... just Laura

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.

 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Happy Mail Cards

Hey everyone! I had some new cards go up at Kerri Bradford Studio the other day and am excited to share them with you all today. One of the to-do's that has been on my crafty list for a while now, has been to create more cards. Specifically, I've had this idea to dig thru my stash of older supplies, and make it a point to use up a lot of the embellishments and papers that I never seem to use - but also, can't seem to get rid of. 

When I saw Kerri's new Happy Mail #1 and Happy Mail #2 stamps, I knew they would be perfect for this very project. Between the two Happy Mail sets, there are so many awesome sentiments to make a wide variety of cards for any occasion. And how can you not love the Outnumbered (Two) XL stamp set! My first thought when I saw them was that they would be perfect for making birthday cards, and that's exactly what I used them for first.

Product tidbits: Square chipboard frames from my stash (I think they're Simple Stories, but don't quote me on that). Making Memories metal flowers, which had already been painted and distressed and already had coordinating brads in the centers - and they just happen to match my frames and papers.

I started by picking out a few embellishments that I thought would work well on cards - a variety of chipboard frames in varying sizes, a few colored tags, and some metal rimmed printed tags. I then picked out a sentiment to use along with each embellishment.

Product tidbits: Small square chipboard frames (again, I think they're from Simple Stories, but again, don't quote me on that). 3D flower embellishments from American Crafts, which included the buttons.

And the last step was to pick out two patterned papers to go with each card. I limited my paper choices to my 6x6" paper pads, looking for patterns that would match/coordinate with whatever embellishments I had chosen for each card. 

Product tidbits: Printed metal rimmed tags from American Crafts (I added a simple silver accent to each tag to cover the hole where you would add string). Colored tags (not sure where they're from, but they matched perfectly). 

I created my card bases, using the same basic design for each, adding a little misting and a little machine stitching to each card. I added my stamped sentiments, either directly onto the card itself or onto a scrap piece of paper to add behind the chipboard frames.

Product tidbits: Chipboard frame from Basic Grey. Gold glittered accent dots (not sure where they're from).

For the birthday cards, I fussy cut around the stamped numbers before adhering them to the cards. Once the embellishments were added on, and the sentiments complete, I added any little finishing touches, like the little silver accents, the metal flowers, and the enamel stars. 

Product tidbits - Enamel stars from Bella Blvd.

I can't wait to create even more cards with these fabulous stamp sets! I think I need to make it a goal to use each and every sentiment on at least one card ;)

Updated Look: 2016 / 2017 Shows

Hey all. I recently shared a new digital project with you, documenting my 2017 / 2018 TV shows (post HERE) in a 6x8" album. I had mentioned that I was already planning on adding my 2016 / 2017 collages to this album as well. I had documented my shows from that year in a travelers notebook (post HERE). 

I had already re-printed my 2016 / 2017 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 the same album along with my 2017 / 2018 pages. I love the idea of keeping these pages all together and adding to it each year. 

All of my collages for this project were created using templates from both the Travelers Templates and Travelers Templates #2 kits from Kerri Bradford Studio.

I started by cutting sheets of white cardstock to build my pages on. I adhered the photo collages along the right side of each page, and then added a piece of patterned paper along the left side. I was able to dig up the same papers that I had used in the original project, which gave me one less thing to spend my time debating on. 

I also used the same 3x4" ruled Project Life cards to add the day of the week, using Kerri Bradford's A Big Day stamp set. I trimmed down each card and adhered them along the side of the page, tucking the bottom edge under the photo collages. 

This was such an easy project to finish up, and I love that these pages are all together in one album. I can't wait to work on my 2018 / 2019 shows!

Christmas Movies: A Pocket Page Spread

Hey everyone. I don't know about you all, but I'm a huge fan of Christmas movies. Specifically, Hallmark Channel Christmas movies. They're a tradition of mine, and I watch them non-stop during the holidays. 

This past holiday season, Hallmark Channel came out with 22 brand new Christmas movies. They even came out with an app to keep track of them, and check them off as you watched them. Since this made it much easier to remember what movies I was watching (since admittedly, they do all sort of run together after a while), I thought it would be fun to document the movies that I watched for the 2018 holiday season. 

This 6x8 spread is specifically about the Hallmark Channel movies. I also watched a ton of new Christmas movies on Lifetime Channel, and I am planning on doing a second spread about those ;)

I turned to Google to search for images for all of the movies that I watched. I printed them all as 2x2" photos, and I also found some fun little quotes to go along with them, since I knew I would have a few empty pockets to fill. 

I have images for 19 of the movies, but I watched 20 out of the 22 new movies. There was one movie that, no matter how much searching I did, I could not find an image for. It actually looked like it was an older movie, that was being promoted as a new movie. I finally just gave up on that one. And there was one movie I totally missed - and one that just didn't look interesting to me, so I skipped it.

I created a 6x8 page, to go alongside the pocket page. I used a few cut files from Kerri Bradford Studio for my title, as well as a circle background for the top of the page.

I added in some incredibly old patterned papers from Making Memories that I had in my "Christmas" box of supplies, and added my typed journaling as well. 

I had saved the Countdown to Christmas movie schedule that the Hallmark Channel had put out, and printed it as a 6x8 photo to include as well. I guess I should go back and actually check off the movies that I watched, shouldn't I? 

It only slightly bothers me that some of these photos aren't a true 2x2" square. I had put 6 2x2" onto a 4x6" to have printed with my photo order, and of course, the pics don't always come back a true 4x6". So on some of these, you can see where the photo behind it is slightly larger. 

This layout should come in handy next year, when all of the Christmas movies start up. I can't tell you how many times I will sit and watch a movie, thinking that I have probably seen it - but I'll watch it anyways, just to be sure. Now I can just pull this out and cross reference what I've seen ;)

Kerri Bradford Studio: Currently Fixing and Building All The Things

Hey everyone! I have a new pocket page spread up at Kerri Bradford Studio this week. This is a 6x12" pocket page spread that will go in my personal album, and I added in a 4x11" insert as well. 

With our recent move a few months ago came lots and lots of projects that needed doing once we were in the new-to-us house. Little projects and big projects. I had lots of help on many of the projects from my very handy family - my mom can fix/build just about anything, my brother is the same, and my dad is a pro at the outdoor/yard stuff. But I'm also proud to say that I took on a ton of the projects myself, as I'm the handy one in our little family. 

I realized I had quite a few photos I had taken while working on these projects, and thought it would be fun to create a pocket page spread about some of the projects that I both tackled AND accomplished. 

I printed my photos as 3x3's and 3x4's and slipped them into the pockets, leaving a few empty so that I could add in my title card and a few filler cards. I decided to go digital with these cards, using a mix of Kerri's designs and a few digital papers that I happen to have in my digital collection. 

To create my title card, I used a graph patterned paper for the background, along with a small strip of woodgrain patterned paper along the bottom. I used the PNG file for "currently", taken from the Grammar School: The Adverbs kit, and added in "all the things" using the Digital Stamps: Home kit to create the main part of my title (I added the "fixing and building" using the text tool and a fun font). 

I cropped the What's Next digital card into a 3x3" square, and used it as is in one pocket. I decided to put it in the bottom right corner of the second page of the spread - kind of like "ok, I'm done with all of these projects, so what's next?" ;)

I wanted a black background to go with the Can't Stop Me, so I copied part of the black distressed background from the "What's Next" card and sized it to fit my 3x4" background before adding the "Can't Stop Me" PNG file (which I changed to white) to complete my filler card. 

I also printed a 1x4" strip of that same black distressed part of the What's Next card to add to the top of my larger 4x8" photo that I printed for the backside of the insert page.

I added some tiny alpha stickers from Making Memories along the top, tucking them under the top edge of the photo.

I printed my journaling to fit the 4x11" insert. I was originally going to make it a 4x12" insert, but I realized I had some 8.5x11 page protectors, and decided to cut down one of those instead of a full 12x12" page protector. I machine stitched down the side of the journaling card, and then trimmed off the excess to make the custom sized page protector. 

On the front side of the insert, I added my journaling page, adding a strip of the woodgrain digital patterned paper that I used on the title card. Try and ignore the extra holes from when I stapled the woodgrain paper in the wrong spot, making my page too short for the page protector. Lol. 

I had one more 3x3" pocket to fill, so I created a background using the woodgrain digital patterned paper, and added the cute sketch house from the Digital Stamps: Gather kit (which I changed to white). 

I love pulling Kerri's designs together, both her cut files (and the PNG's that go with them) and her digital stamps, to fit the needs of whatever project I'm working on. There are times when I'm all about working with physical papers and products, and using my Silhouette to die cut designs - and there are times when I'm all about working digitally, using Photoshop to create what I need. And I love that Kerri's designs offer the flexibility to be used in so many ways!

