It's A Girl!

Here we are at the last page of my sketches, or perhaps the first, depending on where you started. To recap, I've had a lot of people ask about this baby album that I created, so I threw together some sketches to show alongside the finished pages. I had a great time putting together this album, and I would have to say that the Cricut New Arrival cartridge was central to all of these creations. The Cricut is such an easy device to use. I practiced a few times before attempting the die cuts seen in this album, but this was my first big project using the Cricut. Also central to this album is the Basic Grey Oh Baby Girl collection. It was so much fun, and quite easy, to work with a coordinated kit.

Cardstock: Bazzill Bling yellow
Patterned Paper: Basic Grey Oh Baby Girl Lilly, Lilac
Die Cut: Cricut New Arrival cartridge
Queen and Company brads
Primas
gems

Sweet Dreams

This Cricut New Arrival die cut was perhaps the most fun to work with, aside from the stork and baby, or maybe it was the mommy and the baby? OK....so they're all fun! It was fun blending different cardstock colors with patterened papers on this one.

Cardstock: Bazzill Buttercup, pink
Patterned Paper: Basic Grey Oh Baby Girl, Sophie
Die Cut: Cricut New Arrival cartridge
Letters: Basic Grey Oh Baby Girl, Basic Grey Sweet Pea Alyssa

Playtime

I had a lot of fun with the letters on this one. Using my Blocktype font, I printed out "Playtime" onto different colored cardstock. I then cut around each "block" to create a fun title.

Cardstock: Bazzill Apple Green, Apricot; Sassafras Lass Pink, Tickled Pink Vanilla Bean
Patterned Paper: Basic Grey Oh Baby Girl Katrina, Macy
Die Cut: Cricut New Arrival Cartridge
Font: Blocktype

Pink is for Girls

It is nice to include a general page when creating a baby gift album. There are always precious photos or memories that parents will want to include that perhaps do not fit into the traditional themes for a baby album.

Cardstock: Memory Box Farmers Market Collection, Peony
Fabric: Mrs. Grossman's Fashion Fabrics, Pink Calico
Die Cut: Cricut New Arrival cartridge
Embellishment: Paper Bliss Bunnies

Sisters

********************************One of the fun things about creating a baby album for a younger sibling is that you get to include pages that involve older siblings.

Cardstock: Bazzill Sunshine
Patterned paper: Basic Grey Oh Baby Girl Rosebud, Taylor
Die Cut: Cricut New Arrival cartridge
Ribbon: Basic Grey Oh Baby Girl
Font: Beautiful ES
Buttons: SEI Simple Set Sunny, Serendipity
Staples: Making Memories, Light
Zig black pen

Announcement

********************************** I let the Announcement die cut from the Cricut New Arrival cartridge set the tone for this page. It's a great die cut, although experience has taught me that it's very difficult to make a small version with this because of all those intricate cuts.

Cardstock: Bazzill Bling Purple

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey Oh Baby Girl Lilac

Die Cut: Cricut New Arrival cartridge

Ink: Adirondack Eggplant, Dew Drop Brilliance Graphite Black

Stamps: Technique Tuesday Stitches
corner rounder
primas
button brads

Personal opinion: I used the Dew Drop ink pad for this page. I find the Dew Drop to be very juicy. I ended up with ink all oer my hands just from opening the container. My personal favorite ink is Colorbox, however, if lots of ink is what you are looking for, then Dew Drop is the right choice!

My Favorite Things

It's always fun to include a page of favorites when scrapping for a baby. I tried to include some unique favorites in my layout:

Favorite Toy

Favorite Food

Favorite Outfit

Favorite Routine

Favorite Place to Sleep

Cardstock: Bazzill Lilac, Butterscotch
Pattern Papers: Basic Grey Oh Baby Girl Natalie, Taylor
Font: Tweed

Die Cut: Cricut New Arrival cartridge
bazzill butterscotch
Ribbon: Basic Grey Oh Baby girl
Ink: Adirondack eggplant
flower brad, Bazzill medium brads
zig black pen

Extras

No sketches with this post. Using the Basic Grey Oh Baby Girl letters, Bazzil and Sassafras Lass papers, and the Cricut New Arrival cartridge, I created an insert for the album cover and a darling card for the parents.

