The Newest Member of our Family

It was last December when we got the exciting news...my husband's brother, Stephen and his wife, Kim were expecting their first baby.  Kim's due date was August 24, 2011.  Oh that seemed an eternity to wait. August 24 came and went as we all waited just a little longer. It would be a surprise to everyone (even the new Daddy and Mommy) as to whether we would be adding a little boy or a little girl to our family.  I am so delighted to share that on August 28 at 9:08 pm we welcomed the newest member of our family into the world. 

She is amazing and I adore her already.

Of course every new little princess needs a pretty new dress to wear so first thing this morning I hurried off to my favorite baby boutique.  Usually I just do a little looking but today I was finally able to do a little buying :)

A girl can't have a new dress without a new bonnet to match......

When we got the word yesterday that Kim was on her way to the hospital, I sat down at the sewing machine and began creating a  doll just in case our new precious little one would happen to be a girl.  I am so glad that I did---I was able to give Emily this special gift from her Aunt Mimi.

My hope is that every time Emily hugs her she will be reminded just how much I love her....

Welcome to the world sweet Emily.You are a precious blessing to our family.

A Saturday in my Studio

Have you ever been afforded one of those days where their are no planned activities--- no schedules to keep?  It doesn't happen often in my house so it is a real treat to experience a day like today.  The perfect day to get caught up on some of my special orders.  In my pjs, coffee in hand I headed into my studio and got to work.  As I sit here tonight writing this post, I am still in my pjs, coffee in hand (decaf this time) but I now have the satisfaction of three completed projects. 

This sweet little doll will be a new friend for a precious little girl named Lilly Rose (Rosie). Rosie will be turning one soon and a friend of mine asked me to create a special doll for her with two requests....1.  her dress must have the color pink  2.  she needed to have a little headband with big flowers in her hair (just like Rosie always wears) This was such a fun doll to make--I hope she helps to make Rosie's day a special one.

A custom order little lamb to welcome a precious baby boy to the world.

I actually created this little bunny twice.  In April I received a custom order and completed this sweet little bunny.  I packaged him up and sent him off to a precious little boy named Sebastian.  Sebastian's mommy sent me a note along with a picture telling me just how much her little boy loved his new friend. About two weeks ago I received another note from Sebastian's mommy.  As it turns out Sebastian's daddy is in the military and  recently had been assigned to another location.  During the move, the little bunny was lost.  I quickly got to work and Sebastian will soon have his bunny friend once again.

On a personal note-----As I created today, safe and sound in my home, I have been glued to the weather channel watching the effects of hurricane Irene. This really is a frightening storm with so many people in harms way.  I pray tonight that God will protect all those in the way of this storm.

Summer Memories part two

As promised here are a few more of my favorite Summer memories.......

I am not sure if I have mentioned before what a talented artist my husband is.  When we were dating he would draw all the time and then for some reason--maybe life's busyness--he put his drawing aside.  This Summer he was asked to participate in a local art show called "Art all Night".  It was held in Pittsburgh at the former Iron City Beer Brewery.  With some encouragement I convinced him to give it a try.  He decided to draw one of our favorite pictures of his Grandfather as a young man.  Here is the original photo...

And here is the picture Alex drew...

I am so proud of the way it turned out.  He decided to give it to his Mom for mother's day.  Needless to say she was thrilled.  We had a great time at the art show.  I must admit that it was a little more culture than I am used to and some of the art pieces were---well let's just say they were interesting and leave it at that.   These next few pictures are of  pieces that I just loved.

Some other fun pictures from the evening....

