Nicolette

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Finishing the Border

We got up this morning and painted a second coat on the brown border. Hoping that it'll be dry later on today so that we can get some work done in the nursery!
Here's a shot of the new valence that my sister made (to match the bed skirt on the crib). We're getting close!

Friday, December 30, 2011

More Work on the Nursery

The first coat went on pretty well, but there was some touch up work that had to be done. While Barry worked on that, I went around and taped the border.

Doesn't the color look great?
We did keep one wall khaki and think that the brown border will pull it together. If not, there's a ton of green paint that we can use to do this one wall.

Up next, will be the unveiling of the border and putting together the rest of the room.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Anniversary Card

My brother and sister-in-law will be celebrating their anniversary on Saturday, so I made a card to send them.

I used 6 papers for this one. I made the embellishment by writing their initial with a silver pen I have on black and then adding a white circle around it. I used 3d tape to have it stand out some. I wrote their names on the front and then Happy Anniversary on the inside.

It was awesome to have them here this week!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Fixing up the Nursery

While my family was here, they decided that they'd like to help with painting the nursery. So, we picked some paint and they got to it. Here's my sister Melissa & brother Jeremy starting on the far wall.

We picked a sage green-ish color for the main portion of the walls and then plan to add a chocolate brown border around the middle.

Keep posted and we'll show you the end results...

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Birthday cards

Despite being Christmas time, we had 3 birthdays coming up so I spent some time before the day started to make cards.
This is a regular sized card and I used 4 different papers. I added two embellishments with 3d tape and wrote Happy Birthday! This card is for our sister-in-law (who is turning 40!).
For these two cards I used some leftover cardstock that made the size about 3"x4". For this one, I used some train paper and matched papers to the colors in the paper. I diecut stars in matching colors and wrote Happy Birthday, Hunter! on the front.
For this one, I used butterflies as the theme. I matched 2 papers to the butterfly paper and some pink ribbon. I wrote Happy Birthday, Alex! on the front.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Nieces & Nephews

Here are some fun pictures of the kids from the weekend together:
Luke as the friendly shark! (part of his gift)
Aaron got a Buzz!
Emma & Chelsea played with each other almost from the minute that they met!
Caleb and his chainsaw (but it doesn't cut the tree!)
Micah having fun with Oreo

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Christmas Morning

We decided to do family gifts this year and anyone who wanted to could contribute to stockings. Here are all the families opening up stockings:
Melissa & hers
Katherine and hers
Jeremy and his
Then all of the gifts went together into the middle of the floor so that we could share and enjoy seeing what everyone got. Although you can't see Aaron in this picture, he was most excited about opening gifts and hoped all of them were for him!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Family Time!

The family all came in on Friday, and we had a few hours together before the bed was calling my name. Saturday was then a blur of activity as we got caught up on what was going on.

Each family was responsibility for a meal so everyone would come back to our house and then we would make what needed to be made. After lunch, the kids had naps and we hung out. We got dressed for church and went at 5:30. For dinner we did a bunch of hors d'oeuvres. It was great!

Here are the grandkids (minus Scooter) with Nana & Papa.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Cute Shirt

With our Christmas gift from Barry's sister in Michigan, we got this onesie. Isn't it so cute?!

We're 34 weeks today and he's definitely growing! I expect to post some family pictures over the next couple days so that you can see how big he is.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

More Cards for Work

If you recall back to October, I made some cards for a project at work (see here). I was short two cards and needed to get them completed so this is what I came up with.

I decided to go with a purple theme instead of the red like I had done before. I used 3 papers, purple organdy ribbon, an Auxiliary emblem attached with 3d tape and then added the initial for the individual.

