He is her Number 1 Fan

I have one of the kindest and sweetest 11 years old there ever was. He is a tender hearted soul with with a maturity and love for others that you just don't see much at his age. He especially adores his little sister, and she adores him right back. This began long before she was born. Ty was so unbelievable excited when he found out that we were having a surprise baby. Despite being at the age where boys are normally rather anti- girl, he wanted the baby to be a girl from the beginning. When we found out it was indeed a girl he was again super excited and he started saving up his money to buy her a doll.

After she was born he started calling her "Precious Claire," and he still calls her that now. He loves to carry her around and give her rides up on his shoulders. He can always make her laugh and smile--even when she won't do it for me. The closeness of their connection must have started before this life, it's the only way I can explain the sweet and tender connection they seem to share.

Anyhow, this layout is about the first time Ty held her. My parents brought all of the boys up to the hospital to meet Claire after she was born and I was able to take this photo of him smiling down at her. It was sweet brotherly love at first sight!

The journaling reads: "Ty, I picked you to be the first of your brothers to hold Claire. I picked you not because you are the oldest but because you were the most excited about Claire before she was born. You were super excited from the very beginning! Then when we found out the baby was going to be a girl you were “over the moon” with happiness! You have never once been anxious, worried, or jealous like I thought you might be. You have always been full of enthusiasm and joy for this moment, when you first got to see and hold your new sister. I just know you are going to be a wonderful big brother to her!"

Again, this is the Bundle of Joy Girl line from Echo Park. I mixed in a couple of older chipboard pieces from Pebbles, some Queen and Co baker's twine and pearls, and more stamping with my rotary phrase stamps from American crafts and K and Co. The title was done with my Silhouette Portrait.

These larger Chevrons running down the side were made using my EK Success corner punch. If you look close you can see this is just a whole bunch of corner punches stacked together.

I added a few accordion flowers for interest plus some smaller "chevrons" made with my Zig-Zag Border punch by Fiskars.

Thanks for vising and have a great weekend!

Dance Into Dreamland

I was super excited when Echo Park released their Bundle of Joy line at CHA this winter. It was just what I'd been saving some of my favorite newborn photos of Claire for! 

Other than some rotary date/phrase stamps (K and Co, Amy Tangerine, and Dear Lizzy) and punches (Fiskars border punch and EK Success circle punch), everything here is from the Bundle of Joy Girl line. I didn't even pull out my die cut machines for the title since I loved the dainty and elegant letter stickers that come with this line. 

The texture on my background page is actually something I did with my new 6 1/2" x 12" Damask Brocade Cuttlebug folder. I started with a plain--non textured piece of 12" x 2" white cardstock. I used the folder along with a rolling pin (because the 12x12 page is too large for the Cuttlebug machine) to get the texture all over the page. I moved the folder all over the page embossing over previous embossings several times to create a subtle texture. For the very center of the page--where the paper wouldn't fit into the folder I just put my paper over the open folder and lightly pressed the paper into the folder with my fingers.

I loved the result and will likely emboss entire background pages in this way frequently!

The journaling reads: "I love this photo of you Claire! It was my first chance to really go super girly with dressing you up! It has been so fun to have the chance to play with lots of pink! I also adore your soft dreamy expression; I hope it meant you were having “sweet dreams.”

Thanks for visiting today!

They love Lego Hero Factory

With my boys it seems just about every toy they play with is Lego related. Lego Ninjago and Lego Hero Factory are among their top favorite lines with Lego Harry Potter and Lego Star Wars coming in close as well. Creating their own designs currently trumps recreating what they made with the instructions, so lately we have had a plethora of "original" designs coming through. Each time they finish a new one they ask me to take a photo of it so that they can still remember what they made after they take it apart again. This time Ty wanted to remember this new villain he created:

Once again, this is the fun All About A Boy line from Echo Park. The fun gears are all stickers from this line and I thought they were perfect for a Lego layout. The twine, washi tape, and rhinestones are from Queen and Company, and there are a few random stamped stars from some old Chatterbox stamps I have. The border and the title were cut using my Cricut and Sure Cuts A Lot 2.0. The weathered font I used for the word "Lego" is one of my new favorite alphabets. It comes from Kerri Bradford Studio. I love this alphabet and I'm sure you will see more of it in the future!

The journaling reads: "Ty, you just love to build new things with your Legos! Lately you have been having lots of fun building new characters with your hero Factory Legos. -Fall 2012"

Have a great weekend!

Your First Cub-Cake

Marc and I are in our fourth year of helping make a cake for the annual Cub-Scout Blue and gold banquet. This year however, was Blake's first time! We had a lot of fun designing and making this Lego semi truck cake with him! It's our "fanciest" cake to date and I love how excited you were Blake with the final result!

(Now only 5 more years of cakes to go--we ought to be real experts by the end!)

This layout uses the very fun All About A Boy Line by Echo Park. It's a new favorite of mine and I LOVE the colors and stickers in it! Perfect for layouts of all my three boys are up to! 

I cut the the main portion of my title out directly from my background paper with my Cricut using the font on the Birthday Bash cartridge. I then backed all the letters with various papers--some of them embossed with my Cuttlebug and the Lifestyle Crafts Zig-Zag embossing folder. The white sub-title was cut on my Silhouette Portrait using the Simply Glamours font--I really like the results of die-cutting this thin and scripty font!. There is also some Queen and Company Washi Tape and buttons here.

