Busy As Bees

We have been a little group of busy bees these past few days.

Saturday night was date night for the hubby and I. We were finally able to go to the movies and see Ted. The movie was filled with jokes about farts and other crude things that some may consider inappropriate. It was hilarious! I especially loved the Thunder Buddy song. Before the movie we grabbed a bite to eat at one of my hubby's favorite restaurants - Buffalo Wild Wing. This restaurant just happens to be right next to the local scrapbook store so I was more than happy with his choice. This lucky girl was able to buy plenty of pretty papers to play around with!

 

 On Sunday we had a family picnic/reunion. It was great catching up with people we haven't seen in a while and Charlotte really enjoyed all the attention. She also enjoyed playing outside. She just loves the outdoors. Mommy loves being able to capture photos of her being mischievous!

Today we went to Ocean Breeze water park in celebration of one of Charlotte's cousin's birthdays. Charlotte is not the least bit of a water bug. She hates it! I had my hands full at first. The most she seemed to want to do is play with a tiny puddle of water that was in the middle of the cement. She didn't want to step foot near the pool. Towards the end of the day, however, she got a little more comfortable. She slid down a few slides (in grandma's lap), rode on the lazy river, and even sat in the pool with me. I think the next time we go - she will be more then ready!

Toodles!

Sneak Peeks & a small weekend recap

I plan to submit a few layouts to a magazine in hopes of being published. I doubt they will be selected but it's worth a try, right?

Above are just a few sneak peeks of the first one I've completed. ;)
  We had a nice weekend. Saturday I literally spent all day scrapbooking. My husband was kind enough to watch the kiddo for me. In the evening - the mother in law stopped by for a visit and wanted to take Charlotte off of our hands for a few hours. We decided to take her up on the offer and get a little geocaching in. We found two caches, one of which was in the loveliest of locations (right next to the water, park benches for watching the sunset). Rain, however, cut our little trip short.  Sunday was uneventful unless you count grocery shopping as some sort of special entertainment. The plans for today consist of running errands and going by the dollar store to see what kind of fun (and cheap) toddler activities we can put together!

Happy Monday!

"You've Got A Friend In Me"

Here is a simple layout I through together yesterday. The photos in this layout are of my daughter when she was about 12 months old (she is 20 months now). She is cuddling with her lion. The journaling tells the story of how she would choose a stuffed animal over a 'cooler' toy any day. I took a note from the movie Toy Story for the title (and I know you're playing that song in your head now).

The honey comb paper I used to make the clusters is from My Little Shoebox's "Up In The Trees" collection. The wood grain paper and the fabulous little pawprint stickers are from Echo Park's "The Great Outdoors" collection. The journaling is typed onto a page I tore out of my smash book. I used that same paper (and a few sewing pins) to make little flags. The teal paper is from Echo Park's Sweet Day collection and the striped paper is from Pink Paislee's Prairie Hill collection. The title is made up of Thickers and Bella Blvd's High Five alphas.

I'm using this layout to enter quite a few of the fabulous contests over at Two Peas In A Bucket.
Happy Friday Everyone!

I have some news to share...!

I am now a Design Team member for The Studio! I am so excited! There are some wonderfully talented women on this team and I look forward to working with them. I cannot wait to share my creations for the challenges with all of you. If you haven't heard of The Studio, it's a challenge blog the puts out a variety of different challenges during the month. Please head on over to their blog and check them out. I guarantee you will love it!

The Island Creamery (an 8.5x11 layout)

Feeling inspired by the many gorgeous 8.5x11 pages of Jen Gallacher, I decided to add another to my scrapbook.

The photos in this layout are from a few weeks ago when we decided to stop for ice cream after going to the beach (on Chincoteague Island). The base of this layout is kraft cardstock on top of yellow swiss dot cardstock. I punched one section of the kraft cardstock with my Binding Edge punch by EK SUCCESS. The colorful striped pattern paper and cloud pattern paper are both from Echo Park's Hello Summer collection. The heart pattern paper is from the My Little Shoebox Happy Go Lucky collection. I used some Smash washi tape and Doodlebug twine to add a bit of different texture. The title is spelled out using small alpha stickers from Echo Park's This and That Charming collection and Glitter Thickers.

The little icecream cones (so adorable, right?) were cut out using my Silhouette Cameo.

And I am so sorry for the low quality of my photos as of lately! My DSLR is in the shop right now due to an issue with it's shutter. I'm like a lost puppy without it! Using a point and shoot has never been so painful.

Thanks for peeking at my blog today!

