Secret Garden Sketch with ACOT

I have another layout using the ACOT sketch challenge this week. Find my process video on my YouTube channel!

This is the original sketch: 

I translated it to fit a 6x8 page in my vacation album about the garden at Middelton Place. Secret Garden was my favorite book (and movie) growing up! This reminded me of it.

Thanks for looking!

xoxo, Natalie

2020 goals

Hey friends!

I decided to put a few of my crafty goals here in the blogosphere for some accountability, and mostly just for me to remember!

Crafting is and always will be just my hobby/passion. I am not here to make it a job ever. But I also feel as though if something is worth doing, it's worth doing well, so why not make goals to help do something well!

• Grow my YouTube channel
• I don't intend to try & promote it nonstop and I would definitely never go all Patreon on you, but I would like to increase my viewership to make my time making the videos seem well worth it. I love it when people tell me they enjoy my process or have learned something new! 
• I would love to increase viewership by creating more videos & by perhaps creating a few "series." I'm thinking a monthly flip through of an old, completed album? And some type of mixed media series - still in the thinking stage right now - Suggestions welcome!
• Host a Make & Take at Chicago Planner Conference (it's always good to set a goal you KNOW you're going to accomplish, right?)
• I am set to attend the CPC in February. I'm currently finalizing my projects with my incredible sponsor, A Cherry on Top, and I'm pumped about it! 
• I also want to see a little snow in Chicago, but not a ton. LOL - hoping they can pull that off for me.
• Complete my 2019 6x8 vacation album
• Complete my 2019 8.5x11 Disney album
• Create at least one MemoryDex card per week for our church's sermon topics/memory verse.

I feel like 5 goals is enough structure for me for sure.

2019 was an incredibly awesome crafty year for me! I am super proud of the consistency of my pages, the completed albums, the stories I told, and the design teams I made!  I feel really well settled into my #rusticsparkle style and comfortable just being me in the crafty endeavors. 

Cheers to a great, crafty 2020!!

Floral Travel with Momenta

I'm here today with a fun Momenta layout that completed my summer vacation album from last year!!

I worked my die cut machine in one of my favorite color schemes to create this page of me and my boys.

 I just cut a few patterned papers in a couple different florals and sewed them onto my page. Love these jewel toned papers from Momenta. They're perfect for the rustic part of my #rusticsparkle.

This awesome mixed media sticker fit the theme well too, adn I added a glitter strip below it to tie in with the glitter florals.

Yay! That makes me happy.

A completed album before we head to our next family vacay is also something that makes me happy!

You can find a flip through of the entire album on my YouTube channel today!

Thanks for looking, friends!

Reckless abandon - a LM challenge

Happy Sunday, friends!

Today I'm bringing you another Color me Happy layout from Lasting Memories challenge. I have been on a roll creating white background 8.5x11 layouts, so I decided to stick with that style for an entire album of beach layouts from our last beach vacation. I'm really happy with how today's layout turned out.

Here's the mood board from which I drew inspiration:

I used papers from Pink Paislee's Citrus Bliss collection - they're one of my favorite companies and this is one of my favorite collections! I'm a sucker for kelly green these days. It's always been one of my favorite colors.

I used Recollections shimmer watercolor crayons  and some alcohol packaging technique to creat the yellow background. Then I stamped with a lemon stamp and made some green splatters with another watercolor crayon and alcohol.

I wanted a big title to convey how much FUN we had this day. It was probably one of the best days of our lives so far. It was glorious and perfectly tempered. We just played in nature and enjoyed one another and I almost tear up just thinking about it. I know it's just a first of many to come - it's one of the first, if not the actual first trip the 4 of us have taken together without any other company.

I had a poll going on my Instagram stories about sequins being the new enamel dots, but there actually some who don't agree?! I'm aghast! Haha

It's always nice when a die cut you've been saving turns out to work perfectly on your page! This little "be grateful" bit was the perfect shade of yellow and sentiment for such a great memory.

I'm so glad God blessed me by being his Mommy! My sweet, fun-loving, adventurous, gorgeous boy who cooperated with my seemingly endless photo taking in exchange for  jumping cold cold waves this day!

I hope you will all go over to Lasting Memories and play along with this week's green and yellow challenge. It's a unique color board, and I love it! I can't wait to see what you make.

Thanks for looking!

Sip Sip Hooray!

Happy weekend, y'all!

I'm getting a little tired of these frigid temps, so I'm over here scrapping some summer layouts!

I added some sweet little Cocoa Daisy fronds to a circle and cut it with my Cricut. 

I couldn't decide if I wanted my embossed boardwalk on white with turquoise distress or vice versa, so I did both.

