Update from Texas...

We made it to Texas and all your positive thoughts helped because Kat was an absolute angel even with an extra 5 hours layover in Houston after they ran over our plane with the baggage truck!?!? But that is a story for another day...LOL!

I am posting real quick because this is the last week of the SketchThisCards three-week challenge and I needed to post my card for this week.

One of my favorite things about Midland (besides my wonderful family) is a fantastic little stamp store which I hit shortly after arriving. This card features some of my new stamps as well as some old Foofala papers. :) I changed my design slightly from the sketch and made the lower right flower element more of a background piece with the damask stamp. I have loved participating in this challenge and hope to use more of Janelle's sketches soon. If you haven't checked out the blog, I urge you to do so.

For our friends and family that keep up with these things, Ben received orders from the Air Force this week. Come next June, we will be moving to Scott AFB in St. Louis, Illinois. This has been moved back from our original move date of December because Ben will be deploying for 120 days starting in January. That is definitely a better move date so that Jacob can finish out the school year although it isn't going to be fun to spend the spring without Ben. I also have to figure out how I am going to keep Kat out of the craft/scrapbook/stamp side of her bedroom all throughout the spring as she is learning to crawl and walk. We were planning to be in a 4 bedroom by the time that she got to that...it should be fun! LOL!!!

We are still going to be in Texas for the next week, so I will probably be scarce around the net, but I will be back in a week!

smiles,
Christi

Going to Texas...

This will probably be my last blog post for a couple of weeks. The kids and I are going on vacation to visit my family in Texas. We haven't been back there in 2 years so we are really looking forward to the family time. What we are not looking forward to is 5 hours on an airplane with a screaming baby so think positive thoughts for us (and all the people who are flying with us) today.


Unfortunately, I have not had the time to concentrate on my weekly featured products like I had hoped this week, but I did get my SketchThisCard done for the week using them. The sketch for this week featured a double flower so I pulled out my scallop oval punch and created the bottom flower layer with 4 of the pink pp ovals and 2 of the daisy ovals from the Basic Grey Phoebe paper pack. Over this I layered a gorgeous prima flower with a bit of bling for the center. I added a touch of whimsy with the butterfly from the Nature stamp set that has been watercolored to add a bit more color to its center and a fun little cut-out frame. All the patterned paper elements have been edged with brown ink.

I still have ideas brewing for my featured products from this week so when I get back, I hope to create a couple more items before I move on to my next product grouping.
smiles,
Christi

Final Cropper's Cottage DT Upload...

These are my final projects for Cropper's Cottage. Shannon put together our kits this month and I received a beautiful collection of Rhonna Farrer and Prima products. Thank you Shannon!!!

The journaling on this says: "There is a very short period of time in a girl's life where ruffles on your butt look really cute. This is that time for Kat. June, 2007"


This layout is a photo of Kat at 11 days old.


And I think that the message board from the Cottage has finally found it's permanent home http://myscrappinspace.whsites.net/phpBB2/index.php . Please come over and visit with us!!!
smiles,
Christi

Our little bird-- weekly personal challenge #1

This is the first project that I have done using this week's featured products...Basic Grey Phoebe papers and Autumn Leaves Nature stamps. I created this layout using one of Valerie's wonderful sketches (sketch #16).

The layout is called Our Little Bird and the journaling says:
Kat gags on a pacifier...
Kat gags on a bottle...
Kat hasn't figured out how to get her fingers to her mouth.
But when Kat is sleepy, she wants something to suck on.
Anything...
She becomes our little bird- mouth open-
latching onto anything in front of her.
June-July 2007

In other news, I am VERY sad to say that the Cropper's Cottage is closing. After spending the last 2 years on the DT and the last 3 on the message board and shopping in the store, this leaves me personally feeling a bit lost, but I support Shannon and this very difficult decision. She has been an amazing store owner and friend. Shannon has the entire store on sale for 50% off so go over for some retail therapy and help her clear out some inventory...

But because we are such a good group over there, we are in the process of relocating the message board. For right now, it is located here, but it looks like that will not be our permanent home. Stay tuned for further details...I hope that you will come join us wherever we finally end up.
smiles,
Christi

How do you know....

How do you know you are too obsessed with taking your newborn daughter's photo? When said newborn daughter poops all over the couch and you are okay with it because that look of concentration resulted in some great photos. LOL! (luckily for me she was on the futon and not the good couch!)

