Happiness is...

I have a tip for you, if you need to put something together quickly and easily, reach for your 3x4 journaling cards. I just bought the [Wander core kit] because I'm a big [Christine Herrin] fan, so I was excited to use them!

I used a [Simple Scrapper] sketch and story starter as the basis of the page. The sketch (No. 254) called for patterned paper blocks in the background. Instead, I substituted the journaling cards. So quick, so simple, so fun!

Seven of these bad boys, two 3x4 photos, some stitching and mist droplets + three heart embellishments and I was done in no time flat!

cheers & besos,

Play Outdoors

This was the 2nd page I made during the [InkieQuill] [ScrapStream]! I challenged myself a bit with this one. I have one box of embellishments that I rarely open up. It has all of my 3-dimensional and miscellaneous embellishments, lots of flowers but also things like the kite, leaves and oversize wood veneer. I decided that I wanted to try to use some stuff from that box on this page.

After working on a [page with a very clear direction], I was happy to just play around with some fun embellishments to figure out something that would work.

I started by trimming 1/4 in. strips of an old Studio Calico patterned paper and framing my photo with them. Then I dipped the photos edges in brown paint, something [Nicole Harper] use to do. Next, I decided to mat my photo with white cardstock, but didn't have the right size so I improvised with two scraps. They're intentionally jaunty.

When I printed this photo at 6x8, I envisioned writing my journaling directly on the photo in the grass. But I decided my title would look better there. I thought it needed something though, so I used some roller stamps and white and gold ink to stamp directly onto the photo. It's subtle, but you can see it much better IRL.

For the title, I decided to use these [whimsical letters] I purchased from [Just Nick.] No better font to cut out the word "play" from! I layered up all of the embellishments I pulled from my embellishment box in the bottom right hand corner of the photo and added my few lines of journaling just below.

Of all the pages I made, I think this one is least like my usual style. But I still really really like it! Tomorrow I'll share the heart page, so check back for more details about it!

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,

Thai Temple

Refresh is launched for the season! For Day One's assignment I decided to tackle a page from my unfinished box. There aren't too many pages in there. More than 10 less than 20 or so. 

Awhile ago, I printed out these photos from a temple I visited in Thailand. I had originally intended to scrapbook them with a kit but then decided, adding too much product would overwhelm these already detailed photos. So I put them in the box with two sheets of Kraft cardstock, to complete another day.

Today was the day! Here's the finished page:

Day One's assignment had a specific time limit. Well, I took more than the time allotted. Ok, like a lot more time than was allotted! But I'm ok with that. I don't want to rush this process. For me the fun part is hemming and hawing over the details until I get it just right. And today I had time to do that, so why not, right?

I used Elle's Studio Travelogue Journaling Tags, Labels and Stamp Set + the Jonah Alphabet Stamp. Love that guy! I used black and two shades of gray ink for the stamping, which ended up being the only embellishing for the left side of the page.

It was fun to just create for the sake of creating! I love that every Refresh (and really just about every event Jennifer hosts) gets kicked off with a bit of creative time. It's why we're all participating, right?

cheers & besos,

We Three

I feel hopeful. 2015 ended up being such a bad year for us for many different reasons. So I can only hope that 2016 is better! So far so good and I'm hopeful that will continue. 

I wrote about this feeling on my latest Simple Scrapper page. It's part of February's issue of Spark Magazine and is based off one of the sketches from this month's release. (No. 288 for all of my fellow Simple Scrappers).

I haven't used kraft as a base in a minute, so this was a fun change of pace. I loved adding in all of these layers and bits and pieces pulled from my stash. It's been so long since I've scrapbooked just from my stash! So I decided to make that one of my goals this year. At least a quarter of my pages need to be put together from anything but a kits. Don't get me wrong, I love my kits! But they mean I neglect the other 90% of the stuff that I have. And I love all of that stuff so much too!

I think that's why I love the details on this page so much. This tiny house, that wood veneer heart, the cheers stamp, they're all to do with the photo and the journaling and the day. Sometimes those things line up with whatever kit I'm working with. But often they don't. Making a commitment to my stash means that I get to create these awesome customized pages. I don't need to do it for every layout. But it should definitely be a bigger part of my process than it currently is.

Also, I can't underscore how awesome the Simple Scrapper sketches are! They just keep getting better and better. And they're making it harder to decide between every month. I already can't wait to show you the page I make with next month's sketch. It's gonna be good!

cheers & besos,

Favorite Podcasts

The latest Scrapbook Circle kit, Hello Hello, is available and I totally loved creating with it! The colors are just so good, you guys. Like soooo good! I love good black and whites paired with teals, yellows and grays. In true Jamie fashion, I pulled out all of the stuff in just those colors and here's what I came up with:

Tessa challenged me to create a layout with speech bubbles. I couldn't think of a better icon to use on a page about my favorite podcasts. Lately I'm loving Being Boss & Art for your Ear. And of course I love any podcast that let's me get in on the action. I'm looking at you Paperclipping Roundtable! The screenshot for PRT is from one of the episodes I was on.

