Wednesday, April 29, 2009

New blog name and another VSN card

Crazy Crafty Creations, how's that for a new name for my blog? I was going to change it back to My Own Stamping World, but then I realized that I share so much more on this blog then stamping. So Crazy Crafty Creations it is.


Now that we got that covered I have another VSN card to share with you.
I really don't like the color gold so this was a hard challenge for me. I don't wear it on my person (with the exception of my wedding band) and I don't use it (often) in my crafts. I just don't like it. I like the more muted, brushed, antique-y colors. So this challenge to use lots of gold on your card was difficult at best. But I think it turned out o.k.


I embossed the main image in gold, then colored the white spaces of that image using copics. I used brushed gold cardstock on part of the card along with gold ribbon and gold hardware and a gold brad. I also embossed the sentiment using gold embossing powder as well.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Fantastic News!!!! (means a blog name change)

I just got word from our adoption caseworker. We are officially and approved adoptive couple! YAY!!! He has posted our profile on the agency's website. We are adopting through LDS Family Services. The great thing about them is that birth families don't need to be LDS in order to use their services (which are free to birthmoms). The services include counseling for birth families, and if adoption is chosen LDS Family Services will provide medical care for the birth mom as well as counseling after placement. Which was really important to me. I was a teen mom, I had Tammy when I was 16. I can't even imagine the hard decision and sacrifice that will be made by our birth mom so it was really important to me that she be given all kinds of support by not only her family, but by the agency as well. The agency is very low pressure. In fact, they even offer services to help those birth parents who choose to keep thier children. They offer counseling and parenting classes. The services there are numerous. We were so glad when we chose to go with them.

We hope to find a birth family who is wanting an semi-open adoption. We want to keep in touch through letters, pictures, and emails for years to come. We think that contact even after our adoption is finalized is essential to everyone, not only the families and us, but to the precious little baby who is so loved by all.

If you or anyone you know is considering adoption or is just in need of help making decisions in their pregnancy, contact LDS Family Services. Our profile along with a lot of other couples who are waiting for the blessing of adoption, can be viewed at http://www.beta.itsaboutlove.org/ Contact information to the agency are on the website as well. To learn more about us that isn't in the profile, check out our family blog at http://www.jacobandsharon.blogspot.com/

Now that we are officially approved I have to change the name of my blog. I am going to change it Crazy Crafty Creations. So for those of you who are subscribers to my blog, starting tomorrow your notifications will come through with that name. If you have my blog linked to yours, please change the name in your links.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support! We are so excited about this new path our lives are taking!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

It's A Vegas Buffet!

Thank you to Paula who suggested doing a challenge to get myself out of my stampers rut. I went to check out Splitcoast Stampers and what do I find? Today is a Mini VSN! (VSN is Virtual Stamp Night) Filled with great challenges that are just what I need to get my creative juices a nice push!


The theme for this VSN is Las Vegas, all of the challenge have a Vegas theme to them.


So far I have done 3 of the challenges. Here is the first one:


"No one starts a night on the town in Vegas on an empty stomach, now do they? We've got your famous Las Vegas Buffet-line right here! Who doesn't like to have a few choices on the entree and the side items, and I really love a good salad bar. But, let's be brutally honest here.... it's all about the dessert, isn't it? Cheesecake, creme brulee, cobblers, CARROT CAKE! MMMMM, MMMMM!Well, we'd be remiss if we didn't kick off Vegas night with a trip through the buffet line. Best thing about this one is that it's calorie free.


Bellie up to the Buffet!


Grab yourself: a main dish entree - favorite stamps set

a couple of side items - cardstock and ink

and head straight the dessert cart, girls. Our challenge to you is to choose at least 3 dessert items from the list and have at it. Show us what you've got when there are no calories to contend with. Buttons Brads GlitterDew DropsPunchesSewingRibbon EyeletsRhinestones Die Cuts, Whatever you can think of . . . . Accessorize it, baby"


So for my "Main Dish" I used one of my favorite sets, Garden Silhouettes. For my side items I have my cardstock (Tempting Turqouise, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White) along with Chocolate Chip Ink and Marker, Tempting Turqouise Ink and Marker.

For my Dessert I used my crafters tool kit, a needle and some thread to do some zig zag stitching, I also used 3 brads, and some ribbon.

Stamper's Block

Have you ever had Stamper's Block? Well, that is me right now. I literally haven't been in my stamp room to stamp anything in over a month. The last thing I think was the invitations for my friend (for her future sister-in-laws bridal shower). That was over a month ago! And honestly, I have no desire to stamp either. I know I need to though. Since we got back from Utah I have been working on hand quilting a baby blanket for our future child. (I know, it may be a few years yet before we're chosen by birth families, but there was a lot of work that needed to be done to quilt this blanket and I wanted to have it done just in case it isn't years before we're chosen) I am pretty much done with that, all I need to do now is stitch around the edge border parts and then bind it (I'll post pictures when I'm completely done). Other then that I'm done. So I think tomorrow, rather then working on the quilt I am going to lock myself in my stamp room and stamp. Hopefully I will be able to produce something decent and have something to show you on Sunday.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Grease Is The Word!

The rest of our trip went awesome. We got back late Sunday night. The house we were going to put an offer in on is now under contract so we chose a different house. We will put in an offer on that one within the next few days. We did get our pre-approval so that will make the buying process go so much easier knowing what we were approved for. Anyhow, Tammy was in her school musical Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. She did awesome! I'm so proud of her! She has quite the stage presence and has a beautiful singing voice.
Tammy played Frenchy in Grease. Despite the sound system not working half the time and most of the kids forgetting their lines (it was a Jr. High play after all), she did great! She nailed everyone of her lines and sang her solo beautifully! (Tammy is in the front right bottom corner, yes, the one with RED hair! You were expecting to see her with her blonde hair weren't you? She decided to dye it, "for the play" but really it was because she has been wanting to dye it for a while and the play gave her an excuse. I really love red hair on her! She has been wanting red hair for a long time. Although now my hair looks brown next to hers and not the usual dark red.) This scene is the opening scene introducing all the characters. They each ran out on stage shouting their characters name and then got into position. Once they were all out they did a dance number.

This one was my favorite scene. This was the Beauty School drop out scene. (Can you tell from the "angels" with "curlers" in their hair). (I got this picture from my sister-in-laws blog, the one I took of it wasn't any good.)


This was the curtain call at the end. I missed Tammy bowing because of course I was clapping loudly for her! I did get this picture of the rest of her part of the curtain call. The kid next to her played Doody in the play. He kept blushing each time he had to dance with Tammy. Apparently he has quite the crush on her.

Tammy had such a great time that she is determined to try out for all the future plays and musicals that her Jr. High and High School does from now on! I say got for it! She will do awesome!

Great Job Tammy! I can't wait for your next play!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The wedding cake, final result!

So I was looking through books that I have with cakes and I came across a gorgeous cake with Blue and Purple flowers. I thought it would be the perfect cake for my brother-in-laws wedding. I showed to them to make sure that they would like it and after I got the go ahead I set about making the flowers (I did tell them that I would attempt to make the cake, but seeing as how I hadn't gotten to practice it, I couldn't guarantee it, but would try my best). The cake required over 1,000 flowers. I ended up not having time to make them all so I had to change the design of the cake at the last minute. Well, sort of, I made the cake on Friday for the wedding on Saturday. I had absolutely no time to on Saturday to do the cake so I had to make it on Friday. The end result wasn't what I was aiming for, but I do like the way it turned out. I wasn't sure about it at first, but looking back at it, I do like the way it turned out. The bride and groom seemed to both really like it so that is what matters right. And apparently it tasted good too.

The bottom layer was white cake with blueberry filling, the middle layer was Lemon cake with cream chees filling, and the top layer was white cake with raspberry.
The cake topper
Details on the cake. I made pale buttery yellow roses, and pale purple roses, as well as lavender roses. I also made some indigo blue 5 petal flowers. The cake was frosted in a pale pale blue, with white "beading" and shell borders.

Over the next few days I will share photos of our trip, including pictures of my daughter in her school musical. :) I am working on some projects that I hope to be able to share with you soon as well.

Monday, April 20, 2009

The rest of the week and a new name

Last week was such a whirlwind weekend. We saw a lot of houses, decided to put in an offer on one (the tri-level) found out Saturday night that it had just gone under contract. Decided aganist putting an offer in on the other house I mentioned last posting (the area isn't the best my brother said, he lives a couple of miles from that other house, so he knows). We went to my daughters play 3 times. She was Frenchy on Thursday night and did amazing! Thursday I also baked the cakes for the wedding, Friday I decorated it (and finished just in time to go to the third and final night of Tammy's play). Saturday was the wedding, pretty much all day. The ceremony was in the morning, a wedding luncheon in the afternoon, and the reception that evening. We left Sunday morning to come back here and made it home by just after 11. Whew! What a week! My brother's were awesome to let us stay at their house. And I think my brother Matt (who owns the house) even enjoyed having our dog there. I will post pictures later today or tomorrow, right now I am going to go rest.

****Oh! Update on the adoption! We got our assessment to look over. We proofed it, there are a few corrections that our caseworker needs to make but other then that all is good and positive. (Just things like, he said I was 15 when my parents divorced, I was 14, just little things like that so we can sign it and he will make the changes). The approval board has already met to talk about our case unofficially so once he gets our signed assessment back we will be officially approved for adoption!

***** Speaking of the adoption, I need to change my title to my blog. We have an adoption blog for prospective birth families to learn more about us. Well if they click on my name, they will see that I have two blogs, this one and that one. They will also know what my last name is because of the current title of this blog. The agency doesn't want last names known so I need to change my blog title. Just wanted to give you a heads up! :)

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

House Hunting, Books, Great Deals, oh my!

Greetings from the floor of my brother's house in Utah. LOL I am using hubby's laptop and for some off reason I planted myself on the floor rather then sitting in a chair. We have had a nice trip so far. The drive here was uneventful, which is to say, very good. We didn't even argue which we normally do when we are both tired and ornery and stuck in a car for a long time. ;) We spent the first two days at Jacob's mom's house. While there we got to meet our soon to be sister-in-law who came with hubby's brother (her fiance') for dinner. I showed them the picture of this cake I found and want to do for them. They loved it. Hopefully it turns out the way I am hoping. Hubby's sister and another brother and his wife were also there so it was so nice to catch up with them. After the weekend at my mother-in-laws house we came to my brother's house.

For the last two days we have been house hunting. While our intention was to just look for now and actually buy in a few months, we think we may have found the house for us so we are going to talk about it and pray about it and weigh some pros and cons and decide whether we want to put in an offer now or not. If we do we would request a closing date of July 1st which seems like a long way away, but really, it's only a little over two months. We figure if we close then, we will owe our first mortgage payment right around the beginning of Sept. which is when we plan to move back here to Utah, so the timing should work out perfectly. So we'll see what we decide. It is between two houses, one is just about perfect and wouldn't need any work done to it other then wall color (it's all white). It has new flooring through out, completely renovated kitchen and bathrooms, and a great backyard along with a 1 car garage where hubby would have his wood shop. 4 bedrooms, 2 bath, and a livingroom, and a family room. It's also a Tri-Level which would be great for me, I wouldn't have a huge amount of stairs to climb, which is tough for me to do on my bad days with my back. But this house is also a little more then what we wanted to spend. The other house is a lot less money, has the same amount of bathrooms and bedrooms, has a livingroom and a family room, but has an office that would make a great craft room. The kitchen and bathrooms all need updating, it's a split level which hubby hates, but for he likes this one, the backyard isn't very nice though and it also has no garage or wood shop so we would have to build a garage along with all the other renovations that we would need to do eventually. So we have to weigh the pros and cons of both. Both are good locations, good schools, nice neighborhoods etc. So we will see.

Anyhow, now, on to my great deal! We weren't going to get anything for the baby until we were officially approved for adoption (our case worker assures us it will be any day now) but, we were out shopping today and just looking at baby stuff for fun and we found a stroller/carseat combo regularly $170, for $104. We couldn't pass it up! Hooray for great deals! Not to mention that my mom just called and saw a listing on Craigslist for a new crib and mattress for $50 which would be awesome if we could get that!

