Bird Scrap

Advent-Day 14

2010-12-11T21:05:00.001-08:00

Day 14
Person: Samuel
Theme: The Beginning of the Kingdom
Scripture: 1 Samuel 3:1-21, 7:1-8:22, 9:15-10:9

Cartridges/Software used:
Plantin Schoolbook: circles
A Child's Year: crown

Also used:
Stickles for the jewels on the crown

Thanks for looking!

Advent-Day 13

2010-12-11T21:02:00.000-08:00

Day 13
Person: Gideon
Theme: Unlikely Heroes
Scripture: Judges 2:6-23, 6:1-6, 11-8:28

Cartridges/Software used:
Plantin Schoolbook: circles
My World: clay pot

Thanks for looking!

Advent-Day 12

2010-12-11T20:59:00.000-08:00

Day 12
Person: Joshua
Event: The Fall of Jericho
Scripture: Joshua 1:1-11; 6:1-20

Cartridges/Software used:
Plantin Schoolbook: circles
SCAL: trumpet
Paisley: music notes

Thanks for looking!

Advent-Day 11

2010-12-11T20:56:00.000-08:00

Day 11
Person: God
Event: Giving the Torah at Sinai
Scripture: Exodus 19:1-20:20

Cartridges/Software used:
Plantin Schoolbook: circles
SCAL: tablets

Thanks for looking!

Advent-Day 10

2010-12-11T20:52:00.001-08:00

Day 10
Persons: Israelites
Event: Passover and Exodus
Scripture: Exodus 12:1-14:31

Cartridges/Software used:
Plantin Schoolbook: circles
My World: Lamb

Thanks for looking!

Advent-Day 9

2010-12-11T20:47:00.001-08:00

Day 9
Person: Moses
Theme: God's Providence
Scripture: Exodus 2:1-4:20

Cartridges/Software used:
Plantin Schoolbook: circles
SCAL: burning bush

Thanks for looking!

Advent-Day 8

2010-12-05T20:32:00.001-08:00

Day 8
Person: Joseph
Theme: God's Providence
Scripture: Genesis 37, 39-50

Cartridges/Software used
Plantin Schoolbook: Circles
SCAL: bag of wheat

Thanks for looking!

Advent-Day 7

2010-12-05T20:28:00.000-08:00

Day 7
Person: Jacob
Event: Assurance of the Promise
Scripture: Genesis 27:41-28:22

Cartridges/Software used:
Plantin Schoolbook: circles
Graphically Speaking: Clouds
SCAL: ladder, but this could easily be done on Design Studio as well

Thanks for looking!

Advent-Day 6

2010-12-03T19:28:00.001-08:00

Day 6
Person: Isaac
Event: Offering of Isaac
Scripture: Genesis 22:1-19

Cartridges/Software used:
Plantin Schoolbook: Circles
SCAL: clip art ram

Thanks for looking!

Advent-Day 5

2010-12-02T18:28:00.000-08:00

Day 5
Person: Abraham

Event: The Promise
Scripture: Genesis 12:1-9; 15:1-6

Cartridges used:
Plantin Schoolbook: circles, stars

Thanks for looking!

Advent-Day 4

2010-12-01T10:43:00.001-08:00

Day 4
Person: Noah
Event: The Flood
Scripture: Genesis 6:11-9:17

Cartridges/software used:
Plantin Schoolbook: circles (the rainbow is made of circles of 1/4 increments)
SCAL for ark

Thanks for looking!

Advent-Day 3

2010-11-30T20:10:00.000-08:00

Day 3
Persons: Adam and Eve
Event: Sin Enters the World
Scripture: Genesis 2:8-3:24

Cartridges used:
My World: Apple (bite cut manually)
Create a Critter: Serpent (birthday hat cut off manually)

Thanks for looking!

Advent-Day 2

2010-11-29T21:47:00.001-08:00

Day 2
Person: God
Event: Creation
Scripture: Genesis 1:1-2:3

Cartridges used:
Plantin Schoolbook
SCAL; globe clip art

Thanks for looking!

Advent-Day 1

2010-11-29T06:54:00.000-08:00

It's time for advent! This is the first year that we've used a Jesse Tree in our family, and I made the ornaments for it using my trusty Cricut. I got most of my information from this website but I also thought this one was helpful.
Day 1 was actually yesterday, so I'll post it along with Day 2 today.
Here is the ornament for day 1:
On the back of each ornament I've written the person(s), theme, and Scripture reading for the day (see first link above).
Theme: Introduction of the Jesse Tree
Scripture: 1 Samuel 16:1-13; Isaiah 11:1-10

Cartridges used:
Plantin Schoolbook for circles (3 1/2" and 3 1/4")
Joys of the Season for the tree (3 1/4") I trimmed the stem a little bit to fit inside the circle.

Thanks for looking!

Monogrammed card

2010-08-28T06:28:00.001-07:00

Recently I needed a few simple, quick cards to send. I looked around in my scrapping supplies and found a nice double sided paper-a solid green on one side and a striped print on the other- that I thought could work. Here's the result.
I used my Just Rite monogram stamper (love that they are interchangeable and SO diverse) with one of the Damask borders. The circle was cut with Plantin Schoolbook and the scallop with Storybook. I embossed the green band with Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots folder and ran some white ink over the raised dots for a little more dimension. I bordered that with some grosgrain ribbon from Big Lots. The bottom border is Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot punch.
Here's a closeup of some detail:
Thanks for looking!

8

2010-08-22T16:13:00.000-07:00

My dear hubby and I recently celebrated our 8th anniversary. I'm a blessed woman; he's so good to me, he's a wonderful father to our 3 boys, he's a willing helper around the house, he's a hard worker, and he's cute, to boot! :) I wanted to make a card for him that simply said "I love you" and this tri-shutter card is what I came up with. Here it is closed:
For you visual learners, check out this video tutorial.
The '8' is cut from Mickey Font. The oval and the scalloped oval are both from Storybook (I made the holes on the scalloped oval with an eyelet setter). I used the Cuttlebug "I Love You" folders on the 8 and for the sentiment and inked the raised images for a little more contrast. For a little more detail, I paper pieced the edges of the patterned paper, like Beate does in the video tutorial. Here's the card again:
So I usually stick just to the craft, but I had to throw in a couple pictures of our anniversary celebration. I surprised my hubby by dropping the kiddos off with a friend and picking him up from work--I told him we had 'reservations to the nicest restaurant Paris has to offer' (our town is called Paris and no it isn't THE Paris! ;) He was totally shocked because we weren't really planning anything special this year. I brought him back to our home, which had a little Louis Armstrong/Ella Fitzgerald music playing, the table set with our china and linen napkins (and this card at his place setting and the flowers he had brought me from earlier in the day), and a nice dinner for 2 being kept warm in the oven. What an enjoyable time just to sit and talk over dinner without the threat of interruption. Ahhh! :) Here's my sweetie, before dinner. Told you he's cute!!
Then, after dessert, we went out to the backyard and took a few pictures. Here's one of my favorites. :) I love him so so so so so so so much!
Thanks for looking!

Art inspired by Lois Ehlert

2010-08-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

Greetings from our new nest in Tennessee! We are slowly but surely getting settled in and adjusting to our new and thus far very humid surroundings! It is beautiful here and all sorts of green.
With all the newness and adjustments and busyness of life, I don't anticipate being able to craft more than about once a week, if I'm lucky! That will be my goal and we'll see how that goes. However, I will be doing more crafts with my pre-schoolers, and I will be adding a new category of posts for this blog...Crafts for Kids. I hope you enjoy it!
Our first craft was inspired by art from Lois Ehlert's 'Boo to You' and is made entirely from things found in the nature of our own backyard! Jonah and I had a blast going on a nature walk and looking high and low for things to put in the bucket for our collection which we then spread out on the table and let our "imashinations" run wild!! Very easy, very fun, very quick, and great for my 4 year old.
Things you will need to complete this craft:
* various leaves, nuts, seed pods, grass, weeds, flowers, acorns, sticks...whatever you find!
* construction paper
* glue - we used Elmer's but you might need something sturdier for big sticks or other bulky items
* an imagination

Hello Kitty Card Set

2010-06-02T12:19:00.001-07:00

Here's the group of cards I made for my son's physical and occupational therapists. They did such a great job working with him over the past couple of years and we are so thankful for the progress he has made. I used the Hello Kitty Greetings cartridge on the "card" feature for all of them. To make them thicker and to hide where the fold lines are, I also did a basic black cut to adhere to the front of each card. They are all made to fit an A2 envelope. I used stickles on all of the images except for the butterfly card.Rainbow, cut at 3 1/2"

Heart, cut at 3" and embossed with Swiss Dots

Sun, cut at 4 1/4"

Hello Kitty, cut at 5 1/4" (her whiskers need a slight trim to fit in the envie)

Cherries, cut at 4 1/2"

Flower, cut at 4 1/4"

Strawberry, cut at 5"

Butterfly, cut at 4 1/4"

and a homemade gift box to wrap them in, courtesy of Splitcoast Stampers' resource page.
Thanks for looking!

baby boy card

2010-05-09T22:12:00.000-07:00

My husband's cousin just gave birth to a precious little guy about a week ago and this is the card that I made to congratulate her and her husband. The cut is from New Arrival. You can either weld 2 together to make a card or, if you don't have access to Design Studio, you can cut 4 blackout shapes. 2 will be for the front and back-then you will need to glue some strips of paper to those pieces to act as a hinge for the card. My hinges are where the bow is tied and at the wheel. The other 2 blackout cuts are glued to the inside of the card. They serve 2 purposes. The first is to hide the hinges. The second is to make the card sturdier.
After the card is assembled, it's time to decorate the front. You'll need to cut out another baby buggy-this time without the blackout feature selected. Your last cut will be the baby buggy with the shift on. For finishing touches, I added a string of pearls, a bow, some skittles on the wheels, and the heart above the buggy, attached with a small gauged wire that was shaped by wrapping it around a pencil.
Thanks for looking!

