You may ask me why...

I would feel the need to post this video. It is really quite simple my friends (slightly demented) dared me to post it and have been looking forward to it. So here it is, my darling son demonstrates that he has adult intestines!

I really do scrapbook...

I know that I haven't been scrapbooking too much lately, but I really do (have) scrapbook(ed). I thought I'd show proof over the next week or so. So be sure to come back each day and see another layout that I have in our family scrapbooks.

Remember to take time and celebrate life!

*All supplies CTMH. Visit www.CreatewithChristine.com for ordering information.

Death & New Life...

What a day today as been. I had intended to get some artwork posted, but keep running into road blocks. This morning I was notified that my Dad passed away unexpectedly. For those of you that don't know me personally, I was not close to my Dad. My parents got divorced when I was little and he never made much of an effort to see me or be involved. Truthfully, I don't think he was capable of it. I was blessed with a step-Dad that is more Dad than I could ever need. However, I am saddened by this loss as it bring an end to the hope that I always had that my Dad would change and have an awakening. He missed out on so much in life, he has eight grandchildren by four wonderful married daughters that he never had a relationship with or knew. At this point I can only hope and pray that he went peacefully and somewhere deep within knew that no matter how much he lacked I did love him.

Just hours later, I received a call from a long time/childhood friend sharing exciting news that she is pregnant! As we have grown up and more of us have had babies, she has felt great despair in not being able to get pregnant and feeling that she would never have a baby of her own.

And my dear Nona is waiting for her blessed baby boy to join their family. We are praying that he comes tonight!

That is the cycle of life isn't it. One dies and another is born or in this case two.

Sharing a little laughter...

This video speaks for itself. I hope it brings a smile to your face and joy to your day!

*PS It's okay to play it again.... you know you wanna :)

Lovin' My Pazzles - Uppercase Living No More

I have always been so tempted by the Uppercase Living designs (they do decorative vinyl for your home), however because of their high costs I never purchased anything. They still have some designs I just love, but I think I can do without them until I can figure out how to do it on my new Pazzles Inspiration cutter. This is a sample I made up from UL inspiration last night. I couldn't figure out where to put it, but my paper cabinet worked perfectly. It was so super easy and I love the results!! My mind is just hopping with ideas for this in my new house (when it is finished). Until then I think have some great gifts in the works, lol.

Milestone - Rolling Over

Blake rolled over yesterday! I am both excited and filled with anticipation. I can hardly imagine having two boys running around the house. Conner doesn't believe us that Blake is going to be chasing him around in no time! Hopefully, he doesn't start as early as Conner.
Before you say anything about me catching the first roll on "film," let me admit that this is the second roll. I unbelievably missed the very first roll. I had just ran to the door to let Conner in from playing outside with Daddy and returned to Blake on his belly. He was quite mad at me when I rolled him back onto his back. I just had to see him do it again.

Click on the photo to see it larger.

Pizza Fun Tutorial - Contest Results

Awhile back I posted my Pizza Slice card tutorial and offered a contest for the best saying to go inside. It looks like no more entries are coming in, so I am proud to announce the winner is ClearlyInspired! You have won a slice of pizza and a few deserts, so email me your address and I'll get your goodies in the mail.

ClearlyInspired posted:
* Slice of Heaven
* You're my pizza pie
* You take the pizza (you know instead of cake)
* Kiss the Cook
* For your cherry pie - QT pie
* You're invited (for an invitation_ to a pizza party)
* For Congrats card - Mama Mia!
* ENJOY!

If you missed my tutorial, you can catch it here Pizza Slice card tutorial or on my Close To My Heart website at www.CreatewithChristine.com.

Online Video Tutorial (Spring Dreams)

I am having a blast making these little videos and still have quite a bit of learning to do to make them better. Here is my latest edition, I can't believe how quick this card is to make. I love the Big Pinks! High impact with very little work!

