Cheddar Bunnies on a Hot Air Balloon

Today we commenced potty training with my older son. As it is our first day of concerted effort (we've been half-heartedly putting him on the potty every now and again for months), there were the predictible accidents and so on, but we soldier on nonetheless. He did seem to think the "big boy" training pants were pretty neat, so maybe the novelty of it will help as well. He did ask for his diaper when we were trying to get him to put on the trainers, and seemed a little confused, but soon got into it. I ordered this nifty little timer called Itzbeen to help me keep track of the time so I remember to put him on the potty every half hour or so. Our sitter is helping us as well, which is great because she has a ton of experience with these things.

And now for something completely different...the larch. Oh wait, different card. Sorry. :)


Today's card is a riff on an idea I got from Mary-Jo Price-Williams. Remember the sweet treats cups from the last two mini catalogs? She had wanted one of the stamp sets that coordinated with them and featured a hot air balloon image, but didn't have the set, so she modified a different set (Nursery Necessities) she did have to make the hot air balloon. Brilliant! I filed her idea away for a rainy day (and it is sauna steamy here today with intermittent rain!) and decided today was the day. One of my nephews will turn 5 this month and I wanted to make him a cool card, and thought again of the hot air balloon idea.


I pulled out last week's ColourQ color challenge, because I thought it was the perfect color scheme for a boy's card, plus I happened to have a sheet of ballet blue to hand, and combined it with the Stamping 411 sketch for this week. I ended up modifying the sketch a bit, turning it on its side and moving the sentiment down, but I like the final result!


In a moment of inspiration, I decided to put a bunch of cheddar bunnies crackers in the cup, because I wanted something lightweight so the card wouldn't be top-heavy, and also because it was kind of matchy-matchy with my color scheme.

Here's hoping the birthday boy likes it! Since these cards have to be mailed in bubble mailers, I found a cool Toy Story 3 one at the post office and got it just for this card.

Supplies:

Ballet Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Naturals White cs
Nursery Necessities, Birthday Bliss, Sweet Sentiments stamp sets
Ballet Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Barely Banana inks/markers
copper eyelet, CAD
Pumpkin pie grosgrain, Certainly Celery twill, kraft taffeta ribbon
1 3/4" circle punch, hobby knife
sweet treats cup
Annie's Whole Wheat Cheddar Bunnies

Birth Announcements

Greetings on Memorial Day! This morning I planned to take the kids to Cherry Hill Mall to allow my toddler to run off some steam in an air-conditioned environment (it is pretty steamy today) and my husband decided at the last minute to come along too! It ended up being a good thing that he came along because my toddler was in a mood, having woken up at 5:15 a.m. this morning, and while not usually prone to tantrums, was having a hard time this morning. I'm still glad we went, however, because it was air-conditioned, Piglet got his energy out and is now collapsed in bed, and the baby is peaceful for the moment. Perhaps I'll get a nap myself after my own early start!

One of my projects this month was to finish the baby's birth announcements and mail them out. I know in the era of Facebook and Shutterfly that hand made birth announcements are a little anachronistic, but I'm contrary that way. I enjoyed designing them and putting them together, and I think they just add a little something-something over the mass-produced kind. (Besides, as a SU! demonstrator, I could hardly in good conscience order something mass produced!)

Anyway, I had put together the first two layers and tied all the ribbon knots in April, so that once the baby was born, all I had to do was print the front layer, crop and adhere it, and put on the ribbon and photograph. That worked well, I thought! I love this color combo, which you may recall from this card. I wanted something that would be gender neutral, but also bright and fresh. This palette completely fit the bill!

Hello from the hinterland

I know, a post from me, shocking! I'm not getting much stamping done these days (surprise, surprise), but I have been working on a few things. I finally got the digital camera situation sorted, and now I'm able to take non-film photos to post. (Just for the record, I got a Canon A1100 IS in silver, and I {heart} it!!) I hope to post a few more projects this coming week.

My share for today is a wedding invitation sample with matching thank you. An etsy customer requested one of my Evelyn pocketfolds; hopefully she likes it well enough to order the invitation set from me! That would make my summer, let me tell you. Her colors are Red Riding Hood, More Mustard and Very Vanilla, which are pretty striking together. I redesigned the folder a bit so that it can be made from an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of cardstock rather than 12x12, which is slightly more economical, plus I think this particular version is a little less labor intensive, which is a bonus for me, since everything you see has to be hand-cut, -scored, and -assembled.