This next memory has become a tradition in our family.  Every year, in late August, the church in Alex's childhood neighborhood holds a Summer festival.  There are games, rides, a petting zoo, yummy food, and the best part--a GIANT flea market that lasts the whole week of the festival.  When our son was a little boy, he could hardly wait until it was festival time.  Now that he is all grown up Alex and I  go to the festival together---it is like a date :)

If you look closely behind that giant root beer float that I am enjoying, you can see the "beautiful" red and silver necklaces that Alex won me.  I know you will all be very jealous :) There is nothing like festival jewelry.(hehehe)   This year we met Alex's brother Stephen and his wife Kim.  Kim is due to have their first baby any day now and they were hoping that the walk around the fair would encourage their little blessing to come out and greet the world----we are still waiting. (today is the official due date)

This last Summer memory is one that we just made last night.  Pittsburgh has had the new baseball park for several years now but Alex had never been inside to see a game.  My mom was offered tickets to last night's game and invited Alex and I to come along.  The game itself was terrible--our Pirates lost---but the park was beautiful, the weather perfect, and we had a great time enjoying each other's company and taking lots of pictures....

With today's chilly weather, it is a definitely a reminder that we only have a few more weeks to make Summer memories.  I hope you all were able to make special  Summer memories of your own.

Look what the Mailman brought.....

Just a quick post tonight along with a promise  that Summer Memories part two will be my next post---I was just too excited to wait  to show you what I received in the mail on Friday.  For some time now I have been admiring all the beautiful fabrics that are printed in Japan.  The tiny flower prints, wonderful soft colors, along with the checks and polka dots are all so dreamy.  After much contemplation I finally decided to purchase some of these amazing fabrics. 

Oh how I can't wait to create something fun with this fabric.

Since I am sharing new fabric purchases here are a few more that I have added to my collection over the Summer.

My fabric collection is growing by leaps and bounds.  It is beginning to overtake my studio.  I think I may have a fabric sickness (hehehe)  Just so that you don't think I am a collector only,  I want to share with you a fun little Christmas elf that I just finished using some of my new fabric.

His little face makes me smile. 

I will close this post quickly tonight so that I can return to my new fabric. 

Happy Creating

*****UPDATE*****

Several of you have written and asked where I purchased the floral fabric.  I found the sweetest shop on etsy   sewdeerlyloved.etsy.com   If you need some inspiration there is a wonderful blog as well.  Have fun shopping :)  

Summer memories part 1

 Is it really August already?  It seems as though it were just yesterday that we had the whole Summer ahead of us.  But here we are in the "dog days" of Summer.....

Drew's mommy will be headed back to school next week so I will have my little "weekday" buddy once again.

I do love the Autumn season and I look forward to all it has to bring.  But Summer also holds special memories as well.  I thought I would share a few of this Summer's memories before it passes us by. 

A few weeks ago Kate, Emma and I had a sleepover at my Mom's house.  Even though I don't babysit them any longer, they are still such a special part of my life.  I love the time I spend with them.  They are growing up so fast. 

When we have our sleepovers, I always let the girls choose a project.  This time it was doll making. 

We did a little sewing.......

Ate a lot of ice-cream.....

And had tons of fun.....

I am so blessed by these girls.

The next Summer memory is  so very special as well.  My Mom, sister, and I hosted a memorial picnic in honor of my Dad.  It was held over Memorial Day weekend and we had the perfect day.  Family and my Dad's closest friends were invited to share in the day.  We made all of my Dad's favorite foods, played his favorite music, made posters of all our favorite photos and asked everyone to come ready to share their favorite pictures and memories.  One of the most special things about this day is that it allowed us to reconnect with my cousins that we had lost contact with for the past 30 years.  What a wonderful reunion we had.  My Dad would have been so happy.

(me, my Mom, my cousin Peggy, and my sister Andrea)

 (my cousin Bobby, cousin Peggy, me, my sister Andrea)

When I first began writing this post I thought I had just a few Summer memories to share.  As I continued writing I found that I have more memories than I thought to share with you all.  I decided to make this a two part post.  Before I close part one of "Summer memories" I will share just one more.  It is one that I am very excited about and one that I have been keeping a secret for some time now.  Cricut Magazine has once again honored me by publishing two of my projects.  I had to wait to tell you until the magazine hit the newsstand. 

I knew that the magazine would hit the newsstand in August but imagine my surprise when I opened this email to find my shadowbox had also been featured in the Cricut on-line newsletter Click on the red link above to check it out :) 
Stay tuned for part two---I have lots more to share :)