{100% Sweet}

One of my favorite companies is Elle's Studio! I love all their little tags and journaling cards. They are super cute and very affordable! Every Thursday on their blog they do a sketch challenge. I have to admit, I sometimes lack that spark when it comes to being creative so having a jumping off point like a challenge is wonderful for me. I had just bought the new Penelope collection and I couldn't wait to use it! 

I wanted to pull out my mists and my masks for this one. I knew I wanted a "custom" background. I used this mask from Studio Calico. 

Once I had everything layered and almost done I thought it looked a little bare so that's when I decided to add a border. That's my go to when I feel like a page isn't quite finished. I had this beautiful paper in my stash from Amy Tan's Sketchbook collection that had beautiful colors that matched PERFECT! I loved it, but knew I wouldn't like that black sketch of the flower only on the border. I decided to try and free hand the rest of the flower onto the main page and thankfully it turned out okay! 

I got this exclusive heart wood veneer with my last Scraptastic PL kit:) LOVE!

And that's it! The sketch made it go really fast and I love how it turned out! Thanks for stopping by!

{At the Beach}

This was done before I started doing PL on a weekly basis. I wanted to start out on my own terms, which meant not being on a schedule. This was a trip we took with our boat and I had so many pictures that using the PL page protectors was perfect. It was a fun way to keep all my memories together. I slowly fell in love with the divided page protectors and now I try to keep it up every week. I actually look forward to Mondays now because those are the days I print my pictures from last week and start planning my PL layout:)

{Patterned Paper Background}

So, I have a new rule starting now! I made a mistake and went into my stash to try and organize it and realized I have way too many supplies!! It's a common problem I know, but I don't have room for it in my tiny scrap space. So here it is, my rule.... Use what you have before you can buy more. GASP! No shopping?! Now that's a great motivator! There are so many beautiful supplies constantly coming out there is no way I could stop shopping. The way I see it, this is a win win! I get to use my pretty supplies up leaving me more space for new pretty supplies.

On this page I grabbed a bunch of patterned paper I got with my last Studio Calico order. As I laid it out on my bed I noticed it went really well together. I wasn't sure if I could use all the pieces on one 12x12 page, but I really wanted to! That's when I started cutting, scary I know, but I had to cut up that beautiful paper to make it fit. I started playing around and before I knew it I had a beautiful patterned background! I used up my paper and came out with a wonderful layout. Plus, I can officially buy more patterned paper without feeling guilty;) Like I said, WIN WIN! 

And look! I had leftovers for a cute little card:)

{Back to School Mini Album}

This month I joined a giftables swap! My very first one:) It's actually a lot of fun to make gifts for other people and then get to exchange them for new goodies. This month's theme was Autumn/fall so I went with Back to School because that's what my Autumn/Fall is filled with right now. These are my first mini albums! I took a risk trying to make 4 mini albums for my giftables swap but they turned out good I think. I took Celine Navarro's Mini Book class on Twopeas and it was wonderful! She has so many great techniques and the lesson are clear and easy to follow. I see many more Mini Albums in my future;)

{Starbucks & Scrapbooking}

No, I'm not talking about the amount of coffee you need to drink to stay up late and scrap;) I'm talking about the FREE scrapbooking supplies that Starbucks has! Yes, you read that right... Starbucks has Scrapbooking supplies. Well, you do need to think outside of the box a little. Let me show you!

While I was waiting on my Pumpkin Spice Latte I saw this little gem out of the corner of my eye. I loved the bronze and black combo and decided to pick it up. It was just a little brochure, but I loved the colors and the little coffee cup on front. It was free so I took it! It's a little bigger than 3x4 so I cut it down to size and used my corner rounder. I added a sticker from the Finnley collection and now I have a very cute homemade Project Life card!! 

After finding that little card I started to look around! I wanted more free supplies:) Next I looked at my coffee cup. Mmmmm What is that little sleeve made of? ah yes! Corrugated paper!! Now, not everyone uses corrugated paper for scrapbooking, but I loved it! The texture and color are wonderful. I took it home and just starred at it for awhile. How could I use this? Then I saw my butterfly punch sitting there and wondered if it could cut through this! Well, it did and I'm so happy about it! It took a little muscle, but I got a perfect cut. I added some gems on one set of butterflies and enamel dots on the other. I can't wait to use them!

Thanks fro stopping by today! And if you have time check out Life. Paper. Scrapbook. and you might just see some more of my work! 

{Then & Now}

This is a very special layout for me:) It was a year in the making! I had this idea to take a picture with Zoe in my belly and then another when she turned one. I held on to these pictures for about a month trying to decide how to scrap them. I'm glad I waited, because I love how it turned out in the end! I tried to keep it simple because the pictures are just so special to me! At first I didn't have this beautiful blue paper framed with anything, but it looked like it was floating and needed a frame to pull it in so I pulled this wonderful floral pattern to do just that! I knew I wanted to use that deer die cut and since he was so large I thought putting him towards the bottom would look more balanced. Originally I planned on putting the entire title at the top, but noticed that deer looked a little lonely. Plus that gave me the opportunity to point to each photo with the corresponding words. A few enamel dots at the top and bottom seemed to finish this one off for me. 

