Happy Birthday Mary Kate!

It's hard to believe that my baby is already a year old. Mary Kate made her grand entrance into the world one year ago today when she unexpectedly broke my water (movie style water breaking). My c-section was scheduled for the 27th, but she decided she was ready on the 25th and nothing was going to stop her. Jeff and I were thrilled to find out that we added another girl to our family...rounding it out with two boys and two girls. Although Mary Kate's big party is this coming Saturday with family and friends...I still had to make her day special.

I decided to hang her banner... and give her her chair with her name on it.
Instead of a birthday cake (I'll make her big cake for Saturday) I decided to make her brownies. (Kind of a warm up for the real thing.)
We sang Happy Birthday...and Logan helped her blow out her candle.

She seemed to enjoy the brownie...however this picture is not the "first time eating cake at your birthday" picture that I hoped for. Saturday I will have to make sure she gets the part of the ladybug that is all red with extra icing so she is extra messy! I will be sure to share those pictures:)

Two Wheeling It!

The layout I was working on today is about Logan learning how to ride his bike without training wheels this past August. Earlier in the summer Logan's friend Matthew had mastered riding on two wheels...and this (eventually) sparked the desire in Logan (and Frank). On the same day (August 30), Logan and Frank decided that they wanted their training wheels off their bikes. I took the training wheels off and we headed to the backyard to work on balance while coasting down our hill (the same way my dad taught me). After about 10 trips down the hill the boys were ready for the road. I was nervous about scrapped knees, elbows, crashes, and chasing the two of they around to help them...but they did really well! I was so amazed at how quickly they conquered riding their bikes with two wheels.

I created the bike in the layout (below) by using this stamp (above) as a guide.

Here's the finished product! I asked Logan if he liked it and he responded, "Cool"...then continued playing his DS. I know he'll have more appreciation for it when he's older, right?

The assembly process...

Although Mary Kate's Birthday is Thursday we will be celebrating with family and friends this Saturday. I decided to do treat bags for all the kids that will be coming...I think my last count of kids was around 20...varying in ages from 1 to 10. So, instead of trying to find little toys, stickers, etc. to fill a treat bag for these various ages, I decided on candy. The universal gift that speaks to children of all ages.

I wanted to stick with the ladybug theme...so I created ladybug labels to wrap around little candy bars. (It's hard to see the candy bar in this picture but the writing says "Mary Kate's 1st Birthday!")

Then I bought red and black jelly beans to fill the bags.

I created a tag to attach to each bag by punching a red scalloped circle. Then I printed a thank you note on white card stock and used a circle punch to cut it out. Lastly, I attached a cute little ladybug brad that I found at Archivers.

(This was my assembly area...my kitchen counter.)

Here is the final product!

Friend Friday...

Although things seem to be getting back to normal (Logan finally had school on Thursday, the sun is shining, and the snow is melting) we're still indoors for the most part. So today I declared it to be "Friend Friday" at our house. Each of the kids got to invite a friend over to play and have lunch. Some people might call me crazy inviting more children over in addition to the four I already have...but when one of my kids has a friend over it cancels them out...meaning, they are so involved in playing with their friend that you don't see them until you call. Plus, I love watching my kids play with their friends and the creative things they come up with. I really should have had my video camera going the entire time.

Cara and Claire

The two of them spent their time together dressing up and pretending that one of them was the Mommy and the other was the sleeping (or crying) baby. Too funny!

Aidan and Frank

When these two get together their imagination is off the hook. As you can see, Aidan was Buzzy Light Year most of the morning. Frank was Batman for awhile as they fought crime (and animals) all over the house.

Andrew and Logan

These two big boys are very much into their video games. After lunch they were partners in crime as they played Lego Star Wars on the Wii.

Tomorrow I am off to Archivers to scrapbook with some friends. Our plan is to get there early and spend the day scrapping. If my creative juices are flowing tomorrow, I'll be sure to share some projects on Monday.

Have a great weekend!

More cards from scrap...

More cards from my attempts to use only scraps.

Sorry about this first picture...it's a little bright. I was having trouble getting the colors of the paper to show true in the picture with how I was taking the other pictures. Live and learn...Oh, by the way...the candle on this card is even recycled.

I used Ruby Slippers ~ Stickles to make the handle of the purse.

I made the flower on the purse by threading thread through one side of the ribbon and then I cinched it together. Also, the opening of this card is at the top of the purse where I attached the handles.

Well, that's all for now...I might be back with more later...we'll see:)

Cards from scraps...

As you can see from the picture...the snow has not let up here at all. This is a picture from my front door. None of my kids have been to school since last Monday...and another 2 hour delay today. With all of this snow, we've spent a lot of time inside.

So, in between building fortes with the kids, playing Play Doh, painting, hide and go seek, and the Wii I've been working on some cards. As I was working on these cards my only goal was to utilize any scrap paper I had in my scraps folder. For the most part I succeeded...I only cut into one brand new sheet. Here's what I came up with...

I used Copic markers to shade the items on the left as well as the few parts of the apron I colored.

I've decided to go with these cards as the "Thank you" notes for Mary Kate's birthday. My friend Heather sent the ladybug sticker to me in the mail...they are so cute.

I have some more I'm working on. I'll be sure to share them later.

Our "NEW" Kitchen...

The remolding of our kitchen all began the day we realized that we didn't have enough chairs at our table for our kids. My husband and I contemplated just getting another chair for our old table or getting a new (and bigger) table...well, as you can guess, we bought a new table...and it snowballed from there. A new table led to new paint on the walls, to new light fixtures, to new window treatments, to new counter tops, to a new sink and faucet, to a new back splash...I think that's all of it...I thought I'd share the "BEFORE" and "AFTER" pictures.

BEFORE

( Unfortunately, we didn't get a pic of our old table in our old kitchen. This is our new table. )

AFTER

I love the end result!!! I wish I could take credit for having the ability to decorate...but I had some help from family and friends with putting it all together. So I wanted to say thank you to my friend Sarah and her sister Stephanie for finding me a great paint color. Thank you to my mom for helping me pick out the fabric..and then making...the window treatments. Thanks to our handy neighbor Troy for putting up the back splash. And lastly...thanks to my husband for smiling and nodding throughout it all...hahaha!

The Kindle...

For my birthday my husband bought me a Kindle. In case you've never seen one of these you can check them out in detail at http://www.amazon.com/. It's a wireless reading device where you can download books in about a minute without hooking up to a PC. I'm exactly 31% through my first book I've read on it (A Change of Heart ~ by Jodi Picoult)...and I love it! Here are several reasons why I love my Kindle...

1.) You can adjust the font (bigger or smaller)...so at night when you can't put the book down, but your eyes are fighting to shut...make the font bigger and you can easily get a page or two more in.

2.) It's light weight...and you don't have to fight with keeping a book open...especially when you're reading while lying down.

3.) If you come across and unfamiliar word...you can look it up right on the spot. Just move the cursor in front of the unfamiliar word and it defines it for you at the bottom.

4.) It gives you the percentage of the book you've completed along the bottom. I thought I was going to miss seeing my progress as my book mark moves along...but it lets you know exactly where you are.

5.) It will hold any notes you migth want to take while reading.

Well...I could go on and on but I'll stop.

That's all for now...have a good weekend!

Card for Hero Arts challenge...

As the kids were painting today I decided to make this card for the Hero Arts card challenge. The theme for the month is flowers and St. Patrick's Day...so I went with flowers. I'm not really sure if this stamp is truely a sunflower...but I went with it anyway because I liked the colors together.

Also, I wanted to thank Kristina Proffitt for spicing up my blog! If you blog and want some fresh ideas...take a look at what she can do at http://www.kristinaisonehappymama.blogspot.com/. I love blogging and listening to some of my favorite songs:)

Well...day 3 of no school for my kids. Since we're going a litte stir crazy we're heading out to Cici's Pizza for dinner with some friends!

Snow day...

We found out early this morning that school was closed for all of my kids today. Although my 3 and 4 year old were initially bummed (their Valentine's Day parties were scheduled for today) they soon got over it and we went outside to play.

This snow mound is in the cul-de-sac of our street. You can see my 4 year old (Frank) standing in front of the sign. As you can tell from the picture, Claire (my 3 year old) was ready to be done playing outside. As I was shoveling the driveway the kids asked if I would bury them in the snow. They were too funny!

The snow has finally stopped falling...we'll see what tomorrow brings. I might have another round of pictures of my kids playing in the snow:)

Valentine's Day cards...

These are the Valentine's Day cards my kids will be passing this year to their friends. I bought these adorable stamps from http://www.papertreyink.com/. If you've never checked out their site...they have some really cute stamps!

I opted for no envelope this year because these cards are going to little guys (5, 4, and 3 year olds) and I figured the fewer obstacles the better. I left the inside blank so that my kids could sign their name freely.

I wanted to do something a little extra for the teachers of my kids...so I went with attaching their card to the front of a bag of hearts.

That's all for now...have a Happy Valentine's Day!

What's Cooking?

A friend of mine had surgery several months ago, and many of our friends helped her out by making meals. After all was said and my friend had recovered she was trying to locate the owners of miscellaneous items left at her home. She sent out several pictures of the items...one of which was a picture of potholders. My friend Amy found the picture humorous and sent this reply..."The photo of the potholders kind of cracked me up! I laughed for the first time all day and then couldn't help but smile, because the photo of potholders represents how wonderful you all are. Those potholders show exactly all that you do for everyone. Those potholders came with food that was made with love, and covered the hands that cook and pray and hug...what a wonderful special group of women I am so privileged to be associated with." I just loved this reply so I made this card and sent it to my friend Amy...hoping to make her laugh and smile again...

Note cards for girls...

I just thought I'd share the girl version of the card I made.

Girly cards...

This is a set of six cards package together.

Cards for new moms...

At my church I am a member of the Elizabeth Ministry and one of my responsibilities is welcoming new babies into the parish. This week I am excited to be welcoming three new babies! I plan on sending out a card with words of congratulations and offering any support that the ministry might be able to offer. And with the card I am sending a set of note cards for the families to use as possible thank you notes or maybe even announcements. I thought I'd share both...

Welcome card...

I used (again) a square piece of cardstock. I stamped the flower and stem seperately on a piece of white cardstock and colored them both in using Copic markers. I then cut out the stem and flower, and attached the bloom part to the card using pop dots. Lastly I stamped the wording along the edge. I just love Copic markers! They make everything pop with color...

Note card gifts...

The stamps I used from this were from Papertry Tiny Treat - Valentines...a set of stamps that I went at great length to get...I'll save that story for another post. Instead of using the button stamp I used an actual button. To get the arc slit on the bottom I used a punch that I got from Stampin Up. As you might have guessed...these note cards will be for a family that just had a boy. I plan on doing the same design for girls except in pink.

Well, that's all for now...I'll be back soon!