... just Laura

Digital Project Share: 2020 / 2021 Shows

Hey everyone! I'm back to share a new project that I whipped up a few weeks ago. I actually started this several months ago. Right before the 2020/2021 TV season kicked off actually. I thought it would be a great time to document my favorite shows from last season, to add to the album that I set up last year. Quick recap of this fun little project. 

This will be my fifth year documenting all of the shows I watch regularly. When I shared my 2019/2020 pages last year, I also shared links to my previous years pages as well. You can see that post HERE.

I also shared all of the details on how I approach this yearly project on THIS POST, where I shared my 2017/2018 pages. 

I keep an on-going list (jotted down in a notebook I keep in the family room) for all of the shows I watch during any given season. Every now and then I would pull it out and add any additional shows that came out (or started back up) to that list. Keeping this on-going list throughout the year really helps for this type of project, so you're not wasting time, trying to remember what you've watched - or leaving any good shows off the list ;) A lot of these shows run at different times of the year, or only run for half of a season, which is why I double check my lists from time to time. 

I approach this project the exact same way each year. Digital pages, using collage templates and a few digital patterned papers and digital stamps, which I print out on my photo printer. For this year's pages, I decided to use the Simply White 6x8 Life Pages templates by Tracy Larsen.

I used the 3x8" Everyday Layered Photo Template kit by In A Creative Bubble for the two 3x8" collages as well, tweaking them a little to create larger areas for my two photos. 

The digital patterned papers that I used are from random kits that I've had forever. I actually ended up using several of the same patterned papers that I used for the past several year's pages, just because they matched so well. I'm totally fine with using the same papers, since while I do own a TON of digital kits, I'm not familiar enough with those kits to know where to find additional paper choices.

To add the days of the week to each spread, I used the Messy Days Of The Week Boxes digital stamp kit by Ali Edwards (I can't find the kit on her site, as it's an older one, and may not be available anymore).

I used the Stories Of Life 3x8" template kit by Ali Edwards (can't seem to find a link for that one right now either) for the 3x8" collage to hold all of my Chicago shows - I wanted to put them all together on a little insert, just like I did last year. I ended up backing this collage with a 3x8" piece of digital patterned paper that I printed out to coordinate with the spread.

I always download images for each show in a variety of sizes and orientations - square, vertical, horizontal, etc. I love having lots of options, since I never know what orientation I will need, depending on what template I pick out for each day.

Once I had all of my collages finished, I printed them out on photo paper, trimmed them, and slipped them into my album. This might seem like a silly little album to some (and proof that I watch way too much TV), but I just love it :)

Kerri Bradford Studio: Even Better Here With You

 

Hey everyone! I'm back with another puppy themed project that I created for Kerri Bradford Studio. We have only had our new little puppy for a few months now, but the camera roll on my phone is filled with photos of him.

 

 

I wanted to pick out a few of my favorite photos to create a photo collage, to use as part of a travelers notebook sized spread. I picked out a template from Kerri's Travelers Templates: Wander kit, and got to work adding my photos. 

 

 

I then had the idea to add a few digital stamps to one or two of the openings on the template, using the new Blocks of Togetherness digital stamp kit. Digital stamps are great, since you can size the stamps to fit your exact needs.

 

 

I don't have many pet themed scrapbook products, but I remembered Kerri's older A Dog's Life cut file kit (no longer available), and I knew I could use the PNG files digitally to add "embellishments" to my page. 

 

 

I had full intentions of having a full page photo collage on one side of the spread, and a title/journaling combo on the opposite page. But once I got going, I decided to use the same collage template for both sides of the spread.

 

 

I rotated the template 180 degrees to create the second collage, kept filling up the template openings with a mix of photos, digital patterned papers, digital stamped phrases/words, PNG images for the embellishments, and my journaling. 

 

 

When I was happy with my collages, I printed them both out onto photo paper and trimmed them down. I added a single enamel heart to my otherwise all-digital spread. 

 

Kellie Stamps: Current Everyday Routine

Hey everyone! I'm back to share the second project that I created for Kellie Stamps, once again using her new Routine digital stamp set. I loved the clock face stamp, and the idea of pairing it with the numbers to document my daily routine on work days. 

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I decided to go with a 6x12" pocket page spread. I brainstormed my day and how many "times" I wanted to represent to tell my story. I settled on eight photos, and knew it would work well on a 6x12" spread, using 3x4" photos. 

As I usually do on both 6x12" and 6x8" spreads, I decided to include a separate journaling page in between the two pages. When working with a 6x12" spread, I usually go with a 4x11" insert, as it's super easy to trim down a 8.5x11" page protector (I simply machine stitch all the way down, and then cut off the excess). 

Apparently, I had a lot to say in my journaling, once I started breaking down my day. I used the "morning", "afternoon", and "evening" digital stamps to split up my journaling a little. 

For my title card, I started with a few digital patterned papers. All of the digital papers that I used for this spread are from the High Street Stories kit from One Little Bird. I used the "routine" & "everyday" digital stamps from the Routine set, and added in the "current" digital stamp (was currently, but I shortened it) from her new Currently 2020 set. 

The "coffee coffee coffee" digital stamp is from Kellie's Coffee Loading set. 

