And oldie but still in love...

Man, has my posts been extremely sporadic. I can't believe it and it is upsetting me. I have had some issues lately. There has been a couple more hurdles that we have dealt with since the last time I shared my woes. I am not going to go into those right now. I want to focus on things getting better and no more bad. Of course, that isn't going to happen. There will always be bad things that happen to people but as for now I need to focus on the good and keep myself and my growing baby happy and healthy.

I have had my niece visiting us since last Saturday and it has been great. She is so easy to handle and a great help with my boys. It has been a blessing having her here. More than I am getting into and will get into.

Last Saturday my parents, my family and my niece went to Sunset Beach again. The difference this time, my husband, father and niece were with us. It was such a wonderful day. We went just to go there and relax and enjoy the ocean breeze and cool air. But I couldn't go to the beach without getting my feet wet. My Dad, niece and I did just that almost the second we got there. Within about 20 minutes my Dad had fallen in the water and I was soaked up to my hiney. My dad had a change of shorts, I did not. Luckily my shorts were kinda thin so it didn't take too long to get them dry.

My oldest son finally put his feet in the water and when he did he couldn't get enough of it. My husband, didn't get near the water, my youngest son, he was feeling kinda ill so he didn't even get near the water either.

Today though I want to show you a project I made a long time ago. Well, it was about 2 years ago. I found the details for it on a message board that I visit fairly well. I just loved how it turned out. I made something similar for my parents and my mother-in-law. The only difference between mine and theirs is that in the middle theirs has their wedding pictures.

I hope to have things going regularly again next week. Thanks for being patient and sticking with me, if you have.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Missy

Last week as a guest designer

It is Tuesday, I am behind. I have a lot going on. Nothing has never really calmed down at my house. Thank goodness my niece is here and is helping out with my boys.

The last challenge for me as a guest designer at Whimsy Challenge blog. This week's challenge is a sketch. I loved this sketch as soon as I saw it and knew it would be easy to make something with it. I was right.

I am not chatty at all today so I am going to leave with that. If you have any questions for me please don't hesitate to write.

I hope that I can get into the craft room soon. I can imagine what this time has done to my mojo.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Missy

An explanation

Well, the week has been crazy. In some days I am completely shocked that it is Thursday and on the other hand I keep thiking it is already Friday.

We have had some vehicle issues which is not good considering we only have one vehicle. Tuesday afternoon my husband was running late for lunch but I figured he just got caught up in work and couldn't get out.

When he does walk in for lunch he is red in the face and just looked completely wiped out. I knew something was up. It turns out that he ran a few errands and while on the highway had a tire blow. Now we don't have any old truck. He drives a very big truck and it stands out like a sore thumb here in Southern California. In his military uniform in 100+ degree weather he stands on the side of the road trying to change the tire with semi (18 wheelers) driving right passed him. I ask you all now. If you see a man in uniform changing a tire please stop and at least ask if there is something you can do to help. To take this up one level if you see anyone (male/female, old/young) on the side of the road changing a tire it would be a nice gesture to stop and ask to help.

After lunch we all head out to the truck so that I can take my husband back to work so my boys and I can enjoy the pool for the afternoon. I notice that my oldest is having some difficulty with his seatbelt so I get out to help him. I was wearing flip flops and foot got all twisted up while stepping on the foot step that we have to help get in the truck. I luckily had a hold of the door so I didn't fall to the ground but did end up on the ground. My foot is swollen and still hurting a bit but I can get around a little now. Thankfully my sister had just asked if she could take my boys for a few days before the summer is over. So, they left yesterday afternoon to spend some time with family and I am home to rest and get my foot healed up.

But I also wanted to mention something else. With my husband gone last night to help with the Cub Scouts and my boys at my sister's house I got to spend some quiet time watching a movie I had wanted to watch in quite a while. It is "P.S. I love you". I have heard so many wonderful things about it but never got to see it before. I tell you, if you haven't seen it yet GO. I was here by myself but we share a wall with the neighbors and if they could hear through the wall or if someone was here but had no idea what I was doing, they would have thought I was nuts. I laughed, I cried. When my husband got home there were so many scenes I had to show him and the outtakes. He basically saw half the movie as well :)

Well, I guess that is about it today. I have a bunch of quiet time today so I hope to actually have something to show you tomorrow or later today. Let's plan on tomorrow though.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Missy

Whimsy-Week 3

Good afternoon everyone!!! Does anyone else wonder where the year is going. I can't believe that July is coming to a close already. My husband and I were talking and we were both thinking that it feels like just last week that we were celebrating the 4th of July. Now it is the 20th of July. Amazing and sad all at the same time. I know there are a lot of mother's out there that are looking forward to the close of the summer. I know my husband is and is especially looking forward to the end of August (our hottest month here in the California desert). I may be a Southern California desert native but I am just not used to this heat anymore. I have been trying to get evening walks in to help with my pregnancy weight gain and figured since yesterday was Sunday we could do a family walk. This was after 7, it was still very hot. The sprinklers we got to walk by were very refreshing. The wind was blowing and there was a cloud cover that promised rain and lightening. There was lightening but as far as I know there wasn't any rain. I wake up this morning to blue skies and sunshine all around. Great for the sun but I would love to tone down the temperatures a bit. It has been 100+ for well over a week now. So not used to that. We were in Alaska for 5 years before this. In Alaska normal summer temps are 60-70 degrees. Maybe a hot 80 once in a great while but then everyone was complaining about the heat. I so miss everything about that place. I can't believe I feel that way either but I do. It got in my blood.

With all of that said I wanted to share with you the card I made for my 3rd week as a Whimsy Challenge Guest Designer. This weeks challenge is to make a card with a fun fold. This can be anything from super easy to really complicated. I went super easy on mine but loved how it turned out. I did have to cut Connor down to size because I was following directions and didn't think about how big my image was. I still think it turned out great. I am pleased with it. My oldest again says it is his card.

This is a pretty simplistic card so I am not going to go into details again. If you do have a question for me please feel free to leave it in a comment or email me with the question. I will be glad to get back to you as quickly as possible.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Missy

Sketchy Anya

Wooohooo!!! It is Friday. I so need this day. Yesterday was great. I took my boys to the pool and we stayed for quite a long time. We actually missed picking up my husband from work since we were there so long. Thank goodness he had a co-worker who was willing and able to give him a ride. I might take them again today. Nothing better to do and since I had to buy a pool pass for myself I want to make sure I get my money's worth.

I am excited about tomorrow. Nothing really special but I have finally scheduled myself for a haircut. I should have had my mom do it while I was visiting but didn't want to bother her with it. Of course, I don't like spending money on myself either so going to get a haircut is difficult for me. But my hair is long and it is HOT and with being pregnant and irritable I have had about as much as I can handle with my hair. I just might post a picture of it on Monday.

Today I have another sketch challenge for you. I so need to get my mojo back and this is one of the best ways I know how to do it. I went to Spoon Full of Sugar and thankfully they had a sketch to use. I had already decided to color an Anya image. I was fiddling around on some other blogs and saw Amy Rysavy had posted some videos of coloring and such. I think she does a wonderful job and I wish I had as many copics as she does, I am just cheap.

This card was made with PTI and me & my big ideas cardstock. Stamped with Anya and the filigree is from Scrappy Cat.

I hope you like it. I am pleased but not excited. At least I am started to get my mojo. Please come back on Monday I have another Whimsy Design Challenge for you.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Missy

Magnolia mojo

Good morning/afternoon on this Thursday!!! Today I am showing you some eye candy that I promised yesterday. First though, I would like to thank you for those lovely comments from yesterday. I am a pretty open person but there are some things that are difficult for me to share and you guys made me so happy and feel so much better about sharing what I was feeling. Thank you.

I believe with this card it is obvious that my mojo has been affected by my lack of crafting lately. I even used a sketch challenge to get this card done. I went to Friday Sketchers and got this sketch and after seeing all the magnolia stamps for this challenge I just had to pull mine out too. I just love the magnolia stamps and I cannot wait to get more. They have some wonderful animal stamps now that are just precious.

All the paper is PTI except the green, I have no idea where that came from (it was in my stash). The gold buttons were bought at Michaels and magnolia was colored using copic markers. Her gold sleeves were colored using my gold atyou spica pen to match the gold polka dots stamped on the purple cardstock.

That is about all I got for today. Since we didn't get to go to the pool yesterday (15th, grocery day) we didn't get to go so I promised the boys we could go today. We might go tomorrow to as well since I was already planning on going tomorrow anyway. It is a great way to get some energy out and some fresh air and just enjoy each other.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Missy

Journal Day

Happy Wednesday everyone!!! Today I don't have anything crafty and I just wanted to journal about what has been going on with me. If you don't want to read it come back tomorrow and I should have some eye candy for you.

For some odd reason I have always wanted 3 kids, I don't know, I have my ideas but don't care to share them here. When I met my husband he knew I wanted kids but wasn't keen on the idea. 3 was a huge stretch for him. We went around in circles several times on the discussion of 3. We made an agreement when we were still living in Alaska (I won't go into details) but we had decided to try for a 3rd. But with a move pending we put it off, for a year, yeah right.

When we got to California we (meaning me) had decided to try and plan this one correctly. Both my boys were born in the Alaska winter (November/December). I wanted a precious April baby. We waited until July to try for our 3rd. No baby, August, September, October, still no baby. I have had some female issues I have been dealing with since before we left Alaska. I started to think that there wasn't going to be a baby or if it was possible it wouldn't be until we got my issues straightened out.

That didn't stop me from getting my hopes up every month that our 3rd precious baby would be here in 9 months. But also in the back of my mind (and has been since before I have had my kids) that I would someday have a miscarriage. There have been a few women in my life that have and I just assumed that since they did it meant that I would as well.

So when my husband and I had our last discussion about having a 3rd baby (we decided that we wouldn't try or prevent and just let it happen) and then finding out the next month that we were pregnant, I was nervous, happy and so scared all at the same time. I have been thinking, in the back of my head, that something would go wrong and my baby wouldn't make it.

Yesterday was my first OB appointment with my doctor. I was nervous and excited. Now I want to say that both my boys were born in a military hospital in Alaska, this one will be born at a civilian hospital because this base does not have a hospital. It has also been 4 years since I last went through all this. So I had no idea what to expect. A good friend of mine, who saw the same doctor, not only watched my boys but also told me that she got an ultrasound at the first appointment. I was excited but scared about what the ultrasound would show.

My husband went with me and we waited and waited and waited. There was a lady who had an emergency and needed to see the doc which set him back. We finally get in there, they tell me all this info, ask for even more info, and then send me back into the waiting room to wait for the ultrasound. My nerves were in knots. We get in the ultrasound room and we wait for the doctor. When he finally comes in he gets right to it. I immediately see my babies little heart beating and a sigh of relief came from me. But then I get to thinking, I haven't seen the baby move yet. I am trying to make myself feel better, the heart is beating the baby has to be alright. And then I see and hear the doctor say, it's moving. I got teary eyed and so excited. My baby IS okay. It is the greatest feeling in the world.

Now according to my research my due date is the 7th of February. The doctor's office has it as the 5th of February (according to my first day of my last period). The ultrasound has it as the 10th or 11th of February. That concerned me a bit that we weren't measuring what we should but the doctor wasn't concerned and left my due date as the 5th of February. My mom wants the baby to be born on the 1st of February so she has an excuse to stop celebrating her birthday :) If that is what she wants than I hope that is what I can give her.

I am just so excited to know that my baby really is in there and kicking and growing. I hope I can truly begin to enjoy this pregnancy since I know it will be my last. The fun thing that we are doing and some people probably think we are crazy; since it is my last and I already have 2 boys I have decided that I don't want to know what we are having. I am going to wait until the baby is born and they announce with 100% surety, it is a ???? My husband on the other hand, just can't stand not knowing. He has assured me that he will be able to keep this big secret. I have 99% confidence that he can.

The next 7 months will go by slowly/quickly, I have no idea. My oldest starts kindergarten next month so I am sure that will keep me busy enough that things will fly by but pregnancies never go as quickly as you hope so we shall see.

