Her First Steps

Claire is at the busy age of running around everywhere and climbing on everything. She's desperately trying to get into anything she can and is quite the little mess maker! Sometimes it's hard to believe there was a time when she couldn't walk at all....

Anyhow, today's layout is from a few months back when Claire was just beginning to take her first steps. She was slow and Frankensteinish in her movements, but they were steps!

The papers and stickers here are by Pebbles, from their Love You More collection. The flowers were cut and embossed with my cuttlebug, the letters are by American Crafts, the enamel dots and Washi Tape are by Queen and Company, rotary stamps by American Crafts and K and Company. The Embossed background is by Core'dinations.

The journaling reads: "You started walking this past week Claire and we were all so excited! These photos are some of your very fist steps. You started out only going a few at a time, but that quickly turned into more! To get you to walk we would put your walker just out of reach so that you would walk to it. After just a week of that you are now choosing to try and walk all by yourself! Jun 9th 2013"

Have a happy Tuesday!

Saturday Sketches Number 2

Sorry for the late post today, the day just kind of got away from me! Anyhow, here are today's Sat. sketches. A three photo layout sketch (three photos are my favorite) and a card sketch. Enjoy!

Rodeo Hoedown

So every year our elementary schools have a hoedown around the time of the big Houston rodeo. The kids learn and practice their dances during PE and then all the parents are invited to come and watch the kids perform. The kids wear their western gear to school and have a lot of fun doing their dances for and with the guests. It's one of my favorite school days of the year. These are the photos we took before school for the 2013 hoedown.

The papers here are from the Carta Bella Giddy Up Boy collection, the awesome cow print Washi tape and copper pearls are by Queen and Co., and the chevrons, title, and accents were cut with my Cricut and Silhouette Portrait machines. The title uses the Old West and the First Few Years cartridges. The horseshoe is from the Create A Critter cartridge and the wagon wheel is from Tiny Treasures. The hexagon punch is from Creative Memories and the Border punch is by EK Success. 

The journaling reads: "I loved going to the school for this year’s hoedown day, it is a great Texas tradition and one of the best days of the school year! It was really fun having all three of you boys participating, especially since it was Spencer’s first time as a kindergartener! Each of you boys looked great in your western wear and did a fabulous job with the dances you learned. I loved having the chance to dance a little bit with each of you too! Spring 2013"

Have a great Thursday everyone!

Over She Goes!

When Claire was around 1 month old she rolled over several times. I couldn't believe it the first time as none of the boys ever accomplished that so early. I figured it had something to do with her being still right around 6lbs. There just wasn't much weight to have to move! Not long afterwards she started growing and the rolling over stopped until the time these photos were taken about 5 months later. 

The papers, stickers, large embellishments, and tags on this layout are by American Crafts from their "My Girl" line. The Washi tape, pearls and epoxy dots are by Queen and Company, the title was done on my Silhouette Portrait machine with the KG Strawberry Lemonade font. 

The journaling reads: "Just a month or so after you were born Claire you were able to roll over a couple of times. I was stunned that you could do it so early! I decided it must be because you were so small and tiny so it didn’t take much muscle. Sure enough once you passed 7lbs you couldn’t do it again until recently. It took you quite a bit of effort at first but after a week or so you got very good at it! Now you use rolling over as a means of transporting yourself all over. You have a pretty solid 8 ft radius and nothing within that radius is safe anymore! January 2013"

Thanks for visiting today!

So, Let's Talk Sketches

So, let's talk sketches for a bit. Are you a fan? Do you use them when designing a layout? I am a fan and have been since the first time Becky Higgins had a sketch in Creating Keepsakes Magazine. I use them any time I get stuck or find myself lacking creative ideas. Designing one layout based on a sketch usually gets my ideas flowing and helps me think out of the 12" x 12" box--so to speak. While I worked for Creative Memories I had the opportunity to design a hundred or so sketches for them. Because of their bankruptcy and restructuring many of them will never be used, so I thought I might start posting one or two here each Saturday in Sept/Oct as a sort of "Saturday Sketch" post. If they end up being useful to you, please post a comment at some point and I'll design some new ones as well and keep the "Saturday Sketches" coming.

So here is today's set, a 12" x 12" layout sketch and a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card sketch.

Have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

A New Favorite Layout--She's A Cutie Pie

I don't often have favorite layouts, but every now and then I make one that I'm just over the moon about. This is my recent "favorite" layout of Claire; probably because I love the photos so much!

The papers and stickers are from the Pebbles "Love You More" collection, the Washi Tape and enamel dots are by Queen and Company, and the border punch is by EK Success. The title was cut out on my Cricut Mini using the fonts from the Simply Sweet and Tiny Treasures cartridges.

The journaling reads: "Oh Miss Claire, you really are super cute! We all just adore you and we are constantly telling you just how adorable you are. Even your brothers comment daily on it! I think you have us all wrapped around your little finger!"

We Love Camping Food!

When we go camping the food is always a big part of the experience. We love to try out new Dutch Oven recipes and experiment with cooking over a camp fire. We have developed quite a few favorite camping dishes and this layout is devoted to them. 

I have been waiting for a chance to use my Campin' Critters cartridge on a layout for some time now and this was my opportunity! I cut the wolf, dutch oven, and large tag with my Cricut using that cartridge. I also cut out various tags from my Holiday Frames and Tags cartridge for the top of the layout. The papers and title stickers are by Echo Park

The journaling reads: One of my favorite parts about going camping is the opportunity to eat recipes cooked in the Dutch oven and over the campfire. We have lots of traditional favorites from roasting marshmallows, foil dinners, and Dutch oven cobbler, to more “exotic” recipes like roasted “Peeps”, Mountain Man Hash, biscuit on a stick, and molten chocolate cake. We love it all! Spring Break 2012

Happy Friday Everyone!