Christmas in May?

I was at an all-day crop last Saturday and was lucky enough to spend the first few hours with my 3 year-old there. I then drove her home, fed the 4 month-old and then went back to the crop for 6 hours of "me" time. I got a few layouts done and had to laugh when 3 of them were from December. Christmas in May anyone? Here are the layouts I did:

I plan to add some ribbon on the far right side to fill in the space as well as some sort of embellishment to the right of "Adore" to fill the "white" space. Tender moments of my 3 year-old and her Daddy.

These are my 2 Christmas layouts (the previous one was in December as well). I had no idea what title to give the first one. The letters that were left in the particular Thickers pack dictated it. The second of these layouts was done because I cannot keep all of the things my daughters will make over the years. I will keep some, but will be sure to take pictures of the rest so that there are still momentos on hand.

Alexis has started eating solids (rice cereal at night) and the second layout is of her and the other babies in our Mommy Group (we all met taking prenatal Aquafit and yoga classes at our local YMCA). The babies were all born within about 2 months, so it's kind of nice to be going through the milestones at the same relative time. Because I am the only one with a previous child, it's interesting to hear the questions the other moms have (and then I ask my husband if I was worried/curious about the same things with our first baby). It's nice to be on mat leave with others who will be on pretty much the same time as me.

So that's it for my craftiness of late. Friday night I will be cropping with friends again, so I should have some more stuff to post in the near future.

Happy scrapping!

Blog Hop Time!

Welcome to my page on this most fun of Blog Hops by Scrapbook Steals. If you were just on Deborah Johnson's page, you have come to the right place. I am the last (and hopefully not least) guest before you go back to where it all started. Here is the list again, for reference:

1) Scrapbook Steals 

2) Becci Manies

3) Katrina Hunt

4) Brett Quinton

5) Chloe Salerno

6) Erin Colby

7) Deborah Johnson (where you just were)

8) Michelle King (you are here)

I must admit that the idea of being a part of the blog hop was incredibly intimidating and then the thought going through my mind was, "I wonder what kind of paper kit we'll get to work with". I started thinking about mini albums, layouts, cards, etc...and then I found out we were going to be working with My Mind's Eye Journal Card Kit. They are just beautiful and can be used for so many things. I wanted to do something "out of the box" to really show that you can find other ways to use these adorable cards. The first idea that popped in my head was to make a "Family Tree" and that was exactly what I did (seems fitting for Mother's Day weekend). Here are the cards I chose to use and you can see that I started by inking the edges, adding cardstock/patterned paper to the backs, writing the names and relation of family members (to my daughters) and punching holes through them: 

I added the pictures I printed of family members to the cards. I chose to do them all in sepia so that they worked together and did not clash with the colors on the cards. Here is the finished product:

I then also did a layout of my 4 month-old with the card used in its traditional capacity:

And one last item: a bookmark. I like the magnetic ones that close on your page so that they don't slip out. I used a magnetic sheet to put on the back of a card and cut the card in half to fold over on itself and then wove ribbon between the 2 pieces so that they would stay together. I don't know about you, but I hate when I am not sure what paragraph I am on, so this bookmark was made to indicate where I have left off:

As all good things come to an end, you have reached the end of the list for this hop! I hope that you have enjoyed it all and that somewhere you found some inspiration for your next project or 2. Don't forget to leave a comment so that you are eligible for a $20 gift certificate for scrapbook supplies from none other than Scrapbook Steals.

Have a great day, and to all the mothers out there (especially my own) ~ Happy Mother's Day! Enjoy the rest of the weekend :)

HAPPY NSD!!!

Happy National Scrapbook Day everyone! Did you spend the day getting your scrap on? I certainly did! This was what my day consisted of: 

1) going to a friend's house to scrap with a group of friends from 10am to 10pm. I brought my 3 year-old from 10am-2pm. 

2) made crafts with said 3 year-old and just generally hung out with her while she loved spending time with "Mommy's friends". 

3) bringing my daughter home for her afternoon nap and took the time to feed the 4 month-old before heading back to the crop

4) got to get 5 layouts done and one birthday card within the last 8 hours (with dinner and a run to Tim Horton's in there)

All in all, a really fun day!