So, that has been my life for a while. I hope you are having a wonderful time this summer.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Missy

2nd Whimsy challenge as design member

Good Monday morning/afternoon everyone!!! It has been crazy around here. I have tried to get out of the house a lot more. It seems like since the triple digit temperatures hit the boys and I have been staying in the house. I am here to tell you that just because you don't live in a cold climate doesn't mean you can't get cabin fever. I have had it in the Alaska winters and I got a bit of it here this summer.

We have gone to the pool a couple of times. My boys are Alaska boys and do not much care for the water. Remember our beach trip? Yeah, that is about the same thing as they do at the pool. they sit there for about 5-10 minutes and then they finally get their feet wet. We went on Friday and someone left a ball. My boys got a hold of it and started tossing it back and forth in the pool and my oldest finally got in the deepest part of the pool (about chest deep) :)

Today I am going show you my 2nd assignment as a Whimsy Guest Designer. The challenge this week is "Christmas in July". Can you believe it is July already? The time has gone by so fast. I can't believe that my oldest baby will be in Kindergarten next month. I am so scared and so excited all at the same time.

Anyway, back to the card. I had no idea what I was going to do. I decided that this is the perfect opportunity to get my Whimsy stamp that I have wanted, a moose. I love the moose. It reminds me of being back in Alaska and I truly, deeply miss living there.

With the moose I just knew I had to make it a snowy/wintery/holiday scene. I went simple with this card because I wanted to show off the beautiful stamp that it is. I used liquid applique to make the snow pop and some sparkly fluff to make the moose antlers velvety. I am so happy with how it turned out and I hope you like it as well.

Be sure to pop on over to the Whimsy Challenge blog and enter your favorite Christmas/wintery/holiday project.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Missy

Anya

Hello everyone!!! If you haven't seen it yet I have a post from yesterday that is a not so crafty but good info kinda read as well.

Today I am showing a simple little 4X4 card I threw together this morning. And when I say I threw it together that is pretty much what I did but I am so happy with it. I just love the light and airy colors of it.

I really think the Anya stamps are just adorable. I started out with a card base using PTI rustic cream cardstock. I took a square of sweet blush and stamped it with spring moss using my PTI stamp set background basics: spots & dots. Anya was stamped in Staz-on ink and colored using copic markers and matted with spring moss cardstock. I also used some crystal stickles to make her wings just magical. I also took my clear glitter pen to make her sparkle just a little more.

I used a Martha Stewart butterfly punched and punched two, one in spring moss and one in sweet blush. For the center I used liquid pearls.

The flowers are mini primas and added to the card using mini Queen & Co. brads.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday. The week is almost over.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Missy

Modge Podge

Good afternoon everyone!!! Things have been crazy here. I have been dealing with a lot of stuff lately. It has been difficult with morning sickness and now my migraines are in full force. I didn't get to make to church on Sunday because of both and yesterday I had the same issues.

Today I wanted to share a couple of things with you. While i was down yesterday dealing with my migraine my boys had full reign of the house. Needless to say they made a few messes in the house. My poor husband has been dealing with a lot since I haven't been able to do my duties as a wife and mother.

This morning I had more morning sickness but thankfully my migraine is basically gone and I can function. I did lay down for a while and watch some TV hoping that would help me feel a little better. When I got up the first thing my oldest son said was that they didn't make any messes. then he proceeded to tell me he could wash the dishes. I just agreed and left it at that. Next thing I know he is actually washing the dishes. I had to empty the dishwasher so he could fill it with the dirty dishes. He told me he was 5 and old enough to wash dishes and that "Special Agent Oso" taught him how. "Special Agent Oso" is a new cartoon on TV that helps kids with things they want to do but have not yet figured out how to do it.

I also wanted to show you some jelly/jam that i made with my mom while I was visiting during Father's Day weekend. it was so fun to do all kinds of things with my mom. In fact, it turned out a ton better than the freezer jam/jelly that I made on my own. this jam is what you call shelf jam. It is the kind that you can put on your shelf and it lasts for a year. I can tell you that this jam is not going to last that long at all.

