Quick Card Layouts Class

On June 28th, I'll be offering a class in which we'll be making FOURTEEN *easy* cards using some interesting but quick layouts! Each participant will receive a full package of 20 notecards with envelopes along with an assortment of ribbons, fibers, and assorted embellishments to finish their cards with flair. Additionally, you will have a handout with the layouts on a sheet you can file away once you get home & even better yet, I will make a key ring-sized sampler of all 14 card layouts for you to use as reference once you get home & would like to copy the ideas even more quickly!

This class is also available via mail as a class to-go. I added $5 to cover the costs of mailing via priority mail. I will be placing an order for all supplies so that they'll arrive & be ready on June 28. I will mail out packages after class.

Please reserve your place on or before June 20th for either the class at my house or the class to-go kit. If you plan to pick up your packet instead of staying for class, please let me know that so that I can plan according for class attendance.

$30Class Kits to be made and/or picked up at my house

$35 Class kits to be mailed to you

Tart & Tangy Class

Make 10 outstanding cards along with a notecard holder to give them in, or keep them for yourself in it!

This class includes the stamp set Tart & Tangy from the current mini catalog, all the pieces of cardstock you'll need (precut & scored!) with envelopes, three markers, ribbon cut-to-size, dimensionals for adhering layers & prepunched circles/scallop circles (if you don't have your own punches). The top right item is a card box that will accomodate all 10 notecards and envelopes easily. Order your class to-go by June 20th so you won't miss out on the fabulous papers and stamps from the mini catalog!

I will place an order on June 20th for supplies for this class. I will cut & ship them the following week & all should be in the mail on or before the 27th.

The first link is for the Tart & Tangy class if you'd like to come to my house to pick up your kit.




The next link is if you'd like me to mail your kit via flat rate priority mail.

This is the first time I've added this option, so be patient if formatting isn't perfect!

How long does it take to get home from the zoo??

Yes, this is a tricky question...it only takes about an hour to get there...how long do you suppose it took us to come home yesterday? SEVEN HOURS! Yes, I typed that correctly 7 hours. How does that happen? Leave it to me to create this kind of situation...ugh! I'll tell it from the beginning...

We had a marvelous time at the zoo! Lucy & Joey did such a good job getting ready to go & we made it over the Bay Bridge in time to avoid the lines & use that zippy carpool lane (a big woohoo in my book!). Everyone & everything got loaded up into our *very* nifty triple jogging stroller that so excellently holds everything I need to take with us (thank you to all the Coopers for that huge gift!!!!). We ignored all the gawkers all the way to the petting zoo & managed to pet and feed all the goats...you know they would starve without Lucy shoveling food into their mouths, right? Joey tried one of the hay pellets and decided that he'd finally found a food that he *didn't* like. Too bad my camera was put away at that moment! He stuck to feeding the goats after that attempt at sharing with them.

We visited nearly all the animals & had a lovely lunch with the black swans & the anteater in their semi-secluded spot...it's a great place for lunch since most people manage to miss the little path between the bushes that leads back to their pens. We even bumped into the Mohuns/Gleasons while we were visiting the giraffes, zebras, ostriches, and antelopes. Lucy & Joey had a good time looking & Henry seemed to be pretty happy through most of the zoo, too. Henry's pretty happy nearly all the time, so I was glad he was his normal sunny self.

As we loaded everyone and everything up in the parking lot, I never would have guessed the ordeal ahead of us on our anticipated drive home...I was ready to be home after the 20ish minutes it took to change two diapers in the truck, load all the gear, load the stroller, and then strap in three kids who didn't really want to be strapped in after a day of fun! Traffic wasn't too bad around 3:30 when we hit the road. We made it most of the way home...just onto highway 37 past Novato when I realized the temperature gauge was a little on the warm side...then closer to orange...and closer...we stopped before it hit orange. Nap time was over immediately for all the kids. Grrrr! Here I was on the side of the highway with three not-so-happy kids inside of a truck that had decided that it didn't want to go further without exploding...what to do?

I drove just a bit further to a little road so that I could get out of the truck without worrying quite so much about getting run over. Eventually after I'd had a slight personal breakdown (hey! everyone else was crying! If you can't beat 'em, join 'em...), I decided I'd get out that lovely stroller & have to push the kids to the farm down the road to make a phone call to AAA. No! I don't live in the 21st century! There is no cell phone in my pocket...except for this moment, I can't say that I want one, either.

We got lucky & someone needed to use the road for a turn-around. They let me use their cell phone to call AAA. I was cut off but only after I'd given them my info. Of course, after sitting in the truck again for what felt like an eternity, I realized they weren't really sending any help...grrrrr! I had seen that I was close to a call box, so I loaded Henry into the sling & told Lucy several times to hang out with Joey & watch me from the window as I walked to the blue sign to make a phone call. As soon as we made it to the phone and started talking to a CHP guy on the other end, a CHP car pulled up next to us on the road. At last! Someone who could help!! This has to be the only time I've ever been happy to have a police car pulled up behind my vehicle! LOL!