Shop for the supplies at www.CreatewithChristine.com.

Baby Pink Textured Cardstock (Spring Harmony Textured Combo Pack)

Key Lime Cardstock
Hollyhock Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad

Spring Harmony Bigger Brads

Colonial White Ribbon Rounds Collection

Just Blooms Big Pinks

Texture Tools

Tombow Mono Adhesive

Piercing Tool

VersaMat
Microtip Scissors

Easter Carnage

What an amazingly busy Easter this was! Conner had a blast and I'll have lots of pictures to share, but I will only post one tonight since it fits Jenn's Friday Photo Challenge. We are pretty worn out here and still have a few other things to do before we head to bed.

After attending Conner's first Preschool Easter Party and Egg Hunt, he rather quietly watched cartoons in our living room while I was chatting on the computer. I thought that he may be eating a few pieces of his candy...but this was the mess I was greeted with. It was even worse in person! Can you tell I am a scrapbooker? I often wonder what our children think when we choose to take pictures of the mess rather than yell at them for creating it, lol.

My Organized Scrap Room

I've been tagged, not once, not twice, but three times!!

I've been tagged by Leslie, Nona and Jamia.

Seven random or weird facts about me...

1. I hate turtle necks. I find them to be torture. There is this weird thing I have with things around my neck, I feel as though I am choking. In my senior year of high school, I actually skipped class to go home and change out of a sweatshirt with a neck that was too tall.

2. I'm a night owl and my favorite thing to do in the middle of the night is re-organize. Okay, not so much now that I have a hubby and two little boys. This staying up until 2 am and waking up with Conner is killing me.

3. I am actually very shy! Everyone snickers when I say that as if they don't believe me. But truthfully the thought of going out with a group of people makes me panicky! I have learned to be outgoing because I don't want others to feel out of place or uncomfortable.

4. It seems that I have a face that screams..."talk to me and tell me your entire life story." No joke, I have people who don't know me tell me the strangest things. Actually my oldest sister and Mom both have the same problem. No matter where we go, people stop and talk to us. In California on our way back from the zoo (a couple of CTMHers and I were riding the bus) and some crazy lady started telling me about how her grandkids were dead and her kids were ripping me off by claiming government money when they shouldn't. I didn't say a word to her, really, she just kept going. My friends thought it was hilarious!

5. Some of my favorite memories are from when I was in show choir in Jr. high. I loved singing and dancing. From time to time I long to do it again. Someday when I get over being self conscious, maybe I'll try out for theater.

6. I have always teased that I'd want to be a photographer in another life. Looks like it might get to be this life after all. *No, I don't believe in other lives. People have been telling me for awhile that I take good pictures, from time to time I believe them. Now I have requests to take pictures for pay, unbelievable!

7. I met my husband in a unique way. We both drove yellow mustangs. I saw him drive by my house on the way to work one day and I remember thinking to myself, "I have to know that guy!" Later I found out what high school he went to and I left my number on his car. He called me back, wanted to know who I was and why I left my number. We must have clicked, because three months later we officially began dating and have been together ever since. That was way back in 1996.

Okay so the rules are...
Link to the person who tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
Share 7 random/and or weird facts about yourself on your blog, we all want to know them.
Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
So here those who I chose to tag (I'm going to have to leave it at three): www.ilovethisscrap.blogspot.com, www.kismettea.blogspot.com, www.myscrappinplace.blogspot.com.

My Little Yellow Fellow - Playing with Pazzles

I love the quiet that comes over the house after all my boys are sleeping...especially when I have a new toy to play with! My Pazzles Inspiration cutter came this evening and I could hardly wait to try it out. These pages don't show anything too exciting, basically I cut the page title and the sun with the Pazzles. I can't say that these are my favorite pages, but that could be because of the topic. Tomorrow I'll post some closer detail pictures and the supply list so check back.

