Hybrid Birthday Card

ABOUT THE PHOTO:
This photo of Natalie paired perfectly with the card sentiment I wanted to give to her Grandma! Natalie had just eaten some pickled vegetable roots that Chris bought... and she loved them! She kept asking for more, but still kept making that face after each bite haha!

CARD DESIGN:
I used a layered template by Shanna Noel for Studio Calico that was offered a few months ago.

MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
I changed the color from blue to a lime green by changing the hue (Chris picked the color). Then I added some extra text using the font used in the template, which was called Permanent Marker and printed it on glossy photo paper. Finally, I just added some black stars from the Studio Calico Cuppa kit from last year.

This Happened

ABOUT THE PHOTO:
A group photo - 17 kids + 8 moms (well 19 + 9 all together but not pictured), made it to the zoo! We had such a nice time and it was a nice, hot afternoon! One of the moms was getting pretty preggo, one mom had just given birth a couple weeks before, and I had to nurse Natalie in the sun in the middle of the outdoor eating area under a cover, wow!

LAYOUT DESIGN:
I basically just started with the piece of map paper from The Underground kit and went from there.

MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
I added a bunch of 4x6 papers from the paper pad that went with the kit and ended up just wanting to layer them across the page. I had another piece of book paper and finally cut into that beautiful vellum paper that came with the kit. I cut the (plastic?) diamond piece in two, slightly off center and added them to the outer edges of the paper. And finally the title I painted in brush script using goache paint on blank book paper and cut close out - I was going to use the foam thicker phrase that came with the Plus One kit by Amy Tangerine + Kal Barteski, but it was too big, so I basically tried to make it look with a similar style.

Love Now

ABOUT THE PHOTO(S):
You can't tell, but these photos were from a trip to the zoo in August with a bunch of our church friends. Natalie still needed help walking, though in a couple short weeks she was walking completely on her own! When Natalie still needed help though, that's when I came up with the idea to carry around my old work book bag instead of a diaper bag - to free up my arms so I could bend over and help her... SOOO glad she is walking now! I guess people who tell you "just wait till she's walking" as like a warning never had the pre-walking phase of wanting to walk just as much but needing them to constantly bend over and help them, because man it is so much easier now!

LAYOUT DESIGN:
So anyway! This layout came together super quickly once I printed the photos at an angle because I scraplifted this layout by Elizabeth Kartchner (Dear Lizzy)!

MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
I knew as soon as I saw that layout that that's how I wanted to use that pink piece of paper from The Underground kit! I love the simplicity and softness of the layout! I don't know why a lightbulb with a heart in it should go on the page, but it filled the space nicely and I loved that touch of gold!

Bottle Babies

ABOUT THE PHOTO(S):
Natalie and her friend NEVER took bottles as babies, and yet now that they are "older" and saw their baby friend taking a bottle OF COURSE they had to have one too! They were making us laugh so hard walking around and tipping back their bottles!!

LAYOUT DESIGN:
I was going to start this layout completely differently, based on a sketch template from the Simple Scrapper, but I ended up changing it up after I really wanted to use that piece of paper from this month's The Underground kit by Studio Calico. So really that piece of paper is what drove the design.

MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
I cut along the parts of the paper where a "folder" would open and added lots of bits from Maggie Holmes' vellum die cuts. I used white Gouache paint (think: thick watercolor paint) to brush over the words on the book paper so I could use that space for journaling. It looks a bit messier than I would've liked but I didn't feel like getting out my paint stuff again (think: lazy). It's sort of a mishmash of supplies but a fun one!

Hello VBS

IABOUT THE PHOTO(S):
A bunch of photos from VBS week back in August - we had so much fun with the kids that week, what a blessing!!

LAYOUT DESIGN/MY PROCESS:
I used a layered template in PSE by Catherine Davis for the Process class I took at Big Picture Classes to print the photos into triangles and cut them out. I also tried to apply some of the design lessons she gave from the class to arrange my page!

