very best derek

Layout #4 with the Hip Kit Club main kit and embellishment kit. The layout is about how my niece, Ruby Sky calls Derek her "very best Derek". This is especially amazing considering when she was a baby, she would scream when she saw him. She's come a long way and now she just adores him.

This layout has basically all of my favourite scrapbooking components: gold, glitter, pink (especially neon pink), doilies, and Thickers. If only I had thrown a few enamel dots down and a strip of washi, it would truly have had it all.

I just love this gold glitter heart banner that from the Crate Paper Kiss Kiss 12x12 chipboard stickers. It was very hard to use it here and not hoard it.

I layereed some banner pieces and a few tags from the Crate Paper Kiss Kiss cut apart die cut sheet. I love that sheet and it was also very hard not to hoard that. I then layered a few patterned papers behind the tags.

The Thicker "best" came in the December kit, but it was perfect for this layout title. I really love those Amy Tangetine Thickers. They are glittery and an amazingly bright pink. Definitely a new favourite.

I finished the layout by misting three different Mister Huey's in neon colours. They are bright, the photo definitely does not do them justice. Studio Calico sold these for a limited time a few years ago and are no longer available. I use them very sparingly for this reason, but they were perfect for the brightness of this layout.

I am getting the entire day to myself on Saturday and I plan on locking myself in my scraproom to knock out as many pages with this kit as I can and am only coming up to refill my coffee mug. The February kit starts to ship on Monday and I really want to have it as close to killed as possible by then.

muppet fae

I have another layout using the January Hip Kit Club main kit and embellishment kit. When Andy is sad, he makes the most exaggerated sad face and can turn his mouth down really far. We always say he looks like a muppet when he does that. 

I decided to stick almost entirely with blue on this one, which is so  unusual for me, even though I am a mama to a boy. I have been majorly crushing on navy blue though these days and just love that Amy Tangerine floral paper at the top.

I had a lot of white space on  my photo that I thought would detract from my layout, so I placed a shipping tag over most of it for my title and then just started branching out with tags, die cuts and stickers. 

I did add a frame that came from the Crate Paper Notes & Things line, but other than that and the shipping tag, everything else is from the Hip Kit Club January kits.

Thanks for looking!

smile

This is my second layout I made with the January Hip Kit. I used some photos of my adorable niece who is seriously the happiest baby. Making this layout was totally out of my comfort zone as there is so much colour going on, but I actually really like it. 

I used watercolours on the Dear Lizzy die cut words. I'm not crazy about how it turned out, but I'm new to watercolours, so I have to start somewhere. I added in some other elements to fill in the title space. My niece's name is Evening Grey, and we call her Evie G for short, hence the letters.

I was looking through the Heidi Swapp September Skies ephemera when I came across the the acetate and cardstock flower die cuts. I started slipping them under the photos all around the page and loved the way they looked, especially the acetate ones.

Few more bits from the ephemera pack.

I just love the exclusive flair from A Flair for Buttons in this month's kits. I'm such a sucker for exclusive items, and the colours in the flair this month are awesome.

Thanks for looking!

sweet dreams

I can't believe this is my third month getting the Hip Kit Club kit. Each month I love the kits even more than the last. For January, I got the main kit and embellishment add-on. I am completely kicking myself for not getting the colour add on and paper kit.... so basically everything.

As soon as I saw this Dear Lizzy paper with the moons, I knew I needed to make a layout of our son sleeping. And yes, I just made a layout dedicated to that very thing, but I can't help it, I just love sleeping Andy photos.

I mounted my photo on another piece of patterned paper and grouped a chipboard piece, puffy star and enamel dot together.

I cut some vellum into a sunburst pattern and placed it over the moon paper. I know sunburst is basically the opposite of paper with the stages of the moon on it,but I just love the way the vellum looks over it.

I added my title using those amazing gold glitter thickers. I cannot tell you how hard it was for me to use three 'e's in my title. I never do that as I want to stretch the pack as far as I can. I just couldn't think of a title that I liked better than 'sweet dreams' for this photo of my sweet boy.

I just got my kit on Friday, and I have already finished two layouts and am working on a third. I killed last month's kit with 11 layouts. I don't think I'll make that many this month as I've already used three pieces of patterned paper for backgrounds, but I'm excited to see how many it will take to kill this one too!

the most wintery winter

I have a layout I made for Pinspire Me With Cozy Warmth at Paper Issues. I knew instantly I wanted to do a layout about the ridiculous winter we had last year. It was the coldest, snowiest winter I can remember. I decided to stick to grey, with just a hint of blue and red. And lots and lots of snowflakes. That sums of winter perfectly.

