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.

New LO and Easy Scrap Craft for the boy

I finally made a new LO! I had made a deal with myself: As soon as I cleared the crap off both my craft desks, I could actually craft again! Most of the things on my desks just needed to find places, be organized, etc. I got to it and reaped the rewards when all was completed! I even got to indulge in a bit of Forsythe Saga with Netflix! 

Manilla tags have been popping up everywhere in scrapbooking, and since I've sat on my boxes of tags for quite awhile, I thought I should put them to creative use! I used them here in my LO,

and here, in a very easy craft Otto and I did together. I LOVE washi tapes! I purchased some from Freckled Fawn and was so pleased with their service and shipping prices!!! You don't find good shipping prices often! And the tapes are adorable! I sat down with Otto, while he did his own tag and I did one for Atlas. So easy. I just ripped some of each tape and set it on the side of the desk and he decided where it went, we punched their names with my DYMO, printed off some recent pictures on plain 80lb white paper {because I seem to be behind, yet again, on getting recent pictures developed!}, and he chose the type/color string for the pull. He was so pleased with himself, and what a cute result, no?

Mini Album: Atlas Birth Day

I love making acrylic mini albums. I made one for Otto's "Birth" day (here) so I also made one for Atlas. I love the colors- I had decided on them before he was born. I love the mustard yellow and teal and I figured I could add pale pink or white if he was a girl, or brown for boy. Yay for us that I could add brown!

I also added some owls and toadstools here and there. I love the nature-y stuff and it's always a great thing to put on boy pages!

I added some scrap pieces of fabric to the o-ring to finish it all off.

Long Overdue Scrapbook Update: no.2 Family Pages

Family of Four: I love the little paper banner. It needed it as I realized the vintage paper wasn't wide enough... after I had tacked it down already!

Journaling reads: "You are so lucky to have a Pappy who can throw you so high in the air. Never fear. He will always catch you!"

I love the shots of us walking with Otto. I haven't really decided yet what I want to journal in the journal space.

This boy JUMPS. This totally describes who Otto is right now.

Long overdue Scrapbook Update: no.1 OLW

Yes, it's been awhile. I had big plans to update my blog more frequently this year, but after my picture fiasco, everything stood at a stand still. So, here come some scrapbook LOs I've done in the past while.

First up is this assignment for One Little Word: nine spots describing and circling around my One Little Word for this year: Prepare. Last year, my album's main color was green (surprising? no.) This year I decided to go with something fresh, so it's yellow with a bit of blue and grey.

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.

I Love You LO

I finally put this one together. It's been in my mind's eye for quite some time, but I wanted it to be perfect, and now's the time. Journaling reads: "How excited we were to catch our first glimpse of our 1st baby. And how tickled we were when our little one gave us that special sign we are so familiar with - "I love you". Well, little one, we love you too."


And an update with my one little word: I've been taking Ali's class and I've really enjoyed the prompts and the way she has encouraged us to keep our word in mind. I've really been trying to "focus" on focusing on the important things. One thing I've really found that has improved is my goal of not procrastinating the thoughts and ideas in my head. If I know that I should do it, I have been doing it. This goes for crafty things, like the baby quilt I've been working on, and beginning to cut the master bed quilt I have in mind, scrapbook layouts and mini albums, for physical things I have been putting off for too long: EXERCISE!, and just plain old upkeep: doing the dishes right away. I even followed my thought pattern last week and made cookies (I haven't made cookies since Christmas time!) I am feeling good about my goals and my one little word!

Summer Mini

I recently went on a crop and got most of this summer mini done. Then, I was very sick (and quite out of it) for a week, and on some heavy pain killers. I'm feeling better now, and I'm slowly regaining more energy daily. So, I was finally able to finish this and now able to show you!

This started out as an altered book. My good friend Birdie, who is a wonderful print artist, made this beautiful book and gave it to us at Otto's baby shower. And since then, I've been wondering what wonderful things I could put in it! I wanted it to be for family pictures or solely for Otto pictures.

The problem was that it was a very long accordion book and I knew that the moment I showed it to Otto and let him touch and look at it, it would get ripped quite easily (as evidenced by the stack of books I recently had to glue or tape). So I stewed over this for some time.

I finally came up with a solution I got so excited about! I asked Andy to drill two holes in the side so that I could attach some “o” rings. This way, I could make the accordion pages into pockets into which I could include more pictures and stories (it was, after all, a packed summer!).

Journaling reads: "I'm celebrating summer. Spending my days with a fun little man. Celebrating what makes him happy this first summer of discovery."

I added pictures and embellishments and included many spaces for pockets – behind pictures to allow for longer journaling for our stories (I used Ali Edwards journal overlays), and in the page pockets for extra pictures. I added ribbons and round metal tags for the pulls.

This has been one of my favorite mini books to work on. Thanks Birdie for the beautiful album!

p.s. I made a great mini album for Otto’s first year, which I’ve neglected to post here, so perhaps I will show you that next week! Also in the works: a new baby quilt! So exciting!