A Bug of a Weekend!

Rotavirus Bug that is! You would not believe the weekend that we had! It was suppose to be a wonderful weekend full of holy baptisms, family get-togethers, and fun....instead it was filled with diarrhea, dehydration, hives, and the emergency room! My poor little guy! Eli had a rough Friday, barely able to keep anything down. Then on Saturday, he was doing about the same...eating small bits, running a steady 100 - 101 deg fever, diarrhea, but his awake times were becoming less and less. We decided he was obviously in no condition to attend the Saturday baptisms, so Adi and I left Daddy with Eli. When I get to my sister's house before the baptism, I get a call...Eli has spots all over him! Alright, new symptom...time to hit the emergency room. Poor little thing was covered in hives and was dangerously dehydrated. So after 9 hours in the ER (all of the beds elsewhere were full except for one next to someone with pneumonia...no thank you), at least a bag and half of IV fluids, a couple of doses of benadryl (which he protested more than I have ever seen...we are talking blood curdling screams because he did not like the taste), lots of tears and pleading to go home, and a diagnosis of rotavirus, he was able to rest in bed. I actually only experienced the last 3-4 hours of the trip, but my husband endured the whole thing. Him and I then stayed home from the Sunday baptism, while Adi and Daddy attended...talk about divide and conquer! Thankfully, he is already seemingly recovered...acting like himself, eating, and pooping just about normal! To top it off, though, my husband came down with what we can assume is the rotavirus on the AIRPLANE to England! Can you imagine dealing with all of the yuck on an airplane! I feel so bad for him...but he also appears to be on the mend. Adi and I have managed to just have a regular ol' cold and the disinfecting begins!

Alright, enough of my weekend saga! I actually had this card done in time for the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #79, but didn't get a chance to post it until now...for obvious reasons. I made this card for my teenage nephews' birthdays...one 17 (holy cow!) and the other 13. Knowing it is for boys, I went for as masculine as a theme as I could. Really need to find some good masculine stamps...all I have are animals! Anyway, pulled out one of my all-time favorite stamp sets, In the Wild...Love this set! I decided for the black, gray, white theme for the boys and set forth with my Mojo Sketch. The zebra was stamped in Basic Black and then in Going Gray and sponged with Basic Gray. I used the Distressed Stripes cuttlebug embossing folder on the back Basic Black piece (almost rubbed white on the stripes, but it was far too distracting!). I struggled a little bit with the ribbon. I usually try to avoid ribbon on masculine cards, but I didn't have anything else that looked right, so I went with some old silver grosgrain ribbon. Then I finished it off with some silver brads.

Well that is all for me...I need to get some much needed rest so that I can beat the cold that I have!

Thanks for stopping by my engineering world!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - In the Wild (retired); Paper - Going Gray, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Whisper White; Ink - Basic Black, Going Gray, Basic Gray; Accessories - Silver grosgrain ribbon, Silver brads, Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes Embossing folder, Mat Pack, Paper Piercer, dimensionals

Baptisms All Around

This weekend is Baptism central for us! On Saturday we have my brother-in-law and his daughters (ages 10 and 13) being baptised and on Sunday we have my husband's brothers 4 month old son being baptised! Holy baptism, Batman! That was a weird thing to say, but it is totally what I keep thinking regarding this weekend! So needless to say I needed a few cards for all of this. Oh and we are also celebrating my son's (as if he needs ANOTHER celebration) and two of my nephew's birthdays as well...a couple more cards to add to this mix! I did get all of the cards made..except for the baby baptism...still need to do that one. But at this point I am just hoping my children are able to attend all of the events. Both are sick...Eli seems to be the worse off. We were struggling to keep anything in his stomach today...poor little guy! Hopefully a night's rest will help him get better.

So for the cards that I made...each one used a different sketch challenge. I swear I haven't done a card without a sketch in forever...not sure I know how anymore. I probably should make that a challenge some week...actually make up my own card without any sketch or color challenges. Anyway, starting with the oldest sketch challenge, Mojo Sketch Challenge #77. I used the Verve Stamps Notes of Prayer set (actually used this set for all of my cards in this post). The circle element I think ended up being a bit too big, but I LOVE this cross...so I just went with it! This is also used some of the retired Bali Breeze DSP from Stampin' Up!. I really like the color fade effect I did around the cross...just kind of gave it the extra something. Basically the card was then finished off with some of the Ice Rhinestone Brads from SU!. This may have been kept a smidge too simple, but when you are working on three baptism cards in one night, you just let that go!

This card was based on a SCS sketch Challenge, SC #218, and used a Color Challenge, #209. The color combo was for Rose Red, Always Artichoke and Basic Black...great color combination! Using the same cross stamp again and pairing it with the flower from Verve Stamps Beautiful You stamp set, this card was born. I did part from the Sketch though by removing a panel they had in at the bottom of the main image. I just could not get it to work to my satisfaction...so it went far, far away! I also found some old half pearls that my husband's grandmother gave me...God Bless her...she will randomly give me old "crafty" type things that she has had can no longer can use (due to eyesight and dexterity). Sometimes there is something good in all of it! Nothing much else with this card...but I thought it turned out good.

The last baptism card is for my brother-in-law. Man if you thought masculine birthday cards were a challenge, try masculine baptism cards! I chose to try the Mojo Sketch Challenge #78 for this one. I decided I wanted the cross to look somewhat "burned" into the faux wood background (created just by dragging various brown shades on Kraft paper). I love the silver accents then on the cross...the cross is my favorite part of this card! I used the distressed stripes cuttlebug embossing folder to give some textured background to the Going Gray pieces...then sponged with Basic Gray. I anchored my cross feature with some brads I got through Oriental Trading that look like little screw heads.

