Studio Calico Elmwood Park Sneaks

A little bit of Life:  



The summer vacation is in full swing in these part, but I'm still in school.  I have a little break beginning in mid-July until I get with a teacher for student teaching this fall.  I can't believe how fast the MAT program is going.  I'll have my degree in less than a year!  That's exciting and terrifying at the same time.

I'm also resigning from a career of @12.5 years in July.  I'm trying not to think about that one.  It's something that has been part of my life longer than my marriage.  It's going to be hard to let some of those people go, even if the career in the end wasn't for me.

Anyway...

The Summer vacay also means swimming lessons for the kiddos.  Here's a glimpse of what that looks like:

Morgan is a little fish.  She barely listens because she's too busy swimming to the bottom and fixing her goggles.  No matter how hard I try she insists on wearing them this way, squishing down her ears.  Reminds me of my dad.  Today she was using flippers and I tell you what, she was kicking some serious tail with the other kids in her group.  We may consider Swim team or something with that one.

Payton didn't feel like swimming today.  Well, she told me her belly hurt.  She sat with me for a bit but when she heard they were doing "rocket" and "big arms" she was ready to give it a go.  This is usually what it's like on the Monday of the second week in a two week session.  She's not a fan of sticking her face in the water, so she still has some confidence to build.  She's still cute though.


And now on to SNEAKS:

This is my main kit sneak for Elmwood Park.  I used my Cameo for this one.  That butterfly is an old Martha Stewart punch.  I'd definitely think about more SC paper again this month!  

This one was made with Capture the Flag, add-on 1.  This stamp called for white ink so I added some Colorbox to my box for the month.  I love how it turned out on kraft.  

I was actually inspired by the stamp in Four Square, #3, for this layout.  I have been wanting to try the pie wedge design.  It was fun to mix different prints.  

Two things to tell you about this layout:

1.  Stamp Press

2.  Colorbox frost white ink

The Colorbox ink worked on craft, as I mentioned.  I LOVE it.  The key to getting it stamped in the perfect spot, for me, is that Stamp Press.  More on that later, but if you don't have one YOU NEED ONE.  ;)

This last one is for a special challenge this month.  I'm excited to share more about it.


That's it for now!  Be advised.  There's going to be post after post after post in the next few days.  I was sitting here watching the Bachelorette when I realized what day it was and that I'd better share sneaks posthaste!


P.S.  I have NO idea who I want Emily to choose.  I like Arie, Sean (he is HOT), and Jef is just adorable.  Oh my.  


Davinie

The Daily grind and Making Memories

(wiping the sweat from my brow)


Okay, we've done it. We got our local park and recreation guide, I noted the sign up dates, and I jumped online first thing registration morning to get Morgan signed up for swimming lessons. Phew. In the class. Not on the waiting list. Why must it be so hard? I'm just trying to get my girl some skilz! There's such competition for extra-curricular activities. I guess we all bring it on ourselves by trying to be the first one through the gate.


One reason I wanted to sign Morgan up for lessons is because I should do so every summer. Until. The more skills the kids have, the better. We spend a lot of time camping at lake, the ocean, pool time in the backyard... I just think it's something that should be a required part of childhood. The second reason? The second reason I signed Morgan up for lessons is to give her something to do. Why?


The girl is driving me nuts.


Okay, I said it. I did. She cries all day long. All day. I gave her a big cup when she wanted a small cup. She wanted this type of cracker, not that one. I didn't give her enough. I gave her too many. The apple slices were supposed to be big. She wanted to go outside. She wanted to go inside. She wanted one more dandelion from the yard. blah blah blah... if the kid can find a reason to throw a fit, she DOES.


Terrible Twos. Heard of that one.


I have also heard that the three's are even worse.


I NeVER hear anything about the 4's. Why? WHY. Why didn't someone prepare me? Because the four's at my house are definitely the worst. Ayiyiyiyiy.


And then there's Payton.


And she's watching everything that her sister is doing and taking notes.


The next few years are going to be tough.




In other nutty news, I join the crowd. For some reason, I somehow volunteered myself to make 7 ballet costumes for Morgan's first ballet recital. 7. Costumes. With fabric. And sewing. Why I did this I have no idea. Morgan goes to the Redmond School of Dance, and for some reason, the school doesn't come up with costumes for the 3-4 year old group. It's up to the parents. And nobody was stepping forward to do anything. So I jumped up and volunteered. And I am now freaking out.




The song is "the bear went over the mountain". Okay.


Because the program is only about 2 minutes long, I decided to push for something inexpensive. So I thought the kids could all wear their pink leotards, tights, and shoes.