Color Me Scrappy - Challenge #8

 It's the 15th which means it's time for another Color Me Scrappy challenge! These are the lovely colors we had to work with for the challenge...

A la gorgeous, no?

And here is the layout I came up with....

The scalloped border, swirly red paper, hot air balloon, and white clouds are all from Echo Park. The tealish paper and other little cloud are from My Little Shoebox. The purple is a ribbon I found at walmart and the flowers are actually foam stickers I find in the children's section. The kraft envelope is by Maya Roads. The chevron paper down at the bottom is by Bella Blvd.

I hope my layout inspires you to play along with us! Be sure to go check out what other fabulous collections the other DT ladies have come up with.

In it to win it? A gift certificate from Peace, Love, and Scrapbooking is up for grabs.
So what's stopping you? Come play along with COLOR ME SCRAPPY!

"My Favorite Photo" - large elements layout

The photo in this layout is my absolute favorite photo of my daughter. As the journaling will tell you - I just feel like it's so 'real' and unrehearsed. It shows what a goofy and happy little girl she is. Don't forget to take pictures of the everyday instead of just 'professional' pictures. They will be the ones you cherish the most. :)

Now...onto the layout. All of the papers, journaling cards, and vast majority of embellishments are from that lovely Echo Park "Sweet Day" collection. The large flowers are by My Little Shoebox and there are even some Dear Lizzy stickers thrown into the mix. The alphas are by Bella Blvd. 

There are some little bits and bobs I would love to point out. First of all...that pinwheel? I made it! I'm quite proud of myself for that one. Also notice the little safety pins on each of the 'three corners'. I wanted to add a special little touch...something that added to the 'home on the range' feel of the layout. I looked in my stash but I could not find anything that I felt was 'soft' enough. A few minutes layout I went through my sewing kit and figured that the safety pins would be the perfect fit. They are probably my favorite part of the entire layout!

Thanks for reading!
 

A Layout & Announcing The Giveaway WINNER!

My supplies came in on Friday and although I had to work all weekend long - I did get a chance to play around with them a little bit. I threw together a new layout. :)

The photos are of my daughter when she was only a day old. She had so much hair that the first thing out of anyone's mouth was "Look at all that hair!", hence the title. The base of the layout (the blue wood grain) is from My Little Shoeboxes' Aiko collection. The majority of embellishments, the white alphas, the pink and white striped paper, and the floral paper are from Echo Park's Sweet Day collection. The border at the top and the blue polkadot paper is from Echo Park's Hello Summer collection.

 

The green polka dot paper (which you can just barely see) is from My Little Shoeboxes' Happy Go Lucky collection. The red polkadot paper is from Crate Paper's Emma's Shoppe collection. I punched the tiny little butterflies out with my Martha Stewart 3 in 1 butterfly punch. The yellow alphas are from Bella Blvd.

 

It's also time to pick a winner for the stash/blog candy giveaway! Thank you to to all my followers (old and new) for all the comments on my giveaway post. I wish I had the supplies to give you each a prize! However, there can only be one winner. That winner is....

PATRICIA who said:

Congratulations, Patricia! Please email me (c.inezcollins@gmail.com) with your contact information so I can go ahead and ship these goodies out to you.

Have a great day everyone!

A simple 4th of July

I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July! Ours was very relaxing. This year we just didn't feel like going out and beating the crowds at the local parades, fireworks, or carnival. We decided to just have a simple little cookout at home with a few friends, family, and store bought fireworks. It was fun and not the least bit stressful. Exactly what we had in mind.

Color Me Scrappy - Challenge #7

It's time to reveal the first set of Color Me Scrappy colors for this month!

Check out challenge #7's colors. Gorgeous stuff, huh?

This is the layout I did for the color challenge. The 'layout' of the page was inspired by Shimelle Laine. I had so much fun building this page. I just kept adding layer upon layer and it really came together. The paper and embellishments I used are from a variety of collections...October Afternoon's Ducks In A Row, Crate Paper's Emma's Shoppe, Pink Paislee's "Prairie Hill", American Craft's Dear Lizzy Neapolitan, and My Little Shoebox. The photos are from our trip to the Miyazaki Japanese Garden.

The little bit sticking out of the back of the layers is actually an interactive piece that you can pull out to reveal four more photos.

If you play along with us for this challenge you'll have a chance to win a....

$20.00 gift certificate to Peace, Love, and Scrapbooking!

Peace, Love, and Scrapbooking are continually working hard to create unique kits with the hottest products from the top manufacturers.  PLS kits are full of paper and embellishments to create multiple unique layouts.

So what do you say? Why do you come join the fun!

Play along with us for challenge #7. We can't wait to see what you create!