Movies: A Layout Share

Hey everyone! Last week I had a few days off work in a row, and got into some weird creative zone, where I was finishing up half done projects, while also working on new projects. When I get inspired like that, I tend to just go with it. Because it doesn't come all that easy at times. Or I get busy with work and life stuff, and don't have the same kind of interrupted time where I want to work on projects. 

Anyways. This is one of those half done projects that I worked on. I'm not even sure I could say it was half done. Let's just say it was partially started ;)

A few years ago, when Alyssa was about to start her second year of college, we switched the girls rooms at the old house. During the switching process, Alyssa had cleaned out a ton of stuff that she had collected over the years. She's good about giving me things that she thinks I would want to keep, as a scrapbooker and documenter. 

One of the things she gave me was a bag filled with movie ticket stubs that she had saved up over the years. My very first thought was that I wanted to make a layout with them. 

I started out by sorting the ticket stubs out by dates, making piles for each year that she had tickets for. There were a few duplicates in the mix, so I threw those away. I decided I would adhere them to a 12x12 sheet of white cardstock, layering them over each other here and there. I started on the left side of the page, and adhered a row from top to bottom. Then I started on the second row, then the third row, etc. 

I knew that I wanted to add my title along the right side of the page, and I ended up with plenty of room once all of the ticket stubs were adhered in place. 

I immediately thought of this fun "movies" cut file from Kerri Bradford Studio for my title. It is actually a part of Kerri's The History Project class, and is included in the massive amount of cut files that come with the class. I die cut it from black cardstock and adhered it along the right side of the page. 

The ticket stubs had touches of red and a little blue in them, so I added a strip of red patterned paper and a blue scalloped border sticker. I very randomly pulled out this plastic 12" border piece, which has circles going down the center. It was a part of a super, duper old monthly kit by Creating Keepsakes magazine.

Such an old, old, old product. But I love using older stuff. I've purged my supplies SO many times over the years, and if I'm still holding onto something that is THIS old, it's because I really did love it and can still see myself using it. So I'm glad I came across the bin of these plastic pieces (along with foam pieces!), because I may need to use them more often now ;)

I didn't really have a plan going into this for journaling, but I knew that I needed to include a little something somewhere on the page. I typed this up and printed it out, thinking I was going to adhere it on top of the ticket stubs. But then I decided to just adhere it sideways, on top of the plastic strip. I love when I stop overthinking things and just go with things. It took me no time at all to finish up this layout and that makes me happy!

Kerri Bradford Studio: Entertaining With Snapchat

Hey everyone. I've got a new layout up at Kerri Bradford Studio. So, I'm really not a fan of being in photos. And yet, I apparently seem to have no issues taking Snapchat selfies. Especially when I take them with adorable kiddos! Lol. I used to entertain the daycare kiddos with funny Snapchat filters at least once a day, so I've accumulated a lot of photos over the last few years. I decided to pull out some of my favorites and put together a two page spread. 

I printed 14 photos as 3x3" squares, and arranged them around the outside edges of my two page spread along with some 3x3" squares of patterned paper.

I printed my photos in black and white, since there were so many colors happening in them. I love that this allows me to use any paper colors that I want. 

I die cut a circle background from white cardstock, using Kerri's Background Basics kit, cut it in half lengthwise, and adhered the two pieces across the center of both pages. 

I didn't really have any patterned papers in mind when I started this. Not sure how it happened, but I turned towards my patterned papers, and immediately thought about the You Are Loved collection from Bella Blvd & Illustrated Faith, that my good friend Stephanie Buice designed. I never did take the time to use her gorgeous paper designs, and thought this was the perfect time to dig into them. 

I printed out Kerri's "Living Our Best Life" (from the Living Our Best Life kit) on white cardstock, as I wanted a 3x4" filler-type card to go side by side with my journaling card, which I also sized to 3x4". The metal rimmed tags are super old, both from American Crafts and Making Memories.

I had also printed the "Love This" (from the Click kit) circle on white cardstock, so I wanted to have a few additional circles to embellish the page. I arranged them on the left page of the spread, to fill in the empty space.  

This two page design is one that I use quite often. Arranging photos/papers around the outside edges, whether 3x3" in size or 3x4" in size, and then using the space in the center to add my title, journaling, etc. 

I love using the Weathered Door Alpha [All] kit for titles. It's a great choice for words that you may not be able to find specific cut files for, and I just love the chunky font with the option to die cut the outline of each letter as well. I pulled the "entertaining" from the Happy Stuff kit, and paired it with my die cut "snapchat" to complete my title. 

Well, I guess I also added some tiny alpha stickers for the "with" part of my title - so that completed my title ;)

I also added machine stitching around the outside edges of each 3x3" square of patterned paper. I did this before adhering them to my pages, and then machine stitched down the strips of striped patterned paper once the layout was assembled. 

These photos just make me smile. I realize the kiddos may not look all that thrilled in so many of the photos. But trust me, they loved doing them with me.

Seeing as how I actually started this layout last summer (all I had done was adhere my photos to white cardstock), I'm so glad I came across it and took the time to finish it.

Kerri Bradford Studio: Sleep Vibes

Happy New Year's my friends! I love the start of a new year. A clean slate. A fresh start. I've noticed over the last couple of years that I tend to get super creative at the beginning of the year. I'm not sure why exactly that is, but I find it best to just run with it ;) I've also noticed that January is when I tend to pull out those forgotten projects. The half-done layouts and/or albums that just need a little attention in order to move them to the "finished" pile. 

I started this layout a full five months ago, as it was going to be one of my layouts for Kerri last summer. I must have went in another direction, with another project, for that month, and kept pushing this layout off for another month, and then another month. I decided that January 2019 would be it's month! And yesterday, it was up on the Kerri Bradford Studio blog. 

When Kerri came out with her Summer Vibes kit, I brainstormed some ways to use the "vibes" word, and decided I could pair it up with photos of some of my daycare kiddos napping. I pulled some of my favorite photos of napping kiddos into one of Kerri's photo templates, using her Storyboard: Instagram Style kit, printed it out, and matted it with two different patterned papers. 

For my background, I used Kerri's Heart Background kit, die cutting the full hearts from a blue patterned paper and the heart outline from white cardstock. I misted the die cut heart background piece before I adhered it to my page. 

I picked out a few tags (along with a 2x2" PL card) to add along the top of the page, tucking them behind the photo collage. My patterned papers are a mix of different manufacturers. If I'm remembering right, I have some Dear Lizzy, Shimelle, Photo Play, and another one that has slipped my mind. I had them written down, but that all got lost in the move.

I die cut "vibes" from some solid brown patterned paper, and then die cut "sleep" (from the Oh Baby kit) from some red dotted patterned paper, to complete my title. Fun outline words were one of the first things that made me want a Silhouette all those years ago. I just love the look of those types of cut files. 

You know what's crazy? I had my title die cut, I had my papers picked out and trimmed down, I had my photo collage printed - I even had my journaling printed! Why it took me so long to assemble this page and finish it off is beyond me. Lol. 

To embellish the area to the left of my photo collage, I added some a few stickers and coordinating buttons. So glad to have this one finished and in the albums! 

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: Making Time

 

Hey all! I'm sharing another new layout that I created for Kerri Bradford Studio. I love that I was so inspired by these sketches, and that I was able to create five new 6x8" spreads for my personal album. 

While these sketches were designed for traveler's notebook layouts and 8.5x11" pages, they can easily be adapted for other sizes - whether 12x12", 9x12", 6x12", or 6x8" - whatever size you're loving right now! For this 6x8" spread, I used sketch #3 as my starting point.

I only had four photos, so I printed them each as 3x3" photos, and arranged them across the spread as shown in the sketch. I've actually created a sort-of simliar 6x8" spread on the topic of reading (seen HERE), and even used a few of these same photos. But every time I would see the bookshelf die cut (linked below), I would think about doing another layout on the theme. 

I have a few books that I've picked up over the last year or so, with the intention of starting to read again. I've seen a lot of people rave about "Girl Wash Your Face", so I figured it was worth a shot. And "Talking As Fast As I Can" was a no-brainer, since I'm a huge Gilmore Girls fan. I also have another book written by Lauren Graham, but forgot that I had it when I went to print these photos. 

The "Home Organization" book isn't really a book you'd read cover to cover, I guess. But it's filled with soooooo many great tips and ideas, and I'm always wanting to really read my way thru it. And I'm a big "Younger" fan (a show on the TV Land channel), so when I learned there was an actual "Marriage Vacation" book (a big part of the story line revolves around this book on the show), I had to get it. 