I then decided to get brown and pink tulle, and tie the skirts. So it kinda looks stripey. I also found some bear headbands with the ears and I'm going to put a velvet bow in the middle. And the headbands came with bear hand gloves.


I know it doesn't make sense right now, and frankly, I'm working on the first one and it isn't as I envisioned either.... which is why I'm somewhat freaking out. So if anyone has any advice, tell me. TELL ME. I need all the help I can get.




Anyway.... that's it on the home front. Oh wait. One more thing.




Steve didn't get the captain's position. And he's happy about it. Is that weird? I am still not sure what to think about it. I honestly don't know if he really wanted the job or not. He keeps telling me that he has 19 years before he retires. He doesn't see himself climbing the "corporate" ladder higher than a Captain. He isn't interested in an office job. So he wasn't sure if now is the time to move to the top position. He just wants to look forward to going to work, so I am all for whatever position that means he's in.




Scrappy stuff. I am smokin' the June kit from Studio Calico. I can't stop creating with it! I have already outdone myself with the quantity of projects I have finished for reveal night. And I still have product yet! This has been such a fun kit, and I'm not just saying that because I work there.




Lastly.... have you checked out the Making Memories blog? I was asked to participate in a 4 product challenge with two other designers, using the Noteworthy 2 line. It was an honor to be asked and I had a lot of fun with the challenge. This is what I did:

We were given three pieces of paper:

Circle Flower Die Cut

Double Sided Ledger Circle

Double Sided Stripe

And this is what I decided to do:

(From my MM blog post)

I often struggle with wanting to use both the A and B side of a piece of patterned paper. This was the case with the double sided striped paper from the Delaney collection. I wanted to use the stripes as the background, but I also wanted to use a little bit of the pink on the reverse side. I thought both sides complimented the colors in my photos so well. What I ended up doing was trimming two 1 inch stripes from the right side of the striped paper. I then layered the flower die-cut circle and the double sided ledger circle over the space I trimmed out so that you can’t see the space. I used those two strips of pink paper on either side of the ledger circle paper, B side.

Because of the design on my layout, the orange strip covered some of the flower detail on the circle die-cut paper. To showcase it I simply trimmed the flowers from the paper on the lower right and layered it over the top. I added some orange glittered die-cut flowers on part of the floral pattern to add more glitter to the layout, which complimented the glittered alphas that I used. In addition I trimmed a tip of a flower on the upper part of the circle, and tucked the orange and pink strip underneath it.

After adhering my photos, ribbon, title, and cutout work, I finished off the layout with some hand stitching around the strip. I just love the finished look that hand-stitching gives to a scrapbook layout.

Again, it was an honor to participate in this challenge!

Have a great day! Davinie

It's birthday time again! My little sweetie is 2. Bear with my reminiscent post, lol

Oh, my precious little crumbcake is 2 years old... and before I go into the festivities, I need to reminisce about her birth.


Sweet Payton Jayne was due on April 30th. Because Morgan was breech and had to be delivered via Cesarean, Payton was scheduled for a Cesarean delivery too, because the hospital in our little town doesn't do V-BAC's. This was actually fine by me because I have a high pain tolerance and Morgan's delivery was a breeze. I barely took any pain meds and healed quickly.


On March 29, 2006, my sister-in-law was in town and so we were at Steve's parent's house, because it was my neice Mallory's.... 11th? birthday. We did a little game about guessing the name, sex of the baby, delivery date, etc. As with Morgan, we didn't know who our little bun was... but I thought, yet again, that I was carrying a boy.


Early in the AM of March 30 Morgan woke up in the middle of the night and I got in bed with her to get her back to sleep. At the time we had already set up bunkbeds in her room, and because I was @9 months pregnant and against the wall, I couldn't get out without fear of waking her, so I just stayed there the rest of the night, lol. I was trapped! Steve was on shift that day, so when he left for work he eventually found me and pressed a kiss to my calf and left for the firestation.


After we got up and our day began.... sorry if this is TMI.... but I lost my mucus plug. eek. With Morgan I never went into natural labor so I wasn't sure if that's what happened, and I had no idea what it meant if it had happened, so I googled it. Yes I did. And I emailed a few people. Yes I did. From my googling I saw that you could lose it a few weeks before delivery so I figured I was fine.


Shortly thereafter I started getting a little crampy. And irritable. And then I started wetting my pants. I didn't think my water broke because after I wet my pants I'd be able to go and actually pee and then make it stop, and from what I understood, when your water broke you couldn't make it stop. This happened a few times, and after a few jammie changes, I started getting worried. Still in denial about the thought of actually being in labor, but worried... and irritated about the wardrobe changes.


