Work in progress

I know I promised pictures of Taylor's room soon, but we had family over for dinner tonight so I didn't get a chance to take pictures of her room. I am also still in the process of putting her crib bedding together and deciding on where I want the furniture. In the meantime you get to see me working on the crib. Keep checking back because I will have nursery pictures up at some point this week if the swelling will go down in my feet and allow me to do something other than sit with them propped up. Thank goodness that I can surf the internet with my feet up!

And let there be color

Yes, that's right.... we have color! You are actually looking at the final purple color for the wall. The first purple color was too light and looked really washed out. My dear husband was SOOOO sweet and repainted the wall for me. I love the darker color! It looks so good with the green walls and I just love how it all turned out. I'm still getting used to having pastel paint in our house, but it is going to look so good with the white furniture. I've included pictures as you look around the room so that you can start to get an idea of how Taylor's room is coming together. We painted three walls green and one wall purple. The purple wall is where the baby bed is going. Chris put the crib together tonight, so I hope to have more pictures up this week as all the furniture pieces are put in place. You can see that the closet is full of Taylor's stuff and some of the items that were still left in her room when Chris went to paint. Once I can start to put some of her items away our next big project is to put in a closet organization system. The soon-to-be grandmothers both suggested that we make better use of all the space we have in the closet. I have to point out that Chris has also replaced the blinds with nice faux wooden ones. He has been a busy little soon-to-be Daddy!


Stay tuned for many updates this week as we work on Taylor's room. Not much time for stamping, but I have been working on crocheting a blanket for Taylor. I will try to scan one of the blocks tomorrow so that you can see!

Wendy

Taylor's Room

So our weekends and now even our weeknights are consumed with baby tasks. Saturday we spent the day registering at Babies R Us and then we went to Ikea to get furniture for Taylor's room. My brother and sister-in-law gave us their baby bed, so that was a BIG help and we finished out the rest of the room to match. After looking at several different places, the furniture at Ikea seemed like the best investment and it matched the crib the best. We got a dresser that we can put a changing pad at one end and all the diaper needs on top too. I want all those goodies within reach for fast diaper changes! We also thought this would be a good piece to last a while in her room. I even found little organization cubes and rectangles that fit inside the drawers to help divide it up. Chris thinks I'm such a dork, but I love organization and the fact that Ikea makes items the specifically fit the drawers! I can just see how much it will help for those little items like socks and hair bows. We also got a shelf to go above the dresser for decor items that we do not want Taylor to get her little hands on. We already have some little shoes that Chris' brother and his girlfriend brought the baby back from Germany to put on the shelf. I can't wait to start decorating. The last piece of furniture that we bought was a bookcase. I hope that since I keep having forgetful moments, that Taylor is gaining my brain cells and will need lots of shelf space for books. If she doesn't, then she can use it for toys. The bookcase has the same top design as the shelf and adds a girly touch to the room.

Just so you don't think I'm crazy with all this white furniture, we picked out the paint colors tonight. My scanner is not working right now, but I will try to scan the actual paint chips when I get the new one hooked up. In the meantime, imagine Stampin Up's Gable Green and a much much lighter Lavender Lace. We bought the paint tonight and Chris is going to paint a little bit on two walls tomorrow night so that we can see if we want 2 or 3 walls green. My mom is coming in town this weekend to help with decorating and planning for the nursery. Plus it's always nice to have my mom around!

Just a couple pics of how Taylor's room is coming along, but there are still beer signs on the walls! Guess those will be coming down tomorrow night. You will notice that I still have some items of mine to get out of there too! If you were to look around the floor, you would also find one of Sadie's toys. For some reason she likes to leave a toy in there. Wonder if that's a hint that she's okay sharing with the baby?

~Wendy

I stamped!!!

