A Mini Book about my Paigepooh

This is a mini book I made for my niece Paige. My sister-in-law, Dawn, bought it (each letter is sold separately at Paper Niche-I think this is too cool) for me to make for Paige back in April and I just got motivated this weekend to do it. Started and finished it on Saturday - very proud of myself :D.

I LOVED the About a Girl line from Fancy Pants and knew I’d use it for something Paigepooh related. It just screamed Paige with all the pink girly stuff ;). She’s a very girly (tomboy) kinda girl.

So, the background on Paige is that she was actually born on our wedding day :D. She is my sister's daughter. She lives with my mom. Sal and I have helped raise her since she started living there when she was 6 months old. She was our “practice kid” as we liked to call her. I absolutely adore her. She’s such a sweet, kind soul. She sleeps over our house Wednesdays, Fridays and some Saturdays. We look at her as she's our own kid, but not. We don't make the day to day decisions about her, that's my mom's job - and she does a pretty good job!! She's on the honor roll, and is good at SO many things!! She's phenomenal at art and drawing. I just love love love her!!

I'm really happy how this turned out! I made every flower in the book and am super proud of that (just ask Sal!!). I made almost all of them by taking the ribbon in the About a Girl line (with the exception of one ribbon from the Antique Rad Show line). I did a running stitch along the bottom of the ribbon then pulled it, and formed it into a flower (thank you blog world for the tip - I'm sorry not to credit someone specifically, but I have seen the technique on so many blogs, and I believe CK also did an article about it). I've been wanting to try this for a long time and was so happy with the results!!

My amazing son.

My son, what a sweet boy (when he wants to be, of course). He saw me getting real into my card making last weekend and said "mom, I made you a card because you were so nice to make other people cards" Of course, it's a butterfly. Inside is a picture he drew of him and his dad ;) because "they love me the best" and a dragon - which is his interest of the moment. On the back is a heart and random "bubble" letters - he can't spell anything but his name yet - and apparently those random letters were way cooler than his own name. I love this. I love it that since going to pre-k this year he has discovered drawing, and letters. He really enjoys all things art: coloring, drawing, play dough (this counts!!), painting, etc. He's also a Cricut master cutter helper ;). It really makes me happy that he's crafty like me. Honestly, it helps him behave, which keeps me sane!! Thank God for this boy today.

CARD MAKIN' KIND OF SATURDAY

I had a card makin’ kinda weekend this weekend :D. Well, Saturday, I mean. Sal & Christian went to the baseball game (Marlins V. Mets) and even before that, I was just really inspired to make cards. I really utilized Alivia’s (2) nap times and gave Paige and Christian some crafts to do themselves and searched my stash...

I used a 6x6 pad of Basic Grey’s Sugar Rush papers, glue dots, Glossy Accents, and some cardstock and went to town. I also had a sheet of the Sugar Rush Stickers that I got in one of the kit clubs I used to belong to. I really had fun. I also saw this little pin tin decoration idea on Maya Road’s Blog this weekend. Mine isn’t nearly as intricate as theirs, but I made my own simpler version (also using this the stack of Sugar Rush papers) and I like how it turned out. I knew I was saving those little useful tins for SOMETHING, and I had really wanted to be able to store my pins somewhere!!

I have to say, I was wholeheartedly surprised by how many things I created with this little stack of 6x6 papers, and I had at least 6 pages left - UNTOUCHED!!

Mother's Day Crafts ;)

Well this Mother’s Day my mother-in-law put in a special request for a scrapbook. Since I regularly print pictures and give them to her, I used our most recent Disney world pics. which I hadn’t even printed for myself yet ;). I bought a Bo Bunny “kit” from Cherry Blossom Studio last time I was there and decided the papers & embellies would be perfect for her. I love the way it turned out and she LOVED it as well. I also made their cards ;).

Teacher Appreciation Door Cover

On another note, it was also, it was Teacher Appreciation Week. I saw a door cover someone online (I’m sorry I do not remember where) made. It said “Thank you {teacher} for helping us Bloom and Soar. In the one I saw online, they had smaller flowers and kites with the kids’ pictures pasted into them. I decided to use my handy-dandy Cricut Expressions and cut out a sun (super cute!!), heart balloons, flowers and the teachers names. I took pics of the kids smiling (for the flowers) and making silly faces (for the balloons). Then, I snuck into the school on Sunday after church and put it on their door. Needless to say, they were both super happy which made me happy. They’ve really helped me this year with Christian. So thankful for you Miss Tina and Mrs. Hill!!

And another using the fab. Maya Road and October Afternoon!

This is another mini I made with a Maya Road Album and October Afternoon papers/embellies. In the beginning, I really thought that I had messed this book up! This was my 1st binder type mini and I covered it quite awkwardly - I didnt know what I was doing!! But in the end, I am extremely happy with the outcome!!! So, here's the story... Last year, my son's 1st year in preschool, we made cupcakes at least twice a month for his class's snack time. He loved doing this so much, and I finally decided I needed to document this activity, but figured they'd end up in a scrapbook page somehow. I was playing one day, and decided this line of paper and elements were PERFECT for our time in the kitchen! I wanted to try a mini with funky elements. The flowers are made from the october afternoon papers that I simply hand-cut, rolled into little balls, then unfolded and inked the edges with chalk. The pinwheels...I love those pinwheels! I made those by googling it. I love how they came out. Also, on this book, I distressed the edges of every page with a blade and also chalk - this was my 1st time trying this and I love the result. Hope you like it too!

First Day - Maya Road Mini Book

Well, I'm finally getting some of my work onto this blog... yeah me! This mimi idea came from Elizabeth Kartchner (http://elizabethkartchner.blogspot.com). She had a post featuring The Girls Loft Kit Company (I used mostly the October Afternoon products)...I immediately subscribed to their kits ;). I used, pretty much, the exact same layout for the cover that she did - WHAT CAN I SAY, I LOVED IT THAT MUCH! Then, I just basically went to town. I started this in October, just finished it this past weekend. I don't know why, I just got blocked, I guess. I'm rally happy how it turned out, and my son LOVES IT!!! It's really speacial to him everytime I make something, but this mini-book made him so happy. He's insisted on bringing it to school, church, the grocery store... One of the teachers from his school told me how he showed it to anyone who would listen and kept on saying "my mom made this for me" and "look how cool this is". That just makes my heart so happy!