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine going half way around the world for my kids. But, I wouldn't change a thing either...or I wouldn't have MY kids. God is good, and faithful, He will finish this work He's started. I'll keep you posted! Hugs....

PTI Blog Hop

2011-06-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

This is my first PTI blog hop! The challenge this month is really fun, it's a gorgeous inspiration photo that totally reminded me of my daughter, princess all the way. I wanted to focus on the little dress up dresses in the photo and make a fluffy flower using tissue paper and the Mehindi Medallion stamp set. I am really pleased with how it came out and put together a little tutorial for you if you'd like to make your own flower. Let's get started:)

First you stamp the largest medallion onto white tissue paper. It doesn't matter if the tissue paper is flat or wrinkled as you are going to wrinkle it for the petals. I used Raspberry Fizz ink and stamped 8 medallions to make my flower. After you stamp them all, you trim them out as closely as you can.

After they are all trimmed out you will be working with them one at a time, so one medallion equals one petal. Fold the medallion in half, you want to be sure the creased bottom is facing down.

Next, you are going to fold it in half again, but it's kind of more like pinch it in half. Keep some space between the two outside corners for the next step.

You are going to take those two outside edges in the prior step and fold them back and pinch them together, holding them in place.

You are then going to turn the petal toward you so the pinched edges you are holding face behind and you have formed a petal. You can kind of pinch the bottom of the petal together and fluff out the middle, since it's tissue paper it is very easy to get it to mold to what you want.

To attach the petals and start forming your flower I cut a Doily Details and used Scotch quick dry glue to glue them down. Again, since it's tissue paper the wet glue works really well and sticks right away. I positioned my petals so that the scalloped edge of the die still shows adding to my finished flower. You glue all the petals down in the same way.

Once I had all my petals glued down I wanted to add a center. You will too as it doesn't look very pretty with all the petal ends showing ;) I stamped one of the smaller medallions onto some cream cardstock and trimmed it out and with a pop dot adhered it to the middle. To finish my flower I added a pearl.

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial, if you did I'd love to hear from you! Thanks so much for stopping by:)

Baby Onsie and Card

2011-06-23T00:00:00.002-07:00

For my project I really wanted to try the Viva Decor Pearl Pen on some fabric, so I decided to make a little baby gift. I took a plain white onsie and stamped the moon and star in Palette ink. Then I stamped the sentiment from the Baby Love stamp set from Pink By Design. I heat set the ink so that it can be washed. Then I added the Viva Decor Pearl pen to the moon in silver and the star in gold. After about 45 minutes it was dry and so cute with the little bit of shine and demension it adds. I wanted to have a matching card, so using the Create a Critter cartridge I cut the moon at 3 1/2" and the star at 2 1/2". I used some 1/4" Scor Tape for the glitter strips. All you do is cut a length of tape, take off the paper and sprinkle the glitter on, remove the excess and you have perfectly dry, stuck glitter in no time :) I accented the moon and stars using the Viva Decor Pearl Pen again. I hope you enjoyed this project, I had fun making it! Be sure to check out Scrapbook Pal and remember, they offer free shipping on any order over $25!

Makaio's Announcements

2011-06-22T23:39:00.000-07:00

In an effort to stay busy during this super hard wait to bring my baby boy home I finally felt a break through of peace that God is here with me and will finish what He started. I realized that I have been demanding my gift, and that's just not how gifts work! After all, the very name we chose for him means "God's gift." I need to let Him give me Makaio in His perfect time. So, I made his announcements :) Felt really good...I'd had this idea in my head for awhile now, used some PTI goodies and I googled how many miles it is from our home to the captial of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, where my boy is. Wow! is all I can say... Priceless pretty much sums it up.

The picture quality is not great, but this was taken mere minutes after getting to meet him. Soon he will be mine...always. hugs.....

Bookmarks

2011-06-19T23:37:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make a little gift for a dear friend of mine and she loves to read, so I finally played around with the bookmark die and stamp set, All Booked Up from PTI. I really love how these came out and I hope she will too :) I love all the friendship sentiments in the set, so each one has a sentiment about being friends, which made the gift that much more meaningful. I colored the one image with Copics and on the other two just outlined a part of the border. I used some various background stamps as well and added some pretty toppers. I hope you like them, I'm excited to give these to her. Hugs...

Tuesday Throwdown Hop!

2011-06-17T00:00:00.002-07:00

Welcome to the blog hop that the Tuesday Throwdown challenge blog has been doing all week! Today I have a card to share using one of the cute digis from Digital Delights.

I decided to go a bit unconventional with this image and make it a baby card. I colored the image with Copics and added some fun touches.

Would you like a chance to win a great prize from Digital Delights? All you have to do is leave a comment right here and I'll pick a winner :)

TT-One Year Celebration!

2011-06-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

Welcome to this week's Tuesday Throwdown! It's a special week as we celebrate our 1 year anniversary! All week we are having a DT blog hop and you have the chance to win some great prizes just by visiting each blog and leaving a comment. Today my card features this cute balloon fish image from Whimsy Doodles. I colored the image with Copics and I chose 3 past TT challenges, polka dots, buttons and use of a die cut. I hope you will come celebrate with us this week and be sure to stop by here on Friday for your chance to enter for the hop prizes I have to offer. Thanks for stopping by!

5 Years

2011-06-07T00:00:00.001-07:00

This month we got to play with the Viva Decor Pearl Pen! What a fun product :) I love how easy it is to use and the really cool thing is that there is no tapping it down from the back of the paper to get a perfect dome shape. I decided to use it on my son's 5th birthday LO which was great to have a fun new embellishment that can be very boyish.

For my LO I used the Boy Will Be Boys cartridge and cut the title at 4" using the arrow font for the number 5 and the block font for the word "years". After assembling the LO I used the Viva Decor Pearl Pen in Red to create a faux star embellie on the car and to liven up my title. For the letters I simply squeezed out the size dot I wanted and had nice shiney domed embellies! The other great thing about these pens is that it doesn't take ages for it to dry, my dots and star were dry in just about 1/2 an hour.

These pens also work on fabric, so I plan on playing with that a bit for my next project, think baby onsie:) Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out Scrapbook Pal for all the new fabulous products they have and get free shipping on any order $25.00 or more!

Makaio Aron

2011-06-06T15:22:00.000-07:00

Here is our sweet, sweet boy. I got the okay to share his picture....thank you for all the continued prayers and support....soon and he'll be in my arms forever:)

Popping in to say hi!

2011-06-04T21:28:00.000-07:00

Hi :) We got home safely from Ethiopia and I am just having a hard time adjusting back to a normal routine, especially feeling normal. I just haven't had it in me to craft yet, though I want too, but trying to switch back to my time zone is hard after adjusting to being 10 hours ahead.

Some wonderful news to share though, Friday we received the long awaited news that our adoption has been finalized and that our baby boy is officially ours! I am pretty sure that I can share his picture, but I am confirming with my case manager before I put his adorable face up for the world to see ;) It's good to be home, but I honestly can't wait to go again because next time he comes home and we are finally done with this process!! They tell us 6-8 weeks, but I am praying and hoping for sooner. Thanks for all the prayers and good thoughts, keep them coming....we are so close to having our little one home. I'll share a picture as soon as I'm sure it's okay:) hugs...

TT-DIY embellishment

2011-05-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

We are making our own embellishments for this week's Tuesday Throwdown challenge. I just kept it simple and did a little bow treatment with sewing on a button. Come join in the fun and have a chance at winning some great prizes from our sponsors! :)

TT-Stripes

2011-05-24T00:00:00.001-07:00

This week's challenge at the Tuesday Throwdown blog is to use stripes! I found some striped paper in my stash and decided to make a very non-traditional baby card using the Special Delivery sentiment. Hop on over and join us this week!

*If you would say a few prayers for me and my hubby as we are well on our way to Ethiopia! Looking forward to being home and I'll be sure to share:)*

Swimming Faith

2011-05-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

The moment I saw this pretty fish cut on the Seasonal Limited edition Luau cartridge from Scrapbook Pal I knew I wanted to make this card. For those of you that know, today my husband and are in the air somewhere on our way to Ethiopia to meet our baby boy and are one step closer to having him home. It has sure taken a lot faith and perserverance to get this far! Here's how I made my card.

Using the Luau cartridge cut the fish at 1 1/2" 8 times, once with the FLIP feature on. Since I wanted my one fish to stand out I also cut him out of colored patterned paper and used the layer feature as well. For the blue fish I dry embossed them with Swiss Dots and swiped them with white ink. For my sentiment I used the Pink by Design set, Faith and used a black Tombow marker to color only the words I wanted to get the sentiment to line up the way I wanted without having to do any masking. Whatever you are going through, keep swimming and keep the faith!

Baby Cards and some news

2011-05-17T21:29:00.000-07:00

Good Wednesday to you all! Today I have a couple new images for you that are up in the Heart Song Designs shop, they are Baby Giraffe and Tiny Miracle. I hope you like them! My cards used each image and for the Baby Giraffe one I used Copic markers to color and the Tiny Miracle I paper pieced the moon and star.

Baby images are very fitting right now for me as this coming Monday, the 23rd my husband and I are making our first trip to Ethiopia to appear in court to finalize the adoption of our baby boy. Sadly, our baby will not be able to come home this trip...we have to come home and wait hopefully just a few weeks to get clearance to travel again to bring him home, but this is a huge step closer to our family being all together. I will be out of the country from May 23rd through May 31st, so any orders placed during that time will not be sent within the 24hour time period. But, they will be filled asap as soon as I am home. Prayers are much appreciated and I look forward to sharing when I am back home. Hugs...

TT-Die Cuts

2011-05-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

This week's Tuesday Throwdown challenge is to use die cuts. Well I use die cuts on just about every single card I make so I thought I'd use the negative space of one which something I don't do that often. Hop on over to see who our sponsor is this week and join in the fun. Thanks for stopping by!

Pretty Pansy Frame

2011-05-11T23:57:00.000-07:00

A new image from Heart Song Designs called Pansy Frame. I colored it with Copics and Prismacolor pencils and trimmed it out and mounted it onto a doily that I used Fine Linen distress ink to lightly distress the doily and inside of the frame. I hope you are having a blessed day!

Small Beginnings

2011-05-11T09:41:00.002-07:00

Finally posting something here! I have been so busy, and sick, getting ready for our Ethiopia trip that I just haven't had time to craft. I am hopeful that since I have had a very bad head/sinus cold and the stomach flu that I will be healthy for the trip! I played along last night with the SCS sketch and used the Bird Nest image from Heart Song Designs. I colored the image with Copics and for my lace paper used a MS puch that I punched on either side of my paper strip to create the double edges. I hope you are having a great week! Thanks for stopping by:)

TT-Baby or Child

2011-05-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

This week's Tuesday Throwdown was right up my alley as it was to make a baby or child card. I colored up this week's sponsor image and added some pretty finishing touches and have a sweet baby card. I hope you'll hop on over an join us. Thanks for stopping by!

Aloha!

2011-05-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

This month I go to play with the seasonal cartridge Luau from Scrapbook Pal which is on sale for a great price and they have free shipping on any order over $25! Kind of fun to have this cart in my collection now as I grew up on the Big Island of Hawaii! For my card I decided to go with some fun, fresh tropical colors and use the hibiscus and Aloha cuts. Here's how I did it.

I cut the hibiscus, or flower2 at 3 1/2" two times so I could layer them using foam adhesive in between to give some dimension.

I then cut the leave at 2 1/2", once with the FILP feature on. I cut the stems off so they'd fit behind the flower nicely and not show in the middle.

I cut Aloha at 1 1/2".