I used a photo I took of my parents' house last winter after a particularly bad snowstorm on a day when I worked and had a horrendous commute home. When I look at this photo I feel all the feelings of last winter.

I used some red chipboard thickers for part of my title, but since they're so big and didn't want my title taking up a ton of space, I hand wrote part of it too. I'm not a big fan of my handwriting, but I also think it's important to have it be part of my scrapbooks.

I used an assortment of wood veneer and silver glitter snowflakes I had in my stash as well as some silver sequins. I just randomly scattered them down the page and liked that it looks like they're snowing.

I really like these Pinspire Me posts as it is so fun to see everyone's take on the mood board. There is a thread on the Paper Issues Friends and Fans Facebook page that everyone posts their projects too and they're all so beautiful and unique.

my story 2015

It's a brand new year and the first linky party at Paper Issues is "Pop-Ping the Cork". I have a lot of cork embellishments and love using them, but I just couldn't decide what to do. In the end, I went in a completely different direction and decided to use a piece of patterned paper that looks like cork to make an inspiration board of what I want 2015 to look like for me. 

Most of the items I used are Maggie Holmes' Open Book with the exception of the green Dear Lizzy thickers and the polka dot envelope.

The envelope holds my weight and measurements as I'm trying to lose the weight I gained over Christmas.

I used enamel dots to look like push pins going into the "cork board".

I layered some lace and seam binding behind a few pieces from the ephemera pack.

I really loved the 12x12 chipboard pieces that came with this line,  but had a hard time using them. They worked perfectly for this project and I ended up using a bunch. The glasses were perfect as a reminder to finally get my glasses fixed this year. :)

I'm going to hang this "inspiration board" beside my scrap table so I can stay motivated all year long.

nyd 2014

When I saw that the January mood board at Jot magazine said to think confetti and celebration, I knew this photo of my friend Carly and I throwing a bag of confetti into the air on New Year's Day would be perfect.

The mood board also said to mix in string, so thought I would string my layout components across two pieces of twine. The top row is 3 doilies I folded in half over the twine and then I placed another piece of twine below it and strung my photo and embellishments along it. I really love the added dimension the row of doilies adds.

I don't think I have a single purple item in my entire stash, so I misted some Studio Calico mistable thickers purple for my title. I filled a small glassine baggy with sequins and layered a few die cuts from Maggie Holme's Open Book ephemera pack. I added in a few pieces of seam binding and some enamel dots. I just tried to tuck items behind others wherever I could to fill up the line and make it look nice and bulky.

More die cuts and the ''you and me'' is from a 12x12 cut apart sheet from the Open Book line. I used a few small clothespins to 'hold' everything on the string

I punched some patterned paper with my confetti punch and used my hole punch to punch some gold glitter pow paper. I then painstakingly glued each individual confetti piece onto the page.

Also, pink ombré woodgrain paper? My three favourite things in a patterned paper all on one sheet. I think my head almost exploded the first time I saw it. This piece from the Open Book line is my new all time favourite piece of patterned paper. I can't even believe I used it instead of hoarding it.

I had a lot of fun with this mood board. I love seeing all the different ways everyone in the link party is interpreting the mood board.

december documented days 1 to 12

I'm posting December 1 through 12 today of my December documented album using the Hip Kit Club's November kit.

Dec 1 is my mom's birthday. I layered a shipping tag with one of the kraft numbers on a gold doily and a few enamel dots.

Dec 2- since the day before was a see through pocket, I did the same thing for today's number, however with a silver doily. I love the Elle's Studio journaling cards that came with the kit.

Day 3 was all about Andy's favourite Christmas movie. He calls it the "Christmas tree movie" so I added some enamel dots to a wood veneer tree and tucked some Tim holtz film reel behind the shipping tag.

Day 4- I added in some things from my stash and those pink thickers were one of them. I thought they went perfectly with the colours of the kit.

Dec 5- I cut apart the paper with diamonds and just used the grey and turquoise ones to make this mini layout.

Dec 6 was my mom's birthday celebration, so I thought it deserved a large 6x8 photo. I used the Maggie Holmes clip to hold the number on. I love the way it looks sticking out the top of the album.

Dec 7 was all about writing out our Christmas cards. I'm going to add one of our Christmas cards to the album using the basic grey attach me stickers.

Dec 8 was visiting Santa. I have to add a 3x4 photo of Andy visiting santa last year because he looks so different!

Dec 9 dinner with friends was a mini layout and I cut some triangles out of the patterned paper to match the kraft 9.

Dec 10 was an average busy December day of errands. I added some of the studio calico silver rub on stars to the calendar page. 

Dec 11 was a huge snowstorm and Andy was sick, so it got 2 pages. I love the wood veneer letters that came with the kit.

Dec 12 was decorating our gingerbread house, so there were lots of photos. I just adore how much Elle's Studio stuff came in this kit. Her Christmas line was just amazing this year!

This is all I have done of my album so far, but I really want to finish it before January ends so I really have to get working. 

splash

I just love the sketches at Paper Issues. I've participated in every Sketchy Saturday so far and my most favourite layout I have ever made was actually based on the first Sketch. But I'll be honest, I really struggled with this sketch. It sounds weird, but I don't like circles. I have a hard time using them and they're just my least favourite shape to use in scrapbooking. 

But then Cassie Box posted this layout and it just blew my mind! Of course I didn't have to stick with circles, I could make the sketch my own. After thinking a bit and then deciding on using photos of Andy jumping in puddles, I knew my shape would be clouds.

I've had this old wood veneer frame from Crate Paper for ages and finally found the perfect project for it. It's not exactly cloud shaped, but it has the same characteristics.

I cut two more photos into cloud shapes and I won't even tell you how long it took me to make a cloud pattern... it's embarrassing how long and in the end, I still had to trace something. I am so not artistic like that!

I also used some wood veneer clouds that came in an older Studio Calico kit.

I lightly misted some Studio Calico clouds and rain drops and randomly placed them around the page. I also punched some clouds out of vellum and placed them behind some of the clouds and one of the pictures for some added dimension.

The background paper is Studio Calico too. This was definitely way, way out of  my comfort zone using such a big pattern as my background paper, but I really love it. 

Another Sketchy Saturday is in the books. I definitely get a little too excited for a new sketch to come out and I think it's safe to say now that two of my most favourite layouts ever are based on Paper Issues sketches. Thank you Paper Issues and Cassie for the inspiration this month!

november project life

I did all of our November Project Life spreads using Crate Paper Notes and Things line and Maggie Holmes' Open Book line. I know I've said it many times before, but I just adore these lines. I was a little late to the game trying to order them and every online store I checked only had part of the lines. Then I found Paper Issues and they had almost every item I wanted and the owner offered to order me the items that they didn't have! Amazing. My order shipped crazy fast (the day after I ordered) and I could not be happier with my experience shopping at Paper Issues. Their customer service is out of this world.

I was really excited when I got all the lovely product to fill the remaining pages of our Project Life album with it. I decided to stop our album at the end of November this year and will just document December with my December Documented album.

My youngest nieces first birthday party, seeing Book of Mormon, swim class, and preparing the garden for winter. I love that "e" tag that came in the Open Book die cut pack. Perfect for a photo of sweet Evening Grey.

Celebrating Brandon's birthday with all my friends and Andy playing so sweetly with his dollhouse. That Good Times card is the perfect shade of hot pink.

Visiting Andy's future preschool for the first time, seeing Ryan Adams, poker tournament, crazy snow wall, and finding out I need a root canal/I have an abscessed tooth.

Those gold glitter thickers are some of my favourites, but I'm running low on them so I mix up the upper and lower cases to spell the words I want. I used my trusty Dymo label maker with gold tape on the bottom left pocket.

I used a slick writer on the top right photo, however it's running out of ink so it did not photograph very well. I love that mint green with gold polka dot card that came with the Notes and Things journal card set. I could definitely use a bunch more of those. Also, I just love those gold foil thickers!!

Decorating the house and tree, hockey games, book club, sledding and the very early arrival of my dear friend's baby.

I really love those gold foil phrase stickers, but they are impossible to photograph.That deer head card was perfect filler for photos of decorating for Christmas.

Derek took his nephews to a Sabres game, so he journalled about it for the album. Love when he does that! I really liked that some of the journal cards from Notes & Things have dimension to them. The card on the bottom right has the pink tag layered over the card and then a label layered over that and they're both sewn down. It really adds something extra to the album to not have everything flat. I love a lumpy album!

Hard to believe another year of Project Life is done. To be honest, I still don't know what I'm going to do for 2015. 12x12 again? Monthly again or go back to weekly? Jump on the 9x12 train? Do 1 12x12 album for our family and a 6x8 just for me? I probably should have decided all this before January 1st, but here we are almost a week into the new year and I'm still undecided. Oh well. For now, I'm just going to continue taking photos and keeping memorabilia and it will all work out in the end.

Have you decided what you're going to do for Project Life this year?