1st Noel: Santa Babies

Hi everyone. It's almost Christmas! Nothing quite beats the first Noel: little babies in Santa hats.

 

This is Cory and his cousin Zack on their first Christmas.  Zack's mommy and I were both late-life Moms. What a thrill it was for our family that we both had babies that year. It was a miracle, really, and puts a spin on the caption,"We Believe." 

I used the December kit from My Creative Scrapbook to make this layout, which featured papers and embellishments from the new manufacturer Photo Play.

Here's a couple closeups:

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

My Happy Place

Hello everyone!

I went through my son's baby album a couple weeks ago and tried to identify any missing milestones or favorite photos. I had just been introduced to scrapbooking when my son was born and, oh boy, I am tempted to redo a couple of those first layouts!

This is a photo of my son and me that I had never scrapped. Cory is just two weeks old here and we went outside on a beautiful Spring day. 

I used the new August kit from My Creative Scrapbook to make this layout and primarily used just one sheet of patterned paper. The paper is from the Summer Sun collection by Fancy Pants Designs. 

I saw this paper and immediately thought: baby!  I loved the fading soft colors. I cut the paper at the sign post and turned the paper upside down so that I had only polka dots. 

I cut off the blue strip under the bicycle and sewed it to the bottom of the yellow polka dot paper to ground the page. Voilà. Baby paper!

The yellow strip above the polka dots is the reverse side of the same piece of paper. To complete the page, I added a bit of floral paper to the top and a few simple embellishments. 

Here's another look at the layout: 

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful weekend! 

Let It Snow: Using Paint On A Layout

We don't get a lot of snow in the Carolinas but when we do, it's cause for celebration.  When my son was 11 months old, he saw his first snow.  

For this layout, I used the cute Bundled Up line from Crate Paper, which was included in the December Kit at My Creative Scrapbook.  The kit was perfect for this photo of my little one being pulled around in the snow in his beloved red wagon. 

My favorite sheet of patterned paper in Bundled Up is this red snowflake one with the cute polka dots on the flip side. I only had one sheet of this double-sided paper, so I carefully cut out the middle and flipped it over. 

I wanted to bring in another color on this layout and chose an aqua paper with big pink polka dots. It was a little too much, though, so I toned it down with paint. I thinned the paint with water then white washed the pink polka dots. 

I loved the snowy effect the paint gave the paper.  Now the layout has a pop of color but it doesn't overwhelm the page.  

One last look. Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back on Wednesday with a tutorial for a shaker card. 

Sweet Love: Little Yellow Bicycle

When I was a baby, my Dad always called me his sweet love.  He still does sometimes. :)  It was only natural for me to use the same nickname for my son. A new baby is such a sweet love after all. None sweeter!

My son is now 4. He is still my sweet love but these days when we cuddle and I call him one of his baby nicknames, he will say, "Mom, I'm just your Cory." I wanted to capture that tender period when I could call him mushy names without correction. 

My friend took this photo of Cory and me in the backyard when he was 10 weeks old. I used the new July kit from My Creative Scrapbook to make this page. The Poppy collection from Little Yellow Bicycle gave the layout some pretty pops of color and a natural spot to add the journaling.

To ground the page, I added a patterned paper tab across the top, layered with a burlap flower on top. I added some stitching to the leaf to make it poof a bit. 

A little tip: if you like the look of stitched buttons but don't like to stitch them, a white signo marker will do the trick.  It works especially well on dark buttons. 

This is the July Creative kit I used. You can see more work with this - and other MCS kits - in the Design Team gallery.

Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life: Baby's First Birthday

I have been watching Project Life from the sidelines for awhile now.  I am not quite ready to dip my toe into a weekly chronicle of our every day lives, but I love the overall concept.  I also love the page protectors and photo pockets made for Project Life and have been hoarding them. 

Today, I am using Fancy Pants Designs to put my own spin on Project Life. I think PL is perfect for any occasion when I have a lot of photos, too many for a scrapbook layout, or when I want to add extra journaling.  Like my son's first birthday.

Here's a sneak peek of a two-page PL spread I made:

My son has a March birthday and we had a St. Patrick's Day themed party when he turned 1.  For my Project Life spread, I used two 12 x 12 page protectors with 4 x 6 pockets.  To turn the top pocket above into two (faux) 2 x 3 slots, I mounted the cupcake photo and the journaling card on a 4 x 6 piece of white cardstock. Instant 2 x 3 slots!

Here's another sneak peek: 

Fancy Pants Designs makes Brag Pads for each of its collection. They are a collection of 4 x 6 papers with various designs, quotes and patterns. They are perfect for Project Life because they fit right into 4 x 6 slots.  I used the Brag Pads in all the slots shown above. 

The great thing about Project Life is you can use any scrapbook supplies you have on hand. Just cut them down to fit the Project Life page protectors. 

