Nate's latest layout

Hi there! Last week, Nate took an interest in making a new page for his scrapbook. In fact, he plucked an old picture right off of the fridge and just decided to do this all by himself. I was quite proud of what he made, and so was he. Of course, that meant we took some pictures of his finished page.

This picture was just too cute not to include here in this post. I just love his personality — he's such a great kid!

Thanks for stopping to see Nate's page. He's excited to see his layout posted here on the computer and can't wait to see what you all think about his work. Hope you're having a great week so far!

my layout for sketchy thursdays

Happy Monday! Here is my sample layout that goes with this week's SKETCHY THURSDAYS challenge. This page is from last summer. This may be the first time I've posted a LO with my darling husband in a picture. I take so many pictures of just Nate that it's tough to remember to get my husband or myself in them, too.

This week's sketch can be seen in the right sidebar, as well as direction on how to submit your entry. Love to see some new faces this week! A great prize from Pink Owl Paperie will be sent to the weekly drawing winner.


Supplies: Cosmo Cricket (pp), Hambly (transparency), Fancy Pants (felt), Chatterbox (epoxy stars and the star buttons), Making Memories (sticker letters), American Crafts (Thickers and Flair)

perspective photography

I would hardly call myself a photographer (only by hobby), but I do like to play around with neat perspectives with the pictures I take.

Today my son and I went to the playground, one of our fave weekend activities. These aren't color corrected or even cropped, but I wanted to throw them up here to share them.

It helps to have a 'super cheeser' like I have with Nate. He'll pose for anything, and he'll even tell me if he thinks I'm missing a shot.






And this shot isn't really a perspective photo but rather a picture of my son being goofball!

i love this boy!

vintage plum june kit love

Hello! Today I am posting the page I made using the June kit from Vintage Plum. It's called Alphabet Soup and it had some great pieces this month. I'm way behind on playing around with it, so this is all I have so far.

I cut the heck outta that kit! I can't remember the last time I hand cut so many pieces from one sheet of paper (the Girl Friday sheet from Cosmo Cricket was butchered! So much good stuff on that sheet)!

I pop-dotted almost everything. I'm not sure if you can tell in the pictures, but there is a great 3-D quality to this page that I love.

If you need a new, fun kit to play with, cruise on over to VP, there's some fun stuff over there.





(Supplies: Cosmo Cricket (pp), My Mind's Eye (pp), Scenic Route (chipboard), EK Success (binding punch on side of photo), October Afternoon (journaling spot), Daisy Bucket (rub ons)

all aboard!

Hello! Today I am posting my layout for SKETCHY THURSDAYS this week using the below sketch. Remember to attach your LO to last Thursday's comments section (or this one, I'll find it either way) to be eligible to win this week. The winner gets sent some scrappy blog candy (I know Mo liked getting hers last week, thanks for the post on your blog, Mo!)

Supplies: Bo Bunny pp, Tim Holtz tickets, AC Remarks letter stickers (brown), Pink Paislee letter stickers (white), Kaiser Craft rub ons, Colorbok chipboard, twine

Hope to see more people participating as well as those of you who have been playing. I love seeing what you come up with!


Thanks for reading, and I hope you all are having a great Monday.

my sketchy thursday layout

Hi all! Above is my layout to go with this week's Sketchy Thursday sketch shown below. I loved making this page. I made the sketch knowing that I wanted to experiment with swirls and fun embellies, but had no idea how it was going to turn out. I am actually quite pleased with it, and it was a challenge for me.

Supplies: Jillibean patterned paper, Basic Grey paper, Fancy Pants journaling spot, Colorbok rub ons, Cosmo Cricket chipboard, twine, EK Success binding edge border punch



So far we have one entry for this week's Sketchy Thursday challenge. (Thanks, Brittney!) Your odds of winning some blog candy are pretty good! Post your page that goes with this week's sketch HERE by 11:59 p.m. EST tonight. I'll announce the winner and a post a new sketch tomorrow morning.

no one quite like papa

**Update: For now, this page is Out For Publication!**

Nate and Papa are quite the pair! I hit the point in Nate's book where we went to the Thousand Island's for a week last summer. There are so many pictures of Nate and Papa together that week, I just had to make a page for just the two of them.

