We Love to Laugh

This has been a hectic couple of weeks. Whenever I feel like I have my head above water, I find an enormous pile of papers I overlooked or I hit a wall of fatigue. I only have two weeks left in my pregnancy, so I know it's normal. But it's hard to have so little energy and so much to do. Thank goodness for my mom. She is a wonderful mother and an even better grandmother. She is so devoted to our son, and he adores her.

These pictures are from an afternoon out at lunch. The two of them were sucking on lemons and laughing about how tart they were. Then they would dare each other to taste some more. This is what it's like with them all the time. My mom is always up for some silly, funny mischief, and so is Ben.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I recently bought a Silhouette Cameo. When I started getting interested in scrabpbooking two years ago, I thought the Cameo was well out of my price range. I bought the Cricut, mostly because I found a very good deal on ebay and it seemed reasonable at the time. But the Cricut Personal seemed so limiting once I had it. I was only able to cut 6x12 paper which probably doesn't seem like a huge issue at first, but it became more of a problem as I found more projects I wanted to try.

When Studio Calico offered a class especially for Cameo owners, I figured this was my cue to treat myself to a new machine and try it out. So far the class is excellent. I wish they weekly tutorials and sketches instead of challenges, but I am still enjoying it. Sasha Farina has a beautiful layout included in the class PDFs, and I used her tutorial as a layout for this sketch. She cut the image, used it as a misting mask. She traced a sewing guide and stitched all the way around the inside and outside of heart, and then cut out the misted image. If it sounds incredible, that's because it is. It is a beautiful technique. I can't link to it or post it here because the PDF is for paid subscribers only, but you can see a sneak peak on her blog. I took a slight detour and traced mine instead (I'm not much of a sewer, but I'm sure I'll come around at some point). I love how the final image came out.

Halloween Memories

It's hard to believe it's been almost two years since this photo was taken. It's one of my favorites (I seem to say that a lot). Ben is about two months old here, and he was just starting to develop a little personality. I was still on maternity leave, so we were spending lots of time bonding at home. This onesie is also one of my all time favorites. In fact, we recently packed up most of our boy things since learning we are having a girl, and when I found the "I <3 my mummy" onesie, it brought tears to my eyes. We decided this was a keeper, and we packed it away along with some of his other things to be turned into a quilt someday.

I have been thinking about buying a Silhouette Cameo for some time now. I've had my Cricut Personal for almost two years, and it's rare that I ever use it. When I first decided to invest in a die cut machine, I thought the Cricut was a good option for my first purchase. I liked what the machine is capable of, but I didn't care for the fact that it only takes 12" x 6" papers. It seemed so limiting at the time. And while I liked the images I had, I was annoyed by the cartridge system. The carts are so expensive, and so are the digital versions available at the Cricut online store.

I found the Silhouette Cameo blog through Francine Clouden's website, and at first I didn't want to follow it because it seemed like cheating. Why read the blog if I don't have the machine? But I loved all of the great layouts on their site. This one in particular really caught my eye, and I was so gorgeous that I was dying to try it out. And then Studio Calico announced their new class, Cut It Out. The class is all about using your Silhouette for all kinds of great scrapbooking projects. I figured it was sign, so I ordered one and signed up for the class.

My Silhouette came in the mail two weeks ago, and I am loving it. I made this layout with my new baby, and it worked beautifully. I cut the pumpkin shapes out of my main page and used the negative space to add more variety and color. The orange, purple and gray papers are all layered behind the main page, and then I layered more pieces over them to create the jack-o-lanterns.

I added some flags and some alphas for the title. I used some Mister Huey's spray and then stamped over the texture with my new Hero Arts Studio Calico stamps. 

 

Embellished journals

Ever since the Etsy Craft Party, I've been thinking of different ways to use embellished journals. The one I made at the party is lovely, but I don't know if or when I will ever use it. That was the only real drawback to putting Ben's photos on the cover. They aren't very recent, and I was thinking that a current journal should have more up-to-date photos.

