Family Photo Shoot

A few years ago we found the most amazing photographer here in Los Angeles, Melissa Walker-Scott with Lullaby Photography.   Every summer we schedule a family photo shoot with Melissa, and the results are always fantastic.  Melissa knows how to work magic with her camera! Here are some of the pictures from our photo shoot a couple weekends ago:

Melissa doesn't mind if I bring my camera and shoot some photos along with her (though mine never turn out nearly as good as hers).  Here are a couple I took with my camera:

 

Melissa took many more fantastic photos that day, so I'll definitely have lots of great pictures to scrap in the coming months.  Thanks Melissa!!

Time is flying by . . .

Lately I've been thinking a lot about how fast time is passing and things are changing.   My girls are getting older, my parents are getting older, and of course I'm get older too.  I sometimes wish I could freeze time for a little while and keep everything just the way it is.  Or better yet, go back a few years to when my girls were really little . . . like 2, 3, 4 and 5 years old.  I REALLY miss those days, and I'm having a hard time just being in the present.  Do you ever go through that?

I've been in a cleaning frenzy lately, trying to clear out some of the things we don't use anymore and bag them up to give to Goodwill.  Yesterday the girls and I went through some of their toy boxes.  I had a harder time giving things away than they did.  I didn't want to let go of the little girl things like the Pretty Pretty Princess game, the big floor puzzles, etc., even though they hadn't played with them in a long time.  So we decided not to give certain things away until we were ALL ready to let go.  And you know what?  The girls and I broke out that Pretty Pretty Princess game yesterday afternoon and we sat and played it again and again for over an hour.  My youngest daughter and I even dressed up in "princess clothes" while we played!  Hehehehe.  And then we put together a big floor puzzle.  When I woke up the this morning, the girls were already awake and they were playing the Pretty Pretty Princess game together.  I'm so glad they aren't ready to grow up quite yet!

My longing for the toddler/little girl days isn't helped by the fact that I don't scrapbook in chronological order, so I'm often stumbling upon baby and toddler picture I still need to scrap.  Here's a Prima layout I did recently of my older daughter, Rebecca, on her 2nd birthday:   

I can't believe the little girl in this picture is already 8 years old (going on 16 . . . ugh!).

Here's a question for those of you with kids (young or old):  Do you sometimes have a hard time watching them grow up, or are you able to just sit back and enjoy every year as they come?

Summer layouts

Happy Monday!  I have a couple layouts to share today. These were both published in the July/August  issue of Scrapbooks, Etc.  I tend to scrap more simple pages when I do them for magazine submissions and assignments. 

Just a quick post for today, but I'll be back again later this week.

New Prima -- Jack and Jill

It just dawned on me that the summer is half over.  Where did the time go??  Between balancing work and other obligations, I haven't had a chance to do many of the fun things I planned to do with my girls.  We still have a lot of unchecked items on our list of "Fun things to do during the summer," so we better get cracking!   I think we're going to see Beezus and Ramona today or tomorrow.  I used to love the Beverly Cleary books when I was a kid, so I'm looking forward to seeing the movie. 

Here's one of the layouts I made for the Prima booth at CHA.  I'm having a ball with all these new products!  I used the new Jack and Jill line and some of the new crystals, alphas, branches, pebbles and flowers (with a few older flowers mixed in).

Have a great day!!

New Shimmerz -- CHA projects

I have a couple Shimmerz CHA projects to share today.  Shimmerz is sharing a booth with Glitz, so I got to work with some of the beautiful Glitz papers and products.  Here's a layout featuring my magical fairy princess daughter:

I dusted off my trusty Cricut and used it to cut a large leaf pattern from a 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock, then I used that leaf die-cut as a mask with a mix of Shimmerz' Olive Branch Spritz and Hermit the Frog Vibez:

I used the new Pop Art Pink Vibez to color the gauze and the new Peas-B-Mine Shimmerz paint to color the leaves:

I used a variety of other Shimmerz colors (Ruby, Sapphire, Pink and Magenta) to color the Prima flowers.

Here's a card I made using Glitz stamps and a variety of Shimmerz sprays and paints, including the new Blue By You on one of the flowers and the new Peas-B-Mine on the leaves:

That's it for today!!

Precious

I have a ton of layouts and projects I haven't posted yet, so I'm trying to play catch-up. I think I've set a new record for myself for the most projects created in a few weeks' time, and I still have a busy scrapping week ahead of me. It's been crazy, but fun!! Here's a Prima layout I did based on Prima's July Build-a-Page sketch:

And here's a little card I created for the Prima booth at CHA using some of their NEW crystals, flowers and Donna Downey canvas paper (the little bird house), and stamps:

I'll be posting a lot more projects in the coming weeks (including a dozen or so projects I made for CHA), so please come back and visit!

