5 Favorites

I was in Nashville for work last week so I fell behind with my blogging. So sorry about that! But here's a page I made last month for Scrapbook Circle.

I don't often make no photo pages but I thought it'd be fun to make a list of my 5 favorites right now.

The Basic Grey banners were the jumping off point for the page. They reminded me of something you'd hang on your gallery wall. So I made my own little gallery wall on a piece of white cardstock.

cheers & besos,

Superpower

It's Elle's Studio release day! And this kit + the new Little Moments collection are available for purchase. I was very excited about both! I love love loved all of the stars in the kit + the acrylic stars for sale this month. 

The colors made me think of my new favorite t-shirt. It's a bookshelf in the shape of Texas, my home state! Those colors plus the stars made me think I should scrapbook this idea that's been on my list for FOREVER!! I scrapbooked about my other superpower years ago, so it was time for my to scrapbook about this one.

Reading is my number one escape from reality. I can become totally engrossed in whatever I'm reading. The world around me disappears and I'm there right along with the characters or the author.

I think this has a lot to do with being an introvert. We spend a lot of time in our own heads. I can easily become lost there and not realize that I haven't spoken for hours or actually verbally contributed to the conversation at hand. I think there's another scrapbook page in there somewhere....Although I've made something similar before (seen here).

One of my latest favorite things has to be these amazing alpha stamps. This is like the perfect font! Classic and simple, you kind of can't go wrong. Be prepared to see these on everything I do for awhile now.

Do you have a superpower? I'm sure you do! Best scrapbook it girl. I'd love to see (and hear if you'd like to comment) about your superpowers!!

And if you're interested in scrapbooking your superpower with the Elle's Studio kit, it's available for $9.99 until midnight PST! After that, it's $11.99 until they're gone.

Also, be sure to swing by the site to see the Little Moments collection. Everything is available so you'll get first pick of this fun line. There's a special bundle price for a limited time, so if you want everything snag one of those while you can!

cheers & besos,

Adult Today

This month's edition of Spark Magazine (part of the Simple Scrapper membership) is out! I have two layouts in the sketches section. I love love loved the sketches this month! This first layout is about my first big purchase, a new to me car.

I started with a cream background and knew I wanted to use some bright and cheerful patterned paper. And then I simplified things for myself by only using paper from one mini paper pad (Pink Paislee Atlas), so all of the colors coordinated perfectly.

My Silhouette Cameo did most of the heavy lifting for this page. I used a font called Avenir which has become my go to for everything lately. It must have come standard on my Mac because I know I didn't pay $358 for it!!!

I tried to use as many car things as I could...which only consisted of two wood veneers and a stamp. Because how often is there a need for a car on your page?!

I stitched around each of the squares to give them a bit more texture. Ignore the wonkiness, I'm not the best seamstress. But I like the effect!

One of many things that make me happy about this page, is that I used "adult" as a verb. I feel like that's such a thing in pop culture right now and I'm glad I was able to capture in a small way.

cheers & besos,

Thirty One at 31

I have a tradition. Every year I write xx facts about me at xx year. You can see my past pages here: 28 at 28, 29 at 29, 30 at 30. This year I mixed it up a bit and decided to scrapbook this using a divided page protector. All of the products are from the Scrapbook Circle Mix Tape kit & Cassette add-on. I blogged about this over on the SBC blog. Head that away for more about this page (which I'm loving!)

cheers & besos,

Made of Stories

I was listening to an episode of the Paperclipping Roundtable yesterday and was so excited to hear this topic being discussed. The episode was all about the latest story based layouts the panelists had made. I love the topic and was so inspired by the journaling Stacy Julian read.

I made this layout before the episode was recorded, but I thought I'd share a bit more about the layout and the story....which was in fact all about stories! And more specifically, all about how unique my story is, or at least my perspective. 

