Teenage Boy Birthday Card

I made this card for my sister-in-law's nephew who is turning 16 this year! You'd think that's a tough crowd to make a card for, but last year he loved this karate-themed birthday card I made for him so much I couldn't wait to make him another one - such a good kid!! There are some grown men who don't even notice when I've handmade a card for them, but he noticed and since he didn't open it in front of me, he later thanked me with details of why he loved the card!

Anyway, I thought I'd keep it simple and clean, so I used my Silhouette to cut out the diamond pieces, which were the blank cuts that were meant to coordinate with the Cotton Candy stamp set I purchased from Studio Calico last month! I love being able to buy the blank cuts that go with the stamps, then you don't have to cut them out by hand and makes life so much easier haha!

I thought about using different colored stamp pads to stamp with, but decided it would just look cleaner with simple black and white. When Chris got home from work the other day when I finished it (and that's when I setup my scrapbook layouts or cards out on the table for him to see/admire hehe), he immediately said he loved it - I love when he truly loves something I've made, because he'll go, "That's so awesome, don't you love it!?" because he's so thoughtful and wants to make sure I love it too! Haha, OK enough with the love fest, but seriously I hope Stewart loves this card as much as last year's card!

True Story

This layout will sit opposite the last layout, of Chris and I taking Natalie to get our pumpkins - sorry Natalie, you didn't get a pumpkin this year! But she did get to go see them if she wanted to wake up for it haha!

OK this was my 11th, yes 11th layout I made with the Antiquary kit by Studio Calico and officially the most amount of layouts I've made with one kit and officially I am a bit tired of Antiquary even though I really loved it, especially the parts of the Printshop line designed by Shanna Noel for Studio Calico that were part of it!

Anyway! I cut the background from my Silhouette, which was one that I had purchased from Studio Calico quite a few months ago - I went this route because I knew I could get away with little embellishments and really I didn't know what embellishments to use at this point, so I just punched some circles and slid them randomly underneath the background portion and adhered! I added those little typed sentiments and one more die cut from In a Creative Bubble for Studio Calico. I didn't need to add any journaling on this page since it was all on the last page - so another layout done in under an hour while Natalie napped! I am just loving the feeling of getting a layout done so quickly!!

Good Stuff!

Back with another 12x12 layout, taking a break from December Daily prep to get back to my true love haha! And this makes for reason #500 that I should try to do DD prep in advance - so I can take random breaks from it and work on my regular layouts without getting behind on it!

Anyway, this is from end of September when we went to Cobblestone farm - a local farm, to pick out our pumpkins on a warm fall day! We also picked up some local vegetables while we were there and they had the sweetest concord grapes we've ever tasted!

This layout came together very quickly, especially since it only uses paper and digital printables from the Antiquary kit by Studio Calico! I used the OfficeMax Impress printing services to print out my printables on 80# Gloss cover card stock (nice and thick with a slight shine) and cut them out by hand! While I was at it, I also got my printables for DD all printed out - and it was so cheap and came out beautifully! I love using their service instead of my crapper printer and paper to get these printed out! And one final note: this makes my 10th layout with Antiquary, yay for using up supplies!!

December Daily 2013 - Foundation pages part 1!!

Wow, so here we are so fast - it's time for December Daily 2013! I got my Studio Calico kit with Ali Edwards yesterday in the mail and my husband so graciously took care of our DD so I could work on my DD... got that!? I've decided a few things ahead of time this year:

1. I will keep it simple and stick to the kit supplies! Last year I bought extras and added my own stuff in there, and when I think about how much I spent already on the kit and then to add extras, it's too expensive for me to justify, especially now that I have quite a bit of leftover from last year!

2. I will not care or mind that I don't have photos first - last year I waited to do anything because I thought I couldn't make a page without photos, but I think that's partially what made me fall behind. So this year I am forcing myself to just get as much done in advance as possible!

3. I will not become discouraged if I happen to miss a day - I missed a day last year and used a picture from the next day and just explained that I didn't do anything the previous day anyway. I will keep taking pictures and documenting the stories! That helped a ton after day 12 since I didn't finish DD 2012 till last month!

4. I will not give up if I don't finish DD by the end of December or the beginning of January. If I put it away for a few months, that's ok! This year, stepping away from it for many months helped me get excited again for DD and gave me that extra boost to finish it up.

5. Not every page has to be perfect, but I definitely like the look of each page looking holiday-ish even without holiday-ish photos. I did the last half of my last year's album that way - ex. I made a picture of taco night holiday-themed just by not caring what stickers and embellishments I used, and love that look so much better!

Anyway, now that I've made those decisions - here are the steps I took to start filling this album!

1. I mixed up the page protectors and removed the ones beyond 25 page spreads plus cover. I will only attempt to do 25 days, not 31.

2. I counted how many full size pages I had, and set aside that number of 6x8 pieces of paper to use and filled those pages first - except I ended up with one too few, but that's ok I might do a collage or something for the last one!

