Banner mania

Do you guys love banners as much as I do?!

I feel like a banner can make a room pretty festive, and when you handmake your banner, it just adds to the festiveness! I love to use my Cricut to make banners, but nowadays there are a ton of kits you can buy to get the look for a handmade banner for less difficulty.

I love to scrapbook, but I'd like to showcase a few other ways that you can use papercrafting, so I hope you enjoy some of the banners I'm showcasing here! Be inspired!

(Sorry for the quality of some of the photos, as they're phone photos, and weren't planned for blog use.)

This is a banner I made for a baby shower earlier in the year. The baby's room is woodland theme with mint and orange colors. Another good thing about banners is that sometimes they can double as a gift for the party person, as in this case, the banner matched the baby's room.

For my son's 2nd birthday, we had a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse bash. I went a little banner crazy to decorate my house for that party! I kept the name banner (which I just freehanded the different character designs on from the Disney junior website). But I actually sold the other two party banners and some "picks" to use in cakes or vases on a local "garage" sale site. The buyer was happy to get the items without having to pay for them from a place like etsy, and they were a sunk cost since I was going to make them for my party anyway, so it was nice to get a little bit of the party price back from selling them!

I even love making tiny banners as cake toppers! This is one from my grandparents' 52nd wedding anniversary cake we had at our family Christmas celebration that happened to fall on their special day.

Of course banners for holidays are my favorites. Below is my Halloween banner. There are just so many options, it's hard to choose just one design! With this banner I also added a separate pompom string of sparkle yarn. It sheds, but worth the cute look!

For the last banner of today we celebrate this past weekend of the beginning of college football season (GO VOLS!). I made this banner with the Ribbons and Rosettes cricut cartridge, and it's pretty simple, but I love it. As the holiday season progress, this football banner migrates to under the television to make room for holiday mantel decor.

That is all the banners I have to feature today. Thank you for looking!

Best. Ride. Ever!

It's a new month for challenges & I got a "dillightful" surprise this morning! My layout was chosen to win the August prize over at the Creating with Paper and More blog! For my first month of participating in scrapbook challenges, I was pleasantly surprised. And even if you don't win prizes, it's lovely to have the motivation to complete those scrapbooking projects.

So I was highly motivated to begin the month's challenges again today. I participated in the challenges at The Rochelle Spears Blog & again with Kelly at Creating with Paper and more.

Rochelle has a tic tac toe challenge & I chose the row of pennants, stick pins, and #hashtag. I have to say that I just LOVE the pennant banner I made on my cricut. Not sure if you can make out the stick pin, but it says dreams & the hashtag is #magic.

Kelly's challenge is a color challenge & you have to use at least 3 of the colors in her challenge. I used red, yellow and charcoal/muted black.

This layout has a few more photos than I am used to working with on one page, but I am happy with how it turned out. I had to fit in all the sweet photos to document my son's first roller coaster ride with his daddy. He loved it & had to go a second time later in the evening. Wish I could have ridden too (prego probz) but it was a good experience for him & his daddy!

Thanks for looking & go participate in a scrapbooking challenge!

I mustache you to party!

So I happened upon these adorable mustache stickers the other day at Hobby Lobby & they inspired today's Throwback Thursday layout post!

For my sweet boy's first birthday party we had a Mustache Bash & the colors were red and black, so these adorable Mambi stickers were just screaming to be used for the occasion!

I made the "polaroid" in Cricut Design Studio. The title says "Fun on his 1st" and I used a cute glittery pocket card to cut those letters and the candle to go with the glittery theme of the stickers. I love how it turned out and & loved reminiscing my sweet little one year old! (Also, please excuse the red arrows at the bottom of the invitation. They're not really there. They're just hiding phone numbers!)

The party was so fun - it was at our church, and we had over 80 people there! He is such a lovable little boy. I've already started planning his 3rd party in November (which will hopefully be accomplished just a few days before the arrival of baby Lachlan) & Buzz Lightyear will be the theme!

I hope you've enjoyed. Thanks for reading!

When you wish upon a star...

Happy Monday!

Today I have a fun Disney layout of a family selfie in front of Cinderella's castle. I really love the wish upon a star die cut that I acquired from Miss Kate Cuttables. I love using my Cricut!

Product details are tagged on my Instagram account (link to the left).

Here's a close up of the cut file.