Believe it or not, I actually got my stamps out over the weekend and loved every minute of it. I even managed to use my Cuttlebug too! That is just the coolest machine and so easy to use! I create my cards around finding a way to use it. We've been receiving gifts for our little one and I needed to send out some Thank You cards, but just couldn't bring myself to buy any when I have all these great stamps. So I made myself sit down and make some cards. I just love how they turned out and already need to make some more so that I have some on hand when we get gifts. My baby showers are coming up in February and I really need to have lots made before then so that I can just write my notes on the inside and mail them out. Who knows how I'll be feeling then if I already get tired and I'm only 6 1/2 months along at this point. Well back to my creation...
I just love the swirls background made with my Cuttlebug and the ticket corner punch. I had been making my own corner punch, but they were never the same size. It is much easier to do with the actual punch and worth every penny! I also had to add my own little touch to the back of the card with a stamp that I found at Amuse when I went to Seattle to visit Melinda. I find it even more appropriate now that I look more like the picture. I always stamp the back of my cards with my 'Wendy's Whims' stamp, but just love the pregnant lady. Hope everyone enjoys my humor in this! Off to bed for me and the little one.

Love~
Wendy

Nursery Theme

I know, it must be a miracle that I'm posting again. I just thought I would post about what has kept me so busy lately. Of course you know about my soon-to-be little one, but along with all the new daily adventures I've been working on getting her room ready. For some reason it was really easy for me to find boy themes that I liked, but just couldn't find a girl theme. It was also a challenge to find a theme that didn't scream pink! Chris is still adjusting to the idea of pink being everywhere. So after much stress and search we decided to do an 'Under the Sea' theme. I found the bedding at Target and it is too cute! I've included a picture so that you can see how cute it is too. The picture doesn't show, but the top of the quilt has a patch with an octopus and one with starfish. I will take pictures as we start to decorate her room, but for right now it still have a guest bed up, air hockey table in the closet(in pieces) and neon beer signs on the walls. This weekend will be a weekend of taking down signs and moving more stuff out. The crib is in there, just in pieces. I think we are going to paint the walls lavender and light green, but I have to figure that one out too! Stay tuned for my nursery updates. Maybe in between all my theme picking I can find time for my stamps that have been calling my name!


Love~
Wendy

Pregnancy Fun

Yes that's right, I'm back after a very long break from blogging. It seems like life has barely stopped for us lately and I've barely even had time to stamp. Isn't that sad??? I'm not sure if you can see the posting time on this, but it's almost 4 am and yes that's right I'm wide awake. So far I am loving this pregnancy, but each day brings something new. About 2 weeks ago the baby started moving enough so that I could feel it and now there are times I feel her quite a bit. It still feels a bit like your stomach fluttering, but everyone warns me that it will become much stronger soon enough. I woke up about an hour ago with like hot flashes and the books say this is due to all the hormones and it probably doesn't help that I surround myself with pillows at night to make sleeping more comfortable. Don't get me wrong, I am LOVING being pregnant! The sleepness nights and other 'fun' parts of pregnancy are 110% worth it to me.

Quick pregnancy catch-up: I am now 5 1/2 months along and we found out earlier this month that it's a little girl. Here's her picture. You can see that she's sucking her thumb in this picture. She kept her hands around her face during most of the ultrasound. Well, our little lamb seems to finally have calmed down so I'm gonna go try and go back to sleep. I hope everyone out there has a very Merry Christmas!

Love,
Wendy

Slacker, but good news too!

So I am such a slacker for not posting on my blog for almost a month!! Those of you who know me know why I've been in sort of a stamping slump. I'm 3 1/2 months pregnant! :) I am expecting my first child on April 19th and so excited!!! The first few months took their toll on me with the tiredness and constant queasiness. I still get tired pretty early in the evening, but for the most part I feel great! Any time that I was feeling well, I spent getting ready for parties or going to Seattle to see my Mel Mel. I hope to have pictures up this weekend of my trip. I had so much fun! So now that I'm feeling better and have energy I decided to break the stamps out last night. It was a co-worker's birthday on Monday so I made this card for her. Do you know that feeling when you sit down to make a card and get overwhelmed by all the stamps you have? Well, I did last night and so I ended up with a very simple, but elegant card. I also realized that I really need to work on my scanning/picture taking skills. I scanned this one since it was too late to take a picture and get good lighting. On the inside of the card I stamped 'Birthday Wishes' and used the same swirl from the front underneath it. I've always looked past this paper not knowing what to do with it, but this time I saw it I immediately thought of this swirl stamp. I plan on doing some more stamping tonight, so we'll see if I remember to post tomorrow!

Have a happy Wednesday!

