Lil Tree Hugger


Hello friends.  Happy Spring Break to my Aiken Peeps.  At Bitten By the Bug 2 this week we are celebrating Arbor Day.  Our Design Team sister Kelly chose this challenge. In honor of Arbor Day, later this month, we were to include a tree on this week's project. 

I knew exactly what photos to use when I saw our weekly challenge! I have had these two photographs of Avaleigh since last fall. I just love both photos and had been planning to scrapbook them.  This challenge helped to get me motivated to design the single scrapbook page above. 

I love that Avaleigh is watering a tree, as well as hugging a larger tree as she contemplates life.  The title of the layout, Lil Tree Hugger, came both from the photo and from the nickname for ecology minded individuals. Perfect for our sweet little helper. 



I used four Cricut cartridges on this layout:

The flowers were cut from Live Simply.  I did make some edits on the leaves on the bottom flower.


The watering can was cut from Walk in my Garden. I added words and dots to the can.

The tree was cut from C.M. Stork's Delivery.  I used the slice feature in Design Space to use only a portion of the tree.  I also welded a very narrow rectangle to the trunk to extend the length.

The fun leafy border in the middle of the page was cut from M.S. Birthday Cake Art.  There are a lot of cute borders on the cake cartridges!

The font I used is called Naira.  I had the Cricut write the words onto the cardstock by using the font and "attach" feature in Design Space.  I then used watercolor pens to color in the letters.  I especially like the way the letters look on the pink print layer.


Recently I made a discovery in Design Space, which made me feel - to borrow from Will Smith in IRobot - "like the dumbest dumb person ever."  I had NO idea that there was a tool in Design Space that identified the cut and cartridge of each image placed on the virtual mat!

I was checking the color of the watering can and on impulse I clicked the i at the tops of the color layer attributes menu.  Much to my surprise, a message popped down identifying not only the cut, but the cartridge!  I had been asking for this feature FOREVER.  I now wonder if it has been there all along and I was the "dumbest dumb person" who never before clicked on the i?  


Hoping that I am not the only person who had to search images all over again once their design was complete in order to identify the cartridges they used, I decided to share my find.  Below is a close up of the drop down menu. Please no laughing and finger pointing from those who already knew this.  Sigh....


I completed my layout with white pen doodles and dots on the flowers and the tree.  I also added adorable sequins to two background areas.  And even though the layout is busy, I feel like the photos of Avaleigh are still the focus.

  


Thank you for stopping by today.  I do hope you plan to go by the Bitten By The Bug 2 blog today.  Our team came up with so many cute variations of the Arbor Day theme.  They are sure to inspire you to create your own Tree themed project!

Cute Baby Jude Layout


Hello friends. Welcome to this week's Bitten By the Bug 2 challenge - Cute as a Button Baby challenge.  One of the other new grandmothers, Maureen, chose this week's challenge. I discovered a stash of completed layouts stacked together and realized that I had never shared any of them on my blog.  And as luck would have it, among them was this darling layout of one day old baby Jude.

I used three Cricut cartridges on these two pages:  Baby Steps, Disney Mickey Font, and 3 Birds on Parade.  


I found this cute little new delivery baby on the 3 Birds on Parade.  I removed the bird and suspended the bird from my Hey Jude title.

The sweet baby sleeping on the moon is from the Baby Steps cartridge. This is a go to cartridges on all things baby related.

The phrase OH BOY was cut using the Mickey Font Cartridge.  

The Beatles cut below is an SVG file I made using a cartoon image from the Internet.  I used this same SVG cut in iron-on material and made Jude an adorable gown and cap set.


If you have not already been by Bitten By the Bug 2 blog today, please do visit.  The design team has created ADORABLE baby projects.  You will love them.  Also, we would love to have you join our challenge this week.  If you have baby photos to scrap, or a new baby card to make, this is your chance!

Thank you so much for stopping by today.  I do have additional layouts that I plan to share later in the week. 





First Bike Birthday Party Layout


Hello friends. I am back with a surprise part two of Monday's post - Avaleigh's birthday party.  I scrapped a total of four pages on Avaleigh's second birthday party.  The first two pages where shared on Monday as my Bitten By the Bug 2 birthday themed project.  Today I have two additional pages.  The first page features the Schwinn Roadster Tricycle that "GranDoug" and I gave to Avaleigh as a birthday present.  The second page is Avaleigh and her parents celebrating. 

