... just Laura

Sunny Studio Stamps: My Brain Has Too Many Tabs Open

This week, I'm going to be sharing all of the projects that I created for Sunny Studio Stamps for National Scrapbook Day, all of which are focusing on their awesome standalone dies. For this 6x8" spread (half pocket page, half full sized page), I wanted to focus on the Notebook Tab dies. 

I had a 3"x4" filler card that reads "my brain has too many tabs open", and I knew it was perfect for this project. This is a photo-less scrapbook page, which I do often. I'm all about documenting stories, whether I have specific photos for those stories or not. 

I used the Moroccan Circles embossing folder and Lots Of Dots embossing folder to emboss strips of white cardstock and covered my 6"x8" page with them. I then cut strips of patterned papers (using my dotted patterned paper on the first page to pull my colors from) and layered them over the embossed strips, mimicing the look of file folders stacked up. 

I used 3 of the tab dies to create a tab for each "file folder", and labeled each of them with a sampling of the "tabs" that are constantly open in my brain. I die cut the notebook page from a green polka dot patterned paper and added my printed journaling to the center of it. The notebook pages, when die-cut, are the perfect size to fit into 3"x4" pockets, making them perfect for pocket page and project life projects.

(Notebook Tabs Dies, Rainbow Bright Paper, Striped Silly Paper, Dots & Stripes Jewel Tones Paper, Heroic Halftones Paper, Moroccan Circles Embossing, Lots Of Dots Embossing)

I'll be back tomorrow to share another project with you :)

Kerri Bradford Studio: Love These 2

 

Hey all! I have a new layout up at Kerri Bradford Studio. When I saw Kerri's new love themed stamps, I knew it was about time that I created a layout about Alyssa and her boyfriend, Andy.

 

 

I rounded up some of my favorite photos of the two of them and created a photo collage using Kerri's Snapshots #1 template kit. I decided to print the collage in black and white, which can be helpful when you have an assortment of photos with different colors and looks.

 

 

This also gives you unlimited options when it comes to picking patterned papers and colors for the page. My patterned papers are all from Dear Lizzy collections, as well as the two little stitched heart embellishments.

 

 

I found this fun diagonal patterned paper that I thought would work great down the left side of the page, adding a few other patterned papers above and below my photo collage. I stamped the little row of tiny hearts along my green patterned paper, using the Love Is Everywhere stamp set, and adhered my photo collage above the stamped border.

 

 

I stamped the word "love" from Kerri's So Much Love stamp set and fussy cut each letter, adhering them along one of the diagonal rows. To complete my title, I used the new Better Together stamp set, stamping each letter/number onto a scrap piece of white cardstock and trimming each letter/number into an individual block, adhering them below the word "love". 

 

 

I also used the script "I love you" stamp from the So Much Love stamp set, and stamped it along another diagonal row on my patterned paper. I also stamped a few of the striped hearts from the same set, and fussy cut them out to help embellish the page, adding them alongside buttons and paper hearts. 

 

 

While I had everything out, I stamped an extra "love" using the So Much Love stamp set, and using a scrap of my patterned paper, created a quick card to coordinate with my layout!

 

2020 Reading Album: Books 20 - 24

I shared a bit more about my plans for this project in THIS POST. Since I'm following the same basic format, and using a lot of the same basic supplies, I won't be sharing too many details in these posts - so please refer back to that first post to find the main info on this album project :)

Book #20 | I Invited Her In, by Adele Parks

Book #21 | Didn't See That Coming, by Rachel Hollis

Book #22 | Would Like To Meet, by Rachel Winters

Book #23 | No, We Can't Be Friends, by Sophie Ranald

Book #24 | My Favorite Half-Night Stand, by Christina Lauren

You can read previous posts on this project and see all of my reading pages RIGHT HERE.

2020 Reading Album: Books 15 - 19

I shared a bit more about my plans for this project in THIS POST. Since I'm following the same basic format, and using a lot of the same basic supplies, I won't be sharing too many details in these posts - so please refer back to that first post to find the main info on this album project :)

Book #15 | Lies Lies Lies, by Adele Parks

Book #16 | She's Faking It, by Kristin Rockaway

Book #17 | You Deserve Each Other, by Sarah Hogle

Book #18 | Twice In A Blue Moon, by Christina Lauren

Book #19 | Tools Of Engagement, by Tessa Bailey

You can read previous posts on this project and see all of my reading pages RIGHT HERE.

Kerri Bradford Studio: Books I Read 2020

 

Hey everyone! I had a new project go up at Kerri Bradford Studio last week, and wanted to pop in and share it here as well. I love having a wide variety of alphabet stamps to work into my projects, and I am excited to add all of Kerri's new Max alphabet stamps into my mix. I used the Max alpha stamp set to create a title for my 6x8" spread. 

 

 

I've never been great at lining up stamps all even and perfect, so I usually avoid stamping directly on the page when it comes to titles. I l like to either stamp each letter onto a small block of cardstock to use individually, or I will stamp each letter and fussy cut each one out to arrange individually - which is what I did for my title here. 

 

 

All of the patterned papers on this spread are from Dear Lizzy. Her papers have been my go-to papers for many, many years, and I can almost always find what I'm looking for in her collections. 

