Baby Sleeping ? Scrapbook Page Layout Ideas

Your new baby is a precious addition to your family, and you want to keep every little memory safe in a scrapbook ? conventional or digital. You have so many cute pictures ? many of them with your baby sleeping. You want to feature your baby sleeping with scrapbook page layout ideas that show how sweet your little boy or girl is.

Baby Sleeping Themes

Scrapbook page layout ideas should begin with themes. In this case, you have chosen a theme of baby sleeping, but you may want to consider something that is not so broad.

1. Does baby pout when sleeping? Your theme could be ?precious pouter?.

2. If baby sleeps with heaps of toys, a theme might be ?our priceless toy?.

3. ?Knitting up the raveled sleeve of care? is a Shakespearean theme that could feature baby sleeping.

As you consider scrapbook page layout ideas, open your mind to a variety of themes.

Baby Sleeping Layout Starters

You can get your creative juices flowing by looking at page layout ideas others have created. Here are 7 page layout ideas to get you started:

1. Baby Sleeping at Baptism: Page layout ideas for a baptism look good with ribbons and lace in antique off-white shades. Use a background paper in a rich wine shade. If baby received a certificate of baptism, this can be used along with photos. Focus attention on baby sleeping by making that photo prominent, framing it in lace. Include photos of parents and others who were a part of the occasion. A row of photos across the top of a 2-page spread could be set off from the rest of the page with a lace ribbon. Be sure the baby?s full name is included in rich lettering.

2. Baby Sleeping in Pink: Scrapbook page layout ideas for a little girl in pink will look good with a sprinkling of sugar and spice. Background paper can be a cinnamon brown textured paper. A dictionary definition of ?spice? on a torn antique ivory paper could be topped with one photo of baby sleeping. Write ?sugar? on a tag, and add a ribbon. Don?t forget a bit of journaling to tell about baby?s sleep habits. Embellishment candies will carry your theme beautifully.

3. Baby Sleeping in Blue: One of the cute page layout ideas you may want to consider is one that centers on a ?Little Boy Blue? theme. Begin with a background in pale blues and whites. Perhaps a wide stripe patterned paper, or even a piece of blue and white fabric would work well. Mount your ?baby sleeping? photo on the background with black corners. Add a photo or two of the many ?blue? things in his life. Stack blue blankets, sleepers, toys ? anything blue ? and snap a few photos for further page layout ideas. Add blue embellishments, stickers, and a memento such as a piece of a blue blanket or favorite clothing. Journal in dark blue ink, making your notes encircle the page as a border.

4. Baby Sleeping at Birth: For page layout ideas that feature your baby sleeping during the first weeks of life, consider adding a copy of the birth certificate. If it has footprints on the back, be sure you use a copy of those, too. For digital page layout ideas, consider scanning the foot prints onto your hard drive. Then, in a graphics program, give them a transparent layer. Beneath that, insert a layer with the word ?baby? in pastel colors, one color per letter. A few extra ?feet? would be a cute embellishment. Frame your baby in pastel frames.

5. Baby Sleeping on Baby Sheets: Scrapbook page layout ideas for a baby asleep might begin with a background of sheet fabric. If you have the actual crib sheets on which baby slept, you might cut a piece the size of your page, and use it for a background. Mount your photos on torn paper in one of the brighter colors from the sheet. If the sheet has pictures of baby animals or toys, use similar embellishments and stickers. Add a corner of baby?s favorite blanket as a memento, and a note about how your boy or girl loved it.

6. Baby Sleeping in Family Tree: This is one of those page layout ideas that work well in a family heritage scrapbook. Start with a family tree background that uses a nostalgic tree graphic with family names arranged on it. Don?t worry about covering some names. This is just background for this page. mount your baby sleeping in a cradle cut out. Place the cradle strategically in the tree. Photos of parents or grandparents asleep as babies in the 40?s or 50?s would be fun for comparison. Who does baby resemble more? Add a few bird stickers. Journal on leaf shapes. Add a border of leaves.

7. Baby Sleeping at Dinner: Many babies fall asleep in the high chair, their tiny heads ending up on the tray. Scrapbook page layout ideas that feature such a photo can carry through the dinner theme. Can you tell what was served the time the photo was taken? If it was baby food from jars, get identical jars and set up a photo of what was on the menu. Write out the menu for more interest. Add a menu item of ?Zzzzzzzz?. If baby sleeping was at a home-made meal, include a recipe as one of your page layout ideas. Arrange a few teddy bear stickers and a spoon.

Whatever scrapbook page layout ideas are used, you will want to remember that each page is a canvas on which you paint a picture. Imagine each scrapbook page hung on the wall of a gallery or displayed on an art easel. All page layout ideas should tell stories without additional comments.