Final Project- This week's personal challenge...

This is my final project using this week's personal challenge products, MM Fresh Anthology papers and Purple Onion Designs Adornment stamp set:

This card was done based off a sketch found on this cool new blog that I found...Sketch This:Cards. They are running a contest for the next 3 weeks so go check it out!

For this card, I used one of the stamps from the stamp set to create the black and white paper. I was trying to create a damask look with it. The thank you tag was done with a stamp from Inky Antics and is coming out of one of the hand dyed tags that are also part of the Fresh Anthology embellishment line...as is that gorgeous scalloped eyelet.

I have had so much fun with this personal challenge this week that I have decided to do it again. Next week's products will be Basic Grey's Phoebe paper line and Rhonna Farrer's Nature stamps.
smiles,
Christi

Personal Challenge- Project #4

For today's project, I decided to scraplift a gorgeous layout. Unfortunately, I don't know who the original artist is to credit, but the original layout is on page 71 of the August issue of Creating Keepsakes, in the Deja Views, Sharon Ann ad. I just loved the way that she designed the layout and thought it would work perfectly with my featured products from this week...


We had a good 4th yesterday and took some time to take some family photos since we were all dressed in our red, white and blue:

Chatting with the Bunnies...

In just the past few days, Kat has started cooing (trying to talk) and smiling at us. I can't believe that she is already old enough to be doing these things!?!

This morning, I put her down in her Moses Basket. It has a black and white toile liner that is covered with bunnies and she just loves to look at it. Well, this morning I was watching her and she was laying in there just having the best time with her bunnies. She was chatting with them and just smiling. It was so darn cute!

I have to admit that I am a bit jealous of the bunnies. I never get that many smiles from her!
smiles,
Christi

Personal challenge- Project #3...

This is a card that I made using the products from my personal challenge for this week (Purple Onion Ornamentals stamp set and MM Fresh Anthology papers). The design of the card was inspired by an ad posted for the ad challenge over on the veggie site- pub area. I love using ads for inspiration and this is a great one...I may have to use it again for a layout!

The sentiment stamp is from Cats Life Press.

I am thinking that I will do one or two more projects using these products and then I already have my next set of products picked out and can't wait to get started on those projects. I am really enjoying this extra little challenge!

I hope that you have fun, creative plans for today!
smiles,
Christi

Personal challenge- Project #2...

This is my second layout using the Purple Onion stamp set, Ornamentals, and the Making Memories Fresh Anthology papers (available from the Cropper's Cottage!) The photo is simply me enjoying an after bath snuggle with Kat. The idea for cutting the tips of the petals off the Heidi Swapp florals came from Annie. She posted a gorgeous layout using this technique last week and I simply had to try it. Thanks, Annie, for the inspiration!!!

Now I am off to start my next project!
smiles,
Christi

A Personal Challenge...

I spent 5 years as a Close To My Heart consultant and one of my favorite things about doing that was creating demo boards. To create a demo board, I would take one stamp set and one color scheme and create several different projects using those products. This week, I am challenging myself to get back to those creative roots.

For this week, I am focusing on one stamp set, Ornamentals from Purple Onion Designs:

And one paper set, Fresh Anthology from Making Memories (you can get this from The Cropper's Cottage.) I hope to do 3-4 projects using these within this week.

This is my first project. It's a layout showing the large contrast between Jacob and Kat's hands and feet.

Altered Trading Card...

Over at the Cropper's Cottage, we decided that we wanted to do some sort of little artistic exchange so that we would have a momento from everyone associated with the design team. We decided to do this in the form of ATC's. This is my design. This stamp is one of the new collage stamps from Hero Arts. It was a personal little splurge that I bought right before Kat was born and this is the first time that I have gotten to use it. I think it is going to be one of my favorites!

I am overwhelmed with the artistry of what I have received in this exchange. It is amazing with what you can create in a 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" space and the talent of this team is just phenomenal. I am soooooo lucky to get to be a part of them...

smiles,
Christi

Kat's results...

We went back today to have Kat's thyroid retested and unfortunately her numbers are still off so she is officially hypothyroid. That means she will be on medication to keep her hormone levels correct AT LEAST until the age of 2 and probably for the rest of her life. Not the outcome we were hoping for, but luckily we have medications in our modern society so it is something that can be controlled. The good news is that the doctor didn't hear her heart murmur today so hopefully that is gone...
smiles,
christi

Everybody loves a good sale...