The journaling reads: "Making your cake for your first Blue and Gold banquet was a group effort Blake! The theme was transportation so you decided you wanted to make a semi truck. You have had a fascination with them lately so we weren't surprised by this! I helped you bake the cake and then dad helped you cut the cake into the right shape. We frosted it and you helped add the wheels and the logos I cut out from frosting sheets. In the end we all had a lot of fun and it looked great! You won an award for the “Legoest” cake! Spring 2013"

Thanks for visiting today!

Your Crazy Hairstyle

Lately Spencer can frequently be found trying to "style" his hair in the bathroom sink. He thinks it is awesome and funny. It all stemmed from this incident documented on the layout below.

The journaling reads: "One morning after your bath Spencer I helped you towel dry your hair and this is how it looked afterwards—crazy! I took you into the bathroom so you could see yourself in the mirror and you thought it was so funny! Now you like to slip away and wet your hair in the bathroom sink so it will stick up funny again. You think it is an awesome hairstyle! Spring 2013"

This layout uses the Boy Crazy collection from MY Mind's Eye. This line is one of my recent favorite scrapbook lines. It's just perfect for capturing my crazy boys! There is also some Queen and Company Baker's Twine, Buttons, and Washi Tape. The title was cut out on my portrait with the Cairo font and embossed with my Cuttlebug.

Have a great Friday everyone!

Your Watermelon Dress

If you have ever been to my house then you may have seen that my powder bath is decorated with watermelon trinkets that I've collected from all over. I'm not sure why they appeal to me so much but they are a favorite thing of mine to collect. This love of mine has recently rolled over to Claire's outfits. Before she was born my mom and I went shopping together and we found some really cute clothes. One of my favorites was this little watermelon dress.  I wish I had better photos of the watermelons along the bottom of the dress part, but you can kind of see them in the bottom right photo.

I used the Echo Park Sweet Girl collection for this layout. The title was cut with my Silhouette Portrait, and the Watermelons were cut with my Cricut and the Doodlecharms cartridge. The Pearls are by Queen and Company. I used my K and Company SMASH date stamp again along with some older stamps by Cornish Heritage Farms. 

  The journaling reads "Right after we found out that you would be a girl Claire, grandma and I went shopping for girl clothes. We had a great time together looking at so many cute choices for you! One of my favorite things we bought that trip was this little watermelon onesie. Once you came you looked so sweet in it. I had you wear it again and again because I loved it so much! Summer 2012"

Thanks for coming by!

Sweet Sleep Smiles

Those first few smiles when a new baby is asleep are so precious and wonderful! They are like tiny little rewards for all the lost sleep and hard work of the first month of two with a newborn. They keep you going as you work towards the wonderful moment when you get that first "real" smile aimed truly at you! These smiles always make me wonder what babies dream about. It must be something special because Claire frequently smiled and even laughed (many weeks before she did it awake) during her sleep. Here are a few of the "sleep smiles" I captured on camera during Claire first few months.

The papers, tags, and small letter stickers used here are by October afternoon from their 9-5 line. The washi tape and pearls are by Queen and Company.

I cut the title with my Silhouette Portrait and the Simply Glamours font. Simply Glamours is one of my favorite fonts to cut out. It is thin, scripty, and beautiful. It makes a great combo with simpler fonts for titles.

I put my cloud punches (by Fiskars) to work again on this layout. They are still some of my favorite punches. I also added some white paint to an empty spray bottle, mixed in a little water and made my own white "mist."

The journaling reads: "Frequently during your first few months of life you would smile in your sleep Claire. You did this even before you would smile while awake. I loved it every time and it often made me wonder if you were dreaming of heaven and all the wonderful people you left behind there!"

Thanks for visiting today!

Such a Silly Boy!

So, I took a little time off from blogging. Sorry about that. I just needed a short break just to rest, regroup, and decide which direction I wanted to take my scrapbooking work after Creative Memories filed for bankruptcy and the department I used to design for was laid off.  It was a nice break. I had more time with my kids for all of the end of the school year craziness that always seems to hit hard in May. I also had more time just to relax, visit with friends, spend time with Marc, work on some projects around the house that needed doing, and just recharge my creative batteries for awhile. 

Now I'm feeling ready to jump back in, do some more scrapbook work, submit to publications again, and run my blog. Thanks to those of you still here and actually reading my blog--I appreciate you sticking with me!

Today I'm finally sharing this layout about Spencer and one of the funny things he randomly does. Spencer has a huge affection for anything that has letters--so it was no surprise that he really loved our game "banana grams." What was a surprise was the way he decided to stick the individual letters in between he toes one afternoon. He thought he was hilarious for thinking of it.

The papers here are again from then Echo Park Scoot collection, washi tape and buttons are from Queen and Company, and lots of the elements (and the title) were cut out on my Silhouette Portrait machine.

I really love this little machine. It's really tiny so it takes up very little space in my craft room and yet it can do so much!

The journaling on this page reads: " Spencer, you always find new ways to surprise me! This time is was by your rather unconventional use of our Banana grams game. You recently started learning your letters and so seeing you play with the letter tiles from the game was not unusual. However, seeing you suddenly decide to wedge them between your toes made me laugh out loud! You can be so silly sometimes!"

Thanks for still stopping by!