Growing our family - a SBC sketch

Today we have a lovely sketch from Scrapbook Challenges.

It's a fun patchwork of pretty paper! I had a perfect Crate Paper stack of papers that coordinate so lovely with one another, that they were perfect for a photo from my cousin's wedding we recently attended. My son was the ring bearer. The bride was gorgeous, and the wedding was sweltering but beautiful!

I used papers from Crate Paper's Confetti Stack. The glitter letters are from Target's dollar spot. The gray alphas are Elle's Studio. And the beautiful die cut flowers are Maggie Holmes. ( You will see plenty of these popping up on my work here lately, and they were in a HUGE pack for only $1.50 at Tuesday Morning! #ftw!)

Thanks for looking, and go play along at Scrapbook Challenges this month.

Happy Family - May Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop

Thanks for visiting today! The Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog hop is underway. You should have arrived here from Elaine's blog.

I used my Sparklers kit to create a fun layout using one of the sketches from the Counterfeit Kit blog.

Here's the original sketch:

I didn't have small photos so I improvised. I cut the cute little polaroid frames from my cricut.

And that gold glitter ribbon is to die for! And the puffy stickers - oh so cute!

Supplies:

Paper - Crate Paper Confetti stack
Glitter and turquoise ribbon - Maggie Holmes
Frames - cut with Cricut
Happy, alphas and star stickers - Studio Calico

Here's a list of all the blogs in the hop in case you get lost!

CKCB
Jemma
Tina
Jane
Julene
Elaine
Natalie <--You are HERE
Lisa <--- Go HERE next!


Thanks for looking!

Remembering our Nana

My grandmother passed away the other day. I made this page to document the last, very important words she said to me.

She passed on St. Patrick's Day. I had taken a good shot of my boys earlier that morning before school, and it works perfectly for the page in memory of her.

I journaled the details around the photo.

I really wanted the quote to be remembered, so I decided to diecut it to fit the entire page.

Supplies:
Green Bazzil Cardstock
Pattern Papers and glitter clovers from The Paper Studio
Words cut with Cricut
Green Enamel by Studio Calico
Chipboard sticker by Me and My Big Ideas

Thanks for looking!

Moms are important! A simple & clean layout.

We have a very rainy & gross President's Day going on here today, so I am trying to make the most of it and work on some layouts and photo editing.

I completed a page for our Mothers today with my new Studio Calico kit. The page goes with the sketch crew crush over at Scrapbook Challenges where the challenge was to use a white background. It also goes with the February mood board over at Creating with Paper and More. The mood board inspiration I used from this board was the birds, love, hand lettering and flowers.

Here are some details:

Thanks for looking!

Real Talk: Thank God for memories

Do you ever get emotional while scrapbooking?

I do. It usually revolves around pictures of my sweet boys and realizing how much they've grown & aren't stopping!

Today it was for my grandmother. Times are hard for our family right now because her health is failing, and it's very sad.

But thank God for our good memories and documenting those memories. This is why I do what I do. We will always have something tangible to look back at and remember all the good times. I will have photos to back up the stories I tell my boys about things they never knew or don't remember.

I made this page today of the first time my grandmother met my new babe.

Details:

Scrapbooks don't have to be fancy. You don't have to decorate your pages. I make detailed scrapbook pages because it is my creative outlet & I enjoy it. But things like Project Life make "scrapbooking" so so so easy and available to everyone. Even just printing photos and putting them in album sleeves like people used to do so long ago! We should print our photos. Spend time as families looking at them and reliving our favorite times together. Teach our children about our history. Enjoy our memories!

Thanks for looking! Document your life!

Dig in - a mood board challenge!

I completed a beach layout for the January Mood Board Challenge over at Scrapbook Challenges!

I like the idea of using these colors which would traditional probably not be used in a beach layout. But I felt like they went well with the filter on my photos. I loved these pics of my boy playing with my dad, his Papa. He has the sweetest expression of pure joy on his face!

Gosh, Isn't vacation wonderful?! It's like non-stop playing for week when we're at the beach.

I used a couple Studio Calico kits to create most of this page, with a few other items from my craft room stash. You can check out most vendors tagged in the photo on my Instagram account.