For each photo, I knew that I wanted to add a small piece of patterned paper along the bottom. Since I ended up using digital papers, each of these photos is exactly that - a single layer image that includes the photo, a patterned paper, and the digital clock face and time. Once I printed them out, I added a small staple on either side of the time. So the small staples are the only physical product on this spread. 

This is a look at the backside of the journaling page. 

With my current hours at work, I feel like I've been struggling to get much done on days that I work. I'm not new to retail hours, as I worked in grocery/warehouse stores for 15 years before I did daycare. And I'm totally fine working a non-traditional 8-5 job (not that I've ever had one of those). 

It can be hard though, as my "free time" is split into two different times of the day. I have a little bit of time in the morning, before leaving for work. And a chunk of time in the evening, after I get home from work. It's like there's not enough time in the morning to really accomplish anything, and I'm too tired in the evening to do anything after working hard all day. Let's just say the struggle is real most days.

The "work. work. work. work." digital stamp is from Kellie's Work Life set.

Don't forget to stop by Kellie Stamps and check out all of her fun designs. As the September guest designer, Kellie was sweet enough to provide me with a discount code for you all, to use on either physical and/or digital stamps. LAURAGUEST will get you 25% off, no minimum required, postage not included. 

Kellie Stamps: Yes To This Routine

I am a huge fan of Kellie Stamps, so I was thrilled to have the chance to guest design for her September release. While Kellie has physical stamps, I have always used her digital stamp sets. I own about 40 of her digital sets, and there's only a small handful that I haven't purchased. 

I used her new Routine digital stamp set to create this 6x8" pocket page spread about my Curly Girl hair journey the last few months. And yes, for anyone that doesn't know - there is an actual Curly Girl Method that you can do to help encourage and enhance the natural curl pattern in your hair. I used to have really curly hair, way back in the day, years ago. But I've pretty much been wearing it straight for the last 10+ years. I decided to embrace my curls again this year and have worn it curly every day for the last 6 months. 

Kellie has also offered up these "Friday Freebies" for quite some time now, and I will occasionally stop by her blog and download a ton of them. I've used a few in my Project Life pages and other other pocket page projects. I worked this "sure, my life isn't perfect but my hair is - let's face it, that's what really counts" freebie into my 3x8" journaling card. 

Since I used a large 6x8" photo for one side of the spread, and a pocket page protector for the other, I added a 3x8" page protector in between the pages to hold my journaling, which is something I do quite often on these smaller pages. 

I added my title digitally to my photo before printing, starting with the large "routine" digital stamp from the Routine set. The "yes to this" digital stamp is from the Fun Times set. I changed the digital stamps to purple and green, to tie in with the colors of the small photos on the second page. I felt like I needed something else in the corner, to go with the title, so I added the "learning to love myself more each day" digital circle stamp, which is from the Perfectly Imperfect set. 

This shows the 3x8" page protector, with the backside of the journaling card. Well, not the backside exactly, as I printed each of the 3x8" journaling cards individually. 

I used the Routine digital stamp set to break my hair routine into two parts - the evening routine and the morning routine. The Curly Girl Method can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it. There's so much experimenting that you can do, to find out the products and techniques that work the best for your hair. 

I have certainly done some experimenting over the last six months, but there's SOOOOO much more that I should be doing. I've found a routine that seems to be working really well for my hair, so I've just sort of stuck with it for the last two months or so. Same products, same technique. But I'm fully aware that I could get even better results with other products and/or techniques. They also may NOT work out great, but I'll never know until I try. 

But like I said, this is my current routine that works pretty darn well. And these days, I'm fine with that. I will get around to experimenting more, but right now I just need something that consistently works ;) Oh, and yes - I wash my hair at night. I've been doing that for as long as I can remember, and can't even imagine doing it in the morning, along with the normal "getting ready" stuff I do each day. Lol. 

I tried a few different ways of taking photos of the products in my "line up", and ended up just laying them on the board that I take most of my project photos on. I don't have pretty bathroom countertops or a pretty bathroom in general, so that was out of the question. Lol. 

I used the numbers from the Routine digital stamp set to number each photo, which essentially break down the products I use and the order in which I use them. The numbers match up with the numbered steps I listed on my journaling card. 

And yes, just in case you're wondering, I do use one product twice - steps 4 and 6. That wasn't a mistake ;)

I'll be back on Thursday to share the second project that I created for Kellie Stamps. As the September guest designer, Kellie was sweet enough to provide me with a discount code for you all, to use on either physical and/or digital stamps. LAURAGUEST will get you 25% off, no minimum required, postage not included. 

Digital Project Share: 2019 / 2020 Shows

Hey everyone! I'm back to share a new project that I whipped up this week. Anyone else missing their favorite TV shows? I know I am! Since I don't have a single show on these days, I thought it would be a great time to document my favorite shows from last season, to add to the album that I set up last year. Quick recap of this fun little project. 

This will be my fourth year documenting all of the shows I watch regularly. When I shared my 2018/2019 pages last year, I also shared links to my previous years pages as well. You can see that post HERE.

I also shared all of the details on how I approach this yearly project on THIS POST, where I shared my 2017/2018 pages. 

I had already written a list of my on-going shows for the 2019/2020 season earlier this year, and every now and then I would pull it out and add any additional shows that came out (or started back up) to that list. Keeping this on-going list throughout the year really helps for this type of project, so you're not wasting time, trying to remember what you've watched - or leaving any good shows off the list ;)

I should also add that not all of these shows are on at the same time. While Thursday has something like 22 shows, I wasn't actually recording/watching 22 shows every Thursday. A lot of these shows run at different times of the year, or only run for half of a season. 

I knew that I would approach this project the exact same way that I did for the last two years. Digital pages, using collage templates and a few digital patterned papers and digital stamps, which I would print out on my photo printer. 

For my 2017/2018 pages, I had used template kits from Cathy Zielske - specifically her Six By Eights No. 06 kit, since the templates had the days of the week, which fit this project perfectly. I loved the format I used when I broke down my shows by what days they were on. Even though I used these same days-of-the-week templates two years ago, I decided I was totally fine using them again for this year's pages.

So my plan was to use the template with the day of the week on the left side of the spread, and then to use a second template for the right side of the spread, picking from Cathy's Six By Eight kits. I also ended up adding in a few Simply White 6x8 Life Pages templates by Tracy Larsen.

I used the 3x8" Everyday Layered Photo Template kit by In A Creative Bubble for the two 3x8" collages, tweaking them a little to create larger areas for my two photos. I could have chosen a different template for the second "Tuesday" page that would have held all these extra four photos. But since FBI and FBI: Most Wanted - as well as black*ish and mixed*ish - go together, and are on the same night, I thought it would be fun to add in the little insert, keeping them together.

I also used a few digital stamps from In A Creative Bubble, specifically her Watch & Listen digital stamp set. The digital patterned papers that I used are from random kits that I've had forever. I actually ended up using several of the same patterned papers that I used for not only my 2017/2018 pages, but my 2018/2019 pages as well, just because they matched so well. I'm totally fine with using the same papers, since while I do own a TON of digital kits, I'm not familiar enough with those kits to know where to find additional paper choices.

I used the 3x8" Snapshots Layered Photo Templates kit by In A Creative Bubble for the 3x8" collage to hold all of my Chicago shows - I wanted to put them all together on a little insert, just like I did last year. 

Thursday is by far the night with the most shows. It seems to be this way every single year. Lol. I ended up doing two full spreads to hold all of the shows. 

The collage on the right is one from Tracy Larsen, and it's one that I quickly realized works SOOOOO well for this project. I always download images for each show in a variety of sizes and orientations - square, vertical, horizontal, etc. But this collage would have worked perfectly for all of the pages, if I had wanted to keep things even simpler. Maybe I'll keep that in mind for next year ;)

Once I had all of my collages finished, I printed them out on photo paper, trimmed them, and slipped them into my album. This might seem like a silly little album to some (and proof that I watch way too much TV), but I just love it :)

Kerri Bradford Studio: Bryce Canyon

 

Hey everyone. I have a new digital layout up at Kerri Bradford Studio using her new Utah's Mighty Five digital stamp set. When Kerri first shared this new stamp set with me, my first thought was that I didn't have a need for it.

 

 

But then I thought about all of the camping my family did when I was a kid, and I knew that I could put this set to use with some old photos. 

 

 

I had my mom dig up some photos specific to Utah's National Parks, as we visited National Parks across the states for years, and she sent me these photos from a stop at Bryce Canyon. These photos were from 1983, so they're not the best quality to begin with - and then she scanned them to send to me. I knew they wouldn't print the best, so I decided to go with a digital layout. In my experience, I find that old photos tend to look a smidge better printed when they're worked into collage templates. 

 

 

I settled on an 8.5x11" two page spread, starting with a template from Kerri's Storyboard #4 kit for the right page. For the left page, I used a template from the Half Pints: Wander kit. While the Half Pint templates are 6x8" in size, I was able to easily crop one into an 8.5x11" size. I added my photos into the two templates, tweaking one of the photo openings on the first page to make it longer as I didn't want to crop too much out of the photo. 

 

 

I used the new Utah's Mighty Five digital stamp set to add my title along the top of the first page, as well as the arches, which I changed the color on to make it match the arches in my photos.

 

 

I used the Block Party digital stamp set to add the year, 1983, to the bottom of the first page, and used the PNG file from the Summer Vibes kit to add "summer" next to the year. Lastly, I used the And So The Adventure Begins kit to add a filler card to the center opening of the collage on the second page. 

 

Digital Project Share: 2018 / 2019 Shows

Hey everyone! I'm back to share a new project that I whipped up this week. With the new TV season in full swing, I thought it would be a great time to document my favorite shows from last season, to add to the album that I set up earlier this year. Quick recap of this fun little project ........

About five years ago, I created a 6x8" pocket page spread documenting a handful of my favorite TV shows from the 2014 / 2015 season (seen HERE).

About two years ago, I created a travelers notebook project, documenting my favorite TV shows from the 2016 / 2017 season (seen HERE). I actually ended up re-working those pages into the 6x8" format, once I had settled on the idea of doing an on-going themed album (seen HERE) in the 6x8" size.

Earlier this year, I went digital with this project, and created 6x8" digital pages documenting my favorite TV shows from the 2017/2018 season (seen HERE).

I had already written a list of my on-going shows for the 2018/2019 season earlier this year, and every now and then I would pull it out and add any additional shows that came out (or started back up) to that list. Keeping this on-going list throughout the year really helps for this type of project, so you're not wasting time, trying to remember what you've watched - or leaving any good shows off the list ;)

I should also add that not all of these shows are on at the same time. While Thursday has 17 shows, I wasn't actually recording/watching 17 shows every Thursday. A lot of these shows run at different times of the year, or only run for half of a season. 

