I love my Bellas'

I must have been feeling very creative today, at least that's what the Mood Indicator says over there on the right! So, I sat down in my craft room and started to play with my Bella stamps. To the tunes of American Grafitti (I live permanently in the 50's & 60's), these are the cards I made. Hope you like them.


I have just recently joined the Bellaholics Group on Yahoo. Looks like there are 'tousands and 'tousands of us and, NO, we DO NOT want help of any kind, except from our Em! She knows what we need and will see that we get it, right, Em? So, if you are a Bella fan, that's the place to be.

Well, that's all for today. I feeling tired now from all this creativity activity, so I think I'll take a nap. See y'all tomorrow!

Just Because....

Just because my children are all grown up now, doesn't mean that I "must" think of them as adults. Today my featured card is one I made for my son, Andrew, when he called to tell me that he'd been accepted into the Apprenticeship Program for "Heavy Duty Equipment Technician". "teabear" from The Stamp Shack commented on my card that she thought it was just wonderful that I still "saw" my grown son as a little boy. I hadn't realized it until I read that comment, but it's true. I'm sure this is true of a great many of mothers with grown children. While we're in the midst of teething, potty training, disciplining, laundry, picking up after them, and all of the other wonderful things involved in child-rearing, we forget that they will grow up and leave home and all we will have left will be those memories which magically transform themselves into "good times".

Anyway, this card depicts Andrew as a boy loving all those great, big trucks, diggers and cement trucks. I'm just go happy that he will be able to continue to "play" with his favourite toys and earn a healthy wage, too! Congratulations, Andrew and keep up the good work. I love you, Son.

The Little Boy stamp is one created for Victims of Violence for the "It Shouldn't Hurt to be a Child" campaign. It was created by Heather of Heather's Stamping Haven using their logo and all proceeds from the sale of this stamp are being contributed to Victims of Violence.

The trucks used were images sent to me by teabear. They are from the Construction Set offered by Close To My Heart (CTMH). Contact your local consultant for more information.

Grey's Anatomy Lovers! Who are YOU?

Every once in a while, I check out abc.com to read about my favourite TV show, Grey's Anatomy. This is what I saw today. It's a quiz to find out which of the characters you are most like. C'mon, give it a try and then share the results here. According to the quiz, I'm most like Miranda. I don't see it myself, but that's what the quiz said. Here's the link.

Yesterday I made this trifold card and just wanted to share with you. Hope you like it.

This is my attempt at the trifold card. I just love this design and find it to be so versatile. I found it at Oodabug Alley, so I just had to give it a go. Charmaine indicated in her post that she had followed the tutorial in fresh & fun after having received a card from Beate. WOW! I wish I could get cards like that sent to me.

This afternoon, I'm off to my local Michaels Arts & Crafts store to teach a scrapbooking class. Our store is very new, only opened Feb 24/07, and it's taken a while for word to get out about classes. I'm excited to give this teaching thing a try. Wish me luck! I'll post tomorrow to let you know how it went and if I'll do it again. Have a great day, everyone.

I made a Stationery Folder!

I saw this fabulous tutorial on Oodabug Alley blog by Charmaine. It turned out wonderfully. Look!



I'm going to make one of these Stationery Folders for all card packs I give as gifts. I think they look so nice and neat. And, my family and friends love the personalized look, at least Elizabeth did. This is the first one I've made. A big "THANK YOU" to Charmaine (CharmWarm) on SCS.

I think this is one of the things I love most about having discovered the world of blogging. Crafters are so willing to share their ideas and take the time to write tutorials. If I ever create something original, I'll certainly post a tutorial for others.

I just love Secret-type stuff!

Over here at The Stamp Shack, I'm in a swap known as Secret Stampin' Fools. There are 12 players and we have been matched up with one person as our "Secret Stampin' Fool" pal. I received a lovely card last week and inside that card were several images. My "friend" marked one of them as having embossed it using different colours and hoped that I liked it. Well, I did and this is the card I made using that image. In looking at this card now, I should have added some patterned paper to it, but, as I've heard said before, "If you want perfect, buy a Hallmark!". Thank you to my Secret Stampin' Fool friend. I can't wait to find out who you are.

Here's a card I made, also from an idea received at The Stamp Shack. Quite some time ago there was a swap hosted by Sherry, our beloved owner of "The Shack", to create cards using an imprint of our thumb. He/she is known as "Thumbody" and I just love him. He's so cute! (Apparently my thumb is a different gender to the rest of me. LOL!) He's going to become part of a package of cards I'm making for a friend of mine who recently placed an order for two, that's two, dozen cards. YIPPEE!

Well, I hope you all have a great day and are looking forward to the first day of Spring tomorrow.

Today is picture day!

My DD, Kirsten, sent me these photos yesterday of Owen. I just have to put them on here today! Owen is 9 months old now and so cute. Yes, I am biased, but I'm allowed to be as his Grandma.



In the first pic, he is outside in the garden watching his Daddy getting the garden ready for BBQ season. In the second pic, he is showing off his new shades which Auntie Sheena bought him when he was in Toronto last month. And, lastly, he seems inordinately proud of his new teeth. His "fangs" as his Mommy calls them!

I just had to share them as I'm so thrilled to get pictures of him. It makes it feel like he's not so far away. That's all for now. Enjoy!

There is soooo much blog candy out there.....

.... and all you have to do is leave a comment. I just have to share these sites with you! So, if you like the opportunity to win something, even if you don't NEED it, then here are three for you. Just tell them who sent you.

Before I tell you who they are though, one of them wanted a comment describing how you begin a creative session. Well, I don't know what came over me, but here is what I posted. In keeping with this crazy post, here's a card I made while in a 'funny' mood. Grumpabella by Stamping Bella

This is what I like to do before I start a creative session.

I stand in the middle of my room, blindfolded, spin around three times, grab the first thing I can to stop myself from falling over, and that is how I begin. Sometimes I grab a punch, my pencils (they have sharp points), I hate it when I get an open ink pad on occasion, and, if I'm really lucky, I end up with one of the hundreds of stamps I own that I still like.

That is the beginning of my creative session!

Made me start to think, what do other crafters do in order to become inspired? Please share your comments here, I just love reading them.





Okay, now for the blog candy links:

KJ's Stamp Pad

Belle Papier

Let's Get Scrappy

They are all great blogs, so enjoy! I'd wish you luck, but I wanna win!

HOW YOU UNDRESS REVEALS YOUR PERSONALITY

I found this article while perusing the CHFI website. CHFI is a Toronto radio station, and this was discussed on The Morning Show with Erin Davis and Mike Cooper.

People are usually judged by how they dress. But how about how they undress? "How a person takes off his or her clothes and what they do with those clothes can reveal quite a bit about one's personality," Dr. Jane Greer, a New York psychotherapist and author of "How Can You Do This To Me?" "These six styles of shedding your clothes can help you get to know yourself better."

The Tosser -- If you throw your clothes all over the place, you're friendly, the life of the party type. Although others may think you're a slob, you're really a happy individual who doesn't care what others think.


The Neatnik -- If you remove each piece of clothing and put it away immediately, you may believe that the best way of solving life's problem is to prevent them in the first place. You're dependable, sometimes intense, and you know how to pay attention.

The Dabbler -- If you take off your pants and get around to taking off your skirt 10 minutes later, you are a deep thinker who ponders the meaning of life. You don't like being rushed. Having free time is most important.

The Sprinter -- If you shed your clothing as quickly as possible, you're a busy person who often feels stressed. However, you may also be a passionate person who wants to change quickly in order to have fun.

The Jeweller -- If you take off your jewellery before anything else, you're a warm and sensitive person. You are considerate and romantic, thoughtful and a good friend.

The Adventurer -- If you don't have an undressing routine, or you never do it the same way twice, bravo. You enjoy a broad range of activities and take risks. You're a sociable, fun-loving individual.

Me, well, I have tendencies of three of the groups listed. I'm part Tosser, part Jeweller with an occasional Dabbler thrown in for good measure. I always take off my wedding/engagement rings first. I learned early on in my marriage that I move my arms sometimes wildly in my sleep, according to DH that is, and one night I almost took out his good eye with the sharp point of the diamond on my engagement ring. After that, he requested I remove my rings before climbing into bed. I always remove any other jewellery I may be wearing first, before taking off the rest of my clothes. It only makes sense because who wants to lose an earring or get snagged on a necklace, right? Then, The Tosser part of me just flings my clothes over the dresser or chair, sometimes the floor, until morning. I'm the one who tidys up anyway, so I feel I can do what I want with my clothes. No one is going to pick up after me I can tell you!