Let's begin with the Cricut details. I used two cartridges on these pages: The fun double layer font is from the Carousel cartridge, and the tricycle is from B is for Boy.  I made edits to each of the cuts. 1. I removed the open diamond shape from the top layer of the letters.  2. I cut the bottom layer of the bike twice - once in black and again in silver grey.  I then snipped apart the silver layer and assembled to make the bike more closely resemble Avaleigh's bike. 


As you can see in the photo progression above, Avaleigh loved her bike. Her cute cousin was the first to comment on her bike.  When we brought it in, Seeley shouted, "COOL!"

I used the same paper for these two pages as I used on the first two pages.  I also used the cardstock stickers "YOU ARE Sweet" on the last page.



Donut Birthday Party Brunch


Hey there.  Welcome to this week's Bitten By the Bug 2 Birthday Challenge post.  My sweet and talented Design Sister, Marti (who is out on break), chose the theme of this week's challenge - Birthdays.  This worked great for me as I had photos from Avaleigh's second birthday party in January to scrap.

Avaleigh's mommy did a fabulous job planning Avaleigh's birthday party. Avaleigh's favorite thing is Donuts! So how fitting was it that she had a donut themed birthday party brunch?  There were glazed donuts, frosted donuts, jelly filled donuts, and donut holes!  Of course there were other yummy brunch foods, but lots and lots of donuts!


As luck would have it I had the perfect Cricut cuts and the perfect paper to scrap Avaleigh's party photos!  I used two cartridges, Love You a Latte and Cricut Alphabet for the Cricut cuts.  There are other donut cuts on different Cricut cartridges, but I really liked the sprinkled donuts on the Love You a Latte cartridge.  Avaleigh's favorite donut is the frosted with sprinkles donut. So perfect.  I also had the perfect paper for this layou. It has donuts printed on one side, and ice cream cones on the other side. 


I  used the very basic Cricut Alphabet cartridge for the title cut.  I like the double layer title - the shadow is always a nice touch.  There was so much else going on with the layout that I wanted a non-complicated font.





Brunch and a Break from Life


Hello friends.  I do not have a Bitten By the Bug 2 post to share with you today, just a little life story.  As most of you know, we are the full time care providers for my mother, who has Alzheimer's.  My mother's memory fades more and more each week, and sometimes that can be a challenge.
This last week we had two particularly difficult days. I am not sure what causes the bad days, if indeed there is a cause.  I just know that some days mom is less cooperative, more stubborn, and/or less aware of reality, all of which create a perfect storm of difficulty.  

After the two difficult days, I decided that Doug and I needed a day away, without my mom, and without the constant awareness of where she is and what she is doing.   We decided to have an early, private, Valentine's date


Our oldest son and his precious wife came over to "Granny sit" for us on Sunday.  Doug and I went to the historic Willcox Inn and enjoyed their fabulous Sunday Brunch.  I had to laugh because I was completely finished with my food before I remembered to take a photo of my plate.  I had Eggs Benedict with shared side dishes of hash potatoes and bacon.  Doug had the Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Waffles, with Almonds, Mascarpone, Bananas, and syrup, with our shared side dishes.  I had the (spicy) Blood Marys and Doug had the Wheat Stout.

The piano player was live in the lobby.  We dinned on an antique backgammon game table sitting in comfy high backed chairs.  And we relaxed.  And talked.  And breathed.  It was an ideal getaway.  


My empty plate, ha.  Followed by an action shot of Doug finishing his brunch.


We ran into two dear friends at the Willcox, as well as a group of like minded people with whom to discuss politics.  And we just enjoyed our time alone. It was a perfect adult way to destress.   

The other stress reliever in our lives, our grandchildren, continue to delight us.  Avaleigh had her first Daddy-Daughter dance last week.  He father's school had a Daddy-Daughter dance, and Avaleigh went with John.  She was so cute, and so excited.  She had no idea what to expect, but that did not stop her from excitedly talking about it on Friday before the dance!!


My sweet little grandson, Jude, is growing and learning so much.  He is now six months old.  Jude is very affectionate and has the most charming smile. He is trying to crawl, but is currently on scooting around.  In this photo he is wearing his, "Heyyy me*" shirt.  Down below it says *Jude.  Yes, a Beatles reference.



Even though I took a day off and did not join the weekly Bitten By the Bug 2 Cricut challenge, I hope that you will go by the BBTB2 blog and view the design team's projects.  I know they would love to have you join in this week's Red and White challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today.