You Are Two.....

I am so in love with the color combo of pink and brown.  I just cannot get enough of it :-). 

This layout was inspired by another layout posted on Bella Blvd.'s blog during Challenge week.  One layout by a designer featured a block of hearts placed on a piece of vellum.  I knew instantly that I wanted to try this myself.  I varied mine by using different shaped hearts and more of them.  I also stapled some hearts on to add some dimension (I could have also sewn them on).  And I really liked the results.  I am super anxious to try this same technique with butterflies!

Due to the business of the heart block, I chose to keep the rest of the layout pretty simple to keep the focus on the photo.

Here's my wonderful girl on her birthday:

Up next and in keeping with my brown and pink theme, is "Making Cupcakes":



Leia has really taken to "making" with mama and on the day of her birthday she was right up there with me making cupcakes.  Loved this!

This layout is based off of sketch #308 from Sketch Inspiration.  I am really making an effort to make sketches my own and this one is an example of that.  I kept to the general layout design, but really tweeked it to fit me and I am very proud of the end product.  Too often I find myself getting frustrated trying to stick to a set design, but not this time :-). 

Hope everyone gets off to a good week.  I am starting out with one sick child and plans to start work on a new blanket for Leia.



The Red Tent.....

Just finished this a few days ago......

This book was AWESOME.  And I do not know why I had not known about its existence until my mom was given the task of reading it for her bookclub.  Surely this book is on some university class' syllabus???  I wish it had been on one of my mine....

Here is a little overview of the book from Barnes and Noble...
                               
Few stories can evoke a time and place as vividly as Anita Diamant's compelling tale sprung from the pages of the Old Testament. The Red Tent is the story of Jacob's daughter, Dinah, and Jacob's four wives, who all served as Dinah's mother at some point in time[......] As Diamant explores the trials and triumphs of ancient women, she brings a foreign yet beautiful world to life as seen through the emotional filter of Dinah's eyes. This lush, evocative tale transcends time and brings new life to the Old Testament, lending a feminine touch to the mighty word of God.

This book was simply enthralling and I say so because the relationship between Dinah and her mothers is so complicated and interesting.  This book is truly a book of fiction, elaborating on the life of a "minor" Biblical character, but it offers a glimpse of life through the eyes of a woman as well as gives us a taste of what life was like for her, something that seems to be under-represented in historical documents. 

Before reading the book my mother did warn me--a 31 year old possessor of an English degree--that there were some graphic, possibly disturbing scenes.  And she was right, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle.  LOL.  Thanks for looking out for me mom!

Hope this inspires someone to pick this book up. (I actually got mine from the library--love the smell of library books.)

Have already started my next book, Homecoming by Cathy Kelly. 

Happy reading!
Michelle

Bella Blvd....

This week over at Bella Blvd's blog, they are having an awesome challenge week hosted by Shannon Tidwell.  Each day this week, one new challenge is posted and all who participate will be entered to win a big prize. 

The first challenge this week (Monday) was to use Bella's Cute Cut's on a page.  Here is my take:

Super excited we finally got some snow so I could bust out the Winter Wonder line!

I used the "I {heart} Winter" Cut Cut and lots of other Bella goodies.....

I am low on Bella products (and anxiously awaiting the release of their new lines), but I think I have enough left to participate in at least one more challenge :-).  I have to say that I find LOADS of inspiration from Bella's blog as well as their design team members and this week has been great!

Happy Friday.

Michelle



Winter's First Snow.....

Where we live in California, we usually get our snow long before February. This season however, has been so dry :-(.  FINALLY though, we got some snow on Valentine's Day!  We were super excited and had to take a few moments to play in it before taking Hayden to school. 

And finally with the first snow, I was able to bust out my winter stash!  Super excited to use these Pink Paislee papers!! Love the addition of the pink and kraft to the traditional winter colors.  I also sprayed my doilies with pink mist--I had recently seen a layout by Stephanie Howell where she misted her doilies, so I felt inspired and gave it a go...I {heart} doilies!

I want to apologize for the poor picture quality.  I think I must have been feeling a tad bit lazy and did not want to re-shoot, re-download.....

Hope everyone is finding time to scrap--I know I am.  I am trying to fit in a whole lot of scrappy fun whenever possible, because I know, in two short months, my free time will probably evaporate as I tackle the addition of a newborn :-). 

Michelle

Your Laugh is Contagious.....Basic Grey.....

In my last post, I wrote about my "style" as prompted for an online challenge.  In it I mentioned that I am not a very linear person---everything has to be slightly messy/wonky or I feel wierd--however, I had just completed a very linear, clean layout which totally proves my style is ever changing!  Here it is:

Very neat, non-messy and I love it!  Putting this together I wanted the focus to be solely on the enlarged photo and I thought that a simple, clean layout would achieve that.

