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!

Queen and Company's Washi Tape

I just adore Washi tape, and I feel so lucky to have the privilege of designing for Queen and Company and working with all their wonderful embellishments including an amazing amount of awesome Washi Tape! I recently created this layout and card using almost no patterned paper (something really hard for me to do, the only patterned paper used is the lined notebook paper and the large yellow circle), but I made up for it with lots and lots of Queen and Company's new colors of Trendy Tape!

I used my Cricut to cut a couple of rows of circles and then filled each circle with several pieces of Washi tape that I overlapped slightly to continue the pattern and give me a wider design. I loved the little bit of added texture doing this gave my layout.

I also used my Cricut to cut out my title. The yellow letters were made by layering a couple of rows of yellow tape next to each other on white cardstock and then running the cardstock through my Cricut. I also used yellow Washi tape around the edges of my layout for a fun border.

This layout also includes lots of fun Queen and Company chipboard and buttons.

And lastly, here is a matching card I made with left over scraps from the layout. Again, no patterned paper. Those fun little travel punches were made by Creative Memories and the flower punch is by EK Success.

Thanks for visiting today!

40 Little Toes

Good Monday morning everyone and happy October 1st! I have just a moment to post here so I'm going to have to make it quick. I have a layout to share today featuring some a fun Echo Park mini line called Homemade. I used it to feature this photo of all my kiddos in a row. I still can't get over how tiny Claire is compared to her brothers!

I used my Cricut again (surprise, surprise) for the title and flowers. The title is made with some random fonts on my computer and the flowers are from the Mother's Day Bouquet cartridge. The rhinestones and tape are by Queen and Company, everything else is Echo Park.

The journaling reads: "I still often find my self marveling at the thought of us having four kids! It may not have been the original plan, yet now that we are here it is hard to picture life in any other way. I wouldn't change it for the world! 7/15/12"

Thanks for visiting today! Have a great Monday!

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!

Welcome To The Creative Memories Blog Hop!!!

Hi everyone! Welcome to my little blog! If you are visiting today as part of the Creative Memories Dream blog hop then you should have arrived here after visiting the Creative Memories' Digital 411 Blog. After visiting me you should "hop" on along to design team member Cindy Liebel's blog; {Life As We Live It}. Be sure and collect the clues from each stop on the hop for a chance to win some fun prizes!

I had a really fabulous time playing with the new Dream Specialty Paper Pack and Dream Layered Stickers. I used them to create the following layout about my youngest son Spencer and how much I used to wish he would just stay little when he was a baby. The Dream line is a part of Creative Memories' partnership with the Make A Wish Foundation. 

Make-A-Wish® grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. In collaboration with Make-A-Wish, Creative Memories has developed these exclusive Dream products that can help you celebrate the wishes, hopes, dreams and achievements in your world. Each Dream product benefits Make-A-Wish with a $1 or $2 donation per purchase.

I used a lot of my favorite Creative Memories tools on this layout in addition to the Dream products. For the title and the cute little elephant I turned to my Cricut and the Creative Memories' Traveler, Stork’s Delivery and Cheerful Seasons Cartridges. I used a font on the Cheerful Seasons Cartridge for the "Just Stay" and a font from the Traveler Cartridge for the rest of the title. The Stork's Delivery Cartridge is full of all kinds of cute animals and this elephant is one of them.

I also used the Layered Stickers as accents on my page mixed in with a few hexagons made with my favorite Creative Memories Punch, the Hexagon Place 'n' Punch. To add a tiny bit more texture there are a few borders made with the Border Maker System and the Scallop Stitch Border Maker Cartridge added to the top and bottom of the layout. 

Here is a closer look at the journaling which I added to the hot air balloon after running the blue circle through my printer.

So thanks for visiting and letting me share! Again, your next stop should be to Cindy Liebel's blog.

And here is the clue from my blog:

Happy Friday everyone! Have fun on the hop!