Miss Kate has a free cut file everyday & I love stocking up my Design Studio that way!

Thanks for looking!

Happy Disney Smiles

I whipped up this quick page this morning thanks to a sketch over at Scrap Much?.

I love this photo of my sweet boy. It was on the people mover at Disneyworld. Daddy was riding Space Mountain, so I got some Heath time all to myself & he was so happy. We had fun!

The sketch was really easy to accomplish & I like how it turned out! Products used tagged in my Instagram account (link to the left).

Enjoy!

Who's the fairest of them all?

Clearly, it's Snow White!

I really love this pocket page that I did documenting my son and me meeting Snow White at Disneyworld! I love when the characters kind of sneak out and if you're lucky enough to spot them, you can make a beeline and not wait in line too long. That's what we did here.

My son was so adorable around the princesses because he was so shy and bashful! They were really pretty :)

I used Mambi Pocket Page cards, except for the 4x6s which I made the backgrounds to with my Cricut and a Mambi paper pad. I used the Cricut to write Snow White's quote (which I felt was appropriate for my big kid excitement of meeting princesses) and to cut the apple and put some sparkle behind it. I also really love my washi tape tabs!

Hope you enjoy!

Planning ahead - a mini baby album for November!

So I felt like making a mini-album & I found the BEST tutorial over on the Mambi blog, here. It actually was relatively easy & I want to make many more! I need one of those sweet little scoring tools to make life easier ...

I decided to get a headstart and make a baby boy album for my sweet child due in November. I hope to not have to take too big of a break from crafting after his birth (you know, maternity leave and all, woot), but I know that I will probably not get as much done for a week or so around his birth. So, I went ahead and made this mini album to have on hand. I can just print some small photos quickly & carry it around in my purse!

I used all Me & My BIG Ideas pocket page cards & some random embellishments I had in my scrap stash.

I will post a few of the inside pages too. My Instagram will show the ones not posted here.

I already have the photo ideas in my head, especially for that last one - it will be for a bro pic, obvs.

I highly suggest watching the video to which I posted the link & trying out one of these albums yourself! It really was relatively simple & quick to complete. I think it would make the sweetest little gift instead of a birthday card for someone.

Thanks for looking!

He's going to be a BIG Brother!

I created a page for my sweet son for a layout challenge over at the GrandDiva's Creative Corner & Creating with Paper and More blogs. It was fun to tell our parents we are expecting again because I do not think they were expecting it so soon (ha, neither were we!).

I used the sketch at GrandDiva's for the layout & the word challenge at Creating with Paper with the word BROTHER. Heath, my son, didn't really get it at first, but now that we are 3 months away and talk about it quite a bit, I think he is starting to understand what it means that he will be a Big Brother. However, he will still not be ready to share all his favorite people, I'm afraid! I cannot wait to meet my new little guy, and see how the two interact. I hope they will be best friends!

Thanks for looking! And check out my Instagram account (link to the left in the photo) to see other pages that I haven't blogged about.

Everything was Golden.

I'm super excited about this post because I LOVE my golden double page layout!

The lovely ladies at Scrap Much? blog had a super fun colour challenge this month with the color of the moment, Gold. I picked some of my favorite pictures of my little guy to scrap from a day when we took a rainy walk & puddle jumped. It was a special memory.

My photo overlay did not fit aligned with the top of my photo, but I realized it worked perfectly when I cut it, and adding the eyelets just let me add to the gold theme. I used my Cricut explore & metallic pens to draw the arrows at the top of the page. The large arrows are from the Holidays Through the Year Iron-On cartridge & the small arrows are from the Boho Graphics Iron-On cartridge. The metallic gold card & lovely stickers are Me and my big ideas. We are Memory Keepers Paper & K&Company chipboard complete the page.

Now for the second page of my layout! I just love how it turned out & I was able to use almost only Mambi (Me and My Big Ideas) products. Now let me tell you. This company had THE most KILLER black-Friday sale last year. I received a huge box of their products as a Christmas gift as a result of this sale & I basically use at least one of the items in every single craft I make! So, I know it's early, but seriously stay on the look-out for their Black-Friday deals again this year. I know I will!

love. Love. LOVE!

I really enjoy the look of sticking the pins through the plastic protector on the bottom right pocket. Oh & I also really adore the little frames I cut on my Cricut. I got these free online here & here!

Gold & Metallic & Glitter OHMY!

Thanks for looking!