Lily Bee

Lily Bee has three fabulous new collections coming out for CHA!  Check them out here: New Lily Bee collections.  Aren't they great?!!?   I can't wait to play with them!

Here's a layout I did with Lily Bee's Hello Sunshine line:

One of my favorite things to do on my layouts is crochet. On this layout I crocheted around the edge of the paper and the outer cardstock. 

The Lily Bee rub-on sentiments are perfect for so many layouts.  In fact, I used one of the rub-ons as my title on this page.  For a slightly different twist, I used the rub-on on a piece of thick fabric:

I added a little bit of crocheted trim underneath the title fabric piece. I cut that trim from a vintage cloth napkin that I found at my local flea market, then I colored it with Shimmerz -- a combo of Eucalyptus Spritz and Jeni B Bleu Vibez.

Lastly, I stacked a few of the Lily Bee chipboard pieces.  I flipped over the middle chipboard piece and added glitter to the sticky side. I colored the Prima flowers with a variety of Shimmerz colors:

 Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Happy Friday!

I just mailed off a big box filled with Prima projects that I made for CHA next weekend. I had SO much fun working with all the new Prima CHA goodies! I think I can start posting my projects soon.

In the meantime, here's a layout I did that was published in the March/April issue of Scrapbooking m.m., a fabulous Swedish scrapbooking magazine:

I did this for an article on using mini frames on your pages. I printed out dictionary definitions for words that describe what I think is going through my daughter's mind in these photos -- believe, dream, imagine and wonder. I used the mini chipboard frames to frame the definitions.

I colored strips of burlap with Shimmerz Spritz, then I tucked the strips behind the patterned paper.  I made the leaves out of polymer clay.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

A few oldies but goodies to share

I've been busy working away on projects for CHA, but I can't share those projects just yet.  In the meantime, here are some of my older layouts that I don't think I've posted here before. These are a few of my layouts that have appeared in Creating Keepsakes in the recent months:

I used the selective color tool in Photoshop to turn everything in the photos black and white except for the purple and green coffee cup I'm holding.   On this page about my morning coffee fix (I can't start my day without it!!) I went with a kitchen/coffee theme and used a bunch of non-scrapbooking items.  Sometimes it's fun to throw caution to wind when it comes to the whole lignin and acid free rules of scrapbooking.  Here are the kitchen and coffee items I used: 

*Coffee filters -- I cut and punched flowers from coffee filters. I sprayed and painted them with Shimmerz paint and Spritz, then I layered the flowers on top of each other.
*Cheesecloth -- I cut out flower shapes and added them to my coffee filter flowers
*Plastic coffee can lid -- I punched flowers and cut out leaves from the plastic lids, then I colored the plastic with alcohol ink and Staz-On ink.
*Instant coffee -- I mixed a little instant coffee with gesso and painted around the edges of the photos. The plain white gesso was a little too stark for my Photoshopped photos so the coffee grounds helped tone down the color a bit.
*Twine from our kitchen junk drawer -- I hand-stitched the twine around the border of the layout, then I painted it with Shimmerz for a little sparkle.
*Cardboard coffee cup/jacket insulator from Peet's Coffee (the BEST coffee around, in my opinion) -- I punched a couple little butterflies out of the cardboard, then I added some Stickles and pearls.

But I was a good girl and only used scrapbook safe (I think) products on this one:

 

And here's a wedding layout I did a while back (it appeared in the June issue of CK):

Have a great weekend!

Happy almost 4th of July!

The long 4th of July weekend is almost here.  We're looking forward to going swimming and having a barbecue at my parents' house on the 4th, and maybe we'll watch some fireworks at night.

Here's a little scrapbook share for the day.  This layout was published in the June issue of Scrapbooks, Etc.  It features pictures of my older daughter blowing bubbles in our backyard.  You might have seen the layout I posted a couple weeks ago here with photos of my younger daughter blowing bubbles (a couple posts down).  I gotta give my girls equal billing!

This layout was included in an article on creative uses for adhesive.  I used clear liquid adhesive and alcohol ink to create the bubbles:

Here's the technique:  I first painted a chipboard circle with gesso (white paint would be fine too). Then I coated it with clear dimensional adhesive (Diamond Glaze), and I immediately added a few drops of two colors of alcohol ink. I used a paintbrush to swirl the colors around until I got a marbled effect. I used different colors and amounts of alcohol ink on each bubble so that they were slightly different from one another (because no two bubbles are alike, right?  Or does that only apply to snowflakes?  But I digress).

On another note, I took the girls to the Los Angeles Zoo yesterday.  Here are a few of the highlights:

 

And a picture of my two little monkeys (as I affectionately call them):

For all of you in the US, have a wonderful 4th of July!!

