Author: Raptor Mama

RaptorDad finally put his foot down and said that Xander’s baby curls mullet had to go by this weekend or he was giving him a buzz cut.  Okay, okay.  I give in.  ::sob::

Xander was not pleased.  The girls at the salon were fantastic, but he just wasn’t having it!  Is it terrible that when I saw this picture later it made me laugh?  He is sooooooooo dramatic.

I sprung for the “first haircut package” because I’m a sucker.  lol.  They’re trying to take a picture for his certificate here and he’s giving them the stink eye.  He looks so handsome and grown up!  Oh man.  I am going to miss his baby curls.

In other news, my allergies are killing me.  The babies have decided that they don’t want to nap at the same time anymore, which is nice in some ways because I get to have some one on one time with them, but has seriously cut into my scrapping time.  And after they go to bed, I cave and take a benadryl which puts me to sleep.  Why did you stop working zyrtec!!!  Why do you hate me nature!!!  lol.  Still, I got a lot done on my stitching projects the first half of the month.  I might even try to take some in progress pictures for my next goals post.

I was cleaning out my dropbox and found that I never actually blogged these!  So enjoy!

I think I basically pulled a bunch of scraps out of my drawers to make this page.  It’s been a while!  I made it back in April.  lol.

Looks like most of this came from an ephemera pack I’ve had for forever.  That and some scraps from a paper pad that I bought back when Kate was a toddler.  lol.  Still, I really like the layered look.

Y’all.  They have a salon in the store.  Where they do the doll’s hair!  If you follow me on Instagram, you know that Raptor got her ears pierced for her birthday this year, and she was desperate to get Samantha’s (her American Girl Doll) ears pierced too.  Luckily, being a full service salon, they can make that happen.  I also sprung for a hairdo (I must have “money bags” tattooed across my forehead.  That or “sucker”.)  It was pretty adorable though.  They even put the girls in salon style chairs out in the store so you can watch them do their hair.

I ran out of the white patterned paper, so I went with some red from the same line.  And I used the last scrap of that transparency.  I wish I had bought more of them!

I brought out some twine this time along with the prima flowers.  I have been having so much fun “shopping” my stash.  Y’all, it turns out that I have some pretty cool stuff.  lol.

Field trip bottom line: Will we go back?  Hmm…  My neighbor is already plotting a trip in December, but I think we will have to bow out of that one.  While it was magical, it was also freaking expensive.  I’m really glad we went, but I don’t know that we’ll go again.  We might go back once Mia is Kate’s age so she can have the experience as well, but I seriously can’t see it becoming an annual event.  That said, I *do* recommend going once if it’s close by.  It seriously blew Kate’s mind.  🙂

If you’re not familiar with the American Girl Doll Store, everything there costs approximately 1 million dollars.  When I called to make our lunch reservations, they talked me into booking a birthday celebration.  Which, yes, was super cute and totally worth it, but damn.  Lunch for Kate and I was $60.  Wowsa.  But no lie, it was pretty magical.  The food was actually pretty good, and it included cake and ice cream.  Plus goodie bags, and crowns, and dishes for the dolls.  lol.  I’ll admit it, I had a blast.  I almost wished I had dug out my American Girl doll (OG Kirsten!).

I used a lot of the same supplies on this page, particularly the transparency,  and I like the feeling of continuity it gives the layouts.  I also dug out my old school prima flowers and I was reminded of how much I love them!  I’ve been using them loads since then.  🙂

I just added a dot of gold stickles to the middle of the flowers and I love the way it turned out.  Then some Heidi Shine OBV!!!

I love love love this color combo.  Pink and gold are my fav.  I will say that I never thought that this day would come, but I’m almost out of Valentine’s Day paper!  I’m torn between thinking that I need to start following blogs and design teams again to restock my stash and being thrilled that I’m actually using up my stash.  I want to clean out my scrap room and organize it all pretty like a magazine though, so I think I’ll continue trying to burn through my stash so I have less to organize.  Lest you think I’ve curbed my shopping addiction, I am currently getting the Hip Kit Project Life kit every month.  🙂  I started getting the Studio Calico one in January and I liked it a lot at first, but it’s kind of fizzled for me lately so I decided to cancel it and sign up for the Hip Kit one.  Totally the right decision.  I <3 <3 <3 it.  It’s pricier, but amazing.  One day I’ll figure how to photograph my Project Life layout without the glare (tips anyone?) and then I’ll put some pics of it on the blog.

