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Friday, December 12, 2008

Catching Up

It has been a while since I have had a few minutes of peace to post. So this is a catch-up one with lots of pictures.

Here is our little Jackson at 9 days old (11/18). He is showing his Popeye face. It's the look he gets when he gets ready to eat. Nicholas has heard me call him Popeye and now says Popeye and baby.

When did my little Nicholas learn how to crawl up into the big chair? He is watching his favorite show on Baby TV (11/19).

Jackson getting his 2nd bath at home. No pictures of the first one, as Mike was in the other room bathing Nicholas that night. Oh well I guess I am a bad scrapbook mommy (11/21).

Jackson at almost 2 weeks old (11/23). Time is flying by.


In December I wanted to do the Daily December Journal's that many others are working on, but it just isn't in the cards. I didn't have time to get it together before Jackson came. So I decided to try to at least snap a few pictures most days, so I can do a few layouts later in the month of our December this year.

12/1 - I was checking e-mail when I heard Nicholas laughing hysterically in the kitchen and I could hear the pitter patter of his feet running around. I walked in to see him chasing the puppies around the island and he was having the best time. I had to stay and watch he was having so much fun and his laughter is just so contagious.

12/2 - I stole a couple hours away from home for the first time to get a mani/pedi. I came home to Mike and Jackson kicking back on the couch enjoying some "male bonding" while Nicholas was napping. Jackson looked pretty content just resting in daddy's lap.

We brought the bouncer back out for Jackson, but Nicholas has decided it is a lot more fun for him to sit in and "bounce, bounce, bounce" (12/3).

The doorbell rang while I was feeding Jackson. Thinking it was probably a delivery or solicitor I just ignored it. When I checked later on the door there was a note that this yummy Edible Arrangement from my chiropractor had been left at my neighbors house. Mike wasn't home so I patiently waited for him to get home before I sampled it. (12/4)

12/5 - We got some shopping done today at the mall and had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Nicholas was goofing off with his daddy. I can't believe they don't have a kid's menu. The chicken strips and fries they called "kid friendly" that they brought Nicholas were huge, an adult couldn't have eaten all of it, not to mention it was $8, (ouch) and didn't include a drink which was another couple of dollars.

Nicholas also got to see Santa today. He did good with him again this year. We weren't sure if he would be afraid of him or not. He did fine when we saw characters at Disneyland this year, but that was back in April. But he just sat in his lap and checked him out and smiled for the camera. It was a great time to see him, there was only one person ahead of us so we weren't rushed. Jackson was sleeping though, so we skipped it this year for him.

12/8 Jackson and I were just hanging out and he was so alert I had Mike get me the camera and I got this shot of my growing little guy! He is starting to be a little more alert and not sleeping all the time.
12/9 We hit Toys R Us today and had lunch at Red Robin before hitting the mall for a little more shopping. Mike fed Jackson a bottle so Nicholas and I could go get a few presents purchased. Nicholas and Jackson got their first Build-A-Bear's built from Santa. Buddy and Peanut will be arriving Christmas morning from Santa.

12/10 We headed to the park this morning to meet Nicholas' occupational therapist, Tracy. While we were waiting Nicholas explored the park. While we were settling Jackson in the stroller Nicholas had took off to explore. Mike had to run and catch him. Both Nicholas and Mike were worn out after all the walking, climbing, sliding and swinging at the park that morning. I got a little alone time that afternoon which I spent Christmas shopping.

12/11 We went to the pediatrician for Jackson's one month appointment this morning, and that little guy is now just under 10 pounds and is 22 inches. He has gained 2 lbs. 10 oz. since he came home from the hospital. He wants to eat all the time. I guess I don't need to worry if he is getting enough to eat at all of those feedings. LOL!

12/12 After spending the morning getting pictures taken at Kiddie Kandids we stopped for lunch at BJ's. Nicholas is so good when we go out (as long as we have a little snack for him while he waits for his food). He likes to sit next to his daddy and eat his big boy lunch.

And here are our pictures from the Kiddie Kandid's photo shoot. We had a small wardrobe malfunction that morning. Nicholas and Jackson had matching overall's, but when we put Nicholas in his they were about 4 inches above his ankle. So we improvised with other overall's and we were all set.

Our first family of 4 picture. We got lucky this came out since Nicholas was about done with pictures by this time. We even got one with Jackson awake and looking at the camera!