{A bow makes everything cute}

Well, the title says it all! I LOVE this bow stamp that came in my Studio Calico card kit. It really does make everything cute! I used the flower stamp that came in the kit to make a border around that beautiful paper by Amy Tan. A few enamel dots and some stitching and it's all done! Fast and super cute:)

{My First Shoes!}

First off, Happy Labor Day!! I hope everyone is having a safe and fun weekend! 

The thing I love about Project Life is the pictures don't have to be spectacular! When I do a LO I tend to look for the "best" shot, but with PL I scrap it all. I know later in life these are the memories I will cherish the most.

This was a very "normal" week in my PL and I really LOVE it! It's one of my favorites because it's just real life. 

My daughter got her first pair of shoes and was so cute and grown up looking sporting them in our front yard! I primarily used my Scraptastic kit for this week because it all seemed to fit the pictures perfect.  

The banner, flair, and stamp were all from my Scraptastic kit! My daughter decided to get her own snack on this day and I guess the easiest way for her to eat it was to dump it all over the floor, "Mission Accomplished" :) 

I loved this bike clip! And of course a picture of my son enjoying the summer by riding his bike was perfect. 

This was another stamp from the Scraptastic kit that was so cute! I love using it over and over:)

Remember to take pictures of the everyday and don't be afraid to have a "slow" week with PL. That's real life isn't it?? 

{happy 4th}

Yes, I know the 4th of July was quite a long time ago, but I'm a little behind:) My PL is always a work in progress and I jump around a lot. I'm about to do last week too! I used a lot of different products for this spread, but primarily I used my Scraptastic PL Kit. I love their kits! That "Life sometimes gets messy" stamp is from theirs and I've used it a lot! 

So when I first started PL I didn't use design A page protectors. I felt like everyone used those and I wanted to be different:) So now I have a lot of "other" sizes I've been trying to use up because I now see why so many people love that common design A! I have so many 3x4 cards that I just haven't been able to use! I bought a big pack of design A page protectors and I plan on switching over slowly.  

This cork board paper was screaming for that dog clip stamp from my Scraptastic kit! 

Don't be afraid to use stickers on your photos!! I used up some random Z's for this cute picture:) 

If you have memorabilia.... USE IT! It's fun to look back on things like this.  

This is probably my favorite card that came in my Scraptastic kit! A few letter stickers for the title and a brad made it perfect.  

I love sprinkling enamel dots around, they add so much to the flat design of a card. 

I realize this PL spread is VERY colorful! But it was the 4th... I'm allowed;) 

Thanks for stopping by and Happy belated 4th:)

{Hey Love!}

So, I love a challenge! It really gets my creative mind flowing and helps me have a jump off point for my pages. I think it's great to be completely creative on your own and not need this, but there are some days when a little inspiration goes a long way! This was one of those days. Studio Calico had a challenge up on their blog by Deb Duty. Her page is amazing so go check it out if you haven't seen it yet! I took her inspiration and came up with this LO.

This picture was a split second of joy! My daughter laid her head on my husband's shoulder and smiled and I had my camera out...SCORE! We were at the fair that night and I wanted the page to be fun. I think with the little bees flying around and the pinwheels I achieved exactly what I wanted:)

Deb took this great paper from the Studio Calico Valley High Card Kit and cut up some of the elements, like these adorable clouds. I decided to try the same thing! I had this cute little cloud flair from Scraptastic and wanted to add it in too. I also used this washi tape from the Marks and Co card kit to add some more black and white to balance things out a bit. 

This little stamp set from the Studio Calico Marks and Co Card Kit was so adorable!! I love this little milk bottle and these bees:) For some reason it just screamed "Country Fair" to me so I went with it! These pinwheels are from the same kit and they are so sweet:) 

Here I cut out the word "Hey" from that same piece of paper with the clouds. That's exactly what Deb did and I had to scraplift it!  

A few finishing details, like mist and enamel dot, and I'm done! I hope you enjoyed this page as much as I did:) 

{Happy}

Okay, this is the last LO of my daughter's first birthday;0) I used up most of the Cakewalk collection from October Afternoon, but I have some left for future LO's or birthday cards. This was another of my favorite papers! I love every little character on it and it was hard to cover any of it up, but the LO was too busy without that stripe in the middle.

I left the title simple for one reason.... The chipboard from the Cakewalk collection only came with the word "Happy"! So I went with that. It seemed to sum up the day pretty well too.

This was my attempt at a pocket with confetti! I should have found something a little more clear to use, but this is what I had and I'm okay with it. You can see more of what's inside in person so it works.  

This really was the "Snapshot of the day"! Thanks to Elle's Studio monthly kit for adding the perfect sentiment to my picture! The frame is from that same kit too. 

Thanks for joining in my excitement of my daughter turning one!!