Brag book

So, my mother and I have had a VERY rocky relationship and for the better part of the past 3 years, have barely spoken. Well, this weekend she reached out to me and today we are going to go have lunch and i'm SO very excited. Very, very nervous but excited. So since she hasn't been around much, I thought I would make her a very quick and easy brag book to give her with pictures of my children. When I talked to her this morning she was very excited :)

I took a 4x6 pink Your Story photo cover and added a black piece of cardstock that I embossed with my favorite folder ever, polka dots. :) I then cut out a heart at 2 1/2" from Plantin Schoolbook, added glitter to it using my 2.5" Xyron sticker maker (if you are interested in how I do that, let me know and I can give instructions!), added some toole and some 'bling' and my cover was ready :) I then cut out 7 pieces of 4x6 cardstock for a heavy base for my photos, ran my photos through my NEW Creatopia (LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!) and mounted them. I then used my YS Photo to bind it and done! Not super elaborate but so quick and easy :)

Sugars layout.

My husband and I call our youngest 'Sugars' and I was trying to come up with a cute layout that would incorporate her nickname. I had also purchased some Pearls at Michaels that I had been dying to use! The patterned paper I used for the background was purchased at Hobby Lobby (single page) in the baby scrapbook section. It says all kinds of little baby nicknames like Daddy's little girl..etc. It is SO cute!




Material:
12x12 patterned paper with baby girl sayings
9 1/2 x 8 1/2 white cardstock
2 4x6 photo mats cut from brown and pink cardstock
pink and brown ribbon
6 3D pearls for bottom and top of photo mats :)
"Our Sugars" cut out from Jasmine font at 2"

Simple learning layout.

My two oldest sons, who are 4 and 5, have autism. It is something that I don't think any parent is ever prepared to go through or envisions their child having but God has BLESSED me with two of the most amazing little boys on the face of the Earth. (I'm a little biased cause I'm their mom! hehe ;) They have both been attending all day classes at our local elementary school and have come so far in a little less than a year. My oldest son Jake didn't know how to form sentences this time last summer but now you can't get him to be quiet! lol. And i'm fine with that because I never thought I would hear him talk! =) My youngest son Brad (who I will feature in a layout sometime this week) still doesn't talk, but his eye contact is improving and he said his little sister's name a few days ago! Believe me, it's the little things that count! =)

Anyways, I have been working with my oldest son on writing his alphabet and making sure he doesn't forget what he's learned and I took pics of him learning how to write 'A' and trying to color in the lines. We still have a way to go but he did it!

For this simple layout I used the "All about Boys" paper stack for the patterned paper and ripped yellow and red cardstock for "semi" borders. I then inked the edges and used Plantin School book for the title. (Oh and the little notebook page is from Locker Talk cut at 3") Not complicated but I think it gets the job done. :)

Little Mermaid Layout/ Blog giveaway ;)

I have a slight obsession with Disney. Really who doesn't? So when I went to Joanne's earlier this week they had all their paper on sale for 40% off and I could not resist all the awesome Disney paper I didn't have. Needless to say, when I was paying and realized I forgot a designer paper pack and decided to go back to get it, the cashier was surprised I didn't get more Disney stuff. LOL. I had a few pics from when we first tried out our above ground pool so decided just to throw a simple layout together. Obviously, we are not really under the sea, but I truly miss being back home in Southern California and for now, this is the sea we have! =)

Oh and I did make the bubble border for the pics. This is the first time I have actually designed anything on the Gypsy (usually I just use it to make my cutting easier) so I hope I didn't do too bad! =)

P.S. I have decided to have a giveaway once my blog reaches 100 followers. I haven't decided just what yet, but if your anything like me, you'll like it! Promise! =)

First Easter LO.

I made this LO for my friend Lisa's son. I used Mickey Font for the wording, my gypsy to weld and A Child's Year for the little boy picking up eggs. =)

Once Upon a Princess Layout.

My little girl was blessed with a crazy amount of hair (she takes after her mama!) so at 5 months old, I was able to put her hair in pigtails and the pics are priceless! I rarely do 2 page layouts because they can be so time consuming but i'm actually really proud of my pages! (Even cut out my own chipboard (which wasn't glued all the way down BTW and 3D words) so I just had to share. :)) I used Once Upon a Princess for the Princess, castle phrase and chipboard crown. I used Don Juan for the words and to made the words pop up, I used pop dots cut into little long rectangles. =)

Nephew's Birthday card.

I have a nephew who is turning 15 next month and thought I would make him a card today so I wouldn't forget. I sorta scraplifted the idea but changed most stuff about it although I cannot for the life of me, remember who the idea was taken from. So if you see it, thank you :) lol. I kept it pretty simple and I used Don Juan (My FAV font cartridge) for the 15 and a Happy Birthday stamp from Stamping Bella =)

B is for Boy.

My husband let me go to Walmart the day I found out that they were going to be selling Cricut Lite cartridges (a few weeks ago) to look for this cartridge. I was SO excited because we have 2 little boys and this cart is so perfect for their layouts and cards :) Today was the first day that I challenged myself to actually use it and I came up with a simple layout. The cute thing about it is that the little boys I cut out have the same hair as my boys :)Oh and I used my awesome Peachy Keen paperdoll stamps as well. I can't wait to add pics of my boys on it!

Mini album in progress :)

I am working on my first mini-album for my sister to take with her on deployment of our family. I'm liking the results so far.

Cricut Circle.

I'm pretty excited that my husband gave me the ok to join the Cricut Circle! I am SO excited to see what this is all about and receive my first package! I joined because i'm all about the exclusive carts and I hate feeling left out. lol. Lets face it. Its probably gonna be awesome and if I didn't join I would really regret it. :) So this is the screen I get when I click on the circle:

Homemade gift.

Growing up I always loved it when my friends' moms would get all crafty and they would come to school with homemade tote bags or custom made bows. Actually, one of the fondest memories in elementary school that I have is when my friend's mom made all of us girls custom totes with our names and a handsewn bear. I absolutely adored it. I didn't get to grow up watching my own "mother" sew or bake so I decided to take matters into my own hands and just learn.

I'm not great at showing appreciation (I know, that needs to change and i'm working on it!) so I was thinking of what I could give the boys' teacher a a token of my thanks. I decided to give her a decorated jar with homemade chocolate chip cookies that my family loves. For my first project, I am pretty proud of myself. I'm lovin finding new things to do with my Cricut machine and Gypsy! I'm addicted again! =)

Embellishments.

I have always loved my Cricut Expressions machine, but lately I have just fallen in love all over again! There are SO many functions I had not realized it came with and yesterday I found the "Multi-Cut" button. I love embellishments but they are so expensive so I tend not to use many. I decided to cut up some old cereal boxes and try to cut some of my own embellishments and it WORKED! I then inked them and put Glossy Accents over them to make them "3D" and pop. I am so excited! Here are a couple of pics of my scrappage in progress and a close up of my homemade embellishments. =)





To do:
-Use old cereal boxes as your cardboard and load your mat.
-Check your settings and make sure it is set to 2 multi cuts.
-Select your image.
-Press the "Multi-Cut" button.
-Load mat and cut.
-Once it's cut I inked them and then covered them in Glossy Accents. You can find those at Micheals. =)