Another thing I want to mention but do not have a picture of because it got eaten before I could take a picture is a new cookie that I got from Melissa Phillips blog. I made some because my husband is a Reese's cup fanatic. It was a huge hit. I suggest if you like chocolate and peanut butter you might want to go over to Melissa Phillips blog and try them out yourselves.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Missy

Guest Designer

Good Monday morning everyone!!! So, I have been keeping a secret a really big secret from you all. It was very difficult in the beginning but I realized that as the time went on it got easier because it was the furthest thing from my mind.

I am the Guest Designer over at the Whimsy Stamp Challenge blog. I am so excited. Here is my first assignment. Birthday Celebrations. I won Knight Connor and the sentiment set with one of their other challenges. I hadn't inked him up yet so I figured why not ink him and add a Birthday sentiment. My oldest son loves it and thinks, with everything else, that this is his card. Now his birthday is still several months away so maybe he will forget about it when it comes time to give it to him.

I am a little worn out today, fought a horrific headache yesterday (not to mention more lovely morning sickness). Unfortunately it was so bad I had to miss church and put our primary kids and leaders in a situation where they had to figure things out on the fly.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Missy

Happy 4th of July!!!

Hello everyone!!! Nothing special today. Just wanted to stop in and say that I hope you all have a wonderful and safe 4th of July with friends and family.

May we always remember the reason for this great holiday and those who helped make it possible.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Missy

Summer Sun

Hello all!!! I have another project today. Can you believe it? I started with a whimsy challenge. This week the challenge is to use the colors red, yellow and orange. I decided to add another color, obviously. I hope that is okay in the rules.

I am kinda a little loss for words so this is going to be short. I do want to say, if you get a chance to see Transformers 2 you might want to do it. We saw it yesterday afternoon and it was wonderful. It may be because I am an emotional pregnant lady but I cried a few times. I do have to say there was a down side. Although it wasn't a packed theater it was warm. And I don't handle the warm lately and smells really get to me. Well, someone near me had put on a little extra cologna or perfume and boy was I feeling sick. I seriously thought I was going to have to leave the theater. I was fanning myself and sipping on my drink to keep from feeling any more sick that I already was. So, word to any other pregnant ladies out there planning to see a movie, might want to grab a seat not so close to others.

It was also cool because being on a military base it is used for some movies. We were here for the filming of the movie. So I know 2 people that were extras. One of the Colonels here on base and another guy that I go to church with. The Colonel I know may have had a speaking part of the one that I go to church with was in it a LOT. Trust me when I say if you go to see the movie you will definitely see these two men as well :)

On Saturday we plan on going to the Summer Bash that the base hosts for us here. There is food and games and then after dark there will be a wonderful fireworks show. We went last year and had a blast. My sister and her husband and daughter will be coming up to celebrate with us as well. I hope you have a wonderful 4th of July. Have a safe and wonderful weekend!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Missy

Sympathy

It seems that there are has been many reasons to have sympathy for other this past month. I heard last night that Carl Malden passed away. That makes 5 celebrities in less than a month. Not to mention the friends who have lost loves ones recently.

My husband has been able to keep in contact with his best friend during high school. Which is a huge feat considering my husband has moved around quite a bit since leaving high school. Facebook can truly be a wonderful tool if you use it correctly.

Last Saturday I went on to do some "farming", yes I got involved in farm town on Facebook. When I did I saw some sad comments from my husband's high school buddy and his wife. Not long after that we got a phone call. My husband's buddy lost his mother. It is a sad thing. She has had several issues with her health and within the last few month was diagnosed with lung cancer. They also believe that she may have had a bout of pneumonia.

My husband lost his father to Alzheimer's just over a year ago so he understood what his friend was going through. But seeing as they are men they didn't talk much.

I was instructed to make them a card. I meant to show this card yesterday but I woke up with a migraine. I suffer from migraines so being pregnant makes them even worse. Thankfully this wasn't a bad one and I was able to feel like a human being for the second half of the day.

I decided to go very simple and calming with this card. The bird filigree is from a new stamp company I found at Michael's. Scrappy Cat. They are clear stamps and I might have to get a few more. They are only $4.99 for a set AND I got to use a 40% off coupon to get my first set.

Let's hope and pray that there will be no more sympathy cards for a long time.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Missy