Supplies: Sassafras Lass chipboard (birds), Cosmo Cricket chipboard (buttons and clouds) MM letter stickers, American Crafts Thickers, MME transparency (tree), Fancy Pants felt (sun), Cosmo Cricket (patterned paper)


DON'T FORGET TO POST YOUR SKETCHY THURSDAY LAYOUT FOR THE WEEK HERE.

my layout for sketchy thursday

On Thursday I blogged about Sketchy Thursdays. Here is the layout I did to go with the sketch for this week. Remember to post the link to your layout HERE (Thursday's blog) for a chance to win blog candy. There is already one layout posted so take a look (thanks KarenSue!) and keep them coming.

Leave me a comment if there is something you'd like to see on Sketchy Thursday (single photo, using circles, using grids, etc) and I'll see if I can come up with a fun sketch.

Thanks as always for stopping by!

lime rickey love

I was so excited to get the Lime Rickey line from Basic Grey. Probably because I will always reach for a sheet of Basic Grey paper before anything else. I'd have to say that Urban Praire is my all-time favorite closely followed by Archaic and Mellow.

I seemed to be hoarding my Lime Rickey paper after I got it. I wanted that perfect moment. And then I found it. In 2008 my son got his first ride in a kiddie park. Something about the carnival atmosphere and his first moment without mom or dad at his side just screamed Lime Rickey.



Do you have those moments? You get the paper and want the first time you use it to be just perfect? Now the ideas are flowin'! I'm sure to be reaching for this line of paper over and over again for a few days. Must be summer's here!

loving the crazy hair

My son is 3 today! He is home sick with me (bummer on the sick, yeah on another mommy cuddle day), and we are going to make the best of it. Lots of movies and hopefully some brownies tonight with candles on top. (Thank goodness his party isn't until next weekend.)


Being three, he now has a handsome crew cut to match Dad. But this time last year, he was still a little hairball. I am about a year behind in his scrapbook and did a page this week for Easter 2008.

I just had to focus on the hair and not that it was Easter. Sometimes it is good to do pages later on so that the nostalgia about what has changed comes through rather than the obvious at the time. I guess procrastination has its perks!

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Happy birthday to my baby boy. I'm so blessed to be your Mommy.
You bring me joy every day!

if my son could shop on Etsy

If Nate could shop for me on Etsy for Mother's Day, this is what I think he would pick out (because he's three and these decisions would be simple and make complete sense to him).


1. A coffee tumbler because mom loves her coffee and Nate is excited when he gets to carry his own tumbler full of chocolate milk.






2. This cute Owl and Tree zippered pouch because that means mom has quarters for the bridges, the Mickey Mouse ride and small toys from the bubble machines.






3. 100 buttons, so Nate could take as many as he wanted to carry in his pockets. There would have to be a lot of pink ones to leave for mom, they are her favorite.






4. A little blue bronto in case mom wants to play dinosaurs with Nate. I would have my own dino that I would of course share with him.





And the best one: Original Nate artwork.

Thanks, Nate! I am so glad I get to be your Mom.

a sunny saturday

It's a nice weekend here, so I had to get out the old Kodak P880 and take pictures of the flowers in the front yard. They bloom and are gone way too quickly. Every year I snap away after I weed the winter out of the garden.

Of course, I had to get some shots of Nate. He's all set for little league. Too bad he's too young, he'd be a great player!

A sentiment for all to see

Before my son was able to say, "I love you," we encouraged him to say, "I do" after we said, "I love you," to him. It became our family's thing for the longest time. Not satisfied with just scrapping a page about it, I made this picture to hang in our dining room.

The frame was a find in the clearance section of Joann's. It originally had 'KITCHEN' as the artwork, but I cut out the backing and took that out. I used family papers, Making Memories tags, Prima flowers and American Crafts ribbon. The lettering is done with my Cricut, the Platin Schoolbook font. I used a roll of brown packing tape to make a new backing once I was finished.

This is probably my most cherished picture in the house. It captured that brief time when Nate was learning phrases and testing reactions.

Now he says, "I love you" without hesitating, and he never says just, "i do." But when we are in our dining room, he is that little boy again just learning to speak.

This would make a great idea for Mother's Day. Get that phrase outta the book and onto the wall... She'll cherish it always, I promise.

make sure to take pictures of everything

I have always been a fan of taking pictures, ever since my Kodak 110 when I was a kid. Today, with my son, I recognize the importance of capturing EVERYTHING! It doesn't matter if he's looking at the camera, smiling, frowning, drooling or crying. In the end, all that matters is that I snapped that picture. Life moves way too fast to hesitate.

In the above layout, I captured my son seeing snow fall for the "first time." Actually, he was already one, but it was his first realization that the snow he'd read about or seen in movies was outside his back door. He's not looking at the camera and the horizon is a little more off balance than I like, but for me, it is the moment that counts.