My at-home Photo Session

I have to say that one of the best parts about being a new mom is seeing your baby smile. I can spend hours just snapping away trying to capture that perfect little smirk.  I end up with dozens of pics of the same exact moment yet somehow he manages to look completely different in all of them.   Thousands of photos later my iPhone is telling me I have run out of storage! Ooops...How can I ever delete any of these pics???

I had a professional photographer come to the house when Baby Vin was 3 weeks old for one of those adorable newborn photo sessions that I obsessed over for months on Pinterest!  They are adorable and I'm so glad I did it. But I couldn't help feeling the sense that I paid for something I could  have done myself.  I am one of those people who looks at things and says...Oh I can do that myself, why pay for it?  So when Valentine's Day rolled around, I thought...I got this!

I set up a pillow with a cute textured blanket, put him a Valentine's onesie and snapped away! Granted he was 2 months old so he was slightly easier to handle, I think I did a pretty good job!

Here's a layout I made using pics form my mini "at-home" photo session!

Check out some of the adorable little embellishments I used from bcuzuluvme.  The camera, twine, white lacey border sticker, and the black photo corners are from there! Tina makes/sells the sweetest little embellishments! Head over to her site and check it out- you won't be disappointed!

Seeing Circles...

Hi all! This weekend I was surfing my favorite scrapbooking site, Two Peas in a Bucket, for some inspiration. If you are not familiar with this site you MUST check it out- I guarantee you will not be disappointed. This year they introduced something new. Each day they feature one of their designers, as they call them "Garden Girls", in a video series. Each series features it's own theme and challenge that encourages you to play along.

This week I found inspiration in the Seeing Double video. This video showcased the use of circles in your layout and cards.

Here's they layout I made.

I thought using circles on a page about my sons bubble bath was a natural fit.

I cut various sized circles from patterned paper using my Cricut then embellished with brads, tags, and stickers, all in the circular shape. 

Project Life - Week 3

Sorry it took so long to post Week 3 but I have fallen a bit behind with PL. It seems to me that the life of a new mom is pretty boring. Maybe not so boring but definitely monotonous! Seems like every time I start a project Little Vin wakes up! Don't get me wrong I absolutely LOVE being a mommy to this precious boy but with Daddy working double shifts mommy doesn't get much time to herself! I brushed my teeth today...Right?!?!?

 (sorry about the blurry pic below)

Mommy's Little Man

Eat.Sleep.Poop.Repeat...I'm sure all you mom's can relate! Staying home with a newborn sure has its moments. The days all seem to blend together at this point. I really can't complain though. Baby Vin hasn't quite slept through the night yet but I feel like we are making progress. He's only been waking up once for a feeding then goes right back to bed. (Thank God for small miracles) During the day he takes his naps in between feedings and playtime. There's absolutely nothing in this world better than his face looking up at me and cracking a sweet smile! I've been told by almost every mom to "sleep when he sleeps" but for some reason I just can't! There's always a pile of dishes to be washed, clothes that need to be folded or  craft supplies calling my name(lol)!

Those of you that have visited this blog may have seen my Project Life pages. I'm so excited to be able to use this process to document all of the little moments of our life as a new family.  However, nothing gives me more satisfaction than completing a traditional 12 x 12 layout!

I took this self pic with my iPhone, hence the grainy photo. Even though it's not a high quality photo, I fell in love with it!

   

                                           

I used the Pebbles Family Ties Collection for color inspiration (patterned papers, sticker embellishments) along with some flowers, brads, punched hearts and journal cards.  For the title I used American Crafts Burlap Memo Thickers.  

As you can tell I like my layouts to be symmetrical and use mainly geometric patterns. For my next layout I plan to branch out and get in touch with my artistic self! Can't wait to share it with you!

Heart Tag

Happy Friday! Looking forward to the weekend even though we're expecting some snow, which means the hubby will be putting in extra hours.   I guess its a good excuse to pop in a movie, make some hot chocolate, and snuggle with my little man.

This week, while organizing my scrap space, I came across some long lost items. First I found some embossing powders which I haven't seen in who knows how long. They were hidden behind a cute little container with small embellishments.  This sent me on a search for my heat gun and embossing pad, which took a while but I found it! This got me thinking - why would these things not be stored together? (I feel a re-organization post coming soon!) I immediately whipped out some stamps and started playing around. I forgot how much I loved watching the embossing powder change under the heat! - Crazy right?!?! 