About the Author:

? 2007, Anna Hart. Anna Hart invites you to read more of her articles about scrapbook page layout ideas at http://www.scrapbooking-for-fun.com. Anna is posting new articles every week on that site. You won?t want to miss her recent article on scrapbook page layout ideas for baby girls.

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Ten Reasons to Travel with Kid

(Even if it is only to the corner market, and even if I do live in tropical, exotic Costa Rica.)

1.To get out of the house before my 2-year-old determinedly achieves making my head and/or my husband?s into a flat-board for his diving expertise.

2. To avoid hearing my son demand I draw his hand on any random surface, AGAIN!

3. To see new places and teach him something other than ?do you need to go pee-pee/ca-ca??

4. To wear him out so he can develop a big hole in his belly and finally eat without me ripping my hair out or crying for him to take just one teensy-weensy morsel of the food I?ve slaved over for hours so he can have some ?spice? in his life, because god-forbid if a toddler eats something with less than eight words in the title. And, of course, the reason for his NOT eating is because ?y cooking is too boring?for him and I have to cook up extravagant concoctions of mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, pasta, and meats!

5. To wear him out completely on someone else?s turf so he can sleep like a ?baby?.

6. For me to see something other than my four walls which have become miraculously, and too quickly, covered in chalk, crayons and marker. (My husband and I are totally opposed to this, but if we say no the full-on temper tantrum awaiting us is by far more taxing than the hours of scrubbing the walls clean.)

7. To know that there is a world out there with real people other than Barney, Mickey, Clifford, Dora?

8. To interact with real, live people and kids who will be great distractions for my son as he attempts another round of climbing our shoulders via stepping all over my body and face, or having us fly him around like an airplane. (He only weighs 30 pounds!)

9. To have a reason to take a shower (other than because I am too stinky even for myself) and throw on clothes bought in trendy stores than my glorified robes and PJ sets. Besides, I?ve realized dressing up for any reason at all when my little man joins me is fruitless. He manages to leave footprints, paint prints, food prints on me no matter how hard I try to run from him.

10. To dress up ?the-light-of-my-life? (my son) in the numerous designer outfits my family and friends eagerly bestow upon us. They actually think my life is as exotic as the country I live in!

I'm a US expat living in Costa Rica with my husband and mixed-up little toddler trying to figure out the trials and tribulations of motherhood and living abroad.

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How To Keep A Happy Baby.

Whether you are expecting your first child or you are a veteran parent with years of experience raising kinds you have probably asked yourself the question ?how will I go about keeping my baby as happy and smiling as possible??

Well. I can?t give you a definite answer to that question because there are probably as many different answers as there are babies in the world. Every single human is unique but we do still have some things in common that you can benefit from.

Firstly you will have to provide your baby with the basic human needs. This includes the right amount and the right type of food, enough sleep, shelter etc. Without these basics you will have a hard time keeping your baby happy and you will probably experience more crying and screaming than you will see smiles and hear giggles.

Secondly you will have to spend your time. Time is unfortunately on of the things that most people will never have enough of and the one thing that every human will certainly run out of at some point.

By ?time? I mean that you will have to spend your time with your baby. After all you are the parent and I trust that this is in your own interest as well. One thing that is extremely important is that you do not you spend time because you ?need to? but that you actually ?want to?.

A baby or a child is a very sensitive being and they will see right through you if you don?t want to be with them. They are extremely good at reading ?between the lines? because they still have their intuition.

When you provide you baby or child with genuine love and care you can be sure that it will come back to you ten-fold. If it doesn?t then you might want to take a look in the mirror and ask yourself the question ?have I really given my unconditional love and care to my baby??

If you feel that you have then you are on the right path. Surely there can be situations where other aspects kick in. The child can become sick, have slept poorly, have had to little to eat etc. Some of these things are just ?life? and we all have to live with them.

The point is that love and care goes a long way and if you haven?t already tried it then I suggest that you give it a try. You might be surprised.

About the Author:

Find unique baby boy names at Unique-Baby-Footprint.com. Great resources for unique baby names

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A Baby Footprint Makes A Great Baby Shower Invitation

If you are like many peo0le you can easily get stuck when it comes to the baby shower invitation. Finding the location, creating the guest lists and buying a cake can seem easy compared to picking the right invitation. The baby shower invitation will be the first impression that the guests will have of the event. It is therefore important to convey a message through the baby shower invitation. One really fun and very popular way to do this is use a baby footprint in the invitation. It is hard to resist the charm of a tiny little baby footprint. Baby shower invitations with a footprint are so irresistible be will just have to come to the shower.

So here are some creative ideas that you can use in creating your own baby shower footprint invitation.

