Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, folks... there's the card I made for my parents, and that's ALL I made for Easter; no baskets this time since Elijah wasn't in town.  I think Sam may have sent something, but not sure... anyway, Anabella can't enjoy that stuff yet, so I'll do that next year.  Today was a relaxing Sunday (AFTER my top-to-bottom cleaning), and I am in the middle of making a "Bun in the oven" card.  Earlier this afternoon, also, I made a stamped card for my Mom to give her cousin, Lenny in Michigan.  Let me show that one:

So, that phrase was put together from that Martha Stewart stamp set I got a few weeks ago.  It's not easy, by any means, to find each letter in a pile of teeny weeny letters, but it's a cute effect, so whatever.  I made a little video of the embellishment on the bottom of this card, and I'll upload that to my YouTube channel tomorrow, probably.  It's funny, hearing my voice on it reminds me of my sister's... we must sound just alike.  Anyway, the card turned out pretty well, I think.  I can't WAIT to show the "Bun in the oven" card tomorrow, it's already very cute. 

Oh, here's a recent pic of my sweet baby Anabella Rose, she's finally SMILING!  Seeing her smiling face made me swoon... that child is the light of my life!  Here it is:

I guess she's growing up; my sister gave her her first real bath, and I got pics of her just LOVING it, and her after-bath massage.  I just love hearing about her, and how she's developing.  Can't wait to see her on Wednesday...

XO

The Week in a Nutshell

So, I had to post this pic of my niece, Anabella, looking way too cute with her little face!  I love love LOVE her grey eyes, and can't stop looking at her.  She has been doing very well at home getting used to her Mommy and their routine.  She sleeps in her crib sometimes, nurses very well, and I've only seen her use her pacie a few times lately.  My love bug is just so happy and healthy, I can't be more pleased.  She has grown quite a bit in the last week, and now she's fitting into her little pants better.  I love her!!

As for the cards, I made a dozen Easter cards for a card exchange (my first), and am excited to see what the other people have made.  I know that I wasn't entirely pleased with my cards... hey, win some lose some.  Here's what I did:

I had a very bad block that lasted a few weeks, where I couldn't produce anything good.  Even though I have my new little craft area all set up!  I got a cute desk from Ikea, and Sam mounted a shelf on the wall in front of it for me that holds my ribbon and diecuts, stamps and ink pads, etc.  It's just SO cute, here's a pic:

It actually works as far as being faced AWAY from the TV so I can concentrate on my crafting instead of watching whatever garbage is on at the moment.  I need a stool that fits under the desk, so for now I'm sitting on my flowered trunk (found in trash!) that holds NOTHING at the moment.  In addition to the workspace, I got into the stamping stuff a bit more.  I needed some lettering, so I got this set from Martha Stewart's collection (her craft stuff is really nice) and it's already been used quite a bit.  I'm hoping to get an embossing kit soon, now that I've got such a great workspace and storage.  Ebay is good for this stuff, and a great incentive for getting back on the selling jag.  Anyway, I had a block, and now... it's GONE!  I worked my tookis off last night watching the Borgias (guess it doesn't matter which direction my seat is, my eyeballs find the telly!) and made a little series of characters; the ideas flowed and just kept coming.  Thank GOODNESS the draught is over!!  I got scared there for a second.  Anyway, here's the card I made last night and the little characters that will be developed on in the coming nights:

Each character has it's own cheeky greeting ("I loaf you", and other corny sentiments) and I need to get going on making these things before the mojo goes away again.  It's sad when that happens, because it's often during a time when I have lots of free time.  Oh well.

The Borgias was awesome; I'm glad to have something to replace The Tudors, and it's gonna do just fine.  The first episode had: murder, bribery, hinting at incest, and the Pope doin' the wild thang with someone other than his wife (gasp!); yep, I guess back then the Pope could have a Boo, who knew?  The regular show time for this juicy nugget is at 10pm, I think, and so that could be a problem for a Sunday night.  But, I have a feeling I'll squeeze it in... :)

That's all for now, but I think I should mention that L.A. has been absolutely tropical lately!  It's awesome!  I love it when we have tons of sun, so that's great; maybe the Rosato's will have a pool party soon.  Anabella has to show off the swimsuit I got her anyway.

Bye bye!

Chicky Time!

Hello all - it's been a minute, but I'm back.  I have been neck deep in a card exchange project that requires me to make twelve identical Easter cards that need to be ready for shipment to Alaska by April 1, my sister's birthday, incidentally.  I have NO ideas lately, and have been struggling with card design/layout, but the other day Sam and I brainstormed and he helped me come up with these chicks (honestly, it was all his idea, the headband part):

At first, I just made the chick coming out of an egg, with the broken shell on top of his head, lookin' all cute.  But, when the card was done it just didn't feel done, and I wasn't satisfied.  Especially when it's for a card exchange, I have to be 100% happy with the damn thing.  So, I scrapped that idea and made these guys with bunny ear headbands and then placed them in eggs:

Now they are done, but I have to figure out some good lettering for the greeting part, and maybe get some more pastel paper to jazz it up.  I have TONS of pastel from the baby shower, so maybe I should just make due.  I wanted to post a pic of the first card attempt, but I didn't photograph it.  Oh well, it's really not that great anyway.  Tonight I shall continue my efforts in this project, and see what happens.  I have high hopes on this one.  :)

More tomorrow...