... just Laura

Kerri Bradford Studio: Everyday Cards

Hey everyone! I had a new set of cards up at Kerri Bradford Studio last week, and wanted to share them here with you all. I'm still working on upping my card stash these days, as I love having cards on hand for any and all occasions. When I first saw Kerri's Label kit, I knew all of those little labels would be awesome for holding my stamped sentiments for cards. 

I'm definitely a simple card maker, and usually aim to keep my cards fairly flat for easy mailing. While my design is basic - a piece of patterned paper on top, a stamped background pattern on the bottom, and a label holding a stamped sentiment in the middle - it's one that is easy to duplicate and mass produce, which is something I love to do when making cards. 

I printed the sheet of the navy labels, and stamped three different sentiments using the Happy Mail #1 and Happy Mail #2 stamp sets in black ink before trimming them apart.

I then picked out a few patterned papers that coordinated with the navy and added them to the tops of my card bases. All three of my patterned papers are from the Turn The Page collection by Paige Evans, for Pink Paislee.

I used Kerri's new Spot On background stamp for the bottom part of my cards, stamping it in coordinating colors onto white textured cardstock, which I then cut down and adhered to my card bases. 

I actually meant to use two of Kerri's other background stamps, but once I got stamping with the dots, I totally forgot and stamped all of them with the same background stamp. Lol.

I think this would be the perfect design to mass produce, and have sentiments for all different occasions. I can picture turning them into sets to give as gifts too. Hmmmm. Might just have to do that ;)

Kerri Bradford Studio: One More Cuddle

 

Hey everyone! I've got a new 6x8" spread up at Kerri Bradford Studio. As soon as I saw Kerri's new Hey Kiddo stamp set, I knew that it would be perfect for so many photos and stories that I still have to document. Late last year, I closed up my home daycare business after 17 years. While my daycare kiddos have moved on and are spending their days with new daycare providers and new friends, I still have some stories that I want to get down from my time with them. 

 

But first up, I decided to get some current feelings down on a page, about how much I miss them. In all honesty, I don't miss the job itself. But I most definitely miss those cute little humans! I used the digital Hey Kiddo stamp set to create a 6x8" spread digitally in Photoshop and then printed it out to add into my album. 

 

 

I used an enlarged 6x8" photo for the left side of the spread, picking out one of my favorite photos that sums up the cuddles that I miss from all of those kiddos. I used the digital "cuddle" stamp for my title, along with the heart stamp, changing them both to white and adding a drop shadow to help them stand out a little more. I also lowered the opacity on the heart to make it a bit more subtle, as to not distract from the title. 

 

 

I created a large "journaling card" for the right side of my spread, starting with Kerri's Journaling Template, which I cropped to a 6x8" size. I added a black and white diagonal stripe border across the top, using the Simple Staples kit. Then I got to work on my journaling, keeping in mind some of the Hey Kiddos digital stamp words/phrases that I wanted to work into my journaling.

 

 

I love how easy it is to tweak digital elements to fit your needs - like how I added an extra "s" to the "cutest human ever" phrase to have it read "cutest humans ever" (because I watched a lot of little humans!). 

 

 

I changed the colors on my digital stamps so that the words would stand out more, pulling the green and burgundy from my photo.

 

 

Once I had everything done to my liking, I printed the left page (my enlarged photo) on photo paper, and the right page (my journaling) on textured cardstock. Once trimmed, I simply slipped them into my 6x8" album. So happy to have documented some current feelings that have been on my mind!

 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Happy Birthday Cards

 

Hey! I had some new cards go up at Kerri Bradford Studio a while ago and I'm finally getting around to sharing them here.  

 

 

When I saw the flowers on the new Plant Life stamp set, my first thought was that it would be fun to create my own "patterned paper" using the digital version of the set.

 

 

I used two digital flower stamps to fill a small canvas within Photoshop, varying the sizes and orientation of the flowers so that they didn't all look the exact same.

 

 

My plan was to use this floral "patterned paper" as the background for cards, so I created the canvas in the exact size that I needed for my cards. 

 

 

I decided to keep the flowers black, although it would be fun to add color to them as well. Once I was happy with the design, I printed them out onto white cardstock. I wanted to soften the look a little, so I also layered a dry embossed piece of vellum over the top of the floral "patterned paper". 

 

 

I used Kerri's Happy Mail #2 stamp set to create my "happy birthday" tags, matching the ink colors for each stamped sentiment to the colored cardstock die cut frame that I used on each card.

 

 

Simple metal brads in each corner helped secure the vellum to the card, and a coordinating piece of ribbon helped embellish the sentiment tags. 