Magical Love: a Disneyworld scrapbook page

A few weeks ago my little family of 3 took a quick vacay down to Disneyworld & it was FABULOUS! We had so much fun, and it was amazing to watch my son & his sweet wonder and excitement at the magic of everything.

I have since been very excited to document the trip, which is making the scrapbook come along nicely. I'm using Simple Stories "Say Cheese" collection to keep a theme throughout the book, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. I even was able to incorporate my second sketch challenge with this scrapbook & it has turned out to be one of my favorite pages!

I used the August sketch over at Boys Rule Scrapbook Kits blog. I love it! I also love that I have this "selfie" of my husband & I. Nowadays we do not get a ton of photos with just the two of us, and I'm sure they will become more rare as another little boy enters our family in November {yes, I went to Disneyworld in Florida in July while pregnant, & no, I do NOT recommend it!}.

Here's a close up of the title, which I, again, just love.

You can check out my Instagram for links to companies of some of the products used (link in photo on left sidebar). Go participate in the sketch challenges - you won't be disappointed!

Thanks for looking!

My first sketch challenge!

I found this lovely website called Design Team Calls that tells you of upcoming try-outs for design teams, as well as current challenges on scrapping blogs. Yes, please! I picked some fun challenges that I'm planning to try this month. I've never done one of these, but worth a shot. It's been kinda fun so far!

I completed the July sketch challenge at Boys Rule Scrapbook Kits blog. I loved it! I ended up using some of my scraps stash & it came together really quickly!

I love the bright colors for Easter/Springtime. It's hard to not use too many "girly" colors for my boy pages, but my boy says pink is his favorite, so I guess I shouldn't worry about it too much! He might mind more in the future though...

One more of a close up, just because I love his silly, cute face in this photo!

If you're lacking for some inspiration, or even just need a way to get some pages done quickly, I highly recommend a sketch challenge. It's fun & the composition is already done for you!

Thanks for checking in!
~*Natalie*~

I'm so crafty I make people

I already had an idea in my head for the title to this page, and then the Challenge over at The Paper Girls Challenge blog fit so nicely, I just had to implement!

The challenge is to use large letters. I picked the background paper & everything else kind of fell into place. I love when that happens!

Here is a close up of some of my favorite parts. Those Me and My Big Ideas stickers say the perfect things!

Check out my Instagram page (link to the left) for tags of the product companies used. Challenge found here.

Thanks for looking!

Back on the blogging wagon

I have had this little gem for a bit, ever since I traveled abroad during college & wanted a way to share my journey with my family and friends back home. It has been neglected for many reasons. The main reasons being time & lack of important things to say that could not fit into a short Instagram or twitter post. Oh & a toddler. It's hard to get much of anything done with those running around. (And somehow we thought it was a good idea to create another one!? Haha, j/k. I'm excited. And oh-so-ready for #2 to arrive.)

Well I've recently been super interested in other blogs & contemplating going out to be a design team member for some of my favorite products. From my research, a blog is a basic necessity for the design team member, so I'm relaunching! I hope to gain a few followers, to inspire & be inspired! I plan to use this blog now to post projects I've completed for myself and some for contests or whatever else fun inspiration I find online. The travel blog of yore must take a backseat since we do not travel as much due to the aforementioned little ones. However, I will be posting my scrapbook pages of the travels we do encounter, so it's a bit of a two birds, one stone scenario.

Thanks for reading!

Happy New Year!

Well it's 2012, and I'm excited to see what God has in store for us this year. It has been a great ride so far! In 2011 we realized some of our goals, to include a European adventure & Eric obtained his insurance license. (Call him!)

In 2012 we have a grand plan of going to Eric's birthplace, Honolulu, Hawaii. We booked our flights yesterday, I'm super excited!

I also have home improvement projects dancing in my head, so stay tuned for those updates. Eric is becoming better at his wood-crafting, so I have to put it to good use, right?

The following are some recent projects we've completed:

Christmas gift corn hole boards - we made some UT and some Preds





Infinity scarf/cowl










My prettiest card to date!


Thanks for looking!

Finally!

I finished a knitting project & it looks ok!

It's about time!










Dream big, friends!

Take a shot!

Just wanted to share a couple of the photo shoots I have recently done. These are from and engagement shoot and a baby shoot with a little mommy thrown in. It's super fun!
























