Baby Girl Hines

Kelli is well on her way to being a new Mom, July 1st will be here before you know it!! Can't wait to meet our new Grand baby girl, the kids have come up with a name but I am not crazy about it and there is always the possibility that once they meet her they will decide on something else so for now I am keeping the name to myself!! Ha, no matter what they name her I am sure we will end up with plenty of nick names, some of which will stick.

Tyler had a sleep over last night, he has a massive infection in his face from the stitches so the Dr wanted him watched every 2 hours last night, since his Mommy is also pregnant and Mom and Dad both have to work today Nanny had the pleasure of night duty. He will go back to the Dr. today, if the infection has not improved he will have to go to the hospital for a few days to clear it up. It looks to me that he is much better this morning, the swelling and redness have improved so maybe the new Meds are working!! YAAAAA

I will get back to some scrapbooking by Monday for sure but for now there is just too much going on with the entire family to break away to my scrap room. I wish all of you a wonderful Mothers Day!!!

My Poor Little Tyler

I have Tyler today so I won't be getting much if anything scrapbook related done. Tuesday was such a traumatic day for all of us, I know little boys are prone to bumps, bruises and stitches but it is so hard for we Nanny's to see the little guys hurt. Tyler kept Heather and I both calm while waiting FOREVER in the ER, after the initial crying when he fell he never cried again, even when they gave him shots and closed up the cut, he left the ER smiling, while Heather and I struggled to put one foot in front of the other!!
I have never taken a day for granted since God blessed us with our beautiful girls, Son-In-Laws and now Grand babies. Even on hard days like Tuesday he gave us the gift of our little guy taking his licks and still smiling, we can learn a lot if we really pay attention to the details!!

Days like Tuesday are why scrapbooking means so much to me, recording the everyday in our life and the lessons we learn to be shared with our family and the generations to come. Don't get me wrong I am all about the cute stuff on the market and I get a big time buzz when I get my hands on some new product but really and truly it is the everyday things I scrapbook about no matter what paper and embellishments I have on hand that keeps my motor running.

Card Stash Pile is Growing

After a winter of over 500 layouts, Christmas gifts, and workshop samples my card stash was getting pretty low. It has been nice to get back to a little card making with all of the garden work, preserving, jelly making, baby showers and such I love that I can get in my room and still create but with not such a time investment that I just don't have right now.

Yesterday was my normal day to have Tyler but our schools were closed for voting so Heather and I decided to take Tyler to the strawberry farm. Heather had never been so Tyler was excited to show Heather ropes, he has been for all 3 years. We meet for breakfast then were headed out to the fields and I would be home the rest of the day finishing up freezing the berries. Plans didn't work out so well, Tyler fell in the bathroom and hit the rim of the toilet, 3 teeth went through his cheek, we spent the next 7 hours in ER waiting for stitches. :(. He was so brave that he helped Heather and I stay calm, but we were all very frustrated by the long wait, how in the heck can the ER be packed at 8:00 AM on a Tuesday? I can't begin to imagine what a mess our health care system will be once the new Obama care goes into effect.

Awhile ago I post a few cards using this technique, it is super fast and easy, you can check out a sample in the new Summer catalog. So here we go
Step 1.) Punch 9 circles 1 1/4 inches, you could do any size but start with this to determine what size you would want to use later on your own project, I used my Cricut to cut the circles.

Step 2.) Fold 8 of the circles in 1/2, they will need to overlap. Set 1 circle aside, this will be your base.

Step 3.) Each should look like this when they are done

Step 4.) Now find the center point of the base circle, I fold mine in 1/2 then 1/2 again, that will give you a good guide, you should be able to fit 2 of the blooms in each of the quarters. Just glue them down as you go.

Dig around in your stash and see what odds and ends you can come up with for the center, brads, buttons, beads, the sky is the limit. Take 10 minutes out of your day today and give this a try!! Now I am off to the Strawberry patch to pick a few more gallons of berries, we have plenty of jelly (30 jars!) but I need lots more in the freezer for winter. If you didn't get a chance to see the U Tube video from yesterday make sure and watch it, sooo funny

This is a MUST see Wrinkled Ladies

Flower Tutorial

Here is a card I made for our Daughter Kelli's baby shower yesterday using all leftovers, not to bad looking for leftovers don't you think? This is so easy to do, now you can have flowers to match whatever project you are working on!!
1.) Use Martha Stewart's grass punch, punch the full length of 12 inch paper, then cut to the size you want, I think mine is 3/4 inches wide.

2.) Now run the strip through a crimper 2 times, this will help loosen up the paper fibers

3.) cut a 2 inch circle and cover in double sided adhesive, I used red line tape on mine, it needs to be heavy duty tape!

4.)Now starting on the outside of the circle begin adhering the strip down gathering as you go and moving to the inside of the circle to finish.

your flower should look like this when you are done.

I then added a large brad to the center of my flowers but a button would be super cute or whatever you have in your stash that needs to be moved out. You could use any border punch that you have on hand to make your flower, can't wait to try out a few more flowers using the way to many punches I have in my arsenal of tools. Give this a try today, it is super fast and easy!!

Can You Can? Yes I can

Have you ever given canning a try? I started canning a few years back, each year I try to add a new fruit or vegetable to my canning skills, this year it was strawberries. We had home made freshly canned strawberry jam for breakfast this morning and it was a hit!! My hubby is a Welch's Grape Jelly man all the way so I was really surprised when he said "Wow this is great, hope you made plenty" WooHoo!! Funny he didn't notice the 30 jars setting on the counter waiting to find a home in the pantry!

Needless to say I will be doing a layout on my 14 hour day with strawberries to put in my own scrapbook, all about me/what I love/what I do.

A friend and I took off early Saturday morning and hit our local pick your own farm, we do have our own strawberries but with the birds and squirrels we only end up with a handful of berries each year. Here is a tip on strawberry pickin, don't eat a huge breakfast with a big old slab of country ham before you go to the berry patch, it makes bending over or squatting much more difficult.

Have all your equipment ready to go when you return home, I was all set, jars and lids washed, utensils all lined up and canner in place just waiting for the bounty. I was rocking along cleaning berries, cutting, smashing, and mixing. Of course I was covered in red splashes of berries when I realized I was 5 cups short of sugar, no problem I will just run to the grocery store right around the corner. It was a really hot day here yesterday over 80 and I am to cheap to turn on the air conditioner yet so along with my berry stained shirt I had slipped on an old ratty pair of shorts, and was wearing my garden shoes (pink crocks, ugly as all get out) I should never have gone to the mail box in my get up let lone go to the store but it was just to hot to change clothes. I thought I was gonna make it unnoticed until as I was leaving the store the manager ask me if I was butchering my own cows these days? Did you know berry juice looks just like blood splashed all over you clothes?

Needless to say it was a very long hot day but we now have 30 jars of strawberry jam in the pantry along with 14 quarts of berries in the freezer for next winters strawberry bread. I still need to put up another 20 or 30 quarts of strawberries in the freezer for smoothies and other baking this winter but the hard part is done!! Now on to asparagus