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!

Sparkly projects

Hey hey hey!

Just popping in to bring you a couple of small projects I've been working on lately.

First up, I won the entire Urban Chic collection from the WeRMemory Keepers blog! It was so exciting!

I decided to share the love and create some mini pocket letters for a couple ladies in my Happy Mail group. It was my first mini PL, and it was so fun!

I hope they enjoy these little goodies!

Next up, I have created the cover and title page for my October Daily this year! I had a little bit of a hard time finding an appropriate 6x8 album, but I found this lovely Simple Stories Album on Amazon.

This crepe paper/tulle/glitter ribbon will be a recurring Halloween theme this year. I sewed the crepe paper to the tulle, then I sewed the glitter ribbon & then I hot glued the entire thing to the album.

I cut the numbers from cardstock and just mixed my own black and silver glitter mix & adhered it with hot glue! I will have to be sure to not pack it with my decor that is stored in a hot attic!

I also created my title page. It was a lovely surprise to find the inside of the album was black and white polka dot! I love it!

I can hardly bring myself to use this gorgeous MME paper! I kept it relatively simple so the paper's beauty will shine.

I also am so all about sequins lately, of course I have to have a sequin pocket on my title page. The pocket card is Becky Higgins - another Halloween collection I super love.

I found a super cute pack of Halloween buttons at Tuesday Morning, so that's where the spider & spider web came from in the shaker pocket.

I can't wait to fill up this little album with October fun and make it chunky chunky chunky!

Supplies:

Mini PL - all paper Urban Chic from WeRMemory Keepers

Halloween album - Simple Stories
Glitter Ribbon from Dollar General
Something Wicked paper - My Mind's Eye
Hocus Pocus Card - Becky Higgins Project Life
Shaker sequins & confette - Dollar Tree

Thanks for looking!

Summer Papercrafting Projects

Happy Friday!

Today I'm taking a little break from Sizzlin' Summer to bring you some projects I've been working on this summer.

I've delved into the world of Pocket Letters & I love it! So far I have completed and mailed two letters. I have another in the works for the August Felicity Jane paper swap.

I sent a PL to a nice lady named Nan who said she enjoyed soft greens and yellows. I knew I had the perfect paper stack as soon as I read that!

I had so much fun using my stash to fill the pockets. I was surprised I had enough embellishments to fill the pockets with that theme, but I guess I have a lot!

I like to include a tea in my PLs too and I had a green one - Perfect!

I ended up having to use some washi that didn't quite match to ensure the items didn't fall out of the pockets, but I made sure to explain that to her in my little note, sent as such:

I also made a Disney PL friend at Pocket Letter Pals, who it turns out is going to Disneyworld at the EXACT same time my family is going this year! I'm hope we can meet up IRL and have a Dole whip!

This is the Disney themed PL I made for Cheryl:

Disney is one of my favorite things to scrap, and I'm sure excited about how this came out!

I used some funky paper straws, cut them apart, and hot glued some twine around them to make an embellishment. I adore the little felt hearts! I put some washi goodies in, and stamped the little quote card.

Since we are both visiting Disneyworld at Christmastime, I felt like peppermint mocha tea was appropriate! I had created this banner file for a Disneyworld page about a year ago, and had saved it in my projects in Cricut Design Studio, so it took hardly any time to make another with coordinating paper for my PL.

I saw a mailed PL on pinterest and attempted to recreate it. Mine is not quite as pretty, but I would still enjoy receiving something like it - I hope she did!

I addition to these Pocket Letters, Sizzlin Summer at Scrapbook Challenges, Little Summer JOY at Little Paper Projects, and other challenges in which I regularly participate, I'm preparing for a little beach getaway in a couple of weeks. I'm definitely ready for a vacation! However, I of course would never dream of not crafting the entire time I'm gone! So, I created a traveler's notebook insert for the trip. I wanted to do a custom insert mostly because the trip is not very long and we will spend much of the time on the beach, so I didn't need a book with very many pages.

So have you ever been to Tuesday Morning and seen the packages of paper, many sheets the exact same pattern, and wondered, "Who would buy this besides someone who owns a store?" No? Just me?

Haha, well I've often thought that. Except the other day I was there, and I had an epiphany! I found some American Crafts graph paper and thought, that's perfect for some traveler's notebook inserts! I purchased said paper and created my own inserts, quite inexpensively.

I used Pink Paislee's Citrus Bloom stack for my cover. I decorated it with a fun tag from the DCWV Ultimate Tag stack, some washi & Amy Tangerine Alphas.

So for the graph paper, it was blank on the other side. Never fear! I just faced the like sides together before folding. That way I have a graph opening and a white plain opening every other page, but never mixing graph with plain because that'd just be crazy, right!?

I can't wait to get to Gulf Shores & use it!

Also, here is my first page for Lesson 5 of Little Summer JOY - all about keeping it simple.

A simple, southern, summer rainstorm to do the soul some good.

I wanted to keep it super simple, so I just added some embellishment on the opposite page with a glassine bag filled with sequins, closed with washi and a Maggie Holmes flower.

I really love how it turned out.

I did the writing with a combination of Cricut cuts and stamps

It's not too late to join us at little summer joy - especially if you haven't done anything with your summer photos yet! Link to the left.

Well that's quite a long enough blog post for the day. Thanks for looking!

A Buzz Birthday - Part I

Today we have a series of pages from my son's 3rd Buzz Lightyear Birthday party. I'm calling it part one because I have the photos and big ideas for other pages, but they're not yet complete!

I wanted to keep this page simple because I just love the sweet look of Heath's face blowing out the candles, so I wanted that to be the focus. I used the glitter star cake toppers as part of my page to mirror the photos.

I also created a couple of pocket pages to document the decorations at the party. I feel like I spent a good amount of party planning making all these little details, so I'm really glad they were documented. I was 3 days away from giving birth at this party, so I was glad any of it happened!

Buzz was fun, but the little dude is now already planning a TMNT party! Ha - not sure if he realizes he will forevermore have to share his party with his little brother - they were born 3 years and 1 day apart!

Supplies:
White Cardstock - Craftsmith by Michaels
Glitter - Hobby Lobby
Alphas - Studio Calico
Pocket Cards - Me and My Big Ideas
Glitter background pocket cardstock - DCWV

Thanks for looking!