Everybody LOVES a good sale, right??? So I thought I would share...Shannon over at the Cropper's Cottage has the ENTIRE store on sale for 40% OFF!!! Whoohoooo!! Just enter summer40 as the discount code and have fun!!!
smiles,
christi

Latest projects...

Good Monday Morning!

I actually found a bit of time to craft over the weekend!! Yay!! Here are my two latest layouts. As always, they are very simple...

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This second layout is done from a sketch that Linda posted over on the Cottage...


Jacob is away at Scout camp this week and it is sooooo quiet around here without him. He has never been away from us for this long so I am a bit worried. I REALLY hope that he is having a fantastic time!!! Family night is Wednesday night so we will get to go check up on him then...

I hope that everyone has a fun week planned. I hope to be checking in often, but there seems to be a lot going on this week...Jacob at camp, medical tests for Kat, Ben's change of command, friends coming into town (at least, I hope they still are...I haven't talked to them lately...), and lots of creative deadlines so if you don't hear from me, you know why.

smiles,
Christi

An update from the Snow household...

Summer is in full-swing around here...

Jacob finished up the school year by making the A-B Honor roll for the second time and getting some huge end-of-the-year (make mom proud) awards. I am soooooo proud of him this year!!!! School does NOT come easy for him, but he has worked so had at it this year and it has really shown!!! He has even been accepted into a program for next year that he knows is really going to challenge him, but he is so excited.

Since the last time I blogged, we have hit a couple of milestones around here.

Kat has passed her 1 month old mark and is already getting so big! Last week, she was weghing 9 1/2 lbs.

The hospital lost her newborn blood tests so we had to go re-do those and when we did, they showed some elevated thyroid levels. We go back again this week to see if this still holds true. The Dr. also heard a slight heart murmur. Neither of these are things that a parent wants to hear, but she is continuing to grow and develop everyday so I take that as a huge, positive sign.

She has taken to catnapping during the day which means that I don't have any free time to craft or clean. As a result, I have missed a couple of DT calls that I'd hoped to try out for. While I am sad about that, I can't stay too disappointed because I never thought at this point in my life that I would get to spend my days cuddling with a baby and there is simply nothing more rewarding than that. And while she isn't too settled during the day, the nights are fantastic! She is only getting up once or twice a night and then she eats and goes right back to sleep.

Ben and I also had our 15 year anniversary this week. I can honestly say that our relationship has become better and better and more romantic with each passing year. He is such a great guy. You know, he never goes to WalMart without buying me a bouquet of fresh flowers.

He recently had to say farewell to a wonderful secretary and had gone up to Raleigh to buy her a nice bracelet as a farewell gift. He came home with a beautiful necklace for me too saying that he couldn't buy jewelry for another woman without getting me some too. What I didn't know is that he also bought a second piece that he gave to me for our anniversary. They are both gorgeous pieces!! I am definitely spoiled, but it is not just the things...

He left town yesterday on his motorcycle and to get the bike out, my car had to be moved over where it makes it a bit more difficult to get in the driver's side. So when he moved my car, he backed it out and turned it around so the driver's side would be the accessible one. You know, it is just those little personal things that build up the romance in a relationship... I am very lucky!!!

And just because I haven't shared in a while, here are some recent photos of Little Bit for the family. After yesterday's photo session, I am thinking that she may be headed towards the redhead that the rest of the grandkids have....

Playing with Cosmo Cricket...

Good Wednesday Morning!!! Today is DT upload day over at Cropper's Cottage and this month with got to play with the ultra-gorgeous Cosmo Cricket lines. I love these lines and had plans to get so much more done with them, but Kat has had other plans for me recently so I only got my 2 DT lo's done. So be on the lookout as I hope to play more in the future with these papers!

This first layout features the photo of Jacob the first time he got to hold Kat. I love this photo. He is turning out to be such a great older brother. The line used here is the Dutch Girl line. I simply punched a bunch of the scalloped ovals to create the border along one side of the photo. Everything else on the page is either a diecut (the swirl at the bottom) or part of the chipboard that you can buy to coordinate with the line.


