Welcome Baby Boy...

A sweet friend of mine recently gave birth to a precious baby boy.  I was blessed to be able to provide her family with a meal just days after sweet Dawson was born.  Which also meant that I got to hold this itty-bitty bundle of God's love for us.  I don't know about you but for me...holding a baby just brings me into a state of amazement and shows me how truly incredible my God is to create such perfection in such a small package.  Anyhoo...I couldn't bring dinner over to the family without a little something for Mr. Dawson too.  To top off my gift, I made a card.

Supplies used: Cardstock - Bazzill; Chipboard label - Heidi Grace Design; Embroidery floss- DMC; Embossing powder - Stampendous; Ink - Versamark & Versafine;  Patterned paper - Core'dinations & Heidi Grace Design; Ribbon - Cosmo Cricket; Stamps - Basic Grey & Hero Arts  

 Lots of bits and pieces of older papers that I've been hoarding saving for just such an occasion.

At the Firehouse

Even though I didn't make Liz's deadline for Sketch #128 submission, she still inspired me (as she always does).  Here is her sketch...

And here is my layout...



All supplies are from Echo Park Paper Co. with the exception of: Brad - Nikki Sivils; Buttons - Michael's; Embroidery Floss - DMC; and Fire Engine Sticker - Karen Foster Designs



I used primarily product from Echo Park's For the Record collection and I love how versatile this particular line is.  I have used it for so many varied layouts and it works well for all of them.  I hope you enjoy.  I have more projects in the works that I'll be able to share with you soon - they just have to get to their intended recipients first.

It's Summer so Get Out & Play...

Here's a layout I just did featuring photos from a couple of years worth of summer fun.  As I flipped through the pictures I've printed, I realized that the majority of our summer is spent camping, fishing and in the case of our two youngest boys - digging in the mud!  Oh well...it's cheap fun and they could spend hours doing it. 



Supplies used: Alphabet stickers - American Crafts and Jillibean Soup; Brads - Basic Grey; Buttons - Craft supplies; Cardstock - The Paper Company; Die Cuts - Basic Grey; Ink - Jenni Bowlin and Ranger; Label Stickers - Jillibean Soup; Number stickers - Echo Park paper Company; Patterned paper - Basic Grey, Jenni Bowlin & My Mind's Eye; Pen - Zig Writer; Stamp - Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday

I based my design on the most recent 4x6 love class by Shimelle over at Two Peas in a Bucket but I only made a one-page layout instead of a two-pager.  Such a great design that can be made a simple or as complicated as you want.

I've got another layout I'm working on that I'll be sharing real soon...seems my creative mojo is returning (either that or I'm hiding in the house from the hot temps outside).  Until next time...stay cool!

Two in One Day...

Two posts in one day...that must be some kind of record as of late.  Liz over at The Scrappiest has got me inspired this week - which hasn't been easy to do with as worn out as my boys are making me with all this summer vacation fun.  Her sketch was fun and simple enough that I could add my own flair to it and make it work with my photos.  Here is her sketch...

You must check this one out on her blog...her design team did SUCH a great job with this one.  Here is my interpretation...



Supplies used:  Alphabet stickers - American Crafts; Brads - Basic Grey (small green), K 7 Co. (snowflakes) & Nikki Sivils (green corduroy); Cardstock - Bazzil; Die cuts - Basic Grey; Font - Digs My Hart; Ink - Copic G24 Willow; Patterned paper - Basic Grey (multi-colored), Bo Bunny (red) & We R Memory Keepers (yellow graph); Stickers - Cosmo Cricket ("daring" ), Echo Park Paper Co. (sled, swirl, "winter" tag) & Webster's Pages ("adventures")

Very non-winter color scheme for a winter layout but I love how the colors really draw you into the green sled and the yellow and greens in the boys' jackets.  So glad to have had some scrappy time!

Keep on keeping on...

I'm truly dumbfounded at how insanely busy summertime can be.  Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the busy-ness of it and all the fun things we're getting out and doing but seriously, it's already the 2nd week of July.  The kids will be back in school in roughly a month's time...that's right, I said ONE month!  I better get going on all those places we wanted to visit or I'm going to run out of time.

The boys and I spent the other morning touring the Hammond's Candy Factory.  It was so interesting to see how they make all that yummy candy and I was blown away by the fact that they still make the majority of it by hand. 

We spent the prior weekend camping in the Crested Butte area - beautiful, I tell you!  Despite the LONG drive to get there, the western slope of Colorado sure is pretty.   We have lots more camping scheduled, lots more baseball games to attend (their season will be over at the end of this month), and lots more adventures to have.  In and amongst all this, I have managed a wee bit of crafting...

Here's a masculine themed birthday card I made recently...

And I'm anxiously awaiting my first set of Ali Edwards stamps...I've been looking at these for quite some time and I finally decided to join Studio AE for 6 months and see how it goes.  Now if they would just hurry up and get here already! 

Until next time...enjoy the sunshine.