PRODUCTS USED:
I again saved paper by using the 4x6 pad of paper from this months Studio Calico kit The Underground to cut the triangles! I used the wood veneer letter from the same kit and the Hello sticker from the embellishment add-on King's Cross. The top left corner still needed a little something so I used thin washi tape from the Bluegrass Farm PL kit and stamped the date range with my Printshop alpha stamp! Finally, I went to my stash to look for a badge but ended up finding those little stars for a subtle embellishment!

All Week Long

ABOUT THE PHOTO(S):
It was VBS week this summer and I was helping out with the crafts so I had to leave Natalie in the toddler room at church, but the Lord was watching over us that week and blessed us with my friend and her daughter to help watch Natalie everyday! She even got the girls to take a nap everyday!

LAYOUT DESIGN:
I channeled my inner Melanie Louette and did a scraplift of her layout here! I hardly ever go "simple" but wanted a clean page to write my journaling how I was so thankful that it all worked out with Natalie!

MY PROCESS:/PRODUCTS USED:
I used papers from the 4x6 pad from this month's The Underground kit by Studio Calico with wood veneer from the shop and the wood veneer letters from this month's main scrapbook kit. I bought the black letter thickers at one of the LSS (Local Scrapbook Stores). Simple as that!

Everyday

ABOUT THE PHOTO:
We made tie-dye tshirts with the kids at VBS, so a couple days later, we wore them and I even made one for Natalie! I finished this layout yesterday while Chris took Natalie to the store with him, woohoo!

LAYOUT DESIGN:
I decided to stamp my own background paper since I didn't recall having a piece that would really go with the photo (with all our colors). I knew I definitely wanted to capture the colors of our shirts though, so I didn't print in black and white. I used a sketch template from the Simple Scrapper again and made it really easy to get going!

MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
I decided to use this month's embellishment only kit from Studio Calico, so I started with the little rectangle stamp. I had planned to use more from the kit, but since I also got Maggie Holmes' vellum diecuts this month from the SC shop, I ended up using mostly those to fill out the rest of my layout!

Nice Day

ABOUT THE PHOTO:
This photo was one of Chris' favorites, so I decided to make it 8.5x11 to go into his album - we took Natalie to the mall and forgot to pack her shoes, so we bought her a new pair of sneakers so she could practice walking around the mall!

LAYOUT DESIGN:
I scraplifted this layout by Magdalena!

MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
I used the paper from the Poet Society kit, then used neon acrylic stars that came in the Process class kit with Catherine Davis from Big Picture Classes. I stamped the border and used the letters also from the Poet Society kit, so quick and easy, I got this done yesterday morning before Natalie woke up for the day!

Be Brave

ABOUT THE PHOTO(S):
This was the best part of our visit from our friends - watching our girls in the inflatable pool! Natalie LOVED when she slipped in and it happened to be nice, cozy, warm water instead of hose water - she just sat back and chilled out, I'd never seen her do that before! Her friend on the other hand, LOVED the bottom of the pool that was bouncy and inflatable and she was bouncing on her little coolie the whole time!

LAYOUT DESIGN:
The layout was sort of guided by the 3 photos that I had printed 4x3 that I definitely wanted to include in some sort of progression as Natalie is sinking into the water.

MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
Originally I started with a busy background piece of paper and tried to add those three diecut titles (from the More Bright Ideas class from Studio Calico with Nicole Samuels, created by Geralyn Sy for In A Creative Bubble). The titles got lost on the busy paper so I die cut a black border to go around them, but it still looked a bit too crazy. Then this morning I read the latest article in Spark Magazine from the Simple Scrapper premium membership about white space and decided my page was looking too crazy and busy. I made white space by changing up my background paper to black card stock and allowing it to breathe! Ahhh! The titles now stood out great, so I just added minimal embellishments and some journaling. The paper to cut the titles was from the Printshop collection and the striped piece is from the Brighton Pier collection.