Smile...it's your birthday!

Thank you www.scrapbooksteals.com for having Erin Schultz as the guest sketcher this week!  She totally rocked Pearl 1 and I couldn't wait to scrap this little photo and interview I had with my 'how-is-it-possible-that-she's-already-3-years-old' girlie from her birthday.

AC Confetti...thanks for making this birthday layout so easy! AND my Silhouette! It's my very first time using my Cameo and I. am. in. love. Out with the old (sold my Cricut yesterday) and in with the new (finally took my Cameo out of its box today)! My very first cut was the word, "smile" and this baby works like a dream. The "3" is also a Silhouette cute...love how it's all at my fingertips!

Here's Erin's fantastic sketch...

And here's what I came up with...

Thanks for taking a peek!

TWO!

Turquoise - Layout 7. A beauty of a sketch by Kristy Lee over at www.scrapbooksteals.com!

\\

My take using American Crafts Confetti collection...

You Make My Heart Smile...

No journaling needed for this layout.  She really does make my heart smile.  M is SUCH a sweet baby...so happy and content. Big smiles for whoever spares a minute to say hello, tickle her toes or practically even glance in her direction (poor, poor "neglected" third child...lol)! I didn't follow a sketch for this layout and it's the first layout I've done since little M joined our family.  It feels GREAT to be scrapping again.  I missed it more than I can even explain.  I feel like a few months of our family's story has been lost.

I cracked open a collection I'd been saving for a sweet photo and this one taken outside on the deck this week won out!  American Crafts is always my go-to manufacturer and they did not disappoint.  The Daydreams Collection is packed full of papers with bright colours, bold designs and just the perfect amount of glitter to bling up every project! All my paper on this layout belongs to the Daydreams collection. The ribbon is all AC as well, with the exception of the blue scalloped piece, which comes from MME's Fine and Dandy collection.  Of course I used Thickers for the title (Flat and Sunset) and MLS's Mini Alphas in Kiss for the date and little letters in the title.  A little Sew Easy floss for the sewn bracket and Pebbles Button Candy Dots (self-adhesive...can you say awesome?) were added into this layout.  The Daydreams collection has an excellent assortment of embellies and the fabric brads and colourful buttons were a treat!

Ahhhhh...onto the next project.  A little 2nd birthday layout for Owen...

I just need to find some spare time!!!

This little peanut is the reason for my incredibly neglected blog!  We welcomed Maelle (My-Elle) on March 15th, 2012...4 days after her big sister's third birthday!!! She came 9 days late (yikes), but of course, well worth the wait!!! 9lbs, 13oz and 22 inches long...and gaining by the minute.  ;)

Having three munchkins 3&Under has its challenges for sure, but I'm loving *almost* every minute!

I'll be back in the scrappin' world soon!  I miss it SO much!!!

Garnet!!!

Yesssssss!  I made it...and just in time, I think!!!  This baby is going to arrive any day!  Here are my 10 Garnet layouts!  Sorry for the *no* explanations/descriptions, but I just had to put them all in one place!

Garnet #1...

Garnet #2...

Garnet #3...

Garnet #4...

Garnet# 5...

Garnet #6...

Garnet #7...

Garnet #8...

Garnet #9...

Garnet #10...

And that's alllllll...phewf!  Thanks to www.scrapbooksteals.com (Kristy Lee and her two guest sketchers, Becci and Charity) for all the awesome inspiration!!!

Sensitive...

For the Authentique February layout sketch...

And here's my take...

Authentique paper...all from Free Bird (Series One: Comfort)...

Additional materials...twine, Amy Tangerine Thickers (Hello), BG buttons, Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink (prussian blue)...

Such a cute sketch to work from and perfect for this sad little photo of our sensitive little man.  :(  This was my first attempt at making my own accordion flowers and had a fantastic tutorial to follow thanks to Brettany Quinton...

http://scrapbooksteals.stealnetwork.com/wp/2011/11/08/how-to’sday-accordion-flowers/

...very helpful.

Shortest blog post ever?  I've got some more scrapping to do!!!  ;)

Thanks!

