Hot Air and Quads

Greetings from the land of the Krzy!....my nickname is krzy kramer from my maiden name, and pretty much describes me to a T!....

I missed this weeks Our Creative Corner challenge, but be sure to head over there to get inspired!  The challenge is a color one and I love it!  I do have a good reason to have flaked out.  I've been busy collaborating the decor Harry Connick event, 2 events in our family and illness....again....

First, my amazing BIL Nick and his adorable wife Gina have been trying to get pregnant for the last 3.5 years.  After much heartache and trials, they decided to use an egg producing drug.  After a year of use, they were on their last dose and found out they were pregnant....with QUADS!!!  It was a shock, but they are taking the change in stride and with joy!  Gina is now 21 weeks along and with Gods blessing, each of the babies are healthy and growing.  3 boys and 1 girl.  Amazing!  It has been a joy to celebrate this journey with them.

This past weekend my 8yr old daughter, my mother-in-law and I hosted a baby shower for the happy parents to be!  I took care of the decor and the planning....since that is my forte'.....  I went a bit overboard, but it was an amazing event and I can't wait to show you!  Are you ready?

Well, it all started with the invitation.  I had wracked my brain for a while coming up with a 'theme'....'cause I'm a theme party girl....Gina's sister used the bird's nest idea, so I needed to get creative.  I didn't want to get to 'quad-y' with the theme, so after much searching on Pintrest, I came up with hot air balloons....it didn't hurt that I have the PTI Up, Up & Away set either....

That inspired the hot air balloons my mom and I made....well mom gave it the ole' college try.... We painted paper lanterns to match the invitation balloons.  I was going to add the white buntings to them, but opted not to.  I made 10 of them, 2 went to the nursery, 2 to my daughters room and the rest for sale on my Etsy site.

I added little 4 little elephants to the baskets, each with a ribbon with the babies names on them.  Their room has an elephant theme, just for their little peanuts!

 Super cute eh?  I then had my helpers....aka mom & dad....fold 40+ tissue clouds to hang with the balloons from the ceiling.  My in-laws officially think I'm insane and obsessive.  They were shocked to see me hanging these from the ceiling at the club at 8 a.m.  I think its fun! 

 This is just one collection of clouds with the balloon. *LOVE IT*   I then moved the theme onto the tables.  The favor bags had the same PTI image....I think I colored over 60 for this event.....  Now here's the abstract part, the tables were the 'ground', I used sod and added daisies to it....my mom thought I lost it....I usually use wheat grass, but it's no longer sold in flats around here.  The ceiling was the sky, get it?  Here's a little peek of the finished tables.

And a close-up of the favor

Finally I carried the them over to the sweets table. A cake, cookies and chocolate pops.  *ADORABLE*

 A close-up of the sod....

I went a bit overboard with the sweets considering it was a brunch.  Made to order omelets and waffle bar, bellinis and mimosas - it was delish!

The photos are a little off, but here is the over all look of the event

Now, here's a comparrison photo of Gina now, she is 21 weeks along and is bigger than her sister that is currently 36 weeks pregnant!  She's still moving around great, but will be put on bed rest very soon.  She needs to keep those kids a cookin' for another 11 weeks!  Isn't she cute?....sorry the quality isn't there....

The next day was my baby girls' first communion!  I can't believe it, she has grown up so fast.  She has been so excited to do this, she talked about it every day for a month!  She didn't want to do the group ceremony on May 5th and we were able to schedule a family mass celebration so her grandparents would be in town for it.   I got weepy when she went up and did all the right things....she took it so very seriously....   Time goes by too fast....

Lastly, I spent last week fighting off what I thought was allergy problems. Mind over matter is how I got thru the week, hacking, sneezing, the typical allergy things.  But, it's not allergies, its whooping cough....sigh...*.hack*....  I'm off to get the antibiotics for me and the family tomorrow, but until then, I'm in bed while my little one naps.

Hope you enjoyed my really looong post today.  I'll try to post more this week!

Sketch it!

 

Hi Ladies!

It's a sketch challenge this week at Our Creative Corner, one of my favorite challenge themes.  Meihsia Liu from Simply Paper Craft is hosting this week and she came up with a great sketch! 

I got a little creative with my interpretation and decided to make a mother's day card for my dear mom that is currently flying above our little heads on her way here!  YIPPIE! 

 Alright ladies, you enjoy your mothers this weekend, I know I will!  Also, be sure to visit all the other ladies on the DT team at the OCC too.

