Guest Designing for Basic Grey

Basic Grey has long been one of my favorite scrapbooking manufactures, so I was completely thrilled when they asked me if I would be a guest designer for them this month!

They sent me big box just packed with all the many different papers and embellishments from one of their latest lines "Grand Bazaar."

(These little beauties were my favorite embellishment.)

I had a wonderful time working with their "Grand Bazaar" line. It was a great fit for some of my favorite photos of Claire.  Here is one of the layouts I completed with it and my favorite newborn photo of her. 

You can see my guest designer feature and all of the projects I created for Basic Grey by hopping over to the Basic Grey Blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Boy

My last several posts featured layout using Doodlebug's Sugar Shoppe line and today I have a couple of layouts to share using Doodlebug's boy birthday line "Hip, Hip, Hooray." I adore this line! It is perfect for little boy birthday photos, and the cute little monster washi tape and stickers are so adorable!

I was so excited that I got my hands on this line just as a mini miracle occurred and I found photos of Blake's first birthday that I thought had been lost. Blake will be 10 this year, and we thought we had lost them just after his first birthday so it's been many years since I'd even seen these photos. They turned up on a CD that was labeled as something else that I thought was unimportant--at least until I checked it out to see if I should trash it or not. Thank goodness I checked!

Anyhow, here are two layouts about his first birthday: (Side note--I can't believe how much he looks like Claire!)

This first layout is simply called Birthday Boy and is about his birthday cake smash.

The journaling reads: For many years Blake, we thought these photos of your first birthday had been lost. Amazingly though, they turned up on a mislabeled CD recently and I was so excited to see them! I loved watching the video of you poking at and daintily picking at your first birthday cake until you realized how good it tasted. Once you knew you dug in with excitement and made a real mess. I’m s glad to have these memories back! September 2005"

And this one titled "Birthday Gifts" about the presents he received that year. For some reason my photo shows this layout kind of crooked, but I promise it's straight in real life!

The journaling on this layout reads: "You received lots of fun presents for your first birthday Blake, but I think one of your favorites was the mop and broom set we picked out for you. You always liked to play with the real versions--imitating me as I cleaned--and you were very excited to have your very own miniature set! --Sept. 2005"

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Cake Smash

My last layout using the Doodlebug Sugar shoppe line was this layout about Claire actually smashing her cake. For accents I made some paper flowers from various papers in the line by punching "petals" with my triangle banner punch (Stampin' Up) and used some old glittered buttons from my stash for centers.

The journaling reads: "It was so fun to watch you Claire, dig into your first birthday cake. You daintily poked at it at first, but before long you were grabbing fistfuls of cake in order to feel the frosting squish between your fingers. You were more interested in playing with it than in eating it, but you did take several bites before the cake tipped over. I think your favorite part was all the attention you received as we all cheered you on! July 2013"

Birthday Balloons

Another layout I did using the super cute Sugar Shoppe collection from Doodlebug. I adore the papers and elements in this collection! Because of the theme of this layout I also cut out a few balloons on my Cameo using SVGs from Miss Kate Cuttables. At first I struggled with how to add the three photos with two horizontal and one being vertical to the design I had in mind. Using the paper strips to make each grouping a square solved that problem!

The journaling reads: "The morning after your birthday Claire you had just about as much fun playing with this big bunch of balloons as you did playing with your new toys! You laughed and smiled as you touched them and climbed over them! It was super cute! 7/13"

Party Time!

I have been waiting for a really cute line to come along to scrapbook Claire's first birthday photos. I knew the Sugar Shoppe line from Doodlebug was the perfect line the moment I saw it! It was a great match not only for the colors in my photo but for all the fun girly birthday embellishment in the line.

This is the first layout I did with the line.

I really enjoyed adding the enamel dots and sequins as well as cutting out my own hand drawn title on my cameo as accents. I used a simple and inexpensive VisTablet PenPad along with the free program inkscape to draw and clean up my handwritting (and save it as a svg), then I imported my svg into silhouette studio and cut it out from some of the pink patterned paper in this line.

The journaling on this layout reads: "Planning your first birthday party was so much fun for me Claire! Thanks to Pinterest I had some very cute ideas on how to do your first birthday cake smash. I had a great time making your giant cupcake, decorating the backdrop, and in picking the perfect outfit for you to wear. It was worth all the effort as you seemed to have a wonderful time with it all and I was able to capture some of my all time favorite photos of you Claire! 7/13"

Thanks for visiting!