Journaling Reads:

I’m so happy to be a scrapbooker and alongside that, a story teller. I’m the only one who gets to tell my stories. And stories I have in abundance! I’ve had some amazing adventures and feel so lucky to have this hobby in my life. I firmly believe everyone has a unique story to tell. And what makes my stories unique, is that they are all told from my perspective. I am (and am proud to be) a highly educated hispanic female born and raised in the United States. There aren’t very many of us, highly educated hispanic females that is (only 4.5% of the number of people who receive Master's degrees). Even fewer still, hispanic females aged 31 who aren’t also moms. And to narrow it down even more, highly educated hispanic females who aren’t moms and who actually scrapbook! I’m not saying I’m a unicorn, but I definitely know I have a specific perspective all my own. Whether it’s documenting my adventures, recording crazy pet antics, or simply sharing my every day life, I'm so thankful to have a hobby to share all of my stories in a beautiful and creative way!

The launching off point for the page was the gorgeous stamp set designed by Neat & Tangled. It's in this latest Scrapbook Circle kit (Mix Tape).

Tessa has been blogging our projects using the stamp set over on the Scrapbook Circle blog this week. Head there for even more inspiration with this awesome stamp!

I wanted this page to be simple, and to feature random photos that I knew I would probably not use on other pages. Well...and also a photo of me, the story teller. That one might get used again bc I actually did my hair and wore some make up.

I ended up stamping the sentiment over and over again, embossing it with white embossing powder and then spraying over top of it with two shades of pink mist. Gasp! I actually used mist like it was intended to be used. It's been awhile since that has happened. I went for a subtle ombre and love how it turned out.

I totally love this simple page and this little story about stories. I'm digging the meta-ness of it. I kind of want to do another one and make it all mathematical, getting down to the nitty gritty on statistics even! But that is a story (and a page) for another day.

cheers & besos,

Music?! Meh...

Hiya! I hope you had a fantastic weekend. I have the latest from Simple Scrapper to share today.

This month's theme was music. I will admit to you now, I'm pretty musically challenged. It's just not my thing. (More of a visual person, hence this hobby!!) I don't hate music. But I also only kind of like music.

The music I do listen to is limited and all over the place. There's really no rhyme or reason to it.  So this page was a compilation of the 10 records I listen to over and over again.

I also wanted to be sure to mention that today is the last day to sign up for Stash Bash! You guys, I'm so excited to jump into this event. I've found myself getting more excited as the week has gone by. Click here for more info!

 cheers & besos,

Thirty at 30

Finally getting around to making this yearly page. My round up of xx facts on my xx birthday. This was for my 30th! Which was only….8 months ago. Hey, at least it's done! Here's my 28 at 28 and 29 at 29 pages if you want to go back and look.

Tessa interviewed me about this page over on the Scrapbook Circle blog. Be sure to head over and read more about my page, my process and my love of these dope Scrapbook Circle kits.

cheers & besos,

Being a Girl

Hiya! I have another Scrapbook Circle kit layout to share. I so love working with these kits! They have the best mix of the latest and greatest products.

This month, Tessa asked me to work with the My Mind's Eye confetti from the Let's Do This main kit. I lived the variety of shapes and colors and had fun laying out this pattern. I was inspired by this piece of wall decor that I saw on Em Henderon's (a lovely interior designer) instagram account. 

Arranging them in this sunburst pattern added more impact, I think. And just a few sequins went a long way. I was really strategic about where I placed them. What you see is what you get, I wasn't letting a single bauble get covered up by photos or paper.

I have to add that I did this page backwards. I started with the sequins and the stitching, knowing I'd add a 4x6 photo to the page. But I didn't have a photo in mind when I started. I just created the base! And then I got stuck. I wasn't sure what I wanted to scrapbook so I left it for a few days.

I asked my boyfriend to weigh in and he suggested making a page about my nephew. But my response to him was, "No, it's too girly!" But there was my answer.