And then it hit me! I could embellish the two notebooks I will be using with my classes this year. We keep a daily notebook with all of our practice exercises, writing experiments and class notes in a composition notebook. I always save my class notebook from year to year to help me remember what went well and what needed tweaking, but lately they are all starting to pile up and blur together. I think I might need to purge my closet and toss out some of the really old ones.

I really liked the DCWV Timeless Type paper stack that we used at the Craft Party, so I went looking for it at my local Michael's. I like the stack because the pages are much more varied than I was expecting, and I especially liked the polaroid page. The motifs are a little dark for my taste, but still, I thought it was appropriate for a writing class. I also found a second DCWV stack called The Garden Tea Party, and I decided to splurge on both even though I knew I would only use a few pages from each.

I pulled two or three pages from each stack and looked at different layering options. I wanted to repeat some of the techniques from my first embellished journal experiment, especially varying the edges to give the cover some added dimension.

I used a beautiful page for my Garden Tea Party journal. I especially love the illustrations and the texture. Something about the paper seems so light and airy and fresh. I wanted to show as much of the main page as possible. I was debating using flags for the titles, but I wanted to be sure the lettering would stay on because that journal has to last all year.

I wish I could say there was more advanced technique involved, but I used Mod Podge (I think I'm a little addicted) to place the main page, the flags, and then to seal everything together. I found an interesting idea on pinterest for embellished clipboards (I currently have five in my classroom, and all of them are being used!) as gifts, and I'm thinking this is a good use for those rolls of handmade paper I have gathering dust in my closet. I'm always so afraid to cut into the paper because it's so lovely on it's own. This seems like a good way to preserve the paper and put it to good use at the same time.

Personalized Journals from the 1906 Etsy Craft Party

School is starting soon which means I've been working a lot more than I'm used to. I'm not going to lie: it's nice to be able to take mid-day naps and play with my son. Trying to readjust to working an eight hour day has been difficult to say the least. These last two weeks, I've been trying to carve out some personal time while Ben is napping or when he goes down for the night. When the grading starts pouring in, I'll be hard pressed to find the time to do anything other cook, clean, eat and sleep.

I was doing my usual web crawl of blogs and paper crafting websites when I happened upon the annual Etsy Craft Party posting on Meetup.com. I really didn't think I had time in my schedule to make it. That sounds pretty ridiculous to say I don't have time to go out on a Friday night. I know. But when I was staring at the pile of work on my desk, sweating bullets about how much I had to do before Monday rolls around, I realized how easy it would be to fall back into the pattern of feeling overwhelmed and to ignore the things that make me happy and help me reduce my stress. And just at that moment, my mom called and asked if she could go with me. I figured it was a sign!

There were two craft parties going on at the same time, and it was almost impossible to choose between them. We went to the one at the 1906 Gallery on South Flores Street. I have been to the gallery before, long before my mommy days, but I have never met the family that owns it. Yvette Benavides and her family generously opened their private residence at the back of the gallery for the craft party. It was such a warm and beautiful space. I didn't get to take pictures of their home, but I should have. It was beautiful and engaging. My mom, a now retired graphic designer, enjoyed walking around and seeing the artwork and creatively designed living space more than anything else. Would you believe they have a koi pond inside their home?

The Personalized Journal craft station

There were three craft stations for making personalized journals, Texas shaped artist calling cards and, one more with miscellaneous supplies that were donated by several sponsors, including Etsy, Michael's, Astrobrights, Duck Tape (the mustache patterned duck tape was my favorite), Fiskars, and Plaid Crafts. To say that we had a full stash of supplies to choose from is an understatement. Amy Johnson at Maker Mama, Stacy at Kids Stuff World, and Lisa Pennington at Pennington Point did an incredible job of rounding up donated craft supplies for 40 people, along with refreshments, handmade decorations, and door prizes. There was a separate room with four more craft stations, stocked with plenty more supplies and upcycled materials, for a craft war. I loved walking around and peeking at everyone's projects. Some of my favorites used the duck tape in different ways, including one with a soft gold border that was layered under other elements and another that lined the inside covers with the mustache tape. 

