Jingle layout with glitter rub-ons

The pictures that I used on this layout are really not that great. These are from Christmas

Eve 2008. Caleb was and is still at the stage where he's just not that into posing, especially when it isn't his idea. The picture of my mom isn't that great, but she and Caleb are snuggling and I wanted to use a pic of her in the layout. My parents came in last year and spent the night with us so that they could see Caleb get all of his goodies from Santa on Christmas morning so I wanted to do a layout just of Christmas Eve night because it was a break in tradition for us.

List of items used-all items are from Close to My Heart:

Jingle Level 2 Paper Packet X7115B

Jingle Level 2 Stickease X7115c

Clear Sparkles Z1104

Glitter Rub-Ons Z1222

Dimensional Elements simple alphabet Z1048

Liquid glass Z679-used this to coat the j and the y to make them shiny

White daisy organdy ribbon

The Sale You've Been Waiting For......

We've been watching and waiting for it and now it is almost here! That's right. Close To My Heart's buy 2 stamp sets, get 1 free sale is back. Starting November 3-30th when you buy 2 stamp sets (sizes A, B, C, D, and/or E only) at full retail price you will receive a third stamp set of your choice for FREE (of equal or lesser value)—a savings of up to $22.95 US.

Here are the answers to your FAQs:
What are the campaign details?
Dates: November 3–30, 2009
Featured Product(s): My Acrylix® Stamp Sets
For Customers: Purchase any two stamp sets (sizes A, B, C, D, and/or E only) at full retail price and receive a third stamp set of your choice for FREE (of equal or lesser value)—a savings of up to $22.95 US
What stamp sets are included in Stampaganza 2009?
Customers may choose their FREE set from any current stamp set we sell (excluding E-size, customizable (K), Art & Soul®, Workshops on the Go™ and Stamp of the Month) that is of equal or lesser value than the lowest price set the customer purchases.
Where can I see the stamps sets available in Stampaganza 2009?
Customers may select stamp sets that are included in any 2009 Idea Book and the current Product Review.
Will tax and shipping/handling be charged on this promotion?
No tax is charged on FREE stamp sets. For Gathering and Individual orders, shipping/handling (for US and CAN) is always charged based on the full retail value of the item. For EZ Invite and MyCTMH orders, shipping/handling is charged based on the weight of the item.

Disney Layouts from 2008 trip

In anticipation of our Disney trip this year, I started trying to finish up our Disney World layouts from last year. After doing so many layouts and seeing no end in sight, I started trying to keep the layouts fairly simple. Or as simple as I could allow myself to make them ;0) I relied heavily on Cherish, Imagine, and Reflections and also on stickease. I've finally come to the realization that every layout that I do doesn't have to be a "masterpiece". I can use things that make my layouts easier to put together and my memories are still recorded and I'm able to get more done!

Here are the layouts from Animal Kingdom:

Tree of Life layout
All materials from Close To My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Bella Level 2 Paper Packet
Craft Buttons Basic Assortment (new in the Winter catalog)
Twill
Ticket Tags Stamp Set

Letter Stickers are from Thickers





Meeting Mickey Mouse in Animal Kingdom
Back Country Level 2 Paper Packet
Back Country Level 2 Stickease
Twill
Pewter Brads
Tiny Typewriter Stamp Set
Moments In Time Stampset




Adventures in Animal Kingdom
Back Country Level 2 Paper Packet
Back Country Level 2 Stickease
Brad Assortment Autumn Harvest




Goofy
Tinkerin' Level 2 Paper Packet
Brad Assortment Autumn Harvest

Stickles from Ranger




Layouts from Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom
Free Spirit Level 2 Paper Packet
Autumn Terracotta photos turns (discontinued)





Once Upon a Time Can Happen Anytime
Daydream level 2 Paper Packet
Daydream Stickease
RicRac Collection (hollyhock & white)
Pretty Pins




Please let me know if you have any questions!

The rest of the California trip

Well, I had hoped to post to my blog everyday during our vacation but it didn't happen. I ended up so tired that I tried to nap everyday when Caleb napped but I usually just laid there. Saturday we went to the beach and then John and I had to go to the Coosemans party. About the time we were going to leave some friends and customers of John came in so we ended up staying at the party til around 11:30. The next night we all went to eat in downtown Disney and then I took the girls back to the park to watch the fireworks and Fantasmic. The fireworks were really cool. Disney was doing a special Halloween fireworks show and it was just so cool. We never did get a great seat, but what we did see was spectacular. Then we were further amazed when we saw Fantasmic. I've never seen such an amazing show. You can't appreciate it until you've seen it. We had a lot of fun at the parks. Going early was the key to riding everything. The days that I thought would be busy weren't and the days I thought would be slow were busy. Crazy. It was still a great time to go as I'm sure the crowds weren't nearly as thick as they are at other times.