Linda Coughlin- The Funkie Junkie

Vicki Burdick- It's a Stamp Thing

Sue Butler- Scrumplescrunch
Anita Houston- The Artful Maven Haven

Anne Marie Hile- Stampin' Anne

Wendy Janson-  It's All About Stamping
Marcy Kaminski - En Papillote Arts
Holly Kean- Kean On Paper 
Irena Kowalczyk (aka Rudlis) - Love, Life and Crafts
Meihsia Liu- Simply Paper Crafts
Tui Nathan- Stampin Time
Lori Rider- The Diva Stamper
Kristin Tierney- Lilly Beth Boutique

Sharon Wheet- Designs by Sharon

Bridal Bouquets

Another non-paper post here.  I was called in last week for an emergency bridal bouquet order for Capital Style, a local magazine here in Columbus.  They needed a bouquet for a bridal issue they are putting together.  They requested a ranunculus bouquet, so I whipped up 2 and added another fun one for some variety, you know, just in case...

This first one is a simple one with greens.  Not my favorite, but it's nice.

This one is my favorite!  I love the yellow ranunculus and I added some very open orange parrot tulips around the bottom blooms.  I love the contrast of the textures together.

The last one I made is from some gloriosa lilies the shop had left over from an event a week ago.  The flower is so weird, I thought I'd make an extra unexpected one.

I promise to have a paper related craft int he next couple days for you.  Thanks for visiting!

Delish Fish

Just a little culinary creation to share with you bleeps today.  Click here for this week's OCC post.

As a fine artist, I enjoy stretching my creative prowess to other things other than paper. Since  I'm a big fan of Ace of Cakes and all those fun cake shows, I tend to try create fun cakes too.  Here are a few I've posted here before.

This week I had a mom from Lily's school contact me to make a cake for her sons 6th birthday.  The theme - tropical fish.  *YIKES*    He didn't want a cake in the shape of a fish, but rather he wanted it to look like an aquarium.  That request had my brain frozen on what to make.  So I did what any other brain-blocked artist would do, find inspiration on line.  After much hunting, I came up with a few techniques and inspiration photos to show the family.  My favorite was one with a real fish bowl on the cake with a new pet included - veto on the pet, but the kid liked the cake.  Here's my rendition of it:

Admittedly the fish are plastic,and the rocks are jelly beans, but the rest is all me!  I got the idea for the coral from a Cake Boss episode.  They poured Isomelt on ice to make huge coral formations.  I've never used Isomelt, but have melted hard candies when baking window pane cookies and decided to go that route.  I crushed the candies, then melted them in the microwave - it worked!  I then poured the melted candy over crushed ice and this is what it made

Cool eh?  I tried it with melted chocolate too, not as cool looking but it does look like the coral you would buy at a tourist shop in Florida.

 Then I added the scuba guy 'cause it reminded me of an aquarium. 

I wasn't at the party, but my girlfriend was and she said the kids thought it was *awesome*!  Got to love when what you make is a hit with people other than yourself.  I was really pleased with how it came out.

Mom's Cameo

Hello again ladies!....or gents if you're out there....
Here I am again with another challenge post for Our Creative Corner!  This week our challenge is hosted by the super talented Anne Marie.  She has a great one for us this time, it's a "A Recipe for Mom" Mother's Day Challenge....say that 4x fast....  Here's the deets:

Create a project for Mother's Day using the following "recipe": 

*Embossing (wet or dry)

*Ribbon

*Buttons or Brads

*Watercoloring

 

Now - don't be like me and forget an important part of the recipe.  I was so focused on the watercoloring and the brads....both of which are rare in my creations....that I forgot to add the ribbon!  ....I do that with baking too, be careful eating my cupcakes....  I had to go back and add the ribbon and now I can't decide which I like better - with or without - What do you think?

 

Here are my recipe items: White embossing powder; rainbow ribbons; brads for the ponytails; water coloring for behind the cameos.  I was inspired to do the cameos from the Paper Crafts Magazine April Gallery Challenge that ended - well, yesterday.  Check out this creation without the ribbon in the challenge gallery here.

Alright, now it's your turn to whip up something yummy following Anne Marie's recipe.  Get to it!

 

P.S.  Be sure to check out all the other DT creations this week, their delish!

