Happy Birthday, Princess!

Robyn Cardon (aka The Pink Stamper) is having a Pinkalicious-Anything Birthday blog hop and linking party.  I hopped through all the participants and left comments along the way, and then I went to craft my own birthday project.  I decided to try another shape card using my cricut (4" if you are wondering).  Have I mentioned how much I love my cricut?  I used the Sweet Treats cartridge that dhDH gave me for Christmas.  I chose this princess paper from KI Memories and KI tattoos ("princess" glitter rub-on).  I layered on CTMH pink card stock.  I embossed the heart with my Cuttlebug Stars embossing folder.  I added an American Crafts rub-on too ("happy birthday").  I used my white gel pen for doodles and SU! half-back pearls from the Pretties kit.

I am entering this in allsorts challenge blog:  Anything but a Square

CCR (Cricut Craft Room) surprise blog hop begins at Kris' Craft Coop!  Cricut lovers, won't you join in?

Happy Saturday!

Baby cards and LO

Can you believe my girls are almost 9yo?  Last year I started scrapbooking pages for my own scrapbook album, though I have been "collecting" papers to complete it for 8 years!  I have had this picture and this LO kit for 7 years, I think.
My, how scrapbooking has changed!  To update it just a bit, I fussy cut the title die cut strip (dove, two giraffes, and 'two by two'.)  I used the April sketch challenge at Artful Delight.  I took some creative license with the sketch because my banner was so lengthy.  I used my Birthday Bash circuit cartridge and my D'Vine Swirls  Cuttlebug embossing folder to create the pennant flags.  I stitched together with some blue floss left over from a completed cross-stitch kit.  Just trying to use up my old stash...

This week's theme at Betty Bee's Buzz is "Babies."  If you are looking for baby-theme inspiration, check out what the DT has done this week!

For both of these cards I used the BasicGrey Oliver card kit.

Happy Friday!  What are you working on this week?  We have a linking party at Betty Bee's Buzz every Friday.  Link anything you currently working on, or just leave a comment on good things that happened this week.

A cut above the rest & a CPS sketch that's sew sweet!

 I love this sketch!  It has been calling to me for days…this is CPS Sketch #212.  I didn't think I'd have anytime to create today, but I made this in less than an hour:

I don't buy craft supplies very often (other than adhesive).  I try to use what I have, and after 10 or 12 years of "collecting", it's a lot.  A LOT.  Every once in a while it gets stale, kwim?  Two weeks ago I took advantage of the 40% off and free shipping at JoAnn.com to buy some yummy Tim Holtz idea-ology embellies.  I had to have this ruler ribbon!  My order arrived today, finally.  I started with my 8x8 October Afternoon The Thrift Shop papers.  I then added SU! hardware to one side of the Tim ribbon.  I chose this Lawn Fawn stamp sentiment, "you are a cut above the rest!"  I wanted a fancy label for the sentiment, so I went searching through my Cricut cartridges, and found this one on my French Manor cartridge.  What do you think?

Thank you, Card Positioning Systems!  (CPS)

Welcome Baby!

This week at Betty Bee's Buzz it's all about the babies (ba-bees!)  I was inspired by this card from my simply one of a kind blog friend, Chrissie Stokes.
I am in love with my cricut expression!  My onesie, ducks, and little lamb were all cut from my Wall Decor and More cartridge.  I embossed the lamb with my Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder.  All papers, pearls, stamp and punches for this card are by Stampin' Up!  The tiny eyes for the ducks are Rhinestone stickers from Michael's.
Isn't this the sweetest idea for a side-step card?  I wish I could take credit for it :)

Bloomin' Bling Sketch to die (cut) for!

I am having fun getting comfortable with my cricut expression.  My most used cartridge is Accent Essentials.  It is so easy to cut circles and flower-shapes of any size!  You may know that I get excited when I use scraps to create a card.  I have just a small amount of these coordinating patterned ribbons...enough to make one more card.  I want to use it up, so I went in search of inspiration.  I found this sketch at Die Cuttin' Divas (I flipped the sketch and moved the sentiment to the center...I hope that counts!)  I cut the base card as a flower shape for Allsorts challenge blog   "Blooming Blossoms."  I added the bling (Say it in Studs) for Charisma Cardz challenge "Bling & Sparkles."

Other supplies:
Cuttlebug Spots & Dots embossing folder
SU butterflies embosslit, whisper white cs and chocolate chip cs
Bazzill card stock (orange)
Dashes, Dots & Checks ribbon (Michael's)

Jingle Belles, Batman Smells...

There are a gazillion challenge blogs, but one of my current favorites is Jingle Belles.  They announce their new challenge every Friday, and since this past Friday was April Fool's Day, this week's challenge is to make a humorous Christmas card.  This is totally out of my comfort zone, but that is why it is called a challenge, right?

I was inspired by this week's sketch at CardPatterns challenge blog.  I find there sketches so easy to use!

If you know me well, I am curious as to your reaction when you see this sentiment...I sure hope my mom doesn't see this!

Today is Autism Awareness Day!

I made these shirts for my girls last year using a remnant from JoAnn and heat n bond.
Julia's says:
I have:

• beautiful eyes
  
• a silly sense of humor
• a great personality
• Autism

Kathryn's says:
I have:

• a great imagination
• a quirky sense of humor
• a sweet personality
• Autism

There is a new blood test to check if your body makes an antibody to the folic acid receptor in the brain (one of the many causes of Autism). Your body may make a blocking antibody and/or a binding antibody. When I was in FL for the HoneyBee BEEtreat retreat, I took my twin girls (both of whom are diagnosed with Autism) to be tested. The results came back positive for both of my girls! We started treatment on Wednesday, March 9th. The girls just have to take a mega-dose of folinic acid every day. I don't believe there is a silver bullet for Autism, but this is definitely a contributor. We will take any improvement we can get :) So far over 75% of children tested are testing positive for these antibodies and those children receiving the folinic acid at high doses (1 mg/kg) are beginning to show improvement in as little as 3 weeks! I'll keep you posted as to improvements we see in my girls.

Kathryn's body makes the blocking antibody. So far Kathryn's teacher said for the past two weeks Kathryn is completing all of her morning work with decreased behaviors! She has not completed morning work before starting on the high dose of folinic acid, and this is the most difficult part of her day.

Julia's body makes both blocking and binding antibodies. The only change we have noticed is increased partying (staying awake until 10:30pm+ and singing) at night. She is also counting mixed coins without any help from me! This may not be a result of the folinic acid though; Julia has an awesome group of teachers this year...I love them all!

Have you hugged an Autie today?