Happy Birthday little guy!

OMG! I watched the weather for sooo long to be sure that nothing was going to disturb Jude's 1st birthday and all was well! Not really, we woke up Saturday to 4 inches of snow! I had just emailed a DT pal how I wish we had some real winter weather and BAM! I didn't mean like right then, it could have waited till 5 on Sunday after the party! Next time I am going to be really specific! Like..."Okay I wish for Johnny Depp, in his Willy Wonka, no Pirates outfit at my front door ready to swoosh me (yes it's a technical term; swoosh) to his private island! Yes, my hubby is okay with JD doing this, he is the only many I am allowed to be swooshed away by! Little does he know Gerard Buttler is in love with me (he just doesn't know it yet)!

Okay okay, there I go straying somewhere else! Anyhow, so it snowed us in for my babies 1st b-day. Luckily we have a large garage and saved it! It was pretty interesting though, to see his big brother Scott (14) and daddy BBQ in the snow!

My favorite was the smash cake time! He was soooo tired by the time we got around to cake that he was falling asleep while digging into it! Of course for a one year old party... it seems that we have to do it in sessions...cause of naps ya know! We did the Hoedown Throwdown dance, he played musical chairs with mommies help, mommy and daddy made fools of themselves donut bobbing! It was a blast! Today the 30th is his actual birthday and he is still sooo tuckered out he hasn't gotten around to unwrapping all his gifts...Grandma and the aunties over did it! He had a mountain of gifts!Here are a few pictures I would love to share with you all!

My little Buckaroo... You can tell he is already getting tired and the party had not yet begun!

Me and the little guy... I swear I am not that big, they say that the camera adds 10lbs...and no there are not 10 cameras on me!

Daddy bobbing for donuts! Yes I did it too, but they don't dare catch that on camera!

Snow BBQ-in', yes my husbands 14 year old son is now taller than he! See what I have to look forward to!

From bottom to top to the right; Daddy (Chris), big brother Scott, big brother Christian, mommy, and big sister Rio!

Oooh gimmie that cake!

We asked him if he liked the cake and his party and all he had to say was, "YYeah!" Too funny!

The Pink Elephant Challenge #43

This week's Theme Challenge is; Color Me Wonderful! What's your favorite coloring medium? Our sponsor this week is C.C. Designs! She has the most adorable stamps available here!

My favorite coloring medium is Watercolor pencils! Although I have a lot of Copics and continue to add to my collection... I really enjoy the rich colors I get from my Prisma and Steadler water colors. I used all Prisma water colors on my Brigita Santa! Isn't it it just full of color! The designer paper is from an old Provo Craft Scrap Pad. The ribbon from JoAnn's, both stamp images are from C.C. Designs. The brads are from Karen Foster and the Candy Cane eyelet from Eyelet Outlet.

Thank you Nely!!

I am continuing on the Thankful atmosphere! Nely of Sweet Escape has so graciously given me the Kreative Blogger award! How nice is she!? Nely herself is pretty creative, fun, and just all around a nice person to know! Please check out her cool creations at Sweet Escape!

So here are the deets for this awesome award:

1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place in on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 Kreative Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

O.K. 7 random things about me are:

1. I am addicted to Cafe World on Facebook!
2. I am in "love" with Chef Ramsey (that saucy little fox)
3. I wish I lived in Salem, Mass. (yep because of the Halloween thing)
4. I love, love, love funky knee high socks - especially cool skull or off beat ones you'd find at Hot Topic
5. I am a closet Punk Rocker (cause my hubby would be shocked if he heard some of my music, I keep it on the down low...shhh)
6. I can't go to bed knowing that there is no Ice Cream in the house, what if I need a late night snack?
7. I am so anal, that I will sometimes buy two of everything (Copics, stamps, ink pads, certain tools for my crafting) so that when one becomes "dirty" I still have a pretty one for special cards (only thing is they are all special to me!!)

Ok and my 7 Nominees are: (although I have sooo many more)

1. Lori

2. Robin

3. Vicki

4. Peggy

5. Nancy

6 Steph

7. Hannah

Circle Journal...

