Lasting Memories Guest Designer

This month I am a guest designer for Lasting Memories, a great scrapbook challenge blog. Their first challenge of the year is to use three or more patterned papers on your page. Here is my inspiration layout:

Merry Christmas!

To spread some holiday cheer, I wanted to share some adorable pictures from our recent photo shoot.  Merry Christmas everyone!  

Christmas Part 1

We celebrated Christmas early just the three of us last weekend.  Nathan was excited to open his presents.

Like, really excited!

Gotta love his adorable expressions!

He had so much fun playing with all of his new (and new-to-him) toys.

Our Wild Child

We took Nathan to the ABQ Biopark River of Rights this year.  He adored it -- especially the lighted train display!

Look at this sweet little face!  It's a good thing he is so cute, because he has been quite the wild child recently.

These next couple pictures give you a glimpse.  We love our spirited little boy!

Last but not least, here is an adorable video of one of the songs Nathan and his friends performed at school for his Gingerbread party -- he had so much fun!

Wander Layouts

I can't believe December is almost halfway over!  I want to share the last two layouts I created with MME's fantastic Wander collection.  I went out of order in creating these layouts -- the pictures are from this year even though I am still working through 2016 pictures!  I couldn't help it because these pictures were perfect for this line.

Let it Snow

We had a fairly good snow (for us anyway) this weekend.  It looked like a winter wonderland!

Nathan and Jesse made a legitimate snowman, complete with a bucket hat and sidewalk chalk eyes.  I stayed inside and stayed cozy.

Nathan attended my early office Christmas party and met "Santa" for the first time.  Nathan knows he's "pretend," but got what he wished for ... a candy cane! 

End of the Year Creative Embellishments Layouts

For this month’s Creative Embellishments challenge, I was inspired to create this winter wonderland layout and used the Reindeer Set for the twist.  I added Santa's Star Sleigh and Pine Trees to create a winter scene.  I created my title from the Snow Word Set and Chucky Alphabet Set.  I decorated the chipboard with a variety of inks topped with glossy accents, crackle paint, and stickles.

These pictures are some of my favorites of Nathan. I created this darling page with LYB's Winterlings collection and Creative Embellishments' Let it Snow chipboard title. I left part of the piece natural and used pearlescent paint and stickles on some of the snowflake pieces.

I wanted to share my latest layout of our trip to the River of Lights. This layout features CE's Snowflake Frame 2, Large Snowflake Set, Chipboard Snowflakes, and the Basic Alphabet. I left some of the pieces natural and used pearlescent paint and stickles on other pieces.

This is my last month on Creative Embellishments' design team.  I have enjoyed my time on the design team, so don't be surprised if I return in the coming years!

Happy Thanksgiving

We hosted Barb and Butch for Thanksgiving again this year and Nathan especially loved having his "Nannee" here to play with!

Grandpa Butch spent a lot of time making contraptions for marbles to traverse, much to Nathan's delight.

We enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast, and this year Nathan enjoyed the "deeelicious" meal instead of just eating the cranberry sauce! 

Nathan also loved helping us decorate for Christmas.  He especially likes the car ornaments!

Winterings Layouts

For this layout of Nathan's first trip to Colorado, I used LYB's Winterings collection and beautiful Creative Embellishments chipboard and stencils.  I embellished the Large Snowflake Set and Chipboard Snowflakes with a variety of inks topped with glossy accents, crackle paint, and stickles.  I then used the Snowflake Stencil to create additional dimensional snowflakes with a thick coating of gesso.

I also used Creative Embellishments chipboard and Winterings paper for this next layout that I created for Lasting Memories challenge 421.  I used a variety of paint and other mediums on the chipboard.

Everyday Moments

I just wanted to share some everyday moments from the last couple weeks.  This first picture is from Jason's Deli -- one of Nathan's favorite restaurants. 

We had a little dusting of snow earlier this week, so we got bundled up to play with it.

We have definitely busted out our winter-ready sweaters and sweatshirts, and I am loving Nathan in this darling fox sweatshirt.  Nathan is loving fruit, per usual!

Nathan loves it when we tell him stories.  Here is a rare story from Nathan -- enjoy the random silly story!

Lots of Crafting

I have been crafting a lot this month, and I have some layouts to show you.  The More Than Words challenge inspired me to create a layout featuring three generations of Thomas boys, and I used stars on my layout as well.

For Scrap our Stash challenge, I created this layout of our little star Nathan's first steps!  I added a bunch of stars to this sweet baby boy layout.

I started using My Mind's Eye Wander collection, and I really love the color combination!  I created a Father's Day layout for my first project, and I was inspired to add hand stitching by Lasting Memories challenge 420.

I created this next layout for A Cherry On Top's Win Your Wish List Giveaway.  I am so grateful for time that I get to spend with my boys. 

I also created a card for Sketch n Scrap's Card Sketch 133 with pieces from this line.

A Superhero Halloween

We were superheros for Halloween this year! Nathan was batman and loved "zooming" around with his cape.  Our neighborhood did not disappoint in the decoration or candy department and we had a fantastic night!

November Creative Embellishments Layouts

I am loving scrapping Nathan's first birthday pictures! In keeping with the soft colors in the pictures, I used Websters Pages paper and pastel Perfect Pearls on my chipboard. I used Creative Embellishments' Balloon Set 1 and Birthday Word Set on this layout. 

I love all of the balloons on this layout! I added the Balloon Set 1 to the balloon background paper and used liquid pearls and perfect pearls to embellish the chipboard. I also used the Birthday Word Set and Basic Alphabet for my title.

I also wanted to share my pretty pastel Easter layout with you. For the title I used the Egg Word Set and Basic Alphabet, which I embellished with white liquid pearls.  I also used liquid pearls on the Bird Nests and Rain or Shine embellishments, and light blue stickles on the Birds.

Matthew and Merida Visit

We had a lovely visit from Mitt/Mer last weekend. Luckily we had good weather and spent a lot of time outdoors.  

We watched Nathan play soccer and enjoyed the sunshine.

We had delicious food at Church Street Cafe and Farm & Table.

And the three of them tired themselves out running around and playing ball.  We enjoyed having them here!