JAMSquared

Author Archives: Jennifer

Summer Sunshine

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I had grand intentions to make spring/Easter cards to send to an immediate portion of my large circle of family and friends. Considering, it is now July and you haven’t seen a spring card grace my blog with its presence, you would be correct in assuming my intention did not come to fruition.  I decided instead to make summer cards and save the spring card idea for next year. I made 14 of the following card. These were quick to come together and I made them the last time I stamped at my friend Lori‘s. We’re getting together again this Sunday, so be on the lookout for a card or two Sunday evening or sometime next week.

Sending You Sunshine

Sending You Sunshine

Stamps: A Muse Clouds, Waves, Sending You Sunshine; Hero Arts Clear Design August (sun)
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Baja Breeze, Summer Sun
Ink:  Stampin’ Up Tempting Turquoise, Summer Sun
Accessories:  Inkssentials Glossy Accents

Baby JAM Update

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James and I have made great strides in preparing for Baby JAM. We have purchased the nursery furniture and it will arrive soon. The room is going to have a rainforest theme (similar to my initial thoughts of a jungle, but with no elephant). Once the furniture arrives and we put it together and start decorating, I’ll post pictures of the room, but for now, you’ll have to settle for a picture of the bedding we chose.

Fisher Price Rainforest Bedding

Fisher Price Rainforest Bedding

It’s amazing to think that we’re at week 26 and in another 14 weeks, she’ll be here. Wow, the time is flying. At my last appointment (week 24), I had gained 6 pounds since the beginning of the pregnancy, all of which had been gained between weeks 20 and 24. She is a very active baby as I feel her kicking quite frequently with her most active in the evenings. We went and saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (which was excellent btw) at the IMAX theater last Wednesday night and she was kicking throughout the entire movie. I guess because of the loudness of the movie.

I feel like I’m actually looking like a pregnant woman, but I don’t feel like I’m one of those super cute pregnant women you see. Maybe it’s just my hormones making me feel that way. I’ll let you judge. Below are the next three installments of my biweekly photo shoots. James is a pretty good photographer when he actually has the camera. See this post for the previous three installments.

Week 22

Week 22

Week 24

Week 24

Week 26

Week 26

I know a lot of people are curious if we have decided on a name yet. We’ve decided that Baby JAM’s middle name is going to be Ann since I’m Jennifer Ann, my Mom is Mary Ann and James’ Mom is Olivia Ann. However, we still haven’t decided on a first name, but we have a few in the running.  Hopefully, with the help of baby name book I purchased, we’ll have decided by the time she arrives.

A Baby Shower and Beany Bling

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Recently, James and I attended a couples baby shower for my brother Jason and his wife Julia. Their baby is due August 9th.

To prepare for the shower, I started shopping quite a while back. In fact, back in February while I was at Target for some other reason, I was browsing the baby section and came across this adorable little pink dress with stars on it and two-tone sleeves. I knew this was perfect for Jason and Julia’s baby, so I bought it. Then I asked my good friend, Jillan, owner-extraordinaire of Beany Bling, for advice on fashion accessories. Beany Bling was born when Jillan’s daughter was born a little over two years ago. She makes leg warmers and hair-bows to go with any outfit. The hair-bows can be purchased with cloth headbands that don’t pinch at the baby’s head for those hairless babies. The headbands are pretty neat in that you can interchange the bow and get multiple looks with the same headband. The below picture is the outfit with the leg warmers and matching bow. I also couldn’t resist this cute little brown and pink bow so hopefully Julia has another outfit or two that will coordinate with it.

Outfit with Beany Bling

Outfit with Beany Bling

The idea for the second part of the gift was born when I read this post at Cool Mom Picks. However, I wanted to put together my own labor delivery bag for Julia. So I bought the diaper bag she registered for and then I bought the following items to put in it.

Another item I had thought about including was Preggie Pops, but I didn’t end up remembering to look for them at Wal-greens. Now, Julia has a number of recommended items for her labor recovery process in one convenient location. I’ve since then bought the stretch oil for myself and it smells and works great.