Personalized Journal: Front Cover

Personalized Journal: Back 

I made a personalized journal with a Strathmore sketchbook, and some paper from the Timeless Type DCWV paper stack. I used Mod Podge to attach a neutral sheet to the cover (it's the kind of handwriting paper I remember from Catholic school-- what a sweet memory), but I'm concerned it might come up if I'm not careful enough. I'm a Mod Podge novice, to be perfectly honest. Then I cut the printer's block patterned paper and layered it on top. The whole page is beautiful, and I wanted to preserve the different edges to give the layer more visual interest, so I trimmed along the outer edge of the blocks along the top, bottom and side. Think of them as a kind of reverse book jacket. 

Close Up of the Front Cover

My mom, cropping and placing photos.

Another page in the stack had a series of Polaroid frames with blank centers. I remembered some photos that had been lurking in my purse, and I found two that were perfect for the frames. My mom trimmed the frames, and then we used the dot roller to mount the frames on top of the pictures, and then the framed pictures on to the cover. We used Mod Podge to seal the whole thing, and let it dry while we walked around peeked at some of the other projects. 

We trimmed one too many frames and photos, and instead of letting them go to waste, we decided to place the last one on the inside first page. Something about it just seems funny to me. 

Unfortunately we weren't able to stay as long as we would have liked. We were able to park ourselves on an aluminum bench next to the craft tables, but it wasn't the best thing from my six-months-pregnant back. After I finished my journal, it was definitely time to head home and put my feet up. I had a great time, and I was thinking this might be something fun to organize for craft students at school. I think all of the budding writers and artists out there would probably enjoy making their own personalized notebooks for school. 

Such a little charmer

I went back to work on Monday after having a lovely couple of weeks off with my boys. It was very difficult to leave the house that morning, especially since I knew Ben would be at daycare the rest of the day. He is growing up so fast, and this summer has been such a joy. The week we spent in Florida was wonderful. It was especially nice to spend a few days at the Disney Animal Kingdom resort in Orlando. Waking up every morning and seeing zebras, giraffes, and antelope outside my balcony was incredible. Ben had a wonderful time watching all of his favorite animals, and we got a much needed escape from our every day. 

The boys on safari

Godfrey and Ben, playing drums and singing African songs

 Since returning, we've been trying to get the house ready for #2's arrival. We batted around the idea of house hunting, but we need more time to get our finances and our home ready. Buying a house is a cinch compared with selling one and then trying to buy another simultaneously. So instead we are shifting things around and making do with what we have. That means giving up the craft/ computer room and moving my table into a corner of our bedroom. The move was good in one particular sense; it forced me to go through all of my bins and reorganize my materials. I put my Studio Calico Brooklyn Flea kit (it's now sold out along with all of the add-on kits) and a new Echo Park Everyday Eclectic kit front and center on my table to force me to move out of my comfort zone. I think I did well.

Sitting Up in My Stroller 

The papers all came from my Brooklyn Flea kit, as did the SC scrap embellishments, and the Amy Tangerine fabric border stickers, and the buttons and alphas. The only thing that didn't were the blue letters. I found the layout on the Silhouette blog. I don't have a Silhouette Cameo, mostly because of the cost. I bought a Cricut Personal a year ago. It's okay, but reading the Silhouette blog has me practically salivating.

My husband will ask me how the leaves or the buttons relate to the image, but I'm satisfied with it. The best part is my little man's adorable smile. He has always been such a charmer. 

so silly, so sweet

I really enjoy Francine Clouden's scrapbooking layouts because she writes about the same content and ideas that I do. Her son is adorable, and she always seems to catch him at just the right moment. She recently posted a blog entry that used chevrons as embellishments, so I thought I would finally give in and try making some. 

