Sink Baths; Part Deux!

Ol Gaggi can sure make a mess!But then again... you know how we LOVE sink baths around here! 
I am not even kidding.  The kid is obsessed with eating her soapy rags!  She snags em right out of my hand and has a death grip on it so I cannot get it away from her.
What's the draw? really?  I mean, is it the soap?  the smooth terry cloth?  the nice warm water on the rag?! WHAT?! 
Oh great.  You know who showed up to help!  
Look at my big girl all sitting in the sink by herself!  Did you think she would be that big so quickly?!  I am so proud of her!  I will tell anyone that my favorite first age is 8 months.  It just gets better and better from there! 
She also likes her regular bath.  She may be my little fish.  I already know she is my baby who likes to watch cartoons and definitely my kid who LOVES animals!  
Sometimes I am not even intending to give her a bath, but since I always intend to FEED her, well.... this is what I am left with!  So, QUICKLY into the sink she goes! 
I love that these two are starting to realize they can "play" together. 
I am looking ahead to a BUSY summer!  When Gaggi Gull gets to crawling, look out!  My life is about to get cookin', big time!  

Mary, I am so sorry about the oversight with the book.  I think Jessi must have missed that in your box!  Ha.  (just kidding!)  She made me open every box and do a QA test with her to make sure everything was in them.  As usual, I made it into a contest and kept telling her, "I am lapping you, Jessi!"  She said, "THis is not a contest, Melanie.  I am taking my time to make sure everything is in every box."  I said, "No you are just bitter because I am faster than you."  ha.  FACE!  I actually saw a book that was left out, but had NO idea which one, and had already sealed all the boxes, so I waited in anticipation to see whose it was.  I will send you a "prize" for the error!  Anyhoo, I am so sorry that Jessi missed putting your book in your box.  Looks like I am both fast AND accurate!  I will send it to you tomorrow ! 

Melanie

More scrappy idears. (yes, Idears!)

Let us revisit the piles! To you who asked, I stack my layouts on top of each other in a corner until they are ready to go in the appropriate book. I took a class called Library of Memories from Big Picture Scrapbooking which totally rev0lutionized (YES, REVOLUTIONIZED!!) my scrappin! I now have absolutely no rhyme or reason to what I will be scrappin next. There is no order. There is no "I'm so far behind." SO , there is no guilt and you can really get back to enjoying the craft for the craft's sake. My books can be seen above and are by American Crafts (I think, Mindy H., am I right?!). I use four colors. Pink is for All ABout Us. Green is for Places We Go. Brown is for THings we Do. and Red is for People We Love. Just about any layout I do will fit into one of these. I have them in 12x12 and 8x11.
This layout is about my Gabbi Girl. The little chipboard accents around her are cheapies that came in some big kit I bought somewhere along the way. I really like having all colors of cardstock on hand. But, I also love having the new scalloped and shaped cardstock too!
An example is the green above in scallop. The clip at the bottom is from Office Depot, and is some sort of decorative paper clip. I just used a couple of scrap ribbons to decorate.

Ok, and this is a sad little layout. On the weekends, we often go over to our buds houses to hang out and eat. It drives me nuts. I love my friends, but they KNOW by now, that I will be there with some sort of rolling suitcase in tow... FULL of crafty loveliness! On this particular night, I had all these rhinestones in fun jeweltones. However, the paper I picked didnt' match. I know, I know, you probably would have never noticed... but it would have driven me crazy to not admit it.

I had a set of stickers, but didn't have all the letters I needed. SO, I used the white/black packaging and cut around them. Really I guess the final product isn't so bad. I just wish it matched better. But, actually the kid is so cute, probably no one except the bunch of you will ever know my secret!

I LOVE this one!