Our little Santa Baby! Jackson did really good for his pictures. Although he didn't get the memo that he is too little to be trying roll or crawl away just yet. We are going to have to keep a close eye on this one.
The photographer was great with both boys. And we got really lucky that when Jackson did wake up he was alert and happy, even if he was turning his head away from the camera at times.
This is the picture we are using for his birth announcements. Which now will be going out soon now that I decided to not make them myself.

Despite his happy face, Nicholas wasn't too thrilled about taking this picture. We think he is a little nervous around the baby, unless we are holding him. So we were happy to get this shot of the two of them.
And here is my little ham, Nicholas. He always does really well for the photographers there. Now for me he won't even look at the camera anymore.

And my big Santa Baby!
If you are still reading, sorry for the long post. Maybe now that things are calming down a little bit, I can be a little more regular about posting.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Color Me Daisy December Kits Available!

And a Cyber Monday Sale. 30% all Past Kits & Past Kit Add-On's on Monday, December 1, 2008. Go to Color Me Daisy and check it out!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Welcome Baby Jackson!

Meet the newest member of our family, baby Jackson!





Jackson was born on Monday, November 10 at 1:43 p.m. He was 7 lbs. 15 oz. and 21 inches long. Both he and I are doing fine and we were able to come home from the hospital on Thursday.

Jackson had swallowed some fluid and had to spend about 3 hours in the nursery after his birth for observation. He was able to come to meet me in my room after I had been moved from the recovery area. I was up out of bed 12 hours after my c-section and so far my recovery is going very well. We are adjusting to having a newborn at home and other than less sleep, everything is going very well.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from his first few days:



Nicholas is adjusting well to being a big brother. He's curious about his brother, but for the most part he has gone about his normal business.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Daisy Blog Hop

Here is my project for the Daisy Blog Hop. Leave comments to be entered into the prize drawing for a Basic Grey Ambrosia Mini Kit from Color Me Daisy. International winners are eligible, but will need to pay actual postage costs above $7.00.

I had this transparent die cut album from Fancy Pants Designs so I thought it would make a fun project to do for the Daisy Blog Hop. I had never done an album like this (or an acrylic album for that matter) so it was fun to get to play with this one. The Fancy Pants Bracket Album came with 6 pages and several die cut shapes and words to play with. I painted the acrylic die cuts with brown and rust to match the papers and help them stand out.



I made this book to take with me to the hospital next week when Jackson is born, so I can show him pictures of his big brother and puppies. Also I know I will miss Nicholas terribly, so I picked some of my favorite recent pictures of him so I can see him as often as I want while I am away.

The pattterned paper is double sided so I only had to worry about where I placed adhesive so that it could be covered up. I used my regular Duck adhesive and glue dots, and just made sure to place it where it wouldn't be seen.

I used my crop-a-dile to punch the holes for the ribbon to bind the album. This album came together pretty quickly. I picked the chipboard and acrylic die cut pieces I wanted to use and painted them first. While they dried I cut the papers, used a couple of border punches and a little tearing for the edges and placed them in the book. Embellishing with the chipboard, acrylic die cuts, ribbon and buttons was the last step.

A quick flower was made with a button and white pen with ribbon for a stem here:

And a second flower using one of the die cut flowers painted to match the papers with another ribbon stem. I didn't want to use a brad for the tag on the right side page since it would show on the other side or through the transparent die cut, so I used a button instead:


I like how you can see elements from the other pages peeking through in this clear album.




I used one of the Maya Road Journaling Sheers here for a little journaling. I used a Sharpie because I didn't have a Slick Writer pen. It worked great and dried fast!


For the back page, I stamped on a transparency sheet with Stayz On Ink using the Fancy Pants Daily Grind Journal #2 stamp and used a Sharpie to write on the transparency. I stapled the transparency right to the book:
Supplies used:
In addition to the FP bracket album and die cuts I used several items from the Color Me Daisy November kit and stamp add-on: October Afternoon Weathervane papers, Maya Road Chipboard and Journaling Sheer, Fancy Pants buttons, Daisy Bucket Designs Paper Ribbon, and the Fancy Pants Daily Grind #2 Stamp. Other items used: Stayz on Ink, American Crafts brown ric rac ribbon, brown-polka dot and green ribbon from Target, acrylic paint, Sharpie pen, staples, Fiskars border punches and a corner rounder.


Hope you enjoy!

Color Me Daisy's Blog Hop

Join us tommorrow at Color Me Daisy for a Daisy Blog Hop!

The Daisy girls will all be posting projects featuring TRANSPARENCIES. Anything transparent goes, ghost shapes, acetate, overlays. You will see some great projects on all the Daisy girl blogs. You will be hopping from blog to blog, getting inspired and leaving some love! There will be lots of eye candy and great techniques shared.

