Baby Roundup

On Wednesday, I hit the 38 week mark in this pregnancy. I'm so close to done that it's scary. Today the baby measured 8 and a half pounds on the ultrasound. I'm expecting my OB to schedule an induction tomorrow. I have been feeling some contractions though so maybe I can get there on my own. Tonight we went out for dinner and I had Eggplant Rollatini and Eggplant Parmesan. I think it might be working...

Anyway, this was from the second batch of thank yous that I made. The jammies stamp is from A Muse. I think I got it on sale this summer because it was being retired. They do have a similar stamp in the current line though.

The baby bottle stamp is from Rubber Stampede. I bought it many years ago at Michaels when I first started stamping.

The blue Arturo note cards are from Ellen's store. All images were stamped with Palette Noir black ink and then watercolored with an aquapainter and my watercolor wonder crayons. Then I added a little bling with a clear copic spica glitter pen.

I might not be posting again for a few days. Hopefully the next post will have baby pictures!

Stamps: Sentiment and Jammies image from A Muse, Bottle image from Rubber Stampede
Ink: Palette Noir Black
Paper: Pale Blue Arturo note card & envelope
Tools: Aquapainter, Watercolor Wonder Crayons, clear Copic Spica Glitter Pen

Christmas Wrap-up

This was not a very creative Christmas at the Summerer house. To be honest, we've been a little preoccupied with baby preparations, so Christmas was almost something we just had to get through. As a result, we did give away a fair number of gift cards. To make that a little more appealing, I ordered these cute gift card tins from Gina K Designs and decorated them with retired Christmas paper from Stampin' Up! I wrapped some taffeta ribbon around the tin's lid just like Gina so they could be reused. The tags are tied on with silver cord. I inked each tag up with my markers so I could color coordinate it with the tin. Pretty simple stuff. This tag was from the level one hostess set Party Punch that retired in the 2006-2007 catalog.

For the neighbors, I made my own hot cocoa mix and gave it out in the tea tins that Gina carries. This idea originally came from Nichole Heady. I used the same recipe as Nichole, except I added a little bit of cinnamon (maybe 1 teaspoon). I find that where you buy your spices can make or break a recipe like this. My dutch processed cocoa and cinnamon (Extra Fancy Vietnamese) comes from Penzey's Spices. They have the best stuff! It's pricey, but I especially love their vanilla extract.

Anyway, to decorate the tin, I used the retired Like it a Latte set from Stampin' Up! and Holiday Treats from PaperTrey Inc.

One last hot cocoa tip! Every night I have a cup of diabetic hot cocoa. I tried the sugar free stuff from the grocery store, but it was flat and not very chocolatey. So, I came up with this instead: 1 cup of milk, 2 packets of splenda and 2 tablespoons of dutch processed cocoa. Yummy and only 15g of carbs. The perfect chocolately snack for a gestational diabetic! Plus the calcium is good for the baby. ;)