3. I cut up the rest of the papers in half to leave two 4x6 pieces

4. I knew I wanted to use things like the "25" wood veneer piece on the last layout and "the night before Christmas" premade card on day 24, so I put those specifically on those pages

5. I randomly placed the Ho Ho Ho wood veneer and the transparency cards throughout the album

6. I went through and tried to match up some papers that I thought looked good together and leave some intentional blank spots. I cut some of the 4x6 pieces in half to make two 3x4 pieces and added those where needed.

7. I am left with 2 pieces of 4x6 paper and 8 pieces of 3x4 - so basically 3 sheets from the 24 pack of 6x8 that came with the kit! Next step I will print and cut out the free digital printables that came with the kit, as well as the diecuts, then start doing some light decorating and then put it away until December... if I can wait that long!!

That's about it! Here's a look at the very start of my album!!

First of all, don't mind the swing, the breast pump and the weight to hold down the swing in the background... I have a 2 month old you know! Here's a look from the bottom:

Here's a look down from the top - don't mind the shag carpet either!

And here are the rest of the pages!

Thanks for stopping by!

Fall Is Here

The little "living room area" at Kelly's Apple Farm was the perfect backdrop for a fall photo of Chris and Natalie after we finished eating our fried cakes (doughnuts) and cider! I brought the good camera so getting this printed at 5x7 turned out beautifully!

I knew I wanted to use the graphics from this month's digital cut files by Shanna Noel for Studio Calico, and arranged and rotated them in the Silhouette software to make a frame, then made sure to cut every "5th" piece from one of the 5 color card stock papers I had chosen, if that makes sense... Anyway, I loved how the frame turned out!

I used the Antiquary kit for the background and card stock papers and the tiny bit of washi tape, but then I decided I needed different letters for the title and didn't want to cut one from the Silhouette since I already had a lot of flat die cuts, so I grabbed my trusty old Elm Thickers from the Nightfall collection by American Crafts! Also the stickers and fabric brad are from that collection too!

Farm Baby

Fall is approaching, so that means we go to visit Kelly's Apple Farm and get some candy apples and doughnuts! We took Natalie for the first time and hope to have many more trips with her!

This layout was fast and simple - I think it helps I no longer care if I use up a whole lot of embellishments on one page (that's why I bought them and also it's better to use up stuff I realize, than to continue hoarding it)!

Also I had laid out exactly which supplies and papers I wanted to use first. I set aside those stickers, those letter stickers, that patterned paper and the smile acrylic embellishment - narrowing down the supplies first is helping me get these done quicker!

#NAPTIME

Natalie has been able to go down to sleep a lot easier today, aka this is my second layout I've completed today! I think I'm also getting faster/more efficient at this when there's a time clock named Natalie that's a-tickin' haha!

So these are some more pics from taking that walk at the canal. I sort of had these two layouts (this one by Shanna Noel and this one by Nicole Samuels) in the back of my head and sort of combined the ideas from both!

I used the Antiquary kit by Studio Calico and it was so quick and easy to complete!

Lone Baby

I saw the perfect shot for a fall-looking photo even though it was super hot and humid out on the Erie Canal! The heat shortened our walk, but at least we got out for Chris' last weekday off from work before his paternity leave was up!

This layout came together super quick but started off with a patterned paper background. Once I cut those strips of paper though, it seemed they would stand out the best against a black background... and luckily I had 1 sheet of black card stock left, just one!!

I used the Antiquary Studio Calico kit and made and cut the banner myself - I used the font "Gungsuh" at 40pt, character spacing 95% to fit inside the banner but also be readable.

Zzzz

This is my baby's favorite position to sleep in, in her crib! Haha, she's so crazy!

Um, this is the first time I have ever used up an entire set of alpha stickers haha!! I just loved how well they matched the picture, so decided to use them a little differently! I love the contrast against the darker background!

Again, I used the new Studio Calico kit, Antiquary and loving it so far!

Lovely Girl

Just a simple layout of Natalie playing on her mat on a typical day...

I just loved this layout by Shanna Noel, especially that one diecut with the paper backed to it! I used the Studio Calico kit Antiquary to complete it.

This was nice and simple and quick again!

Look Natalie!

We were so, so tired that day when we went up to the canal! Natalie wasn't on a schedule yet, so she had kept us up from 2:30-5:30am! We were so out of it those first couple weeks haha!

Today I got the newest kit, Antiquary from Studio Calico delivered! It came unusually early too, so I instead of making one more layout with Double Scoop, but I dug right into this kit!

This layout is nothing special, but was happy to get it done!

Bearded Buds

Our friends came over to meet Natalie and also made and brought us an amazing dinner! I didn't get pics of the dinner though because we ate it right away, like while they were still over!! It was delicious and we were so blessed by it, especially back then - that first week with our newborn was so crazy!

I made this layout tonight while Chris took Natalie for a walk - it was that fast!! I wasn't planning on making a layout tonight because my new kit comes tomorrow, but it came together so quickly and easily I wasn't gonna fight it!

I used the Double Scoop kit by Studio Calico, but also added some bits and pieces from Amy Tangerine's Cut & Paste collection. I basically just grabbed some scraps from the kit that were on my table and arranged them to make the background, then embellished - I'm amazed how quickly I scrap these days! I guess if you've got a ticking time bomb going (aka baby), then you're bound to do things a little faster haha!!