Ski Bum

A morning on the slopes with our littlest skier...SO MUCH FUN.  Our Owen is a pretty sensitive boy, so taking him this far out of his comfort zone could have been quite the tale to tell, but he surprised both Mommy and Daddy and took it all in stride.
I wasn't able to take my "good" camera on the hill with me (please cut me some slack...a 20 month old on skis and a 34 week pregnant belly was enough baggage for one morning... ;) ...so the ol' iPhone was our weapon of choice.  A little photo enhancement made these two photos "scrappable" (because this memory was intended to be scrapped no matter the quality of the photos) and when I saw the Authentique January layout sketch, I knew exactly which paper to grab!  Journey's fantastic cool colours are the perfect combination for my Ski Bum layout without screaming, "I'm a winter themed scrapbooking collection!"
I was SOOOOOO lucky to have been spoiled rotten at the www.scrapbooksteals.com scrapbooking retreat in October and couldn't have been more fortunate to be whisked away one evening for a visit to the Authentique warehouse.  Sam, Bret and Melodee (the whisk-er away-er) were so generous taking the time to show us around, answer our questions and even pick our brains that night...and to top it off, sent us home with some AMAZING Authentique to try out ourselves!
So that's how I ended up with this fantastic collection!

For starters...here is the January sketch layout on the Authentique blog...

And here is my take...

From the Journey collection, I used "Jaunt," "Explore,", "Voyage," "Itinerary" and the date tag from "Tabloids." AC minimarks for the date, AC Thickers for the title, MME True Blue bling on the date tag and journaling tag.  Some unidentified ribbon and starburst bling (both from the dollar store) and "Forever in Time" deco border under the dollar store ribbon.  The teal blue trim came out of my stash...and also didn't have packaging...so I love it, but I don't have any idea where it's from (hangs head in shame).  To bring down the brightness of the white journaling tag (plain white cardstock), I sprayed "Tattered Angels" Glimmer mist in Sand and inked all the papers in Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink (dark brown).  I also used Sew Easy glitter floss to "stitch" the thickers and stitch the top brackets (just arrived in the mail yesterday)!!!

Thanks!!!

A Little Help Would Be Greatly Appreciated...

Please don't pretend like you've never held off on helping out one of your kids in need...to snap a photo first.  Okay, well, maybe I'm just asking for a little bit of back up here from my fellow moms...lol...to ease my guilty conscience.

We were playing outside and Owen's snowsuit is a little snug.  I ordered a size 2T at the end of last winter thinking that would offer plenty of room for him to grow. Well, not so much.  It's really quite snug and I'm 100% regretting not buying him a one-piece ski suit like Joely's Jupa (which I loooooooove...and she's on her second year wearing it).  The jacket fits okay, but the pants are very tight around his rather robust waist, so getting the button done up...is a challenge.

His snug ski pants on top of the general waddling principles of a toddler in a snowsuit, make for a less than an enthusiastic boy heading outside (mostly during the "getting dressed" phase).  Getting down to play in the snow is no easy task when you are sausaged into your clothing, and apparently getting up from a fall proves to be no easier.

When Owen was stuck in this position, I grabbed the camera before helping him up (his frustrated tears and all) and snapped a photo.  He was not impressed.

To scrap this photo, I used EP Wintertime (love that collection) along with a few little tidbits I had been hoarding in my craft room.  All the paper and the journaling tag is from Wintertime, but underneath the photo I used plain ol' twine from the hardware store.  Kristy Lee (www.scrapbooksteals.com) used cardboard in her fabulous layout based on her awesome MWM Garnet #5 sketch and I loved the look of it, but didn't want to copy every element, so decided to try out the twine. Underneath the twine you see MME Laundry Line Natural "My Boy" trim and some white AC ribbon hiding underneath the snowflake sticker border (also EP).  You see the same style ribbon in red, also AC.

The single foam snowflakes are from the dollar store and were purchased for my two-year old's crafty stash...I wonder if she'll notice that there are a few missing...  I blinged up all the snowflakes on the layout with little gem stickers from the dollar store (I think).  They aren't fantastic quality, but didn't have a label...so I'm just assuming. I love that there's so much bling on my boy's layout...not just for girls!

One strip of felt ric rac along the *seriously inked* vertical paper strips seemed to finish off that section of the layout for me.  I love Colorbox Fluid Chalk inks...I used Dark Brown all over this layout (I'm an inkaholic).  Lastly, American Crafts Remarks make up the word "help!" in the title and Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type fill in the blanks!

Another amazing sketch by the talented Kristy Lee!  Thanks Kristy!!!  My first layout of 2012!

Thanks for taking a peek!

Jana