Woo Hoo scrappy weekend :)

So lately I've been lucky to get a layout done in two days.... this weekend I got five done so far YAY! Miss Lexi was at her Dad's and Miss Elli spent the weekend with Nana and Papa so it was just me and the Cobymeister :) Thanks to two crops at The Scrap City and Serendipity Scrapbooks I had tons of inspiration! Scrap City's is actually going on til Friday so come by and check us out..... TONS of sketches to choose from! I am so in love with this picture and layout :) Julie Bonner from 52 Sketches 52 Weeks made me this gorgeous sketch to share at the Scrap City crop this weekend and True Love is my take on it. I made it mainly with a kit from Treasured Scrapbooking.

We got a rug for the hardwood family room floor where the kiddos spend most of their day and Elli has been having so much fun rolling around with Coby on it :) I really love this quote that I cut out of a patterned paper from Little Yellow Bicycle! It's really true for Elli and Coby, she enjoys him so much more every day!

This one was for a challenge at Serendip. I just stinkin LOVE these pics of Elli. She is such a nut. The journaling is all about how hilarious Daddy and I thought it was and we thought she looked like Beavis..... a la Beavis and Butthead LOL It's so funny that she'll have no clue who that is and will have to google it someday :)

This one is also inspired by a sketch from 52 Sketches 52 Weeks. This is for week #7's sketch :) I used a Prima paintable and colored it with colored pencils and then cut out all the vines to layer them over the picture mat. It was also for a challenge at Serendip and the challenge was to use the same element in 3 different ways.... I used butterflies (patterned paper, beads and acrylics.) So since I found out I was having a boy I've been SO excited to use this paper LOL I bought Coby this dino outfit from Gymboree JUST so I could use this paper :) This was based on a sketch posted at Scrap City for the crop :) Coby was learning how to roll from his back to each side in this picture :)

Oh Costco hot dog I heart you... basketball i do not heart you

Over at the Page Maps blog they have this great sketch posted :) Isn't it a cool one? I love how the shaped paper is cut :) Here's my take on it!

Anyone who was around during my pregnancy knows about my insane obsession with the Costco hot dog LOL There's a hidden journaling tag but I'll tell the story here too :) My very first job when I was 16 was working in a hot dog stand... I ate SO many hot dogs that summer the smell of them made me sick for years. Even when that reaction wore off I still didn't want them! That is until I got pregnant with Coby. Costco has a hot dog cart outside the warehouse and a giant hot dog and a pop is like a buck and a half..... what a deal!!!! Many a day Steve was informed he had to grab one on his way home.... many an evening he was sent BACK there LOL I'm so glad I finally got to use some of these cute little retro die cuts :) And the scrabble tiles just seemed to fit on the page :) This 7 Gypsies tag is one of those things that I never figured I'd use but saved forever anyhow.... SO glad I did! It was just the perfect way to add a little journaling to the page in addition to the hidden journaling!

Ok.... so despite ALL my talking to Coby about this while Daddy's at work I caught him enjoying his first sin... enjoying basketball I thought I had made it very clear that we only like baseball :) But they were enjoying themselves so I figured I'd better give up and take some pics!

I just adore this picture I got of Elli and Coby playing on the carpet together :) It's so fun to see her really enjoying him now and seeing him as a playmate! I'm so torn I want him to stay little but it'll be SO fun to watch them play together like my brother and I did! Now if only I could get Lexi to allow me to photograph HER playing with her sister and brother!

I finally uploaded some old pics on my memory card and this one was SO much cuter when I could see it bigger! Doesn't he just look like a little man :)

All about my Elli :)

This kiddo provides me so many funny things to take pictures of and put on paper :) This layout was from the week #6 sketch at 52 Sketches 52 Weeks. I've been holding on to these papers and pictures forever but just didn't seem to be able to figure out what to do with them..... Julie's sketch was PERFECT and I thought of that stuff as soon as I saw it! I just love this paper :) My dear sweet husband picked it out for me for scrapping Elli all by himself :) He just rocks! He got me this really cool thing from the LSS for Valentine's Day too. It's a scoring tool thingy for making cards and boxes! I remember seeing it on HSN or QVC once and I just can't wait to try it! I just love these die cut sayings and this froggie that I cut off of a tag on the die cut sheet! I really like these papers :) It was a brand I had never heard of but they are really great quality and very thick! You can find their other paper lines at Time Flies.



So lately Miss Elli has been obsessed with my scrapbooking stuff! For Valentines Day I filled up a giant storage box full of new stuff and stuff from my stash so she can scrap with Mommy :)She was so excited when she opened it she had to throw it all over the floor...... "nice."

Elli and I had SO much fun making her very first page for her album together when Coby was napping! She picked out the picture, the pages and everything else on her page! The picture she picked is of her and our dog Grace last summer :)






We tried to master the use of scissors... but yeah not so much LOL Instead she told Mommy what shape to cut and then pasted them on where she wanted them!And here's her finished product! I think she did a great job!!!!!!

Some tiny baby yummies for ya

I've gotten some really great pictures of my cuddle prince and his big sister princesses lately that I just have to share :) I think Elli finally "gets" that her baby brother will eventually be a fun playmate for her! She has been SO interested in holding him and playing with him lately. Now he kinda sorta interacts with her and she really gets a kick out of it! Here they are lounging in the bean bag together!

