Chicken Scratch

Meet Baby Marlee!

My cousin and his wife had their first baby, a girl, last month. Between hectic schedules and me and hubby both having strep, we haven't been able to get by to see them until last night. We got to meet baby Marlee and she is the sweetest!

Kaleigh and Marlee

I made them a framed birth annoucement similar to this one I made for my little sister back in March.

This is the card Kaleigh made them. It was too precious not to share. :)

The front

The inside (Marlee's nursery is an owl theme)

The back
 

Those were all her words. They totally melted all of our hearts. I asked where she got them and she said on her own. I think she may have a future writing sentiments for Hallmark cards. :)

And I just realized I never shared a canvas I made for them for their baby shower back in March. They hung it on the door of Marlee's nursery.

And the card I gave them with their gift.

Thanks for looking!

Awesome Weekend

I had an awesome weekend this past weekend. :) It started with Kaleigh having her last day of school on Friday. She got out at noon and to celebrate we went to the movies to see Shrek 4 and then had ice cream afterwards. We ended the day with hanging out that evening across the street with our neighbors/new friends.

Kaleigh on the morning of her last day being a 1st grader *sniff sniff*

For Kaleigh's end-of-year teacher gift we gave her teacher the new ABCs Scentsy warmer. Normally I do a handmade gift but this was too cute so I had to splurge on it. Kaleigh and I each made her teacher a card.

My card (not digging how I did the *heart* part but oh well)

Kaleigh's card
 

And I had to share her super sweet note she wrote on the inside

Saturday afternoon was Kaleigh's dance portraits. She was adorable in her costume but she always looks so grown up all dressed up. *sniff sniff*
 

Saturday evening we went with friends to Southern Junction (a local country bar) to see Robert Earl Keen. We absolutely love him and seeing him live. Hubby and I haven't been dancing in forever (for sure not since I was pregnant with Kaleigh - which is sad because that's how we met and it's all we did dating; it's a love we both share). We were a little rusty getting started but we had it back down in no time. And a few pounds heavier but man if we went dancing more often we could lose some serious weight! LOL We can't believe it's taken us so long to get back to dancing and plan on doing it more often.

Hubby and I before we left for the evening

My new outfit and boots

At the bar with one of my bestest and dearest friends, Kandi
 

Hubby giving me a kiss on the dance floor *swoon*

It was an awesome evening! And then Sunday was a nice LAZY day and a great way to end our weekend. Thanks for letting me share. :)

 

She's Crafty!

She's crafty - she gets around
She's crafty - she's always down
She's crafty - she's gotta gripe
She's crafty - and she's just my type
She's crafty...

Okay, maybe I'm not Beastie Boys *crafty* but I did get crafty last night and today. :) I finished up some projects for the Scrapfreak Birthday Bash! crop.

First, I made this ribbon twirl flower for the Technique #2 challenge. The rest of the project will be revealed tomorrow on the Sketchy Thursdays blog. :) I made the ribbon twirl flower from some burlap ribbon, torn fabric, a button, twine, a stick pin, and an old rhinestone.
 

A vase or pencil holder (not sure yet how I'm going to use it in my studio) for the Project #3 challenge. I wrapped an aluminum can in corrugated cardboard, my all-time fave black and white polka dot paper from Daisy D's, some fun lace, yellow buttons, and red thread.
 

I made two birthday cards for Card Challenges #2 and #3. I'm not sure yet who they're for but it's always nice to have some ready on hand. :) Just some kraft cardstock, assorted patterned paper scraps from my stash, chipboard stars, eyelets, my Dymo label maker, some rub-ons, old carnival tickets, acrylic paint, inking, and machine-stitching.
 

 

I started a couple other craft projects (a frame for our bathroom, a super cute bird nest, and a bottlecap necklace for Kaleigh) and will share as soon as I'm done!

  

Whew! All caught up!

I've gotten so behind in uploading my Project 365 photos to my blog and scrappin' those photos. I've been taking my daily photos but just haven't done anything with them. But I spent the morning/early afternoon getting all caught up. 21 photos is alot to get behind on. I won't do that again! LOL You can view my latest photos and layouts over there in my albums. ---------->

I also totally forgot to share my first paper layout I've created in months! I did it for a couple challenges over at Scrapfreak. It felt so good to play with paper again and break in my new studio. :)

I also made some cards...