He called AAA for me & got the tow truck out to get us moving again...bad news...we couldn't just put water in on the roadside, so we had to be towed to Novato to the garage. So I buckled everyone up again (they'd been bouncing around in the truck for all of this!) & the tow truck hauled us all to town. It was kind of fun to ride like that...the kids got a kick out it!

At the tow guy's shop, we put some water in & then hoofed it (Lucy walked, Joey was in the little stroller & Henry was in the sling) about five blocks to a pay phone that *worked* so that we could call Gene to let him know that we'd be on the road soon. He said he'd meet us in Novato so that he could follow us home & make sure we made it this time. WOOHOO!! We walked back to the truck & buckled up for yet another time. This time we only made it a few blocks before the truck went quickly and massively to the orange end of the temperature gauge...uh oh!

This is where we met a guardian angel named Kathy...she was walking her dog & could see that we were in need of some kind (all kinds, in fact!) of help. She let me use her cell phone to call the tow truck driver back to where we now were, and I called my mother-in-law because I didn't know who else to call to let know about what had happened & why we weren't going to be able to meet Gene (who was already on the road to our non-rendezvous point). She even went to Taco Bell trying to flag down Gene. She met us back at the tow shop afterward to report back that she couldn't catch Gene. Kathy then asked what else she could do for us...she was worried about dinner for the kids. It *was* almost 9pm at this point, and they'd been just polishing off the leftover snacks from the zoo...isn't it a good thing I'm an over-packer?! Kathy went to KFC & bought all of us something to eat. By the time she came back, Gene had called the tow guy & told him just to tow all of us in the truck back to Vallejo & park us at the house. We said goodbye to Kathy & buckled up (again...!). Our friendly tow truck driver hooked us up and away we went (again...!).

We popped the kids into their beds at about 10:30. I was in such a fog that I just kinda sat in a stupor until I went to bed...somehow I survived being trapped in a Suburban with three kids under the age of three for nearly seven hours...holy cow! Sadly, the Suburban didn't come out of the day even as well as I. Old Blue is going to the junk yard...blown head gaskets don't fix themselves & also cost more than the truck's worth, so we'll have to bid it a fond farewell. What lessons did I take from this experience?

• Don't feel guilty for packing way too much food for a trip with the kids
• Stay longer at the zoo...the trip home is a killer! LOL
• Don't mess with stuff under the hood...the whole thing is MY FAULT! I messed around checking oil, water, etc. & the water cap didn't get on tightly enough...yeah, I think I won't worry about that crap anymore...I couldn't have done any worse even if I had run out of fluids...the end result is the same.

Fresh Cuts!!

I am so excited about the current Stampin' Up sneak peek product from the upcoming catalog that starts in August! This month everyone can purchase a stamp set called Fresh Cuts along with the Fresh Cut notecards (with envelopes, of course!). I wanted to show the many options as well as the ease of using these cards with the stamp set.

The first photo is just the notecard after I punched out the precut flower (they're laser cut, so it's quick to pop out the petals).
Next, I layered a piece of Soft Sky cardstock inside to make the flower have a little color.
Then I punched out a Pixie Pink 5-petaled flower with our coordinating punch...have one, yet? You'll want one with these cards...it makes such a FAST & cute card whip together!
Every flower needs a center, right? So here's a flat-back pearl from the Pretties Kit.
...and a quick Pixie Pink greeting from the Fresh Cuts stamp set...
...and a *beeeeee-autiful* collage background stamp from the Fresh Cuts set inked in Soft Sky...
A few vine-y stamps in Pretty in Pink from the Fresh Cuts sets along with a Soft Sky double-stitched grosgrain ribbon, and my card's done!
Here's one that I whipped up very similarly but with a flower from the Pretties Kit & a rhinestone brad center in place of the pearl.
What to do with those scraps of flower petals? Don't throw them away! Make more flowers! I stuck mine onto Only Orange cardstock & punched them out with my small oval punch to make these flower petals.
I will have more ideas to share in the coming days! Keep checking back...I'm determined to get back on the blog-train again & post more frequently!

Joey & his gigantic noggin...

I just had to post this somewhere so that I wouldn't forget it...tonight as I was cooking dinner, Lucy left the kitchen & left me alone with Joey as my sole assistant. Suddenly I heard a horrible crying/shrieking sound coming from him. My first thought? LUCY!!!! ...but then in that same flash I realized she couldn't possibly have done anything too mischievous from her bedroom...what caused such an uproar? Just my darling son getting his head stuck between the refrigerator and the wall.

I had to try *really* hard not to fall over laughing as he was carrying on after all was done...it was funny! I mean, who sticks their head in that spot anyway? And then who wouldn't notice on the way into that tight little spot that their head was bigger than the space allowed for?

