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!

Being Your Mom is Sweet!

Some days I look down at Claire (all dressed in pink and playing at my feet with a doll) and say to Marc "I still can't believe we have a girl!" After a decade of being the only girl in the house it still throws me sometimes to think that there is a mini me running around here. Our blue, green and red world of trains, cars, dinosaurs, and hot wheels is so different now that there are pink and purple dolls, princesses, castles, and fairies in the mix. I wouldn't change it for anything, but I have to admit that it still surprises me sometimes when I'm doing the laundry and I see that flash of pink in with the rest of the boy colors! One area I have not had a hard time adjusting to is having the opportunity to do more with the wonderful "girly" scrapbook products out there. This is one of my recent favorites.

These adorable papers and stickers are by Caroloee's Creations by Adornit. The acrylic flowers, pearls, and red washi tape are by Queen and Company, grey washi tape and baker's twine by Doodlebug, buttons by Basic Grey, and the title was cut out on my Silhouette Portrait. 

The journaling read: "Claire, you have no idea how excited I was to find out that I was going to have a daughter! For many years I was certain that we were only going to have boys in our family, and I was just fine with that. I love your brothers more than I can express, yet, it was a very fun surprise to find that there would indeed be mommy/daughter activities, pink clothes, dolls, dresses, and a tiny “mini me” turning our rather male dominated lifestyle upside down. Thanks for adding this fun new “girly” dimension to our home! I love being your mom Claire, and I’m so happy you joined our family! --Jan 2013

Have a great weekend!