 

 

I used Kerri's Outnumbered (One) stamp set, which coordinates perfectly with Max, to stamp the numbers for the year "2020".

 

 

I created a tag using the new Fill In The Blank stamp set, stamping "29" (using the Brooklyn Etc stamp set) to represent the number of books that I read in 2020. I "hung" my tag from the top of the page with string, and embellished the page with a few stars.

 

 

I'll be back tomorrow and the following day to share the rest of the pages in my 2020 reading album ;)

 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Family BBQ

 

I've got another new layout for you, which I created for Kerri Bradford Studio. How awesome is Kerri's new Juniper collection of alphabet and number stamps? I'm a fan of tall and skinny letters, and I just love the variety of sizes. There's a size for any project!

 

 

We were supposed to have our annual family BBQ at my brother's last month, but Covid-19 has gone and ruined that :( So I figured I'd make up for it by pulling out the photos I took at last year's get-together and create a layout documenting the day. 

 

 

For my title card, I used the Juniper Alphabet XL and Juniper Alphabet SM stamps to create my title, stamping "family" onto a yellow metal rimmed tag. I added a little date label using Kerri's Today's The Day printable, and scribbled in the date. 

 

 

I had all of my photos already printed as 3x4's and 4x6's, so I went with my go-to grid design, arranging the photos across a traditional, two page 12x12 spread. I pulled out a few coordinating patterned papers (all from Amy Tangerine collections), trimming them into 3x4's pieces to fill the empty spaces, and one 4x6 piece for my title card.

 

 

I printed out my journaling onto two 3x4" cards, adding one to each side of the spread, and added a stamped phrase to the top of each using the new Block of Summertime stamp set. 

 

 

I recently printed out Kerri's Summer Mix printable, and wanted to include one on each piece of patterned paper. 

 

 

I trimmed a small 3x1.5" piece of black/white patterned paper to add along the bottom of each piece of patterned paper, and then adhered the small printed phrases, adding tiny staples where the papers meet. 

 

 

I then added a simple, single chipboard embellishment to each of my patterned paper pieces to finish off the spread. 

 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Trips Out

 

Hey all! It's been a minute since I've shared anything here on the blog. I had a new project up over at Kerri Bradford Studio a week or so ago, and just totally forgot to schedule my own blog post. Oops. 

 

Hey everyone! Isn't that crazy that it's August already? This is such a weird year. It almost feels like it was just yesterday when the state of California was issued a "stay-at-home" order back in March - but at the same time, it feels like that was ages ago. The reality is that it's been a little over four months (when writing this, which was almost a month ago) since that day. I, for one, have taken the "stay-at-home" order very seriously and only left my house or went anywhere when absolutely needed. While some of our restrictions were lifted/loosened at the start of June (and some were then tightened back up again in July), I still find myself not going anywhere. 

 

I started putting together a small 6x8" album to document some of our Covid-19 related stories, and thought it would be cool to document how little I've gone anywhere these past four months. In normal times, this might make me look a little like a loser. Lol. But seeing as how we're all living thru a pandemic, it makes me feel proud that I'm doing my part to keep those around me safe by staying home when possible. 

 

 

I didn't have any specific photos that I wanted to use for this spread, so I went photo-less, which is something I have no problem doing. There are basically 4 places that I have made trips to over the last four months - the only 4 places that I have gone outside of my house (although I have stopped by my parents house to pick up masks that my mom makes, but I'm not counting that). I knew that the 2x2" pocket page would work perfectly for this, as it has 12 little pockets, and I could use three pockets for each of the four places that I have gone. 

 

For each of those places - Safeway (grocery store), Target (no explanation needed, am I right ;)), Arco (gas station), and Costco (work) - I used one little pocket for the name of the place, one for the number of times I've been there over the last four months, and one for the journaling. I used Kerri's Juniper SM alphabet stamp set to stamp out the names of each place, squishing the letters together as needed to fit onto those little 2" squares. 

 

 

I then used her new Outnumbered (Two) stamp set to stamp out the number of times I've been to each place. I was originally going to stamp both the solid number (in a coordinating color) and the outline over it (in black), since I LOVE the look of them layered together - but since I ended up adding patterned papers into those same pockets, I decided to simply stamp the outline onto white cardstock. I then fussy cut out each number, adhering them onto the patterned paper squares. 

 

 

I used the fun "here and there" printable from Kerri's Tiny Details kit as one of my 3x4" filler cards, printing it out onto cardstock. After typing up my main 3x4" journaling card, I added a few fun icons along the top using the Iconic digital stamp set. I love having the digital versions of the stamp sets, as well as the physical, since I do all of my journaling in Photoshop and it's so easy to add digital stamps, sizing them as needed. 

 

 

I used the fun half-circle month stamps from Kerri's new Year Round stamp set around the edges of my title card - using March, April, May, and June, as those were the main months this story covered. Although technically, the "facts" for this story cover mid-March until mid-July ;) I drew some rough half-circles around the stamped months with a fine-tip pen, and then added my title using some chipboard alphas. 

