Sneak Peek: April Promotion

I'm super excited about the promotion that SU! has set to go for April! Today's blog post has a sneak peek at one of the items that are part of the promotion. (I used Sale-A-Bration paper, and stamps, since I was just playing around) 

I'm not going to say much, other than how cute isn't this little purse?? To make it even better it is SO incredibly easy to put together who wouldn't want to be able to make them themselves! The secret is the Big Shot, it's a new die... isn't it just incredibly adorable!?! I'll be posting more information on this die in a few days when the promotion starts, so stay tuned!

Digital Downloads Tuesday!

Once again it is Tuesday, which means more fun and fabulous MDS digital downloads! Take a peak, and remember that Stampin' UP!'s digital downloads can also be used with programs other than our MDS program!

http://www.stampinup.com/ca/documents/MDS_Downloads_-_Mar_27.pdf

If you haven't tried our Free Trial yet head on over to my website and get started today! (US customers only) If you are in Canada feel free to ask me how and I'll get you a link! In the mean time happy creating!

Last Week: Sale-A-Bration

Reminder: If you still want to get some FREE Sale-A-Bration items make sure you get your order in this week since this is your last chance! If there has been something you've been looking at and wishing to get you definitely don't want to be missing out.

Stamper 10 Project - Whisper White Layer Card

So as promised here is the last project that my group did at their class. For lack of anything better to call it I'm going to call it my Layer Card, because it is three layers of Whisper White cardstock, all cut to fit slightly smaller each layer. The second layer I used out wonderful tool: the Simply Scored and scored some lines onto the cardstock. Each layer is adhered using Stampin' Dimensionals to make it stand out from the other layers. Here is a peek at the layers:

The top layer, I first stamped it using 3 different images from the Simply Soft Hostess Set, two images in Pink Pirouette, and then the last image in Real Red. Take a sponge and sponge around the edges of the top layer that you just finished stamping to make it stand out. When I tied the bow I folded my ribbon in half so it was only 3/4 inch wide, I found it easier to tie a bow doing it this way. Then to finish it off I glued a Antique Brad on using our Tombow Multipurpose Adhesive Liquid Glue. Now I'm sure you all want to see the finished project so here it is:

One last thing: because of the simplicity of this card just think how easy it would be to use different colors and how versatile this card could be. Almost for any occasion you can think of. So make a few for your card box and when you need a card, tada you've got it all ready to go!

Stamper 10 Project - Paper Doily Card

Another fun project we did with my group this past class was use the paper doily for a card. I had recently ordered it and completely fallen in love with this Sizzlit Die. Not surprising since I absolutely love doilies! I was trying to come up with a different way to use it though since everyone uses it as an "embellishment" on the front of their cards. I wanted it to be the full focus of the card. In the end here is what I came up with:

I cut out a piece of the DSP to fit over the die, and then used the reverse side for the doily, so all you have to do is use one piece of DSP and flip it. For the center flower I used the Scallop Circle Punch and the Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer Punch, I adhered the flower from the Blossom Bouquet with a Stampin' Dimensional. Finishing it off with a Jewel - One of the Large Basic Pearl Jewels that are currently in the Mini Catalog!  Once the card was all put together I did what I seem to do to a lot of my projects lately, spritz it with my Shimmer Paint Spritz. It gives it that final touch! 

I have one more Stamper' 10 Project to share which you should see up in the next few days or so! In the mean time happy Stampin'!

Stamper 10 Project - Just For You, Butterfly Card

Since you already had the sneak peek of this card the other day here is the full card today! :)

I ran it through the Big Shot with a Texture Place to give the main part of the card some fun added dimension! Then using the fabulous Framelits Dies that are in the Mini right now. Stamped on the Whisper White cardstock with Pink Pirouette ink - The stamp set is Flight of the Butterfly. For the Sentiment I used "just for you" from the set, Just Believe. The Baker's Twine is also from the Mini: the Pool Party twine. Honestly I love the baker's twine and the fact that we currently have it available in the In Colors makes it so fun! 

If you were wondering what color Cardstock I used for the main card it is Island Indigo, and the same goes for the Ink I used to stamp the butterfly and sentiment with. 

I'm not going into major details but I'm sure you will be able to figure out most of how to put this card together if you wanted to. I did use Stampin' Dimensionals underneath the butterfly, and the Whisper White Framelits Die to mount it onto the Pink Pirouette one to make them pop. 

Happy Stampin'!

Snow?!

I can't believe that I woke up to snow on the ground this morning! It's been spring weather around here for a while other than the last few days have been a little chillier than usual. That being said everything is getting buds on it, daffodils are blooming etc. John says he can't remember ever having snow the end of March before, not around here anyway! That being said it is melting fast so it'll be gone by lunch time! 

I had to take a picture of it though because it looks so pretty! :)

Sneak Peak: Stamper 10 Project

So I'm going to be a tease because this morning I don't have time to do a full blog post before I head out the door for work. I did want to leave you with a quick peak at part of one of the Stamper 10 Projects though! 

So there you have it.. now you'll just have to wait to see the full project!

Tuesday - Digital Downloads

Well it is Tuesday again, which means digital downloads! I'm super excited that they finally have the taffeta ribbon available in more colors! YAY :) They are definitely going on my next digital order!

http://www.stampinup.com/us/documents/MDS_Downloads_-_Mar_20.pdf

I definitely need to come back with another update soon, I promise there will be the projects from my Stamper 10 group up in the next few days!

Tuesday - Digital Downloads

 I'm sorry that I'm a little late, between starting my new job and then coming down with a stomach bug things have been a little hectic around here. That being said.... Like every Tuesday we've got some new fabulous downloads! There's definitely a few of them on my must have list for the next time I purchase downloads. I'm loving the "Mom, You're the Bomb", and the "Afternoon Tea II Kit".

Take a peak at the downloads here or head on over the the My Digital Studio webpage, and you can view the full MDS catalog.

Happy Creating!

The joy of my life! :)

So a lot had changed in this past week! First of all I applied for a job advertised in the paper last week, just figured hey whatever I'll throw my resume out there. Of course I never expected to even be considered for the position because I'm due in about 6 weeks!! Got a phone call the end of the week asking me to come for an interview on Monday. So I figure, okay that's all fine.. I'll tell them right up front that I'm due in about 6 weeks/mid-April. They'll interview me but be like "nope, she's way to close to having her baby", end of story.

Well apparently it wasn't the end of the story, Wednesday evening while I was out they called and John talked to them. They mentioned that they were calling in regards to a job offer. When I came home John told me this and I was freaking out... kinda like OH NO what have I done!!!!! Since I came home after the time she said I could call back I sat on pins and needles all day Thursday until about 2:30 or so. Called, and yes indeed they were offering me the position. Starting on Monday, with a very decent $$ for around where we live, if they are happy then after 3 months I get a $1 raise.  I work until baby get's here, then I've got at least 6 weeks off, and then..... back to work but.... :)

When I had the interview one request I had also made was if I'd be able to take the baby with me to work. So they discussed it as a family and decided that for at least the first 4-6 months I could, after that I guess I need to figure something else out. So all in all after they bent over backwards to accommodate my request I couldn't really say NO I don't want the job! (well I could have but you get the idea)

Quite honestly I'm freaking out a bit right now! No joke! The good thing is that I've got pretty much everything that HAS to be done before baby get's here finished... everything that's not well it'll still be there later. Sure we still have to buy a few things for the baby room that we need before baby get's here, but that can be done in the next few weeks yet. Sewing projects that I figured I had lots of time to get done, well they can wait and the ones that I'd like to try get finished I guess we'll find out how much energy I have in the evening hours to work on them. What get's done, get's done and like I said whatever doesn't well that's okay.

