More from the 3D swap....

I LOVE this! It's a birthday calendar with a matching beaded pen! I can't wait to make these pens, soooo stinkin' easy, but so cute!!

Happy Birthday, Dad!!!

It's my Dad's birthday today!!! Hi, Dad! How old are you?! 52!!!!

Happy Birthday, baby girl!!!

I can't believe it! My baby is 6 today! 1st grader, missing her top 2 and bottom 2 teeth, full of spunk and attitude, Daddy's little girl, Hannah Montana fanatic, flip-flopper (and I don't mean the shoes), our little fashion diva, can't pronounce her R's who has the most beautiful natural highlights in her hair (yes, I'm a wee bit jealous!). This doesn't even come close to summing up this little ball of fire, but it's a start!

I remember the day her big sister, Mara (not quite 3 years old yet), came to visit her in the hospital. Mara sat on my hospital bed holding Micah in her lap with my help and just fawned all over her baby sister. Anytime anyone came in to see Micah or tried to hold her, Mara threw a HUGE fit! Grandpa Jewell eventually had to take Mara out of the room so that other people could hold Micah without hearing her fit! McKenna was about 20 months old and could care less about the new addition to the family!

I also remember that this was a labor and delivery where I had no pain medication and not by my choice! No way. I was admitted right after my doctor's appt. that day due to pre-eclampsia. I was hooked up to pitocin for awhile until my doc came in to break my water. I knew from experience that that's when the "fun" starts. I don't remember how many hours I was in pain, but I just wasn't dilating even after the nurse had upped my pitocin to as much dosage as she could give me. The decision was made that my doc was going to manually dilate me. OUCH, you say? Well, I was begging for anything to be done by this time! I just knew that an epidural was in my near future and I could not wait! Well, it's all a kind of blur after that. The epidural tray was set up and ready to go, but never got used. I went from 0 to dilated to 10 within one contraction, honest to God. I've never seen a group of people move so fast then! I just remember grabbing Steve by the shirt and pulling him to me yelling "I can't do this!!!". Let's just say I was not winning Patient of the Year by this point with any of those nurses in the room! LOL!! But, all ended just fine and dandy. Micah was 5lb. 9oz. of wonderful joy! We even left the hospital a day early! And Grandma Lillian and Grandpa Birrell came to visit shortly after we arrived home.

It's been a wild 'n crazy 6 years, little one! Have a Happy 6th Birthday!!!

Creatively Yours Sketch #24.....

....comin' right at ya! Go check out the fabulous sketch by Noella and the other example by the awesome Trish! Using none other than one of the past excellent BYOM kits {which I am officially done with that kit now, Carmen! It's a great feeling!! ;) }

Steve and I and the girls are heading out as soon as I get off of work tomorrow and going to Atlanta to visit Steve's sister, Jeanne, for the Labor Day weekend. The girls are super duper excited to go see Aunt Jeanne. Not too much planned, just hanging out, mostly. I think we're gonna check out the Underground, maybe walk around Georgia Tech (where my Steve's nephew, Christian, is in his 3rd year). Maybe hit a park or go swimming. I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful holiday weekend!

Be sure to check back on Monday for my posting of layouts {and a card this time!} from the new September BYOM kit!! It's not even September yet and my kit is practically all used up already! It's a good one, folks! Snatch one up while you can!

Love U!

No, actually, I didn't make this for Steve for Valentine's Day! LOL! I made this for a scrap challenge and I can't even remember the site, isn't that horrible! {Do you see a trend here with my lousy memory?! See, Shan, it doesn't get any better! ;) } Can you tell I like sewing?!

Happy Birthday, Tiffany!!!!

29, right? ;)

An oldie but a goodie...

These were the Thank You cards I made for my friends for thinking of me when my Grandmother died last summer. I used the timeless set "Heartfelt Thanks". This set is just beautiful. I love the 2-step stamping in this set, too. Used some more sewing!

Just a little 8x8 layout

I did this little 8x8 to practice for a 12x12 I did for me and Tiffany's National Scrapbook Day mini event back in May. I used Close to Cocoa DSP and my fave stamp set Baroque Motifs! This pic is of McKenna taken about 3 years ago at the Rennaisance Festival up near Chicago.

WHY did they retire this set?!

I absolutely LOVE this set...."Happy Hello" I think is the name (I'm horrible with set names if you can't tell!) I love the asymetrical circles, regular circles, small clustered circles, the fun little font for 'hello'....it's all good. This was for a swap at Tiffany's sometime last year. Did a bit of my fave thing...sewing!

Shoebox Swap card

This was a shoebox swap I did back in December for our team meeting at Darla's. This was a Level 3 hostess set called "Time Well Spent" in the catalog that all demonstrator's got for FREE from Stampin' Up in December! Yay for free stuff!! :)

Giant Altered Clothespin

Another cutsie little goody from the 3D Swap at Convention and with the Statement of the Heart card to match! There were some awesome-ly talented ladies in my group, weren't there?! Oh, just wait, there are some even cooler stuff to come from that swap!

LWTIME!

This is what McKenna came up with last night. She was sitting with me on the couch, reading what I was typing, which happened to be ROFL. She leaned over and asked "What does ROFL mean?" I told her and she answered "I've never rolled on the floor laughing. I've laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes, though. That would be....LW..." (and then she couldn't get past that, so I finished it). I said "Should that replace ROFL?" and she said it should, so here it is! :)

I just got back from riding 17 miles this morning! I think Steve and I are going to try and ride our new modified version of the 21 mile Strassenfest route (ie: less hills!) which I liked alot better. Oh, don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of killer hills, though. And, I only walked up one hill this time around!! We also passed a HUGE patch of blooming sunflowers that was just beautiful!! Where was my camera when I needed it?!

Last night we went to Evansville and picked up the flooring for the bathroom in the basement. Someone is coming in the next week or two to finish up the bathroom for us!!! I'm so excited! Slowly, but surely, the basement is going to get finished. I'm painting it today....Teal Zeal!! I picked out the decor a couple of weeks ago...cream with different shades of teals and greens (think lime green and sage green). I'll have to take before and after pics. Mara is dying to pick out stuff for her new bedroom. I gotta say, I am too! I love this whole decorating process. I do have a feeling, though, that we are going to be butting heads about what she wants vs. what she gets.

I'm headed out after painting the bathroom to Tiffany's to work on my layouts for our Scrapbook Event Sept. 6!!

Oh, and Mara and McKenna think I ROCK {of course ;) !}! You should've seen me rock the Mario Party games on Mara's Nintendo DS last night! They were highly impressed with my DS abilities, to say the least!! Steve's concerned with my newfound obsession with the DS.....I think he's just jealous that I ROCK! LWTIME! ;)

3D Swap goodie from Convention!!

This is a little corkboard with SU chipboard, DSP and ribbon on the stick pins....isn't it adorable?! I just need to figure a way to hang it up and this little cutie is going up in my scrap room! I just loved all the ideas I got from that swap!

Sock Monkey!!!!!

This was the card front I did for Tiffany's Crop 'n Swap last week. I used my new, beloved Sock Monkey stamp set! I just love that little guy. I also just got the adorable little Accessories just yesterday!! Can you say "bunny ears"?! I can't WAIT to make some Easter cards with that!

Anyway, it seems like I've not done much lately if you've been following my blog. But, nooooo, I've been scrappin' my little heart out behind the scenes here! I just did 3 layouts and a card with the September kit at BYOM, but I can't post those until the first of the month. I also did a layout for sketch #24 coming up at Creatively Yours, but I can't post that yet, either! Last week I had a Stampin' Up workshop/open house at a customer's house and made a gift bag, refrigerator magnet, and card for that, but I completely forgot to take pics of that! I also made 2 sets of notecards for an order for my step MIL, but I forgot to take pictures of those, too! Geesh!!

So, over the next several days, I'm going to post some older cards I've done but never posted. I'm also going to post a couple of things from the 3D Swap at Convention.

1st Birthday Invitations

I just finished up Asher's 1st Birthday invitations today!! I think they turned out so cute, if I do say so myself! LOL! I used Basic Black cs and ink, Brilliant Blue, Glorious Green, and Real Red cs and SU markers in the same color, and the retired stamp set "By Land" (thanks, Hillory!). I also used the ticket punch, slant punch, and tab punch. TFL!!!

Check this out!!!

Sketch #20 posted at Creatively Yours is the sketch I worked with for my very first assignment on the sketch blog! WooHoo!! The title is kinda hard to see "Ol' Blue Eyes" and it's of my precious nephew, Asher! I just can't help but scrap that little cutie patootie!! And, I used glitter, flowers, and a heart....all on a boys' page!! Yes, it can be done! LOL!! Thanks for such an awesome sketch to work with, Noella! Oh, and of course, I have to mention, I did this with pattern paper and alphabets from Bring Your Own Memories!! ;)

Buffalo Chicken Dip

This recipe is for you girls who requested the recipe of my hubby's Buffalo Chicken Dip that we had at Tiffany's Hostess Day!!! Oh, and I want to thank you girls for checking out my little ol' blog every once in a while....so here's a shout out to you!!! ;)

20 oz. canned chicken
16 oz. cream cheese
1 whole bottle of Buffalo Wing sauce (generic $2, Hooter's brand $5; hubby went with generic!)
Ranch dressing or Bleu Cheese dressing to tame it down a bit if needed.