Ventura Beach and some exciting news!!

2010-03-25T11:51:00.000-07:00

Here's another layout of Ventura Beach. I used a sketch from Page Maps for it. I love the clean lines of it and the balance that the squares give to the row of photos. I used SCAL to cut out the title and Life's A Beach for the sandals and dolphin.

Now...for my exciting news...thanks to Joy over at Obsessed With Scrapbooking, I have won a Cricut Gypsy!!!! Woot woot! She announced yesterday that she would give away a Gypsy when she reached 1,000 Facebook fans--which she reached and then WAAAAY surpassed yesterday and today. In fact, the last time I looked, she had over 1,500 fans! Check her out--she always has the latest and greatest in Cricut products to demo on her personal blog as well as the blog that she co-owns, Everyday Cricut. Thanks, Joy! I cannot wait to receive it and start playing!

Thanks for looking!

fire engine

2010-03-14T11:41:00.000-07:00

Jonah had a Drive-in night at Cubbies last week, and each kid was supposed to make a car to sit in during the movie. Since he's very much into firefighting right now, (dressing up, making siren noises, and putting out fake fires all over the house) we thought we'd make him an engine that he could sit in for that night but also continue to use at home to "spark" his imagination. Scott designed, cut, assembled, and painted the entire engine but he tasked me with the job of cutting out a maltese cross with my trusty Cricut. I found the cross here, on the Quilling Patch.
It was a big hit with Jonah, and we are sure to hear plenty of siren noises throughout our house for a long time!
Thanks for looking!

Dig dig dig dig...

2010-03-06T08:26:00.000-08:00

One of the things that Scott enjoys most about being a daddy is the excuse to do fun things because the "kids" like to do them. The truth is, Scott loves to dig. He likes to dig BIG holes. But it would look kinda funny to see a grown man dig big holes in the sand by himself. He is thrilled that the boys are at the age where they are also interested in doing things like this. When they were finished with this hole, it was big enough for 2 people to sit on beach chairs inside. I couldn't even see Jonah and Noah inside unless I was standing over the hole. I'll let you guess who had the most fun that day. :)

The journaling reads:

"Q: What do little boys* do at the beach?
*{big boys too}
A: dig dig dig dig dig
dig dig
dig dig dig dig.."

Here's a closer look at the first page:
and page 2:
The words were cut using a variety of ttf's on SCAL. The silhouette on the first page is from A Child's Year. The shovel and pail are from Life's A Beach. I used stickles for the sand and also added a little bit of "sand" to the corner of the shovel. I feel kind of silly mentioning Printing Press, but I did cut the two asterisks from it! :)

Thanks for looking!

Ventura Beach

2010-03-04T12:52:00.000-08:00

I love how this page turned out! The pictures are actually printed in color, but with the sunset just right and the silhouettes on the beach, they looked like they were printed in black and white. I used 1 piece of shimmery paper for all of the embellishments. The charms along the side are from Life's A Beach and the letters are a ttf "traveling typewriter." It is a little hard to see, but on the arrow I used some letter stamps. It says "LOVE," pointing to my 3 favorite boys at the time. I'm so lucky now I have 4 boys to love!
Easy page. Thanks for looking!

Dad's Birthday

2010-03-03T09:11:00.000-08:00

Monday was my Dad's birthday, and my boys got him flower seeds to plant in his garden. I whipped up a little gift basket to put the seeds in and a quick card to complete the garden look. Here are the results:

Side 1:

Side 2:Side 3:
Side 4:
I used A Child's Year on all 4 sides of the basket. Two of the images are with the icon feature selected.
The basket itself is an .svg file from SVG cuts. The basket can be found here. It's designed with a slit in the handle so you can slip a place card in there, or in this case, a birthday card, like so:

Speaking of card, have you neglected (like I did) the card feature on A Child's Year?? This card was super easy to make...no welding necessary. It is straight from the cartridge and was cut with a simple press of the button! I thought it would be cute to have the card in the shape of a butterfly so it could be fluttering above the garden scenes. I added stickles to embellish it to look somewhat like a monarch and voila! Easy gift-giving. The entire project took probably close to an hour but could be replicated in less time (except for waiting for the stickles to dry).
Thanks for looking!

thank you cards

2010-03-02T17:01:00.001-08:00

To complete the train theme for Jonah's birthday, I sent these thank you cards to our guests. The engine was from the same train I made for the "pin the caboose on the train" game at the party. It is cut from the My Community cartridge. I handwrote the greeting, "thank you so much" with various colored markers.
The card base is 4 1/4" square and the white squares on top are about 4" square. I used the corner rounder on them and inked the edges.
Thanks for looking!

Disneyland vinyl scrapbook

2010-02-24T11:20:00.000-08:00

Well, I have a few more scrapbook pages to share over the next few days but I've not downloaded them from the camera yet and someone is borrowing it right now, so those will have to wait.

For some reason, I've been unable to log in to my blog all week until today. I think it has something to do with the Firefox updates but hopefully it's fixed for good now since I'm in now!
In the meantime, I was looking through older projects and I don't think I ever posted this one. I still need to print a picture small enough to replace the Mickey silhouette, but I love how the vinyl turned out on this. I used the Wall Pops from Lowe's that were on clearance last year. I used SCAL for the font.

Thanks for looking!

Jonah's Train Birthday Party (picture heavy)

2010-02-16T18:09:00.000-08:00

Our oldest turned 4 a couple of weeks ago...hard to imagine. He said he wanted a train party, and I was happy to oblige! I got right to work on my Cricut, using My Commuity, Everyday Paper Dolls, Mickey Font, and SCAL. Here's a sampling of the decorations:

Railroad crossing sign. Letters cut with SCAL using Lucida Grande true type font:

RR crossing sign using SCAL (Lucida Grande again):

All Aboard sign using Everyday Paper Dolls (cut at 8 1/4") and Mickey Font:

"Happy Birthday Jonah" sign using Mickey Font (letters cut at 3") and embossed with Cuttlebug's Happy Birthday folder. I ran a black inkpad over the raised image to get the look. I forgot to take a close-up of a letter to show the detail. Next time.

We played a variation of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey"...Pin the Caboose on the Train! Here's the engine, cut from My Community, and the engineer from Everyday Paper Dolls. He's supposed to look like Jonah (well, as much as a paper doll can, anyway):

Here's the passenger car using the same cartridges.

And here's one of the cabooses. The cabooses served as the child's placemat as they arrived to the party. We served lunch first. The kids had pb&j sandwiches cut into train shapes with a cookie cutter. My wonderful hubby was in charge of lunch for the adults...delicious BBQ pulled pork sandwiches with broccoli salad, potato salad, fruit salad, and deviled eggs. Sooo yummy! Anyway, after lunch we played the game and the kids used their cabooses.

Each caboose was personalized with a paper doll representing each child in attendance. My dad got one, too, since he's a train fanatic...hence the "Grandpa" doll with gray hair. Here's a picture of all of the dolls before they were attached to their caboose:

And here's the game ready to go. Letters are from Mickey font. I traced the caboose with a Sharpie marker so the kids could know where to aim:

I made cupcakes for dessert, and continuing with the train theme, here are the toppers with toothpicks glued in between the shadow layer and the top layer (again used My Community and Mickey Font):

And here they are displayed in the cupcakes. The letters kind of get lost in the picture but I think they were easier to see in real life:

And...how could I not include a picture? Here is Jonah and his friends!
And here is a link to our friend's website who is a photographer. She was kind enough to come take some pictures for us! Didn't Rachel do a fantastic job? By way of background, we were going to have his party at a local train park museum where there are real locomotives for the kids to climb on and run through. However, rain was forecast so we had to have the party at our place. Our living room is not big enough for the number of guests, and we knew kids at a party would want to run around and have a good time...so we converted our garage into the party area. A garage is not the easiest place to take pictures and I was so happy when I saw how well these turned out!

Thanks for looking!

smile

2010-02-10T11:23:00.001-08:00

Here's the last card in the series: a free standing pop-up card. I used Paisley for the frog and the smile, and Storybook for the squares behind the frog. I used stickles to embellish the sentiment and the heart on the frog. I inked the edges of the green base in white. Patterned paper is DCWV.

Here's a picture of the card folded flat for mailing:
To open it up, simply pull on the purple tab. There is room to write a greeting on the back of the card. Here's a picture that shows one card flat and the other opened:
Thanks for looking!

XOXO

2010-02-09T14:32:00.000-08:00

Aww, this little elephant is just too cute! Like I said in a previous post, I just fell in love with the images on the Paisley cartridge while doing this project! If you like this style of card, it is called a surprise pop-up card, and you can find the directions here.

