The One with the Layouts for the AC Spotlight

I had a pair of layouts go up on the American Crafts blog yesterday for my spotlight, so I'm sharing them here today!

SMILE & GRIN

Journaling says: Every day you just get cuter and cuter! We love that you're always so happy!

Note: I LOVE the new Ready Set Go line by Amy Tangerine. I love how it can go either boy-y or girl-y depending on the colors you choose to use. I'm still in love with the banner trend so that's what I based this page around. I also paid a little tribute to Amy with some hand stitching since she's well-known for it!

How to: Trim papers and photos into pennants, layer them in three banners across a gray grid paper background, and stitch across the tops using straight and zigzag stitching. Add a few stickers and die cuts to the banners to embellish. Drop clusters of dark blue spray mist here and there. Create a journaling spot on the bottom left corner, hand stitch a star over it using blue floss, then add a title above the longest banner.

Supplies: Patterned paper, stickers (arrow, car, hearts, letters, pennants), die cuts (ampersand, pie chart circle, "pull here" card, ticket), spiral notebook page, stamps (arrows, date), pen, adhesive: American Crafts; Floss: DMC; Spray mist: Studio Calico; Ink: StazOn; Pinking shears: Fiskars; Sewing machine: Brother; Thread: Coats & Clark

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PURE GOODNESS

Journaling says: You are simply the sweetest girl in the world!

Note: How perfect is the 5th & Folic line for little baby girl pages? I think I could make an entire album filled with layouts of my new daughter Jane using this line! The colors are so soft and pretty and match her sweetness to a "T"!

How to: Punch flower confetti from cardstock, glitter paper, and patterned papers, adhere the flowers around the edge of a striped paper background, stitch over them, then trim the excess. Create a layered mat for a series of photos using patterned paper with torn and curled edges, scalloped borders (one a sticker and one made from punching cardstock) then embellish the corners with flower die cuts, brads, pearls, stickers, sequins, a stickpin, and spray mist. Create a little layered embellishment on the top right corner then use a sentiment sticker on the photo for the title. More or less :)

Supplies: Cardstock, glitter paper, patterned paper, brads (corduroy, epoxy, flower), die cuts (flowers, ticket), stickers (birds, hearts, leaf, scalloped border, sentiment), arrow stamp, pen, adhesive: American Crafts; Sequins: Craft supply; Pearls: Pebbles; Stickpins: Fabric supply (pearl), Maya Road (jewel); Spray mist: Studio Calico, Punches: Fiskars (scalloped border), Marvy Uchida (flower confetti); Sewing machine: Brother; Thread: Coats & Clark

That's all for now!

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The One with Jane at 2 Months

Little Jane is 2 months new today! 

 Length: 22.6" (25-50%) 

Weight: 11 pounds 3.2 ounces (25-50%) 

Head circumference: 15.47" (25-50%)

Looks like she's well on her way to having a big head like Fox :)

Where do I even begin? She's such a fun and cute and sweet and adorable and likable and cuddly little girl.

I love her eye color - bluish/gray. Fox's were the exact same and now his are hazel so she'll probably have hazel eyes too. When she was in utero I always imagined she'd have brown eyes. Who knows, maybe they'll change.


This girl is the world to me! She is so much fun and such an angel baby.

She loooooooves to be held and almost always falls asleep within 5 minutes if she's cradled in my arms.

She only cries when she's hungry, tired, needs a diaper change, or is wearing a dress. Haha, seriously, as soon as I put a dress on she starts fussing and then once I take it off she stops. I guess she's not much of a girly-girl!

She LOVES to sleep swaddled up like a mummy. Or a baby burrito. Snug as a bug in a rug!

Fox is getting more affectionate with her and holds her frequently - under our constant supervision! Because yes, he has bopped her on the head multiple times with his toys... I hear 2nd children are pretty tough and get used to these attacks...