I knew that I would approach this project the exact same way that I did last time. Digital pages, using collage templates and a few digital patterned papers and digital stamps, which I would print out on my photo printer. 

For my 2018/2019 pages, I decided to use Simply White 6x8 Life Pages templates by Tracy Larsen. A lot of the template designs are similar to templates I have purchased from other designers, but I like to stick to just one designer's templates when I work on projects like this. 

I also used a few digital stamps from In A Creative Bubble, specifically her Watch & Listen digital stamp set. The digital patterned papers that I used are from random kits that I've had forever. I actually ended up using several of the same patterned papers that I used for my 2017/2018 pages, just because they matched so well. I'm totally fine with using the same papers, since while I do own a TON of digital kits, I'm not familiar enough with those kits to know where to find additional paper choices. Lol.

I broke my pages down by days of the week. Excluding Saturday, since I've never had Saturday specific shows. I narrowed down my template choices for the left side of each spread - sticking to templates that had at least one larger area that would hold my day of the week, which was essentially my "title" for each spread. 

I added my go-to black chalkboard digital paper, which I use for backgrounds on digital projects quite often. I used a fun font called "Taco Tuesday" for the day of the week, and then added "night shows" below it. 

I thought about adding all of the info as to how I went about putting these pages together, but my blog post for my 2017/2018 pages has all of the details - all of which remained the same when I sat down to put the new pages together this week. You can find all of the details RIGHT HERE.

For my previous years, I used one single image for The Bachelor. But since I watch The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and Bachelor In Paradise, I wanted to include images for all three shows. I like the additional images, since I could show specifically who the Bachelor and Bachelorette were for these seasons. I used the Stories Of Life 3x8" Layered Templates from Ali Edwards to create the collage, replacing the number next to each photo with a small digital black heart.

Kind of hard to tell from these photos, but the aqua and black patterned papers are in fact, patterned papers. They look more like solid cardstock here. I went with simple patterns, as there's a lot going on with the photos.

Wednesday is a night that has a lot of shows, so I added two 3x8" collages between the two main pages. I love that this allowed me to keep all three of the Chicago shows together, and I kept Suits and Pearson together on the flip side, as they tie into each other. 

I used the 3x8" Snapshots Layered Photo Templates kit for the collage on the left and the 3x8" Everyday Layered Photo Template kit for the collage on the right, both by In A Creative Bubble. I added "watchlist" along the top of the collage on the right, using a digital stamp, after removing the word that was originally on the template.

Thursday is by far the night with the most shows. I created two 3x8" collages to add in-between my main pages, which allowed me to add in an additional 8 shows/images. This worked really well for a lot of the half hour comedies that I watch. I used the 3x8" Snapshots Layered Photo Templates by In A Creative Bubble for these. 

Friday is my slowest night, as far as my shows go. And it wasn't until I went to photograph my pages, that I realized that Younger wasn't even a Friday show - it was a Tuesday or Wednesday night show (I can't even remember which night right now). Not that it matters in the grand scheme of things, but I try to get my shows listed on the right days. 

Once I had all of my collages finished, I printed them out on photo paper, trimmed them, and slipped them into my album. This might seem like a silly little album to some (and proof that I watch way too much TV), but I just love it :)

Kerri Bradford Studio: The Countdown Is On

 

Hey everyone! I have a new layout up at Kerri Bradford Studio this week. I know that Travelers Notebooks have been all the rage for quite a while now, but I have yet to figure out how to work them into the way that I document. So when I saw the Life Crafted albums from Citrus Twist, I knew it would be the perfect solution for me. I can create the smaller TN sized pages/spreads as individual pages - and have the freedom to put them in small albums and move them around as needed. 

 

 

For my first ever TN sized spread, I pulled together a few photos that I've taken before heading into work. I thought they would work for the small story that came to mind when I saw the "the countdown is on" stamp in Kerri's new A Numbered Account stamp set. I get myself very fixated on time, especially on days that I work. How much time I have to do this, how much time I have to do that, how much time before I have to leave for work, and how much I want to get done in the time I have before I leave, etc, etc. 

 

 

I arranged several photos in a collage using a template from the Travelers Templates: Wander kit, and typed in my journaling before printing the page out. The template had a little phrase above the journaling, which I took out before printing. In it's place, I stamped the "the countdown is on" onto a piece of cardstock, trimmed it down, and adhered it above my journaling. 

 

 

On the opposite page, I stamped the large number cluster (from the A Numbered Account stamp set) along the top of the page, and also stamped it on a scrap piece of cardstock. I trimmed around the stamped image on the scrap paper, and used it as a mask when it came time to stamp my ink splatters, using the awesome Inked stamp set. I love how easy the smaller sized spreads are to put together, and can't wait to create more of them.

 

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. 

 

 

 

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 ;)

Kerri Bradford Studio: Annual Family BBQ

 

Hey everyone! There's been a whole lot going on at Kerri Bradford Studio this past week, as we celebrated (inter) National Scrapbook Day! I had a layout go up yesterday, which was the last day of the celebration. Hopefully, you caught the sale she had going on and her new stamp release.

 

When I saw Kerri's new Hello Summer stamp set, I was immediately reminded of the photos from an annual family BBQ we had last summer that I've been meaning to create a layout with. While I love physical stamps, I find that I tend to use digital stamps way more often in my projects. So I started with the digital version of her Hello Summer stamp set, and pulled in bits and pieces from a few other digital stamp sets, a printable kit, and even some PNG files from her cut files to create a two page hybrid layout. 

 

 

I'm a huge fan of pocket pages. I'm also a huge fan of photo collages. Since I didn't want to create this as a pocket page layout (as it will go in my family album, which is all traditional layouts), but I had all of my photos printed as 3x4's and 4x6's, I decided to work them into a "collage" of sorts, using a grid design. I started by arranging all of the photos that I wanted to use, leaving a spot for a title card and two journaling cards. Once that was set up, I knew that I needed to create five 3x4" filler cards to complete the spread.

 

 

For my title card, I used the "BBQ heat up the grill" from the Hello Summer digital stamp set, and added "family" above it (from the Giving Thanks kit). I added the striped piece along the left side of the title card by copying and pasting a piece from one of the printable cards.

 

I also like to match the colors for my digital stamps with the colors on the printable cards, by using the color sampler tool in Photoshop. I just click on the color that I want on a printable image, and then grab the color code to use on whatever digital piece that I want to make that color. If that makes any sense. Lol. 

 

 

While I could have pulled out some patterned papers to help fill those empty spots, I knew that I could find just what I needed in Kerri's vast collection of kits! Her Simply Summer kit is filled with 3x4" printable cards that were the perfect match for my photos and the theme of the page.

 

I picked out five cards, printing two of them as-is, and tweaking the other three to add in some additional elements - adding digital stamps and a few words taken from Kerri's cut file kits (the PNG files are great for using digitally). The card above originally had "loving life" in the center of the circle, but I replaced it with "sunny days" from the Hello Summer digital kit. 

 

 

I created two journaling cards, as I wanted to add one to the first page of the spread and one to the second page of the spread. I added "july" using the About Time digital stamp set.

 

 

The printable card above originally had polka dots covering the entire card. I knew that I wanted to add a little something to it, so I deleted a few rows of dots in Photoshop, and added a few digital stamps. The label is from the Label Maker digital stamp set, and the "sunshine on my mind" is from the Hello Summer digital stamp set.

 

 

Total side note. I will never, never understand why I can print a bunch of 3x4's and 4x6's - and they do NOT fit perfectly on a 12x12 page. I end up with gaps, and often have to trim parts off that hang over the edge of the page. I really feel like they should magically fit together perfectly. Lol.

 

 

I left this printable card as-is, since it was perfect for my page. 

 

 

Another printable card that fit my page perfectly - nothing extra needed on this one.

 

 

This card actually had stripes from top to bottom, but I wanted to add some text to it. So I deleted several rows of stripes in Photoshop, which left me room at the top to play with. Both of these words were done using the PNG files from Kerri's cut files - "pool" is from the Summer Lovin' kit and "splash" is from the Summer Vibes kit. 

 

 

On my second journaling card, I added the "sun and fun" using the Away digital stamp set, and the year was just typed with a fun font. I love creating hybrid layouts like this - where I get to play digitally, printing my journaling cards and filler cards, and adding them right in with my photos on a traditional layout.

 

Digital Project Share: 2017 / 2018 Shows

Hey everyone! I'm back to share a project that has been on my mental to-do list for well over a year. About two years ago, I created a travelers notebook projects, documenting my favorite TV shows from the 2016 / 2017 season (seen HERE). And about four years ago, I created a 6x8" pocket page spread documenting a handful of my favorite TV shows from the 2014 / 2015 season (seen HERE). 

Being a self-proclaimed TV junkie, I love the idea of documenting my favorite shows every year. While I loved the two previous projects that I've made, I really wanted to settle on a format that I could easily add to each year going forward. I tossed several ideas around. Did I want to keep going with the travelers notebook, knowing that I would be able to fit two years into each notebook? And just have a stack of notebooks that I could keep together in a basket or box? Or did I want to go with a 6x8" album, or maybe a 6x12" album? 

After much back and forth with myself (tell me I'm not the only one that talks things out with herself?), I finally settled on a 6x8" album. I knew that I wanted to create my pages digitally, so the first thing I had to decide on was what templates I would be using. I have a pretty big collection of digital templates, in a variety of sizes. I narrowed down my search to the 6x8" kits I had, and finally settled on a few template kits from Cathy Zielske - specifically her Six By Eight kits.

Her Six By Eights No. 06 kit was what really made up my mind, since the templates had the days of the week, which fit this project perfectly. I loved the format I used when I broke down my shows by what days they were on. So my plan was to use the template with the day of the week on the left side of the spread, and then to use a second template for the right side of the spread. Between all of the Six By Eight kits that I have, there were plenty of options, depending on how many photos I needed to include. 

I started this project the same way I started it the last time. By making a list of my shows, and which day they usually air. Now, this is documenting my 2017 / 2018 shows. Luckily, I made my list last year, as I knew this was a project I would get to at some point. But I will say it is SO much easier to make this list during the year, while your shows are on - as opposed to waiting and trying to go back and figure out what shows you watched (as we all know shows have a way of disappearing).

I even went into my DVR at one point, to check out my massive list of shows I record, to make sure I didn't miss any. When I did this project the last time, using the travelers notebook, I was limited in how many images/shows I could include for each day. So I had actually left out quite a few of my regular shows. This time around, I managed to include every single show that was on my regular "must see tv" schedule. 

