The Twos

Since I became pregnant, I've heard that the "terrible twos" are a definite force to be reckoned with, however, I was a bit spoiled for the first six months of Lizzy's second year of life, and I figured that they just weren't going to be an issue for us.

Until now.

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In the past two weeks, the terrible twos have hit us hard. Screaming, kicking, and just general grumpy moods have now become a new thing to deal with here in the Andrew household. The phrase that echoes around the house now is, "I NO LIKE [insert object/person]," whether it is aimed at a toy she is tired of playing with, or myself or Simon. It has definitely been a game-changer for us in terms of planning activities and in how we approach her. 

In my life of documenting, I try to get both the good and the bad down on paper, so you can probably expect to see quite a few photos of a moody toddler in the future. On a recent trip to Lexington, Kentucky, my alma-mater town, I wanted to snap a few photos of her in front of the fountain at Triangle Park, but, surprisingly, she didn't have the same plans.

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Instead of filing this photo away in the "uncooperative toddler" file, I decided to scrapbook it with the True Colors kit and add-on from Scraptastic Club. The beautiful Dear Lizzy wide washi tape included in the add-on matched Lizzy's outfit perfectly from that day, so that was the starting point for my layout.

To create my fun, artsy background, I cut the True Colors digital cut file from the same white cardstock that I used for my background. I also punched circles, corresponding to the size of the circles in the cut file, from watercolor paper. Using the pie shapes in the cut file as a guide, I used my Stampin' Up ink pads and a water brush to watercolor the colors from the washi tape in the circles.

Since I already had a lot going on in my background, I kept my embellishment simple with pieces from both the kit and add-on, as well as the True Colors printables.

To make my journaling fit into the design of the layout, I decided to put it inside the largest circle on my background. Typing it up in Photoshop Elements and cutting it out with the Silhouette Cameo was quite easy. Look for the tutorial on how you can do this too on Monday! 

Have a great weekend! 

Journaled labels tutorial

I'm up on the Scraptastic Club blog today with a new layout that uses an entire sheet of journaling labels, along with the It Takes Two kit & add-on. These labels coordinate with the Scraptastic Club kits each month & are available to subscribers, but you can also get the same labels for free download from Kaitlin Sheaffer's blog

Lizzy is currently saying and doing so many things that I know will change quickly. To get all of these "Lizzy-isms" down on a layout, I decided to put a different fact in each label & without a cute vintage typewriter, I used Photoshop Elements to type my journaling directly in the PNG file.

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After typing out my journaling, I opened the modified PNG file in my Silhouette Cameo software and used the print and cut feature, saving me a lot of time cutting out each individual label! To show you how I did this, I created a video tutorial showing the step-by-step process on my computer screen.

If you found the tutorial helpful, I'd love it if you could leave a comment letting me know. Have fun incorporating these useful labels into your next project! 

Shimelle giveaway winner (and the reason why it's so late!)


I apologize for my delay in posting the winner for my Shimelle album giveaway, but over the holidays, my daughter was in the ICU for RSV, a respiratory virus that is especially hard on preemies, and one that she had been vaccinated for. We keep her away from public areas at this time of year to help prevent something like this from happening, but this winter has been a tough one for respiratory viruses. (P.S.A. If you're sick- coughing, sneezing- please stay home!)


It was especially hard for us as we had spent the days leading up to Christmas in the exact same way last year, with another respiratory virus that caused Lizzy to go into respiratory failure.

Luckily, we were able to get out of the hospital on Christmas Day and spend a lovely couple of days at home with my family- days that I will cherish and share very soon in my December album!


Now, on to the winner of the Shimelle album...



Kimberly, please email me at meghann[dot]andrew[at]gmail[dot]com to provide your mailing address and claim your prize!

Thank you to everyone who left a comment about my '5 Ideas Using Shimelle Dies' guest post at Shimelle's website. They were so appreciated!