Hiya everyone! Well, so far the Circle Journal book thing is going well! At least I am having a blast and can't wait to do my pages on eveyone's books! Of course we are only on our second switch, which means we all just finished our first layout on someone else's book.... yippee!!! So, my first book I got to work on was from Nely... a Master Ninja!

Nely's book is about Music... she wanted to know all about my favorite song, or a song that would best describe me, or maybe just a dang song that was stuck in my head! Well, I picked a song that helped me lose 10lbs. made me the coolest mom on the planet, and find quite enjoyable despite it being a teen singing it! If you were thinking Miley Cyrus or Hannah Montana... you got it! I love, Hoedown Throw Down! I know the darn dance! I know pathetic huh? That's what I thought until I weighed myself a month later after practicing and practicing with my daughter to learn the darn thing! Then two inches less later I absolutely loved it even more! Like she says in the lyrics, "Gonna make you move your feet" it does!

Here is the coolest part about the layout and song. I bought these cool little thinga magigs (yes that's a technical term) by My Pages Talk and got to record 30 seconds of my song to put on my layout! Is that not the coolest or what!!! So now, Nely can do the Hoedown Throw Down! I will be adding a picture of my daughter and I doing the dance but didn't have it in my hand when I completed and took the picture of the layout... sorry. Nely will get to see us Hoedowning and Throwing Down! I hope you all enjoy this layout as much as I enjoyed creating it! So much pink... there can never ever, ever, ever be too much pink!

Look at how cute the thingy magig is! Okay okay it's a sound recorder thingy magig (yes still a technical term)!

Little Buckaroo...

I can't believe my little guy is about to turn 1 year old! This time last year I was on my last days of pregnancy. Of course I wasn't due for another one and a half month... but he said it's time mommy! Now we share the same birthday month! Turning 1 is cause for a big celebration I think! I mean of course every year is special, but that first birthday should be BIG! I think... We will be celebrating his birthday a day early this coming Sunday the 29th and I just can't wait! I seem to have gone overboard again! Lot's of prizes, games, candy, food, and just so much more for a one year old. I know crazy but he's my baby ya know! :)

So here is the invite I did for his party, and the goodie bags!

I used Cowboy Billy digi stamp by Pink Cat Studios. The designer paper is Adornit, the brads are from Eyelet Wharehouse. The Cowboy hat, and boots are from Paper Dolls, and the star is from George basic cricut cartridges. I used Dew Drops in Java ink for the shading on the hat and boots. For the star I used VersaMark. The fence border was from a Martha Stewart punch.

These are the goodie bags the kids will be receiving! I love, love, love the Wanted Poster I got from my DT buddy Ann Cutts... Thank you Ann! I made it smaller, added a sepia toned picture of my little man and... Viola! A masterpiece! The cowboy accents were again from the Paper Dolls cartridge! The bags I found for $0.10 at Joann's! Was that a bargain or what! The ribbon is also from Joann's, the designer paper is Karen Foster. The bags are jammed with lots of candy, toys, and trinkets...but my favorite item is the Wanted poster with Jude's face...just look at that pose! It could have turned out better if it were planned! He always makes the arrgh face at me when he is being a rascal!

Here's a close up of his face!

The Pink Elephant Challenge #42

Something Plaid, any # of Brads, and no Ribbon

This week's Sponsor is Wild Flower Kids! You can find more information on these quties and many more Wild Flower Kids digis here!

For my card I used Sage Elf and colors that I have seen a lot these past few Christmases. They are definitely not traditional, but they are pretty. I know that it is also not a very manly or boyish color combo, but still I liked it very much! The designer paper came from a Mat Stack from Die Cuts With a View and the pink cardstock is Bazzill, and the Mesh is of course by Magic Mesh. Copics used were; E35, Y38, RV24, E95, BV04, E33, and B97. The Christmas brads are Making Memories, and the snowflakes are Heidie Swapp "ghosts" colored with B97 and accented with Zwavorski crystals. Hope it inspires some of you to work with different colors for Christmas!

The Pink Elephant Challenge #41

Hiya all! This week at The Pink Elephant as you can see it is a Sketch challenge. It was a bit difficult for me on this one as I did not have a scalloped circle template for my card, but... we card makers improvise right!? So here is what I used:

Stamp: Stampendous Inc.

