turning two

Abbie had her second birthday almost two months ago! We had a small gathering at home since 1) most of my friends don't have kids her age and 2) of the friends who would come, most were on vacation. Which was fine with me!

I used some of my leftover My Mind's Eye papers from Olivia's birthday layout along with a Becky Higgins' sketch. I used some Thickers from my stash; I would've loved to have titled my layout "Abbie two" since she says "Abbie too" all the time! However, I named her Abbie with an "ie" not Abby with a "y". And I didn't have any black "e" sticker. I could've bought new Thickers, but I would've had to order them, and sometimes I just want to finish a layout, KWIM?

I added journaling strips on the right page, with some quick details of her "party" and what her gifts were (not much, since #3 doesn't really need anything!).

The buttons are mostly Jenni Bowlin & from my April/May Green Tangerine's kit. The colors just happened to match the papers! Yay me! I was short one button (I wanted three groups of three), so I used one of my Jillibean Cool Beans buttons.

I added this handprint of Abbie's on the page as well. I don't do it on every birthday layout, but it is a fun addition...and a free embellishment! I used her left hand since (at least right now) Abbie is left-handed. I just painted her hand with some acrylic paint & smooshed it down on white paper for her, and it only took one take! When I've done my other kids' handprints, it usually takes a couple of times!

legoland

My detailed Legoland experience can be found here. My scrappable story is here:

For this layout I used a sketch from Becky Higgins. I'm sure it's from her sketch book or Creating Keepsakes, but I found the inspiration on her blog here.

The papers are a mix from American Crafts' Heat Wave line & my Apr/May Green Tangerines kit (have you heard? They're reopening sometime in September! Woo-hoo!). I had fun using lots of bright colors on this layout. And, that cute strip of paper at the top with the diamonds on it? It's the reverse of the paper "edge" that's meant to be torn off (with the line name on it). How cool that AC has made that strip functional! Fortunately I had two sheets of the Kahuna Kiwi paper so I was able to do the strip across both sides of my layout.

Although I didn't ink the edges of everything, I did ink the circles. They just needed a little more definition. Becky didn't have them in her original layout, but mine just lacked "something" so I punched some out with my 3" circle punch, inked them, & slid them into a few spots. Perfect!

For my journaling, I used a sheet of lined paper that I trimmed down to size, and then I punched the edge to make it look like I tore it out of a notebook. I've been seeing this a lot lately, and so I recently picked this border punch up at Michael's (40% off!). I'm having a ton of fun with it!

heaven hop

Olivia had her first dance recital this last June. It was at Folsom High School at 4pm on Friday; we left for Disneyland at 5am Saturday! Crazy!

The sketch for this layout came from Allison Davis' sketch book #3. I used Basic Grey's Kioshi paper and some Thickers from my stash.

The butterflys were punched out of more Kioshi paper with the Martha Stewart Classic Butterfly punch I got at Michael's. I had the rhinestones in my stash & I think they made a fun little body; I had wanted to use two different sizes, but I only had a couple small rhinestones (these are the medium ones), and the larger ones were way too big!

candle making

While in Tahoe this last winter, my mom, sister, & I took the kids to make candles at Waxen Moon in Squaw Valley.

I've used this layout a couple times before, with slightly different photo sizes.

Both patterned papers came in my May Green Tangerine's kit and are from Crate Paper.

The pink paper I used for journaling is actually the reverse of the pink & orange patterned paper that I used on the bottom of the photo block. The font is called Teen & can be found here at dafont.com.

I used these puffy chocolate thickers from my stash.

flashback friday...rush camp

forgive the scanner line down the middle :)

I can't believe it's been 12 years since this day! After a long weekend of prepping for Rush, we got to go to our chapter advisor's house to go swimming. I have such fond memories of my days in Alpha Phi!

splashing in the sprinklers

Our kids had so much fun splashing in the sprinklers at my sister in law's house this last June. And of course I had fun putting this layout together!

I used another Allison Davis sketch. I really like how she uses lots of patterned paper on her layouts, because I'll admit, I never was quite sure what to do with it all!

I found these yellow vinyl thickers on clearance on Two Peas, along with all the paper from American Crafts' Heat Wave line. The fun little letter stickers are Making Memories (?) and are from one of my GT kits from last summer.

The "flowers" (that look like a cross between flowers & sea shells) are from that line too! I simply pierced them & added a white mini-brad. You can really tell here, but they're semi-glittery too.

***Photo note: This time I took the pictures in the very sunny playroom, but not in direct light. And I took them in RAW mode so I could adjust the exposure & white balance. That's what I do with my regular photos, so it's not a big deal. I was just trying to be quick with my layout photos. Anyhow, I think I've got it down...kind of!***

party in the usa

Not anything too fancy for my 4th of July layout this year, oh well...sometimes it's nice to have something simple :)