I found this youtube video by Jennifer McGuire at Studio Calico, and it looked so easy at first. I also found it so ideal for using up leftover scrap paper, especially the extra bits I have lying around from a poorly considered etsy buy (for the record, sewcolorfuldesigns DESTASH is a waste of money, even if it is only $2.50).  The actual process was more time consuming and more difficult than it seems in the video, but sometimes it's nice to have something completely mindless and repetitive to do.  

Once I was finished with the chevrons, it was a simple enough task to finish the rest of the layout. I really like how it came out. These two photos came from the same day as my last page. I loved Ben's silly expressions and his sweet antics. 

so Silly, so Sweet

Cosmo Cricket Tiny Text stickers from Studio Calico's Brooklyn Flea kit

Dear Lizzy glitter stickers and my handmade chevrons

Herding Cats

The summer is almost over, and I haven't accomplished nearly as much as I had planned. Every day, it seems there is something else on our checklist that needs to be tackled. I've been trying to do a little bit at a time, and so far we have made good progress. But school is nearly here, and I am wondering what things will be like once it starts, especially with the new baby.

At least for now, we can still sleep in and relax, I can carve out time to work at my craft table and peruse old photos. These are some of my favorites from Ben's first big boy haircut. His hair was starting to creep into his eyes, so we knew it was time for a definite change. We took him to Kimberly, the stylist who cuts our whole family, and she took very good care of him. It was a bit like herding cats because he refused to sit still (at only 11 months how can you blame him?), but in the end she was able to give him a decent enough trim.

1st Haircut

MS Scrapbooking paper, Amy Tangerine Remarks fabric border stickers

 I have a hard time with layering. I always hesitate because I can't understand why anyone would want to cover up a lovely paper with another embellishment, but I think this one turned out nicely. I outlined the paper dolls with my white Uniball pen to help them stand out.

Ormolu tags, MS Scrapbooking stickers

Valentines in July

 I have been away from blogging and scrapbooking for months now, and I didn't realize how much I missed it until today. I think there are lots of reasons for my hiatus, but the big two are that I have been overwhelmed at work and exhausted at home. We are expecting our second baby, and I have been coming home, cooking dinner, getting my son to bed, and crashing on the couch. I finally had a break recently when summer tutoring finally ended, and I've just now gotten into a bit of a routine at home.

I thought this would be a good way to start things up again. I made these cards back in February. They were probably my last real craft project other than my sister-in-laws shower favors and decorations. These were our Valentine's Day cards. I usually order something from tinyprints.com, but I was short on time, and so I decided to try my hand at something simple. I saw a lovely card on tinyprints, and I decided to use it as my inspiration.

Simple Valentine's Cards

Simple Valentine's Cards

These are made with Martha scrapbooking paper, stickers, and labels. I love this picture of Ben. We were getting ready for school that morning, and he was fighting it to be perfectly honest (my friend Terri was the only one who noticed he had tears in his eyes). But he looked so adorable in his argyle sweater and his jaunty little scarf, that I had to take his picture. Once I brought out the iPhone, he was much more interested in mommy.

Bo Bunny Paper, MS Scrapbooking mat pad stars, SC Ali Thickers, SC scraps border and K&Company mat pad flags

I loved this picture so much, I decided to make a full page of it. I was looking for new ideas, new paper, new supplies to try beyond the usual offerings at Michael's, so I tried a local scrapbooking and stamping store here in town. It turns out they only sell Bo Bunny. The brand is not at all my particular style, and I just can't take them seriously because they call themselves Bo Bunny. I mean, seriously? But I did like this one particular sheet, so I figured I would give it a shot. It sat on my craft table for months along with a kit from Studio Calico. I love their blog and their materials, but once everything was actually here in my hands, I froze. MS somehow makes sense to me. The patterns, the color palettes, the embellishments, they all seem to work. SC seems so much more advanced. I love the blog, but I always thought the designers were on a level that I couldn't match. 

But recently I started thinking about what a waste that was. I had all of this beautiful paper, and here was a whole gallery of women doing beautiful things with it. I loved April Foster's approach to the kit, and I decided to use some of her design elements on this page. I really like how it came out. 

...and then my husband noticed the date. I wrote January 2013 at the top! ... back to the drawing board...

Travel themed bridal shower

It's been almost a month since my last post. In addition to things being crazy at work with TAKS testing and soon STAAR testing, I just haven't felt like paper crafting. Lately I feel tired and run down, and I can't seem to shake it. I have a stack of new materials on my craft table, but as much as I want to play with them, I haven't.

But this weekend, I have been feeling crafty, and I had a good excuse to get back in the mood to be creative. I hosted a bridal shower for my soon-to-be sister in law, Joyce. I found some lovely Karen Adams invitations at a stationary store in Alamo Heights, and I printed them off on our home printer. I found the image to be so simple and charming.

I HEART U by Karen Adams

I searched around for some bridal shower ideas, and wouldn't you know it? Martha had some lovely ideas for travel showers. I loved the idea for postcard invitations and map centerpieces. I wish I had seen her invitation ideas before I bought these, but ours still came out beautifully. I did some shopping on Friday (thank goodness we had a three day weekend! Thank you, Fiesta), and I found glass cylinders at Michael's and Garden Ridge Pottery. I wrapped each cylinder with maps of the west coast, especially California, because that is where they are planning to go on their road trip honeymoon. And I embellished the maps with a little satin and grosgrain ribbon from Michael's. I am now an expert at tying a bow tie!

Working on the centerpieces

The tall cylinder is a flower vase, and the shorter ones are candle holders. They took more time than I thought they might, but I'm pretty sure that's because I was sitting in front of the TV instead of at my work station. It's not very efficient to have to run back and forth to cut paper or grab scissors every time (what can I say? James Bond was on, and I love Daniel Craig!). 

Place cards in the early stages

After I finished all of the cylinders, I worked on the place cards. I used some Wausau Paper cardstock I had in my stash, and I hand wrote the text on the front with my trusty white Uniball gel pen. That pen is a miracle worker. It's cleaner and more exact than using a paint pen. I filled in all of the guests' names after I wrote out the top and bottom, and I used transparent photo corners to mount some fun Road Trip Table Topics cards on the inside. We didn't play a shower game, but people enjoyed talking about the table topics. Mine said something like "would you rather live in New York City, Chicago or San Francisco?"

Place cards in the early stages

 When we put everything together, I think the effect was quite nice. I know Joyce loved it, and I was excited to host her shower. All those years spent in my 20s and early 30s reading Martha Stewart Living finally paid off! 

The finished centerpieces with place card

Candles and place cards

Sometimes Understated Is Just Another Word for Boring

I should have known better. I have been staring at my last page thinking it needed something. I just couldn't put my finger on it. I think in my zeal to try something more understated and simple I went way too simple. Those days on the playgym were so much fun, and I needed a layout that captures the spirit of those magical days. Back then the downside was that Ben was content to play and laugh and talk to himself, even if I was away for a minute or two. The upside was I was with my little man, and I was able to capture this moment.

I decided to take everything apart and try again. I used some paper I had been avoiding because I was concerned the polka dots were too mesmerizing, the sparkles too sparkly. I decided to try it on a whim, and ta-da! I lifted all of the original embellishments and the photo off of the old piece. I had to change my approach to the lettering in the title, and I added some buttons for balance. I was thinking about adding a journal spot to the bottom right corner under the photo, but I think I'm going to stop fussing with it and let it be.

I'll Love You More Than Anybody Can

I have been reading Amy Tangerine's blog and admiring the beautiful papers and kits over at Studio Calico for a while now. I don't remember how I stumbled onto their blog and shop, but I love their papers and embellishments. I've been interested in subscribing to their monthly kit for a while now, but I was unsure if I was willing to commit to a monthly club, especially since the shipping is a little pricey. What if I don't like the kit and I'm stuck with $40 worth of supplies I know I won't use? My house is close to a Michael's megastore, but lately I'm getting tired of their offerings. It's always the same stuff, and they carry a pretty limited number of brands and supplies. And the scrapbooking stores in my area don't usually carry SC. In fact, my last visit to Stamp Antonio was a little disappointing since they only carry Bo Bunny, and I don't I'm a BB kind of gal. I thought I might try one kit as a single purchase and then make the call when I received the box. I had been admiring Brooklyn Flea for some time, and I finally decided to try it, when I discovered it was sold out. Imagine my disappointment!