On a few of the collages, I actually combined a few spaces in the templates to fit my photo needs. Like on the right page of my Tuesday spread. It had 12 squares, but I only needed 10 spaces. So I combined two squares to make a longer photo and then repeated it on another row as well.  

Once I had my list in front of me, I went looking for my images. Just as I did two years ago, I found all of my images using Google photos. For the most part, I just searched the name of the show, along with "cast", "logo", or "poster". I actually still had all of the images that I had used two years ago, so I added those into my folders as well. But I made an effort to find updated images, and at some point, I realized that adding in the year (for this, I added 2017) would often give me options that actually fit the show's season better. 

I downloaded several images for every show on my list, knowing that some images might be too small to use or may not be the right orientation once I started creating my collages. While I knew that the majority of my images would be squares, I also had some horizontal and vertical spots within the templates. It was easier to just download a ton of options while I was doing my search, than to have to go back and do a second search if the choices I had didn't work. 

I created a folder on my computer for each day of the week. Excluding Saturday, because that's the one day of the week when I don't have any set shows on. Once I had images for every show on my list, I counted how many shows I had to work with for each day, and then picked the templates to fit the number of shows. Then I would open up my two templates for the day I wanted to work on, and start plugging images in, moving them around as needed until I liked the way they were laid out. 

8

Thursday is a BIG night for shows. I feel like it always has been. Lol. I have a TON of shows on Thursdays. Since I didn't want to leave any shows out, I decided to add two 3x8" collages as well, adding a 3x8" page protector in between the two sides of the spread.

To create these smaller collages, I used the 3x8 Everyday Layered Photo Templates kit by In A Creative Bubble. I was able to include 3 additional photos on each collage, which meant I included 6 additional shows by adding in the 3x8" insert. 

The final step was to add some digital patterned papers to the leftover spaces within the templates. The larger area on the left page, under the day of the week, was meant for journaling. I could have easily used that space for an additional photo/show, but I didn't even think about that until I was done adding in all of my images. But I loved the idea of adding in a touch of patterned paper. I also had a few days where I had an empty space on the right page of the spread (like on the Friday page above), so I added some digital patterned paper there as well. 

I printed all of my collages on my photo printer, trimmed them, and slipped them into a 6x8" album. And I love the end result! I'm actually going to be adding my 2016 / 2017 collages to this album as well. I had already re-printed my collages last year, as I was going to switch them into a new travelers notebook (the one that I originally used was a cheap one I got off Amazon). I realized that I could easily work them onto 6x8" pages, and fit them into this same album. Since I really want to keep these all together and add to it each year. 

And I already have my list of shows written out for the 2018 / 2019 season. I'm not quite ready to start that just yet, as there are still some of my regular shows that haven't even started yet this season (why do some start so late now?), and there are new ones just coming on that I know I'm going to love as well. But having the list handy, and being able to add to it as needed, gives me a great head start for when I am ready to complete my pages for this awesome TV season ;)

Kerri Bradford Studio: Merry Christmas

I've got a new project up at Kerri Bradford Studio this week. While I'm fairly settled into my new scrapbook room, in the new house, I wasn't quite ready to scrap with paper and glue just yet. Things are all put away and the room is clean, but that doesn't exactly mean that I know where everything is or that it's organized the right way ;) So when it came time to create something for Kerri this month, I decided to go digital.

I'll be honest. I'm not one that scrapbooks much about Christmas, other than creating a layout or two each year with any photos that we take at family get-togethers. However, as I was prepping our family's Christmas cards to send out to family and friends a few weeks ago, I realized it was a tradition that was worth documenting. I've made it a habit to make sure that we take a few family photos on Thanksgiving day, so that we would have a photo all ready to go for ordering Christmas cards. I usually end up ordering them that very night, if not the next day. I always love getting our cards out as early as I can. 

I decided to create a digital 6x8" two page layout, as we recently moved and I'm still trying to get situated in my scrapbook room and am not quite ready to play with paper and scissors just yet ;) I used two different templates from the Half Pints: Wander kit to create my two page spread. I included our family photo for this year, along with our photos from the last two years. 

I came across the "did this" image from the Deck The Halls digital stamp kit and knew it would be perfect to include, adding a little digital check mark from the Versed: Note It digital stamp kit. I also added the years to each of the photos, using both the Label Maker digital stamp kit and the Side By Side digital stamp kit. 

I added the wreath above my journaling using a digital stamp from the Bundled Up digital stamp kit. On the first page, I created my title using PNG files from the Christmas Calendar kit.

I typed my journaling on the second page, using the text box that Kerri included within the template. I printed both 6x8" pages of my two page spread. Once I add this layout into my 6x8" family album (or my December Daily - which I have started, but time will tell if I stick with it), I will also be adding all three coinciding Christmas cards that go with those three family photos. 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Yosemite National Park

Hey everyone! I've got a new pocket page spread up at Kerri Bradford Studio today. The girls took a day trip to Yosemite National Park last summer and ended up with so many gorgeous photos that I just knew that I needed to do something with them. I had them all printed as 3x4's, so my first thought was to create a 9x12" pocket page spread (I also added in a 6x12" insert page). I am definitely loving the pocket pages these days!

