Scrapbooked Calendar.

I love scrapbooking babies!  But, does anyone have less time to scrapbook than a new mother?  I made this calendar for my niece to record her new baby's first year. It begins the month she was born.  If/when I make another, it will be 13 months to include her first birthday. And, it will have journaling tags on every page.   With this calendar, she can jot down the fun 'first year' events and milestones.

Here is the cover:

Tiana's Wedding Album

 I've been working on my Niece's wedding album.  Most of the paper is GCD Paris Nights.  Many of the swirls and tags are cut using the Close To My Heart Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge.  And, there are numerous scraps from the ever-growing embellishment heap in my scrap room.

 I love the black swirls and the "time to celebrate" tags.  The swirls were cut from black glitter paper using the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge.  The paper is thick and sturdy and the cuts are perfect.

 The swirls were stamped from a now-retired CTMH stamp.  See the dress form in the bottom right hand corner?  That was cut from using the CTMH Artiste cartridge.  I think that new cartridge will get a lot of use.  The butterfly wings behind the dress form was stamped using the CTMH Find Your Style stamp.  That may be all-time favorite stamp.

 All of the letters were cut using the Art Philosophy cartridge.

The border punch is EK success - I like how it goes with the paper.  I made a few other pages, but I think these were my favorite.

Happy Crafting!

I

Baby Album

I put these pages together last week. I only had a couple of pictures of the new arrival and they were grainy because they were emailed to me, so I used removable adhesive on the photos. The parents can replace them with better photos later.

Using the supplies I already own continues to be a key component of my budget plan. For this project I used up paper from several different kits including K and Company and CTMH. I also had a beautiful pink suede album that was perfect for the project.





















This is the last page in the book. The pictures go on the tags. I wasn't sure if the parents would know that so I did one picture to get them started. Now that I'm looking at photos of the layouts, I see some improvements to make. This one needs three flowers on the ribbon. Off I go to make improvements before shipping this off.

Happy Crafting!

Majestic Blue

I had a very short but relaxing visit with my son in Eugene this summer. We spent a day driving along the coast. With no particular agenda, we just drove until something caught our interest. It drizzled all day, so we spent more time in the car than walking along the beach. His football and college schedule doesn't leave much time for days like that and I'm very glad he could spend it with me. I look at these pictures and it is quite clear: my little boy is all grown up!

The Majestic Paper packet from CTMH is perfect for beach pictures.

Happy Crafting!

Star Dust Lay-out

Clearly, the theme of procrastination flows through both my life and my blog. Hence, I am just now scrapping an event that took place nearly ten years ago. My husband goes to Sturgis every year; and on this trip he took our youngest son. The trip was a mixed blessing for me. Joy at the prospect of having the house to myself for a few days was tempered by nightmarish visions of motorcycle wrecks.

Our family is thoroughly and completely unskilled in all aspects of photography. Sometimes it's that we don't manage cameras very well; sometimes life rolls on, interesting and photographable moments take place, and no one thinks to pick up a camera. I see other people's families poised in front of "Welcome to California" signs and I wonder: "Why don't we ever think to do that?" And yet, we continue to roll by "Welcome to..." signs and forget to stop. But, let a random buffalo wander near the car and I'll snap 35 photos. I'm thick that way.

Anyway, the two of them went to Sturgis, and true to the family genes, my son snapped dozens of buffalo pictures and not a single picture of himself or his father. Had it not been for their images reflected in the motorcycle mirrors as donkeys and buffalo were dutifully captured on film, I would never have known for sure if my boys went to Sturgis at all.



Since I had the Stardust Paper Pack opened, I decided to scrap another event from the ancient past: a trip to Seattle I took with my children. We had a great time at the Pacific Science Center. It isn't easy for kids to have a mother who teaches science. We showed up at the Science center when they opened and stayed until the janitor's push broom nipped at our heels. For me, the day was delightful; for them, a lesson in patience.

Materials:
Close To My Heart: Stardust and Stickease, and a few random strands of ribbon

Farm Life Layout

Was there ever a mother who didn't look back and wonder what happened to the days she thought would last forever? I recently completed this layout of pictures taken more than twenty years ago when we were young, energetic, and believed happiness was a goal to reach rather than a way to live.

There aren't many things I would change about those days, but I do wish I'd spent less time trying to "create" a set of circumstances that would spell out happiness, and more time soaking up the beautiful essence of those precious little people who would grow up way, way too fast. I didn't understand that they came to me as complete packages - the seeds of who they would become already planted. I only had to nurture, love, and support. I'm sure I did all those things; but I added an additional dose of worry, stress, and a fear that who we were and what we had to offer wouldn't be enough.

I would like very much to relive the sweetness of their babyhood, the curiosity as they explored the world, and rekindle the magical feeling of being very, very special to a child. But, my lesson is that happiness isn't a goal, but a way of living in the moment. The challenge is to nurture the present while sometimes missing the past.

Details:

All Materials are Close To My Heart, unless otherwise stated:

Sarsasparilla paper pack

Sarsasparilla Stickease

Stamp: Western Flourishes

Dimensional Elements

To purchase any of these supplies, visit my CTMH Website: http://paperescape.myctmh.com

Until next time,

Happy Crafting!