Catch-up on the kids

I finally got a new USB cable so that my camera can talk to my computer...hopefully I'll be able to get some serious blog updating done now!

Here's Henry at 3 1/2 months old...he's still the easiest and happiest of all three kids at this stage of the game! He's always so smiley! He loves to be held or even just sit & watch everything going on around him. He's just starting to want to touch things on purpose, so pretty soon we'll have to start watching what he's sitting near, but for now he has nearly no aim and is pretty laid-back about what he touches or doesn't touch.

You can see Lucy is quite the woman...she loves to talk on the phone to whomever might be calling. Here she is talking to my mom in Michigan. She's quite serious about the phone! She takes the phone & paces around the house while talking; sometimes she takes the phone out in the backyard while she's chatting away. Quite the multi-tasking woman already... You can see she can care for a baby (or a kitty cat in this case!) while on the phone. :P
He looks like he's trying to be tough, but Joey's really trying to smile while concentrating on keeping my shoes on his feet! This is Joey playing dress-sup with Lucy. Sometimes he does get out the Indian princess dress that Lucy wore for Halloweeen or some of her other snazzy dress-up clothes, but the day I took this, he just dressed up his feet. Poor guy! He needs some *boy* dress-up clothes & shoes! He is so funny (and so unsuccessful!) when he tries to wear Lucy's little plastic girly play high-heels all in pink & purple...


Has anyone wondered how high you could throw an almost-three-year old? You can stop wondering! Here's Gene throwing Lucy into the air in our backyard. He asked me to come take some pictures of this so that he could send some photos to his grandmother in Washington. He never had believed me when I guessed he was throwing her easily 10 feet into the air until he saw the photographic evidence...now he *really* knows! Look at how happily she soars up, up, up into the stratosphere! Remember as you look that Gene's about 6'6", so when you look at the picture, compare the height of his head with hers! WOWZA! ...and this is one of her favorite things to do!

Notice the difference between Joey & Lucy? This is as high as Joey goes...and please note that he holds on to Dad's sleeve so that Dad can't be sneaky and throw him any higher...he knows this is already pretty high! I just loved having these photos that showed so accurately some key differences between Joey & Lucy...she is SO daring and fearless! Joey's a bit more aware that gravity could get you at any moment. :P

Last Day for Fresh Cut Notes!

I LOVE these cards and the matching stamp set! I had to order a bunch of extra notecards because I liked them so much & they're so quick to stamp up for my friends. The one I have here features a layer of acetate (overhead transparency) that I stamped on with white Stazon ink.

Check it out!






Here you can see the inside of the card so that you'll see how the transparency was attached after I layered the five-petal flower punch. I used a few dots of Mono Multi & voila!

Pull out Album

Okay, this one's not only cute, but it's QUICK! My whole album took about 20 minutes to make...seriously! And I was reading the directions as I went, too! This was one of the most recent SCS tutorials. If you want to have detailed directions, please check it out.

Here's mine. I used designer paper from the mini...it's only going to be here through the 30th, so order some now if you fall for the colors and patterns like I did. I had to order extra!






And once it was assembled, I just attached eight wallet-sized photos onto the fold-out insides & the book was DONE! It was so easy that I've already decided I'm going to be making bunches of these with my zillions of fun, retired designer papers that need some serious lovin'! Try it for yourself!

Last day of Carousel Notes...for now...

Alright, I have one last project to share with you (for now until I think of something else really cool). This project is one that a fellow demo came up with & I think it's absolutely ingenious! Janine Tinklenburg designed this purse...take a peek!

At first glance, it just looks like a decorative purse, but open it up, and...

It turns into a mini scrapbook! Look a little closer...

...and it even has pockets for more room to place photos & journaling! This is one cool "card" to give someone! I still have to dress mine up a bit, but you can see it's going to be quick & easy to fill!

Carousel Notes, take three!

Here's a nice change-up of the old tried-and-true bagalope. I used both the Carousel Note along with its envelope for this fun gift package.

To make the basic package, just seal the envelope and score three sides at 1/2". The cut off the remaining side. Fold the scored sides VERY well & when you open the envelope, it becomes a bag. You can, of course, modify how far in you score your envelope to make it a fatter, shorter bag or a taller, thinner bag.

My topper is the notecard. I scored it twice. I found the middle scallop & scored it on either side (from valley to valley, if that helps). When I stuck it on the top of the bagalope, I realized that the middle scallop hung off & looked like those humongous shoulder pads everyone wore in the 80's, so I cut off the ends. I Crop-a-diled a pair of jumbo eyelets into the top & tied some Chocolate Chip satin ribbon (Theater Originals ribbon assortment, if you're looking) through the holes, and voila! I was done! ...with a little simple stamping thrown in using my beloved Live Your Dreams set... :O)

Carousel Notes...another idea!

Here's another fun Carousel Note project for you:

I had to use two of the Carousel Notes to create this hinged card, but it was another super easy creation! I used the Afternoon Tea designer paper again along with the Live Your Dream set and the Chocolate Chip twill tape from the mini. This time, I added a punched image using my scallop circle punch to mirror the Carousel Note's design. To attach the front and back of the card together, I used some of my fabulous Mono Multi & wrapped the twill tape around where I'd made my score line so that I covered the line. Easy-peasy! Enjoy!

Less than one week left of the mini catalog!

In honor of the soon-to-be-expired mini catalog, I am going to be posting some fun projects using the Carousel notes from the mini catalog. It took me awhile to get them and then some more time to mess around with them...don't forget I was busy having a baby during this mini catalog, so I get a little leeway!

I have found that I REALLY like these! At first, I had no clue what to do with something so different from every other precut card I'd ever used, but once you start, the possibilities just keep presenting themselves! This card is something fairly simple without adding too much to the original card.

I used my Afternoon Tea designer paper along with the Live Your Dream set from the mini in addition to the Chocolate Chip twill tape...also from the mini...for the basic card. I really wanted to work in the "thanks" from the stamp set for my greeting, so I used my designer label punch through the Whisper White layer of cardstock, layered it over the Chocolate Chip cardstock, attached the silver hodgepodge frame (from the mini catalog!), and stamped "thanks" through the hole in white ink. I also decided to jazz up the scalloped edge by dry embossing using my Crop-a-dile. Then I sponged *everything* because after glitter and ribbon, a girl's best friend is an inky Chocolate Chip sponge! I swear that color goes with everything under the sun!

The final step? Address the lovely Chocolate Chip envelope & mail this puppy off to a friend! Yes, I actually sent this off already...I'm widely noted for taking forever to mail things out. I hate taking all the kids to the post office... :O( Plus, I'm just a procrastinator...I still have one last thank you card from Lucy's birthday *last* year to mail out. Yeah, her next birthday is in three weeks...oops!