There's a new boy in town....

and his name is Charlie...and we love him! Charles Dylan Gleason arrived on Monday, November 12th, at 2:03 in the afternoon. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 14 oz. and was 20 1/2-inches long. We drove down to Maryland on Tuesday night and were able to see him for a little bit at the hospital. He was surrounded by his 2 other adoring Grandmothers (Nana & Grammie) and a friend of Jane's. We were totally overwhelmed upon seeing this little tiny baby for the first time. Truly a miracle of God. For now, he looks most like Eric; fair skin, light (sparse) hair & eyebrows, but who knows-in a month that might all change.

They all came home from the hospital on Wednesday around noon so we got to see Charlie again at home before leaving to return to Pittsburgh. It is going to be hard for David & me (by the way, we would like to be Papa & Gram) to be far from this sweet little angel. Our kids are all scattered along the East Coast and we don't get to see them as often as we'd like. We will, however, be seeing Mike & Jackie in New York this weekend (for the Steelers/Jets game-GO STEELERS!) and Michelle & Woody in their new place in Jersey City next Tuesday. For Thanksgiving, we will be with my sister and family in Chatham, NJ.

For now, we will just have to be content with a little dose of Charlie and hope that we can see him again soon.

We love you sweet baby....and your Daddy & Mommy, too.

Thanks to our family and friends for their prayers and good wishes. For those in Pittsburgh...get ready for the "Proud Grandparents Picture Barrage"!

About the banner and the baby...

How do you like my banner? Is it not the most beautiful banner....well, except for the designer's own banner, of course! It was designed by the amazing Kris Hurst of Blissful Elements

It took me 2 days to figure out how to upload it to my blog and now I need to know how to resize it so you can see the beauty of the entire thing. Anyway, I have been reading Kris's blog for a while now and admire her work. I just ordered her Christmas CD and I know I'll have a lot of fun playing with it. Thanks Chris. It makes my little blog look so grand. (Don't forget to see the treats she has on Etsy)

That's the banner...now about the baby! My son Eric and his wife Jane are right now at the hospital awaiting the birth of their first baby. (our first Grandchild-YAY!) Jane was due on November 9 and the docs didn't want her to go too long because she's such a small person, so the plan was to start inducing this morning at 6:00 AM. We are trying to be patient as we wait for the news and of course praying that all goes smoothly for Jane and the Baby. They chose not to know the sex ahead of time so it will be a surprise for all of us. Please keep them in your prayers and I will post again when we have some news...

in the meantime.....just scroll up and look at that banner agin

this is the last one today....

This is my most recent project, and I must say, my favorite so far. The "house" is from sayitwithletters Do you sense a pattern here?Deb's letters and shapes, cut from 1/2-inch MDF board, are a joy to work with. They are sanded and clean and ready to alter when you get them. I have included 2 pictures of the naked house, well, except for the chimney, so that you can see what the pieces look like when you get them. I ordered this house when I ordered the acorn, thinking they would be perfect Fall & Winter projects. I couldn't decide, at first, how to decorate the house until I received the chipboard birds I ordered from http://jennibowlin.com. A Christmas birdhouse-that's what my project would be!!! The papers I used are from the brand spankin' new Daisy d's Snowflakes & Holly collection that we finally received at Your Memory Page. It was hard to decide which papers to use, they are all beautiful. Once the paper was applied, I used a clear Autumn Leaves flourish stamp and Brilliance Starlite Black ink to stamp the image above the birdhouse "hole". I hand wrote "Let Heaven and Nature Sing" along the flourish. I then added a little Spanish moss to make the "hole" look more authentic. Decorating the bird and adding him was the most fun part. I used vintage sheet music and a snippet of Daisy d's paper to cover the bird and wing, and stamped a little flourish on his back. The final step in my project was adding snow. I used Perfect Paper Adhesive applied with a foam brush along the edge of the roof and the top of the chimney. I then sprinkled Diamond Dust along the glue line. It was OK, but not enough sparkle, so I ran a bead of PPA on top of the Diamond Dust I had already applied, and poured more Diamond Dust on the glue and gently pressed it down with my fingers. Ah, now it looks like snow on the roof. I hope you can tell from the pictures. OK-I'm finished for today.

I still have so much to learn with this blogging thing-thank you to my friends and my husband who are encouraging me. Now I really must go and attack some real dust here at Camp Woodview!

more altered projects.....

OK-this will be a long post because I have many pictures to display. If this all works I will be amazed.

This first item is a notebook/journal for recording my favorite places to visit, eat and shop. When we travel I like to note those restaurants, sights or stores (a lot of scrapbook stores) we visit because my memory is not as good as I'd like it to be.

This journal was purchased and embellished with Melissa Frances floral paper and a scrap of "handwriting" paper from my stash, journaling card from MME Tres Jolie collection, vintage seam binding and buttons and the wonderful stamped image of the lady with the teapot body & hat from http://www.characterconstructions.com/

Amelia's dress is an 8-inch piece from sayitwithletters.blogspot.com/ Amelia is the adorable 4 month old daughter of my friend Bethanie. Twice a month I have the joy of watching her for the day while her Mommie is at work. I'm trying to teach her to scrapbook but for now she's content just to hang out with me in my studio while I work. Anyway, her room is pink & brown so I made this dress using Foof-a-La paper and embellised with a chipboard "A", sheer brown dotted ribbon and 2 sweet little paper flowers. I am trying hard to learn the Melissa Phillips signature bow....some day I'll get it.

from a tiny acorn...

I am so glad to have discovered sayitwithletters They have a huge selection of letters and shapes in a variety of sizes, ready to alter with paint or paper or any way you want.

When I saw this acorn I knew it would work perfectly with the new Melissa Frances Fall papers. The acorn is 8" tall (our squirrels would go "nuts" for an acorn this size! LOL) For the cap I used Bazzill cardstock and quilted it using the Quickutz Revolution diamond goosebump embossing folder. I then went over the high spots with Brilliance Cosmic Copper ink to give it some glimmer. The lower portion is covered in Melissa Frances paper. The seam is hidden with grosgrain ribbon and the stem is covered with a scrap of plaid paper I had in my stash. I mounted the MF autumn tag to chipboard and attached it...tied the stem with a little twine and TA-DA....a cute Fall decoration.

Altered Projects

Now I will attempt to add pictures of altered projects to this post.

WOO HOO! It worked!

This is the banner I made for my good friend Michele's wedding to Bill. I used cardstock, Basic Grey Mellow papers, MME Tres Jolie Monogram letters, vintage buttons & papers, bronze colored lace trim. Gibson is their last name. On the bottom point of each pennant are the words "and they lived happily ever after" in flash card format.

Yikes-a Blog!

I just wrote to someone today to tell them I didn't have a blog and now I have one. This was almost too easy. Now I'm scared. Before, I didn't get any housework done because I was too busy reading blogs...what will happen now. YIKES!