In The Cat Cave

It was a special day today as it was my nephew's first birthday!!  There were a few things in the works for this day as you may have seen a few sneak peeks along the way. I adore the quote on this one, which is a variation of a quote by a rocker (whose name escapes me now) - "Don't be a rockstar. Be a Legend." Both his parents are exceptionally musical... and so we only assume it runs in his blood.  Already he jumps and turns his head at the sound of the muffled drums downstairs.
I also created a mini album for Rivers, which was a variation of the misting mini album class during the Kelly Purkey weekend.  See the bottom of this post for how I turned her variation into a boys version.  This album was created so that my sister could place all the zero to 12 mths photos she had strung across a "clothesline" in the room. She used digital software called picmonkey, which is free online. Or you can use Adobe Photoshop, etc to add font to the pictures. I supplied the twine and mini clothespins (Stampin' Up) but this was all her. Kudos Heather!
When she asked me to do a banner, I quickly sought out my black and white paper, etc.  This banner was largely created by Stampin Up including the dies (Bigz scallop square and circle), punches (2 1/2" circle and star punch), and paper (Big Top Birthday and Twitterpated).  Ribbons used were the Stampin Up organza ribbon (a must have) and the striped Halloween ribbon from the Holiday catalog in 2012.  The baker's twine used was a brand called Brides that I got at Michaels - it was much thicker so better for the job.
and I stared at them... and stared at them... I don't know why it took so long for me to decide that washi tape (MME) was clearly what was missing.  I also swapped out the Stampin' Up baker's twine for the Brides twine so that it matched. Note that the stamps are Stampin' Up Grunge Rock.
And yes, that's my daughter in her tutu.. a regular occurrence here. In fact, we just had a catastrophe as smoothie was dropped all over it.  We cleaned her up and shes got another princess skirt on... inside out, might I add. (Side note... I went to Rivers' birthday party with my shirt inside out.  A sign that raising two small children by yourself for a week really takes its toll.  Kudos to all the strong single mommies out there).

Here's the pages of the "Rivers" mini album. Lots of misting techniques in here! We used the 6x6 Crate Paper pad and Studio Calico Fab Rips to create the seam and hold it all together.  We used a new Studio Calico mask with removable little circles (COOL) plus a number of Kelly Purkey stamps.

One day in February, I came home to an excited Miss J. "Come Look Mommy, Come Look upstairs what I did!!"

She had been drawing rainbows (and so proud) on her wall behind her bed with crayons.  (What my husband was doing, I don't know... she often reads books so he probably thought she was doing this)

Well...  calmly, I said "uh oh, you don't use your crayons on the wall - only paper and crafts."

"We gotta clean it." she said nodding her head.

And so off we went to get the Mr. Clean erasers.  We cleaned it all up and I said "I'll tell you what, we can draw a picture of a rainbow on a piece of paper and then tape it to your wall.  Right above your bed!" Together we colored the rainbow.  Miss J actually drew the arcs for the rainbow (I was impressed for two and a half) but Mommy did the clouds.

Once we were finished, she was so proud! So I took her picture with it. And I said "Let's go put it on your wall now."

Jane looked at me and said "No Mommy, it go up there.  Pointing to the ceiling.  The rainbow continued to remain in the foyer of our house.  Right before you go up the stairs on the ceiling.

And she has not colored on her walls or anything else ever since.  It just might have worked.

Well, last year my family went to see my grandparents on the west coast of Newfoundland.  They were at their cabin in Birchy Lake.  I don't know if I have ever spent so much alone time with my grandparents - meaning without my mother.  And I must say that I intend to do it again.  Its definitely something that you would sit back and think "Wow, I am so lucky that at 30 years old, I can spend this time with them. Not only that, but my daughter can also spend the time."

And so, back in January I scrapped some layouts.  The double layout took a long time for me to put together because there were so many pictures with so many little precious moments.
The second layout is of my husband and my grandfather, whom I call my Uncle Bob since my mother's father passed away when I was very small.  He is the only grandfather on my mother's side whom I have ever known.  Uncle Bob has stuck over the years and certainly is a term of endearment.  He loves to be social and to enjoy the outdoors.  So, both my husband and I were only too happy to escape from the women to go in the boat.  And afterwards enjoy a beer.

The layout came together quickly because I used the scraps of the first.  I literally just layered and glued. All coming together quite quickly.  And I love it.  To be cherished forever.
Here's to many more memories!! Most of these layouts are completed using the Simple Stories "Take a Hike" kit.  I cannot get enough of Simple Stories.  Fabulous.

As a side note - I started a facebook page in case you want to like it.  It's to showcase my projects from a less detailed and organized level.  It certainly will help for anyone looking for me to create something for them! :)

Enjoy your weekend!
Cathy

If you have been dying at what we all did for the Kelly Purkey weekend at the Paperie, here's the photos!!

Three layouts inspired by Kelly Purkey herself from the Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm collection... love it!!The So Lovely page as an element that looks like washi tape but in fact its thick scor tape with little mini beads adherred to it.  Very cool look.

The Princess Karoake layout as some light masking using a Mister Huey's mask but its actually a purple distress ink.  In addition the little "flowers" were distressed with a bright blue Tim Holtz distress ink.

The last layout (Jane & Jack) has a hidden journal tag under the "love you more" popped up piece.  Its folded in half.  Very cool.

Next we did some tags/cards that was created and taught by Sara Case Strickland.  Since, I didn't take the photos yet of mine, here's the link to see hers!  Lots of cool techniques were taught here using Rangers' dylusions inks, inkagold and using gesso.

Then we did a couple mini albums.  The first was a mini album that took a good while that was created by Krista Wells.  This mini album is lovely and I would have loved to make a dozen of them.  However, I made it for one special lady:: my mother in law... so if you are stumbled upon this... No peeking!!  This is a mother's day gift for her that will sure touch her heart. Perhaps, I will even make her two sisters a copy but that is not yet in the works.

Here's the completed pages using the Dear Lizzy day book looks like this: