Smile Brother | Yearbook 2013

I've been working on this one on and off for some time now. I basically scraplifted the LO with inspiration from here and here, but I had to make the digital template from scratch. I'm a little proud of myself for figuring it out and putting all the chevron pieces together. I would love to know how to make the ends of the papers curl in Photoshop Elements, but I'm not even sure it's possible. Probably, but I just don't know how yet.

I love these two boys. They are such a joy. And I love how Otto always calls Atlas, "Brother".  I never encouraged it, but that's just what Otto calls him. It's cute.

Looking forward to working more on our family Yearbook.

So Thankful | In Pictures

I have so much to be thankful for. My most thankful thing last weekend was getting out into the wide-open space with my family. It was beautiful seeing the cousins together, and the love they show one another.

 

 

Frank Lake | Yearbook 2013

 

 

Three more for our 2013 book.

Absolutely LOVE the minimalistic look of the top page. It could almost be an album cover! This is, I think, the best photo yet this year! These were taken the day before Easter, in March.

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, 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? Update: We now regularly scent our playdough with essential oils. A few drops does the trick, worked in after we warm it over the stove. We've tried citrus oils - lemon, lime, grapefruit, orange, and we also love lavender, eucalyptus, and peppermint. The boys love choosing their color and scent, and will help to work it in, kneading it like bread dough. So fun!

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}

Otto and Paisley On Bikes | Digital LO

Paper: DDE(Digital Design Essentials); Font(O, P): Sahlin Studio; Word art (loving): Paislee Press; Date stamp: Katie Pertiet

I'm on a Scrapbook/Crafting retreat this weekend and I've got lots of "business" to do (aka NOT scrapbooking), but I just HAD to do some scrapping! So here's the first page of the weekend.

Edited: This was the ONLY page I did this weekend! But I think it is my favorite Digital Scrapbook LO to date. It is so simple and minimalist. I love it. Still learning the ropes, but I feel I'm getting better all the time.

Critical Stage of Development... Who knew?!

 The other day, a friend and I were discussing some critical stages of development in our children. He mentioned how they have discovered that their son had missed some stages of development in his young life, and they are now trying to implement learning those stages now that he is older. One of these stages is crawling. I don't even know the half of what good crawling can be for left brain right brain development and on and on. Then my friend started to talk about how some mothers would cringe to find out that throwing their children high in the air (like some Dads do) is actually a very important stage of development as well. And I thought....

 

I think we've got that one covered.

 

In fact, I believe the boys are pretty darn brilliant in this area.

  

No worries here.

{excuse the messy bedroom. can you tell these pictures weren't planned?!}

Loving these two together. And wishing often that P's family lived closer so we could DO this more often! Otto and his cousin are only two months apart in age, and they have such fun when they get together. We miss you!

Cousins, Monkeying Around

I issued a challenge to my SIL Karley to do a LO using pictures of our kids at the playground. For me, it's easy to fall into the habit of always organizing my scrapbook supplies (traditional or digital), because most of the time, I need to start a LO with a clean slate, meaning that my scrapbook area has to be free from clutter, and everything in its place. On the computer, it means that all my files need to be tagged and organized before I feel that I can scrapbook. The beauty of doing digital scrapbooking, though, is that my "desk" is virtually clean. All the time. So, all I have to do is stop organizing the files and get right to it! So I challenged Karley and myself to do just that. And here is my LO of the cousins. All said, it took me about an hour to complete. Love that. And when you use one kit to get the job done, it's a breeze! (kit: Just Jaimee, Spring Freebie Collection. You can grab your own on her site here. She has some really cute designs. Shadows from here: Gennifer Bursett, Toolbox Shadows V.1 found here.)

My Dino Box {or Dinos in a Tin!}

When we visited the Royal Tyrell Museum this spring, we picked up these tiny adorable pocket dinosaurs. They were perfect in the quiet bag for church and of course, Otto was over the moon for them, he thought they were so cool. I've had an idea in my head to create a landscape for them. Originally I thought I'd make it out of fabric and felt and have it fold in on itself, but then I found this tin and it was perfect! It would hold a tiny landscape and the dinos themselves, and would be sturdy enough to withstand two little boys playing with it. Perfect. I used scrapbook paper, some stickers, letter stamps, and felt inside for the sun, lake, and volcano. I mod podged the outside of the tin where I stuck paper. 

I love having boys. Sometimes this means that I don't have to frill things up - I can just leave them plain and simple and know it will be well loved.

Paint in a Bag

We made paint in a bag last week and it was super fun. I got two recipes for making your own paints from Family Fun crafts here and a different recipe to try another time here These recipes would also be great to try as finger paints. I loved this recipe because the colors aren't so transparent, and you can make it yourself without having to buy expensive paints from the store. We mixed up some primary colors and Otto smooshed them with his tummy and hands to see what colors they would "turn into". This was really fun, and the bags are still here and paint is still soft, almost a week later. The only thing I'd do differently is put the paints in bigger ziploc bags or put less paints in the smaller bags. Because if I'd have done that, we could use these not only to squish the paint, but to continue to do mess-free paintings like here. I think I'll transfer some paint over so some bigger bags this week to do some paint writing like that.

