One and Done

ABOUT THE PHOTO:
A few days before Natalie's 1st birthday, I had her sitting outside and gave her a rice cake to try! She nibbled it, mostly sucked on it till it became soggy and gross and I think I tossed it. Later I gave her another one and she bit off a chunk that was too big for her and threw up. ANYWAY, I used this photo for her little birthday message on Facebook and joked how for her birthday she could have a piece of cake... a rice cake that is!

LAYOUT DESIGN:
I was reading Cathy Zielske's blog and she reminded "us" that her digital downloads were on sale for one more day at DesignerDigitals.com. Since I've been meaning to try and follow along with her layouts and buy one of her layered templates for a hybrid page for awhile, I went for it... and bought 6! So this one I chose for this layout is older but perfect for a page about Natalie's 1 year old stats!

MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
I had already printed out my photo 5x7 so I adjusted the template a bit to make room for the wider photo. This was a page for 8.5x11, but since this is going in Natalie's album and I don't like mixing page sizes, I adhered to a sheet of paper from the Brighton Pier collection from Studio Calico. I also used a piece from that collection to cut out the strip with the numbers on it. I used a few wood veneer pieces from the Lemon Lush collection also by Studio Calico. This layout was fun and easy to make, but very unlike my usual style with a lot more embellishments! I like this page though, because I really wanted to include all the stats in the journaling and have that stand out! I was very pleased with the templates I purchased, Cathy includes a wonderful pdf with each template that explains the fonts she used (and links when available), and other information and tips for the template! Can't wait to try the next one!

About You

I haven't been good about doing specific pages for every month of Natalie's life, so I decided I'd try to do a 6 months collage with some facts about what she's up to!

I used a digital template by Catherine Davis (I think I got it from her PROCESS class over at BigPictureClasses.com). I liked the small size for my crappier iPhone photos.

I used Studio Calico's Sugar Rush kit, plus the gold doily and hearts from their Lemon Lush collection. I cut out pieces of paper to fill in the spaces and journal on top of.

Originally, I was planning to do all different pieces of paper for the squares, but it saved time and effort to do just the one piece of paper, plus I was able to journal on top and have it still show up pretty well. After I decided to do that it came together very quickly!

Hello

Another pic from visiting my mom's house with Natalie... she gets lots of attention over there :)

For this layout, I decided to print my photo black and white because there was a bright pink ipad (cover) in the front of the photo that I couldn't crop out, plus I wanted to use this awesome newsprint paper from the Lemon Lush collection by Studio Calico and knew therefore, I would be adding lots of bright colors to mix in!

I printed out the free digital files to coordinate with the collection from Studio Calico, and they printed so brightly on my Epson XP-810, they turned out awesome! I made a frame from the vellum tape that came in the Sugar Rush kit, and then added the circles from the free printables and voila - a quick, 20 minute layout!

Are Those Your Legs?

This photo of my daughter... just makes me smile and giggle because she is so chubby and adorable! Her legs just don't even look like hers here because of the way the jumperoo is pulling her little jeans!

I'm taking the Life Scripted class by Kal Barteski over at Studio Calico and finally put my brush script to use! It's really fun, but way harder than it looks... love it so far though, and so glad I'm taking the class! I made this big title and cut it out by hand.

I used the Sugar Rush kit by Studio Calico to complete the layout, as well as the pink plastic measuring tape piece from the Lemon Lush ephemera that's part of the new Lemon Lush collection also by Studio Calico! Thanks for stopping by!

New Seafood Lover?

Why are babies SO amusing, even just doing mundane things, like playing with a toy or discovering that their hands and feet belong to them?? They just are, especially when its your own!

This layout came together really fast last night - maybe 45 minutes? I just grabbed that piece of paper, those gold dipped leaves, and wooden buttons and went to town! They were all from the Sugar Rush kit by Studio Calico!

The only thing I wish I had done was spray some black on the background to give this layout a little more contrast. But I had already adhered everything so there was no going back, oh well! Again, Chris reminded me that, "even Michael Jordan didn't shoot a triple-double every game." - his moral-filled story to politely tell me it's not my best work, but not to give up ha!