 

Linda Coughlin- The Funkie Junkie

Vicki Burdick- It's a Stamp Thing

Sue Butler- Scrumplescrunch
Anita Houston- The Artful Maven Haven

Anne Marie Hile- Stampin' Anne

Wendy Janson-  It's All About Stamping
Marcy Kaminski - En Papillote Arts
Holly Kean- Kean On Paper 
Irena Kowalczyk (aka Rudlis) - Love, Life and Crafts
Meihsia Liu- Simply Paper Crafts
Tui Nathan- Stampin Time
Lori Rider- The Diva Stamper
Kristin Tierney- Lilly Beth Boutique

Sharon Wheet- Designs by Sharon

Clean...or not...

So, remember how I said that my craftin' spot was cleaned?  Well, it's not now.  Not only is it not clean, but it was the location for my daughters 8th birthday slumber party!  SO, I had to take a few things down, move tables, add chairs, decorate and such - that it is now again a bit of a disaster.  Not anything I can't recover from in a matter of a couple hours, but I'm kind of avoiding cleaning right now....well, all the time....

Here's some photos of the fun time the 13 girls had at the sleep over and how it looked for them.  I didn't have time to take the photos myself, so I asked my budding photographer....aka hubby....to take them.  He got a new fancy camera for his sports photos and he was eager to play around with it.  He has a very analytical mind so his ideas of photos are more practical than artistic and 'ambiance' inspired.  At least I got some photos and I do appreciate his efforts.  

He didn't get the adorable signage at the bottom of the stairs that Lily made, where I put a headboard and mock bed to welcome the girls down.  OR the absolutely adorable paper poufs and paper lanterns I hung all around for extra color, since these photos were taken wehn I was about 80% done.  He did however capture the lovely white poly vinyl I hung around the perimeter of the room to cover the 'man cave' and craftin spot items
....it's so inspiring....AND the not finished table set-ups. 

See - he's a practical kind of guy....gracious I love him!....
These are some cute ones of the girls enjoying the festivities...Just Dance 3.... and of the birthday girl opening her pressies.

 

 

I guess I should head down to finish putting things away....or not.....

Butterflies and birthdays

Hello Ladies!
How have you all been?  I am hoping the opposite of me....and you know me....  There was a mutiny at my old event planning job and my former employer asked me to step in and help out until she hires a new designer.  I think she's been taking her time with hiring someone new....hummm....  One good thing out of it is that I'm now working on an event featuring....wait for it.....it's a good one.....if your old like me....Harry Connick Jr!!!

 

 I am absolutely infatuated with that man, his rendition of "It Had to be You' is our song from our wedding and is engraved in our bands.  THAT's how much I adore that man....*swoon*....
And although the tickets for this event are thousands of dollars, I'm thinking I may have to come up with an excuse to go....or perhaps sneak in....  I'm hoping that while we're setting the event up, he'll have to 'test' the mics and will sing to little ole' me!

Any hoo - I did get my craftin' space cleaned up....I'll post photos of it later....so I have access to all my supplies.  Just in time for this week's Our Creative Corner challenge!  This week the challenge is to use butterflies in your creation.  Butterflies remind me of my mom.  They are her favorite and she used to have them all over the house when I was growing up.  I think she may have grown out of it, but if I find something lovely with a butterfly, I'm always sure to pick it up for her.

Now, I have to admit, my creative mojo is exhausted so this isn't spectacular.  I do love this old paper from Websters so that was my jumping off point.  I fussy cut a butterfly image from Bo Bunny's Gabriella line....which happens to match perfectly....and added some cute little pearls to it.  The stiching didn't work out as well as I had hoped, but it'll do.

Ok ladies - I want to see something more creative than this from you this week!  Make sure you post it on the OCC site so I can check it out!

Hugs!

Re-vamp under way and a challenge

Well, the de-lousing of the craftin' spot is well under way....about time....my supplies are all over the place, but I did just get a fabulous package in the mail this week from Papertrey Ink.  It was very exciting to get new craftin' supplies.  I will have some other things that I no longer use up for sale in the next weeks, so keep an eye out for them.  I'll list them here first before I put them on Ebay.

With that being said, I did not have the foresight to make my card for this week's Green Challenge at Our Creative Corner before Wednesday when I got started.   The challenge this week is hosted by Marcy Kaminski.  Her theme is "How Green is Your Spring" Inspiration Photo. I LOVE this montage - it's chock full of inspiration.  Show us Spring in its full splendor, using GREEN as your main color!

SO, my card is made with things I could find and get my little hands on.  Adhesive was an issue, as was ink, hence no use of stamps.  I did however have access to my minimal scrapbooking supplies and spray inks, so I used some of those things to whip up a simple card for the hubs.  I used the circle candies in the bottom left photo as my inspiration. 

