London Design Museum

Hiya! I hope everyone here in the USA had the loveliest of Thanksgiving. And everyone outside of the  USA had an equally lovely Thursday. MT and I drove over to San Antonio for a feast put on by my mama. But we're already back in Houston. AND I'm already about to get on a plane tonight.

It's the EU for me this week! I'll be in London for a night then to a small city on the East coast of the UK for training. But after that I'm bound for Basel, Switzerland! I'm planning to visit a Christmas market, hit up some museums, catch up with an old friend. I'm so excited--just have to get through the work part first.

Getting to travel for work is fun! and exciting! and down right exhausting. and sometimes a bit boring and tedious. Also your time isn't your own, which too me is the biggest negative. I'd say the pro's definitely outweigh the con's but want to paint an accurate picture about the whole experience.

For me personally, traveling for work means getting to go back to the UK a few times a year. This year, I'll have visited 4 times! Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Newcastle, St. Andrew's and London have been on the itinerary this year. With several repeats up to Scotland, but most importantly to my beloved London.

I made this layout using a Simple Scrapper sketch and an older story starter. My journaling is about traveling to the same place over and over again. The photos are of a Paul Smith exhibition at the Design Museum in London. But the journaling is about London.

Instead of journaling only about the exhibition and it's awesomeness, I wrote about getting to explore even more of my beloved city, getting to discover more little nocks and crannies. And maybe, just maybe falling more in love with it more than I have before.

I love that I got this story out of these photos. If I hadn't have had the Simple Scrapper story starter, it would most definitely have been just about the exhibition. I love that those things get me to look at my photos in a different way. I love the challenge of pairing a sketch AND a story. I'm not usually challenged to do both. But it worked!

Journaling Reads:

It’s no secret I love London. Living there forever changed me and set me on a course different from one I ever imagined. I practically live, breath and sleep London. Especially when you consider the fact that I work for the British. This year I’ve visited London 3 times and I’ve been able to get back a few times every year since 2011. It means that I get to maintain my love affair with that city, getting to know it even better the more I return. It also means I get to explore more of its nooks and crannies. Discover new awesome places and see some truly great things. Over the summer I wandered farther down the Southbank than I ever had and got to tour the London Design Museum. The feature was a Paul Smith retrospective that I loved. The bright bold colors, the quirky twists. Oh it was divine! My two favorites were the stripped mini cooper and a button wall 2 stories high!  I may visit this city often, but there’s no way I could ever get my full. It’s just to rich and vibrant, much like the colorful designer who’s work I got to admire on this sunny day in London.

Well, lots to do today before I get on the plane. But I'm so excited to get there. This trip I only have half a day in London. It isn't a lot but it's enough to get my fix :)

cheers & besos,

Make Magic

I have the first of my Simple Scrapper creative team assignments to share! The December theme is all about magic. Let me tell you, it was so inspirational. I had a lot of ideas for magic and the story starters helped me narrow it down to something I was so excited to write about. The magic of creativity! 

Part of our assignment was to use an older sketch and I adored this one with paired with the Walden PL kit. I made a each of these into mini "books" using washi tape, since this is all about the magic of creativity and scrapbooking.

Journaling Reads:
"For me, creating is magic. And scrapbooking is my favorite creative outlet. It starts with an idea, a foggy thought and grows into a tangible thing.  A page and later a book, something you can pick up, touch and hold."

"Scrapbooking feeds my creativity. It keeps my brain synapses firing. It pushes me to think differently, come at a problem from another angle. It stretches my imagination and means I get to build with my hands. How often do we get to do that anymore?"

"I don’t do it often enough, but I absolutely love looking back at my scrapbooks. Getting lost in the pages and the adventures; looking back at my life and cherishing the wonderful memories I’ve managed to cultivate.  Scrapbooks have the power to stop time. Memories forever preserved in glossy photos paired with pretty papers."

"I love that every page I make surprises me. I love knowing there are creative projects and pages inside me already and all I have to do is sit at my desk and let them come out. My next favorite layout is percolating somewhere in my brain, waiting for the right photo, right story, right sheet of pretty paper. I actually think about this a lot. For me, that’s so exciting!"

"And these scrapbooks all lined up on my shelves, not only do they hold my stories, they also hold their own particular brand of magic. My magic. The magic of a life I’ve concocted. The product of my creativity spun out across the page, each layout a time capsule."

I had a lot of fun playing with this color combo and the star elements. I especially love those a transparency stars from the Poet Society PL kit.

Heidi Swapp's Cherish stamps were also so appropriate for a page about scrapbooking.

For my fellow Simple Scrappers watch out for this one in the December Spark magazine. Catch y'all on the Facebook group!

cheers & besos,

The Approach

I approached the Scrapbook Circle Little Moments kit a bit differently than I have with others. I sat down with all of the stuff and flipped through it, seeing what inspired me and what I most definitely wanted to use. I looked at the challenges I was assigned and considered how I wanted to approach them. And then I started to sketch and make notes and just brainstormed.

Here's a look at my sketchbook and my ideas for this kit and my pages. I have to say, it was pretty close to what I sketched!

As I mentioned, this isn't how I typically approach a kit. But it worked so well I'm doing it again! I have the December kit sitting all pretty in its box. I need to spread it out all over the bed and see what magic I can make with it on this dreary day in Houston. Stay tuned!

cheers & besos,

Little Moments Layouts

Tada! Look what I made guys! Six layouts with the latest Scrapbook Circle kits. I used Little Moments, the main kit, and the Sweetness Add On for these. They were the perfect mix of fall festive and modern chic.

I'll be updating the blog throughout the month with more details about these pages. I've also decided this is going to be the month of Scrapbook Circle on the blog. I have plans to explain a bit more about the challenge schedule, the designers, my kit process and I have a bit of a RAK I'll chat more about next week.

cheers & besos,

Simple Scrapper

I have an important (and fun!) announcement to make. 

I'm one of the new Creative Team members over at Simple Scrapper!! 

I could not be more thrilled. I have loved being a part of the SS community these past 11 months. I've made so many pages and had so much fun doing it. AND, I'm so excited to be working with the incomparable Jennifer Wilson. She is so fabulous and wonderful at helping scrapbookers hone down what they love to do and helping them find time to do it!

I'll not extoll to verbosely on how I'm behind blogging (as per usual), but I put this video together over the summer in the hopes of doing a round up of all the things I had created as part the Simple Scrapper community. This was just one example of a page made with one of the sketches/templates you get as part of the membership.

Click here to see the variety of projects I've made as part of the membership this year. 32 to be exact (I'm a nerd, I have a spreadsheet…)

And Jennifer throws some really great events. We're gearing up for Holiday Focus just now. It's a free event that it's meant to act a holiday scraping support group, helping you focus and complete whatever type of project you're hoping to make this holiday season!

If you're even slightly curious about SS. I'd suggest signing up for Holiday Focus. It's totally free and a nice warm introduction into the group.

Simple Scrapper has become one of my little homes on the web. I have loved sharing with this group of ladies over the year. I'm beyond excited to be working as part of the team!

cheers & besos,