Introducing Piper...

Sunday morning, my little niece was born.
Her name is Piper.
She is 4 lbs and 13 ozs...
I had bought several preemie outfits and they will have to be returned because Piper is 17.5" long! The sleeper I bought was for up to 17". lol!

This is a picture I took of a picture from a camera... can't remember if it's from Shawn's camera or my mother-in-law's camera.



I will keep the rest to myself for now since it is all quite personal and I am sure, very difficult for Kari and Shawn... they will have to go home without Piper tomorrow since she will be in NICU for the next couple of weeks.

Thank you all so much for your sweet thoughts and words!

hugs,

Hugs and good wishes...

Just a quick post for hugs and good wishes for my sister-in-law, Kari and her husband, Shawn... and my soon-to-be-born neice. Kari's water broke 5 weeks early. I'm heading up to SF to visit with my own family for a few hours and will be back later in San Jose tonight to check in on Kari... hoping to post great news!

xoxo

A Muse-a-Palooza with Julie Ebersole!

OMG! It's Wednesday and I am still walking on air! My girlfriends and I drove up to Sacramento for A Muse-a-Palooza! It was held at Paper Garden Boutique where I got to meet Stephanie Nishikawa (who is just as beautiful in person and OH SO CREATIVE with that gorgeous store of hers!!!), her husband, Ken, who is just as creative and SO sweet, and her adorable son, Miles, who had just celebrated his 3rd birthday.

I tried as hard as I could to get a good picture of Stephanie but she was always moving around the store (I didn't want to use the flash as much as possible). But I did get some of her fabulous store...







Here's Ken hard at work:


Did you see my title for this post?
A Muse-a-Palooza with Julie Ebersole!

J U L I E
E B E R S O L E !















Seriously... I wasn't sure if I was going to or .




Dat Julie is DA BOMB!
You can catch up with her on her blog, Paper Trufflez.

Julie, if you are reading this,
I love you!
You are a treasure! Mwah!








Here's Carolina working away:


Hi, Stephanie!



Last, but not least,
a "Red, White, & Blue Thank You" card for Julie



I made this real quick for Julie before I left for Sacramento.
I thought it was so amazing that someone would take the time to spend their weekend away from their family and friends on a holiday weekend to teach a class in a different state. So from the bottom of my heart, Julie... thank you! I loved the classes and will always carry your energy with me when I teach my classes!

102.9 and 104.5

102.9 and 104.5 - not local radio stations that I'm endorsing, but the fevers that my youngest and I endured yesterday and today.

He got the chills mid morning and went down for a nap, which is pretty unusual for him. He woke up screaming and when I went in to check on him, he was like a heater to the touch. I took his temperature and it registered at 101.7. It just kept climbing until he hit 102.9. It was pretty scary but the doctor's office said that there was a viral thing going around where the fever hit with a punch and then once you could break it, then it goes away just as quickly.

That evening, both my husband and I started getting that achy feeling and sure enough, we woke up feeling dizzy. He never got the fever... lucky him! Unfortunately, I did and my fever hit 104.5 before it broke. No fun!!

Before I got sick, I got to play with my new Unity stamp set, Sweet Baby Boy.
Verve, a new member company over at SCS, is having a Starry Challenge until Tuesday, July 8th (Midnight ET)



Inside view of the card:




Stamps: Sweet Baby Boy
Paper: Certainly Celery, Barely Banana, Whisper White
Ink: Certainly Celery (Craft), Barely Banana, Apricot Appeal, Bashful Blue
Accessories: 1-1/4" Square punch, 1-3/8" Square punch, 5/8" Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon, Gelly Roll Stardust, Stampin' Dimensionals, sponge daubers


Happy Stampin'!

Scratch & Sniff, anyone?

I have some very exciting news to share with everyone!

If you take a peek under my music player on your left, you will see a link for "Memories Live On" Scrapbooking store. My exciting news is that I will get to teach there once a month, starting with a Scratch & Sniff class on July 19th! It's a wonderful scrapbook store located in Cupertino. I am planning on going there once a month to scrap as well, so please let me know if you would like to join me! It's about time I started working on my boys' baby albums!


Here are the cards we will be making for the Scratch & Sniff Class:

Sweet Strawberry:


Orange Bliss:


Lovely Lime:


- "Just the Edge" cardstock strips of Bazzil Basics Paper
- Paper: Little Yellow Bicycle - The Sharon Ann delightful collection * Orange Blossoms, Roses, and Green Stripe
- Marvy Scallop punches (Oval, Square, Circle)
- Inkadinkado stamps "have a great day" and "thinking of you"
- Melt Art Ultra Thick Clear Embossing Enamel
- VersaMark ink pad
- American Crafts glitter marker
- Petaloo Flora Doodles

Thanks for letting me share my happy news with you!

Monday's Fun Day Winner!

Happy Friday everyone!

I have a winner to announce for Monday's Fun Day from last week!

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

3
Timestamp: 2008-06-27 19:04:16 UTC

CONGRATULATIONS to:
cricketpe!
She says...
I'm really new to stamping, so I'm interested in basically any techniques!

Send me your mailing address!
She's getting married on December 13th, everyone!
How exciting! I know you are also new to stamping and blogging. Keep up on the blog so that you can show us your creative side and keep us up to date on your wedding plans!

Cheers!

Oh, BABY!

This past weekend was my sister-in-law's baby shower.
It was so much fun preparing for it!
I was a little lost in that it was my first and probably only baby shower ever, but I think it turned out nicely.

The baby shower invitation:

Onesie Card Tutorial by Lauren Meader

My beautiful sister-in-law, Kari!


The favors:

The baby block holds a white chocolate mint truffle from See's. The square scallop inside the bag holds three Ghirardelli chocolate squares. The topper with the scallop circle is a See's pop.

The Strawberry Gingerale Cupcakes:



The Diaper Cake!



I can not wait to meet this baby! I have a niece, then there's my oldest son, then my nephew, and then my youngest son. So there has been three boys in a row. It will be SO much fun having a baby girl around! August... it's just around the corner!

Okay now...stay tuned for more!
I will be back later with the recipe for the Strawberry Gingerale Cupcakes and a general "how to" for the diaper cake.

Cheers!

A special birthday package from Alaska!

My dear friend, Jan, lives in Alaska and we have been online friends since I used to hang out over at the PaperCrafts a couple of years ago. One of the first emails I have kept from her is from February of 2006! lol! You can see more of her beautiful artwork at Far North Designs.


As always, Jan remembered to include treats for my boys!


Jan named the beautiful pin on this card "Summertime" (yes, I have been reading your blog!) Grungeboard was used here - and she included a sample of grungeboard much like what she played with onboard during her Cruise with Tim Holtz.


AH! You know me well, my friend! These flowers will be cherished and used preciously!


Remember those Ed Emberley FunPrint (Fingerprint and Thumbprint) drawing books? Jan sent the boys one and WOW! was it a hit!


Ken gives it a BIG thumbs up!

Thank you, Jan!
I will make it over to you one of these birthdays!

love and hugs,

Stampin' Up! Announcements!

This beautiful "Fresh Cut" stamp set can be purchased for $21.95 until the end of June. It is a special sneak preview of the Fall/Winter Idea Catalog!




The Spring / Summer Collections Catalog Retired List for the stamp sets are out!
Alphabetical List
Numerical List


Stampin' Up! is going home décor!
Introducing Décor Elements
Beautiful vinyl artwork available in different sizes in White, Kraft, and Chocolate, for your walls, windows, frames, glassware... basically anything that has a hard and smooth surface perfect for decorating. Create the space you can be creative in!

Happy Stampin'!