Oh, and to top off the day, my mom gave me a present that she bought the baby while at a thrift store. She found one of my favorite books from growing up. I had several, you already know about Goodnight Moon, Stand Back Said The Elephant I'm Going To Sneeze and of course, The Runaway Road. But I haven't told you about another of my favorites, The Monster At The End Of This Book. It's a classic tale starring the lovable Grover who reads the title of the book and is so scared that there is a monster, monsters scare him. Over and over he tries to stop the reader from turning pages and tries tying the pages together, building a brick wall, and even nailing the pages shut. But the reader (who is so strong according to Grover) gets to the end of the book and they find the monster........ they find....... Grover himself. Grover says that he told you not to be scared (even though he is the one who was scared! hehehehehe It's too cute! And she found it in mint condition, not even a bent page. I love it! She is going to get the Runaway Road for me too. *grin*

Monday, April 06, 2009

The last few weeks

The last few weeks here have been busy. I have been making cakes, wedding announcements, bridal shower invitations, and at the end of it all, my wonderful friend Belinda came to visit. Yay!! You've seen the pictures of the announcements for my brother-in-laws wedding, and the invitations for my friend's future sister-in-laws bridal shower so I won't show those again. You have also seen the cake samples for my brother-in-laws wedding as well so I won't show you those either. Although I will post pictures of the actual cake at the wedding which is in just under two weeks. YAY!!


A lady in my ward (congregation at church) had a baby a couple of weeks ago. I took her dinner and of course had to use that as an excuse to make a cake. I used the same design that I am probably doing for the wedding cake in a couple of weeks only I used pink roses instead of blue roses (since she had a girl). I wanted to try out doing white scallops with white rosettes to see how that would look. What do you think?

I haven't been doing much stamping lately. I think I kind of wore myself out with the announcements and invitations. I need to get in my craft room and stamp for fun. I kind of forgot what that was like.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Picture Tag

My Sister-In-Law Andrea tagged me. It's been a while since I have been tagged and frankly, this one looked like so much fun that I had to do it. Here are the rules:

1~ Go to your document/picture file
2~ Go to the 6th file
3~ Go to the 6th picture
4~ Blog about the picture
5~ Tag 6 friends

Anyone who knows me and/or has seen my house knows I like to be organized. Ask my husband. I reorganize my house probably once a month. Seriously, I try to find ways to make things function better. So I like to reorganize. (Does this translate into being a neat freak? Not really, I just like things clean, but I wouldn't say I'm a "neat freak") Anyhow, my pictures are no exception, they are organized into categories, and sub categories etc, so when the rules said to go to the 6th file and then to the 6th picture, I had to go a little further.

I went to the 6th file which was our family photos category, then to the 6th sub category file which was wedding photos, from there I had 3 files (bridal pictures, engagement pictures, wedding pictures) so I went to the 3rd one (since 3 twice equals 6 right?) which was my wedding photos. From there I found a 6th photo, now I want to share the pictures just before and after this one too (cause they are cute and I will use any excuse to show off my wedding pictures. *wink*)
So just before that 6th photo that I finally came to we see this:

My photographer was trying to get a photo of my sweet hubby and I with our parents. She told my father-in-law to scoot in a little closer. So he scoots in closer and hugs my mother-in-law. Rebecca (our photographer) realized where Jacob gets his affectionate ways from. So after she snapped that photo she took this one of us with our parents, (this one was the 6th photo that I was supposed to post in todays picture tag)After this photo she had Jacob and I kiss (again, we did a lot of kissing pictures, after all, it was our wedding day!) and have our parents act annoyed: And this final picture is my favorite in the line of photos with our parents. This time Rebecca asked the parents to kiss and for us to be shocked. Now, my stepdad right after Rebecca told us what to do for the photo asked why we would be shocked that they were kissing. And then he said, "after all, we are married", then he grabs my mom and plants one on her, so my look of shock, is real! I hope you enjoyed my little story through pictures. As for who I will tag, I don't know if any of them will do it, but just in case they want to, I want to tag, my mother-in-law Alice Ann, my sister-in-law Ruth, my other sister-in-law Janele, and my friends, Robyn, Lydia, and of course, Shelly.