Welcome Sweet Baby!

I like to think of myself as a little bit Warhol.

Well, you can tell whats going on in my life by recent layouts, can't you?  Really, baby is life -- those are the only stories I have to tell right now.  I'm not complaining though - the days are long but the weeks are short and she changes so quickly that I'm glad to document things while they're fresh in my mind.

Here is baby Orli just a week or so old as seen in four shrunken versions of her birth announcement.  Because I'm a nerd, several different colorways of the announcement were mailed out and I wanted a way to highlight them all.  Again, we have Dear Lizzy Neapolitan paper and banner (which UHHHG photographed like a parabola instead of a nice swooping banner!) and a little bit of machine sewing.    This was, I think, the first layout I made after Orli came home so I was getting my sea-legs back.  WHERE ARE YOU SEA LEGS? I KNOW I PUT YOU AROUND HERE SOMEWHERE.

Mega Baby!

Biggest baby in the Mother/Baby wing, no joke.

Baby girl was majority bloated after her birth, and i loved all the photos of her fat little face.  We called her the "Mega Baby" in the hospital because she dwarfed all the other newborns, so this was an ode to my little giant.  I used Dear Lizzy Neapolitan (which you will see me using a lot of)  and again kept it really simple out of necessity.  The colors are a little funky in this photo -- sorry about that.  Mommy's opportunities to take photos of layouts are fast and fleeting.  Love those little wooden buttons; picked those up in the Valentine's section of Michaels and think they're an American Crafts rebranding.  Super cute - I wish I had gotten two packs, because I'm actually close to running out.  I guess I'll just have to find something else to love!  Darn, I guess that means shopping.

Happy weekend, everyone!  Hope you're having nice Spring weather!

Being Born

When not enforcing naps, my lovely husband took over many baby duties, allowing me some blocks of time to sit down and play.

It was challenging, though, because these are such epic, important photos that I didn't want to jack them up with too much playing in the layout, or too trendy a paper -- I wanted something clean, timeless, but still fun and still "me".  So I pulled out some absolutely beautiful but understated paper from Webster's Pages Color & Composition line and went to town.  Add in some date stamping, Thickers, a flag I found on clearance at Target, and some glitter ribbon -- and I think it's sassy enough to be a "Laurie" page but classic enough that it will age pretty well in the book as years go by and I won't be horribly embarrassed when I look at it.  (And don't tell me you don't have older pages that you're embarrassed by in your books!  Somethings don't stand the test of time.  CIRCLE CUT PHOTOS I'M LOOKING AT YOU.)

Back! (With Baby!)

Well, it has been awhile, but I'm back from maternity hiatus.  I've got a baby asleep on me right now (I'm the NAP ENFORCER!) but that won't stop me from typing very slowly and updating this blog!

I'll admit, I'm not at my scrappy best right now since I get to scrap in very brief fits and starts since, you know, baby and all -- but I'm creating and it feels great!  Plus its fun to see my books start to fill up again.  In honor of mother's day I thought I'd share a little page about being a mom to my wonderful baby girl.

I'm using Vintage Bliss from Simple Stories (OMG I LOVE THIS LINE) for this one, plus a sticker set from Michaels (Soft Spoken, I think), and some Dear Lizzy Thickers.  Gotta keep it simple if it's getting done!

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

OLW 2013: Enjoy!

2013 has snuck up on me (OMG, am I really having a baby NEXT MONTH?  ACK!) so there are lots of new projects to tackle and it's a a good thing that the slate is clean, because I did not keep up as well as I could have (note I did not say should have -- there is no should in hobbies) in 2012.  2012's Project Life's weekly recaps pretty much ended when I found out I was pregnant (and the horrible exhaustion kicked in), and 2012's OLW didn't really get far at all in regards to projects, even if the word did stick with me and have an impact on my life.

2012 was REMEMBER -- and I did.  I took more photos, wrote in my journal more, worked on Project Life until I really couldn't handle it and just needed to sleep, and really worked on documenting life, not just big events or occasions.