I have the complete spread of my son's first birthday, Project Life style, on the Fancy Pants Designs blog today.  I hope you'll stop by!

Oh So Loved: My Creative Scrapbook

Hello and happy Friday!  Today I have another layout that I made with My Mind's Eye, featured in the March kit at My Creative Scrapbook.  I also have a winner to announce from the PaperHaus Magazine spring hop. 

Let's start with the layout.  When my son was 6 weeks old, we took a family trip to the beach.  It was late April, but unseasonably warm, even for South Carolina.  

We put Cory in a little sunsuit, wrapped him in a blanket and took him down to the shore. I snapped this photo of my sister with him just as we were headed to the ocean. 

To draw the eyes to the photo, I made a colorful mat from a mix of patterns. It really was an excuse to use all the pretty paper! 

Now back to PaperHaus.  Thanks so much for everyone who stopped by the blog hop and left a comment. We are so excited about the Spring issue of the magazine. I had 42 comments on my post.  I used random.org to pick a winner. 

Comment # 37 was PattyK:

Patty, I will email you to get your mailing address.  Have a great weekend, everyone. 

Kiss Sandwich: My Creative Scrapbook

Today, I am feeling a little nostalgic and decided to scrapbook a photo from my son's very first Valentine's Day.  He was 11 months old and my parents came by bearing gifts and kisses.  Of course, new momma had her camera and I captured this kiss sandwich.  Love my little boy's expression. 

I made this layout with the February Creative Kit at My Creative Scrapbook. It featured Echo Park's Love Story collection, which was just perfect for this photo. 

Here's a close-up of the banner at the top.  I put brads on either side of the banner, then wrapped twine around the brads.  I used long, trailing tails on the twine to guide the eye to other elements on the page. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend. 

Baby Love: Echo Park Paper

It's the 5th of the month and time to reveal the new kits at My Creative Scrapbook. The kit club offers several different kits each month. I designed with the Creative Kit, which features the soft and pretty Love Story collection from Echo Park Paper. 

Although Love Story is obviously Valentine-themed, the kit also works well for other topics. I thought it worked especially well for baby girls, like my sweet niece. 

Here's a closeup of the embellishments at the bottom.  I used pop dots to layer some items.  

Here's a photo of the kit.  It includes the full Love Story line, chipboard, brads, ribbon and Prima flowers.  You can find all the details about My Creative Scrapbook kits here. 

I'll be back with more projects from this kit this week, including a fun altered project for Valentine's Day. Thanks for stopping by!

Baby Layout: Pebbles

I was so excited to see this Walnut Grove line in the November kit at My Creative Scrapbook. In the midst of Halloween and Thanksgiving and on the cusp of Christmas, it was really nice to take a breath - and a break - and work with a non-holiday line.  This Pebbles collection is versatile enough for every season. OK, maybe not deep winter, but I used it here for a Spring page and in an earlier blog post, I used Walnut Grove to document a pumpkin patch outing.

I had just been introduced to scrapbooking when my son was born, so I still have unscrapped photos of that time. My first true outing with the new baby - other than a visit to the pediatrician - was to meet my closest friend for lunch.  It was a beautiful Spring day and my friend brought along a camera and shot these photos for me. I'm so glad I have them. 

I love this pennant background paper. It perfectly reflects the airy, happy, playful feel of that day.  I kept my page very simple, just adding lace, a few stickers and a title block. 

I decided to add a couple tags for a punch of color.  I made them from patterned paper and they were so quick to do.

I used a manilla shipping tag as my pattern and chose two coordinating papers.  I didn't make the tags as tall as the shipping tag since most of the tag would be hidden under the photo.

After I cut out the tags, I lightly inked the edges and stitched around the edges with white thread.

I tucked the tags under my photo, then added a phrase sticker to each. The tags made a nice finishing touch to my page.

If you are looking for a place to find scrapbook tips, tutorials and instructional videos, visit the My Creative Scrapbook blog.  The design team posts there every weekday and you'll find a wide variety of techniques. The mixed media team amazes me!

Big Welcome: Baby Card With Twine Fringe

I'm sometimes asked what is my favorite type of card to make. I usually say thank you cards, but I've been having a change of heart lately. I think baby cards might be my favorite.  Like a sweet baby, a sweet baby card is hard to resist.

For this card, I used Bella Bvld and fussy cut a giraffe from patterned paper. I added a tuft of twine fringe to his neck using Trendy Twine's Orange Truffle. To make the fringe, I made a series of loops, placed very tightly together on the underside of the giraffe's neck.

After I had all the loops, I turned the giraffe over and cut off the loops to make fringe, trimming the the twine to the desired length.

Here's a closeup of the fringe:

Trendy Twine is hosting a "thankful" challenge this month and we'd love to see your entries. There's a great prize up for grabs. You can find out all the details on this post.  You have until Nov. 30 to link your project.  For more ideas on how to use twine, please visit the Trendy Twine blog.

