Category: Family

Our Family Christmas!

Our Family Christmas!

While I am sitting here being a lump on the couch I thought I would show you what I've been up to during this Christmas holiday season!

Christmas morning: the Payne Clan grandkids: Maddie Kate holding Liam Percival, Ava Claire holding Jaxon William, and Johnny Mark Cohen!

Christmas 1

Liam's dad, Tony, loves the movie, "Elf", so this onesie was perfect for him!

Christmas 2

Jaxon is very laid back, at almost 12 months (his birthday is December 26th!) he had to be encouraged to open his gifts!

Christmas 3

Not Liam, he's always been a real wiggle-worm and has been reaching for things for quite awhile, HE had no trouble trying to get his gifts open!

Christmas 6

Alisa & Cody – we received the news on Christmas Eve they will become parents in July! (insert squeals here!)

Christmas 7

My husband has always been very creative in his gift wrapping for me – he cut down a Coke carton to wrap my socks!

Christmas 9

A very thoughtful gift from my hubby: a box of my "favorite things" – Pretzels, Wild Cherry Pepsi, Heath candy bars, and PAPER and a PEN! (How did he ever guess??? I think after 35 years of marriage he has learned a thing or two!)

Christmas 10

The annual "Swim in the Wrapping Paper"! Our kids started this tradition years ago!

Christmas 11

 

All together we had three nights and four days with all 14 of us squeezed into our house, so it was an endless round of food, games, and laundry! (smile!)

That's all for now, I hope to be back to posting creative samples for you all soon!

Until then, have a "Stampingrox!" day!

 

 

Baby Liam is home!

Baby Liam is home!

Just a quick post tonight to let you know Liam is HOME! Here he is all decked out in his "little man" shirt & pants just waiting for the final o.k. to leave the hospital:

Liam going home

You can't see his shoes very well here, but Mommy Kimmy crocheted them for him a few months ago – little black & white hi-tops!

I was happy to be able to help them load up!

Grammie & liam

Now I get to spend the next week with them, helping out and cuddling with Liam!

Be back tomorrow with some fun stamping stuff!

Until then, have a Stampingrox! Day!

 

Baby Liam is home!

Baby Liam is home!

Just a quick post tonight to let you know Liam is HOME! Here he is all decked out in his "little man" shirt & pants just waiting for the final o.k. to leave the hospital:

Liam going home

You can't see his shoes very well here, but Mommy Kimmy crocheted them for him a few months ago – little black & white hi-tops!

I was happy to be able to help them load up!

Grammie & liam

Now I get to spend the next week with them, helping out and cuddling with Liam!

Be back tomorrow with some fun stamping stuff!

Until then, have a Stampingrox! Day!

 

Stampin’ Up! The Holiday Catalog Starts Today! What HAVE I been up to?

Stampin’ Up! The Holiday Catalog Starts Today! What HAVE I been up to?

Faith

Some of you have inquired if I am o.k. I am. I know I haven't been blogging, and I apologize for that. I can't really explain why I stopped because I don't know why. I just stopped and it became harder and harder to get started again is all I can say about it. No special reason why I stopped, I just did.

That said, I'm ready to get started back blogging again, and plan to post lots of fun things for you here in the next few days.

Why the picture about Faith? Well, I took a picture of this plaque on the wall at my daughter Kimberly's doctors' office today and it explains in a nutshell what we will be doing the next couple of days:

Kimmy

My girlie is due tomorrow, August 2nd. She is also being admitted to the hospital at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning to get the process started to get our little Liam born safely! The problem may be that they say Liam is a big baby, most likely over 9 pounds. For those of us who have had babies, we KNOW that is just a little bit too big for a first baby! Ouch!

The doctor has suggested a plan of action to help Liam arrive safely and hopefully avoid a C-section. However, he also said it may take 2 days! So in comes the Faith part. We know and trust that God is in control and will bring Kimmy and Liam through this process safely. It may not be easy, but we are praying and trusting that all will go well.

Yes, I am planning to be there at 6 a.m., and plan to stay with them throughout the duration of the birth process, no matter how long it takes! Please pray for this Grammie to make it through what may be some lack of sleep and anxiousness for my girl!

On a stamping note, I plan to take a few projects with me to the hospital to help pass the long hours we may experience.(Kimberly even suggested I do this, my sweetheart!) Kimmy is planning to bring some crochet projects and she and her husband, Tony, and I will probably play cards and do whatever we need to do to help us all get through this!