Pom Pom War

A little while ago I let the boys have at 'er with all the mini pom poms I've been hoarding saving. If I remember correctly, I just wanted them to be doing something so that I could be doing my something. Totally worked.  At first, they had fun filling and dumping and refilling the five or six empty containers I had given them (ideally for sorting, but I'm a Mama to two very active boys. Who am I kidding?!) Then it became all-out pom pom war, then rolling in the pom poms, filling dump trucks, and so forth. Our family room looked like a pom pom bomb had exploded! Then the boys very diligently helped me pick up every.single.mini. pom pom. 

I'm still finding random pom poms to this day.

My Brother My Friend Subway Art

Last week I was in some kind of funk and just couldn't motivate myself to do much of anything. But I was feeling bad for my boys. We just weren't doing all the usual stuff. I decided that we needed to do something creative. I've been seeing some cool subway art around the internet lately and thought maybe we could make our own. I got so excited that I skipped a step I should have done, then payed for it later on.  I will tell you how I made this and include the step I should have done!

1. I used a plain old 16x20 stretched canvas from Michaels. This had been sitting in my basement forever, with grand plans in my head of what I might do with it. But, plans are better carried out and I decided that my brain was taking too long for those other plans!

2. PREP YOUR CANVAS. Okay, so I didn't do this and had to go back later to touch up the letters because the paint bled under the vinyl letters! So. Very important to prep - use white paint, gesso, whatever. Just don't skip this step!

3. Cut vinyl letters (or get them cut). The bold letters I printed off my computer, then cut them into the vinyl with an exacto, the fun font I cut with my cricut. Stick the letters on your canvas how you want them. Make sure they are well sealed.

4. This is the fun part. Let your kids have free reign with paint, brushes, fingers, and hands! If they are littles like mine are, point out all the "white parts" to cover.

 This is what it looked like when the boys were finished.

 Atlas: "My work here is done."

5. Allow to dry. When paint is dry, you can spray the whole thing with a lacquer spray for more of a sheen. I used acrylic paint, and I thought it ended up looking a little dull, but the lacquer gives it just enough of a shine. 

6. Carefully peel off your vinyl letters. You can do this before step 5 if you want to spray everything, letters and all.

 As you can see here, there was a bit of bleeding. I ended up touching up the bold letters, but not the names. The letters would have been much crisper had I only been a little more patient and did #2!

So there you go. Totally easy, Totally do-able, Totally Cool art for your home.

Monday, Monday

 We flew a kite tonight. The wind was perfect and the boys were mesmerized.

This morning, the ground was too wet for my outdoor fitness class, so I pushed up my sleeves and got some housework done. After Atlas woke up from his nap, we had a late lunch of smoothies, which are a hit around here, that's for sure!

Atlas is upset that I won't let him play with his straw, getting smoothie all over my nice clean floor. I'm a mean Mama that way, I guess.

He's 3! With a Rainbow Party!

 Otto turned 3 last week and he couldn't be more excited. He's been talking for months about his "Rainbow Birthday" and it finally happened! A little back story: Around the supper table, my parents ask everyone what their thankful thing for the day is. Since my niece and nephew have been staying with them since January, they've gotten into the habit too. So even when they come to my house, they always ask, "What is your thankful thing?" For months, every time Otto is asked what his thankful thing is, he replies, "I'm thankful for my RAINBOW BIRTHDAY.", the last part usually said in the most awesome way possible. After he says it, his cousins will always say, "NOT AGAIN!" because he says it every. single. time. Needless to say, he was excited for what was to come. And come it did, in all its glory!

 

We had RAINBOW everything! Rainbow games - a rainbow relay where the kids had to run to assemble the pieces of the rainbow, and rainbow bean bag toss (not pictured). Everything on the food table was rainbow too: rainbow jello, rainbow Skittles and Twizzlers,  rainbow fruit, and the Super Epic Rainbow Cake I made myself thanks to Whisk Kid. I made the loot bags myself: personalized vinyl pouches, coloring book with pictures of Otto's favorite characters, crayons, and of course, some rainbow Skittles!

 

On Otto's actual birth day, we spent some time at Gramma and Grandpa's, where they gave him his gifts. The best gift in Otto's eyes is the dinosaur quilt Gramma made for him. He LOVED it! As soon as he got over the shock of how awesome it is, he immediately started pointing at each of the dinosaurs, naming them by name, "That one triceratops. That one a brachiasaurus. That one T-Rex. That one stegasaurus!" He was over the moon! Then Gramma and Grandpa took us all out for ice cream and the cousins all played in the playland.

