... just Laura

Sunny Studio Stamps: On The List

This week, I'm quickly 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" pocket page spread, I picked out two pocket page dividers that have lots of tiny 2"x2" pockets. The smallest die in the Fancy Frame Squares dies fits perfectly in the 2"x2" pocket, which I just love.

I picked out a handful of patterned papers to coordinate with the colors in my 3"x4" title card, and die cut lots of tiny scalloped frames. I used the Lots of Dots embossing folder to emboss square of white cardstock to add behind each frame, and then added random embellishments to the centers of each. 

This is another photo-less layout, which I'm a huge fan of. But it includes lots of journaling and random facts about my life, which I think will be fun to look back on.

(Fancy Frame Square Dies, Heroic Halftones Paper, Dots & Stripes Jewel Tones Paper, Sweater Weather Paper, Lots Of Dots Embossing)

Sunny Studio Stamps: Hello Old Age

This week, I'm quickly 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 travelors notebook sized spread (pages are 4"x8.25"), I started by using the Sunny Semi-Circle dies on several different patterned papers, as well as white cardstock. My original plan for these pieces didn't work like I had hoped, so I played around with a few other options and was happy with their final placement. 

I die cut the Hello Word die multiple times from green patterned paper and layered them together to create a thicker "hello" word, adding some pink alpha stickers to complete my title. I used the Lots of Dots embossing folder on white cardstock to add texture to the piece behind my title.

I'm a huge fan of using white cardstock in my projects and always love to add texture and interest using embossing folders, as well as light ink splatters.

I used the Notebook Tab dies on green patterned paper (coordinates with the paper I used for my title) to create a notebook page to hold my journaling block and added a die-cut tab along the top, which holds the date. I also used the Notebook Photo Corner dies to add photo corners to the full photo that makes up the second page of the spread.

(Sunny Semi-Circle Dies, Hello Word Die, Notebook Photo Corner Dies, Notebook Tabs Dies, Ribbon & Lace Border Dies, Dots & Stripes Jewel Tones Paper, Polka-dot Parade Paper, Heroic Halftones Paper, Lots Of Dots Embossing)

 

Sunny Studio Stamps: Makes Me Happy

This week, I'm quickly 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 6"x12" spread (half full sized page, and half pocket page), I started by printing a 6"x6" photo collage for the first page, building around it with patterned papers and white cardstock. I used the Ribbon & Lace Border dies to add small strips between my collage and the papers. I like very clean and linear designs, so I feel like adding those small strips helps define each "section" and creates a sort of block design that I love.

I used the Moroccan Circles embossing folder to add texture to the white cardstock at the top of the first page, using the Happy Word die to create the main part of my title (I added alphabet stickers to complete the title). 

I die cut the inside piece of the middle Fancy Frame Squares Dies, cutting them from white cardstock and adhering them onto 3"x3" pieces of patterned paper. 

(Ribbon & Lace Border Dies, Happy Word Die, Fancy Frame Squares Dies, Heroic Halftones Paper, Moroccan Circles Embossing)

Sunny Studio Stamps: Embrace The Mess

This week, I'm quickly 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, I used the Staggered Circle dies to create two borders for the top and bottom of the left side of the spread. I adhered those pieces on a sheet of patterned paper, so that the fun teal pattern would show through the cut out circles. 

I used the Ribbon & Lace Border dies to die-cut several border strips - two for the first page of the spread, to go above and below my journaling and title card, and one for the second page of the spread to go alongside my photo. 

I used the Notebook Tab dies to die cut a notebook page from yellow patterned paper, adding my journaling block to the center. I work with 3"x4" filler cards and journaling cards in the majority of my scrapbooking these days, so these notebook page dies fit perfectly into my design process. 

(Ribbon & Lace Border Dies, Notebook Tab Dies, Staggered Circle Dies, Dots & Stripes Jewel Tones Paper)

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 :)

I Can Do Hard Things: A 6x8 Pocket Page Spread

One more project to share with you this week, and this one is a 6x8" pocket page spread. I recently shared a little story on Instagram about yanking old shelving out of my pantry, as I was in the process of giving it a new look. I shared that bottom photo (with the wood pieces in the box), and somehow ended up sharing this bigger story, and I knew that I wanted to get this into my album. These are the kind of stories that I want to do more of. Basically, the ones that have a little more depth to them.

