Inspiration Inventoried: My Sweetheart

I decided to go ahead and put together a quick Inspiration Inventoried video for this page, which was my favorite from the weekend.

Here are a few of the links I mentioned in the video:

[InkieQuill]

[ScrapStream No. 3]

InkieQuill [Heart Embellishments]

Jen Schow's [A Little Piece of my Heart] layout

Elle's Studio [Heart Digital Cut File]

And here are the still images from the page!

cheers & besos,

ScrapStream

I had so much freakin fun participating in Adele aka InkieQuill's ScrapStream No. 3! It was like cropping with a friend. I got up to my own scrapbook mischief and made five pages. I created with no rhyme or reason. Just went through some of my latest photos, printed them in sizes I thought would work (some didn't) and made pages without kits or parameters. Like I said, so much fun! 

If you're interested in watching the not live ScrapStream you can see it here [Part 1] [Part 2] I'm definitely planning to re-watch the parts I was asleep for.

I think I'll blog about one of these each day this week! So check back to find out more :)

cheers & besos,

8 1/2 x 11 Love

Bah! The colors in the photos are driving me nuts! They printed too dark and under exposed. I will most definitely be reprinting them here at home. So try not to let them distract you too much =)

I have a deep and abiding love for 8 1/2 x 11 sized layouts. There's just something about their proportions! I can't quite put my finger on it but they are definitely pleasing to my eyes. I wrote a post over on the Scrapbook Circle blog featuring the two 8 1/2 x 11 sized layouts I made with the You are my Favorite main and This was Fun add-on.

There are some master 8 1/2 x 11 scrappers out there. Off the top of my head I can think of Cathy Zielske, Mel Blackburn, Sasha Farina, & Marcy Penner.

Do you scrapbook in this size? Share some links in the comments if you're so inclined!

cheers & besos,

Valentine's Advent

I have something fun and special to share today. It's a little different but also a twist on something traditional. For Valentine's Day this year, I decided to make my boyfriend a Valentine's Advent Calendar. 

You see, in each of these little envelopes I added a fun memory of either him or the two of us. My plan is for us to look at one of these every day and remember some really great times.

I used every single paper from (my favorite) January Scrapbook Circle kit. Getting the extra patterned paper was the best thing for my projects this month. I just loved them all so much! And of course, I loved them all together.

Each little envelope is decorated with odds and ends from the kits, lots of love and hearts going on here.

There's just something about tiny things that are so fun and awesome! The envelope is a wafer thin die that I bought from Studio Calico.

I can't wait for him to see it (and for me to see his subtle man appreciation) and get to reminisce about our fun trips and silly sayings. Come on February 1st!

cheers & besos,

U & Me

This was the last page I made with my All You Need is Love Scrapbook Circle kit. I just couldn't work with a love themed kit and not make a page about one of my biggest loves, my nephew Urijah.

I pulled just an assortment of photos of the two of us. I'm now realizing we don't take many photos together and we totally need to rectify this! 

I loved the kit stencil and wanted to make sure I used it. I've never added modeling paste on top of Kraft before, so I really liked how this came out. It was a fairly quick and simple base to create.

I cut a bunch of rectangles and then punched hearts out of the middle. Then, cut both the heart and the rectangles in half and pieced them back together over white cardstock. You can see the white cardstock sticking out here and there. Believe it or not I actually was going for that look. It makes it feel a bit looser and more home made.

The title just might be my favorite part. I write all of the journaling on Urijah's pages to him. As always every "you" in the text is changed to "U". I like this touch. It makes me smile. The whole time I was working on this page I was hearing Mike Wozawski singing, over and over again.

cheers & besos,

End of my Twenties

I scrapbooked!! And I'm so excited to share a new page with y'all. You have no idea. I've missed scrapbooking and creative play, even blogging!

I wanted to play with the June Simple Scrappers sketches before the end of the month. This layout is based off of one. I loved all the hearts.

I've been wanting to do a "my favorites" page for awhile now. And knew I just wanted to use a cute picture of me. This photo of me and Mama at my cousin's wedding was the last one I took.

The theme of the page is my favorites at the end of my twenties. Just a few random things that I'm loving right now.

I ended up buying the Studio Calico Hello Hello scrapbook kit last month. It's the first scrapbook kit I've bought in awhile. I just loved the colors. It was fun to play with a kit for this page. Good prep for my new design team =)

 I used the SC Project Life stamps on this page. I waned more black and white elements on the page.

And that's all she wrote….about this page. I'm happy to be back guys! Can't wait to play & share more!

cheers & besos,

I Heart Scrapbooking

Behold my latest creation! It just might be one of my favorites.