I die cut the fun bookshelf from black chalkboard patterned paper, using Kerri's A Good Book kit, and adhered it directly above the photos on the first page. 

I cut the word "time", using the Happy Birthday kit, from a pink patterned paper for my title. I die cut it twice, mainly because the first time I cut it, my machine messed it up. Lol. I cut it twice on the second try, to make sure I ended up with at least one good once. I got two good ones, so I layered them together for a little thickness. 

I added my journaling along the top of the second page of the spread, and added a few simple chipboard elements to finish off the page. Super simple and easy, and just my kind of layout :)

Kerri Bradford Studio: So Yeah

Hey all! I'm sharing another new layout that I created for Kerri Bradford Studio, as part of her birthday celebration last week. These are old photos, from years ago, and they tell an old story, from years ago. But I think it's one worth documenting. Since any photos of me taken back in 2006-2007, I'll most likely be wearing a hat (or a fun hair piece added in with my real hair). There's a close up of my journaling later in this post, which explains why ;)

Kerri asked if we'd like to work from some sketches, and provided us with three to choose from. While these are set up for traveler's notebooks and 8.5x11" layouts, they can easily be adapted to work for any size you desire. 

For this 6x8" spread, I used sketch #3, and with the exception of moving my journaling placement and adding an additional photo, I stuck to the sketch as it was. I printed all of my photos in varying sizes, and arranged them across the two pages, overlapping them as needed.

I've had these photos in a folder on my laptop for well over a year, with the intention of creating a layout with them. I often come across photos, while looking for completely different photos, and get ideas for layouts. So I've learned to plop them into a "for layouts" folder, so I don't forget about them - and I don't have to go digging for them again, as they often come from totally different months/years. 

I die cut a flower background from white cardstock, using Kerri's Background Basics #3 kit, and added that along the top of the two pages to create a white-on-white look. I added my die cut title, using the Summer Vibes and Something To Say #2 kits, to the top of the left page of the spread. 

I adhered my journaling along the top of the right page of the spread. Took me a few tries when it came to printing it, as I need to remember to size my font down a bit on these smaller spreads. A few simple enamel dots were all I added to embellish the page. 

After wearing a hat almost every day for that year or two, I have to say, I've never worn a hat since. Lol. I kept my hats for a while, as I had a hard time finding ones that I really liked on myself. But eventually I got rid of them, and crossed my fingers I wouldn't have those same hair issues again.

Kerri Bradford Studio: Mama Needs Some Chocolate

Hey all! I'm sharing another new layout that I created for Kerri Bradford Studio, as part of her 8 year celebration! As I mentioned yesterday, I ended up super inspired and created five 6x8" spreads for my personal album, and today I'm sharing the second of those five spreads.

Kerri asked if we'd like to work from some sketches, and provided us with three to choose from. While these are set up for traveler's notebooks and 8.5x11" layouts, they can easily be adapted to work for any size you desire. 

For this 6x8" spread, I used sketch #1. I kept with a full 6x8" photo for the right side of the spread, and didn't end up adding anything to the photo. 

Have you tried this stuff? Let's just say that if you haven't, you should. It's soooo good. Or maybe you shouldn't. It's also like crack, and you won't be able to stop eating it. Lol.

Instead of an additional photo for the left side of the spread, as shown in the sketch, I used that spot for my title. I printed out the "mama needs some chocolate" printable, from Kerri's Mama Needs Some kit, and used that for my title. I had an extra piece of a circle background that I had die cut for another project, using the Background Basics kit, and it ended up being just the right size to use on that left page.

I was originally going to print my journaling so that I could cut it into two tag shapes (to go with the tag on the sketch), and add one to the top of the page and one to the bottom of the page. But I ended up with too much to say in my journaling and ended up trimming them into blocks of journaling instead. I added a simple tab die cut and a few enamel hearts to finish off the page.  

I'll be back to share my three other layouts next week. Make sure to stop by Kerri's blog, if you haven't already, to keep up with all of the fun stuff she had going on this past week! 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Best Part Of The Routine

It's time to celebrate! Kerri Bradford Studio is celebrating it's 8th birthday! That's right, Kerri has been offering her awesome kits, stamps, and classes for eight years now. And we're celebrating all week long over on her blog. There's a big sale, of course. On purchases of $10 or more, you can save 30% on downloads and classes using the coupon CELEBRATE8. You can also save 15% on stamps–discount already applied. There are a few exclusions to the sale, like the July stamps that just came out. Yep, you read that right - there are two new stamp sets that Kerri released this past Monday.

Kerri suggested that we work with a few sketches this month. Those of us on the design team, along with some special guest designers, will be sharing layouts based off of these sketches. I love having a sketch as a starting point when working on layouts, as it helps take some of the thinking out of the equation for me. Sketches give you guidelines for where to put your photos, title, journaling, and even some extras like embellishments and papers - but they also give you the freedom to tweak the sketches to fit your needs as you start to work on your pages. I didn't set out to create as many layouts as I did, but I was so inspired that I just went with it, and ended up creating five 6x8" spreads for my personal album, which I'll be sharing over the next few days.

For this 6x8" spread, I used sketch #1 and I stuck pretty much to the sketch as it was presented. I almost always take a quick photo at the salon when I go to get my hair cut. It's such a cute little salon, and one of the only things that I do to pamper myself. I thought a few of those photos would tie in nicely with a few photos I had taken of my favorite hair products, as well as what I use to color my hair. 

I recently picked up a few new embossing folders from Joann's (they're from their new store brand, Park Lane), so I used one of those on a piece of white cardstock, before adhering along the top of the page. I added a die cut title, using Kerri's Life Additions #2 kit, along the top of the left page. 

I used a full 6x8" photo on the right page of the spread, and created a small photo collage of 6 photos (using a template from the Snapshots #3 kit) to add to the left page of the spread. I used a few patterned papers on this first page from Kerri's Plan It Fundamentals kit, printing them on white cardstock.

I also printed a few labels from that same kit. I added one of the printed labels to the right side of my 6x8" photo, and embellished it with a stamped image (from the Thankful stamp set), and a puffy heart sticker. The second label was added to the first page, to help complete my title. 

I'll be back to share another layout tomorrow. In the meantime, make sure to stop by Kerri's blog to check out all of the other fun stuff and projects that are being shared this week!

Kerri Bradford Studio: Thank You Cards

Hey everyone! I have a few new cards up at Kerri Bradford Studio today. I realized a while ago, that with all of the handmade cards that I have made over the last year or so, I don't seem to have any "thank you" cards. I thought it might be a good idea to create a few, so that when I have someone that deserves a special "thank you", I'll have cards ready to go. 

I picked two different designs to use for the backgrounds on my cards - a circle design from the Background Basics #2 kit, and a leaf design from the new Leaves kit.

I die cut each one several times from white cardstock, as I planned to layer them over patterned paper.

For the leaves design, I also took the time to remove all of the inside cut lines from each leaf, so that I could have a solid piece to layer behind the intricate design. 

 After assembling the base of my cards, using patterned paper, and the die cut backgrounds, I adhered a die cut "thanks" to each card.

I used two different "thanks" designs, both cut from black cardstock - one from the Hey Mama kit, and one from the Design Team Picks kit. 

For my patterned papers, I turned to my 6x6" paper pads. I love using these smaller papers for cards, as the designs are usually scaled down for smaller projects.  

I used a mix of Studio Calico and Amy Tangerine patterned papers for these cards. 

As always, I like to keep my cards fairly flat in design, to make them easier to mail. I don't tend to add many embellishments to simple cards like these, as I think they're just fine on their own. 

These cards were quick and easy to create (other than waiting for my Silhouette Cameo to finish cutting these intricate designs), but full of texture and interest at the same time. 

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! 

 

Kerri Bradford Studio: That Moment

Hey everyone! Did you know that this coming Saturday, May 5th, is National Scrapbook Day? Yep, it's that time of year again, and over at Kerri Bradford Studio there's lots of goodness going on in the days leading up to the big day. What exactly is going on?

Well, first off, there's a huge sale going on that you won't want to miss. Thru Sunday, you can save 40% on downloadable kits and classes (when you spend $10 or more) using the code NSD18. You can also save 20% on all stamps, including the newest release (discount is already reflected in the prices). You'll also find new projects from each member of Kerri's Creative Team, and each designer is also sharing some favorite tips and tricks.

And today is my turn to share ;)  

I'm sure the image above looks like a crazy mess at first glance. That crazy mess right there is the design I came up with for my layout, and it's pretty much exactly how it turned out. 

