NSD 2014

I'm excited I got to do some scrapping today, on this, oh so hallowed of days. This is the one weekend a year when I'm usually working. In fact, I should have gone into the office today. But I decided I would just do it tomorrow. I'm exhausted so apologies for the brevity of this post, but I wanted to share my pages somewhere!

All of these pages feature Simple Scrapper sketches. The first two are from the exact same sketch. I love doing that when I know I have something good. It doesn't bother me, especially since these pages will be going into different albums. I also machine stitched on all of them. I set up the machine this afternoon and just left it out. I wish I could leave it out permanently but that's not the case.

And with that, I fall in bed and go to sleep! Hope everyone had a fabulous NSD!

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,

Christmas with Urijah

I scrapped! I just couldn't take not scrapping anymore. I started these pages last night at 10:00 pm. 

Last week, I pulled out my Christmas box. I went through it all, rediscovering some of the great products I had, getting ideas and inspiration for this year's Christmas card. But I ended up with a pile of patterned paper scraps and odds and ends on my desk. Which was really helpful with this week's Studio Calico challenge.

As soon as I saw that it was a puzzle challenge, I knew I wanted to make a star. I pieced this one together tucking one leg under the photo and one over a corner that didn't have much in it. I love how it's all tucked in there nicely, the way Urijah is tucked into my brother's lap. And I love that the stars point and frame the two of them.

This page ended up being super hodge podge, as I pulled a ton of different designers and lines together. I like scrapping like that. I'll have to start doing more non-kit scrapping!

This next page was almost entirely done using last year's Studio Calico/Ali Edwards December Daily kit. I still really love that kit. And yes, I'm even ashamed to admit that I haven't used as much of it as I would have liked. But I'm doing it now, right! That has to count for something?!

I also used last week's Studio Calico Sunday Sketch for this photo of Urijah opening up his presents. I changed it up a lot, to make it work with my photo, but the basics are all still there.

Can I just say, I love a red and green color combo. Most of the time I'm trying to not let this combo look to Christmasy. But now, as I'm making these pages, I get to go all out!

I also love how they look in my book side by side. It just makes me happy =)

Oh, and in case you're wondering. I did not use last year's kit as a December Daily album. It's my Christmas album that I plan to keep adding to over the years.

What about you? Did you buy any December Daily or Christmas kits? Do you plan to DD or just use the stuff? I'd love to hear!

I pre-ordered both (yes I know I'm obsessed!) the Studio Calico and Kelly Purkey kits. I cannot wait for  them to get here. I already have plans for my KP kit. Still working on what I'm doing with SC's. Stay tuned, we'll find out together!

cheers & besos,

Birthday Boy Card

Happy Birthday Duck!

Today is my baby brother's 27th birthday. Man does that make me feel old!! Don't forget, we're Irish Twins.  So we're the same age as each other, until the 27th.

I miss our joint birthday parties. It was a fun tradition. One of these days I hope we're in the same city at the same time, so that maybe we'll get to blow out the candles on a shared birthday cake. Just like old times!

This quite possibly could be the girliest boy card I've ever made. But I don't care. It's the thought that counts =) Plus, primary color schemes are fairly gender neutral, right?

Now to write in it and drop it in the mailbox. Literally, the most difficult part of making the birthday card. Remembering to send it off!

cheers & besos,

TBT: Irish Twins

Hiya! Welcome to Throw Back Thursday! 

What's Throw Back Thursday you might ask? (Or TBT if you prefer :)

It's a new series I wanted to start! Either I'll showcase an old page I made that hasn't yet been shared on this blog. Or I'll dig into my stash and create something new with old product. OR, I'll scrap some old photos. Like the ones in the layout I'm sharing today!

What to know something special about me?  My little brother and I are Irish twins. For 2 weeks every year we're the same age. So growing up we use to share birthday parties.

For the page, I grabbed a few photos of us over the years. The top one is from our 1st & 2nd birthdays. The bottom from our 3rd & 4th birthdays. And I'm not too sure about the floating square one. We must have been 7&8 or 8&9.

This is part of the paperheARTproject challenges I issued yesterday and works for...well actually all of them I'm just now realizing. All of the paper is patterned, including the balloons. Although you can't really tell they're patterned paper because I inked the edges and spray misted over them. I also went back and started listening to some of my old Yesterday & Today prompts and was very keen to scrap this story of mine and my brother's shared birthday parties. Which, of course, birthday is the theme challenge!

I had so much fun making these embellishments! Using real curling ribbon (my second birthday layout featuring the stuff) and making my rolled patterned paper candles.

And, does it come across that the white thing is a cake?! I hope it does because that's what I intended.

I loved getting to scrapbook these old photos and remember so many fun memories. And also to just consider how lovely and homemade birthday parties use to be. Like I say in the journaling, "simpler times, happy memories!"

cheers & besos,

NSD: 3!

I dug in my heels and scrapbook yesterday. Even though the mojo was just not flowing. I still managed to create a page that I love :)

This is for the SC 5 Photo Challenge, SC Confetti Challenge & 2Peas Confetti Challenge.

