Please do announce

I am pleased to announce that we have officially added a new member to our family... Please meet 2 month old Chloe Maybelle Hayes. She is a mix breed and we are just not sure what she is! All I know is her sweet little face jumped up and smacked mommy in the face and said... TAKE ME HOME.. next thing I know she was here.. she is getting along well with Nani and even Mason. She is very sweet and while her middle name has caused some disagreement, I the mom have decided.. she has a little cow belly and so I like the name Maybelle.. and if was gonna be her first name but the kids whined and I caved to leaving her name Chloe and simply having her middle name be Maybelle.. but if you look at that tummy I am sure you would agree, she is without a doubt, a little Maybelle

Valentine's Day.... thoughts

Our Bikes hugging outside of Outback

I love this guy

OK so first the Valentines day motif is gone from my blog.. all good I was a little tired of the hearts... BUT what I wanna know is what did you do for V-day?

It may sound strange, but my hubby and I did something we both love to do.. We rode our bikes. In fact, we went on a 30 mile ride around town. NOW we had a flat tire and few other hang-up but we just chilled and enjoyed the beautiful weather.. Yep it was a perfect 74 degrees here on Valentines day.. So, we ended up eating at Outback Steakhouse (cause it was there...) for lunch and completely enjoyed our ride.. here are a few photos from our trek.. OH and no cards, no chocolates we just had a great day being together... BTW cycling is great for your marriage, your hubby and you pretty much talk the whole time you are riding.. like 5 hours we were out (not all biking we stopped often and just had a drink or LUNCH which took a lot longer than expected... or a flat tire...LOL)

Fun with sketches

Hey check this out.... what fun for anyone looking for a little inspiration...

so I went over to Stuck on U Sketches (see side bar of my blog) and I found this cool pagemap sketch they are using. I like the sketch so I figure I will give it a go... I will post my results later. But hey give it a whirl and then go post on the Mr. Linky they have a great prize for the winner.

Lookie at this birthday card I just made

My mom and I have a friend who is having a birthday. I usually don't make birthday cards that I actually give away and this one is gonna be hard! I don't often like the cards I make, but this one I actually like.. I used my Scrapbook Circle kits. Great stuff let me tell you.. You totally need to join that kit club if you have not.. For instance, CHA just happened and I got the new Cosmo Cricket line days later in my kit.. LOVE IT!!!

OK here is my card...

New Friends

For those of you that may not know.. Dave and I belong to a group called warm showers. We open our home to cyclist that are traveling across country (or any tour really) and need a warm, dry, free place to stay along with a nice hot home cooked meal (though sometimes we take them out for a nice meal) -- anyway in the last month we have had 3 people stay with us.. Shaou Ming (from China) as well as Dave and Barbra (couple traveling together from Missouri) -- Well, I must say it has been amazing month.. I love meeting people from all over the place and all these bikers have me wanting to hit the pavement and head out across country. I think it would be such fun to go from the east to west coast on our bikes. So I am planning on talking to Dave about seriously doing this in a year or so... Here are some photos of our new friends. I have been so blessed to have new friends that I have met!

Why have I put this off? sigh

Ok I have noticed that I have not been doing a great job keeping photos labeled and organized... ok I have never done a good job at it.. in fact, I was looking through photos looking for something I wanted to put on a layout and saw a photo from 1999 next to a photo from 2008.. That was kinda what made me face my disorganization...OK sooo I have begun to tackle this beast.. It has been well a PAIN IN THE (insert word of your choice for behind here) . So I just ordered another 161 photos (life keeps going if my photos are organized or not!) and I realize I need more storage for these photos. I love these boxes from Michael's so I am going to have to buy a few (like 10 more)

SOOO as I am sorting (and pulling out journals and scrapbooks for dates-- Oh Im also pulling out my hair) I needed a break so I came here to just whine a little .. so I guess I have to get back to the salt mines! LOL I have totally taken all day to work on this.. I feel like I have so little to show for it... BUT its a start.. OK done whining sorry!

So here is some photos of what I am going through.. the first photo is NOT sorted yet.. I have like 30 piles like this... and the second photo is one of what I am attempting to do!

Embossed Candle

I was asked on the Frosted blog after my embossed candle was put up..HOW did I do this.. Well this technique has been around for a while and I take no credit in developing it, just learning and passing it on. It is actually really simple and fun...

SO you need a candle, Stamps of your liking, embossing powder, heat gun and ink (I like VersaMark for this project), tissue paper close to the same color as your candle - * note: This project works best on white candles.

OK so here at the steps.. If I need to post photos of the steps let me know and I will.

Step One: Stamp image using VersaMark ink onto the tissue paper.

Step Two : Sprinkle with embossing powder while still wet. Tap of extra powder carefully (DO NOT HEAT YET)

Step Three: Cut as close to the image as you can. Being careful not to knock off too much powder (if you do,try a re-sprinkle when you are done, dont forget the tap!)

Step Four: Prep candle by choosing where you want the image to go. Then heat slightly with your heat gun. Quickly place tissue paper (embossing powder up) onto the candle where you slightly heated...then apply heat. (Be sure to not full blast the candle, hold your heat gun back as far as you can but still able to melt the embossing powder. This process may take a little longer, but the results are worth it)

NOTE! A little spit on the back of the tissue paper can also hold that little sucker down until you can begin embossing the image... A little crude, but effective... and if the image is big... it helps to know that!

You should notice that as you are heating the embossing powder that the tissue paper is seemingly dissolving into the candle's wax.. that is excatly what you want... IF you add too high a heat you will melt the candle and it will look icky.. So practice a few times and don't get discouraged.

For the top of my candle, I simply added the Versamark around the top and sprinkled directly onto the candle, then I hit is with the heat gun to make it a little "drippy" looking I did move my heat gun closer to the candle.

The wrap is just cardstock and oh the joy.. you can poke those brads right into the wax to secure the paper!
Good luck and let me know how it comes out.. I may just feature yours here.. You can email your finished projects to gzuswins@aol.com
Love ya guys
xoxoxo
e

Finished-- and delivered

So here is a photo of my "baby quilt" (though it is large for a baby quilt) BUT hey that just means the baby can use it longer.

I made this quilt for a family friend and his wife for their soon to be new baby. I enjoyed making it and praying over it every moment.. this baby will be wrapped in love, and hugged in prayers.

I didn't know (just as the parents don't) if the baby was a boy or a girl so I made in in greens and yellows.. jungle theme is pretty safe I thought when you don't know if the baby is a boy or girl. The daddy to be was pretty happy I thought to get the quilt so my joy cup runneth over! Thank you to my MIGHTY God for the privilage to pray for little baby Phillips!

Hope you like the quilt!

xoxoxo

e

WINNER!

goccanucksgo.... you are the winner of the blog candy from last week! I hope you enjoy it.. I need you to email me your address so you can get your prize. please send your email to CreatingMem4Him@aol.com
Thanks for you understanding gals as I rebuild a new blog. FUN, FUN FUN!

xoxoxo
e