And now there are six...

BLESSINGS~

We are thrilled to have our newest little angel to hold in our arms.  And I do mean OUR arms. The sweet thing is passed around and around and there is usually a LINE to hold her. I have even witnessed my kids FIGHTING over "getting" to change her diaper! 

I can honestly say that I have never been happier having a new baby...maybe it's because I'm old enough to have grandchildren;) I've heard being a grandparent is even better than having children but I doubt that~at least for me...I'm one happy mommy:D

Not that I'm biased, but she is incredibly beautiful ~not a stork bite in sight;). 

AND she is a HUGE smiler, already!!! 

I've taken HUNDREDS of photos of her already. Yes, really. I'm just wrapping up my second photography class in as many months and I'm determined to overcompensate for the remote possibility that the other kiddos could have more baby pictures. These photos were all taken at the hospital without a flash!!! So excited that I know how to do that now!

Next time I'll share some of our "at home" photos~

The Rocket Center and an easy Microbead Embellishment Tutorial!

Last summer we hopped in the minivan and drove south to Huntsville, Alabama to visit the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. It was a day of fun, family and LOTS of photo opportunities.  So when I received my July Scrapbook Circle Kit in the mail {THANKS mom!} and found it filled with October Afternoon Rocket Days, I knew just which photos to print. I used a sketch from Cheri over at Let's Scrap to get me started.

Not too often that I pose for a cheesy photo but every now and then it happens;). I just love all the fun ephemera included in the kit, where else would I find rocket suit trading cards or tickets to the moon?!? 

I misted the Bazzill borders with sunshine Glimmermist and added baker's twine and ric rack to the already full to the brim kit. I also added RED microbeads to the star...more on that below;).

I had lots of fun painting and then distressing the little chipboard rocket. When I started off playing with it, I didn't really intend for it to land on the layout but by the time it was finished I was so happy with it that I just had to find it a spot.

I love flags, especially itty bitty ones flying on toothpicks so I had to add one of those as well.

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Now for the quick and easy microbeads: messy but so much fun...

Grab a glitter tray, your chipboard (or whatever material you'd like) and a vial of microbeads

 Next, cover your chipboard with PLENTY of adhesive. I just used my Xyron- it is quick, easy and relatively mess free. You can use a variety of different adhesives here and lots of people use a wet glue but I find working with a wet glue to be difficult as I always seem to end up with big clumps of microbeads both on and off my chipboard.

 Once you have your chipboard COMPLETELY covered with adhesive, poor the microbeads right over the top. Make sure you cover your chipboard well. Then press down on the beads just to make sure they get good and stuck. This is one of my favorite steps;)

I shake my tray gently to find my chipboard piece and then I carefully remove the chipboard and poor the microbeads right back into the vial. Next I push and poke the microbeads around until they are all exactly where I want them. After all the baeds are in place it is really important to seal the microbeads onto your surface. For this I use Glossy Accents. LET IT DRY completely, you all know what happens if you don't...

Happy Scrapping,

Oregon Trip Highlights, Part 1

July 2011

~Leaving Nashville~

This is what a weather delay after boarding the plane allowed us to do! Totally worth the minor 30 minute delay:)

The Willamette River in Eugene, Oregon

Time with Grandpa. I don't know what it is about this photo but I LOVE it!

At the Eugene Emeralds baseball game

He's waving at the mascot, Sluggo, who he fell in love with instantly

The Oregon Coast

Here I am trying to manipulate the results of the kids' race down the dunes...

And they finish in age order anyway;)

 Bliss

 Sea Lion Caves

 The girls were FREEZING since they left their hoodies at grandma's house

 Hood up and long sleeves on the beach. Being from SoCal, this still amazes me

 Can you title the layout for this one???

 Yaquina Lighthouse in the morning. Here I found out I have developed a sudden and INTENSE fear of heights.

 Same lighthouse, that afternoon. Still freezing but much prettier:)

Low tide on the cobblestone beach...some of the best tidepooling ever!

