Biker Dude

I'm not sure if I ever shared this layout. I made it probably over a year ago and recently it's been inspiring to me! Maybe it's the bright colors! Or maybe it's because I've been thinking back on my childhood and remembering all of the colorful things that made it sweet...especially in the summer!



I've also been thinking a lot about how my life is going to change (and is changing) in the next few months. I know it will be a beautiful adjustment having a sweet little girl to have, hold, and nurture. Sometimes I wonder what will happen to my "scrapbooking world" and design. I read a post today that really made me think about some things.

My little word for the year is "prune", as in cutting back; change. Things are changing and things will change even more. I know that when you prune a plant that more fruit is able to flourish. I know it's a good thing. I just cannot really imagine what it will be like. There are so many things even in pregnancy that I didn't expect or I don't remember anyone ever talking to me about, but here I am experiencing it. I know the same thing will happen when baby girl Smith enters the world.

I feel like my mind is churning with ideas, wonders, and curiousity on this subject. I will have to think on this some more...

Baby Bump: 28 Weeks

As promised, here is a picture of me and my baby bump. I'm 28 weeks now, just starting my last trimester. I can tell she's really grown in the last month! How am I feeling? It depends on the day. Some days I feel like myself, and then some days I feel uncomfortable. I'm thankful I'm home now and that I'm able to relax when I need to. The time is going fast! She'll be here before we know it!

More CT Layouts

Hello! Happy Memorial Day! Quent has the day off and we are enjoying a gorgeous day today! We just finished a game of horse shoes...he won! It wasn't easy picking up the horse shoes (baby belly), so he was a gentleman and picked them up for me. What a guy! Speaking of the baby belly bump, we took some pics yesterday and Quent is going to edit them and I should be able to post them soon! Yeah!

I thought I would share some more creative team pages using Over the River with you today, and one of my own:


This is from Jessica! I love this page! She also used elements from a summer kit I'll be bringing back soon.

This is also from Jessica. Adorable!

And one from Rebekah! She's used elements from a few different kits here.

And this is my own. This is the first page for the photobook I'm creating of our canoe trip from last year.

P.S. Over the River is 25% off today at Digital Dandelions!

Baby Blanket-Finished

A few days ago I finished the striped baby blanket I had been working on since March. You can check the details about it here. It's such a simple project since every row is knitted. It's so soft and stretchy! I can't wait to wrap our baby girl in it!

This is the blanket folded in half. The green doesn't look that great in the photo (I don't think). It is a bright green, but I think it looks better in person.

The stripes are different lengths because I used different yarn for some of the colors (such as pink).

Over the River CT Layouts

Hello again! Today I wanted to share some layouts the creative team from MScraps and my own personal creative team created using Over the River. It's so much fun to see others using my designs and creating pretty things!

Over the River

I finally have another kit in the shop(s)! Well, right now it's only at MScraps. It's 20% off there through the weekend and then it will be available at Digital Dandelions on Monday, May 30th, also for a discounted price! This kit was inspired and created for our canoe trip photos we took last fall. I even pulled the colors from the photos to be part of the color combo for the kit. I enjoyed creating this kit. I think the little bear is so cute! Ha! Tomorrow I will share some layouts from the creative team(s).



Here are some of the layouts I have created using this kit:

This one has inspired an upcoming template.

As well as this one.

27 Week Ultrasound

I'm so glad the creative juices [for scrapbooking] are flowing again! I've been scrapbooking here and there, getting caught up with things, but also scrapbooking whatever my heart desires. We had another ultrasound yesterday, and I wanted to scrap a couple of the pictures we got from that. They wanted some better facial shots of her, which was fine by me. I like seeing her! I'll post some pics of me and my belly after this weekend!

Recipe Project-continued

Two posts in one day! Wow!

A few years ago I started working on a recipe project. I remodeled a recipe box I had by putting patterned paper over it and making it more my style. I created tabbed recipe sections that are color-coded. I typed out all of my favorite recipes and put them on colored cardstock. I really have enjoyed using this color-coded system over the years! It saves me so much time now! It's hilarious though because for some of the recipes it's quite obvious that I didn't do a very good job at editing what I typed because there's funny typos.

