A Baby Gift

This week has been a fun week as I've been enjoying catching up on many projects and working on a few gifts.  Tonight we have a "Meet the Newest Family Member" party for some friends of ours and can I tell you - I am excited!  Babies seem to be popping out all over the place and I am loving seeing all the sweet little ones.  This fabulous family already has several children so asked that we not bring toys or clothes because they had plenty with their already 4 small children!  Of course we were told not to bring anything, just come meet the baby but I have to bring something - right!?!  What does a mom with lots of kids need that doesn't fit the typical "we don't need anything for baby"?  After thinking about it, and remembering something that another consultant showed off at convention last year,  I think I came up with the perfect gift.  I know when I had 4 under 5 I was having a hard time keeping up when they each did the next "new" thing.  To help overcome that problem I made this cute Baby Event Calendar.  I even attached a pen so she doesn't have to find one with baby in arm, other small ones asking her questions and then trying to remember what she was doing, and then to remember what she was doing but only to forget what she wanted to write down (I know, I've been there). :-)

 

The white space at the top is for them to write in the baby's birth date.  I didn't know the actual date but wanted to leave a spot for it.   These event calendars have always been well loved by my friends as they make a great place to jot down those events that happen year after year (like birthday's and anniversary's) and give you a visual reminder to send a card or get a gift. I showed off several in the past that I have created for friends or taught in a workshop.  The calendar has a plain front cover and looks like this on the inside.

Of course the calendar starts with the first month of the year and not all babies are born in January (really :) ) so I just made a quick tag to change the months and put them in order starting when the baby was born.  Using the Babycakes Papers (X7173B) and Babycakes My Stickease (X7173C) and the Originials Card Book (9036) and Wishes Card Book (9041) and the 4x4 card templates in the books, I was able to create this cute page. 

 

Here are the "cards" I made for each page/month. The whole project took about 3 hours and allowed me to use what I already had - Love that!!!

If you like this idea and want to create  your own, I highly recommend you order your papers and calendar asap as the Babycakes papers and stickease will retire in June.   Happy Scrappin'!

Free To Be Me Workshop layout

I am loving our National Scrapbooking Month special - the Free To Be Me paper kit for only $5 with a $50 purchase.  To make this an even better deal,  I am offering a special workshop on June 14 to anyone who makes a purchase on my website and receives their own Free To Be Me paper kit.

The papers are bright, bold and beautiful!  Take a look!

Here is one of the layouts I will be creating with you during the workshop:

 The funny thing about that layout - The pictures were taken 6 years ago!  Can you believe it!  And to make it hit home even more, last night I went to the same Mother's Day Out as these were taken to celebrate my nephews graduation.   Wow, how time flies!

To create this layout and the other fun projects for my workshop, you will need some Aqua Dots (Z1853) and Triangle Studs (Z1928) which you can add to your order to help you reach the $50 needed to receive this kit for only $5.  $50 worth of product you need, an exclusive National Scrapbooking Month paper kit and a Workshop all in one - now that's a great deal!  Place your order here now.

 Also, don't forget that you will qualify for this month's stamp of the month too - the adorable You've Got a Friend stamp set - a value of $17.95 for only $5!  And let me tell you, this stamp sets works perfectly with our Free to Be Me paper kit!  What a great combo!

Girls Weekend Layout

I'm sitting here tonight remembering what I did just two weeks ago.  It seems like forever ago with the way my life goes but the memories are so good and peaceful that I keep trying to take myself back there.   Two weeks ago I was relaxing outside by the fire at the beautiful Grand Oak Retreat in Scottsboro, AL.  This place has become our #1 scrapbook retreat as Cindy knows how to take care of us pampered girls.  The food, the atmosphere, the time to get away and scrapbook is all amazing. Oh to be back there right now..... Well, I may not be able to be back there right now but I look forward to our November retreat and then again in May.  It is official, we were able to get the first weekend of May as our groups weekend as well as our November weekend.  YEAH!!!  I already have a full list but if you would like to join us then let me know and I will add you to the waiting list.  I promise you will not be disappointed.

Here is the layout that we created during our weekend stay to help us remember the fun and beauty of the weekend.  Hope you like it.

 Layout was created using the beautiful Skylark papers

Fabulous Five Bundle Offers

Close to My Heart just announced FIVE new bundles of current product that they have discounted in order to give you a great start or to help you continue down your paper crafting journey.

Take a look at the Fabulous Five:

 

Order your favorite collection here while supplies last.

Another Fabulous Retreat

At this time last week I was scrapbooking with a bunch of amazing ladies in the hills of Scottsboro,  AL. What has become our bi-annual scrapbook treat is an event that we all look forward to.

To welcome the girls when they arrived I had made these simple little gift buckets for each person in or group.  The little tags were simply copied from the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge instruction section on the booklet but changing the card as shown to a simple tag and changing the colors to fit the spring time event. 

Each night during the retreat I lead one simple workshop to give everyone something fun to make,  maybe outside of their box,  but something fun that we can take away with us.  Thursday night we made these cute gift bags with our Muslim bags. We simply stamped on the bags using our pigment inks and attached a cute flower also cut from the Art Philosophy Cricut Catridge and used our quilling tool to form the flower.  A couple glue dots, a little ribbon and viola, a cute gift bag ready for Mother's Day, Graduation,  a wedding or whatever you may need a little gift bag for.   I love giving gift cards in something this simple to create - it just makes the gift card seem a little more planned and thought about. 

Here is another one I did at Christmas. Easy Peasy. Just stamp the initial of the person you are giving it to in the inside of the wreath and your gift tags is taken care of too!

Have you used these Muslim bags?  If not, order yours today and let me see how you decorate yours up.