The photo I used is a real oldie - it's from our very first trip to Disney World as a couple, over 13 years ago....whoa, look at that hair....  His dad said he could tell from this photo that Rob was in love with me because in all the years of visiting the Magic Kingdom, Rob NEVER wore Mickey ears....let alone get his photo taken wearing them....and he wore them all day for me. *awww*  He's not a silly kind of guy, so for him to let his guard down was a big sign of things to come!

Alright ladies, now go out there and get inspired by all that green poppin' up everywhere!  Be sure to stop by and visit the other OCC ladies for some inspiration...

Linda Coughlin- The Funkie Junkie

Vicki Burdick- It's a Stamp Thing

Sue Butler- Scrumplescrunch
Anita Houston- The Artful Maven Haven

Anne Marie Hile- Stampin' Anne

Wendy Janson-  It's All About Stamping
Marcy Kaminski - En Papillote Arts
Holly Kean- Kean On Paper 
Irena Kowalczyk (aka Rudlis) - Love, Life and Crafts
Meihsia Liu- Simply Paper Crafts
Tui Nathan- Stampin Time
Lori Rider- The Diva Stamper
Kristin Tierney- Lilly Beth Boutique

Sharon Wheet- Designs by Sharon

India - Here she comes!

One of my dearest friends is quite the jetsetter!  Over the last 6 weeks, she's been in Korea, the US, lives in Copenhagen and leaves tomorrow for India!  That doesn't include all the stops she makes in planes, which would get the country count up to 9.  When she was in the US at the end of  February we visited a few shops to pick up items like water purifiers, netting for beds, medications and clothing.  I was living vicariously through her as she prepared for this amazing trip....I did miss the cholera symptoms from the vaccinations, thank goodness.... 


This week's challenge at Our Creative Corner is a perfect homage to her trip, and since we're not going anywhere for Spring Break, I thought I'd let her trip inspire my creation for the challenge.  Here's the challenge:  Spring has sprung yet again! It's time to take that annual well deserved Spring Break vacation. Where would your postcard come from? Make whatever paper craft you like and show us your "spring break vacation destination". Remember to include the name of your destination somewhere on your project.

I have to admit, that I haven't been able to start the over-haul on my stampin' space yet....thus my outdoor photo....  My goal is to start this morning, but I had a 'pop' in my back yesterday so I'm not sure what I'll be doing later today....

I hope I was able to inspire you, please check out the other ladies creations and join us in our 'corner' of the blogosphere!

Linda Coughlin- The Funkie Junkie

Vicki Burdick- It's a Stamp Thing

Sue Butler- Scrumplescrunch
Anita Houston- The Artful Maven Haven

Anne Marie Hile- Stampin' Anne

Wendy Janson-  It's All About Stamping
Marcy Kaminski - En Papillote Arts
Holly Kean- Kean On Paper 
Irena Kowalczyk (aka Rudlis) - Love, Life and Crafts
Meihsia Liu- Simply Paper Crafts
Tui Nathan- Stampin Time
Lori Rider- The Diva Stamper
Kristin Tierney- Lilly Beth Boutique

Sharon Wheet- Designs by Sharon

See you there

OCC Bingo Green

Hello all!
It's so wonderful to be back with the ladies at Our Creative Corner again!  I've missed the challenges and the fun creating (see my last post on that). The new collection of ladies is so talented and I'm pleased they let me stick around.
This week the lovely Anita is hosting our challenge.  And as luck would have it today's challenge falls on St. Patrick's Day! Ah, the luck of the Irish, or so some say. The challenge is to make a card or tag with some sort of bingo card on it, and use the color green somewhere on the project. With some luck, you just might have the winning one!


Now, with my craftin' space in a shambles and my photo light box was taken apart to use for an event last month, I had to take my photos outside.

I made this to remind myself to slow down.  Enjoy life, not to take on too much....easier said than done....and to take time to play.  I may need to frame and hang this in my bedroom so I don't forget.


FYI, I downloaded this bingo card from this website.  I was able to change the color of the black and white bingo card to green in my Word program, but she also had them in pink, green and lavender. 

Alright now, get your green on and join the rest of these lovely ladies and show us your lucky bingo card creations!

Linda Coughlin- The Funkie Junkie

Vicki Burdick- It's a Stamp Thing

Sue Butler- Scrumplescrunch
Anita Houston- The Artful Maven Haven

Anne Marie Hile- Stampin' Anne

Wendy Janson-  It's All About Stamping
Marcy Kaminski - En Papillote Arts
Holly Kean- Kean On Paper 
Irena Kowalczyk (aka Rudlis) - Love, Life and Crafts
Meihsia Liu- Simply Paper Crafts
Tui Nathan- Stampin Time
Lori Rider- The Diva Stamper
Kristin Tierney- Lilly Beth Boutique  - That's me!

