Boy layouts

Andrew's baby album is a constant work in progress. Here's what I got done last weekend:


This layout features a page from one of Close To My Heart's level 1 kits - which means that the hard work is done for you. These kits are great for beginners or scrappers in a hurry as they give you the pre-printed layout already done. All you have to do is add pictures and accents to complete the look. I used a clear accent from Close To My Heart - with brown StazOn ink and a Stampin' Up swirl. The ribbon is also from Close To My Heart, but the flowers and button are all Making Memories.

To attach clear embellishments with glue, you spray the back evenly with a spray adhesive, like 3M, or run through a Xyron, but be careful with the latter because it can get messy! Whatever method you prefer, just make sure that the adhesive is applied evenly. You can also attach clear embellishments with ribbons, staples, brads and/or eyelets.


This Poppa & Me layout is created with Close To My Heart papers & buttons that I've had for years. I added little stitch marks with a piercing tool and the guide from Stampin' Up. The cute letter stickers are from Doodlebug Designs.

Baby Shower Card

I hosted a baby shower today for my sister-in-law and my nephew to be. We had a great time! The cake was designed off of the Little Prince card I posted a while ago, which was also the design of the shower invitations. It turned out so cute! Of course, I didn't get a picture of it since I was busy hosting, but if I can get a pic of it I'll share it with you.

Here's the card that I put together this morning before we had to leave for the shower...


This card features papers from the Close To My Heart Animal Cookies Creative Basics collection - which includes eight sheets of two different designs of papers (each of which include a full color side and monochromatic side) and 20 yards of ribbon - perfect for bulk layouts or card making. The ribbon is also Close To My Heart, though not from the creative basics collection. The stamp, one of my faves, is from the CTMH - Party Animals set. I colored him in with Stampin' Up Watercolor Wonder crayons. Buttons are from Wal-Mart.

Lots of layouts!

My goal for the scrapbook weekend was to catch up on some of Andrew's baby album. He turns 10 this year, so I figured I should get the ball rolling if I want his album done by the time he graduates from high school!

I used a lot of old pictures, making me miss my chunky monkey baby of a boy, but I also used a lot of old papers and stickers that I've had almost as long as he's been alive. It made me feel so happy to finally be using some of my excessive stash.

Silly Little Mess uses some alpha stickers that I got forever ago at Target - I think that they're ColorBok. You could tell they were really old because I had to re-glue all of the letters to actually have them stick to my page. The dimensional stickers are from Sandylion - also from a long time ago. The pictures of that silly little boy? He wasn't even three yet.

I don't scrapbook in chronological order, so this next page is just from last Christmas. Here Andrew's on the slopes with his uncles. Cardstock, stamps, inks & rub-ons are Close To My Heart. The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye - and I've only had it for 1 year!

I think this is my best layout from my scrap weekend. I could not even guess where the papers came from, but they were double-sided and I've had them for ages. I added some fancy-dancy little star brads from Stampin' Up and the title is in alpha stickers from Doodlebug Designs - both recent purchases.

I also tried doing a few pages of the sweet girls in my life:

Here's my Sophia - girl getting all grown up. We got her ears pierced (finally) right before last Thanksgiving. The lady who pierced her ears was a little crazy and convinced that Soph was only 3 (she was actually 5) and kept telling me that I was going to scar her for life. That should have been a red flag, right? No, I'm stubborn and made her go ahead and pierce my baby's ears. On the first ear, she got her rubber glove pierced too, and had to remove the whole earring and re-insert it into the new hole after she removed her glove as my daughter's accessory. The second ear, the gun got stuck on the earring as it went into Soph's ear, and it took some wrestling to get it off. Poor girl. But through it all, Soph didn't cry or so much as whimper. She was so brave!

This page uses Close To My Heart patterned papers, ribbon, stamps, ink & flower, cardstock & brads from Stampin' Up, photo corners by Martha Stewart and sparkles from Wal-Mart. The crown & title are from the Cricut Storybook collection.

I don't know about you, but sometimes I'm most creative in the middle of the night. That's where this page came from of my beautiful little niece, Kaelee. Everything here minus the buttons and pen are Close To My Heart. The die-cuts are from last November's Dazzling Die-Cut campaign. I ripped the bottom of the "T" - it was late, after all, but hid it with a flower so it's all good.