I actually had a lot of fun working with these products from Basic Grey's Kissing Booth line.  I think part of it has to do with the fact that there is a lot of brown and pink in my daugter's wardrobe:-).  Really, everything came together super fast. 

When working with Basic Grey, I tend to find that a little bit goes a long way paperwise. The border strips I used were super great because they had all the finishing touches that I like to add without me having to do any of the work--sewing, layering.  I did alter them slightly though:  On the bottom strip I popped the button off, added a canvas flower, and stapled on some pink twine.  For the top border strip above the photo, I cut it into a smaller piece, trimmed the red fabric off, and stapled two canvas hearts onto it. 

Well, off to do a little bit of scrapping while baby is asleep!

Michelle

February Challenge at Burlap and Buttercups....

One of the first challenges this month at Burlap and Buttercups is the "What's Your Style?" challenge.  To participate I had to create a lo showcasing what I think is my style AND well, this was really hard.  I don't think my style fits in just one little category.  My style seems to switch from lo to lo depending on my mood, my papers, my pictures, inspiration..... For instance, I just finished a lo that is totally linear, which is something I rarely do.  In fact, linear layouts tend to bother me, but this time it didn't . 

So I guess, I qualify as an eclectic scrapper, flitting from style to style. 

For my example, I chose this lo, made from the February kit (which I am so in love with). 

So here's a shabby chic/vintagy layout in neutral tones feauturing my ginormous baby bump :-).  Thanks for letting me share!

Michelle

Happy Birthday Maleia......

This smart, beautiful, funny, independent little girl turns 2 today! 

I cannot believe how much she has grown in this past year....no longer my little baby, she is now my sweet little girl.  I have decided to share a few of my favorite layouts featuring this wonderful little girl in honor of her birthday.  Here they are, in chronological order:

Maleia, you have changed our lives since entering the world two years ago and none of us can imagine life without you.  Everyday spent with you brings a promise of sunshine and laughter.  We are so blessed.

Happy Birthday Maleia!

Love you baby girl.

Mom, Dad, and Hayden

Fall Fashion....

Continueing on with my doily obsession....Introducing Leia's idea of a Fall Fashion statement!  

I love that she still likes to wear her Halloween costume!  And really, it goes so great with the jeans and bike helmet:-).  

AGAIN, I made this using the January kit and add-on from Burlap and Buttercups Kit Club.  This time I set out to make it a point of using the My Mind's Eye papers included in the kit.  I had been really stumped as how to use them because it's a kraft collection and all of the patterns are a bit dark and similar.  After playing with them for a bit I decided to layer them and break them up using the blue Basic Grey paper (included in the kit) and doilies from my stash.  To further break up the kraft monotony that threatened, I layered everything on top of the dark brown paper from Simple Stories (also in the kit).  And voila, I solved my problem!  I was actually quite pleased with the finished project and still keep going by and looking at it! (I know, I am a dork.)

Hope everyone is having a great day with some fun, scrappy plans!

Michelle

You Are Eleven.....

Super proud of this lo.  Why??  Because of that awesome column of numbers with the eleven circled in stitching.  Yes, I was feeling quite clever when I came up with that.  LOL. In January's Burlap and Buttercups Main Kit, the Simple Stories sticker sheet which was included, came with an abundance of numbers, something I really wanted to utilize.  (I know, I used way too many comma's in that last sentence.)  When deciding what to do with my son's birthday photos I actually decided upon using the numbers first and then built my page around them. 

Love these pics of my son!  He was so HAPPY because we surprised him with this really gnarly bike that my husband picked out for him.  Suprises are so great! 

In other news, I have been obsessing over the reveal of the new February kit at Burlap and Buttercups.  I keep looking at it everytime I pop online.  I actually, have some pictures awaiting it's arrival (once I saw the peeks, I had some pictures taken of my pregnant self that I thought might work with it.)

Well that it's for now, but will be back soon with a lo I finished up this morning for a CHA challenge over at TwoPeas.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Michelle

Laughter and Smiles.....

Happy February!  Cannot believe January is already over....February is always so much fun.  Leia's birthday is on the ninth (she'll be two), Valentine's Day on the 14th, Daytona on the 26th (should probably mention I am a NASCAR fan), and a trip to the zoo planned for sometime in between.  Lots of fun this month :-). 

Back to scrappiness.....First of all, I want to mention that I won Burlap and Buttercup's January Sketch with a Twist challenge!  Woo-hoo!  Winning is just the icing on the cake though, I really just like to play along :-). 

Second, here is a duo using American Craft's Chap:

I bought this line of paper with my son in mind--I have the hardest time finding paper that goes with boyish themes that I acutally like.  I FINALLY finished his last little league layout, thought I ought to since the new season starts this month, lol.  And then, because I was inspired by the papers I made a card using a sketch from Two Peas. 

Happy Wednesday.

Michelle