Perhaps it's because she's my second so I know the drill, but I think she's an easier baby than Fox. Fox came out and was wide awake all day every day. Jane sleeps much more, which is so helpful when I'm trying to take care of Fox and work full time and then some.

Still loves her binky.

She's a pretty good sleeper during the night. She has a "cranky" period every night without fail around 5:30pm when she's simply done for the day. So I bathe her, feed her, swaddle her, and she goes to sleep. I wake her up around 9:30pm before I go to bed to feed her, then she wakes up at 1am, and 5am and is up for a few hours at 8am (I wake up at 6:30). So I wake up with her twice a night. Not too bad. I don't have high hopes for 8 hour stretches anytime soon - Fox didn't start sleeping 7pm-8am until he was 8 months old. 6 more months until I can expect a good night's sleep I'm guesstimating! It's all worth it though! And really, I'm not even that tired during the day, thank heavens!

She is starting to smile more and more and more and I just love it so! What really gets her going is when you call her "Pretty girl!" She's kind of obsessed with herself. There's a mirror above her swing and she sits there and stares and coos at herself for a long time. I've got to get it on video because it's hilarious. Our little narcissist.

Her eyelashes are growing - I hope they're as long and full and pretty as Fox's! Or maybe I don't... we'll have to chase the boys away with a stick!

Her hair is thinning, just like Fox's did, but hopefully it'll grow back soon, like Fox's did :)

"Why is a camera always in my face?"

Pretty sure I could just stare at her pretty face allllll day long!

We love you sweet little girl!

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The One with September 2012 American Crafts Layouts

I love having a whole bunch of new American Crafts product to work with! Here are the layouts I made for this month:

THIS IS THE STORY OF HOW YOU WERE BORN

Journaling says: I'm not gonna write all the journaling - there's too much! Essentially I condensed Jane's labor and delivery story, inserted colored numbers to match up with the numbered photos, printed it out, then taped it to the back so Jane can read her birth story some day.

Note: I love how the sentiments printed on the Polaroid frames of the patterned paper go perfectly with this day. Such as: "our story," "you make me ridiculously happy," "happy little life," "remember THIS moment," "This is life," "memories made," "lovely day" - I mean really, it's like this paper is meant for a birth story!

How to: Trim out some of the Polaroid frames from the sheet of patterned paper and replace them with photos. Add mini number stickers to the photos to coordinate with journaling. Embellish the rest of the Polaroid frames with stickers and die cuts. Save one of the frames for a mini letter sticker title, stamp a Polaroid frame around it, and pop it up with dimensional adhesive. Punch a butterfly border from copper glitter flower paper and adhere it along the top edge.

Supplies: Patterned paper, glitter paper, stickers (arrow, flower, hearts, leaves, letters, numbers, pennants, pinked circle, sentiments), die cuts (flower, ticket), Polaroid stamp, adhesive: American Crafts; Buttons: Crate Paper, Butterfly border punch: Martha Stewart Crafts; Ink: StazOn

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BABY JANE

Journaling says: Sweet baby girl - I'm so glad that we got your pictures taken professionally when you were about six weeks old. They turned out so beautiful! I'm sure that one day you'll love looking back at your newborn photos.

Note: By using black and white pictures I was able to use whatever patterned paper I wanted! I definitely want to scrap some of the colored pictures from her newborn shoot though - coming soon!

How to: Adhere black and white photos across a dark blue cardstock background, popping up every other picture with foam dots. Trim out flowers from patterned paper and layer them around the photos. Stamp leaves and embossing them with white powder around the flowers. Layer torn sheets of patterned paper on the top, right, and bottom edges. Embellish the layout with drops of dark blue spray mist, buttons, jewels, pearls, and sequins as shown. Write journaling around the torn paper edges. Add a letter sticker title over the photos.