I keep a pile of scrap papers on my desk pushed over to the side. I dont' throw much away! I liked all these colors and wanted to use some vibrant pastels. So... I just started hand cutting circles. Some projects have to be taken downstairs because my kiddos will not let me be away from them !
So I like to have little projects available to me that I can keep on my nightstand and just take upstairs and assemble when there is time. I will also cut up letters out of cardstock or trim letter stickers. I will aloso ink edges or work on mini books in such a manner.


I wanted to use these little glitter stickers, so.... here we have it.
I used the scalloped paper again and used mostly wallet sized photos. Know what I really like about this layout? The heavy black line around the edge. I know, I am weird!
Just remember, I don't do an actual baby book per se, so my scrap pages serve as my kids' memories of their childhood. I put all my letters to them, details of their little lives, and highlights of their personalities.
I really, really like to use different sized pictures. When I order pics, I just throw in 8x10's, 5x7's, wallets and 4x6's . Then, as I am so inspired to scrap certain pics, they are there for the taking and the different sizes keeps things interesting! It don't get much easier than this! A picture and a strip of text detailing Gabbi's first experience with baby food.
The clear/black "Gabbi" in the corner was printed on transparency. I love that stuff!

These are 4x6 pictures that I trimmed down on the edges to make them all fit. I liked them all. Couldn't decide. So they all made the "cut". Pardon the pun!

Easter Bunny brought me this cool paper pad with nothing but initials in the whole thing. I thought it was pretty neat ! I LOVE bright colors on black paper.
I had this pile of pics that I hadn't put in any particular spot yet (old ones), so they were fun to look through and just nab one I felt like working with. Then, on black paper, I , obviously, just picked all different sized colors and letters fo the title.
I also have these fun scalloped borders that come many to a pack. I wanted my words to stand out a little more, so I surrounded them with these scalloped strips.
Ok, so there are a few more for inspiration! Keep them in mind when you get your scrap kit and want to get busy. I definitely use other people's layouts for my ideas! I cut out some favorites and keep them handy and I also have LOTS Of magazines that I keep near my work space.

Seriously, I will post pics of girls tomorrow! I just took a gazillion pics of these layouts this weekend and determined to use them! Have fun! And Denise Bell, didn't hear from you. DId you want a scrap kit or jewelry?!

Happy Thursday. Melanie

Need a few scrappin ideas?!

I am wanting to provide inspiration to those of you who may want to buy the scrap kit but are worried that the creativity well may run dry! I plan to show you lots of ideas through the week. These are for those of you who say you don't have time to scrap! I promise you ... if I have time, you have time! I stand beside my claim that we have enough time to do whatever it is that is a priority in your life! and that is all I have to say about that! The pile above is from my art room and is a stack of layouts which I have recently completed but have not put in the appropriate books yet.

Let's just start, shall we?
The way I get inspired is to always have my pictures at the ready! I actually sent a big wad of them to Walgreen's yesterday. I don't have a plan for them, but when that 15 minutes or so show up and I want to run upstairs to do a layout, I have to have the pictures ready! This layout was a quickie! The Easter Bunny brought me some new patterned papers and I keep them by my work table. I pick out my pictures and then, start looking through my papers to see what would work or what would coordinate with the colors in the pictures. I liked the waves on this paper, and knew that with girlies, I would never otherwise use these pages. NOt pink enough!

I think it turned out pretty cute. I have also learned that I need to get these memories on paper. Such as, "what I love about bathing babies"! the smells, the hoody towels, the Johnson's lotion! Ummm...

And then, there is this layout from the day we brought Gabbi Girl home. These brown letters are all rub ons. That is pretty easy. I also have a box of chipboard letters with rhinestones on them, so "HOME" became a pretty significant part of this title.... appropriately!

