Starting Points

I start pages a bunch of different ways.
Some times its because I want to scrap a particular photo.
Sometimes its because I want to play with fun product. (Or because I bought something and then felt guilty for not using it.)
Some times its for a challenge.
Some times its with a story in mind.

I started this one, because I wanted to use those awesome teepees on a page! It may have been why we made a teepee that day ;) But that page isn't about teepees. It's about Urijah and his play habits. With his autism, he tends to play alone, quietly in his own little world. It's part of what makes him, him.

I wanted to make a fun, colorful and playful page. The real jumping off point was that ombre washi. It's where I pulled the majority of my colors from and then I threw in some black and white. Loved the tribal look to that Glitz Design patterned paper. The background is very lightly stamped with one of their awesome rolling stamps. I couldn't pass up an opportunity to add more triangles.

What starts you down the road to making a page? Is it a story? A photo? Some fun product? I'd love to hear =)

cheers & besos,

LBD: Life in London

It's June guys! Can you believe it? I honestly cannot. Slow down a little time, will ya? But I'm also excited that it's the 7th because now I can start sharing Little Black Dress June Kit pages!! I had sooo much fun with this kit yall. Heck, I'm still creating with it! But that's for another day.

Today I'm sharing the title page I created for my London album. Check out the video to watch me create and share this page & my process and also a little bit about my time in London. In case you've ever wondered =)

Also, here's some close ups! Click each photo to see them enlarged. 

Journaling Reads:

Graduation. Ugh. Entry into the real world. Double ugh! I was so not ready for college to be over. But all good things have to end. And as graduation approached, I was so not sure what I wanted to do with my life. Where I wanted to be. What I wanted to be doing. And everyone kept asking. What are your plans? What are your plans? What the HECK were my plans?!

I remember so distinctly having a conversation with Tara & Claire. And this conversation is pretty much branded into my memory, mainly because Claire was dressed as Wilma from the Flintstones and Tara was dressed as a boxer (it was at a Halloween house party.)

Claire gave me the best piece of advice that day. She said, "think outside the box. What do you really want to do?" And the first thing that popped into my head was, MOVE TO EUROPE!!

Her words really resonated with me and so that Fall I started my planning and plotting. I Googled things, mainly "paid internship London" and the Mountbatten Programme kept popping up in my searhces. Not only would I get to move to London, have an apartment provided and have an internship set up for me with one of the world's largest corporations, I'd get paid on top of it! It was pretty much a no brainer.

Can you guess how this turned out? It ended up being the best year of my life!

I met so many amazing people and got to see and experience so many different placs. Plus, I got to know London as wlel. I loved getting to wake up every day in that city. I loved that i was home.

So thank you Claire, for your oh so wise words. Thanks also to my parents for their continual support of my ever increasingly crazy ideas. Thanks most importantly to London for all of the memories!

A small part of my heart stayed back in London when I left. And I only get to put it back in place when I'm visiting. Not to worry London, my love affair with you is nowhere near over. Until next time....

cheers & besos,

Safety First/First Mutt

Are you April Fools-ing today? I do NOT take part in this "holiday". I was the victim of a very terrible April Fools joke when I was younger and am still scared! (Got a tearful/hysterical call at 9pm at night saying someone was in the hospital. They weren't. It was a not at all pleasant experience.)

But cest le vie. I want to show you something cute instead. I've finished up my LBD assignment for the month, so now I'm just playing with paper and photos. 

I ordered some of the new(ish) Glitz Design Unchartered Waters line so I could scrapbook these photos of silly Cadie. I'm loving the nautical theme. I'm always on the hunt for it with all of the beach going my parents (and sometimes I) get to do. And of course I used nothing with the color blue...or green for that matter! 

I used a Shimelle.com sketch as the basis for this page. I'm determined to use them all this year! I'm 5/10 so halfway there =)

Instead of one photo, I pulled three and backed each of them with a journaling card. They made for the perfect border for this tinier photo size!

I also had fun creating custom die cuts with the help of my Silhouette. I used a few Studio Calico digital brushes and cut them out of Papertrey Ink cardstock (it's a heavy weight cardstock).

Then I colored each of them differently. The gold one is spray misted. The black is painted with chalkboard ink. And the pink I inked with chalk ink.

I also mixed up the title with glitter Thickers, letter stickers and circle stickers. I couldn't decide between First Mutt & Safety First so I ended up using them both!

cheers & besos,

Cadie Love

Ok so maybe it was more than a day, but today I'm sharing a page using the original sheet of Glitz Design patterned paper, that inspired my earlier Urijah layout.

It's a puppy page! 

This is Cadie, she's Urijah's dog but she lives at Gma and Gpa's house. And let me tell you, they ADORE their little girl!

She's a real cutie, I'll give her that. She's very silly and a little crazy but oh so loveable =)

I really wanted the paper to be the main focal point, so I just added a few black and white photo strips to the top and bottom of it, punched some hearts and added my journaling. Viola!

cheers & besos,