So by now I'm sure you are wondering what the job actually is. It's a secretarial position for data entry on a dairy farm. Since I had 2 years of secretarial experience, and grew up on a dairy farm ~ two big reasons I decided to apply.

Even though the situation isn't completely ideal, because I'd much rather be a full-time SAHM the fact of life is that if I'm going to get a job and possibly save some extra money, now is the time to do it not 5 years down the road.

Now as far as baby things that still are on the to do list, and these can be done later: 

~ crib sheets
~ binding on crib quilt
~ finish painting the tree on the wall

That's about the list of things that need to be done for the baby room. So I think I've done pretty good!

So that's my latest news!

MDS Downloads Day :)

Once again it is Tuesday, and that means it the day for new My Digital Studio downloads! Check out the cute downloads that came out today!

http://www.stampinup.com/us/documents/MDS_Downloads_-_Mar_6.pdf

For those of you who have little boys how cute is this download??

It's the On The Go Kit: 129360 US: $9.95 ~  CDN $12.50

For the rest of the new February downloads check out this link!

http://204.228.150.61/MDSnet/catalog/MDS_Catalog_February_2012.pdf

Baby Quilt

Yay, the baby quilt is all "finished" as far as sewing the blocks together goes. I sewed the borders on this morning and now it's ready to be dropped off at the quilting ladies house. I'm so happy with how it turned out and can't wait for it to be all finished and ready for baby! Here is a picture of both sides:

The borders on the boys' side are slightly bigger since they have to be for quilting purposes. In the end it will all be the same! :)

Gall Bladder attacks :(

I've decided gall bladder attacks are for the birds! lol :) Quite honestly, after having morning sickness from 5 weeks till 18 weeks, and feeling miserable even though I was on anti-nausea medication, I didn't think it could be much worse. Apparently little did I know, that a few months after feeling much better and not having morning sickness I would be battling the next thing.

At first it was unknowingly, I had 2 gall bladder attacks, and figured hey whatever it's just the flu and a super bad stomach ache etc. Then I had my 3rd gall bladder attack, and started trying to figure it out.. between talking to my mom, and my mother-in-law, and my mom talking to someone who is into Holistic health we finally figured out what might possibly be going on. So at my next Dr's appointment I mentioned it. Right away they sent me for an ultrasound to get it checked out. In the mean time I'm already about 29 weeks pregnant. The ultrasound showed multiple small stones, but at least the rest of my gall bladder looked healthy!

 Looking back I've figured out that my first attack was probably sometime around the time I was 4 1/2-5 months pregnant. Since the attacks were so sporadic and as long as I vomited it was over in about an hour or so it didn't seem like a huge deal...so I never really mentioned it to my Dr. either.  BIG MISTAKE! Not that it would have changed anything, but I would have started trying different things to "cleanse" my liver and gall bladder sooner!

The problem is the sporadic-ness is kind of a thing of the past. In the past two weeks alone I've had 4 attacks. That is out of the total of 8 I've had now. Some of the attacks I've definitely been able to say it's diet related so I've cut out a lot of different foods. Makes eating kind of lame at times lol. Then like my attack this past Monday, I've got no idea why. At 5:30 in the morning when I haven't eaten since 6:00 the evening before... totally frustrating! One bonus is that because this attack happened on a week day I could get in to my Dr's office and now at least I have pain meds for when the attack gets really bad. Before I had nothing, and it was an emergency room trip, a shot of some narcotic of some sort in the hip/butt. Definitely not a fun shot, my butt was sore for almost 4 days after that, nevermind it makes you so drowsy! UGH!  Which we experienced once already.

So in the mean time between tons of research I've been doing and my mom going through her books I've started trying things. Also sometimes things call for desperate measures. So here is what I've been doing (honestly if you are a Dr. I respect what you do and you don't have to agree with anything I'm doing either, but as long as it's safe for me and baby I'm doing it).