Well I should be off to bed now...never know if the kids are going to sleep through the night in their current state of sickness. Eli was up for a bit last night removing the contents of his stomach in more ways than one! Sorry way too much info! Anyway, it is late and I hope that this post didn't ramble too much!

Thanks for stopping by my engineering world!

Birthday Celebrations - Cakes & Cupcakes Oh My!

Well it has been awhile since I posted anything, huh? I had a stamp camp a couple weekends ago and I helped my sister make Baptism invitations and then my son's 4th birthday is today! Happy Birthday to my big boy! Anyway, between all of that and my daughter starting to crawl, I haven't had a chance to post anything. I actually haven't had a chance to stamp anything for a week or so either...which is kind of killing me! I did make a quick card though today for my son and I thought I would show off the cakes and cupcakes that have been keeping me busy!! So Eli is really into volcanoes right now. I mean he actually knows the names and locations of a lot of them and will talk about them all of the time! When he started asking about them a few weeks ago, my husband pulled out a book he had in college for an elective course he took on volcanoes. It has a lot of pictures in it, so Eli just loves to look through it and talk about them! He also loves Go Diego, Go right now as well...so this year his birthday was all about volcanoes and Diego.

When I saw the Sketch Challenge #219 on SCS, I knew what I had to make...a Volcano! So that is what I did complete with some lava flowing down the side and lava spurting out the top. It is an extremely simple card, but I thought it was completely perfect for him right now! The saying was taken from the SU! Pun Fun set.

Now onto the things that I have been really busy on (and are glad they are over...phew!)...the volcano cake and Diego cupcakes! Once Eli started showing interest in volcanoes, I decided I wanted to try and make a volcano cake for his birthday. At first, I was not planning on it erupting, but as I researched it I found it didn't look too hard...and it sounded way too cool! So before I get too far, I loosely followed the instructions HERE for making my volcano cake and most importantly making it erupt. The "lava" is actually marshmallow fluff and water so it is quite tasty! The smoke is created when the "lava" makes contact with dry ice. If I ever figure out how to get the video off of the video camera, I will post it...right now I don't have the right cable nor does my computer have the right input for that cable! Anyway, it was pretty funny watching my son during this whole thing. He was excited, but pretty nervous at the same time. At one point, I did get the "lava" to flow down the cake...Eli jumped up in his chair trying to get away from the "lava" flow. So funny!

Then I made cupcakes for Eli to take into school for his birthday. I found the instructions for making Diego and Baby Jaguar cupcakes HERE and HERE on the Nick Jr. website...I take no originality claims here! They took a little longer than I expected, but I love how they turned out. Diego's hair is made with the chocolate melt candy and the nose and ears on Baby Jaguar are DOTS. Eli was pretty excited about these, so that makes me happy!

Now my house is overrun with cake and cupcakes! Gotta send some of them into work with my husband, so we don't (or more so ME) eat all of them! BTW, if you are interested in seeing my previous cake/cupcake creations and more views of these, you can follow the link under My Galleries or click HERE. My sugar high is starting to wear off, so I best get to bed soon!

Trust the Creator

So it has been an interesting week already for me! On Monday night I realized my son has pinkeye! We took him to the Mall on Saturday night and let him play on the play equipment there. There is a reason my friends and I call it the petri (have no idea how to spell this and spellcheck isn't helping!) dish! So he was home from school and gymnastics on Tuesday and then yesterday we just were clashing all day long. Does anyone else have those days? You know the type were you really don't want to me a Mom and need a day off? Guess that is the downfall to stay-at-home motherhood...no days off!! Need to work on that! Yesterday was one of those that I question if I really should stay home, but alas I need to Trust the Creator...this card is a helpful reminder to me!

Anyway, I did manage to work on the current Mojo Sketch Challenge #76...I love me the Mojo sketches! This will be about my limit for the crafty stuff this week because I need to prepare for my upcoming Stamp-A-Stack...speaking of which I was suppose to start cutting paper last night and went to bed early instead...it is going to be a long night tonight! So back to the card. I have a bunch of baptisms coming up at the end of the month, so I made my card for one of those. It is for an older girl, so I stayed away from the typical baptism - baby look. For this card, I really dusted off some OLD SU! sets...this is why I am afraid to get rid of anything...always wonder if I will NEED it someday! I tried a new color combo (for me at least) trying to find a religious tone...does that makes sense. I think I like the Chocolate Chip, Blush Blossom, and Prefect Plum together...learning to see a use for Blush Blossom which I never did before.

So I stamped the leaf image in Perfect Plum and masked it and stamped the French Script background in Chocolate Chip. The French Script is on the Chocolate Chip cardstock as well...not sure that is very visible in the photo. Since the leaf image has "rough" edges to it, I decided to make the Blush Blossom frame all torn and wrinkly looking. I was having a hard time placing the sentiment where the sketch called for it, so I finally decided to add a torn strip at the bottom to put it on. Then the card felt unbalanced to me, so I added a torn strip at the top...that part is not in the sketch so I hope that addition isn't considered deviating from the sketch too much! I needed to decorate the Blush Blossom strip somehow and decided to break out my new Textile Cuttlebug embossing folder and some Chocolate Chip ink sponged on top. I thought it added a little detail to the card. Last but not least was some diamond stickles to jazz up the main image.

That is it for me...need to get some cleaning done and probably should start cutting that cardstock like I mentioned. I have two kids sleeping right now...a true rarity!!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - All I Have Seen (retired), French Script (retired); Paper - Perfect Plum, Chocolate Chip, Blush Blossom, Whisper White; Ink - Perfect Plum, Chocolate Chip; Accessories - Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder (Provo), 1/4" white organza ribbon, Diamond Stickles, sponge, post-it note, dimensionals