The page design is based off of the SBC sketch from last month. I loved it so much but didn't get the chance to use it. So happy it made it work this month.

Head over to the Scrapbook Circle to see more ideas using the Hello Hello kit. Be sure to snap it up if you haven't already. The add-on this month is already sold out!

cheers & besos,

Stash Bash Vol. 1

I have two things to share today. Yesterday, I was on the Paperclipping Rountdable! It was Episode #257-The Prospect of Paper. We were chatting about shopping! I'd love it if you listened. 

Secondly, I wanted to share my first layout from Stash Bash. Yay Stash Bash! We're having a party over at Simple Scrapper and I'm already having some fun. I completed Challenge #1 using the Ms. Pacman kit I assembled and also, with the help of the latest sketch from Scrapbook Circle. 

I pulled this kit and that sketch and knew I wanted to use it with this photo of me and Jennifer Wilson. I was allocated 30 minutes to complete the page and I think it came together in nearly that amount of time. I spent a bit more tiding up the sewing and taping all of the rough edges to the back of the layout.

I think my favorite bit is the "hey girl" stamped on the background. I used gray ink on the kraft cardstock and really like the look! My second favorite is this medley of colors. I'm loving this combo!

Jennifer released all of the Stash Bash challenges today so I'm excited to really jump in on this this weekend! But for now at least, I've started!

cheers & besos,

Famous Walls

If you don't already know I love to travel, I don't know who's blog you've been reading :) Since so many of my pages features this trip or that one. I love me some travel scrapbooking!

But my pages aren't always "We went", "I saw", "We did". I like to mix things up and tie places together sometimes. Like I did for this page that features some of the famous walls I've visited.

I used the June Scrapbook Circle kit (which is deliciously travel themed) and the You are Here add on and stuck with a navy/red/teal color scheme.

That middle tag is a cut file from The Cut Shoppe. I ended up flipping it around so that the tag part was on the other end.

Embellishing this page was really quick and easy, just three little clusters scattered around. Each one consisting of the country name + geo tag sticker + date label + enamel shape.

I finished the page and then thought it looked a tiny bit unfinished. So I went with my go to tilted design and adhered it to a sheet of kraft cardstock. The stitching and roughing up the edges really made it feel complete.

cheers & besos,

Simple Scrapper-June

Happy Friday! I have my latest Simple Scrapper layouts to share with y'all.

The first features one of the sketches from the June issue of Spark Magazine. I used my Hello Sunshine SBC kit which had this awesome green leaf patterned paper, plus the little elephant paper clip. Too perfect!

This layout feels just super old school to me for some reason. And not old school in a bad way. But more like a return to my roots. I can't put my finger on what about it makes me feel that way, just that I do. Maybe it's the patterned paper background + kraft block + distress ink on the edges + handwritten journaling? Who knows? I just know this page makes me happy!

I used an older Story Starter to as the prompt for this page, which was to scrapbook about an outdoor adventure. This weekend in Chiang Mai was the most action packed outdoor adventure I've ever been on. It was nice to be out in nature but I still prefer my city escapes. I'm just happy I did it at the time.

This next layout features a Story Starter from June 2015 and a Sketch from January 2013. The Story Starter was to scrapbook about a historic place I have visited. This page was all about visiting the World Trade Center in July of 2001. 

I saved my ticket. I'm a scrapbooker, it's part of my nature, it's what I do. Even at 16, when I had been scrapbooking for just a few years, I saved all kinds of ephemera. This one was particularly special, for obvious reasons.

I used a scan of my ticket for this page. The real thing is in a little display case, alongside these two photos, in my living room.

Stars & Stripes were the subtle theme. Even though half of the stripes are running diagonal across the page. The "remember" is an Ali Edward's Story Stamp that I stamped with versamark ink onto vellum and covered in white embossing powder. I really like adding texture that way.

I'm really happy with both of these pages. As always Simple Scrapper pushes me to document stories that I might not have otherwise, or at least in a way I hadn't thought of before. I had never scrapbooked about visiting the World Trade Center. And that's a really huge story, especially considering the timing!

Just wanted to flag up that Jennifer is running a sale on a 6 month membership. It's a one time payment with a 20% discount that gets you access through the end of the year. The offer expires in just a few days (5/31/15) so if you're interested I'd jump on it. We just recently got a new member site that Jennifer documents on the blog. Head to: https://www.simplescrapper.com/join for more info.

cheers & besos,

SACS

Last Simple Scrapper page to share for the month! I used an older sketch and a Story Prompt from the April edition of Spark Magazine. 

This month's theme was faith, which was a bit harder for me to scrapbook about.

I had a lot to say about my experience with a religious school, but you won't read any of it here. All of my journaling is hidden behind the photo.

I absolutely loved this older sketch from the Simple Scrapper archives, since it allowed me to highlight so many of the Studio Calico Odyssey kit papers (both fronts and backs).

Although, the sketch did call for me to trim the papers at the top, I opted to keep them as is. In my scrapbook they jut out of the top of the page protector and I like that.  I don't see them as anything different from a tab or some other topper.

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,