Time For Presents

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving. We certainly did! We spent the holiday relaxing with my parents and then headed out to Six Flags to make some good use of our season passes. I finally got to actually ride some rides (pregnancy prevented this on earlier trips this year) and we had a great time towards the end of they day riding the same roller coaster over and over again. After the fourth time we started to go and Spencer made it clear he wasn't quite done yet. For a kid who doesn't speak he certain can communicate a lot with a simple dark look! Grandma took pity on him (not hard to do considering how much she likes roller coasters) and back we went for a fifth time. Gotta love that boy! He certainly knows how to have fun!

Today I have another Scrapbook.com layout to share. This time I used some of the very fun Bella Blvd "Birthday Boy" collection to scrapbook a few photos from Blake's 8th birthday.

I cut part of my title using my Cricut and the font on the Wild Card Cartridge.

This cupcake and present were simply cut out from patterned paper and added to my layout with pop dots.

I actually pulled out some paint and a toothbrush to fling some paint onto my Queen and Co. washi tape.  I practically never do "messy" techniques on my layouts but this worked out so well I may do again in the future. Much cheaper and easier to customize the colors than with mists too. 

The journaling reads: "You are a huge Lego fan Blake, and because of that all you wanted for your 8th birthday was Lego related things. I had a lot of fun picking out Lego sets, a Lego book, and a Lego computer game for you. Based on your enthusiastic reaction to each item as you opened it, I’d say you loved them all!"

Thanks for stopping by!

Dreams You Didn't Even Know You Had

Good Monday morning to all of you! Today I have another scrapbook.com layout to share with you. I did this layout about the surprise of having a daughter after having three sons. Even today, four months after she was born, I still sometimes find myself surprised by a splash of pink in the laundry or when spotting her pink toys out of the corner of my eye. I also still have to catch myself from calling her a him--or "little buddy" instead of "little miss." We have been in 100% boy mode for so long it is still a shock that we have this precious little girl as part of our family now. Here is the layout:

I did the title for this layout on my Cricut using fonts from the Wild Card, Art Deco, Plantin SchoolBook, Simply Sweet, Country Life, Robotz, and Paper Lace cartridges.

The papers used for this layout are from October Afternoon's Woodlands collection. The brads are by Pebbles, the pearls by Queen and Company. The Bunting is a punch by Stampin' Up.

The journaling reads: "After having three boys I was quite content. I loved being a mom to just boys with all my heart. I had always thought having a daughter would be nice, but was content with waiting for granddaughters. And then we were surprised to find out that we were having another--and then we shockingly found out that it was a girl! And that was when I found out that you Claire, were a dream I didn't even know I had, but am so happy came true!"

Thanks for visiting today!

Getting To Know You

Sorry for the break between posts. We have been sick and super busy which is never a good combination, but thankfully seems to be about over. Today I have a recent layout I did for Scrapbook.com to share. These photos were taking in the hospital just after Claire was born. Marc and I were able to spend the day just marveling at our new daughter and getting to know her. 

 The papers used here are from very cute "The Sweetest Thing" line by My Mind's Eye. I just loved the colors and patterns of this line. So pretty! The title is something I cut with my Cricut. I made the title and subtitle in Cricut Craft Room using fonts on the Baby steps and Birthday Bash cartridges; I added a little texture to the title with my Cuttlebug. 

The little animals are also cut with my Cricut using the Creative Memories Stork's Delivery and Live Simply Cartridges. This little giraffe is one of my all time favorite cuts--I just think it is so cute!

The Journaling reads: "The day after you were born Claire, your dad and I were still in the hospital alone with you. It was wonderful to have so much time with just the three of us to see and get to know you a little. We tried to decide who your features came from, we marveled at your tiny fingers and toes, and we took hundreds of photos of you. I'm so glad we had this special day to welcome you into our family. 7/12"

Thanks for visiting today!

October Bella Blvd Newsletter and a Halloween Card

So, sooooooo busy lately! That means not much blogging going on even though I've been doing plenty of creating. Hopefully I'll catch up on showing what I've been up to here very soon but today I just wanted to quickly share a peek at the October Bella Blvd newsletter. I have a little something in there this month :)

Plus I want to wish you all a happy Halloween with a little Queen and Company card.

Lots of their super fun Washi Tape here as well as some of their baker'a twine, sticker, and brads. The candy corn embossing was done with my Cuttlebug.

Have a great Tuesday everyone and to those of you dealing with Sandy, my prayers are with you, stay safe!