Guest Designing for My Creative Scrapbook May Kits!

Last month I had such a good time designing for My Creative Scrapbook Kits that I decided to come back again for May. Yet again they have put out another simple beautiful creative kit and I feel so lucky to have had the chance to play with it.

Here are the four layouts I made with the kit:

The journaling reads: You kids can really have no idea how much I love to see the kindness and caring you have for each other! The way you older boys care for and help both Spencer and Claire warms my heart! And the fun that I see between both Spencer and Claire, and between Ty and Blake is one of my favorite things to watch. I love that you are friends! I hope that as you get older you will continue to be good friends and to always watch over and take care of each other. April 2014

The journaling reads: "Yes, my family is everything to me! I love each of you so much, and find so much happiness and joy in the love our family has for each other. My favorite moments are ones that we spend together doing fun activities and in just being with each other. I am so very grateful for each and every one of you! April 2014"

Journaling reads: "I just loved seeing you two girls together during Savannah’s recent visit to Texas Claire! The two of you explored the zoo, shared toys, “talked” to each other, and went down our small slide together. It was really cute to see. You two are only a few months apart in age and I hope that means that over the years you will get to be close friends. March 2014"

Journaling reads: "Spencer and Claire, you two have quite a funny relationship! Ty and Blake just adore you Claire and pretty much put up with whatever it is you are up to with a smile. Spencer loves you lots as well and frequently you play and laugh together, and are adorable as you chase each other around the house giggling. However, Spencer is not a softie for your big smile and cute face like your older brothers are. He loves you lots and finds playing with you to be lots of fun, yet he still will get upset with you if you mess up his trains, eat his food, or get into something of his that you shouldn’t. He will tattle on you and give you dirty looks, and pick you up and move you away from his stuff. Still, after all the trouble you can cause him, he will still lovingly kiss you and hug you and bring you toys. It’s clear that you two have a much more traditional sibling relationship than your adoring older brothers do with you and yet it’s also clear that Spencer loves you very much! March 2014"

Easter Bunnies

A friend and I love to get together and make small gifts we can take with us when we go and visit ladies from our church (our church calls it visit teaching). This month we decided to make these cute little bunnies from the Silhouette store (by Pebbles). The ears are made from paper by Pebbles and the embellishments are by Queen and Company. We stuffed them full of yummy chocolates! Hopefully their recipients will find them as fun to receive as we did making them!

My Creative Scrapbook Kits Guest Designer

As I posted earlier this week, I had the wonderful opportunity to guest design for My Creative Scrapbook Kits this month. They have several different types of kits available each month to kit different scrapbooking styles. I was lucky enough to work with their creative kit, which was a perfect match for my style of scrapbooking. I loved looking over their past months kits and seeing that the style of their creative kits is always consistently bright and cute, and also full of great embellishments. It's a rare thing to find a kit that always fits my style, but I'm happy to report that these do!

I'm so glad they asked me to guest design! These are the other three layouts I made with their kit this month:

Sweet Little Wildflower

The journaling reads"  “I was so excited to take you for your first bluebonnet photo shoot Claire! I?ve wanted to do that with a little girl for a long time and I finally had my chance with you! You seemed a little confused at first about what was going on when we plopped you down in the flowers, but you quickly became excited to reach out and grab a hold of them. It was really fun to carry on this Texas tradition with you! March 29th 2013” 

Pulling Up

“You have been on the go for a little while now Claire, but you have recently achieved a new feat. You started to pull up to a stand using anything and everything that is within your reach. This can include furniture, walls, or people's legs! No matter what it is you are determined to be up! March 28th 2013”

Best Day Ever

Journaling reads: “One of my favorite days with you Claire was the day we all went to Lagoon as part of our family reunion! It was your second trip to an amusement part, but your first time being old enough to go on any of the rides. You were positively thrilled to go on the small rides in the kiddie area, and you really enjoyed the carousal. Playing in the water and going down some small slides in the water park was also something you really enjoyed! I?m very happy to see that you seem to have inherited our love of rides and thrills Claire! –July 2013”

Here us a look at the Creative kit:

Be sure and check out their other three types of kits here, as well as the entire design team gallery chalk full of fabulous inspiration here.