 

 

 

Project Life 2018: Week Fifty Two

Hey everyone! So I guess I didn't come back last Friday, as promised, to share the last week in my 2018 Project Life album. I got caught up in a huge house project (involving my scrapbook room), and just sort of forgot about everything else that day. Although I also haven't done anything crafty in well over three weeks, so it's not like I have much else to share. Might as well spread these last few projects out until I have a chance to make something new. 

So, here it is. The last and final weekly spread in my 2018 album. It was Christmas week, and my sister was in town for the week, so we had a few extra activities going on that I wanted to include. So week fifty two includes a 6x12" insert, as well as a full extra 9x12" page on it's own. Which made sense, as it was the end of the album and I needed to do something with the backside of the last page. 

Here's a look at the second half of the spread, with the 6x12" insert on the left.

I don't seem to take many photos at Christmas get together's anymore. I used to take tons, and now I'm lucky if I snap a few. I pretty much included all of the photos that I took that day.

Here's a look at the last page of the album, and the last part of week fifty two.

I can't lie. I am so proud of myself for completing my entire 2018 album! It feels so good to have it completely done. 

Just don't ask to see the end of my 2017 album, which I still need to finish. Or my 2019 album, which I still need to start ;)

 

Project Life 2018: Week Nineteen

Hey everyone! I'm pretty sure that it was about two weeks ago, when I stated that I would be sharing the last two weeks in my 2018 Project Life album that same week. I guess I got distracted with other things, because I've had these two weeks finished and laying around just waiting for me to sit down and type up a few quick posts. 

Anyways. I'm going to knock these out this week. I'm backtracking a bit, and sharing week nineteen first. I always work on my album in order. I never skip around. But I did totally skip week nineteen, for a few reasons. 

The first reason was that this particular week in May was the same week that I participated in my first Week In The Life project. And I took TONS of photos that week, for that project. 

I knew that I wanted to include at least a few of those photos into my PL weekly spread, and I just wasn't ready to weed thru them all and narrow it down to just a few photos. 

Side note. One of Alyssa's photos from this week was from the Khalid concert that her and a friend went too. Since I had a little blurb about the concert on the photo above this photo, I grabbed a promo photo from the concert (that included all of the dates and venues) off Google and sized it to 3x4". 

I ended up splitting week nineteen into two full page spreads. 

The second reason that I sort of skipped over week nineteen was that it was the week that Alyssa graduated from college! And I knew that I really wanted to include a variety of photos from that special day.

I devoted the second full page spread for the week to graduation day, and I think it worked out perfectly.

Another side note. I've tossed around ideas of actually documenting graduation and everything surrounding it. One of these days, I'll settle on how I want to go about that and get to work on it.

Hard to believe this was a year ago. Or a little over a year ago I guess. 

I'll be back tomorrow to share the very last week in my 2018 album! 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Wild and Leafy Trees

Hey there! It's been a while since I've shared a layout, hasn't it? I had a new layout go up at Kerri Bradford Studio late last week and am finally getting around to sharing it here with you all today.

While I love physical stamps, I find that I tend to use digital stamps way more often in my projects. At first glance, I wasn't sure how I would use Kerri's new Homegrown and Plant Life stamp sets, as we're not big gardening people and we don't have many flowers in our yard and not a single plant in our house. But what we do have is lots of leaves! 

I was reminded of several photos I had taken shortly after moving into our new house last fall, and I knew I could incorporate some of the new stamps into a layout documenting our wild and leafy tree (and leafy neighborhood!).

I started this project with the intention of doing a 6x12" pocket page spread, so I set out to create 3x4" and 4x6" cards to slip into the pockets along with my photos. I eventually decided to turn it into a layout instead, which was so easy to do using these same cards. 

I created a title card by pairing up "wild", from the Plant Life digital stamp set, with "leafy trees", taken from a phrase in the Hello Summer digital stamp set. I used several printable cards from Kerri's older Hello November kit, so I matched the colors for my digital stamps with the colors on those printable cards using the color sampler tool in Photoshop. I added the diagonal striped border along the bottom of the card, by copying it from one of the 3x4" printable cards, and added a few leaves along the left side of the card using the Gather Together digital stamp set. 

I thought the tree stamp in the Hello Summer digital stamp set would tie in nicely with the theme of my page, so I added it to one of the printable cards (after I removed the phrase that was on the center of that card), sizing it to fit between the middle three striped rows.

I also tweaked the polka dotted printable card, so that I could fit a digital stamped phrase along the top of the card. I used the "how does your garden grow?" digital stamp from the Plant Life set, but took out the word "garden", and replaced it with 'leaf pile". 