I've never made a page about scrapbooking, one of my absolute favorite things to do! I have dozens and dozens of pages about travel but non about this hobby. I made a mini book once that was kind of in the theme. But with the help of a Simple Scrapper Jumpstart video (No. 3 to all my fellow SS) and the NSD stamp set from Studio Calico, I had just the tools to do it.

I love the bottom right hand side of the page. It came together seamlessly. The top however, did not. And that black paper is a sign of me covering something up and hoping to get it right!!

I was so inspired by Nicole Reaves' Read to You layout. I was enchanted by those little books!! And so I made my own mini scrapbooks.

There was a lot of synthesis of ideas and products pulled from several places. I like that my brain makes connections that help me mesh them all together on the page.

And the Amy Tangerine stuff just makes this page fun! A few weeks back I made a big purchase from Scrapbook.com. I order from them rarely but they had all most of what I wanted in stock and on sale! So I couldn't pass it up.

cheers & besos,

Stash Bash

We're doing a mini Stash Bash over at Simple Scrappers this weekend. And I'm playing along! I'm also going full force this weekend to see how many pages I can actually make! I started at 9am this morning and already cranked out a page!

I haven't started playing along with the challenges, but I did get my muscles warmed up. I printed these photos last week and had the paper and a few embellishments picked out but I hadn't done anything with this page. 

It came together so quickly, once I realized I didn't have to use the hearts as a my background paper but more as an accent.

So my goal for this weekend is to scrap and use up my stash. 

Play along with the challenges and mix in my new stuff and my old stuff.

I'll be sharing my progress here today. So keep checking back!

cheers & besos,

Lauren's Pages

A special little lady turned one last week. For her birthday, I contributed a few pages to her scrapbook. I spent a happy Saturday making these for her. It was fun to just play with my stash, no rhyme or reason, no challenges or assignments.

Find more Lauren pages here =)

cheers & besos,

50 Wishes Card

Egads! This month is slipping away from me! I feel like I'm losing all kinds of time. Just busy really, hopefully it'll slow down for a few weekends. And then come September, it'll get crazy again! 

So needless to say, I'm falling behind in blogging and classes and scrapping in general. I'm not so bothered, it means I'm making the memories I'll get to scrapbook later when it slows down!

This was meant to be a post for yesterday. Yesterday, because a certain adorable Mama turned the big 5-0. 50! I can't believe it really. She's a young mama, still full of gumption and spunk! I love her to bits.

For this year's birthday card, I wanted to include 50 hearts. Some of them got covered up with the bigger heart, but you get the picture. [See 2012's Card Here, See 2010's Card Here]

I used printables and digital brushes from my SC Toolbox class to create the card.

For dimension, I printed and punched a larger die cut, added some washi and glitter tape and then letter stickers and finally some enamel dots.

I played around in PSE and discovered how to add a gradient or ombre effect. Fun! I printed it out on vellum and taped it inside the card.

Happy Birthday lil Mama!!! I love you bunches and bunches!

cheers & besos,

Cheers Card

Greetings dearest blog readers! Apologies for the lack of posting this week. I've been busy tying up lose ends in preparation for my trip.

I'm off to Japan tomorrow! To see this girl, whom I haven't seen in 3.5 years. I can't believe it's been that long! To say I'm excited is an understatement. I'm completely stoked!

I'm staying with Sarah and her husband, in Zushi on the coast. So in preparation for being a house guest, I'm coming thank you card in tow. It is of course, London themed. Our favorite :)

I've not been neglecting my envelopes lately. Stamps, Huey splatters and washi usually do the trick.

I used my favorite Studio Calico background stamp, the street map of London to set the tone, cut out a heart and used washi tape to mimic a Union Jack.

...dipped the edges in Prima Fluid Edger to soften the black and white.

...and added a stamp and tape to the inside. It's all ready for me to write my note.

Alright then, I'm off to sleep. I have nearly 24 hours worth of travel to get through tomorrow. It's a pain, but will be worth it in the end!

I'll update when I can, I have a few more gifts to share in the next few weeks.
Sianara!

cheers & besos,

NSD: 30 Years

My parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary at the beginning of this month. I bought them a cake to celebrate. At least I got this one good photo out of them! They're the worst at letting me take their photo.

I used the aptly titled Crate Paper-Paper Heart line. I love the colors in this line, especially paired with that fabulous woodgrain.

This is for the SC Letter Stamps Challenge & 2Peas Beneath the Layer challenge.

Congrats Mama & Papi! 30 years is such an accomplishment in this day & age.

cheers & besos,