Friday Freebie - NSD 2010 Template

National Scrapbooking Day is officially tomorrow, but I felt like starting the party a little early and wanted to share a fun freebie with my blog readers - a 2 page 12x12 digital template based on this sketch:

The design is saved as two 12x12 templates.  Each has 6 layers including background and smaller grid sections for masking of photos, papers, etc.  Template 1 (left side) also features layers for the title and journaling.

Click here to download the NSD 2010 template

Enjoy!  And happy NSD!

Have you missed one of my previous digital freebies? Click HERE to find them. And, don't forget to subscribe to my feeds so you won't miss future freebies!

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Wordless Wednesday: New Use for a Boppy

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Baby Steps

This past week I was busy taking LOTS of photos for the Week in the Life project by Ali Edwards.  I've seen it mentioned in the past but have never participated.  Not sure exactly why.  Just didn't.  After reading a blog post by my friend Laura at Cameron Crazy blog, I decided to jump right in.  Life changes so fast and it will be fun to look back and see what a week during Dylan's first year was like.  I'm so glad I did.  Here is just one of the fun moments I captured - Dylan beginning to take baby steps:

See that look of determination on his face?  My little boy is growing so fast!  I mentioned this new achievement in two separate phone conversations yesterday.  One was with Trent's grandmother who said his mom walked at 10 months.  Not sure what Trent did.  I'll have to ask my mother-in-law.  And the later in the day, my mom asked what my baby book says.  I have it here and hadn't thought to look.  Sure enough, I was taking steps by 10 months as well:

And this is just one tiny part of the entire week and hundreds of photos!  Off to start sorting through them and try to figure out how I will put this album together.  I think I might check the Flickr group too for a little inspiration.  Did you participate?  Leave me a link in the comments so I can take a peek at your week as well.  :)

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Handprint Thank You Notes

It's never too young to teach a child the importance of a thank you note, right? That's why I decided to have Dylan "help" me with the notes I wrote last month to thank family for the gifts he received following his baptism. I placed Dylan in his high chair, got out a bottle of acrylic paint, squirted some onto a paper plate, helped Dylan stick his hand into it and and then we made a handprint on a piece of white cardstock. Sounds easy enough but for my child who will normally touch anything (and put it in his mouth!), he resisted putting his hand into the paint. It took a bit of effort and a good grip on his hand so we could make the print & cleanup before the hand reached the mouth!

After we finished, I hung the print up on the fridge while it dried. Dylan seemed to like this part. I carried him over to see and he had a big grin on his face while reaching out trying to grab the paper. ;)


Once it was fully dried, I scanned it in. Added "thank you" and printed out copies onto several sheets of white cardstock. Roughed the edges with an edge scraper. Glued onto a sheet of 4x6 black cardstock. And here is the end result:


Simple & cute thank you notes.

Supplies: Making Memories cardstock, paint, edge scraper; 2Peas Sandbox font.

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First Snow

I've been working on getting photos into Dylan's album. It's a mixture of scrapbook pages & photo pages. As I came across this photo from December, I knew I had to scrap it for two reasons - 1) Dylan looks so cute bundled up in his stroller and 2) it was his first snow. Almost impossible to tell the latter from the photo because it was only flurries and, of course, they had slowed by the time I got this shot. It was a joy to watch his excitement & curiosity as they swirled around us. I based the layout design on sketch #98 at Sketch This.

Supplies: Archiver's cardstock; Chatterbox, KI Memories & Little Yellow Bicycle patterned papers; Making Memories metal snowflakes & edge scraper; American Crafts brads; My Mind's Eye journaling tag; Micron black pen.

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9 months

A few highlights of Dylan's 9th month...

* Added more new foods to the menu including prunes, cantaloupe, rice, millet, kiwi, butternut squash, etc. Definitely prefers self-feeding and has switched to using his right hand.

* Can pull himself to standing very easily. "Cruises" while holding onto furniture. Has learned how to squat to sit back down:

* More chatty. Frequent sayings are "ma ma ma ma" and "ba ba ba ba." He'll occasionally throw a "da da da da" in - that used to be his most common phrase and I'd hear it typically while he was chatting to himself during car rides together.

* Started going to nursery during church service.

* Met 5 of his buddies at the mall for a photo with the Easter Bunny. Then all 6 babies & mommies enjoyed lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Dylan & his buddies were each presented with their own little plates of bread & banana slices - so cute!

* Celebrated his first Easter.

