#Staycation2014

ABOUT THE PHOTO(S):
We cancelled our planned trip to Florida last minute in June and ended up on a Staycation instead! It ended up being a good break for our family, even though Natalie was teething the first half of it!

LAYOUT DESIGN:
I basically copied this layout by Paige Evans, because... well look at how awesome it is!!

MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
First I cut the world map using my Silhouette Cameo with this world map shape I purchased in the Silhouette online store! I used the paper and wood veneer numbers from this month's Penny Arcade kit from Studio Calico, but then used a combination of the Printables by In A Creative Bubble by Geralyn Sy and the free printables by Hello Forever by Marcy Penner that went with the Brighton Pier collection this month to layer around the photos! I just love how the photos are us staying home and the page shows a map of the world and that "Jetsetter" embellishment :)

My Accomplishment

Every morning I get a few hours of alone time with my baby before my workday begins - how awesome is that!? I get a few hours to feel how it might be to be a stay-at-home mom... aka, not much gets done around the house. I focus all my effort and energy on her but since it is just me and her, she (and I) can get bored kinda quickly... hence the pics I took one morning for this layout :)

Anyway, I finally got to dig into my March kit, Office Hours, by Studio Calico for this one! I knew for my first layout I wanted to use that awesome scalloped patterned paper so I specifically chose these colorful photos to go with it!

I bought the Hello Forever printables that went with the kit. Originally I was going to put a number under each part of the picture, but it was looking too rigid and obvious, so I used the one over a wood veneer circle and the rest I put in the corner. I stitched a little heart into one of the wood veneer circles and stamped the Hello onto paper and punched it out and added to another wood veneer. I used the new Color Theory ink pad for it... and uh oh, loved the dye ink and how rich it stamped! Might have to pick up a few more of those! Thanks for stopping by today!

Dedication To Our Lord

Natalie had her baby dedication a couple weeks ago at church! Her face in this picture is priceless! She was not a happy camper right before we went up there, but luckily she didn't cry at all during it.

I used this month's Cuppa kit from Studio calico and got some inspiration from these two layouts by Amy Tan and Sasha Farina, specifically I liked how Amy divided her page to make it look like a mega phone and I liked how Sasha added in the white paper (except I just added white strips instead of cutting the paper and mounting on white). Unfortunately, with my black letter stickers, I was out of L's and S's and only had 2 H's so I was very limited what I could write (I thought about Jehovah Jireh but that requires 3 H's) so I picked some additional white letters from Heidi Swapp. I stamped underneath and above with my giant roller alpha stamp to spell out Natalie's name.

For the bottom portion, I just used a bunch of the printables for this month's kit from In a Creative Bubble as well as some cardstock stickers from Hello Forever, which made it come together really easily!

Those Summer Days

Our backyard neighbors are parents of a kid both me and my husband went to middle school and high school with, and we always see them in the backyard and end up chatting away. Their granddaughter, our school acquaintance's niece, likes to come over now when she sees me feeding the birds and ducks in the backyard and get in on the action as well. So a couple weeks ago, her and her friend came over, filled the bird feeders, then we all took a walk around the neighborhood together.

Just those laid back summer days before school starts back up and you're trying to squeeze out those last drops of freedom... remember those times? The girls saw a rock next to the sidewalk and immediately stopped to go climb it together. I never really thought about that rock before, even though I've walked by it a lot, and def never stopped to climb it... note to self: remember to stop and smell the, I mean, climb the rock!

So I finally got to do a girly layout! Most of my pics and layouts depict my husband doing something interesting, so I don't get to scrap as girly as I'd sometimes like - I own like a hundred doilies and have never used one!! Finally!

This layout was totally inspired/lifted from this layout by Teka! I loved those soft colors, muted by the vellum paper, and after taking this picture, I knew I wanted it to be a soft layout and try to exude that lazy hazy summery-ness to it. It was pretty easy and came together quickly, up until I decided to add the stitching at the end, but that's what the time after my husband goes to bed is best for :)


HOW-TO:

• I used up most of my colored and gray washi tapes and just started stretching them diagonally across a piece of white card stock paper
• I cut off the ends instead of folding them around the back, I guess I don't like the very slightly added padding that folding it makes
• Not sure if you can tell but I don't yet own any 12x12 vellum paper, but I still had some old vellum paper from Creative Memories, in 10x12, so there is a small seam towards the left of the page where I had to line up an extra 2x12 inch strip
• The cloud paper and the butterfly papers are from the Woodland Park 6x6 pad by October Afternoon
• The doily, the little flowers and the pink ribbon came in the Summer of '69 kit by Studio Calico, as well as the letters for the word "Those" in the title, which are Mini Market stickers by October Afternoon
• The letters that spell "Summer Days" are from the Sketchbook Amy Tangerine line by American Crafts
• The speech bubble is from Hello Forever
• I measured 1/8th" away from the edge of all 4 sides of my paper, then drew lines, punched holes 1/4" apart and sewed with white string (usually I sew 1/8" apart but that would've taken forever by hand)