Sunday 6 January 2013

Welcome Jack!

Last night, I went down to my room with full intentions to organize my picture with some layouts for an upcoming retreat . I wasn't feeling very inspirational and have been attempting to organize much of the house.  I put on some tunes and grabbed my binder full of current challenges, etc.

I have a crafting group on called Crop Circles on facebook that I draw a lot of inspiration from.  I adore these ladies, many of whom I have never met.  This group is largely there to ask questions, share projects and inspire. This month we had been challenged by Michelle Marks to do a layout with white on white.  This was something I had recently done for a layout called 'A good dog' so I just left it in the back of my mind.  All of a sudden the "Home" song by Phillip Phillips popped on and I listened to the words... I decided that the lyrics would be used for Jack's coming home pictures.  This happened to be perfect to use for a challenge by Scrap That Chat so stay tuned.  I then ran across a sketch by Sketchbook365. This is a site that was new to me and I had printed their latest challenge on my printer.  I didn't pay much attention to the details but instead knew immediately that I wanted to sketch Jack's first born pictures.  You know, the pictures in the hospital birthing room when they are immediately born.  The ones that aren't so pretty yet mean so much to you.  The ones that are so hard to scrap because its too important a page to mess up!

So, at the end of the day I could have scrapped into the wee hours of the morning because I really felt like the juices were flowing. I came up with one of my most favorite layouts ever (largely because it means so much to me:
Materials Used: SU whisper whie DSP background paper (retired), SU whisper white cardstock, MME The Sweetest Thing washi tape, Maya Road trinket pins - vintage pearl butterfly, Glitz paper layers & peek-a-boos, Dear Santa MME letters, Mr. Huey's gold mist, Authentique Festive elements, SC vellum shapes and AC precision pen.

Here's the journalling:
"We knew you were coming and we had been planning for months. Your room was ready and your closet was full. Jane was ready to fulfill her big sister duties and Rooney was prepared to sleep in your room to protect you. We should have known that you would arrive on a special day being Remembrance Day. We will now cherish and celebrate this day because a happy boy finally came into our lives. With much emotion, Mommy watched Daddy look into your eyes to say “hi big guy”, Mommy watched Jane run into the hospital room asking “Where’s Jack?” and Mommy caught herself several times wondering how it was possible to love another human being as much as the rest of our family. With your arrival our family felt complete and ready to enjoy unlimited adventures. Mommy can’t find the words to express how happy you have made us. You will always be our boy, our “Jack-y Baby” and we cannot wait to see the man you grow up to be. Mommy and Daddy vow to protect you and to always love you.  "

... nice hey? Because afterall, its about preserving memories, right?

I have ran into another inspirational scrapbook site that offers challenges and decided to enter this in their challenge as well.  Check out The Pink Elephant weekly challenges, as well as their blog hop this week.

I then set out for bed but since there was so much coming to me, I had to get those ideas on paper so I didn't forget.  And when I say paper its just creating little piles and post its.  I swa another challenge by Let's Get Sketchy to create a layout with a not so perfect picture.  While I had gone through some pictures earlier I was disappointed how my Christmas Bulb pictures turned out.  But I knew they would match the Paperie December kit that I had been holding on for that "perfect layout"... and my starbucks layout (stay tuned!. And all of a sudden another layout was done.  Wow!
Materials Used: Simple Stories Handmade Holiday paper, Stampin Up gold cardstock, Basic Grey Aspen Frost (cherried roses), Unknown lace, FancyPants Mingled Buttons, MME All is Bright baker's twine, MME Merry & Bright washi, SC Thickers, Simple Stories snap letter (tiny tye), Stampin Up basic rhinestones, Glitz Teeny alphas, and AC precision pen.

Cya! Off to do some work!
Cathy

16 comments:

  1. Jack's layout is just incredible, Cathie! Love the photo.....and the white on white is perfect to showcase it! The Christmas page is a wonderful design....thanks for sharing both :)

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  2. Absolutely gorgeous! Jack is going to have one (or many!) amazing album, if this is any indication. :) Love the new blog look too.

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  3. great job with the challenge, thanks for joining us at LGS!

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  4. thanks for joining us at LGS.. great layers and accents

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  5. Love your layouts and how you did your journaling! Thanks so much for playing along with us at Let's Get Sketchy!

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  6. Fabulous layouts - love them both. Thanks so much for joining us this week at Let's Get Sketchy!

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  7. Wow, both of your layouts are amazing! You did an awesome job! Thanks so much for joining us for the Let's Get Sketchy challenge!

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  8. What a stunning layout! Although the picture isn't perfect, it sure is scrap-worthy! Thanks for playing along with LGS!

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  9. Very pretty layout. Great job with the imperfect pictures! Thanks for playing along with us at LGS

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  10. Both layouts are stunning and your journaling on Jack's layout is so beautiful! What a treasure!!
    Love your Bulbs layout. The stitching around the edge really brings it all together. And those papers are fantastic! Thanks for playing with us at LGS. Now, get some sleep you crazy scrapper!!

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    Replies
    1. I Had to laugh at this comment - thanks Alison!! And yes, I managed to get practically a full night sleep last night thanks to a good sleep by both newborn and toddler... and a little help from my hubby!! I'll be checking out LGS soon - I really had a great time with this last minute challenge!

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  11. Your journaling brought a tear to my eye as a fellow momma. Isn't mother love wonderful? So much love to scrap about.

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  12. So happy you joined us at TPE this week Cathy!! Your layout is gorgeous and so is Jack!! :) Thanks for sharing with us at TPE!
    Hugs - LORi

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  13. What a fabulous page, I enjoyed reading your journaling , thank you for sharing and thank you for taking part:)

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  14. Great layout - love how you interpreted the sketch.

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