Max's Birthday Party

Our little man is officially 2! (And based on his behavior this morning, feels like he needs to live up to the "Terrible 2" reputation. Grr..... You'd never know it from the picture above though!)

His party had an Elmo theme and I took my first crack at making cake pops. I found the recipe here and even though they didn't turn out as cute as the professional's pops, I was quite pleased! We also had a cake that he was delighted with too. (I needed a back-up in case the cake pops didn't work! And believe me, they were work!) We had lots of friends and family there to celebrate. And to play freeze-dance with. It was so fun to see all of them dancing around to "C Is For Cookie" from his new Sesame Street CD. I don't think he could be any happier, or spoiled with toys, than he was on this birthday celebration.
Thanks for all of you near and far who are such a blessing in his life!
Cheers,
Christy

Whew!

October is such an exhausting, joyful month for us. We celebrated Max's birthday at Oma's Pumpkin Patch and then went 2 more times for school field trips. Needless to say, we are pumpkin-patched out but we really love that place.
We've gotten to see so many people in Max's birthfamily and got so many amazing photos.
If you read our blog, you know our motto on adoption and life: "Never too many people to love our kids."

I just love this photo below!

Max was really excited to open presents! It took us forever because every time we unwrapped it, he wanted to play with it right away.
Sam's favorite thing about the patch is the sand pit. Really. He played in it until the sun went down. Madeleine was in constant motion playing with friends that I didn't even get her photo at the patch.
Max wasn't really into eating the cake at his party. He loved that his highchair was in the wagon (a little improvisation on forgetting the chair for the booster).
The hayride at the pumpkin patch is always fun.
Thanks for checking in!
Cheers,
Christy

Happy Birthday to ME!

Aren't birthday's fun? I'm not so old that I dread them yet. My mom and dad sent me this beautiful flower cake. It smells great and it's calorie free. PERFECT!

But since giving is always better than receiving, I have a gift for you. Below are the instructions on how to create a simple 2-sided acrylic layout. I was scheduled to teach this class at Yellowbird Scrapbooking but the owner forgot to advertise the date it was offered (no kidding!) so I chose not to teach it. You can use any papers, trims, and rub-ons that you want. You could even adapt this to a regular layout if you want.

Class Description:

If you’ve ever been a little intimidated by acrylic, this is the class for you. This class is packed with techniques and products! There’s so much you can do with acrylic and we’ll start with inking, cutting, punching, and pasting it to make this 2-sided layout. We’ll also learn about inks, adhesives, paper tearing, and how to use the Xyron create-a-sticker tool and a Crop-a-Dile.

Techniques learned in Class:

· Inking on acrylic and paper

· Adding glitter to acrylic

· Applying rubons to paper, acrylic and photos

· Adhering onto acrylic

· Cutting acrylic

· Punching and setting eyelets on acrylic using a Crop-a-Dile

· Using the Xyron create-a-sticker tool

· Paper tearing

Supplies needed:

12" by 12" acrylic piece, Staz-On white ink, brown ink (any type), Crystal Stickles, Xyron Create-a-sticker, glue dots or ATG gun, Zip dry, scissors, pop dots, and a Crop-a-Dile, 2 eyelets, trim to hang it if you wish, shaped paper to trace, 1 piece of 2 sided patterned paper, Fancy Pants rub ons, 3 white paper flowers, pearls for the flower centers, brown cardstock, and 3 4" by 6" photos.

“Dreams” Side 1

1. With the protective film still on, trace a piece of shaped paper. Cut the acrylic into that shape.
2. Remove one side of the protective film.
3. Use Staz-On white ink to ink the edges of the Acrylic. You only need to do one side.
4. Tear a large piece of the purple/green paper leaving the purple flourishes along the botton.
5. Ink the edges brown.
6. Adhere this paper, purple side up, onto the acrylic using Zip dry, glue dots or an ATG gun. You will be able to see the green side through the second side.
7. Apply the large flourish rubon to the bottom left corner. The rubon will over lap onto both the paper and the acrylic.
8. Apply small brown flourish to the right side of the paper, vertically. This will border your photo mat.
9. Beneath the brown flourish, adhere 2 white flowers. If you want, apply purple Glimmer Mist to the white flowers to match them to the paper. We used the color “True Purple.” The center will be a pearl.
10. To the left of the flower above, apply the large purple flower rubon. On top of that, adhere a white flower and a pearl center.
11. Tear a piece of brown paper to mat your photo. Either a 4” by 6” or a 5” by 7” should fit. Adhere it onto the purple paper.

Side 2

1. Remove the second side’s protective film.
2. Tear more of the purple paper and ink the edges.
3. Adhere it onto the acrylic, making sure you see the green paper from the first side.
4. Adhere lace to the bottom of the green paper’s border.
5. Adhere a small piece of velvet ribbon over the lace onto the acrylic.
6. Adhere a 5” by 7” and a 4” by 6” photo.
7. Apply Rub on quote to purple paper above the 4” by 6” photo.
8. Adhere the 3 small white flowers.

Flip over your project to side 1

1. Apply Stickles to the edge of the acrylic making a dotted pattern. Remember that stickles takes a little while longer to dry on acrylic than on paper.
2. Accent the flourish of the purple paper, the flower/flourish rubon, and the word “Dreams” with Crystal Stickles.
3. Using a Crop-a-Dile, punch holes in the top of the Acrylic sheet. Set 2 silver eyelets. (Traditional eyelet tools will not work.)

4. String ribbon through the eyelets to make a hanger. Add other ribbon pieces to the large ribbon.

Also... Today marks the day until 6 months until Christmas!!! That sent me in a bit of a panic since I'm not done scrapbooking last Christmas. Here's a new layout:

Complete with hidden journaling. ;)
Thanks for checking in! I hope you try the acrylic layout!
Cheers!
Christy