I pulled out the TOUGH Story Kit from Ali Edwards to use for this project. I first used this kit way back in 2016, for THIS PROJECT, and I recently purchased the digital version, knowing that I wanted to have it handy for other projects. I still have plenty of pieces from the kit left to work with, but that was one of the few kits that I did NOT have the digital kit, so I made sure to add it to my collection. 

The photos for this pocket page spread aren't really pretty by any means. Lol. But they are what inspired my little "story time" share, so I knew I wanted to use them. I printed a "before" photo (showing all of the old shelving I had to rip out), a "after" photo (showing the results of all of those shelves being ripped out - basically, messed up walls and a few holes in the wall as well), and a photo of some of the pieces of wood I managed to pry off the walls (I had been tossing them in a box by the front door). 

One of the nice thing about having the digital kit is that you can print elements to whatever size you need. I had used the "tough and strong" chipboard piece on my other project back in 2016 - it was a small chipboard piece, which I adhered to the corner of a 4x6" photo. I wanted to use it on this project too, and ended up sizing it big enough to fit on the 3x4" filler card. I printed it, trimmed it, and adhered it with pop dots to add a little dimension. 

For my "before" and "after" photos, I dug out a few die cut labels and added alpha stickers to them (labels and stickers both from Bella Blvd) before adhering them to each photo.

I created a full 6x8" journaling page, copying and pasting my journaling directly from my Instagram post. I added a digital stamp, from the TOUGH Story Kit, to the top of the page, and used the digital version of the polka dot filler card to add a strip of coordinating polka dot "paper" along the bottom of the page. The "yes I can" was also the digital version of a chipboard piece, which I sized a little larger to add to the bottom of the page. 

It felt so good to get in there and create these three projects, and I'm really hoping to keep the momentum going and work on more projects in the upcoming weeks!

This Girl Needs A Coffee: A Travelers Notebook Spread

Hi again! I'm back to share a super quick travelers notebook sized project. I can't seem to get into actual travelers notebooks, but I am a fan of the Life Crafted albums from Citrus Twist, which basically hold TN sized pages. I like the flexibility to move pages around, as opposed to being locked into a notebook, where the pages are all bound together.

This came about very randomly. I was scrolling thru my Instagram, looking for photos/stories that I could use on little projects, and this shot of my two frappacinos caught my eye.

I printed my photo, along with the "caffeine fix" filler card (from In A Creative Bubble), and adhered them both to a coffee bean patterned paper that I had in my stash. Took me forever to find it, but I knew it was there, so I was persistent and took the time to find it ;)

For my journaling page, I went with a simple white background, and added a digital stamp to the top (from Kellie Stamps).

I copied my journaling straight from my Instagram post. Which is the same thing I do when I work on my Project Life album. 

Truthfully, I could do a lot of little quick and easy projects like this with photos I share on Instagram. But I also work 95% of our photos into my PL album, and almost every photo in my PL album has journaling of some kind to go with it. Which is maybe why I'm not creating as many other projects, seeing as how all of the photos and stories are covered already. That's what I love about PL, and the way that I approach it - as long as I keep up with my PL album, I don't feel like I have to do any other documenting throughout the year if I don't want too, because everything is pretty much in there. If that makes sense.

But it's also fun to just play sometimes. And these little projects go into MY albums, so it can be nice to have some of my little stories all in one place.

Work Friends: A 6x12 Pocket Page Spread

Hey - to anyone that still checks this little blog of mine ;) I started this year so well, creating a little project on the first day of the year. It felt like I was kicking things off right, with the intention of creating more projects this year. Sadly, I haven't created a single thing this year. I haven't even worked on my Project Life album yet, other than slipping my photos into pockets. 