 

Maybe one of these days, I'll venture out to a new store or a new place. But for now, I'm fairly content not really going anywhere. Which is weird. But then again, what's not weird about life right now?! 

 

Kerri Bradford Studio: 5 Long Months

 

Hey everyone! It's been a minute since I've popped in with a new project, but I finally have something new to share - a 6x8" spread that I created for Kerri Bradford Studio. 

 

I have always been a huge fan of large titles on my layouts. Most of my "layouts" these days are the smaller 6x8" pages, or pocket page style layouts, and Kerri's new Thick/Thin/Thick Outline + Number stamp line-up is perfect for creating large titles on smaller sized projects. I used a mix of the new stamps, as well as the new When stamp set, to create this fun little 6x8" spread about how long it's been since my last haircut.

 

 

I love that the Thick XL and Thick Etc XL stamps have the Thick Outline XL and Thick Etc Outline XL stamp sets as well, as they're just a fun way to make your alphas and numbers stand out. While I am a very clean and linear scrapper, who uses many, many rulers to always make sure things are straight and even - I love the perfectly imperfect look you can create with the outline stamps (although you can also line them up perfectly as well). 

 

 

I always have pages from Kerri's Label kit printed out and ready to grab for adding smaller stamped words/phrases, and I used them to stamp the month of my last hair appointment and the month of my next appointment using new When stamp set.  

 

 

I tucked little alpha stickers - oldies, but goodies, from Making Memories - above each of the labels for the "last appt" and "next appt". I was digging around for some sort of embellishment to add to my spread, knowing that it needed a little something, and I came across these old metal plaque embellishments from Making Memories and thought they'd be a fun addition.

 

 

My appointment is in less than two weeks and I'm not sure who's more excited - me or my hair! 

 

Update: I wasn't able to share this until today, and my appointment was scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday). But as of a week ago, the hair salons here in my part of California were shut back down. So no appointment :( And now a lot of the facts on this layout will all be a lie. Lol. 

 

2020 Reading Album: Books 1 - 3

Hey there. I started a new daily habit this year, and along with it, a new album project. When I was younger, I used to be a HUGE reader. Like "read a book a day" kind of reader. Somewhere along the way, most likely when I had the girls, I stopped reading. For the last several years, I've been telling myself that I wanted to get back into reading. But I just never seemed to make the time for it. 

Well, this year, I'm doing it. I started reading my first book of the year at the beginning of January, and just finished my forth book of the year last night. I set a goal to read 25 books in 2020. I'd like to say I can read more than that, but I also know life gets busy, so I want to be realistic and not aim too high. I feel like I'm right on track already, having read 4 books in two months. 

Book #1 | Talking As Fast As I Can, by Lauren Graham.

I knew I wanted to create an on-going album to document the books I read - an album that I can easily add to as I finish new books. I brainstormed quite a bit on what format and album size I wanted to do. I figured a 6x8" album would be the best fit.

I had two of these 6x8" black albums from Seven Paper (a short-lived spin off brand of Studio Calico) that I had found on a deals website years ago. They have bigger spines than the 6x8" albums I usually use, so I knew that I could fit a lot into these two albums. 

While I picture myself using the pocket page with four 3x4" openings the most, I also have lots of the full sized 6x8" pages, the pages with two 3x4" openings and a 4x6" openings, and the one filled with fun 2x2" openings - so I will work with those as well, here and there, to use them up. 

Since I want to do a title page of sorts at the start of the album, I used a full 6x8" page and printed my first book as a 6x8" photo to go on the backside. I'm taking simple photos of my books, using the same background to keep with the same look. And I've learned to take the photos of the books BEFORE I start reading them - since once I start reading, the cover doesn't lay flat anymore. Lol. 

I got hung up trying to get this simple album going, and I think it's because I was trying too hard to use the digital reading themed products that I have. I will most definitely be using lots of those products, as I have a lot of filler type cards, journaling cards, and tons of digital stamps. But I'll also be using other Project Life type cards that I have in my stash, as well as patterned paper when needed. 

I decided to do a card to go along with each book that has the book number for the year. So for this first book, I have the "book 01" on a PL filler card that I had on hand. I used a label from Kerri Bradford Studio's Label kit, opening it in Photoshop and sizing it to fit in the upper corner of the 3x4" card (knowing that I would be trimming a little off the edge). 

I added the "book" to the label, using a digital stamp from Studio Calico's On The Shelf stamp set. Once I had one label ready, size-wise, I copy and pasted it to fill an entire page, and then printed it out. I now have plenty of "book" labels on hand and ready to go. I'll be stamping the numbers using Kerri's Printers Block | Numbers stamp set. 

I will be adding a digital journaling card to go with each book, like the one above which is from In A Creative Bubble's Read Journaling Card kit. I wish I had it in me to do an actual review of each book - but I'm really not that deep. Lol. So this journaling will most likely be short and sweet, and somehow related to how I enjoyed the book (or didn't), why I picked it, etc. 

The pocket pages above, each with four 3x4" pockets, will be the ones I turn to the most. They make perfect sense for the photo/cards I want to include. And while I know that not all of my book pages will coordinate side-by-side, it does make me happy that books 2 & 3 did coordinate, color wise ;) 

Book #2 | Marriage Vacation by Pauline Turner Brooks.