Then yesterday, I received an email about their big clearance sale. I clicked around and discovered the past kids are actually on clearance. They don't have all of the past kids (looks like some actually did sell out), but they have some good ones, and they are anywhere between 40% and 60% off. So I got my Brooklyn Flea, and it was only $13 plus shipping. I'm so excited!

Yesterday, my husband had to set up a show featuring his elementary school students' artwork, so it was just me and my little man for dinner and playtime. We had a great time at Panera, and I was actually able to eat while Ben got mac and cheese all over himself. We came home and changed into jammies and read books and watched Elmo for a little bit before bedtime. The most magical moment was went I was getting his jammies on. We were singing "Outdoors" by Jason Mraz (the Sesame Street version of "I'm Yours"), and as we danced, and he leaned in and hugged me tight. He laid his cheek against mine and sang into my ear. Every day with my son is a blessing. I'm so lucky to have such a beautiful, healthy and happy little boy in my life.

This photo is from my time on maternity leave with Ben. If you read my last post, you saw the silly pictures my husband captured with Ben at two months. I was so jealous that I didn't have any of the two of us together, that I decided to try my hand at it. Ben loved his play gym, and he spent lots of time lying there looking up at his reflection in the mirror. One morning I tried lying down next to him and I got this shot. The title is from a John Denver song called "For Baby." I listed to that song over and over again when Ben was just a newborn. I loved how perfectly he captured the joy and the excitement of being a new parent. I used MS Kids again, along with a K& Company 3 months sticker 3-D,and I was inspired by Marnie Taylor's layout Outnumbered that was featured on Write. Click. Scrapbook. I used a strip of MS Kids paper that has a line of numbers, and I left the 3 just peeking out on the end. I like what I came up with, but I feel like it needs something. I'm not sure what, but I don't feel like it's finished. Any ideas?

p.s. I apologize for the picture quality. I don't know if it's my lighting or my camera, but the pictures came out poorly again. It's a sad day when you realize your iPhone takes better pictures than the digital camera you bought only five years ago.

Partners In Crime

It's almost April which means the end is in sight. Summer is so close, I can feel it (all teachers can, you know). I'm looking forward to catching up on all that nothing I've been putting off. For starters, my husband gave me a gift certificate for a spa day back in December, and I have yet to use it. I was reading an article in this month's Real Simple about women and time management, and it said women who regularly make time for themselves are happier and more satisfied in almost every aspect of their life (I'll have to remember to do that once I get a chance... kidding... not really...). 

So with that in mind, I decided to work try and work with some photos that have been on my mind lately (more on that next time). These two are some of my favorites. My mom described these as, "No, Dad, Mom said we weren't supposed to!" and "Heh heh, that was fun..."Ben was only two months old, and he was just beginning to smile and laugh here and there. I was amazed that Jimm captured the two of them so perfectly. If you can't tell, Ben gets his mischievous streak from his dad.

I used my trusty MS Kids papers, and I took my inspiration from the excellent Francine Clouden who writes and designs for Write.Click.Scrapbook, quite possibly my favorite scrapbooking website. I'm afraid the colors look really dull in this photo. I promise it's my lighting and not the paper.

A Boy and His Dog

It's been an exciting couple of days. I received some lovely comments about my first entry, my foray into blogging, and my page. Thank you to everyone who visited, even if it was only for a minute or two. It was incredibly exciting to discover I had a visitor from Germany and from New Zealand, although I suspect the New Zealander was my friend Vanessa Lisowski who came here via facebook.