I've had good intentions. I've had projects in mind that I wanted to create. I wrote down some ideas. I pulled out some products. But I just couldn't get a single project going past those initial ideas in my head. Until last week, when I finally got some creative juices going and mananged to whip up three projects. 

The first one is this 6x12" pocket page spread, dedicated to work friends. I had pulled out the FRIENDS Story Kit from Ali Edwards earlier this year, and when I realized that I had quite a few funny quotes about work friends saved as screenshots on my phone, I thought they'd make for a fun little project. 

I started with this 3x4" floral filler card from the kit, and turned to my Dear Lizzy collections to find patterned papers that coordinated. The colors matched up so well with the papers I picked out. 

Instead of printing the screenshots, I ended up typing them up myself in Photoshop, so that they would all have the same font and plain white background. For the quotes that were shorter, and didn't take up the full 3x3" square, I added a little piece of patterned paper along the bottom to fill the empty space.

I also have the digital kits for almost all of my Story kits, which I LOVE! I'm a huge fan of working with digital elements, especially the journaling cards. I like to type out my journaling, so the digital versions of those cards are a must-have for me. I added the "friendship" digital stamp to the bottom of the card, and then added a few physical stickers and the little fabric heart patch. 

I'll be back to share another quick and easy project tomorrow.

Bathtime: A Travelers Notebook Spread

Happy New Year! I had no intention of having a new project to share only a few days into the new year, but here I am! One of my goals for 2022 is to find more time to be creative. With the exception of my PL album, reading album, and TV show album, the only projects I managed to create in 2021 was a single 6x8 spread, a single 12x12 layout, and 3 little TN sized spreads. Those were all done way back in February and March, so close to a year ago.

I’m off to a good start, throwing this quick TN sized spread together in about 15 min. I came across the super old “bath time” tag months and months ago and printed out this photo of Milo to go with it. And then it just went to live in a pile on one of my shelves.

I was doing something totally different in my room on New Year's Day, hanging out with Alyssa, and out of nowhere, I said “I should make a project”. And I did. I pulled out the photo and the tag, grabbed two different patterned papers (the first ones that caught my eye and matched the tag), typed up a little journaling, and tossed it all together.

It felt really good, and was a great reminder that there’s no need to overthink projects all the time. I’m all about quick and simple - have been for quite some time now - and it works for me.

I have a lot of projects that I want to work on this year, and the underlying theme is "quick and easy". Little TN sized spreads definitely fall under that theme :)

Digital Project Share: 2020 / 2021 Shows

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2021 Reading Album: Books 1 - 10

Hey everyone! Some of you may remember the reading album that I created last year, which held all of the books that I read in 2020. I've been consistently keeping up with adding in my 2021 books this year, and have been totally up-to-date with adding in photos and journaling cards. I finally took the time this week to create my number cards and pick out filler cards. 

Since this is the first look at my 2021 reading album pages, I wanted to do a quick recap of how I'm approaching this album project and what, if anything, is changing with this year's album. Not much has changed from last year, and I'm fine with that. I was happy with how last year's pages turned out, and went with the same basic ideas for this year as well. 

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 decided to do a card to go along with each book that has the book number for the year. I used a label from Kerri Bradford Studio's Label kit, and a digital stamp from Studio Calico's On The Shelf stamp set, to create the "book" label for the upper corner of the number card. 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. 

Last year, I used patterned filler cards for the number card, and this year I'm using white textured cardstock which I ran through an embossing folder to add a little texture. 

Last year, I stamped the numbers, using different colored inks to coordinate with the filler cards/number cards on the page. I then fussy cut the stamped numbers out and adhered them to the number card. This year, I decided to go a simpler route and I did cut my numbers from black textured cardstock using my Cameo and Kerri Bradford's Weathered Door Alphabet kit.

I will be adding a digital journaling card to go with each book, like the one above. 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. 

For my journaling cards, I went with a single design. I did the same thing in my 2020 album. I have a ton of digital reading themed stamps and cards, but I found last year that I was having a harder time trying to use different designs on each card. So I came up with a single card that I'm using for each book this year. 