I figured I should probably go to the doctor's office and get checked out, so I decided I'd probably better take a shower and shave my legs, lol. At 2, Morgan liked to take showers with me, so she was in there while I was ungracefully trying to shave my legs over a big belly, all the time cramping a little, peeing a little, LOL. I had called the doctor's office and the nurse I was talking to wasn't sure I was in labor, but said I should come in so that they could be sure the fluid wasn't amniotic fluid.


I called my sister and asked her to come over while I popped into the doctor's office. It would be easier if I didn't take Morgan with me. After she got there, I called Steve to get his thoughts. He asked if I wanted him to get a replacement and leave work. I said no. I really didn't think I was in labor! I was 35 and 6/7 weeks pregnant, and my baby was scheduled for a Cesarean delivery on April 18. Family was already coming in from out of town that date.


After peeing again, changing again, LOL.... I grabbed a panty liner and headed to the doctor's office. Seriously. I didn't have anything else! Nothing happened while in the car, so I thought I was fine. I walked into the doctor's office, walked up to the receptionist to give her my name.... and my water broke all over the place. It gushed down my windbreaker pant legs and I just looked down in disbelief, and then looked up with owl eyes to let her know. lol

I was quickly ushered into the office where it was confirmed that my water did break and I was going to have a baby that day. It was March 30. It was a month early. I was 35 weeks and 6/7 days pregnant. My cell phone wouldn't work in the office so I borrowed the nurse's cell to phone Steve, who, fortunately, was NOT in denial and had already scheduled to have someone replace him. He was ready to go.

The hospital was across the street from my OB's office, but they wouldn't let me walk there. I had to get back into my soggy windbreaker pants, and sit in a wheel chair while the nurse zipped me across the street, lol. By the time I was in a room and getting all my vitals taken, Steve had arrived.

My mind was ALL over the place at this point. I didn't bring a single thing with me. Morgan and I hadn't gone out to lunch... I hadn't purchased her a special big sister dollie or told her how much I loved her and how excited I was to give her a sibling, etc. She didn't even know what was going on. And here I was going to have a baby. Today. And she was going to spend the night away from me for the first time. Ever. I was a mess. My family wasn't in town. My sister was going to fly down. Speaking of the sister.... I had posted on my blog about my mucus plug, etc., and she and my mom were already scrambling together to head down when they didn't hear anything more from me. But with Morgan, Alyca had been unable to be in the room with us during delivery, and I had wanted her there to take pictures, etc. We had already scheduled to allow her in the delivery room this time. And she was in Seattle. And I was getting ready to have a baby in Central Oregon, 6 hours away.

My stress level was UP. Way Up. And the contractions were starting to really hurt. And because I was so stressed and unprepared I was not relaxed at all, so it was making it worse. I was expecting another scheduled Cesarean. I was unprepared to work through any kind of labor pains.

I was also in a hurry. The baby's vitals were such that a Cesarean needed to happen rather quickly. And then there was talk of having me transported to Bend, because since I wasn't 36 weeks they wanted me closer to the NICU for the baby, etc. But labor was progressing quickly enough where any talks of transport, VBAC's, etc., were not an option. This baby needed to come via Cesarean anyway.

At one point Steve thought he was being cheeky, and leaned over and said "This is where you tell me you hate me and it's all my fault." I can honestly say that I actually felt that exact emotion right then. I am a very controlling person, and this was NOT the plan. My glare pretty much nailed him to the floor and he didn't do that again, lol.

When Morgan was born Steve didn't watch it at all. He didn't like seeing his SWEET little wife (lol) with her belly open. But he watched this time. And when our baby came out, it was Steve who said "It's a girl, It's Payton!" to let me know who had joined our family.

Payton was 7 pounds 11 ounces and 20 inches long. Seems like a full term baby size to me. But she WAS preemie. She had vernix all over her, which is a sign, she slept the first month, which is another sign. At first I was thinking the dates must have been VERY wrong. Nope. She's an independent girl, and her first act as the little sassy thing she is now was to make daddy have to return the April charm he got for my charm bracelet, lol. For she was a March baby, just like him. There was a moment where she almost headed to Bend and the NICU without me because her sugar levels, I think, were really low, but a determined nurse worked with her for a bit and gave her two doses of what she needed, and my strong girl got to stay with me.

It was a surprising, amazing experience. I got to experience labor! I never thought I'd get to experience any part of the labor process. And fortunately, this time was just as easy as the last with regards to pain and healing.

So that was then. 2 years ago. My baby. And now she's two. And if you are still reading you can continue and see what I did for her birthday party. :)