To reveal the sentiment, simply pull on the tab on the top of the card:
You can write your greeting on the tag that pulls out on the top:
A side view:
One last picture, showing the card closed flat to mail and the card opened up:I used stickles on the sentiment, on the envelope's heart, and around the edges of the white mat. What a cute and simple card for Valentine's Day, eh?
Thanks for looking!

woot woot

2010-02-08T13:47:00.001-08:00

Today's card is a slider card. When you pull on the tab at the top, you get an extra surprise when the hidden tab on the bottom also slides out. How is it done? Smoke and mirrors...and if you don't believe me then you can click on the link for directions!
The cute little owl is from Cricut's Paisley cartridge and I cut out a perch for him from the Storybook cartridge. The background is embossed using Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots folder. The sentiment, "woot woot" is also from Paisley.
Here's a picture to show the sliding action:
Cute, eh? I'm a sucker for cards that move or are in some way interactive. I've got 2 more to show you this week, so I hope you'll visit again!
Thanks for looking!

You put the "fun" in fungus

2010-02-07T10:32:00.000-08:00

Whew! I got a little distracted last week from my blog because I was spending my free time making decorations for my son's train party. He turned 4 years old yesterday-amazing! We had a fun little party for him in our garage; we were going to have it at Travel Town (a local train park) but it was raining yesterday so we switched to plan B. My Cricut was chirping every day last week to turn our garage into a more festive environment for his party. I'll be sure to post pictures when I'm finished posting the cards.
So this card is a swing card, or flip flop card. When you pull on the two sides of the card, the center flips over to reveal your message. This is what it looks like:
For the center, I layered pink on pink, inked all the edges in white, and hand-stitched a border on the top layer. The mushroom is from Paisley. I used almost all DCWV paper and embellished with stickles. I used Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot punch as a border and made my own photo corners.I placed the sentiment in the corner so it would be visible whether the card was "flipped" or "flopped." I used Paisley for the circle and the scalloped circle with a difference of 1/4" (real dial size turned ON). I cut "fun" out from Sesame Street font at 1/2" and used stickles on it. The shapes are outlined with a very fine Micron pen.
Thanks for looking!

just be you

2010-01-28T15:44:00.000-08:00

How cute is this little monkey from Paisley? When I saw him I envisioned him doing antics across the top of a card, and I knew that a spinner card was just the thing for this little guy!

Here is a picture to show the movement of the card...see how he somersaults?
One more...it's so much fun! I liked the sentiment 'just be you' for this card (it's paired with the giraffe from Paisley) because the somersaulting monkey is playful and unique...not exactly what you'd expect on a greeting card. The monkey is cut at 2 3/4" and the sentiment at 2". The patterned paper is from DCWV.

Thanks for looking!

i ♥ u

2010-01-27T13:04:00.000-08:00

I knew I liked the Paisley cartridge when it was first released with all of its cute and whimsical cute, but I didn't know if I would use it a lot because I wasn't sure if it would be very versatile. Well, I fell in LOVE with it during the course of making these cards! I liked it so much that I also made a set of cards for myself (hey, the materials were already out!!!) This card is a joy fold card. I don't want to steal someone else's work, so you'll have to click on the link to be directed to the instructions. *Note* I used the instructions for the first variation shown at the bottom.

The joy fold card has a flap that you open to reveal the card. Here is a picture showing the front of the card in the background and the flap opened in the foreground.

And here it is opened all the way. There is plenty of room to write your greeting. The border punch is Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot.The top flap has to be tucked behind something to stay closed. I cut out 3 circles (3/4") and I cut out "i ♥ u" (1/2") from the Sesame Street font cartridge. They are on pop dots, and this allows the flap to stay closed.
The giraffe is cut at 4". I used stickles on the centers of the flowers on the giraffe and on the heart and around the circles. All paper is DCWV.

Thanks for looking!

Coming Soon to BirdScrap...card preview

2010-01-26T10:49:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend we celebrated my Mom's ^&%$rd birthday (c'mon, Mom, did you think I'd actually reveal your age on my blog? *wink*) and I gave her a set of handmade cards featuring the Paisley cartridge that she gave me for Christmas!
Since she is an accomplished crafter herself, I wanted these to be really special. I turned to the 'resources' section of Splitcoast Stampers for directions on a variety of interactive cards or cards with creative folds. Here is the finished collection. The top picture shows the card how they are mailed flat in the envelope, and the bottom picture shows the 'movement' of the card.
Over the next few days, I will be taking a closer look at each of these cards in detail. You'll see more pictures of each card and I'll provide links for the directions so you can make them, too! I hope you'll visit again and be inspired to try a few of them out!
Thanks for looking!

"Owl" always love you.

2010-01-25T23:38:00.000-08:00

I'm loving this new release Paisley cartridge. (You'll be seeing a lot of it this week, so I hope you like it, too!) This is a simple card I made when I was trying out some of the cuts on it. The Cuttlebug folder is called "Birds and Swirls." The punch is Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot. I used stickles on the owl's beak and on the center of the flower on his wing. Easy! :)

Disney Memories

2010-01-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

Here are the title pages for the boys' Disneyland albums. They are more or less the same, save the names and the placement of the characters. Noah was always asking if we could go to Disneyland and see Goofy, so I wanted to give Goofy a more prominent place on Noah's page. These are pocket pages to hold our memorabilia (like maps, passes, etc.) and some of the journaling. The journaling will have a more prominent place in the family scrapbook, but I decided to keep the boys' album a little simpler by keeping it about the characters only. Otherwise I would have needed until next Christmas to finish!
Anyway, each square is embossed with a cuttlebug folder (I used Swiss Dots, Divine Swirls, and Spots and Dots). and the embossing is stickled in various colors for sparkle. All of the characters are cut from the Mickey and Friends cartridge, as is the word 'Disney.' The other words are from a ttf and are cut with SCAL.
Thanks for looking!

Jacob-by the numbers

2010-01-20T12:02:00.001-08:00

Well I try to keep this blog mainly crafting related, but I thought I'd post an update on Jacob. I guess it's indirectly related to crafting, since I've been spending my days (and nights) taking care of him, leaving not much time for play.
I wanted to write this down primarily so that I can remember what the doctors have said; I am very sleep deprived right now and I know that I will forget this in a few days' time if I don't have it written somewhere. :)
Jacob, at 3 1/2 months, weighs 16 pounds. Yes, he's a healthy eater and has never given us concern in that department! :) However, he has had a cough for 2 weeks now and in general he's just not himself. He still smiles and he doesn't fuss a lot, but he's not as happy/interactive/playful as he usually is.

In the last 48 hours:
*1 trip to urgent care
*1 ambulance ride (bringing his total to 2)
*1 trip to the Emergency Room (bringing his total to 2)
*1 chest x-ray (bringing his total to 3)
*2 dr.'s appointments
*9 breathing treatments
*3 doses of steroids
*1 shot
*3 prescriptions

So the dr.'s are saying that a viral infection triggered a "breathing episode" (very, very reluctant to officially confirm a diagnosis of asthma until he's much older). This breathing episode consisted of already small airways swelling, producing mucus, and pinching off in places (bronchospasms). Right now the breathing treatments and steroids are supposed to open up his airways and decrease the swelling. He will be on an inhaler with steroids for at least 1-2 months in the hopes that he will get to a point that his airways will be clear enough to breathe without struggling so much. His previous inhaler was not helping to clear his airways during this time. Already we have seen a marked improvement after yesterday's treatment in the dr.'s office but the steroids are wearing off much sooner than the dr. would hope. His dr. said to expect to see about a 10% improvement each day over the next week or so. We are hoping this to be the case. It is hard to see our baby struggle so much just to be able to breathe--at least now we have something that we can do to be proactive in his care.

Donald Duck

2010-01-16T08:20:00.000-08:00

Donald Duck was an elusive character this year at Disneyland. We didn't get to meet him, but we did see him in the parades. The cuts on this page were made from the Mickey and Friends cartridge. I used stickles on the fuse of the bomb. Another easy page!
Thanks for looking!

Mulan-pt 2

2010-01-15T16:26:00.000-08:00

Here's Jonah's Mulan page. You can see Noah's version here. Mulan is from the Happily Ever After cartridge. The photo corners and the cherry blossom border along the bottom is from the Storybook cartridge. Her name is a ttf (Herculanum). I used stickles around the photo and on the cherry blossoms.
Thanks for looking!

Pinocchio

2010-01-13T08:34:00.000-08:00

Version 1:

Version 2:

I had fun making these pages. My boys really love Pinocchio--isn't he cute? I got the Pinocchio file from Creations by K8 and cut him out using SCAL. His name is from Storybook. The stars are from Joys of the Season. I used stickles on his name and between the stars. I finished the page off with some homemade photo corners and a border along the bottom using Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot punch.
Thanks for looking!

Aurora

2010-01-12T08:27:00.000-08:00

Here is my Jonah with Princess Aurora. She was the first princess he ever saw at Disneyland, and he was just tickled to meet her. The page and its elements are very similar to Noah's Sleeping Beauty page. Aurora is cut from the Happily Ever After cartridge and the photo mat is from Storybook. I used a white signo pen to put accents on the frame. The border along the bottom is Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot punch. I used stickles in the holes along the border and on Princess Aurora's crown and necklace.
Thanks for looking!

Pluto

2010-01-11T09:08:00.000-08:00

Can't get much simpler than this! Sometimes less is more (and sometimes less just means getting pages completed, period!) Pluto, the bone, and his name are from Mickey and Friends. I finished the page off with some giant homemade photo corners--the striped paper is by Making Memories.
Thanks for looking!

