Two Christmases...

This is my daughter's second Christmas--such a difference from last year--and I wanted to share a new layout celebrating this.

When I was looking at this pic, I thought "Wow, she has really grown since last year," which prompted me to post a layout from last Christmas.



Love those little cheeks!  Last year she wasn't too interested in opening presents; she could walk, but crawled mostly; she was so smiley for the camera....where has this little baby gone?  Now she talks up a storm; runs fast; can open presents like a pro; and can drive her new princess quad all by herself.  Time sure flies.....

Happy New Year!  Hope everyone is looking forward to great things in 2012--I know I am!

Michelle

Sketchabilities #62....

This is my final project as a Design Team member for Sketchabilities as I have come to the end of my second term. It has been with great delight that I have been able to contribute to the scrappy world by inspiring others with Karan's sketches.  

So, here it it, Sketch #62: 

And my take:



Gingerbread houses!  This is the fourth year we have done this and the first year that Maleia was able to participate with us (yes, I have my own gingerbread house).  Last year we had a TERRIBLE time getting our houses to stay together, so I was super excited to find "pre-built" houses and they worked great (and I got them for only 5 dollars instead of 10). 

It was a lot of fun to watch Hayden decorate his because he took it so seriously and put in a lot of effort.  I, on the other hand, went kind of basic before handing it over to Leia, who suprised me by not eating all of the candy and frosting--only some!

Happy Scrapping!

Michelle

Holiday Cheer.....

I am loving, that even though Christmas has come and gone, I am still in the holiday spirit when it comes to scrapping my pics.  Last year, for some unknown reason, I went all bah-hum-bug when the holidays were over and packed up all of my Christmas scraps and put them away....Not this year though, I am still going strong. 

Here are two layouts I would like to share:

Handed my camera over to my husband Bodie to take a pic of Leia and I, and he actually got my entire head instead of cutting it off!  Way to go babe!  The colors I used in this layout are so cheery--gotta love the red polka dot ribbon!!

Love this pic even with the sun glare in the left corner!  We have so much fun going to get our tree.  My husband and I go Griswold style and sing Christmas carols very LOUDLY on the way there and back, much to our son's embarassment!  LOL. I also really like how my husband refuses to give up the tough guy look when I take pics :-).

Happy Scrapping!!

Michelle



I {heart} Scrapping Christmas....

Back with more Christmas scrappiness......

Scrapping Christmas is by far, my favorite memories to scrap if you haven't been able to tell!  LOL!  Am so excited everytime I look at my growing pile of Christmas layouts :-).  In fact, I am dying to start a new one, but being the good girl that I am, I always make sure my other "stuff" is done before I sit down to work on something.  So after getting out from in front of the computer, I have one more load of laundry to fold and two pies to get out of the oven AND then I am free to scrap (as long as my children allow me)!

Hope everyone is as excited about Christmas as we are at my house!

Michelle

More Christmas.....

These next two layouts I want to share, I just L-O-V-E!  The combo of the pictures, the colors, the glitter....they all just make me happy!

First up is Celebrate...

I must note that this layout was inspired by one of Megan Klauer's creations--a scrappy blogger that I admire and might possible blog stalk :-).

And here is Memories...

These two layouts represent all my reasons for scrapping---the moments captured in pictures; the beautiful, vibrant papers; the sparkle and embellies; and the feeling of happiness that seeps out of me into my layouts.  I love this hobby and am so very thankful for it.

Happy Holidays!

Michelle

Sketch Challenge.....

I did this next layout for the December Sketch with a Twist Challenge over at the Burlap and Buttercups blog.  Along with with the sketch, you had to use Sparkle.

For the sparkle I used my new favorite sparkly alphas from American Crafts as well as added some sparkle via red Stickles to the little red flower in the right hand corner--all products found in the December kit and add-on from B&B.

Really happy with how everything turned out, especially the picture of Maleia--I thought it was so pretty with her standing against the beautiful green Christmas trees. 

Michelle

'Tis the Season.....

Finally I can post a Christmas layout!  Here it is:

This is my hubby putting up our Christmas lights!  I don't know about you, but seeing the lights go up really means it's Christmas time to me. I {heart} this guy so much for braving the chilly cold to put them up!!

Hope everyone is having a great season, I know we are.  We just decorated our tree yesterday--finally!  We get a live tree and I am super paranoid about having a tree up too long and it drying out, so we usually wait until about the two-week mark before Christmas to get it.  Well it is oh, so lovely after decorating it with the kiddos and I can not wait to share the lovely pics!

Am off now to try a new recipe for Smores Pancakes (any excuse to make desert for breakfast is great) with my son then a day full of wrapping, scrapping, and laundry! LOL! 

Merry Christmas!
Michelle

Sketchabilities #61....

Sketch #61 has to be my FAVORITE from Karan at Sketchabilities.  Here it is:

And here is my go at it:

I am so happy that I took these pictures with Maleia inside a photobooth.  It was so much fun :-). I have no idea why I haven't done this before!  Now if only I could get the whole family inside one.... 

Anyways, when I was thinking about this sketch these pics came to mind and I ended up having a blast making a superfun and colorful layout--my favorite kind! 

Happy scrapping!

Michelle

Holiday Cards....

Good morning!  Here with a super quick Sunday post!  Wanted to share two super, simple holiday cards.  First up is a card I did for the first December challenge over at Burlap and Buttercups.  The challenge was to use non-traditional colors for a holiday card along with one of the given techniques.  I used the color combo of brown, yellow, and light blue---colors all found in their November kit--along with using a border punch as my "technique."

Up second is a card I did using Crate's Peppermint collection--love the addition of pink to the color pallette!  Once again I used "Joy" as my  holiday sentiment because, well, I am not at all original when it comes to cards!  LOL.

 

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Michelle

More Bubbles Please......

Maleia LOVES bubbles and not just during bathtime!  Lately, if I am standing at the sink and the basin is full of soapy, bubbly water I will hear "more bubbles" and there she is standing with her hand out waiting for a donation of bubbles :). 

Since I can't handle a camera and do dishes at the same time, I focused this next layout on bathtime:

 

For this layout I had recently been inspired by an inspirational piece on the Basic Grey blog which featured lots of overlapping circles flowing across the page.  I knew I wanted to do a layout with something similar and thought it would really work good with a "bubble page."  I had also really wanted to use these papers from October Afternoon which had not been working with any recent pics...with that in mind I snapped some shots of Maleia in the bathtub--a virtual blank space thanks to a porcelain white tub!

Thanks for letting me share!

Michelle

Fall Photos...

Last fall was the first time I ever did an "official" fall photo shoot with my children.  This year, after completing my layout featuring this year's photos, I though it would be fun to compare the two shoots here on my blog.  So here is last year's:

And here is this year's:

I think it is so crazy to see how much they have grown, especially Maleia!  I also had a much harder time getting pics this time--Hayden was a piece of cake; Maleia not so much :-).  Last year she couldn't walk yet;  this year, she runs and has a mind of her own!  LOL! 

Well thanks for letting me share!

Michelle