However, if I were wearing a gown such as is pictured in this post, I would probably take great care and hang it up again in the closet. This card features one of the Vegetable Couture dress stamps by The Lockhart Stamp Company. These are wonderful stamps and the creator, Karen Lockhart, has many wonderful stamps on her website. Click on the link to visit her site to see for yourself.

A Quiz for YOU!

You Are Sunrise

You enjoy living a slow, fulfilling life. You enjoy living every moment, no matter how ordinary. You are a person of reflection and meditation. You start and end every day by looking inward. Caring and giving, you enjoy making people happy. You're often cooking for friends or buying them gifts. All in all, you know how to love life for what it is - not for how it should be.

What Time Of Day Are You?

WINNER OF THE BLOG CANDY IS.....

The choosing of the winner was done completely scientifically. I asked my DH to pick a number between 1 - 28 and he chose 14. Therefore, the winner is...drumroll please......doverdi.

As it happens, I was recently in a swap with doverdi as the hostess, so I have your address, Diane. I hope to be getting to the Post Office tomorrow and the Blog Candy should be on it's way to you then.

Thank you to all who participated by leaving comments. As I said in the post on Friday, I have enough stuff to open a store, so come back often. Running a "give away" was lots of fun and I enjoyed reading all of your comments. You may just see a topic inspired by what you said appear in this space one day soon. Here's a pic, just to pretty up this post.

Just Cards, today!

The first card is a little 3 x 3 card. Those are so fast and easy to make. The stamp is of unknown origin. If anyone knows, please leave a comment as I would like to know. I stamped the image twice. On the second image, I coloured just the girl reading and then cut it out (very meticulously) and pop-dotted it onto the original image. I like the way it gives just that little extra ooomph to the card.

The middle one is from SU's Like it a Latte set. I'm trying to get used to picking my colours first, then coordinate the ribbons and embellishments I want to use. It's a foreign way of doing it for me, at least, but I think it's working well. Usually I just stamp and then think about stuff like that and it gives it a very helter-skelter look. I want to be more elegant, if that's possible. I got that tip from one of the blogs I read by Nicole Heady.

The card on the right is Happy Harmony by SU. I used the big button brads because with it being so blue, I thought it would be suitable for a guy card. Whaddya' think?



Of course, my day wouldn't be complete without a Bella card. Here is Imeldabella out for a little retail therapy. I made the stripes and dots myself. Aren't I clever?

The last card, so far today, is another SU set, Delight in Life. I've seen so many cards using this set on other blogs where they have cut out the larger flowers and I just love the look. It would be a lengthy list if I were to put down all the blogs where I have seen this technique used so I hope no one gets offended that I didn't credit them personally. They're everywhere. Just go blurfing and you'll see what I mean. Click on blurfing to see who created this neat word! Although I didn't actually on see it on Julie's blog, but on Debbie's blog, where credit is given for "blurfing".

That's all, so far. Don't forget to visit again this evening when I will post the winner of my Blog Candy contest. I can't wait to see who wins!

That 'green-eyed' monster has reared its ugly head!

That's it, I'm officially jealous! So, I'm going to take matters into my own hands and beat the beast back. Of what am I jealous, you might ask? And just how do I plan to beat it back is on the mind's of all who are reading this right now, I'm sure.

What's making me jealous is reading other people's blogs and seeing the interesting stuff they write about, or the gorgeous cards they display and how many comments people are leaving for the Bloggor (new word I just made up, those who read blogs will henceforth be known as Bloggees)! My plan to beat the beast back is simple. I'LL HOLD A CONTEST! All you need to do enter this contest is leave me a comment telling me how you choose your topics! Easy, right? I want to know where you get your ideas and you will be rewarded. I've got enough crafting supplies to open my own store, so as soon as this has been published, I'm going to go to my craft room and pull some stuff together. Then I'll take a picture of the goodies and come back here and post the picture. As promised, here is the picture of the goodies offered in my contest. BTW, Contest closes March 11th, 7:00 p.m. EDST. Also, feel free to post a link to the contest on your blog, too. In the meantime, Bloggees, please leave me comments regarding places to get ideas, interesting ones, of course, and that will be your entry. Here's a picture of a card I made yesterday just to make this posting a prettier one!
Thanks for looking.

My Dance Card is Full!

And no wonder! This is for a swap called Merry Go Round over at The Stamp Shack. You send six images, all the same, to the hostess. When she has them all from all the participants, everyone gets 6 different images back. Then you have to make your cards with those images.

