Friday, December 31, 2010

{my top ten of 2010}

Happy New Year's to all!! I hope everyone is having a great, great day and has an even better start to their NEW YEAR! I will be staying home and scrapbooking tonight. Such is life with a 7 week old! I like staying home on new years eve though so I don't mind a bit. And this year I may even stay up until midnight because naughty little Isabel hasn't been going to sleep until very, very late the last couple of nights!

Last year I posted my ten favorite layouts of the year and it was so much fun to go back and look through my layouts to pick the ten. Not to mention incredibly hard too! So here it is again this year- my ten favorite in no particular order.











Have a GREAT new year!!!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Another Card Challenge Tuesday...

Here it is...

the awesome sketch by Bo Bunny Design Team member Agnieszka!




One sketch and so many possibilities! Each and every design team members card looks different. I used the sketch as inspiration for my Happy Birthday card below. I used the BO BUNNY Winter Joy collection. Who says winter paper needs a winter theme? It's perfect for birthdays too.


You can play along with the challenge too by uploading your take on the sketch on this BLOG POST.
Good luck!

Monday, December 27, 2010

A Nikki Sivils sneak peak!!

Hi all, I hope everyone had a great holiday with friends and family!

My Christmas was the best ever and we celebrated Frances's second birthday too. Our house looks like a toy store, but Frances is enjoying all her new stuff so it's ok! She is just the cutest ever too. The things she says have us laughing all the time. Whenever I yawn, cough or sigh, she says "Mommy you ok?" or "What's wrong Mommy?" It is seriously the cutest! And the other day my husband was telling her not to do something (can't remember what because it seems like we are telling her not to do a lot of stuff lately) and she said "Daddy what's your problem?" I couldn't help laughing! Ok just one more- when my dog Kody comes in from the backyard she says "Kody wipe your paws!" Ha ha ha ha! I am definitely going to get these Francesism's on a page before I forget them!

So now for the Nikki Sivils peak!!! I have been working with her new lines for CHA and boy, oh, boy are they CA-UTE! So if you want to see a peak of one (and why wouldn't you???) you can check out a layout I made with her line "Summer" on her very first newsletter. Just CLICK HERE. My layout is on the last page. And please sign up for her newsletter too while you are there!
And in other Nikki Sivils news- This month the design team teamed up with Creative Charms. We were all given some embellishments to work with. Now I just started working with mine so there will be more projects to come! I created this Valentine's Day card using Nikki's Valentine's line "Sugar Cookie". I embossed the brown sheet of paper from the 6x6 mini pad to give it the white lines and texture. Then I cut out some hearts and my sentiment from the 12x12 sheet of cut ups. And to finish it off I used the Creative Charms antique brad for the center of my bow.


Thanks for stopping by today!! And I have a give away planned soon! So make sure you keep checking back! 

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Only a few more days!!!

Until my Frances's birthday that is!!!

I have always liked Christmas, not really loved it, just liked it. But since my little Frances was born on Christmas Day two years ago the holiday now has a special place in my heart. I feel incredibly bad that her birthday falls on Christmas so I have her party the weekend before and tell all the guests that they have to wrap her presents in birthday paper, not Christmas paper! It may sound bossy, but I don't my little girl to be cheated out of a real birthday party. We had her party Saturday and it was so much fun! I have some pictures, but not on my this computer (as I am still without a computer and am borrowing this one!), but I will post them soon.
Happy Holidays to each and everyone one of you and I hope you enjoy time with your family and friends. I will leave you with this card I created for the Bo Bunny blog card challenge. The challenge is to use a Christmas decoration on a card. I used these white holly berries that I bought at Hobby Lobby for .99 cents. They come in a big sprig, but you can cut off what you need and adhere them with strong liquid adhesive. I love how they look on cards, gift bags and tags. I used the Bo Bunny Winter Joy Collection.


And you still have time to participate in the challenge too! Just go to this BLOG POST on the Bo Bunny blog to submit your entry. Good Luck!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Some Nikki Sivils

Hi all, finally got my hands on a computer again!

