Our Family is Growing and a Farewell!

I have some sad news, and some happy news to share today...

We're expecting a bundle of joy in January! It's been a bit of a gap between babies for us, I hope we haven't forgotten everything we learned! We're very excited, but as with my first pregnancy things have been a little rough round here since about week 6! I'm hoping that my morning sickness doesn't last six full months like last time. 

So with my new focus on growing a little human, it was time for a VERY tough decision. At the start of the year I had really cut back on design team work to focus on family, and it's time to say goodbye to my last team, Reverse Confetti. 

This hasn't been an easy decision, just a necessary one. I wanted my last card as part of this AMAZING design team to be happy and bright - I was trying to keep the tears from flowing! I am going to miss Jen and the Confetti Crew so much. I'm leaving for the best reason, but it's still not easy. 

Anyway, onto these gorgeous products. I had to dive into my beloved Confetti Cuts of course - I've used the Geometric Background Confetti Cuts, Stamped Note Confetti Cuts and the Leafy Confetti Cuts. 

The stamp set is the always wonderful Color Me Happy. And I am! I'm so happy and grateful for the time I've spent at Reverse Confetti. I'll still be around on the sidelines, and I'm hoping to feel well enough to still get crafty regularly! 

On the Move! & A Special Reverse Confetti Creation...

It's my turn to share a card for Confetti Camera - you'll find a card showing off a fun idea for decorating the inside of your cards over on the Reverse Confetti blog! 

Things have been a bit quiet here on the blog, but not so much in our lives lately. Today we close on our first house!

Shanan and I celebrate 9 years of marriage next month, and we've moved cities a lot since we got married, so we're really looking forward to putting down roots! We love the Kapiti Coast here in New Zealand, so it'll be a bit of a sea change to a smaller city with some amazing beaches and schools for our little guy. 

Moving day is tomorrow...and I'll have a new craft room to set up so I can get stamping again! In the meantime, I'll have a new video and Reverse Confetti project later in the month. 

Happy News!

Hello!

I'm popping in quickly to share some news I'm really excited about! A few months ago Kim had to step down as Creative Coordinator at SugarPea Designs due to a very hectic schedule. I was honored when Wendy asked me to fill the role! I've been quietly working behind the scenes, and I'm so happy to be able to share the news with you all!

As a stay at home mum, this opportunity means the world to me - I truly get to do what I love everyday, working from home and with plenty of cuddles from this guy! I feel so blessed.

Wendy and I "click" and I wish you could all see how incredibly hard working she is behind the scenes - not to mention crazy talented! I'm SO glad we're friends, and so honored she chose me to help her on this amazing journey!  

I love the fabulous team of SugarPea designers, they are so inspiring and our SugarPeeps (SugarPea Designs fans, so named by Wendy's cute-as-a-button daughter) are amazing to interact with! 

So that's a little bit of news from my neck of the woods! Thank you, as always, for visiting and for your support! Crafty friends are the best! 

Have a wonderful weekend!

How Exciting!

I just had to pop in and share that I'm the Featured Stamper this week at Splitcoaststampers!

If you're new to the featured stamper challenge, basically everyone uses a card you've made as inspiration for their own creation - so fun! I can't wait to see all the gorgeous creations and I'm going to have to find time to play along!

I've had some other fun news recently, I won the Pink Elephant 208 challenge

and also Sketch For You to Try July!

That means I'll be hopping along with the amazing Reverse Confetti crew for the next release *swoon*

I better leave you with some eye candy right? No paper, just our gorgeous little man hanging out today on a lovely warm Winter's day!

  

Changes!

Hi peeps! If you saw the MFT blog the other day you'll know there have been some changes to the design team. Sadly I won't be carrying on in an official capacity, but that doesn't mean there won't be lots of inspiration still coming your way!

I'm super excited to be working with Verve, so you'll be seeing even more of my fave Verve creations and...

When one door closes, another one opens (and sometimes more than one!) so watch this space! I have some FUN things coming up in the next few weeks. I can't wait to share what I've been working on and who I'm getting to work WITH!