Since I made 2 identical books, I used a monogram "S" for the older sister's album (Sofie), and a "?" for the yet-to-be named little sister.

Daddy's Little Girl

I had fun with this layout, layering the circles. Instead of a traditional title, I used a button in the upper-right corner that says, "Daddy's Little Girl". The Basic Grey ribbon is velvety soft!

Cardstock: Bazzill Bling-Turquoise

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey Oh Baby Girl Carlie/Gracie

Ribbon: Basic Grey Oh Baby Girl

Die Cut: Cricut George and Basic Shapes

button

Baby Album - Bathtime

It's never too late to create a baby book. I was not into scrapbooking when my friend's first daughter was born. I made this album when her second daughter was born, and I made it in duplicate, one for the little sister, and one for the older sister. It's fun to see how each child looks at similar ages doing similar things.

Cardstock: Bazzill (yellow, gold, blue)
Die Cut: Cricut New Arrival cartridge
Pen: Zig 005 Black, Souffle white
Patterned paper: Sassafras Lass, In Stitches, Bubbly
Ink: Stamp Craft Baby Blue Dye
fiber (for the blue line that divides that page)
Font: Sizzix "Girls are Weird"

Baby Album - Mommy & Me

I've been having fun this week creating sketches from some of my previous work. Normally I do not work with sketches, but rather create things on my own. Sketches, however, are a lot of fun to use when putting together a layout.

I've had several people ask me for ideas about baby books, so I thought I would share sketches and completed pages from a mini-gift album that I created for the daughter of a friend of mine. Mommy & Me is the first of several pages that I created. The completed pages are 6x6, but the sketches are 8x8, which is an easier format to work with.

Cardstock: Bazzill brown, purple bling, tan

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey Oh Baby Girl, Hannah/Larkspur/Peapod; Sassafras Lass Green Apple

Die cut: Cricut New Arrival cartridge
Sassafras Lass Green Apple
Tools: Corner rounder
Ribbon: Basic Grey Oh Baby
Button

We Celebrated in Two Time Zones!

This year my family rung in the New Year in two time zones! We celebrated in Pacific Standard Time, and in Nenni Not-So-Standard Time. No planes, trains or automobiles involved. Just a remote.

We gathered around the TV close to midnight to watch the ball drop. We couldn't help but notice that NBC was 2 minutes behind the actual time shown on our atomic clocks. Midnight came first on our clocks, and we yelled, "Woo Hoo....Happy New Year", etc. Two minutes later, the ball dropped and we celebrated again. The problem? Well at 2 minutes (4 minutes actually) after midnight, we thought about it and pressed the fast forward button on our DVR remote. We must have hit the pause button eariler and never caught up, LOL!

Che Bella Vista

Isn't this adorable? It was designed by Fiskars/Heidi Grace, and is a project from one of my Fiskars training classes in Texas. This is actually a canvas frame, covered with Heidi Grace flocked paper, then flipped over. What you are looking at is the backside of the frame. The picture, taken in Italy by my oldest, is inset to the frame.

On a funny side note, after selecting this photo for this project, I spent over 20 minutes going through the hundreds of pictures that my oldest son took while on his European trip. He went to several countries, and sorted his pictures into many folders. It took a while before I could determine that he took this in La Magdallena, Italy. After discovering the location, I flipped the picture over to apply adhesive, and written on the back I saw, "La Madgallena, Italy". Talk about a Du'h moment!!

Christmas Eve Dinner ....... Oops!

I couldn't resist grabbing my camera after our (yes....our..... I had help with this one) latest cooking debacle.

Digital kit is Holiday Spirit, designed by Misty Cato.

