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!

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!

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!

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!

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!"

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!

So Much To See

One of my favorite stages of a new baby in when thy get old enough to look at and study everything around them. Claire seemed extra observant from the very start, but after a couple of months she became even more studious. These photos capture her straining to move her head so she could see her new toys from every angle possible. 

More of the fabulous My Mind's Eye "My Girl" collection here along with more Queen and Company Washi tape, baker's twine, and pearls, American Crafts Letters, and my K and Co. date stamp.

The journaling says: "Claire, you recently have begun to really study the world around you! You love to look at brightly colored objects and at people. You seem to always have a look of extreme fascination as you start to decipher your world! Looking at these toys above your car seat seems to be one of your recent favorite things to do!"

Thanks for visiting today!

He is Eleven Now

Well, he's actually closer to 12 now, but this is the layout I did a few months ago about his eleventh birthday. I'm having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that he is going to be 12 pretty soon, that he is coming into his teen years, and that he starts Jr. High next week. Honestly, seeing him reach these milestones is hitting me harder than sending him off to kindergarten did. I'm sure I'll survive. It helps that he is super excited for it all! 

In contrast 11 was easy. He was at complete ease in a great situation in his 5th grade class with wonderful teachers, he loved moving into Boy Scouts,  he was having fun with his extracurricular activities, and life seems easy and good.  All he really wanted for his birthday was a camera and some Legos....which he got. He's such an easy going kid :)

The papers here are by Bella Blvd from their very fun "Birthday Boy" line. The buttons and Washi tape are by Queen and Company, letters by Heidi Swapp and Echo Park. I drew the red star in inkscape, then converted it to an SVG file and cut it out on my Silhouette Portrait. I thinned a little red paint with some water and then poured it into a spray bottle for the paint splashes.

The journaling reads: It’s hard to believe it but you really are 11 years old now Ty! We had a good time celebrating your birthday together with your siblings and your grandparents. I think you were most excited by your new Legos and your new camera as well as knowing that you now move up from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. You were also excited to have your favorite kind of cake, cheesecake, which also happens to be my favorite kind of cake too! November 2012"

Enjoy your Wednesday!