First of all it means a complete change in diet. Some things don't matter so much for everyone, but you need to figure out what triggers the attacks - John tells me I need to start keeping a food diary lol :)

Food that is out - for me anyway:

Onions
Eggs
Fried foods
Greasy foods - includes all greasy meats etc.
Tomato's
Coffee
Citrus Fruits - Pineapple
Cheese
Peppers
corn
cabbages - includes cauliflower and broccoli
spicy foods
Pork

What I've also done is changed what I eat together - No starches with protein, and if I have starches that means I'm eating only veggies with it.

Any meat that I eat is very low in fat content. Comes down to fish, turkey/chicken and then the poultry is usually boiled in water. I've been trying to find somewhere to get lamb and try that because lamb is also low in fat. So we'll see how that goes.

I eat a lot of veggie/lettuce salads with carrots/cucumbers/celery and almonds for dinner with some meat.

Other than food changes to my diet, I've also been taking different herbs etc. to try see if I can get the stones to break up and pass (yes, anyone in the medical field who doesn't believe me can criticize me I'm okay with that, but like I said earlier I do what I know is safe for me and baby).

So I've been taking:

Vitamin C 
Magnesium
Milk Thistle
Enzymes - w/every animal product I eat
Apple cider vinegar

as well as from the Dr.

Ursodiol

and then I just ordered (from the homeopath)

Chelidonium - which is for the liver and gall bladder 

I'm to the point I'm willing to try anything.. trust me gall bladder attacks are no joke, and since nothing else can be done at this point I'm doing everything I can to see if something doesn't help. At this point I've got nothing to loose, and believe you me since the only thing I can do is take pain meds when the attacks get bad I'll try everything else to try minimize the attacks as well. So far not successful, but then again it doesn't happen over night!

So that's the story of my life!

To Do List - March

Once again it's time for me to update my to do list. I actually find it pretty motivating to post it up here on my blog and then see what I can check off in a month! So here is the list for this month, and what I got done in February.

To Do:



- Sew Car Seat Cover
- Do a deep-cleaning job of the whole house
- Finish the Yellow Brick Road Quilt
- Finish the Jelly Roll quilt
- Sew quilt for pull out couch
- Finish cleaning out storage room downstairs - Just a little bit left to go
- crochet edging on burp cloths
- sew hospital gown
- sew valance for baby room.
- Sew aprons
- sew binding on baby quilt (when I get it back)
- Finish painting tree in baby room
- Purchase rest of baby stuff we need before baby get's here
- Pack hospital bag sometime this month(probably closer to the end of the month)

Finished:

- Paint Crib
- Paint baby room
- Added shelving - (possibly add shelving for storage)
- Sort through old swap cards
- Sort Fabric scraps
- Baby quilt(s) - I also did one for the bassinet (they are all ready to go out to the lady to be quilted(or so close to being ready to being sent out it's not worth keeping on my to do list!))

Baby - bump comparison pictures

So I've been pretty good about taking a picture every week from about the time I was 25 weeks or so. Before that it was every few weeks because there wasn't any obvious changes and I was too lazy lol. Usually I do them on Wednesdays, set the tri-pod up, grab my remote and tada, snap away. Anyway... here is a few comparison photo's.

32 weeks

 33 weeks

Bassinet Quilt

So while the quilt for the bassinet isn't completely finished, obviously it needs the actual quilting done to it yet, but since I don't plan to do that myself here is a picture of the quilt top.

Since blogger hates me right now and won't post the picture the right way I guess you'll just have to look at it sideways. For the center block I did the same as the main blocks on the crib quilt and then I came up with something myself for around the outside. I also decided that because it was for the bassinet I wasn't going through the hassle of making it two-sided like I'm doing for the crib.

So there you have it. Now I'm off to sew the borders onto the crib "quilts". Then hopefully I can bring them away tomorrow or Saturday to the quilting lady :) After that just the binding yet and they'll be done!

Baby Pool: Guess what we are having...

There is no incentive to guess but feel free to put your guesses in [:)]