Journaling Reads:
Jaundice, what an experience. I know I have said that I liked the coloryellow...but that didn’t mean that I wanted to have a yellow child.My poor baby was yellow before we left the hospital and within just a few additional days his levels had gone through the roof. I have a hard timelooking back at these pictures and thinking that if the hospital had kept usjust one more night to place you on a high powered light bed, we might nothave had to go down such a long road. Thankfully, we had a follow up apt justtwo days after leaving the hospital. It was obvious that something was notright. Your skin was extremely yellow, I might even say orange. Right awaythey sent us for lab work. There was talk that if the billirubin levels were toohigh you would have to be admitted to the hospital for light therapy. Wewere lucky in a way that the numbers were just under the critical stage,allowing us to keep you at home to be treated. That next day, nurses camein a set up a billi-bed (looks like a little tanning bed) and gave us instructionsthat you were to remain on it at all times unless you were eating. The lightis designed to help your body break down the billirubin making you yellow.At the same time they demanded that I supplement you with a bottle, so wewould be able to measure how much you were taking in. Wet and dirtydiapers are needed to eliminate the broken down billirubin. I broke down,I wanted to breastfeed you and didn’t want to confuse you with a bottle.Being a new Momma it was tough standing my ground, but I did my researchand felt it best to continue giving you what God intended! We used a postalscale to weigh you to ensure that you were getting enough and thankfullyyou were. Each day for over a week the nurses came once a day to prick yourpoor little heal to take blood and weigh you. We did our best keeping youon the light bed, but you HATED it. You cried and cried, it broke my heart.At times I felt so down, I had this brand new baby that I loved and adoredand wanted to hold every moment, but I had to leave you crying on thatbed. At night we placed you between us and I would prop myself up overthe edge, just so we could be close. It was the most uncomfortable position“physically,” but the most comfortable “emotionally.” Looking back a bitover a week was no time at all, but I remember going through it and thetime was slow like molasses making it feel like an eternity. We made itthrough it, you are healthy and suffered no side effects (other than being yellow for some time after the light therapy) and we continued to bondthrough breast feeding without a hitch. July 16, 2004

Sample Prints / Fun with Actions

I am so excited and nervous at the same time. Over the course of the last couple of years, I have been encourage to take my photography much more serious. I don't feel as confident as I would like, but then again, we all know I am a perfectionist. Recently, I was approached for a wedding shoot and had to decline due to distance and now I have been approached to take a couple set of family portraits. To prepare myself, I finalized pricing, found a professional printer (you know the ones that the prints have a linen texture) and then played with some new actions by Lollys Playground. For the professional printer, I had to submit 5 samples for them to print. These are the pictures that I selected...

Of course you've seen this one of darling Ella Bean. I didn't do too much to this photo, just softened her already soft skin and popped those stunning blue eyes.

I played with this picture the most, I thought it was good before...but looking back it was just okay. This is one of my dear friend's hubby and this picture captured his personality better than any of the photographs the paid photographer caught. He was chatting it up with his buddies and I was snapping away. This are the moments that I love to catch.

And this is the stunning bride! This picture is touched up with "touch of color" action, which gave it a soft whimsical feeling.

Just the other day I shared this picture. I made very few changes, softened the skin and popped the eyes.

And this is one of my favorite subjects. He was much easier to shoot before he started walking or should I say running away or wanting to be behind the camera himself.

I can't wait to get the prints back and see if they look as good as I hope that they will!

Friday Photo Challenge - Funny (and Sad)

This is probably the funniest picture I have ever had and fit Jenn's Friday Photo Challenge! This is a picture that would be best titled "What were you thinking!" For some reason my cousin, Susan, and I thought it would be a great idea to climb in a rabbit cage with my cat Cinder. I have no clue how we got in as the opening was probably no bigger than 6" x 6", but I sure remember our parents trying to get us out. The things that kids will do!

Sadly, my cousin passed away this last year. She was riding the train back home to her babies in Montana after visiting family here in Washington. From what I understand, she complained of having a difficult time breathing. Shortly after, they found her in her seat and she was gone! Since then we have discovered that it was likely due to a heart problem. She was only 27 years old. If you think about it please keep her babies and her dear mother in your prayers, not only did she lose her only daughter, she lost her only son when he was a toddler. Life has not been kind!

It took me a long time to send my thoughts as it still brings me to tears and let me tell you tears on cardstock, not such a pretty thing. Any how, I created this card to send. I purposefully made it cheery...I'm sure she has received plenty of sad/sorrowful cards.

Quote reads: "Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage."

Completion

Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste. The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labor is immense. – Thomas A. Bennett

Long before I had Blake I had created my template of what his birth announcement would be and thought that I would be able to quickly create them after his birth. Originally, I had thought I would only need 25 or so. I now wonder, what was I thinking... I ended up sending out nearly 90 of them. Many times, I almost gave up, but I hated that I had put work into something and was not completing it. That is when I found this quote and I'll tell you what, I am so thrilled that this weekend I completed my task! (I cheated just a bit and create a photo image of the handcrafted design to send to many.)

Oooh, I was naughty, no more HSN for me...

Yes, I do have the Wishblade...for the moment. I will be selling it for a good deal (hopefully to a friend who has had it on her wishlist for awhile). I was caught by the HSN - Pazzles bug. Believe it or not, I watch HSN for educational purposes. They do a great job showing off product and giving you the reasons you need it, so I study their techniques (lol). Well, they finally got me and got me big time. This was a big purchase, but one that I look forward to sharing with all those that come join me for crops. It is set to arrive on the 23rd (which silly them is a Sunday, so I'd say it'll actually arive on the 24th). I'll be sure to post some new creations with it as soon as I receive it.

Left Over Pizza Turns to Cherry Pie

After completing my video tutorial on the Pizza Slice card, I had a card slice left over and decided to try my hand at creating a piece of cherry pie with whip cream on top. I am taking cue from my friend Jenn who makes stunning paper pieced items (and just opened up her own online store www.GautierDesigns.com). I had fun with this piece, but I'll leave the more detailed paper piecing to the pro!

Online Video Tutorial (Pizza Fun) + Contest

I have been wanting to invite my neighbors over for a pizza night (my hubby makes great pizza dough) and thought it'd be more fun to send an invitation than to send an email. That got my creative juices flowing and I came up with this fun little card using my scraps.

Now for the CONTEST: Leave a comment with your idea for a "cheesy" or fun saying to go on the inside of this card and I'll reward the best one with a special Blog Goody from my scrappin' stash!



Shop for the supplies at www.createwithchristine.com.

• 4" x 12" Colonial White Cardstock
• Barn Red Cardstock
• Black Cardstock
• Olive Cardstock
• Brown Bag Cardstock
• Exclusive Inks Markers: Black & Barn Red
• Any brand white gel pen
• Coluzzle Mat
• Coluzzle Swivel Knife
• Coluzzle Circle Template
• VersaMat
• Sanding Kit - Block
• 3D Foam Squares
• Bonding Memories Glue Pen
• Microtip Scissors

Happy Birthday Moriah

I think I need to purchase another memory card for my camera. At Moriah's two parties I took over 300 photos (yikes, I know). Here is my favorite of the bunch! I have decided to use this photo as my submission for Jenn's Friday Photo Challenge.

Passion...

I have discovered a passion for photography and over the last several years have learned more than I could ever expected. I am still searching for classes that are worth the money and ones I can afford, however until then I'll be doing the best I can to learn on my own. I already shared one picture of Ella from her birthday party, but I knew before I left her house that day I had a project that I needed to complete for her and her mommy (Jenn). Yesterday, I finally got the time and here is the finished project - it is a 10" x 20" storyboard that I created using a tutorial on Jessica Sprague's site.

