What have I been up to....

Many a thing I have been up to, I can tell you that! It's incredible how much time goes by (between my blogs that is). I have been keeping very busy but not necessarily with paper. I have lots of pics of my life from the past few weeks so let's just jump into those!

These first pics are of a "mini vacation" that we took when Jed had a few days off. We decided to go to the Sierras because Jed hadn't been in such a long time and I had never been. It was a crazy trip the first 24 hours because camping and hiking with Cree was no easy task let me tell you. But we had a great time never the less! And it was gorgeous to boot! Forgive the fact that we look so dirty and worn, camping really took it out on us. The last few pics of Creedence (when she is wearing Jed's hat) were taken in Tahoe the last night of the trip. The lighting was so great and she was being so cute I just had to get some shots.

In my last post I think I mentioned that I was going to try and start some new crafts, right? Well... I did. I started knitting! I also want to start sewing but that is going to have to wait a little bit more. I am so loving knitting though! All my friends think I am silly for doing this. But I say if I am happy then I am going to keep doing it. What else am I supposed to do as a SAHM? None of them are so maybe that is why they don't see that this is the funnest thing in the world! Funnest is a word right? It just doesn't look like it would be. Anyway. I have started so many swatches and then ripped them out I lost count. But that helped me to fully understand what it is that I am doing and helped perfect my technique while saving yarn! I have below a very simple baby blanket that I started out of cotton-which I love knitting with so much! It doesn't look that big but I am far from done. I have great plans for it with fabrics and crocheted trim (yes, I am going to learn how to do that too!) and ribbon. It will be wonderful when I am done. I have actually gotten a lot further than the pic because it has been a little while since I took that photo.

Now this loverly picture is my dream skirt! It is absolutely gorgeous! It is from a wonderful book called Knitting Lingerie Style. It is the book that got me wanting to knit! I will have to learn how to knit on the round for this one and also get like 60 bucks worth of yarn, but thats ok because I will love it when it comes out! I really want to get that yarn but I can't find it anywhere! I am going to have to start asking around. If you know where to get Diakeito Diarufuran then please please let me know!! I will keep you updated on the blanket and possible skirt.

As of late, Creedence has been having a lot of trouble falling asleep at night and staying asleep. When I say trouble, I mean that she is waking....realizing she is in her crib...and proceeds to start screaming bloody murder til we come in. She also screams murder when we put her in her crib to go to bed at night. After nights and nights of this and of letting her cry it out for as long as I could let myself we decided to try something different. Well she showed us what it would take. I put on Harry Potter (her new fav movie) because I wanted some background noise and I thought it might occupy her while I tried to get a couple things done, and boom. She was out like a light. So now, every night, we turn on harry or pooh (her other fav) and she falls asleep on her boppy. This is her (below). Super cute asleep balancing on her boppy. We don't know how a baby who moves so much in her sleep can lay teetering and be comfy enough to zonk out. Either way, I had to get some pics of it. so sweet.

That's all that I have for right now! In my next post I will tell you about some of the other fun crafts I want to try and the great books that inspired me to do them! Also, Creedence is turning one soon! I am preping for her birthday party so I will have stuff to share about that too! Take care! ~Amy~

Look what I got!!!

Oh my goodness!! Look what I got in the mail!! I got so much stuff! I felt really bad for our mailman, who is a walking mailman mind you, because he had to carry an extra bag with him just to hold my packages!! Oh goodness I felt awful. But he didn't seem to mind. I was so absolutely giddy after I took the packages and closed the door. I ripped all the packages open in like a minute and a half! This is the first time I have ever got scrapbooking stuff online, so forgive me if I seem silly. I just am!! So I will slowly go down the list of these special things and their millions of photos to accompany.

First up is a huge package I received from Scrap Attack Scrapbooking. They are a great online store that I look at quite often look at and drool over fondly. I checked out their blog one day and they had a post that caught my eye. It was this post. I couldn't believe what I was reading!! I was so excited about the Sassafras Lass mystery box that I bought one right then and there! I had no idea what was to come in it but seeing as I didn't own anything Sassafras Lass I knew that no matter what it was I would love it! And even better you get entered into a drawing the more boxes you buy! If you are picked you could win the ENTIRE collection of NEW CHA GLITZ papers! Sounds fantastic to me! So as they say the boxes will not disappoint and goodness knows mine didn't. Just look below at the many things from Sassafras Lass I got.....

Look at that stack!!

The Royal Bliss Collection

The Felicity Collection

The Scrumptious Collection

The Indian Summer Collection

Some of the Blue Boutique Collection

Some of the Starry Night Collection

A couple Dapper Dan papers

Some of the Orange A Peel Collection

Rubs Ons

Cardstock Letter Stickers

Some more Rub Ons

And these great jumbo brads from Queen and Co.

Now you gotta admit that is pretty damn good for 35 bucks. I am almost tempted to buy another one.~

This loverly set came from Label Tulip. It is a RAK I won during their One Year Anniversary Bash thingy! Sorry the pick isn't that great but the little kit is perfect! It has such a wide variety of brands in it, from DreamStreet to Webster's Pages to Sassafras Lass! It's kinda hard to tell but all the papers and embellishments really do go together superbly! I can't wait to do something with it all! Thank you so much Label Tulip!! BTW you should really check them out if you haven't already. They are an amazing kit club with some of the best talent I have seen yet. I have not subscribed to them yet but I will be this next month! So exciting!~

This gorgeous kit is from Scrapbook Circle. They are the first kit club I have subscribed to and they have wonderful stuff! They give a great wide variety of kits from month to month (as far as I can see on their previous kits) and they have some really awesome people on their design team! In this kit I got papers from Heidi Swapp, Making Memories and October Afternoon. I love the color scheme in this kit and the whimsical yet romantic feel of it.

Close up of some of the embellishments...

Look at how many journaling tags came with it!!

and a close up of some of the papers. They are so gorgeous.

Needless to say I am very happy with this kit! Hurrah for Scrapbook Circle!~

This next kit comes from PaperMinx. They are a brand new kit provider and has some out of this world style which goes into their kits! It is very retro vintage. I don't know if that is an oxymoron or not but it makes sense to me! I have loved this kit from the moment I saw it and have been loving it even more since I got it! There are so many amazing one of a kind things in it! And so many embellishments oh my goodness!! You'll just have to look at the pics.

A pic of the whole kit and caboodle.

A pic of only some of the great embellishments.

A pic of some more of the great embellishments. Look at that Black Apple bookplate! Isn't it awesome!

I love those fabric covered brads!! I love those! Did I say I love them? (BTW if you want to know how to do those then go here. Holly Hanks gives a great tutorial on the know how!!)

Lookey there! Those are my first two pieces of fabric to use on LOs! Can't WAIT!

And just look at that vintage Bingo card! AHHH! Gaggin over here I'm so stoked! I know I'm a dork.

And these two pics are an amazing piece. My first overlay, my first transparency, my first Hambly. I'm so happy.

I don't think I can say enough good things about PaperMinx! Go check them out because if you like this style then you will be in heaven!! The two founders, Aimee and Steph, are amazing talents with loads of inspiration to give!!~

Well that is all I have for you right now. I went out of town recently and have been busy otherwise at home so I haven't gotten anything scrappy done lately. I also, someone kick me please, started a new craft with the intent on starting another next month as well. I am knitting. I want to knit. I tried for the first time last night and geez louise it is hard. I think I am making the stitches too tight so I am going to go to the local craft store and beg for some help. I just can't get the loop through without having to drop my needles and do some yanking on the former stitch and I know that is not how knitting is supposed to be done. When I get knitting down this month I will move on to starting the next one. And when I get the supplies I will tell you all about it. I will leave you with a picture of my daughter, who is my joy in every way. Hope you all are well and have a great weekend! Take care ~Amy~

And I thought I would add this one in as well. This picture is the whole reason we went to Texas in the first place. This is a picture of my Great-Grandmother. Creedence makes the fifth generation in our family and we wanted to make sure that the first generation and the fifth met and were documented before it was too late. Gammy, as we call her, is turning 90 soon but suffers from dementia. I am making it a personal goal to go and visit her at least once a year with Creedence from here on out. I am very happy we were able to get this picture. It makes me smile so much.

Whole bunches of new projects!

Oh my goodness! It has been a long two days!! I have stayed up till 4 am the last two nights in a row and I feel like I am going to collapse right now! But..... I have not been this inspired in a very very long time! I have felt more creativity flowing through me than ever before! I came across this site a couple days ago and fell in love! There is so much amazing talent there I can not even begin to tell you! The site is called Label Tulip. They are a kit club, but soo soo much more inspiration-wise. They are almost 1 so they were having a birthday?anniversary bash with some amazing challenges! I had to participate. (please forgive bad pictures. the lighting isn't so good in our house right now seeing as it is foggy outside).

This first challenge was done by Waleska. We were supposed to create a LO using this ad below as our inspiration! I thought the ad was awesome and great for use as a sketch. Below it is my interpretation of the ad. It's called So Much Energy. And some close ups follow.

This next challenge is the TG Lift Challenge! I have never done a lift before so I was anxious to do this! I did mine from Holly Hanks These Are The Days You'll Remember LO from the April 2008 gallery. This first pic is Holly's, the last two are mine.






This challenge was done by Holly Hanks. It is a mini album that she designed the template for! It is so easy and so so much fun!! Here is the link to the class! Do it You'll love it! I had such a great time doing this album and have so many ideas for more. I know I am going to be doing some more of these real soon. Holly's version has ten pages and she told us all that we did not have to have that many, depending on how many pictures we wanted to use. It just so happens though that my daughter just turned 10 months! I thought it would be the perfect subject for a little brag book! And it worked out wonderfully! I absolutely love it! Give it a try you will too!~

This one was a "scrap your stash" challenge! Goodness knows I needed to do this one because my scraps of paper container was seriously overflowing! I took some pics of it before I started to do this LO so that I could show you but I think I will go ahead and spare you that. I used so many little bits of paper here and there that it is such a hodge podge of mess that I didn't think it would look that good. But I am actually pleased with how well it turned out. Now I have to mention that everything except the pic and the thickers came out of my scrap boxes! I was so proud of myself for that hehe. Even the backing that everything is on came from a stack of 12 x 12 cardstock that I used up last week! I had lots of fun doing this one because it took no planning whatsoever, just placing and pasteing! Great challenge and if I could do more "scrap your stash" challenges this way, I would in a heart beat! This layout is called Off She Goes. You can not tell there is a She in there because it blends in with the picture (Doh!) buuut it is there.

That's all for now! I will hopefully be back later when Creedence is sleeping to give you the LO I gave sneaks of a few days ago! Take care ~Amy~