Big Love for my Little Man

My cup runneth over...I never knew my heart could love so deeply! Don't get me wrong, I love my family, I adore my husband, but the love for your child compares to nothing else in life! I think that's why I am so mushy about this post, LOL!

There's really not much you can do to celebrate an infants 1st Valentine's Day, so all I did was throw on his bib and snap a few pictures (okay, there's a TON)...it's still worth documenting in his scrapbook, right?!?! That's the first of the two pages in this layout. The second page, "Cupid's Cutie," has to do with a contest he won on my "Mommy Message Boards," What To Expect When You're Expecting website. I submitted that picture, and he received the most votes and WON! His first award, it was a proud Mommy Moment (still is I guess).

The pages were put together with a $1 kit I picked up at the Target Dollar Spot (you never know what you'll find, so keep your eye out). I placed the tags on with eyelets to add a little something, and did a double mat for the photos. The title for "Cupid's Cutie" was cut using Plantin on the Design Studio to weld the letters together (measured the empty space on my layout and adjusted the size, once welded, to fit).

Eggs-tra Special Easter

A baby's firsts are always exciting, but celebrating my sons first holiday's were such a special time, and I sure did try and make the most of them. Today's post is just one of the 2 layouts for Brody's first Easter. I didn't have to do much to put these together, I just pulled from my "box o' goodies" that I saved for the last 2 years and played with it until it fit the way I wanted. The only items I created myself was the Month & Year from the Designer's Calendar Cricut Cartridge. The other thing I really like to do with each layout, no matter the theme, is mat my pictures. It only takes a few seconds, and I just think it makes it look like you've taken some time with your layout.

Here's the 2-page Easter layout:

Thank you for taking a trip down memory lane with me. The "love" holiday is up next!

My Lucky Charm

Seeing that St. Patty's Day has just passed, I thought I'd share one of the recent layouts I created for my sons baby book. I had started out of order with 4th of July, and found no reason to jump back in order now. I used what I had saved away in a box...a couple of cards (one tucked away in an envelope), and his 8x10 I took during an impromptu home portrait session with my Mom. In order to spruce up the page a bit, I took to my Designer's Calendar Cricut Cartridge and created a few embellishements - a phrase, hat/clover, clover in a box & the year. Because these images don't come with a layering feature, I created my own layer by reducing the size of the top layer by just 0.25".

Here it is:

Red, White & my baby's Blue's

And so it has begun...my 2 1/2 year old's baby book has pages!!! I was so overwhelmed with the amount of pictures, mementos & paper I had to chose from, that I had a really hard time figuring out where to begin. I ended up starting with a simple holiday layout, 4th of July! I started with a very busy background paper, so I wanted to keep the matting & embellishments very clean and simple. I used only black & white "frames" for the matting around the pictures, and added a little bit more color with a patriotic red, white & blue theme for the simple words/numbers/journaling matting. I played around with some stars I punched out and covered in glitter, but it ended up looking messy...sometimes less is more!

Using the Designer's Calendar Cricut Cartridge I cut the "July 4" and "Independence Day," sizing it to fit the empty space with the Design Studio. For "2009," I used the George & Basic Shapes cart, and welded the numbers together in Design Studio to create a solid date.

A book for Marley

When my sister & brother-in-law announced on my son's 1st birthday that they were expecting a child of their own, I was OVER THE MOON excited. I immediately started brainstorming on how I could document my nieces first year of life in the most creative way. The total book is just over 50 pages, but I've chosen just a few to share...

Baby Shower Layout:

Embellishments for this page were created using the New Arrivals Cricut Cartridge.

Announcement Layout:

"Announcement" was created using the New Arrivals Cricut Cartridge.

1st's Layout:

Embellishments for this layout was created using New Arrivals Cricut Cartridge

Halloween Layout:

Words cut using George & Basic Shapes Cartridge, Spider cut from Doodlecharms & Pumpkin from Speaking of Fall

Thanksgiving Layout:

Embellishments for this layout were created using the Speaking of Fall Cricut Cartridge Christmas Layout:

Embellishments for this layout were created using George & Basic Shapes & Doodlecharms.

Thank you for taking the time to visit Coley's Craft Corner. I hope you've enjoyed today's post. I am in the process of creating an entire "Year in Review" album that will include an Announcement Page, each holiday and a birthday layout. Perfect for a baby shower gift, or to create a special album for that little love in YOUR life! If you are interested in anything you have seen pictured on my blog, please contact me at sandiegocoley@yahoo.com and we can start creating right away!!!

Big Boy Room

The time has come & my son is ready to move on to bigger & brighter things...i.e., his Big Boy Room! I wanted to make sure it was EXTRA special for him, especially with a new little brother or sister on the way. My son LOVES to go to Disneyland with Mommy & Daddy, and loves pretty much ALL things Disney, so deciding on the theme of the room was the easy part. I didn't want to spend a ton of money making it his own, so I collaborated with my baby sister and came up with the idea to decorate with scrapbook frames filled with pictures of Brody with his favorite Disney characters as the focal point on one of the walls. Here is the result...

All characters were created using the Mickey & Friends Cricut Cartridge.