Treat Yoself with Paper House Productions!

Hey friends! I have another Life Crafted layout today using Paper House Productions supplies!

You can check out the process video on my channel.

I created this double spread of Starbucks Reserve & Michigan Avenue, then put some Starbucks ephemera between the two.

Make sure to check out the awesome Treat Yo'self sale going on at Paper House today!

As always, you can use my code PH20NATALIE for 20% off every day!

xoxo, Natalie

Love memories with You - a Lasting Memories page

Play along with this week's new challenge at Lasting Memories!

This is the layout I created:

You can find more details on my Instagram account. 

Hope you will play along!

Pumpkin Patch with Lasting Memories

Good morning, dear friends!

Today I'm bringing a traveler's notebook spread I created for this week's prompt over at Lasting Memories. This month is all about Fall Harvest! Scrap about your harvest or favorite plants/flowers/etc.

My spread is about the TWO pumpkins we grew in our yard this year. LOL - pitiful! At least they're pretty.

I love how these Echo Park die cut, Carta Bella stickers and striped paper from CraftSmithCo all fit together so well with my pumpkin photo.

As always I used my Rock Your Notebook custom insert.

I layered a vellum envelope behind the photo with some adhesive cork to pop it off the page.

I cut little notches in the sides of my background paper to keep the twine in place.

Here's the story of our sorry pumpkin patch! haha!

I hope you will play along with this week's challenge at Lasting Memories!

Rock Your Notebook - Helen GA

Hey friends!

I have a flip through of my recent traveler's notebook I created for a weekend trip I took with my dudes. You can find the full flip through video on my YouTube channel.

You can find your own, custom travelers notebooks in the Rock Your Notebook store. They are such a great way to document your little travel stories & house your paper ephemera from your trip.

Here are a few of my favorite parts of the TN.

I love this galaxy cover from Rock Your Notebook!

I got the cardstock standard size travelers notebook, and the pages are super thick and great for scrapbooking. There is no bleed through of ink, and the pages will hold plenty of layers of ephemera.

Tilt ins are a great way to show ephemera, I always put a few rolls of washi in my travel craft  bag.

Some pages didn't require too much journaling, so they are more decorative.

I did complete this page at home, not on the go, but I did do a good portion of the scrapping on the road! I was glad to get to do some of my favorite photos justice by scrapping them at home with the use of my die cut machine

Check out my video of the entire mini album/travelers notebook, and go grab your own custom notebook from Rock Your Notebook!

Olive Gold TNs! - a RYN project

Hello friends!

I have a project for Rock Your Notebook today - complete with a YouTube process video.

I used my mixed media black and white TN from the RYN store to create this embossed, stamped layout.

I have a discount code for you to get your very own mixed media, or any other custom designed, notebook!

I really love how the gold shows up so beautifully on the black paper! I want you to definitel check out the video, so I'll just pop a couple detail shots on here and hope you see more on YT.

Thanks for looking!

Quick snippets - a Rock Your Notebook spread

I made these quickest of quick little layouts in my traveler's notebook from Rock Your Notebook. I hope you'll be inspired to jot down your everyday moments and little stories. Go grab your favorite size, handmade notebook from Beth's store to get started!

A few pocket cards, some washi a stamp and a pen is all these quick layouts took to create!

How'd you Rock Your Notebook today!?

Festive February Title Page - a RYN process video

Hey friends!

I'm here today with my first project for the Rock Your Notebook design team!

I did a quick process video for the title page for my February 2018 traveler's notebook.

Beth's handmade books are so gorgeous! I decided to compliment the inside cover dots with a fun stripe stamp.

You can see the process here:

My YOUTUBE channel.

I hope you'll go check out all the amazing traveler's notebooks and accessories in the Rock Your Notebook store.

Supplies:
TN - Rock Your Notebook

stamps - Ink Road Stamps

Dies - Elle's Studio

Ink - Color Theory by Studio Calico

Thanks for looking!