I ended up tweaking a journaling card from In A Creative Bubble's Read Journaling Card kit, deleting certain parts of the card and adding in a few different digital stamps - the row of books and the "pages read" at the bottom. I thought the "pages read" would be a fun addition, and it will be fun to see not only how many books I've read at the end of the year, but how many pages as well.

For the filler cards, I mostly just pull from the collection of cards I've had printed along with my photo orders each month. A huge majority of them are right from the Project Life app, but I also add in cards from other digital kits here and there. These filler cards are all printed on photo paper.

By keeping with a super simple, and repetitive, design, it's an album project that I can easily keep up with. One thing that's really helped me this year, is that I've been typing up my journaling cards right after I finish each book. Last year, I fell behind a little and found myself trying to remember what some of the books were about or what stood out to me about each one. 

I'll be back to share more pages from this album next week. Last year, I set a goal of 25 books for the year, and I finished the year reading 29 books. This year I have a goal of reading 50 books, and as of today, I've read 33 books. 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Milo & The Love

 

Hey everyone! I have a few new projects that I created for Kerri Bradford Studio that I've been meaning to share. We welcomed a new addition to our family several months ago - a cute little Maltipoo puppy named Milo - and I figured it was about time to start documenting his cute little self on paper. I decided to go with travelers notebook sized pages, which I will be adding to his own Life Crafted album (from Citrus Twist). 

 

 

For his first official layout, I kept it every simple. I used a full page photo on the left side of the spread, adding his name using Kerri's new Headline Lower XL stamps. I like stamping chunkier font alpha stamps individually, and fussy cutting them out. Not only does this give me more control over placement on my project (I'm not the straightest stamper!), but it also adds a little texture to my pages, since I like to keep them relatively flat. Since I stamped my letters using yellow ink, to match the yellow patterned paper on the opposite page, I used a fine tip pen to lightly outline each letter to help them stand out.

 

 

For the right side of the spread, I printed out my journaling (copied and pasted from an Instagram post), and added a few pieces of patterned paper. 

 

 

The second layout features a couple of cute photos that my youngest daughter, Sarah, took with Milo a few weeks after we got him. I printed the photos as 3x4's, adhering one on either page of the spread.

 

 

I stamped the word "love" using the Headline Lower XL stamp set, fussy cutting out each letter individually to adhere on the top half of the left page. I then stamped "the", taken from the same stamp set, directly to the page above "love" to complete my title.

 

 

I also stamped a few phrases from the new Blocks of Togetherness stamp set around the edges of the first photo. After adding a few stamped ink blotches to the white cardstock background, using Kerri's Inked stamp set, I finished off the spread with a few puffy star stickers and enamel dots.

 

 

I don't scrap in the travelers notebook size regularly, so I often forget how quick these little pages can go together. I think this size will be perfect for creating simple pages about our newest family member, and documenting his little stories.

 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Happy & Simple Habits Mini Album

 

Hey everyone! I had a new little project go up at Kerri Bradford Studio this week. I actually created this mini album way back at the end of October. It sort of slipped thru the cracks since then. I forgot about it, Kerri forgot about it, we both forgot about it again, etc. Lol. So this "write-up"/description was written about 4 months ago ;)

 

This has been a rough year for so many of us, am I right? I will fully admit that the last 7-8 months have been hard on me. And most of it isn't even related to the fact that we're all living thru a pandemic. Although that hasn't helped either. 

 

 

I realized that there are a handful of things that have been helping me thru the difficult times lately. Some are "habits" of sorts. Some are routines or things that I do on a daily basis without really thinking. When you get right down to it, they are all just simple little things that I've been doing to keep my mind off of the crappy parts of life, and allow myself to add a little sunshine into my days. 

 

 

I had the idea to create a quick and simple little mini album devoted to this hard time in life. I used an old 4x4" felt KI Memories mini album that I've had sitting around for years, and kept things super simple by not including photos at all. Just words and pretty papers. And a little stamping, of course ;)

 

 

 

I used Kerri's new Jordan Lower SM stamp set, along with some office tags, to create a tag for each "habit" that I wanted to document. To go along with my simple formula, I used the same color ink (navy blue) for all of my stamping.