Flower card box

Today is my mom's birthday.  Happy Birthday Mom!!  We had a lovely brunch to celebrate her special day.  For one of her birthday gifts I bought a box of thank you cards and altered it with flowers, lace and pearls:

 

I made the paper roses from Lily Bee's Lovely line.   I'm totally addicted to making these paper roses.  There are different ways to make them, but I first learned how to make this version when I was blog hopping one day and stumbled upon a great tutorial on Maria's blog:  paper rose tutorial.  I colored the lace with Shimmerz Spritz (Cotton Candy). 

And here's the card I made for my sweet mom (also from Lily Bee papers):

 

That's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by!

Summer is officially here!

Summer is officially here! My girls are out of school and we didn't have to wake up at the crack of dawn this morning. Yay!!!

I was feeling very emotional about my youngest daughter graduating from kindergarten last Friday. It made me acutely aware of how quickly time passes, and I've been missing the days when my girls were really little. My 8-year-old daughter is way past the little girl phase and she acts more like a teenager most days (but she's adorable, nonetheless).  Luckily my youngest is still very much a little girl -- she still loves dolls, pink and princess stuff (actually, I don't think she really likes princess stuff anymore, but she says she does just to humor me). She's such a sweetheart . . . when I commented on how my "little girls were growing up," she responded, "Mommy, I'm ONLY 6, not 20!!"  True!  Most importantly, this transition time reminded me of how quickly time passes and how important it is to enjoy each and every day with my family and to be grateful for all the good stuff in life. This is something I'm going to try and be more consciously aware of on a daily basis.

On a scrapbook related note, I realized that I have a quite a few layouts that I haven't yet posted here, so I'll slowly be playing catch-up. Here's a sketch I created for a challenge at the A Million Memories online crop last month:

And here's the layout I made based on my sketch.  I used Cosmo Cricket papers and chipboard:

 

Yes, she's still my little girl (and always will be!)

Have a great week!

Lily Bee Facebook Giveaway

Lily Bee is having a Facebook giveway! Here are the details:

We want to get to 1600 friends who LIKE Lily Bee Design in the next week on our Facebook Page SO here's the incentive for you to invite your friends. We've teamed up with Jill over at A Million Little Things and are giving away a $25.00 gift certificate to her store.

Simply have your friends who LIKE Lily Bee leave us your name over on the Lily Bee's Facebook page and you will automatically be entered to win. The more friends you send over the more chances you have to win.

Good luck to all who enter!

Prima Design Team!!

Somebody pinch me . . . I made the Prima Design Team!!! You all know how much I absolutely LOVE Prima, so I'm super duper excited about this (to put it mildly). I'm honored to be working with some of the most talented scrappers from all over the world.  A huge congrats to the new Prima DT members:

Alyssa McGrew-US

Amanda Muirhead-Canada

Anabelle O’Malley-US

Birgit Koopsen-Netherlands

Candice Reszko-US

Daniela Dobson-US

Jaime Warren-US

Jamie Dougherty-US

Janine Koczwara-Australia

Julie Fei-Fan Balzer-US

Ingvild Bolme-Norway

Karola Witczak-Poland

Liana Suwandi-US

Nic Howard-New Zealand

Stacy Cohen-US (that's me, that's me!!!)

Trina McClune-New Zealand

Sharon Laakkonen-US (Coordinator)

Cari Fennell-US

Iris Babao-Uy-Philippines

You can see the full announcement here:  Prima DT.  I can't wait to get started!  Thank you, Prima!!!!

Blowing Bubbles and Dreyer's Ice Cream

Happy Monday everyone!  Here's a layout I created using more of Lily Bee's "Lovely" papers.  My daughters love to hang out in our backyard and blow bubbles.  There's something so simple yet magical about blowing bubbles, don't you think? 

I cut strips of paper and placed them where I wanted them on the page, then I cut out circles of varying sizes.  I filled the circles with the fun Lily Bee chipboard pieces and topped them with Prima flowers and rhinestones.  I used Shimmerz paint and Spritz to color the Prima flowers.

I saw a fun beading technique on Lollychops' fantastic blog, and I decided to give it a try.   I embroidered around the circle and added seed beads as I stitched.   Lolly did it on fabric and felt, and I figured that it would work just as well on paper.

And one other thing to share today.  This is something that makes me VERY happy.  I have a nightly ritual . . . after we put our girls into bed and I settle down for some "me" time, I have a small bowl of Dreyer's Light ice cream.  As I mentioned a few posts ago, our old fridge/freezer has been on the fritz for a while, so I've had to contend with soft, mushy ice cream every night . . . which is NOT the way I like it.  We finally got a new refrigerator a couple days ago, and the freezer works like a charm!   The first thing I did was go out and stock up on my favorite Dreyer's ice cream flavors.  Here's a little glimpse . . .

Do you think maybe I went a little overboard??   Anyhow, it makes me happy to open the freezer and see all the SOLID -- not mushy -- ice cream in there!  Ahhhhhh . . . the little pleasures in life.

Have a fantastic week!!!