This baby...

is cranky.

is silly.

is happy.

is happier.
is mine.

Mom's Day, Paper, Doodling and Flowers, Oh My!

Happy Mother's Day Moms! It was my first mother's day and I have to say I can get used to this. My DH let me sleep in (I slept till 9:00, after I woke up at 6 to feed the girl), then he made me breakfast (bacon and pancakes) and then I opened presents. It was better than my bday! So after all the festivities I got dressed and changed Frances into her new adorable dress. Let's just say that didn't last long. I took a couple of pictures and then heard the dreaded diaper sounds that mean nothing good is about to happen and sure enough her dress was dirty :( I loved that dress so much! But no worries I found another cute dress and she looked equally adorable and we went out to lunch and she was wonderfully well behaved as always and I had my favorite dessert creme brulee and she took a long nap when we got home. Boy, for a four month old she really understands this mother's day thing! Here are some pictures from the day, then onto my new LO's.....

My special Mom's day flowers. Look at how the water turned purple. I thought that was so cool!

Frances in her "first" mom's day dress.

Frances in her "second" Mom's day dress. We just both woke up from our nap. Can you tell?

Now for the scrappy stuff! I have been seriously obsessed with pattern paper, doodling and flowers lately. I keep buying paper like I don't have any (ha ha) and doodling on everything. And I just found the Prima aisle of Michaels and bought like a zillion flowers. So that's what my LO's look like lately.

For this LO, I knew I wanted to use the title "Good Morning Sunshine" for these pictures and when I saw that cute MME transparency I knew that would be used for my title. It said "You are my Sunshine", but I just cut off the "You are my" part. I used this super cute paper from the GCD spring all over and Margarita lines. Don't you just love the flowers and suns? It is really shiny and glittery too. The paper looked really flat so I used a steak knife, yes that's right, a steak knife, to distress the edges. It worked so much better than my edge distresser. Just put the edge of the paper into one of the grooves and drag the paper. Really gives a nice frayed edge. Then I layered all my embellishments and used some rubons to finish off the title. And of course I had to add some doodling around the page (I actually did that first)!

My second LO "My New Friend" I created using sketch 18 from 52 weeks, 52 sketches. My Aunt bought this bear for Frances and I gave it to her and she held onto it! I say it like it is the most amazing thing, but for me it was because she never held onto a toy before. I just loved the way she was looking at it and smiling at it. She was "talking" to him too in her own Frances language.

To make the big circle I used one of my kitchen bowls to trace and then cut it out. See you don't need any fancy templates! To hide the cut lines I just distressed the edges a bit. I doodled around the whole page with that fun swirly design. I sketched it in pencil first, drew over it with my pen and then erased the lines. Great way to doodle because if you don't like how it looks just erase it! Then I cut up my sassafras paper and added some fun little ebmellishments to them. I used to be so afraid to cut up paper. I always worried I would make a mistake. Silly me. Now I just cut away and it is so much fun. I doodled with a white pen on the flowers and stitched a few. Then I layered them all with pop dots and added the finishing touches. This was a really fun LO to make. It makes me feel a little sad when I look at it though because it was just a month ago and Frances is so big now and holding onto all her toys. She is growing so fast!

Mother's Day Card

Mother's day is this Sunday! Can you believe it? I am very excited as this is my first Mother's Day. My sister called and said since it was my first I could pick where we go for brunch. That's a lot of pressure!

So I was in the Mother's Day mood yesterday and thought I would make a cute little card for my mom. I used the scraps left over from DCWV Green Stack. That paper is so cute! I love all the little animals. Such fun paper.

I was sitting at the kitchen table making the card when my husband walked by and said,

"That's a cute card, can I have it?"
"Why?"- I said.
"So Frances and I can give it to you."- DH
"You are going to give me my own card?" - I asked
"Yeah and why don't you pick out a gift too."- DH
"Yeah, I don't think so."- I said

I kind of think he was serious about that too. At least the present part.

Anyway back to the card. I liked the design in the middle of this paper so I cut it out and used it on another LO. I had the little guy on the bottom left over and I didn't want to waste him.


I cut him out and used pop dots to adhere him (or her) to the cardstock. The flower didn't pop enough so I layered the three prima flowers and added a button to the middle. It was still missing something so I added the scallops, buttons and white doodling. The little MM stickers say "For You"



Have a great Mother's day all you mother's out there. You deserve it!

New Layouts and Tummy Time ...

I created two layouts last week, but I can only post one because the other just got picked up for publication in the June/July issue of Ready, Set, Create! It is my new favorite layout too. It is titled "I Hate Tummy Time". So I think you can guess what that is about. Poor little Frances hates being on her tummy. She just cries and cries the whole time. The doctor said by now she should be able to lift up on her arms :( So I started giving her sneaky tummy time by laying on the floor and putting her on top of my chest. She likes to look at me and laugh and pull my hair. Oh and she likes throwing up in my face. Well maybe she doesn't like it, but I am pretty sure I saw a grin on her face. And not just a little dribble of spit up, a full on white curdled mess of milk. So I have gotten smart (it only took me like 5 times!) and now keep a towel close by. It doesn't stop the throw up from getting on my face, but now I can quickly wipe it away instead of looking around all over for a towel. The things us mothers do for love! I never thought I would be writing a story about a baby throwing up in my face, but here I am.

My second layout was complete from sketch 17 at 52 weeks, 52 sketches. I have wanted to scrap this photo forever. It is on the day Frances was born, thus the no makeup messed up hair look. I used the GCD spring all over and Chic Bebe papers. I liked the papers and knew I wanted to use them, but wasn't sure how so I just started cutting them up and layering them. I also used some journal tags from GCD in the layers. The scallops around the word paper is from a scalloped piece of paper from the Chic Bebe pack. When I pulled the page out the negative edge was left and I didn't want to waste it so I used it to border the paper. The flourishes were stamped on pink paper (also GCD) and then I cut them out to fit. As always I had to add a little bit of pink so everyone knows Frances is a girl. I can't make that mistake again! I always use buttons for the middle of my flowers so I decided to do something different and used diamond glaze to glue some beads in the middle. I have to say this layout took me a lot longer than my usual LO's. I moved around the paper forever and went through my entire stash of prima flowers trying to find some I liked. My favorite part is the paper with the little animals. I love those animals! That was the entire reason I bought the paper pack.TFL!

April Showers Bring May Flowers!

It was so nice this weekend! The sun was shining and we were able to take Frances out. We decided to take her to a little zoo by our house, and I mean little. There are only a few animals at this zoo. There are some otters, a fox, two mountain lions, an eagle, some wolves and a reptile house with some turtles an an alligator. You can pretty much walk around the whole thing in 15 minutes.

So we decided to go out to lunch first and then head over to the zoo. It was about Frances's nap time so we figured she would sleep while we ate then wake up in time to go to the zoo. Wrong! She was up the whole time during lunch (being very good though, so I can't complain) and then fell asleep in the car on the way to the zoo. We walked around while she slept in her stroller :(

Right outside the zoo is a small garden were hundreds of tulips were planted. It looked amazing. Luckily Frances woke up just as we were leaving and we were able to take some pictures of her with the tulips. I wish she could sit up by herself. I would have put her in the middle of all those tulips and taken her pic!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Some of the Tulips in the garden

A friendly otter saying hello!

Frances and me enjoying the Tulips.

Daddy must have snapped this when we weren't looking!

Frances's Baptism (just a little late)...

It is a Saturday night, Frances is sleeping, the dogs are sleeping and my DH is sleeping. What I am trying to do? Finish my LO for this week's challenge at 52 sketches, 52 weeks. For some reason I have some serious scrapper's block. I have started two layouts and not finished either one. So I decided to write about Frances's baptism instead.

So two Sunday's ago was Frances's baptism. She lookes so cute in her little gown. Like a princess from a fairy tale. Anyway, everyone came over to my house at around 11am and the baptism started at 12:30. Well Frances usually takes her nap at 11:30 and with everyone at the house I knew she wouldn't take it. I knew that would mean trouble later, but what could I do. So we all get ready and take off to the church. The baptism starts and Frances is being very good in my lap. About 20 minutes into the service she starts sucking her hand and burying her face in my shoulder. OH NO, I think. This means she is tired and when she is tired she cried. Right on cue, she starts crying, LOUD. Everyone in the church is looking at us and she just won't stop crying. I rocked her and swayed her and tried everything and finally she fell asleep in my arms about ten minutes later. Not that big of a deal right? This is a baptism, there are babies here, babies are expected to cry. Let's just get on with the baptism. Right?

