A few layouts from my pregnancy

I finally got around to taking pictures of some of the layouts I did for my pregnancy album. The album is still a work in progress and will probably not be done for some time since it keeps getting pushed aside while I work on other layouts or cards. But I'm chipping away at it slowly and I am also trying to make it easier on myself by summarizing the 9 months into the moments that were most memorable or most important to me. I'm planning on doing only one page for every trimester and hope to journal in point form a few of the noteworthy points that I remember from those few months. For example, one point for my first trimester wil be "pasta with parmesan cheese" because I had horrible all day sickness and found that plain pasta with butter and parmesan cheese became my meal of choice as it was the one thing that didn't turn my stomach. But enough about what I'm planning on doing. Here's a look at what I've already done.

"I'm Pregnant"
This page is pretty much summed up by the title. I originally was going to include the picture of the positive pregnancy test on my first trimester page but it was getting too busy so I made a separate page for it. When I first started my pregnancy album, I picked up a whole stack of paper from Michaels that was on clearance including some adorable pregnancy themed pages by Creative Imaginations that had matching stickers for each trimester.  The page was pretty empty since I was only scrapping a picture of the pregnancy test so I used the stickers to make a banner and then filled the rest of the space with a few more as embellishments.

SOURCES: Patterned Paper: Three Bugs in a Rug – Little Chick > Beeutiful, Creative Imaginations – Keepin’ It Real. Stamp: Autumn Leaves – Freestyle Alphabet, Hero Arts – Alphabet. Font: Pea Hannah Vanilla

"Did You Feel That?"
This page was based on a layout that my friend Darcy did in which she had used all different buttons to form a border along a large circle.  I thought it would be really neat to use for this layout because my baby bump could be represented by the large round circle. I started with the colour scheme of green and yellow and then by fluke introduced orange to it and really loved it! All of my scrapbooking friends know that I am horrible at remembering to bring pictures to scrapbook and I usually start with a blank canvas and craft a page with a photo in mind for it. So for this page, after I incorporated the orange, I decided it would be fun to add some orange in the photo I was using as well so I uploaded it to picnik and came up with this starburst type of look. I finished the page off with a little bling on the dots in my title. I think it's a lot of fun and really love how it turned out!

SOURCES: Patterned Paper: Three Bugs in a Rug – Dream > Savannah, Bo Bunny – Kiwi Double Dot. Font: Pea Hannah Vanilla, Digs My Hart

"Love At First Sight"
This page was all about the first ultrasound. I had a difficult time with this layout because the ultrasound pictures we received were in a collage and overlapped each other, so I couldn't cut them out without cutting into the next photo and I didn't have a chance to duplicate them. I had originally planned on using a cut out circle for this page as well to represent my baby bump and then place the ultrasound picture on it but I couldn't find a layout I liked using my cut out circle. After literally an hour of moving the circle and title around and around, I had a lightbulb moment and decided to use the negative of the circle for my layout and blow up one of the ultrasound pictures to fill the circle. After I decided on this, everything else came together fairly easy.  My favourite part of the layout (asides from my beautiful baby girl) is the adorable little ultrasound sticker by Me & My Big Ideas.

SOURCES: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper. Patterned Paper: Miscellaneous. Font:  Siple, Peah Hannah Vanilla. Stickers: Me & My Big Ideas

That's it for now! Have a great night!

Less than 2 Weeks until our FIRST Paper Mixing Bowl Challenge!

Less than two weeks until the first challenge will be posted on The Paper Mixing Bowl! We are all SO excited for our first challenge and Design Team reveal! We hope you feel inpsired to play along!  Don't forget to check out the Etiquette page for the rules of play.

We've also lined up an incredibly talented Guest Designer for our inaugural challenge! She is such a wonderful artist - you won't want to miss her design for Recipe Challenge #1.

See you on March 1st!

 

 

Pictures

Hello again! Here are a few shots from the photo shoot.

All hair and makeup by the very talented Amy St. John, owner of Ditzy Blonde Salon. Photography by her incredibly gifted husband, Kevin Goetz.

Wowza!

I just got back from the photoshoot and it was SOOO incredible! It was seriously one of the most amazing experiences for me. I was so nervous but once the hair and makeup was done, it was like I was transformed into a model, and the photographer was so talented and directed and contortioned me into what turned out to be shockingly amazing pictures. It was like looking at a high fashion magazine and loving the shots, then realizing, "whoa, that's me in those!!" Super stoked! Thanks so much Amy and Kevin!

The Big Day!

I'm so excited! The day has finally arrived...my hair modelling photo shoot.