It works!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Remembering Grandma

I wanted to wear a different pin today and recalled that I had a pin that I had gotten from Grandma in some jewelry that the girls got to pick through. Since it sort of looked like a snowflake, I thought it might fit just right!
Here it is in greater detail. Isn't it beautiful? I remember her wearing it on a dusty pink suit that she had.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

First Christmas Party (of the season)

For the first time (in 6 opportunities) I attended my work lady friends' Christmas party. Most Decembers Barry has been working overtime and I haven't had the gumption to attend the party. This year, since he was working 2nd shift, I knew I'd be alone and figured I'd make the most of it. The party was Friday, December 9. I'm next to my friend Kayleigh (who loves Rudolph - can you tell?!) that I usually work out with after work.
Here I am with Mary -- I worked with her for 3 years, but when our department was disbanded, we went to different departments.

It was a good night. We all were to bring a snack to share and an ornament that was $1 or less for a Dirty Santa exchange. It was pretty funny to see the ladies trying to get the ornament that they wanted. I was soooo hot that night that I ended up taking my Christmas sweater off. I think I'll go again!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Christmas Gifts for Co-workers

It's fun to be able to open up the Christmas gift tote and see what marvelous things I found discounted after Christmas last year. I had gotten a bunch of these beautiful mugs at least 4 years ago and have been slowly giving them away. Since I moved departments this year, I finally used up the last of those. Below is what I gave away: For each of the four that I gave, I included 2 packs of hot chocolate (BOGO at Publix and I had a coupon!), 3 pieces of Ghirardelli chocolates (that we had gotten as a gift), some Hershey Kisses, and a little something else -- fun chapstick, an ornament or lotion. The card is 3"x3" and I used Christmas paper to dress it up. I added a piece of red organdy ribbon and the person's initial with 3d tape. I wrote Merry Christmas! at the top and then a personal note on the back.
This particular gift was for a friend who loves snowmen! I adapted the above card to include a snowman instead of her initial and used different Christmas papers with white organdy ribbon.
Finally, these little cards went to a few of my other friends around the office. I used the packages to remind us that we have the greatest gift of all to remember - Jesus! I also gave them each some Ghirardelli chocolates. I used Christmas papers and some ribbon. Nothing too exciting, but they turned out pretty cute.

Friday, December 16, 2011

The last snacks

The last thing that we had to make was the Oreo Balls. We started these on Sunday, but they had to freeze before we could dip them in the chocolate. Well, then we ran out of time to do it Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday... So here it was Thursday night and we needed to get them done so that we could get the goody boxes ready for Barry's work. We almost got them all dipped before they were defrosted. We have 6 or so to go.
So, here are the treats we made: 1) Grandma's brownies, 2) Rice Krispy Squares - special recipe, 3) Oreo balls, 4) Peanut Butter Blossoms, 5) Chocolate covered pretzels, and 6) chocolate peanut clusters. I'll bring my portion of treats on Monday.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Card for Amy

Barry's sister is having a birthday on Saturday so I needed to get the card ready and in the mail early in the week so she'll get it in time.

I used 6 different papers. I traced the A on pink paper and then used the black & white papers to make it stand out. I used some pink organdy ribbon and added a pink jewel to the happy birthday paper. Inside I wrote happy birthday.

Hope she has an awesome day!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Special Parking Privileges

We had to head back to Babies-R-Us to return the bassinet mattress that was too big. So, this is where we parked! Hee hee! :)

We're getting slowly but surely to having things ready. We got an unexpected gift in the mail from a previous co-worker of mine on Monday -- a diaper pail. We have a few more things to go, but maybe we'll get it done after Christmas.

Friday, December 9, 2011

A Day of Food Preparation

I was trying to make the most of my day and decided that I should just get a start on making the goodies that we'll give for Christmas this year. (Two of Barry's co-workers have been talking for over a month now about how they're looking forward to the goodies!)

I had hoped to get a bunch of it accomplished Thursday, but lack of preparation got in the way. I started making stuff and realized I was 1 egg short for one recipe. How frustrating! I also needed one other ingredient, but had forgotten the coupon at home so I didn't get that either.


