Week in the Life - May 2014

Last month, I took one week and documented everything we did in detail, using an album from Simple Stories to display those details with supplies mostly from Simple Stories, along with some stamps and inks.

Today, I'm sharing some of the pages I created, beginning with the introduction page:

Next, the first page of day one:

This is the first page for day two. I varied the way I dated each collection of pages, but I used the same day of the week die cuts.

Two pages from Monday, and I'm digging on how all of these photos fit together.

Here, one of my favorite parts of the album, covering Nifty Fifties day at my little Mommy's nursing home, where the staff set up a great little "carnival" in the dining room. Love my Mom's fabulous pose and the background page's color fitting in nicely with the theme of the photos.

Another two pages about our typical everyday life, as well as specifically all the rain we got that week.

For this page, I backed a die cut page with plain card stock so I could fit more photos on the reverse side. I love the little cloud to signify even more rain!

Switching gears toward a bit of a travel theme as we embarked upon a weekend away for the World Expo of Beer on day six.

And a pocket page to hold all the memorabilia, including beer tickets we didn't wind up using and our hotel receipt. Also, a good spot for another photo.

For me, it's very important to document the every day, and this particular week provided a lot of daily content, as well as some special events to round it all out. I enjoyed the process of documenting this week in our life, and putting together the album inspired me to consider more pocket-style scrapbooking on a regular basis.

Happy Birthday - 21

A few months ago, I was going through my stash, assembling some supplies I no longer wanted for the giveaway box. In one of my paper keepers, I stumbled across this make-&-take from Archivers several years back.

Originally, I'd planned to use it as a page for one of my husband's birthdays, but I decided it would make a great base for telling the story of my nephew turning 21.

I gathered the photos and a package of die cut cards from Chic Tags.

I thought I might make use of the packaging on this page, but I didn't find a use for it. Another time, perhaps.

Finding a way to fit all the photos tricked me up a little bit. I added some die cut letters and numbers, using dies from the company that used to be called QuicKutz, and I also created a few embellishments with card stocks and stamps, also using some stamps to create some additional pattern and texture, to kind of "busy it up." (I wanted the design to have a lot of energy, almost chaotic.)

Here is my completed page:

Supplies: Card stock and patterned paper from Archivers and Stampin' Up! Tags from Chic Tags. Gems by TPC Studio. Enamel dots by My Mind's Eye. Letter stickers by Basic Grey. Stamps by Tim Holtz, Basic Grey, and Stamps of Life. Ink by Ranger. Chipboard stickers by Bo Bunny. Ribbon by Archivers. Letter and number dies by QuicKutz.

Overall, I like how everything I added works together with the original design, even if it did wind up a little bit more chaotic than I intended. I really like getting to use something I could've thrown away to create a page that tells an important story.

My Own Kit - Spring 2014 Bonus

When I was putting together the March, April, and May kits, I decided I wanted to do a bonus kit for spring. I pulled together papers from Basic Grey and My Mind's Eye, sticker sheets and journaling card collections from both, some lovely ribbon and fiber I was given by one of my besties, baker's twine from American Crafts, buttons from Doodlebug, Prima, and La Mode, some enamel dots from My Mind's Eye, gems from Queen & Company, brads and flowers I was given, and some older brads from Making Memories. I love how bright and bold this kit looks altogether, with that softer blue to balance things out. I can probably use these supplies as an add-on to the May kit, also.

Have I mentioned I can't wait to get started using all of these pretties?

My Own Kit - May 2014

For this kit, I went with Echo Park papers from two different collections, Splendid Sunshine and Capture Life. Some journaling cards from Basic Grey, and some die cuts from Jilliebean Soup round out the paper selection. I chose some basics from Studio Calico in enamel dots and alphabet stickers, adorable butterfly stick pins from Jilliebean, and a whole bunch of buttons and brads and flowers and die cuts from my stash. There's some fiber that was a gift from a friend, some older letter stickers I've had a long time, and a brand new tiny little bottle of sequins from Doodlebug for lots of sparkle. Oh, and clear acrylic butterflies from Heidi Swapp, too.

Love the bright fun of this kit and, as with all the others, really hoping to have some time to play soon!

My Own Kit - April 2014

A lot going on in my April kit! Again, I used an entire Simple Stories collection called Homespun as my basis, adding some papers from Echo Park Paper, as well as paper and frames from Pebbles (that lovely Front Porch collection!) There's also a frame from Maggie Holmes, some older file folders, some Scrabble tiles a friend gave me, lots of buttons from Stampin' Up! and Prima, twine from American Crafts, doilies, some stickers from Martha Stewart, enamel dots from My Mind's Eye, some gauzy yellow ribbon, some brads, and a versatile stamp set, also from Simple Stories. Lots and lots of potential here. I can't WAIT to get started!

My Own Kit - March 2014

I'm pretty sure I've been creating My Own Kits for scrapbooking for a year, now, and though I'm way behind in using them, I do enjoy the process of putting these together. Kits have inspired me and enabled me to do my very best scrapbook layouts, and it's going to be part of my process for a long time to come.

For my March kit, I chose a complete collection by Simple Stories as my kit base, including the coordinating brads. A Charmed Life is full of the greens I connect with St. Patrick's Day and spring, as well as lovely shades of blue with lots of pops of bright yellow. I added a few papers from a Carta Bella collection, some white flowers I cut from card stock with a Tim Holtz Sizzix die, buttons from all different manufacturers, some twine from American Crafts, some paper flowers a friend gave me, some gems, enamel dots from My Mind's Eye, and some older acrylic flowers from Heidi Swapp.

Another addition I'm pretty excited about is that stamp set from Stampin' Up! I can't wait to play with, and I think this is just the collection to get started.