I used a piece of pink and white striped patterned paper for my number card, and went with yellow for my stamped numbers to coordinate with the yellow ring on the book cover. 

I used another digital journaling card from In A Creative Bubble's Read Journaling Card kit. The floral filler card was printed from the Project Life app. 

Book #3 | Tempting Fate by Jane Green.

Once again, I used a digital journaling card from In A Creative Bubble's Read Journaling Card kit. I'll most likely be creating my own journaling cards for a lot of the books, using the wide variety of reading themed digital stamps that I have. 

Both of the filler cards on this page were printed from the Project Life app. I thought the yellow with the navy blue hearts was perfect, as the book cover is blue with yellow text. 

I'm really looking forward to filling up this album with books I'll be reading this year. I just finished book #4, so I need to get that added in next.

This Is Our Happy Place

Hey all. I created this two page spread in my 6x8" personal album a few weeks ago, and I honestly have no clue why it's taken me so long to share it. There's kind of a funny story on how it even came about. 

Long story short. The house that we originally wanted and fell in love with last year, when we first decided to downsize, ended up back on the market a few weeks ago. I very randomly came across it just 2 days after it was listed. It's only about a mile from the house we ended up buying, and I think about it quite often. It's the one house that I have some regret over not getting (it was the one we put our first offer on, but we didn't get it), out of the main houses we were considering. And for a very hot minute, I was ready to put this house on the market and go after that first house. Lol. I know. It was crazy thinking on my part. 

I don't always create layouts about things like that, especially in that moment. But it crossed my mind that I should get that crazy story down, and that's how this layout came to be. I included the story about that other house, but I also focused on documenting the things that we truly love about this house. 

I dug through my files to find photos that I've taken around the house over the last year or so. I printed them as 2x2" photos and slipped them into a 6x8" divided page protector. 

I left three empty pockets on each side of the page protector, with plans to add small embellishments. I cut scraps of white cardstock to 2x2" and adhered an embellishment to each - using chipboard pieces and plastic houses, both from the Ali Edwards "Home" Story Kit. 

After picking out a coordinating house and chipboard piece for each side of the page, I was left with two more white 2x2" squares (1 for each side of the page) that needed a little something. I used the "Home" Story Stamp set to quickly add a stamped phrase to those two squares.

I used a digital journaling card from the Recorded Journaling Cards No. 3 kit, from In A Creative Bubble, to hold my journaling. The black filler card next to it is from the Home Story Kit. 

I used this fun "Happy Home" card, from In A Creative Bubble's Indoorsy Journaling Card kit, as my title card. While I print most of my journaling cards on matte presentation paper, I go back and forth between printing filler cards like this on that same paper - or on soft gloss photo paper. It usually just depends what else I'm printing, as I'll just add cards to the same page. 

I see lots of my favorite designers adding vellum into their album projects, and thought it would be fun to try it on this project. I used Kerri Bradford's This Is Our Happy Place kit to print the phrase on a piece of vellum, trimming it to the same size as my page protectors. I ended up using two black and white Project Life filler cards to create tabs, which I adhered to the vellum where the album rings fall. 

I was actually short a few photos, as I was aiming to get 9 photos on each side of the page protector. And I had a few parts of the house that I wanted to be sure to include. So I snapped a few quick photos to add to the ones that I had already printed. 

I created a large journaling card of sorts, sized to 6x8", adding a digital stamp to the top using Ali Edward's What Today Looked Like kit. I typed up my crazy story, editing it quite a bit as I went, because I can get very long-winded in my story telling ;)

I originally printed this page with just the journaling and title, but I felt like it needed something else. I was scrolling Instagram, and I saw someone had added a faint digital image behind their journaling, and it gave me the idea to add a house behind mine. I used a digital house from the Digital Home Story Kit, changing the opacity to make it a little lighter and let the journaling stand out. 

And there it is. I can look back on this crazy story now and laugh about it. And years from now, I'll have proof of how crazy my mind works sometimes - just by looking back at this layout.

Kerri Bradford Studio: Sarah + Dom

Hey everyone! I have a new layout up at Kerri Bradford Studio. Kerri's new Me & You stamp set is perfect for documenting love, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to create a layout about my youngest daughter, Sarah, and her boyfriend of almost 3 years, Dom. 

I started by gathering any photos that I had of the two of them together, and used a storyboard template from the Picture That kit to create a photo collage of 12 of my favorites. 

I created the base of my page by piecing together my printed collage, a few patterned papers (from Dear Lizzy), and part of a die cut circle background that I made using my Silhouette Cameo and Kerri's Background Basics kit.

I added a few die cuts that coordinated with my patterned papers, along with adding my journaling strips along the top right corner of the page. 

I love the new Thick + Thin alphabet stamp set and knew it would be perfect for creating my title. I cut small strips of white cardstock and stamped each letter onto one of these strips using a navy blue ink, after which I dragged the edges of each strip along a pink ink pad so that they would stand out against the white background. I adhered these vertically along the left side of the page, tucking the bottom of each letter strip under the blue scalloped edged border. 

