Atlas Sunshine | Yearbook 2013

Here's my little sunshine!

I mostly used a Facebook Hop freebie from Sweet Shoppe Designs for this one. All their designers pitched in and there were some amazing kits!

From You Are My Happy Collaboration: Paper: Melissa Bennett, Studio Basic Designs, Sugarplum Paperie; Elements: Jady Day Studio, Kristin Cronin-Barrow, Zoe Pearn, Meghan Mullens, Melissa Bennett, Llilla Designs; Journaling Card, Word Labels : Meghan Mullens, Jenn Barrett, Julie Billingsley, Juliana Kneipp, Misty Cato, Mari Keogetenberg
Other: Background Paper: Miss Tiina; Hexagon Cutting Mask: Robyn Meierotto; Woodgrain Brush: Just Jaimee; Actions/Styles: Shadows: Gennifer Bursett; Folded Paper: Mommyish

Getting Started | YearBook 2013

 

It's taken me three months to finally make up my mind how I want to do our Family Album this year. I knew I wanted to do digital, so I researched several different companies and finally decided on the company, the size of the book, and the layout style I want to use throughout the book. I decided to use the same template (which I made) for each month's review, then use Project Life style templates for extra pictures, and add scrapbook layouts as I go. Here are the first four pages for our Court Family Yearbook!

I've been downloading the Storyteller collections from Just Jaimee and I LOVE them! They are fun, colorful, and have so many useable products in them. I love the variety of items she has, and that she puts the same categories in each collection. For example, each  storyteller kit this year has had a pack of messy borders, which I have totally used here!

{TIP: If you sign up for her newsletter, she sends subscribers a special price when the kit first comes out!}

I figure if I use the kits from Just Jaimee almost exclusively for the Review pages, there will be a better continuity to the entire album.

 

As you can tell, not much happened in January or February this year! There just wasn't much to tell! We were sick for most of January and February was spent catching up! Just to illustrate how little we did, here's a look at the number of photos we took each month:

January: 63

February: 95

March: 259

Big difference, right?!

So now that I have a plan, I will hopefully be turning out more and more pages! Stay tuned.

PS. What book printing company do you love?

DIY Kids Coins

 I've been busy! I got this idea a few weeks ago and started figuring it out in my mind while I waited on buying some supplies (this was NOT expensive!) My mind started rolling after seeing this post about robot coins here, and this idea about story stones here. I've also been brainstorming games and activities to help Otto count up to 20. He's great up to 12, then gets confused with the teen numbers {whose brilliant idea was is to name them that way?}. So the Coins were born. I like that they are small . I like that they are sturdy. I like that they have numbers and pictures. I like that with one item, there are many different games and activities.

So here's the idea and the many uses of the coins: 

1. Otto can post the coins in numerical order while at the same time (this is important so they aren't fighting!) Atlas can post the coins which have pictures on both sides.

2. Both boys take turns picking ones that I specifically ask for (ei. Atlas, where's the guitar? He LOVES it!)

 

3. Otto can sort them by categories: Numbers, Weather/Nature, Things, Food, People/Animals, and Transportation.

4. We can pick them out of the jar one by one and use them as story coins. The idea is that you choose one to start your story, then as you go along keep choosing new coins, weaving that item into your story.

5. They can be used to match colors, and I'm sure we'll find other uses for them as we use them more!

Here are the coins front side:

 

And flip side:

 

I wish I could give everyone my JPEGs for printing them out, but because I used all items from scrapbook designers, it would be illegal! I can tell you how I made them and give credit to the designers whose work I used.

I used 1.5" wooden discs from Michaels. They were 22 discs to a pack, and I used 32 coins. (There are some leftover, so I can always add more pictures if I want.) Since I couldn't just wait to use two 40% coupons in two visits (the only store that carried these were a bit far away), I used one coupon and bought the other at full price. Total price: $8

The can was an upcycle cocoa can. Total price: free (we already used the cocoa, right?) I covered the can with some nice scrapbook paper. Price: 25¢

For the images, I created a new document in Photoshop Elements and made a template to house each item at the perfect size. You can download this PSD template here.

Then I added each item, resizing them to fit. Some of the items are from online freebies while others are from kits I purchased previous to this project. After I filled a page with the items, I deleted the template part and printed the sheet. 

Next, I used a 1-1/4" circle punch to punch the images, then mod podged the circles onto the discs. My husband commented, "That's your favorite stuff, isn't it?" Well, I do love my Mod Podge!

And there you have it! Fun Coins!

