First Digi Layout

As you can see from my last post, its been awhile.... a LOOOOOOOOONNNNNGGGGGGG while since I have had a chance to scrapbook.

I looked back at my last post and smiled... It was pictures of an adoption album I created to send to Korea about our family.  Who would have thought that now, almost 2 years later, I would be snuggling with our adorable 2 year old daughter and scrapbooking about her first Halloween last year.  Time flies and needless to say, our adoption journey as well as chasing after a toddler has put scrapbooking on the back burner.

Fast forward to this month.  While pinning layout inspiration on Pinterest, I noticed a lot of layouts I loved were actually digital.  Maybe it was time for a change.  Maybe I needed to shake things up and find my mojo again. 

So I dove headfirst into creating my very first digi layout.

I have to admit I was intimidated at first using Photoshop Elements, but after watching a few tutorials and finding some free templates to help me along, I finally completed my very first digital layout. (I have a lot more learning to do, but it felt so good to complete something!)

And guess what?  I LOVE IT!  All the creativity and none of the mess!  (LOL!  Although I think I will have to touch some of my papers and embellishments from time to time just to feel the textures!)

So here it is....  "Trick or Treat"
I used a cool template from Shabby Princess and entered their October Template Challenge.
It was created mostly from free kits in her Shabby Shoppe!

Hopefully this will be the beginning of a new chapter!

This Turkey Survived!

I just couldn't help but post this cute vide... looks like this turkey got away!!!! I hope you all enjoyed a very happy Thanksgiving!!

Adoption Photo Album!

As part of the dossier that we sent to our agency (and will be sent to Korea) for our adoption, I needed to create a photo album all about our family. This will remain in our adoption file in Korea so it can be viewed by the birthmother or birthfather so they can see the family that their daughter will be placed with. This project was totally up my alley and I was really excited about it! However, as much as I love to scrapbook, I really struggled getting started with it. I think I had put so much pressure on myself to want it to be "perfect" for our daughter's birthmother, I kept myself from just doing it. I did finally dig in and finish it and was pleased with the results. I hope our daughter's mother will know how much love was put into it. It is such a small token of the appreciation and admiration I have for this woman I may never meet.

The back cover was dedicated to her. It simply says "To a mother I may never meet, but will pray for daily. God bless."

baby card

Here's a baby card I made for a dear friend at school!

May the Force Be With You!

It was no surprise that Carson wanted only one theme for his birthday..... STAR WARS!

Considering my tradition is to make the boys a cake of their choice, this was no easy prospect. How on earth was I going to make a Star Wars themed cake? Luckily, I found some pictures of cakes of R2D2 and gave it a go! It surprisingly turned out great- although it did take me 2 hours to decorate!

Carson had a great birthday! May the force always be with you buddy!

Caribbean Cruise!

For my parents 40th anniversary, they took our family and my brother/sister-in-law and nephew on a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean! It was such a fun vacation! Here is a small "scrapbook" of some of the highlights of the cruise!

Create your own scrapbook

We went on MSC Cruises which is a cruiseline based out of Italy so LOTS of authentic Italian food- sometimes it was even TOO Italian with some weird seafood selections, but I can't complain- cheesecake, creme brulee and cannolis that were out of this world! We ate and ate and ate and ate! My favorites were filet mignon, lobster, pork scallopini, and Cajun tilapia. HUGE buffets for breakfast and lunch and then six course meals for dinner! (appetizers, salad, soup, pasta, main dish and dessert) They had some kiddy pools that the kids just loved, a playground, miniature golf and a whole kids club that the kids could participate in. The entertainment was amazing- magicians, dancers, gymnasts... very very cool! We went to Puerto Rico first and Jeff, Lisa, Jeff and me (Mom and Dad watched the boys) took this excursion where we kayaked through these small mangrove channels with big iguanas on the branches. The coolest thing was we did this at night and there are these tiny microorganisms in the water that glow in the dark as a defense. They light up similar to fireflies. When you put your hand or paddle in the water and spash, the water GLOWS! They are microscopic, but there are billions of them so its hard to see individual ones- they are about the size of a pin head, but with so many the water just glows around the kayak or around your hand. There are only 5 places in the world that have these organisms- Puerto Rico has 3 lagoons with them, but where we were was the brightest concentration. It was so amazing. If a fish swam by, they glowed! It was cool doing it in the dark too! Truly amazing! We also went to St. Marten where we rented a car and drove around the island. Then we went to Virgin Gorda which is part of the British Virgin Islands and we all went to this beach called the "Baths" with HUGE boulders everywhere. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life!! The water was turquoise and formed tidepools and caves everywhere. Finally, we went to the Bahamas and our whole family took a glass bottom boat ride and a tour of the harbor. The weather was high 80's to mid 90's everyday. One day it actually hit 107, but with a nice ocean breeze it was still wonderful! We had sun everyday- not even one cloudy day! It was great! I'm already thinking about when we should do our next cruise!!

Christmas Photos!

I cheated a little and used "Smilebox" to create this cute online scrapbook. Merry Christmas!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook