Mojo Monday 298 - Baby Shower Card

I'm attending my cousin's wife's baby shower (my cousin-in-law?) on Saturday, and while I do have her gift ready to be wrapped, I did not have a card made.  Yet.

I was drawing a blank in terms of inspiration, so I looked at the Mojo Monday sketch for this week:

Julee's sketch did not disappoint!  As soon as I saw the sketch, my mind started thinking of a perfect card for my cousin's wife.  Here is what I came up with:

Here is a photo of the stamped image, up close:

I kept the inside of the card plain, but I did stamp the corresponding sentiment from One in A Million in Tempting Turquoise.

I used the following products for my card:

Stampin' Up:  One in A Million stamp set, card stock (Pool Party, Whisper White, Soft Suede, and DSP), inks (Tempting Turquoise, Soft Suede); Chevron embossing folder, Big Shot, Stampamajig

Non-Stampin' Up:  Footprint stamp

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

Owl Anniversary Card

This month, R and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary.  Can you believe we've been married for four years already?  Time definitely flew by.

For our anniversary, I made a simple window card for R.

I finally got to pull out my Stampin' Up! owl punch.  It's one of the first punches that caught my eye, when I was new to Stampin' Up.  I just think the owl is so darn cute.  And two owls are even cuter, so I made two. One for C, one for R (R's owl looked a bit googly-eyed, but that's the point :p).

I cut them out of Soft Suede card stock, and then their bellies in Marina Mist and Regal Rose card stocks.  The eyes are made of Basic Black card stock with googly eyes from my stash.  The Real Red heart was cut from the retired Heart to Heart punch.  The sentiment was from Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set, on Whisper White card stock, and punched out with the Word Window punch (another one of my favorites).

I cut the "window" on both the Soft Suede card base and the Early Espresso mat using the 2-1/2 circle punch.  Then I ran the Early Espresso mat on the Big Shot, with the Woodgrain embossing folder -- and voila! -- instant tree bark!

The owls were laid on another Early Espresso mat on the inside of the card, with the sentiment, to make them stand out..

I really like my owls -- I think they're super cute!

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

P. S.  Photos are again taken with my iPhone5.  I should get my camera back this weekend (hopefully). 

Happy Father's Day!

I know I completely dropped the ball on Mother's Day, cardmaking-wise.  I had a very good excuse -- I had a party to prepare for!

But for Father's Day, I have no excuse -- I have some free time, and no parties to attend.  Also, I'm trying to accomplish my goals for the next six weeks. :)

I made a card (please don't faint ;p) for me to give to R with his gift.  The photos below were taken with my iPhone's camera.  I usually take photos with my Canon T3i, but I left the camera at my in-laws' house, so I'll have to make do until I get it back.

This is a quick and easy card, because I do not have all of my supplies within easy reach.  I am in the process of reorganizing my craft room, and most of my things are piled on top of each other while I "plan" my space.  I got lucky with the basketball stamp (it was from my stash).  R is into basketball (he's we're watching the NBA playoffs as I type this), and he is looking forward to shooting hoops with r when he's old enough (r is not even walking yet).

I also made it into a spinner card (the basketball "spins"/rolls around when he flips the card side to side), which I know he will love.

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

P. S.

The card was made with the following Stampin' Up! supplies:
Tangerine Tango card stock
Marina Mist card stock
Whisper white card stock
Best Dad Ever stamp set
Jet Black StazOn ink
Marina Mist ink
1-1/4 inch circle punch

I don't think the basketball stamp was from Stampin' Up!; it was from my stash (and I can't remember where it was from).

Introducing -- My Family!

Okay.

I think it's time to name the members of my family in this blog.  I tried to just refer to my husband as "my husband" and to my son as "my son," but then "my son" is actually "our son."  "My husband" is still only MY husband (no one else's), although he threatens to divorce me if I make him carry boxes and boxes of craft stuff if we move.

Then I got to call them DS (for dear son) and DH (for dear hubby), like they do in the forums...but those don't seem to work for me.  I keep seeing a blur of D's when I read my posts.

So in the proud tradition of initials as nicknames, may I present R (my husband) and r (my son).

Relative Freedom

May was an odd month for my family.

After being sick for 3 weeks (sinus infection for me, ear infection for r, and horrible allergies for R) following r's first birthday party, we are happy to finally regain our senses of smell (and taste).

