Eight Year Anniversary scrap book page

Thanks to the suggestion of my mother in law in 2005 (around the time of our 1st wedding anniversary), I have made it a point to take a picture of us on October 30th (ish) and make a scrap book page just for that event! I have a whole album devoted only to our anniversary pages. It is one of my favorite books - and I have SEVERAL! I don't know that I've ever posted one of these pages before but thought I'd share the one that I made for this year. We actually didn't get any pics of us ON our anniversary but there were some around that time that I felt were appropriate. Ryann was sick, so we didn't go out, but it all worked out just fine! (OH - and I finally took the time to figure out how to use my Cricut and made all of the embellishments. I'm pretty proud of myself) :)

Baby Shower scrap book pages

I have been trying to work on my own scrap book (ok,RYANN's scrap book) but took some time out to make these pages for one of my best friends who was having her 2nd little girl! I did this to help her get started on her scrapbook for baby #2, as *I* know how hard it is to get scrap booking done for ONE child! These pages turned out pretty well, I think. I especially like the Christmas pages!!

Shovel & Pail

My mom was recently in town and brought Ryann a wheelbarrow that had some sand box tools in it, 2 of the items were a shovel and a pail.  No biggie, right?!  WELL - Ryann just so happens to be enamored with Blues Clues these days and it's hard to find Blues Clues stuff anywhere.  Daddy painted faces on the shovel and pail to make them look like the characters in the show and Ryann squealed with delight when she saw these!  Way to go, Daddy!

Bookmark for Granny

I apologize for the poor photo quality on this one.  It's a bookmark that we made for Granny's birthday.  Yes, another Pinterest idea!  =)  The hardest part was getting the photo of Ryann with her hands in the air "just right".  Once I printed the 13 cent print and let Ryann "sign" the back of the photo, I cut it out and laminated it, punched a small hole in the top and used green embroidery floss for the tassle.  So easy and super cute!

Another Pinterest idea (Framed handprints)

I found this idea on Pinterest (http://go.tipjunkie.com/fd/259/tresfrenchhens.blogspot.com/2010/11/framed-hand-prints.html) and fell in love with it!  It has taken me a while to get around to it but I wanted to be sure to do it while Ryann's hands are still tiny!  Kinda funny but James and I have hands that are almost the same size (his is the brown, mine is the blue one) so I had to change it up a bit to make it look right.  Personally, I like that it's "crooked".  This is done on an 8x10 piece of cardstock.  I like how it turned out and have it framed and hanging in our living room.

Mother's Day & Graduation

I got the idea for this butterfly out of Disney's Family Fun magazine. I have misplaced the instructions and can't find them online, so I apologize for that. It is small enough that it fits on an 8x8 sheet of scrapbook paper. Ryann colored her artwork on colorwonder paper (LOVE that stuff!). These were a hit with the Grandmas and I made one for myself, too! =) This is mine and it's hanging in my kitchen so that I can see it every day! My cousin, Hannah, graduated from high school this year. I found this card idea on Pinterest (http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1314870?cat=500&ppuser=104028) and thought that it was so cute! I didn't use it as a gift card holder, just cut that extra flap of paper off and did my own thing. I was told that this was a hit at her party!

Poppy's Father's Day gift

When asking Ryann to say 'Grandpa', she says 'Poppy'. Who knows if this will stick but for now, this is what she calls him. I think it's adorable!! It's so hard to come up with gifts for Poppy. This year, we got creative - I wanted to do something with Ryann's "artwork". James and I collectively came up with the idea of making a computer - for those of you who don't know, James's dad, Alex, is all about computers - works on them, builds them, eats & breathes them. This gift seems so perfect! We used Ryann's artwork as the screen on the monitor and then James drew the computer around it. We finished it up by putting "I love my Poppy" as the keys on the keyboard. I'm so excited with how it turned out!! I'm even more excited that we have a gift for him! =)

Father's Day, 2012 (Star Wars theme)

Thanks to Pinterest, (if you haven't joined yet, you HAVE to!) I was able to find an awesome idea for a Father's Day gift for James, from Ryann. The idea came from here: http://sandytoesandpopsicles.blogspot.com/2011/06/fathers-day-star-wars-kit.html. SO CUTE! She has great ideas and even had templates to print out to make this all super easy and so fantastic! I didn't use all of her ideas and only printed the templates of things that I wanted to use for this gift. I used a brown grocery bag to put everything in, instead of making the cute messenger bag. The items I chose were: Pringles, sour patch kids, Rolos, Gatorade, a can of soda and a package of Pepperidge Farms cookies. It just so happened that when I set out to get these items ALL of them were on sale and I had Qpons for a couple of them, making this gift fairly inexpensive! I came up with the card idea on my own, basically, with a little input from a few of my friends. I found a website where you can translate anything into "Yoda Speak" (http://www.yodaspeak.co.uk/index.php) and translated a sweet phrase for the inside of the card but then printed the original version of that and added it to the back of the card. The phrase I used is: "Walk with me, Daddy" by Helen Bush Walk alongside me, Daddy, And hold my little hand. I have so many things to learn that I don't yet understand. Teach me things to keep me safe from dangers every day. Show me how to do my best at home, at school, at play. Every child needs a gentle hand to guide them as they grow, So walk alongside me, Daddy, we have a long way to go. I'm so excited for this gift and can't wait for Father's Day to get here!!

The "gift bag"

Peppridge Farm cookies, Gatorade, Soda & Pringles

Sour Patch kids & Rolos

Outside of card

Inside of card, complete with finger paint handprint "signature"

Ryann's Birthday "Scrapbook"

Click here to view this photo book larger

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Valentine project for the grandparents

I decided to do another Valentine photo shoot with Ryann again this year for Valentine's Day but for a project for her grandparents. We took photos of her with hearts that I cut out, on a white background. Let me just tell you that it was MUCH easier taking pics of a 1 month old than of a 13 month old! =) She has her own ideas and didn't want to leave any of the props alone. We managed to get enough pics that I was content and then I made photo books via Shutterfly for James's parents and my mom. Here are a few of the pics from the photo shoot:

Valentine's Day, 2012

After almost a year of posting anything on my blog, I have a project to share! I have been spending most of my time working on Ryann's scrapbooks (3 books so far and I'm not even up to month 8 of her life). We might have to add a wing onto the house for all of her books! =) I'm currently working on a book for her first birthday on Shutterfly. It's a kind of digital scrap booking. It takes a lot of time but maybe a bit less time than picking pics and paper, etc. We'll see if I finish it or not. Might run out of patience!

So, I feel that I outdid myself with Valentine's Day for James last year - the pics of Ryann, half naked and teeny tiny - how do you even compete with that??? I came up with an idea, however and with the help of my fantastic MIL, I think that I have something pretty good for this year, too. James is huge into everything fantasy: dragons, knights, etc. My MIL drew a picture of a winged dragon and then incorporated Ryann's hands, fingers and feet prints to complete the picture. The dragon is holding a book, as James is an unpublished author. However, the title on the book is "The Belly Button Book" by Sandra Boynton. This is Ryann's favorite book - the one that she pulls out to read all the time. I can't take much credit on this project, aside from having the idea, but I LOVE it, all the same! =)

Her hand print is the "wings", her finger tips were used to create the spikes down his spine and her foot/toes were used to create his foot


Ryann "signed" the back of her gift - I didn't realize it until we had drawn her hand that her fingers were in the form of "I love you" in sign language! So cute!