Since I finished the first part of the project (that was a LOT of typing!) I have accumulated more recipes which I have kept in a manilla envelope with my cookbooks. I finally got the motivational urge to work on making some more recipe cards. I think having a new printer that works was also motivational.

This project will be an on-going project for the years to come as I accumulate more recipes. I'll probably need another recipe box, too.



I love how Tigger has to come check out everything I'm doing. Such a curious kitty!

Baby Pants

A few weeks ago I was at the yarn shop and I saw this yarn by Noro called Nobori that I fell in love with. It's soft and the colors remind me of Easter and Spring. I was determined to find a pattern I could use this aran weight yarn with. And I found it. It's for these really cute baby pants. I ordered the supplies I needed from Jimmy Beans Wool and got started as soon as it came in the mail. I like to have at least two projects to work on at one time so I can take a break from one and work on the other.

I bought the pattern through Ravelry. I thought the pattern was rather spendy ($10.00), but it's worth it for the 17 pages of much visual detailed instruction. The pattern author does an excellent job explaining what needs to be done...but one thing I learned was when the author says to read and familiarize yourself with something before proceeding, she means it! There was one point I jumped ahead and ended up having to pull out stitches. Oops!



I have about 3 more inches I've added to the pants since taking this picture. I am basically past the "challenging" parts of the pattern and now I'm knitting the legs using the "magic loop method". It's pretty amazing how it all turns out. It's like magic! I'm loving the yarn colors. I think this is my favorite yarn!

While knitting these pants, I have thought so much about when I started knitting years ago. It took me three times to learn how to knit and after the third time something [finally] clicked and I quickly fell in love with the hobby. But before that I didn't really enjoy knitting. One thing that helped me was to just dive into a pattern I *wanted* to make. That's the only way I learned. Sure, it was frustrating at times and stitches had to be pulled and started again, but practice makes "perfect", right? So I say just jump into those projects. You will learn as you go! Don't be afraid to make mistakes! It's all part of learning!

Now...I can't say I feel the same way about quilting. Ha! Knitting is relaxing to me, where quilting is not. I guess we just all find those things that work for us.

Anyway...so now I'm at the point with the baby pants pattern that I have to figure out what length I want. I picked the small/medium size to knit, but I have no idea how long I should make the legs. Quent suggested comparing them to some baby clothes. I think I'll do that.

You can see more details about the project here.

Blanket Update + Slippers

Good morning! It's another gorgeous day here in Southeast Alaska. Today Ketchikan is going to have 4 cruise ships docking, so that means there will be an additional 8,000 people added to our population today. Whew!

Yesterday was my last day working at the coffee shop. It was getting challenging being on my feet like that for 6-7 hours. I will miss working there, I will miss [most of] the customers, but I definitely know I made the right choice to be finished now. My goal was June 1st, but because of some physical things from being pregnant, I decided it was time to stop. So now I will have a lot more time on my hands. I have some projects I want to start and finish with knitting, scrapbooking, recipes, etc. It will be a great time of relaxing the last 3 months of pregnancy!


I took this picture of the baby blanket some time last week. Since then I completed the lighter purple color and have added another color. I'm crusing along. I have an order I'm waiting for from Jimmy Bean Wool to start a new project. It's always so exciting!

And these are the long-awaited pictures of the slippers I knitted for a late Christmas gift for Quent. I wanted to take a picture of the slippers before felting (shrinking), but I never got around to that. They weren't my favorite project to knit, but I do like how they turned out and Quent really likes them. I hope they last a long, long time.

Baby Dress--Finished!

I originally stared out knitting this dress with some other yarn by Noro, but I realized that it just wasn't soft enough and I didn't like some of the colors in the yarn, so I decided to give up my idea of having striped yarn for the project and went with solid colors instead. I had been eyeing some baby yarn at the yarn shop for some time and it was exactly the weight needed for the project so I went for it. You can find details about it here.

Baby Room Update

A few days ago Quent hung some of the wall art and things I've created for the baby room. It's been so fun putting these sweet little touches to the room. There's more to come, so I will take more pics in the future.

One of the wall art frames has the first letter of the name we've had picked out for our daughter for a long time--like years and years--but it's going to be kept a secret until the day she is born. Hee, hee! When people ask us what we are having and we tell them it's a girl, then they ask if we have names picked out. Some are surprised that we have already settled on a name. When I tell them it's a secret they laugh. Quent has a made-up name: Gertrude Agnes Smith. GAS. Oh dear! Some people don't realize he's joking and they ask politely, "Is that a family name?" Haha!

I created the giraffe wall art and had it printed. The middle frame will have a black & white picture of the baby...eventually. The dresser next to the crib will be the diaper changing table, which will be moved over a bit after we move the guest bed out of the bedroom.

I've wanted to create this butterfly mobile for the longest time. Quent gave me some fishing line to use to hang the butterflies. It worked perfect! I cut out the butterflies with the Big Shot die-cut machine. The cats were really interested when I was working on this project.

Well, this is all for now! Have a great day!

P.S. I've been feeling her move! It's so wonderful!

Flags & Ribbons No.2

Hello! It's Friday! I have a new kit out today called Flags & Ribbons No.2. It's 20% off through the weekend at both shops, Digital Dandelions or MScraps. Enjoy!

Knitting Projects

It's been a little while since I've posted. I thought I would share some pics of some peeks at some knitting projects I have going right now.

One of the projects, which I haven't started yet, is going to be a little dress/shirt/tunic type knitted garment for a 6 month old. It's totally not practical, but I want to knit something girly and I found a pattern I really like. I found some yarn at the local knitting store and I can't wait to get started! The picture above is both colors of the yarn I'm using. The picture below is the same yarn as the balled yarn above, but without being balled.

And this is the baby blanket I've been knitting. After we found out we are having a girl, I bought some bright pink and purple yarn from Knit Picks. I'll post more details about these projects in the future.

Have a great day!

Baby Quilt (Finished)

A few weeks ago I cut most of the fabric squares. I was going to wait until we found out if we were having a boy or girl before ordering more fabric, but I ended up ordering some fabric earlier. I'm glad I did because I was really motivated and inspired yesterday to work on the quilt. I had no expectations of finishing it in one day, but that's what I did!

First, I cut the last 9 squares of the "girly" fabric, and then I was ready to lay out all of the squares. I cleared a spot on the floor and laid all of the squares on the floor. Of course the kitties had to come help. And because of their "help" and my pregnancy brain memory, I decided to sketch out on a sheet of paper where all of the squares lay. I'm really glad I did that! I felt so organized. Ha! I even have to say I enjoyed ironing all of the pieces and strips. It was very relaxing.

When I had the top sewn together, I had to figure out what I wanted to do for the binding. Since I wasn't following a pattern I knew it was totally up to me (I guess it would be anyway). So I decided that I would use the flannel back fabric also for the binding. My step-mom Kelly answered some questions for and also with the help from the lady at the fabric store, I was ready to tie some knots. I wanted this quilt to be super simple. So instead of "quilting", I tied knots at the corners of where all of squares came together. Super simple! After that I worked for awhile on the binding, which was a little tricky. It didn't come out "perfect", but since I was the one making the quilt, it came out Christina-style. Haha!

Today I took some pictures of the quilt. I'll have to take pictures of it later on in the baby's room. I didn't have the right lens for what I wanted to do...but I did have Quent's awesome portrait lens, so I'm not complaining. So there will be more pictures later...maybe after the room is officially done. I put the blanket over a couple of stools in the livingroom, and being the curious cats that they are, Tigger and Shadow had to come check things out...

Tigger was definitely up to something. See that frisky look on his face? He was under blanket and stool, probably wondering how he could pull down the quilt...who knows!

Here is one of the corners.

Shadow was also under the stool and blanket. They probably thought I built a blanket fort for them. I love her expression. She hates the camera!

Haha! She cracks me up!

The quilt without the binding is 40x50 inches. The binding is about 1-inch. I LOVE this fabric! It's soft and such great quality! And the binding and back fabric is a soft flannel. It's super soft! I bought the patterned fabric from Etsy.

Kate Spain for Moda Central Park: Novelty Linden in Pink, Carousel in Sunshine, Zoo in Stone, Bridle Path in Metro

Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow: Acorn Chain in Pond, Nap Sack in Grass

Liz Scott for Moda Sugar Pop: Mod Buds in Brown

The two stores I bought from were: Lily Bella Fabrics and Down Shadow Lane