Photos: Jackie, Aiko, Lily & the belly

Hands of Aiko & Lily

I recently had the honor of being asked by my best friend Jackie (who is 8+ months pregnant) to come and take belly pictures for her. More specifically...pictures of her two beautiful daugthers' hands and the belly. 

It evolved into a bit more that just hands and I am very happy with how it all turned out.

Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Aiko



Aiko



Lily



 



Lily, Jackie & Aiko



 

 

 

 



 

Thank you to Jackie and the girls (and Marcus!) for letting me take these pictures and for allowing me to post them here.

I can't wait to take pictures of the new addition!  After hugging and kissing and loving him/her a bit first of course!

Photo: Deegan

July 9th, 2011
Deegan - Clovis, CA

Scrapping: Frame for Deegan

Here it is! My second attempt at making a baby name frame. The first attempt came out super cute (it's pink and girlie and has sparkles...how could it not?) but I learned a lot and knew that the next time around, I would need to make adjustments and do things differently. 

Main improvment? Paper choice. The first frame lacked color variety...it all matched but it matched too well.  All of the squares just seemed to blend together. And making the letter squares all different colors (I feel) just made them look lost...they didn't stand out.

So this time...I found a cute paper pack at target that had a safari theme (some of Deegan's stuff has monkeys on it). It was perfect! I chose papers with varying colors and kept the patterns mostly simple. Also...making the letter squares uniform in colors really helps them stand out.

A couple little sticker embellishments and that was it!!  What you can't really see in the picture is that a lot of the papers have glitter accents. Like the blue dots and the white leaves and the brown animals. The picture doesn't really do it justice.

I'm really happy with the way this turned out...hope his parents like it!!

(If you are interested in making your own...or having a frame custom made, check out this website. Jayma is phenomenal!)

Scrapping: Birthday card

This is my second hand-made card.  Super simple and quick but in my opinion....super cute!

The paper and cardstock is old and I have no clue where it is from or what they are called. The "happy birthday" was cut with a Cricut using the Paper Lace cartridge. The cute little frog is from the Hot Diggity (Close to my Heart) stamp set and I used Cranberry ink for him (also CTMH).  I used three dimensional, double sided sticky squares to stick him to the card so that he was raised off of it a bit.

Like I said, super simple...but super cute!  At least I think so. :-)

Photo: My Nephew!

March 2nd, 2011
Deegan Colt - 6lb 4oz - 19in long

Photo: The Girls

September 4th, 2010
Aiko, Lily & Peanut - Fresno, CA

Photo: Sunset

 

July 31st, 2008
Rouge River / Pacific Ocean - Gold Beach, OR

Scrapping: Thank You card

A couple months ago, I purchased (stamping and scrapbooking) supplies from Close to My Heart with the intention of making cards galore! but have never found the time or maybe the...courage? to attempt making anything. The paper is too pretty...I don't want to use it all up! Or...what if I mess something up and can't use part of what I cut out and then that paper is wasted!  ::sigh::

After friends in Las Vegas graciously let me crash their lives for four days, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to make my first card...a Thank You card. 

And here it is!

All of the materials used are CTMH with the exception of the card base, glue and thick double-sided sticky squares that I used to raise the "gratitude" portion of the card.

The paper is Splendor, the ink colors are Goldrush, Topiary and Moonstruck, the brads are the ones that match the Splendor paper, the ribbon is from the Colonial White mini-medley pack and the stamp I used (the design on the orange paper is stamped) was Blooming Flourishes.

I have a lot to learn yet...but I am proud of my first card.  I think it turned out well.   :-)

Comments welcome!

I love amazon.com!!

After having my package stolen from my mailbox...I got nowhere with the local police (they just took a report over the phone) or the so-called 24-hour USPS mail theft hotline (no one ever answered in the three times I called in two days...not even an answering machine or voicemail) I decided to take the advice of a couple friends and contact Amazon to see if there was anything they could do (even though it was absolutely no fault of their own). 

Not only did Amazon get back to me within 2 hours with a personal response...they are replacing my order at no charge and upgraded the shipping to next day air (so that it won't go to my mailbox again). 

I knew they were an awesome company...but this is above and beyond!  Thank you Amazon!!

Award!

*gasp!* My very first award! Being that I only have 8 posts to my name....this is very unexpected.  Thanks to my amazing friend Ruth for the honor!

