It's my life

This Just Makes Me Happy

Don't forget World Card Making Day is this Saturday, October 6th.  I'll be having a special celebration at my house from 10-2.  Here is some of the information.

World Card Making Day was started by Paper Crafts Magazine to support Operation Write Home. OWH collects cards for our soldiers so that they can send them home to their loved ones.

During the crop you will be asked to donate at least 1 card (envelope too if you have one), but more of

course are welcomed!
Here are the details of the crop.

October 6, 2012

Fee: $5 for food, paypal accepted. Payment due to reserve your spot.

10am-2pm Time for working on cards.

11am-12pm Free Card Class, sign ups are mandatory.

I will be hosting it at my house. When you signup, I will send you directions. I live in Hoover, Alabama.
You will be able to use all of my tools so no need to bring all of your big stuff. If you are wondering if you should bring it please PM me and I will let you know if I have it.

This is going to be a really fun time. Besides the free class, I will also be having giveaways and lunch.

I hope to see you there!

Today I am also sharing another layout about Garrett's First Birthday party.  I have so many good pictures it's going to take me some time to scrap them all.  Love how they turned out too and I think they go fabulously with this Bella Blvd Birthday Boy paper.  

What a fun day!!

I still have a few double page layouts in this paper left at Simply Scrapbook Pages.  You can order yours here.

SRM Stickers and Lawn Fawn

The countdown to the first day of school has begun in my house.  We went and registered my 8th grader today and he is all ready to go August 20th.  My daughter is starting her second year of college on the same day and she is looking forward to this year too.  Garrett is not going to school but we may try a little Mom's Day Out program to get him used to being around other kids.  Well, on to the reason you are here.  I've got a little card to show you today  :)

We've got a fun co-feature with Lawn Fawn stamps on the SRM Stickers blog today.  It's day 2 and the first days projects were gorgeous!!  I used the stamp set Sunny Skies by Lawn Fawn and the sentiment, You Are My Sunshine, from SRM Summer Sentiments Stickers.

Other supplies that I used to make my card are patterned papers from the Hello Summer by Echo Park, Hemp by Hemptique, Washi Tape from Bella Blvd and marker colors by Copic.

Best Beach Memories Scrapbook Page

Today I am sharing a layout that I created for a class that I taught last weekend at The Scrapbook Princess 4th Anniversary crop.  It was a fun class to teach and the ladies that took it were awesome!!

I used We R Memory Keepers Down the Boardwalk collection and since I had been on vacation in Florida just a few weeks prior to the class I had brand new pictures to use on it.  

Here are a few close up pictures of it.  Garrett really loved the beach and played in the water and sand the whole time.

Besides my normal routine of paper projects I have also caught the sewing bug, big time.  So in the last week I have been working on a cute little backpack project.  I originally saw it on Nichol Magouirk's blog and will tell you all about it soon.  Just have to hope that the weather is nicer so I can take a good picture of it.  It's been raining off and on for the last three days.  

Until next time...

Christine

 

My First Smash Page

I just created my first smash style page using SRM Stickers.  I never thought that smash style books would appeal to me but when the design team assignment came up, I thought I would give it a try.  It was fun!!  I still have more of the mini book look to my pages but I think if I keep working on new pages, I'll let go of my fear of messing things up.  These two pages were dedicated to Garrett's first day of life and 10 things that make me happy about him.  Everything that you see on the two pages that aren't pictures or my handwriting is a SRM Sticker.  I love that they are clear so you can layer them on top of each other and pictures.  Just fun!

Here is a little sneak peek of my pages but you can see it all up close on the SRM Stickers blog today.

Note:  This is actually not a Smash book.  It is a book by Fancy Pants which is similiar but is filled with kraft paper, pockets and picture sleeves.  

Tomorrow I'll have a post for you using Petaloo flowers.  A decorated frame, Tim Holtz product, subway art and flowers.  You'll love it!

Almost 7 months

Hmm.... Who doesn't just love seeing baby toes, feet,hands, soft skin, ears, rolls, and of course big beautiful grins.  

I truly love taking pictures of babies in all stages and aren't I just the luckiest mom in the world to have a new baby to photograph every day.

So here we are this morning, I had just changed Garrett's diapers and it was warmer than normal in the house, so instead of all of the fighting and carrying on about how awful it is to put his little arms through sleeves and to lay still enough for Mommy to snap all the snaps, I decided to just go a la diaper for awhile.  

Then I saw this....

and I had to take a picture of that bald little head and those cute little ears that, yes, seem to stick out a little more than my other two children's did.

And then, I saw this...

and I loved how he stretched his arms out to grab, feel, learn and experience the sense of touch.

And thank God I had my camera in my lap because even then I barely caught this next move.

Wait... here we go!

Not the best pictures in the world but at least I got it. Recorded it. There is absolutely no way of denying it.  I call him my little monkey and Go Go Garrett, but really... Give your old mom's heart a break.  At just shy a couple of days from 7 seven months, I am not ready for this.

Petaloo, May Arts, and Coredinations Spotlight

Oh I know that I am a little late in posting this layout on my blog but I really don't want to wait until next fall. :) 

These are some of my favorite pictures of my son Brett when he was small.  I love the sunlight in his hair and those rosy cheeks. He is probably about a year old.