No. Of course not. Not with my crazy family. So just when I think the worst is over and Frances is sleeping quietly in my arms. I hear a cell phone ringing. In my mind I am thinking "what idiot has a cell phone on in church?". And it keeps ringing. And it keeps ringing. I am thinking glad that is not my phone. Then I hear my dad say "Hello, I can't talk right now. I'm in church at a baptism. I'll call you back later." Then I hear a lady a few pews back say "I can't believe this". Then my sister leans forward and says "I don't think you can come back to this church anymore."

So of course my family has to have the cell phone go off in church and actually answer it! But the rest of the day was great and look how cute Frances is!

Some good news!

I just received an email today that two of my LO's are going to be published in the June/July issue of Ready, Set, Create!

I am pretty excited because I have never had anything published before and now four things in one week. I just uploaded the Happy LO and now have to take it out for publication!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Frances is four months old and some new LO's

Frances turned 4 months old yesterday! Wow, time is really going by fast. I can't believe how big she is already! We took her yesterday for her four month check up and she weighs 14.5 pounds- the 96th percentile! She is such a little chunky monkey. The doctor said I feed her too much and if she's not hungry, don't feed her. Ooopps! What can I say, she likes to eat like her mommy. My husband calls her legs elephant trunks.

She also needed her shots and didn't like that one bit. Around 4pm she started crying and I gave her some tylenol. She just layed on my lap the rest of the night making all kinds of sad sounds. My heart was breaking for her. I kept saying "mommy why do my legs hurt?" I figured that was probably what she was thinking.

I also finished two layouts from sketches from 52 weeks, 52 sketches. I am lovin' the sketches. They are so fun! Both are of Frances's 3 month pictures. I can't believe she looks so different already!

TFL

Frances's Four Month Picture

Adorable You. Layout (sketch 14 from 52 weeks, 52 sketches)

Journaling says: There's not enough paper and there's not enough ink to write all that my heart wants to write about you. I also tried using some beads on the layout. I used diamond glaze to glue them to the accents and double sided tape to put the strip below the pictures. Thanks to Jodi at 52 weeks, 52 sketches for her great bead tutorial!

Happy Layout (sketch #16 from 52 weeks, 52 sketches)

Journaling says: When you laugh, when you smile, even when you cry. Your chubby cheeks and the dimple. The creases in your arms and legs. Your beautiful brown eyes. The way you look at me when you wake up. Everything about you makes me so happy.

This made my day!

I just received an email that two of my cards and going to be published in the May issue of Scrapbook News and Review! I was so excited!

I have been working on some new LO's of dear Frances that I will post this weekend. It is supposed to be over 80 degrees here this weekend, I can't wait. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Spring is Here!

Spring finally arrived in Chicago! It is 70 today and expected to be 80 tomorrow. Finally! I can not wait to get outside with Frances.

To celebrate spring come to the Scrap That forum and submit your spring related layouts for the Spring Layout Contest. What a great way to celebrate the warm weather!

Two Cards from DT kit...

I finished my last projects from the April Scrap That! DT kit- some cards from my left over scraps. I sometimes have a hard time with cards. Sometimes they just don't look right. So I try to keep my cards simple. They are much quicker that way too! Here are my two of my favorites:

I remembered your bday card:



Hello Flower Card:

I created the flower by layering some left over making memories tags I had laying around. I inked around the edges and stamped a little design all over them. You could make the same thing by punching tags out of patterned paper or cardstock or even cutting some rectangles out of your left over scrap paper. Layering some different sized rectangles with all different patterns would be interesting. I think I am going to try that. What a great way to use up my scraps!




TFL!

My first sketch LO...