1. Printed - A simple printed baby footprint can be a ton of fun. You can use a silhouette of a baby footprint to make the design. This will show the heel, toes and side of the foot. It will look as if a baby stepped in ink and then stamped the card with their feet. You can find clip art online by searching, use a stamp, use a real baby or even just freehand draw your own.

To put a little action into the baby shower footprint invitation you can make a series of footprints and make them decrease in size from large to smaller. This will give the illusion that the person leaving the prints is walking into the card. This is a great way to draw the attention of the viewer into the card and then place your important text information right above this.

2. Stamps - Stamping has become a very popular craft and is use widely among printers and crafters in the business of making invitations. You can easily purchase baby footprint stamps of varying sizes from your local craft store or on the Internet. These can make a fun and fancy decoration to the invitation. There are so many things you can do by varying the colors, size of the stamp and the paper the possibilities are really endless.

For example pick a cute pink (for girls) or a blue (for boys) ink pad and stamp a tiny border made up of footprints all around the invitation. Don?t worry to much about making them all straight or in line just have fun and stamp at random. This will give the invitation a light fun feeling.

As an alternative you can purchase a large stamp and simply stamp a big filled in silhouetted image smack dab in the middle of the invitation. Then you can creatively with fun colored pens write all around the footprint following the outline of it. This makes another fun creative and even whimsical invitation.

3. Embossing - This is where the baby footprint is raised from the page. There are two types of embossing. The first is by using a professional printer and paying to have the cards done. A printer can actually emboss the paper and have a raised footprint right in the paper. A baby footprint embossed onto a beautifully textured pure white piece of paper can look very elegant!

If you are the do it yourself type it is very easy to purchase an embossing powder in stamping or craft store. These come in all kinds of fun colors but often gold or silver embossing powder can look very elegant! With embossing powder you will need a stamp and some ink. You start by stamping the invitation with the baby footprint stamp first. Then before the ink dries you poor some of the embossing powder on the stamped area. The embossing powder will stick tot he wet ink. You can then hold the piece of paper over a light bulb or use an embossing gun to heat the powder. Once it gets hot it will melt and adhere to the paper. This makes a fun and easy way to have a very elegant gold embossed baby footprint shower invitation.

4. Cut Out - With this technique you will want to find some stiff paper. Then you will pencil in an outline of a baby footprint and cut it out. You can also make a simple stencil suing a file folder and then quickly trace around the stencil and cut out to speed up the process and make the results more uniform. Then on the baby of the cut out footprint you can write all of your important baby shower details. Where it will take place, RSVP information and so forth.

Either way that you choose the important thing to remember is to have fun in creating the baby shower invitation footprint. Get some friends to help you if you plan on making your own invitations as this will speed up the entire process. It can also be more fun with a group of girlfriends around a table talking and having a good time then cutting 25 baby shower footprint invitations all by yourself.

As an addition to the fun, baby shower footprint invitation, it can be lots of fun to continue with the footprint theme in decorating for the part. You can use the same stamps and decorations that you used on the invitation in other places to decorate for the shower.

About the Author: Have the best baby shower!

Baby Shower Guide: themes, invitations and more. For more info try

Baby Shower Footprint Invitations

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Looking for A Great Idea?

Are YOU tired of seeing the same old boring scrapbook pages - you know the ones with the kids mug staring straight into the camera! Give me a break!

Scrapbooking is all about creativity - are you REALLY as ho hum as all that? I think not. I think your family is active and fun and crazy - your photos need to reflect that - HOW?

Scrapbooking is all about expressing your creative side and producing a scrapbook full of memories for your family.

But all too often, scrapbook pages become boring. You run out of scrapbook ideas and great photos. Sometimes all you need is a new perspective - or angle on the subject.

Instead of all of taking all of your photos like portraits, try to take some photos from different angles. A good eye for a photo can be more important than your equipment.

Get lower than your subject, get higher, take photos from the side. My husband and I always take pictures of our feet in one of our travel photos...we have pictures of our feet on a ferry in the San Juan Islands. We have photos of our feet peeking out of the sand on the beach in Texas. We have snapshots of our sandaled feet Mexico on a crowded bus (lots of feet in this picture).

Close- up photos have greater impact than long distance ones unless you need to show people in context.

A shot from below can create an imposing impression and one from the side is more relaxed. A photo taken from above gives a sense of space.

Tilt the camera instead of holding it horizontal or vertical.

Take many photos of the same subject from different angles and then choose the best for your scrapbook. You will be surprised by the excitement you can create on your pages.

Just as every subject can be taken from different angles, so can every scrapbook page be thought of from different angles.