Thanks for looking!

Freedom: A Memorial Day page

I started following a fun blog this week called Scrapbook Challenges, and I loved when they posted a great 1 photo sketch yesterday because I have a lot of 1 photo 12x12s waiting for sweet layouts in the recent beach photos I printed.

I really really love this layout! Doesn't hurt that it was one of my fave photos from our trip.

Here's a close up:

I got the cute little bicycle paper at my favorite Scrapbook store in Pigeon Forge a while back. The rest was scrap/stash paper. I got the firework "buttons" and ribbon on clearance at Hobby Lobby and the rain dots in a value pack from JoAnns. The gold letters are from the HipKit club, a crate paper product. The label placards were a garage sale find! I hadn't done distressed papers for a bit, so I was in the mood today.

Thanks for looking!

Dreaming of a warmer day...

Today was a holiday for me from work. It was also in the teens outside. So, how better to spend the day than scrapbooking a beach vacation!?

You guys. I. CRANKED. THEM. OUT.

First I did a couple of traditional layouts. This is the "title" page, if you will, for the vacation portion of our family album. I took this shot with the panorama lens on my iPhone!

Ahhh, it just makes me want to go to the beach right now!

This is my favorite layout of the day & you can check out the supply vendors on my Instagram:

This is a close up of the cute little octopus that I cut with my cricut & a shot of one of the pics of my cutie:

I was so happy how many pocket pages/Project Life pages I got accomplished today. I love traditional layouts, but when you have tons of photos of a vacation, you sometimes need to just get many of them together in pocket pages for the sake of time and sanity. I kept them pretty simple, but they're cheery & bright, and I love them!

I hope you got some inspiration here. Know that all of this only took me about 3 hours or so.... Meaning, anyone with the will can scrapbook! You could use only pocket page cards and photos without any other embellishments, and accomplish a very beautiful scrapbook of memories for your family to enjoy forever.

Thanks for looking!!

say cheers!

Trying to get the Disney vacation scrapbook from this summer nailed down in order to focus on family scrapbooking! I loved using this lovely sketch:

from My creative sketches.

My two favorite guys!

Check out some of the supply credit at my Instagram account (link on the left).

Thanks for looking!

Trick or Treat: I"m here for your booty!

Hahaha! I just couldn't resist. My little guy was a pirate last Halloween & even though it doesn't show his sweet face, this is my favorite picture of him from Halloween night - checking out his pirate's booty.

It was a freezing cold Halloween night, and so many of the kids in the neighborhood did not go out, so the houses we visited were extra-generous! We pulled him in a wagon decorated like a pirate ship, braved the cold, & made some memories.

I LOVE the layout for this favorite photo.

I used some new paper I got on my last trip to my scrapbooking mecca, The Scrapbook Store and Clearance Center in Pigeon Forge. I used the color challenge prompts from Scrap Much?.

Here are a couple of detail shots:

I used my cricut to made the skull and crossbones cut out on the banner. Inked all papers & used some tiny brads to showcase the opposite side of the paper too pretty to hide!

I'm certain I've mentioned it before, but Miss Kate's Cuttables Website is amazeballs & offers a free cut every day. They're so cute! That's where this great Trick or Treat title came from.

Thanks for looking & HAPPY HALLOWEEN SEASON!

The best job...

I'm working my way through the year's family scrapbook - jumping around layouts, and I had the perfect photos to correspond with the October sketch challenge at Scrapbook Circle!

I documented my mother's day this year, which was #blessed by two babies!

I used Heidi Grace and Amy Tangerine for American Crafts supplies. I love using the girly pink papers and accessories, since I don't get much opportunity for those with a husband, a boy, and another boy on the way!

Check out details on my Instagram, link to the left.

Thanks for looking!

He's going to be a BIG Brother!

I created a page for my sweet son for a layout challenge over at the GrandDiva's Creative Corner & Creating with Paper and More blogs. It was fun to tell our parents we are expecting again because I do not think they were expecting it so soon (ha, neither were we!).