I don't really recommend cutting up your pictures. That is very passe' in scrappin. I mean, like, mid 90's!
But sometimes, I just want to use more than one picture from the event and there isn't much room in my layout. This was such a case. I also just decided to write all around our heads to describe Ellie's confusion over why this "thing" was coming home with us!
I used scrap papers to cut out the house shape and of course, inked the edges!!
This is one of my all time favorite pictures. I just love the love! and this was a SUPER simple layout! ONe square picture on a simple cardstock background. and you know I used my good ol' white pen. Gelly Roll for those of you who wanted to know the brand. Then, I used my heart punch and punched hearts all across the bottom of the page. THen, I used little rub-ons (the ones in the spring kit) to simply say what needed to be said, and that was the day we took the picture.
Just as I like a simple page, I LOVE a complicated page! As Breanna says about me, to Melanie, "More is more!" So, so true!

And yes, I know the "d" fell off the "loved" in the picture below.

I wanted something simple for this cute picture of Ellie and Gabbi with Todd's parents.
I had seen this design in a magazine and "scraplifted" it. Masson helped me get this started by just pilfering through my stock for mismatched floers, buttons, brads, eyelets, chipboard, etc.
I then came along and added a few more outer layers to make it bigger so it would be more proportionate with the fat tree trunk.
Oooooooh, and I LOVE this one ! I seriously think it took about 15 minutes! I had this pink chipboard paper that I had to trim on the bottom to make it fit on the lime green cardstock. I love pink and lime green together. Of course, I inked the edges in brown. And then added my commentary! However, it was still a little "plain" to me. So I grabbed a thin black pen and drew big polka dots on it. I colored it in with a white marker, added a few coordinating ribbons, and stuck a heart pin in the top of it.
I got to tell you... I LOVE this layout ! It is so simple and easy, but love it. Probably just because it highlights my baby's picture, and the polka dots make it baby girl friendly!
and because I decided to use only the one pic of Gaggi Gull above, I had this one left over. I found some patterned paper that I wanted to use, and was pleased that it would work with the photo I had.
I intend to find a coordinating photo and print it in a wallet size to add to the left of the words on the patterned paper. If I dont' come across that photo, that is ok too! I like it like it is. And then, there are times that I just want a funny title and the photo to take center stage. There is absolutely NOTHING creative or artsy about this layout! The only thing you really need to know is that orange and blue are complimentary colors! that's right. I KNOW my color wheel!

Have I ever mentioned that my first two years of college, I was working toward a major in art?! That is what I thought I would be! But as has been the theme of my life... I was blessed! God intervened and totally thrust me toward physical therapy. I will have to tell THAT story someday too! It was NOT what I had in mind, but thank the LORD... I now KNOW It was my calling. HEy... a bird!

The point is is that knowing the color wheel can be pretty helpful! I wanted orange background, therefore, the obvious accent color is blue! DUH!

And these letters were from the Dollar Tree! I think they were intended to be used on mailboxes! I trimmed them so they would be different sizes and not just ho hum across the page same size.
Back to complimentary colors... yep. Red and green! It doesn't hurt though that this was our first Christmas card, so naturally, red and green were an easy choice.
This is SUCH an easy page! I go through little phases when I prefer 8x 11 pages vs. 12 x 12.
I have scrapbooks in both sizes so I can always be ready to make either size page and know that the layout has a "home".
ANd for tonight's finale... this is a layout with all three of our cute girls! I used a stamp I had shaped like a circle and printed it on scrap cardstock. Each circle was punched with a circle punch. I love punches. They make life easy! And then,....
I used each circle to highlight the girls' unique characteristics at that point in time.


These sticker letters are also from the local dollar store. Cost a whole dollar!
Well, there you have it... Some ideas for those of you who think you need them. I hope to make some 12 x 12 layouts and some 8 x 11 layouts with the papers in the new spring kit. There is enough paper in this kit to do the mini book and several full size layouts. In case I don't get around to completing the mini book in a timely manner, I am providing a few more layouts later this week to copy or inspire or whatever . Hope you enjoy.

And the winners of the "what can I do for my babies' birthday parties" contest.... MISSY and DENISE BELL! Congratulations, girls. Do you want a scrap kit or do you want some Mo Beads? Let me know! Melanie