Belle-pt. 2

2010-01-10T13:28:00.000-08:00

This post is very similar to this one, but for Noah's book. He did not enjoy meeting the princesses as much as Jonah. I think he likes the idea of the Disney characters more than the actual characters themselves. He is my shy boy. :)
The elements are arranged a bit differently and I used a different Belle from Dreams Come True. The flourish in the corner is a Fancy Pants stamp, and it is embossed in clear embossing powder. Belle's name is cut using 2 different true-type fonts in SCAL. The rose is a ttf as well. The photo corners are from an .svg file from Paulo's blog. I used stickles on parts of Belle's dress, on her name, and on the rose. The border across the middle of the page is Martha Stewart's scallop dot punch.
Thanks for looking!

Buzz Lightyear

2010-01-08T16:16:00.000-08:00

Here's another page going back to the boys' Disneyland album. Buzz Lightyear was cut on SCAL using a .svg file from Mardenz. Her work is great--very detailed, as you can see. I also used SCAL for his name but I don't remember the name of the true type font. I outlined it with a very fine point Micron pen to give it a little more definition from the background paper. The planet in the upper right corner is from Everyday Paper Dolls. I used stickles around the ring. The paper is from DCWV "All About Boys" stack.
Thanks for looking!

love ya

2010-01-05T09:59:00.001-08:00

First, thanks for the comments on my previous post. It is an encouragement to have people say such nice things about my work, especially after taking such a lengthy break to tend to the family. I don't know yet how regular my posts will be now, since we are still settling into our new routine and our health is still...inconsistent.
My parents gave me the cute new Paisley cartridge for Christmas--I was so excited to try out some of the cuts on it! They are so whimsical and fun. I was able to make a couple of cards the other night and this is one of them. The little dog and the sentiment are from Paisley. I used stickles on the sentiment, the corner tabs, the hula hoop, the collar, and the star. The blue background is embossed using the 'Spots and Dots' Cuttlebug folder. The paper is from an old DCWV stack.
Thanks for looking!

Silhouettes

2010-01-02T20:30:00.000-08:00

Well, where do I begin? Happy Thanksgiving? Merry Christmas? Happy New Year? Obviously it has been awhile; someone in this household has been sick since October 30th with very, very few days of all 5 of us feeling well. Jacob has been diagnosed with having small airways/larynx, which should correct itself as he grows, but in the meantime if he gets the slightest little cold he sounds horrible. His pediatrician is hesitant to diagnose him with asthma, but he did prescribe an inhaler that he gets 3 times a day when he's sick and as needed (usually once a day) when he's well.

As a result, there has been little spare time for crafting. I've done a few projects here and there, which I'll be posting soon. For those that have followed for awhile, you'd know that I had been working on Disney character albums for 2 of my boys for Christmas. They seemed to like them--especially Noah. I'm hoping that, as the boys grow, the albums will bring back lots of fun memories we made at Disneyland last year.

Anyway, here is one of the projects I managed to get done since the last time I posted. I made one for each set of grandparents for Christmas this year. I had the boys' silhouettes scanned, and, after some work in Inkscape, was able to cut them out in SCAL.
I added their names and ages with a fine (005 Micron) pen.
Thanks for looking!

Yeah, I still do that.

2009-11-10T09:01:00.001-08:00

Craft in my spare time, that is. It's just that my spare time has dramatically decreased in the last 5 weeks. As a result, I have only had time to do this extremely simple card. It's from the Hello Kitty Greeting cartridge, cut with the card feature on. I layered the card feature with the silhouette feature on top and cut out the heart and bow. I added stickles to the heart and bow.
Nothing fancy, but I was glad to be back using my Cricut and making cards! I'm hoping to do more scrapbooking soon. I'm hoping the littlest Birdie will cooperate.
Thanks for looking!

Jacob's first month in review (picture heavy)

2009-11-07T14:17:00.000-08:00

Well, as you might imagine, we have been very busy in the Bird Nest since the last time I posted. What a month it has been! We have had time to bond together as a family and get to know our newest little guy. We have had good times and bad...I'll let the pictures tell the story.
At 4 days old, Jacob developed a fever and (very abridged edition) had to be admitted to Northridge Hospital for 3 days. After several procedures and lots of waiting, Jacob got over his virus and we were able to take him home again. He was 1 week old when he came home for the second time.

Poor Jacob!
Our first family picture
What a handsome smile! He was a trooper in the hospital, hardly ever crying. The dr. said that even during his spinal tap, he only cried like 5 times and settled down really quickly.
Grandma and Grandpa Bird came for a visit, along with Chris and Bevy. They kept Jonah and Noah at their hotel for 2 nights while Jacob was in the hospital. This is the morning after Jacob was released--we went out to breakfast and said our goodbyes.

The following pics are Jacob's first photo shoot, at a little over 1 week old. They were taken on his due date, October 14th. I plan on taking Jacob's picture next to the stuffed dog at every month to compare his growth. Hopefully I'll remember!

I love that wrinkly skin they grow into!
Jacob's first trip to the pumpkin patch...Lombardi Ranch. We found a pumpkin we thought he would like.
The boys were extremely excited to carve pumpkins!
Jacob was my favorite little pumpkin.
Jacob after a bath. He doesn't like the bath part too much, but he LOVES getting his hair washed under the faucet. He closes his eyes and relaxes his whole body and grunts little grunts of contentment the whole time I'm washing and rinsing his hair. It's my favorite!
Jacob's first trip to Disneyland! He was 3 weeks old. It was fun to see the park all decorated for Halloween!
His first (and only) ride that day: the carousel! I'm pretty sure it was one of the most exhilarating moments of his life. He likes to live life on the wild side.
Jacob wearing his "My 1st Visit" button.
We went to San Diego and stayed with my sister and her family for Halloween. She has 4 girls and they are SUCH good girls! They always make sure Jonah and Noah have a good time, and the boys always look forward to visiting their cousins. Jonah decided to be a 'fighter-fighter' for Halloween and Noah decided to be a pirate. Jacob was all bundled up burrito-style for the night.

Well, that pretty much sums up the highlights and the low-lights of the month and brings us up to date. The rest of the pictures were taken yesterday, at Jacob's 1 month photo shoot:

Jacob and his dog-1 month
Jonah loves his little brother so, so much. I love the way Jacob is looking up at him in this picture.
The brothers
Jonah and Noah look so big compared to Jacob! Can't believe how much they have grown!

Introducing Jacob

2009-10-10T12:31:00.000-07:00

Jacob Daniel Bird
9 lbs. 6 oz.
22" long
First cuddles together, moments after birth
the proud papa
The happy mama
The excited biggest brother

The reluctant big brother (he preferred reading "The Little Engine that Could"
to meeting Jacob.)

Hugs and Kisses from Jonah

Thanks to those who left well-wishes after my last post. As you might imagine, life has been much like a whirlwind since I last blogged! Here's a recap of events:
I had my 39 week appointment last Monday, at which time my dr., my husband, and I decided it was best to induce. He said we could come in at midnight that night to begin the process, and he predicted I would be holding the baby by lunchtime the following day. We dropped the boys off with their grandparents so we could get some rest before heading to the hospital. (Though who can sleep when there is so much excitement and anticipation, I don't know.)
Scott and I arrived at the hospital at midnight and got checked in and paperwork signed. The pitocin drip was started at about 1:30 a.m. Given my history of a quick delivery with my 2nd (about 2 hours from start to finish) my dr. instructed the nurses to watch very carefully and go slowly with the pitocin. I don't remember what time the contractions started, but they were not very painful and I could rest in between them, drifting in and out of sleep until about 4:00 a.m. when they were coming regularly. By 5:00 a.m., I was in a true labor pattern, having to concentrate through each contraction. Scott was a great labor coach, doing just what I needed at just the right time. At 7:24 a.m., baby Jacob Daniel Bird was born. He is a blessing and we are rejoicing in God's gift to us!

Thanks for looking/reading!

Baby Update

2009-10-05T16:44:00.001-07:00

Well our third little Bird should be here sometime tomorrow. We are going to the hospital tonight at midnight to begin the process of induction. I've never done it this way, but I'm glad to have an end in sight. We were able to drop the boys off at Grandma and Grandpa's house for a sleepover so that Scott and I can get some rest before we head to the hospital. It's nice to know that they're happy and settled, as opposed to waiting for help to arrive and hoping it gets here before the baby starts to crown! =)
So...I'm off to get some rest. I'll aim to get pictures posted before the end of the week, but I'll make no guarantees!

Final week-cartridge giveaway

2009-10-04T19:36:00.001-07:00

I've posted this a few times on my blog already, but Provo Craft is giving away 100 free Winter Woodland cartridges in celebration of its release because it is the 100th Cricut cartridge available. To enter for your chance, go to cricut.com, click on community, and go to the Cricut chat message board--there is a post at the top of the page you must comment on. To learn more about the Winter Woodland cartridge, click HERE.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

2009-10-02T13:12:00.001-07:00

Over at Whimsical Scraps and Bugs, our challenge was to use song lyrics, 3 photos, and Storybook for the title (but I didn't remember that part when I was doing this LO--oops!) And, I thought we were supposed to use our Cuttlebug, but it turns out that was from a previous challenge. I think I might be losing my mind.
Anyway, this layout was done using SCAL. The title is from 2 ttf's. I think the name of the one used for 'Ball Game' is called Allstar. The silhouettes along the bottom of the page are dingbats from the ttf 'Baseball.'
I downloaded the Dodger's logo and transferred it to an .svg file in Inkscape so I could import it into SCAL.
The cuttlebug folder I used is 'Tiny Bubbles.'

