Nursing and Crafting Don't Mix ;)

My days have been filled with nursing, changing diapers, nursing, rocking, nursing, singing, nursing, catnaps, oh yes, and nursing. I hadn't forgotten how much infants nurse (did I read 8 hours total a day? That's a full time job!), I just failed to realize what that meant for the rest of my basic needs- like eating, using the little girls room, sleeping (oh, the sleeping!), and crafting (it IS a basic need).
Oh, but my love muffin is as sweet as can be. I love her so much. I can't stop looking at her in all her miniature cuteness. Mini people are the best.
Alas, I miss crafting.
I had big plans for Autumn crafting, but I haven't had time to do anything. I just look longingly at my pretty Autumn craft stuff...
And. I look at more Autumn stuff to buy. Like these pretty stamps sold by Close to My Heart:

I try not to look too much at the stamps sold by Stampin Up. I am faithful to Close to My Heart after all. ;o/

But these sure are tempting:

Back to nursing!

Trick 'r Treat Swap

I participated in Christine's Trick 'r Treat Swap this year. For this swap, we were to hand-make at least 2 of 3 items (or all of them). 2 were to be Halloween treats, and 1 was supposed to be a Halloween trick. Christine randomly swapped all of the items, and I received 2 treats and 1 trick. I'm going to show you what gifts were sent to me and what I made, as well. (Warning: this post has LOTS of pictures!) I don't know who made what, yet. Part of the fun of this swap is that we are going blog-hopping/trick or treating and finding out who sent us what. I will do an update post, so I can link to the bloggers that sent me my spooky items. :)
I love the creepy address label that Christine used on my package.

This is what I received- again, 2 treats and 1 trick (as well as a gift from Christine for participating).

For my first treat...

I received a festive fabric Spook! banner with appliqued lettering. For my next treat, I received a pretty apron in my favorite Fall color: burnt orange.

Isn't it lovely?

For my trick, I received an Eek collage tag with Halloween-inspired vellum confetti in little envelopes.

Christine sent a poison envelope stuffed with paper goods:

I love the Halloween-themed bingo cards,

ribbons and buttons (which, of course, I love!):acrylic stamps and various pretty ephemera papers:This is what I sent (again, 2 treats and 1 trick- lest you forget! ;).

My first treat was a chunky Boo! book:

For my next treat, I made a Spooky tag banner and sent along a skeleton knickknack with it.Finally, for my trick, I covered a little wooden coffin with skull paper, silver paint, and a few ghosts.

Inside of the coffin I put a little screaming monster.

I uploaded a video of the monster.

It was a fun swap. :D I hope you have awesome plans for Halloween! :)

In Love...

The special, little someone we were waiting for is finally here. She is healthy and beautiful; what more can I ask for? And! Labor went very well. The third time around my body knew just what do do. ;) Please excuse me as I take a little blog break to enjoy meeting my baby and to recover... I'll be back soon. :)

Ariel Paper Bag Scrapbook Album and a Question for You

As promised, I want to share the Ariel Disney princess paper bag album I made a while ago. I made the Snow White albums, and then this one, and then... Well. You know, I got tired of making them. Looking at them again though, I really like how they turned out. I may just attempt to make a few more princess albums as I mentioned the other day.
Please excuse the flash in these photos. I took these photos years ago before I knew that natural lighting and no flash are the best ways to go.
This is the cover of the album. I left a small matted space to personalize the album with the name of the recipient. I had originally planned to sell this album, but my daughter Lani liked it so much that she ended up keeping it just to look through on her own. I didn't even add pictures. (This is the album in its pretty days. It now has the appearance of a toddler's "well-loved" favorite toy. ;)
Here's a close-up of the mat and charm:This album had large pockets on the side (from where the paper bag opens up), and this is one of the inserts:

This is the first layout to the album. (There are only 3 layouts in this album compared to the typical 5 'cause I got tired after the Snow White album! lol). It is an interactive layout just like the rest of the layouts in the album as it has several tags in the pockets.

You can see all of the tags here:

This is the second layout to the album. I used a library pocket fold-out here like in the Snow White album, which was featured in the post previous to this one- just in case you missed it. ;)

I used several large, over-sized silk flowers for this album. I like the Ariel bottle cap center on these layered flowers:

This is the library pocket fold-out opened up revealing the left page in the layout.

This is the second tag insert from inside of the pocket of the paper bag:

This is the third and final layout:

This is the tag inside of the library pocket on this layout.

This is the layout with the library pocket fold-out opened up revealing the right page of this layout.

These are all of the tags pulled out from this layout:

(I don't like having such a robotic tone for these posts: "This is layout 2. This is flower on layout 2. I like flower on layout 2..." It's hard to understand the book though from just looking at the pictures and not having it right in front of you to play with. You know?? Thought I'd throw that in there. Back to robot Jessica voice).