One of my favorite ways to plan out my layouts is to play around with ideas using my Silhouette software. Since I usually incorporate cut files into my pages, it's a great way to test out different titles, backgrounds, and other designs and see how they'll work with the photos I plan on using. Did you know that you can pull photos into your Silhouette software? It helps to resize them first, cropping them to the size you plan on printing them and saving them at 72dpi. If you do pull them in at full size, you'll simply need to scale them down until they're the right size. 

You don't necessarily need to pull in every photo you plan on using - I'll often just pull in one single photo, and then copy and paste it a few times (this works great if several of your photos will be the same size), to mimic the photos that I do plan on using. This allows you to play around with photo placement, and it helps give you an idea of the space you have on the page to work in your cut files. I also do this with photo collages. I'll pull in the finished collage, and often times, I will determine the size I want to print it based off how it plays out with the cut files I want to use. 

Instead of guessing what size to cut your title, or any fun shapes you want to use, you can figure out the exact size you need for each cut file, since you know they'll work with the size and placement of your photos. Once I have my page design planned out, I simply delete my photos from the page, sort out the pieces I'll be die cutting, and start the cutting process.  

It's been almost a year since my youngest daughter, Sarah, graduated from high school. While I have lots of photos from that day that I want to get in her album, I have one story from that day that I've been wanting to document. It was "that moment" - the big moment when they call out her name, announce her college of choice, and she walks over to accept her diploma. It just so happened that it was also the moment when my camera froze up, and I quickly realized that my memory card was full. Oh.My.Goodness.

I panicked for about 2 seconds and then got to work digging out another memory card from my purse. I was quick, but not quick enough, since I totally missed capturing her big moment, and I also missed even seeing it happen (since I was dealing with the camera and not watching her). My sister-in-law was sitting next to me, and she yelled out "Sarah!!! STOP!!!". She did, and I was able to capture the photo above - a great photo of her holding her diploma with a big smile on her face. 

Kerri's Click kit was the perfect choice to help document these photos, and this story. The negative strip and the camera fit the theme of my page, so they were obvious choices to work into my page design, and I also picked out my title from the kit as well.

The negative strip comes in several sizes (as far as how many windows each has), and both square and landscape orientation, so I played around with a few sizes as I figured out how many photos I wanted to include. I settled on 3 photos, in addition to my main focal point photo - the two photos I took right before my camera froze and the photo I snapped right after I changed out my memory card. 

Anyone that knows my style, knows that I love white backgrounds for my pages. However, I'm not a fan of plain white cardstock backgrounds, which is why I love to use die cut backgrounds - cut from white cardstock, to create a white-on-white look that's subtle, but adds interest and texture. My favorite backgrounds are circles, so I used a circle background from Kerri's Background Basics kit for this layout.

I knew that I wanted to use a black chalkboard patterned paper for my negative strip (I also used it for part of my title), and remembered that I had a few sheets of it from Echo Park. While I was digging around for that, I came across a few other Echo Park patterned papers that ended up working with my photos. I'm not huge on plaid prints, but this older plaid patterned paper - with the greens, yellows, and a brown that I decided could pass as black ;) - was perfect for the color scheme I had in mind. 

Our high school colors were green, black, and white, so those were obvious color choices. I added in little yellow, since some of the photos had touches of yellow, as some students had yellow cords and sashes. I die cut my camera pieces from yellow and green cardstock, along with some of the black chalkboard patterned paper that I used for my negative strip and title. To add a little extra texture to the camera, I ran the yellow cardstock pieces thru an embossing folder. 

I wanted to print my journaling on the same yellow patterned paper that I used for the camera, but wanted to soften the yellow a bit (and I sort of wish I had softened the yellow in the camera as well, but that didn't cross my mind until I was done). I printed my journaling on a piece of vellum and laid it over the yellow patterned paper, and then machine stitched them together across the top.

When it came time to add a few embellishments, I started poking around in a few baskets and came across some old Making Memories metal flowers. I thought they would be a fun addition, and went looking for another metal piece to add in the bottom right corner of the page. These metal photo turns were perfect. I wanted to add a black brad to each, but apparently I don't own any black brads. Weird. So tiny enamel dots was the next best thing, as I also added black enamel dots to the centers of the flowers. 

If you've never tried planning out your layouts (and cards as well) within your Silhouette software, give it a try the next time you are incorporating cut files into your page design. 

Chaos & Cuddles

Happy Friday everyone! I wanted to share one of the layouts that I created for my design team submission for Jillibean Soup. I've used quite a bit of Jillibean's products over the last year. It just so happens that they were projects for things that I wasn't able to share. One of my favorite products are their die cut alphabet packs. I love the larger alphas, and knew that I wanted to use them on one of my layouts. 

I don't do layouts about the daycare kids as often as I used too (personal choice), but every once in a while, I like to add one to my collection. I had a title in mind when I went to pick out my photos - a mix of the good parts of this job, and the chaotic parts of this job. I created a photo collage using a template from Kerri Bradford Studio, and changed all of my photos to black and white.

I knew I wanted to mix a die cut word in with the die cut alphas for my title, so I picked out one of Jillibean's cut files from the Silhouette store. "Chaos & Cuddles" - that's exactly the kind of mix I have here on a daily basis. 

I also used one of their background cut files to create a white-on-white background for my page. You all know that I love a good circle background, right ;) 

The fun messy circles are also Jillibean Soup cut files, and they're a cut file I can see myself using a lot. Once I had my die cut alphas picked out for my title, I then picked out several patterned papers to coordinate with the colors of the alphas. I lined up four pieces of patterned paper along the left edge of the page, and added a die cut messy circle to each of those pieces. 

I added a few super old Jillibean buttons (I still have those from when I designed for them years ago!) to the die cut messy circles, and a die cut heart from their Pea Pod Parts pack. I also added a few small puffy heart stickers here and there. 

I'm so looking forward to designing for Jillibean Soup this year, and have already started working on some new projects for next month. I'll share my second design team submission layout with you next week, along with a few cards :)

Kerri Bradford Studio: Celebrate Birthday Cards

Hey all! I've got a new project up over at Kerri Bradford Studio today. Once a year, I like to create a new batch of birthday cards to have on hand. I never seem to be prepared for birthdays, so I like having a stash of cards that I can pull from that will work for family, family, or anyone celebrating their special day. As much as I would love to create a wide variety of cards, I'm a big fan of creating just one simple design - and then mass producing that one design for all of my cards.

I usually pick 2-4 different patterned paper schemes, making some fitting for the boys/men in my life, and some for the girls/women in my life. For this round of cards, I picked out some patterned papers from Amy Tangerine. I will most likely be making more of this same exact design, but with another assortment of patterned paper. 

I started by die cutting a circle background, from Kerri's Life Additions: Background kit, from patterned paper, and then adhering that to the front of my card, layering it over a white grid patterned paper. I decided to go with a simple "celebrate" for my sentiment, found in the July Four kit.

I added a die cut flower to the girl cards, using the Funky Flower cut file, and a star to the boy cards, using a cut file from the This & That: Family [just shapes] kit. I like to keep my cards fairly flat, so they're easy to mail, so my only real embellishment was adding a black enamel dot to the center of the star and flower.

I never seem to have much to write in the inside of birthday cards. Please tell me I'm not the only one that keeps by birthday wishes simple. Lol. So I stamped a birthday message on the inside of the card using Kerri's For You stamp set. This still allows me room to write the recipients name at the top, and a quick message below. 

I love a great design that's easy to replicate, and mass produce assembly line style. And I think this card works perfectly for just that. I'm so glad my birthday card stash has been replenished for all of the upcoming birthdays on our calendar! 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Color Factory

Hey everyone! I took an unintentional break from blogging, but I'm back today to share a new layout that's up at Kerri Bradford Studio today. Earlier this year, my oldest daughter, Alyssa, and her boyfriend went to check out the Color Factory exhibit in San Francisco. She had shared a few photos from the day with me when I requested photos for my Project Life album, and when I commented about how all of the colorful photos had me thinking about a layout idea - she told me that she had a ton more photos in addition to the ones she had sent me. 

Before I knew it, I had about 60 photos from their day at the exhibit to work with! I had them all printed right along with my January photo order, so I had 3x4's of each photo starting out. But the 3x4's just weren't working the way I wanted, since I knew that I wanted to use as many photos as I could on my two page spread. 

So I ended up printing all of the photos that I wanted to use as 2x3's, since there were so many great ones that I wanted to include. I started by sorting out the photos by color, and decided to arrange them in a grid-like fashion across my two page spread in rainbow order. I won't lie. This part - the arranging of the photos - took me forever. 