Rock Your Notebook!

Hello friends!

I just want to do a quick pop over here to say I've joined the Rock Your Notebook design team, and I am so excited! The owner, Beth, is a super sweet person who makes great personalized notebooks. You can order a huge variety of sizes with so many great paper options.

The design team I'll be working with is so talented and wonderful. I love seeing their inspiration.

Here's the amazing supplies I received in my first order: A mixed media black and white notebook, a dashboard, a craft mat and a beautiful standard size TN with Rhodia dot grid paper.

I cannot wait to delve into these goodies. We are int he process of moving, and most of my craft supplies are currently in boxes which is quite heartbreaking. However, the beauty of travelers notebooks, and what first drew me to them is the portability! I will definitely be crafting while my supplies are boxed up!

Go check out the blog, and stay tuned for plenty of upcoming fun this month!

Little Summer Joy - Lesson 3 pt 2

Today I'm bringing you part 2 of Lesson 3 for Little Summer JOY - Get into YOUR story.

For this lesson, I find that I have much more journaling than photos & embellishments, which goes along with the lesson title nicely. I'm telling stories of my boys.

This layout tells about how my smallest is growing & marks the milestone of him finally saying Mama!

I also told a funny, sweet little story about what my oldest said the other day - without a photo! That hardly ever happens for me. But I didn't have a photo to go with the story, but it had to be told - written down and remembered.

I love how happy this baby is ALL the time! I hope he never changes. I really love this prompt to help capture what our lives are truly like right now.

I also recently had a chance to change my traveler's notebook cover up and make it a little more summery. When I bought it, it came with a separate elastic in a bright orange, so I've applied that as a more summery color.

I added a fun star from Freckled Fawn as a slide. I made a tassel at a Happy Planner class at Michaels Sunday and a friend gave me the other tassel. And I switched out my charm to a little camera.

So I first heard of Midori at the beginning of this year and immediately fell in love. I waited patiently for the husband to buy me one for Valentine's day. But in the meantime, I happened to be shopping at Essex of all places and I found Midori brand elastic bands! I immediately snatched them up since they were way on sale & I've been hoarding them away. But I broke them out so that I can fit 4 notebooks in my TN right now. I have my two LSJ, a personal thoughts book I started when I first received my TN & a listers gotta list that I don't necessarily always gotta do - working on it. Haha.

I plan on subscribing to Cocoa Daisy and doing their Daisydori planner in January too. I loved changing up my Traveler's Notebook & I already have big plans to decorate it for our Disney Christmas trip too! Haha.

It's not too late to start your own little summer joy project! And don't forget to share your work with the hashtag!

Thanks for looking!

My setup for Little Summer JOY 2016

We're just a couple days away from the official start of Little Summer JOY 2016 & I've been preparing my supplies in anticipation of all the wonderful lessons full of inspiration that Little Paper Projects is sure to bring!

I posted about my notebook cover the other day, as well as a link to the class. You can find that right here. It explains about the free class, as well as the optional paid portion of the class with additional features. You can also sign up by clicking the Join Me link to the left.

Today, I'm sharing my part II cover & some on-the-go traveler's notebook tips.

Traveler's Notebook Insert

So I bought the traveler's notebook inserts at Michael's from their new Boho collection meant for their "string journals." I typically keep my traveler's notebook inserts in somewhat of a vintage travel theme, but I decided to go all out bright and colorful for Little Summer JOY, so the crisp white inserts were great. However, upon review of the notebook organization suggestions, I realized that these little books did not have nearly enough pages to complete the project!

Never fear - this just means I got to make a part II notebook. I really enjoyed creating my first cover, so I pulled out the Pink Paislee citrus bliss stack & found another summery paper to brighten the book.

I really love the brightness of the cover as much as Part I!