Page 1:

Page 2:

Thanks for looking!

Dumbo

2009-10-01T09:31:00.000-07:00

This page is a little different in that it's not of a 'live' character but of a ride. But, the .svg file I found of Dumbo on Mardenz' blog was just too cute not to make. The title was cut with SCAL using an altered ttf. I do not know the company of the red and white striped paper, but the other paper is from the DCWV All About Boys stack.
Thanks for looking!

Week 4-Winter Woodland Giveaway

2009-10-01T09:28:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder that this is week 4 of Provo Craft's Winter Woodland giveaway! They are celebrating the release of their 100th Cricut cartridge by giving 100 of them away. Sign up for a chance to win at cricut.com/messageboard. The post is at the top. Click HERE to learn more about Winter Woodland.

Woody

2009-09-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

Version 1:

Version 2:

These pages were a lot of fun! Thanks to Mardenz for the Woody .svg file. He is very detailed so I cut him out at about 7 3/4". I wouldn't recommend anything smaller. The paper behind him is from DCWV's All About Boys stack. I cut his name from SCAL using a true-type font and colored it to mimic the lettering in the patterned paper.

Thanks for looking!

Princess Ariel

2009-09-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

Version 1:

Version 2:

Here are some more layouts for the boys' Disney albums. Jonah was thrilled to meet Ariel and have her sign her autograph for him. Ariel was cut from Dreams Come True, and I used stickles on her...what is it called? Her mermaid parts. =)
In version 1, the seaweed and fish are cut from Life's a Beach. I used stickles on the seaweed. 'The Little Mermaid' is cut from SCAL using Harrington font. It is stickled as well.
In version 2, the flower is cut from Life's a Beach. The frame and the leaf flourish next to the flower are from Graphically Speaking. 'Ariel' was cut from SCAL using Harrington font. The frame, leaf, and her name are stickled.

Thanks for looking!

McQueen

2009-09-28T11:57:00.001-07:00

Version 1:

Version 2:

As you know, I've been working on Disneyland albums for my boys for their Christmas presents. I love the Disney Pixar parade at California Adventure--these are some pictures from that parade. McQueen is always a hit with us when he drives by. My mom was generous to lend me her Cars cartridge (not an easy one to work with due to all the teeeeeny tiny details) so I could do some of these pages. The trophy is from Graphically Speaking. I put some stickles on the trophy and on McQueen's name.

Thanks for looking!
p.s. for those wondering, no baby yet...

A Few Housekeeping Items

2009-09-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

This post is mainly an explanation for my followers, who, if you are still with me after my lack of recent posts, must really be loyal! =) I appreciate you and thank you for sticking with me!! I have a few projects up my sleeve that haven't been posted, but I'm also taking a bit of a break to have my 3rd child. As I type, I'm timing contractions. It's probably a false alarm, but it does give me reason to hope that the end is nearing.

Our little one will be taking up a lot of my time, understandably, and also a lot of my space! You see, my husband converted our 3rd bedroom into a scrapbook room for me about a week before we found out that our little blessed surprise was on his way! Oh, well. Easy come, easy go. I'm sure I'll like the baby better than my scrapbooking space anyhow. ;) But, until I figure out a workable schedule and a workable space, my crafting will have to take a backseat for awhile.

Don't forget to check back now and again, though. I am aiming to revamp my blog and make it easier to navigate. I will also be adding some new categories and links along the right hand column. I hope you will enjoy the changes in store! If you have any suggestions on ways I might improve my blog, feel free to suggest them in the comments.

Before I go, a couple of important and exciting announcements:
*Whimsical Scraps and Bugs will be celebrating its 1 year Blog-iversary in October! I've added a blinky on the right but make sure to check in throughout the month for the excitement!
*It's the 3rd week of ProvoCraft's cartridge giveaway. In celebration of the release of their 100th cartridge (Winter Woodland), they are giving away a free cartridge to 20 people per week for 5 weeks. To see more information on the Winter Woodland cartridge, click HERE.

future HERO

2009-09-11T10:17:00.000-07:00

Here's my most recent layout, completed for the latest Whimsical Scraps and Bugs challenge. We were supposed to use the front of a magazine cover as inspiration for our projects. I focused on having one main picture and a simple clear title.

The picture is of my 3 1/2 year old DS at an American Heroes helicopter air show. He was trying on a firefighter's helmet. If you're familiar with the Station Fire in Southern California that has been burning for about 2 weeks now, it came about 5 miles away from us at its closest point. It was around this time that my son informed me that he wants to join a hand crew when he grows up. So this picture may just be a glimpse of his future...

The journaling is a letter to him regarding his future and, since it is of a more personal nature and would have distracted from the 'magazine cover' theme, I decided to put it on a hidden journaling tag behind the picture.
The next picture shows a bit of the dimension on some of the stars, which I then inked with white to further define the patterns.
materials used:
Plantin Schoolbook: 'HERO' and journaling tag
Sesame Street Font: 'future' and its shadow, and stars
A Child's Year: firefighter silhouette
Cuttlebug: Divine Swirls and Swiss Dots

Thanks for looking!

Cricut's 100th Cartridge Celebration!

2009-09-11T09:50:00.000-07:00

The recently released Winter Woodland cartridge marks Cricut's 100th cartridge, and to celebrate, ProvoCraft is giving away 100 free cartridges (20 per week) over the next 5 weeks. To enter for your chance to win, go to the cricut community forum and reply to Admin Becky's post. If you post about it on your blog, you are entered twice!
To find out more about the Winter Woodland cartridge, click HERE.

Design Team Call

2009-09-01T11:36:00.001-07:00

The site I design for, Whimsical Scraps and Bugs, is currently looking for new design team members.
The design term lasts for 3 months, at which time you can choose whether or not to continue. Challenges are issued bi-weekly, and you must use your Cricut on your submissions. To apply, e-mail pictures of some examples of your best work to designteamcreations@yahoo.com. I have found the design team to be very encouraging and complimentary! Come join us if you're looking for some fun challenges.

I'm a Little Airplane Now

2009-08-31T08:08:00.000-07:00

We live fairly close to a local airport, and it is a favorite spot of our family to play. It has an observation area with a little runway painted on the ground for the kiddos to pretend that they are airplanes taking off and landing. Here's my Jonah, arms outstretched, pretending he can fly and probably singing, "I'm a little airplane now." It's a song he heard on Sesame Street sung by Jonathan Richman.
The child silhouettes are from A Child's Year. The journaling block is from Graphically Speaking. The title is from Zooballoo and Plantin Schoolbook (airplane). The airplane silhouettes on the end of the ribbons are a ttf cut with SCAL.
The airplanes across the top are stamps, but I no longer have the packaging, so I don't know the company. The patterned paper is from DCWV. I finished off the page with colorful ribbons and buttons. I wanted the pages to be bright, playful, and whimsical.
Here's a close up of page 1:
and of page 2:
Journaling is simple, using the 5 'w's.

Who: Jonah & Mommy
What: pretending to be little airplanes
When: February 2009
Where: Van Nuys Airport
Why: because it's fun to use our "imashinations"

(intentionally misspelled to capture his pronunciation of the word)

Thanks for looking!

Monogrammed Card Set

2009-08-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

We are having dinner tonight at a friends house, and this monogrammed card set is the gift I made for our hostess. The picture above is of the belly band that goes around the box, with the cards in the background.

I embossed the band with the Cuttlebug folder 'Floral Fantasy' and inked it with Tim Holtz's distressing ink. The ovals, the red top note, and the circle are from the Storybook cartridge. I outlined the shapes with red stickles and embossed the monogram and smaller oval with gold embossing powder. The monogram itself and the damask border are Just Rite stamps. Here is a better picture of the belly band:Some of the cards:
More cards:
There are 6 cards in the set; 3 of each design. This design is using the Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' folder. The background shape behind the monogram is my own design made using SCAL. It has slits in it so that the ribbon can be threaded behind the monogram. The pictures don't show the detail of the monogram and border well, but I used perfect pearls on them, which makes them shimmer in real life. I used copper on some and gold on others.
The other 3 cards look like this:
I made this box, which houses A2 cards perfectly, using directions from the Splitcoast stampers site. You can find the directions HERE.
I used Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot border punch on the top of the box.
Here's the gift, packaged and ready to go for tonight!
Thanks for looking!

Beach Babes

2009-08-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

I was going through some old pictures a few weeks ago and found these cuties--2 of my nieces playing in the sand. I knew right away I wanted to use my Life's A Beach cartridge and get these pictures scrapped! The shovel/pail, shells, and sun are from LAB.

The label paper-clip is from Fabulous Finds. FF is a cartridge I don't use too often, but it has some gems on there that, though easy to forget about, often provide that finishing touch to a page. *note to self: familiarize myself with the handbook so I'll reach for the cartridge more often.*

The title was cut using SCAL. It is a true-type font called 'cracked.' I cut its shadow, too.

I used stickles on the yellow parts of the sun and on the sand. It doesn't show up too well, but in real life it really looks like sand!