I embossed the green card base with Polka Dots embossing folder and used Color box chalk ink in Dark Brown and Warm Red to ink my card edges, my hibiscus and Aloha. To finsh it off I lightly curled the flower petals up after they'd been layered together and added some faux dew drops to the center. Thanks for dropping by! ALOHA~

TT-Mother's Day

2011-05-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day is fast approaching so it's the perfect time to make a card for that special mom in your life and join us over at the Tuesday Throwdown challenge. I colored up this image with Copics from our sponsor this week and did some dry embossing, distress inking and added some punched butterflies and ribbon treatment to finish it off. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Been Sick :(

2011-04-29T21:36:00.002-07:00

Hi all, didn't want you to think I completely dropped off the face of the earth, but me and both my kids have been sick all week. Not fun :( But I am starting to feel better and am hoping to get a full day of crafting in tomorrow! I hope you all have been well...and safe. Lots of prayers for all those affected by the tornadoes. Hugs....

TT-Brads or Eyelets

2011-04-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

This week's Tuesday Throwdown challenge is to use brads or eyelets. I have been really short on crafting time so my card is super simple and I choose to use brads. Be sure to hop on over at play with us this week!

On a more personal note, some of you may remember me mentioning that we are in the adoption process from Ethiopia. Well, last week we received the much anticipated and long awaited permission to travel for our first trip!! This trip is to appear in court to consent wanting to adopt our little boy and we will have to chance to meet him, but sadly, are not allowed to bring him home yet. Hopefully it will only be a few weeks before we get word that we have permission again to travel after we come home from this up coming trip, and finally be a family of 5! We leave May 23rd and get home May 31st...so not to long at all! We are very excited and I've been really busy getting everything lined up and ready for us to go. I'd so appreciate prayers for our safety and for favor with the court hearing, that we pass the first time. If you have kids be sure to give them a big hug...it all goes by so fast! Thanks for stopping by:)

Flower Power Blog HOP!

2011-04-22T00:00:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the Scrapbook Pal Flower Power blog hop! Be sure to start back at the Scrapbook Pal BLOG, become a follower and leave a comment here to have a chance to win a Cricut cartridge of your choice from the Scrapbook Pal store!

For my project I decided to create a LO using hand made roses and a big focal point flower. I love this picture of my daughter all dressed up and quietly eating a snack on the living room floor:) I used the Cindy Loo cartridge for all my cuts, it's definetly one of my most favorite cartridges.

I used the Frame cut on page 30 to frame my picture and used Scor Tape and glitter to bling it up a bit. For the large floral image that frames the frame :) I cut the Flower6 on page 56 at 8". I then cut the layers for it. For my little roses I cut the small flower which is a layer piece on page 52. I cut 3 flowers for each single rose. I held them all together with a small brad and then crumpled and squished the petals in the middle of the flower together to hide the brad and used a drop of hot glue to hold it together. Then the remaining layers I crumpled and formed around the center. I love how they came out and were so easy! For the vines that the roses are on I cut the border on page 54. For my finishing touches I used Liquid Pearls in Bisque to tip all the roses and berries on the vines and Liquid Pearls in opal to paint my large floral piece. I also embossed the leaf on the large floral piece using Swiss Dots and used the white Singo pen to embellish the flower tops.
Be sure to hop on over to all the DT's blogs to see what they have created and leave a comment to win your choice of Cricut cartridge from Scrapbook Pal!
Happy hopping!
Amy Crockett
Tomi Ann Hill
Cheryl Walker
Leah Cornelius (that's me:)
Jamie Cripps
Crystal Butler
Tammy White
ScrapbookPal Blog

TT-Polka Dots

2011-04-19T08:40:00.001-07:00

This week's challenge over at the Tuesday Throwdown blog is to use polka dots! I love polka dots so this was pretty easy for me:) We have another great sponsor this week, hop on over and join in to have a chance at winning a faublous prize. Thanks for stopping by!

