favourite andy

Every Friday, Kim, the owner of Hip Kit Club, posts a weekend challenge to the Hip Kit Facebook forum. I always have great intentions of participating, however as we are sorely lacking in daylight these days and I work Monday to Friday, I am never able to get a layout finished and photographed in time.... until now that is. 

This weekend's challenge was to use a grid to document some highlights from 2014. Derek and I have talked a few times that I should do a layout using all the photos I take of Andy sleeping. I frequently sneak into his room at night and take photos of him. Especially if Derek is working a late shift, I always go in, take a picture and text it to him. This challenge was the perfect way to document my favourite photos I have taken this year. 

I have wanted those wonky wood veneer stars since they came out and I was never able to find them. I was over the moon when I was able to purchase two packs recently from a woman online at a very reasonable price. I'm pretty sure you're going to be seeing them on basically every project from here on out.

Derek and I like to joke and say that sleeping Andy is our favourite Andy. He is just so sweet, adorable and peaceful when he's sleeping. I can't get enough of it.

This quote is on one of the journalling cards from Crate Paper's Notes & Things line. The card is pink though and just didn't work with this colour scheme. I typed the same sentiment onto a grey shipping tag that I cut to the size I required and then adhered a wood veneer cloud.

My motto usually is "if you don't know what to do, stick a doily on it".

Or stick a gold chipboard camera on it. 

This was such a fun challenge and I was so happy I was finally able to participate. Looking forward to the next one.

december documented album and cover pages

I can't believe that Christmas is over already. It is hands down my favourite holiday. I spend so much time thinking about it, planning for it, spending money for it, and then it seems like it is over in a flash. Thanks to this amazing project though, I am able to keep Christmas with me for a little bit longer.

I used the November hip kit club kit and embellishment kit for my December Documented album this year. I absolutely loved the colours in the kit. All of my favourites for Christmas. I also used some items from Hip Kit's December Documented kit and some items from my stash. 

For the album, I used a plain chipboard Handbook that I covered in 2 coats of Gesso and 3 coats of white acrylic paint. I then covered it with a layer of Mister Huey's Shine, however it got a little splotchy. 

For the front, I just glued the "December 2014" wood veneer from Elle's Studio. To the spine, I adhered a frame and a wood veneer snowflake that I added silver glitter embossing powder. 

For the cover page, I used a page protector with 12 2x2 spots. I just added little bits and pieces to each pocket. I just love the see through element to most of them. 

And this is what it looks like outside of the album.



Since we actually decorated our tree in November, I added some photos of my favourite ornaments to the back of the page. 

I used a 6x8 photo of one of our trees on the next page and strung the letters spelling 'merry' like a garland across the photo. 

On the back of the photo, I printed this December calendar at 6x8 and just layered that amazing gold glitter tape with some washi at the bottom.



Right now I have up to Day 12 done and am really hoping to have everything done by the end of January before I lose my Christmas steam.

Have you done a December album? If so, please link your album in the comments, I would love to check them out!

the tilt and all is calm all is bright

Today it is old photos, old product, but new layouts. I was in a scrapping frenzy in November and really wanted to use up some older kits I had. The kits and photos are from 2012.

When I was pregnant, Derek and I bought Andy this 'ugly Christmas' shirt on clearance at Target. By the time Christmas came, Andy was almost too chubby to fit into it. The day we decorated the house, we put him in this outfit and set him in the chair for some photos. He tilted his head to the side and this will forever be one of my favourite photos of Andy.

I layered some stickers alone the side of the photo and a shipping and tag and label beneath for some added dimension.

Wood grain Thickers are my favourite. I have many packages in many fonts. They are such a great neutral for a title on any layout. I love that silver doily at the top. It was perfect for a Christmas themed layout.

I made this 8 1/2 x 11 layout about some of my favourite ornaments. A little stitching between the rows is definitely needed!

I backed two of the sqaures with gold POW paper. I just love that stuff. It is the prettiest gold colour.

Thanks for looking and I hope to post the first part of our December album in a few days. I really need to get going on that before I get burned out on Christmas.

kit killing: december edition

That would be 12 layouts and 3 6x8 Project Life spreads made with the December Hip Kit Club kit. I don't think I could have loved this kit any more. The papers were just beautiful and it had the perfect amount of embellishments and alphas. The kit featured the new lines from Amy Tangerine, Pebbles, and Heidi Swapp, as well as embellishments from Evalicious. I only got the main kit and I just can't believe how many layouts I was able to complete. 

I actually have lots of the gold word thickers, wood grain thickers and Amy Tangerine die cuts left. This kit was just so full of amazing items. I don't have much patterned paper left though, so I consider this kit killed and will move the remaining embellishments into my stash.

I think this might be my favourite layout I made with the kit. The colours go perfectly with my photo and I loved that the wood veneer camera said "adventurer" on it. Perfect for a photo of my curious boy out for a walk.

That wood grain paper is just perfection. I immediately thought of this selfie I took on a rainy fall day and knew they would go together.



I added in some wood veneer stars and trees, as well as some gold sequins from my stash for this layout. It's pretty rare for me to use anything other than white cardstock as a background, but I really love the way this black and white striped paper goes with my photo.