And today is a good day because it is the day my projects are posted on the Nikki Sivils blog! There are lots of other great projects on there today too so head on over and check them out!

Here are few using the Happy Holly Days collection-


One with Sugar Cookie-


And a card with Something For Everyone-

Thursday, December 9, 2010

A little late...

Happy belated Thanksgiving!

Well I have not had a computer since before Thanksgiving so I know this is a little late, but I haven't been able to get online. Life with Frances and Isabel has been keeping me busy though so I haven't missed my computer that much (and I have an Iphone for email). Now that we have settled into somewhat of a routine and Isabel takes a long nap in the afternoon I have found that I miss my laptop! My husband has promised me a new one for Christmas though so it shouldn't be long before I am able to update regularly again.

Since I haven't been able to get online I never got a chance to share my thankful Bo Bunny layout. I created this layout for the Thanksgiving post on the Bo Bunny blog. We were asked to create a thankful project. The think I am most thankful for is my family so I created this layout. The picture is from our Christmas photo shoot last year at JC Penny. Frances had an ear ache and was not cooperating at all! This was the best picture out of the hundred she took. So at least we had one good picture for our effort!

I used the Bo Bunny Olivia line and there is some journaling for my family on the back of the layout :)


On the bottom corner I layered the Olivia chipboard and cutouts from the Olivia patterned paper. 

I just wrote about Thanksgiving and now I am on to Christmas! Boy time goes by quickly!

I have been working on some Christmas project for the Bo Bunny blog this month. Everyone asks how I have time to scrapbook with newborn. Well.... my little Frances who will be two on Christmas day loves to scrapbook. She calls it scraping book. So we have been spending some Mommy-daughter time together scraping book (as she would say). As soon as I get out my bag she goes to the table and gets excited. She has a notebook that is her scraping book and I give her my left over paper scraps, stickers and some markers. She tapes and draws in her book while I scrapbook. Of course this way takes me about three times longer to complete a project, but it is fun.

So here are the projects I have created with my little Frances.

First up is a little stocking to use as a place setting or card at your dinner table. I used a stocking templates that I bought in a package at Michaels for a $1.00. I used one for my template and Frances used the rest to draw on :). I traced the template onto some Noel paper, cut out and adhered around the edges to form a pocket. Then I decorated it with more Noel paper, Noel stickers and some left over Christmas decorations. I adhered the stockings with strong liquid adhesive so I would be able to put the silverware inside. You can add a name to each to use as a place setting on each plate or stuff a little treat inside for guests if you don't want to use them for silverware. And noticed I put the fork on the wrong side after I took picture! I guess I don't set the table enough! At my house I just throw a bunch of silverware on the kitchen island and it is help yourself.




And now for some Christmas cards...

On both of my cards I used the Bo Bunny Winter Joy collection. It is so fun to use these non-traditional colors for Christmas cards!


On this card I used an embossing folder to give it some texture
and the Noel stamps to stamp my sentiment.

On this card I used the Winter Joy stamps to stamp my trees.
I stamped the green trees first and then the blue trees overlapping them.


Please check out the Bo Bunny blog for the posts of these projects as the rest of the DT's work is just fabulous!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Two page layout day

It's one of my favorite days on the Bo Bunny blog- two page layout day. I don't see too many two page layouts so I love getting new ideas from all the Bo Bunny designers.

I created my Bo Bunny two page layout using the new Crazy Love line, which I am crazy in love with- hehe! I love anything with bees and this little guy is the cutest! Sorry about the photos. As hard as I try I cannot take a straight picture of a two page layout. Everything is straight, even and spaced out correctly in real life, I promise! I took these photos of my little Frances on the swings this summer. I love the looks on her face and knew this playful line would be perfect for them.






And here is that cute little bee I was talking about. He is from the Crazy Love 12 x 12 chipboard (along with the little letters). I drew his trail and then added some cut out flowers to it and punched hearts. There was a little butterfly with a trail like this on one of Frances's dresses. I thought it was so cute I couldn't resist copying it on my layouts.


