Lila Grace was born on the afternoon of Mother’s Day. Baby is doing great, as is Mommy… despite Lila weighing almost 9 pounds. (Yikes!)

Not the greatest photos, but we are focusing on leaving the camera aside and just enjoying the time with her. And to say that Colin is madly in love is an understatement. I just can’t describe it…

Lila (pronounced Lie-La) is a name Ken has had his heart set on for a long time. And I have always wanted the name Grace for a middle name. I look forward to Kay and Audrey meeting her soon, and then our little family will be complete. God is so very good.

Back to crafting soon. Thanks for the prayers!

Sorry I haven’t posted in a few days. Between these last few days of (not-so-comfortable) pregnancy, a remodel (we lose our whole first floor on Monday) and Colin’s activities, I haven’t had much energy to create. But I promise to be back to sharing soon. (Unless, of course, this baby is on time and makes an appearance!)

Thank you for the nice emails. I love this hobby and the amazingly kind people in it.

See you soon.

PS: The winner of the Lawn Fawn Paper Pad was Mlightner.

Just have a simple card to share using a Hero Arts stamp and die along with some Hero Arts acetate…

This went together so fast. (Gotta love that.) I layered and adhered all the papers that would end up on the front of the card together. I then temporarily stuck them to the front of the card and ran them through my die cut machine with the Edge label die. (Adore this die – I used it HERE, too, without the stamps. So versatile.) Next I stamped the owl label image with White Staz-On Ink on a piece of acetate. Once it dried, I sandwiched the image between the die cut layered piece and the die cut card. The perfect window with a “floating” white image.

I added some paper to the inside to show through, too. Finally, I jazzed up the acetate with a few “floating” pearls.

BTW, this is the label die I used. It matches up with this owl stamp along with several other Hero Arts stamps. But I like to use it alone, too. I like that is has a little more interest on the tips of the label than most label dies do.

All the supplies are listed below in the thumbnails.

I usually don’t share a lot of personal/boring/non-crafting life stuff here. But I just had to say this – Happy 6th birthday, little man. Thanks for making this life of ours so amazing.

Have a great day!

Our next little one is expected to arrive this spring and we are all over the moon. Feeling blessed.

Friends and family have know for some time now. But I have been having some struggles for the past few months (with my health – the pregnancy and baby are great), so I just have kept a bit quiet about it. But since the doctor has given me the OK to go to CHA, I thought it would be good to share here to avoid people wondering when they saw my new “enhanced belly size” in the next few days.

I am so very happy to welcome a new future stamper to this world very soon.

Hope you have a great day.

(Oh, and note to self: red striped shirts on a big belly = giant candy cane. Ha.)

Print a bunch of your favorite family photos.
Laminate them.
Punch holes in the corner.
Put them on a key ring.
Attach them to the built-in key strap in your son’s backpack.

Then tell him that once he is on the bus, he can look in his backpack for the first time to see what fun pictures were included…

Next, you will watch him get on the bus – all excited. And as you stand there in complete shock, you will see him wave from his seat… and then open his backpack to see the photos inside.

And then, in that moment, you will feel like a really good momma.

Who would have guessed it was that easy?

Answered prayers.

(Oh, and he still LOVES the bus and school. Yay! And the Luigi patch? I have etsy.com to thank for that one.)

Be sure to check out Simon Says Stamp’s STAMPtember.

There are great sales going on – something new every day! You can follow along HERE on their blog.

See you soon.

We are still on vacation and it is heavenly. Here I am snorkeling with the kiddos…

I love being in the water. It is amazing here.

Anyway, I know I have a lot of winners to announce, but I will do them all when I am home. Internet is very sketchy down here. This is my first success so far. But, I do have to admit: I am ok with that. The water is calling my name.

See you soon!

…I married the most amazing man…

…and became Mum to these two remarkable girls…

… and I haven’t stopped thanking God since.

Life is good.

I am here for editorial meeting with Paper Crafts. We all arrived, hit In and Out Burgers and are now in our jammies chatting. Here are the Go To Gals…

So, I will be back soon with more to share and another giveaway. (Oh, and by the way, the winner of the Studio Calico goodies is Marcia D! I emailed you.)

See you soon!

If you want to feel your heart soar, watch this performance of How Great Thou Art. Wow.

Hugs…

Cards? Most I send. Some I donate. A few get pitched.

Layouts? They all go into a box, waiting to someday make it into an album.

Mini albums? I never know what to do with them, so I don’t ever make them.

And rarely – just rarely – do I put out on display something I have made.

But this one? It is out in my studio so that I can see it often. I just love the photo…

I actually made this one for CHA over a year ago – for Tim Holtz to use in his Idea-ology booth. It was a fun one to create…

Just layered and stitched lots of Idea-ology fun on it…

This photo is extra special to me because I actually remember when it was taken. Colin was a bitty one and I was so very happy. But when he turned 6 weeks, I was hit with postpartum depression and the next 6 months were a blur. But those first 6 weeks? I remember them clearly. And this photo captures that time. Thank God for photos.

Off to relax. This week has been trying. Looking forward to a fresh start tomorrow!

Night.

Project Supplies: