Happy Birthday to my SEE-STER!

A big HAPPY, HAPPY Birthday to my 'little' sister, Jessica!  Jess turns 29 years young today {for those counting I will be 30 early May....yes, we are only 11 months apart}. She is one of the most beautiful,and tender-hearted people that I know {with a WHOLE lot of sass}!

She's a wonderful sister, wife, mama, and one of my best friends :)

Here's my card for her {I'm thinking hoping she'll be too busy today to read this-- I'll give it her tomorrow, along with a delicious funfetti cake that my girls and I made just for her}.

It's simple but with lots of sparkle, just like Jess :)

Have a great Thursday!

DCWV Paper Wreath

Every so often I'll find a tutorial that will showcase a project that I LOVE 'as is' so I'll try my hand at it.  It's rare that I like everything about a project so I usually change at least few things {and sometimes by the time I'm finished I can't even remember what the heck it was supposed to look like!}.  Well....this was not the case when Erin, from DCWV, posted her Blossom Song Paper Wreath.

I haven't ventured much [yet] into the crafty house decor (we just moved into our house and I have no idea where to even start with the decorating) but when I watched Erin's tutorial (HERE) I figured this was something I could do!  {Of course, it took me a month to find the darn Styrofoam wreath, but only because my local craft store associates are less than helpful, but I digress...}

I didn't change a thing about it (used the same paper, etc) so obviously it's going to look the same and I have to say it's my favorite Spring craft in the house.  I'm already planning the next one :) 

I still have to make my rosette or some type of other 'flower' to finish it off but isn't it just lovely?!  Thanks so much to Erin and DCWV! 

Think Spring Blog Hop

Welcome!  Thank you for joining us for the "Think Spring" Blog Hop!  You should have arrived here from the fabulous Linda at Fancy Framework.  If you just happened to stumble upon this hop, please be sure to start here so you don't miss any of the wonderful projects we have to share.

We were asked to share what were look forward to most about Spring and for me, it's definitely the representation of new life.  It's so refreshing to see all of the budding trees, blooming flowers, anything that is being 'born again.'  All of that new-ness really inspires me :)

For my project I created a single page layout.  I don't do too many of these because I usually have so much to share within a spread I need all the space I can get! (My apologies for the pictures being a little dark--it was a gloomy day here in MN.) 

I used the border stamp from "Just the Basics" to border all of my photo mats.  You can find it here.

I think it turned out just adorable and Spring-y but I might add a few little flowers below the tree...what do you think?  It just might be the perfectionist in me. :)

Your next stop is the oh-so-talented Amanda!  Here is the complete blog list  in case you get side-tracked along the way!

Jessica- http://thecreativestamperspot.blogspot.com/
Nancy-http://blog.fancywithnancy.com/
Erika- http://www.cricutlove1.blogspot.com/
Monica- http://www.stampindaisies.com/
Tanya- http://www.ScrappyScavenger.blogspot.com/
Martha ~ http://pattisscrapingtime.blogspot.com/
Linda-http://www.fancyframework.com/
Jenny-http://www.papercutcreations.blogspot.com/   <-----You are HERE!
Amanda - http://www.scrapanddash.com/  <--------Your next stop! 
DoBea-http://www.dobeaalberts.blogspot.com/
Jennifer - www.craftycardgallery.blogspot.com
Nadia - www.nadiasbeautifulmess.blogspot.com
Jessica - www.denimglittercreations.com
Angelica - www.handmadebyangelica.com
Jessica Baker http://thatzuneek.blogspot.com/
Anita - http://www.anitaandbugs.blogspot.com/
Laura - http://www.makinprettythings.com/

Love, love, love!

What a glorious day!  The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and if you're reading this, it means your still vertical :) .

Kristal over at Getting Cricky with K Andrew is hosting a "LOVE" Link up party.  She is an AMAZING woman and I find that while we've never met, she is definitely a friend. {By my definition anyway :)}  It seems she always posts what I need to hear, when I need to hear it.  Definitely a Grace from the Lord if you ask me!  Obviously she is talented in the crafty sense too, but truth be told, that's not what made me gravitate towards her!  It's her attitude and her honesty--that girl is REAL, which is a total breath of fresh air!


She's asking that I share something special or unique about myself that you don't know...well let's see (this is HARD!)...I think I'll share one of the proudest moments I've had as a mama.

After my first daughter was born via c-section (unplanned) it left me feeling as though I missed a rite of passage into motherhood.  I didn't have the opportunity to suffer through contractions, scream in pain, or feel the immense relief and accomplishment that a mama feels after she gets through it all and sees her beautiful baby.  (Don't get me wrong, I felt all the love just not the sense of pride in myself).  Believe me, He was listening when I had my second daughter. 

The story is long but can be best summarized in this way: According to the doctors I was a week overdue, I finally went into labor on my own on a Sunday night, I labored for about 33-ish hours in the hospital (12 hours of walking the floor included), and I pushed for almost 6 hours (which is not easy when you haven't slept/eaten in 3 days) before my beautiful little Lauren was born that glorious Tuesday morning.  My special quality that you may not know (and heck, I didn't even know until I was put to the test) is how strong I am as a person, woman, mama....I am SO thankful that 1) the medical care team honored my desire for having a VBAC, even after I had labored so long 2) I have such a wonderful husband that loaned me his strength even when I wanted to give up and 3) the Lord gave us a beautiful, healthy baby girl who I can already tell has my perseverance :)   

Phew-that was long!  Moral of the story:  Careful what you wish for!  :) 




 

Frustrations...

Hey everyone!  WHAT.A.WEEK.  This past week was overwhelming blessed with a couple heavy doses of frustration thrown in, ever have weeks like that?

First off, my blog is not working properly.  Since my 'blog-lift' things aren't working as smoothly as I had hoped and my blog roll is not working.  What this means for me: stress!  What this means for you:  My followers aren't able to see my latest posts.  Now, if you're anything like me, you follow several blogs (because there are SO many talented people) and because the blog roll isn't showing my posts, people aren't being directed to visit.  UGH!  I promise that I am working on fixing this but I haven't found anyone to help me yet so...I will get it fixed as soon as possible.  Please bear with me!  Thanks to those of you that are still checking in and leaving comments.

Which leads me to....The April Fool's Blog Hop post never went live so those of you that were looking for that--I'm SORRY!  I had/have a really neat project that I tried and I wasn't even able to share it! I wasn't able to verify that it went live because my mom had surgery this past week (which went well) but she suffered a stroke shortly after so I've been a little pre-occupied with everything that goes into a loved ones concern.  This is my first check-in since mid week! 

Finally, as some of you know Monica from Stampin' Daisies has decided to suspend her stamp line indefinitely (check out her post HERE).  This just means that I won't be having bi-weekly posts featuring her stamps, BUT you CAN still order the ones she has left.  They are wonderful and I'd highly recommend purchasing a set before they are all gone! 

BUT....most importantly, above all of the pain in the keister things that life throws at us, MANY of my prayers were answered this week and sometimes not always the way I had hoped.  However, I also know that things work out as they should and I'm not always in control.  Needless to say, WHAT.A.WEEK!

Again, I am REALLY sorry for all of the headache!  I'll still try to post some projects but until I can get my blog fixed, I have to focus on that!  Thank you so much for your understanding.   

P.S.  If anyone knows how to fix the blog roll, I would LOVE your help!!!