Just needed a little break

I'm so sorry to have disappeared for so long...I'm afraid that frequently happens around this time of year. It often starts (like this year) by getting sick and then having that sickness travel though the whole family. Then of course the craziness of the holidays (and we have a couple of birthdays in there as well), plus this year my computer completely blew up...complete with a smoking (and totally ruined) hard drive. (Back up your files friends--I was really glad I had 90% of my stuff backed up, including all of my family photos!) So recovering from all of that simply added up to taking a break from my bolg. 

Today however I'm back in the swing of things and I have a simple and fun Christmas project to share:

It's just a simple frame from Walmart that I added six stockings too, one for each of us. The stockings and holly leaves shapes are SVGs from Miss Kate Cuttables. The papers are some older ones I had in my stash from Chatterbox. The script along the bottom was cut on my Silhouette Portrait along with the "Lavanderia" font.  

I embossed my stockings with my Cuttlebug, and the "Dotted Swiss" and "Holly Ribbons" embossing folders. I used Queen and Company red pearls for my holly berries and Queen and Co. Red Washi tape to hang them across my frame. 

So thanks for coming back and stopping by my little blog again! I hope you have a wonderful day!

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!

I TOADally Love You

"Hoppy" Friday everyone!

One quick card share today, this one along the same design lines as the baby card I shared the other day. I made this one for my sweet husband a little while back. It  uses a cute frog cut and sentiment from Lettering Delights that I cut out with my Silhouette Portrait. The set is called Frogs and Kisses.

The papers are by Echo Park, Washi tape and baker's twine by Queen and Co. I also used a Cuttlebug embossing folder and a border punch by EK Success to add a little more texture.

I hope you all have a TOADlly great weekend!

Your First Day

Another older layout to share again featuring the awesomeness that is the My Girl line from My Mind's Eye. I just used this line to pieces! It is definitely one of my all time favorite collections!

In  addition to the My Girl collection there is some Queen and Company Washi tape and buttons, as well as some American Crafts Thickers for the title. I gave my Fiskars cloud punches and my Cuttlebug a workout too.

The journaling reads: Claire, one of the things I remember about our first 24 hours together was how alert you were. Your brothers promptly feel asleep after delivery, but not you. You wanted to look around at everything! I also remember marveling at how tiny you were and how cute you looked wearing the tiny pink bow the nurse stuck to your head. I also adored taking hundreds of photos of you and I remember how sweet it was to hold you in my arms throughout most of your first night. Mostly I remember how glad I was to finally have you here! July 2012"

Happy Monday everyone!

Brand Spankin' New

I love the "moment of meeting" when the nurse places your baby into your arms for the very first time! I feel so lucky to live in an age where we have the ability to have photos of these moments! For my mother, grandmother's, great-grandmother's, etc. they only have these moments etched on their hearts, thankfully I have that as well as video and photographs, and even a scrapbook layout. These are Claire's first moments in our arms.

The journaling reads: "These are the very first photos we have of you Claire! We took them just moments after you were born while we each got a chance to hold you. I loved seeing you with your eyes open! You were so alert, and you seemed just as interested in meeting us as we were to meet you! Welcome to our family Claire!"

The Echo Park Bundle of Joy collection was perfect for these photos! I used my Silhouette Portrait to cut out my title and journaling spot. (I created the journaling spot in my Creative Memories' StoryBook Creator software).

 I also added Queen and Co. Baker's twine and pearls, and some stamping with some American Crafts and K and Co. stamps. Thanks for visiting today!

Going Home Outfit

I'm trying to catch up on some older layouts and get this blog of mine updated with all of my current projects--so for awhile I'll have posts every weekday--and after I catch up I'll try to be better at posting several times a week!

