Stamping ROCKS!

Guess what I did just now!!? I STAMPED!!!! And it was FUN!!! Today is the first I've stamped just for fun in nearly a month. Don't get me wrong, doing the things for the silent auction was fun too - but not as fun as this!! :-) This week's Ways To Use It challenge on SCS (WT155) was to be inspired by music - so of course I *had to* use my friend Diane's DURAN DURAN stamp again!!!!!! Can you believe she actually has a Duran Duran stamp?? It's been in her possession since the 80's, and it's not likely you'll find one for yourself, so don't bother asking me where to get one! And Carole even offered up her organs in exchange for this stamp and Diane wasn't interested in negotiating, so don't ask if she will sell it. :-) For this card, I stamped the Fab Five across the bottom & embossed them with "black sparkle" EP. I also used my new SU Sticky Cuts letters and Fine Cosmo glitter - I just *love* this glitter!!! Of course I went straight for the purple - it's sooooo pretty. This card has some SERIOUS sparkle IRL! The cute little XOXO ribbon is from Elsie Flannigan. I have been really bummed about my lack of stamping, so this card definitely made me HAPPY!!!

Speaking of HAPPY - I'm going to have some extremely HAPPY news to share with you in a few days, so please come back and visit again! Have a great weekend!

• Stamps: Diane's One Of A Kind, Priceless Duran Duran Stamp!!!
• Paper: Whisper White, Real Red
• Ink: Versamark, black marker
• Accessories: Sticky Cuts Letters, Fine Cosmo Glitter, Black Sparkle EP, Elsie ribbon, Michael's ribbon, old silver heart brads I've had forever, staples

My other auction projects...

I thought I'd share the other two card designs I made for my Zonta silent auction item yesterday. I am officially sick of using Bravo Burgundy, So Saffron and Roses in Winter for a while now...! And sorry if you are sick of looking at them. :-) The set of 12 cards did quite well at the auction though - they brought in $42! Not too shabby! And it was fun making them - good to be in the ol' stamp room again! But now I'm definitely in the mood to stamp something completely just for fun!! I also need to work on my March birthday list. You may remember that my new year's goal was to a) stamp with someone in mind and actually SEND cards (I am a recovering card-hoarder!) and b) try to get a card to everyone on my calendar this year. Well, I've already failed! My poor friend Brenda was the first casualty, her birthday came and went last week with no card. *sigh* I'll have to make it up to her with a fun surprise in her mailbox at some random point in the future...!

Right now my parents are here helping to entertain the kids, so I'm *supposed* to be cleaning up my stamp room, so I can put the air bed in there and they can maybe spend some nights here! So far they've been staying with my sister. But, I am the World's Biggest Procrastinator, especially when it comes to cleaning up my disaster of a stamp room (I don't know how that room is continually exploding on me!! Ok, I do know - I'm a slob. But it's still frustrating!). But I need to get it done, so that maybe I can do that stamping just for fun I mentioned before they do move in, and also so I can feel like I've accomplished something before settling on the couch to watch the Oscars tonight. I always love watching the Oscars - I love watching movies - but sadly I rarely do that anymore, I don't think I've seen hardly anything that's nominated this year!! I did make it out to see Sweeney Todd last month, because I had to see my Johnny sing!!! And I'm looking forward to seeing him there tonight! Although sadly I know he probably won't win. Ok enough rambling - back to the stamp room I go. I'm feeling too lazy to write out the card recipes - they are pretty self-explanatory I think, but feel free to ask if you are curious about anything... Happy Stampin'!

A couple of my faves - Leslie and Flourishes!!

CASE ALERT!!! This is NOT an original creation - it is a flat-out copy of this beauty by Leslie Miller, one of the most fan-tabulous stampers on this big green earth! She sent her original creation to me for my birthday last year (LUCKY ME!!) - I hope she agrees that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery and is not offended that I not only copied her card, but am now posting it! (and btw - check out her original! I tried to copy it, but her coloring, as always, is just so amazing, I could not come close to matching it!!!) So the reason that I copied it, and am now posting it, is because I want to tell you about another of my favorites - Flourishes!!! Not only are their stamps absolutely lovely, but the owners are wonderful too. I wanted to put together a stamp gift basket for the silent auction at the Zonta event tomorrow that I mentioned in a previous post. I emailed Jan Marie from Flourishes on a whim, just to see if by chance she'd be willing to donate something - and not only did she immediately say YES without hesitation, but she sent me a package that was far more generous than I had dared to imagine! So tomorrow at the auction, we will have this gift basket that contains a Cake Decorating 101 set (which btw is currently on sale at Flourishes until Feb29!!), a Flourished Words set, a BasicGrey Infuse 6x6 pad, a variety of beautiful May Arts ribbons, and this Leslie Miller reproduction, lovingly CASE'd by yours truly. Here's hoping it brings in some good bids!! And once again, THANK YOU JAN MARIE for your wonderful kindness and generosity! :-) And thanks to the rest of you for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Flourishes Cake Decorating 101
• Paper: Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, BasicGrey Infuse
• Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Rose Red, Versamark
• Accessories: Silver EP, Copic Markers, Michael's ribbon, ticket corner punch

A request...

Would all of you mega-prolific bloggers out there please take the rest of the week off??? I worked so hard yesterday afternoon at getting caught up, and then my parents arrived and I was too exhausted last night to look at the computer, so just now I finally opened up Reader again - and it's like I never made any progress at all! I'm never going to get caught up!! So, just lie low for a few days and give me a chance to read all of your posts, ok??? Thanks for your understanding on this matter. ;-)

A quick post of the kiddos...

No new cards to share today but I couldn't resist posting this photo - my sweet boy sharing his trucks with his baby sister! He's such a good big brother! Carter is at school right now, and Courtney isn't letting me put her down, so she's lying on my shoulder/chest while I sit here at the computer playing some catch-up on my unread posts in Google Reader. I haven't figured out how to stamp with her in my arms yet...! I still have sooo many posts to read - I'm going down the list in alphabetical order and I'm only in the "C's"! But I'm enjoying playing catch-up very much!! :-)

Join our fight to stop human trafficking!

First of all, my apologies if you were notified about this post and all it had was the title - I don't know how I managed to hit "post" while in the process of typing just the title! I'll chalk it up to sleep deprivation!!

So anyway - I stamped! Woohoo! This is a pretty amazing accomplishment, not only because I have a two week old who lately has been loving to nurse every HOUR, but also because my two *year* old has an ear infection and has been a very unhappy camper. And the two year old *LOVES* his baby sister and wants to hug her all the time, so the two week old also has a cold and cannot breathe very well when she's lying down. *sigh* Isn't parenthood fun??

But enough whining (sorry I do that so much these days - I thought I'd quit once I wasn't pregnant anymore...!) - on to the card! I've mentioned before that I'm a member of the Zonta Club of Austin. Zonta is an international service & advocacy organization, working to advance the status of women worldwide. One of Zonta International's projects is the fight against human trafficking, aka modern day slavery. Our Austin club is joining the battle. This Saturday we are hosting a luncheon and panel discussion to help raise awareness in the Austin area - and beyond! We have ladies joining us from various parts of Texas and as far as Louisiana! It's not too late to join us! We have arranged for some excellent speakers, and the luncheon is at a really beautiful location in Austin. And, we're also having a silent auction! So of course I had to donate some cards for the auction. This is one of three designs that will be included in the box of twelve that I'm donating (Zonta girls, what do you think?). The Z is our Zonta logo, and I downloaded it from the website, printed it and then enhanced it with Stickles. The symbol of Zonta is the yellow rose, so of course I had to pull out Roses in Winter. And Zonta's color is burgundy so I had to use that as well. Now I just need to make 3 more of this card, and then come up with 2 more designs and make 4 of each of them, and get them to the silent auction coordinator tomorrow (they were due last weekend, oops). Wish me luck! :-) And thanks for stopping by today.

• Stamps: Rose in Winter, Rrench Script
• Paper: Kraft, Very Vanilla, Bravo Burgundy
• Ink: Barely Banana, So Saffron, Summer Sun, Bravo Burgundy, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip
• Accessories: Corner rounder, gold brads, gold Stickles, ribbon, Zonta logo downloaded from Internet (I also used Leslie's TP technique)

A trip down memory lane...

Hi all! Today I thought I'd take you on that trip down memory lane that I mentioned I might do. In the little bit of time I've found for stamping lately, I've been focused on figuring out Courtney's birth announcements and thank you cards (some of which I'm *WAY* overdue on sending out!!). So, I dug out Carter's to try and get some inspiration. This is what I came up with 2+ years ago. I was a dedicated demo back then, and they are created with 100% Stampin' Up materials, other than the staples! Funny how things have changed in 2+ years - both in my family and in my stamping! This was well over a year before I discovered blogging, and also before I discovered this whole world of stamping outside of SU! I'd say my bank account was healthier back then, but no... I just used to spend more on SU! By the way, I still absolutely LOVE SU, please don't get the wrong idea. But there is room in my heart for MANY stamp companies, just like there is room for many children. Or, at least two...! (100% true: I asked my DH if we should have a third baby, and his response: "Aren't you too old?") (I'm such a lucky gal...) Anyway... why the peanut, you ask? Well much as Courtney was referred to as Cupcake while she was baking, Carter was my little Peanut. Peanut. Carter. Get it?? Heh heh. Actually he was Peanut before we came up with the name, but it ended up being a funny coincidence! :-) Ok, I better go and be productive during the rest of naptime - today I am attempting to clean up my stamp room a bit. It had gotten totally out of control during the last month of my pregnancy, when I was too huge and uncomfortable to get down on the floor & pick up all the junk I threw there...! But my parents are coming in a few days and need to SLEEP in that room, so I need to make floor space for the bed...! BTW - while they're here, I'm not going to be able to stamp. *sigh* So you may not see me for a while again, other than posting obnoxiously-proud-mama baby photos... :-) But I'll have more to post between now & then...I hope anyway! Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Valentine's Day, Again!

Sorry, I can't help myself... next post will be cards, I promise. :-)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's something a little fun & silly for your V-day entertainment! My celebrity soulmate is George Clooney. Ahhhhh, George. (although the quiz must not be 100% accurate because my true soulmate is of course Johnny Depp!) LOL Have fun!


Take the Quiz

Some cards and an update...

Everyone in my house is napping at the moment (even my DH!) so I thought I'd take a moment to check in and say hello! I'm doing as well as a sleep deprived new mama can be doing, really - no major complaints at all! And Courtney is a complete sweetie - she's making it so much easier on her old mommy than her big brother did a couple years back...! But more about all that later - first I want to show you a couple cards I've received from my IRL friends! I'll show you some cards from my imaginary friends in a future post...! (LOL - I heard someone else refer to blogging friends as imaginary friends and I think that is just too funny!) This first card was made by my friend Diane. Isn't it adorable? The little cupcake is popped up on dimensionals and has crystal effects on it - yummy! And I love the polka dots and stripes! The second card is from my friend Theresa, the same one who made my beautiful family tree. The little mesh bag attached to the card is filled with buttons, rhinestones & sequins. So cute!! I've managed to do a little stamping this week (not a lot, but a little!) - but nothing I can show you just yet! I designed Courtney's announcement & thank you cards - none of which have been mailed yet - so I can't show you until after they are actually in mailboxes! Maybe I will take you on a jog down memory lane next time I post and show you what I did a couple years back for Carter!

Now for those of you who are curious about what's been going on with me over the past couple weeks... (maybe boring for some, so feel free to surf to the next blog now...) :-) Let's see, I think the last time I complained to you all about still being pregnant was Superbowl Sunday! I was doing some cleaning in an attempt to make labor progress. Well, turns out it was a good thing nothing happened that Sunday - Joel, Carter and I rather enjoyed watching the Superbowl this year!! (Even if it wasn't the Lions...) No, Carter didn't really watch the entire Superbowl, but we all sat in the livingroom to eat dinner, him in his regular booster chair, which he had never done before so it was quite an exciting treat. :-) (Joel is determined to raise a little sports fanatic I think...) So Monday morning I got into the shower and started feeling something - I wasn't quite sure if it was a contraction or just some gas due to the Superbowl junk food we had the night before...! I emailed some friends saying as much, I sent out an email to my Stampin' Up customers about our SAB order (when baby was born a few hours later some really thought I was crazy for sending out stamp emails while in labor... what can I say, I'm a dedicated stamper!!). Anyway around 9am I timed the contractions & they were 6 minutes apart, and 15 minutes later they were only 3 minutes apart, so by then I was willing to rule out gas. :-) My sister came over to stay with Carter and we headed to the doctor. Labor came fast & furious by the time we got to the hospital, and Courtney was born at 1:54pm. I managed to do it again without medication. Oh did I mention she was 9lbs 5oz? Ouch!! But I'm glad - I think my recovery has gone really smooth with both births, and I think a lot of that is due to not having the IV or epidural. Thankfully my body likes to get the babies out QUICK - don't think I could do it without medication if I had a long, drawn-out labor!!!! Too wimpy for that!!! But I do think it was more painful this time than with Carter (or maybe it's just fresher in my memory, who knows). The doctor did comment after that "those were some big shoulders you pushed out!". Yes they were! Courtney has been such a great baby so far. Yes, she is keeping me up a lot at night, but that is to be expected. But she is a great nurser - she knew how to latch on right off the bat (plus I knew what *I* was doing which I'm sure helped). She already sleeps better than her big brother did - yes, I'm up at night a lot, but that's because she's a big girl with an equally big appetite - she likes to nurse A LOT. But when I put her down to sleep, she will eventually. The most challenging thing has been helping Carter to adjust to having this new little person in the house. The first few days were really rough - but he's already gotten much better!! Some of my wise friends with multiple kids said a key thing is to get him involved, to let him help with the baby. So he helps by getting a diaper when it's time to change her, and he gets to pick out her outfit every morning. Lately he just wants to hug her all the time, which is so sweet (but we're still working on being really gentle...!). I'm so proud of him, he's doing so well with her now!! I think I'll share a photo of Big Brother Carter holding his baby sister - and end with the best Carter quote so far... the first time I nursed Courtney in front of Carter, he said "baby sister eating mommy!!". :-)

Take care, I hope to get back in the stamping swing soon & also get caught up on my blog reading - sorry for the lack of comments, I am waaayyyy behind!! xoxoxo

Awwwww

First of all, thank you for all the sweet comments you've been leaving!! I've loved reading each and every one of them! Many have said to post more photos - I just took this one and thought it turned out cute, so here ya go... :-) Things are going ok so far - I'm pretty tired today, last night was our first night home and she preferred eating over sleeping. I'll post more about the birth and everything soon - right now I really need to go & take a nap!!!

Introducing...

Courtney Leigh Hickson
Born February 4, 2008 1:54pm
9 pounds, 5 ounces
21.5 inches long

Mommy and Baby (and Daddy and Big Brother Carter!) are all doing well!!

Stamps For Sale! (Papertrey & MFT!)

Hi all!

In my attempt to bring on labor, I'm doing some cleaning today! I actually mopped!! Now here's hoping that contractions start, but my water doesn't break all over my newly-cleaned floors! LOL! Now I'm tackling my stamp room. And, I've decided that I'd like to purge some stamps that I love, but have had for many months and never used - at this point there's no sense in keeping them. Especially when somebody out there may show them more love than I have!!

Papertrey
These are not in the very original packaging they were shipped in - I have put them in the cd cases. None have been used so zero staining. For these stamps in CD cases I'll need to add on $2 for shipping - if you buy more than one I'll just charge you the actual shipping amount. And I hope the cd case doesn't crack in the mail, but I'm not responsible if it does (they will ship in a padded envelope).
Faux Ribbon - $16 - SOLD
Paper Tray - $8 - SOLD
Little Lady - $8 - SOLD
Holiday Treats - $16 - SOLD
Believe - $8 - SOLD

My Favorite Things
These are all in original packaging, have never been used (or opened!). Shipping for these will be $1 each.
By The Sea - $5 - SOLD
Hit the Beach - $5 - PENDING
How Sweet It Is - $5 - SOLD
Shower Time - $5 - PENDING

I prefer payment for these via Paypal - but I only have a basic account and cannot accept credit cards, so bank transfers only. If you let me know ASAP I can hopefully get them in the mail to you tomorrow. However, as I hope you can understand - if I do go into labor it will put a little kink in that plan & you'll have to be patient with me! Hope that's ok. :-)

If you're interested, please send me an email at stampinlibby@gmail.com.

I've been tagged...

One of my favorite bloggers, Shannan, tagged me. It's not like I have anything better to do at the moment (!!) so what the heck, I'll play along...!

Five things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Working as a reliability engineer at Motorola
2. Driving my "Michigan car" - black with no AC! In TEXAS!
3. Showing up everywhere with really bad hair due to having my windows down in my steamy hot car
4. Trying to decide what to do about my wedding (ended up getting hitched on the beach in Cancun!)
5. Exercising regularly. *sigh* What a concept!

Five things on my to do list today:
1. Have a baby
2. Do some laundry
3. Have a baby
4. Stamp a little?
5. Have a baby!!!

Five things I will do when I am a millionaire:
1. Share with my family
2. Buy a bigger house
3. Make a stamp room in my new house just like Nichole's
4. Go to school to learn to do something I love
5. Travel

Five things I will never wear again:
1. Maternity clothes
2. A wedding dress (actually I've never worn one!)
3. Horizontal stripes (I say this, but always forget and wear them anyway - bad scene!)
4. Permed hair
5. Parachute pants

Five of my favorite toys:
1. My stamps and all things related
2. My camera
3. My Kitchenaide stand mixer
4. My under-the-cabinet clock radio in the kitchen
5. My bike - hope to ride it again once all of this baby making stuff is done

My five banes of existence:
1. Cleaning the bathroom - I have a phobia of hairs not attached to heads - YUCK!!
2. My stupid neighbor with a very loud motorcycle who always drives by just after I put Carter down to sleep
3. Weeds. I hate pulling weeds. (I'm so with you on this one Shannan!)
4. New banks & Jiffy Lubes going up everywhere - why do we need one on every single corner?
5. George W. Bush

I'm going to skip the part about tagging five others - but feel free to play along if you'd like!

So today is the day my doctor would like me to go into labor... she's on call today. She's off most of next week so it will likely be somebody else from her practice who will deliver Cupcake unless Cupcake cooperates today. Which is fine, she didn't deliver Carter either. Luckily Joel doesn't really care about the Superbowl, otherwise he'd probably get very annoyed if labor did start today. He's a huge sports fan. And actually - his team is the Detroit Lions. Yes, it's rough being a football fan from Michigan!! But we did discuss it - if the Lions had had some miraculous season and actually DID make it to the Superbowl today, Joel probably would have chosen the game over the birth...! I guess I should try to be active today - maybe going for a walk will get something happening... we'll see! Have a Super Sunday!!

FYI...

Still pregnant!

Happy Cupcake Day!!

Well Monica had predicted a little while back that perhaps I'd have my own "Cupcake Friday" today, and that Baby Girl (aka Cupcake!) would make her appearance - but alas, it doesn't seem to be the case. But since I'm feeling no contractions and actually had a little energy tonight I got to stamp!! (went to the doctor today, she prescribed a little something for my cold - nose is still a faucet, but I do feel more clear-headed than I did this morning!) Woohoo!! And in honor of Cupcake's due date being TOMORROW, I decided to play along with Taylor's Cupcake Challenge! This week's challenge was to use Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Pixie Pink, and Chocolate Chip on a card. She said using a cupcake image was optional, but of course I had to!! And to make my job even easier I turned to Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge for the layout! I love Beate's sketch this week, especially because I could make a 4x9 card, one of my favorite shapes these days! I didn't actually end up using Pixie Pink cardstock on mine, but I used markers & ribbon that were essentially Pixie Pink. I did a little Nancy-style ribbon treatment on here too, with the safety pin & straight pin that I love the look of so much. One regret though - I think the sentiment would have looked cuter in one of the bright colors rather than Chocolate Chip. But to be honest - Chocolate Chip was already setting out on my desk - the other ink pads are across the room (I so need a bigger desk so I can have everything within reach!!) and I was too lazy to get up for one!! I'm so bad. But if you had a belly this big you would totally do the same thing. :-) In the card recipe below I'm going to list the Copics I used - is this useful to anyone? I'm happy to do it - but if nobody really cares I won't bother. So if you like me doing that, please let me know via a comment. Ok I better get to sleep - want a good night's sleep in case Cupcake is a punctual baby and decides to come on time (but I'm guessing she'll be running late, like her mama most often is...!). Have a great weekend, and happy stamping!

• Stamps: Hero Arts Cupcake, Fancy Flexible Phrases
• Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Very Vanilla, Au Chocolat DP
• Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black, Chocolate Chip
• Accessories: Copic markers (R27,R29,RV04,RV34,BG05,BG09,C1), Candy Cane & Diamond Stickles, Michael's ribbon, safety pin (from JoAnn Scrap Essentials pack), straight pin, heart tag (traced a Hobby Lobby heart tag onto Vanilla & cut out), sponge

Check me out!!

I am so incredibly honored today to be Colleen's Featured Artist on her wonderful blog, Distinctive Touches! Her write-up about me is so nice, I am completely blushing! Colleen's blog is one I visit regularly - she's an incredibly talented stamper and author (and teacher!!) - I've learned so much on her Technique Tuesdays, been inspired by her Thursday Throwdowns, and have discovered many wonderfully talented bloggers through her Featured Artist Fridays! And she is just generally the nicest person too! Make sure and visit her blog regularly!!

Still nothing!

Since I know some of you get excited when I don't post, thinking I've gone to the hospital - wanted to let you know that nothing's happening on the baby front - no contractions, no water breaking, no nothin'! I just didn't have time to stamp today so I don't have anything interesting to post (but fyi I was VERY productive during Carter's time at school - no "nesting" but LOTS of errand running!)! The only new "development" in the past 24hrs is a cold. Yippee! So now I'll probably go into labor with a stuffed nose - the same nose I'm supposed to focus on breathing through as I *attempt* to have this baby without any drugs! Yes I am nuts. I managed that with Carter but maybe this time drugs are in order... ;-) So anyway, I'll leave you today with a word of advice... if you can help it, don't ever have a baby due in the heart of cold & flu season!! It's not fun! ;-)