I weigh a little less today :)

Yes, I weigh a little less today--about 2 pounds less as it seems that's about how much hair I had chopped off! In total there was about 12 inches cut off--which is headed for locks of love. Hopefully they will find it useful. I needed something a little bit lighter and cooler so my super friend Julie fixed me up with this cute bob. I love it :) It sure beats the wet pony tail look I've been sporting for what seems like forever!

Here is a little impromptu self portrait. My tripod is broken so on the floor was my only choice for this photo.

This has to be a short post tonight--I've got a million things to do! :)

How about some scrapbooking sweetness?

I was asked by the awesome Courtney Walsh to do some freelance work for Chatterbox's booth at CHA about a month ago :) I think I smiled from ear to ear for a full day after reading her email because--as anyone who knows my scrapbooking obsessions can attest--Chatterbox has been my long time absolute favorite manufacturer. I was really excited about the assignments I was given, and even more excited about the beautiful, rich, and simply drop dead gorgeous box of products I was shipped! Creating with all that yummyness was so much fun! Take a look:

My assignments were to

1. Create a layout featuring their Chocolate Artsy.licious line:

This is a layout about a very dear family that lives near us. We had a chance to go out to the bluebonnet fields here in Texas together a few months back and take some photos. I plan to have this photo enlarged for our living room wall, along with a cool frame and quote about friendship that goes with it :)

2. Create a 12x12 layout, 8x8 layout, and card (Baby boy themed) using their Peacock, Alabaster, and Willow Artsy.licious lines:

I know a thing or 2 about baby boys--having had 3 of them--so this assignment was lots of fun! I kind of went to town with the circles on this one--and tying all that floss through all the buttons took more time than I'd care to admit, but I was very happy with the amount of texture it gave the layout. And don't you just love the font of this chipboard? I think I used just about all the letters on the sheet with my assignments :)

This one is an 8x8, but of course blogger makes it look the same size as the 12x12. Love this photo of Ty and Spencer. Ty really does love him a ton!

And this one is a 6x6 card. Nothing fancy, but I had fun making it :)

3. Do an accordion album featuring the Together line:

This was a super fun project. I had all these photos of Spencer getting all messy in his high chair over the past few months. They just seemed perfect for this little assignment.

The poem reads:

"If you give this kid a cookie,

He's going to stuff his face.

He will smear it in the carpet,

He will think it is a race!

He will throw the leftovers on the floor,

And laugh at your reaction.

He will need a bath and change of clothes,

A big mess brings him satisfaction!

A big thank you to Marc--(Who is actually a very gifted poet even though he rarely lets anyone know that)--He totally ran with the concept I gave him about the book and came up with the perfect words for it :)

4. Complete a willow gift book using the Willow Artsy.licious line and the Together line:

I took photos of my youngest son's newborn photo shoot-he was 1 week old when I took these photos--and added them to this super cute flocked mini album--along with a bunch of Artsy.licious and the new Together collection :) I had a lot of fun doing this one, and I was really glad to finally scrap all these photos! He's about to be 2 this Christmas, so it was about time! :)

5. Create a star featuring Alabaster Artsy.licious that tells why I scrapbook.

I took a wooden star and covered it with Crayola Air Dry Clay. Then added an Artsy.licious frame, letters and some of the Alabaster treasures. On the back of the star is a paragraph about why I scrapbook. :)

6. Create 4 cupcakes using Artsy.licious.

This, I think, turned out to be my favorite assignment. I had no idea what I was going to do for awhile, but after wandering the baking isle at Hobby Lobby, I knew I wanted to make them look as if they used rolled fondant, so I bought the air bake clay and some Styrofoam balls to mimic the look. I also used the clay with my decorator tips to add the look of decorative icing on the edges. I topped all that off with some Artsy.licious brads and some small punched flowers. Here were the results:

And last but not least, here is a layout I did for the Chatterbox blog a few months back. It uses their Eclectique line:

I loved working with these papers! They are so funky and fun! Plus the journaling tags and the chipboard buttons are so much cooler in real life. Most of the buttons have glitter on them and the tags add just the right hint of dimension. It's just an awesome line!

Whew, so there you have it! It was a lot of fun working with such great product, but I must admit it felt good to get some more sleep once I was done! Tight deadlines can really help to push my creativity, but they do nothing for my beauty sleep! :

Be sure and check out the Chatterbox blog for a chance to win some of their new products. Courtney will be picking a winner from the comments left on the blog on Wed. So be sure to leave a comment before then :)

A newborn session and some scrapbooking sneek peeks

I had a really fun time shooting this new little guy. His parents were full of good ideas and were brave enough to let me take their naked 1 week old son outside to better lighting. I love brave parents--I always get great and fun results when my subjects are game for something a little bit different :)





Here's a peek at their session:





















































Isn't this cute? They got it off a teddy bear :)







And here is a peek at a new Melissa Frances line debuting at CHA this week. It's called Little Boy Blue--and as a mother of three little boys, you know I was excited about this line :)

Be sure to check out the entire line on the Melissa Frances Blog! If you leave a comment there, you will have a chance to win the entire line before it hits stores :D