Craft-Tastic: I'm at it again!

Spoiler Alert: If you are Laurie or Debbie and your package hasn't arrived yet and you don't want to see your surprise for the first time here in blog-world, .... Look Away! Run! Don't come back here until the postman does his job!

Yes, I got crafty again. Well, first I got super procrastinatey and then I finally broke down, made several repeat trips to Michael's, busted out the scissors and gluestick ... and got myself a little crafty! All in the name of L-O-V-E for my dear friends and their adorable bambinos :)

This is the scrapbook page I made for my dear friend Debbie's Book of Love for her triplets: Hayden, Morgan, and Landon. If you don't already know Debbie and her fantastic story, you should hop on over to The Growing Cunninghams and get to know her and her adorable, newly-one-year-old triplets. The page has this great polka-dot background in fun, bright colors. I used adhesive letters to spell out "Love from the NW" across the top. A reminder of the fact that many miles separate us, but we are sending H, M, and L lots of love everyday :) I also included two photos - one from our visit last August and another from our recent visit in April. I then attempted to "introduce" myself and tell the triplets "how I met their mother" and express in some small way how incredible I think their mommy is ... no easy task, especially with limited space for text. Down the side is a little scrapbook doo-dad that just called out to me at the store - its bright colors matched perfectly and the animals/botanicals seems "naturey" just like the NW. I hope this page is a delightful addition to the Book of Love!

Now, on to the canvas. Just 8 inches square but when blank very intimidating. And I have no one to blame but myself. See this little project was originally conceived in my pregnant mind when I needed a way to decorate a nursery for a baby who would remain "gender anonymous" until arrival. My friend Laurie, also pregnant at the time, loved the idea and decided to do the same thing for her little-boy-on-the-way ... except she used two specific shades of blue and an off-white. Now, pregnant with her second - a little girl this time - she decided to do it again. She asked friends and family from all over the country to paint a letter on canvas - this time using pink, green, and cream. Well, the idea of painting another letter just wasn't inspiring. I set out to find scrapbook paper that I could decoupage to the canvas. Initially, I envisioned myself wielding an exact-o knife and saying lots of curse words ... all in the name of love. Instead, I fell in love - thanks to my friend Carrie, who introduced me to the Cricut, a freakin' incredible, ingenious, very addictive machine that all scrapbooker/crafty-type person really should own. I brought my paper to her, she helped me select a fun, girly font, and that darn machine went right to work cutting these beautiful V's from the fun, girly paper - the paper that was exactly the right colors for Laurie's nursery. How fabulous is that? I got the V's home and got around to putting it all together. First, I painted the entire canvas the darkest pink color. Then, I cut strips of what was left of the piece of striped paper. I spaced out the strips so the color showed through. Laid the V's on top - the larger V is "the back" of the cute paper and the smaller cursive V is the cute paper itself. Oh, and as the final - very fun - step, I used MOD PODGE to glue it all in place; it dried totally clear and everything was firmly in place. Now, I am just looking for excuses to use the Mod Podge! Anyway, here's the finished letter V ... for Valentine or Vivacious or Vivid or Vagina ... no, not vagina - definitely not vagina :) Love you, Laurie and Baby Girl T!