Santa Hugs!

Well Scrappy Christmas in July is winding down, but I have one more layout to share!

I just could not  love these sweet Santa photos from Hollywood Studios more! My son running with open arms to see Santa Claus is completely priceless and so precious.

I've been using a new circle punch a lot lately, and I"m loving it. I'm much more likely to use many circles when I don't have to cut a ton with my cricut.

Recently on a Scrap Gals episode, they discussed foiling, and a suggestion was made to use your foil on adhesive items. I had these adhesive Thickers from Tuesday Morning for a while. I tried to use them with glitter once, as advertised on the label. The glitter stuck alright, but I will tell you, this foil was magical! It went on so smoothly, it was wonderful.

I used some washi tape on the bottom strip of my layout, but I was afraid to sew through that bit!

I did a zig zag stitch through my circle border then a straight line stitch. I double up some vellum to give the santa picture a bit of pop, and I accented with gold.

I always lean toward the traditional red & green on my Christmas layouts, but I just LOVE it!

I created this layout with the Hip Kit Club design team call in mind, so cross your fingers for me! It would be so dreamy.

I hope you've been inspired to finish some holiday layouts during this Scrappy Christmas in July!

Supplies:
Red striped paper, gold hearts, hello and gingham papers - Studio Calico
Green dots paper -- Basic Grey
Dark red paper and washi- American Crafts
Green plus paper - Echo Park
Gold sequin star - Maggie Holmes Crate paper
Gold glitter stars - Studio Calico
glitter chipboard - Me and My Big Ideas
Alphas - Thickers by American Crafts

Thanks for looking!

JOY - Christmas Cheer!

I have another Scrappy Christmas in July layout for you today!

I used a prompt from the submissions call at Creative Scrapbooker magazine to use kraft and sewing elements.

I cut some cute border strips and sewed them alongside twine, eyelash ribbon, yarn and all kinds of ribbon bits in my stash.

I think the colors I gathered ended up reflecting the photo colors quite well. I love how bright and festive the layout turned out.

Although Scrappy Christmas in July is winding down, I will probably continue to make Christmas layouts throughout the year! HA! I'm still working on 2015 and 2016. And let's not  forget that Disney Christmas album!

Check out the hashtag Scrappy Christmas in July to see more holiday layouts!

Thanks for looking!

OLAF - a Stuck?! sketch

Hi hi hi everybody!

I have a fun Disney themed layout today using a wonderful sketch from Stuck?! sketches.

I loved using the fun, summery colors for Olaf's photo, since he LOVES summer!

Here is the original sketch:

I stuck really close to the sketch this time. And I used almost exclusively Simple Stories Life in Color collection.

I dug out these old heart grommets which matched the blue plus paper perfectly. I had not used them in a while, but I am loving the little color pop that ties the page together.

Apparently my photography skills were lacking today what with the shadows and glare... sorry about that! I added the black and white twine to tie in with the polka dot papers, and balance the layout. It also adds a nice texture to the page.

 I even had this little bit of Olaf flair from a greeting card, that was perfect for the page! It actually inspired the bits of circle embellishments.

I kept the title simple, as I will do a corresponding pocket page with journaling about the story - which includes the baby trying to eat Olaf's nose! Ha - it was adorable!

As usual, I loved working with Laura's sketch! I look forward to new ones every month!

Thanks for looking!

Epic Cousins - a LM challenge!

It is the final week of my prompts for the July Adventure challenges over at Lasting Memories. This week's challenge is to go on a Scrappy Adventure and create memory keeping in size/format outside of your norm.

I created this pocket page for my boys and their cousins in a 6x8 pocket page format.

I do not typically do 2x2 squares, I used to think they couldn't possible be big enough to highlight my amazing photos, but turns out - I loved it! It's a great way to create a layout of a small even that you happened to have a few photos of.

I love finding a balance between photo pockets, pockets with words/writing, and pockets with graphics.

I loved all the photos I captured of the boys running around at the splash pad, so I feel the bright colors reflect the fun level of energy they had!

2x2 pocket are wonderful for shaker pockets too! I will say that I struggle with the fact that I need the shaker to match the layout on both sides since you can see it on both sides, but it worked out well for this layout, because the other side is the same event!

Here's the other side:

I really hope you will play along with this final challenge in my ADVENTURE challenges for July at Lasting Memories! I'd love to see the new formats everyone tries!

Thanks for looking!

Mexican Adventure - GDT for SID!

Heyyyyy y'all! It's FriYAY!

Today I'm thrilled to bring you a card I created as GDT for Stick It Down!

Here is my design:

Here's the original sketch. I took to heart the zigzags, which inspired the stitching on my card.

So while we're on the subject of stitching ... I'm about to be REAL with y'all. I'm not a great seamstress ... I had a fight with my sewing machine. I'm BARELY victorious...

I sewed my finger y'all. OUCH! It broke my needle... then this happened....

Ha! That left is my first disastrous attempt at this card. I figured out (after googling, what did we do before google!?) that my needle was in backwards, so it kept breaking my thread! Eh - practice run, huh?

So I made this card, and was then inspired by its motif to use it in a pocket page spread about our cruise & an excursion in Mexico. I even was able to use some of the wretched first, disaster card.

I feel like my pocket pages have been coming together more easily for me lately - which is a good thing, since I have so many lined up to complete!

I used my new mask from the 70% sale at Michael's for the pink feather on the top card, so I used another "Adventure" mask from the set for the bottom card. This is also where I used the black and white bottom stitch from the disaster card, the only bit I could salvage. This worked perfectly, as I think it's always nice to balance a pocket page with some repeating pattern.

I also busted out my Heidi Swapp MINC!