I first started scrapbooking over a year ago. I have so many pictures of my son, and I was trying to figure out what to do with them. It made sense to start working on his scrapbook, and I ambitiously thought I would be able to finish his first year album before his birthday. It was summer after all, and I thought I had so much time on my hands. What I discovered, very quickly, is that I am an obsessive perfectionist when it comes to crafts. I need things to be just right before I can commit to actually taping, gluing, cutting, punching, or writing. And that's just using the blank pages that Martha inserts in her sleeves. Don't get me started on using my beautiful papers.

Before I started, I spent a lot of time looking at different sites, different blogs, different companies. I sifted through countless bins at Michaels. My friend Lesley thinks it's contradictory, but I don't like cute. I don't like flowery (I have a little boy! I have to find alternatives to flowers). I don't like saccharine. But I do like good design, balanced layouts, interesting placements and playing with patterns and colors. I do enjoy a beautiful print or an interesting texture. On occasion, I have been known to include a touch of glitter. And I absolutely insist on good photography. I am always surprised by people who pour so much time and energy into a page but use mediocre photos. It's more than difficult to measure up to expectations when I was raised by a graphic designer, my brother is a designer and professional photographer, and my husband is a fine artist. At times, there seems to be little room for my amateurish pursuits.

However, lately it seems a lot easier not to take myself so seriously. After a long, hard day at work and a short couple of hours with Ben, who has the time or energy anyway? And if I agonize too much about what to post, it'll never happen. So for now, I'm going with my big sister Amethyst's advice, paraphrased from William Stafford's You Must Revise Your Life: when you find you have writer's block, lower your expectations! So for now, I'm going to focus on being consistent instead of being a creative genius.

A Boy and His Dog
I used MS Kids again for my materials, including the main page, the flags, and the zigzag embellishment running down the center of the page. The silver glitter letters are American Crafts Dear Lizzy and the black block caps are from Recollections. I would like to attribute the layout to someone, but I honestly can't remember since I looked at so many sites. I flipped back through my bookmarks, and nothing stands out. Is it possible I came up with this one on my own?

The photo is from my time on maternity leave when it was just Ben and me. He loved lying on his playgym and spent many a morning staring at himself and talking to himself in the mirror. My little man was also quite pensive back them, and he would look out the window and just think all kinds of little thoughts. Our dog Jasper stayed as close as I would allow, and he often tried to sneak even closer to Ben. He just wanted to be close to his boy, and he would sometimes crawl over slowly just to sniff or lick his hands or his feet.

My first post

I have been thinking about starting a blog for a while. I really admire the bloggers that I follow on a regular basis, especially their commitment and dedication to their blogs. I would like to think that I will post on a regular basis. For now, I'm going to commit to posting two times per week. And I have decided to make a firm commitment not to talk about work. I can't really talk about my job without compromising my students' privacy, so there isn't much to say on that front. Besides, I don't want my blog to turn into a rant about anything work-related anyway because I know that will only add to my stress.

I have been scrapbooking for a while, and I recently created what I consider my best layout to date. I'm so impressed with it because when I started working on my son's scrapbook over a year ago, I was pretty lost. I look back at some of my early pages and cringe a bit. But something about this one really came together nicely.

This photo is really special to me for a lot of reasons. This was the last time I ever swaddled my son. It was early morning, and I was trying to get ready for work. Usually I was able to feed Ben when he woke up around 5 am, and then I would lay him back down for a nap before we left for daycare. Then I was free to get ready for work. On this particular morning, Ben was very fussy and wouldn't give his mommy a break. I decided to try swaddling him, and I put him back on his play gym with his kitty. He drifted off right away. He looked so sweet lying there with kitty that I had to grab my phone and capture the shot.

I used the Martha Stewart Kids line of papers and embellishments. And I have Donna Jannuzzi from Write.Click.Scrapbook to thank for the inspiration. This was inspired by her blog post on patterned papers and her page titled "Sometimes It's Hard." Thanks, Donna! I love all of your beautiful pages and your adorable pictures of your children.