Quick Updates - Blake & Building Permit

This morning Blake found his thumb! I had to wake Brian up so he could see our cute little guy sucking away. Conner was never interested in his thumb, so this is something new for us. He even put himself to sleep sucking on it. Ah...maybe I'll get a few more breaks here and there.

On Friday we went in for our building permit submittal apt. and things went really well. She took our packet of paper that was about an 1" tall and keep commenting that we must have done this before. My attention to detail and following directions paid off! We have one bit that we need to adjust...can you believe that unless we have a 20' (yes, 20 foot) driveway we need sprinklers in the home. Sprinklers would break the bank and make it so that we couldn't accomplish our goal. Tomorrow we'll be talking to our septic guy (which we love) and making sure that it won't mess up the septic plan, we sure don't think it will. After that I'll make a few changes to the site plan and resubmitting it and we are well on our way without issues (at least that we know of now). Good news (and scary at the same time), we were told that it would be 12 - 16 weeks and she made it sound like it could easily be on the short end of that. Yeah! One more step down, now onto all the prep work we have to do here before we receive our building permits!

Next Chapter - Conner Starts Preschool

Yesterday was a great day for many reasons, but one major one is that Conner started Preschool and he LOVED it. He wasn't ready at the beginning of the year, or maybe it was that Mommy really wasn't ready. With the arrival of Blake it seems that Conner needed something of his own and something to keep him busy. He was so excited to go to "school, like Emma and Ally (his cousin's)." When we got there he didn't want me to leave, but after just a few minutes of class he didn't notice that I had left the room. Brian (who was lucky enough to have the day off) and I went and enjoyed breakfast and still had an hour to head home and get a few last minute items done for our building permit apt. At the end of class, Conner did not want to go home and can't wait to go back again next week! I just can't believe my little boy has grown so fast....

My First Appliances!

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about building this house! We have overcome some major hurdles and it seems that the finish line is in sight. Tomorrow we go in and submit our building permit application and I can hardly wait (ugh, there is that word again). Since we are building on a tight budget, we have been watching for deals on appliances. A couple weeks back we got our microwave-hood and yesterday we got our range at the Sears Outlet in Tacoma. Check it out, it's a double oven! I am so thrilled not to have a drawer, sounds silly doesn't it. In my house the drawer would likely get bent or broken. Also, I guess this will set me up to do family dinners (such as Thanksgiving and Christmas) since my turn is long over due.

Sketch Challenge #2

It's time for a new Sketch Challenge. Here it is and here is where you can see my finished example. I can't wait to see what you come up with. Be sure to post a comment and share your art with me and all the other readers!

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

Waiting is not something I am very good at! Lately I have had a lot of waiting in my life. This layout represents just one thing I am anxiously waiting on. Way back in the beginning of February, I submitted my application to teach at Close To My Heart's Convention. I am waiting to hear if I was accepted and thankfully, that waiting should be drawing to an end. On top of that I am waiting to hear back on some other exciting news that I can't quite share yet and that makes the waiting even harder.

So, what are you waiting for at the time if your life?

Friday Photo Challenge - Ella Bean's 1st Birthday

Ella is so darned cute! She was the perfect model celebrating her 1st Birthday. This is just one of about a hundred photos I took of her today that I love! For the first time, I filled my memory card at one event...taking over 230 photos of darling Ella Bean. Happy Birthday Kiddo!

This picture has what I have to say is excellent composition and so it serves as my submission for Jenn's Friday Photo Challenge - Composition.

And now I have one more to share! I got a chance to try out some online tutorials at Jessica Sprague's Blog and had a blast. Still some tweeking needed, but too cute not to post.

February Sketch Challenge Winner

Congratulations "scrappernic." Your card was stunning and caught my eye right away. I love the floating banner ribbon, use of flower and irridescent pink button. Email me your address and I'll get these goodies sent out to you right away.