The Stampin' Up! Holiday Catalog began today, which means this is the first day to order from it! Some of you have already placed Online Orders today! Thank you so much! I plan to send you a thank-you card as soon as I can, please just don't get too worried if it doesn't arrive right away. I plan to spend at least a week with Kimmy and Liam after they go home from the hospital, so I know I won't be getting much stamping done for awhile!

Before I go to bed tonight I'm going to set up auto-posts for the next few days so you have some inspiration while I am helping my family. Here's the first one:

Be of good cheer tree 1
©Stampin'Up!™1990-2012

And inside:

Be of good cheer tree 2
©Stampin'Up!™1990-2012

This was a cute little Christmas card we did at a Hostess Party Stamp Camp earlier this week! We used the 1" Circle Punch with the "Be of Good Cheer" Designer Paper and the Word Window Punch to create this cute little tree. We used the star punch from the "Merry Minis" Punch Pack to punch out the Champagne Glimmer Paper (SO GLAD to have a star punch again!) Both the punch pack and the glimmer paper are now available in the Holiday Catalog. The inside sentiment is from "Seasonal Sayings", a cute little set also from the Holiday Catalog (if you have your copy from me you know that at 8 1/2" x 1" it can't be called a "mini" anymore!) Flanking the sentiment are more punches from the "Merry Minis" Punch Pack. Easy-peasy and fun!

If you dont' have your own copy of the Holiday Catalog (or the Annual Catalog for that matter) and don't have your own local demonstrator, just let send me an email along with your address and I will make sure you get one of each!

That's all for today. I've got a few things to pack for our hospital adventure, as well as some future posts to get ready and to try to sneak in a little sleep before it's time to head up there in the morning!

Until tomorrow, have a Stampingrox! Day!

Stampin’ Up! The Holiday Catalog Starts Today! What HAVE I been up to?

Stampin’ Up! The Holiday Catalog Starts Today! What HAVE I been up to?

Faith

Some of you have inquired if I am o.k. I am. I know I haven't been blogging, and I apologize for that. I can't really explain why I stopped because I don't know why. I just stopped and it became harder and harder to get started again is all I can say about it. No special reason why I stopped, I just did.

That said, I'm ready to get started back blogging again, and plan to post lots of fun things for you here in the next few days.

Why the picture about Faith? Well, I took a picture of this plaque on the wall at my daughter Kimberly's doctors' office today and it explains in a nutshell what we will be doing the next couple of days:

Kimmy

My girlie is due tomorrow, August 2nd. She is also being admitted to the hospital at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning to get the process started to get our little Liam born safely! The problem may be that they say Liam is a big baby, most likely over 9 pounds. For those of us who have had babies, we KNOW that is just a little bit too big for a first baby! Ouch!

The doctor has suggested a plan of action to help Liam arrive safely and hopefully avoid a C-section. However, he also said it may take 2 days! So in comes the Faith part. We know and trust that God is in control and will bring Kimmy and Liam through this process safely. It may not be easy, but we are praying and trusting that all will go well.

Yes, I am planning to be there at 6 a.m., and plan to stay with them throughout the duration of the birth process, no matter how long it takes! Please pray for this Grammie to make it through what may be some lack of sleep and anxiousness for my girl!

On a stamping note, I plan to take a few projects with me to the hospital to help pass the long hours we may experience.(Kimberly even suggested I do this, my sweetheart!) Kimmy is planning to bring some crochet projects and she and her husband, Tony, and I will probably play cards and do whatever we need to do to help us all get through this!

The Stampin' Up! Holiday Catalog began today, which means this is the first day to order from it! Some of you have already placed Online Orders today! Thank you so much! I plan to send you a thank-you card as soon as I can, please just don't get too worried if it doesn't arrive right away. I plan to spend at least a week with Kimmy and Liam after they go home from the hospital, so I know I won't be getting much stamping done for awhile!

Before I go to bed tonight I'm going to set up auto-posts for the next few days so you have some inspiration while I am helping my family. Here's the first one:

Be of good cheer tree 1
©Stampin'Up!™1990-2012

And inside:

Be of good cheer tree 2
©Stampin'Up!™1990-2012

This was a cute little Christmas card we did at a Hostess Party Stamp Camp earlier this week! We used the 1" Circle Punch with the "Be of Good Cheer" Designer Paper and the Word Window Punch to create this cute little tree. We used the star punch from the "Merry Minis" Punch Pack to punch out the Champagne Glimmer Paper (SO GLAD to have a star punch again!) Both the punch pack and the glimmer paper are now available in the Holiday Catalog. The inside sentiment is from "Seasonal Sayings", a cute little set also from the Holiday Catalog (if you have your copy from me you know that at 8 1/2" x 1" it can't be called a "mini" anymore!) Flanking the sentiment are more punches from the "Merry Minis" Punch Pack. Easy-peasy and fun!