Layouts with November kits: My Creative Scrapbook

It's reveal day at My Creative Scrapbook. Yay! I have had the most fun the last couple weeks working with two of the November kits.  I've made layouts, cards and altered items. Up today are layouts.

I made this page with the November "Creative" kit which featured the new Walnut Grove collection from Pebbles. Aqua and red are pretty much my favorite color combination, so you can guess that I just adored this line.

I thought the blues in Walnut Grove would work great with a baby page, so I dug up this picture of my never-sleeping baby. Ayiee, he made that first year hard!

I used the fun arrow paper to frame the page, then played on that theme by adding more pennants to the page.  I embellished a trio of arrow stickers into houses under the photo by adding doors and roof lines. 

Continuing with this kit, I have a layout with photos from a pumpkin patch visit last month.  I loved how versatile this Pebbles line was.  Here, I played on the neutrals in the kit.

The kraft papers in the Pebbles collections have always been some of my favorites. Great, heavyweight paper with subtle designs.  On both these layouts, I used an old fashioned Dymo label maker in addition to the Pebbles' alphas. 

Here's a closeup of the pennants at the top:

Switching to the Album kit, I have a Halloween layout with The Good Life collection from Fancy Pants. This line had a lot of red and black and worked great for these pirate photos of my little one.  I loved the chipboard frames in this collection. I had such fun with them.

Below is a closeup of the title block. It fit perfectly in one of the chip frames.

I also used this kit for a layout of my son on his bicycle, using a red chipboard frame to pop the photo.

Below is a closeup of the tag. I also pop-dotted a few of the white circles to give the page some subtle dimension.

These are the kits I used.  They are so full of great product and both are really versatile.  The album kit does come with a chipboard album, but I opted to use the kit for other papercrafting.

I'll be back this week with more projects from these two kits.  For more examples of the Design Team's work, stop by the gallery at My Creative Scrapbook.

Altered Baby Gift Card Box - Trendy Twine

This month, the Trendy Twine team is featuring a fun mix of light blue and dark brown twine in its projects. Our challenge was to create something 3D for a boy using ribbon and the featured twine called Chocolate Sprinkles.

I decided to make a tri-fold gift card box, the type where the doors swing open and the box is held shut with a slider.  The finished project looks like this:

It started life like this, as a Kohl's gift box for men, which I bought on clearance after Father's Day.  I thought it would be super easy to alter, but it turned out to be a little more complicated.

My plan was to cover the box with patterned paper. But when the doors were open and flat, the box measured a wee bit more than 12 inches end to end, making it impossible to cover with a standard piece of scrapbook paper.  

I looked through my stash and saw that patterned paper by Canvas Corp is printed on one side then completely solid - with no label - on the back side. Perfect. That gave me the extra half-inch I needed. I stamped a swirl design on the plain side of the paper, then used it to covered the box. 

To make the slider, I used a printed piece of Canvas Corp Paper and the original slider from the Kohl's box, wrapping it in twine.  To make the decorative element, I used a journaling card from Jillibean Soup and flipped the box to a vertical orientation. 

I added a Soup Label sentiment (There's No Bunny Like You), a doily and a chipboard bunny. I tied a wee bit of ribbon around the bunny's neck then added a pom pom tail from twine.  

To make the pom pom, I wrapped twine around fork tines, tied it tightly in the center, then snipped the ends. 

If you'd like to join our challenge this month, you can find all the details here on the Trendy Twine blog.

Using Paint On A Scrapbook Page: Easy Summer Layout

I’m back today with another summer page. This is my fourth layout from the July Creative Kit at My Creative Scrapbook, which featured Echo Park Paper’s Hello Summer collection and Bella Blvd embellishments.

I love scrapping summer pics. We are outside more in the summer months and seem to have more picture-taking opportunities. For this layout, I searched through my digital files for some pool photos and I found these photos of Cory as a baby. I had forgotten I had taken these and had never even printed them. For shame! That’s one thing I love about scrapbooking - it makes me actually print those folders of photos on my computer.

Although this Echo Park collection isn’t geared specifically toward water themes, the happy color scheme and sunny patterns worked great with pool photos.

I went for a mostly tone-on-tone look here with the yellow. To give the eye a visual break, I white-washed the edges of the paper. This is really quick and easy to do. Just apply a thin coat of acrylic paint with a foam brush. While I could get the same effect by matting the papers with white cardstock, using paint is more economical. Plus, I didn’t have to grumble with my not-quite-cutting-exactly-straight trimmer.

After the paint was dry, I assembled the layers back together and stitched the edges of the painted paper to prevent any curling.

Here’s a closeup of the embellie cluster at the top.

And here’s a closeup of the title block. I really loved the colorful letters and banners in this collection.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I always appreciate your visits.