Pour all the ingredients together in a pan, heat it up until the cream cheese is melty and everything is stirred well. Voila! Serve with crackers and/or celery sticks!

Enjoy!

New layout for BYOM

It's really not as crooked IRL as it looks on here....I was just too lazy to take another photo and upload and crop and resize, so I just went with it! LOL! I used everything from the kit or extras except the alphabet was from a previous kit and some old chipboard. These papers from SEI are so stinkin' cool! I love how they all have some shimmer to them!! Go check it out and pick up a kit for yourself!

First day of school!!!

The customary show of fingers what grade they are in! Can you believe it?! 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade!! They are growing way too fast. And, then, I just couldn't resist putting up the second pic of them, they just look so stinkin' cute together!

Micah posing with her new Hannah Montana messenger bag. She is turning into a Hannah Montana FREAK lately!

McKenna posing with her all time favorite....Hello Kitty, of course!

And, last but not least, Mara with her High School Musical messenger bag. It's nothing new that she's still a High School Musical FANATIC and still in love with Troy!

So, what am I going to do with myself on this first day all alone?! ENJOY! LOL! Well, I also have quite a bit of stuff to do around the house, mail off some notecards I did for Lillian(+take a pic and post on here!), and hopefully get my some scrappin' in! :)

Until next time.....

A new name frame!!

I just made this cute-sy little name frame for my friend, Tiffany, at work. She needed it for a friend of hers who's preggers with a girl whom she is going to name River. Isn't that adorable?! I used the new Bella Rose pattern paper from Stampin' Up (thanks, Nicole!!!). Also from SU are the flower punches and ticket punch and blingy brads. I used my Cricut Alphalicious font for the name, some odd and end buttons, ribbon, and pin and QK photo anchor. TFL!!

WooHoo and travelling snafus.....

What an awesome coming home surprise!! I just got back from Salt Lake City, UT from the ginormous SU convention way early this morning, complete with snafus, which I will embellish on in a bit. Anyhoo, I'm finally sitting down at 11pm tonite to check my email when I find several emails from Noella at Creatively Yours (sketch blog). I'm finding an email for the design team contract, a new sketch to work on and DT blinkies! Checked out the site and I was named a DT member for this fabulous sketch blog!! WooHoo!!! I'm so super duper excited!! Thanks, Noella!!!

Ok, convention was AMAZING. Some of the accomplishments of the demonstrators there is awe-inspiring. I don't see how they do it. It did get me pumped up to try and work my business a little more. I'm not setting any lofty goals for myself, but I'll be happy with whatever I do, as long as I'm loving what I'm doing and not stressing myself out. I don't have any pictures of convention, as Tiffany was the photographer (of course!). I'll have to wait until I get a CD from her or she uploads them to Kodak Gallery to post some pics. Lots of fun stories, but some of them have to wait and some just need pics in order to appreciate! LOL! I did get my picture taken with Shelli, though! There were 6,000 demonstrators there and talk about a flippin' mad house. I was glad to be home and not have to fight thru crowds anymore! We bought some great goodies at Memento Mall and I had some neat-o swaps that I had to ship home because I didn't have enough room to take them back with me on the plane!! That package should be here sometime this week, so as soon as it comes in I'll be taking pictures and posting on here.

Snafus....well, Tiffany accidently shipped her keys in her bag back home she used as a carry-on while flying with some swap stuff and other purchases, but didn't realize this until we had come off the plane in Louisville. Ooops!! Well, yeah, we were a bit upset, but, hey, stuff like that happens. So, she thought, maybe, possibly, they were in her luggage (it was a stretch, but we were keeping our fingers crossed). So, we go to the baggage claim and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait for our luggage. Yep, no luggage for either one of us, plus like 4 other people on our flight. Oh, by this time I was a cussin' (just ask Steve, he got the brunt of it when I called him {at midnight by this time} to vent). So, we had to rent a car to get back home. Finally made it home at 2am. But, Tiffany and her hubby still can't find the extra keys to the truck, so there the truck sits in long term parking at the airport until UPS delivers our packages from convention......

Oh, and how can I forget my big accomplishment?! I rode 20 miles on my bike today!! Steve and I rode in the bike ride for Strassenfest and I made it to the end without suffering from a heart attack! LOL! I did have to walk up some hills, but I finished!!!

That's all for now, folks. It's late and I'm going to bed. But, go check out what the DT did at Bring Your Own Memories for the August kit! This kit is phenomenal!! Hopefully I'll be getting to play with the kit very soon and I'll post my creations!!! And, don't forget about checking out the gorgeous sketches at Creatively Yours, too!!