Wow - it's already April, and this is only my first post of 2009! I sure have been delinquint with this blog lately, but have been understandably busy over the past while. I was reading my previous posts for 2008, and realized that my last one of that year was posted one day after my due date, and 4 days before I gave birth to my second child - a son! Nathan Scott Van Hooren joined us September 21st, looking just like his grandpa. Later that day though he started to change (already!) and looked quite a bit like his older sister, Kaitlyn. I now have a few pictures of him in the same sleepers his sister wore, and 20 years from now will not be able to tell them which of them is in those pictures! Thankfully I have them logged on cd and on computer so I can keep track... One day I will actually scrapbook them!

Well, 2 days before Nathan's arrival, I couldn't sit still, so I made another project for his room. Here is a picture of it:
I used a frame from Creative Memories (love these frames!), stamped the animals from the Wild About You stamp set, and went to town. This frame is now hung above my son's crib, and I smile every time I look at it. I'm still thinking that I will put his name at the bottom, overtop of the scallops and ribbon. I had left it blank since I didn't know if I was having a boy or girl at the time. Just one more thing to do though, and since this project is already hanging, I'm not sure it will find it's way back down to my craft room any time soon. Too many other projects in the works!

Here it is over Nathan's crib:


















And here are a couple of other pictures of his room, before we brought him home (which is why it's so clean and organized!).

I also made the jungle blanket; my first attempt at sewing! Instead of getting the "nesting instinct", I got this huge surge of creativity and urge to do anything crafty. It paid off though, I think! You can see Nathan's ultrasound picture on the dresser in this picture; I framed that one actually for my daughter's room, and framed one of her for his room, but every other day Kaitlyn would switch them around. I thought it would be nice for her to have a picture of him, so it would maybe feel more real for her while he was still growing inside; I also wanted her to know that her unborn sibling would love her too, and would want a picture of her close by. I think she really liked the picture of herself though (it is a cute one!), so she kept switching them back and forth. Oh well, it was the thought that counts, right? ;)

My First Decore Elements!

With the arrival of my new addition close at hand, I wanted to make some things for his/her room. When I got my copy of Stampin' Up's new Decore Elements brochure in July, I loved the ideas, and couldn't wait to try them out! I decided to start small, so I ordered the small Lollipop Flower. I thought it would look great in a child's room! Off I went to Michael's to get a frame, and came back with one measuing 12x18. I haven't used much chipboard before either, so I decided to try that out too, with some inspiration from the "Home" project on the cover of the DE brochure.

To make the "lollipop's" different colors, I simply punched out 1 1/4" circles and placed them behind the glass, after applying the DE to the front of the glass. The "SWEET" letters are also in front of the glass, while papers and ribbon are behind it.

This is a picture of it hung up in the nursery. A few more things need to be added to the walls, but overall I think this project made a great addition to the baby's room!

Baby Shower Fun

I threw a shower for my sister-in-law the day after her due date (I took a chance, I know!). She had 9 family members coming in from Ontario that weekend including her mom, so I wanted to make sure to include them. I figured if she had the baby early, then baby would be there for the fun, and if not, the shower would be a good distraction while she waits for his/her arrival. I wanted a surprise shower, so asked my brother for all the emails and phone numbers, and planned with him very carefully. It was a huge success! She had no idea, and was very happy. She didn't think anyone would throw a shower for her, and was kind of sad - but there was NO way I was letting her get away without a shower! I had so much fun planning; our little ones will be about 6 weeks apart (mine has yet to arrive - due date: today!), so it's not like I didn't have a lot of other things to do. I think I was avoiding those things though, so made myself busy planning her gift, the games we'd play, the prizes they'd win, party favors and food. Whew!

In this picture you can see the party favors I made: little Kit Kat's wrapped with designer paper, with a little rattle attached to a pink elephant (my sister-in-law knew she was having a baby girl). Also in the picture is my gift to her: a fuzzy bin filled with homemade blankets, clothes, breastfeeding supplies, etc. I had intended to wrap it very simply in some cello wrap, but discovered (about an hour before I needed to leave!) that I didn't have enough! So, I stuffed it with pink tissue paper, and made a chipboard flower to peek out of it!