My second layout is finishing up scrapbooking some of the photos from our Mt. Vernon trip last year. This line is Halfway Cafe and the distressed look and colors just worked perfectly with the historic look that I wanted for the layout.


I hope that everyone has fun plans for the day! And go over and check out what else the rest of the DT has done with these fun lines in the Gallery at the Cottage. They are such a talented group. I am constantly inspired by them!
smiles,
christi

A Change...

Good Friday Morning!!! Life is going along pretty well here with baby Kat. Last night she finally slept soundly for the first time in a few nights so we are both feeling a bit better and happier today. In fact, she is asleep again right now so I better get this blog entry done quick so I can get a shower in this morning too. :)

A lot of you know about my aversion to finding hairdressers...I don't do it. Since we moved to North Carolina two years ago my hair has not been professionally cut the entire time. I have simply trimmed it myself. But after 9 months on pre-natal vitamins, my hair had gotten entirely too long and Kat had taken to swinging on it every time she threw a tantrum so a cut was in order.

Before:


I had no idea what I wanted to do with my new cut so I simply went in and gave the hairdresser carte blanche to do what she wanted (for all of my aversion to getting my hair cut...I really have pretty easy hair to manage...it works with pretty much any cut.) This is the result:


I also re-joined Weight Watchers yesterday. My weight was a big part of why my pregnancy was so distressing. I lost my extra weight (that I have had my entire life) 5 1/2 years ago and have pretty much kept it off...until I got pregnant. I am a lifetime member of WW, but really haven't been to a meeting since we moved to England 4 years ago. So I am starting anew on the weight loss boat, although I am happy to say that I have already lost 30 lbs since Kat was born 3 weeks ago...only 25 more to go (yes, I do actually gain that much when I get pregnant!) UGH!

And just because we can't have a blog post without a photo of little bit...here she is snuggling with her daddy yesterday afternoon...


I hope that you have a fun weekend planned! I am *hoping* to find some time without a baby in my arms so I can get some serious crafting done. I am quickly falling behind and there are a couple of DT's that I want to do submissions for that need to be done in the next week.
smiles,
christi

Katherine Layouts...

Hello, again! Kat checked out wonderfully at the Dr's office. She now weighs 7 lbs. 12.8 oz...Wow! She has already gained over a pound. I can already tell that she is going to grow too fast for my liking...I just love them when they are at this little bitty baby stage!!!

I have done a couple of layouts so far. They are super-simple!!!

This first one is simply one of the photos from her first week of life...I am thinking about 5 days old, but I already don't remember...BAD MOM!!!


Then here is the journaling for this second layout: "When I found out that we were expecting a girl, I was most excited about all the fun, girly hats that were available. I vowed that Kat would wear hats from day 1 so that she would be used to them. I didn't count on her precious, petite little head that even the smallest of her newborn hats completely overwhelmed. Oh Well! Katherine at 2 1/2 weeks old and her head is still way too small for her hats."

Finding my rhythm...

Good morning! I bet you thought that I was never going to reappear again, didn't you??? Sorry about that! My mom left on Saturday and I decided to completely enjoy my time with her here and put the blog on hold temporarily. I miss her dreadfully, but am enjoying trying to find my rhythm with Miss Kat.

So where were we? Aw, yes, mommydom...

Things are going well here. I fall more in love with little miss Kat everyday. She is simply the sweetest thing and still, at 3 weeks old, seems so tiny. We have a doctor's appt. this morning, so I am anxious to see how much she weighs. She is starting to become more aware of her surroundings. She watches things and is starting to show reactions when you talk to her.

She still has a fine temper on her, but it is much better than that first week. It was actually funny when she was first born, she would wake up throwing a bloody tantrum, but she wasn't even awake. As soon as you could get her to open her eyes, it would stop. She still slides back into that every once in a while (like yesterday, everytime I put her in her carseat. Yikes!), but overall she is a really good baby.

I left Jacob with her for about 15 minutes yesterday so I could run to the convenience store that is right around the corner. When I left, she was asleep, but she woke up and Jacob managed to pick her up and put her in her boppy before I got home. This is quite an accomplishment for him since he is really not comfortable with handling her yet.

I have managed to find a bit of time to craft...here are her birth announcements...




I have also done a couple of layouts, but they will have to wait until this afternoon. I need to go get in the shower before the little one awakens or we are going to miss her Drs. appt. this morning. Be back later!
smiles,
Christi