If you dont' have your own copy of the Holiday Catalog (or the Annual Catalog for that matter) and don't have your own local demonstrator, just let send me an email along with your address and I will make sure you get one of each!

That's all for today. I've got a few things to pack for our hospital adventure, as well as some future posts to get ready and to try to sneak in a little sleep before it's time to head up there in the morning!

Until tomorrow, have a Stampingrox! Day!

Feeling Better!

Feeling Better!

I'm feeling better today-fever's gone and my sweet hubby made me some yummy scrambled eggs for breakfast this morning! I haven't stamped anything yet, but have been doing alot of fun blog-surfing and getting a bunch of great ideas to work on for future workshops and classes!

I did go through more of my Leadership pics and found a few samples using the Build a Cupcake Punch & the Create a Cupcake Stampset I really like:

Create a cupcake 2
©Stampin'Up!™1999-2011

Create a cupcake 4
©Stampin'Up!™1999-2011

Create a cupcake 3
©Stampin'Up!™1999-2011

Create a cupcake
©Stampin'Up!™1999-2011

Adorable, are'nt they? Just looking at them makes me want to stamp!

That's all for now, until tomorrow, have a "Stampingrox!" day!

Feeling Better!

Feeling Better!

I'm feeling better today-fever's gone and my sweet hubby made me some yummy scrambled eggs for breakfast this morning! I haven't stamped anything yet, but have been doing alot of fun blog-surfing and getting a bunch of great ideas to work on for future workshops and classes!

I did go through more of my Leadership pics and found a few samples using the Build a Cupcake Punch & the Create a Cupcake Stampset I really like:

Create a cupcake 2
©Stampin'Up!™1999-2011

Create a cupcake 4
©Stampin'Up!™1999-2011

Create a cupcake 3
©Stampin'Up!™1999-2011

Create a cupcake
©Stampin'Up!™1999-2011

Adorable, are'nt they? Just looking at them makes me want to stamp!

That's all for now, until tomorrow, have a "Stampingrox!" day!

My Baby the Grad!

My Baby the Grad!

Ben the grad

Happy Monday to you all! We just had a great weekend, our baby boy, Ben, graduated from Mt Vernon Township High School Magna Cum Laude this past Saturday Night! Mark & I can hardly believe we have no more high schoolers! That part of our life is over. We have been so blessed, all our kids are healthy, smart, love God, and are all-around good kids! In our growing-family years, alot of people thought we were crazy having a bunch of kids (for those of you that don't know, we have SIX kids-3 girls and 3 boys!) but I just KNEW we were missing someone at the supper table until Ben came along! I am so thankful for him and all my kids!

The boy in the extreme right edge of this picture is his cousin, Dillon, who graduated, Summa Cum Laude. Ben will be starting Rend Lake College in a few weeks, taking a sociology class. He earned a 2 year tuition waiver for his ACT score of 29!

Now that you know what a proud mom I am, here's a couple of grad cards I mass-produced this week. Both are CASES of cards I received as cruise swaps. The first one is an exact CASE, which unfortunately I don't have the name of the creator, but the second one I changed the colors a bit so it would be a general grad card for anyone at any school:

Grad 1 ©Stampin'Up!™1990-2010

And the inside:

Grad 2 ©Stampin'Up!™1990-2010

See the cool slot for a giftcard or money? It was punched with the Word Window punch! Easy peasy!

Here's the second grad card:

Happy grad 1 ©Stampin'Up!™1990-2010

And the inside:

Happy grad 2 ©Stampin'Up!™1990-2010

Both cards use graduation stamps from the Summer Mini catalog: "Go, Graduate" and the single wood-mount stamp, "Happy Grad"! I used Brushed Silver cardstock and the Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder on the second card.

Right now I am working on a modified version of the giftcard holder card using "Tropical Party". I will be back tomorrow with the card & details!

Until tomorrow, have a STAMPENDOUSLY GREAT day!

My Baby the Grad!

My Baby the Grad!