 

 

So.  Kate and her friend H are obsessed with their American Girl dolls.  H’s mom has been trying to convince me for months that we needed to take the girls to the American Girl Doll Store in Houston (about 3 hours away) and she finally wore me down.  😉  Time for a road trip!  Since we are totally crazy, we decided to take the twins and her 2 year old along as well.  And since our daughters are also crazy, they decided to coordinate everyone’s outfits.  We looked a bit like a Gymboree commercial.  lol.

It’s not February, but I have a ton of Valentine’s Day supplies (what can I say, I love pink!) and I’m trying to use up some of my stash instead of buying new things constantly.  And the whole American Girl experience is so girly that it seemed perfect,

I’ve been saving the scraps of this transparency forever and I finally decided to go ahead and use it.  I’m so glad I did!  I’ve been trying to actually USE my supplies instead of just hoarding them.  Maybe I’ll need to shop again in another 3 years.  lol.

 

I ended up making 3 layouts for the trip even though we were just there for a few hours.  In the past, I would have combined the photos onto one spread, but I was having so much fun with my Valentine’s Day papers that I spread them out.  I also found 3 different stories to tell.  I used coordinating papers, but did not try to make a 2 page layout.  I’ll post more tomorrow and Friday!

More fun beachy layouts!

More from The Pier.  When I bought this collection, I wasn’t a huge fan of the more neutral patterns, but now I’m loving them which is convenient since I have a bunch left over from the paper pads.  🙂

I’ve gotten several roller stamps in my Studio Calico kits, but I haven’t used them much.  I’m trying to use my stash though so I’m playing around with them.  I think I like them?

I loved this washi tape, but it was a little thick for the top of the page so I cut it in half.  I’m on a one picture per page kick and I really like it.  Since I’m still doing project life, I don’t feel bad about leaving out some of the pics.  Plus, probably 90% of what I scrap now is from my instagram feed.  lol.

Once in a blue moon, the babies (do I have to start calling them toddlers?!?  Say it ain’t so!!!) actually play nicely together.  And even more rarely, I actually manage to snap a picture of it!

Y’all.  Xander was actually giving a hug.  ::swoon:: And Mia was tolerating it!  They were actually giggling together at one point, but I’ll take what I can get in the non-screaming photo department.  lol.

I think the papers are mostly from one of the Shimelle collections with a few Project Life cards and doilies thrown in for good measure.  I actually didn’t plan on matting it on the green paper initially, but then I stuck the washi tape down too far down on the page and it looked weird.  So I cut off the top and taped it to the green cardstock.  Problem solved.  😉

I love these tiny wood veneer hearts!  They came in one of my Studio Calico kits and I’m in love.  I wish I could buy a million of them, but I’m pretty sure they were an exclusive.

I thought this XOXO embellie was perfect because 1.  hugs.  2.  X for Xander!  And yes, I’m a huge dork like that.  lol.

These pictures were just so cute and springy that I couldn’t wait to scrap them.  I think I scrapped them the same week I took them which is saying something around here!  They’ve just been languishing in my to-be-blogged pile, but I’m dealing with the backlog people!

I think if you’ve read the blog for long, you know that I love October Afternoon and I love summery collections.  This one ticked all the boxes.  And as I have it in the same drawer ad the Crate Paper summery line that I bought at the same time, it’s highly likely that there’s some of that mixed in there too.  And I’m pretty sure the frames are from The Pier, my favorite Crate Paper collection ever.  🙂

I used the frames to highlight the places where the layers intersected and added some butterflies because butterflies make everything better.

I love that heart paper so much.  I bought a ton and I think I’m out.  Same goes for the yellow sunburst I’m using as the background paper.  Whomp whomp.

And can we talk about gold?  I resisted for so long, but I have finally drunk the koolaid.  In fact, you might say that I’m drunk on the koolaid.  Gold washi and glitter forever!

 

Oh my gosh, I really am behind on the blogging as this happened in May.  Kate has loved Girl Scouts so much.  We have been truly blessed in finding the perfect troop.  I think she has learned so much and gained so much independence this year.  She even went on a 2 night camping trip without me!  Her troop had their bridging ceremony back in May for the girls who are moving up to Brownies.  Unfortunately, one of their cohort couldn’t be there, but they were still so excited to put on their Brownie vests.  And, um, I may have cried when her leader took off her Daisy apron for the last time.  So many great memories!  And can I just say that she looks soooo much more grown up in a vest than an apron?  I’m just going to go cry into my Diet Coke, you guys enjoy the layout.