No fears! As soon as I turned to see what the ruckus was about, he yanked his head out & fell onto the floor...poor guy! I did try hard not to giggle silently as I hugged my poor little guy! :)

Live and learn, huh?

Tart & Tangy Class!

Woohoo! I've finally got a stamp class on my calendar. Now you all need to put it on yours!

This class will use the Tart & Tangy set from the Occasions Mini Catalog with the nice bright, summery colors of the Summer Picnic designer papers to boot! Check out the class description on my Stampin' Up website. I can't seem to get the pictures to load onto my blog, so I'll keep trying my best to figure out all this technical stuff!

The result of my long absence...HBA2C!

Okay, I've been gone for too long from this blog...I've used my time well, though. I've been incubating & giving birth to baby number three! Welcome to Henry Bartholomew Cooper who joined us on March 20, 2008 at 12:01 am in our bedroom :)





I have a brief birthstory that I wrote up for anyone who's interested enough to read about Henry's arrival...it only took 45 minutes for him to arrive, but it took over a month for me to finally write about it. He obviously doesn't have his mother's procrastination genes!





*****


On Tuesday night my water broke at 7:00 when I was just about to put Joey to bed for the night…I waited until nearly 8:00 and called the midwife, Paula, to let her know that things would be starting sometime in the foreseeable future. (With both Lucy and Joey, my contractions started about two hours after the water broke.)

Wednesday came…no contractions! Nothing going on! I went on a loooooong walk & spent a leisurely day watching movies with Gene since I wouldn’t let him go to work in case things got going. Still nothing after that walk. Paula called to check up on me in the afternoon to remind me to sleep if possible since we knew things would go sooner or later. Who can sleep, though, when waiting to meet the little person you’ve been anxiously awaiting for so long?!

After a few more phone calls, Paula said she’d come over around 9 pm to give me a castor oil “shake” to kick things into gear since my water was broken & we wanted to move things along as naturally as possible. I drank the lovely concoction at 9 & Paula checked me to see if I’d dilated at all thus far before the castor oil started its (ahem!) magic. When she checked me, she let me know that I was already @6-7 centimeters with no contractions. At that point we waited for the castor oil to have an effect. An hour passed…no contractions…no castor oil effects…Paula checked again only to find that I’d dilated to 7-8 centimeters. At this point I was joking that maybe the baby would just fall out with no contractions since I was experiencing the beginning of transition still without contractions.

At about 11:00pm, Paula’s partner, Claudette, arrived at our house to join the birthing party. She & I were sitting and chatting in the living room with Paula when I finally experienced two contractions (around 11:15) that felt like they might be starting to do some work. I only felt the contractions really low instead of across my entire belly, so I assumed that things were just beginning & that there would be a bunch more before something big happened…THEN…

I felt a little sick & thought maybe the dreaded castor oil was coming, but when I went to the bathroom, I just threw up a few times. I got up from the floor & went into the bedroom since I wanted to get away from the toilet. Upon getting into the bedroom, I had a couple of *serious* feeling contractions during which Gene & the midwives were trying to fill the birth tub. That wasn’t going to happen fast enough since then I dropped to the floor and started feeling like pushing…and I did as my body cued me to do…it was so nice to push without anyone telling me I could/was allowed to like they do at the hospital!

Things were happening pretty fast, so the midwives had me lay on my left side in bed. At this point, baby’s heartrate dropped, so Gene had to hold the oxygen mask up to my face in hopes that the heartrate would rise again…no luck. So down to the floor we went again. I was so glad to get off my side! I don’t know who finds that position comfortable for pushing babies out, but I’ve had that position tried on me for both this birth as well as Joey’s labor and couldn’t stand it both times! Uck!

Happily baby liked it when I was on my hands and knees, so I continued pushing while Gene held up the oxygen mask for me. I really loved how cold it felt on my face! I was *so* overheated! Soon Paula was busy catching the latest addition to the family! Welcome little Henry! Once Henry was out, I was helped into bed to await the arrival of the placenta while admiring how handsome our little man was. Thank goodness Claudette was a good photographer…we have lots of photos of those first moments with Henry. I couldn’t believe how great I felt after giving birth! I even was able to take myself to the bathroom later…talk about major differences in even the smallest details from the miserable c-section recoveries!

Henry is the biggest baby we’ve had yet…he beat Joey by 2 ounces. Henry was 8 pounds, 3 ounces and 21 inches long. He was born at 12:01am on March 20. Who knew what a difference 45 minutes could make in our lives!

*****

Here's the tub we never got around to using...I was so excited about it, too! Maybe next time!
Henry's first real photo!

Here's Gene cutting Henry's cord with Paula's assistance. I'd never seen any of this before, so it was really pretty neat!

Here's our first real family photo of Momma, Daddy, and Henry.

This was Easter morning...Lucy & Henry just LOVE Henry!