There were a few colors, like red (2 photos) and orange (just 1 photo), that didn't have many photos - and a few colors, like yellow and aqua, that had a lot of photos to choose from. I ended up leaving a few spots open as I arranged the photos, so that I could work in a few pieces of colored cardstock, to keep the rainbow pattern going.

I used Kerri's Life Additions: Background kit to die cut small 2x3" pieces of cardstock to add to these empty spaces. I had a 6x8" paper pad from Bella Blvd's Oh My Stars collection that came to mind. The 6x8 pads came out right as I left Bella, so I've actually never used them before. What I do like about them is that they have coordinating solids on the backside of each patterned paper. 

This collection made it super easy for me to get all my rainbow colors in one place. Since there was SO much going on in the photos, I went with the solid sides of the paper, rather than the tiny star pattern that was on the other side. I didn't even think about adding any other embellishments to the second page of this spread, as it had so much going on with just the photos. 

While the second page of my two page spread was completely filled with photos and colored cardstock, the first page of the spread had a little more empty space to fill. 

I die cut a circle background piece from white cardstock to cover the entire page using the Background Basics kit, going with a white-on-white look, which I always love. Actually, if I'm being honest, I didn't even have to die cut that background piece. I use this circle background SO much that I always have pieces on hand. I must have used a small piece of a background at some point, because the two pieces that I had saved were the perfect size to go above and below my photos. 

For my title, I used Kerri's Weathered Door Alpha kit to die cut the word "factory" from my colored cardstock (I guess it's not technically cardstock, since it's the backside of patterned paper). Since "factory" has 7 letters, it was the perfect way to add all 7 colors that are represented in the photos - red, orange, yellow, green, aqua, blue, and purple. I cut the outline for each letter from black cardstock. 

I decided to pull out some older brads (an embellishment that I love, but don't seem to use that often anymore), and added a few coordinating brads to each letter in my title. I can tell it's been a while since I've used brads, since I didn't space my pierced holes far enough apart on the first few letters. Lol. I think I managed to cover up my accident fairly well, but if you look closely, you can see a few of the original holes. 

I wanted to also include the word "color" in my title, since it's all about the Color Factory. Ever since I had to have my hard drive replaced (something I wasn't prepared for and I found out while it was out for repairs), my Silhouette software just hasn't worked the same. It's a long story, but one thing that doesn't seem to work well anymore is the search feature. It took me forever, but I finally found the perfect "color" option in Kerri's All About Fall kit. I simply cut off the "s" at the end of "colors" after die cutting it from black cardstock. 

After adding a few more photos to the first page, I added a few strips of black cardstock and a strip of a rainbow diagonal striped patterned paper above and below my photos and journaling. 

I'm pretty sure this is the most colorful layout I've made in a long time! Granted, it's one of the few layouts I've made in a long time, as well. Lol. And for those of you that have said you missed my layouts, I actually have a few more that I'll be sharing soon ;)

Kerri Bradford Studio: 52 Favorites Travelers Notebook

I've seen so many people doing the 52 Favorites challenge this year (a journaling challenge started by Paper Issues), and I really wanted to give it a go. We're not too far into the new year, so I knew it would be simple enough to catch up.The basic idea is to document one favorite thing each week. Easy peasy, right?

I'm sharing the first five weeks of my 52 Favorites album over at Kerri Bradford Studio. I knew that I wanted to work in a Travelers Notebook for this project, and I knew that I would keep the same overall design for each weekly spread. I've always approached mini albums in that way (and I like to think of Travelers Notebooks as "mini albums"), starting years and years ago when I used to create a ton of mini albums. 

I like the cohesive look to my pages, and it also makes them easier for me to complete. While I might love the idea of every page having it's own unique look, I also know that I'd be less likely to keep up with a project if I told myself I needed to be original on every page. Lol. So the same basic design throughout just works for me. 

I wanted to include patterned paper on one side of the spread, and keep the other side white. I worked on the first five weeks at once, and used Jillibean Soup patterned papers for all of my spreads. I'm not 100% sure if I'll stick to ALL Jillibean Soup papers throughout the entire year. But I just might, if I can make it work. 

Now, I'm not one for solid white background pages. I still like to have a little something-something to my pages, if you know what I mean. I turned to my all-time favorite circle background cut file from Kerri's Background Basics kit. If you know me, you know how much I love to use this cut file with white cardstock, to have that white-on-white effect.

I was able to get four backgrounds from each sheet of cardstock. and they fit perfectly on the right page of each weekly spread. I spritzed each piece with some black misting spray before adhering them. 

To number my pages, I went with Kerri's Brooklyn Etc stamp set. For whatever reason, I was thinking way back to when I would use the large number foam stamps from Making Memories, and I would stamp with paint onto small pieces of cardstock. I thought it would be fun to do the same thing here.  

I really should measure and trim little pieces of cardstock for future numbers, because I wasn't very straight in my cutting when I trimmed them with scissors. Note to self ;) I adhered the numbers, along with a stamped asterisk, to the left page of the spread, and added an enamel/puffy sticker to the top of each piece.

I printed my photos as 3x4's, leaving a white border around the edges when trimming. I adhered the photo to the right side of the spread, adding a torn piece of washi tape along the top of the photo. 

Below each photo, I also added a label that coordinated with my patterned paper for that week, and used some of Kerri's stamp sets to add little phrases to each label. I pulled from the One Fine Day, Gather Together, Thankful stamp sets for the phrases you see on these pages. 

I believe all of the labels that I used on these five spreads are from Elle's Studio, mainly because I had them all out and in one place to trim up. I think I've mentioned that I'm working on corralling a lot of my like-supplies together. For instance, I'd love to get all of my little label stickers/dies into one spot, so I don't spent so much time looking for them.

I'm fairly new to working with Traveler's Notebooks, and it shows. I need to remember to cut my patterned papers a little smaller, so they're not laying so close to the inside of the notebook. You can see the inside edges already curling up a bit, because it was too tight of a fit. 

I also added an enamel heart or star to the top of each label. I don't want to bulk up the notebook with embellishments, so enamels are a great fit since they're relatively flat (if you pick the right brand). 

If I keep doing a 2 page spread for each week, I will actually end up needing 3 Traveler's Notebooks to hold the entire year. Good thing I have 3 of the same style ;) While I am fully aware that I could make my own TN's, I like the ease of having them done for me. I'm using a black and white, polka dotted notebook from Felicity Jane. 

When I die cut my circle background pieces, I went ahead and die cut a few extra sheets of cardstock. So I have several backgrounds all ready to go, which should help me keep up with this project. 

It's such a simple design, and one that will be easy to add to each week throughout the year. I already have my photos printed from weeks six and seven, so I'll be adding those in later this week. 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Hello New Clothes

I've got my first project of the new year up at Kerri Bradford Studio today! I recently shared about my weight loss over the last year. This also meant that I lost a substantial amount of my wardrobe. That's not necessarily a bad thing (unless you ask my wallet), as I got the chance to basically build an entire new wardrobe for myself.

I realized that I had taken quite a few photos of clothes I've bought, or while out shopping, and thought it would be fun to put together a little page to tell this story. I decided to create a 6x8" pocket spread, with one page being a full 6x8" layout and one page being a 6x8" pocket page.

Whenever I'm wanting to die cut a word for my titles that Kerri doesn't happen to have, I turn to her Weathered Door Alpha kit. Which is exactly what I used to die cut the word "clothes" for part of my title. I used the word "hello" from Kerri's Bloom kit, die cut from patterned paper, for the first half of my title. 

My patterned papers are from Dear Lizzy and Amy Tangerine collections. I've had the ruffled paper for years - the ones with 3-4 colors of layered ruffles on one full sheet. I thought it seemed like a fun fit for a layout about clothes.

I printed all of my photos as little 2x2's, and slipped them into the pocket page. I actually had enough photos to fill all twelve pockets, but ended up taking a few out so that I could work in some patterned paper.

There's an older patterned paper from Dear Lizzy that has rows of little polaroid pictures. If you cut out the pattern/picture from the polaroid frame, it's just slightly smaller than 2x2, so they worked perfectly in these pockets. I just matted each one on a piece of white cardstock. The "a whole lotta happy" came from Kerri's One Fine Day stamp set. 

I also ended up adding in a 3x8" insert, which held my journaling and some clothing tags I've been saving from my favorite brands.

I used the "this is just fantastic" design from Kerri's About Town kit digitally to create my 3x8" journaling card, backing it with some black chalkboard digital patterned paper. 

I used a 3x8" digital journaling card from an Ali Edwards Stories Of Life kit. There's a spot to insert a photo, or a digital element like I did, and then type up your journaling. 