I used the sketch at GrandDiva's for the layout & the word challenge at Creating with Paper with the word BROTHER. Heath, my son, didn't really get it at first, but now that we are 3 months away and talk about it quite a bit, I think he is starting to understand what it means that he will be a Big Brother. However, he will still not be ready to share all his favorite people, I'm afraid! I cannot wait to meet my new little guy, and see how the two interact. I hope they will be best friends!

Thanks for looking! And check out my Instagram account (link to the left in the photo) to see other pages that I haven't blogged about.

Everything was Golden.

I'm super excited about this post because I LOVE my golden double page layout!

The lovely ladies at Scrap Much? blog had a super fun colour challenge this month with the color of the moment, Gold. I picked some of my favorite pictures of my little guy to scrap from a day when we took a rainy walk & puddle jumped. It was a special memory.

My photo overlay did not fit aligned with the top of my photo, but I realized it worked perfectly when I cut it, and adding the eyelets just let me add to the gold theme. I used my Cricut explore & metallic pens to draw the arrows at the top of the page. The large arrows are from the Holidays Through the Year Iron-On cartridge & the small arrows are from the Boho Graphics Iron-On cartridge. The metallic gold card & lovely stickers are Me and my big ideas. We are Memory Keepers Paper & K&Company chipboard complete the page.

Now for the second page of my layout! I just love how it turned out & I was able to use almost only Mambi (Me and My Big Ideas) products. Now let me tell you. This company had THE most KILLER black-Friday sale last year. I received a huge box of their products as a Christmas gift as a result of this sale & I basically use at least one of the items in every single craft I make! So, I know it's early, but seriously stay on the look-out for their Black-Friday deals again this year. I know I will!

love. Love. LOVE!

I really enjoy the look of sticking the pins through the plastic protector on the bottom right pocket. Oh & I also really adore the little frames I cut on my Cricut. I got these free online here & here!

Gold & Metallic & Glitter OHMY!

Thanks for looking!

Magical Love: a Disneyworld scrapbook page

A few weeks ago my little family of 3 took a quick vacay down to Disneyworld & it was FABULOUS! We had so much fun, and it was amazing to watch my son & his sweet wonder and excitement at the magic of everything.

I have since been very excited to document the trip, which is making the scrapbook come along nicely. I'm using Simple Stories "Say Cheese" collection to keep a theme throughout the book, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. I even was able to incorporate my second sketch challenge with this scrapbook & it has turned out to be one of my favorite pages!

I used the August sketch over at Boys Rule Scrapbook Kits blog. I love it! I also love that I have this "selfie" of my husband & I. Nowadays we do not get a ton of photos with just the two of us, and I'm sure they will become more rare as another little boy enters our family in November {yes, I went to Disneyworld in Florida in July while pregnant, & no, I do NOT recommend it!}.

Here's a close up of the title, which I, again, just love.

You can check out my Instagram for links to companies of some of the products used (link in photo on left sidebar). Go participate in the sketch challenges - you won't be disappointed!

Thanks for looking!

I'm so crafty I make people

I already had an idea in my head for the title to this page, and then the Challenge over at The Paper Girls Challenge blog fit so nicely, I just had to implement!

The challenge is to use large letters. I picked the background paper & everything else kind of fell into place. I love when that happens!

Here is a close up of some of my favorite parts. Those Me and My Big Ideas stickers say the perfect things!

Check out my Instagram page (link to the left) for tags of the product companies used. Challenge found here.

Thanks for looking!

Happy New Year!

Well it's 2012, and I'm excited to see what God has in store for us this year. It has been a great ride so far! In 2011 we realized some of our goals, to include a European adventure & Eric obtained his insurance license. (Call him!)

In 2012 we have a grand plan of going to Eric's birthplace, Honolulu, Hawaii. We booked our flights yesterday, I'm super excited!

I also have home improvement projects dancing in my head, so stay tuned for those updates. Eric is becoming better at his wood-crafting, so I have to put it to good use, right?

The following are some recent projects we've completed:

Christmas gift corn hole boards - we made some UT and some Preds





Infinity scarf/cowl










My prettiest card to date!


Thanks for looking!