Embossing Powder: Judikins in White

Paper: Reminisce

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics

Glitter for the Snowflake: Great Impressions Sparkle

Snowflake: Cricut cartridge; Accents

So, I embossed the stamped image and cut out pieces of the background here and there around the letters, the snowflakes, and circles. I then popped it up on my glittered snowflake. Mounted the whole thing flat on another circle and mounted that on the Reminisce designer paper. Easy huh? Yet, I love this card, I think it just turned out so pretty! Watcha think?

Here is a close up of the embossed image, the snowflake , and the mounting. Hope you can see how detailed it seems, but it really was just cut out here, snip there, and punch out that!

The Pink Elephant Challenge #40

Good morning all! Join us this week at The Pink Elephant for a Theme Challenge!

Be Thankful

Here is my quick and simple card. The Thanksgiving Image stamp is an Inkadinkadoo stamp, and the dark leaves you see on the solid strip is from Printworks! I used Art Print Brown for the Thanksgiving image, the leaves, and the distressing around my DP. The deisgner paper is from Dreamstreet. The ribbon is from Pine Cone Press. I did it in a rush, so it's not too fancy this time, but I think it's still quite nice! Thanks for stopping by and I am looking forward to seeing all of your gals creations! Have a wonderful week!

Betty

Blog Candy for a cause...

Hello everyone...as stampers I have found that we are some of the most caring and bonding type of ladies there are out there!

This post, brings tears to my eyes, but it is for a great cause! Recently as I was blog hopping to summerthymestudio I came across the cutest stamp from Pink Cat Studio. As I read about the digi stamp for a fundraiser my heart sank! It is a fundraiser for Sara, she just lost her 3 year old son. I know we all feel that no mother should ever have to go through this pain. No loved one really, but as a mother myself, I can tell you it really hits you to hear of the passing of a child. If you could spare a little time this weekend to hop on over to Pink Cat Studio and purchase this little digital stamp, I am sure it will go a long way! Check out summerthymestudio for more information.

Another generous person that Vicki pointed out is Kim. She is asking all us talented and caring stampers to send warm and caring cards to the family. You can check out her blog here.

Thank you all for taking time to send out happy thoughts to the Anderson family in their difficult time.

Lot's of love and hugs to everyone!

Betty

The battle with the Chocolate Spider...

Okay, so a mother should know better than to leave a perfectly sealed box of Spider chocolates around an 11 month old right! So, I turned my back on Jude for two minutes, and CHOMP! I heard it, he managed to open the box with the foil covered spiders, and I am going to go out on a limb here and say that it tasted pretty good to him, so he continued! He popped the whole thing in his mouth when he heard me say Jude! No! and started across the kitchen to the living room where he was sitting with chocolate all over him! Dad said at that point let him be, putting my finger in his mouth will do one of two things... I will get my finger bitten, or I will lodge the chocolate down his throat causing him to choke...so I lost the battle with the Chocolate Spider. Jude seems to have enjoyed it very much!

Here comes Santa Claus!

I can't believe how fast this year has gone! It seems only yesterday I was popping out and you could see me coming around the corner with Jude in my belly! My son drew a picture to show how I funny I look coming around a corner...not funny! Well, yeah actually it was pretty funny! This year I am going to savor every moment with my family! Last year we came home from the hospital two days before Christmas with Jude. It was the only gift we all wanted, to be home together with the little guy! Many of you may not know his story, but it really feels like a miracle that he is here and I thank God every night as I put my little one to bed. Okay, so here is my first Christmas card, this will be going to a very good friend of mine from my teen years! When I saw these stamps from Stampotique...I thought oh my gosh there's my whole crew! Yup, I was so goth and punk rock! I can't believe I am now so conservative, a Girl Scout Leader, and won't even let my son go on his first date alone! Okay enough babbling!

I used this Stampotique Originals image by Daniel Torrente named Stitch...isn't she cute? The sentiment is also by Stampotique. I used Designer paper from a Christmas Mat Stack by DCWV. The Acrylic snow flake is by Heidie Swapp, and I dabbed them with Evergreen and Cardinal inks by VersaMark. The fiber is by EK Success, and the brad from We Are Memory Makers. Oh and the swirl is from Sizzix. I used my Steadtler watercolors to color her in. I think I did ok! Hope you all enjoy it!