I stamped some hearts onto kraft card stock using a stamp from the $1 bin at Michael's. I then embossed it  using a clear glitter powder. I cut out the heart and attached it to this cute little tag.  I am currently obsessed with this light blue-pink color combo! Perfect for Valentine's Day. I added a splash of green and that's when it hit me! This was the color combo of my teen-age bedroom in the 90's. Maybe that's why I like it so much! 

I used coordinating papers in a a light blue polka-dot and stripe and added an Amy Tan 'love' embellishment, along with the embossed heart.  You can also see a strip of pink heart patterned paper. I used wash-tape in coordinating colors and some brads to give it more dimension.  Topped it off with some baker's twine, a mini-punched heart and sweet sentiment.

Check out City Crafter Challenge Blog for more projects featuring HEARTS!

Scrap Apps - Inspiration at your fingertips

I am an "app" addict!  I've had my iPhone for a couple of years now. I was pretty much forced to get one by my techno geek hubby. (I luv u!) He is obsessed with technology and all Apple products. I swear if you put an "i" in front of it - he would buy it! I never really understood the need for a smartphone, that is until I started using one.  I can't imagine NOT being able to have my email, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at my fingertips.  How in the heck did I survive without FaceTime?
It may seem crazy but my phone is the first thing I look at in the morning and the last thing I look at before bed.  I can't be the only one who does this....RIGHT?!?!?! :/

In addition to social media sites I also love playing games and using apps to get ideas for recipes, decorating, and crafting.  In my search for some scrappy apps I came across a couple that I thought I'd share.  Both apps are free and offer ideas to get you crafting! It would be a great idea to combine the ideas from these two apps together for fabulous inspiration.

Layout a Day - FREE

Layout a Day is a free app that gives you daily inspiration for layouts. Each day a offers a different challenge to spice up your scrapbooking projects.  Whether its a layout theme idea or embellishment suggestion I think this is a cute little app that can offer that little spark when you need some motivation.  This app doesn't necessarily need to be used for traditional layouts. I plan on adding some of these ideas to my Project Life 2013 album.  The site offers an archive of previous posts as well.

Today's inspiration is to scrapbook your commute.

Here are some archived posts.

scrAPPy sketches - FREE

This app provides a bunch of adorable, hand-drawn sketches that serve as inspiration for your traditional layouts. I absolutely love the adorable "sketchy" style of this app. It functions like a little drawing pad where you can flip through the pages to see the sketches. Too cute!

Do you have a Crafty APP that you love? Share it below! 

Project Life - Week 2

Week 2 - Chuggin along! I'm really enjoying this project. I ended up ordering the Becky Higgins Turquoise Kit, which I love. I like the idea of the coordinating cards but I definitely need a little bit of variety in my albums. I love geometric patterns, which this kit definitely has, but I also like to mix bright colors. This particular kit is somewhat limited in that area. So I found myself adding alot of embellishments and even patterned papers to the pages. For example, on the Week 2 page below I took a rather bland 3 x 4 card and punched it up a little.  I wanted to keep the grid and ruler design so I covered the bottom phrase using a bright polka dot patterned paper and pink circle tag.

I've been pinning (new obsession btw) project life ideas and have come across some really great inspiration. One pin actually inspired me to include tags from some clothing I bought for my son while shopping this week.

Week 3 is almost done, just waiting on the pics! I hope I can continue this project at this pace throughout the next 48 weeks! ;)

Project Life 2013 - Week 1

Week 1, so far so good. It took me a while to finish my week 1 pages because I had to download and order pics online. I definitely need to look into an at-home photo printer. Anyway, I caved and ordered the Becky Higgins Turquoise Kit. (so much for that "save more $" resolution - oh well) I love the ease of using these pre-formatted cards but I still can't help myself from embellishing and adding in other patterned papers. I don't know what it is but the pics and cards alone just don't do it for me!

All my Heart(s)

I thought I would share some Valentine Cards I made using some scraps. I recently found an old heart punch and was immediately inspired to use it! I punched a bunch of hearts from some patterned scraps and card stock. I wanted to mix up the typical pinks and reds used for Valentine's Day so I sprinkled in some grey with the stripe and polka dot. I love it!

Kraft Cards

Okay... so I've seen so much work with Kraft paper lately hat I decided I HAD to give it a try! ( I know what you're thinking - why wait so long? ) Anyway I am so surprised at how much I love it! It's a great neutral with any color combo! Take a look at some of the projects I've used it on!