She's Here!!! Welcome to the World Emily Rose!!

She's HERE!!! I'll post pictures when we get home and I can edit the size so they don't lock blogger. But for now, here are the details:

Emily Rose born via c-section after 22 hours of labor including 2 hours of pushing! (Ya, our birth mom is our hero! you should have seen her! She was and continues to be, the strongest person I know!)

Birthdate: July 26th at 5:26 a.m.

height: 9 lbs. 5 oz.
weight: 21 inches
hair: sandy blonde, and lots of it!
eye color: probably will be blue since both of her birth parents have blue eyes.

Baby update

Just a quick baby update. For more details, including a pic of our angel birth mom taken today, after her appt, check out our family blog (linked on the right). Our birth mom is now 39 weeks. She is 70% effaced (has been for 3 weeks) but is now dialated to a 1and a half (has been at a 1 for two weeks, so it's a little progress) Although she has been having contractions since yesterday morning, they are an hour apart, so she is in the very early stages of labor. She is measuring at 44, so the doctor is wanting an ultrasound to find out how big baby girl is. If she is too big the may need to do a c-section, or induce labor, (which we are hoping they won't have to do a c-section!) so we will see. The ultrasound is Monday morning so I will have more news then. Unless K's labor progesses more, which is what I'm hoping for! Poor thing is sooooo ready!

Soft Blanket for baby

Babies love soft things. They like the soft texture. I have seen a lot of soft blankets out there, everything from velvet to satin to silk to any kind of soft material you can think of. Call them lovies, softies, snuggies, whatever you decide to call them, babies love them! I decided to make our sweet Emily a soft blanket. It doesn't have any batting in it, it's just simple. I did a chocolate satin and I was going to do a green velore, but I found this soft pink velore with roses embossed in it and it was as if the fabric was calling to me from the rack saying, pick me, pick me! So, I did. ;o) I did a checkered pattern on the front using the pink and brown, the back is all brown satin so both sides are soft and it is bond in the pink velore.

In this photo you can see the colors a little better (the lighting in my family room isn't good, sorry) You can also see a little better the embossed roses on the pink velore. The back is also shown.

I did roses because our baby's middle name is going to be Rose (after her birth mommy who's middle name is also Rose). We are at almost into the single digits till her due date! Today is Sunday and there is 11 days left, tomorrow will be 10 days left, and then we are in the single digits. I know she can be late, but we're hoping the dr. won't let our birth mom go over since she is starting school again with in weeks of giving birth. We'll see though. Our next appt. is her 39 week appt. on Thursday. :D

Quilt for K

I made a quilt for our expectant birth mom K. (She's due in just 2 weeks!! Can't wait for baby Emily to make her arrival!! She is 70% effaced and dialated to a 1. Same as last week, but baby has dropped a little.) We also made a matching one for the baby. (Not my original idea to do matching quilts as a gift. Not sure who's idea it was. But I love it!) I asked her what her favorite colors were and I found out they are pink, purple, orange, blue & green....... yeah............ I thought it would be difficult trying to incorporate all those colors into the quilt, but it actually wasn't. The hardest part was picking the fabric of course. But once I picked those it was easy. I am a basic quilter. I do squares. That's it. I am going to have my mom teach me how to do other styles, but for now, squares it is. I forgot to take a picture of K's quilt before I gave it to her. But her's is the exact same as the baby's with 1 exception. K's squares are 5 inches finished. The baby's quilt has 3.5 inch finished squares. This of course makes the baby's quilt smaller. Anyhow, here is the baby's quilt. My mom, aunt, and a family friend helped me to tie K's, and I tied the baby's.

Each of the colors had 3 different fabrics. Then I found one that had orange, purple and pink to tie them all together. It is bound and tied in purple. The quilt is 11 squares across, and 11 down. I am so thrilled with how it turned out. Here is a close up on the some of the fabrics.

1 layer cards, late, but as promised!

O.k. I totally suck! I know, I updated a couple of weeks ago and said I stamped. I am just now posting those cards! I'm sorry! Between issues with my computer & getting ready for baby (any day now! Our birth mom is 37 weeks so baby could come any day now! But I think we're ready. LOL)

Anyhow, here are the cards I did. I did multiples of some of these. On all cards I use Whisper White cardstock & Tuxedo Ink from Momento.

