Wednesday, July 24, 2013

You Belong To Us

Hospital bracelets make such a powerful statement. They are the first way a baby and their parents are documented (in earthly ways) as belonging to each other.  I personally love watching them be prepared by the nurses as the time for delivery is eminent. Knowing that in just moments they will be wrapped around my baby and we will be linked together in yet another way is somehow comforting and exciting. Because of this I have always enjoyed taking photos of them and scrapbooking them. 


I too these photos of Claire while we were still in the hospital. I love that you can still see her newborn wrinkles!


The title was cut on my Silhouette Portrait using a combo of fonts and Echo Park elements. The papers and stickers are also by Echo Park from their Bundle of Joy Girl line. Date Stamp by K and Company.


There are also some Queen and Co. pearls, Washi Tape, and Baker's Twine.


The journaling reads: "There is something special and sweet to me about hospital bracelets. They are that first earthly connection that reinforces the heavenly ones and says “You belong to us.” I’m so glad you do Claire!"

Thanks for visiting today!

Friday, July 19, 2013

New Queen and Company for Summer CHA 2013

I have had such a great time this past week playing with Queen and Co's new releases. Wendy has put together some really amazing collections of new Washi tape and Candy Shop embellishments! Here are the projects I made for her trade show booth:

These Christmas projects feature Queen and Co.'s new Christmas Washi tapes. 

I cut apart 6 of the Queen and Co.'s paper drinking straws for the border at the bottom. The journaling on this layout reads: “Many months before you were even born Claire, Grandma found this cute Santa dress for you. I couldn't wait to put it on you and take holiday photos! You wore this outfit for our traditional Christmas Eve festivities and you I thought you were the cutest little Santa?s helper ever! Christmas 2012”


Queen and Co.'s new Halloween Washi tapes are also super cute! I think this card turned out to be my favorite project of the bunch. I'm not sure if that is because I love Halloween and candy or because orange is my favorite color. Most likely some combination of the three. 

The candy corn embossing folder if one of my favorite Cuttlebug folders!

 The cute little ghost washi tape inspired me to put eyes on my washi tape banner. 

The journaling here reads: "For your first Halloween Claire you were the most adorable little witch! I got the idea to have you go as a witch from this hat I purchased many years ago when I was taking photos of newborns. Even through I stopped photographing newborns I held on to this hat just in case I ever needed it. And I am so glad that I did! It was a perfect fit for you and inspired the rest of your super cute ensemble. You certainly brought lots of smiles to many people in this outfit! –Halloween 2012”

Animal print Washi tapes are also being released! I had fun with the Zebra print tape here:


 And I used all the different animal prints along with my Cricut to cut out fun animals for this zoo layout. I used the cartridges Noah's ABC's (tiger), and Create a Critter (giraffe, gator) for the animals. 


The journaling reads: "We had so much fun visiting the Houston Zoo this spring! We have been many times before, but this time we got to see the new African Forest that they recently opened there! You boys thought that getting a better view of the elephants, giraffes, and rhinos was lots of fun; however, you all agreed that seeing the monkey pulling nectar out of the giant ant hill was the most fascinating part of the day! Spring 2011”

You can get a good look at all the wonderful products being released by Queen and Co this show by checking out their blog here

Thanks for visiting today!

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

A Bow For Her Hair

After having the fun and joy of boys for over 10 years, I was super excited to also have the chance to explore the world of having a daughter. One of the things I was most excited for was accessories! Boys just really don't wear much of these. Girls on the other hand--especially little girls--do! I collected a pretty large stash of hair bows and bands before Claire was born and was quite eager to use them! At first all I could really use were some simple ribbon bows stuck to Claire's head with a little corn syrup. She didn't have much hair to stick a bigger clip in and her head was so tiny that the hair bands I had purchased were just too big. So we stuck mostly with the ribbon bows for about 1 to 2 months until her head got bigger.


I had a lot of fun with this layout and my Silhouette Portrait machine. I used it to cut out the speech bubbles and the arrows. The papers and stickers are by Echo Park from their Sweet Girl collection. There are also some Queen and Co.flowers and Washi tape, as well as a couple of older tags and a paper flower by American Crafts. The bows on this page are some of the actual ones she wore in the photos. 

The journaling reads: "At the hospital they put a simple white bow in your hair Claire. I loved it and I thrilled in the idea of having a chance to play with hair accessories for you! For the first month I made sure that you always had a bow stuck to your little tuffs of peach fuzz hair. I tried putting hair bands on you, but your head was so tiny that most didn't fit. Thankfully these little bows worked well! July 2012 "