This layout was posted on the Petaloo blog for the hop between Petaloo and Core'dinations. I absolutely had a ball using all of the Color Me Crazy flowers that are colored to match the Core'dinations paper perfectly.

The Core'dinations paper you see in this picture was run through my Big Shot in a Cuttlebug folder called Swiss Dots.  The white core of the paper shows through the embossing.

The flourish you see in the picture above was cut from a die by Tim Holtz. I love using flourishes as accents pieces to my flower groupings.  

Well thanks for stopping by.  I hope that you are getting all of your shopping done and are ready for the holidays.  I still have some baking to do as well as some gifts to make for friends.  I did take some time out today to take some pictures of Garrett. He is now 5 months old and such a happy baby.  Do you think that he resembles Brett?

Have a wonderful day!

 

Petaloo | Just Born layout

Oh, I just love this little guy.  What a blessing he has been on my life and my family's life.  This picture is actually about 4 weeks old but he looks very much the same now.  Maybe a little less hair.  :)

This sweet little baby was born on July 6, 2011 in North Carolina.  He made his arrival a few days early while we were away from home at a family reunion.  What could have been a very strained situation was made into a wonderful experience thanks to the wonderful nurses and doctors at Murphy Medical Center.  They took very good care of me, Garrett, and even the rest of my family.

For this layout I used some Petaloo flowers and new Authentique papers.  It was the perfect soft background for my pictures.  I used a filter on my picture that I got from The Pioneer Woman that made the colors soft and muted.  The Petaloo flowers were all distressed with a little brown ink and then accessorized with metal accents from Tim Holtz.  The tag was stamped with a stamp from Glitz and the canvas tag was cut from a Tim Holtz die and then colored with a yellow Copic marker.  

 

This hidden journaling tag fits in behind the picture.  I plan on writing a few details about how I felt when he was born on it.  I am so looking forward to all of the new milestones that are ahead of us and having the pleasure of scrapping them once again.

 

 

Simon Says Stamp Challenge- Coffee and Cream

Wow, I saw a lot of wonderful cards last week for our challenge at Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog and today we've got another one for you.  Coffee and Cream plus a little Whiff of Joy! What could be better?  I readily admit that this one was quite a challenge for me as well.  It's not often that I stick to a specific color scheme.  Usually I just use the papers that I pick out for the card and match my Copics.  This time I had to do the opposite.  I am actually happy with the way it came out though and now vow to stretch myself more often in the future.

The sketch I used was from Sketch Saturday so I will entering my card there but I also wanted to tell you a little bit about the rest of the supplies that I used.  The paper is from Sweetness by Pink Paislee and has been one of my most used 6x6 paper pads.  It's funny because I traditionally use papers that are more cute than these and I have found that I really love the frilly stuff.

The stamp is from Whiff of Joy.  She is called Willow in the Summer Breeze. I love all of the fruit on her pretty clothes.  Very fun to color.  I've listed the Copics that I used below.  The sentiment is also from Whiff of Joy and it is included in the Spring Swirls doodle and sentiment set.  I think it is the perfect combination of print and script and I love  what it says.

I hope that you will join us in our challenge this week.  Of course there is a fabulous prize to be won.  $50 spending spree to the Simon Says Stamp Online Superstore.  What could be better than that?

Copics:  E000, 00, 01, 50, 51, 53, 57, 59; R20, 22, 24; G85

Did you hear about Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog DT Call?  Were looking and if you want to be a part of a fantastic team, (the best!), read the details here and please link your card on this week's challenge post with DT at the end of your name.  

Baby Update:  My little bundle is doing well.  Feeling him move more and more each day.  Struggling with tiredness but hopefully that will ease up a but.  I've still got a long way to go.  It sure has been different this time, being an "older mom".  In some ways, the best and others, Wow, I'd like to be young again.  But I have faith that I will survive, :) and it helps that I know there is a wonderful bundle of joy at the end of the rainbow.  Attitude is everything, isn't it?

Got Sketch #110

Valerie has posted a new sketch on her Got Sketch blog this week.  Be sure to stop by and see the sketch and how the other designers used it.  I kept my layout pretty simple this week but I think it is perfect for my these pictures of my son Brett when he was just a baby.  Oh so long ago.  I am getting so excited thinking about the pictures I will get to take of my new baby coming in July.  It won't be long. 

Supplies used:  Petaloo flowers, Fancy Pants Happy Together line, Silhouette die cuts

Thanks for stopping by!

 

You Can

There are so many reasons to believe in yourself.  There are so many reasons to chase after your dreams and be the person YOU want to be.  Why is it that we don't always see that.  My mom always said to me growing up, "You can do anything that you put your mind to.  You just have to want to."  Which is something that I have always taken to heart.  Even though when I was younger I had a hard time with shyness and didn't always believe in myself those words started sinking in during college and now I do believe them.  

I am taking that same sort of attitude and way of life and telling my daughter and my son, "You Can".  If you want it bad enough, you can, you will find a way."  I think that it is important to instill that Can Do attitude.  So many kids and adults just wait for it to be done for them and then usually are disappointed.  If you believe that you can then your dreams are reachable and limitless.

 

Do you see these beautiful flowers?  The paper flowers are from Petaloo.  These are already colored so all you have to do is glue them to your page.  I layered them on top of chipboard and felt flowers and topped them with buttons and gems.

Don't forget that You Can, If You Want To!