More to follow,

"What's for LUNCH" Challenge

With the school year upon me, lunch is going to change quite a bit this week. I must go from enjoying a cooked "just for me by my sweet 14 year old son" lunch to making 5 sack lunches and sending off all my dear kiddos. I am more than a little sad to see summer slip away, it seemed shorter than ever this year. 

So, when my turn came up to post a challenge for the KITCHEN, I knew this would be the perfect time to focus on lunch. We'd love to have you come on over and join us!  Here is the sample layout that I created for the challenge:

I used lots of the Savor line from Little Yellow Bicycle but the background is from October Afternoon. My favorite lunch lately is the panini, and let me just say, my son has perfected the art of creating them! I kept the layout clean and simple but couldn't resist adding just a bit of dimension:

The star is Maya Road chipboard that I inked a bit and then backed with some LYB paper. I punched the paper into a star shape with my old Creative Memories punch and then just had to trim it ever so slightly and glue it into place. The dimensional heart embellishment is made with more LYB papers and some Nestabilities dies.

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I am STILL working on sorting through my hundreds of photos from our Oregon trip but I am getting close! Here is a preview of the kids at the coast:

 Look for the rest of them in just a few days...I hope;) 

~Three layouts in Scrapbooking Magazine~

 

So now my kids have gotten into a "submit one with me" contest. I have been working on so many layouts of the younger two that most of my published layouts include them but FOR the RECORD, everyone has been in at least one of my paper published layouts. This month's Hobby Lobby Idea Magazine, Stamping, Stationary and Scrapbooking includes three of my layouts and yes, all three are of the two younger kids. 

 HOWever, my first three kiddos have many more completed albums and tons more layouts in those albums. That is because their albums were done back when my focus was more on the photos (and on scrapping chronologically) and less on the artistic process. My goal is to find a nice blend of the two:) Suggestions welcome!

We are gearing up for school, I canNOT believe my "baby" is starting high school next week! I was looking back through his scrapbooks this week and I am so thankful for them. Time really does fly by so quickly and it becomes hard to remember all the little details. Scrapbooks keep them safe and handy...and pretty!

Happy Scrapping,

Scrap-a-Little Guest Designer

  Helen Croft, papercrafter extraordinaire, was kind enough to ask me to guest design for her!!!
She sent me her latest, greatest sketch to work with:

And here is what I came up with:

I used a stack of adorable We R Memory Keepers for this layout plus a bunch of punches! The big ticket and star pin are Maya Road and the memo pin is Tim Holtz. I used an old piece of blue ribbon to tie onto the pin but it was too bright so I just hit it with some distress ink and voila! I can see myself using this sketch a gazillion times...sideways, this way & reversed, thanks Helen!

I just don't know how Helen comes up with great sketches month after month, she truly amazes me. If you haven't had the chance to check our her gallery of sketches click here.

I did a little bonus layout for her based on sketch 49:

 I used some great old Sassafras from my stash for this one. Lots of fun layers and stickers and stitching. I am on a use what I have kick and that is actually making scrapping pretty fun, a bit of a challenge and I do miss the shopping and the NEW stuff but quite honestly, my scraproom is FULL!

Back when we only had three children I began a tradition of celebrating half birthdays. It seemed like a GREAT idea at the time...two kids had January birthdays and my energy for celebrating is a little lacking at that time of year...so the half birthday idea was born. I keep it pretty simple really, just half a cake and one present. Well, it was pretty simple until our family grew and grew and grew and now we have a half birthday, a real birthday, and/or a holiday constantly it seems. Sigh. I do LOVE to scrap the half birthdays though!!!

 I used my Papertrey Ink banner dies for these but they were too long and just looked funny to me so I altered them with a pair of scissors and got just the look I was going for. I strung a bit of Karen Foster floss through them and that made it so much easier to place on the page. I had always placed each individual letter first but that made it difficult to get that "hanging" look. Definitely worth the time to pierce holes and string floss first!

Happy Scrapping,