When I first started planning out this spread, I had plans to use some of Kerri's printables - but I also had plans to use some of her cut files along with my Silhouette. I had things planned out, within my Silhouette software. Sized and ready to cut. And then somehow I ended up changing things up, and doing everything digitally. What can I say? I'm also loving creating a lot of my elements digitally in Photoshop these days. 

Here's a look at the first half of my spread, with the 6x12 insert on the right.

For my title card, I started by adding the mountains from the Escape digital stamp kit along the bottom of my 4x6" canvas. Next, I added the "national park" from the Feel Free digital stamp kit above the mountains. I used Kerri's Weathered Door Alpha kit to add "Yosemite" to the top of my title card, using the PNG files from the kit. 

I had several pockets within the spread to play with, and went searching thru Kerri's kits for fun elements to use for filler cards. I started by finding a few printables that fit the the theme of my spread. For a few of the cards, such as the That Summer Feeling card above, I printed them as-is, since they were perfect just as they were. 

I think I put the most work into creating my journaling card. Not that it was hard by any means. I just used pieces from 5 different kits, so I guess more time was spent looking for what I wanted within Kerri's kits. I started by using one of the 4x6" designs from the Recipe Card kit for the main part of my card. The aqua dotted background was a great fit, although I did change the shade of the aqua color a bit to match the aqua in the "there is no time to be bored" printable (I'll talk about this in a bit ;)).

The label at the top of the recipe card is from the same kit, and there are a few different ones to choose from. I added a few additional elements to my card, using a few PNG files from cut file kits, and a few digital stamps as well. The orange puffy heart sticker is one of the few physical products I used on this spread.

For the "wild" printable, from the Pine Tree kit, I scooted the design on the card up a bit (it was originally in the center), knowing that I would be adding some patterned paper along the bottom third of the card. 

When I set out to create a few more filler cards, along with my title card and journaling card, I used the color picker tool within Photoshop to match the colors on the No Time To Be Bored printable card. I wanted to use the same shades of orange, brown, green, and aqua when creating my additional cards so that they would all coordinate perfectly. 

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

For my "adventure" filler card, I used Kerri's new Wander kit, using the PNG file to add the fun outline word "adventure". I love outline words like this, and was so excited when I saw that Kerri made a new kit full of them. I can't wait to use them with my Silhouette. I then adding a digital stamp from the Feel Free digital stamp set along the bottom of the card.  

I also created another 3x4" filler card by adding a simple digital stamp, from the Away digital stamp set, along the bottom of the card, knowing that I would add a larger piece of patterned paper to the rest of the card. 

I found this older patterned paper above in a 6x6" paper pad from Studio Calico that matched the colors in the "there is no time to be bored" printable perfectly. I also used a few additional patterned papers from a few other 6x6" paper pads from Studio Calico. A few strips of washi tape, a few tiny staples, and a puffy heart sticker were all I needed to embellish my cards. 

The printable above, from the The Sun On My Face kit, was actually the very first one I found and printed out when I set out to create this spread. 

For the "this is pretty awesome" printable, taken from the Beautiful Somewhere kit, I added the trees from the Feel Free digital stamp set along the top part of the card. 

I love how this pocket page spread turned out, and I had so much fun pulling designs from so many of Kerri's kits and combining them to create all of my cards to fill my empty pockets. There's so much you can do digitally, using her designs - whether they're actual digital stamps, printables, or the PNG files from her cut file kits. The possibilities are endless! 

 

Change Is Coming: A Pocket Page Spread

Hey all! I'm back with another spread in my 6x12" personal album. This is another spread that I started ages ago, and just never finished. I have a knack for printing photos for layouts and/or pocket page spreads, and then not quite getting around to doing anything else with it. 

I had the idea for this spread about two months into my weight loss journey, as I wanted to document my plan to have something to look back on. I had a few photos of salads (my main meal the entire time I was actively trying to lose weight), my water cups (I drank water, and TONS of it, about 95% of the time), and one of the first photos I had taken of myself where I had that "this is working" moment. I thought they would all tie in nicely for this story.

I pulled this 4x6" card from an Ali Edwards Story kit - the Change kit. I was actually looking thru my digital story kits, and was super close to printing this out before realizing I could just pull the physical card out of the kit to use. 

I used a few cards from the Love Your Body digital kit from Sahlin Studio on this spread, one of which is the "#GOALS" card above. 

I created this journaling card myself. I wanted the top color to coordinate with the "you got this" filler card on the second page of the spread. I simply copied part of the solid part of that filler card, and then used it along the top of my 4x6" card here. I added the "The Story" text and then my journaling.

The filler card above is also from the Love Your Body digital kit. The black and white pattern filled the entire card, but I wanted to have a little bit of room along the bottom to add some journaling. So I just tweaked it in Photoshop to add the white along the bottom, and then added my text. 

The filler card above was from Ali Edward's Drive Story kit. I love having the digital kits for her Story kits, since I can print the cards as needed, even if I've already used the physical card on another project. 

Feels so good to have finished three spreads in my 6x12" personal album in the last week. Now if I can finish the other two that are started in there, I can get to creating some newer ones to add in as well. 

Gilmore Girls: A Pocket Page Spread

Hey everyone! So, I'm a huge Gilmore Girls fan. It's one of my top two favorite shows, with the other being Friends. Sometime last year, I had the idea to do a pocket page spread about my love of the show. I rounded up some photos to use, printed them, slipped them into the pockets, and that's as far as I got. 