"This is side-view of album. Me like side-view of album. Me need to stop now." ;)

These are all of the tags from the album. Aren't they sweet?

So, there you have it. I still have some of those princess stickers lying around (of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty- I think). Maybe I'll dust them off and play a little bit. Hmmm...

Well, I am now several days overdue (if you're just tuning in- I'm pregnant with my third baby). They will induce soon if the baby doesn't decide to come on her own. I'm so anxious for her to come; how can I coax her out?? I have my own ideas, but I'm wondering if you know of any I don't? Old wives' tales are welcome! :D

Snow White Paper Bag Album

Can you believe I made three of these Snow White paper bag albums way back when? 3! Originally, I was inspired by my daughter Lani wearing a Snow White costume day and night. I had her model for me (when she was like 3 or 4) in the Snow White outfit, and I made this album for the pictures of her looking adorable. *sniffle, sniffle*Thinking the album was too sweet, and having dollar signs in my eyes, I decided I would make another to sell on eBay. (It was back when I thought about using my "talent" to make a few extra dollars; not that I've given up completely on the idea, but when nobody bought this sweet book on etsy, I got a little discouraged. *Shrug* Who's feeling sorry for herself? ;)

Anywho. I made one to sell on eBay (it did sell, by the way). Then... my aunt saw Lani's album, and she wanted me to make one for her to give to her granddaughter as a gift. So, I made one for her, too.

So.

I got tired of Snow White paper bag albums. I even made a reference to the album here a year or so ago, and I didn't post pictures of it 'cause I was so sick of it.

I saw pictures of it on Photobucket a few days ago, and it's pretty sweet! ;D Now, I'll share it with you.

It has 5 layouts like most of my paper bag albums.

This is the first layout: When I first started making paper bag albums, I had a thing for interactive, library pockets. See the left page? There's a pocket there, which opens up revealing the full layout. I still have plans on making another tutorial, so I'll be sure to show you how easy it is to do this with the paper bag.

This is the second layout to the album:

I made several books and tags to put in the pockets of this album (it was a lot of work for each album, and I made 3, remember?! lol- that's probably why I got so tired of it).

This is the third layout, again, with the library pocket.

See here is the layout with the library pocket opened up revealing the entire layout:

This is the fourth layout:

... and the layout with the library pocket opened:

This is the fifth and final layout. This layout was very interactive. I made a chipboard mini-book for the left page, and it has pretty Snow White charm hanging from the mini album (you can enlarge the picture by clicking on it to see the charm better):
I mentioned the layouts had several pockets with tags and/or mini books. When I made the book(s), I took pictures of the tags removed from each layout. I hope I'm not boring you with all of the pictures!

This is the first layout with the tags removed:

The second:The third:

The fourth:

and finally the fifth:*Whew!* I'm exhausted just looking at it again! ;D I had planned to make several Disney princess-themed paper bag albums when I made this one. The feeling was short-lived, but I did end up making an Ariel from The Little Mermaid paper bag album shortly after. My daughter kept that one. I'll show it to you another day. I might just pick up those Jolee's embellishments and make another Disney Princess album. We'll see... ;)

Baby's First Year Paper Bag Album

I made 2 albums like this a kajillion years ago; one to sell on eBay and another for a friend's baby shower. It's an album designed to keepsake all of those baby's first year milestones. I hadn't thought about it in a lo-o-ng time, but now that I have a little one all the way, I'm itching to make another one like it. The album has 5 sweet layouts. The first layout documents the baby's first measurements and his or her first bath. I love all the Suzy Zoo stickers:

The second layout is for the baby's first tooth and first haircut. I believe the paper I used for this album is from a Basic Grey line.

The third layout is to document the baby starting to scoot, then crawl.

The fourth layout is for when the baby learns patty-cake and then learns to wave bye-bye.

Finally, the fifth layout is to keepsake when the baby learns to feed him or herself and finally the last page is the baby's first birthday.

This is the back cover:

These are a few tags that were in the pockets if the paper bag album. Each one has another milestone like the baby being able to sit-up, the baby's first word, and taking his or her first step.

These are a few side views of the album:

I have to make something similar for the sweetie pie coming along. :)

Itty Bitty Children's Fairytale Mini Book Swap

Remember I mentioned that I participated in Mary Ann's Itty Bitty Children's Fairytale Book Swap? I got my book back a few days ago, and it is an endearing little book! :)

The cover that Mary Ann made is darling.

The book is full of beautiful, creative pages. Here are a few.

This is one of the pages that I made. I used Peter Rabbit images, remember? You can see this page close-up here.

I enjoyed this swap- as I enjoy all the swaps I've participated in. :)