The other big change around here is we are now parents to a ONE YEAR OLD! I can't believe it, everyone says that first year goes so fast, but it's something you have to experience to really know how true that is. We had a huge family party, with everyone flying in to celebrate Jackson and it was fab! I'll leave you with some pics from the big day and some of the things I worked on :-)

I made a five layer chocolate cake filled with raspberry jam and chocolate buttercream. The cow was moulded from gum paste tinted with gel colours. The outer frosting was vanilla and raspberry. This was yum!

Chocolate Caramel cupcakes with toppers

Thank you card for gift bags. These were gifts for the adults, so included lots of yummy things!

Tags for gift bags. I added some homemade chocolate truffles, coffee sachets, choc dipped spoons, keyrings with Jackson's photo and other little goodies.

Smash cake!

Creative Year in Review

Without a doubt, 2012 was the busiest, happiest year of my life. Welcoming our first born has been a joy from start to finish! I've definitely had less time for creating this past year, but creating keeps me sane during the stressful times. I'm so lucky to be a My Favorite Things team member, not only is this team packed full of super sweet, talented women, but we get to create with the MOST amazing products out there!

Here are my favourite projects from 2012! (click on the project names to go to the original post for all the details!)

January - Oval Window Treat Boxes

These Oval Window Treat Boxes were a blast to make! They feature the Notched Tag Die-namics and Notched Tag Sentiment Stamps and I also created a video on how I made them.

February - Better Place

This card uses the first Vertical Greetings stamps and Die-namics.

March - Friends are like Rainbows

This clean and simple card was my favourite in March. I still love the umbrella created from scraps!

April - Vertical Greetings II

Yup, I love the Vertical Greetings range! April saw the second set released and this blue and pink shabby chic creation was my favourite.

May - Christmas Wreath

In May I cut a LOT of Royal Leaves for this Christmas Wreath!

June - Dad (and baby!)

In June my biggest project ever was finally finished (just a tad overdue!)

Other than our gorgeous boy, this card for Shanan was my favourite creation of the month. While I was pregnant, Shanan would whisper "I am your Father" to my bump, so this sentiment from Masculine Graphic Tee was perfect!

July -  Christmas in July

I had a blast making these tags in July using the Traditional Tags STAX and Inspired by Christmas.

August - Polished to Perfection

I really liked the effect of spotlighting just the bottle on this card. Creating the Layered Rose from vellum started a bit of a trend for me.

September - Spooktacular

The Lollipop Treat Halloween stamp set and Die-namics is just TOO cool. I really loved creating spooky treats like this one!

October - Yee Haw!

October saw me going a little country and creating this card using the Howdy stamp set. I still think the Beautiful Bows Die-namics are a must have!

November - Stocking Card

This shaped card was fun to make using the Jumbo Stocking Die-namics. It uses the Vertical Gift Card Pocket to hold a gift for someone special!

December - A Thousand Words

If I had to pick my fave products from the whole year, first I'd stall for a few days, but ultimately, the InstaFrame Die-namics and Captured Memories stamp set might top the list! They make photo cards like this one simply gorgeous.

Thank you for joining me on this look back at 2012, and thank you SO MUCH for all your love and comments throughout the year! They mean so much to me, and I'm looking forward to sharing more creative goodies with you in 2013! Happy New Year, have a wonderful one!

 Thanks for stopping by!  

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a wonderful day with family and friends! We'll be spoiling this little elf all day long!

Thank you for another wonderful year of stampy love, I'll see you soon with a new creation!

 

Thank You!

Thank you SO much for all your warm congratulations on the birth of our precious boy! Every comment has been read and cherished, and while I do intend to answer everyone individually at some point, we're a little short on time these days!

I was lucky enough to have silent labour, not feeling extreme contractions until 5 hours after my water broke. When things started in ernest, they moved fast though! I arrived at the hospital at 8cm, contracting every minute - I wouldn't recommend leaving it that long (too late for an epidural!) Jackson arrived via emergency C-section after I was in transition/pushing for four hours, labour stalled and he became distressed.  Unfortunately, I suffered some complications and had an extended stay in hospital due to an infection. I've been home the last two weeks, and I'm slowly healing with lots of loving care from Shanan and my family.

I'm starting to get back to normal and I'll be back tomorrow with a card! Till then I wanted to share a couple of photos of our gorgeous boy - he is pure joy and I'm thankful to have such a chill, easy baby who is 100% healthy, feeding like a champ and growing like a weed!

 Thanks for stopping by!