By Request ~ "How Do I Love You" Poem

I was asked by several people if I would share the poem that I put in my daughter's star book I posted yesterday.  The author is unknown and I changed it up a bit  -- "we" instead of "I" and changed "unhurried" to "whirlwind" (Demi does nothing slowly, unless you want her to be quick!).

~ Jen


How Do I Love You?

How do I love you?
Let me count the ways;
I love you on your very best
And very worst of days.

I love to see you laughing
And dancing in the rain;
And even if you make a mess,
I love you just the same.

I love to hear you sing,
I love to see you smile.
I love the way you take each day
In your own unhurried style.

I'm happy when you're happy.
I'm sorry when you're sad.
And even though it may not show,
I love you even when you're bad.

I love to watch you sleeping,
Tucked away in dreams.
I love to hear you whisper
All your future hopes and dreams.

I love to watch you play
And all your silly ways.
I'm sure you'll never know
How much I love you more each day.

How do I love you?
It's impossible to say;
For if I had a million days
And time enough for all the praise
I couldn't tell you all the ways
I love you.

~ Author Unknown

Celebrating Adoption ~ Day 9 of Cooking With Cricut's Every Day in May Blog-Aversary

Today is a very special day!  Not only is it Day #9 at Cooking With Cricut's Every Day in May Blog-Aversary, but it is a special day at our house.  Cooking With Cricut is having a month long Blogoversary Cele"bear"ation with postings and giveaways every day during the month of May - and each and every day there will be some kind of celebration posted!  So make sure you hop on over and check out the fun!

I am honored to be  the guest designer today and today I am celebrating adoption! I am the adoptive mother of four amazing children -- three are grown and on their own and my baby just turned seven. Each and every year we celebrate the day their adoptions were finalized. We call it their Adoption Anniversary -- I have a friend who is also an adoptive mother who calls it their "Gotcha Day." It's a big deal -- there is almost always a gift involved and a special dinner -- kind of like a second birthday. 

Today is my youngest's anniversary and this is the gift I made for her. It is called a "Star Book" and it is basically a 3D card. 

It was pretty easy to make and features pictures of my little one from the time she joined our family at three months to present as well as a poem called "How Do We Love You." 

I found the instructions for the star book over at the Splitcoast Stamper's website -- here is the link. 

 The materials for this book include:  two pieces of 4" x 4" chipboard or mat board; 7 pieces of card stock cut at 8" x 4"; 7 pieces of card stock cut at 6 1/2" x 3 1/2"; 7 pieces of card stock cut at 5 1/2" x 3"; and then whatever you want to decorate your pages.

When the book is opened it looks like a star.  If you click on the middle picture and enlarge it, you can see that the decorative part of the page is adhered only on the sides. 

Here are the details:

George & Basic Shapes -- cut all of the pages using the rectangle and sizing it to the dimensions above.  Papers used -- white card stock, card stock from DCWV Nana's Nursery - Baby Girl paper pad, and Bazzill's Lily Pond.

Accent Essentials - I used a frame and hid the inner cut using Cricut Design Studio to create my photo corners.  They measure 1 1/2" square and are cut from paper in my scrap stash.

Just Because Cards - the mats for my poem measures 2 1/4" w by 2 1/2" h.  It is cut from plain white card stock and I brushed the edges with a Mossy Green stamp pad.  I then ran them thru my printer.

Mother's Day 2010 - The tag on the cover of my little book measures 4" w by 2" tall and is cut from white card stock and Bazzill's Pinkini.  And it anchors my grosgrain ribbon that ties the star book closed.  The pink jewel sticker heart is by White Blossom and was purchased at Michael's

The paper on the cover of the book is by K & Co. and is called "Young Girl Flowers" and was designed by Tim Coffey.

Adoption is an amazing way to build a family. On any given day in my home state of Florida, there are approximately 850 children waiting for forever families. They are waiting for someone to love them, waiting for a place to call home. They come from varied backgrounds, circumstances, races and ethnicities. While some have specific medical, physical or emotional issues requiring special care, many do not. Some are part of sibling groups that want very much to stay together as part of a new family. Adoption isn't for everybody, but if you think it might be for you and your family, I encourage you to take a closer look.

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my extra special project today!  Make sure to leave me a comment with your blog address ~ I'd love to come visit and see what you're creating.  And don't forget to pop over to Cooking With Cricut and see what amazing freebie Melin is giving away today!!

~ Jen

Mother's Day cards

Happy Mother's Day!  I have this post scheduled to upload AFTER we leave to meet my Mom for brunch this morning -- can't have her peeking at her card early now, can we. 

The inspiration for her card came from an incredible artist from the UK named Kath.  Kath and her beautiful dog Buddy blog and craft from "The Cubbyhole."  The card was featured in this blog post and when I saw it I fell in love with the simplicity and just drop-dead gorgeous-ness of this card.  So I saved it to my inspiration file and thought of it when making my Mom's card.

Here is my take:

My card measures 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" and is made from white card stock.  The mat on the outside and inside of the card is from a Recollections paper pack.  The patterned paper is by Chatter Box and is from a line called "Scrapbook Walls".  It was part of a kit I purchased three or four  years ago. 

The hearts are from the Pink Journey cartridge and are cut at 3 1/2" w (flower heart), 2" w and 1 1/4" wide.  The mat/frame on the inside of the card was cut using Create-A-Critter and measures 4 1/2" square. 

 

A bit of pen stitching, some ribbon and a couple of buttons finished up the outside.  I also stamped "MOM" using an alphabet rubber stamp set and a sepia stamp pad. 

Some rub-ons jazzed up my greeting panel -- they are by Making Memories and are called "Doodles."

The next card was designed by our seven year old daughter for her Nana.  I asked Demi several pertinent questions when we sat down to create this card.  "What are Nana's favorite colors?"  Orange and blue.  "What are her favorite things to do?"  Bake cakes and cheer for the Gators!

Create-A-Critter, Everyday Paper Dolls, Mother's Day 2010  and the Wedding Solutions cartridge were called into action for this card!  All of the papers came from my paper stash except for the card base.  It is a Recollections card stock.  We managed to delete my file somehow shortly after cutting everything out, so I don't have measurements for you. :(

The text on the inside of the card was created using rub-on letters by Making Memories called Simply Stated Alphabet:  Heidi.  A little bit of bling, some rub-on doodles by Making Memories, a little bit of chalk, and some pen stitching finish off this super cute card.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a wonderful Sunday.

~ Jen