I've been holding onto some clothing tags for quite a while, with the idea of working them into a project at some point. I ended up deciding to only use three of my tags, as they're the main brands that I seem to buy/wear. I have a few other brands that I wear a lot (like Old Navy), but they don't have cute tags at all. Lol.

Once I adhered the tags to the 3x8 piece of cardstock, I had some room at the top. I stamped the "grateful for" box using Kerri's Gather Together stamp set. I should have tested it before stamping it directly on my paper, and I'm sure the textured cardstock didn't help, as my stamping didn't turn out all that great. Lol.

It's a pretty simple layout spread, but that seems to be my style now. I would normally add some machine stitching, but it didn't even cross my mind for some reason while working on this. And I didn't even consider adding any little embellishments. There's something to be said for keeping things simple sometimes :)

Kerri Bradford Studio: Twelve Days of Christmas

Have you been visiting Kerri Bradford Studio this month? Kerri has her annual Twelve Days of Christmas going on (it started on December 1st), where her design team, along with lots of guest designers, are sharing holiday themed projects. There's also a fun freebie available each day for you to download, but it's only available for the day. So you need to be stopping by each day to make sure and grab those freebies ;) 

 

 

 

I have to admit, I usually take the easy route when wrapping Christmas presents, keeping my packaging super simple and easy. I'm a huge fan of gift bags, and I never use ribbon or bows. But every now and then, I will get inspired to get a little crafty in my gift giving presentation. This year, I have several people on my list that I will be gifting 8x10 home decor type prints too. I am always on the lookout for fun printable images that can printed, framed, and hung around the house (mostly found on Etsy).

 

 

And so often, I see prints that I know would be just perfect for a friend or family member. Like the vintage blueprints for the blow dryer (found HERE) and hair brush (found HERE) for my favorite hair stylist. I'm also pretty sure I'll be hanging these in one of our bathrooms as well. 

 

 

Or the chalkboard baking conversions (bought on a deal somewhere else, but you can find HERE) and kitchen measurements (bought on a deal somewhere else, but you can find HERE) for a friend that loves to bake. 

 

I had a bunch of these printables printed as 8x10 photos, done thru Costco. I have framed prints like this in the past when giving them to friends and/or family, but I figured this time I would just gift them the prints themselves, and they can use them however they want. I wanted a fun way to package these prints, and found some black envelopes that I ordered off Amazon. 

 

 

I wanted to decorate the front of the envelopes, rather than just scribbling their names with a pen like I would normally do. I started by printing out some smaller pieces of the grey plain patterned paper found in Kerri's Travelers Pack: Splendid kit. I adhered them onto a large piece of patterned paper, and then adhered that to the center of the envelopes. 

 

 

I picked out a few shapes from Kerri's brand new Christmas Calendar kit - the wreath and the "Merry Christmas" - and die cut both from colored cardstock. I adhered the wreath in the center of the grey plaid patterned paper pieces, and then adhered my Christmas sentiment in the center of the wreath. I added a few small silver accent dots to the wreaths to finish them off. Then I just slipped the prints inside and they're ready to go! 

 

 

Kerri also has a great sale going on right now. It's a Jolly Holiday Sale, where you can grab kits and classes for 20% off (use code JOLLY), and all stamps are 10% off. This sale is going on all thru the month of December, so be sure to take advantage if there's kits, stamps, and/or classes you've been eyeing!

 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Home

Hey everyone! I've got a new layout up over at Kerri Bradford Studio today, and wanted to pop in and share it here as well. So, I'm sure you've all noticed that I've gone back and forth a lot this past year - between making traditional layouts, working in my 9x12" Project Life album, creating 6x12" and 6x8" pocket page spreads, and I even gave the traveler's notebooks a try.

Along the way, I'm finding that I gravitate towards certain formats and certain sizes more than others. After 24+ years of scrapbooking, and focusing mainly on creating 12x12" layouts all those years, the pocket page albums and smaller sized formats really speak to me lately. That's not to say I'm giving up on traditional layouts at all (I know many of you come looking for those). But I have to go with what inspires me, when it inspires me, because that's when I'm creating things that truly mean something to me.

So when I set out to create this layout, I decided to create a 6x8" two page spread. I created a layout recently with a similar design - 6x8" photo on one side, and 6x8" journaling page on the other side - and I really love the way it looked. This design works really well when you have that one special photo, and a lot to say about it!

The photo I used for this layout was taken almost a year ago, as we took it on Thanksgiving day 2016. And I'm planning on having us take another one on Thanksgiving day next week, as a lot has changed since then. And it means I'll get Christmas cards ordered and sent off in a timely matter as well ;)

I wanted to create my title directly on the photo, before printing. Did you know that when you purchase Kerri's kits, you not only get the cut files to use with your Silhouette or other cutting machines, but you also get the PNG files that can be used digitally? I used the PNG file for the word "home" from Kerri's Giving Thanks kit and centered it along the bottom of my photo. I also used two digital stamps for the subtitle, both taken from the Oh Yeah digital stamp kit, to add a subtitle under the word "home". 

There were many things I could have wrote about for this photo. Part of the reason I used the word "home" for my title, was because I knew that I wanted to use the fun house stamp from one of Kerri's newest stamp sets. And I knew I could work my journaling around the theme of home and family. 

I'm sure this goes without saying, but hopefully you all know that all of these digital stamp kits have REAL stamp sets that you can purchase as well. I was actually waiting for the new stamp set to arrive before I started my project, but then decided to switch it up and use the digital stamps. And of course, as my life goes, the stamps arrived in the mail last night, right after I finished this project. Lol.

For my journaling page, I added a few digital patterned paper strips, from A Traveler's Pack: Splendid kit, along the bottom of the page. It's cut off a bit in the photo above, but I added the grey dotted paper, and the black days of the week strip. The scalloped border was from an old digital kit in my stash, which I did in the same green as the heart. 

How cute is that house?! It's from Kerri's new Gather Together digital stamp kit, and I think it's just adorable. I sized it to fit in the lower right corner of the page, and changed it to a navy blue to tie in with the jeans that Joe and I were wearing in the photo. 

The heart and the "this photo" are digital stamps taken from Kerri's One Fine Day digital stamp kit. I kept the "this photo" black, but changed the heart to green, to tie in with all of the green in the photo. I sized them to fit in the upper left corner of the page. I added two grey enamel dots to the heart after I had printed my page out (they look green here, but they're grey). 

 

Once I had my journaling all typed up, I also added one last digital stamp to complete the last sentence. It was a total last minute thought, and I'm glad I did it. I used the "happy place" from the Gather Together digital stamp kit, in green to match the heart and the scalloped border.  

I'm certainly not turning into a digital-only scrapper or anything. Just in case anyone was worried about that ;) I know I've done quite a few projects lately that incorporate a lot of digital elements. But I have to say, I really enjoy it. Sometimes, I just have no desire (or no energy) to go into my scrapbook room, dig through product, and try and create something. But I can totally sit on the couch, while watching my shows, and play around in Photoshop!

Kerri Bradford Studio: Food Glorious Food

Hey everyone! I didn't think it would take me this long to get a new post up. I was just saying the other day that I haven't done anything creative in at least two weeks. And while a part of me feels guilty about that, there's also a part of me that's totally OK with that. I've just had other things that I've been more focused on, most of it just things around the house that needed some attention. I always feel so much more at peace when the house is in order, so taking care of that stuff is always a good thing in my book :)

The good news is that I finally created something this weekend. Which means that I finally have something new to share! I've got a new pocket page spread up at Kerri Bradford Studio today. It took me way longer to create than it should have, but I'm super happy with how it turned out. 

It's been a while since I've added to my 6x12" personal album (pocket pages) that I started about a year ago, so when I was tossing ideas around for what to create for Kerri this month, it felt like a good time to add to that album. I realized that I had shared quite a few "in the kitchen" type photos on Instagram over the last month or two, and I thought they would work perfectly to document one of my newest routines in the kitchen. 

I've actually got a few ideas for things I'd like to document that revolve around food. I started this spread with one idea, and it somehow turned into something totally different than what I had in mind going into it. I've always loved this "food glorious food" design, that was part of Kerri's The History Project workshop, and finally had a chance to use it. 

I started by picking out four photos that told the story I was looking to tell. I have taken quite a few photos in this same spot in my kitchen, with food/meals on the stovetop, so the photos all go really well together. I wanted to add a little something to my photos digitally, before printing them out, and settled on the fun labels in Kerri's Recipe Cards kit. I added the label to each photo, and then added text to the labels to specify what each meal in the photo was. 

While I was digging around in the Recipe Cards kit, I realized the recipe cards themselves would be perfect for the journaling cards. I love how you can pick the background for each card, and then just plop on the filler card, which is the ruled part of the journaling card.