How can you help but have a tonne of fun planning one of these parties; you don't need to spend a lot to be successful, and having the internet to browse for ideas is a life-saver! Thanks to everyone who has posted their baby shower ideas to the internet - there were so many great ideas; it made my task so much easier!

Oh Baby!!!

Well, this year we've had it pretty easy as far as being invited to weddings goes. We had one in Kelowna, and as far as I know, that's the one and only this year! When the subject changes to babies, well, that's another story! There seems to be a HUGE baby boom over the last few years, and this year is no exception. Including mine (coming in September), I know of at least 6 babies being born (or already here!) this year! Not to mention the 3 or 4 I already know of for next year! Well, one thing's for sure, my newest little one won't be lonely! :)

The newest arrival came about 3 weeks ago; a little girl to my good friends Anita and Joel. I have been so excited to meet their new addition, and I wanted to have a special card for the occasion. I've seen some diaper shirt cards come up on Splitcoast once in awhile, and always thought I'd love to try one out. Well, here's my attempt! For my first time making one of these, it was surprisingly fast and easy - only took me about 35 minutes! Even my husband was surprised at how fast I was done. Now that I've done one though, others would only take me about 10 minutes - a very fast, cute card!

This card is done on Whisper White cardstock, with Pretty In Pink accents. It measures 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 (a regular card), after cutting an 8 1/2 x 11 piece in half lengthwise (measuring 4 1/4 x 11). Fold in half, and use your 1 3/8" or 1 1/4" circle punch to punch out the legs (insert cs on each end so that it makes a right angle, and the point or corner touches the other side of the punch. make sense?) Then use your scallop punch to make the bottom "leg" accents, and add some brads or buttons to the bottom. For the top, use the same circle and scallop punch for the "neck". To make the sleeves, I used my paper cutter and cut into each side 3/4", then cut down from each inner cut to the outside of the "legs". I'm fairly comfortable with my cutter, but I know some people who would prefer to use their hobby blade for this step. Now for the hardest part of the card - choosing the stamp to go in the middle of your shirt! No kidding - I spent most of my time deciding which image to choose... Gotta love a card this easy!

Now that I've made one, I'm addicted and can see myself making a tonne of these! If the directions above aren't clear enough, or you just have a couple questions, please let me know. I'll try to remember to take some pictures while I'm making the next one, and post a little tutorial for it. :)

Congrats to all the new moms and moms - to - be out there - there sure are a lot of us! :)

I came into contact with a long lost friend in November; she was my next-door neighbor in Ontario when I was 8 years old, and we were best friends. She moved away when I was 11, to Quebec; we kept in contact for a few years, and tried to visit whenever we could. Then I moved to Alberta when I was 15, and we lost contact. Well, thanks to Facebook we were reunited! And not only did we make contact, but it turns out that she also lives in Edmonton, and has for 3 years! What a small world.


















Anyway, my friend got married in February this year (in Quebec), and while I would have LOVED to be there, it wasn't meant to be. So, when she came back I gave her this wedding card. It is another example of using the Bursting With Joy set, and I really like using it! Those sunbursts are really pretty, and I love layering the stamps - the sunburst with a light ink and the swirly thing over top in a dark ink. This card was really easy and fun to make; since the popular wedding color this year seems to be green (either apple or celery, usually with some kind of brown), I opted to use Certainly Celery for this card. I just love when you can do an entire project with ONE stamp set!

So, my friend is moving back to Quebec at the end of this month. :( Very sad to see her go! She's going to spend Canada Day with my family and I, and I'm glad for the oportunity to see her a few times before she leaves. I will definitely have to make a visit to Quebec a priority on my list of trips!

The Season of Love Has Arrived!