For example. The basic baby footprint page has a picture of the newborn and beside it, the precious baby footprints. But try to think of a unique angle on this page. What if you took those baby footprints and walked them all around the photo - making a frame. Another angle might be to take actual photos of the baby's feet to put along side of the footprints instead of the baby's face.

Try taking lying on the grass and have someone hold the baby on a piece of heavy plexiglass over you. It will look like the baby is floating with the sky as a background.

Angles.....

About the Author: Cindy Smart is the owner of Super Smart Scrapbooking Services, an online member only monthly scrapbooking service offering digital scrapbooks by professional artists for busy people. Are you too busy to scrapbook? Let us do it for you. For more information see www.supersmartscrapbooking.com

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How to Preserve a Baby Footprint in Plaster

A baby's footprint is such a precious thing to cherish. When you keep a print of a baby you can look at it for years and remember how tiny your child was at one time. When your son grows to have a size 13 shoe it is great to look at their tiny footprint from when they were small and reminisce.You can make a paperweight of your child's footprint and keep it forever. You can also use it since it is a paperweight which makes it useful to have around.To make a footprint paperweight you will need some quick drying clay and a margarine tub. You can buy some quick drying clay at a craft store and if you do not have a margarine tub you can improvise with something like a Cool Whip container. Any tub that is just big enough for your child's foot to fit in that is somewhat flexible will do.You can buy many colors of clay for this project since the quick drying clay comes in many different colors. Pick your child's favorite color to personalize the paperweight.Take the quick drying clay and place in into the bottom of the tub. Make sure it is thick enough to be sturdy but not too thick that it becomes a brick instead of a paperweight.Put some petroleum jelly on the youngster's foot so that the clay does not stick to the child's foot. Gently put the child's foot into the clay so that it makes a good print. If the print comes out crooked or sloppy you can smooth out the clay and try again but you have to be somewhat quick so the clay does not harden too much.After you have made a nice clean print of your child's foot in the clay let it harden. You can read the instructions that came with the clay to see how long it will take to harden. When it is hard take the tub and gently bend it away from the footprint until you have worked the clay with the footprint on it free from the tub.

You should have a beautiful paperweight footprint of your child's foot to keep as a keepsake and enjoy. If you wish you can paint the paperweight any color you wish or you can leave it the way it is. You can personalize the paperweight by painting the child's name and age on the paperweight.These paperweights make great gifts for grandparents, aunts and uncles. You can even make a paperweight print of your pets paw.

By Donna Daniels

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How to Make an Easy Newborn Baby Gift - Create a Baby Fact Sheet

New parents are understandably very busy after the birth of their baby and may forget to save the newspaper on the day of baby's birth. How about giving them a one-page "baby fact sheet" that captures a snapshot of the current events on baby's birthday?Most baby books have a page that parents can fill in with highlights of the day, including popular books, music, movies, products, and more. You can create a sheet that will be personalized just for their child. It takes a little time surfing online to compile the facts, but the results will be fantastic and the parents will treasure your creation. Plus, the child will grow up and enjoy seeing what was hot at the time of his or her birth.Some ideas you can use plus suggested links to finding information include:Baby's full name and meaning. Baby Name Meanings at Make Way For BabyCity, County and State of birth.Day, date, and time of birth.Vital statistics including sex, height, weight, hair and eye color.Photos, or footprint.Names of parents, grandparents, Godparents, siblings.Explanation of how baby was named. Zodiac sign and small explanation of the temperament of baby born under that sign. Zodiac Sign Dates ChartBirthstone About BirthstonesMoon Phase. The Old Farmer's Almanac#1 Book, fiction, nonfiction. NY Times Best SellersTop Movie Blockbusters. Yahoo! MoviesDow Jones Industrial Average. Today's DJIA at CNNClothing Styles.Top Headlines, National and LocalFamous people born on this day. Infoplease Cultural or ethnic references special to your family.Anything else that would have special meaning to the family.Special quote that has meaning to you or the family. Baby Quotes at AllGreatQuotesTechnical TipsYou can insert photos into your Microsoft Word Document, PowerPoint, or other similar software program and then type in your text. Experiment with font styles. You can keep it simple or jazz it up.

One tip is to copy selections from the internet into your Notepad and then paste it into your document. That way, you won't be copying any colorful backgrounds or white text. Then you can use either your Format Painter Tool or Format Font to create a uniform font throughout your document. It takes a little bit of time and work to create a beautiful sheet, but it is worth it. You can then save and edit your template for any future births.Presenting Your GiftWhen you are finished, you can then print it out on archival paper. You could also frame it and present it as a gift. It could also be used as a baby announcement or as part of a baby announcement. It can go right into the baby book or scrapbook. Another idea is to email it to family. Your work will be appreciated and you will have given a one-of-a-kind present that your special baby will love in the future!
By Tracy McCoy

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