On this first one (one of my favs) I used the SU dots embossing folder (EF) with the big shot. I have a cuttlebug, and I love it. But I find that the big shot gives the impression way better than the cuttlebug. For some projects I will want a subtler (is that a word?) impression so the cuttlebug will work great for those. For these cards however, I wanted a deep impression, so the big shot it was! Anyhow, back to the card. I used the dots EF and the Kind & Caring Thoughts from Stampin Up (SU) as well for the sentiment. I used a purple gingham ribbon which I am not sure where I got. I'm assuming HL (Hobby Lobby) or Michaels? Anyhow, very simple, but I love it!

This next one is almost the same but instead of the dots EF from SU, I used the Stylized flowers EF from Provo Craft.

This one is one of my favs. I used the Kind & Caring Thoughts set (SU) for the image with Rose Red, Lovely Lilac & Certainly Celery markers (SU). And then the sentiment is from Watercolor Trio set (SU). I used the SU dots EF on the right side, the image on the left and a ribbon from Michaels down the middle.

This one was using all Kind & Caring Thoughts with the Rose Red & Certainly Celery markers (All SU). This one and the next are using repeat stamping (ink your image and stamping it a couple of times before reinking). Also used the pink ribbon from Michaels.

This card is my next to favorite one. It is using the Watercolor Trio set with Rose Red, Certainly Celery, & Lovely Lilac markers (all SU). Also using the Michaels ribbon. I love how this one turned out!

This last one is my absolute fav! I need to make more because I wasn't how it would turn out so I only made 1. I used the dots EF from SU, purple ribbon from Michaels & the Kind & Caring Thoughts set from SU for the sentiment. This one is actually the only one that is not a 1 layer card. I had to do the dots on a seperate peice of cardstock and then adhere it to the card base so that the dots could be on the top. I also used the Elephant die set from the Cuttlekids collection from Provo Craft. Seriously, how cute is this!!

As soon as I can I will add some more projects that I have been working on, including quilts (3), more cards and a few other goodies.

Still Alive

Yes, I am still alive. Life has been hectic since being chosen to adopt our baby girl. Our birth mom is due in just 6 weeks. I can't beleive how fast time has gone by!

I have kept myself busy with lots of quilting projects, a couple of cakes and shopping for baby! Up until tonight I hadn't stamped in literally months (other then the once a month stamp club which I haven't been to in a couple of months).

Well tonight, I found myself itching to stamp. Rather then just going to bed like I did the last time I wanted to stamp, I opted to stay up and "scratch the itch" to stamp so to speak.

I popped in the movie Sense and Senseability and stamped away! I finished 16 cards just as the movie ended. Not too shabby! Most of the cards are 1 layer cards, but I love the way they turned out. I will take them out in the morning and take pictures of them. In the meantime, I thought I would share with you some photos that my friend Ashley of Monarch Photography took of us with our birth mom. For her privacy we refer to her as K and ask that if you know her name, you do the same. We also don't show her face to protect her privacy as well. We have a lot of photos with her face, but like I said, for her privacy, here are a few for you to enjoy that don't show her face. These photos were taken on Memorial Day when K was 31 and a half weeks. She is now 34 weeks. Almost Baby Time!! Enjoy these photos and tomorrow I will have some cards to share with you!

Project for BABY!

We have been getting ready for our new little one to join us in just 115 days. It still seems so far away, but the time is going quickly. With today being Easter we had a nice relaxing day. So I spent a couple of hours making a project for the nursery. Right now the nursery has a pink crib set (which I love!). But I want to make another one (an additional one) that will be, what else but purple and green (with Roses since the baby's middle name is Rose which is her sweet birthmom's middle name). ;o)

A while ago I bought some letters from HL spelling the word BABY. Since we hadn't been chosen yet, and didn't know if our future little one would be a boy or a girl, I hadn't decorated the letters yet. So since we had been chosen now, and our little one is a girl..... Well, see for yourself:

I used the Cottage Wall Designer Series Paper from Stampin Up! I also used some ribbon from the craft store for embelishment on the letters and to hang the letters on the wall. I used Prima Flowers with brads in the center for embelishment as well.

I inked the sides of the letters with Mellow Moss Craft ink (SU) and a sponge. Then I inked the edges of the paper letters. I then attached the paper to the letters using modge podge and then applied a thin layer of modge podge over the finished letter to seal it. I added the ribbon and flowers and used sticky tape to attach the ribbon to the back for hanging.

I hung the letters above the crib:

I love it!

(For some reason everything in these pictures look a little more yellow then what they actually are, but you get the idea. :D)