Jingle Belles - No Stamping Christmas

Despite the huge amount of stamps that I've accumulated, I often find myself making cards that don't involve much, if any stamping, preferring to put handwritten messages on the inside.  So this Jingle Belles Challenge to make cards without any stamping is right in my wheelhouse.  I should have been able to crank out a few cards for this one, but I'll squeak by with these two as family events and an inconvenient sinus infection have taken me in another direction lately.  

The snowman die came from Kokorosa and has seven snowpeople, seven hats, and five scarves in the die.  I kept the die together to run the whole thing through the Big Shot with white paper.  Then I colored the hats and scarves before I punched them out.  The eyes, nose, and buttons are also cut out so instead of trying to keep those tiny pieces in place, I punched them out and cut a thin strip of white cardstock and colored that to add to the back.  I did that in two pieces for each one swiping the orange and black on one piece and just black on another.  I know I could have used plain black paper for the button one, but it was just as easy to do it on the white right then and there.  I left a little space at the top of each of the piece and just added a dab of glue to adhere to the back of the snowman because I knew that I was going to add a strip of double-sided tape to the back of them to stick them to the background.  

I divided my snowpeople into two families to depict our kids and grandkids in their family units.  The die actually reminds me of  the ornaments I used to make out of tongue depressors and popsicle sticks and sold at craft fairs.  Those snowmen had top hats and I wrote the name of the person on the brim of the hat and the last name of the family and the year on a heart that held them all together.  I know I have a picture somewhere but I'll have to come back with that later as I know I'm running out of time posting this.

Please take a look at the Jingle Belles blog to see all the other stampless beauties over there. I'll be adding some love after the sun goes down.  

Weeks 12 & 13 of The 100 Day Project

I didn't give up, I just got side-tracked a little with family events going on the last couple of weeks.  I had Week 12 done but not photographed before we went to Delaware and forgot about that when I got back until today when I went to photograph Week 13.  I have been writing down the words of the day in a little spiral notebook along with the layout for the word so I had some recollection of the particular word that I chose for the day.  If I didn't write down the word, I relied on checking my phone camera for a picture that I might have taken on that day because surely that would have sparked some joy.  So on with it.....  Week 12

And Week 13

I'll be adding the last nine in a couple of days when it is finally finished along with some wrap-up thoughts.

He's Here

I've been absent for a while because we just became grandparents again!  Beckham Fredrick H-C (GS3) was born on May 15th - about a month early.  We knew he was going to be early because a few months ago they found out that he has a heart condition and would probably not go to full term.  We were praying that it wouldn't be too soon.

  

Our daughter and SIL had been making twice weekly trips from Newark, DE to CHOP in Philadelphia where they decided they were going to have him as it's one of the best children's hospitals in this area.  They had met with the cardio team there and it was possible to have the baby in the same hospital and not have to have him transferred there.  He went right into the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit and got the best care as did she.  

He was 7 lbs. 2 oz and remarkably didn't need to be put on oxygen as they thought he might.  He has a third degree heart block which means that the chambers of his heart are not beating at the same rate.  One is very low.  This is not repairable with surgery to the heart but eventually he may need a pacemaker to help his heart.  There was the unknown as to whether that would be right away, but he's got a strong heartbeat and the doctors were very pleased with what they saw so he was able to come home 8 days later and meet his big brother Maverick.

We have been traveling back and forth to Delaware to take care of Maverick while his parents were staying in Philadelphia at the Ronald McDonald house there so they could be with the baby as much as possible for feedings.  During those eight days he spent time at his other grandparents' house and some time with mom and dad when they came home to get their personal items and see him.  And we stayed with him at his house for several days.  It was important to his mom and dad that he stayed on his schedule as much as possible  - like going to daycare and his daily routine at home, so being there in his own house was a lot easier on him during this time.  

He helped Papa with a project - building a tomato enclosure for their yard - by using the heavy drill to put the screws in.  

He picked up a wagon full of sticks from the yard one day.

And he water-painted after dinner one night (Note to add: it was a purchase from the $Tree and one of the very rare times that I've been disappointed with the product.  It came with two posters that had the paint on them in dots and all you were supposed to do was use the paintbrush to add water to activate the paint.  Well, it didn't activate easily but he gave it a good try.)

Grandma and Papa did the best they could keeping up with a 4-yr-old and we're happy to say that there weren't any meltdowns during this time.  (But I can't say the same about HWNSNBP who tried my patience more than once.)  

As soon as Rachel and Ryan got home we left so that they could have their family bonding time and Maverick could welcome his baby brother.  Rachel was thinking ahead and had a gift for Maverick from Beckham and she sat right down with him to put it together while the baby was still sleeping from the car ride.  

