Easter Fun!

It has been a crazy last few weeks!  Work has been stressful and super busy.  And we have all been sick.  I am looking forward to Spring and no more virus going around!!

Tonight after the kids went to bed, I set aside some time to craft.  I made 12 of these Easter cards.  It felt so good to craft.  It's been way too long!

I was inspired to make these from the gallery section of Papertrey ink.  The inspiration came from a card made from their  Easter stamp set.  I don't own the set, so I made due with my Cricut cartridges.  I created the saying in Word and printed it on construction paper.  What I love most about these cards is that I made them with existing supplies.  I didn't buy a single thing!  :-)

We took the kids to an Easter Egg hunt this past Saturday.  Our church hosted it at a local park.  Along with the egg hunt, they had lots of fun activities.  The kids had a blast!

 Caleb is non-stop!  He doesn't walk...he runs. All the time!  He is so cute!!!  This was his first Easter Egg hunt.

 He was content with just a few eggs.  He didn't make it past the first few eggs.

Grace was the Easter Egg hunt professional!  She knew exactly what to do and she want for it.  She was so excited!

Daddy kept good watch over her, but he didn't need to help her much.

Here she is checking out her stash and quite a stash she had!  She had her basket filled to the brim with eggs.  At one point she stood up and jumped up and down yelling, "Yeah!"

As we get closer to Easter, I pray you find peace in His presence as we thank Jesus for his sacrifice on the cross.  That you would find release and joy in his defeat over death and his glorious resurrection.

Blessings,

Beth

Girl's Weekend

Jonas is at a men's retreat this weekend, so it's me and Grace. I am having so much fun hanging out with her. She is such a great baby...she makes it easy to enjoy her company. It's was a hard week for me being away from her. Thankfully, we found great daycare. The woman who is taking care of her runs a very small daycare out of her home. She is a Christian and her husband is a pastor! What could me more perfect?!?! Her home is very peaceful and the children seem very happy. Grace is doing great in daycare. That makes it easier for me knowing she is being well taken care of. On the bright side, she wants to be held a lot more. Before, after awhile, she was done with being held and wanted to hang out in her bouncy chair. Now, I suppose in wanting to reconnect, she doesn't mind being held all night long.
It's been an eventful week for Grace. This week, she laughed for the first time, she's reaching for things, and she also pulled herself up to a sitting position...she wasn't able to hold that position for very long. She is holding her head up when I support her in a sitting position and I can hold her without having to support her head as much. Ahh, she is growing too fast!! Here are some snapshots of her 2 month portraits.



And finally for some papercrafting. I have done scrapbook layouts, but have not had time to take pictures of them. This was a super fast card I made for a baby shower. It's one of DCWV's embossed cards. I added a diecut and ribbon. Whaalaa!

Grace is asleep, so off to do some laundry!
Blessings,
Beth

A Video and A Card

Grace is 8 weeks old now! Wow! She is getting so big and still so cute. We love her so much! I also have a card to share. Finally, some papercrafting. I've done a few layouts too, but haven't taken any pictures. Will share soon! Most of it are of Grace...and a few to finish my pregnancy album.
Video first! Grace has been kicking a lot! It looks like she's marching most of the time. It makes us laugh. She's building those muscles to preparation to walking. She's also slobbering a lot! I suppose that's in preparation for teething. Here's the video...

And now for some papercrafting. I am getting really good papercrafting quickly while Grace sleeps. I bought these Papertrey stamps a while ago and had not used them...not even opened the packages. I finally opened them to create two birthday cards. They are not your typical birthday cards, but I like them.

Hope you have a wonderful week!
Blessings,
Beth

Birthday Cards

We had a great weekend. Lots of rest and a great church service this morning. Jonas and I have been going to this wonderful church in Irvine called the Village. The pastor is great and its such a warm community of folks. We are looking forward to getting plugged in.
After a long nap, I was inspired to create this afternoon. I made two birthday cards. A male themed one and a girl themed one. I wanted to use my embossing folders. I invested in several and use them sparingly...and my Copic markers fall in the same category. I used both with these two cards.
I used a Hero Arts stamp for the image and a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I love this stamp...the little girl is adorable.
For this card, the image and sentiment is from Papertrey's Enjoy the Ride stamp set and I used the Quickcutz Diamonds and Dots embossing folder.
I'm less then a week away from my due date. I hope baby comes sooner than later. I been really uncomfortable, unable to sleep, contractions, etc...as my OBGYN said, "Welcome to the third trimester." Nice! It will be over soon enough and I will be holding my little bundle of joy.
Blessings,
Beth

Cards and Cribs

Happy Tuesday! This is going to be a short week! I'm so happy...I have less than three weeks left of work before summer vacation! My favorite time of the year. I have a card to share and some pictures of Jonas and I putting together Grace's crib.

 

I made this card with a Papertrey Ink stamp set. Love it because I can make masculine cards with it. And it works for a wide arrange of themes. Love the vintage looking car.
And for some baby preparations. Jonas was great! After working a 60 hour week, he agreed to put together the crib last night. It took us about an hour. The nursery is coming along. We've got the crib, the dresser, a bookshelf in there. We're waiting for the glider/rocker to arrive. I've got some cute frames to put up...but I am planning on making some decorations for the room. Like a banner with her name on it. I'll share as that comes to fruition.

 

 

 

And here we are with the crib all set up. Now I need to wash the bedding. So much fun!!
Hope you have a wonderful week!
Blessings,
Beth

Fastest Card Ever!

I literally made this card last night in about 5 minutes! I needed a baby card, I was tired and it was getting late...so here you go!
I grabbed one of my go to embossed DCWV cards, cut a stip of paper, and used pop ups to adhere the die cut. Not bad, huh? Kinda cute!
It's been a crazy week! Lots of scrapbooking, working, resting, and taking care of a sick hubbie. We missed our Lamaze class this week! Oh oh! Next week I have two classes...the Lamaze and Breastfeeding wth Success. Part of me feels inudated with classss, but I know it will be good to get this information before the baby is born. I can imagine it will be overwhelming caring for a newborn.

Hope you have a fabulous weekend!!
Blessings,
Beth

Mother's Day Card

Mama's day is coming up! Am I officially a mama now? Or does that officially happen after the baby is born? Hmmmm! Well, I've already gotten an early Mother's Day gift from my hubbie...a diaper bag! Hmmm...well, at least its the one I wanted. Here's my mother's day card for this year... I made several of these for our moms and grandmothers. I used a Papertrey stamp for the flower and leaves and a Hero Arts stamp for the sentiment. I glittered the flower and colored in the leaves with Copic markers. Classic and feminine. Like it?
We're going to have a good weekend! I have an appointment for a 4-D ultrasound tomorrow. Should be lots of fun!!
Blessings,
Beth

Monday Madness!

Happy Monday!! It's been so beautiful around here. I love it! It's this time of the year that reminds us why we put up with traffic and high home prices to live in Southern California! And I'm officially in my 3rd trimester! It's down the homestretch for me now. Here I am with my belly!

I made this card for a friend. I used Papertrey stamps...Studio Style. I'd been itching to use this set. I like how the card came out...feminine and simple. Can't wait to use more of the images from this stamp set.

I also included this set of stickers in the card. I thought they were just too cute...stickers about scrapbooking!
Hope you have a fabulous week!
Blessings,
Beth

Happy Friday!

Oh blessed Friday! It's my last day of work before Spring Break!! Yes! I hope it goes by fast so I can start enjoying my vacation. Lots of rest and a trip to Santa Barbara are on tap for the week.
Here's a card I worked on last night. Lots of inspiration from one of Papertrey Ink's team members. And I used Papertrey stamps for this card too!
I used the In Bloom Papertrey stamp set. I used a Hero Arts clear stamp for the sentiment. And the dots were from a stamp I bought at a local stamp store...they are supposed to be "organic" stamps...
I hope you have a fabulous weekend!!!
Blessings,
Beth

O lazy Saturday!

This is a much deserved nothing to do Saturday. And my beloved husband has done laundry, vacummed and the dishes. He sure knows how to take care of his pregnant wife! It was a long week...
Yesterday, myself and two friends threw a baby shower for our friend Eva. We got together several times to make the invitations, centerpieces, and an album with "Advise for the Mom to Be" cards. It was lots of fun and Eva loved it. It was a surprise and she had no idea!






We had a lot of fun prepping for the party and the party itself was a lot of fun too. Hope you have a wonderfully restful weekend!!
Blessings,
Beth

All Kinds of Sunshine

It was an absolutely beautiful day today. Lots of sunshine, but not as warm as the last two days. Jonas bought a new video game for his Playstation so he's been occupied...giving me lots of time to papercraft! Yeah!! And I finally started to feel some real movement from my baby. I had been feeling butterfly sensations, but last night I started feeling definitive movements. It's such an amazing feeling. I can't wait to meet this baby...waiting is hard!
I made this card for a co-worker. She helped me out BIG TIME this week.

Isn't the bee image so cute?! The bee and the sun are from a Hero Arts clear stamp set. I bought it right after Christmas and hadn't used it. It's a fun set to play with. The clouds are also from a Hero Arts background stamp. I always have a hard time getting a clear image from this stamp...sometimes frustrating, but I still love the stamp.
Blessings,
Beth

Playing with Papertrey

I have a new addiction! I have discovered Papertrey stamps...oh oh! My collection is building...well not much of a collection yet. I love the images and the quality of the stamps. I needed to make two quick cards for a baby shower and for a birthday. I love how the cards came out...I must admit that I got my "inspiration" from the gallery of ideas off the Papertrey product page. The ladies on Papertrey's design team are super talented. It helps to see what they have created when I'm not feeling overly creative and need a card in a hurry!
I used the Baby Buttons Bits stamp set for this card. I cut out the bear and added brown flock to it. I also added glitter to the edges of the die cut and stamped it with a dots Hero Arts background stamp.

For this card, I used the In Blooms stamp set. I love this stamp set. I stamped the flower image twice, cut out the inside part of the second one and adhered it to the larger flower. The larger flower, I added purple glitter to the edges. The smaller one, I added white glitter to the entire surface. I love the effect. I added light green glitter to the leaves. The sentiment is from a Hero Arts stamp set.

It's almost the weekend! I am looking forward to it. Not sure what we are going to be up to, but will make sure to get some R&R.

Blessings!
Beth