1st Walk

Same set of pictures from the last layout - taking Natalie out for her first walk in her stroller along the canal! The best part was in our conversation, Chris said the stroller wouldn't collapse with the car seat adapter in it, but if it did, he would call Baby Jogger and yell at them "your stroller clam-shelled my baby!!" Hahaha, clam-shelled! That gave us such a good laugh after a lot of sleepless, crazy nights!

Anyway, I got the inspiration for this layout, loosely from the last sketch for the Stashbuster's Anonymous class with Aly Dosdall over at BigPictureClasses.com. After that I grabbed some scrap pieces of paper in various sizes off my table to arrange them on the page in different ways till I liked this arrangement, and cut the same size pieces from the papers I wanted! This might be the best way I figured out to cut specific size scraps that work for my page! Usually I just try to use a ruler and eyeball it, but having actual pieces of paper (without cutting into my good paper) to move around worked well and quickly!

For the embellishments I cut the clouds, banner, and flowers from that same piece of background paper from the Cut & Paste collection by Amy Tangerine for American Crafts! The rest of the embellishments and the papers etc were all from the Double Scoop Studio Calico kit!

I'm happy with how fast this layout came together! This month was the first time in awhile that I ordered the "More Patterned Paper" from Studio Calico and so glad I did, since I haven't had any issues with cutting into the papers for just a square or small piece etc, and especially because I tend to use a whole sheet at a time for an entire background since I don't usually use plain card stock for my backgrounds. Maybe I should do this more often! :)

Faces!

After Natalie's first feedings at the hospital, Chris and I asked each other, are we supposed to burp the baby after EVERY feeding? We just had NO IDEA about anything about caring for a baby! By Day 3, when I took these pictures, we were burping her regularly and noticed how cute and funny her faces are when she gets burped! She goes limp in the arms and just seems to really want to be burped!

I decided to dig into my stash and use up some of the original Amy Tangerine line by American Crafts! I did this after being inspired by the last challenge in the Stashbuster's Anonymous class over at BigPictureClasses.com with Aly Dosdall! I'm so glad I signed up for that class this month even though I knew I was going to give birth because I ended up having more time to scrap than I thought I would - thanks to the joys of newborn nap times and having off from work!

Oh man, her little monkey face is my favorite!! I liked those cloud stickers because they looked like little thought bubbles as well and went perfectly with the pictures!

For the second page, I kept it really simple. I just added some strips of paper along the bottom - those strips are the bottom tabs I tore of a bunch of different sheets from the same line of papers and stuck them down there. I really just wanted to fill in the space since I didn't have any more journaling to add.

That face, those cheeks... She's too cute, but of course I think that because she's my daughter!

Family Visit

The next day, after I had Natalie, we had our family come visit her in the hospital! She was so good for everyone, just slept and got passed around. She's still like that (even 2 weeks later haha), so good for our company!

I got the idea for this layout from Challenge 10 in the Stashbusters Anonymous class I'm taking at Big Picture Classes with Aly Dosdall - I just stamped a bunch of Amy Tangerine stamps on the center banner piece and embossed with White Zing embossing powder.

The background paper is from the Valley High kit by Studio Calico, and the label and title letters are from the Front Row kit. I wrote out my journaling, then cut it into strips to adhere underneath.

I didn't have to embellish much, since the stamps and the patterned paper really filled the page. Another quick and easy layout - I completed 2 layouts yesterday, wow!

Sleepy Baby

My baby makes such funny faces - I love this one that she did right away on her first day of life, her little yawn face! And she has such a nice, full content face after she's eaten.

I got the idea for this layout from the Stashbusters Anonymous class I'm taking at Big Picture Classes with Aly Dosdall. I punched out pinked circles from patterned paper and built a background, then added my pictures on top, along with the sticker that was stuck to Natalie's bassinet.

I used paper from the Valley High kit by Studio Calico, but the wood veneer letters from Marks & Co. kit. I added the ribbon by adding adhesive to the back of the length of the ribbon, then creating the ruffles and adhering each ruffle separately with a glue dot.

This layout was fun to put together and didn't take long at all, so for me a very satisfying layout!

Introducing my daughter Natalie!!

Wow, what a whirlwind the last 12 days have been, 12 days ago I started going into labor and 11 days ago my daughter arrived - all 7lbs 15oz of her, Natalie Jordan! By day 2 till about day 7, I thought, I will NEVER EVER have time to scrapbook again! (Chris also thought this about taking bike rides.) But day 9 came and just to feel normal again, I ventured into my space while Natalie napped and Chris biked, and I scrapped my first page of my daughter - something I've always wanted to do, even before we decided to have any children! It felt great, and then yesterday I scrapped another layout - and today here I am posting them... just have to be better with your time!

Onto this first layout, I had some memorabilia from the hospital - her little footprints as well as our hospital bands. I put this together really quickly, because I was so scared she was going to wake up and I'd not get another chance to scrap for awhile! I used the Marks & Co. kit from Studio Calico and stamped and embossed in silver.

The only part that didn't come in the kit were the Journal letter thickers from Amy Tan's sketchbook line. The long white letters filled that space perfectly!

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For this next layout, I wanted to complete the other side with a couple more from the same group of pictures - my little one getting weighed and measured and cleaned off. She was so good for them, and didn't fuss or cry after that initial cry out the gate. That seems to be her personality so far too, she's not fussy and only cries if she's hungry. She's so amazing!

OK so anyway, I got the layout idea from Challenge 7 of the Stashbusters Anonymous class I signed up for at Big Picture Classes with Aly Dosdall. I cut the letter background at the top with my Silhouette - purchased from the Silhouette store.

I used paper from the Marks & Co. kit again but added in paper and embellishments from Amy Tan's Yes, Please line.

Some simple and quick layouts but I am excited to get a good start on Natalie's baby album!

Fireworks!

So we took another road trip in June, this time a straight shot down to Pennsylvania to get some fireworks for Independence Day! We got up really early and left so we could get there by the time they opened, around 9am. We bought a ton of stuff (neighborhood-friendly) at Sky King, but the best part was on the way home Chris saw a sign for a Bob Evans, so we went there and ate brunch before heading home! We love Bob Evans, or as I used to call it "Bob Bevans" when I was little!

Onto the layout... I signed up for a class over at Big Picture Classes called Stash Busters Anonymous with Aly Dosdall! I used the first challenge to complete this layout, and used some very old paper from over 2 years ago! I used the American Made collection from My Mind's Eye. I also found the corresponding diecut sheet, so used that for a few of the pieces.

Mainly I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the stars from card stock. The cut file I used was from the Cut It Out class offered by Studio Calico, and was a full background pattern of stars, so I only cut part of the file out, then hand cut out the pieces I needed for this layout. The gold glitter thickers by American Crafts were from Studio Calico's March of 2012 kit, Story Hour (I think), the mini red stars were from...? And beyond that I kept it fairly simple since the paper already had such a bold pattern on it!