For my mom's birthday
 

For hubby for Valentine's

For Kaleigh for Valentine's. I'm not very happy with how it turned out. The idea in my head didn't translate well.
 

And stupid me, I made my sister a card and clipboard calendar and I totally forgot to photograph it before I gave it to her. :(

I've also scrapped some digi layouts recently and they're in my digi album over there. (19 of them to be exact!) ----------> I'm too lazy to post them all. ;)

Alright, I gotta get back to watching 24 with hubby. :)

Kaleigh, Friends, Crafts, and Halloween Fun

Kaleigh

I took Kaleigh to the pumpkin patch last week. I haven't gone through all the pics yet but here's one. Isn't she the cutest? :D
 

And we got her school pictures last week. She's getting so big!

Friends

One of my close friends, Monica, is moving to Colorado. I'm very sad about this but also very excited for this opportunity for her family. Thursday we had a going away dinner for her at a local restaurant.

Monica and me
 

Me, Jo Anne, Monica, and Abby being silly on the horses out front of the restaurant
 

She was supposed to leave early this morning but last I talked to her she was still packing. ;) I hope she gets finished soon! Best wishes for safe travels. I'm gonna miss you so much!!! :(

Crafts

First, this is Kaleigh's trick-or-treat bag I made her. She outgrew her little plush pumpkin she's ToT-ed with since her first Halloween. I made the bag out of felt, hot-glued the edges to form the bag and add strength, and then did a blanket stitch around the edges. I made the candy corn out of felt as well and added the blanket stitch. I sewed on black sequins and beads for a little bling. I hot-glued on the ribbon loops and made each bag handle out of two felt strips that I stitched together and then trimmed with my pinking shears. I think it turned out super cute and Kaleigh was very happy to have a large enough bag to hold more candy! ;)

The bag
 

Close-up of the blanket stitching and sequins/beads

Close-up of the handles and ribbon loops

These are the treat buckets and cards I made Kaleigh and her cousins. The outside two are Kaleigh's and my niece's and the inside one is my nephew's.

I was asked by a friend to photograph one of her friends with her family. She'd been recently diagnosed with lymphoma and wanted a family photo session before losing her hair to chemo. It was somewhat of a tough session since I know all too well the effects of cancer on loved ones. But this woman is AMAZING. Her faith and outlook on this disease is truly admirable. She shared once that she loves zebras because they are the only animal to run into a fire to get to safety on the other side. She uses that analogy regarding her cancer because she's going to fight and run right through it. So I made her this plaque (and card) to honor that attitude.
 

 

Halloween Fun

Kaleigh and her cousins

Making a scary face!

Mommy, Daddy, and our little vampire

I had to cut alot of length off Kaleigh's dress to make her costume. She took the extra fabric and made capes for our dogs' Halloween costumes. Love her creativity! ;) LOL

Buffy

Belle (although you can't see hers as well)

So tomorrow I get busy packing. Just under 2 weeks before we close on our new house and I have ALOT to do to get ready. I've enjoyed a lazy day with my family watching the Cowboys game, playing on my laptop, and eating Halloween candy. We're about to put on a movie and I'm gonna digi scrap a bit. I hope everyone has a fabulous week!

Our Anniversary Celebration

So yesterday was our actual anniversary but we celebrated it this weekend. We spent a nice romantic evening at home while Kaleigh went to hubby's brother's house to play with her cousins and spend the night. So even though we celebrated our anniversary this weekend we still made a special evening of it last night as a family. We had dinner at Olive Garden and then bought the new Transformers movie on Blu-ray and came home and watched it together. The 3 of us love Transformers... we saw it opening night at the theater and then bought the movie the day it released on DVD. ;) We can't wait for the 3rd one in 2011. :)

Anyways, hubby and I weren't going to do gifts this year since we close on our our house in a few weeks. Our first home will be gift enough! ;) But he did surprise me with a gift for our house. One of the sponsors in his Jeep club does metal work and Brendan had him make this metal sign for our yard.

 

It's huge! It's 2ft. wide and over 2ft. tall. It's very neat! I can't decide if I want to put it in the front flower bed somewhere or find a cool spot in the backyard once we get it all set up. Thanks, babe!

Here's the card I made hubby:
 

 

And his sweet card to me:
 

I have the best hubby. I'm so blessed. :)