thursday . . .

This week . . .

We did some gardening . . .

Rode bikes . . .

Had fun at bathtime . . .

Worked at tummy time (Peanut is showing his support here) . . .

Did lots of smiling for mommy . . .

Made some homemade ice cream (ignore the messy house please) . . .

Picked flowers . . .

Laughed alot . . .

Learned to grab & hold onto things . . .

Had your first taste of cereal - yes this is early but Nicholas is eating so much that the doctor wanted us to start - he has already grown 6 inches in just shy of 3 months!!

Scrapbooked with mommy . . .

Had quality brother time . . .

Got tired of mommy taking so many pictures :)

As usual, a whirlwind of a week but we are all doing well :)

On the scrappy front . . .

Although it is not Christmas, or anywhere near it, I still have lots of holiday pics to scrap & the Christmas Wishlist line by Pretty Little Studios was perfect for these fun photos of Ryan . . .

Very simple in design but I like it anyway & I LOVE that vintage Santa tag!!!

By the way, the new April Showers collection is up for sale in the PLS shop - seriously cute & fun & bright - make sure to check it out :) Also, leave a comment HERE and you might just win the entire collection for free!!!

ttyl - julie :)

wednesday . . .

My past week & a half (in pics) . . .

Welcoming spring . . .

Napping, napping, napping . . .

Riding bikes . . .

Loving Grammy . . .

Looking all grown up . . .

Tasty lunches downtown . . .

Tummy time . . .

I have also been scrapping :) Lots to share!!!

First up - a fun layout using SEI's new Corinne line - seriously LOVE this line!!! Full of bright colors & awesome embellies :)

A close-up of the title work - see those adorable clouds - I cut down a border strip from the collection & placed it behind the title. The colorful border was created by cutting 4 thin strips of patterned paper & simply overlapped them at the ends. Then a quick pen line draw over each strip to finish it off :)

Just because the border strips are 12" long doesn't mean you can cut them down to work for your page - here I trimmed down the pinwheel border strip & used it as a fun accent to the left of my photo :)

I just received the other new SEI lines & can't wait to play :)

Recently I purchased the new Jillibean Soup lines & have been having fun playing with them in between working on assignments. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE their new 12 x 12 sheets of stickers & die-cuts - they make embellishing so easy!!! I have been waiting to scrap this adorable pic of Ryan & his cousins since last summer - once I saw the new JB Blossom Soup line & knew it would be a perfect match!!

Here's a close-up on all these fabulous stickers from the 12 x 12 sheet - they are perfect for layering :)

Below is another close-up showing more of these stickers & a bunch of the awesome die-cuts as well. I wrapped some embroidery floss around the center of the diecut butterfly to accent the body . . .

Oh & before I go - Pretty Little Studios is giving away a free set of Hopscotch cut-out tags with any order until April 1st . . .

It won't be hard to rack up an order - all the Mini Bunting Flags, Mini Paper Ribbons, and Lemon Slices Garland Flags are on sale for $1.99 through March 25th - so get shopping :)

ttyl - julie :)

sunday . . .

The past week & a half in pics . . .

Time with cousins . . .

First hand-holding/playdate . . .

Cutie pie . . .

Early St.Patrick's Day celebrating . . .

My little Leprechaun . . .

Renovations at the beach house underway . . .

Now, on to some scrappy . . .

I have had lots of fun playing with the new Jillibean Soup lines - I am a HUGE fan of this company & have all of their collections - way back to their beginning lines!!! Their new birthday-themed line, Spotted Owl Soup, is adorable & such a perfect color scheme for my little man :)

I am totally in love with their new 12 x 12 diecut sheets & their 12 x 12 cardstocker sticker sheets. Oh & of course their alphas - I think I have 12 packages of the corrugated ones - love 'em!!!! Here's a close-up of some of these fab embellies & my title work . . .

I also decided to use some of the new Dutch Mustard Soup & Blossom Soup to dress up this wood tree. It was definitely a bit time consuming to work through this project between the hand-cutting for the tree & hand-cutting of all the leaves but I really enjoyed it :)

Here is a quick close-up . . . yes, I stitched on the green leaves - crazy, right??

This will look perfect in my scraproom with my green walls :)

My second assignment for BlueMoon Scrapbooking was up on the blog this week. My March kit had a handful of the new Graphic 45 & Websters Pages papers. I think these companies produce such gorgeous products but I always feel as if I struggle a bit when working with them - just a bit different from my regular style. I really liked how this layout turned out though - I used the papers in small doses & really liked the effect . . .

