A Family Surprise

Photos from the surprise baby shower my cousin Nikki threw for me.  All of my Maryland family attended and it was wonderful!

This layout is made on 8x8 inch paper.

Products used:  Patterned papers:  Cosmo Cricket (stripes), Bella Blvd (rain drops);  Flowers: Making Memories, Prima;  Stamps:  Close To My Heart;  Letters:  Prima (cream), American Crafts Thickers;  Sketch:  Sketch Support

This layout was designed from a Sketch Support sketch.  Please visit the site to see more great inspirational projects!

Week by Week

I've been meaning to get this layout together for so long!  I'm super happy with how it came out.  Watch the belly grow!

This layout is on 8x8 inch papers.

Products used: Patterned papers, ribbon, tag:  Cosmo Cricket;  Stickers:  SEI (hearts), Heidi Grace;  Letters: Making Memories (numbers);  Tools:  Cricut Ashlyn's Alphabet font

Cali Shower

My California baby shower on May 1, 2010.  Hosted by my good friend and sorority sister, Ali.  =)  We had lunch and tea on Santana row and then went back to our home for cake and presents.

This layout is 8x8 inches.

Products used:  Patterned papers and ribbon:  Cosmo Cricket;  Stickers:  Heidi Grace (thoughtful);  Letters: Making Memories (blue), American Crafts Thickers (brown);  Sketch:  Sketches for Scrapbooking

These Boots Were Made For Stomping

A fun "fall" day in early December.  Tobin wouldn't go near the leaves with his sneakers on.  But with his boots, he was ready for some stomping!  In fact, I believe he's worn his boots every day since.

Products used:  Patterned papers:  Cosmo Cricket (leaves), Close to My Heart (cream/blue);  Stamps: Close to My Heart;  Journaling block:  Scenic Route;  Tools:  Silhouette with Script MJ Bold font,  Cricut CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge (leaves);  Sketch:  Sketch Support

Sketch Support inspired this layout!  Head over there to see more projects created from the same inspirational sketch.

Trailer Feast

While in Austin with my mom, we stopped by the Gypsy Picnic, a trailer food festival.  We joined up with my friends Chris and Jennifer for a lunchtime feast.  I had been to the Oakland version, Eat Real, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  This one was equally as great and cheaper.  ;)  I had the most ridiculous dessert donut (with icing and peach jam), crispy thai chicken, a fried pierogi, a chicken doner kebab, a gourmet hot dog, and a strawberry basil smoothie.  Yum, yum, yum!!

Products used - Patterned papers: KaiserCraft (forks), Making Memories (dots), pink paislee (grid), lily bee design (yellow/blue), My Mind's Eye (yellow/cream), Bazzill Swiss dot;  Journaling block:  KaiserCraft;  Accents: KaiserCraft (lemons), October Afternoon (date) ; Letters: American Crafts Thickers;  Sketch:  Sketch Support


This layout was designed based on the November two page sketch over at Sketch Support.  Please visit their site to see more fabulous takes on the sketch and to print if for yourself!

Just in Time for the Celebration

We had two grandmas in town for Tobin's birthday celebration.  Unfortunately, Tobin had a cold and we had to reschedule his party with friends.  But we had a wonderful time together with the family.  These are our group photos out by the pretty hydrangeas in our neighborhood.

Products used:  Patterned papers:  American Crafts, SEI (dots);  Letters:  Making Memories, Prima

Hand cut embellishments:  The embellishment on the left page was created from a white circle and trees cut out from the patterned paper on the right page.  I added interest by lining the edge of the white circle with dots from a brown marker.

I created the journaling block by layering papers with rounded corners.

Mismatched paper:  This page incorporates a new idea I've been meaning to try.  I added subtle interest to the page by incorporating two different colors in the background.  The left page has a darker shade of blue than the right page.  I brought the two shades together by adding a darker blue journaling block on the right.

Tobin's First Travel

I can't believe how small Tobin is in these photos!  It's been such a wonderful 16 months with him in our lives.  Here is Tobin on our first adventure out of state.  We flew all the way to NJ, just him and I, to attend my sorority sister Steph's wedding.  We stayed with my Aunt Renee's family and my parents came down from NH to visit.  At the end of our stay, more family traveled up from MD, all to meet the newest addition to the family.

Products used:    Patterned papers:  Basic Grey (grid), October Afternoon (dots);  Journaling blocks:  Colorbok, Little Yellow Bicycle;  Letters: Making Memories;  Sketch: Sketch Support

I hand cut the banners on this page.  Starting with rectangles, I marked where the points should come together with a ruler and cut a triangle out of the bottom with scissors.  I used a piercing tool to poke holes between the banner pieces and hand stitched.

The scalloped strips are made using my corners rounder.  The guide comes off and you can use the corner rounder to make scalloped edges.

Friends in Los Angeles

Last fall, I had to pleasure of taking Tobin down to LA to visit my sorority sisters.

Products used: Patterned papers:  SEI (flowers), BoBunny, October Afternoon (blue swirls), Bazzill Swiss dots;  Chipboard accents: Basic Grey;  Letters:  Making Memories, Prima;  Sketch:  Pagemaps

On Cloud Nine

Here are photos from my cousin Aleshia's baby shower this spring in Sacramento.  Her sister hosted us in their new house.  There are no big bump photos since the shower was hosted a little early.  Aleshia and her husband live in Japan and would only be visiting us in the states one time before little Lilah is born!

Products used:  Papers: Creative Memories (background), Bo Bunny (pink dots), My Mind's Eye (clouds);  Embellishments: Making Memories (journaling blocks),  Heidi Grace (rubons);  Tools:  Cricut Lyrical Letters cartridge (baby shower and stork), Ashlyn's Alphabet (title);  Sketch: Sketch Support


This layout was designed using a sketch from Sketch Support.  Go on over there to see more projects made from the same sketch and stay for the new sketches posted weekly!