When Pappy got home for the weekend, he brought one more gift for Otto - a balance bike, which Otto just loves!

 

Happy Birthday, Otto!

At least 30 reasons to be SO VERY grateful!

About a month ago, I did a stupid thing. Very stupid. And I don't use that word very often. But what I did was colossally stupid. To make a long story short, I deleted ALL my pictures. They hadn't been backed up and I thought they were GONE. I cried for days. I cried for weeks.

Thankfully for me, I had a friend I could turn to. The first time he did a recovery, he came up with around 21000 pictures. Unfortunately, they were all crap. Either files which had been deleted previously or files which were way too small to do anything with (we're talking 8KB or smaller). And there was virtually nothing of what I was so sad to have lost - the first 7 months of Atlas's life!! How could I have been so daft?! So, away went my external hard drive to my friend again, who ran another recovery on it. Came up with nothing. I thought that was it, and I was trying to be resolved to this fate. However, to my great surprise and joy, when I went to pick up the drive, my friend handed me another smaller drive and said, "I was able to recover about 9000 files which I copied to this drive. Take a look and see if they are what you lost." He had gone the extra mile and thought he'd run a completely different recover program. He recovered almost EVERYTHING! I say almost because there are some random pictures I know are missing. But I'm definitely NOT complaining! What was recovered is so very precious to me, as you can understand. So... here are at least 30 reasons I am grateful:

1. Otto laughing with Andy at the zoo.
2. Andy, Otto and I outside out house on a Sunday morning.
3. Otto kissing my pregnant belly.
4. Our first looks at Atlas.
5. Holding Atlas in my arms for the first time.
6. Otto meeting Atlas for the first time.
7. A first photo shoot with Atlas.
8. Atlas asleep and bundled up on the quilt I made for him.
9. Otto hiding and surprising us at his grandparents (in the closet).
10. Otto helping take Atlas' temperature at the midwives' office.
11. Atlas lounging.
12. The cutest picture of Otto ever. Happy to stop jumping on the bed for one second to flash a million dollar smile for Mama.
13. Another million dollar smile. This time from Atlas.
14. Otto and Andy pouring water in the bath. This was too cute!
15. My handsome husband.
16. One of the many pictures I've taken of Otto in his bed with random things around him. This one is classic - he's asleep right in the middle of the hula hoop!
17. Otto blowing bubbles at a family reunion last summer.
18. Oh, my Atlas. What a little sweetheart!
19. Otto playing the harmonica for a ready audience of one.
20. Andy and Atlas having a wee nap together, hand-in-hand.
21. Otto's first pony ride.
22. Otto and Atlas laying on the quilt and playing.
23. Otto and Atlas in the stroller together.
24. Otto having fun with his cousins in our jumping tent.
25. The bandaid on Otto's head. He said that Pappy had got it for him. "Pappy, so nice."
26. A happy little Atlas!
27. The boys and Mama having some fun play time. They love all the bouncy songs and want to do them all together.
28. A quick kiss. (Can it get any better than this?!)
29. A bundled up Atlas.
30. A cute Atlas beside his favorite horse.

These are moments in my life and the lives of my family which I never want to forget and which I want to be able to share for years to come. Great memories, every-day memories. These are so precious.

All Bundled Up

Here is a recent LO I've done. It was super quick and super easy. My favorite part (besides the ridiculously adorable picture of Otto) are the Stampin' Up felt snowflakes and the white foam letter stickers. Would you believe that these stickers come from the dollar store?! I LOVE the white ones because I can dress them up with a muted stamp so they aren't so stark!

Otto's First Year Mini

It's about time I posted this album! This is one of my favorite minis I've made so far. Did I say that about the summer one? Well, one of the reasons why this one was a favorite is because it was actually quite simple. The bare bones of it and the fact that certain elements and techniques were carried throughout made a lot of it much easier to put together. Here's how I did it:

• I started with pre-purchased envelopes which were something like 5" x 11". I cut the long side down to 7" to accommodate my 5x7 photos. I punched a slit through one side only to make the tabs (which would be used on the inserts) visible.
• In Photoshop, I added the month and the number of months old Otto was in each picture, and lowered the opacity.
• I printed Otto's accomplishments for each month on white cardstock and left room to add extra pictures. On the back of the cardstock, I wrote which number month it was.
  

• On the right sides of the pages, I adhered my 5x7 photos. On the left side, I used up to three 2x3 photos, a Making Memories premade journaling spot with the numbered month in white, a strip of border punched paper, and a simple embellishment. I stiched around each left-side page before adhering it in the album.

• I used 7 different patterned papers throughout, using each only once or twice, and using extra for the strips of border punched paper. I used strips of these papers for the front and back cover as well.
• I bound it using my Cinch (which I am in love with, btw!) and added some ribbon.
  

So here is 0-12 of Otto's first year!
Remember, you can click on any one image to see it larger.