Not gonna lie, I may have snuck this idea from Pinterest!












Tomorrow I'm doing my first Senior photos ... with a boy! So I hope I can think of enough interesting poses!

Talk about DIY...

So after many a long afternoon we finally finished our outdoor furniture we handmade ourselves! We got the plans for the furniture from the ahhhmazing Anna White.




Here's a closer shot:



I made the pillows by just sewing two simple squares together. Also, much contemplation went into the seat cushion & the husband helped stuff. One side of the cushion is held together with upholstry screws instead of sewn.

These are just a couple more cute pictures of our outdoor, fall, party decor :) The photos are creepy graveyard pictures I took in Savannah, GA.

>

Let me know if you have any questions! Anyone can do Anna's projects, just have patience, and do not expect perfection at first! :)

we travelled to Lobelvul(ville)

First things first, the bff and I did sips'n'strokes Friday night - good times! We painted the Arc de Triomphe. Of course, her's was the best in the class... I almost got my hands on it at the end of the night...



Saturday we traveled to Lobelville, Tennessee. (Pronounced lobe'uhl'vul') Literally probably the tiniest town I've been to, but hey, this blog is supposed to be about all travels, huh? We canoed the Buffalo River with a group from our church. It was a pretty relaxing day except the part where all the guys wanted to dangerously jump off rocks. Highlights include: the weather was great, got a great workout, and escaped a near death experience with a Satan spider.





At some point I will do a blog recapping our Europe trip & then from here on try to keep it updated!

I made things

Last night I made two things: a shirt and dinner.
One turned out better than the other...

First, my shirt:



thanks to Ruffles and Roses

I did leave out the ruffles, but the roses are there. Lace bias tape replaced the ruffle. It isn't too bad for about 1.5 hour or less work.

Second, and better of the two:



Bacon Wrapped Cheese Filled Jalepinos. Thanks to my Grandma for the idea!
How to:

cut pepper in half, remove seeds.
mix cream cheese with cheddar cheese, add a dash of garlic.
fill pepper shells.
wrap with one half piece of bacon.
bake at about 450 degrees until bacon crispy, probably about 15-20 minutes.
nomnom

inspired to blog...

note to self: quit being the world's most sporatic blogger eva. just drink more water and eat less, it's not that frickin' hard of a concept to grasp.

note about life: sweet husband struck today with a suprise dry-cleaning of distraught cream coat covered with Christmas coffee. (what an alliterative accident!) super sweet and makes for a happy wife with one less thing to do before excessivly long and cold work training trip to Baltimore in t-minus 2 weeks from today. ahhh the simple things. also, i figure since i'm bullying my journalist friend to blog, i might as well set a good example. i always did want to be a writer as a girl and it's always been a sort of strong suit with me in school. the hard part will be keeping enough interesting things to blog about.
such as how (i feel as though) i'm the only one my age without a stinkin kid or who isn't prego! but that is ok. i don't want to be right now. eventually i will be and it'll be great and good. but for now i will focus on my career and travel and just being with my husband in our lovely home (which is almost complete! pending master bathroom overhaul). i mean i currently have/do everything i've pretty much ever wanted so why not be content with this?? i am. plus i am NOT the only one with out a child, silly dilly.
two spaces after a period, but with no attention to punctuation. it's my blog and i'll be as gramatically picky as i desire.

note to you: check out the following because they will make you smile.
<3 & jajajajajaja.

man, i hope i did that html right... it's been so long!!

Scrapping to do list

Pending training for my new job @ work, I find myself with little to do but surf the internet for anything and all things "scrapbooking". Since I am without my resources of the scrap room @ home, I decided to make a "to do" list of all the pages I want to make, so as to not forget my great intentions!

#1. Christmas "These are a few of my Favorite things" page (in progress: pictures are edited via picnik) Pick papers & print photos in 2x3ish size.

#2. Create square collages with 2x2 photos from honeymoon & Chicago.

#3. Do more 1 photo LOs

#4. Try to do the simplest LOs (think: minimalist, negative space)

#6. Do more LOs of extended family (parents, sibling, grandparents, etc)

#5. Obtain a CriCut! (this will make life much easier)

#6. Eventually, someday, after years (I'm sure) of improving artistic effects and perfecting scrapbooking performance - have a request from someone to publish my project (min. in a blog, but dream big - what about a magazine!? :o) )...

inspiration: www.scrapbook.com