  

I am just crazy about those Dear Lizzy gold word thickers. Wood grain thickers are actually a serious weakness of mine and I really loved the ones that came in this kit. I just couldn't stop using the gold thickers though and they ended up on most of my pages.

I used a grid pattern for this layout to get as many embellishments as I could on the page. To keep it from being too busy, I tried sticking to blue, grey and gold colours.

I made this layout based on a sketch from Paper Issues. Those floral die cuts with a bit of gold were my favourite in the pack and they went perfectly with the soft pink paper with white polka dots.

That floral paper was definitely my favourite in the entire kit. I really wanted to use the entire sheet as a background, but I just couldn't make it work. I really love it here grounding a layout of a selfie my niece, Ruby Sky, and I took on Christmas day. She really loves to selfie!

I based this entire layout around that section of paper that says "cozy up to a good book". I actually really struggled with this one and pushed paper for way too long, before just deciding to glue stuff down. I'm not entirely happy with it though and feel like it's missing something. I may add to it later.

'Shine' is the perfect way to describe my youngest niece. She is just the happiest baby. I really like that blue "v" paper by Amy Tangerine and think it would make a really nice background paper as the pattern is subtle.

I just love how this one turned out. I know I basically just cut the piece of patterned paper apart and glued it to white cardstock,but it adds a little more dimension than just using the paper as is. If my sewing machine was working, I would definitely have sewn lines through each strip of paper. I added the gold star rub ons to my photo and my title in between a strip of paper. Super simple, but I'm really happy with it. That photo of my son also makes my heart melt. It's just so him.

This layout is based on a sketch and love how much of the grey heart paper I got to use here. Amy Tangerine makes such amazing patterned papers. They often have really subtle patterns that work so well for backgrounds.

This one is also based on a sketch. The circles are die cuts from the Amy Tangerine pack that came with the kit, one circle rub on and a few are just circles I punched from papers that came with the kit.

I also made 3 6x8 Project Life spreads, however it turns out the photos I took are all blurry, so I'll have to re-take them later.

My January Hip Kit Club kit should be arriving in about two weeks and I'm just so excited. I also got the embellishment add-on this month and can only imagine how many layouts I'm going to be able to make with this one.

I'm really happy with my decision to subscribe to the Hip kits after only two months. They are filled with the latest and greatest in the scrapbooking industry, Kim, the owner, is incredibly nice, the design team is crazy talented, and there is a wonderfully friendly Facebook group filled with amazing inspiration. I strongly urge you to check out Hip Kit Club if you haven't already. I promise you will love the kits!

fall 2012 mini

Wow, I've been gone for a long time. I didn't mean to be gone for so long, but the holidays crept up on me and they were wonderful and busy and blogging was placed on the back burner. 

I am back today though with a super chunky mini I made using the November Swag Bag from Paper Issues. I knew the colours would be perfect for this mini album and snatched one up almost as soon as they went on sale. I have kicked myself repeatedly for not getting the  merry memories and December swag bags. Swag bags are packed full of wonderful goodies at an amazing price!

Fall 2012 was my son's first fall. I absolutely adore fall, so it was a really special season for me. My maternity leave also ended in December of that year, so I was really trying to soak up all the wonderful time I had at home with baby. Even though I have already documented all of these photos in our Project Life album for that year, I thought it would be really nice to have all the best moments from fall in one little album. I'm really happy with how this turned out and hope you have some coffee or tea, because this post is photo heavy.

 I added some shipping tags, doilies and Hello Forever labels from my stash to put the mini together.

I love that little cork house. It's just adorable.

 I was so happy to get a piece of gold polka dot vellum!

 I couldn't believe how many wood veneer and cork items came in the bag. They definitely helped make this mini super chunky!

Yes my baby stood up for the first time by balancing on a case of beer. We are definitely white trash. Haha.

 I love how the smaller shipping tags and cut out pieces add an extra level of dimension to the album.

 Wood grain paper will always be one of my favourites.

 The cork circles from Gossamer Blue are so much fun.

 I even used the glassine bag the swag bag came in as part of the mini and filled it with the sequins and a yellow vellum leaf that came with it.

 Have I  mentioned yet how much I loved all the cork elements that came with the Swag Bag?

I also ordered the cork circles and enamel dots from Gossamer Blue's Gramercy Road line to use as part of the mini. I love that line. The colours are just perfect for fall, however are so nontraditional.

 I also added in a few Thickers from an older Dear Lizzy line.

That photo of my husband and son looking at each other is one of my favourite photos of all time. I get butterflies every time I look at it.

I just love those die cut leaves. I definitely wish I had more to make a layout with them. They are absolutely adorable.

 I used an acrylic airplane from my stash to document Andy's first airplane ride.

I ended the album with two photos from our trip to Florida.

I love flipping through this album. Looking at these photos all grouped together like this immediately brings me back to fall 2012. The 9 months I was on maternity leave was the greatest time in my life and I'm so happy I have this little chunk documented like this. Thank you for letting me share this album with you!