Thanks for looking--and be sure to check back over the next few days. I'm really excited about a couple of the projects that are in queue to post. Have a great day!

Goofy-pt. 2

2009-08-21T10:19:00.001-07:00

This is the Goofy page for my other son's album. The first Goofy page was posted HERE. I used Mickey and Friends for Goofy and his name. I put stickles on the photo corners and his name.

Thanks for looking!

Minnie Mouse

2009-08-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

This was a fun layout to do. Once it started coming together, it almost seemed to create itself. Minnie was cut from Mickey and Friends, as were the hearts and her name. I used stickles on her bow, dress, and shoes (isn't she so fashionable!), around the big heart and on her signature.

I used the Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug embossing folder on the hearts along the side. To mimic the polka dots in Minnie's outfit, I rubbed the embossed image over my white inkpad. The border underneath the picture is Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot punch.

Another view to show detail:

I had my OB appointment yesterday. All went well and my boys were thrilled to hear the baby's heartbeat, which they decided sounded like a train coming down the tracks. Since they are both train fanatics, I think it raised their opinion of the baby inside. Baby Bird is measuring 2 weeks ahead, which is no big surprise since my other boys were not exactly what you would consider petite at their birth. :)

We spent the evening at California Adventure and Disneyland. The boys got to see the Disneyland Electrical Parade for the first time and the looks on their faces was just priceless. Scott and I got a kick out of the fact that, about 2/3 of the way through the parade of a half million lights, Noah turned to us with wild excitement in his eyes and said, "I see a light!" He's the observant one, alright. I LOVE that the parade hasn't changed since I was a small child. It's almost like watching Disney history go by--the movies represented are from the era of Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, and Pete's Dragon.

After the parade we sat for the fireworks show, which is always so fun. Noah is always afraid for the first half and then something always clicks and he morphs into a different kid for the second half of the show. He literally goes from screaming and hiding his face in our shoulders to turning around, smiling and saying "kaBOOM" with every firework.

While our friends followed the fireworks show with Fantasmic (we learned our lesson the first time we saw that show with the kids and the crowds had us pinned into viewing area so we had to stay through the entire show with 2 traumatized toddlers), we went on the kid-friendly rides in Storybookland...the carousel, the teacups, and It's A Small World. It's such a fun place to be at night with all the lights. We completely wore the kids out and they both slept in the stroller on the way back to the car (which, if you know anything about our children, is a supernatural event).

thanks for reading/looking today!

Cinderella

2009-08-19T08:44:00.001-07:00

This page is pretty basic. I used stickles on the hearts on the background paper and on the white borders. I think I might also add them on Cinderella's name to make it more 'magical.' Cinderella is cut at 3 1/4" from the Happily Ever After cartridge.

We're heading back to Disneyland today--yeah! Our passes aren't blacked out for the summer crowds anymore! My boys are so excited that I doubt they will rest today (we leave home after naps and pick up Daddy from work on the way and stay until late). But first I have my 32 week check-up for the new baby. Big day...

Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

Mulan

2009-08-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

Mulan was the first princess that Noah seemed to enjoy meeting. He actually walked up to her and wanted to hug her.

Mulan is cut from the Happily Ever After cartridge. Her name is a ttf (Herculanum) cut in SCAL. The frame is an .svg file from Paulo's blog. The flower border along the top is a stamp from Fancy Pants, stamped in glue and glittered with a copper glitter from Martha Stewart.

Thanks for looking!

in all things give THANKS

2009-08-17T11:06:00.000-07:00

Our latest challenge over at Whimsical Scraps and Bugs was a color challenge from Kristina Werner's blog. I thought of Thanksgiving when I saw these colors and pulled out a couple of our family shots from 2008 to scrap. Here's what I came up with:
I used Storybook for the white borders and the photo corners. I sometimes forget how much I love that cartridge! Home Decor was used for the scalloped circle border. I designed the title using SCAL. Here's a close-up of it:
I decided to use the negative image of "THANKS" and I really like how it turned out.

The circle at the bottom right corner is a customizable stamp from Just Rite Stamps. It was my Mother's Day gift and I LOVE it! It makes monograms so easy but you can use it for more than that, as I did here. To go along with the theme of Thanksgiving, I decided to put "Give Thanks 2008" in the center of the circle, and then list some of the things I'm thankful for as a border. It takes some time to assemble (the letters are pretty tiny) but I think the results are well worth it. Here's a better look:
Thanks for looking!

Belle

2009-08-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

Here's my Jonah with his favorite princess of the day, Belle, from Beauty and the Beast. He just went right up to her and gave her the biggest hug. She was such a great princess in person!

Belle is cut from Dreams Come True at 4". Her name is cut using 2 different true-type fonts in SCAL. The rose is a ttf as well. The photo corners are from an .svg file from Paulo's blog. I used stickles on parts of Belle's dress, on her name, and on the rose.

In the corner, I used a large stamp from Fancy Pants--I didn't want it to overwhelm the page, so I just stamped it in VersaMark and embossed it using clear embossing powder.

Thanks for looking!

Sleeping Beauty

2009-08-14T20:02:00.001-07:00

Well, my weekend trip got canceled. Sad. I still could not post yesterday because we spent the whole day away as a family, trying to distract the boys from the disappointment of not getting to visit their cousins. We'll have to reschedule. On the bright side, we did a lot of fun things and took a lot of pictures that I'm sure will find their way to a scrapbook page (and thus to this blog) eventually.

Continuing with my son's 8x8 Disney character album, here's his Sleeping Beauty page. Princess Aurora is cut at 6 inches and boy do those little cuts ever seem small! For the princesses, I highly recommend a Signo white pen for the whites of the eyes and the teeth, unless you have sharp eyes, steady fingers, and lots of patience. And even then, it's easier to do with a Signo pen. :)

The scallop border is Martha Stewart's scallop dot punch. I added some stickles to the small dots in the border, as well as to Princess Aurora's crown and necklace.

Thanks for looking!

goofy

2009-08-12T15:54:00.000-07:00

Here's another page for Jonah's Disney character scrapbook. Goofy was so wonderful to meet in person--very true to his personality!

The patterned paper is from an old DCWV stack. Goofy is cut from Mickey and Friends. The arrows are from Graphically Speaking. Goofy's name is done with 'thickers'--the 'oo' is actually an 8 turned sideways for more of a whimsical look. I added stickles to the photo corners and the arrows.

We'll be taking off for a few days starting tomorrow so I'll be back at the old blog next week with new posts. In the meantime, thanks for looking and for commenting!

Cartridge Giveaway

2009-08-12T15:12:00.000-07:00

Visit the JuJu Bee's Scrapbook Corner blog for a chance to win the not-yet-released Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge! Scroll down a bit--the post is from August 10th. Thanks, JuJu Bee's Scrapbook Corner, for a fabulous giveaway!

Mickey Mouse

2009-08-11T08:18:00.000-07:00

I am working on my boys' Disney character album--so fun to reflect over the memories we've had during our time there! This is Jonah's first time meeting Mickey Mouse on our first trip back in January. He was so overwhelmed!

The pages that I'll be posting in this series are 8x8 and I'm really trying to focus on just a picture and the character; there's not room for much else anyway. My goal is to finish their books before December and give them as Christmas presents to the boys. I'll have to work hard during nap time and after they go to bed, because I want it to be a surprise!

All of the cuts (Mickey, "Mickey Mouse" and gloves) are from the Mickey and Friends cartridge. I used stickles on the yellow shadow of "Mickey Mouse" and as a thin border around the picture.

Thanks for looking!

A Wish Came True

2009-08-10T12:21:00.000-07:00

Today is my 7th anniversary. I am one lucky girl to have a husband as wonderful as my dear Scott. He loves me totally and unconditionally, and is a wonderful father to our boys. I couldn't love him any more than I do! Here's the anniversary card I made for him.
I designed the card using SCAL (ttf 'luv n kisses'). The original character is the outlined heart which is cut out in gold cardstock. Then I used the same character two more times, chose the shadow blackout feature, and flipped one of the hearts, overlapping them just a bit at the top. Those two hearts were welded together and cut out of red. I cut one more heart-a blackout of the original image-in white for the message on the inside.

The top layer of red is embossed using Cuttlebug's Divine Swirls folder. I used red stickles over top to make it sparkly. The sentiment is from Storybook, using the shorty/holes feature at 2 1/2". Here's one more view:
Thanks for looking!

Bakers in Training

2009-08-06T13:38:00.000-07:00

Over at Whimsical Scraps and Bugs, our latest challenge was to use the ad at the left for inspiration for a project. I don't have many vintage pictures, so I chose to go with the kitchen theme. These pictures are of my dad and my niece making cookies together from a bag of "Cookies for Dummies." Here's my take on the challenge:

I used A Child's Year for the girl and the oven, as well as for the title (which shows up better in person). I added some stickles to the letters in the title. The flowers are chipboard embellishments. I used distressing ink on the edges of the pages and handstitched around the patterned paper at the bottom.
Here's a close up of page 1:
and page 2:
Thanks for looking!

Mojo 98 projects

2009-08-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

I was so inspired by the Mojo Monday sketch for the week that I did two projects with it.
Here is the first:

This card is actually also a submission for a chance to win some wonderful blog candy over at Crafty Goings On. Karen is generously offering the chance to win a set of 72 copic markers. Her contest ends on August 9th, so be sure to check it out!
I used stamps for the 'cherish' definition and also for the background behind it. The butterfly is cut from a TTF using SCAL. The circles were cut with Plantin Schoolbook. I handstitched around the edges of the square.

