Sweet

ABOUT THE PHOTO:
There is just something about Daddies and their daughters that is too cute! Of course Natalie and her friend were a little more interested in getting into that pool with the nice warm water that Chris filled with buckets of warm water from the basement, what a guy!

LAYOUT DESIGN:
I started with an older sketch template from the Simple Scrapper, but ended up changing it once I found those tags to use.

MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
So I cut up some pieces of paper from the Poet Society kit by Studio Calico but still felt like there was a lot missing. I dove into my stash when I wasn't feeling like the Poet Society embellishments would work for this layout. I found those Dear Lizzy tags and then went with some other Dear Lizzy products, then hand cut a few pieces to go with it! This layout took me longer to complete because I basically had to pull the supplies together instead of just relying on one kit. Hoping I can catch up with my photos soon!

One and Done

ABOUT THE PHOTO:
A few days before Natalie's 1st birthday, I had her sitting outside and gave her a rice cake to try! She nibbled it, mostly sucked on it till it became soggy and gross and I think I tossed it. Later I gave her another one and she bit off a chunk that was too big for her and threw up. ANYWAY, I used this photo for her little birthday message on Facebook and joked how for her birthday she could have a piece of cake... a rice cake that is!

LAYOUT DESIGN:
I was reading Cathy Zielske's blog and she reminded "us" that her digital downloads were on sale for one more day at DesignerDigitals.com. Since I've been meaning to try and follow along with her layouts and buy one of her layered templates for a hybrid page for awhile, I went for it... and bought 6! So this one I chose for this layout is older but perfect for a page about Natalie's 1 year old stats!

MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
I had already printed out my photo 5x7 so I adjusted the template a bit to make room for the wider photo. This was a page for 8.5x11, but since this is going in Natalie's album and I don't like mixing page sizes, I adhered to a sheet of paper from the Brighton Pier collection from Studio Calico. I also used a piece from that collection to cut out the strip with the numbers on it. I used a few wood veneer pieces from the Lemon Lush collection also by Studio Calico. This layout was fun and easy to make, but very unlike my usual style with a lot more embellishments! I like this page though, because I really wanted to include all the stats in the journaling and have that stand out! I was very pleased with the templates I purchased, Cathy includes a wonderful pdf with each template that explains the fonts she used (and links when available), and other information and tips for the template! Can't wait to try the next one!

Come Back

ABOUT THE PHOTO(S):
OK, so our girls didn't exactly want to sit and smile for the camera - so these were the best shots we got! Natalie was especially upset that I wouldn't "walk her" where she wanted to go, but luckily now she can walk without me finally!

LAYOUT DESIGN:
I used another older sketch template from the Simple Scrapper, this time for the Stash Bash event going on right now there!

MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
This is my 4th layout using the Sandlot kit from Studio Calico - I just got the main scrapbook kit and the matching 4x6 pad of paper, and I think I am done using it and ready to move onto this past month's kit before the next one shows up! Thanks for stopping by!

She's Just Relaxin'

ABOUT THE PHOTO(S):
I wasn't sure if I was going to have time to scrap this photo or not, but last night I participated in my first ever "Speed Scrap" with the Simple Scrapper Jennifer Wilson, as part of the ongoing Stash Bash event there! The first step was to choose a 4x6 photo or 2 smaller photos, which almost had me tripped up right away because I had only printed a 5x7 for a layout or 3 4x3 photos that all needed to go on a layout - so I quickly/randomly selected this one and printed it to try and keep up!

LAYOUT DESIGN:
During the speed scrap, Jennifer gave us an ongoing list of things we needed to do or add to our page layout over an hour. I mostly kept up until the list of embellishments haha but it was so fun and I still finished my page relatively quickly!

MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
I grabbed a sheet of paper from the Poet Society kit and a sheet from the Hello Hello kit, and random embellishments from my stash! I don't normally dig into my stash too much beyond whatever's in the kit I'm using at the time, so it was a nice change of pace - oh and also I don't normally use just plain card stock!! It was super fun, hope to do another one soon!

Oh Girls!

ABOUT THE PHOTO(S):
Natalie's friend came to visit us and we were so excited... the girls? Not so much... at least not when we were trying to take their pictures!

LAYOUT DESIGN:
I used an older sketch template from the Simple Scrapper (May 2013) to complete this layout and it came together within an hour once I had the photo printed and the template selected!

MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
I used just the Sandlot scrapbook kit from Studio Calico. Thanks for stopping by!

Today

ABOUT THE PHOTO(S):
Woohoo! Another layout done this weekend, that's 3 in 2 days, and this one I completed in under an hour after Natalie went to bed last night! This is Natalie and her little buddies playing at her friend's water table - she liked it, except when water got splashed onto her face haha!

LAYOUT DESIGN:
The design of the page was driven by my photos that I decided to print into 4x6 and see what I could do with them. I don't normally scrap so many photos, especially 4x6, but after getting way behind in my scrapbooking last month, I am trying to do a few layouts now with some more photos. I decided to lay them all to the right and then work with a 6x12 page really.

MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
I used the Sandlot kit from Studio Calico and in the back of my mind, I knew if I used that pink paper, that I wanted to put the "answers" across the words similar to Nicole Samuels' layout here, but what I didn't plan on was using the small alpha stamp from the Printshop collection to stamp the facts in tiny print across them - I love how that turned out! I was planning on filling in some small journaling onto the metal-rimmed tags but after I adhered them, I thought they kinda look neat as is, and decided to leave them alone!

You + Me

ABOUT THE PHOTO:
Chris and Natalie on 4th of July, awww...

LAYOUT DESIGN:
After my long, unintentional hiatus from scrapbooking, I took the 30 minutes this evening while Chris took Natalie for a walk to speed scrap this layout, making today a 2 layout day, wow!! In order to do quick and easy, I basically copied this layout by Allison Waken for Studio Calico!

MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
I used the Brighton Pier collection for this 8.5x11 page because it will go across from the last page I made for Chris' album with the same collection by Studio Calico, and it was the collection that Allison used in her video! I used the XO stamp from Amy Tangerine's Plus One collection and stamped over the photo with Jet Black Staz On ink.

USA!!

Let me just say, it's been over a MONTH since I've scrapped a 12x12 page, which has been WAYYY too long! It's been killing me, but at the same time, when I finally got time to get back to scrapping (after prepping for Natalie's 1st birthday party for a few weeks), I procrastinated because I felt mentally stuck. I had lost my scrapping mojo and was lost in party crafting! I was even relieved to be asked to help make a cake banner for a friend's baby shower last minute so I wouldn't have to sit at my table with a dumb look on my face and in my mind!

LAYOUT DESIGN:
So the past day or so I finally asked myself what was stopping me from making a page. I feel so far behind (a month to be exact) and didn't feel like scrapping photos from 2 months back. I decided to use a sketch template from this month over at the Simple Scrapper that had room for 9 photos, and decided to just put all my 4th of July photos onto one page to hopefully catch me up to speed!

MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
I did a bit of no-no and supplemented my already too huge stash of patterned paper when I went to AC Moore a couple weeks ago and saw some Pebbles 4th of July themed paper (Americana collection)! Since I knew I still had to scrap these photos, I decided to buy a few sheets and make sure I used them, so that's what I did! I cut the woodgrain looking pieces from the background of a different sheet. I used the red acetate letters from Studio Calico's Sandlot kit and the gems and labels stickers from Studio Calico's Poet Society kit. Hoping to dig more into both of those kits now that I'm "back" and now that I've scrapped my 4th of July pics!