Webster's Pages Guest Designer

Hi everyone! I recently had the super fun opportunity to do be the October guest designer for Webster's Pages! They sent me two of their beautiful lines and let me make whatever I wanted with them. I designed two layouts and three cards with the wonderful box of products they sent me.  

Here is a peek at two of the Halloween cards I made with their awesome Once Upon A Halloween line plus a little bit of Queen and Company Washi tape and baker's twine..

I added a bit of texture with my Cuttlebug.

The monsters are cut from black vinyl and are from LetteringDelights.com

You can go to their website here or over to their blog to see my other projects and read my descriptions of how they were made. Thanks so much to Webster's Pages for having me guest design this month! It was a wonderful experience!

Thanks for stopping by!

Queen and Company's Washi Tape

I just adore Washi tape, and I feel so lucky to have the privilege of designing for Queen and Company and working with all their wonderful embellishments including an amazing amount of awesome Washi Tape! I recently created this layout and card using almost no patterned paper (something really hard for me to do, the only patterned paper used is the lined notebook paper and the large yellow circle), but I made up for it with lots and lots of Queen and Company's new colors of Trendy Tape!

I used my Cricut to cut a couple of rows of circles and then filled each circle with several pieces of Washi tape that I overlapped slightly to continue the pattern and give me a wider design. I loved the little bit of added texture doing this gave my layout.

I also used my Cricut to cut out my title. The yellow letters were made by layering a couple of rows of yellow tape next to each other on white cardstock and then running the cardstock through my Cricut. I also used yellow Washi tape around the edges of my layout for a fun border.

This layout also includes lots of fun Queen and Company chipboard and buttons.

And lastly, here is a matching card I made with left over scraps from the layout. Again, no patterned paper. Those fun little travel punches were made by Creative Memories and the flower punch is by EK Success.

Thanks for visiting today!

40 Little Toes

Good Monday morning everyone and happy October 1st! I have just a moment to post here so I'm going to have to make it quick. I have a layout to share today featuring some a fun Echo Park mini line called Homemade. I used it to feature this photo of all my kiddos in a row. I still can't get over how tiny Claire is compared to her brothers!

I used my Cricut again (surprise, surprise) for the title and flowers. The title is made with some random fonts on my computer and the flowers are from the Mother's Day Bouquet cartridge. The rhinestones and tape are by Queen and Company, everything else is Echo Park.

The journaling reads: "I still often find my self marveling at the thought of us having four kids! It may not have been the original plan, yet now that we are here it is hard to picture life in any other way. I wouldn't change it for the world! 7/15/12"

Thanks for visiting today! Have a great Monday!

Little Miss Popular

Quick post today with a simple share of another layout I did recently for Scrapbook.com. This one is about just how popular Claire is with her older brothers.

I had some fun on this layout with the new Echo Park For the Record 2 papers and my Cricut.

All of the white die cut phrases are from the Creative Memories Cheerful Seasons cartridge and the title was made with the font on the Birthday Bash cartridge (wielded together and stretched in Cricut Craft Room)

The title was embossed with my Cuttlebug and the Hugs and Kisses embossing folder. The picket fence border punch is by Creative Memories, the Flower punches by EK Success, and the pennants by Close To My Heart. The bling and baker's twine are made by Queen and Co.

The journaling reads: "You are certainly popular Claire! Your brothers are always asking to hold you, feed you, and to have a turn trying to get you to smile! They love to help me out by carrying you, dressing you, and entertaining you. They are really wonderful with you, and you are very lucky to have such adoring big brothers! August 5th 2012

Thanks for visiting!

Welcome To The Creative Memories Blog Hop!!!

Hi everyone! Welcome to my little blog! If you are visiting today as part of the Creative Memories Dream blog hop then you should have arrived here after visiting the Creative Memories' Digital 411 Blog. After visiting me you should "hop" on along to design team member Cindy Liebel's blog; {Life As We Live It}. Be sure and collect the clues from each stop on the hop for a chance to win some fun prizes!

I had a really fabulous time playing with the new Dream Specialty Paper Pack and Dream Layered Stickers. I used them to create the following layout about my youngest son Spencer and how much I used to wish he would just stay little when he was a baby. The Dream line is a part of Creative Memories' partnership with the Make A Wish Foundation. 

Make-A-Wish® grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. In collaboration with Make-A-Wish, Creative Memories has developed these exclusive Dream products that can help you celebrate the wishes, hopes, dreams and achievements in your world. Each Dream product benefits Make-A-Wish with a $1 or $2 donation per purchase.