I only got to hold him the day after he was born when we went to visit the hospital and purposely didn't go near him at their house before we left because I thought I was coming down with a sinus infection (which I was).  I know we'll be going back down soon though to get in plenty of cuddles.

And remarkably, the day that they called us from hospital to tell us that he was going to be born that day was the day that the little bluebirds fledged from the nesting box.  I was nervously waiting outside to hear from our SIL the status and got to see the 3rd and almost the 4th baby leave the box.

Jingle Belles - Holiday Tic-Tac-Toe

This fortnight the Jingle Belles gave us a little creative game of tic-tac-toe.  Just choose 3 in a row when creating your card.  And here I am last minute again, but I chose the first row down .....

I originally had the die cut in white and was just going to cut the stars off the gold one I had also cut but then decided to use the gold one entirely and I kind of rather like it.  

I just have to find my special eraser to get a little bit of errant glue off that gold paper.  That's what happens when you're in a rush.  

I'll be heading over to the Jingle Belles blog to leave some love for the other creatives.  You can also by clicking here.  

Week 11 of The 100 Day Project (With Bluebird Baby Update)

Here are the baby bluebirds - there were originally 6 eggs and it looks like only 4 of them have gotten this far.  They should be ready to fledge at any moment so the box won't be opened again for a while.  We do have a set of mirrors on a stick so we can spy on them without too much intrusion.  The only problem with that is that HWNSNBP sometimes doesn't remember to put it back where it belongs and it becomes the wrong kind of scavenger hunt.  (Much like when he misplaces his cell phone.  That may be one of the only reasons why we still have a landline telephone ...... so he can use it to call his cell phone without asking me to do it and getting a lecture.)

We made another trip to the nursery again for more plants.  We had to search for the vinca in the colors we wanted but finally found a few flats left to choose from.  One of the plants that we had previously bought is doing well amongst the forget-me-nots - a bleeding heart.  It's not the first one that we've had here but those previously planted years ago have disappeared for whatever reason.  So I'm hoping that putting this one in this somewhat protected area will keep it around for a long time.  I remember that my grandfather had one planted in our yard growing up and I always loved it.  

And finally, the sunset from Friday night.

 

Happy Mother's Day

 

Week 10 of the 100 Day Project (and More)

Okay, 70% complete for this project which, by the way, will flow right into ICAD for 61 days.  Time to look for my index card stash.  

Monday, May 1st was Melanoma Awareness Day and just to remind you, as this has hit close to home for us, please get your skin checked.  

I posted about our GS2's birthday on the 3rd previously.  We did have a quick facetime call with him just to wish him a Happy Birthday on that date.

Earlier that day we made our first trip of the season to the Great Swamp Nursery and were surprised, yet not surprised at how busy it was there for the middle of the week.  We wanted to get there and pick some things up before the weekend when we know it will be crowded, particularly the weekend before Mother's Day.  We got some of our regular stuff but we did splurge on something that will be experimental to see if we can both enjoy it and protect it from the deer.  There is a plan - we just hope it's a working plan.  

I was going to take a picture of this girl we saw there but decided against it.  She was a young girl, not skinny, wearing an oversized sweatshirt that just barely covered her butt and both HWNSNBP and I thought she had patterned leggings on, but as she passed us we realized that those were tattoos on her legs - just here and there not all over - no pants to be seen.  I hoped she wasn't going to bend over to pick up any plants.  Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against tattoos, it was the length of the top and absence of the pants that made me shake my head.

The 4th was Bird Day and we are pleased to report that we have 6 baby blues in the box nearest the house that have hatched within the last week.  This box does not have the camera in it for us to monitor.  HWNSNBP had taken down the old bird house in the garden because it was falling apart - that was/is the one with the camera - and the bluebirds don't seem to like the newness of the dwelling that was put in its place.  At least not for now.  Perhaps they'll move into it later in the season, but for now, here are the babies.

We've had some wet and raw weather here and I was sad to see that someone that lives not too far from us lost their clutch of 6 babies that were further along than ours presumably to the weather.  I thought it might be from an inexperienced mama blue not tending them or gone missing.  Unfortunately it's one of those things that you never will find out how it happened or why.  Still it is a heartbreak.

HWNSNBP stopped at Costco and got us Churros for Cinco de Mayo and we were lucky to spend the evening with most of our Table 7 Group celebrating a birthday.  

I dug out my crown and though I did not get up early, managed to watch some of the replay of the King's Coronation today.  (No, I really didn't wear it, just had it nearby.)

The weather is warming up slightly and there is yardwork to get done along with getting our daughter's wedding celebration invites put together so she can have them to mail out soon.  (They did get married in July of 2020 but because of the pandemic, couldn't have anyone except immediate family at the time and circumstances with venues and vendors kept postponing the "re-enactment" which has been scheduled for August.)  So let me be off hoping everyone enjoys the weekend.