Journaling reads:

THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

After spending hours working on the perfect dish of sweet potatoes, we open the oven and FLAMES shoot out! The smoke alarm sounded, but the kids merely laughed. They assumed that it was the normal, "mom must be cooking" routine. Terry and I remained calm as we extinguished the flames, wondering if we should tell the kids that this wasn't a drill!

OK....so in my defense, we have a really sensitive smoke alarm that is precariously located close to our oven. If I set the oven for higher than 375, the alarm sounds off. I just couldn't believe it this time when the alarm sounded, we opened the oven and "whoosh", out shoot flames!! It startled me for a moment, but I stayed calm. It took us over 5 minutes to extinguish the flames. A wee bit scary, but we did laugh once the ordeal was over.

Beauty Lies Within

These are pictures of a project that I started in San Antonio and FINALLY finished last week. The primary tool for this project is the Fiskars Round Punch. It's a wonderful tool. It comes with a 4 or 6 inch template for cutting circles. After the circles are cut, simply punch with the round punch and an intricate design is created. Super easy, super fun. Defintely a favorite tool of mine.



The ribbon was a lot of fun to make. I used Fiskars Clear Stamps, "Just Between Friends", and stamped an image, with Staz-On Timber Brown ink, directly to the ribbon. The effect is wonderful.


Papers are Cloud 9.
Project created by Fiskars/Cloud 9.

I'm on Cloud 9

Christmas shopping this year means more gift cards, and less tangible presents. Thankfully, there are so many gift cards to chose from, and places to purchase them. After giftcertificates.com messed up my order (boo hiss), I cancelled said order and hubby drove me over to our local Safeway where I could choose from over 100 cards.

The cards are handy, but presenting them can be rather dull. I decided to dress them up with some of the Cloud 9 paper collection. It was super fast and easy, and lots of fun. Here is a picture of my favorite wrappings.

Here is a link to Cloud 9 Designs:

http://www.cloud9design.biz/

I'm on Fiskars TV!

Woo Hoo! The Fiskars TV segment that I filmed in San Antionio has "aired". Here is the link:
http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/tv/

Look for the "Holiday Show 'n Tell with the Fiskateers" dated 12/14/07 . I'm the first person featured, but if you watch until the end, you will have an opportunity to win some free goodies!

I have to say.....I look gross!!! LOL! At least I can laugh at myself. This is what I look like after 40 hours that includes only 4 hours sleep, 6 classes, 2 tours, a 7am call, my conditioner left at home, humidity that makes everything cling, and a multiple tumors in my belly!! Oh well, I gueess even unwelcome tumors deserve their 15 seconds of fame, too! Now that the tumors are gone, what can I blame my fat tummy on? Hmmmmm........I may have to get creative with this excuse!

The Fiskars Love was Spread to Me (and, Oh, I'm Back)!

Yesterday I received this GIANT package in the mail. It was filled with all sorts of swap goodies. I recognized the little bags and tags from the monthly Fiskateer's swap. I didn't participate in November, so I figured that it had to be a mistake. As I looked closer, many of the labels had "Mystery Swapper" written on them. It took me a bit to figure out that I was the "Mystery Swapper". Hisaho (my flight companion to/from Texas for the Fiskars weekend) took it upon herself to include me in the November swap. She knew that I was too busy to join in because of my surgery, so she did a little goody bag up for me and labeled it, "Mystery Swapper". What a wonderful gesture! It was fun going through all the goody bags, and the items are of incredible quality! It really made my day, and honestly, I was feeling so much better after receiving that incredible surprise. Yet another example of how the Fiskateers is both an online and offline community, and how people there are genuinely nice and thoughtful.

Of course, I am back from the hospital. This first week has been rough. Lots of pain (sad face). Each day usually brings some improvement, and looking back I can say that I truly feel better now than I did 9 days ago. I felt like a cat the first few days. Eat and sleep, with emphasis on the sleep, LOL! Sleep becomes a bit more elusive, though, as the days go on. There are less drugs in my system, the anesthesia has worked it's way out, but neck stiffness from all of the uncomfortable positions is really setting in. Overall, though, it's good to be home!