Supplies: Cardstock, patterned paper, buttons, flower die cut, stickers (labels, letters, sentiment), leaf stamp, embossing powder, embossing gun, pen, adhesive: American Crafts; Jewels, pearls: Hero Arts; Sequins: Craft supply; Spray mist: Studio Calico

I need to catch up on some Fox layouts now! I have made some, I just can't share them quite yet - they need to debut on the American Crafts blog first :)

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The One with Halloween Time at Disneyland/Cars Land

If you're not aware of my "slight" obsession with Halloween, you don't know me so well :) Every year when Disneyland is decked out for Halloween I get sooooooo excited! Halloween-time began last week and we were finally able to go this morning. All last night Fox kept saying, "Disneyland! Disneyland! Disneyland!" He knows what it is and totally loves it. We start 'em young :)

On the tram - can't you see the anticipation in his eyes?

Decorations along the tram ride. Yay!

H.o.l.y. m.o.l.y. This was the line just to get through security - nevermind actually getting into the parks! We almost turned around. But I'm glad we didn't. 

More Halloween decorations! I'm so happy!

Main Street Halloween-i-fied.

It's just pretty. That's all. 

Every time we walk through Adventureland it reminds me of Hawaii. I hope to go back there some day!

Sometimes there are real live birds above Jungle Cruise!

My main purpose and intent of the day: ride The Haunted Mansion!

Jack Skellington was out and about. 

I watch The Nightmare Before Christmas at least four times every October. I'm sure this year will be no exception! I looooove how they incorporate the characters and music into this ride once a year!

I call it art. 

And then we went over to California Aventure to check out Cars Land. We've been avoiding this half of the park like the plague because it's been so totally overcrowded. But we did what we wanted to do over at Disneyland and still had time to spare so we said what the heck, let's check it out.

There are a lot of new restaurants and shops and a couple of rides mingled in between.

This ride looks fun! Not 90-minute-wait fun, but prolly 30 minutes. We'll have to come back another day to give it a whirl.

Scenic.

We walked around and checked out all the things we want to do, but it was very crowded so we'll have to come back and hit up Cars Land first thing in order to beat the lines. We've got the system figured out :)

We love Disneyland!

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The One with "Mommy"

Fox can say these words:

Shoes

Socks

Hat

Rock

Airplane

Car

Bus

Boat

Train - choo choo!

Pez

Candy

Treat
Chips
Fries

Buzz

Woody

Show

Bubbles

Blocks
Rocket

Blast off!

Infinity

Beyond

Uh oh

Oh no

No

Yeah

Ow

Up

Hot

Drink
Sip

Please

Ewwww

Stinky
Icky

Bye

Hello
Hi
Book

The girls

The guys

E-I-E-I-O

Twinkle twinkle little star

Dog
Doggy

Cat - meow!

Dumbo

Frog

Chicken
Giraffe

Duck
Chinchilla
Sheep
Monkey
Bunny

Pig

Bird

Fish

Dinosaur - roar!

Cow - moooo!

Turtle

Knock knock

Pat pat pat

Squishy
Tickle tickle

Cereal
Popcorn

Nut

Apple

Bottle

Milk
I need more!

Water

Joey

Chris

Daddy

Baby

Button
Rug

Disneyland

Color

Sticker

Eyes

Ears

Nose
Slooooow feet
Quick feet!
Crazy/It's So Crazy

Mouth

Head

Hair
Hug
Kiss
Nap

Toothbrush
Brush

Keys

Outside
Walk

Stick
Done

Flower

Swing
Push
Stroller

Slide

Ball

Weeeee!

Brrrrrrm brrrrrrm!

Bang bang!

Ready

Go
Thank you

Let's go!

Where is it?

Three

Two

One

Aaaaand, at 23 months and a vocabulary of over 100 words Fox FINALLY says "Mommy"! Music to my ears!