To show you a little of what I did (it really is super simple), I just laid the insert flat upon the paper and lined up the straight edges. I left a couple inch strip to wrap around to the inside of the cover. I taped down the paper on the front cover, and used some washi tape to adhere the edge of the paper to the inside cover. Then I trimmed off the excess paper from the top. Here is a photo of the inside of the insert to demonstrate:

While you do not have to have a Traveler's Notebook cover to enjoy using a Traveler's Notebook insert, if you plan to travel or take your notebook anywhere outside the home, I suggest one for protection of your Little Summer JOY creation. They have them really inexpensively at Michael's, you can find plenty on Etsy, or you can DIY! There are loads of suggestions for this on the LPP blog.

What's in the bag?

The entire idea of the traveler's notebook, which began with Midori Traveler's Company in Japan, is to have a handheld notebook (hence, the perfect size) to carry with you at all times when you travel. It can hold multiple inserts, and the traditional, leather cover is designed to absorb some travel abuse and display it as character enhancing, worn in distress. I LOVE it.

I love the idea of carrying my TN with me outdoors & relaxing in nature & releasing my memories and thoughts into the journal. However, to create the types of layouts I desire in my TN inserts, I require some on-the-go supplies. Enter two little zipper bags.

I like to use two separate bags because of lessons learned from tops coming off stamp ink ...

I use a plastic pouch (this is my favorite one from Freckled Fawn) to hold pens, inks and stamps. It's also a good idea to carry a small pouch of some type of wet wipe (unless you have small children, because then we know you have them, how did you survive without them before?!) to clean your stamps.

The cloth pouch (from Joann's, I believe) holds paper ephemera, adhesive, washi tape, alphas, journaling cards, and anything else you may want to put in your TN. I would also put my instax photos in there until I was ready to stick them down.

They also sell zipper pouches made to fit inside a Traveler's Notebook cover, but I just do not believe they would hold enough supplies for my liking.

So when I travel or just go on a day trip where I plan to have time to journal, I will throw these pouches into my bag with my TN and go!

This summer I'm documenting my Little Summer JOY with my TN and my instax camera. Also, don't forget the film! :)

I really hope you'll consider participating in this fun summer project. It will be so inspirational & your final product is guaranteed to be phenomenal! Sign up here! You won't regret it!

Thanks for looking!

Little Summer JOY 2016

Y'all I'm so excited I've become involved with a new project for the next couple of months & I would love for you all to join!

My friends over at Little Paper Projects are working hard on their second year of Little Summer JOY - a free class and inspiration portal to encourage making your summer magical & documenting your adventure in a realistic, manageable and beautiful way. I'm so thrilled I have found this inspirational outlet & I cannot wait for the classes to start!

I discovered the traveler's notebook earlier this year, and I have really enjoyed incorporating it into my creative regime for documenting life. I LOVE that Little Paper Products is really focusing on the TN in the #LSJ2016 project. The traveler's notebook is so manageable for any level of crafter. Even if one does not consider oneself "crafty" you can make a TN beautiful. Its simplistic nature is what makes it so wonderful.

And there will be plenty of participants using other forms than a traveler's notebook. Any small notebook or album will work & be gorgeous. It's all about finding the documentation style that is best for you - the style you enjoy creating - and committing to finishing your summer album!

I created my first notebook's cover the other day & I really love how it turned out. It captures the bright fun of summer I wanted to represent.

I'm planning to use my Instax camera to document my summer, but there are so many options to create your summer joy!

Please consider joining FOR FREE over at Little Paper Projects & document your Little Summer Joy. If you are incredibly interested in this project, and wish to take it further, you can sign up for a paid version of the course here! With the paid version, you will receive additional technique lessons, videos and freebies. Use the code save5 before June 30th to save $5!!!

This project is going to be so much fun & I look forward to the MOUNTAINS of inspiration awaiting us over the few weeks. Join the Little Summer JOY movement, and you won't regret it! Remember to use the hashtag #littlesummerjoy so that we can all share in our beautiful creations.