Claire's First Smile

Not long ago miss Claire started beaming some super sweet grins at us! This is always one of my most favorite baby milestones. It marks the beginning of having an interactive relationship with each other and feels like a reward for all the long nights, diaper changes, nursing sessions, doctor visits, and months of pregnancy that precede it. Yes, I love how in one brief moment, and in one tiny smile, all of that effort seems well worth it!
With Claire her very first smile came deep in the middle of the night and it was so brief and fleeting that it made me wonder if it were real or not. I spent the next day or two coaxing her to smile again and sure enough, she did--lots of times! I raced for the camera every time, but it still took a couple more days before I finally caught one on (digital) film. Now she grins all the time and I have lots of smiley photos, but this one is still special because, well, it's the first of many, many, more!

I used more My Mind's Eye The Sweetest Thing collection for this layout again with a few scraps from my scrap box for the title and butterflies. The title was done with my Cricut with fonts from the Baby Steps and Birthday Bash Cartridges. The butterflies are also from the Baby Steps cartridge.

The pennants and clouds are punches (some of my favorite punches) by Fiskars (clouds) and Stampin' Up (pennants). I embossed some of them with my Cuttlebug and the Herringbone and Candy Cane Stripes Embossing folders.

The buttons are by Pebbles and American Crafts, and the twine and pearls are by Queen and Company. I also used a bit of a hexagon cut from the Teresa Collins Basics digital cartridge under the patterned papers on this layout for a bit of added texture.

The journaling reads: "As you approached six weeks old Claire, I started doing everything I could to get you to smile at me. It took a few days of me acting like quite a fool, but just before you turned seven weeks old you gave me your first tiny smile in the middle of the night. It instantly melted mine and I have loved every grin and beaming smile since! August 24th 2012"

And on a little side note, those of us on the Creative Memories design team are getting really excited about our blog hop coming up this Friday! I've created a layout I'm really excited about as part of the hop and I hope you will come and visit on Friday and complete the hop to see lots of exciting projects from the team and also have a chance to win some really awesome prizes!

Thanks for visiting today!

1 Month Old

I love looking at Claire's 2 month photos and seeing how much she has grown these past few weeks. She had some trouble with weight gain initially and weighed not much more then she did at birth at 1 month of age. Since then she has grown like a weed and looks so different from this photo taken at 4 weeks of age.

You can see how tiny her head was if you look close you can see Marc's thumb next to her head! Now she is bigger and has super cute chubby cheeks!

I used the new My Mind's Eye The Sweetest Thing collection for this layout with a few scraps from my scrap box for some of the Cricut cuts.

 The baby themed cuts and the title on this layout come from the Baby Steps Cartridge, the rosette from the Ribbons and Rosettes Cartridge, the flowers from the Mother's Day Bouquet Cartridge and the #1's from the Birthday Bash cartridge.

I also dusted off my sewing machine for a few accents on this layout. I used to do that all the time and then got out of the habit. It felt good to use it again and I'll have to remember to pull it out more often.

The journaling reads: "Sweet little Claire, here are just a few of my observations of you at 1 month old.  You are still so tiny, weighing just under 7 ½ lbs so we have started pumping and bottle feeding to help you gain weight faster. You still spit up all the time! To help you with that we often have you sleep in your car seat to help you be upright and spit up less. You and I still spend a good part of the night awake, I read books on my iPod and cuddle with you while you take your sweet time eating. You are still a tiny bit jaundiced, but that is rapidly improving. Hair bands don’t fit your tiny head so I have to make them smaller. You needed more newborn clothes so for the first time ever I went and bought more newborn sizes, I also had to buy several packages of newborn diapers."

Thanks for visiting today!

It's Mini Session Time!

For all you local families:

Fall Family Mini Session Information for 2012

Hi everyone! I hope you all are enjoying the change into fall and all that it brings with it! Back to school, college football, and kids sports, etc. 

We have spent the past few weeks enjoying some football games and the smiles from miss Claire--who is now two months old!

Now we just wish the weather would think it was fall as well! :)

Thankfully by October we should finally start to enjoy some cooler temperatures -- and that means it is once again mini session time!