Betty

And this is my son's smart a@# drawing of my coming around the corner during my pregnancy!

Halloween is over :(

Yes, sad but true! Halloween is finally over...but no worries...I am turning 35 in eight days and I have already asked for special Halloween gifts! Woot woot! Okay, so our maze turned out to be A-Maze-ing! We had a very, very small budget, and there was another Haunted maze going on at the Performing Arts Center, and they had a huge budget! However, the buzz was that the maze on Mc Alister was sooo much better...hee hee, that would be us! I have to giggle a little cause it's just cool. The people that put the other maze together were so nice and came to see ours! How nice is that! I unfortunately did not have time to get over there because of our maze, and me taking Jude out for his first Trick-or-Treating experience, you will see what he thought of the whole thing below!

Okay so as promised here are some photos...oh and I am not very photogenic...so don't laugh! :)

Here is my little one right before we headed out, I was trying so hard to prevent this, but to no victory! He did manage to wake up after three houses, they tried handing him some animal crackers and he totally lunged forward and grabbed a Sneakers (is that spelled right)!

Here he is with daddy and the Beetlejuice costume I made him...I am quite proud of the costume and face painting I did!

So here I am...sigh. I hate this picture, I look bloated, as I paint my sister's face.

My handsome son, the skeleton man (0f course you can't see his handsome face)!

My beautiful Rio as an Emerald Witch! Yes, she really is only 11 years old...yikes!

My mom as a crazy Rag doll with her little Skeleton!

My and her boyfriend with one of my awesome face paint creations! His eyes are closed and I painted over them to make it look like he had glowing eyes...I was quite impressed with myself!

Oh and of course I got a kiss from Beetlejuice himself! For all my hard work...I would prefer stamps instead of kisses from a dead guy...lol!

Well, I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed myself on Halloween night! It was just such a blast, having my family up was my treat as they live 2 1/2 hours away so they don't get to come up to the mountains often. I am hoping that this has triggered a tradition, and I will see them more on the Holidays! I had 12 people in my house, it was full! But fun! I hope everyone's Halloween was just as fun!

Betty

New Lollipops and Sqigglefly!

As many of you may know The Pink Elephant has two phenomenal ladies! Lori Boyd and Robin Willis! Now the world will see the talent these two ladies hold! Both ladies are now putting their own stamps and digi stamps out there for you all to enjoy! So here is a little bit of info for you to check out!

You all have to check out these sweeties! Lori Boyd has joined Stamping Bella and created these adorable stamps for all of us crazy stampers! They are just too cute and so many to choose from you are going to flip! Best part of these Lollipops...is that they contain no sugar for those of you watching your sugars like myself! Go check them out, order a few... maybe all of theme! You know you are going to want to! Here are just a few, I wish I could show you a card sample, but I am pacing as I await for their arrival at my front door! I even made my husband install a sensor with a loud chime so I know when my UPS guys is here with my new pretties!

Lori Boyd's Lollipops

Robin Willis has also joined forces with a company to share her talent with the stamping world! Check out her designs at Squigglefly! Adorable digital images are available for your card making needs! Don't be left behind, I am sure we will be seeing these two ladies stamps all over blog land soon! Here are some sneaky peakies, but you must get them from Sqigglefly!

The Pink Elephant Challenge #39

The colors for this week's Color Challenge at The Pink Elephant Challenge are:

Brown, Yellow, Neutral and Color of your choice!

Here is my entry using one of Kraftin' Kimmies Stamps! I think they are just simply adorable! I used Designer Paper by K & Company and BoBunny, and bubble gum pink cardstock from Bazzill Basics. The Flowers are from Prima, and the brads are by Reflections found at Michaels. The mesh is from Magic Mesh and the ribbon is from Creative Impressions. I didn't do such a great job as it is 3 AM, sorry I will do better next time! Just still spinning from the Halloween weekend! I hope you all enjoy and thanks for stopping by!