Fall Banner

I think we have time for one last fall/thanksgiving themed post before I start my 12 days of Christmas card collection. Today I am sharing my fall banner that I created while drinking hot apple cider and baking cookies for Thanksgiving dinner.

Fall Banner

This fall banner was made for display on my dining room wall, I used apple chipboard shapes, applied pattern apple paper and started layering from there. Amelia strangely left me alone for this project. I choose a few  organza ribbons, some raffia, leaves, felt, brads and buttons to round out the banner. The letters were cut on my Cricut Expression - my favorite tool in my craft room by far. I really like the way it came out and it is very sturdy with any luck it will make it through storage and go back on display next fall - though much earlier in the season of course. I do believe I will need to make a Christmas themed banner to replace it!

Family Turkey Hands

Family Turkey Hands

Making turkey hands is not an original idea but it is a fun idea. The giggle associated with tracing a toddler's hands because you are tickling her. Or the giggles from her tracing your hand and suddenly fingers are circles and your palm is a square can provide hours of fun and play. And while we love to color full sheets of paper having to conform to the small turkey hand size is just not satisfying.

My daughter's turkey hands will get placed into our Grateful Calendar layout on the upper inside hinge flap along with a family self-photo from the big turkey day. And another set will be given to Nana.

The Journey of Being Amelia's Mommy: Mommy's Little Lady

The Journey of Being Amelia's Mommy: Mommy's Little Lady: I created this layout based on Mojo Monday Sketch # 215 . It’s a cute photo of my daughter sleeping in her elephant paja...

Mommy's Little Lady

I created this layout based on Mojo Monday Sketch # 215. It’s a cute photo of my daughter sleeping in her elephant pajamas. I purchased Posh Baby Girl digi kit from Two Peas in a Bucket. The pink elephants with the brown hearts was my main paer but the companion papers especially the hot air balloons in the clouds were perfect for the sleeping princess. I found and downloaded a free digi elephant stamp which I colored with my copic markers, just one color each no blending. The elephants on her pajamas are pink, blue and gray some are two colors and others solid. I centered on the gray and pink and added some brown to break up the girly-ness. The layout title comes from her pajama shirt which says Mommy’s Little Lady.

I placed a large elephant in the middle left corner and removed the water droplets from the original digi but added a Jolee’s ladybug sticker because on my daughters pj shirt the elephant has a ladybug sitting on her trunk. I added rosettes down at the bottom and replaced the typical buttons with more digi elephants.

Finding tutorials on how to create the rosettes is easy, but getting actual dimensions was much harder. For the smaller rosettes you can use a 1 x 12” strip but for the bigger ones you may need to overlap more than one 12” strip. And I used glue dots instead of hot glue. I think they came out very cute for my first time and will definitely incorporate distress ink and punches in the next go around.

Stand tuned for more goodies this week as I wrap up Thanksgiving crafts and move onto Christmas!

You Ruined It, Mommy

Amelia and I finished our "Thankful Calendar" 4 page layout today. There are 30 3x3 pockets that hold 2.5 x 4 cards. We added twine, numbers, brads, tulle to each pocket and a hinged panel on the 4th page. The hinged panel shows the layout title "Thankful is a Family Tradition." When you lift up the panel there is room for both of Amelia's turkey handprints, a 4x6 photo from Thanksgiving dinner and two Pilgrim stamps from La La Land Crafts. Amelia got to add her own creative touch as well, by drawing with crayons on the title and numbers.

 Within each calendar pocket are 3 cards. One each for Mommy, Daddy and Amelia. They each say X is Grateful...At bedtime we all write what we are thankful for on the cards. We are teaching Amelia what thankful means, but are recording what made her happy that day. For example, today she is happy about the iPad!!



 
Upon completing the calendar and taping to the wall, Amelia announced "you ruined it, mommy. You ruined it." Fantabulous, just what every cropper wants to hear after spending 5 hours working on a 4 page layout.

Am I really doing this?

Have I really decided to start a blog? As if I don't have enough to do...yes I am a glutton for punishment so let's do this. I plan to write all about the pleasure of raising my beautiful, smart baby girl, all my crazy ideas, my scrapbooking activities, my poor long-suffering husband, and share secrets from other blogs. I've taken an interest in photography lately my insights will be added here as well.

My darling daughter is almost 3 and has started those temper tantrums we all love so much. And she loves to have the temper tantrums when other people are around. Like all children she knows when and how to push our buttons. When we are at home and she has a tantrum I can distract her with colors (a.k.a. crayons) and the dog (Macy) or flowers. But tantrums aside she is the best kid in the world (I know everyone has the best kid).

What all would you like to hear about and discuss?