Life Update and a Vintage Card

Hello friends~  I've been absent from blogging and commenting for a few weeks, but there's a good reason and a not so good reason.  Always start with the good.

My daughter gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl on Jan. 15th.  

Please meet tiny Isobelle.  She weighted 5 pounds 1 oz and she is pure delight to our family.  

 

Everyone is settling in nicely at home.  Mr. "C" is completely smitten by tiny Isobelle, while little "L" doesn't quite understand why this new tiny person is now in his mama's arms.  You see, little "L" and tiny "I" are less than a year apart so my daughter basically has what they call "Irish Twins".  She'll have her hands full for a while, so I've given up all my design team positions so I can be ready to give her a hand whenever she calls.  

 

After the dust settled and life started getting back to normal, I suddenly found myself locked out of my own computer for days, so I still couldn't blog or comment.  In fact, I couldn't access my computer at all.  GAH!  Technology!!  Anyway, after some wise advice from a good friend, I was able to get back online, and there you go!  

 

I'm grateful to be back online because I didn't want to miss the challenge going on over at Double D Challenges.  The theme is "vintage / shabby chic" and as you know, that's one of my favorite styles.

 

I pulled out a very sweet, retro collection called "My Deer Friend" from Memory Place, and let the paper do all the hard work.  I simply added a scalloped die cut trim and stamped the sentiment onto a Spellbinders Label die, and mounted a floral die over the top corner.

 

I'll be adding this card to the following challenges:

Love Those Pretty Papers ~ February

Double D Challenges ~ Vintage / Shabby

Word Art Wednesday ~ Anything Goes 

 We're getting more snow today, so I'm happy to be tucked in at home and will hopefully find more time to spend in the craft room. 

Thanks for stopping by!

A New Tiny Blessing

Hello dearies!  My heart is overflowing with gratefulness and joy as I share this exciting news that we have a tiny little blessing added to our family recently.  

 

 

Lachlann Rhŷs entered this world weighing a healthy 5 pounds 12 ounces.  He is so incredibly precious!

  

His brother "Mr. C" thinks he's pretty special too.  The family is doing well and settling in at home.  My heart is overjoyed that he's healthy and a good size.

 

 

Since Valentine's Day is coming right up, I just had to make him a card to let him know how much he is loved.

 

The stamp set was a freebie from Papertrey ink.

The darling Nursery die set is from HoneyBee Stamps.  Lachlann's bassinet looks just like this one, canopy and all!

 

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

A Cut Above ~ Anything Goes 

AAA Cards ~ Color Challenge

 

Word Art Wednesday ~ Anything Goes

Just Us Girls ~ Die Week

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Lighted Box Ornaments

Hello crafting friends!  Today's crafty share are these darling box ornaments.

 

 

 

You may recall that I've made several of these in past posts.  They're so fun to make and you don't need any special supplies to make them. 

I used a Spellbinders Label die to make the front and back of the box, cutting the center using an oval die.  I simply covered the inside and front of the box with patterned papers

 

and filled them with printed die cuts from Pretty Little Studio.  I also added some die cuts from Prima Marketing Candy Cane Lane collection.

 

 

This year, to spice them up, I added some fairy lights to the inside of the ornaments by punching a hole in the back of the ornament and adhering the power button onto the back side of the ornaments.  

 

These went to my two little sweeties so they could hang them on their Christmas trees.

 

 

This little elf went to this little elf

 

Our sweet Mr. "C" turned two years old in September. 
 

and this jolly old fella with pink candy canes went to our Sweet "P".

 

She just turned two this month.  Hubby and I flew out to celebrate her special day.

 

Oh how I love being a Mimi to them!  

 I hope you enjoyed today's project. 

I'll be entering one of these into the following challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge ~ Gifts

Krafty Chicks Challenge ~ Christmas 

The Sisterhood of Crafters ~ Christmas

Christmas Kickstart Challenge ~ If It's Christmassy, Link It Up!

Word Art Wednesday ~ Anything Goes

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Celebrate The Savior ~ Baby Update

Hello friends and Happy Easter!  

What a wonderful day it is to celebrate our risen Savior.

I made a few cards using a retired PTI set called Make It Market:  Garden Gate.

The stamped sentiments are also a retired PTI set called Easter Alleluiahs.

Our California kiddos arrived on Friday.  I'm feeling so grateful that our little family is together once again.  My grandbabies have finally met each other and their respective aunt & uncle for the first time.  

I'm thankful for laughter that fills our home when we're together and the joyful chaos that comes with having little ones.  

Today we are celebrating Easter and my husband and son-in-love's birthdays.  What a joy to be together!  

I have both of my little blessings on my lap.  Pure joy!!  My little "C" on the left and my sweet "P" on the right.

My son holding his daughter and his nephew.

My little loves.  Life doesn't get any sweeter than this.  My cup overflows.

May the miracle of Easter bring you renewed hope, faith, love and joy.

Thanks for stopping by!

You Are My California Sunshine

Hello friends~  Our sweet little granddaughter in California is celebrating her first birthday today and we are here in sunny California, celebrating with her!  I thought I'd share the card I made for her and a few photo's of her at the end.

If this card looks familiar, it's because I used the same technique for Mr. C's birthday card back in September.  

I love getting inspiration for cards from their children's books.  The sun pops up from behind the panel, just like in the pop-up book.  

The cutie giraffe from Marianne Designs fits my little Sweet "P" to a "T"!

The pop-up part of the card has sunshine and clouds that are super old dies, but timeless in style.  I stamped a smiley face onto the sunshine using a stamp from Peachy Keen Stamps, adding some copic and white gel pen details.  There's a large vellum cloud and some smaller white puffy clouds.

I just love the cheerful raspberry colors and how they contrast with the giraffe.  To me, it's very story-book-ish.

Here's a picture of my Sweet "P" when she was first born.

And here she is today in all her sweetness!

Here she is with my son:

and with her mom, my beautiful daughter in-love:

I just love kissing those kissable cheeks!!  I know time is going to whiz by way too quickly and soon we'll be home again.  But, joy of all joys!  They'll be home to spend Christmas with us in just 9 days, so I might be MIA in blogland until the new year.

Thanks for stopping by!

You Are My Sunshine

Hello friends ~ My sweet little grandson recently celebrated his first birthday, so I thought I'd share the pop-up card I made for him.

I was inspired by one of the pop-up books he has called Peek A Boo Sunshine. 

 One of the pages has a smiling sunshine that slides up out of the page.  I wanted to create my own idea of that, using this darling Lion die from Marianne Designs.

The lions head is attached to an action wobbler, so his little head wobbles back and forth.

The pop-up part of the card has sunshine and clouds that are super old dies, but timeless in style.  I stamped a smiley face onto the sunshine using a stamp from Peachy Keen Stamps, adding some copic and white gel pen details.  There's a large vellum cloud and some smaller white puffy clouds.

I made a few mistake here and there but overall, I'm happy with the way it came out. 

Here's a picture of our little "C" when he was born:

And here he is today!

The little doll is the size that he was when he was born.  He weighed just over 2 pounds.

He's now a strapping 12 pounds

and doing big boy things.

I'll be adding this card to the following challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge ~ Make It Cute

Word Art Wednesday ~ Anything Goes

The Sisterhood of Crafters ~ Die Cuts / Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!