* Has become a pro at using his sippy cup for water. Now if we could just figure out how to get him to stop tossing it across the room when he's done. Take a sip and *wham* it hits the floor. LOL

Enjoying a sip of water while at a friend's birthday party:

* Finally sleeping through the night (well, from 7pm to 4 or 5am and then back down until 7am after a diaper change & feeding). Around his 8 month birthday, it looked like I might be heading back to full time work in May (not now, but that's another story) and I knew we couldn't continue getting up multiple times a night. I had procrastinated long enough. I literally just woke up one morning and said, "we're starting sleep training tonight." It took 2 rough nights and then we pretty much rounded the corner. We knocked out the 11pm and 2am wakings.

* Loves books. Will grab and look at them on his own:

* Wears clothes ranging in sizes from 9 months to 18-24 months depending on the brand & style.

* Enjoys swinging at the park:

* His eyes were navy blue at birth. Dark brown around 4 months. And now are hazel.

Dylan's 9 month well baby check is coming up on Thursday. It will be interesting to see how much he has grown since his 6 month appointment.

** ETA: Dylan's 9 month checkup went very well. He's grown to 29 inches and 18 pounds 9.5 ounces.

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Planes

Dylan has a fascination with planes right now. We live close enough to the airport that we frequently see (and hear) them during the day. Dylan will completely stop whatever he is doing to look around for them - even inside the house! (Thankfully, no planes have actually been spotted inside our house.)

Late last month, Trent & I decided to take him to the airport's Observation Park so he could get a closer look. Nevermind the slight scowl on his face here (he wasn't happy with the bright sunlight) - he was definitely having a good time looking around when we were up on the elevated deck there in the background:

Our weekly play group friends are regularly looking for something fun to do so part of our "mission" was to come back with information. One of the mommies started a blog to help organize ideas for things to do with our little ones as well as details on what to expect. I was happy to help with a blog post that was featured last Saturday on her blog, Notes from a Chapel Hill Mom. This will be such a great resource to have on those days when we just aren't sure what to do.

I mentioned to my friend that there is a place at in the General Aviation terminal to grab a bite to eat and watch the planes as well and maybe we should explore. Wednesday both she & her little guy were as stir crazy as Dylan & I were so the four of us went to check it out. We had a nice lunch and to say the boys enjoyed their up close views of the planes was an understatement. Little C practiced his new skill of clapping when he saw one take off and had a big grin on his face. And the moment I let Dylan out of the stroller, he was plastered against the window trying to get a better look:

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Tweet Challenge

Here is a simple layout I created for the Oscraps Tweet challenge which needed to include a twitter or facebook status and an element from their cute Tweet collaborative kit. Skimming back through some of my recent tweets, I came across one from Monday afternoon and remembered this adorable photo I had taken of Dylan. Could he get any cuter?? :)

Supplies: quote cloud & paint from Tweet: Oscraps Collaborative kit; ledger paper from Rhonna Farrer's Celebration kit (recolored); Another Typewriter font.

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Thank you, Munchkin!

We recently won the Corner Bath Organizer from Munchkin as part of their "Munchkin Monday" on Twitter (#MunchkinMonday). After opening the box, I handed the package to Dylan. He was patting it while I tried to take a photo:

And patting or clapping is his form of showing excitement so I took this to mean he was quite pleased.

This organizer is a bit unique from others we've seen. It attaches snuggly in the corner of our bath with 4 suction cups. The open design and mesh window on the front make it easy to see and access your toys. Made of neoprene fabric, it is soft and mildew resistant. It features a small hole in the bottom to drain excess water. The organizer comes in two colors so we requested blue which matches nicely with Dylan's other bathroom accessories.

Now Dylan just needs a few more toys to fill it up with! ;)

Overall, this is a very nice product in our opinion and we appreciate the gift. Thanks, Munchkin!

Note: Corner Bath Organizer was received as a prize for participating in the Munchkin Monday contest on Twitter. Review contains my personal opinion and was not requested by Munchkin nor a requirement of receiving the prize.

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Beautiful Day

We've been suffering under a thick layer of yellow green pollen this week.  According to news reports on Wednesday, our pollen count was 3 times normal.  Overnight we had a good thunderstorm which washed it all away.  And while I'm sure some more may appear in the next few days, it was nice to walk outside this morning and find the world clean & colorful again.

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1st birthday card

Card I made for one of Dylan's friends who celebrated a first birthday over the weekend:



Supplies: Die Cuts with a View card; Cosmo Cricket journaling card; twill; staple; Studio G & Heidi Swapp stamps; StazOn black ink; QuicKutz Moxie font; miscellaneous red cardstock.

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Easter

Dylan found a special little basket waiting for him yesterday morning ...


It looked a bit like a little chick ...


And inside was the book What Is Easter? which talks about the fun of chocolate bunnies and egg hunts while also explaining the most important part of Easter - Jesus' resurrection.

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