Caleb had a lot of fun. I tried to immerse him in all things Disney in the weeks before our trip. I wanted him to have some knowlege of all the stories if possible, and I think it did help him have a better time. He was really into Peter Pan, and Pinnochio. I thought he would flip over the Peter Pan ride because it is so neat, but he didn't seem that impressed with it. That was probably good because it's a really popular ride and is always busy. He did love the Pinnochio ride though and he got to ride it 4 times. I think his favorite ride was the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. We probably rode that 8 times. It's a cute ride. You are trying to help Buzz defeat Zurg and you get to shoot at targets all through the ride. It's a lot of fun and a little addicting. Caleb was a lot more timid with the characters this year. He would kind of back up to them and look at them over his shoulder and then have a bit of a grimace on his face. It was funny. Here are some pics in no particular order.

Day 1 at Disneyland-October 1st

We made it to California last night, and after a bit of a search (ie. husband got the wrong directions from someone, then wouldn't stop to put the right address into the GPS) we found the hotel. We found the room and dropped the bags off and then John, Steph, and Krystan went to get us some groceries. As they were leaving the fireworks were going off over at Disneyland. I was glad Caleb got to check them out from a distance to get a bit used to them. The noise sometimes scares him a bit. Finally got settled in-Caleb decided to be a big boy and sleep in the room with the girls on the top bunk! I was a bit scared about that, but he made it through the night without falling.



We woke up bright and early this morning. We got our bus passes and finally got to Disney's California Adventure Park about 9:45 or so. They were supposed to open at 10, but we got in right away. After a slight delay with 2 of the tickets printing wrong we headed over to ride Soaring. On the way we saw Lightning McQeen and Mater and Caleb went to have a chat with them. He was very interested in checking them out and not real interested in posing. He would have been content to hang out there for quite a while.

Then we headed over to Soaring and had just a very short wait. Very cool ride. It's a flight simulation ride and it's supposed to feel like you are on a hang glider. It's a bit of a shock when you start out. I lost my stomach and Caleb was a bit worried. I told him to close his eyes if he got scared and he did keep his eyes closed a good bit of the ride. You see this big screen and the wind blows over you and it does feel a bit like you are flying through the air. You go through clouds, a stream in the mountains, Disneyland at night, an orchard, over the ocean and a big cargo carrier, and several others I'm forgetting. When we asked Caleb when we got off the ride if he wanted to go again, he said NO! After that we headed over to ride the Toy Story Mania ride. We got over there and it was broken down, so John and Steph rode California Screaming and Krystan took Caleb on King Triton's carousel. After we rode the carousel we headed over to the ferris wheel and saw Jessie from Toy Story posing for pics. We got in line for that and when it was Caleb's turn he turned shy. Krystan took him up there so we did get a pic.


Then we headed for the ferris wheel and got in line. John and Steph joined us and we got on. It was pretty lame. It took forever to load and then we went one circuit around and that was it. It was fun to see everything from so high up though.


After that ride for some reason I thought the Mailboomer would be interesting to try. Steph, of course, agreed so off we went. There was little wait or I probably would have backed out. THis ride resembles the games at fairs where people hit the thing with a hammer and see if they can ring the bell, however on this ride, you are the device that goes up. You get in and you immediately are catapulted through the air to the top of this thing and then immediately fall down. I'm surprised I didn't pee my pants. Then you just kind of casually go up and down. It's not bad after that initial rise and fall.

Krys and Caleb went over to ride the Jumping Jellyfish. It's a kiddie ride that takes you up in the air and kind of floats you back down. Caleb looked nervous but seemed to like it.


We decided to try to get on Mulholland Madness again-they said Caleb was too short a bit earlier but just by a hair so we tried it again and were able to get him on. It's a small little rollercoaster and Caleb loved it and wanted to do it again. We tried but this time they wouldn't let him on. We didn't get any pics of that ride dang it because I didn't realize that John wasn't riding until it was too late. Oh well. We heard at this time that the Toy Story mania ride was back up and running so we got in line for it. It was about a 20 minute wait, but was a ton of fun. You have to put on 3D glasses and you ride a little car and go through different shooting galleries. It keeps score and was so much fun. John creamed me, but I'll get him next time. I think we all enjoyed that ride.
After that we decided to get some lunch and had pizza at Pizz Om Mow Wow. It was tasty and it was nice to rest for a bit.