A few months ago, my hair dresser, Amy, asked if I would ever cut my hair short. I love taking risks with my hair and usually leave the look up to my hair dresser after a few suggestions. I've had long straight hair, permed hair, many variations of a chin length bob, I've dyed it blonde, red and most recently brunette but I have never gone super short. At least not since I was a kid and every one used to make fun of me for looking like a boy. I was excited for a change though and once Amy put the bug in my ear, I couldn't stop toying with the idea. Then she offered me a deal I couldn't resist...she asked if I would let her cut and colour my hair in exchange for doing a few hair modelling pictures for her studio. I have always loved watching America's Next Top Model both for the makeover episode and to see the amazing transformations in the photo shoots (and of course the drama). But I never imagined I would ever get the opportunity to be the subject of a camera myself...the thought both excited and terrified me! I usually take about 50 pictures of myself before I can get one I like, and any time I try to give a modelly pose or look, I end up looking like a complete tool and promptly delete the photo off my camera (thank goodness for digital technology!) But when would I ever get this kind of opportunity again...so of course I said yes! A few weeks later, she emailed me a photo of a hairstyle she wanted to do and I LOVED it! It was short but a funky and versatile cut. So last Sunday, I went for the big chop chop! I went from medium brown hair to short and blonde and I am loving every minute of it. And today is the big photoshoot. I am very excited but so nervous. I just hope I don't look like an idiot! I will post pictures as soon as I get them! Wish me luck! For now, I will leave you with the before and after shots. Enjoy!



A Few Cards

We were very blessed over the holidays by friends and family, so I've been wanting to make a couple of special thank you cards for a few people. I haven't made a handcrafted card in forever, so these took a little longer then usual since I'm out of practice. The first two are thank you cards and the last is a congratulations card for someone very special who just bought her first house! Hopefully she doesn't peak on here before I get a chance to give it to her!

Seasonal Picture Wall

A few months ago, my husband Derrick had the idea to create a seasonal picture wall.  Some of the family photos would stay the same, and the remaining photos would capture moments or words from the current season.  I loved the idea!  Our dining room wall has been bare and in need of paint since we moved into our house 5 years ago, so it was the perfect blank canvas. I started planning the layout and size of frames to use for the space at the beginning of September but by the time I got everything organized, it was clear that the picture wall wouldn't get up until Winter, so that's the season I started with. I grabbed my laptop and started pinning all the pictures that encompassed what I loved most about Winter.  Then I began scrolling through hundreds of family photos, choosing a selection of pictures that captured memorable moments from that season.  When everything finally came together and the last picture was hung (and leveled), we just loved the result! One of my favourite parts is a picture I designed that I call Winter Words.  Derrick and I sat down after lunch one day and listed all of our favourite words or things from the season that we loved and I put it all together in a picture. We have already started a list of our favourite Spring words for the upcoming season! I hope that planning this picture wall will become a special tradition in our family. Now all we need is the banquette seating that we've been dreaming about!

Coffee Filter Flowers

As a treat, my husband brought home the latest issue of Scrapbooks Etc for me to read. I was flipping through all the nifty ideas and came across a feature article on different ways of decorating your scrapbook pages with paper lace doilies. One idea in particular caught my eye on how to make flowers out of the doilies. I didn't have any lace doilies lying around so I raided my pantry to see what I could find that might work. I tried using round coffee filters but the flower was huge taking up almost the entire size of my 12x12 page. Next I moved onto cupcake wrappers which performed very well, producing a cute paper flower about 4 inches in diameter. Being a perfectionist however, I still thought I could do better so my last attempt involved an old box of No. 4 coffee filters and a scalloped circle paper punch. These turned out so cute that I couldn't resist sharing. Here is my version, which I have called the "Coffee Filter Flower."

Step 1: Gather all materials: coffee filters, a scalloped round paper punch (or whatever you have), scotch tape, glue dots and buttons.

Step 2: Punch out several circles from the coffee filter. You need at least 5 circles for 1 flower. Hint: Cone coffee filters work great because there are two layers of paper so with each punch you get two circles for the work of one!

Step 3: Fold the bottom of one of the punched paper circles about 2/3 of the way to the top.

Step 4: Using the first circle as a guide, fold the rest of your circles about 2/3 of the way to the top as well.

Step 5: Fold your circle again, but this time just over halfway.

Step 6: Now fold back the last section you folded about halfway so that you have a cute little triangle in the center.

Step 7: Once you have all of your pieces folded, glue down one piece or “petal” on the corner of a piece of scotch tape.

Step 8: Continue with each piece, aligning them next to each other in a circle until you have attached all of the petals. At this point you may need to readjust a few so that the edges of all of the petals line up to make a nice shaped circle. If you need to, add more scotch tape to the back to keep all the petals in place.

Step 9: Using a glue dot, add a button to the center to finish it off.

Voila! You now have an adorable little flower. You can fluff up the "petals" if you want, and embellish it however you choose!

Here I Go!

My first official post! This is very exciting for me, although I spent so much time designing the blog that I feel somewhat intimidated now with what to write in this first post. I guess I'll just keep it simple and say that I am looking forward to starting this blogging journey. I hope that it will be a great way to inspire positive energy and creativity in my life, and help me to appreciate the little things. Cheers!