New trick.

Yesterday, HD looked so cute before church so I had to grab a few pictures. Although I couldn't really get her to look at me, I got some fun pictures of her little face. She looks so serious in this picture. This definitely comes from Matt's side of the family - from Nonno all the way down to her youngest cousin...they all pull serious faces now and then. This was the first page I did with this picture...pretty simple and "nice".

Overlay by Berna Datema.

And then I came across this tutorial and changed it into this....
Amazing right? I love what this technique did for this page. It turned it into something really special. This is something I have seen on others' pages and I am glad I learned how to do it.

So, of course I had to go on and do a few more. I really like how Hailey's arm blends into the flowers on the background page of this one. I am so tired right now that word art is going to have to cut. But, here's a challenge to all of my readers....I want a really great title for this picture. Notice the adorable little smurk on Hailey's face. Classic. Any ideas?

Background Paper 1 by Misty Cato.

Backgroun Paper 2 (with flowers) by UrbanScrapz.
Word art by Bethany.

Travel Companion

Okay, little bit of background on this page.

1. The picture: we took this upon arrival in Italy, after our trip to Paris. It wasn't the best quality picture because it was dark and we were holding the camera. But I love the picture of us in front of the plane - I had never been on the tarmac until this trip - very exciting. Well, in an attempt to improve the quality, I was playing with black and white and some other actions, and it ended up looking like a newspaper photo. And that's when it hit me to do a newspaper page.

2. Journaling: Matt seriously is so fun to travel with. He is so street smart and knows people and how to work with big crowds and new situations. We have traveled a fair amount in our four years together (NYC, Miami, San Francisco, Paris, etc.) and everywhere we go I'm amazed at his ability to get around. He just knows what he's doing. I LOVE traveling with him because when I'm a freak/stress case/dork on the trips, he's just the opposite. He's just cool. Plus there's nothing like traveling with a hottie! So, what I said is really true. I probably had these thoughts about 50 times during our month overseas.

3. Ryan Air: This is a plug for Ryan Air. Use it when you go to Europe...you won't be disappointed. It's kind of the Southwest of the United States - only with planes that work...and cheaper prices.

The Louvre

It's been awhile since I've done a Europe page. And since I'm kind of missing Europe today, I felt it was appropriate. I really love the papers I found. I think they fit perfectly.

This first page was a little tough to do because of the colors so I ultimately decided on sepia and then ran a "Barely Vintage" action. It definitely looks better. And the quote...well I have Google to thank for that.

Template by scrapandrea.

Papers by Viviane.

Elements by coralie (ribbon recolored).

The second page I decided to keep really simple - focus on the architecture instead of the scrapping. I'm not sure I could even begin to capture the beautify, complexity and breathtaking nature of the Louvre. This was my attempt.

Horizontal frames by Viviane.

Frame cluster by Lindsay J. Designs.
Papers by Viviane.

Challenge

Did this one for the challenge over at Tangie Baxter's blog. Thought this was more fun than my fridge.

Challenge details here. Credits here.

Little E's Birth Announcement

Heaven

Same picture. Different page. Did this tonight while I was up with allergies (yuck). I found this word art and I really wanted to use this frame. I think the "heaven" quote goes well with the background. Obviously, I'm IN LOVE with this picture. Expect to see it again.

Striped paper by acarlson.
Frame by Summer Driggs.
Word art by Bethany.

Blown Away

I LOVE this picture of HD t. Wasn't sure if I liked the page. I feel like I'm always playing...never quite satisfied with what I've got. Not sure why. But I'm working on a couple more to see if I can settle on something.

I did this face pop-out with the face for a friend's birth announcement and really liked, so I thought I'd try it on this page.

My Little Hands

This is one of the pictures that my friend Ashley took on Monday. HD was doing the hand motions to Popcorn Popping - she was "smelling" the popcorn ball. I love the look in her eyes...a little mischievous but full of sparkle. This is my first go at this picture. I plan on doing a couple more pages with the same shot.

Bow and flowers by LorieM.
Ric-Rac ribbon by Amber Reimer.
Threads and background paper by catlady.
Poem found here.

Zoo

I had a lot of fun doing these pages. I actually bought (gasp) the kit. I needed something perfect and figured I could use all/most of the kit again. Wouldn't these animals be fun printed big and hanging in a zoo-themed room? When we change Hailey's room to a "big" girl room maybe we'll do an animal theme. In the meantime, they make for some cute pages.

Kit by Kay Miller.
Template by Yin Yin Designs.

Nonna and Hailey

Nonna is missing her little girl. She asked me the other day to show HD a picture of her often so she won't forget her. She is always sending kisses and hugs our way. I figured this page represents Nonna's love pretty well. My plan is to make this into a wall-hanging for HD's room.
I did this page for a challenge, so you can find credits here. Thanks onehm for telling me about the challenge. It was fun to do!

Also, I ran a Black & Color Action on the photo. It turned out exactly as I'd hoped.

Jumpin' Jacks Storyboards

Our playgroup went to Jumpin' Jacks today. Although HD didn't quite know what to do and hasn't learned how to really jump yet, she still had a good time. I'm kind of disappointed in the pictures I got but worked with them in PS. It helped...a little.

Luck O' the Irish

I know, it's like an overload of green, but isn't that what the holiday is all about?

Kit by gg digital designs

Laughter.

Love this sweet picture of HD laughing. No one can deny that she is a happy, happy baby. It doesn't take much to put a smile on her face. And we are the lucky benefactors!
Idea for layout found here.
Kit by MissVivi.
Frame by Ellie Lash.

Paris - Arc de Triomph

I had a tough time with this page. The usual frills and flowers and cute embellishments that I would put on a page for HD just didn't seem to fit. So it's a little more of just pictures on a page. I'm still not sure about it aand may have to revisit it in a week or two.

Kit by Summertime Designs (really check out her site...she has lots of fun, fun freebies)

Template by Jodie Jensen (altered)

Paris - Eiffel Tower

I have so many pictures of Paris that I decided to split the pages up by the specific places we visited. This page took a long time, so it's all I got done today during Hailey's nap. The main picture was taken by Matt. Impressive huh? He actually took this same shot with a number of filters...all amazing...but this one fit the best with the rest of the pictures.

Template by simplyin.