Well I wasn’t expecting to take such a long break from blogging, but the baby came early. Gregory was born on May 29 at 9:21 AM. Here’s a picture of the birth announcement.

I had my baby shower last weekend and it was so much fun. It was good seeing friends I had not seen in a while. The only downside is the shower was on the hottest weekend in April. Who would have expected the temperature to get up into the high 80’s - low -90’s in California? I was dying. I was so not expecting to go through a heat wave with this pregnancy. Anyways, the shower was a blast. Everyone loved it. The cupcakes my sisters made were a real hit. As promised here are pictures of the thank you cards I will be sending out, the favor boxes I made, and the adorable cupcakes.

Since I’m on FMLA from work for the month of February recuperating from surgery, I have a lot of time on my hands. I figured I would use that time wisely and work on making my baby shower invitations. I had originally made this card in Cameo Coral and Apricot Appeal (we were hoping for a girl), but when we had our ultrasound on Jan 26, we found out we were having another boy. I had to change the colors up, so I decided to go with Soft Sky and Close to Cocoa. I used the retired stamp set Bundled in Joy for the giraffe image and the invitation verbiage. I think it turned out quite well.

My cousin got married in Hawaii last month and is having her reception today in San Jose. My family will be there, but I’m staying home as I’m still recuperating from my surgery last week. I am really bummed about missing the reception, but walking and standing around are not things I can do for long periods of time. I did make a card to give to the newlyweds (the gift is arriving separately in the mail). However, I didn’ t realize the scan I made didn’t save to computer and since the card is sealed up in an envelope (that was decorated to match) I can’t open it up to scan it again. However, it was a really very pretty card using Kiwi Kiss cardstock, Aztec Gold Pearl-Ex, Wonderful Words stamp set, and the It’s Beautiful wheel. 

I also made the Valentine’s cards for my son. There are 20 children in his kindergarten class, so I made 20 cards (one extra for the teacher or he can bring it home for my card book). I used Happy Heart Day and my watercolor crayons on Confetti White cardstock and used some Bazzill Basics red cardstock that I had left over from my pre-Stampin’ Up! demonstrator days to make the envelope using SU!’s scallop envelope Bigz die.

I finally got around to designing my Christmas cards. I decided to use the Deer Friends Stampin’ Up! hostess stamp set and it took me a while to come up the design. I think the card looks pretty good. I used the Frosty Day Designer Series Paper from the Winter Mini, Chocolate Chip cardstock, Kiwi Kiss cardstock, and Bashful Blue cardstock. The image (Deer Friends) and sentiment (from the Sincere Salutations Stampin’ Up! stamp set) are stamped on Whisper White cardstock using Basic Black and Only Orange. The punches used are the keystone and 1″ punches from Stampin’ Up!

Well, I did not mean to stay away from my blog for so long, but there it is. I think it’s going to take a while before I get good at this. I’ve stamped a few times in the last month, but have not had a chance to upload the photos. In the meantime, here’s an older card I stamped. My younger sister asked me to make it for a birthday gift she was giving. It was a cute baby girl’s blue dress with a nautical theme. I made this card to match that dress. Hope you enjoy.

Last night my family and I went out with some friends and their children to The Jungle Island for some playtime. We got there around 6 PM and the children were starving, so we took them to Round Table for some pizza. The kids ran wild in the restaurant while the parents finished up their pizza and drinks. Around 8 PM, we headed over to The Jungle Island so the children could continue to work off their excess energy. They had a blast playing in the ball pit, climbing in the play structure, playing skee ball, and riding the bumper cars.

After we closed out The Jungle Island, we hung out at our house with one of the couples after they dropped their children off with their uncle for babysitting. My DH got to show off his tv-blu-ray set-up and we had a blast just watching tv and chatting. Before we knew it was time for them to go home.

Now if that wasn’t enough, today we went to a birthday party for the oldest son of one of my husband’s cousins. It was a Sponge Bob Square Pants themed party, so I made this card to go with the gift.

Isn’t it great? I CASE’d the idea from the card Leigh O’Brien made. If you’re interested in recreating this card, do a search on Splitcoaststampers.com in the Techniques forum.

I think tomorrow will be a more relaxing day, but I wouldn’t mind it if my husband invited his cousin Jeff over so he can bring his Rock Band 2. I’ve been dying to play it.

After seeing the latest creative challenge on Shelli Gardner’s blog, www.soshelli.com, I had to break out my new Halloween stamps. I read on Splitcoaststampers about the moonlighting technique and I thought to myself, the Halloween Frights set would be perfect for it.

I used Pacific Point, Bashful Blue, Creamy Caramel, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Basic Black Ink. The cardstock - Whisper White and Pacific Point. I traced the spider web with a white gel pen. Isn’t the card so cute?