Here's my second project:
This is 'sort of' a card. I have a hard time with birthday cards--the outside is always fun to make and decorate, but I'm always intimidated with the amount of space to write sentiments on the inside. So, instead of a traditional card, I wrapped her present and used the sketch to decorate it as if it were the front of a card. Then, we'll just sign our names to the back of the gift and call it good!
I used Plantin Schoolbook for the circles, the 42, and the yellow ric-rac. You can't tell from the picture, but the 42 is cut out 3 times for added dimension, and popped up with pop dots to make it stand out. I used thickers for 'happy' and rub ons for 'birthday.'

Thanks for looking!

New Creations are on their way!

2009-08-02T19:01:00.000-07:00

I should have posted this earlier so you would know that I haven't forgotten about ye ole' blog, but I got consumed with the project I was working on and was thus too distracted to post for the past week or so.
What project, you ask?
Well, it was a monumental one that ate up every spare moment of last week. Before last Friday, it had been since last April (!) since I had any of my digital pictures processed. Or was it August? Either way, that's a loooooong time for a scrapbooker to go, and that also means that it was a LOT of pictures to sort through to find the ones that I wanted to print. We've taken 7,000-8,000 pictures just since getting our new camera for Christmas.
I was somehow able to wittle my selections down to a mere 680 pictures and I can't WAIT to see them and hold them in my hands and scheme new pages for them and share them with you! So stay tuned...I am about to go crazy!

Thank you, Oh My Crafts!

2009-07-23T10:29:00.001-07:00

I am a Facebook fan of Oh My Crafts, an online crafting store that offers a variety of items, including a large selection from Provo Craft's line. Earlier this week, they sponsored a facebook challenge to post a favorite childhood project, be it a layout, card, or any other project. They chose 2 winners to receive the newly released 'A Child's Year' Cricut cartridge. I submitted this layout, which I completed awhile ago of Jonah learning how to ride his tricycle.
I was very pleasantly surprised when Oh My Crafts notified me to let me know that I had won! Hooray! A Child's Year is one of the cartridges that I'm very excited about and it was next on my list of cartridges to buy. Click here to see some of the images that it will cut.
Thank you, Oh My Crafts! I'm very excited to receive my new cartridge and put it to good use soon!

Mr. & Mrs.

2009-07-20T17:29:00.000-07:00

This is my submission for the most recent challenge over at Whimsical Scraps and Bugs. The design team once again did a great job! We were to use an ampersand from any of the Cricut cartridges. I used the one from Graphically Speaking. The rest of the title is from the Calligraphy cartridge. I used a SCAL design for the frame and a ttf for the butterfly. I embossed the butterfly with the Divine Swirls Cuttlebug folder and traced the raised part of the image with silver stickles. I decorated the frame with skittles (which are in stock again at Michael's--they're a seasonal item in the wedding section and I think their true name is Decorative Accents).
I took the design from sketch #14 over at Unscripted Sketches. It was my first time using a sketch from that site, but it won't be my last! I love the basic sketches that give the freedom to make them your own! If you've never been there, I'd encourage you to check it out.
Thanks for looking!

Happy Birthday (picture heavy post)

2009-07-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

My sweetie pie turned 30 yesterday and I thought I'd share the dessert I made for him. I was even able to use my Cricut for it!! I got the recipe and idea from Bakerella. Check out the website for more seriously cute ideas! The 'fries' are sugar cookies and the 'hamburgers' are cupcakes, brownies, and frosting.
The complete 'meal':
Scott used to work at In-N-Out (a California burger chain) while in high school and college, and he was recently gifted an apron, so I thought I'd run with the theme. I downloaded the logo from the internet and imported it into Inkscape to convert it into a .svg file which I then cut with SCAL. It was my first inkscape project, and it wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be. Wow--I'm excited for all I can do with this program! There is a link to purchase SCAL on the right hand column of my blog, if you're interested.
Then I altered the logo a bit to make a few "Happy Birthday" fry holders:
Here's a closeup of the burgers:
I made the paper trays as well--from a template included on Bakerella's site. I had to alter the size of the fry holders to accomodate the logo--I didn't want to make the letters any smaller so I had to make the holders larger. Here's a serving:
Here are a couple shots of the burger assembly--my favorite part is getting to figure out a way to 'clean up' the brownie scraps!
Putting on the 'ketchup, mustard, and lettuce':
The burger tray:
Jonah looking forward to his dessert:
Noah approves!
Thanks for looking!

Dreams Come True

2009-07-16T09:25:00.001-07:00

The boys had fun with their cousins on the morning we left for Disneyland. Megan and Emily dressed up like princesses for them to help them get excited to visit the princesses at Disneyland.

Here are some cuts from the Dreams Come True cartridge. I can't wait to use them on our scrapbook pages from all our Disney trips! On a sad note, my Signo gel pen went dry and I need to find another. Forget trying to use the tiny eyes and teeth that the Cricut cuts out. I much prefer drawing those in.

Please excuse the lack of photo editing. I deleted the pictures from iPhoto before I got a chance to crop or edit them. Also, I cut out Chip from Beauty and the Beast but could not find him for the picture.

Thanks for looking!

Surprise!

2009-07-15T13:14:00.001-07:00

This post is dedicated to my father-in-law, who so lovingly made me his very first homemade card! He said it probably wouldn't make it on BirdScrap, but he was wrong!
Dad, thanks for taking the time to cut out every letter and make a handmade card for me! It was such a surprise and really appreciated. I love you!

simply WILD about you

2009-07-08T12:46:00.000-07:00

This is the card I made for the most recent challenge over at Whimsical Scraps and Bugs. We had to make a project with an animal from any cartridge. Be sure to check out everyone else's work, too, when you have the time. There are some really talented members on the design team. There were so many cartridges with animals to choose from--I had a hard time but I finally settled on Zooballoo. I just love those animals, and I think they look really cute using nontraditional colors. I used Opposites Attract for the title and I thought I'd use some older paper with animal prints for 'wild.' The circle stamps behind the title are some of my new stamps from JustRite Stamps--I love them and you'll be seeing more projects in the future with them. It's actually one of the borders to be used with a monogram or message inside, but it can stand alone, too. I love that all the stamps are so interchangeable. More for the $$.

Thanks for looking!

...and while I was at it...

2009-07-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

I also borrowed my mom's Sesame Street cartridge and cut out a bunch of characters. My boys love Sesame Street, and we call Noah a cookie monster because he is always asking for a cookie. I'm sure I'll find a good use for them!
Ease of use on this cartridge varied by character. Elmo was easy; Abby Cadabby...not so easy, but doable (I cut her out at 6").

Thanks for looking!

More for the Disneyland album

2009-07-07T08:16:00.001-07:00

A few days ago I posted some princess cuts I had made. I also borrowed mom's Winnie the Pooh cartridge and cut several characters. By the way, the Winnie the Pooh characters are much, much *much* easier to cut than the Disney princesses. Here are the results:
I can't wait to get these into their albums! I had to hide them for now because Jonah just wants to play with the characters like they are toys, and if you've ever seen what he does to his cars, you'll understand why I had to put them out of reach!
Thanks for looking!

thanks

2009-07-02T07:31:00.001-07:00

How cute is the new Life's a Beach cartridge? This is my first project done with it--a thank you card to my parents for giving me the cartridge for my birthday. I cut it at 4 1/4" so I could put it in a standard A2 size envelope. I love the card feature--so quick, cute, and easy! The font I used for 'thanks' is also included with the cartridge. Bonus! I can see where this will easily be one of my new favorites. Here's how I decorated the inside of the card:
I will be away from my computer for the next few days, so I'll look forward to posting some more projects next week.

Thanks for looking! I hope everyone has a safe and fun 4th of July celebration!

California Poppies

2009-06-30T11:11:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure this layout is complete, but at least it's on its way. I may add some corner flourishes to frame the collage of pictures but then again I may just leave it alone. These pictures were taken a few years back when the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve had a particularly good bloom. So pretty!
'California' was cut with the Calligraphy cartridge--I want to say it was the Gratitude function. 'Poppies' was cut with a TTF from SCAL (and it was so so easy to weld the letters together and give it a shadow--with a simple click of a button). The flourish and the flower below the picture of the single poppy was cut from Home Decor.

Here are some closer looks:

Thanks for looking!

Groovy--my first project using SCAL!

2009-06-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

Can I tell you just how much I'm going to love Sure Cuts A-Lot (SCAL)? Wow...I feel like a tidal wave of new cutting possibilities has just washed over me, and it's nearly overwhelming. For now, at the suggestion of other SCAL users, I am sticking to downloading true type fonts (TTFs) from the several internet sites available. The options are almost endless out there! Apart from fonts (like my 60's 'Groovy' font? It's called Action Is) there are tons of dingbats (wingbats--what's the difference?) like the arrow, the peace sign, the flowers and the uber-groovy silhouettes, complete with bellbottoms. How much fun can a scrapper have?

In addition to SCAL, I used the Home Decor for the flourish at the bottom (cut at 1") and I did a little bit of Cuttlebug embossing action on the arrow and some of the flowers using the Perfectly Paisley folder. The scallop along the top is Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot border punch. I inked the edges with a white inkpad to give it a bit of distressing.