This is one of the images I received and it just makes me think of a kinder, gentler time, when women were to be adornments on the arms of men. I can just imagine this young woman being presented to The Queen for her 18th birthday. Not only is she presented to The Queen, but all the rich, eligible batchelors of the day, in hopes that she would make a good marriage and bring a huge dowry to said batchelor. About the only thing I like about the above scenario is my card. I'm so glad that we live in a society where women are not put on display for someone's choosing so that she may live a comfortable life. We can make our own comfortable life, thank you very much! Educating our female children is the greatest thing we can do for them. I am very pleased that we live in a country where education is free to all, up to secondary school level, at any rate. And university is costly, but is an investment in their own future. Women are now welcomed into every walk of like and that is just how it should be. WOW! I didn't realize one simple image made into a card could cause such thoughts to be rolling around in my mind. But, there you go and, because this is my blog, I can write it down.

My review on a couple of UHU products

As promised, in return for some free samples of UHU products, as seen on Maria Filosa's UHU Project Blog, here is my review. I have been using the UHU Glue Roller and the UHU Creativ Scrapbookers Pen exclusively for the past week or so.
I'll discuss the Glue Roller first. This product has been used mostly on cards. I just love the ease with which it rolls, unlike some of the other adhesive rollers I've used. I can actually get it right up to the corner, it can be dragged in a curved or circular motion, it's got plenty of "sticky" to it and is not bulky. It can also be used on vellum thereby negating the need to switch back and forth between types of adhesive. It is a really great product and I would definitely purchase it for my craftroom "must have on hand" supplies.

Now to the Creativ Scrapbookers Pen. This is unique, I think. It has lots of liquid glue coming out and it truly does NOT make the paper bubble or warp. If you look at the little envelope in the picture, it was stuck together with this product and it's as smooth as a baby's bottom, for lack of a better description. No puckering anywhere, plus the paper is a vellum-type paper and it doesn't show through at all! It was also used to hold down the little pearls and gold beads on the card in the picture. It's easy to apply, goes where I want it to go, dries quickly and has great sticking power. I also used it to glue down the paper on the covers of the little accordian album I made and it was used to stick the ribbon on that album as well. So, not only is it good on paper, but will adhere fabric as well! Not too many glues do that! Am I right, ladies? Also, I have used this when adhering Cuttlebug embossed papers to cardstock. I like it because it flows into the little crannies created when embossing, so once it is placed onto the card face, it stays there because the glue makes great contact with the cardstock.

All in all, I think these two products by UHU will become "staples" in my craftroom, so I hope I will be able to find them easily. Thank you to Maria Filosa for sharing this project on her blog and thanks to UHU for designing a product that really works!

Cosmobella Goes to Paris!

What a great mail day! I received more stamps from Stamping Bella and I just couldn't wait to get them onto cardstock. The first one is Chefabella. She reminds me of my daughter, Kirsten, who went to England in 2002 to attend Le Cordon Bleu Cooking School. She received her Diplome and is now a Chef de Patisserie (pastry chef), so this is for her. Kirsten is also the proud Mama of one of the darling little boys in the slide show. Wait long enough and you will see a little fellow sticking out his tongue. That's her son, Owen. Gorgeous, isn't he? I will get many uses out of Chefabella, I'm sure. I also used the Funky Shadow, medium size, to ground her and I really, really like the look of it. It's way better than a plain oval, don't you think? I do, and that's really all that matters.




The second one is a combination of stamps from different companies. Of course, Cosmobella, well, you all know where she comes from, right? The Eiffel Tower is a stamp by justjohanna. This card, or a variation of it, will be used for a swap I'm in over at The Stamp Shack. It is being hosted by Debbie, also known as 1of2shoes. Debbie is an extremely talented lady and her use of Prismacolor Pencils is magnificent. She is also a member of the justjohanna Design Team. Naturally, because of this, I wanted to make a card that didn't require a lot of colouring, after all, I'm not nuts enough to go up against the best colourer (is that a word) that I know! So, enjoy "Cosmobella delights Paris" and think of Em, The Bella herself, doing a whirlwind tour of the City of Lights!

Tomorrow I'll be posting a review of some UHU products I have been using. So be sure to come back tomorrow and find out if they were good, or bad, in my experience. See you later.

Coffee Anyone!

