Seven

I'm not a parent. Well, not to any humans. But I do have a nephew! His name is [Urijah] and if you've been following me for any bit of time, you've seen him on this blog. I love him to death! He's the only little person I've had the privilege of seeing grow up. On April 20th of this year he turned 7. SEVEN!!! Egads, where has the time gone?! I'm sure every parent...and even aunts and uncles have wondered the same.

I made a very special page to celebrate his birthday, using a sketch from the latest crop of [Simple Scrapper] goodies. And it was really simple and really easy to make! All it took was collecting some ink and a date stamp (used 3 on this page but whatevs) and going to town on some cardstock. 

I pulled colors from the shirt he was wearing in the photo. It had all of these bright little creatures on it. And then using a different ink pad for each year, I date stamped in bands across the page.

I also couldn't not use my [mega date stamp] on this page so I stamped directly onto the photo using white ink. I purchased those fantastic Bella Blvd heart enamels in every color (not joking, spent a tiny fortune on them!) so I dotted them around the page.

Below are close ups of the date stamping, which again, was so simple and fun to do!

cheers & besos,

The Good Life

You guys, this month's [Elle's Studio kit and exclusives] are live! And they're all bright and colorful and summery and fun! Here's a page I made using the [monthly kit] with the [ice cream wood veneer], [stamp set] and [cut file]. 

I loved those little ice cream cones! I knew instantly that I wanted to use this old photo from my London days. I was 22 in this photo and seriously living The Good Life!

So of course, I wanted to use Taylor Swift lyrics on the page! I added them directly to the background and included my journaling around them.

This [month's kit] had these great circle die cuts, so I opted to make them into more ice cream cones by using the [stamp set]. There's no such thing as too much when it comes to ice cream ;)

To nab the goods, head over to [Elle's Studio]. The [monthly kit] is available for $9.99 today only, so if you know you want it, get it today :)

cheers & besos,

Elle's Studio Spring Sale

It's happening! Head over to Elle's Studio to shop the spring [sale]! There are grab bags and individual items on mega discount.

While I was at it, I thought I'd share a page I made using this month's Elle's Studio [sketch]. As I'm a huge fan of circles, I totally loved this sketch! I rotated the elements 90 degrees and so much fun layering my photos, acrylic words and stamped pieces.

I completely loved the "We are living our Adventure" journaling tag from the [April kit]. But couldn't make the 3x4 size work. So I just cut out the sentiment placed it along the bottom of my photo. Totally made it work!

I used the [Travelouge stamps] and the [Go, See, Do acrylic words] to embellish this page.

And I used the arrows from the [puffy stickers] pack to help guide your eye around the page. Hands down, puffy stickers have to be my favorite type of embellishment!

cheers & besos,

2009

Hey y'all! I'm back home!! So excited to be here after a whirlwind week of travel. I'm also so excited to share this page with you. It's one of my favorites that I've made in awhile.

I have a lot to say about this page and not much time to say it in. So here goes:

I made this page as part of the Super Simple Scrapbook Challenges class over at Big Picture Classes. I'm loving this class! But I haven't had much time to actually play along. This is for Challenge #1--build a block and fill it in.

I went to my box of new supplies and pulled out patterned papers in red, blue, yellow and gray (from a Studio Calico kit) and cut them into strips to anchor alongside each photo.

Most of the embellishments are stamps from the October Ali Edward's Story Stamp. That month was all about telling real stories, maybe the not so shiny ones. I didn't really intend to tell this particular story until I pulled out the stamp set. I thought I'd write about Matt's and my 6 year relationship and all of the highs and lows of it. Instead, I chose to tell the story of 2009. The hardest year of my life and when these photos were taken.

Journaling Reads: 
2009 was the dark year. It was the unhappiest year of my life. I was depressed. I was lonely. I was missing my amazing life and my fantastic friends. I was missing my boyfriend. I was angry with my parents and unhappy about being back in San Antonio.

I had just finished living my dream. I had been living abroad, having crazy new adventures every week and visiting exotic places every month. I had a ready group of playmates that were equally filled with wanderlust.

But in just a few short weeks I went from having the life I always wanted, to coming back to a place that had nothing for me. No jobs, no friends, no adventures.

And it took a very long time for me to dig myself out of that. I was anxious and unhappy. There were times when I didn’t want to leave the house for days.

I was in the craziest headspace when I decided to visit Matt in Thailand. I went for a week and felt miserable the whole time. We barely left the apartment because I was so agoraphobic about being out in the city. Doesn’t look like it does it? While pictures may be worth a thousand words, it doesn’t mean they tell the whole story.

Things turned around in 2010. I slowly emerged from my haze and made my way back into the land of the living. I found a job (two at once even!) and moved to Houston. I got to live in the same city as Matt for the first time in over a year and a half.

Although I wouldn’t ever want to live through it again, I am thankful for 2009. It was the year that Urijah was born, when I became an aunt. And if I had been working and hadn’t been home I never would have got to spend the time that I did with Uncle Joe. We lost him that September.

2009, you were undoubtedly my worst year of life. But I do thank you for what you did give to me: a beautiful nephew and much needed time with my family.

I typed it all out and tucked it into a mini paper bag that I added behind my central block. You can see it just peaking out on the left side there.

I think what I love so much about this page is the awesome colors and the real story that I shared. One that I really never would have it I hadn't picked these photos for the Super Simple Scrapbook Challenges class or if I hadn't pulled out the Ali Edward's Story Stamp.

See! This is why products and classes are awesome. They help you get to points you might not have otherwise. 

This page right here, it's all about why I scrapbook.

cheers & besos,

Hi 5!

Look at that cute little face. Yes, he's scowling but it isn't for the reason that you think! He was sooo sick. Like terribly sick. And we didn't realize that until he was already at the house. We hung out for a bit, ate some cupcakes and then took him home, I promise!