I revisited the spread last week, pulled out a few things that I thought I was going to use, and printed out some new pieces to fill the empty pockets with. Sometimes I actually think my procrastinating on projects works out for the best, since I love how this turned out using some recent digital finds. 

So this spread goes in my 6x12" personal album, and I added in a 4x12" insert as well. I had this idea of the photos that I wanted to include, and this plan worked out perfect. Here's a look at the first half of the spread, with the insert on the right. 

I remember spending a lot of time on Google images, trying to find decent sized images that would print well for this project. This "Gilmore Life" coffee cup image is one that was all over Instagram leading up to the revival series coming out on Netflix back in 2016. It didn't print the best, but it works. And it serves as my title as well. 

This filler card was a last minute addition, and I love it. Kellie Winnell does these Friday Freebies on her blog, where she has free images that you can download, and they're perfect for 3x4" filler cards. I had downloaded a ton of them one night, thinking they would come in handy for my Project Life pages. And I was just sort of browsing thru them the other day, and when I saw this one about Netflix, I knew I had to use it. 

Since I binged watched the entire series of Gilmore Girls the summer before the revival series came out in the fall that year. I have the entire series on DVD, but it was so easy to just watch them on Netflix. 

For my main journaling card, I used this simple 4x6" card from the Agenda digital set from One Little Bird.

I knew that I wanted a photo of Lorelai and Luke and one of Rory and her guy. I searched Google images for one that would print well and that would go with my color scheme if possible. 

I remembered that Kelly Purkey had a Gilmore Girls themed digital set in her shop, so I had picked that up a while back when I first had the idea of doing this spread. It's the But I'm A Gilmore digital stamp set, and ended up being just what I needed to make a few simple filler cards.

And if you ask me - as much as I did love Dean and Jess, I think Logan is Rory's guy. I'm Team Logan all the way ;) 

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

I also thought it would be cool to use a photo of Lorelai and Rory from the beginning of the series and a photo of the two of them from the time of the revival. I'm not totally sure if the photo above was from the very beginning, but it's close enough. 

To create the two filler cards for my insert page, I created a 4x4" canvas in Photoshop and added my digital stamp to the center, sizing it as needed to fill the space. Super simple. 

The photo above was one that they used to promote the revival, and one that I even shared on my Instagram after I finished re-watching the entire series that summer before the revival. 

They also used these four images (the two above and the two down below) to promote the revival, with a photo for each "season", as the revival was broken down into four "season" episodes. I had screenshot them at the time, knowing that I wanted to use them for something. I simply cropped them to 3x4" and printed them along with one of my photo orders. 

Several months ago, I had picked up the Rate This digital stamp set from Kellie Winnell. I think it's such a fun set, and I need to remember that I have it to work into my Project Life album. I used the "show rating" digital stamp at the top of my second filler card, to journal a few quick thoughts about the revival and how I enjoyed it. 

The filler card on the right was created using a card from the High Street Stories digital kit from One Little Bird. I added one of the digital stamps from the But I'm A Gilmore set to the empty space at the bottom of the card. 

Any other Gilmore Girl fans out there? I'm secretly hoping they come back with some more episodes. Those final four words left me wanting more ;)

Time To Eat: A Pocket Page Spread

Speaking of my "What We Ate" posts, I've got a new 6x12" pocket page spread from my "all about me" album to share with you today. I realized I had all of these yummy looking photos of the recipes I've been trying out (they're not my photos, but the ones I save from the websites I get the recipes from), and thought it would be cool to do a page about my personal challenge in the kitchen for this year. 

I went through my photos of the recipes I tried in January, and picked out a handful to use. I went back and forth on my plan, since my original idea was to do a layout. Then I thought about doing a 6x8" pocket page spread. Somewhere along the line, I settled on doing a 6x12" spread. I printed my photos as 3x4's and slipped them into the pockets. 

Funny story. I've been cleaning out my patterned papers this past week, and when I came across this fun paper from Echo Park, I immediately thought about this pocket page spread. I cut a 4x6" piece to add into the top pocket, which I intended on adding a title too. I wasn't sure what I would use for that title, but I was going to add one. 

It wasn't until I was in the middle of photographing this spread, that I realized I never added a title. Oops. I was in such a rush to photograph it, after finishing my journaling card, that I didn't even think about the title. I decided it was totally fine as-is though, since I had also added a 3x4" filler card to the second page that could totally act as my title. 

I did think about adding a little label to each photo, either digitally (before printing) or a physical label, to add what the recipe actually was. That might have been a smart idea. But I guess I was keeping things simple, because I didn't end up doing that. 

I used a few digital cards on this spread from the Hangry digital kit by One Little Bird. For my journaling card, I used a 4x6" card from the kit, but since I wanted a little more room to journal then the card offered, I tweaked it a bit in Photoshop to give myself more room to add my text. I also added a little black border strip below the "good food is everything" image, by copying a small part of another digital card and pasting it below. 

I'm getting so hungry typing up this post! Lol. That pasta looks amazing right now, and those bacon wrapped little smokies would really hit the spot. 

I originally had another photo in the pocket on the left, but I wanted to add in another filler card. Which ended up being my title card ;)

Sadly, that crock pot mac and cheese recipe was the one recipe this year that was a dud. I still included it, because it looks really good in the photo. And it coordinated so well with the other photos.