December Daily 2012 - Day 9

SANTA!  I really didn't want to visit the mall Santa this year and there is a Christmas Tree farm near us that allows you to come and visit Santa and take your own pictures if you like.  Nothing beats an amazing Santa and a $24.95 savings if you ask me!  The weather has been perfect the past few days and luckily for us the line had not yet formed for the big guy.

Here is the spread

I opted for a smaller 5x7 photo on the left which still fills the space nicely.  I taped it down with some candy cane washi tape added a tree and a vellum number from Crate.  I embellished my tree a bit with some gold sequins.  On the right I added a photo of Simone that I took amongst the Christmas Trees.  The S Card is printed on my 36lb. vellum and embellished with some more sequins.  I just glued them down using my Martha Stewart glue pen.  The reindeer card was from Kelly's kit, the colors of this card were inspriration to make this spread a bit brighter than the last one.  I made the Don't Stop Believing card which flips up to show the journaling.  I saw something similar on Pinterest but wanted to make one a bit different for my needs and colors.

Here's a look inside the flip up.  I added some digital elements from Kelly's kit and you guessed it more sequins.

And the insert

I hope your day nine was great too!

Five

Minutes will become hours, hours will become days, days will become weeks, weeks will become months, and months will become years.

I will never forget these words that your Dad spoke to me when we finally got back to our room the day you were born.  How right he was and how fast its gone.

Day 1

six weeks

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

What I wouldn't give to go back to live these early days again. I cherish each and every sleepless night, it was hard but it was also more than just hard, I loved it. I loved being there to care for you, to comfort you, to protect you, to nurture you. To cuddle with you in the wee hours of the morning, looking into your eyes just so filled with love for you that it hurt. Watching you learn to roll over, to crawl, to walk, to run, to laugh, to smile, to love, it made my life whole.

You are the light of our lives, the best gift we ever could have received.

I'm sad at how fast things are moving but I'm so beyond grateful to know that I was given the chance to watch you soar. To watch you become who you are supposed to be. To help you, to guide you, to teach you, to protect you and to love you.

For many years to come...

December Daily 2012 - Day 8

We took our family photos yesterday and the shoot had two purposes.  A shot that we could use for our Christmas Card and some shots of Simone for her 5th Birthday.  I took my camera along so I could snap photos while the pro's were doing their thing except I forgot to grab the memory card out of my computer.  Thank goodness for my phone!  These were all taken over their shoulders so I would have something to include today.  Impressive to say the least for a phone photo that I was able to blow it up full size.

If you live in the Sacramento area and are looking for a photographer I cannot speak highly enough for Katherine and Nikki at Essence Photography.  They did an amazing job and I know their photos will be 1,000 times better than these from my phone. 

Here is the spread

I purchased the little chalkboard that Simone is holding at Michael's, you can find it in the wedding section and I did the lettering myself.  The right side is mostly digital, the background paper is an old set from Elle's Studio, I couldn't find it online so it might not be available anymore.  The stars I printed out onto vellum and then embossed with Zing Gold Glitter embossing powder.  I made the tag digitally and printed it on vellum and the number came from the Crate set that I've used throughout so far. The photos were printed on the background paper I just cut a slit along the edge of the photos and tucked the stars in.

Here is the insert.

It's one of the vellum sheet's that came with Kelly's kit.  I added some vellum pieces from Crate.  I wanted to use brads to hold them down then I realized they would show so I just stuck red rhinestones down to look like brads.

I hope your day eight was great too!

December Daily 2012 - Day 7

Such a busy day yesterday, school for Simone, a birthday party and trip to Trader Joe's.  Which of course lead to a page about tasty treats.

Here is the full spread

What's not to love about Candy Cane Joe Joe's,  Dark Chocolate covered stars and White Chocolate Peppermint pretzels snacks.  The pretzel bag on the right was saved just to put in the album and its exactly the right size to slide into a protector.  The pretzels are from Target and I have a bag in reserves because my store is completely out.  I was happy to see that Trader Joe's has their own version so of course I snatched those up yesterday to try.

Here is the insert.  I made this new one, I just changed one word to fit my needs.

I hope your day seven went well!