I pulled out a few tags from my supplies, as well as the sheet of black labels that I printed using Kerri's Label kit (I keep these sheets printed, as I love to use them for "housing" my stamped phrases), and stamped several phrases from the Me & You stamp set onto each tag/label.

I adhered them along the left edge of the page, adding a few navy blue enamel hearts for my final embellishing. 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Christmas Day Trip

Happy New Year's everyone! I'm back with my first post of the year, sharing a project that I made for Kerri Bradford Studio. I've had these photos laying around for a little over a year now, taken on a little day trip that my family took the day after Christmas, back in 2018. 

While this wasn't technically a Christmas day trip, we took it the day after the holiday, while my sister was still in town - and the Christmas vibe was still found in the places we went. So I kept that Christmas theme going in my title and the patterned papers I picked out. 

I used one of my go-to page designs, arranging my 3x4 and 4x6 photos around the outside edges of the spread, and adding a white die cut background using Kerri's Background Basics kit across the center part of the spread.

I printed out a filler card to add alongside my journaling block, using the And So The Adventure Begins kit.

I'm loving Kerri's new stamps! Letters, numbers, days of the week, months, years - all of those little stamps are so versatile and I just love how you can arrange them together in different block configurations. Such a fun concept and the possibilities are endless!

I used the Printers Block | Letters stamp set for part of my title, stamping the letters onto cardstock and trimming each letter into an individual block. I then paired them up with my die cut "Christmas" word, taken from Kerri's December Twenty Five kit (no longer available). 

I then used the Block of Time stamp set to add the date to a white shipping tag, adding a piece of bakers twine to the top. 

I die cut a few stars from black cardstock (using the Christmas Calendar kit) to add some simple embellishing to the 3x4" pieces of patterned paper, adding a single button to the center of each star. 

Kerri Bradford Studio: 5 Things

Hey everyone! I had a new Travelers Notebook sized layout go up at Kerri Bradford Studio yesterday. I just love that Kerri added the Outnumbered (Two) XL Outline stamps, to go along with the Outnumbered (Two) XL stamps that I am already a huge fan of. I have so many ideas in my creative mind that the large number stamps can be paired up with, that it took me forever to settle on one of those ideas for my next project. So many ideas, so little time, am I right ;)

I finally decided to document 5 things - just 5 simple things that I'm thankful for right now. I settled on a TN sized spread, which I will add into my Life Crafted TN sized album from Citrus Twist. I printed the one fall themed photo that I have (we don't get much of a "fall" season where I live) to use as the left side of my page, knowing that it had some empty space along the top where I could add a few design elements. 

I used Kerri's Labels kit to list my 5 things, pulling up the labels in Photoshop, and adding my short journaling tidbits to them. I also used a few digital stamps, from the new Wild digital stamp set and the new Happiness Captured digital stamp set, sizing them to fit within my labels. Once I printed the labels out, I trimmed them down and added them to both sides of the spread. 

I stamped my solid "5" in navy blue ink, and stamped the outline in black. I love the look of the outline being slightly offset, so it's not perfectly lined up on top of the solid number. I fussy cut my "5" out and adhered it along the top of my second page. I used the Chicago alpha stamps to stamp "things" using an olive green ink, and stamped the "thankful" above it using the Thankful stamp set. I finished the top part of the page by adding a few stamped ink blotches using the Inked stamp set. 

Kerri Bradford Studio: One More Cuddle

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Wild and Leafy Trees

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kerri Bradford Studio: Annual Family BBQ

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

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!

Jillibean Soup: Wooden Spoon Survivor

Happy Monday! It's been so fun designing for Jillibean Soup this past year, and today I'm sharing my last official design team layout that I created for them. I do still have one more Jillibean card to share, and will share that later this week. 

When I first joined the Jillibean design team, I was browsing their Silhouette store and came across this fun cut file - "Wooden Spoon Survivor" - and I just knew that I had to use it on a layout. After all, I am totally a wooden spoon survivor, having grown up in the 70's, when that sort of thing was super common.

I even went so far as to plan out the page in the Silhouette software. That was almost a year ago, and I just never got around to actually making the layout. So I made sure to fit it into my last set of layouts for them. 

I actually didn't have a specific photo in mind for this story until I finally sat down to make it. I was originally going to do a photo-less layout in fact. But since the main part of the story that I wanted to tell had to do with something that happened at school, when I was in the first grade - I thought my first grade school photo would be a great choice. 

Shhhhhh. This is actually my second grade school photo. I didn't have an extra copy of my first grade photo, but I did have one of my second grade photo. Close enough, right ;)

I went thru my Jillibean patterned papers and picked out a handful that coordinated with the colors in my photo. I was wearing a Holly Hobby dress that my mom had made me, and I thought it would be fun to mimic the patchwork design on my dress in the design of the page. So I used small pieces of each patterned paper and arranged them around the border of the page. 

I adhered a piece of white cardstock in the center of the page, large enough to hold my photo and title, with room to add my journaling across the bottom. 