The rules of this award are simple:

1. Thank the person who gave it to you and link to their blog (already done!)
2. Share 8 things about yourself
3. Share the award with 8 other "Stylish Bloggers" and share the bloggin' love

Wow....eight things about myself...this could be difficult.

1.   Like Ruth, I play World of Warcraft.  While I don't have any family members that I have been able to convince they would love it as much as I do...some of my closest friends (who live 7+ hours drive away) do...and I have gotten to know some RL aquaitences better...and have a made a dear friend (remember that gal Ruth I mentioned earlier?) that I wish I could know outside of the online world. 

2.   I love to play games.  Not just computer games like WoW...but any game really. Consoles not so much though I do enjoy them from time to time. But board games, card games, whatever. And the less traditional the better.  Settlers of Catan, Dominion, Ticket to Ride, etc.  Can't get enough of them.

3.   I'm gonna be a (biological) auntie! My brother, Jacob is expecting his baby boy, Deegan, to be born around the first of March! 

4.   Although this is my first biological nephew...I am no stranger to being an aunt.  I have two dear friends who have kids (current score: Girls 2....Boys 2) who are also my neices and nephews.  My friends are just as much family to me as actual family.

5.   I don't like very many foods.  Veggies....blech.  Fish....blech.  So not an adventerous eater.  Though I have tried more new foods in the past few years...mostly due to being lovingly teased by a friend about not liking anything.  Last adventerous food attempted....Indian.  It was ok. I would eat it again but I don't think it's something I will ever crave.  The desert we had though was the most amazing thing I have ever had.  A warm dark chocolate and cherry samosa.  nomnomnom!

6.   I have worked for the same company since I was 21...12 years!  I think thats a pretty amazing feat.

7.   I love to watch House Hunters International and imagine myself someday (yeah right!) being lucky enough to by an amzing apartment in the heart of Amsterdam or a quaint farmhouse in the French countryside.

8.   Uhmmmm.....

Eight blogs to pass the award on to...this might be a small problem...I only follow two other blogs, one of which is Ruth's! 

• Playing with Paper  This is the great site belonging to Jayma Malme...a Close to My Heart rep who was so very kind to me in getting me started with stamping!  She invited me into her home and showed me the ropes!  She is super creative and has a great eye.  I look forward to being able to work with her some more and eventually be able to attend one of her All-You-Can-Make card parties!

As I am new to the blogging world, this will sadly be my only site to give an award to!  But as I grow into it and find new sites that I love...I will be sure to update and share the blogging love!

Photo: Flower

March 26th, 2005
Clovis, CA

Photo: Jelly Fish

November 1st, 2009
Monterey Bay Aquarium

Photo: Maple Leaves

December 26th, 2010
Maple tree outside of my apartment.

Scrapping: Frame for Kyleigh

I have done a bit of scrapbooking...or papercrafting as I often hear it called now...but it has been a long, long time.  More than two years I would guess.  I have wanted to get back into it for quite awhile but just never felt inspired. 

But then I met Ruth (Hi Ruth! *wave*) and saw the awesome stuff that she was making (check out her blog here...Stamp Off, Eh!) and I decided I needed to get back into it.  Besides photography, it's the only thing I think I do moderatly well (in the creative department).

So with Ruth and Jayme Malme's help, I put together my first Close to my Heart order.  I haven't yet been able to do anything with my new stuff, but I will soon!

In the meantime, I found this project on Jayma's blog and fell in love with it!  I decided to make one for my nephew (who isn't even due until like March!) and one for his half sister, Kyleigh.  It isn't nearly as nice or detailed as Jayma's gorgeous creations but it's a start!  There are a lot of things I will do differently when I make Deegan's frame.  As soon as I put it together...I will be sure to post it here.  (Sorry for the weird picture quality...just couldn't get the lighting right.)

(I do not know the names of brands of anything I used.  It is all paper and do-dads that I have just collected randomly over time. The glitter is just your standard glitter. The letters were cut out using a Cricut Expression...the cartridge came with it and is just called Cricut Classic Font.)

Photo: Peanut

August 29th, 2010
Fresno, CA

Photos: Random Nature

July 22nd, 2010

Fresno, CA

Photo: Yosemite

August 1st, 2010
Somewhere along Tioga Rd in Yosemite

First post ever!

I'm not quite sure what all I will use this blog for. Sharing my photography... or my scrapbooking...or maybe just general journaling??  Who knows.  Not even 100% sure that I will use it... We shall see!