Baby Photo Idea

Back in September, I saw this idea on Becky Higgin's blog and filed the idea away in my head to use sometime.

My friend had a baby 3 weeks ago and I shared the photo idea with her. She loved it and had an even better idea than spelling the word "love" with the help of the baby's feet.

Since her baby's name is Oliver, she suggested we use the feet to make the "V" in his name.

She came over yesterday and I took some pictures of him in a really quick photo shoot.

This is how the photo turned out after some text added in photoshop and a little photo editing.
Here's one of my other favorite photos from yesterday.He's so sweet. It's so fun having a friend with a new baby!

Mexico City

My husband and I were fortunate to get to go to Mexico City last September. My husband was speaking at a conference and I got to tag along.

We were able to spend two fulls days exploring in and around the city. It was so beautiful and green (at least very green compared to Phoenix!) and so full of history.

A couple of days ago I realized that I hadn't done anything with any of our photos from the trip.

I printed off a few of my favorite photos and did a collage on a layout.I plan on using a few other pictures to help me tell some of the stories from our trip. My purpose of this layout was just to share some of the sites and colors we experienced on our trip.

Everything on this layout came from the February Scrapbook Circle kit.

Bangs!

My oldest daughter talked about getting bangs for a while before getting them cut. She's had long hair that was all the same length for years.

I was a little nervous that she wouldn't like it, but she (and I) love her new look.

Here's a layout I put together with photos of the freshly cut bangs.I based my layout of this sketch from Sketchy Thursdays. I ended up rotating the sketch 90 degrees for my layout.One of my favorite things about this layout is this girl with the quote bubble. The Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type Alphas were prefect for filling the bubble for the page title. Gotta love tiny alphas!Everything on this layout came from the February Scrapbook Circle kit.

Adding Pizazz to a Notepad

Yesterday, I posted about a mini book I put together for my daughter's friend. Today I want to share the second project that was part of her gift.

I picked up a magnetic notepad at Michael's for $1 and decided to incorporate it into a project. I wrapped a piece of yellow cardstock around the notebook and decorated the cover.

Here's a look at the cover of my notebook.The flower on the cover was so much fun to make. I love the special touch it adds to projects. You can see this post on how to put the flowers together.Here's a look at the inside cover.The right side has the notebook (attached on the back with glue dots.) I did pull off the back page of the notebook because it had a big magnet on it and I wanted the paper to be flat. The left side has a Bazzill library pocket covered with patterned paper.Just for fun, I made a cover for the notebook with more patterned paper.

This was a really quick project this I think would make a great gift for a variety of occasions: birthdays (adults and kids), teacher gifts and stocking stuffers. I think this would also be a fun craft for kids to put together.

All of the patterned paper came from the Scrapbook Circle February kit.

Mini Gift Notebook

My daughter wanted to give one of her friends a notebook for her birthday. I ended up making a couple of books and we bought some fun pens to go with the gift.

Today I'm going to share what I did for the first notebook.I cut two pieces of chipboard to 6 x 6 inches for the base of the covers. Paper was then glued down with a glue stick and rubbed down with a brayer.

For the inside pages I cut cream cardstock down to 6 x 6 inches. To make things a little more fun and interesting, I made pockets out of patterened paper and spread them between the cardstock.

For the pockets, I cut a piece of patterned paper to 12 x 6 inches and then folded it in half to get a crease down the middle.Next, I folded the right side edge to the center like this:Then the triangle side was folded over like this:The final touch on the pocket was to staple the bottom shut. I used the Tim Holtz mini stapler for the job.Here's a look at some of the finished pockets.I used my bind it all to punch holes along the left side of the page and bound them altogether.

All of the paper, stickers and jewels are from the Scrapbook Circle February kit. I really love the variety of paper patterns in this kit. They are all so different, by go together so well.

Life By Chocolate Cupcakes

We made these cupcakes this weekend thanks to a yummy recipe from the Pioneer Woman.

Our favorite part of the cupcakes was the delicious surprise in the center of cupcakes >>> a Hershey's Kiss.
The kids helped me put these together, so they look a little messy, but they tasted really good.
We didn't have the heavy cream needed for the frosting in the recipe, so I just mixed up a regular chocolate buttercream frosting. Next time I definitely want to use the frosting in the recipe because I love ganache. It's so rich as creamy.This recipe is for regular sized cupcakes, but we made mini cupcakes. I love mini cupcakes. I think it's because I can eat more cake without feeling like I'm eating as much.

The cupcakes took longer that just mixing up a cake mix, but I think the extra time was worth it.

I May Have a Paper Flower Addiction...

While we were at CHA early this week, we stopped by the Cosmo Cricket booth and got to do a fabulous make-n-take where we made a flower like this:Natasja Verbeek, who is on the Cosmo Cricket design team, taught the make in take. She has a great video up here on how to make these flowers.

Here's a look at the steps I took to put my flower together.

1. Cut 4 medium sized photos (around 3 inches across) and 1 small flower (around 1 inch across.) They do not need to be perfect.
2. Fold the flowers in half and put a mini staple as close to the fold as possible.Fold the small flower in half and then in half again. Place a staple in the center of the folded flower.3. Crinkle all of the flowers to give them a messy feel.

4. Ink the edges.
5. Layer all of the flowers pieces on top of each other. Use glue dots to attach the layers.

6. Freehand cut 2 leaves and attach to the back of the flower with glue dots.
7. Fold each petal tip down and push a little toward the center of the flower. This will give great dimension to the flower.8. Use the flower on a project.

Today I wrapped a mini loaf of banana bread that I just made in plastic wrap and then wrapped 2 strips of patterned paper around the bread. I topped the bread with the flower and a tag.These flowers will make such a great touch on many projects. Can't wait to make another one.

All of the paper I used in this project are from the Cosmo Cricket Material Girl line. They will all be in the upcoming Scrapbook Circle February kit.