The rest of the DT did a fabulous job with the two page layouts. You can check them out on the blog post!

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Keeping Busy

I have been super busy taking care of both Frances and little Isabel this week as you can imagine! For some reason Frances won't call her Isabel. She calls her little sister. She says "little sister sleeping" or "little sister needs milk". She is being a very good big sister and loves watching Isabel sleeping in her chair. And bless her little heart, Isabel is a very good sleeper! She sleeps five hours straight at night. So I have been lucky to get some rest.

Today I have a few projects to share from Bo Bunny and Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker. I was able to finish all my DT work for both teams weeks ago. I planned ahead so I would have all my projects done before Isabel's big day. So I have been taking a few weeks off from scrapping until I start working on my December projects.

First up I have some cards made from the Bo Bunny Midnight Frost card kit. I love the Bo Bunny card kits. They have everything you need to make lots of cards including the envelopes in no time. Our assignment was to make some cards with the card kit, but make them different than the directions provided. So if you like following directions you can make the cards directly as shown or if you like to embellish you can add some extras like I did on my cards below.


The only thing I added to these cards not included in the card kit is the ribbon, buttons and stickles. I love how pink looks on wintery cards so I couldn't resist adding the little splashes of pink on both cards.

And next up I have some projects from Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker.

On this layout I used this the "Tree Love" collection. I love, love, love how cute this collection is and how perfect it is for fall, my favorite time of the year. Frances loves to step on leaves. She just discovered them this fall and can't get enough of them. She says "Crunch, crunch, crunch" when she steps on them so I thought this title was perfect :) :)




The next were created using the "something for everyone" line. Love the colors and patterns on this one. And of course I couldn't resist adding some pink as usual!


This layout is one of my favorites. I love the picture of Frances and the title is what she says. When we ask her if she loves us she says "Lub you soooo much". She still hasn't gotten the letter v yet!


That's it for today. Thanks for coming by ~ Sarah

Monday, November 15, 2010

Introducing...

our newest addition Isabel Ann Eclavea.

She was born November 13th at 3:17pm, weighed 7 lbs and was 19 3/4 inches long. We love her so much already and can't believe just how cute she is! Frances tells her she "loves her sooo much" and has already tried to give her Cheerios. She is a great big sister and loves to help out.

Here are some of her first pictures taken by the hospital photographer. I already have all my scrapbook layouts in mind!






Thanks for stopping by to see our new little Isabel ~ Sarah

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

An altered frame to share...

Does anyone shop at IKEA? I love that place!! We just spent all day there on Saturday buying a new couch, a new dresser for the baby and a cabinet for our office. If you've been there before then you have seen their "market place" area on the lower floor. You can find all kinds of little stuff down there for the office, kitchen, bathroom or really any room in the house. While there a few months ago I discovered these unfinished frames in the market place. They hold a 4 x 6 picture and you can buy these cute matching easle to hold the frame on. Since they are unfinished they are perfect for altering.

So when Bo Bunny asked the Design Team to create an altered item for today's blog post I knew just what to do! I painted the frame with brown acrylic paint and then covered it in cardstock. Then I used embellishments from the Crazy Love line to finish it off. I have to say the frame is cute, but my little Frances is cuter!


You can see what the rest of the DT altered HERE.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

It's card challenge Tuesday

on the Bo Bunny blog! Today's challenge is to use something from nature. The Design Team was super creative in their use of objects found in nature.

I had this idea as soon as the challenge was posted. I took my girl Frances to the park and asked her to find me some sticks. She picked all different shapes and sizes and we had a lot of fun!  Here's us with our stick collection.

I choose one to make the tree trunk on my card. I cut it into several different sizes and then assembled into the tree trunk. I used a clear drying liquid adhesive to adhere the sticks to the card. It was lots of fun to make and the real sticks give the card lots of dimension.