I have heard everyone talking about sketches lately and how great they are. So I thought- I have to try one of these sketches out. I went over to the site 52 weeks, 52 sketches and looked at some of the sketches. I settled on sketch #15 since it was the sketch of the week and and I could upload my LO to be entered into the weekly drawing.


I loved using the sketch to make this layout. It was nice to have everything layed out and not have to think about where to put stuff. I only had to decide on the paper and embellishments. Since it was a park LO I wanted to use some fun, outdoorsy, cute papers. Of course I had to use my DCWV Green Stack! Have I mentioned how cute that paper is? It has such cute animals and flowers and designs on it that you really don't need that many embellishments. I cut the branch out of one sheet and then cut 2 x 2 squares to make some cute embellishments for the side. The paper was so cute I didn't want to take away from it so I just chose some simple buttons. The buttons in the shape of flowers are so cute. They are from the Autumn Leaves big bag of buttons.

TFL>

My DT Reveals

I just revealed the pages made with my DT kit from Scrap That! this week.

This month we were given papers and embellishments from Basic Grey's Marrakech line. I have to say the patterns are not really my style, but I have been inspired by them! It was nice to challenge myself with patterns and colors I usually don't use. Looking at all my layouts I always use stripes, polka dots, flowers or cutesy animals. And I always use pink! Always!

So here is what I came up with- My first page is titled "HUH?" I instantly thought of that title when I saw my DD's face in this picture. She has the funniest experessions! It cracks me up. When I posted it at Scrap That! someone made a comment that I had a cute little guy. They thought she was a boy! Boo! That's ok, I did use black and blue papers. Of course I had to put my own touch on the page by using some pink bling and pink polka dots. The polka dot paper is from the Sassafras Whale of a Tale paper pack. I love that pack. It is so fun. I love this layout. It may be my new favorite. It was pretty easy too. You gotta love that!

The journaling reads- "I talk to you all day long Frances, but you just look at me with this look on your face that says HUH mommy?"

My other DT reveal is "Wonder". I took this picture on a trip to Arizona in 2006 and for some reason the paper reminded me of it. My husband looked at it and said "This is morrocan paper, not southwestern." I know but I still thought of this picture. This is completely not my style so it took a lot of second guessing while I was putting it together. My favorite part is that brad flourish. I am definitely going to try one of those again! It didn't take as long as I thought to make it either. I stamped the brads with Stazon ink to match the paper. I think it gives the page a finished feel.

And Saturday I will be going to my monthly crop. So I will have lots of new goodies to post!

My latest page-

It has been a pretty busy week around here! We had Easter, then the taxes are due (dh is finishing them right now!) and Frances's baptism is Sunday. I did find some time to scrap though.

At Scrap That! the DT's all posted a challege. One was to use something recycled and green on a layout, one was to use stamping on a layout, and one was to scraplift a layout. So I cheated and used completed all three challenges on one layout! Probably not fair, but I was inspired.

I had the idea in my head for this layout long before I made it. It turned out better than I thought. I wish I would have centered the title better, but that's me, just forging ahead without planning. It would take me way too long if I measured everything!

For the recycled part I used the packaging from my MM letter stickers. It looks like a ledger sheet! I stamped the flourishes and title and scraplifted little things here and there from the Scrap That gallery.

Seriously you should look at the packaging from your scrap supplies. Now I always think what I could do with the stuff before I throw it away. Great for making a card!

My next challenge is to work on my DT layouts as soon as the taxes are done!

Frances's First Easter

I hope everyone had a great Easter! I was feeling a little sick yesterday, but that didn't stop me from eating tons of desserts! It was such a fun day. When Frances woke up we took some pictures of her in her Easter Bunny pajamas. She wasn't really cooperating. I think she was still a little cranky! Then we gave her her Easter Basket. There were lots of toys and books in it (no candy yet!) and dressed her up in her first dress! She looked so cute in her Easter dress. Her arms are so chubby it is so cute!

After a long picture session, we met my family at Papdeux, a cajun seafood restaurant. The food was so good. I had my favorite creme brulee for dessert. Frances was so good too. She didn't cry at all. She just looked around at everything going on. It was a lot of fun!

Scrappy Tuesday...