I created two cards that would coordinate with my photos - one 4x6" card, which I used for my journaling, and one 3x4" card, which I ended up using as more of a filler card. I used a digital stamp (the "{heart} food" stamp) from Kerri's Digital Stamps: Thankful set on the recipe label at the top of the journaling card. 

Since I didn't end up needing to add any extra journaling to this spread, I used the 3x4" recipe card as more of a filler card. I like that it tied in with the recipe card/journaling card on the first page of the spread. I remembered these fun little wood veneer silverware pieces from one of Ali Edward's Story kits, and knew they would be perfect to add to this filler card. 

Since I was already in Photoshop, adding digital elements to my photos and creating the digital journaling cards, I decided to just go ahead and create the rest of my filler cards digitally as well. I wanted to create a few 3x4" patterned paper filler cards and my 4x6" title card, so I used print and cut files from Kerri's This & That: Autumn and This & That: School kits to create my own "patterned paper".

I then added a brushscript word to each card, using the Tasty kit, as the "breakfast", "lunch", and "dinner" words worked perfectly for my photos. 

Once I had printed out all of my photos, digital journaling cards, and digital filler cards, all I had to do was add a few simple wood veneer embellishments to a few cards and slip everything into the pocket pages. If you've never though to try using Kerri's designs digitally, I encourage you to give it a try. I love that it gives you even more fun ways to use her kits!

Kerri Bradford Studio: The Ballpark

I've got a second layout up at Kerri Bradford Studio today! As another part of our family's little stay-cation back in July, one of the other things that we did was take in a minor league baseball game one evening. If you ask me, attending a minor league game can actually be more fun than attending a major league game.

It's a smaller venue. You're not dealing with the massive amounts of traffic, parking, and people. It's just got that small town feel to it, and it's fun to go out and support your local team. 

Joe has been umpiring high school baseball, and occasionally some college, for well over ten years now. Baseball is his thing, so he just loves being out there and watching the sport. I really only took one intentional photo during the game, and that was a photo of Joe watching the game, taken from behind. I knew he was in his element, calling balls and strikes from where we were sitting out on the lawn.

I did snap two very candid photos with my phone  - one of Alyssa, and one of Sarah and her boyfriend. I may have came back with three photos, but I knew it was enough to document the game.  

I kept my page design pretty simple. I started by adhering my three 4x4" photos from top to bottom, along the left side of the page, with a few strips of patterned paper. I don't have many sports themed products, so I pulled out some very old sports patterned papers from Bella Blvd. 

On the right side of the page, I started at the top, and worked my way down, adding in cardstock, strips of patterned paper, my journaling block, and even one of our tickets from the game. I'm glad I thought to save one, since it did cross my mind that I could include it somewhere on either a layout or in our Project Life album. 

If you know me, you know that I love to include some white-on-white action on most of my layouts. It works really well for the space behind my title, since I'm usually die cutting my titles from black cardstock and/or patterned papers. 

I used a piece of a white cardstock circle background, cut from Kerri's Background Basics kit, and adhered it over the top right corner of the page where my title was going to go. I then went straight to Kerri's older The Ol' Ballgame kit for the title, which I cut from black and red cardstock.

I knew I would keep my embellishments super simple, and started out with just a few enamel dots. But I couldn't decide on a third color that really looked right to me. I then remembered having some really old baseball buttons from Making Memories in my stash, and I think they were the perfect finishing touch for this layout. 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Destination San Francisco

Hey everyone! I've finally got a few layouts to share, and the first one went up at Kerri Bradford Studio yesterday. As part of our little "staycation" at the end of July, our family took a day trip to San Francisco. We only live an hour and a half away, and yet I can't even tell you the last time that I have been there. My girls have both gone here and there, on day trips with their friends. But I'm pretty sure the last time I went out that way was back in high school. Lol. I left it up to Alyssa to guide us to a few good places in the city, since she's been there the most.

While there were a few times that we purposefully thought to stop and snap a few photos, we didn't really force the camera on each other that much during the day. So I was pleasantly surprised when, between Alyssa and I, we managed to get a good variety of photos from the day on our phones. 

I do one photo order each month for my Project Life album, and I order just about every photo from my phone (and any the girls send me) as 3x4" photos. I knew that I would only include 2-3 photos from this trip in my actual Project Life spread for the week, so I had tons of photos leftover to create a layout. I did go and print the 3 photos I used in my Project Life album again, so that I could include them on the layout as well. 

Since I had quite a few photos I wanted to include, and they were all 3x4", with the exception of one 4x6" photo, I decided to arrange all of the photos around the outside edges of a two page spread. I've used this page design before, and it's a great way to get lots of photos on a two page layout.

And it's pretty typical that I'll line up all of my photos across the page, and I'm somehow left with a gap. Meaning a few of the photos didn't print at exactly 3x4". Never fails. This is why I simply added the small strips of black and white dotted patterned paper to the outer side of each page - to hide that gap!

I always build my layouts on white cardstock. Sometimes I'll end up covering up all of that white with photos and patterned paper. And other times, I end up letting some of that white cardstock be a part of my page design. Once I had my photos adhered in place, I realized that there wasn't really one or two colors that I could see myself incorporating in terms of patterned paper. I very randomly choose the black and white dotted patterned paper strips, while looking for a potential blue patterned paper, and from there I just gave up on adding anything other than neutral colors. 

After arranging all of my photos on the spread, I was left with a 4"x9" section on each page (or 18" across the spread). Since I decided to keep that middle section white, I knew that I wanted to add a little interest to it. I die cut a circle background from Kerri's Background Basic kit from white cardstock, and adhered it right over that center section. I love the white-on-white effect, and it adds a subtle touch.  

For my title, I combined the "destination" from Kerri's Pack Your Bags kit and "SF" from her Weathered Door Alpha kit, cut from patterned paper and black cardstock.

I finished off the second page of the spread by adding a 3x4" Project Life card and my printed journaling. Normally, I'll add a few simple embellishments, like enamel dots or buttons. But I just didn't feel like the spread needed much more. I added a kraft tag near the title, along with the date, and a little tab on the side of my journaling block as well. 

I'll be back Friday with another layout share. It definitely felt good to do a few layouts, after not doing any for the last two months. I didn't even realize it had been that long since I last made one. But my Project Life album is seriously calling out to me as well. I'm falling further behind, and need to get caught up on that before it gets more out of control ;) 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Behind The Scenes

Hey everyone! If you haven't heard, this week Kerri Bradford Studio is celebrating her SEVENTH birthday! I have to say that I feel so grateful that Kerri has had me along for the ride for 6 of those 7 years, as part of her small design team. I absolutely love designing for Kerri, and it's been by far the best team to be on for me. 

Kerri decided to mix things up a bit for the weekend celebration, and instead of sharing new projects, she asked us to share a bit about our scrap spaces, and where the magic happens. It was perfect timing, since I had just finished re-organizing my space a few weeks ago. I've been trying to re-work my space a little, as what and how I scrap has changed over the last year or so. I'm hoping to make some changes that work better with how I scrap now. I'm not totally done, but am making progress here and there, when I have time. 

I've shared bits and pieces of my space over the last few years, as well as a few organization tricks that I use. Anything related to my scrap space, and/or organizing, can be found HERE. This includes posts on my old scrap space (in the upstairs loft and also featured in Creating Keepsakes magazine) and what my current scrap space looked like when I first moved back downstairs, a full eight years ago.

Here's a few peeks into what my space looks like now.

My scrap space is located in the downstairs bedroom. It's a small room, but I've made it work for me over the years. The room has a large window on one wall, and a closet on another wall, leaving me two walls to work with. I have two of the large Expedit shelves from Ikea, and those take up my two remaining walls.

I used to have my desk directly under the large window, but soon realized that I didn't like working with my back to the door. So I now have my desk coming out from the wall, and into the room, which also allowed me to add some white storage cube drawer units under the window. I am a daycare provider by day, so there's always a pack and play set up for napping during the week in this room. So I have to leave floor space for that.

This first Expedit shelf holds all of my paper, both cardstock and patterned paper. I also keep some of my older idea books, Project Life cards, a 3 drawer unit to hold all of my cardstock scraps, albums containing my publications, and some other random supplies. Along the top of the shelf unit, I have some large glass jars that hold ribbon, flowers, trims, and some other supplies that I don't use that often. 

I store all of my cardstock in horizontal paper trays, and all of my patterned paper in vertical paper holders. I keep all of my papers sorted by manufacturer, as that's how I know my papers. If I have a lot of certain manufacturers, then I will often keep them organized by collections as well. I also keep an 8.5x11 page protector in each manufacturer's section, to hold any patterned paper scraps, as I do use them quite often. 