 

 

I also used the new Jordan Numbers XL stamp set to help create my little title page, stamping "12" onto two tags, as I ended up with 12 "habits" that I included in the album. 

 

 

I simply adhered each tag onto a piece of patterned paper, adding a coordinating fiber (remember how they were all the rage years ago?) to each tag.

 

 

My patterned paper/tag combo went on the left side of each spread, and my journaling page went on the right side of each spread. For my journaling pages, I used a template from the Four By Four album set by CZ Design. 

 

 

I rarely make mini albums. But when I do, I usually follow the same design format throughout the entire album.

 

 

By sticking with this simple design, I was able to complete this entire little album in one sitting - which rarely happens with any of my projects ;)

 

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 25 - 29

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 #25 | Out With The Ex In With The New, by Sophie Ranald

Book #26 | A Match Made At Christmas, by Courtney Walsh

Book #27 | The Twelve Dates of Christmas, by Jenny Bayliss

Book #28 | In A Holidaze, by Christina Lauren

Book #29 | Christmas Shopaholic, by Sophie Kinsella

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

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.

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 ;)

 

2020 Reading Album: Books 10 - 14

I set a goal to read 25 books in 2020. And seeing as how it's 2021, and 7 months since I last shared any updates on this project, I'm happy to report that I did in fact read 25 books in 2020 - and then read 4 additional books, for a grand total of 29 books! I started this 6x8" album project to document the books that I read, knowing that I can continue to add to it for several years (and I have a second matching album I can use as well). 

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 :) I will add that the one thing that I did decide to change while catching up on these pages was that I decided to use the same exact journaling card for every book. I even went back and re-did the journaling cards for the first 9 books that were already done, so that I'd have a consistent look throughout the album.

Book #10 | Love Her Or Lose Her, by Tessa Bailey

Book #11 | Fix Her Up, by Tessa Bailey

Book #12 | The Friends We Keep, by Jane Green

Book #13 | One To Watch, by Kate Stayman-London

Book #14 | Josh & Hazel's Guide To Not Dating, by Christina Lauren

Kerri Bradford Studio: Starry Night

 

Hey everyone! I had a new project up at Kerri Bradford Studio a few days ago, and wanted to pop in and share it here as well. I decided to create a small album giving an updated look into some of the ways that we celebrate Christmas. I created a similar album way back in 2007, and it's so fun to look back and see what "traditions" have changed and which ones are the same. 

 

 

This little spread is decorating - when and how I start decorating for the Christmas holiday. And my journaling is so true. The part where I say it's not unusual for the trees to be up with just lights for a week or two before I put on the decorations. We have two Christmas trees, and while one has been decorated for two weeks - the other has sat without decorations up until today, and even as I type this, it only has about 10 decorations on it. Lol. I'll finish eventually ;)

 

 

I love using stars as embellishments, so I couldn't wait to use Kerri's new Starry Night kit.

 

 

I die cut two sets of the stars from white cardstock using my Cameo, and then arranged them on my 4" x 8.25" page. I'm a huge fan of white-on-white for backgrounds! I spritzed on a little silver misting spray and also added some fun silver star outline stickers that were in my Christmas stash from years and years ago. 

 

 

For my title, I used Kerri's Printers Block | Letters stamp set to stamp my title in black ink on white cardstock, trimming each letter individually and adhering vertically on the page, tucking the ends under the ribbon just a little bit. 

 

 

I printed the black and white "merry & bright" piece from Kerri's Christmas Cheer kit, and adhered it on the left page along with my journaling. I had a few die cut stars left over, so I adhered them on the red and white patterned paper on the bottom of the page. 

 

 

I'm hoping to create additional pages to add to my album over the next few weeks. The small page size, and the fact that I'm not worrying about including photos, should help make them doable. Quick little projects that I can fit in when I have a short amount of time.