Sharon Wheet- Designs by Sharon

  

Websters Pages Contest

I don't know about you, but my shabby little heart just LOVES me some Websters Pages!  They are having a great contest over there at InspireMe so go and check out what they have new!  I'm loving Palm Beach myself...
Go check out the adorable new video they have - guess who the delivery driver is?
http://vimeo.com/mynoveltree/websterspagesnowshipping

*Gasp*!

Here's the conversation: (you're in blue, I'm in black)

WHAT?!?!  She's alive?  Really?  We haven't heard from her in, what...3 months?

I know, I know.

Shame on you!  

I've neglected you.
Yes you have.
I'm bad.
Yes you are.
Terrible. 
Terrible.
Busy. 
We all are.
Working.
Hummm.
Healing. 
I've heard.
Volunteering. 
That's nice.
60+ hours.
Really?
A week. 
I gathered...
Forgive me. 
Perhaps....
No excuses.
Good.
Just an explanation.
Let's hear it.

I was planning on only taking the end of December, January and part of February off.  But it lapsed into March....*sigh*....  Not only from the unexpected kidney stone and surgery and added broken foot, but I've been busy with the party planning part of my life since December.  A big....HUGE.... event for my daughter's school, a wedding, a holiday party, some birthday parties and such.  Lots of fun, LOTS of work and no time to squeak in for crafting.  Then 2 deaths and another this week.  BUT my life is almost back to normal....which is saying a lot!....our family life is re-organized and working smoothly again.

OK, we get it.  Life got in the way.  We forgive you.

Really?  Oh Thank you!  You're too kind!
Yes we are...What are you going to do now?


Well, my craftin' life is a shambles.  ALL things not family related has been dumped into my craftin' spot over the last 3 months and it's a DISASTER!!!  This is my dirty little secret....and I mean DIRTY...but as they say in therapy, you need to admit to your flaws in order to get better.  SO here it goes, I'm going to show you the HORROR that is my spot.  

***DISCLAMER***This is NOT for the faint at heart or the highly organized, it may cause nausea, it will cause shock, you will be shocked and appalled, disgusted and repulsed, and may even pass out.***

AACCKKK!!! 

Shield your eyes!  Look away!

I'm blinded!

Sorry....I hope you can't relate to this mess.

Are you ok?  I know - appalling.  This is the only place of my house that gets this way when my life is out of control.  BUT that will change!  Now that I've admitted my flaws, I will get started on re-organizing!  AND I'm back to creating!  Although, I've had to just work with what I can actually find down there.  It's kind of crazy, creating standing up, searching for scissors and the like.  I'm sure I've lost stamps, fabrics, trims and much more.  BUT it will get better and I will show off my cleaned up space VERY soon....'cause I can't go on with it like this!....  I will also have an OCC creation for you on Saturday, I'm so happy to be back to the challenges, I hope you'll join me!

Happy New Year Strangers!

Hello all!  Happy and healthy new year to you all!....healthy being the operative word there....  I'm sorry I was MIA for the month of December.  I am planning on getting into my craftin' spot now that my ordeal is over.  Here's an update...

I ended up having to have my urethra stint in for 25 days, a few days longer than planned.  The first 10 days after the surgery we very painful.  Apparently when they broke up the stone with the laser to dislodge and remove the stone, a few little pieces were left in the urethra.  I had to pass them....eeekkkkk....  Not quite as painful as the blocked kidney stone pain....on a scale of 1-10 they are 10-10.5....but more like a 8.5-9.  VERY painful, but no retching.  On day 9 I called the doctor and begged them to take the stint out, but no go on that.  The next day the extreme pain was gone and the next 15 days were less uncomfortable.  I spent the holiday feeling like I had a really bad UTI and like I had been donkey kicked in the left side.  More like a 3-4 discomfort, very little 'pain'. 

I was finally able to get the stint out this past Tuesday....not anything I recommend.....it wasn't fun and I was again laid up for about 24 hours.  I'm now almost healed, just a few pains here and there, nothing to keep me from my daily activities.  I'm grateful the experience hasn't left me needing more medical care.  I'm healing and although it was scary and ultimately inconvenient for my family, we all came through it ok. 

Thanks to all of you that sent me well wishes and could relate to my experience.  I hope you are all still out there, I promise to make something for you to see soon!