2013 is the year of ENJOY -- with all the big changes that will be happening in my life, I want to remember to enjoy it all.  This time is fleeting, and while it can be overwhelming, I want to focus on taking it all in and really appreciating the small moments.  Also, what could be better in labor than a mantra of "enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!", right?  Right.

ENJOY!

So yesterday I put together my title page of my OLW album (you will note that it is in 2012 style -- I decided just to use the prompts from 2012 which I already paid for but didn't really use rather than pony up cash for 2013 and have 2012 go to waste.  I'll catch up in 2014, I'm sure.  Hah.) Of course, there will not be a OLW 2013 album, as everything will just get put in one or two WRMK faux leather albums for 2013, because I am not really into having lots of different albums for different projects.

Aqua : The color of 2013

I typed on the cards instead of writing by hand, just to try something different.  I'm not loving it, but done is done and I'm for real not re-doing them.  Experimentation is good.  Next time: I'll write by hand.  It just fits my style better.

Tomorrow holds assembling week one of PL, and a giant order of prints from Snapfish should be here Tuesday to get Baby Squid's Project Life Baby Book going.  I'll keep busy this week.  Plus I need to clean my scrap space.  It's been moved to the FROG (that's South Carolinian for Finished Room Over Garage), has lost some surface area, and gets a little chaotic.  Nothing 20 minutes can't solve, though.

Hope you all have nice crafty weekends!

Upcoming Scrappy Releases: The Laurie Must Have List

I'm totally enjoying all the wonderful sneak peeks of the upcoming CHA releases.  Here are my must haves so far (ie. what I want -- we'll see what I actually order once I see the cost of my entire "must have" list).  I think I'm not going to buy a Project Life Kit this year; instead I'll just piece together lots of cards from different collections because I GET SO EXCITED ABOUT LITTLE 3x4 CARDS THAT I CAN CUT UP OUT OF 12x12 PAPER!  Stupidly excited.  Also, none of the "official" PL kits this year are striking me.  I am using the Baby Girl kit for the Squid's baby album which I do like a lot -- I'm into orange/pink this year.

From the sneak peeks so far I have learned:

OMG I LOVE ALLISON KREFT.  

I NEED ALL THINGS KREFT.

Webster's Pages: Sweet Notes.  OMG I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

Webster's Pages: Composition & Color.   YES MUST HAVE IT ALL.

Webster's Pages tends to often feel too "frou-frou" for me, but I'm totally digging these two collections.  I might buy both collection packs because I'm into them so much.  Usually I just piece things together, but these both just seem great from top to bottom.

Photo Freedom: Today's Story

And hello, PL Kit fill-in.  I love the 6x12 cards too, because I love to jam as many different sized page protectors as I can into my yearly album.  For real.  4x6 protectors, 8x8, 6x12, 8.5x11, 12x12 (of course) -- the more sizes I can get into my binder the more pleased I am.  I think its more fun to look at when things peek out and there are different pages sizes to flip through and everything isn't matchy-matchy.

In other news, I'm actually a little bummed with Echo Park's previews, because I am generally a big Echo Park Fan.  But I'm not into cream backgrounds.  Give me bright whites, people.  I don't need any faux aging.

That being said, I do not mind the Creaminess of Simple Stories Vintage Bliss so much.  This might go in my PL Stash.

Simple Stories Vintage Bliss -- totally in my color wheelhouse, even with the cream.

Looking forward to seeing Amy Tangerine and Dear Lizzy -- they always have things I'm pretty much super into.

I'm going to try to get back into blogging.  Incubating Baby Squid got me off track (and HELLO I WAS EXHAUSTED) but I'm feeling better and will soon (omg, next month) have lots of baby photos to scrap.  Okay, so no promises about updating more.  But I want to!

Journal Your er, Hanukkah

Quick update from my phone while I'm stuck in the office: manifesto page (it's 8x8) and the full page photo that will go next to it. Happy December, y'all!