I tried my best to get some good photos of this munchkin, but he just moves to fast!! I had my camera set to the sports mode so I could get blur free shots, but the light suffered that's for sure.

I like the images none the less for it! I managed to get some great shots of Urijah with his Papa. They look a lot alike.

I used Clay Mister Huey with a Crafter's Workshop numbers mask to get into the birthday theme. I also used some curling ribbon to drape across the page. There were so many balloons (although I forgot to take a picture!) that we were swimming in a sea of balloon tails. I wanted the page to be a little like that too.

I recently discovered Wendy's A Life Handmade shop and purchased a few goodies, like this monogram confetti pouch and the yellow chevron bag. Love them! They helped add a festive vibe to the page :)

This was fun to make & I love that it summarizes Urijah's 3rd birthday party in one single page. Even if I don't make another page of this day, I'll at least have this one.

cheers & besos,

To the Moon!

And thus we reach the end of the "crop series". I'm still so proud that I got so many pages done. I'll definitely be heading back to Archivers, scrap crap in tow, next time I have a project to work on or pages to get done!

And this is also the last layout to share from Urijah's One Year Old album. Yay! I'll be back in a few days to post the whole kit and caboodle. But I wanted to chat about this layout first.

It's a picture of Urijah getting rocked to sleep by his papa. It's a terrible photo. It's blurry and grainy and Urijah's eyes are red.

But I didn't care.

It told a story,

and that's all that matters!

I loved this October Afternoon line and was originally not interested in buying it, but as I was walking around the store I saw the metal button that said "to the moon!" and new exactly what my title would be and exactly how I'd scrap this.

So I only purchased the patterned paper, the metal buttons and the letter stickers from the line.

Just look at my baby brother being a daddy. He makes me so proud!

Love them both to pieces!

xxbesos

OMBS

I'm call this post OMBS or On My Butt Scrapbooking :)

I was able to make this sweet 6x6 page of my brother and Urijah, without even leaving my desk chair.

You see, the reason I was able to do this, is because of how I've organized my desk.

Stamps hanging up on a bar above the desk, random embellishments and buttons stored in pickle jars to my left...
...and a pile of scraps left over from other projects right next to my paper trimmer.

I just grabbed and go...-ed and whamo! Cute lil scrapbook page, and one more closer to finishing Urijah's album!

xxbesos

Merry Presents

It seems I'm always a day late and a $1 short for these challenges. This was a Sunday Sketch from Studio Calico a few weeks back.

But you know what, I'm not bothered. Prize or and most definitely no prize, I still have another page to add to my scrapbook! What's not to love about that :)

It's another Christmas one! And another for Urijah's album too boot. I'm not quite done yet, but I'm getting there!

I love these photos of my brother with his son. He was far more excited about the presents than the baby was. But such is life when they're still young.

I fully utilized circles for this one! Folding them, lining them up, and stamping some decorate ones to fill in some blank spots.

Oh the magic of Christmas! The lights, the festivities, the family all gleaming and bright!

xxbesos

Sketchbook Day 4 & 5

Sketchbook Day 4 & 5 coming your way! I've had these photos on hold for awhile now. I've just been so busy with work I haven't even had the chance to think about blogging. Happily, my scrapbooking didn't suffer the same fate. According to my little spreadsheet I completed 17 layouts! I think that might be a record for me :)

And nearly all of them were of this sweet little guy!

It's another Christmas page. But journaling is all about that little red chair he's sitting in. I got creative with it :)

Now, this next page I would consider a real accomplishment. A page about Urijah and his Papa, 2 manly men, done on a pink background! I really only managed it because my brother is wearing a pink dress shirt :)

I love these photos of their round head's next to each other. Urijah really looks so much like his Dad.

I used Nicole's paint edging technique and added some black to the edges of the photos for a bit more drama.

And I used bits and pieces from Studio Calico's State Fair line. I loved the red and blue against the pink background.

Urijah's year 1 scrapbook doesn't have as many photos whit his Papa. I'm so glad I got to include more in this one!

xxbesos

Little Star

Twinkle Twinkle

This is one of my favorite photos of Urijah and has papa. He was so tiny and adorable, all curled up on John's chest. I suppose that's why I was slightly intimidated by the thought of scrapping it. I so very much wanted to create something special.

The below layout is what I initially came up with. But something about it was bugging me. The colors were just to bright and energetic for the mellow layout I was hoping for. Thus, the second layout was born. I almost never do this, create an entire other layout if I'm not happy with the first. But I found some inspiration from AllieH over at the Studio Calico member's gallery, and I just had to go for it.

I loved the simplicity of the inspiration layout and all of the white space. I moved the elements around slightly, but the basics are there. And I have to say I'm much happier with the second results.

The moral of the story: color really is an key element in creating and setting the tone of a layout. Louder, brighter colors can convey energy and activity. Softer, mellower colors can convey a more toned down and calmer visual space. Keep this in mind as you're scrapping!

xxbesos

j.leija