 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Very Merry Christmas

 

Hey everyone! I have a few new projects up at Kerri Bradford Studio today, as part of her 12 Days of Christmas event! Each of the 12 days, there is a new design that you can download for free - for that day only. If you happen to miss out on any of the free downloads, you can still purchase them for a very low price starting the following day ;)

 

 

Very Merry Christmas is the today's free design (Friday, December 4th only), and the first design that I picked to work with for our little event. I had full intentions of using the "Very Merry Christmas" phrase to create some holiday cards, but then came up with a new plan once I started die cutting the words.

 

 

I love to watch everyone document their Christmas holidays in projects like December Daily, but I have to admit that I am not one to create many holiday projects (other than a layout or two each Christmas).

 

 

One Christmas project that I did participate in, way back in 2007, was Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas. The album that I created didn't contain a single photo - just pretty paper and little stories to document the ways that we celebrate the holiday.

 

 

I thought it was about time to create an updated look at some of the same topics I included in that album, all those years ago. I decided on doing Travelers Notebook sized pages, which I'll add into a Life Crafted album from Citrus Twist. I used Kerri's Very Merry Christmas kit to create two spreads for this album - an intro spread and a spread about our holiday photo tradition. 

 

 

I die cut both words included in the kit - "Very Merry Christmas" and "Holiday Photo" - from black cardstock using my Cameo. I also die cut a circle background from white cardstock, using the Background Basics kit, so that I could create white-on-white background on which to adhere my die cut titles. 

 

 

My pages are 4" x 8.25" in size, and I dug deep into my Christmas supplies for patterned papers to add to the pages, along with my title pieces and my journaling blocks.

 

 

I have jars and jars of ribbons that I haven't used in years, and added a piece of ribbon to each spread, adding metal brads to the ends of the ribbons. 

 

 

I came across a die cut rose (from Kerri's Roses kit) on one of my cutting mats that I didn't end up using on an old project, and figured I would toss that onto my "Holiday Photo" spread.

 

 

I also printed a few elements from Kerri's Fa La La Labels kit and her Merry Little Words kit to help embellish the spreads. 

 

 

These little pages were so fun to put together, and by not worrying about including photos (although photos would be a great addition if I had them), they came together in no time.

 

Kellie Stamps: Current Everyday Routine

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kellie Stamps: Yes To This Routine

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Digital Project Share: 2019 / 2020 Shows

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kerri Bradford Studio: 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 7 - 9

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 started this 6x8" album project to document the books that I read, knowing that I can continue to add to it for several years (and I have a second matching album I can use as well). 

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 #7 | Family Pictures, by Jane Green

Book #8 | How To Hack A Heartbreak, by Kristin Rockaway

Book #9 | The Honey-Don't List, by Christina Lauren

Project Life 2020: March Memories

Hey everyone! I'm finally getting around to sharing my March pages in my 2020 Project Life album. I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS post, where I shared my January pages.

I mentioned that I wasn't going to limit myself to a certain number of spread each month. I'll use however many pages I need, as I love to include the majority of our photos each month. For March, I ended up with 6 spreads, one of which includes a 6x12 insert. 

I have a lot of the Stories By The Month digital kits from Ali Edwards, which is what I'm pulling my monthly title cards from. If the actual "____ memories" card doesn't match in any given month, I can easily use the "____ memories" digital stamp that's in the kit (same writing) to create my card. 

I'm working at least one of the 3x3" configured pocket page protectors into my album each month (but will use a second if it works with my photos). 

So many of our photos work well as squares, and I can simply trim the 3x4" photos down to the 3x3" size.  

Since this whole Coronavirus pandemic really went into effect in March, I decided I wanted to include a full spread within my March memories dedicated to Coronavirus related things - some factual, some funny, and some personal stories. 

Persnickity Prints has been creating these awesome Coronavirus timelines that you can download and print, so I printed out the March timeline, slipping it into an 8.5x11 page protector that was trimmed in width a bit to fit. 

I don't know about all of you, but I've been screenshotting Covid related things like crazy during the last two months. I picked out a variety of them to use in the 3x3 pockets, making this an easy page to fill up.  

 

I printed Kerri Bradford's Stay Safe printable to go on the backside of the timeline printable, which is on the left side of the insert seen above.