The shower was a lot of fun. It was held at Julia’s Dad’s house and was hosted by her Dad’s friend who lives out of town. The light dinner included these little smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches that were utterly tasty. We played a game where we had to guess the flavor of baby food. James being the picky eater that he is declined to play, but I had fun. Joe and Sara, two of Jason and Julia’s friends who organized the game, bought 8 different flavors of baby food, some of which were combo flavors such as Pineapple, Ham & Rice. Then we were to taste-test and write down what we thought they were. I didn’t win, but I got half correct, so I feel that I did pretty decent.

Brian and Sarah

Brian and Sarah

Julia Opening a Gift

Julia Opening a Gift

Jason Opening a Gift

Jason Opening a Gift

Siblings Sarah, Jason and Jennifer

Siblings Sarah, Jason and Jennifer

Joe and Sara

Joe and Sara

Father’s Day Cards

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So Sunday, a week from yesterday, I got together with my friend Lori to make cards. I always enjoy getting together with Lori since we have a nice chat while stamping. Plus, this time she fed me chocolate chip cookies.

I made the following three father’s day cards plus one other design that I will show in a later post. The first two cards utilize the same concept, but different designer paper. One for my Dad in a blue color scheme and one for James’ Dad in a green color scheme. Lori was nice enough to hook me up with some designer paper when my original paper plan for one of them didn’t pan out. The 3rd card is the card I gave to James as the daddy-to-be. I also gave him some M&M Premiums Mint Chocolate candies that I picked up when I went to HEB on Saturday with my sister so she could get her HEB fix while she was in town.

Father's Day Card for my Dad

Father's Day Card for my Dad

Stamps: Hero Arts Clear Design June (World’s Best Dad)
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Night of Navy
Designer Paper: Stampin’ Up Prestwick
Ink:  Stampin’ Up Night of Navy
Accessories:  Inkssentials Glossy Accents, dimensionals

Father's Day Card for James Dad

Father's Day Card for James' Dad

Stamps: Hero Arts Clear Design June (World’s Best Dad)
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Always Artichoke
Designer Paper: Stampin’ Up To the Nines Speciality
Ink:  Stampin’ Up Always Artichoke
Accessories:  Inkssentials Glossy Accents, dimensionals

Father's Day Card for James

Father's Day Card for James

Stamps: Stampendous Cling Changito Piggback
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Night of Navy, Baja Breeze
Ink:  Stazon Jet Black, Stampin’ Up Night of Navy (edges of white cardstock)
Colored Pencils:  Stampin’ Up
Tools:  Cuttlebug Argyle Embossing Folder

Personalized Baby Note Cards

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For wedding and baby showers, I like to make personalized note cards. I leave them blank on the inside and the gift recipient can use them for thank you cards or little notes or really whatever they want to use them for. I find them to be a nice extra touch to include in my gifts. Plus they are simple. All I do is buy packages of blank cards (ivory or white) with envelopes at Hobby Lobby or Michaels when they’re on sale. Then I decide on the color scheme. I then set up the name in Microsoft Word using a font color in the chosen color scheme and run them through my color laser printer. Then I stamp little feet for a baby or an image of wedded bliss for a bridal shower and I’m done.

The set below was made for Margie, a lady who works at my office who recently had a baby girl. I didn’t end up giving her the baby gift until after the baby was born. Partly because I am a slacker, as most people who know me know, and partly because it took her a while to decide on a name for the baby. Oh well, it worked for me, because I got to drop the gift off at her house and hold the precious 5-day old tiny Reyna. Holding her made me super excited to hold my Baby JAM once she arrives. I apologize for the poor lighting in the photo, but it was taken late at night and I had hoped to get the cards and gift to Margie before the baby arrived, but Reyna came 2 weeks early.

Personalized Baby Note Cards

Personalized Baby Note Cards