I have to say, I really like how the thank you came out. I had purchased some dsp on the clearance rack this month (I know, I know, I said I wasn't buying any new dsp until I made a dent in the stuff I had, but I just couldn't resist--there were several packs in colors I use All.The.Time., plus on the clearance rack, the packs are half price! Can't beat that.) and the colors and pattern were perfect for the design. Like the paper? It is still available on the clearance rack--just click the sidebar for my store (the Cherish Card) and go to the clearance rack to feed your own paper addiction!

Looks familiar, right? Yep, it is a color change up of this card, which you may remember from earlier this spring.

Supplies:
Red Riding Hood, More Mustard, Very Vanilla cs, Juntos dsp (clearance rack)
Baroque Motifs, Sincere Salutations stamp sets
Red Riding Hood, More Mustard ink
Red Riding Hood taffeta ribbon
Open Scallop edge punch
Very Vanilla satin ribbon

Good-bye to Old England Forever

One of the things I did with my mom last week during some of those marathon nursing sessions was to rewatch (for about the umpteenth time) was The Thorn Birds. I adore that series and the book. Some things just hold up well over time. Plus Richard Chamberlain is so delish. I must confess, I have a thing about hands--good hands are just so sexy on a man. And I must say, Richard Chamberlain has gorgeous hands. The rest isn't too shabby either! :)


I've had the theme song running through my head since then, but this morning I woke up with the song that the sheep shearers sing as they are leaving Drogheda after Luke wrangles an invitation to stay on as a stockman (hence the title of this blog post). I can't find a video of it, but here is the Thorn Birds theme from Henry Mancini.

"So where's my card fix today?," you are asking. I know, I know; I should be meeting the public's need for eye candy, but alas, I have nothing to share today. Between nursing the baby, managing my toddler, and my (new!) digital camera turning out to be defective and needing replacement (argh), I'm all done out! I am slowly working on the birth announcements, though, and hope to be able to share those with you soon.

Anniversaries

Today my mom flew back home (sniff, sniff). So now I have to start figuring out how to do this thing solo. Well, at least Boo is a better nurser and calmer baby overall than Piglet ever was. That makes it a bit easier, I suppose.

Last Saturday was my husband's and my fifth wedding anniversary, so we tried out a restaurant in the neighborhood that we've been meaning to check out: The Rose Tattoo Cafe. It is actually an historic building with original pressed tin walls and ceiling plus lots of great original wood work and stained glass fixtures. The food was very good (even if the service was a tad slow) and we had a nice time. I just put Boo in the carrier and off we went, leaving Piglet home with my mom. The day before, I made a card for the occasion, and while I'm happy I was able to get it made, I'm not totally thrilled with the result. Post partum mojo hit, I guess. My husband liked it, though, so that is what matters, right? I wasn't going to post it here at all, but my mom said I should, so here you go.

Happy Mother's Day!

To all you mamas out there, have a great day! I can finally share the card I made for my mother today, since I gave it to her this morning. I couldn't post it before now because she reads my blog and I didn't want to spoil the surprise.

Today is also the 8th day after my son's birth, so we had a priest and a few friends over for the brief naming ceremony around noon today.  Hereafter, I shall refer to him as "Boo".


Supplies:
Kraft (Crumb Cake), Brocade Blue, Always Artichoke cs
Bella's Bloom, Elements of Style stamp sets
Brocade Blue, Always Artichoke ink/markers
Lattice die
Brocade blue grosgrain ribbon
Perfect Polka dots dry emboss folder
dimensionals

Hello baby!

All that labor on Friday turns out to have been part of the warm up pitch! On Saturday night, 5/1/10 at 10:17 pm we welcomed into the world a beautiful baby boy. He weighed 6 pounds 5 1/2 oz and is 20 inches long. He is a peaceful baby (so far) and we are settling into life with our expanded family!

We don't name until the 8th day, which is next Sunday, so I will pass along our baby's name when he has one. :)