I realize that this layout is so, so, so much like the last layout that I created for Kerri (seen HERE). What can I say? If it works, it works. And this style works for me ;)

Project Life 2018: Week Fifty One

Hey everyone! I'm back to share week fifty one in my 2018 Project Life album. FIFTY ONE. That means I only have one more week to share. Well, actually, I have two more weeks, since there was one week way back in May that I had skipped for a few reasons. Anyways, I'll be tossing these up without many details added in. Like I've said in the last few posts, I've run out of things to add about most of these weeks. 

I did have more photos/stories for this week, so I added a 6x12" insert. Here's a look at the first half of the weekly spread, with the 6x12" insert on the right.

I added very few embellishments to my 2018 album. In fact, I can probably count the times I added something extra on one hand. Maybe two. But that purple filler card needed a little something, so I added a simple puffy star sticker.

Here's a look at the second half of the weekly spread, with the 6x12" insert on the left.

Yep, I kept that post super short and sweet. Lol. I'll be back to share the last two weeks later this week ;)

Project Life 2018: Week Fifty

Hey my friends. I'm back to share another week in my 2018 Project Life album. A quick and simple look, as I've been tossing these weekly spreads up left and right, and I'm sure they all look the same to you ;)

Here's a look at week 50. Can you believe it? Spoiler alert, if you're actually reading this - I finished my 2018 album in full last week!!!

Funny that the only thing I feel I should comment on is this bottom corner photo of the weekly spread. Lol. I ended up not having a spot to journal about that photo. I guess that's because I only had one Pocket Maps by Sara Gleason. And most weeks, I use three of them. Which gives me that extra journaling space. I'm kind of obsessive about trying to make sure there's a little story/journaling for every photo. Just my preference. I might need to go back and turn that photo into a Pocket Map card/photo ;) 

Project Life 2018: Week Forty Nine

Hey everyone. I'm getting this up a day later than planned, but here's a look at week forty nine in my 2018 Project Life album. I thought I would add in a few re-caps, with links, of the cards that I used throughout my 2018 album. Just in case anyone is wondering, or missed the info the other times that I've shared. 

This week had a few extra photos/stories to share, so I added in a 6x12 insert. This shows the first half of the spread, with the insert on the right.

For my weekly title cards, I used the Pocket Guide No.4 kit from Paislee Press. I created each week's card in Photoshop, using the template from the kit - switching out the week number and adding the dates for each week. 

The "This Story" digital journaling cards are also by Cathy Zielske (offered as a part of her Scrapbook Your Year class) and I love to use one per week. They're set up with four on a page, so it's really easy to knock out 4 at a time, with very little effort. If I have a week with an insert, meaning more journaling cards are needed, I often use two for those weeks. 

This lined journaling card is the one card that I can have fun with each week, personalizing it to fit my photo. To add a little something to the top of the card, I usually use a digital stamp or two. Or I'll use the PNG files from cut files, which are easy to use digitally in Photoshop. 

I work one of the Recorded Journaling Cards from In A Creative Bubble into each weekly spread. If you click that link, it takes you to one of those sets - but she has 9 sets currently, and I use cards from all nine of those kits. If it's a week that has an insert, and then I may use two cards for that week. She's got a great selection of these simple black and white cards to choose from, so I can always find one that fits my photo/story. 

Here's a look at the second half of the weekly spread, with the 6x12" insert on the left.

I love using one of these J-Card Weekdays digital journaling cards from Cathy Zielske each week. I like these cards, because they format your text as you type and they're just so easy to use. Also, they have plenty of room for journaling. I love to pick a photo each week that I know has a bigger story to go along with this card. And often times, I can pull that story straight off my Instagram, and just copy and paste it in.  

One thing that I've been doing in my 2018 album is using the Pocket Maps by Sara Gleason. I almost always work three into each weekly spread, and they're just perfect for those photos that don't have big stories. A quick sentence or two is all I need.

A few weeks into my 2018 album, I had the idea to print out filler cards from my Project Life kits within the app. I used the app itself to add two filler cards to a 4x6 photo, and then saved them all to my phone. I then simply added them to my monthly photo order so they were printed on photo paper. It really simplified the process for me, as 95% of the filler cards that I used in my 2018 album came straight from the PL app. It narrowed down my choices, and I ended up having plenty of choices to work with.

That being said, I did occasionally use a filler card that wasn't from the PL app. I believe two of the filler cards for this week's spread came from my Ali Edwards digital kits, and I just printed them out myself. 

I'll be back tomorrow to share another week ;)

Project Life 2018: Week Forty Eight

Hey all. Just popping in to share another week in my 2018 Project Life album. Here's a look at week forty eight. I feel like the coloring in some of these photos is off a bit. I know I've mentioned before that I don't spend too much time on photographing these weekly pocket page spreads, so please excuse the glare that is bound to happen on some images.

This week was the last week of November, so it's when Christmas related photos/stories started popping up. 

