Babies Blog hop! - Crafting with Dragonflies

WE are having a BLOG HOP as well as a Challenge this fortnight!

This year our theme is - BABIES!

We have some wonderful sponsors who have generously donated lots of goodies for you and our wonderful Hilde also has a freebie to give to you to use for the challenge if you want to - go to the main blog for this.

Our Sponsors for this Blog Hop are listed below but the twist is that they are associated with each individual member of the Design Team's blogs, so you need to go to their blog and follow the instructions to be in a chance to win. There is a prize for the Challenge winner as well and our normal TOP THREE awards. You do not have to go in the BLOG HOP as well as the Challenge, but what else have you to do with your time? Of course you will enter both!! However, you do have to be a member of this blog to be eligible for the Challenge and Blog Hop prizes. 

OUR WONDERFUL SPONSORS

Sponsors: Digistamps4Joy Prize: 

$10 to spend in the store  - on Tania's blog

Sami Stamps Prize:

 

$12 to spend in the store  - Judith has this one

Flourish with a Bling Prize:

 

$15 dollar to spend in the store - you will find this one on Ina's blog

Handmade Harbour prize: 

six digis for the winner  - hiding away on CG's blog

Pickled Potpourri prize: 

 $7 to spend in the store  -  Hilde has charge of this

Meljens prize: four digis for the winner  

 

Sammy, Susan and Wynn are being sponsored by Meljen

Wynn and I are both offering a surprise prize of our own!

The way you can hop is by thinking of numbers! Go to each Design Team's blog, read the clues and THINK OF NUMBERS while you do this! Remember - our theme is BABIES, so what do Babies have related to NUMBERS?

There may be a small amount of poetry in there........but I am sure you will be able to work that all out! You collect a word or maybe a whole phrase from each blog along the hop and you need to make sure that

1. You leave a comment on a blog to be eligible for that blog's prize
2. You DON'T mention the word/phrase in your comment on that blog!

Leave a comment on the main blog as well as entering your own Baby themed project into the Challenge on the  Crafting with Dragonflies . Also follow the instructions on the main blog to finish off the hop from there. 

Happy Hopping Folks

Order of the HOP

Crafting with Dragonflies

Tania

Hilde

Wynn

Sammy   You are here!

CG

Judith

Ina
Susan

Crafting with Dragonflies 

Now then... Now that all the technical stuff is out of the way, I shall share some pictures, a story or two and, oh yes, a card with you!

First of all, I'd like to introduce you all to my daughter, Kayleigh. Not as she is now, all teenage-y and whatnot, but as she was when we first brought her home:

Adorable, wasn't she? And oh so very tiny! It was hard to imagine, nine months before, that this tiny little person would instantly become the centre of my life. but that she did!

Now, you may wonder how she came by her name? And if you'd guessed she was named after the song, believe it or not, you would be right! I fist heard Kayleigh by Marillion when I was 15 years old, and immediately decided that if I ever had a daughter, she would be called Kayleigh. It was, and still is, the most beautiful name I'd ever heard. As luck would have it, her dad turned out to be a big Marillion fan, so there was no battle over a name.

We saved the battles for our second child...

Meet Sean as a baby. And rather than the centre of my life shifting from one to another, it simply expanded to accommodate this adorable young man:

Now, had Sean been a girl, the name would again have been a simple matter. He would have been Caitlin. But as my due day grew near, we still hadn't settled on even a short list for boys names... I had my heart set on Kieran, but hubby was having none of it, and even though we'd had almost nine months to figure it out, we got to a couple of days before the birth with nada! Every time one of us came up with a name, the other would veto, and vice versa.

Then we happened to be watching The Fellowship of the Ring one evening, and hubby joked "What about Frodo?"

I recall throwing something at him, and telling him all LOTR names were out of the question. (I had a friend in high school who had the misfortune to be called Gandalf. He got teased mercilessly back then, I can only imagine how much more difficult his life became after the films came out!). 

I then thought for a moment and added "And cast names are also out... Orlando? Viggo? I think not!"

But then hubby said "What about Sean?"

Well, he had me there. I freely admit to having a weakness for Irish names (and Sean Bean! lol), and it immediately went on the list. We ended up adding a few more names over the next couple of days, but as soon as I held him for the first time, hubby and I looked at each other and said "Sean" at the same time. sometimes names just fit.

So, that's my little story (hope you kept your eyes peeled for the "magic" words!), and now finally, I can share my card!

I used the Meljens image "baby shower". 

I dug around in my stash for some baby-related goodies, and decided to not go with traditional blues or pinks, but instead with a more gender-neutral colour scheme.

So, that's it from me for today. If you managed to make it through to the end, I think you deserve a medal! However, I don't have any of those, but if you leave me a comment below, you will be in the running to win a little surprise something. And don't forget to visit the rest of the dragonflies too, as there's plenty of other chances to win, and stories and lovely makes to see!

Have a fantastic day!

Sammy-x