Reunion in Rehoboth

Finally, a recent layout!  =)

Here are my sorority sisters in Rehoboth, DE this August for a reunion.  We stayed in one sister's father's condo right next to the outlets.  We shopped, dined, swam, and generally caught up on the year's events.

Products used:  Patterned papers:  Making Memories (floral), Reminisce (pink flamingo), SEI (shells), pink paislee (waves);  Buttons & chipboard accents: American Crafts;  Embellishments: pink paislee, K&Company, Making Memories;  Letters:  Making Memories, American Crafts Thickers;  Sketch: Pagemaps

A Walk Along the Beach

Every March we go to Tahoe for a week to ski and visit the town.  This year Tobin came with us for the first time and my friends Ali and Terrence joined, too!

If Tobin's nose looks a little....red.....we had our first big booboo in Tahoe.  =(  It's all healed up now, though.

Products used:  Papers: Creative Memories (background), Imaginisce (trees), Scenic Route (green), Making Memories (bronze), SEI (thin striped strips);  Embellishments: Bella Blvd (clouds), My Mind's Eye (circle), Me & My Big Ideas (togetherness);  Letters: K&Company (beach), Creative Memories;  Sketch: Sketches for Scrapbooking Volume 8

Cousins

Do you remember my post on packing for a crop?  Well, here is what I did with that huge pile of supplies I compiled.  I ended up using pink as the background but pulled mostly purple into the supporting patterned papers.

My cousin Shannon and her daughter came to visit us last summer when Tobin was just a few weeks old.  It was great hanging out with her for the day and showing off the little guy.  =)

Products used: Papers:  Heidi Grace (paisley), Creative Imaginations (flowers), My Mind's Eye (large dots), SEI (stripes);  Embellishments: Making Memories (journaling blocks and "adorable"), Bella Blvd (family), Prima and K&Company (flowers);  Letters: American Crafts thickers;  Sketch: Sketches for Scrapbooking Volume 8

Six Months

I just loved all of our photos from our shoot with Constance Elyse back in December. Tobin was sitting up and it was a fun time in our lives!

Products used: Patterned paper: Coredinations (grey background with raised dots), SEI (blue/white), American Crafts (green trees); Stickers: My Mind's Eye ("such a lovely day"), Studio Calico (grey journaling block); Letters: American Crafts Thickers (purple), Making Memories (green)

Grandma's Kitchen

Tobin was bathed in a sink for the first time at Grandma's house after Christmas. I decided to have fun with this layout and make it kitchen themed.

Products used: Patterned papers, journaling block, canvas sticker: Little Yellow Bicycle Savor; Tools: Cricut Lyrical Letters cartridge ("grandma's"), Country Life cartridge (canister); Sketch: Scrapbooks, Etc.

Four Generations

When we visited my husband's family in Texas for Christmas we had four generations of men together.

One day, I will have a baby girl and then round up my family for a 5 generations of women photo. ;)

Products used: Patterned papers: Bo Bunny (dots and frogs), Recollections (blue/white), Cloud 9 Designs (green hearts), Crate paper (die cut); Journaling block: Making Memories; Tools: Cricut Opposites Attract cartridge ("four"), Reminisce cartridge ("generations"); Sketch: Sketches for Scrapbooking Volume 7

Introductions

Over last summer Tobin got to meet his Great Uncle, Grandpa and Grandma Anna when they visited us.

Products used: Patterned papers: Chatterbox (scalloped strip), SEI Oasis; Journaling block & words sticker: Studio Calico; Brads: American Crafts; Letters: Making Memories (glitter); Tools: Cricut Reminisce cartridge (title), Stretch Your Imagination cartridge (crickets); Sketch: Pagemaps

Thanksgiving

These are photos from Thanksgiving last year. We invited over our European and Russian friends and prepared a full American Thanksgiving for them. Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, corn bread stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, the works. =)

Products used: Patterned papers: Fancy Pants(stripes), Crate Paper (orange); Leaves & acorn: K&Company; Autumn tag: We R Memory Keepers; Tools: Cricut Lyrical Letters (title) and Gypsy Wanderings (branch) cartridges; Sketch: Allison Davis

Grandma

I finally printed these photos from last summer when my mother in law visited Tobin for the first time. =)

Products used: Patterned paper: SEI; Journaling block: SEI; Letters: American Craft Thickers

Soar

Photos from my indoor skydiving adventure back in December!

Go visit Sketch Support to see more projects inspired by the same sketch.

Products used - Patterned paper: Making Memories (plaid), Bazzill Dottes Swiss (blue);Tools: Cricut Create a Critter (clouds), Lyrical Letters (title); Sketch: Sketch Support

Marianne's Shower

Celebrating the impending arrival of Marianne's little one. So very happy for her!

If you want to see more projects with cute little umbrella's on them, then you better hop over to Sketch Support.

Custom journaling block: I wanted a coordinating colorful journaling block but didn't have the right thing pre-made. So I took a Jillibean Soup journaling block that was simple and accented it with the same patterned paper from the umbrella. I also added some whimsy by cutting out birds from another patterned paper.

Products used - Patterned paper: American Crafts (die cut), Basic Grey (pink hearts), Flair Designs (brown), My Mind's Eye (green branches), Cloud 9 Design (green hearts), Creative Imaginations (wood - umbrella handle); Journaling block: jillibean soup; Birds: 3 Bugs in a Rug (cut from patterned paper); Letter Stickers: American Crafts, Creative Memories; Sketch: Sketches for Scrapbooking Volume 7