"My name is Laura and I’m a wooden spoon survivor. I’m also a wooden paddle survivor. Yep, you read that right. Here’s the thing. I grew up in the 70’s, and I’m pretty sure that having your parents take a wooden spoon to your behind every now and then was pretty normal. I’d like to think I was a fairly good kid, but I still had my fair share of “swats” with the wooden spoon from the kitchen. Once, the spoon even broke on my tush! Lol. But I’m not sure how normal it was to receive a swat at school. I went to a private, Christian school, for all thirteen years of my education. And it just so happens that this school allowed for “paddling”, when deemed necessary by the school. Now, I was an extremely shy child growing up. I didn’t talk to anyone, with the exception of my friends. I was quiet as a mouse, didn’t talk in class, and sometimes, I wouldn’t even talk when spoken to by my teachers.

When I was in the first grade, my class was going on a field trip, but I forgot my permission slip. So I was sent to the office, where they asked me for my parent’s phone number. Except I didn’t talk to people, so I wasn’t about to speak up and tell them my phone number. I’d like to think, that in my mind, they had to know my phone number, since it had to be in my file. Why did they need to hear it from me? Next thing I knew, I was being sent to the principal’s office, where I also refused to give out my phone number. That’s when he decided that I deserved a swat, with the wooden paddle that hung on his wall. I can still remember having to tell my parents about it that night, and having them sign the paper I brought home saying I had received a swat. I mean, look at my sweet, innocent little first grade face. I guess it was different times that I grew up in, that they thought they needed to punish a little child for simply not talking."

And with that, I finally have my first grade, swat with a paddle story in the books. Lol. It's one of the few school memories that has stuck with me all these years, so it was nice to get it down on paper.

Jillibean Soup: Love Me Some Cookbooks

Hey everyone! I had a new layout go up at Jillibean Soup a week or so ago, and wanted to share it with you all here today. I had taken photos of two new cookbooks recently, thinking I would share them on Instagram at some point or something. When I was brainstorming ideas for my layouts last month, I realized I could do a layout about my latest favorite cookbooks. 

I had actually started designing a layout idea within my Silhouette software a while back, using a Jillibean Soup poloroid cut file (Typepad is telling me I'm spelling "poloriod" wrong, but that's how it's spelled on their cut file ;)). I had sized six poloriods, in two rows of three, so that I could frame six photos. I never did create the layout that the original idea was for, but knew that it would work great for this layout. 

I printed my photos so that they would fit behind the cut out window in the die cut poloriod. However, I had the photos laying on top of the die cut frames as I was figuring things out and moving things around, and at some point, I realized I like how the photos looked with the white borders showing. So I ended up adhering them on top of the opening. So it actually just looks like I adhered the photos to pieces of patterned paper, which wouldn't have involved my Silhouette at all. Lol.

For my title, I used one of Jillibean's alphabet cut files to die cut the word "cookbooks" from a navy blue patterned paper. I also die cut the fun "love" cut file from a reddish patterned paper, and used it, along with some tiny alpha stickers, to complete my title. 

I used a mix of patterned papers from several different collections, as I was coordinating my colors with the colors in the photos. 

Since I had five photos, I used the sixth frame to hold my journaling. Which is super short and sweet. Lol. I thought the book die cut went nicely with the theme of the layout, so I added that as well. 

I wanted to keep the majority of my background white, but didn't want it solid white cardstock. So I went with my favorite white-on-white technique, by die cutting a heart background from white cardstock and adhering it to my white cardstock background. 

To embellish my page, I added some coordinating flower die cuts, stickers, die cut words, and enamel dots to the individual frames. Definitely on the simpler side, but totally my kind of embellishing. 

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 ;)

Jillibean Soup: Hello Job Hunt

Hey all. I've got a new layout to share that was up on the Jillibean Soup blog earlier this month, using the Garden Harvest collection. I was feeling the need to do a photo collage. I'm not sure if I've used many collages lately (I'd have to go back and check), but with as much as I love them, I should use them more often. So I started by coming up with something to create a collage about.

I wanted to document my recent job search in some way, so I pulled together some photos that I had taken during the process that I thought could help tell a little bit of the story. Job hunting was harder than I thought it would be - and yet at the same time, I knew it wouldn't be all that easy, having been self employed for 17 years. 

A few of the photos were simple Snapchat photos that I had sent to the girls. And while there are two Starbucks related photos on there, there are actually job hunting stories that go with them. So they are relevant ;) I used a Storyboard template from Kerri Bradford to create my collage, and started building my layout around it.

For my title, I used one of Jillibean Soup's alphabet cut files to die cut my "job hunt" from patterned paper, and then added a black foam sticker "hello" above it. I also used one of their background cut files on the top part of my layout, to create my favorite white-on-white look.

I really wanted to use the purple patterned paper in the Garden Harvest collection, and paired it with the navy blue based floral patterned paper along the sides of the page.

I fussy cut a ton of flowers from one of the floral patterned papers (that I've also been sharing on a few cards), and arranged several flowers in the upper left corner and bottom right corner of the page. 

I have more than I'd love to document about my job search at some point. More of the details that didn't quite make it into this smaller amount of journaling. Lol. But it feels good to get a little bit of the story down and in my album. 

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!

Jillibean Soup: Smile & Be Awesome

Hey all. I've got a new layout to share that was up on the Jillibean Soup blog last week. I've been meaning to scrap these funny photos of Sarah for years. In fact, I even printed out this photo collage about 7 months ago, as I was going to use it for one of my Jillibean layouts at the time. But then I ended up going in a different direction. 