I was supposed to take a class today at the gym when the instructor called and said it was changed to another day. Since Grandma was already here, I headed out to the LSS (a few actually). At my first stop I picked up this new paper that is so cute- the K and Company Actopus to Zelephant collection. It is so cute! I saw it and had to have it.

Then I stopped at another store and picked up the DCWV Green Stack. I love this one too! I love that cute is in right now. Everything is so cute with all these cute animals and designs.

I then made it to my final destination where I would be scrapbooking. "Welcome Home" was the first page I finished. I tried some new things on this one. I made those cute little flowers from my Sassafras patterend paper and decided not to mat the pink paper on cardstock. I really like how it turned out. When I got home and looked at it again I noticed the picture. It is one of my favorite pictures of Frances in her car seat when she came home from the hospital. Well my layout is all flowery and fun, but she is all bundled up because it was below zero when she came home! I still like it though.

Then I made "Hello Daddy, it's nice to meet you." I love this picture of my husband talking to Frances. It's so sweet. I used my GCD Studios paper on this one. It seems like I am making a lot of one pagers lately. Frances's book is going to be huge!

Oh yeah, speaking of GCD I won some embellishments at their DT party yesterday! I am excited to see what I am going to get. I'll let you know!

It's Monday!

Hello, hello, it's Monday and there is snow on the ground in Chicago! I woke up this morning and thought it was December. Pretty depressing for April. I spend the weekend at home with Ron and Frances. It was very relaxing. I made a few cards from my scrap bin. The one below is my favorite. So simple and cute. I hate giving it away!

I then decided I had to make a card for my Mom's bday. It was last week, but I won't see her until Easter. I thought here's a challenge- only make the card from what's out on the table. The ultimate use of your leftover scraps. Here is what I came up with:

I had all the cards I made sitting on the hutch in my kitchen like a display and I heard my husband say- "These cards you made are nice, but what's up with this crazy one?" I immediately knew which one he was talking about! I told him it was for my mom and he said- "ohhhh."

You see my mom likes everything I make. I could write happy birthday on a piece of paper and tell her it was a card I made and she would say "You made this? It's beautiful." So I am sure she will love the card ugliness and all.

Come on, even ugly cards need love every once in a while. Am I right?

My new blog look!

I have to say this has been a crazy couple of weeks. I finally got serious about blogging and started this blog instead of using the one at scrapbook.com. Then I wanted to get serious about scrapbooking so I submitted some of my work to Scrap That! for their Design Team call. I still can't believe I was chosen! It all happened so fast. I never really submitted my work anywhere. I just showed friends and got the occasional comment at scrapbook.com, but thought what the heck I will submit it for the design team call. I started Wednesday and it has been so much fun. The other design team members are so talented though I am going to learn a lot from them.

So with everything going on I finally got around to fixing up the blog! I spent most of the night working on this. Ron took baby Frances and I have been tinkering with this thing ever since. I think I finally have it how I like it. No more generic blogger template! Hurray. I was getting a little embarrased. Let me know what you think.

Have a nice weekend. I will be around cleaning house, scrapbooking and taking care of baby Frances.

April Design Challenge at Scrap That!

My first challenge as design team member is posted on the Scrap That! forum. Please check it out and join the fun!

Scrap That! is a great place to meet other scrapbookers, find inspiration and have fun. I have been chatting with all the girls this week and am having a blast! And the projects are amazing. You will find so many great ideas.

So April's challenge is:
Make a card or scrapbook layout (1 or 2 pages) with a word/picture combo for the title or sentiment.

Here is my example:



Go to http://scrapthat.ning.com/forum/topics/sarahs-april-challenge to find out more and see the other design team member's challenges.

And have a great Friday! Weekend is almost here!

My exciting news - and it isn't an April Fool's joke!

My exciting news is-

I applied to become a design team member for a great little online scrapbooking store called Scrap That! and I just heard yesterday that I was one of five ladies chosen! I am so excited and can't wait to start designing for them. My kit for April is in the mail and then I can start designing with it.

I will have my first projects as a design team member posted on Scrap That! soon. Please come by and check them out.

The website is:
http://www.scrapthat.ca/
http://scrapthatchat.blogspot.com/