Wendy

Afternoon Surprise

Yes ladies and gentlemen, you are seeing two posts on one day. I know for my few followers(Hi Mom and Mel Mel!) that this is a rare occasion, but I have several cards that I have made and hope to post them over the next few days. So today I will post another card. This is a thank you card that I created for one of the customers of my first party. All she ordered was a catalog and I needed to get her copies of her receipt, so I thought this card would work perfectly to hold those. My party was her first Stampin' Up party to attend and I think we have her hooked. I was so excited to introduce someone new to stamping that it made my day. She is planning on ordering stamps, but is waiting for the World Card Making Day special in October where the Simply Sent kits will be 20% off from Oct 4-8. If you are interested in ordering one of these kits please let me know. I wish they would have offered something like this when I first started. You get a little bit of everything with the paper, ink, and accessories. The 'Thanks' on the front of this card doesn't show up very well in my picture, but it was really pretty in person. This is my first card to make with the 'Heartfelt Thanks' set and I really like the way it turned out. Can you tell that I am enjoying my new Always Artichoke ribbon and stamp pad??

Just think... the week is already half way over and we're on our way towards the weekend! Have a happy Wednesday!

~Wendy


Stamps: Canvas Background, Heartfelt Thanks
Paper: Always Artichoke, Pretty in Pink, Passion Pink
Ink: Always Artichoke, Pretty in Pink, Passion Pink
Accessories: Artichoke Grosgrain Ribbon

September Birthdays

Hey guys, I know it's been a week since I posted, but I have been stamping. For some reason I can remember to scan my cards, but it takes me forever to get them posted up here. Well, the week before last was my mother-in-law and sister-in-law's birthday. In case you can't tell, I just got the 'Happy Birthday' embosser for my Cuttlebug and also got my recent order of Bellas. I just love this birthday

Bella with her cute little hat! The card on the left was for Kellie(sister-in-law). I tried glittering parts of the embossed words on the background for a different look. I tend to be very messy with glitter, so one card of glitter was enough for me. On my mother-in-law's card I used my glitter pens to accent Bella's hat and present. Both cards turned out really cute and they both loved them. Hope you enjoy them too!

~Wendy

Birthday Monday

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Chris and I had so much fun in Houston watching the Red Raiders beat Rice and hanging out with all our friends from college. Houston is a great place to visit, but I could do without the humidity! Today is a co-worker's birthday so I stamped her a card last night. She is a fellow Red Raider fan, so I thought she would appreciate the red and black. I used my new Cuttlebug 'Happy Birthday' plate that I bought last week. I am still playing around with how to use it, but I love the embossed look and it is so easy to use! One this one I embossed on white paper and then ran my red ink pad all over the paper for a different look. Of course I had to use my scallop circle punch and those It's All Good stamps fit just perfect on the scallop circle. I added a little doodling to the bottom to give it a softer edge. I hope to have some pictures of our weekend up in the next couple days so be ready for more red and black!

~Wendy

Happy Friday!

I am so excited that it is Friday! Work has been really busy as we are closing our fiscal year and I have barely had time to touch my stamps. Yesterday was my niece's sixth birthday and I made this card over the weekend for her. The candles stamp was only 5 candles, so I stamped it again and then cut them out to put on the cake. Before attaching to the cake I covered them in pink glitter. I also went over some of the polka dots in a glitter gel pen. On the inside it says 'Birthday' in pink glitter. I know how much my niece loves pink sparkly things so I thought this would be perfect for her. I hope she had a wonderful day yesterday!

This card is just something else I threw together while I was playing with my new scallop circle punch form SU! You can never have too many birthday cards hanging around. I did notice that I need to get a little better at scanning my cards so that they are not crooked. For some reason mine also look a little off. Maybe if my readers will just tilt their head to the left a little that will solve my problem much faster. :)

I told Mel that I was going to be better about posting everyday, but this weekend I am going to be gone. Chris and I are going down to Houston after work today to visit some of our friends from college and go to the Texas Tech vs Rice game tomorrow. I am so excited since Tech is now 2-0. Go Red Raiders!!! I am also very excited to see our friends from college. I plan on doing some stamping when we get back Sunday because I have lots of September birthdays that I have not made cards for yet!

Have a very happy Friday and a great weekend!