Here are the fruits of my labors:

 Turquoise #1

 Turn Back Time Challenge (Layout #1)

 Turn Back Time Challenge (Layout #2)

 Sassy Spring Challenge

 Not challenge related

 Hope you all had a great NSD and that you were able to get some scrappy time in.

Reaching Amethyst Status

I went out to my weekly Friday night crop and managed to do the last 3 layouts required for me to reach my Amethyst status at Scrapbook Steals. I started off with #10 and it came together quite easily for me. I had 2 pictures instead of 1, but you can still see how my layout was inspired from the sketch. The paper (Kaisercraft) was something I have had in my stash for quite some time and I was happy to use it. I love the pictures because there is nothing more peaceful than a sleeping baby :)

Next I did sketch #8. The sketch had hexagons on it, but I am quite partial to squares. I was excited because I got to use more of my papers and embellishments from the Bo Bunny Alora collection. I love the whimsical feel which is great for my little ones and it's not too girlie. This picture shows exactly how my eldest loves the baby :)

Lastly, I did sketch #4. Those are the eggs I filled for the egg hunt for my daughter, nephew and niece. The basket was the one for my daughter (my nephew's had Spiderman stuff in it and my niece's had board books and things more appropriate for her at 14 months). The page was done with scraps that I had and I like the mix of colors. However, I am struggling to find a clever title to add, so that is all that is missing. I hope to get hit with inspiration at a later time...

I am glad to be done with all 10 sketches...with 8 of them being done tonight and last Friday. I am definitely a procrastinator!

Amethyst 2, 5 and 7a

I also have some layouts I did of my first daughter last week to get caught up on the Midweek Mojos for Scrapbook Steals. The first one (Amethyst #2) is one of her hamming it up while she was eating toast and jam (notice the little raspberries I made with a hole punch in the top left corner to show what kind of jam it was). She literally eats from the top of the bread (where are the jam is) and eats THROUGH the toast. She is one strange kid ;)

The second layout (Amethyst #5) was from a day she was going to her first birthday party that was not her cousin's. It was for a girl from her daycare and it was at a gym. Boy did she ever have a great time that day!

And finally, the last layout (Amethyst #7a) is of her doing one of her favorite things: painting. If she could paint every day she would be a happy camper. I get little canvases at the dollar store and she gets really excited when I break them out every once in a while. If anything, it's nice to do multiples because then we give them to family members (grandparents are always happy to get things like that). She is a budding little artist and I can't wait for the day we start scrapping together!

Amethyst #3a and #9

I have fallen behind on the Mojos from Scrapbook Steals. However, this week I managed to get 2 done of my youngest (Alexis). I really liked the sketch for Amethyst #3a and am quite proud of the soft look of my page (I never use white cardstock as a base and used some Tattered Angels mist to add a bit of yellow). Because of the way the light hit Alexis in the picture, I knew I wanted to put a sun in the top left corner to look like it was shining down on her from that side. I'd say it was a fun interpretation of the sketch.

The next one is this week's sketch (#9). I had just received the Bo Bunny Alora collection this week from Scrapbook & Cards Today and was dying to use it for something. I decided to use it for this mojo and am quite pleased with how it looks. It was nice to have the embellishments in the pack as well as it made the page come together so well. 

So there you have some of the layouts I got done this week.

Embossing and ATCs

I am new to the heat embossing world, but am looking forward to using the technique more and more. My first "splash" in that world was making spring ATCs (artist trading cards) for a swap I am involved in. The only rule is that the cards must be 2.5" x 3.5". After that, the design and techniques you want to use are all up to you. It's really neat to see the diversity in a group of women given just a simple theme to run with. I was a part of one for fall and one for winter and am still in awe of what some people can create on such a small area. This time round we are 28 participants, I believe. Spring as a theme was much harder for me than the last 2. I made the same design, but in 6 different colors. I used a mask and then stamped with Versamark ink all around it to emboss the negative of the image. Someone made a comment about it seeming like something "Taj"-like. I wasn't sure if I was happy with the end result of my embossing, but have to remember that I am still learning. Next time I will do a simple stamp as I think that would be cleaner.

Without further ado, here is what they look like:

The cardstock is Bazzill Limeade (one of my all-time favorite colors) and the embossing powders are ZING, which give such great colors. I got them from Scrapbook Steals in case you were wondering ;)