I typed on some labels for some journaling and added a sparkly coconut. I used some Navy twine to pull the navy from the alphas into the rest of my layout.

I have an  Instagram board of quotes, and I recently added Sip Sip Hooray to it. It was so perfect for this layout! I added "it's Vacay" to it as well because I LOVE it.

I added some sequin/puffy sticker clusters to tie the metallic from the alphas through the rest of the page.

I used some paint to try to add some opaque white splatters. It didn't work out as well as I wanted, but it'll do.

Wishing I was on the beach right now!

Supplies:
Frond paper - Amy Tangerine
labels, dot tag, puffy stickers, striped alphas - My Minds Eye
Coconut - Jolee's
Metallic alphas - American Crafts, Dear Lizzy
Cut files - cocoa daisy

Thanks for looking!

Beach Vibes, My Tribe - A Challenge YOURself layout

Happy Friday!

So so glad it's the freakin' weekend!

I'm also very happy with how my layout for today's post turned out! I used a lovely prompt from the wonderful blog, Challenge YOURself, to use sewing on a layout, as well as include a picture of myself.

Well, amidst all this fall crafting going on in my house, I have snuck in a pic from our recent beach trip!

I actually mentioned earlier in the year that one of my scrappy goals was to use more sewing on my pages, so this challenge was perfect for that #goal! Here's a close up of my sewing. I just ran lengths of wooly lime twine into my sewing machine as I zig-zag stitched around the border & I love the texture it added!

Originally the title was "My Tribe," but Beach Vibes just hit me & I had to go with it!

A few ephemera, some strategically placed to cover a body bit that was not so flattering, and boom - page done! I even used a negative from the cute little sun tab cut file I cut for my TN for this trip. I'm really enjoying my layers lately!

Supplies:
Striped patterned paper and vellum - Studio Calico
all other Patterned paper - Pink Paislee Citrus Bloom
Paper ephemera - Pebbles
Twine - Michaels
glitter alphas - Heidi Swapp
Transparent alphas - Amy Tangerine

Thanks for looking!

Lil' Studs - a Stuck?! sketch

Happy Monday everyone!

Today I'm bringing you a layout from our recent trip to the beach. I didn't get too many good ones of my boys together - they're just at difficult ages for that right now, but I love this one!

I used ths month's lovely sketh from Stuck?! sketches.

Here's a couple of detail shots:

My little studs!

supplies:
Patterned Paper - Studio Calico
Ephemera - Bella Blvd & Project Life
Alphas - Studio Calico

Thanks for looking!

My little explorer ~ Jan Mood Board ~ Jot Mag

I used the January Mood board challenge at Jot Magazine for inspiration for this sweet layout of my dear little boy & husband walking on the beach. I just adore it! The mood was sandy browns and white with distressed turquoise - just my style.

I wanted to keep it simple to focus on the sweetness of the photo.

I just love these 7 gypsies nautical themed ephemera!

I used a rub-on from My Mind's eye & some metal embellishments from JoAnn's and All My Memories with a piece of nautical looking rope & it was done!

Thanks for looking!

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!!

Best. Ride. Ever!

It's a new month for challenges & I got a "dillightful" surprise this morning! My layout was chosen to win the August prize over at the Creating with Paper and More blog! For my first month of participating in scrapbook challenges, I was pleasantly surprised. And even if you don't win prizes, it's lovely to have the motivation to complete those scrapbooking projects.

So I was highly motivated to begin the month's challenges again today. I participated in the challenges at The Rochelle Spears Blog & again with Kelly at Creating with Paper and more.

Rochelle has a tic tac toe challenge & I chose the row of pennants, stick pins, and #hashtag. I have to say that I just LOVE the pennant banner I made on my cricut. Not sure if you can make out the stick pin, but it says dreams & the hashtag is #magic.

Kelly's challenge is a color challenge & you have to use at least 3 of the colors in her challenge. I used red, yellow and charcoal/muted black.

This layout has a few more photos than I am used to working with on one page, but I am happy with how it turned out. I had to fit in all the sweet photos to document my son's first roller coaster ride with his daddy. He loved it & had to go a second time later in the evening. Wish I could have ridden too (prego probz) but it was a good experience for him & his daddy!

Thanks for looking & go participate in a scrapbooking challenge!

When you wish upon a star...

Happy Monday!

Today I have a fun Disney layout of a family selfie in front of Cinderella's castle. I really love the wish upon a star die cut that I acquired from Miss Kate Cuttables. I love using my Cricut!

Product details are tagged on my Instagram account (link to the left).

Here's a close up of the cut file.

Miss Kate has a free cut file everyday & I love stocking up my Design Studio that way!

Thanks for looking!