I used a lot of my favorite Creative Memories tools on this layout in addition to the Dream products. For the title and the cute little elephant I turned to my Cricut and the Creative Memories' Traveler, Stork’s Delivery and Cheerful Seasons Cartridges. I used a font on the Cheerful Seasons Cartridge for the "Just Stay" and a font from the Traveler Cartridge for the rest of the title. The Stork's Delivery Cartridge is full of all kinds of cute animals and this elephant is one of them.

I also used the Layered Stickers as accents on my page mixed in with a few hexagons made with my favorite Creative Memories Punch, the Hexagon Place 'n' Punch. To add a tiny bit more texture there are a few borders made with the Border Maker System and the Scallop Stitch Border Maker Cartridge added to the top and bottom of the layout. 

Here is a closer look at the journaling which I added to the hot air balloon after running the blue circle through my printer.

So thanks for visiting and letting me share! Again, your next stop should be to Cindy Liebel's blog.

And here is the clue from my blog:

Happy Friday everyone! Have fun on the hop!

Claire's First Smile

Not long ago miss Claire started beaming some super sweet grins at us! This is always one of my most favorite baby milestones. It marks the beginning of having an interactive relationship with each other and feels like a reward for all the long nights, diaper changes, nursing sessions, doctor visits, and months of pregnancy that precede it. Yes, I love how in one brief moment, and in one tiny smile, all of that effort seems well worth it!
With Claire her very first smile came deep in the middle of the night and it was so brief and fleeting that it made me wonder if it were real or not. I spent the next day or two coaxing her to smile again and sure enough, she did--lots of times! I raced for the camera every time, but it still took a couple more days before I finally caught one on (digital) film. Now she grins all the time and I have lots of smiley photos, but this one is still special because, well, it's the first of many, many, more!

I used more My Mind's Eye The Sweetest Thing collection for this layout again with a few scraps from my scrap box for the title and butterflies. The title was done with my Cricut with fonts from the Baby Steps and Birthday Bash Cartridges. The butterflies are also from the Baby Steps cartridge.

The pennants and clouds are punches (some of my favorite punches) by Fiskars (clouds) and Stampin' Up (pennants). I embossed some of them with my Cuttlebug and the Herringbone and Candy Cane Stripes Embossing folders.

The buttons are by Pebbles and American Crafts, and the twine and pearls are by Queen and Company. I also used a bit of a hexagon cut from the Teresa Collins Basics digital cartridge under the patterned papers on this layout for a bit of added texture.

The journaling reads: "As you approached six weeks old Claire, I started doing everything I could to get you to smile at me. It took a few days of me acting like quite a fool, but just before you turned seven weeks old you gave me your first tiny smile in the middle of the night. It instantly melted mine and I have loved every grin and beaming smile since! August 24th 2012"

And on a little side note, those of us on the Creative Memories design team are getting really excited about our blog hop coming up this Friday! I've created a layout I'm really excited about as part of the hop and I hope you will come and visit on Friday and complete the hop to see lots of exciting projects from the team and also have a chance to win some really awesome prizes!

Thanks for visiting today!

1 Month Old

I love looking at Claire's 2 month photos and seeing how much she has grown these past few weeks. She had some trouble with weight gain initially and weighed not much more then she did at birth at 1 month of age. Since then she has grown like a weed and looks so different from this photo taken at 4 weeks of age.

You can see how tiny her head was if you look close you can see Marc's thumb next to her head! Now she is bigger and has super cute chubby cheeks!

I used the new My Mind's Eye The Sweetest Thing collection for this layout with a few scraps from my scrap box for some of the Cricut cuts.

 The baby themed cuts and the title on this layout come from the Baby Steps Cartridge, the rosette from the Ribbons and Rosettes Cartridge, the flowers from the Mother's Day Bouquet Cartridge and the #1's from the Birthday Bash cartridge.

I also dusted off my sewing machine for a few accents on this layout. I used to do that all the time and then got out of the habit. It felt good to use it again and I'll have to remember to pull it out more often.

The journaling reads: "Sweet little Claire, here are just a few of my observations of you at 1 month old.  You are still so tiny, weighing just under 7 ½ lbs so we have started pumping and bottle feeding to help you gain weight faster. You still spit up all the time! To help you with that we often have you sleep in your car seat to help you be upright and spit up less. You and I still spend a good part of the night awake, I read books on my iPod and cuddle with you while you take your sweet time eating. You are still a tiny bit jaundiced, but that is rapidly improving. Hair bands don’t fit your tiny head so I have to make them smaller. You needed more newborn clothes so for the first time ever I went and bought more newborn sizes, I also had to buy several packages of newborn diapers."

Thanks for visiting today!