~Wendy

Bella Birthday Card

My sister-in-law had me make one of her girlfriends a set of my martini coasters and needed a card to go with them. You can check out my coasters and other creations at my website. I threw this card together Friday night, but love the way it turned out. The bellas are just so much fun to color and if you haven't heard about them, go over to Stamping Bella right now and check them out. I just love all the different personalities that she has in the Bellas.

Stamps: Cakeabella, Simple Saying II
Paper: All non-SU! so I have no clue what colors they are
Ink: Black for the bella and Chocolate Chip
Accessories: glitter, white grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals

~Wendy

First SU Party

Well I promised Mel that I would finally post some stuff that has been going on lately. She gets onto me when I haven't posted in a few days and I think it's been over a week since I last posted. Saturday was my first SU! party and it was so much fun. Thank you Beth Ann for being the brave one and letting me try out on her party. Everything went great and we had so much fun. The ladies who came were so much fun and they made me feel so comfortable as I made two different cards and one non-card item. I have another party in little over a week and plan on doing the same things for them since these were such a hit. Plus the kitty from Haunting Halloween is precious and on sale this month as part of the Fall Frenzy sale that SU! has going on.

This my first card that I did and also the make 'n take for the party. In case you aren't familiar with SU!, this would be the card that you get a chance to make yourself and take home. I can't take complete credit for this card because I started with someone else's idea off of Splitcoaststampers and added my own touches. I included a second picture so that you could see the way I punched a hole in the front of the card for the snowflake to show through.

Stamps: Season of Joy
Ink: Brilliant Blue
Paper: Whisper White, Brilliant Blue
Accessories: White Grosgrain Ribbon, Brilliant Blue Brad, 1 1/4" circle punch, paper piercer, craft knife(to slit side of card), dimensionals


My second card was a non-typical card size. I cut this card to 5 1/2" x 6" and scored it on the 3". I think this kitty is so cute and I love how this whole set works together and doesn't need any other sets to complete a card. I stamped the inside of this card with the 'a Haunting Halloween' saying to finish it out. This was my first creation, but for the party I mounted the kitty on black before adding it to the card.

Stamps: Haunting Halloween
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Lovely Lilac, Whisper White, Basic Black, Only Orange
Accessories: SU! Pastels, dimensionals


I wanted my final creation to be something non-stamped and I wanted to use one of the new In-Colors from SU! So after much deliberation and one creation that lacked some pizazz, I decided to do a 2-4-6-8 box. If anyone else is like me, I have 13 ladies in my group at work and that gets pretty expensive at Christmas time. I love little treasures like this that you can fill with chocolate. Everyone in my group appreciates having a little bit of chocolate on hand when it gets stressful and this is just the perfect size. I also couldn't resist using the new double stitched ribbon. I tried my hardest to use the scallop circle punch somewhere on these three items, but couldn't figure out where. The tag is not actually attached to ribbon, but adhered directly to the box to make it look like that. Just in case you were curious, the box is about 3 1/2" tall and 2" wide. If you want to make your own boxes you can find the instructions here.

Stamps: Year After Year, Warm Wishes, Hot to Dot wheel
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Ruby Red
Paper: Whisper White, Wild Wasabi
Accessories: Word Window Punch, Small Tag Punch, Double Stitched Wild Wasabi Ribbon, Slit Punch

~Wendy

September Stampin’ Up! Special - Fall Frenzy

The Fall Frenzy Promotion runs from September 1 through September 30.

Spend $30 in regular priced merchandise and qualify to purchase one of each of the six promotional stamp sets listed below at 30% off!

#105355 - Bitty Boos Too (page 26)
#109284 - Haunting Halloween (page 29)
#107383 - Thoroughly Thankful (page 30)
#109373 - Autumn Fest (page 108)
#109421 - Elementary Essentials (page 91)
#110366 - Stem Silhouettes (Holiday Mini page 17)

The World Card Making Day Promotion runs for ONLY 4 DAYS from October 4 through October 8. World Card Making Day is the 1st Saturday of October (which is on October 06th this year).

To celebrate, Stampin’ Up is offering 20% off of ALL of their Simply Stampin’ Card Kits (See pages 12-14 in the Fall-Winter 2007 Catalog).

These kits are wonderful for busy stampers. You will get instructions as well all the supplies to make at least 10 cards, including ink, paper, embellishments and even envelopes.