AND we want you to participate TOO!!! Please post a project featuring transparencies on YOUR blog too on November 7th. We would love to see detail photos, photos of your creative process, and of course finished project photos. We will hop on over to your blog, get inspired and leave some love for you.

The more comments you leave on blogs, the more chances to win a great prize from Color Me Daisy.

A message board thread will be started on November 7th and you can sign in with your blog address so we can make sure to hop on over to your blog. I can't wait to see what you all come up with involving transparencies!So get ready for our first ever Daisy Hop!!!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Color Me Daisy November Kits

The November kits for Color Me Daisy have been revealed! In addition to the main kit there are 2 mini-kits. One is a holiday card kit to make card making easy and another is a juicy kit featuring Basic Grey Ambrosia! Check it out here.

Monday, October 20, 2008

October Projects from Color Me Daisy kit

Wow has it really been 2 weeks since I last blogged? It's been busy getting ready for the baby. Just 3 weeks and 2 days.

I finally took pictures of some projects and layouts I did with the October Color Me Daisy kit. Also, sneak peeks for November are up on the Color Me Daisy Blog.

Here are a couple of layouts using the Pink Paislee Vintage Moon papers. I wrote on one of the sheers from the Maya Road keychain with Stickles for the Who's Walking layout.


This is just a quick card I made using some of the scraps from the American Crafts paper. I used a border punch to give the edge a little something. The letters were cut with the Cricut when I was experimenting with the Sure Cuts a Lot Software I recently purchased.


I made a mini book for my mom for her birthday and used some of the American Craft's papers in the kit to make a matching gift bag, bow and card. The bow was from a challenge during Color Me Daisy's crop last month. The bag was super simple with just a paper cut to fit the bag. The card was just a pattern cut out from the AC paper and the Queen & Co felt ribbon. Stamp was Studio G (not in the kit).


Here is the mini book. I used some heart chipboard I had from Oriental Trading Co. and some random buttons. Papers, ribbon and felt ribbon were from the October kit. It was a quick little book to put together with some recent pictures of Nicholas from the past few months.




I have more to talk about from the past couple of weeks, so I will make a better effort this week to post.



Monday, October 6, 2008

Halloween Crazy & 5 more weeks

I can't believe the baby will be here in 5 weeks and 2 days (not that I'm counting or anything). His furniture was delivered this past Friday, so we need to get his room finished up. It's a lot easier the 2nd time around since we don't have to get nearly as much stuff. But still, we need to get busy.

This little guy is going to be a tank. At my ultrasound last Tuesday they estimated he weighed 6 lbs. 3 oz. With 6 more weeks at that point he will likely be over 9 pounds. I guess I am glad now I have to have another C-section. No pushing that "big" boy out!

I got to spend a lot of time making some Halloween projects this weekend. I also made a mini-coaster album and matching card for my Dad for his birthday. It felt good to get some projects done. It was nice to get on a roll and feel the creativity flowing.

I just love this time of year, but I always find too many holiday craft projects that I want to do. Here are pictures of the projects I did this weekend:


Altered letters using Color Me Daisy's Halloween Kit papers and rub-ons, plus MS decorative tape, sequins, bling and ribbon:



Spooky Banner using Color Me Daisy's Halloween Kit papers. I used my Cricut to cut out the letters and a Cuttlebug die to cut the small Halloween die cuts. Also used the MS pumpkin border punch to create an outline for the flags and MS pumpkin punch for the bottoms where the borders came together. I used pop dots on the letters and the small die cuts to give some dimension.





This Halloween wreath was from a Martha Stewart craft kit. Instead of glittering the leaves as suggested I mixed the glitter with diamond glaze and brushed it on each leaf. It gives a shiny sparkly effect, without as much of a glitter mess.





My Dad's birthday is tommorrow, so I made him this mini-coaster album from some Basic Grey papers some buttons and letter stickers. I sandpapered the edges of the pages and the pictures. Pictures are from their visit in August. I love the pictures of my Dad and Nicholas, they just make me happy.







More Halloween projects. I bought a couple of wood signs and painted them. Then used Stickles to give some sparkle to the letters. For the pumpkins I mixed art glitter with diamond glaze and brushed it over the painted pumpkins to give it some sparkle and shine. Then I backed the whole sign with black glitter felt to help the letters stand out. These just make me smile, with the bright Halloween colors.


Close up of the pumpkins



And last but not least, the matching card I made to for my Dad to go with the mini-album.