Right along with fall looking photos, so it seems ;) 

I have added very, very little physical product to my 2018 album, as it's almost entirely photos and digital cards. But on occasion, I end up with a filler card that has room to add a little something. So I used a few alpha stickers to fill in the empty box on the card above. 

I'll be back tomorrow to share another weekly spread, and I think on that post, I'll re-cap what I used in this album, as far as journaling cards and such. Just in case anyone is wondering.

Project Life 2018: Week Forty Seven

Hey everyone! Happy Monday. I'm doing a little catch-up session today, before I head into work, and thought I would quickly toss another weekly spread from my 2018 Project Life album up for those that like them. I mentioned last week that I'll be keeping these posts quick and to the point. 

I feel like I don't have many details to add most weeks, since I followed the same basic design plan for my entire 2018 album. Most of what I do in my album is self-explanatory I think.

I use a few of the same digital journaling cards for each weekly spread, and then usually work in one journaling card that varies (but comes from the same designer) and one journaling card where I add a digital stamp at the top, which obviously varies each week. 

I'll add in a re-cap of my 2018 album's plan, linking the cards I used for my 2018 album, on another week's share. For anyone that is new or might have missed the 27 other times I've shared that info ;)

I'll be back tomorrow with another weekly spread.

Project Life 2018: Week Forty Six

Hey all. Just popping in with another quick look at another weekly spread in my 2018 Project Life album. Here's week forty six. 

I think I've mentioned that I have a hard time using the striped filler cards, and this one was pretty bold with the colors. But I feel like it worked out with the photos for this week's spread.

Funny side note. Alyssa will occasionally sit down with my album, and will go thru each week and make notes for all of her photos. That way, when I'm ready to do journaling cards, I have the info I need. The photo above was the only photo I had for her that week. Which was weird. But she made a note for week 46 that said "I guess the only thing I had going on that week was a strong eyeliner game". Lol. 

I hope you all have a great weekend. I'll be back next week to share a few more weekly spreads, and maybe even the last weeks in my 2018 album, if all goes as planned. Crossing my fingers I can get it all finished up :)

Project Life 2018: Week Forty Five

Hey everyone! I know that I've been sharing a lot of Project Life spreads lately, and while I know they may not be for everyone, it's what I've been working on. So it's what I have to share ;) 

I have three more weeks of my 2018 album to share that are finished up, and I'm working on finishing up the last five weeks. So I hope to have those to share as well later next week. I'm not one to just toss images into a post, without having things to say about each image. But I think that's what I'm going to do for these. I think you all pretty much know the drill on how I do these weekly spreads, and I'm sort of running out of ideas on details to add. Lol. If I think anything needs mentioning, I'll toss that in for good measure.

"It's a dog's life" is from one of Kerri Bradford's kits - I used the PNG file digitally.

Just so it's not mistaken for one of my digital cards, the "real life stories" is a filler card printed from the Project Life app.

I'll be back tomorrow with another quick look at a new weekly spread.

Project Life 2018: Week Forty Four/Part Two

Hey everyone! So, about two weeks ago, I shared the spread you see above. Week forty four in my 2018 Project Life album. Which was the last weekly spread from my last batch of catching up that I did several weeks ago.

I spent some time one day last week working on a few more weekly spreads, and I realized that week forty four had an entire extra spread. I guess I'm so used to having 6x12 inserts for those weeks when I have more photos/stories, that it didn't dawn on me to check for a second full 9x12 spread. 

While I don't believe that I need to include every photo we have for each week, I also love to include as many photos as I can, especially when they have a story behind them. 

Project Life is a great way to do an overview of each week (or month, if you like to do monthly spreads). 

I know the idea is that when you have a lot of photos, from something that happened that week, or bigger stories to tell - that's when you can turn to layouts. Or whatever type of documenting you do. 

Between Project Life, layouts, and other projects, you'll eventually get all of those important stories - big and small - documented and in the books. 

At least, that's my thinking ;) 

So there's a look at the second half of week forty four. Lol. I'll be back tomorrow to share another weekly PL spread.

Jillibean Soup: Hello Card

Hello! I apparently took a two week break from blogging without really realizing it. That happens sometimes I suppose. Lol. I was on such a good roll with my Project Life album, and so close to finishing up 2018 - and then I got totally side tracked with a new album project, and threw myself into that for a good week. 

I did jump back into my PL album late last week and finished up another four weekly spreads, so I'm going to share those this week. And I know I've said this before, but my goal is to finish up the last five weeks by the end of this week. I'm so ready to have 2018 done, and start on my 2019 album. Ya know, before June starts ;) 

As for the card. I've shared this on Instagram, but I realized I never shared it here on the blog. It was one of the last cards that I created for Jillibean Soup and I love the simplicity of it. I'm a sucker for easy peasy cards :)