I do have some pandemic related stories spread throughout my March stories and journaling, but I wanted to type up a few journaling cards specifically to include in this dedicated spread. 

Traci Reed Designs has put together a round-up list of all of the Covid-19 related freebies out there, with links to where you can find/download all of them - find it HERE.

Here's the third spread for the month of March.

I took a screenshot of all of the baseball games that Joe originally had on his schedule when the stay-at-home order went into place here, which quickly turned to red, as they were all cancelled.

Yes, that's a photo of the Costco I work at, where the toilet paper, paper towels, and water are usually located. I don't keep my phone on me when I'm working, or I probably would have snapped a photo. Luckily, I found this one that someone shared on Facebook and "borrowed" it for my album.

I'm adding a "currently" card each month for each of us. I ask Joe and the girls to give me their answers to the 5 categories - just whatever comes to mind first, or what stands out as a favorite during the month. That's Sarah's card above. 

I created my own digital "currently" card, using digital stamps from Studio Calico and Kerri Bradford Studio. I have these cards saved as templates for each of us, with our names on top. So it's super easy to pull up the cards for each of us every month, and fill in the boxes.

This fourth spread for the month of March, seen above, has a 6x12" insert on the right side. 

Here's the fifth spread of the month, with the 6x12" insert on the left side. 

This is the sixth, and last spread, for the month of March.

As of two days ago, all of the Monopoly game pieces are officially gone. Whoohoo! I actually took an updated photo earlier this week, as there were about 15 piles of game pieces. Lol. 

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I'm patiently (or maybe not so patiently, as I placed my order a full 2 weeks ago) working on my April photos to arrive and I'll get started on my April pages. 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Covid-19 Themed Pages

 

Hey everyone. We celebrated (inter)National Scrapbook Day all last week over at Kerri Bradford Studio last week. I meant to get on here last week and share my projects, but Typepad wasn't letting me upload any images.

 

 

 

We're focusing on Kerri's Lay It All Out: Travelers Notebook kit this week. The first sentence in the kit's description reads "These templates are designed to help you get your memories down even faster than before" - and that's exactly what they did for me. 

 

 

After die cutting several of the templates from white cardstock using my Silhouette Cameo, I simply laid the templates over white cardstock cut to TN size (I create individual pages that I slip into my Life Crafted album as opposed to using an actual travelers notebook) and drew in my lines with a fine tip black pen. 

 

 

Once those lines are drawn out, you end up with a great start to your page, as you know where the journaling will go and you have empty spaces for photos and any other embellishing and/or title work that you want to add in.

 

 

 

So much of the thinking and decision making is already done for you, which simplifies the process and really lets you focus on getting your stories and memories down.

 

 

 

I am not one to use my own handwriting on my layouts - never have been if I'm being honest. But. I decided to go for it on these pages.

 

 

 

I have been wanting to document this crazy Covid-19 time that we're all in right now, and this was the perfect way to get started on some of those stories. I didn't want to spend a ton of time on these little spreads, and using my own handwriting really simplified my process. 

 

 

 

I worked a few of Kerri's new stamp sets - Denali, Denali XL and Denali Etc XL - into my pages, along with stamps from five other recent sets.

 

 

 

I added in a little patterned paper and a few simple embellishments and in no time at all, I had four spreads completed.

 

 

I can't wait to use the Lay It All Out: Travelers Notebook kit to create more pages documenting this weird time that we're all going through. 

 

2020 Reading Album: Books 4 - 6

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 started this 6x8" album project to document the books that I read, knowing that I can continue to add to it for several years (and I have a second matching album I can use as well). 

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 #4 | The Saturday Night Supper Club, by Carla Laureano

Book #5 | Brunch At Bittersweet Cafe, by Carla Laureano

Book #6 | The Solid Grounds Coffee Company, by Carla Laureano

I had originally colored in the little books on this card, for the book rating - but the color pen I used ended up being all wrong and didn't match at all. My pen collection is very limited, so I'm holding off on coloring in this re-printed card for the time being. I'll go back to it at a later time, once I have access to more color options.