Also, since I have been buried in work-related activities up until the first week of June, my crafting had been pushed to the backseat.

And now, I have 6 -- SIX -- weeks of relative freedom.  Which means,  I can do a lot of the things I love, like hanging out with my family (it's surprising that r still calls me "Mamama" and R still remembers what I look like), craft, bake (hopefully), and just plain relax, until I need to get back to high gear with work.  I still go to work, but the pressure has let up a little bit, so I can act like a normal person, until the pressure kicks up again.  Aaaah...relative freedom.  Freedom in any shape or form is welcome. :)

In the next 6 weeks, I hope to accomplish the following:

1.  Make several handmade cards for different occasions, to replenish my supply.

2.  Finish my pregnancy scrapbook.

3.  Get started on r's baby book.

4.  Bake some goodies to share with family and friends, like I used to.

5.  Reorganize my craft room.

6.  Order some Stampin' Up products!!!

Of course, I'll share with you all what I can. :)

Thanks so much for sticking patiently with me!  Have a great day!

2,628,000

Another non-crafty post.

I just realized what most of you probably know already -- time is relevant.

On Friday, r will officially be a year old.  It will be 12 days, 365 days,  or 525,600 minutes since I gave birth.  Wow.  In all my nights of counting sheep, I could never have counted up to half a million.

And now it's here.

Today I got a phone call about a lab test I had done yesterday.  While poking and prodding me, the nurse explained that I will hear back from them by Friday, or Tuesday (because of the long weekend) at the earliest.

And now, less than 25 hours later, I play the message on my voicemail:

"Hi, this message is for C.  You came in for a blood draw yesterday...Can you please call XXX-XXXX and ask to speak to Abby?  We wanted to speak to you about some of your labs."

Gulp.

It did not help that I heard the message at 1:00pm.  Which meant, everyone (including Abby) but me, will be on lunch break.  I call anyway.

"Hi, this is C, returning a phone call from Abby... (hyperventilates).  Please call me back at XXX-XXXX.  Wow.  Oh, my goodness.  I'll be by the phone.  Thank you."

I pass out from anxiety.

Just kidding.  It was the longest 30 minutes of my life.  And believe me, I felt all 1,800 of those seconds tick by.

1:30pm.  I call again.  Abby answers.

"Hi, C!  I just wanted to let you know that there was a problem with---"

WHAAAATTT???  Oh, no...I don't have a will in place.  My life insurance will take care of R and r, though.

"--our lab.  We are unable to run one of our tests, and we would like for you to come back for another blood draw.  Can you come in at 3:30pm today?"

"Um, sure."  I stammer.  "I would LOVE to come in at 3:30pm today.  I really hate needles, but right now, I've never been so happy that you just needed more blood."

Abby:  "Oh, what were you thinking I was calling about?"

Me:  "The worst."

  

Abby:  "Oh, I'm sorry."

Me:  "Oh, please, don't be.  I'm really just glad it was just more blood."

And I could literally feel the years (that she scared out of me) drain out of me.  Yes, all 2,628,000 minutes of them.

If There's a Will...

(Warning:  This is a non-crafty post.)

... there is a way.

You know how some products are "something"-proof? Like how prescription bottles are child-proof, how packaged food is tamper-proof, how some smartphones are shock-proof?

Well, I've proven to myself that a car is not C-proof.

Several months ago, I managed to lock myself and my son out of our apartment, and then our car.  In a span of minutes.  That takes skill, people.

I had to explain how that happened on my frantic call to AAA, while DS's and my teeth (DS has 8 teeth) were chattering in the cold air:
1.  Every morning, my husband thoughtfully takes my large purse, laptop, and lunch bag to the car, so all I needed to carry with me are DS and DS's lunch.  DH locks the car with the spare, and drives off to work.
2.  The night before, I ran an errand (unusual for me) and while I usually stuff my keys into my coat pocket, for whatever reason, I absent-mindedly clipped my keys to my purse.
3.  Yes, the same large purse that my husband thoughtfully takes to the car the next morning, in addition to my laptop bag and lunch bag.
4.  Yes, my car keys and my apartment keys are in one key ring.
5.  DH was working 2 hours away that morning (and could not come to our rescue).

Sometimes, my brilliance astounds me.  I'm sure the representative on the other end of the line was equally astounded.

Thankfully, both my apartment and AAA offer exceptionally quick lockout service.