But let me chat a minute about this page. It's the last page I made using the Island Paradise kit. I made this for the layering challenge Tessa posted over on the Scrapbook Circle blog. This page features a TON of layering, as you can see.

I also used those cute foxes from the Tiki Torch Add-on. Can you see his fox folding chair in the background there? It's Urijah sized and adorable.

I built up my layers under the photo and on top of the photo and used a formula of layers in three different spots. I love how chunky it ended up being.

I hope you have a lovely weekend! I'm so excited for this three day weekend =)

cheers & besos,

Dorm Life

It would seem I'm into double page layouts using 4x6 photos lately! This is the third one I've made in the last few weeks =) 

This particular page is for the Art + Science right brained ideation challenge. I had to go through patterned paper to see what reminded me of a place or a space.

For me, that yellow polka dot reminded me of the bulletin board I painted for my dorm room. And then I found that teal floral and it pulled a lot of the colors together. I love the mix of patterns I got to use!

I designed these four little 2x3 cards in Silhouette using just fonts and icons. They're to represent the canvases I painted for this room and hung above my bed. Can you see them in the first horizontal photo above?

I also added tape around the edges. That's to remind you of the bulletin board I painted and the jumping off point for the page.

I made sure to capitalize on the negatives from the journaling spots and included them around the page.

I'm so excited to have these photos scrapbooked. They brought back some good memories from college. I made a page of my freshman dorm back when I was in college. I will have to take it out and snap some photos so you can see the difference!

Until then, Happy Monday! For me, it's a 2 day week =)

cheers & besos,

National Scrapbook Day 2014

Jennifer Wilson's NSD pages had me so inspired to use that fab SC NSD Mini kit! Here's what I came up with. I pretty much used the whole thing, with the exception of a few of the embellishments.

I've shared this on message boards and with my fellow SSers but I typically don't get to properly enjoy NSD. And that's because it's right around the same time as our biggest work event. This year I managed to squeeze in some scrapbooking on the day, but really I should have been working!

I've said it many times (4 times actually, as long as I've been working at the Consulate) but I've never scrapbooked about it before. And I really didn't want that wood veneer date to go to waste. So that's how I came up with the page

I wanted (and want to continue) to use project life cards on my pages. So I placed them around the page and tried to figure out how to incorporate them as photo mats. I knew from the beginning I was going to have to do a double page layout. It meant that was a lot of empty space. But I prefer white space to a busy over crowded canvas.

I think I used all but 2 of the SC NSD Stamp set. Love it when I get to do that! It makes me feel like it was a good purchase =)

I'm so happy with how this page came out. It was just fun to play around with pretty products, to see what came out.

cheers & besos,

U R 5

Hey there! I have something a wee bit different to share, a non-PL pocket page! Pssssttt....I loved it =) 

We celebrated Urijah's 5th birthday on Saturday. My parents and brother drove in from San Antonio to spend the day with our favorite little guy. Bless his heart, he was soooo sick! But he kept trying to have fun. 

I snapped a few dozen photos and whittled my scrapbook worthy selections down to these few. I thought the randomness of them all would be perfect in the pocket page format.

For these spreads, I used a whole amalgamation of Studio Calico Project Life cards and also some Silhouette cuts. The front side was a green and blue color scheme and the back side was black, yellow and red. I think the monochromatic color schemes are my favorite part!

To spice it up a bit, I used my gelatos to custom color this card the the big 5. I really liked the bright pop of color it added to the spread.

My journaling was printed on a shipping tag and tucked into this stripped paper bag. It matched the colors so perfectly! I also couldn't resist adding a skull and crossbones. This one was so cute!

I see your value pocket page. You made things quick and easy. You also forced my brain to think things through a bit differently. And that is always a good thing.

cheers & besos,

Mixed Media: Weekend

I have been hemming and hawing over here trying to decide if I should share this layout, or a bunch of layouts, or a giveaway that's coming up. But no, I just need to not think too much and post!!

Ok. Here goes.

How was your weekend? Mine was lovely. I spent a happy Saturday in a mixed media frenzy. I cranked out three pages using gesso, modeling paste, mists, neocolors, gelatos, stamps and stencils. I was only planning to make the one page but was so inspired to keep playing. Celine's video from her Mixed Media class are what got me started. To note: you can still sign up!

Here's the first page I made in a blue and green color scheme. It was my first stab at the whole thing. And I thought while I was at it, I'd try a new approach. I just went to town on the paper and didn't think about my end game. I don't often create a background page before deciding on photo placement and size. But since this was my first attempt, I gave myself permission to just play and see and how it went.

I ended up really loving the process! I discovered new fun techniques (like playing with Neocolors) and really just lost myself in the play. So much so that when I went to create a "normal" page after this, I just couldn't get it going!

Since I had enjoyed the artistic play so much, I knew I couldn't stop. Creating pages like this is a bit more labor intensive. So I knew that if I had the desire to do it, I'd better keep at it while the iron was hot!

The background paper is the real star of this show, so I kept the embellishing to a minimum. These are so soooo old rub-ons from Making Memories. I'm thinking Heidi Swapp must have worked for them back then. It looks like her handwriting, no?

A smattering of patterned paper and a Two Peas flair + tape, an enamel shape and some stamping around the photo are what did the trick.

...and I made it through there relatively unscathed. I have no idea why the hemming and hawing over the what and the when was taking up so much space in my brain! I have to remember to just let go and dive in sometimes.

With that said, I'll be sharing the other pages I concocted through out the week and I have a fabulous giveaway coming at you as well! Check back for that.

Ok back to real life. Off to shower before Game of Thrones starts!

cheers & besos,