Here is the information for this year's mini sessions. The dates will be Sat. October 13th and Friday October 19th. I will have the following slots:

Morning sessions Sat. October 13th (call or email me for location):

8:00am

8:30am

9:00am

9:30am

10:00am

Afternoon sessions Sat. October 13th at (call or email me for location):

3:00pm

3:30pm

4:00pm

4:30pm

5:00pm

5:30pm

Afternoon sessions Friday October 19th at (call or email me for location):

4:30pm

5:00pm

5:30pm

Just a reminder, these sessions are mini sessions where my goal will be to get 1 or 2 family poses for Christmas cards etc., and 1 pose of each child. Sometimes there is time to get a shot of just the children together and just the Mom/Dad together as well. If there is time left after all of that, and you have a specific grouping or pose in mind, I have no problem attempting it! Typically a mini session will take around 20-30 minutes and will yield around 10-20 photos which will be edited and then given to you on a CD to print as you wish. The cost for these mini sessions is $30 per family. CD’s will be given out on or before November 18th.

I will begin booking on September 15th, hopefully giving everyone enough time find out about it and see if it will work for their family. I fill up very, very, fast! Last year all the sessions were gone before lunch time, and  almost all of them were spoken for before I even woke up that morning! 

To book a session call or email me with your first two choices (please do not call before 7am) and I will fill the slots on a first come, first served basis. 

I will have a waiting list for those who don't make it and if the list is long enough I might be persuaded to add an additional weekday afternoon/evening.

If you have any questions at all please don’t hesitate to call or send me an email!

Have a great weekend!

Ginger Williams

At The Bounce House

Hi everyone! Just another quick share of a recent layout today. Like the layout I posted about a week ago this layout uses the fun, summery, and bright Little Yellow Bicycle Splash line. I thought the bright colors would be perfect for this page about our family reunion day at a local bounce park. 

This line has lots of great little embellishments like these awesome paper flowers.

I again had some fun with my Cricut creating the title from some fonts on my computer as well as some "up" and "down" word embellishments to fill in the spaces between my photos. I again turned to my hexagon punch from Creative Memories for all the hexagon shapes.

The journaling reads: "A favorite outing during this year’s family reunion was to the local inflatable playground. All the cousins had a great time jumping and bouncing on the inflatables and the giant pillow as well as Spencer’s favorite, tumbling down the jumbo slide! The adults got in on the action as well and had a blast playing along side our kids and grand kids. 6/12"

Thanks for visiting today!

Cricut Chevrons, and Hexagons, and Baby Stuff Too!

**Update--This project is back after being published in the 2013 Cricut Babies Idea Book . If you can't see the card images try refreshing your browser.**

Over the weekend I made a fun discovery. I was glancing through the Letter Envy Cricut Cartridge looking for a cut to catch my eye and inspire some cards I wanted to make, and I found both chevron and hexagon background cuts! Yeah! I've wanted more options for these shapes and  I just fell in love with these two cuts on this cartridge!

I used them as background for these two baby cards.

On the front of these cards I used some clothing cuts from the Baby Steps Cartridge. The ribbon is by American Crafts and the baker's twine by Queen and Company.

I actually decorated the inside of my cards this time as well. The booties are a continuation of the dress cut on the front, and the sentiment is from the Creative Memories Stork's Delivery Cartridge. 

All of the patterned papers for these cards comes from the Cricut Imagine Elsie Cartridge. I flood filled the images from the Baby Steps and Stork's Delivery Cartridges and cut them on my Cricut Imagine. I love how easy the Imagine makes designing Cricut cuts! So fast and simple!

I cut the chevron and hexagon patterns out on my Cricut Mini. I wielded a plain matching shape from Letter Envy to the intricate cuts to make the card base with my Gypsy. I love how well the Cricut Mini handled the tiny intricate cuts from these patterns. The Mini really is a great machine!

More cuts from Baby Steps and Stork's Delivery for this inside of the boy version as well.

Thanks for letting me share!