Easter Gift Bags

2011-04-17T23:43:00.002-07:00

I've never made gifts for Easter before, but want to this year. I probably should have started on these a couple weeks ago...I did two tonight using my Cricut and Plantin School Book to cut the bags (with fit to page on) and then inked up some PTI stamps and used a couple Mat Stack dies. The pretty leaves were also cut with a PTI die and then stamped with the cooridnating stamp set. I plan on making some White Chocolate Lemon Truffles. Doesn't that sound divine? I haven't made them before, just found the recipe today, but I'll let you know how they turn out. They sound super simple to make and I can't wait to taste one! I went with a bit broader sentiment than just "Easter" because we really do have Easter to celebrate EVERYday:) Thanks for stopping by!

2011-04-16T00:12:00.002-07:00

A quick share today:) This was for the CAS challenge on SCS for last week? Gosh, I can't even remember for sure now! LOL Anyway, I colored up Bella and Baby from Heart Song Designs and pulled my colors from the inspiration picture they had up. Hope you are having a good weekend so far! I am off to do a bit of birthday shopping for my son, can NOT believe he is turning 5!! hugs....

TT-BLING!

2011-04-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

What girl doesn't like some bling? That's this week's challenge at the Tuesday Throwdown. I colored my image with Copics and added some rhinestones for my bling. I also used an embossing border that has been sorely neglected! Felt good to use something that I kind of forgot about. Be sure to hop on over and join us this week! Thanks for stopping by....

Enjoy the Moment

2011-04-08T18:55:00.002-07:00

I played along over on SCS this week with the sketch and colored up one of the newer images from Heart Song Designs called Strawberries and Flower. I colored it with Copics, pulled out some BG paper and a few neglected brads and kept it more clean and simple. I occured to me that I can use some of the frame stamps I have to create my mat for my sentiment instead of having an actual paper cut die for a mat. I'll probably be doing this a lot for awhile:) Hope you have been having a good week, thanks for stopping by!

Faith Cards

2011-04-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make a few encouraging cards for a friend and got to use the lovely Pink By Design stamp set called Faith. The different fonts in this set are great too. I used a couple of Cricut cartridges for my cards and really like how they came out. Here's what I did.

For the butterfly card I used the Sentimentals cartridge. I love the butterfly on this cart and cut it at 2". I also cut my card base so that it had a decrative edge using the card feature on pg. 71 and cutting it at 4 1/2" so that it would fit into a normal envelope. This cut makes a square card which is a nice change. I embossed the butterfly with my Cuttlebug and Swiss Dots embossing folder and used a Sakura Clear Star gelly roll pen to give it a little shine.

For my flourished bird card I used the Give a Hoot cartridge and cut the bird at 2 3/4" and the flourish at 1". It's nice how quickly a card can come together with just a couple of really pretty cuts.

Be sure to stop by the Scrapbook Pal store, and don't forget, they offer FREE shipping on all orders of only $25.00 or more! Thanks for stopping by:)

TT- Spring!

2011-04-05T08:10:00.002-07:00

Sorry for the late post! Went to bed really early last night which is unusual for me and forgot to post! This week's challenge over at the Tuesday Throwdown is SPRING! I am SO ready for consistent warm days:) Our sponsor this week is Robyn's Fetish and my image is Primitive Birdhouse. I colored it with Copics and added a die cut button that is stamped as well as stamping the scallop border. I hope you'll come on over and join us this week, thanks for stopping by!

Heart Song April Release

2011-04-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Today is the April release for Heart Song Designs! Want to win the entire release? Go hop on over to the inspirations blog and join in our Spring Showers blog hop for a chance. My card uses the Pretty Parasol image colored with Copics. I hope you'll come hop with us! If you want to purchase the entire April release bundle you'll save $6! The entire release is only $20.00, now go HOP!

A Happy Hello

2011-03-31T09:30:00.002-07:00

Hello there! My card today uses a fun little Kite image from Heart Song Designs that is only $1.00! I colored it with Copics and then followed the sketch that is up this week on SCS. Tomorrow is the Heart Song Inspirations April release blog hop! I hope you'll hop on over and join in the hop, one lucky commenter will win the entire April release. Thanks for stopping by!