The birds are singing, the sun is shining... and the weddings are a-happenin'! This year, my husband, daughter and I were invited to my husband's cousin's wedding in Kelowna B.C. His whole family was there, and it turned out to be quite a wonderful event. A few weeks before his cousin's bridal shower, my mother-in-law asked if I would be willing to make some Thank You cards for the bride as a shower gift. Well, of course!!! I'd been eyeing a couple of cards in the Stampin' Success magazine (sent to all Stampin' Up demonstrators) and thought I'd like to try to make something similar. The cards in the magazine used the Simply Scrappin' kit "Tie the Knot", and since I was making 50 cards, I didn't want to buy a tonne of those kits for just a couple pieces. So, I improvised, using different stamp sets for my images, instead of the die-cuts from the kit. My intention was to make a few of each of these 3 designs, totalling 50 cards. Well, after making the Certainly Celery "Congratulations" card (which I would have put "Thank You" instead), I realized how much work it would be to cut out all of those flowers! So, I opted to use this card as the one I'd give to congratulate the bride.













Then I tried the Chocolate Chip card. I figured this card would take me no more than a few minutes to whip up, but I was wrong (again!). First I started with a background stamp (Canvas), then I punched my circles. I stamped a bunch of branch images from "Embrace Life" stamp set, and colored all the leaves, then punched out circles from those. Then I stamped the hearts, and cut them out. Making one of these wasn't too bad, but to make 50 would have been a little time consuming, so I made 10 of them instead.






























Then as I was playing around, I threw the Very Vanilla card together, and really liked it! It's simple, elegant, and quick to make! So I made 40 of these. I loved using the "Bursting With Joy" stamp set. I'd had it for awhile but had not touched it; once I had, my mind started whizzing with ideas (see my card tomorrow for another example!)! So in the end, I ended up with 40 "simple" cards and 10 more "intricate" cards she could give to special guests. I was pleased with the results and she was very happy when she received them!

We Love Our Teacher!

A couple of weeks ago, Kaitlyn and I had our last class with her Kindermusik teacher, Miss Carly. Kate was in 2 classes this semester with her, and we've been coming to her classes for the last 2 and a bit years. Miss Carly has been a wonderful teacher, whom we have loved dearly and will miss, because she is off to finish her teaching degree! We weren't the only ones sad to see her go; the whole class (both actually) were in tears as we said our goodbyes. Over the last couple of years Miss Carly and I have become friends, and I hope to see her during the summer holidays before she goes off to school. Anyway, to show our appreciation for all the hard work, effort and creativity she puts into each class, I let my daughter know that we could bring her a goodbye/thank you gift. "What would you like to bring her?" I asked. "Well," said Kaitlyn, "I think I'd like to give her a glass slipper." A little astonished by this, I said that's sounds like a nice gift, "but why a glass slipper?" Kaitlyn replied "because every girl deserves a glass slipper Mommy!" Well, that settled it; we were on the hunt for a glass slipper. I looked everywhere I could think of, in downtown Edmonton, and came up empty handed. Then I took Kate to West Edmonton Mall, thinking that if there was a glass slipper anywhere in the city, this would be the place we would find it. Well, wouldn't you know, the 2nd store we looked in had one! We were walking along when I spotted Royal Doulton and thought "I wonder...". I also wondered about the price if we found it there, but decided it was worth a look. Not only did they have a lovely glass slipper, but it was also only $7! Whew! I didn't have to break the bank for that one! Kaitlyn was very pleased we found her gift too. I decided the perfect thing to go with a glass slipper would be a pedicure, so I also got her a gift certificate for some pretty toes for the summer. Then I made this purse out of the Carousel Notes from the Occasions Mini Collection catalog (which you can still order from for 5 more days!) and the envelopes they come with .


















I've actually made 2 of these lovely little purses; the first I gave as part of a charity auction item, and forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it away! Anyway, they are very easy to make; I got the directions from another blog, which you can find here at Stamp a Little Love. I love her examples too! Once I had made one of these, I bought a couple more packages of the Carousel Notes; I just knew I'd be making more! I encourage you to try this little project, and if you do, I'd love to see what you come up with! You can post a link to your picture in your reply to this post; and don't forget a link to your blog too, if you have one!

Thanks for looking! Oh yeah - 47 more days until the new Stampin' Up Catalog!!! Yippee!