Incidentally, you may notice a new link on my blog along the righthand column. I've added a button that has a link to where you can purchase Sure Cuts a Lot. I love the program so much that I've decided to become an affiliate with them. If you're interested in buying SCAL or have any questions, please contact me! I'm just a beginner and I've got a lot to learn (like Inkscape), but I'd be glad to share what I know so far! Stay tuned for some more links that I'll be adding to my blog--I will be linking various font sites and helpful SCAL websites and blogs.

Thanks for looking! Please tell me what you think!

Happily Ever After

2009-06-28T14:19:00.000-07:00

During a recent trip to Disneyland, my 3 year old decided he wanted to go visit some princesses. Much to my husband's chagrin, we stood in line so our boys could meet them. Little did either of us know that our Jonah would be such a Prince Charming. He loved all of them so much!! Here are a couple of pictures:
PRECIOUS!! (Okay, if you don't think so, look at them again through a mother's eyes.)
Well, with 2 boys running around and another little boy on the way, I didn't know that I could justify the purchase of the Disney Princess cartridges, but my mom generously let me borrow hers so I could cut out some princesses for our Disney books. We still need to meet Snow White, but we've seen all of the others shown below. Here's the result of the Happily Ever After cartridge:

Those princesses really take a lot of patience to cut! A tip: invest in a white signo pen. Even if you could get the whites of the eyes and the teeth to cut out using the Cricut, they'd be murder to glue! Most of the full princesses are cut at 6". The busts are cut at 3 1/4". The prince and princess cuts are at 7 1/2".

Oh, and my husband is planning on taking Jonah camping. Very soon. ;)

Thanks for looking!

Happy Birthday Cupcake Card

2009-06-26T11:41:00.000-07:00

My son Noah turned 2 earlier this month. It's hard to believe how fast the time has gone but it is a joy to watch him grow. This is the birthday card that I made for him. It is made using the Card feature of the Hello Kitty Greetings cartridge, which I found at a steal on clearance at Target!
I used a different Cuttlebug folder for each part of the cupcake--Numbers Collage for the bottom, Swiss Dots for the chocolate, and Divine Swirls for the icing. Finally, I used stickles on the cherry, the swirls, the dots, and the 2. Easy and fun!
Thanks for looking!

Check out Going Buggy!

2009-06-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

Enfys over at Going Buggy is giving away a very generous gift of some of her favorite things. If you've never visited her blog, she is a very talented cardmaker and you will no doubt enjoy stopping by! Leave a comment on her post for the chance to win.

Thank you, Leanne!

2009-06-23T12:15:00.001-07:00

Thank you, Leanne, for this blog award! I am honored! Be sure to click on the link to see Leanne's lovely creations--she is a fellow design member on Whimsical Scraps and Bugs and a wonderful encourager.
I haven't purposefully been neglecting my blog--I guess life has been a little crazy lately! We've had a lot of ups and downs and we are looking forward to what God will do next--these are exciting times for sure!
My craft room has been on the lonely side lately, but I have completed a few projects. I still have to take pictures of them though, so stay tuned...

Just Thinking of You

2009-06-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

Well I'm not sure this could have been any easier. This is another card from the DCWV kit I recently bought. I simply cut out squares of coordinating paper (if I remember correctly they are 1 1/4" square) and used one of the stickers that also came with the kit. I used Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot border punch on the white paper underneath and inked the edges of the card and the squares.
It's nothing fancy but it does make for a quick card to have on hand when you need to send something in a hurry and still have that personal touch!

Thanks for looking!

Micron Pen Sale

2009-06-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

I interrupt this crafting blog for an advertisement...

I love Micron pens. I use them for a variety of things--not only for scrapbooking and cardmaking (they are great journaling and doodling pens) but also for marking in my Bible because the tips are fine enough that the ink doesn't bleed through the thin pages. If you are familiar with Kay Arthur's studies and her method of marking the text...or if you just enjoy underlining or writing notes in the margin, you will find these pens ideal.

Anyway, for the month of June, my church's bookstore (for purposes of full disclosure, my hubby is the current manager) GBI books has these pens on sale for $2.19--and if you buy 5 or more, you get free shipping. If they should happen to run out of stock, they will honor backorders throughout the month of June. Just thought I'd pass this info on for those that are either looking to stock up at a good price or to try them out for the first time!

Dad

2009-06-09T08:42:00.000-07:00

This card was made for the latest Whimsical Scraps and Bugs challenge. We were issued a Mojo Monday sketch (#88) and asked to make a Father's Day card using masculine paper and a Cricut cut. The patterned paper I used is from Basic Grey--it is actually 2 sided paper-one side with the dots and the other side with the stripes. I embossed the brown cardstock with Cuttlebug's Spots and Dots folder and inked the raised image with Tim Holtz's Distressing Ink. The circle was cut from Plantin Schoolbook, as were the letters and shadows to spell 'Dad' and the bird was cut from 5o states--I believe the cut is Wisconsin's state bird. I cut the little bird at 1 3/4". The ribbon is Offray and I got the spool from WalMart--10 yards for...47 cents! And they carried probably around a half dozen colors. Yes, please!!!

Thanks for looking!

Honest Scrap Blog Award!

2009-06-05T08:25:00.000-07:00

Thanks, Crystal, for nominating my blog for this award! Crystal is one of the ladies that makes Whimsical Scraps and Bugs possible and she does beautiful work! Go check out her site when you have a chance!

There are a few requirements to accepting the Honest Scrap Award and they are as follows.
A) I must thank the person who gave me the award and list their blog and link…
B) I must list 10 honest things about myself.
C) I must put a copy of the The Honest Scrap logo on my blog.
D) I must select at least 7 other worthy bloggers and list their links.

Okay, 10 honest things...some will be obvious but you may learn a thing or two about me, too.
1) Papercrafting is my favorite hobby and it helps me relax and unwind.
2) I strive to live for the glory of God and my single greatest goal is to hear 'Well done, good and faithful servant' when I am done with this life.
3) I learn something from my children everyday.
4) I love my family dearly; they are my greatest earthly blessings.
5) I have mixed feelings about moving from California to Illinois later this summer--sad to leave the familiar behind and all I've ever known but excited for the future and all that awaits us there.
6) I have a serious sweet tooth.
7) My hubby is a much better cook than I am. He enjoys cooking, too, and often treats me to a delicious meal that he 'just thought up in his head.'
8) We are thrilled to be in the process of buying our first home...a Victorian home built in 1900 with original woodwork and lots of charm!
9) I think having 3 boys so close in age (oldest is 3 and youngest is due in Oct) will be the greatest adventure and the greatest challenge of my life.
10) I love silence. I know, due to #9, I don't get much of it and truthfully when the boys are away the house is just too quiet. But I love having time to think, study, pray, relax, and focus.

My nominations for 'Honest Scrap' (drum roll please...)
1) Amy (Scrapping Mommy)
2) The Daily Scrapper
3) Southernbelle Scrapper
4) Monique
5) Tammy
6) Jenny
7) Diana

Another DCWV card

2009-05-31T08:20:00.000-07:00

I stole the design for this card from Mojo Monday-it's sketch 86. I used the green card base and cut a strip of coordinating paper (included in the DCWV card pack) to go along the bottom. I used Martha Stewart's scallop dot border punch and added orange Stickles in the small holes to add some glitter. I found some dark blue paper in my scraps stash and embossed those pieces with the Cuttlebug's 'Spots and Dots' embossing folder. I then inked the raised image with my white VersaMark ink. The sentiment is a sticker that was also included with the DCWV pack.
Thanks for looking!

Thinking of You

2009-05-30T08:12:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was shopping in the scrapbooking aisle of Big Lots and came across something I'd never seen before from DCWV--a pack of ready-to-make cards with coordinating paper/stickers. I think it had 20 cards, if I remember correctly, and I paid...$3. Deal! They were made to be 5 1/2" square, but I don't have any envelopes that size, so I trimmed them down to regular A2 size. (5 1/2" x 4 1/4")
So, these were two of the cards in the stack and I finished them quickly by simply adding stickles around the circles and tying ribbon around the bottom. I used an exacto knife to cut a slit in each card on either side of the 'you' circle in order to thread my ribbon underneath.
Couldn't be easier!
Thanks for looking!

dream

2009-05-26T15:33:00.000-07:00

The journaling reads:

"I've always loved sitting out on the rock jetty at Morro Bay, with the sea stretched as far as the eye could see...listening to the waves crash against the rocks & feeling the ocean spray...
Secretly, I fantasized about being proposed to at this very spot...ideally it would be as the sun was sinking low on the horizon, with my groom-to-be on one knee, presenting me with a beautiful diamond ring.
Little did I know that, less than 4 years later, a boy named Scott would make this romantic dream of mine come true!!"

This is my submission for the challenge over at Whimsical Scraps and Bugs. We had a color palette to work with, and we were encouraged to use our Cuttlebug along with our Cricuts, of course. I based the design off a sketch from PageMaps. You can find it in the February 2009 archives here--you'll have to scroll down a few to find it.
I used Thickers for the title, Plantin Schoolbook for the hearts and the bracket, Swiss Dots and Perfectly Paisley embossing folders, and some buttons along the bottom of the journaling. The faux stitching is done using a stamp from Studio G and lightly tracing it with brown and red pens. The subtitle on the heart was made using rub-ons from Autumn Leaves. The paper is from the DCWV summer stack.

Thanks for looking!