Such a great group of girls!  I kind of threw everything but the kitchen sink on this layout.  lol.  I started with same stencil/ paint, then I layered a bunch of scraps of paper, and then I added some ephemera and stickers.  I finished it off with some gold Heidi Shine because, duh.  😉

Here’s a close up of one of the embellishment clusters.

And here’s a close up of the photo frame.

We start scouts again this week and I cannot wait!!!

First, how’d I do with August?  Let’s take a look.

1.  Scrap January 2015.  Done!  I rewarded myself my scrapping some current pics.  🙂
2. Birthday pictures.  Oh my goodness.  The babies are 16 months old.  I think I need to accept that smash cakes pics just aren’t going to happen.  I did get some pics at their birthday party and I think I’m just going to have to deal with the fact that that is as good as it’s going to get.  Since that was my main excuse against cutting Xander’s hair, it looks like I might have to go ahead and concede defeat on that one too.
3. Paint DAD letters.  Done!  They look a bit, um, rustic since I painted over the previous teal incarnation and I wasn’t particularly neat when I painted that year. Oh well!  If I ever get these pictures done it will be a miracle 😉
4. Organize needlework projects.  Done!  In fact, I went ahead and organized the craft shelves in my bedroom while I was at it.  What?  You don’t have overflow craft shelves in your bedroom to hold projects that don’t fit in your craft room?
5. Summer reading stuff.  Whoops.  I went to enter her last 2 rounds of books, but the deadline had already past.  Thankfully, Kate wasn’t too bothered by this.  She loves to read so much that she doesn’t really need an external motivator.
6. Living room wall plan.  Yeah, not so much.  lol.
7. Garage sale box.  Ha.  Hahahahahaha.
8. Scrap beach trip.  Done!  And I had so much fun doing some current pics.  I didn’t end up bringing my big camera down to the beach once, (I was worried about getting sand in it) but I got some great pics with my phone and some cute ones with my waterproof camera.  I will say that I love my waterproof camera for underwater pics, but obviously the water was way too cloudy for that to be viable at the beach.  I do love that I can take it out in the water, but the quality isn’t all that fantastic if it’s not in the water.  Still, I would have been way too nervous to take my camera or even my phone out into the waves so I got pictures that I wouldn’t have been able to get otherwise.  One day I’m going to upgrade my waterproof camera, but it’s pretty far down on my wish list.  First I want to buy all of the scrapbook kits.  lol.
9. Waterproof Camera.  I did pull all of the pics off of the waterproof camera and got them all organized.  The ones from our trip out to West Texas are amazing.  I can’t wait to scrap them!
10. Planner love.  It’s not quite a habit yet, but I have pulled out my planner and started using it again.  I need to print off a few new pages, but I love that I getting organized again.

Look at my tiny babies at their birthday party in March!  Soooooo cute!

Now time to set some September goals…

1.  Scrap February 2015.  I have 3 events to scrap, but one of them is my sister’s wedding (at which Kate was an absolutely adorable flower girl) so I might end up with more than 1 page for that.  We’ll just have to see how it goes.  I might scrap one pic and then have a facing page with 6 4×6 photos tiled.
2. Finish June, July, and August for 2016 Project Life.  Let’s be honest, there’s no way all of this is getting done in a single month, but I cancelled my Studio Calico subscription and signed up for a Hip Kits subscription which starts in September.  I can’t wait to get my new goodies!  With that said, I have a half used kit from June and unopened kits from July and August that I would like to use before I get my new stuff and the old stuff gets tossed aside.  We’ll see how far I can get with this goal.
3. Decide on Halloween costumes.  Obviously this will involve coordinating the babies with whatever Kate decides on.  lol.
4. Scrap 10 current (non Project Life) layouts.
5. Work on Xander’s stocking.  I’m going to spend September working on Xander’s stocking and October working on Mia’s.  I would really like to get them done this year.
6. Finish hand towels.  Another Christmas gift.  This one is some cross stitched hand towels that ended up being loads more complicated than expected.  Looks like I need to find a new netflix series to binge watch!
7. Make FALL letters.  These have been on my seasonal decorations wish list for a long time.  I even have the paper!  I just need to go buy the letters and make them.
8. Organize DVDs.  This is part of a larger goal to clean out our hall closet, but first up is to (hopefully) add a bunch of DVDs to the garage sale pile and find a home for the rest.
9. Finish felt letters.  Oh my.  These are so overdue.
10. Figure out something for family pictures.  Tripod maybe?  Or possibly just pics of the kids again.  I also want to find a new location.