A breakdown of the items I used:

Sahlin Studio: numbers (recolored), deer; 

Designs By Dani: flower, shoe, ice cream, popsicle, boy/girl, robot, owl, blue car, street light, yellow bus, rocket ship, skateboard, submarine, blimp, race car; 

Just Jaimee: rainbow, cloud, boots, beach ball, hot air balloon; 

Creativity By Crystal: planet, house, guitar, apple, whale, dump truck; 

Megan Turnidge: star, arrow; Amy Stoffel: raccoon, fox

Melissa Bennett: sun; Karla Dudley: moon; Sugary Fancy: umbrella; Sugar Hill Co: tree; Queen of Quirk: record player (recolored); Zoe Pearn: heart; Digital Design Essentials: camera; Cinnamon Scraps: cupcake; Little Butterfly Wings: dog; Jady Day Studio: bee; R. Wagler: butterfly

Getting Crafty | Easter

I like to think that the boys love to craft, but I've finally allowed myself to admit the truth. Only one loves to craft. The other gets excited about it, but it doesn't last long. Otto loves to manipulate things with his hands - he enjoyed piling the cotton balls shown on this project into a mountain, gluing some in the process, but then decided he was done - not even a quarter of the way into the project! Atlas, on the other hand, completed his entire project then wanted to finish Otto's for him! Then he got excited as he watched me stapling the ears on, wanting to staple something himself. That started another project of stapling a book (a few folded pieces of paper together) and drawing in it. Also completed. The whole time Atlas was crafting, Otto kept himself busy cutting pieces of paper into tinier pieces of paper. A boy's fascination with scissors...

The bottom picture shows the few Spring/Easter crafts we've done so far: painting on cardboard (the hands belong to Atlas), coffee filter butterflies (Otto: one. Atlas: three.), and the cotton ball bunnies we made today.

I can't wait to do this craft with the boys for Easter FHE:

(click on the picture for the link. Includes a Free Printable)

Playdough. For 4 Hours.

 We put Atlas down for a nap (earlier this month), and this big boy played playdough for 

FOUR hours!

Atlas had a full nap and then joined the fun. Otto built walls, dinosaurs, and did a little baking/mixing in the end. I couldn't believe how intensely and how long he played!

We have been using this playdough recipe, found here:

 

(click on picture for the link)

The last time I made this recipe, I tried to add a scent to it using tea water, but it didn't really work, so I tried adding some almond extract. I had to add quite a bit to get even a faint scent. Have you tried adding scent to your playdough?

Valentine Hearts

This week was Valentine's Day. I hope you all felt the love! I was so prepared this year. After our family being sick for most of January, I wanted to be sure to do some fun things with the boys in February for Valentine's Day. So, we baked sugar cookies and decorated them - the boys helped with everything! They loved watching me roll out the dough, then being able to take their cookie cutters and cut the dough into hearts and little animal shapes. We waited until Atlas was napping to do the decorating (because I just knew how that could go!) Otto loved mixing the icing and sampling the red and pink Mike and Ikes we got to decorate the tops. He decorated the big ones we made for the grandparents and Pappy (Andy), and a few small hearts, then decided he was done.

Another other crafty thing we did for Valentine's were these beautiful hearts! They were so simple. I got the idea from here and it was perfect for both boys to do. They ripped tissue paper, then used paint brushes to glue them to wax paper with Kid's Mod Podge. Atlas especially loved the gluing part! Otto helped me cut out some of the hearts (then announcing that he was done), and I strung them into a banner for the window. It looks so pretty in our window! Definitely a project we may have to add to next year!

 

The boys and I also made some Valentine playdough. I tried to brew some tea to make it smell nice, but it really didn't work, so I added some almond extract... and then some more, and then some more... but it just didn't take! I guess the salt smell is just too powerful. I've seen blog posts by others on how they fragranced their playdough, so I'll have to try again. Or maybe it doesn't work as well with herbal tea? Not sure.

Happy Valentine's!

How to wash dishes Otto style I Digi LO

A digital layout on a Sunday night. I've been looking at pictures the last several days, with a 2012 mini album in mind. I'm super excited, but it will require a bit of prep before I can get to it. But too much prep gets too boring, so I had to scrapbook one of the best photos of last year, and this one was it. Totally happens all the time even still. My silly boy.

{Papers: Juliana Kneipp, L.Grier, Sarah Schmutz; Mask: Karen Funk, Robyn Meierotto; Embellishments(button, labels, date strip): Megan Turnidge, Creativity By Crystal, Juliana Kneipp; Tag: Gennifer Bursett; Fiber: Shabby Princess}