I love my boots

Nathalie had these ladybug rubber boots that she wore when she was around 2. She loved those things and would wear them all the time. Even with shorts or a dress. She wore them so much that they cracked. Everyone knew about them and they really looked quite cute on her. So, I knew I had to do a layout about them. It's ironic that I ended up with a photo of her crying while wearing them, however, I can guarantee that the tears were about some major injustice suffered by her at the time and not about the boots.

Sweet Girl

I saw a layout very similar to this in a magazine and fell in love. I knew I wanted to make it. Then I saw it again in another magazine as a reference to something and figured it was a sign to make it right then. So I did.

It's really so simple and was quite quick: 9 hearts out of coordinating paper. That's what takes the longest (picking the coordinating paper: thankfully I was using a paper pack and that part was super quick and easy). Then I cut out 9 hearts using my Cricut (Doodlecharms cartridge) and just matted my photos. The hardest part was figuring out a title, and I found the Sweet Girl one as part of a bigger title in my Graphically Speaking Cartridge, so I cut it out and it was done.

I love it.

Big Girl Bed

This latest layout came together rather quickly, other than the journaling. I wanted to write something about how she went from not being able to climb out to almost getting her leg over the side of the crib in less than 15 minutes. I had the layout done except for the journaling and I tried cutting shapes out and placing them on and nothing worked. I had already stuck everything down, so I didn't want to risk wrecking it by running it through my printer and the background cardstock had little raised circles, so I wasn't convinced it would print well anyway. In the end, I just drew some lines and wrote out what I wanted to say and I quite like how it turned out! A few years ago, I would have never done that, so I'm happy with how I've changed and let stuff go. It doesn't have to be perfect!

Blankie Still ...

I've been scrapbooking quite a bit lately and I'm quite happy about that. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for this year in Nathalie's scrapbook. Of course, there is still a list longer than a child's wish list at Christmas of layouts still to complete for other books, but oh well. I'll slowly get there, right??

I've been doing a bunch of quick and simple layouts which are great because they're quick so I get more done and I am really admiring simple. That's sort of my style and so it obviously appeals to me.

I am sure I did a layout with Nathalie's blankie already, but I had a few more pictures, so I did another quick layout to show that she still really loves it.

8 months

I was scrapbooking a couple of weeks ago and went to scrapbook these photos of Nathalie in a cute little patchwork dress. When I was looking through them, though, I noticed that she looked different and I realized that they were taken at two totally different times. I went through my photos and determined that they were taken 8 months apart. It was rather impressive that the dress still fit her, but I was blown away by how much she had changed and grown up in those 8 months. She went from still looking like a baby to looking like a toddler. I decided that would be the focus of the layout: the change in the 8 months and I love how it all came together.

I put the dates in bottle caps and I like how they turned out too. These are from the Bottle Cap Company and they're really light weight and already nicely flattened. I tried flattening the metal ones you get from the beer store, but they were never even and I generally made a large mess, so I love these ones!! And they're a perfect 1" so as soon as I get a 1" circle punch, it will be even easier to make centers for them.

More Goosebumps

While I was playing with my Goosebumps, I tried another idea I had. Since I was already making a mess, why not go all the way, right??

I spritzed some Goosebumps onto my non stick craft sheet and it created a puddle. I used that as a "stamp pad" and stamped images onto cardstock (clean your stamp right away afterwards though and don't forget to clean the nozzle too). I let them dry and then added Distress Ink overtop with my ink blending tool and just wiped it away from the Goosebumps. I love how this resist turned out. The colour absorbed into the Goosebumped areas, but you can still see the resist and feel the texture. It's so cool!!

Goosebumps Spray

I brought in Goosebumps several months ago and did some cool resist stuff using stencils. Then it sat on my shelf. I love the stuff and think it's cool, but it's a bit on the messy side for me and you have to clean the nozzle after you use it or it will harden in there and then it's wrecked, which is a bit high maintenance for me.

But ... I needed to do a bunch of techniques for my technique club, so I thought I'd bring it out and play with it and I really do like the stuff. For this technique, I just sprayed it onto cardstock, let it dry and then coloured over it with Distress Inks and an Ink Blending Tool. Then I wiped off the ink from the Goosebumped areas and it was so cool! I really like the effect and the Goosebumps has some texture to it so it looks quite impressive. I'll definitely be bringing it out again to play soon!

Nanny ... Sit Down

When my nephew was younger, he couldn't say Nathalie, so he called her Nanny and it kind of stuck. This one day, he was telling her to come sit down and surprisingly she did. I bet he was about three and she was a year and a half. I got a great video of it, but it's tough to scrapbook that! I did get this great photo last summer and thought that it represented that day though: Max telling Nanny something.

I keep reading to not do all of your journaling on the computer as people will want to see your writing. Well, I have pretty poor writing, so I still do most of my journaling via type, but I've been trying to write more. Sometimes it's quicker to do that too than to try to measure and line up how I am going to type it out. I created these tags and then stamped lines on them so it would be quick and easy to write and I do like how it turned out.

3, 2, 1 ... Destruction

Well, I'm back and I'm in the groove. It was an insanely busy summer with three little kids running around. I vowed that I was going to do tons of cool things with them and not just sit in front of the computer or work all day. So I did. But unfortunately, I still had to work, which meant I didn't stamp or scrapbook. I was also sick for a good chunk of the summer and that didn't help. I had one layout that I started in July when my cousin came over to scrapbook with me for a day and I didn't get back to it until Saturday. But I got back into the groove in a big way and will hopefully be around for a bit.

I get in these ruts where I don't feel creative and it feels overwhelming to go in and create. When I finally get over it, then it feels awesome and I'm totally into it and want to create. Getting from overwhelmed to excited can be a long struggle sometimes.

Anyway, here is the layout I started in July. I went into the bathroom one time when Nat was younger and she had unrolled almost a whole roll of toilet paper. Since it was already on the ground, I figured I might as well take a photo.