Here's the ingredients... Can you figure out some of the things I'm going to make?

The first things I made were Rice Krispie bars, but I neglected to get a good picture of them... It's kind of hard to see what they are when they haven't been cut into bars yet. The ones I made were special bars -- peanut butter & peanuts in with the Rice Krispies and then a chocolate/butterscotch layer on top. Yum!


Secondly was the Hershey Kisses' Blossoms. You can make a really easy version with a Betty Crocker cookie mix, but these are home-made all the way! Last, but not least, I made chocolate covered pretzels. I think these are one of my all-time favorites because they are so easy to make and they just taste so good. I added some red sprinkles on top to be festive.
These are something new I tried and will be bringing to a party Friday night. They kind of look like pizza rolls, but they're called Parmesan Bites. I hope they warm up okay because I don't think they'll taste so good cold. It's a cream cheese mixture with the parmesan cheese in it. You roll out crescent rolls and spread the mixture on it with the pepperonis on top. Fold them up and cut into manageable pieces and ta-da! We'll see how the party-goers like them.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Two Cards

My co-worker asked me to make this card for a vendor that we use. I used a very simple design for this card. I had a star die-cut that I used to trace and cut out the blue part of the star. Then I added the inside cream color so it looks like the star is framed. I added the star to the card with 3-d tape. I used a coordinating striped paper and added a brown piece behind it. I think this turned out pretty well for a masculine-looking card.

This card came together really easy too. I traced the L from a previously used die-cut and then adhered it with 3-d tape. I used some cream/gold ribbon to help make it a little more feminine. It was just a simple little card to say that I was thinking of you.


Guess it was good that Barry slept in... I got two cards done and started the day on a productive note.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Birthday Card for Skye

My good friend from college, Skye, is getting ready to celebrate a birthday next week. I had some time last night so I decided to get a card made so that I can get it in the mail.

I was trying to think of what she would like and decided to do her favorite colors - lime green and black. I cut out her initial in lime green and then decided to add a birthday candle since it is for her birthday. I also added a piece of black grossgrain ribbon and white organdy ribbon across the middle of the card. Inside I wrote "Happy Birthday!"

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Paper Quilling

I was trying to come up with some creative ways to decorate some gift bags for a craft show I was participating in. My mom used to do this when I was growing up with specific paper and tools. Me, I cut 1/8" strips of cardstock about 11 inches long and wrapped it around a toothpick! I let the green pieces unfurl a bit to make them more full.

I did end up going back and tracing a tree design around the design so you could tell better what it was. I made a smaller tree (with just 6 green pieces and 1 brown) and added only one star at the top and some red circles as ornaments.

I made 10 Christmasy bags and sold every one of them!

Monday, December 5, 2011

Drumroll, please!

We have been looking and looking and looking and looking for a changing table for Scooter. Our original idea was to get a dresser so that Oreo & Ginger wouldn't get into the items on the shelves. But, that wasn't working and since we got the lovely dresser from my co-worker, we decided that we could possibly do the standard changing table since we'll put the diapers in the dresser drawer.

We thought we'd found an awesome deal - $15 for a brand-new one, but we got it home and the leg was broken. We returned it to the store and got this one for $40. Since it retails for twice this amount on-line, we figured we got a good deal. Now, to get the baskets to organize items on the shelves!

This was it -- the last necessary item for the nursery. We'll get the crib from my friend after Christmas and hopefully do the last touches in January after my work baby shower.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

31 weeks

Since we missed getting a picture together for our anniversary last Tuesday (8 years, yea!), I thought I'd post this picture we took . It's a little hard to see how big Scooter is, but he's growing!

He rolls around and pushes and generally just makes himself known. I don't know if he's trying to make more room for himself or what!

We did some shopping this weekend to get those last minute things (just in case), but had a rough time of it. We'll have to make another trip out to Babies-R-Us to get things squared away and make an order on-line for the bassinet mattress.

Only 9 weeks to go!