Oh my, how good it feels to get back into my craft room, you know, the one with the offending guest bed in it. Just kidding, we love to have visitors and they really need to like sharing the room with my craft supplies. So far, it hasn't been a problem. But I digress -- I really wanted to show you the card I made yesterday. When I met with The Bella, I picked up the Javabellas. I love this stamp. The background paper is a template downloaded from The Stamp Shack. As members, we can download all the templates Sherry offers on her site. It makes me feel like "one" with my friends. I have one friend in particular, Hazel, who is my BFF. She and I go waaaay back and have had a solid friendship free of quarrels. All this through the raising of our children (a mine-field for falling out with friends), a divorce (mine and she has managed to stay friends with both of the parties to that marriage), and, last but not least, living several hundred miles apart for much of the time (and they say relationships can't stand long distances). As a side bar, today is Haz's birthday, so my friend, Happy Birthday to You! Over the years we have talked at LEAST once a week on the telephone. It never fails that one of us will say, "I wish we could just get together for a coffee." When we lived near each other, and I mean literally around the corner, her house was my house and vice-versa. I remember one day one of her sons arrived at my door to say my Mother had been trying to call me but the line was busy. Upon checking it out, I found my daughters were using the computer for online chatting (we had dial-up then). Hazel has been my friend and confidante for so long that we can't possibly fall out now. She could bury me with the secrets I've told her!

Anyway, I started out this post to show you my card and ended up telling you about my friend. That's okay, that's what blogs are for. I sit down and start typing and my fingers seem to be connected to my sub-conscious 'cause it's always a surprise to me what appears on the page.

Thanks for looking and come back soon.

Other Stuff

As this blog is called Barb's Card Creations & Other Stuff, today is about the 'other stuff'. As previously posted, I went to visit my children and grandsons in Toronto in mid-February. Above this post you will see a Photo Flick created through Picturetrail. Just click on any photo to see a larger version. I will leave this on for a few days because I'm so very proud of them and want to share. I had a wonderful, whirlwind visit and enjoyed just watching my grandbabies sitting on the blanket and playing with their toys. They are 7 months and 8 months and both are very active babies. I was able to feed them, change them and give them back to their mamma when the cried. Now that's what being a grandparent is all about! One night I even got to keep Owen overnight. In the middle of the night, he would wake up and babble to himself, make those beautiful little baby noises and then go back to sleep. It was a joy just to listen to him in the darkness.

The week flew by all to quickly and now I'm home again. I'm going to go make some cards now and will post the best one tomorrow. See ya' all later.

The one, er the two, the onlies, Em and Nicky

Okay, I promised pics and here they are. May I introduce you to Emily, The Bella, and Nicky, The Designerbella. Individually they are awesome, collectively they are a powerhouse.

The first to arrive at Cherished Scrapbooks was Nicky. I guess she knew me right away because I was a "new face" at the store. Nicky walked right over to me and said, "Barb?", I said yes and she gave me a big hug. Oh what a welcome. I just knew that this was going to be a fabulous couple of hours. Shortly after, Nicky's phone rang and it was Emily wanting to know who wanted tea or coffee. After the orders were placed, I just followed Nicky around the store intensely watching to see if I could discover the secret of how to choose papers! I finally decided to just buy what Nicky buys, no secret, just easy. I'll bet my bottom dollar (almost there) that our creations have no similarities whatsoever, other than the main image will be a Bella image.

It wasn't long before this tall, dark-, long-haired, stunningly beautiful woman walked into the store. I recognized Em immediately because of her curly hair. Oh yeah, and the Tim Horton's coffee cups she was sporting, too! She just grinned from ear-to-ear and after the precious passel of goodies was deposited on the table, I got the biggest hug ever. What a delight. I was speechless and tongue-tied all at the same time. I had so many things I wanted to say and I truly felt like I was in the presence of royalty. I said, "I think I should ask for your autograph". Em's response to that was a rolling of those huge dark eyes accompanied by a long sigh and, "Oh, puleeze, I change dirty diapers all day long.". I knew then and there that this lady was wonderful. There are absolutely no pretenses with Emily. She is who she is and that's it. We chatted about so many things I can barely remember. What I do know is that whenever I'm in Toronto, visiting Cherished Scrapbooks and meeting these two terrific women again will be high on my agenda for sure.