We headed over to the Hollywood Studios portion of the park and saw Snow White and Dopey and the kiddos got their pics taken with them.


We went in the Animation Studio and checked out the exhibits in there and saw the show with the turtle from Nemo named Crush. It's an interactive show. You are watching it on a movie type screen, but he interacts with the crowd. He points people out and the CM (cast member) goes over with the microphone so that the people can talk to him. I was hoping that caleb would get to talk, but he didn't. It was a cute show.



After that we caught the Playhouse Disney show that features the gangs from The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, My Friends Tigger and Pooh, and Handy Manny. Caleb was glued to it, but by the end you could tell he was whipped so we headed back to the hotel for a nap and that's where we stand as of now. More later!

After Caleb's nap we headed out for Disneyland again. We had planned on going back to DCA but we didn't head out til after 6 and DCA closed at 6 so we went over to Disneyland. The crowds were substantially heavier at DL. People were already staking out their spots for the fireworks that started at 8pm. We had planned to go to Fantasyland but detoured to Tomorrowland instead because of the crowds. The kids rode The Astro-Orbiter first. This was one of Caleb's favorite rides last year and he really enjoyed it again.



Our next stop was Star Tours. It's a flight simulation ride that has you racing through space. Caleb and I hated it, but the girls loved it. It was loud and rough and messed with my equilibrium. Wish rides didn't effect me so. After that we headed over and rode Buzz Lightyear and that was a lot of fun. You ride through and shoot targets and fight Zurg. The only problem with that ride is that you end up in a store that sales all kinds of Toy Story stuff and Caleb wants it all.



It was a battle getting him out of there and at that point we decided to leave. It was around 8 so we headed for the exit, but stopped to watch a bit of the fireworks at the castle. The fireworks have a Halloween theme right now and are actually based on Jack Skellington from the Nightmare Before christmas. The little bit that we could see of the show was awesome and I hope we get to see more of it before the trip is finished. It's just so hard to get a good seat unless you stake it out hours before and it gets extremely crowded in front of the castle and all the way down Main Street.

Good News for Caleb

We had our long awaited appointment at Scottish Rite Hospital yesterday to figure out if Caleb has arthritis. He has been doing better lately but still has mornings where he wakes up stiff and occasionally has a bad night with his legs hurting. We got good news. The doctor examined Caleb, watched him walk around, and asked us lots of questions. She does not think that Caleb has arthritis-Yay! She said that his joint pain was probably a combination of things. She said that arthritis is a symptom of Kawasaki disease and that he probably did have a touch of arthritis with the Kawasaki disease, but like his other symptoms that it was going away. She also said that Caleb has hyper mobile joints, which basically means that he is ultra flexible and that that can cause pain. She said that his ankles kind of roll when he walks so they sent us down to another part of the hospital where they gave us some inserts to put in his shoes that are supposed to help give him the support he needs. What a relief to finally have some answers and to hopefully put this behind us. It's been a long two months and I'm thankful that they don't foresee any long term medical issues with Caleb. Thank you all for the prayers and support.

Caleb's first year scrapbook is finally done!

In honor of Caleb's 3rd birthday, I felt it was time to finally finish his first year album. LOL. I don't scrap in order and just do what interests me at the time but I was ready to get the first year wrapped up. I ended up with 3, yes 3 albums for his first year. The first one chronicles my pregnancy all the way up to him going home from the hospital. The second one goes through his fifth month, and then I finally got smart and got a 3 ring album for the rest of the year. It is packed with layouts. I guess his first year will be very well documented. So, all I had left was the title page and the last page. I used CTMH Animal Cookies L2 paper-I love this pack. I also used the stickease and some Dimensional Elements. I covered the DE in stickles for the sparkle effect. I used a sketch in Becky Fleck's Page Maps book for this layout. That's the first time I've used a sketch out of that book. I really wish she had included the dimensions of all the papers she used on the layouts. There are some cute ideas in her book, but I found it difficult to duplicate the sketch because of the lack of dimensions.


And here is the last page. When I started it, I intended for the title to be "What a Year". After I started printing the pics for it, I decided that it needed to be "Oh How I Love This Face!" The title was cut using All Mixed Up and was welded in Design Studio. I used the foam numbers from CTMH for the numbers. These are pics of him at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 months. The "months old" was cut with Opposites Attract and was also welded in Design Studio.


Now if I could just get his second and third years done I'd be doing good!