September Family Update

Hello friends. Another month is almost over and before we say goodbye to September, here's what had kept our family busy this month....

Our first family "field trip" after Mason was born was to the Denver Temple. Our primary had a Saturday activity to go as families to the temple and go through a tour. The weather was great and what could be better than going to the temple as a family?

I'm not sure why Maddie has a pouty face in the photo above. I think she didn't want to be under the sun. Oh well! 

This month, our Primary had their annual sacrament program. For our friends that are not familiar with this, it's when all the children in our congregation give short talks/speeches and sing as a choir in between the talks infront of all of the congregation. This is a way for the children to share what they've been learning this year in their Sunday school and primary classes. The photo above was taken after that program. It's also our first official photo as a family of five. 

This month we got to celebrate Mitch's birthday. His special day fell on a Wednesday so we decided to celebrate the Friday after. But we couldn't pass up his birthday without singing the birthday song to him. We had some zucchini brownies that we had put a single candle on, lit it up and then sang our wishes to him. I love low key celebrations. :)

 We found that with every one's excitement with Mason, he was getting used to being carried all the time. That is becoming a bit of a problem for me during the day since no one else can pick him up but me. So we bought him a bouncer at Walmart and the photo above was taken on the day that we got the bouncer. I love this photo because Maddie has become a little mama for Mason and I'm loving the bond that they have together.

Speaking of being picked up, our little man also likes to sleep on me. I don't mind the cuddles but I also know that this can't be a normal routine or he won't sleep on his own. So for about five minutes I cuddle him and then I try to put him down. The photo above was taken during one of those sweet cuddle times with him. 

And of course, I can't end this post without random pictures of our little man. Left to right- Mason taken at the Denver Temple grounds, During his first bath, Just a random photo of him while sleeping, and a close up of him on his bouncer.

I got a photo of him on his first month (can you believe his officially one month old?) but that is still in the camera and around  here, we do what we can in 10 minute intervals while the baby is happy sleeping and getting the photos in my camera entails more than 10 minutes. Hopefully before next months' family update, I can post it.

Thank you for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace

The Two of You layout *Inspired By Stamping*

Today I'd like to share with you a layout I created at the beginning of this month. Before our new bundle of joy arrived, I contemplated on how much the dynamics of family will change. Through that "reflection" I came up with this layout. For a long time it's just been these two and I wanted to document how I feel about them. 

The Two of You layout

I loved the sentiments from Inspired By Stamping Trendy Circle Sentiment set that I decided to add a few of them here. They reflect how I feel about my children. I also added some chevron arrows to direct the eye to the important parts of my layout. 

Here are some close ups....

Thank you for stopping by and make sure you stop by the Inspired By Stamping store to check out the latest releases.

Till next time,
Grace

Preschool Cutie layout

Here's another layout from me this week inspired by a sketch. 

This one was from Stuck on U Sketches blog. 

and here's my take on it...

With this one, I pretty much grabbed everything, besides the cardstock and background pattern paper, from my itty bitty scrap stash. I love it when I find a sketch that would let me pile on paper on my page. 

I had cut out these Polaroid type blocks from my Silhouette Cameo a while back and I'm finally finding some use for them. The owl stickers are from my stash as well (My Little Shoebox sticker sheet)  It was so cute, I couldn't resist!

The "just a note" stamp is from Inspired by Stamping and the enamel dots are homemade.

I have been wanting to use some modeling paste on my page and I finally found the inspiration for it. I had made a star template from Silhouette Cameo that I used as a mask and then smeared some modeling paste on the page. I love the result, it's so vibrant and the texture is fantastic!

Thank you for stopping by.

till next time,
Grace

Altered Jewelry Frame *Ribbons Unlimited Inc.*

Hello ribbon friends. One of the things on my “to make” list is a jewelry organizer. I’ve seen various kinds in Pinterest and decided to go with a frame one.  I found a frame that had a nice edge/frame to it at the thrift store and knew that it would be a perfect base for my project. With the help of some grosgrain ribbon fromRibbon’s Unlimited Inc., my project came together in a snap and with lots of personality. Read on to see how I created my frame.

Instructions:

1. First step was to paint the frame. At first I decided to hand paint it with a brush and acrylic paint. But because my frame has many intricate parts, it was hard to give it a good overall coverage. So I bought a small can of spray paint and then painted it brown instead of my original idea of apple green. 

 2. While the paint is drying, I worked on the center of the frame. I measured the inside part of the frame and cut a piece of cardboard to fit.

3. Then I found this chicken wire paper from my stash and adhered it to my cardboard backing. I trimmed off the excess using a craft knife.

 4. Then I laid my ribbon diagonally onto my board and started cutting them at an angle.

5. I repeated the same process with the ribbons going on the opposite direction and cut the trims to my desired length.  

6. Next I laid the ribbons, weaving them through each other to create the cross pattern and then hot glued the ends to the back of the cardboard. 

7. I then adhered the cardboard to the existing frame backing with some more hot glue and it was ready to be used. 

 Here’s some more close up of the project….

Thank you for joining me today and happy creating.

-Grace

Supplies Used:

#995Grosgrain stripes, Yellow, 3/8”, Ribbons Unlimited Inc.

Frame- Thrift store

Pattern paper- Hambly Screen Prints

Spray paint- Krylon

Others- Cardboard, Hot glue gun

Pulpit Rock Hike layout

Even though there's a newborn in our home right now, I am finding myself itching to create. So when he naps, I crawl (and I say that because most of the time I feel so tired that I really do feel that I have to drag myself to do anything) to my scrapbook room and work on some pages. Recently I have been getting my "inspirational" fix from sketches. Here's one that I tried my hand on from Scrapbook Challenges...

and here's my take on it....

I am in a "get em done!" mode so I am cramming lots of photos in my pages lately. With this page, I decided to use the spaces for the big title, paper and journaling for more pictures and luckily, it worked for my 9 photos. 

I am also trying to use up more products so I find myself rummaging through my stash for embellishments and accents. I used some chipboard shapes as my visual triangle. I wrapped some twine around them for added texture.

I wanted my title to still be huge so I created this block from paper to house it. I added some strips of paper in between the words to make the title fit the block better instead of it looking like it's floating in this big space.

So there you have it. Please visit Scrapbook Challenges site here for more scrappy inspirations.

Thank you for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace

Happy Thanksgiving card *Inspired By Stamping*

Hi crafty friends. Grace here to share with you a quick card that reflects the season that we are about to come into. I love the autumn season. The weather is a little bit cooler and the leaves start turning into it's Fall colors. So beautiful!

 

With this card, I rummaged through my scrap stash and gathered papers that reflected the sentiment/season of my card. Then I used the Happy Fall stamp set to add my sentiment along with some fall leaves.  I decided to curl the edges of my handcut leaves to create some dimension and "motion" to my card.

 

  Thank you for joining me today and Happy creating. -Grace

    




Happy Fall stamp set, Inspired By Stamping
Others: Cardstock; Pattern paper (Basic Grey, Lawn Fawn, Echo Park); Enamel dots (homemade); Inks (American Crafts); Black Pen (Millennium, Zig)

Our bundle of joy is growing

I'm still trying to make a decision if I have the brain power and energy to do a weekly update on Mason or just do a monthly one along with a few photos. Since he's my last child, I have this urge to record/document every little move and growth he makes but at the same time I am also realistic in the fact that I would probably not be able to keep up with it. 

So with that being said, I will do the best I can and hopefully be able to jot down important facts about him. And I will start with the following...

1. His first week was full of struggles. I was not producing enough milk that he lost almost 10% of his birth weight. Thankfully we had some formula on hand to feed him. I've had this issue before with my other kids' and somehow, even after knowing we will get through this hump, it still stressed me out to know that I was not giving my child what he needed.

2. The poor baby also had to deal with lots of blood test since his Bilirubin count kept on rising and he was showing signs of Jaundice. Fortunately after getting some food (from the formula) his numbers stabled enough that he didn't need to be poked anymore. 

3. Because of all of this, he didn't sleep on a regular basis. We were up at least three times every night and his naps were inconsistent. Sometimes it would go for three hours and others for only a few minutes. 

But despite all of that, everyone at home is enthralled by him. Maddie always wants to hold him and Marcus likes to talk "baby talk" with him. Here are some pictures I snapped on Labor day...

I love the picture above and although we all know that babies don't smile yet at this point, and it's just gas, it's still pretty darn cute that I was able to capture this moment with him smiling (sort of)

He's going to be a month old next week and so I need to catch up with all of his baby updates soon if I wanted to document his growth weekly. Do you have any suggestions? I'm open to it all.

Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace

Red Rock Canyon layout *Ribbons Unlimited Inc.*

Hello Ribbon friends. Today I’m sharing a layout I created recently with some ribbon accents from Ribbons Unlimited Inc. My favorite part of adding ribbon to my scrapbook pages is finding ways to layer and create dimension with them. With the different widths that Ribbons Unlimited Inc. offers, it was super easy to achieve my goals. Read on to see how I created this scrapbook page….

Instructions:

1. Gather your supplies

2. Trim the grey pattern paper to about 11 ½” square and adhere to the yellow cardstock, centering it. Adhere the pictures. 

3. Add the journaling block on the bottom of the layout, next to the photo. Cut the ends of three different ribbons into a notch and adhere them on the left side of the layout, layering them over each other a little bit. 

4. Add the title using two different sizes of letter stickers. 

5. Add the yellow grosgrain striped ribbon on the bottom of the layout, ruffling it a little bit and attaching it with some machine stitching.  

6. Add other embellishments, layering them over each other. Add some glitter glue to the centers of the butterflies and set aside to dry.

Here’s a few close ups of the scrapbook page…

I hope this inspired you to layer your trims and ribbons on your next scrapbook page.

-Grace

Supplies Used:

#995 Grosgrainstripes, Yellow, 3/8”, Ribbons Unlimited Inc.

Royal/white dots, Polka dot, 1 1/2", Ribbons Unlimited Inc. 

Grosgrain,Stripes, 5/8”, Ribbons Unlimited Inc.

Countrycheck, Red, 1”, Ribbons Unlimited Inc.

Cardstock- Worldwin Papers

Pattern papers- My girl, American Crafts

Butterfly chipboard- Studio Calico

Glitter glue- Turquoise, Stickles, Ranger Industries

Stickers- American Crafts, My Mind’s Eye

Circle punch- EK Success
Pen- Millenium, Zig