Emily told me how she started selling her stamps in this very store, but can you believe I didn't ask her how long she's been doing this. She told us her son was home with a fever, we talked about the importance of reading to our children, she showed me the card she made using her new scalloped edge stamp (just ordered one, Emily), and we looked at some stamps that would be appropriate for weddings (I ordered those as well). And, as is always the case, there was some woman-talk that will not be repeated here but will remain a fond memory to me, but it was hilarious, I can tell you.

We sat around chatting like old friends and that is truly how they made me feel. There was also another lady there, Anne Parretta. She has at least one card, possibly two, being published in The Rubber Stamper coming out soon. So look for her cards. Anne is a teacher of teachers and is highly committed to reading to youngsters. I believe her daughter is getting married soon, as is my son, so we had plenty in common. Anne is well known to Nicky and Em so conversation just flowed without any problems at all.

I finally had to leave to go back to Guelph around 3 p.m. May I just say right here that, with the exception of just looking at my beautiful grandsons, this was THE BEST few hours of my entire week. It was something I did just for me and I left there feeling like I was walking on a cloud. Just ask my kids. When I got back to Guelph, I talked non-stop about my afternoon. I pulled up The Stamping Bella site and made them all look at the stamps and telling them, "I met the lady who designs the stamps and the lady who creates the cards with these stamps!". I'm sure my kids were happy for me, but I'm sure they were also glad when I finally said I had to go to bed and get some sleep.

Well, that was my meeting with Em and Nicky. I can't wait until the next one!

Editor's Note: My DH just saw this and asked me to put in this addendum: Where it says "I'll bet my bottom dollar", it should read, "I'll bet my DH's bottom dollar". Man, I'm glad he has a sense of humour.

I'm Baaaaacccckkkk!

It feels so good to sleep in my own bed with my sickie husband. Poor man has contracted a cold while I was away visiting my family, grandchildren and, The Bella Herself, Emily. And, I was fortunate enough to meet Nicky also, The Designerbella. Both ladies are super fantastic and fun just to hang out with. I followed Nicky around the store, Cherished Scrapbooks and promised myself that whatever paper she chose, I would pick up also. I mean, if Nicky's going to use it, it must be fantastic stuff, right?

I can't begin to tell you how excited I was to meet these ladies. I couldn't even finish a sentence before going on to something else. At one point I started to say, "only Emily" and a few minutes later Nicky says, "what do you mean, only Emily". I had to think about that for a second, then remembered that my sentence was actually a dangling participle and what I was trying to say was, "only Emily has small children and needs to be closer". You see, Cherished Scrapbooks has two stores, one in Mississauga and one in Thornhill. While Mississauga store was closer to where I was staying, the Thornhill store is Emily's LSS. Nicky, please forgive me, you are equally important to me!

I also met another lady there, Ann, and she was the most awesome woman to talk to, very interesting and we had a great deal in common, I thought. We both love this craft and we talking about education and children and all kinds of stuff. What a fabulously fun afternoon. I really didn't want to leave, but neither did I want to get caught in rush-hour traffic on the highway home.

I promise to post a couple of pictures later today or tomorrow. I've still not unpacked yet and I have to take a trip to the Minnesota border store to pick up my Cuttlebug which is waiting for me there. Then I have an appointment at Michaels's Arts and Crafts store which is opening up on Saturday here in Thunder Bay. I've been hired to teach cardmaking and scrapbooking there and they want a bio on me. Believe me, it will be short as I've only been stamping and cardmaking for about a year or so. So, this is me, saying see you later with more on The Bella and Designerbella!

My Grandbabies are Gorgeous

I'm at Andrew (my son)and Sheena's apartment and he and Sheena out picking up some groceries. We're having company for lunch so I can show off my grandbabies to their great uncle who hasn't seen them yet. They are so beautiful. Both boys are sitting up and almost crawling. Jack, 7 months, gets around the floor using an inch-worm motion. Pushes his chest and belly up off the floor, dives forward and clunks down on his belly. But when he sees a toy he wants, he's determined to get it, let me tell you.

Owen was considerably jet-lagged after his flight from the UK. But he's beautiful, too. He is 8 months and has more of a little boy look, as opposed to baby look. He's quite serious little fellow, but then he came from a house with only Mummy and Daddy, to a house full of strangers, loud music, another baby and lots of goings on. He'll get used to it and will be an absolute joy to watch. Thankfully, neither of the babies made strange with Grandma. That would have broken my heart, but all I got was smiles all around and lots of cuddles. More cuddles coming today.

I'm having just the bestest ever time with my family. I'll post pictures in a couple of days. I can't wait to show you!