May 2012 P12 Featuring Summer Smooches

This catches me up in my 2012 Project 12 album. What a nice feeling!
Since the main event this month was our family trip to Disneyland, I felt it appropriate to use mostly Disney pictures!

Here is the PageMaps sketch that I used (from the May 2012 sketches.)

I flipped the sketch to accommodate my chosen photos.

And here are close ups of each page.

As you can see, I didn't do a whole lot of stamping on this layout (just the 'happy birthday' underneath Greg's picture and the numbers.) Sometimes I'm "feeling" the stamping, and sometimes I'm  not. And that's okay! For this layout it was really more about playing with all the different paper patterns in the Summer Smooches collection. The red and white polka dot is NOT from Summer Smooches however, it is from another new collection called (appropriately enough) Polka Dot Parade. Check out the links below to see all the colours this comes in. It's a great set to have on hand to enhance other collections.

It was Greg's birthday on our last day at the park so I made him go to the City Hall and get a birthday button. To further highlight this picture I created a little banner below it and just stamped the 'happy birthday' sentiment from Best Dad Ever. My Basic Black ink pad needs to be re-inked so to make it look intentional I stamped off some images to give them a more faded look. 

My title. 

I cut out the letters with my Typeset Alphabet die and the numbers were stamped using one of the stamps in the Patterned Party stamp set (really finding this super versatile!!) and then fussy cut. (Also did this to get the '42' for Greg's birthday picture.) To dress it up a bit I added the pen faux stitching. I liked the stitch look so much I did it on the rest of the layout!

My journalling block.

And one last picture to highlight (you Moms out there will know why I'm highlighting this!!) Yes, this is Christine in the potty. The story is this; Christine is my last baby and while she's been wearing Pull-Ups for months now and we had been flirting with potty training, we hadn't committed 100% to the process. For many reasons, not least of which being my resistance. Not because I wished her to remain little (although that may have been a tiny part of it) but because I still retained very vivid and horrid memories of potty training Paige and didn't fancy repeating them with Christine. As it turned out I needn't have worried as she took to it very quickly (once we'd fully committed - after returning from Disneyland) and now I am revelling in the process of getting rid of things like diaper bags, change tables, diaper pails, etc etc etc. Ah, freedom!!

Thanks for stopping by. If you liked this please leave me some love! I may even visit you and return the favour!! Last but not least, here are your links.

Summer Smooches DSP
Polka Dot Parade DSP
Patterned Party stamp set
Best Dad Ever stamp set
Typeset Alphabet Die

Sketchy Thursday layout

Hmmm ... I just realized that I forgot to put a title on this layout for Sketchy Thursday. Oh well.

Here is the sketch:

And my take on it.

The background paper is from the Flirtatious Specialty DSP line - a gorgeous girly line! I inked the edges in Concord Crush ink for a slightly distressed look. I used a piece of Basic Grey card stock to mat the larger photo of my youngest daughter and then put that on top of a large piece of Concord Crush card stock. I ran my Scallop Trim Border Punch along the bottom of this for a bit more detail.

I mounted this small black and white photo onto a piece of Concord Crush card stock and Silver Glimmer Paper that I cut out using the Hearts Collection Framelits Dies. Onto the card stock I stamped  the wood grain heart image from I {Heart} Hearts in Whisper White Craft ink. I love the subtle pattern it gives.

For the journalling block I used the Labels Collection Framelits Dies and sandwiched a piece of grey patterned paper from the new Twitterpated DSP line between two pieces of Whisper White card stock. (The stamped lines are a non-Stampin' Up! stamp that I've had for ages.)

My embellishments were made with more of the grey patterned paper and Silver Glimmer paper which I used both the Hearts Framelits dies and the Heart-to-Heart Punch to cut out several sizes and shapes of hearts.  

In lieu of the banner detail on the sketch I used a row of hearts. I tried adding a banner here but it just didn't seem to work with what I already had so ... Sketches are really just a jumping off point anyway!

Oh, and you may be wondering about the rather glaring yellow-green apple in the middle of the journalling. Well, I am participating in an on-line class over at Big Picture Classes called Twelve. In it we were given 12 topics to scrap book about and we assigned one of (you guessed it) 12 colours to represent each topic. We were then asked to gather 12 or 13 small embellishments from our stash in each of the 12 colours. Every time we complete a layout from one of our topics we add one of these embellishments as a visual reminder to ourselves that it is a) for Twelve and b) for a particular topic. This layout is for my PEOPLE topic which I have designated as yellow-green. So ... I went hunting in my yellow-green embellishment cup and found this punched out apple and knew I could use it in place of the word 'apple' in my journalling. Clever, no?

Well, must get this entered into the Sketchy Thursday challenge. It's their last sketch challenge which I'm rather sad about. I've entered a few in the past and always enjoyed the process. I wish the design team over there all the best. Thanks for all the fun!

Hallowe'en Treats

Just a quick post to show you my kidlets and a little something we cooked up together for their classmates yesterday.

Starting with the cutest (read: youngest) - this is Christine (aged 2.5), my Kitty Cat.

Next is Paige (aged 5.5) my Angel (?) - actually she's a Fairy.

And last but not least, Marley (aged 7.5) my Wicked Witch (how true, how true! LOL!)

All ready to raid the neighbours candy stashes!

3 little pumpkins for my 3 little cuties!

And these are the treats we made. These are Paige's batch and I'll be honest, the only reason I have photos of them is because she forgot to hand them out on Monday. Yup, we slaved over these and then I forgot to take pictures to show you all. Doh! Forgetfulness must run in the family, eh?

Paige stamped the image of her choice from the Batty for You stamp set onto her choice of card stock (Basic Grey and Always Artichoke) and then I punched them out using my 1 3/4" circle punch. They were then layered onto a piece of Frightful Sight DSP (her choice again) which I punched out with the scallop circle punch. 

I let her do all the stamping and gluing and I did all the punching. Marley got to do the stamping, punching and gluing as she's that bit older. Some of theirs were a bit off but ... it's supposed to be from them so I think it should actually BE from them! 

I did take charge of attaching the embellishments to the bag toppers - another piece of Frightful Sight DSP cut to 1 1/2" x 4" and folded in half. The girls tried to stuff the cellophane bags (the 1"x8" ones) with the licorice but found it a bit tough so I took over that eventually.

Anyway, that's it for tonight. Take a look at the new buttons on my sidebar. Stampin' Up! has got a new promotion that runs until Dec 15th. It offers our wonderful Hostesses the opportunity to get more FREE PRODUCTS if their workshops have high enough sales. I know I'm excited to share this with my November Hostesses - if you want to be one of them, click on the Email Me button and we'll set something up.

Thanks everyone. Hope your Hallowe'en was as fun and fright-less as ours was. Now, where's that chocolate? :)

See you soon!