A quick close-up on the journaling . . .

And the title work . . .

Don't forget - BlueMoon is hosting a sketch challenge right now - use the provided sketch & post your layout in their gallery for a chance at winning $40 to spend in the BlueMoon store - seriously awesome people - get to it - all the details are here :)

Also - if you haven't yet heard - Pretty Little Studio is revealing a new collection called April Showers . . . check out the sneak . . .

Head on over to the blog & leave a comment to be in the running for an 8 x 8 pack of these new papers!!!

Before I go I wanted to answer a quick question asked by Barb in regards to my faux stitching on some of pages - it is super easy - first I draw straight lines around the object to be "sewn" leaving gaps here & there. I draw these free hand & don't worry if they are not perfect but feel free to use a ruler if you'd like.

Then I go back and draw zig-zags where the gaps are - it's that simple - promise :)

By the way - my FAVORITE pen to use is the Pigma Micron from Sakura - you can find it online or at Michael's - I have them in all different sizes but my favorite to use is 03.

Hope that helps Barb!!!

Alright - hopping off to finish up some scrapping :)

ttyl - julie :)

wednesday . . .

It's that time again!!!! Welcome to the Samantha Walker Creative Team March Blog Hop!!! If you just left Guiseppa's blog to head over here, you are right on track :) If not, head on over to Samantha's blog to begin the hop. Leave a comment there & on each creative team member's blog to have a chance at winning a prize package of goodies from Samantha's Cowboy collection!!!

I decided to try out using some of Samantha's NEW gorgeous fabrics from her Enchanted Garden line. She has coordinating papers & embellishments as well - I didn't have these to play with yet so I stuck to some subtle background papers from Creative Imaginations & Scenic Route to help me be able to really showcase these fabulous fabrics!!!

To create the fabric design on the page, I cut numerous circles form the fabrics & overlapped them in rows. To make the fabric easier to work with on my page, I first treated it with Aleene's Stiffen Quik . The fabric became stiff enough that I was actually able to punch the circles out with a circle punch. Beware though, if the fabric is not stiff enough it will get stuck in your punch - which can be quite a mess :) To finish off my circle design, I stitched across the rows.

I'm super excited to try this again with more fabric & some of my other punches!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by - head on over to Jennifer's blog to see her gorgeous creation featuring Samantha Walker products!!!

tuesday . . .

Okay - not the best pics of me (still carrying half of this baby weight people!!!), but I love that they are pics I all of us - being silly - I rarely get family pics so I couldn't resist sharing :) Hanging in over here - Nicholas is doing well - growing, growing, growing - he is super long & we have already started into the 9 month clothes (just a reminder - he isn't even 2 months yet - ahhhhh!!!). Ryan is good - definitely growing up too fast though. The things he says these days make me feel like I am back teaching in my middle school classroom sometimes :) Doing quite a bit of scrapping myself & have lots to share in the upcoming weeks :) For today . . .

a fun little altered project for Pretty Little Studio - I found these wood garden picks at Michael's & couldn't wait to cover them with some bright, cheery paper. The Scrumdidlyumptious line from PLS was perfect!!! Check them out . . .

Here is a quick close-up - I think I have finally mastered the accordion flower - of course only to find Sizzix dies at my local scrapbook store that could practically do all the work for me :)

Make sure to head on over the Pretty Little Studio shop - the new collection Hopscotch has been revealed & it is CUTE, CUTE, CUTE!!!! Here is a peek at this adorable collection . . .

Melissa is currently running a special on shipping . . .

Also - you still have until the 10th to comment for a chance at the BIG Hopscotch collection giveaway - check it out HERE :)

Oh & a new sketch challenge!!! I provided this month's sketch for Blue Moon Scrapbooking . . .

And here's my take on it - full of American Craft's Hello Sunshine goodness . . .

A quick close-up on the border - I am super proud I was able to step out of my comfort zone & do some stamping. I fell in love with the American Crafts stamp set provided in my DT kit - I always tell Ryan he is my sunshine so this stamp was just perfect!!!

Oh and guess what - the prize for one lucky winner . . . $40 to spend at the Blue Moon Scrapbooking store!!!!! Check out all the details HERE :)

Before I go - just wanted to leave you with a song from this AMAZING artist . . . so talented :)

Thank you for all your comments - I love reading them (not to mention some of you have been giving me great ideas & advice on my new mommy of 2 life) :)

Couldn't leave without a few pics of the little one :)

Hope all of you are well & be back soon with more . . .

ttyl - julie :)