TT-Florals

2011-03-29T07:43:00.002-07:00

This week's Tuesday Throwdown challenge is to use some sort of floral element on your creation. For my card I used this rose stamp from the Pixie Cottage, who is our sponsor as well! I decided to go for a more CAS card and didn't color. I actually like the way it came out! Do you? I hope you'll pop on over to the TT Blog and join us!

CDAC Contest 3rd entry

2011-03-27T15:05:00.002-07:00

Here is my final entry over at CDAC. A more cute image, but certianly sing spring! This is also a peek of the April 1st release for Heart Song Designs!

CDAC Digital Aritist Contest-entry #2

2011-03-27T15:02:00.004-07:00

This is my second entry for the Crafter's Digital Art Center contest going on. This one is called Flower and Strawberries and is a sneak peek for Heart Song Designs April 1st release!

Acceptance

2011-03-27T00:00:00.001-07:00

What a challenging quote....but true. My card uses the current Heart Song sketch of the week and the Heart Song Designs image, Waterlily, we are on #3! There is a freebie up on the Heart Song Inspirations blog too, so you can use that to play along or whatever other image you have that inspires you. We'd love it if you came and played along with us! The DT has lots of great eye candy for you and you might just win a free Heart Song digi of your choosing:) See, lots of reasons to come play! Hope you are having a wonderful weekend. hugs...

CDAC Digital Aritist Contest

2011-03-24T22:31:00.002-07:00

This image is called Picket Fence Tulips, available at the Heart Song Designs shop. :)

Little Fairy

2011-03-23T00:00:00.002-07:00

A fun LO for you today! I was so excited to get to play with the Paper Lace cartridge from Scrapbook Pal, there are some gorgeous cuts on it and many that are pefect for making your own laser cut paper. For my LO I chose the Butterfly cut to make some lacy background paper. I used a 12x12 piece of white cardstock and chose the "Fit To Page" feature so that it would cut it as large as possible and then waited for it to cut! I love all the butterflies! There is even a font on this cartridge so I used that for my title and cut it at 3". I embossed my title with Polka Dots and Swiss Dots embossing folders using my Cuttlebug and added some shine (which you can't really see in the picture) using a Sakura gelly roll pen in Clear Star. Thanks for stopping by!

TT-Anything but a card

2011-03-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

This week's challenge over at the Tuesday Throwdown blog is to make anything but a card. I must admit that was a bit challenging for me this week being short on time, and then it dawned on me I haven't made an ATC (artist trading card) in a long time. I thought this image was perfect for it, which was provided by our sponsor this week. Be sure to hop on over and play along with us! Thanks for stopping by:)

Hey Chickie!

2011-03-21T00:04:00.002-07:00

A fun spring card to share with you today:) I colored up this cute image from Heart Song Designs called Chick Parade and used some MM paper that I love but have had for going on 2 years I think! I have stopped buying paper until I make a huge dent in my stash:) The sketch was from last week's Wed. sketch over on the Simply Scrapping Crafts site. I hope you had a wonderful weekend...remember to be thankful for all the many blessings that come across your path today! hugs....

Heart Song Release

2011-03-19T21:19:00.002-07:00

This is our last week of weekly releases. We are going to do monthly releases starting April 1st with a blog hop from the DT, so be sure to come join us for that! If you buy the entire release bundle you save:) All images are available at the Heart Song Designs shop. Come join us on the Heart Song Inspirations blog and play along with our sketch challenge. Thanks for stopping by!

Swan Thank You

2011-03-17T22:08:00.002-07:00

This card design is from the first ever Flourishes speed challenge, a chance to win the entire new release they just had...it would be so fun to win something like that as I never, ever win anything! I pulled out this lovely set called Swan Lake and colored it with Copics and stamped the background with a flower bunch that is in the set also. Maybe this will be my time to win, but if not I enjoyed playing along anyway ;)

A gift...

2011-03-17T08:20:00.002-07:00

Happy St. Patricks Day! My card is definetly not super green, but I had this one done already and I figure there is green on it so I can't be pinched, right:) This image is called Sunburst Flower and is only $1.00 at the Heart Song Designs shop! I hope you are having a good day....almost Friday! I have been having pretty bad spring allergies but I am so thankful for the warmer weather. Thanks for stopping by.

Potted Barrel

2011-03-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

Lace is the challenge this week over at the Tuesday Throwdown! Add a little (like I did) or add a lot, but add some pretty lace to your project. We have another great sponsor this week, so go be sure to enter for your chance to win! My image is colored with Copics and i used some BG paper, trying to use up more patterned paper. Does it seem to mysteriously multiply once you cut into?? Today is my birthday, so I'm off to have a hopefully lovely day with my mom, one of my best friends and later my hubby. Thanks for stopping by!

Each Day is a Gift

2011-03-14T23:48:00.002-07:00

The colors over on the color challenge at SCS were so soft and pretty and I thought perfect for this newest image from Heart Song Designs called Vintage Blooms. I colored them with Copics, added some Cuttlebug corner dies that haven't seen the light of day in way to long, and embossed, distressed and added a pretty doily. The little pearl accents are actually Perfect Pearls in Bisque, love them! Once they dry this little card is going in the mail to my MIL to thank her for my birthday card and little gift. Today is my birthday btw:) Don't ask me how old I am....I'd seriously have to do math to figure it out as I've lost track now! LOL Hope you have a wonderful day and that you are thankful for all the little gifts we each receive throughout each one. Hugs....

Release and new sketch challenge

2011-03-12T23:29:00.002-07:00

Vintage Blooms

Chick Parade

Come over to the inspiration blog and join us in a new weekly sketch challenge. You don't have to use a Heart Song image to be entered into the drawing for a free digi, but if you'd like the chance to be a guest designer then pull out those Heart Song Designs images and play with us! See you there!

Spring!

2011-03-09T22:46:00.003-07:00

For the last couple of weeks I have heard glorious bird song again!! I am so happy that spring is coming...I am SO ready:) Here is a fun card using a cute banner for my sentiment and Theadore with Tulip from Heart Song Designs. The Country Life Cricut cartridge has banner cuts on it that make it easy and fun. I hope you are having a great week!

Use those scraps!

2011-03-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

Today's Tuesday Throwdown is to use your scraps! Honestly almost all my cards are made with my scraps of paper...I mean you cut one full size sheet and then it's scraps after that and they seem to last forever! I have even gotten to the point of throwing out some paper just because it's been in my scrap binder way to long and I can't stand to look at it anymore:) For my card I used the cute image, Jasper with Bone from Heart Song Designs and colored him with Copics and thought he was sweet enough to make a baby card. Hop on over to the TT blog and join in the fun, you might just win a great prize from our sponsor!

Now Moments LO

2011-03-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to get the Paper Lace cartridge from Scrapbook Pal, it's a gorgeous cartridge and you can make your own laser cut paper with it. For my LO I used several cuts off it, here's what I did.

Using Paper Lace cut the flower2 at 6 1/2".

Cut the GioBdr at 1", two times.

Cut the word "Now" at 2 1/2" and emboss with cuttlebug embossing folder.

Cut the word "moments" at 3/4".

Cut Flower6 with lace2shadow on for butterfly at 1 1/4", 1" and 3 1/4". Embossing with cuttlebug embossing folder.

Cut tree using Cindy Loo cartridge at 4".

Journal with white signo pen and add Xmas red Stickles to the tree.

Have a wonderful day!

Sunday Release Time!

2011-03-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

Lovely Tulips
Bloom Trimmers One

Happy Sunday everyone! This week's release are perfect for all you floral lovers, which is certianly me! That's what I started drawing when I was a kid and well, I just never really stopped:) The Bloom Trimmers are a new concept as when you purchase them you are purchasing a set which you can easily crop to single images, save those and mix and match and trim out to your heart's content. I hope you like them! Thank you to all our new followers this week!! Next Sunday begins an exciting new feature right here that you are all invited to join in on, and go take a peek at the new Dollar Deals bin in the shop, I'll be adding to that frequently! Have a blessed day! Hugs.....