Which in a way, was a good thing. Since the patterned papers I used on this layout fit SO much better than the ones I had originally pulled out. 

Even when I started this layout, using the new set of patterned papers I picked out, I struggled to come up with a design that I loved. I finally realized that I was trying to use TOO much patterned paper. There are times when I can let my entire background be about patterned paper, but more often then not, I need a place for the eye to rest - I need that white space that I love so much. 

So I started over, and re-worked the patterned paper placements, so that I could have plenty of white cardstock showing. I'm not one to go with a plain white cardstock background, so I die cut one of my favorite background cut files from white cardstock and layered it over the top of the page. 

I searched thru my Jillibean Soup cut files, looking for something that I could use for my title. I love this tall and skinny "awesome", and knew that I could turn it into a title, by adding a few additional words. 

I pulled out the "smile" die cut from one of the Pea Pod Parts packages, and added a few small alpha stickers to complete my title. 

I wanted my journaling strips to stand out a bit more against the dotted patterned paper, and for whatever reason, vellum popped into my head. I remembered that I had these pieces of vellum (that I had run thru a dotted embossing folder) left over from doing the girl's high school graduation announcements. So I pulled out three of them, and arranged them across the page, adding a little machine stitching here and there. 

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.

Jillibean Soup: Happy Moments

Hey everyone! I'm sure you all know that the big Creativation trade show was this past weekend. I created a few projects for the Jillibean Soup booth, and today I want to share one of those with you. I was asked to create a 8x11" layout (this size worked better for the board than an 8.5x11"), focusing on their 6x8 paper pads and their Alphabean stickers. And this is what I came up with.

Jillibean has two 6x8" paper pads - All About Plaids and All About Dots. Anyone that knows me knows that I LOVE polka dots! But I will admit that working with just the paper pads, and not being able to add in any other patterned papers from the collection was tough. But it did get me to dig out some colored cardstock, which I rarely touch. 

I had the idea to create a sunburst pattern on the page, with all of the papers leading to my photo. I cut a piece of printer paper to 8x11", placed a circular object where my photo was going to go (I don't remember what I used, but anything will work), and then used my ruler to draw lines for each sunburst. I cut those apart and then used them as a template to cut each of my patterned paper and cardstock pieces. 

I assembled them on a sheet of white cardstock, adhered them down, and machine stitched along the edges of all my papers. I adhered my photo using pop dots, tucking a few floral die cuts under the top and bottom of the photo. 

The Alphabeans are half white and half colored, so I thought it would be fun to use them in a monocramatic way on my page. I added a few words to my sunbursts, using the same color stickers as the paper they were going on. 

I kept this same idea when adding a few embellishments to the page, adding coordinating enamel dots and die cut flowers to fill any empty spots that just needed a little something. 

I hope to get a few more projects shared this week, so hope to see you back here soon :)

Project Life 2018: Week Seventeen

Ummmm. Yes, that does read "week seventeen" of my 2018 Project Life album. To say I fell a little behind is an understatement. Lol. I blame it on the whole "sold our house, closed my daycare business, bought a new house, moved, got a job" thing ;) 

I left off, way back in June, sharing week sixteen. Which consisted of a week in April, if you don't want to do the math. I sort of abandoned my album at some point, and the last set of photos I had added in were my photos. I still had to finish the last week in April, and all of May, but at least the photos were in there. 

Since it's been forever, I thought I'd recap what I used for last year's weekly title cards, since I get asked about them a lot. I used the Pocket Guide No.4 kit from Paislee Press. I created each week's card in Photoshop, using the template from the kit - switching out the week number and adding the dates for each week. 

Fast forward many months later, and I eventually ended up with FIVE full months of photos that needed to be ordered. For over two years, I had been so good at placing a photo order every single month. And then life happened, and I got off track. I used to do my complete photo orders from my phone, but with five months worth, I ended up moving all of my photos over to my laptop, and I worked from there. 

It took some work, but at the beginning of December, I placed an order for six months worth of photos - June thru November. It went from five months to six, by the time I got all of my photos edited and ready to go. And at the beginning of this month, I placed an order for my December photos. So all of my photos for 2018 are now in the album. 

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

Ever since we moved, I haven't been able to get my photo printer to print good photos. It's so frustrating, because I can't figure out what's going on with it. I usually print these Pocket Map photos at home, and since I knew I wasn't going to be able to do that, I created a ton of them to add to that last photo order. 

I create them in Photoshop, so while I was in there, I just plopped two onto a 4x6" canvas, and then once they came back in my photo order, I trimmed them apart. I worked on them over two days, and had about 70 done that I added into my order. 

I've also spent the last few days typing up journaling cards like crazy. I think I have five weeks that are totally finished and I'll be sharing those next week. I know that it's a lot of work to have seven more months to finish in my album. But I also know that it's totally do-able. 

I went pretty simple in my plan for my 2018 album, which is why I know I can finish it. It's strictly photos, journaling cards, and simple filler cards - no embellishments, no stickers, etc. 

I know PL spreads aren't always the most exciting thing to see on here, but it's nice to have something to share in-between the layouts and cards. Since I don't have that many of those to share right now.

Jillibean Soup: Love and Shenanigans

Happy Monday everyone! I've got another Jillibean Soup layout to share with you. I created three layouts last month, and two of them were home related. Made sense, since that's what was going on in our lives at the time. 

I got the idea for this layout from the cut apart card "this home is built on love and shenanigans", found on the Bite Sized Bits patterned paper. The floral strip and the butterfly strip could have been cut apart as well, but I decided to leave them all as once piece. Kind of like working a few more pieces of patterned paper into the layout, but without the extra work.

While our new house isn't quite "built on love and shenanigans" just yet, I knew my journaling could focus on the fact that it would be "built on love and shenanigans" - once we were moved in and settled. So I pulled together some photos that could tell the story of moving day (or maybe I should say moving weekend ;)). 

I created a photo collage using a template from Kerri Bradford Studio (using her Travelers Templates: Holiday Style kit), adding the date we moved into the new house. While these templates are the perfect size for travelers notebooks, they can easily be sized up or down, to make them whatever size you need. I 

I used patterned papers from the Garden Harvest collection, as well as Jillibean's new 6x8" All About Dots paper pad. The die cut house is actually from the You Make Miso Happy collection. I wanted to use an embossing folder on the white cardstock in the upper corner of the page, and I thought this circle one was a fun one to try out. It was the first time I used it, and it added a TON of texture. I had to add a lot of adhesive to the back to get it all to stick down. 

I added a few torn pieces of the washi stickers to the top and the bottom of my photo collage. I thought it went with the "moving" theme of the page, since there's a whole lot of tape involved in packing up hundreds of boxes. Lol. 

It's been almost six full months since I shared any Project Life pages, because - well, because that's the last time I actually worked on my album. Lol. I've been working on playing catch up, so I hope to have some of those weekly spreads to share soon. 

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! 

Jillibean Soup: Christmas Decor

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a very merry Christmas! I meant to get this layout up a few days ago, and then got busy with lots of family stuff and work. This was one of my other Jillibean Soup layouts for the month, and it was up on their blog a week or so ago. 

When they suggested Christmas layouts for one theme they were looking for this month, I wasn't sure what I would create. I'm not one that does tons of Christmas layouts each year. My way of scrapbooking Christmas is to create one layout with any and all photos from the family get-together. That's usually it. Unless I create a layout with our family photo or something. 

But in looking thru photos on my external hard drive, I realized I had quite a few photos of decor-related things for the holiday. I printed my photos as 3x3" square photos, and arranged them around the outer edges of my page, along with some 3x3" squares of patterned paper. 

In the center of the page, I added a 6x6" piece of white cardstock, which would hold my title and journaling. I used my favorite scalloped border punch on some grey cardstock, and added a thin border on each side of my white cardstock, before machine stitching around the edges. 

For my title, I used some older red corrugated alphas, along with some tiny alpha stickers. Since Jillibean Soup doesn't have a specific Christmas collection, I tried to find some embellishments that would work with the theme of the page, and in the end, I decided to just die cut some stars from white cardstock, using one of Jillibean's cut files and my Silhouette. I added a green sequin to the center of each star. 

I don't decorate a ton around our house. Usually it's just our Christmas tree, the mantel, and a little something near the front door. But I thought the photos that I did have could be used to tell the story of how those few decorations come to be. It's a drawn out system that I seem to have, and I think it will be interesting to look back years from now and see if I'm still going about decorating for the holidays in the same way. 

Jillibean Soup: Good Home

Hey everyone! I had a new layout go up at Jillibean Soup last week, and I wanted to share it here with all of you. The layouts that I created for Jillibean last month were the first projects I created in my new scrapbook room. While I'm moved in, and everything is fairly organized and in their places - I also realized I need to really get in there and fine-tune things, so that I know exactly where things actually are. Basically, it meant that I kept things fairly simple again ;)

I'm a fan of "lifting" my own designs from time to time, and that's exactly what I did on this layout. I used a design that I love, after coming across THIS layout that I created several years ago. I printed out two photos that I had snapped of our old house, the day we officially moved out, and started picking out patterned papers to match.

I used the new You Make Miso Happy collection, as I just love the colors and patterns. I was so happy to see some navy blue in this collection, as that's one color that I'm always wanting to use, but often have a hard time finding when it comes to some manufacturers. 

I'm a huge B-side scrapper. I love to pick one of the busier patterned papers to use on a layout, and then fill in the rest of the page with lots of the tone-on-tone patterns that can usually be found on the B side of the papers in each collection.

I started with the floral patterned paper from our You Make Miso Happy collection, and then used an additional five patterns, in colors that coordinate with the floral paper. By using lots of the tone-on-tone papers, using so many patterns/colors on one page doesn’t feel overwhelming at all.

I used one of the new foam stickers, along with some older corrugated alphas, to create my title. I had good intentions of adding "it was a" with tiny alpha stickers, to make a longer title, but decided to keep it simpler in the end. I added the cute house card from the Bite Size Bits patterned paper, and a few enamel flowers to embellish the page.