More fun old pictures! Here's Sophia and her uncle (no joke), my youngest sibling Max from a few years ago. Little Max is such a gentleman! Papers are from the Life Delights line from Close To My Heart. I cut out the big flowers from one of the patterned pieces to add as embellishments. The white flowers are also Close To My Heart. Photo corners are Martha Stewart and rhinestone swirls and flower centers are from Wal-Mart.

This last layout uses more stuff from my stash. Here Andrew is enjoying his new bike that he got for his fourth birthday.

By the way, all of the very limited journaling you see on these pages are done with the Bic Mark-It permanent pens. They are ultra-fine point, acid free and come in TONS of colors. I've heard them called the poor girl's Copics. My kind of pens!

More from the baby album...

Here are a few more of the layouts I'm doing for the baby album I blogged about earlier.

Usually when I give a gift album I create two page layouts, but for this one I'm doing a one page spread for each month of the first year, plus a layout for mom and a layout for dad. I'll tie it together (I think) with a layout that matches the first one with the zoo animals for the first birthday. It's been difficult trying to do gender-neutral layouts, since the parents decided not to find out the gender of the baby, but hopefully these will do!

This layout will be for January. It's using papers from Stamin' Up and the All Bundled Up stamp set from Close To My Heart. I paper-pieced the gloves, earmuffs and scarf using the same paper pack. Ink was a save-me from my friend Christine - she said she got it at Wally World forever ago.

This layout is for February. It's using mostly Dollar Spot paper from Target (my favorite fun cheap finds usually come from this area!), plus a chipboard heart from Close To My Heart and sparkly stickers from Making Memories.This layout features more paper from Stampin' Up's Bella Rose collection. I love the reds & browns! The stamps, ink, flower & brad are all Close To My Heart and the rub on is Stampin' Up.This cute layout is from Close to My Heart's Free Spirit collecction. I added Liquid Glass to the round Stickease to give them a faux - epoxy sticker look. Everything here is CTMH.

More baby gifts!

Here's a little layout I did for yet another girl who's having a baby. Since she & her husband don't want to find out what she's having, I'm going with a gender-neutral album filled with pages for first holidays instead.

This layout uses almost all Close To My Heart products.

They've got a jungle theme going on in the nursery, so I figured the first and last page of the album would feature my all-time favorite image stamps - these animals are from the stamps sets Life's A Jungle and the giraffe is from Nursery Bash. I used the monochromatic-side of the plaid paper from the Aspen paper packet, and the green striped paper is from the Emporium Creative Basics kit. The scalloped circle frame is from last November's special - Dazzling Die Cuts. Baby is spelled out using the Large Friendship Alphabet set and covered in Liquid Glass - be careful when you use the Liquid Glass, because it makes your paper curl! I had to go back and re-glue my letters down. The words on the journaling block are from Tiny Typewriter and the dotted journal lines are from the Priceless Love set (another really fun one!)

I water colored the animals in with Stampin' Up water color wonder crayons and a blending pen.

Little Prince card

It seems like half of my friends have baby news this month - either they're about ready to give birth; they're finidng out the sex of their baby-to-be; or they're hoping for quick adoption processes. If we didn't already have that little situation taken care of, I think my hubby would be getting a little worried about my getting baby fever. You know, the, "oh, honey, look how cute, are you sure you don't want another one" look? I tease him a bit, but really, I'm good with our two. By all of our friends having new babies, it's the best way because I can snuggle them and love, them then give them back when they start to cry or poop!

Anyhow, I thought I'd get a jump start on the card making with this cute little one using last July's Stamp of the Month - In the Jungle and the Tiny Typewriter alphabet sets from Close to My Heart. For the crown I modified the one from the You Rock stamp set (also CTMH) - I had to trim off two dealy-bops to get it to fit the lion's head. I also added some tiny bling to the top of the crown for that little royal touch. For the mane, I used a white Just Blooms autumn sunflower (CTMH) and direct-to-ink pad distressed him with Chocolate. I glued the flower down then put the lion's head on a pop dot.

That totally-cute paper is fron the Notebook paper packet from last fall's catalog. It was one of the first CTMH lines that featured the double-designed papers (a full-color design on the front, the same design in monochromatic color scheme on the back). This particular paper was pink on one side and blue on the other - perfect for cutesy baby cards.

I picked up the pretty chocoloate-colored ribbon for a screamin' deal at Target in their wedding isle of all things - it was onlyu $1.48 for 15 yards.