Ben the grad

Happy Monday to you all! We just had a great weekend, our baby boy, Ben, graduated from Mt Vernon Township High School Magna Cum Laude this past Saturday Night! Mark & I can hardly believe we have no more high schoolers! That part of our life is over. We have been so blessed, all our kids are healthy, smart, love God, and are all-around good kids! In our growing-family years, alot of people thought we were crazy having a bunch of kids (for those of you that don't know, we have SIX kids-3 girls and 3 boys!) but I just KNEW we were missing someone at the supper table until Ben came along! I am so thankful for him and all my kids!

The boy in the extreme right edge of this picture is his cousin, Dillon, who graduated, Summa Cum Laude. Ben will be starting Rend Lake College in a few weeks, taking a sociology class. He earned a 2 year tuition waiver for his ACT score of 29!

Now that you know what a proud mom I am, here's a couple of grad cards I mass-produced this week. Both are CASES of cards I received as cruise swaps. The first one is an exact CASE, which unfortunately I don't have the name of the creator, but the second one I changed the colors a bit so it would be a general grad card for anyone at any school:

Grad 1 ©Stampin'Up!™1990-2010

And the inside:

Grad 2 ©Stampin'Up!™1990-2010

See the cool slot for a giftcard or money? It was punched with the Word Window punch! Easy peasy!

Here's the second grad card:

Happy grad 1 ©Stampin'Up!™1990-2010

And the inside:

Happy grad 2 ©Stampin'Up!™1990-2010

Both cards use graduation stamps from the Summer Mini catalog: "Go, Graduate" and the single wood-mount stamp, "Happy Grad"! I used Brushed Silver cardstock and the Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder on the second card.

Right now I am working on a modified version of the giftcard holder card using "Tropical Party". I will be back tomorrow with the card & details!

Until tomorrow, have a STAMPENDOUSLY GREAT day!

THE DRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE DRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday (Monday) was a BIG DAY for our family. at least for the Payne girls! As alot of you know, I have three daughters: Jessica just turned 30 and has three children of her own: Maddie Kate (7), Ava (3), and Cohen (8 months), Kimberly is 27, has been married for 7 years, and is a Junior High math teacher (I can't take any credit for her math skills, they all come from her Daddy!), and Alisa is almost 22, is a "real artist", and works for Jessica in her photography business, Jessica Hollis Photography. (go look at Jessica's blog, Itsasweetcrazylife. The link is on the right of this page) Yesterday the "Payne girls", plus Cohen, went to Fairview Heights to David's Bridal for Alisa to try on wedding dresses in anticipation of her wedding next June. None of us expected her to find "THE dress" yesterday, but WE DID! It is absolutely beautiful, and we knew for sure it was the one when it made both Sweed (our family pet name for Alisa) and me cry! Now I can't show you any pics of "THE DRESS", because that wouldn't be fair to Cody, Alisa's sweet fiance', but I can show you some pics of our fun day! First, here is my pretty girlie! We ate lunch at O'Charley's before we went to David's, which was a good thing, because we ended up spending 3 1/2 hours there!
Alisa
It was such a special, fun day! I have now had the privilege of being with all of my daughters when they found "THE DRESS". My mom passed away when I was almost 11 years old, so it has been so precious for me to be with my daughters through so many milestones in their lives!

Next, here are a couple of pics of Cohen at O'Charley's. He had never had a crayon in his chubby little fingers before, and you can tell he really made them fly on the paper! We kept his "pop" in his mouth so he wouldn't eat them!
Cohen at ocharley's

GEDC3418

Here's my girl trying on a dress (not THE DRESS)that "didn't even feel like a wedding dress":
Not a wedding dress

Here I am trying to help her see what this dress (not THE DRESS) would look like with more "bustle":
Bustle

Where are my eyes? I think I need a bang trim! lol!
Jessica & Kimmy tried on bridesmaids dresses:
Ha

After trying several, I think we have the bridesmaids dresses narrowed down to two styles, one color!
Peekaboo

Cohen kept himself busy with the clips for the back of the dress:
Cohen with dress clips
How many baby boys have the patience to go wedding dress shopping with their aunt????? He was good as gold the whole day!
Cohen at davids bridal

By the time we left the store we had ordered Alisa's dress, my dress (no pictures of me, sorry!), and dresses for Maddie Kate & Ava! Now all the bridesmaids have to decide is which style of dress they want to wear from the two styles Alisa has chosen!

After the bridal shop we went to Hobby Lobby (you will be seeing some of the fruits of that excursion in the near future!), hit the mall for a bit, and then Maggie Moos for some fantastic ice cream before heading home. We didn't get to my house until 11 p.m, but all in all it was a fun, memorable day!

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Bonnie, Illinois, USA