Have a great day everyone!

Something Exciting To Share!

This past month I've been hard at work as a guest designer for My Creative Scrapbook! I was excited when they asked as I have a dear scrapbooking friend Alicia Giess, who I know is on their team and does exquisite work with their beautiful kits!

I got to play with their "Creative Kit" this month and I just loved it! I've done design work for kit companies before and I always enjoy it, but I don't always love every single thing in the kits. This time was totally different though! I love the entire kit and as I looked over their past kits I could see that their creative kit is always orientated towards playful, bright, fun, patterned paper and embellishments. Just my style! 

They posted a sneak peek of their kits yesterday and one of my layout was included, so I thought I'd share it with you today as well as a few other peeks at some of the other layouts I did.

Here are the peeks at my other three layouts.

The full reveal of the kits in on April 5th, so I'll have even more to share with you then! Happy Wednesday!

Little Miss Messy Face

I'm working hard to try and catch up with some of the early months of Claire's first year. Now that she is approaching two I think if I don't get moving fast I'll quickly forget just what she was like as a baby!

This layout is about her first taste of solid foods. It uses the very bright and fun "Beautiful Life" collection from Echo Park. There is also lots of fun enamel dots from Queen and Company. The title was cut out on my Silhouette Cameo.

The journaling reads: At six months old Claire, you were finally old enough to try your first baby food. As a family we all watched as you tasted your first bite of peaches. You were highly surprised by this new taste and your brothers found your reaction hilarious. With just a few more spoonfuls you quickly got over your surprise and ended up enjoying this new treat! Jan 4th 2013

She's On The Go!

Hi everyone! I have another layout to share today featuring the American Crafts My Girl collection. This one is all about Claire as she started to crawl. She started out slow, but it took no time at all for her to really take off.

The title was done on my Cricut Mini as were the paper hearts. The twine, Washi tape, and pearls are all by Queen and Company. The journaling reads: "Claire, you started crawling almost 2 months ago with a funny combination of an army crawl and an inch worm push forward. It was adorable, but it didn’t last long. Before we knew it you were zooming around on all fours and going practically anywhere you wanted! Now you are an expert and I think you are very leased with your ability to be mobile without any help from us! 4/30/2013"

Have a great Tuesday!

The Very First Kiss

For those of you who may not know, my youngest son Spencer is autistic and non verbal, yet he is also very loving, kind, and sweet. His autism is not classical in the sense that he is quite affectionate and craves physical touch and attention. Knowing that will help you make a little bit more sense out of the journaling on this page about the relationship he has developed with his little sister.

The papers, stickers, 3D embellishments and letters are all by American Crafts as pasrt of their "My Girl" collection. The buttons and washi tape are by Queen and Company. 

The journaling reads: "When you were first born Claire, Spencer didn’t really know what to think about you. When he came to meet you at the hospital he didn’t really understand what was going on like your older brothers did. Still, he held you for a moment and gave you this kiss on the head. Now, a year later, you two are great friends and playmates! Spencer now loves you very much and loves to kiss you. He is so patient, kind, and loving towards you, even when you are messing up his stuff. When that happens he gently picks you up under your arms and carries you carefully off to where you can’t reach his things—all the while kissing you on top of your head as if to say “I love you Claire, but please stay out of my things.” He also always makes sure that he kisses you goodnight even if you don’t really want him to. You are very lucky to have Spencer as your brother Claire! Photo July 7th 2013, Journaling Fall 2013"

Thank you for stopping by!

CHA time is my Favorite!

I really love this time of the year! The Craft and Hobby industry has their biggest trade show of the year and that means I'm usually super busy preparing for it and creating projects to be displayed at it. This year I had the wonderful privilege to do several projects as well as lots of photography for the Queen and Company booth. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and have been really looking forward to showing you what I was up to. For today I'm going to show the colleges I put together for the 5 new lines of Washi Tapes Queen and Company released this show. f you follow my blog you know how much I love and use Washi tape so I was in heaven working with these lovely new designs.

Here are the colleges I put together showcasing the new tapes:

The Darling Diva Collection

The On The Go Collection

The Magic Collection

The Summer Splash Collection

The Valentines Collection

I'll show close ups and additional projects from these line over the next week or two! These is so much to share! Thanks for visiting today!