The journaling on this one pretty much says it all, so rather than repeat it I'll just post it at the top this time: "I have always loved shopping for a going home outfit. There is something about it that makes everything feel so much more real! I picked out this ladybug onesie for you Claire because I was so excited to have something pink with ruffles on the sleeves and on the bum! I loved dressing you for the first time in it—and you looked adorable! July 8th 2012"

Lots of Echo Parks "Sweet Girl" line here. I cut the title out on my Silhouette Portrait and added some Queen and Co. Washi tape, baker's twine, buttons, and mini rhinestones. Lots of Cuttlebug embossing on this as well as stamping with my K and Co. Smash date stamp. The butterfly stamp is by Martha Stewart.

Thanks for visiting!

Lego Aces High

Aces High is a computer flight simulator that the males in my extended family find quite fun. They like to fly together as a group, reenacting flight missions from WWII. Over the past couple of years my boys have become old enough to participate and enjoy the male bonding that goes on during these missions. After the most recent gathering with their grandpa, Blake decided to immortalize their fun in a Lego rendition of his favorite parts of the simulation. He created an airplane, tank, and ground gunner. All his own designs!

I used the Echo Park "All About A Boy" line for this layout. I cut out the airplane and tank using my Cricut and the Art Deco and Boys Will Be Boys cartridges. The title was done with my Silhouette Portrait using the font airstream, and an alphabet from Kerri Bradford Studio--Weathered Door. Some Queen and Co Washi Tape, some Cuttlebug embossing, and some small punched airplanes (Creative Memories) finishes off the layout. 

The journaling reads: "Blake you love to “fly” with grandpa when you do Aces High together on the computer. One day you decided to build a Lego version of your favorite part of the simulator. You designed your own airplane, tank, and ground gunner. I was blown away by your creativity and ability to turn what you did with grandpa into a Lego creation. I love your creativity Blake! Fall 2012"

Have a happy Monday everyone!

New Queen and Company for Summer CHA 2013

I have had such a great time this past week playing with Queen and Co's new releases. Wendy has put together some really amazing collections of new Washi tape and Candy Shop embellishments! Here are the projects I made for her trade show booth:

These Christmas projects feature Queen and Co.'s new Christmas Washi tapes. 

I cut apart 6 of the Queen and Co.'s paper drinking straws for the border at the bottom. The journaling on this layout reads: “Many months before you were even born Claire, Grandma found this cute Santa dress for you. I couldn't wait to put it on you and take holiday photos! You wore this outfit for our traditional Christmas Eve festivities and you I thought you were the cutest little Santa?s helper ever! Christmas 2012”

Queen and Co.'s new Halloween Washi tapes are also super cute! I think this card turned out to be my favorite project of the bunch. I'm not sure if that is because I love Halloween and candy or because orange is my favorite color. Most likely some combination of the three. 

The candy corn embossing folder if one of my favorite Cuttlebug folders!

 The cute little ghost washi tape inspired me to put eyes on my washi tape banner. 

The journaling here reads: "For your first Halloween Claire you were the most adorable little witch! I got the idea to have you go as a witch from this hat I purchased many years ago when I was taking photos of newborns. Even through I stopped photographing newborns I held on to this hat just in case I ever needed it. And I am so glad that I did! It was a perfect fit for you and inspired the rest of your super cute ensemble. You certainly brought lots of smiles to many people in this outfit! –Halloween 2012”

Animal print Washi tapes are also being released! I had fun with the Zebra print tape here:

 And I used all the different animal prints along with my Cricut to cut out fun animals for this zoo layout. I used the cartridges Noah's ABC's (tiger), and Create a Critter (giraffe, gator) for the animals. 

The journaling reads: "We had so much fun visiting the Houston Zoo this spring! We have been many times before, but this time we got to see the new African Forest that they recently opened there! You boys thought that getting a better view of the elephants, giraffes, and rhinos was lots of fun; however, you all agreed that seeing the monkey pulling nectar out of the giant ant hill was the most fascinating part of the day! Spring 2011”

You can get a good look at all the wonderful products being released by Queen and Co this show by checking out their blog here. 

Thanks for visiting today!

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!

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!

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!

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!