I don't have a ton of hot pink in my paper stash, but I did have some pink foil. So to serve as the balancing piece on this side of the page for the feather, I foiled this card I created from a 6x6 MINC paper pade. I felt like the flower foiliage went well with the aztec-y paper in the Mexico feel. I had enough words on the page, so this pocket just got a black ampersand sticker - balances images and feeds the trend of black throughout each decorate pocket.

To help with the cohesion, I foiled the alphas on my pocket of my son - again with the pink & black. It says "HGD in MX" (his initials).

Can I just mention again how much I love my iPhone 7s plus? These pics are amazing from a phone!

I also carried the sewing from the SID inspired card to another pocket with a little piece of ephemera from Michael's - this may even be the same Boho collection as the masks.

I split the photo of my son here, to add interest, and also just to get it to fit!

I had so much fun working with the Stick It Down card sketch this month! It inspired my entire pocket page!

Thanks for looking & go play along at Stick It Down!

AK @ Christmas

Well today I'm wishing I was at Disney, so I am going to post another Christmas at Disney page to fill the void!

I have created 6x12 divider pages for the different parks in my Disney album from our last trip. So, I had the backside of the 6x12 to fill, and I used this great photo from PhotoPass of the Tree of Life to complete the project.

I LOVE creating this size layout! It comes together so quickly & it's just fun!

A bit of a sway from my traditional red and green Christmas pages, I still kept the sparkle! I used some gold foil pages with black and white. I sewed around the layout to adhere the sequins in black and gold. I switch between a straight and a zigzag stitch for a little interest. I was trying to find subtle ways to embellish the page without overwhelming the layout due to its size.

I added some ribbon for some texture. Man, I love those polka dots!

That tree is so beautiful. I cannot wait to get back to Animal Kingdom for the new Pandora section of the park. I've heard amazing things!

I hope you're inspired by Scrappy Christmas in July over on the Instagrams. Falalalala!

Background paper - Crate Paper, Dear Lizzy, Documentary 
Gold foil papers - Mambi, Modern Metallics 
Triangle paper - Crate paper, Maggie Holmes, Confetti 
Washi tape - Recollections by Michael's 
Alphas - Thickers, American Crafts

Thanks for looking!

Stay LITTLE - a LM challenge

My third challenge is up today at the Lasting Memories blog! Today's challenge is to use a BIG title to document a BIG adventure!

What bigger adventure is there than parenthood?!

I took these sweet photos at the zoo of my little baby boy, and I just implore him to stay little! I wish these chubby sweet features and baby curls would last forever.

I double embossed the chipboard frames to highlight my favorites, and I picked out a ton of ephemera - basically all the bits I had that matched my layout.

I used my new Shimmerz Acritonez in Jade to stencil the hearts. It was more teal than  I expected, but let's be real, when is any shade of blue and green a problem here?

I cut the 'little' word with my Cricut and popped it up with foam dots.

I also used my Ink Road call me maybe stamp with the stencil background, along with somme Heidi Swapp shine.

I added a few sequins in teal, yellow and pink to round out the shine.

I hope you will play along with my third July prompt over at Lasting Memories and use a BIG title on your scrapbook layout this week!

Supplies:
Background - Pink Paislee
Ephemera - Shimelle, Bella BLVD, Studio Calico, Simple Stories,
Alphas - Cricut Outline font
"Stay" alphas - American Crafts Thickers
Chipboard - Maya Road
Heart stencil - Shimelle
Paint - Shimmerz
Heart Stamp - The Ink Road

Thanks for looking!

Santa Spoils

It's hump day!

I have another Scrappy Christmas in July page for you today AND a process video!

You can find the video here - thumbs up always appreciated.

And here is the layout!

I just love how proud he looks of his new ride - and the fact that he's in the cutest Christmas jammies! I could eat him up!

Santa brought a new trike!

A zig zag stitch holds some wool twine to add some texture, and I used the little gingerbread jewel to compliment the gingerbread kraft.

The video discusses how to get the most out of the product when your fave letters are running low!

Do you love to mix patterns!? I do! Just make sure they're different enough and not too busy. These work because the red buffalo check works as a solid basically, the gingerbread paper is a focus, and the snowflakes are a simple repetitive pattern - almost like a polka dot!

Gotta add that bling! Red foil letters and a glitter bow!

Supplies:
All patterned papers - American Crafts
Red thickers - American Crafts
Black foam alphas - Studio Calico
Chipboard stickers - Me and My Big Ideas.

Thanks for looking!

4th of July Adventure

It's time for another adventurous challenge over at Lasting Memories!

This week, I'm challenging you to create a layout about a 4th of July adventure. I realize that perhaps not everyone on the interwebs celebrates our American, 4th of July holiday, so if not, tweak the challnege to fit you! You can create a page with Red, White and Blue, and don't forget to sparkle!

I have another pocket page to share for today's challenge:

I lucked up this awesome Pebbles collection at Tuesday Morning called American and I adore it!

The gold foil ephemera is super fun!

I love the idea of sparkle on my 4th of July pages, so I included a fun shaker pocket next to my sparkler photo!

I also stamped the word firework for my title card, and embossing with blue powder.

I might've stocked up a little much on this awesome gold ribbon from the Dollar Tree last Christmas ... #noregrets.

Here's the backside of the page:

Isn't this Pebbles collection THE cutest?!
I just slapped a red firework ephemera on the back of the sparkler ephemera to make the shaker pocket work on both sides.

Everyone loves some Lachlan, so he got lots of facetime this night. And let's be real, these are obvs photos from 2016. Still recovering from the holiday weekend ths year!

Baby says it's good to be freeeee!

I really would love for you to be inspired by my adventure prompts this month - play along with us at Lasting Memories!

Thanks for looking!