Hello Simple and Easy Pom-Pom Monster Cards!

Hello Love Monster Cards!

I suppose it could be related to the fact that I have 3 boys, but I've always had a thing for cute monsters! So it's really no surprise that after seeing the Love Monster Kit from Queen and Company, I'm 'head over heels!'

This kit makes creating little pom-pom monsters super easy as the monster body dies not only cut out but also have embossing marks that show you exactly where to place each pom-pom. The kit also includes a whole bunch of extra strong glue dots to make adhering your pom-poms super easy!

The other little dies in the kit make ridiculously cute mouths, arms, feet, a candy heart, heart balloon, a mini heart banner, and other adorable accessories. I also love that it can be mixed and matched with the Monster Mash Kit for even more Monster options! 

The kit comes with a paper stack that that includes lots of reds, pinks, and blues which match the pom-poms perfectly!

In addition to the large pom-poms, you also have lots of small pom-poms which you can use to make a 'top layer' on your monsters for extra 'fluff'!

I love everything about this kit, but the sentiment stamps have to be my favorite item! Awesome fonts and cute sayings that can be used long after you have used up your pom-poms! 

And the best part about the kit is that once you have used up your pom-poms you can still create adorable monsters like this one I made with just the die cuts!

There is a bling add on available that I used in making these cards. It has several types of bling in colors that match the kit. I love how quick it is to pull together a card when everything matches already! 

You can learn more about the kit and see even more card examples here: 

Queen and Company Love Monster Kit

Thanks for stopping by!

Super Hero Father's Day Shakers Cards

I Just finished up some Father's Day cards for the special Dad's in my life! I'm excited to give them away tomorrow! (And I think I'm completely addicted to shaker cards now. I rarely make a card that isn't a shaker anymore, shakers are just too much fun!) 

This card was fast and easy thanks to Queen and Company's Sunburst Foam Card Kit. You just expose the adhesive on the foam, stick it down to the front of our cad, then fill it with any of their awesome toppings. I filled this one with blue Bubbles, Diamonds, and Fimo stars. The top of the foam is also self adhesive and the kit includes an acetate cover that you just stick down on top. So simple! 

I added a die cut banner and star as well ass some foam letters to spell out "DAD." Additionally I embellished the front of the shaker with some red Lollies, red and blue Pearls, and white and blue Pinwheels. 

This "Super Dad" card was created by using the diamond cut from the Cricut Once Upon A Princess cartridge and layering two different sized diamonds together to create a frame. Then I cut out the shape 10 times and glued each layer together to get enough height for the shaker. Inside the shaker are more blue Bubbles and some lighter blue Diamonds. It's fun to watch them roll around in there as you move the card!

Again, there are some red Lollies, red and blue Pearls, red Twine, and Fimo Stars as embellishments outside the shaker.

Hopefully the super guys in my live will love them!

Thanks for visiting and Happy Father's Day!

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!

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!

Sweet Little Monkey

Merry Christmas everyone!

Today I just have a quick share of a recent favorite layout of mine. Claire used to fit in this adorable monkey outfit. It really fit her personality at the time too!

The papers and stickers here are by Lilly Bee, the buttons by Basic Grey, the Washi tape and enamel dots by Queen and Company. I cut the monkey out on my Cricut using the Stork's Delivery Cartridge.

The journaling reads: Grandma bought you this cute little monkey outfit Claire just as you started to sit up. We loved it from the cute ears to the soft tail because it fit your emerging personality so perfectly! You can certainly be an adorable “little monkey.” January 2013"

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!

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!

Do Your Best

Just about a year ago, Blake turned 8 and joined the Cub Scouts as a wolf. He was pretty excited about it as he has spent the past three years watching Ty participate in Cub Scouts and he has observed just how much fun it is. Just days after his birthday he was able to participate in the annual Rain Gutter Regatta. He won several of his races and had a lot of fun. " Do You Best" is the Cub Scout Motto and I think Blake is always trying to do that so it seemed a perfect title for this layout.

The papers and stickers, tags, and flags here are by Basic Grey, and the twine, Washi Tape, Buttons, and Enamel Dots are by Basic Grey. The title was cut with my Silhouette Portrait and the stamp is by K and Co. 

The journaling reads: "One of the presents you received for your 8th birthday Blake, was a Cub Scout uniform. You modeled it for me right away. You have been excited to be Cub Scout for some time as you watched Ty go through the ranks. You were especially excited that you turned 8 just in time to participate in the Rain Gutter Regatta! Have a great time “doing your best” in Scouts Blake! --September 2012"

Have a great day!

5 Months

It's hard for me to believe that Claire is actually 15 months old! These photos seem like just yesterday!

Someday I'll have all 12 of her first year photo shoots scrapbooked, but at this rate it might be another year or two! Anyhow, here is Claire at 5 months:

The papers, buttons, and tags are by Basic Grey from their Knee-highs and Bow-ties line, Queen and Company Washi tapes and rhinestones, American Crafts large plastic flowers and letters. The ladybug was cut out on my Cricut using the Tiny Treasures cartridge. 

The journaling reads: "What a growth spurt Claire! You now weigh in at 14 lbs! You moved up to 3-6 month sized clothes, but can still wear some of your 3 month sized clothes. Your face is really starting to fill out and get that “Gerber baby look.” Everywhere I take you people come up to me and want to see you. They love your smiles and always say how beautiful and happy you are! You look super cute in your Christmas dresses at church. You met Santa and didn't holler at him. You are grasping things better and love to be in your play saucer and to have toys to hold. You still hate the car at night, but like it during the day. You seem to like music and you like to have me sing to you. You also like the “Baby Santa” DVD and sometimes I use it to get you to fall asleep. You don’t sleep through the night anymore, but you do sleep pretty well. You usually just get up once around 3-4am for a quick eat and then go straight back to sleep. You still charm everyone with your great big smiles. Your whole body smiles now as you wave your arms and kick your feet when you are excited or extra happy. You recently found your feet and often will grab and hold on to them when I change your diaper. You can roll over, but it is more of an accident than a choice. The drool is on and you are starting to soak your shirts more with drool than spit up. You are also constantly chewing on your hands and anything you can get in your mouth. You have a very strong little neck and are always trying to hold it up off the ground so you can look around. You are more patient than you used to be. You love to be held in a standing position. Dec 2012"

Have a great Friday!

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!

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!

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!