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!
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.
My brother and sister-in-law will be celebrating their anniversary on Saturday, so I made a card to send them.
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.
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.
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. 
With our Christmas gift from Barry's sister in Michigan, we got this onesie. Isn't it so cute?!
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. 
Here it is in greater detail. Isn't it beautiful? I remember her wearing it on a dusty pink suit that she had.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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! :)
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.
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.
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 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. 
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.
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! 
Our oldest nephew, Travis, is in his first year of college at Ferris State University in Michigan. I've tried to send a card once a month, remembering how much I enjoyed receiving mail when I was in college. This time I decided to make a special card since I had the time and it's getting into exam time.
ARG! We have been struggling almost a week now without a home phone. You may be thinking, "In this day and age, you're concerned about a home phone?!" Well, that's because our internet comes from the phone line.
I used this basic design (from CPS) to make 3 cards for a few ladies in my life. I used 5 papers, a die-cut flower with die-cut heart, a piece of purple organdy ribbon, and the individual's initial. The colors are a bit strange in this picture, but it's a mixture of blues and purples. 
It's hard to believe that toward the end of November that it would be warm enough to wear short sleeves (the high was in the 70s!), but here it is. I had gotten some clothes from a co-worker who's daughter just had a baby, but most of them were too small or summer. In any case, I was excited that I could wear this today.
Looks like Ginger is already staking a claim to the rocking chair! Isn't the woodwork at the top beautiful?!
We had thought this might work for the changing table, but as you can see the pad is much larger than the top of the dresser. Barry said it was solid wood, which is nice for a long term piece. We probably will look at different knobs, but for now we can just fill it with the clothes & other items that we have.