I'm trying not to be too sad that I came after words like "Ew" and "Chris". He's been saying "Daddy" for months and he even knows his dad's NAME but he wouldn't say Mommy!!?!?! Oh well, now he can, so I'm a happy mommy :)

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The One with the Short'n'Sweet'n'Simple Sunday

Fox is becoming more and more affectionate towards Jane every passing day. We're thrilled!

Keepin' it short'n'sweet'n'simple!

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The One with Thursday Thoughts, Confessions, Updates, Etc.

Just to warn you, this post is going to be very random! I always have lots of thoughts running through my head and this here blog is a great place to let them all out. It's like my own version of a Pensieve, if you will.

"Will ya hold still for one second, I'm trying to take your picture!"

"Nope. Sorry Charlie. I'ma wiggle my arms and legs until the cows come home!"

Halloween is only 41 days away! I've been pinning ideas left and right for Halloween decor, costumes, food, and such. I'm not throwing Fox another big birthday party like I did last year though - I'm still recovering from that! Maybe next year. And I feel like I'm letting myself down not constructing Fox or Jane a one-of-a-kind costume, but I just can't squeeze any more projects in. Instead, we purchased Fox a Buzz costume - I can't wait for him to try it on!

Maybe next year he can be a fox.

Still trying to figure out what Jane will be. And yes, I'm still having that recurring dream about trick-or-treating... 41 days!

There's an empty lot by our house that I just can't get enough of.

It's where we took the pictures of our family of three a couple hours before Jane was born. It's where we took some photos for Jane's newborn shoot below. I'm sure that won't be the last time we photograph there! It's so versatile - the weeds are always changing and the range of wildflowers turns over every other week. I love it.

I have a secret crush on Justin Beiber. 

I guess it isn't such a secret anymore! I HAVE A CRUSH ON JUSTIN BEIBER! I wish I didn't. Really. It's embarrassing. But man oh man he's got a smooth voice! Pretty sure I could listen to "As Long as You Love Me" on repeat all day long and watch this video over and over. I don't particularly care for the long beginning and end, but the middle part with the actual song is off the chain. Did I just say that?

I wonder how Selena Gomez feels about this video, and all his other music videos for that matter.

2013 calendars are hot off the press!

I just finished printing them so now I need to cut them out and add them to my etsy shop! Getting an early start this year. 

Fox sure knows how to boost our self confidence. He grabs my belly which is one big flab of skin and exclaims, "Squishy! Squishy!" Or he grabs Chris' face and does the same thing. Thanks Fox, we're workin' on it...

Speaking of weight loss and what not, I only weigh myself on Saturdays. I've been keeping track of my weight loss on my Operation: Weight Loss post. On August 4th when I started my "diet" I weighed 165 pounds. As of Saturday September 15th I weighed 151.9 pounds. Which, if you open up your handy dandy calculator, is a difference of 13.1 pounds. It's only since I got the go ahead to exercise two weeks ago that I've really started watching what I eat and doing actual exercise. I rotate between workout videos and running and weight lifting and I'm finally seeing little results and feeling better about myself. I'm still super out of shape though - my goal is still 120 pounds by January 1st! Slow and steady wins the race!

My mother-in-law and Chris took Fox to Lacy Park the other day and picked a yellow rose (which is a no-no but apparently it just snapped off when Fox was trying to smell it... oops) and it's now housed in a bottle - an actual milk bottle that Fox drinks from, lol. Whatever works!


I love scary movies. I do I do I do. It all started when we used to watch X-Files as a family on Sunday nights. I'm soooo excited to go see House At The End of the Street tomorrow night.

I hope I don't get nightmares!

Why is it that food tastes so much better when it's cooked by someone else?

My mother-in-law made our dinner the past few days and it feels like we've been eating like kings!

Hello, I'd like to introduce you to my barnacle: a marine crustacean with an external shell, which attaches itself permanently to a variety of surfaces:

Aside from her not being a marine crustacean or having an external shell, the rest is true! She's attached to me permanently one way or another! My little barnacle :)


Jane says, "Goodnight ya'll!"

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