You can play along to with the Nature Challenge. Just visit this blog post to upload your cards.

Friday, October 29, 2010

October's Challenge - Mix Em' Up

At the end of the month Nikki Sivils always hosts a challenge with lots of fun Nikki Sivils prizes! This month's challenge is to combine any Nikki Sivils lines into one project. You can make a layout, card or altered item, but it must include at least two lines (or more!).

I created this "you're tweet" card for the challenge. I used Willow Bee, Bluebery Hill and My Friend Birdie, three of my favorite lines.


If you want to play along you can find all the details HERE on Nikki's blog. And while you're there check out the projects from the rest of the DT. You will not be disappointed! They are so creative at mixing the lines together. I would never think to mix the papers they did, but it looks great!

Monday, October 25, 2010

It's Pink Week

This week is pink week on the Bo Bunny blog in honor of breast cancer awareness month. The DT has been hard at work creating pink projects in honor of all those that have been touched by this disease. I have heard their stories about personal battles with the disease, family and friends they have helped through it and unfortunately about loved ones they have lost too soon.

I smiled at the wonderful stories about friends recovering and I had tears in my eyes reading about the ones they have lost. I was angry that such wonderful people that I have come to know and befriend online through our common love of this hobby had to go through what they did. Each project was created with such love and compassion I felt as if my heart would burst. All of their work is truly inspiring and I am grateful to each of them for sharing their stories.

Today is card day and myself and a few other DT members created some cards of encouragement to send to friends and family. These are the cards that I created:




Please visit the Bo Bunny blog each day this week for a new pink project. You will be amazed by all the wonderful work and heart that went into each and every project.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

A few projects to share...

Good afternoon everyone! It is finally starting to feel like fall here and I am loving this great weather. Frances's new favorite activity is to go outside and step on leaves. Every day she says "Go outside, step on leaves, crunch, crunch, crunch..." So I think I know what the title of my next layout is going to be- "CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH". Here's the little one doing just that- crunching some leaves:

Do you notice the Crocs she's wearing? Well those are now her favorite shoes. She will only wear those shoes. If I try to put any other shoes on her she screams "NO, other shoes". So we spend a lot of time cleaning crunched up leaves out of them :)

And we spent the weekend at the pumpkin farm. I love this time of year! So much fun stuff to do!


Now on to my projects! I have three projects on the Nikki Sivils Blog today. I am so in love with her new lines!! My Friend Birdie is my favorite. I cannot stop using it. And of course I had to use Boo-tiful too because I am definitely in Halloween spirit. I can't wait to take Frances Trick or Treating. We have been practicing! She is pretty good at the Trick or Treat part, but then when I ask her what do you say when you get candy she says "Thank you Welcome". She doesn't quite get that she doesn't say both of them together!

My first project uses the "My Friend Birdie" line. I used the 12x12 paper, the scalloped paper, the 12x12 letter stickers, some burlap buttons, the pocket full of stickers and a courderoy brad. I cut the tree limb from the 12x12 cutie cut ups and then punched some hearts out of green cardstock and patterened paper for my leaves.

I used the name of the paper line as my sentiment for this card because it was just perfect for these little ghosts and hearts. I used papers from the 6x6 Boo-tiful mini pad to make the card and printed my sentiment on some of the scraps.

I used the cricut (the Mini Monsters Cartridge) to cut my card base for this one and then used the layer feature to cut paper from the 6x6 Boo-tiful mini pad. I adhered everything and then cut the bat and pumpkin from the scrap paper and adhere with foam tape. Some ribbon, a button and the chipboard letters made it complete!

I also made some cards for Bo Bunny using the Whoo-ligans line. I love the Whoo-ligans! Aren't these little guys cute! All the supplies are from the Whoo-ligans line including 12x12 paper, chipboard, stickers and the noteworthy journaling books. And I used some Tombow adhesive to put them together. That's the only adhesive I will use. I love the tape runners and buy the refills in bulk so I never run out!



Thanks for looking!!