The biggest pet peeve about my space is that I don't have a lot of working space, or counter space. My desk is basically the only "counter" space I have for spreading out and working on, and it's just not big enough most of the time. I store my sewing machine on top of the white storage cubes, and drag it out to do all of my machine stitching. And my Silhouette Cameo can often times be found stored on the floor, when not in use. My closet also holds a lot of my larger tools, and supplies that I don't use as often. 

My second Expedit shelf holds the majority of my embellishments, most of which are organized by manufacturer. I recently did some re-organizing and freed up some space on my shelves. So I have been able to bring some of my albums-in-progress into my scrap space and have them handy for when I want to work on them. I also have one cube that holds all of my printed photos (most of which are from my film years), which I also recently spend some time organizing. 

I have had these metal, mesh basket for years, and they hold a ton of product. Some baskets might contain just one manufacturer, and some baskets might have two or three similar manufacturers together. I also keep all of my chipboard, alpha stickers, and random embellishments on this shelf unit. 

I mentioned that one of my pet peeves about my space was not having enough working space. Well, I do have a really BIG working space, right outside the bedroom, so it makes up for it. This large island was built by my mom (yes, my mom!), and is 4 feet by 8 feet in size. It was custom built to my specifications, when I had my scrap space upstairs in out loft area. Years ago, when I got more involved in the scrapbook industry, I moved my space back downstairs to the bedroom (more convenient), and this huge island ended up in the playroom (aka the living room/dining room area). I actually do most of my creative work out on this island, running back and forth to my room to grab supplies and tools. 

And last, but not least, you'll want to check out the sale Kerri is having this week, as part of her SEVENTH birthday celebration! All downloadable kits and classes are 30% off and stamps are 20% off through Sunday. Stamps are already marked down. Use the code BIRTHDAY7 on orders of $10 or more at checkout on the download items. (Sale excludes the two newest Versed stamps from July and the two classes already discounted.) 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Senior Year

Hey everyone! I had a new layout go up at Kerri Bradford Studio yesterday, and I'm here to share it with you today as well. Since Sarah just graduated high school a little over a month ago, I thought it would be fun to flashback a bit and scrap some photos that we had taken at the beginning of her senior year. It's crazy how fast the year went by. In fact, it's crazy how fast high school went by. I had several friends tell me that once your child starts high school, the time will fly by faster than ever, and they were right. Sigh.

I love a good photo collage, and this layout was the perfect opportunity to create one. I used a template from Kerri's Picture That [Squared] kit, and collaged five of my favorite photos from that day together. I love photo collages for many reasons. But one of the biggest reasons I love them, is that instead of working with five individual photos and figuring out their placement - I'm working with one larger "photo", and I can basically design the page around that photo/collage. 

I'm a huge fan of white cardstock and patterned paper, so to mix things up a bit, I tried to use mostly colored cardstock on this layout. I do have a hard time using cardstock plain, or as-is. But there's easy ways to add a little something-something to it. Misting always helps, and I love to use my Heidi Swapp mists on most of my cardstock and patterned papers.

I also love to add texture to cardstock by running pieces thru an embossing folder. It adds a ton of texture and interest, with minimal effort. I have a wide variety of embossing folders, and they're something I need to remind myself to use more often.

For my title, I used Kerri's School Years: Add Ons kit, and die cut "senior year" from two colors of cardstock to layer together. I have a bad habit of losing the dots to my i's, which I tend to mention every time I use a die cut title containing an "i", so I added a brown enamel dot instead. 

To break up the heaviness of the colored cardstock pieces, I die cut a circle background on a strip of green cardstock using a cut file from Kerri's Life Additions: Backgrounds kit. This allowed some extra white to come thru, from the white cardstock that I built my layout on. 

I did work in two small pieces of patterned paper, which is the brown and white dotted pattern from Studio Calico. And I also randomly came across an old overlay from Hambly, with the brown leaves, and decided to add a piece of that in as well. 

One of these days, I'll have to finish editing the photos we took at the end of her senior year and then get those scrapped as well. 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Love You Girls

Hey everyone! I've got a new layout up at Kerri Bradford Studio today. I just love these photos my daughters and I took on Mother's Day, and knew I wanted to get them on a layout right away. When I sat down to work on my next layout for Kerri, I knew it was the perfect time to I collaged my photos together using a template from Kerri's Half Pints #1 kit, and got to work designing the page around my photo collage. 

I wanted to keep my background simple, to let the colors in my photos and patterned papers stand out, so I went with a white-on-white die cut background. I die cut a heart background from white cardstock, using a cut file from the Heart Backgrounds kit, and adhered it to another sheet of white cardstock to create the base of my page. I spritzed the entire page with mists in colors that coordinated with my patterned papers, to add just a bit of color to the background.

When deciding on titles for most of my layouts, I start by just browsing thru Kerri's files within my Silhouette library, and I'll usually come up with several options to choose from. For my title on this layout, I combined the "love you" (taken from a freebie "love you mom" cut file) and "girls" (taken from the All In The Family kit), and die cut each from patterned paper. 

While the patterned papers I picked out for this layout are new (all from Shimelle's Little By Little collection), the embellishments I picked out to add to the page are old. I had fun digging thru my stash of embellishments from years and years ago, and pulling out some fun pieces to finish off the page. 

I always loved these plastic flowers from Making Memories, and I remembered that I used to add a flattened metal rimmed tag to the center, finished off with a button. I thought that would be fun to do for this layout, and dug around for some flowers that would match. I have tons and tons of the metal rimmed tags, but turns out I didn't have many smaller sized ones. I had to use a few that had the paper inside the metal rim (like an actual tag, as opposed to just the rim), and take out the paper. 

I also added two pieces of Magic Mesh to the sides of the layout. Such an old product. If some of you aren't sure what Magic Mesh is, it's the pink dotted piece stapled to the right side above. I always loved the dotted mesh, but still have lots of the regular mesh as well. Adds a fun texture without much fuss. 

And a totally random fact. This had to be the hardest layout ever to photograph. I tried three different times before getting some semi-decent pics. I want to say it had something to do with all of the white, but I've had plenty of layouts with lots of white. So that doesn't make much sense. The girls and I look super white, and while I might be white, my girls are definitely dark skinned ;)

Just Because: You Rock

Two posts, in two days. I'm impressed with myself ;) So, I mentioned that a week or so ago, I put together some photo collages to use on layouts. Most of the photos of the girls these days don't really scream "make a layout with us", seeing as how most of them are just random photos, selfies, etc. But I have done little "photo shoots" with both of the girls here and there, and I knew I wanted to get some of those photos scrapped and in their albums. 

These photos of Alyssa were taken this past January, right before she went back to college for the spring semester. I collaged a few favorites together using a template from Kerri Bradford's Picture That [Squared] kit. The template I used actually has six photo openings in it, but I tweaked it to make it five, as I wanted a large square photo. The templates are easy to customize when needed. 

I didn't really have a title in mind, so I browsed thru my Silhouette library, looking for something that jumped out at me. And "you rock" did just that. I knew that I wanted my journaling to be about her college life and what all she was doing when these photos were taken. And since she's in the music conservatory, and majoring in Music Management, I knew the "you rock" title would work well. 

I knew I had to have at least one or two music note patterned paper in my stash. It took me a while to find, but I did find this black patterned paper, from Die Cuts With A View, that I used for the background of my page. Once again, I used some dotted embossed cardstock from Core'dinations. And then I added in the green dot patterned paper and the blue grid patterned paper, both older papers from Scenic Route. 

Since I had a music related title, it was a good opportunity to use some of the music themed cut files I've never had a chance to use. I've always loved the heartbeat music note design, as it's very simliar to a tattoo Alyssa got when she turned 18. It took me several attempts to get it to cut though. I finally had to use the "offset" to make the design a bit thicker, as it was the only way I could get it to work in the smaller size. 

Since I was on this kick to use some older embellishments/products, I went digging around for something fun to use on this layout. I came across these metal grommets from Making Memories. Now, I have the tool to add/attach them to projects, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember how to use it. Lol. What I did remember was that if you use the tool, it would punch a hole from your paper, so that essentially, you'd be able to see thru the circle, or thru your page. And I didn't want that.

So I simply flattened the prongs on the back of the grommets, and added tiny pop dots to the backs to adhere them to the page. I also added a few blue and green brads, and some tiny little silver dots to help embellish the left side of the page.

I also added some of these metal photo turns to the top and bottom of the page. Are they called "photo turns"? I'm not even sure. That's the first thing that popped into my mind, so that's what I'm calling them ;) 

I'll be back next week with another new layout. Hope you all have a great weekend!