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

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!

Tin Foil Dinners

So sorry I missed the last two days. With school starting (including an online home school program for one of my sons)  things have just been crazy around here. I'm back today though with a fun camping layout to share. 

I grew up in a family that camped a lot! Living not to far from the Sierra Nevada mountains made it fairly easy for us to escape the summer heat and spend a week up in the beautiful forested mountains of places like Yosemite and Lassen Volcanic National Park. One of the staples of nearly every camping trip was eating "tin foil," or "hobo" dinners. So even though I don't have mountains to camp in with my own kids, (Texas is rather on the flat side) we still do go camping and we almost always have our traditional "tin foil dinners." 

The new Echo Park "Happy Camper" line was a perfect fit for these photos. just the right mix of "outdoorsy" and yet still bright and fun colors.

I've also got some Queen and Company brads and Washi tape here as well as some more stamping with my date and rotary phrase stamps by K and Co and American Crafts.

The journaling reads: "I suppose these are actually aluminum foil dinners but I grew up calling them "hobo" or “tin” foil dinners! Whatever you call them they are a super yummy hamburger, potatoes, butter and veggie mix. They are a camping family favorite and no trip would be complete without them!"

Thanks for visiting today!

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!

2 Silly Jokers

From knock-knock and crossing the road, to what-do-you-get-if-you-cross jokes--we have heard them all around here the past year or so. Blake and Ty have entered the age of loving everything to do with telling jokes! Most of the time they are pretty funny, and you are both getting better at making up your own. 

This layout uses the "Boy Crazy" line from My Mind's Eye. It's a favorite of mine--no suprise with three boys in the house! It also uses Some Queen and Co. Washi tape and buttons, Some boarder punches (Hexagon one from Creative Memories--Zig-Zag from EK Success), and American Crafts, Echo Park, and Pink Paislee letters. 

The journaling reads: "You two boys just love to tell jokes! Almost daily I hear one or both of you say “Mom do you want to hear a joke?” Sometimes you get them from books, sometimes from school, and sometimes you make them up (they don’t always make sense though). One of my favorite ways to foster this new love is to slip jokes into your lunch boxes along with a note from me. It is always fun to hear your reaction to them when I pick you up after school! I love my two jokesters! --Spring 2013"

Have a great day!

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!

You Belong To Us

Hospital bracelets make such a powerful statement. They are the first way a baby and their parents are documented (in earthly ways) as belonging to each other.  I personally love watching them be prepared by the nurses as the time for delivery is eminent. Knowing that in just moments they will be wrapped around my baby and we will be linked together in yet another way is somehow comforting and exciting. Because of this I have always enjoyed taking photos of them and scrapbooking them. 

I too these photos of Claire while we were still in the hospital. I love that you can still see her newborn wrinkles!

The title was cut on my Silhouette Portrait using a combo of fonts and Echo Park elements. The papers and stickers are also by Echo Park from their Bundle of Joy Girl line. Date Stamp by K and Company.

There are also some Queen and Co. pearls, Washi Tape, and Baker's Twine.

The journaling reads: "There is something special and sweet to me about hospital bracelets. They are that first earthly connection that reinforces the heavenly ones and says “You belong to us.” I’m so glad you do Claire!"

Thanks for visiting today!

A Bow For Her Hair

After having the fun and joy of boys for over 10 years, I was super excited to also have the chance to explore the world of having a daughter. One of the things I was most excited for was accessories! Boys just really don't wear much of these. Girls on the other hand--especially little girls--do! I collected a pretty large stash of hair bows and bands before Claire was born and was quite eager to use them! At first all I could really use were some simple ribbon bows stuck to Claire's head with a little corn syrup. She didn't have much hair to stick a bigger clip in and her head was so tiny that the hair bands I had purchased were just too big. So we stuck mostly with the ribbon bows for about 1 to 2 months until her head got bigger.

I had a lot of fun with this layout and my Silhouette Portrait machine. I used it to cut out the speech bubbles and the arrows. The papers and stickers are by Echo Park from their Sweet Girl collection. There are also some Queen and Co.flowers and Washi tape, as well as a couple of older tags and a paper flower by American Crafts. The bows on this page are some of the actual ones she wore in the photos. 

The journaling reads: "At the hospital they put a simple white bow in your hair Claire. I loved it and I thrilled in the idea of having a chance to play with hair accessories for you! For the first month I made sure that you always had a bow stuck to your little tuffs of peach fuzz hair. I tried putting hair bands on you, but your head was so tiny that most didn't fit. Thankfully these little bows worked well! July 2012 "

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!