Poor Miss Elli was all tuckered out from such a long day of playing with baby brother. She, Steve and I were sitting in the family room and she was all mad because we were watching a show and had stolen "her tv" from her. About two minutes before this picture was taken she was screaming bloody murder about wanting to watch Dora..... then we realized it was silent LOL Poor little kiddo had fallen asleep hanging off the recliner foot stool :) And Steve is such a well trained husband of a scrapbooker... his first reaction was to run for the camera!

These were taken today! I am SO glad that I remembered to take a picture in this cute little dinosaur oufit.... yes I do have dino papers I've been saving ever since I found out I was having a boy LOL

I didn't get a great picture of it, but Coby discovered today that he can roll to one side, back to his back and then to the other side! What a strong boy he is :)

What I DID finally get a great picture of is his unbelievable smile! This kid just melts my heart with this smile :) He looks so much like Elli when he smiles!Lexi helped me make mashed potatos for dinner tonight and Daddy was on "Coby duty." They watched a basketball game together and played the game that ELli always loved when she was a baby. Steve had him in his lap propped up against his knees and made his tiny legs "run" and made funny noises. Coby was smiling up a storm til I came in with the camera and then we got a lot of untrusting scowls that looked a lot like this LOL

After dinner Lexi held Coby while I was doing the dishes. All of a sudden she said Mom Mom come here I taught him how to sing... ummm ok? SO I went over and she was singing "I loooooove Youuuuuuuuuu" and sure enough he was singing along :) It was SO darn cute! Whenever she sang he cooed away LOL

Then Elli wandered over and started singing with them :) Coby's so lucky to have such wonderful big sisters!

And the end of the day.... I finally discovered the secret to getting a little peace and quiet at night! This bassinet was a Craigs List find and I was so sad that Coby wouldn't sleep in it! Turns out I wasn't doing it right LOL Last night and tonight I've carried the top part out by my scrappy studio and let him sleep in there on his tummy and I've gotten like SIX hours between the two night of uninterrupted me time! Oh how I needed it! He has hardly let me put him down for more than a few minutes for the last couple weeks. I'm just loving a little creative me time :)

Scrap City February reveals

This month at The Scrap City we were sponsored by Beatriz Jennings. She has a store full of wonderful goodies that you can see right HERE! Thanks so much Beatriz! With the goodies I was sent I made a layout and three cards. What a fun bunch of papers :)

We also did the coolest thing that Audrey thought up :) We each had a partner and we made a kit obe for ourselves and one for our partner. Then we sent off our kits and each made two layouts with our own kit and two with the one we got from our partner. Here are the two from my kit: This is my little Elli learning to tumble for the first time :) It was quite a hoot to watch her try and fall to the side over and over before she finally had Daddy get down on the ground and show her and she "got it"

And this one is Lexi's 7th grade picture :) I really love it but she doesn't so much LOL I just can't get over how grown up she looks to me this year.

Here's my layouts from my partner Telah's kit! I just love the bright bold colors that she picked out! This first layout is of a picture I took of Lexi on the 4th of July. No matter how much I begged she just would not turn around and let me take her picture. Sigh.... I sure am proud of the young woman she's become, but I kinda miss the tiny girl who got excited over things like firework shows.

And my final layout is of Elli and her Papa. We were at Chuck E Cheeses and I think my Dad and Steve had as much fun as Elli did :) This picture is of Papa helping Elli play the basketball game. She and I are so lucky to have a Papa/Dad who loves us so much and it makes me so happy to see her have a Papa who plays with her and brings so much joy to her life :) Lucky girls we are!

Home sweet home?

So through Wen's blog I discovered My Scrapbook Nook and oh my stars do they have awesome crop challenges! I got all of one done because of Captain You Must Hold Me 24/7, but the one I got done I just love! The challenge was to have Home in your title, the color black and at least 4 sentances of journaling. Here's what I came up with :)
Out here on the coast we rarely get any snow and if we do it's the piddliest little amount. I think Mr. Coby brought us snow as his present to us when he was born :) This is what our house and yeard looked like the day we brought him home from the hospital. It was SO cool to look out the window both at the hospital and at home and see all the gorgeous white!I've had this acrylic house for ages and never knew what to do with it... it was PERFECT for this layout and I really love how it looks! That's always my favorite thing when you hang onto something and it ends up being useful LOL

I made these layouts for a contest at Page Plans. In usual Vanessa fashion i left the picture taking til thelast day and that day I was sicker than I've ever been in adult life UGH! But I really love them so here they are!

I just obsessively love this BG Urban Prarie paper! It's so girly and has butterflies :) These pictures are of Miss Lexi and her "fashion" sense LOL Unfortunately it seems she's maybe as fashion challenged as her mother is! I sure do get a kick out of the outfits and accessories she puts together!
I just love making these little paper flowers! These patterned papers were just perfect for it!

Here's the butterflies I love so much from these papers! I decorated it with stickles and inked it and lifted up the wings with some pop dots :)

It's been a long time since I made a page with a bunch of pictures, but these pictures really needed to be together! When we first looked at this house we all thought we would have the BEST hill for sledding! Sadly you never get much snow on the Oregon house so we figured it probably wouldn't happen. This year we got many many inches and shockingly there was nowhere to buy a sled LOL So Daddy improvised and used a plastic storage bin. Elli had such a blast sledding down the hill!

I embellished this snowflake that was supposed to be an ornament and I really like how it turned out even though it took forever! I inked it and sprayed glimmer mist on it.