I decided to make a page about some of the awesome parts about being a girl! Fun make-up and lipsticks, gorgeous perfume bottles and pretty dresses. Plus fun female role models!

I staged my own mini still life photo shoot with stuff from my apartment and printed the photos out in a variety of different sizes, that I then hid behind my main photo.  I ended up creating a flip book on my page. Scroll down and you'll see the front and backs of each of the "flips" (what I just named them).

I've done this kind of thing on a few different projects and love the interactive element it adds. (Other flip projects found here)

The other day I found myself wishing for clear washi tape, you know, one you can't see. Then I had a "duh doi" moment when I realized they make that. It's called tape, Jamie. About a million places sell it. That's what I used to make my flips. I could have easily gone with something decorative but like the cleaner look for this page.

At the bottom of the pile was a list of 10 reasons I am loving about being a girl (although #10 is kind of a throw away).

I so love how this page came together! And I'm happy I didn't take the easy way out. I could have just used the photo of me with my new haircut and called it a day.

It was more work to stage and take the photos, edit and print them all out. But now that's it's done and the extra effort was expended, I'm so pleased with the result.

Tessa blogged about this layout on the Scrapbook Circle blog today. You can read more here.

cheers & besos,

Dreams vs Reality + RAK

Fresh off my post about Simple Scrapper's owner Jennifer Wilson, I thought I'd share my latest Simple Scrapper layout. It ended up being on the cover of this month's Spark Magazine!! You have no idea how excited that made me.

I've been published in a few different magazines. But getting the opportunity to share my work in Spark Magazine every month is such an honor. And on top of that, being on the cover! Let me telling you, I'm living some scrapbooking dreams y'all.

There may not be as many "traditional" scrapbook magazines out there, but if you join as a Simple Scrapper Premium Member you get a digital one chalk full of inspiration every month. And that's just one part of what it means to be part of Simple Scrapper. Y'all know I'm the biggest advocate for this community and it's no secret why. It's just that good. There's also an awesome new class coming up soon. You'll want to read to the end of this post find out more. **Hint: Giveaway info below**

Now on to the page, I used a Story Starter from February 2013 as well as a sketch from this month. If you've been following this blog for any length of time, you know how much I love circles! And this sketch called for a bunch 'o circles.

The layout is all about the hopes and dreams I had at twenty vs. my reality at thirty. I also share my hopes for forty. It was such fun journaling! I loved the little bullet points and making the lists.

I like making these big picture type pages. I like pulling together a grouping of unrelated photos, to illustrate the story. I also had fun printing a few of these photos in black and white and others in color.

I used tons of Studio Calico stuff on this page -- a lot of the embellishments came from the very beautiful Walden Add-on Baker Bridge. The background paper is from their Color Theory paper pack. I bought two packs because I thought they were such awesome neutral backgrounds.

I also had so much fun just putting this page together! It was the first time I had my new scrapbook space up and running and I was testing out how well I'd organized. I think I've finally figured out something that works for me! I'll be sharing my completed space later this month.

I can't tell you (clearly I can and do, quite often too!) how much I love being part of Simple Scrapper.  Creative team or not, I've always be inspired by the content and the community--and really, it just keeps getting better.

In March, Jennifer is putting on a brand new workshop called The Finishing Project. It's purpose is to help us tackle an unfinished project in just 4 weeks and also, to make a plan to tackle the rest. Having been a student of Jennifer's in the past, I'll bet that it's going to be amazing! You can read more about the class here.

Jennifer has generously allowed me to give away one spot in the class! 

For the chance to win, simply leave a comment below: I'd love to hear how many unfinished projects you have (Please also leave contact information so I can reach you if you win). The giveaway closes 11:59pm CST Wednesday, February 25th. I will randomly choose one winner and make the announcement on my blog Thursday, February 26th.  Best of luck!

cheers & besos,

Please note I am an affiliate of Simple Scrapper/Create More Media. All opinions, words and photos are my own.