"Chalkboard Globe" Home Decor

Supplies Used: 1canoe2 for American Crafts--Chalkboard Globe, Wanderlust Vinyl, Chalk Marker-White, Bear Hug Patterned Paper 

Globes are my jam! And the 1cane2 for American Crafts globes are simply awesome. I bought every last one and they now live on the shelves in the living room. The latest release was a plain chalkboard globe that I was so excited to decorate from scratch. You can read more about it on the American Crafts Blog today: How-to: Creating a Wanderlust Globe

Cheers & Besos,

"Sleeping Cats" Scrapbook Layout

Let Sleeping Cats Lie Supplies Used: Elle's Studio July 2017 Monthly Kit, Summer Puffy Stickers,  Little Acrylic Stars, Stanley Alphabet Stamp-Outline, Stanley Alphabet Stamp-Solid, Title Builder Alphabet Stamp

Oh my Izzy (full name Islington)! How I love him so! There's just something so adorable about a sleeping cat. And my cat loves to sleep in the oddest positions. I love that he's totally comfortable at home with us!

This page started with the title. I thought it would be fun to play on the old adage "let sleeping dogs lie". I just substituted the species. I used the new Stanley Alphabet Stamps (Solid & Outline) plus the blocky Title Builder Alpha to create the title. I love the mix of fonts, sizes and colors!

I used a collection of Izzy sleeping photos to tell this story. I have so many that I had to whittle it down to just my favorites. Because they had so many different colors and hues, I decided to covert them all to black and white.

When I sat down to make this page, I knew I wanted to create a central design. I wasn't sure how busy I wanted the background to be and was considering a patterned paper. But eventually opted for this mustard yellow color. I loved it paired with the light and dark blue plus the gray, black and white!

To embellish, I cut up two of the journaling tags in the July 2017 monthly kit. They both featured star designs. I glued these around the page and then for added dimension, added puffy stars and dots and an acrylic star or two.

To see the other projects I made with the July 2017 Kit and extras click here: Elle's Studio July 2017 Release.

Cheers & Besos,

"Happy Birthday" Card-Red, Orange & Blue

Supplies Used: Elle's Studio July 2017 Monthly Kit, Summer Puffy Stickers, Happy Birthday Stamp

My bestie has a birthday coming up. So of course I have to make her a card! I've made many of these for her over the years. But every year they're totally different. For this year's card I knew I wanted a red, orange and blue color scheme. And that was even before I saw the colors in the July 2017 Monthly kit! I pulled a 4x6 journaling tag and the flag die cut as the paper elements of the card.

The card is a total stamp job. I used the Happy Birthday Stamp Set that was released a few months ago. I love all of the little sentiments and the fact that there are two "Happy Birthday"'s in the set! It's always good to have options IMO. As luck would have it, "birthday" fit perfectly on that flag die cut.

I always love to decorate the envelopes of any card that I make. It just makes it all the more festive! I'm hand delivering this one so don't need to worry about leaving a space for address details. It meant I was able to go wild! For any birthday cards, I like to include the date. There's no easier way to show that this was made just for them than to include their birth date!

To see the other projects I made with the July 2017 Kit and extras click here: Elle's Studio July 2017 Release.

Cheers & Besos,

"Treat Yo Self" Pocket Page

Supplies Used: Elle's Studio July 2017 Monthly Kit, Jonah Alphabet Stamp, Summer Puffy Stickers, Love This Life Stamp

This pocket page was just something fun to make! I decided just a few weeks ago that I wanted to start scrapping 6x8 sized again. I didn't have an album started or really know what stories I wanted to tell in the aforementioned 6x8 album. But I didn't care! I didn't and don't want to limit myself. So I pulled out some page protectors and got to playing.

This album will consist of random stories from the year. I'm calling it my 2017 Album Small (Large is the 12x12 version).

I wanted to document this small story of treating myself to lunch. It was an expensive lunch for just me but I had just tackled something that had been on my "Nagging Task" list for months and I was on a high! I used 3 photos (one hidden behind a flip) and 3 journaling cards (one used as a mat for the other).

I stamped and journaled and got this done so quickly. Also, it was fun to play with green. It's the color I use the least in my scrapbooks (after brown).

To see the other projects I made with the July 2017 Kit and extras click here: Elle's Studio July 2017 Release.

Cheers & Besos,

Elle's Studio July 2017 Release

It's Elle's Studio Release Day! Who's excited? I know I am! I love working with the monthly kit + extras every month. For this release I made 3 projects all in a single afternoon. Everything came together so quickly, I was finished before I knew it.

Click on each photo to read more about the project and to also see which products I used for each.

As always, if you're interested in anything you see here, be sure to drop by Elle's Studio to snap them up before they're gone! The monthly kit is $9.99 until midnight PST. Afterwards it's $11.99 until it's gone. Don't want to miss out on a kit? Elle is also offering a monthly kit subscription. It locks you into the lower rate and there are also a few perks, like 24 hour bundling and special sale items for subscribers only. Here's a direct link to all of the newest products available today: New Arrivals.

Cheers & Besos,

2017 Memory Notebook Vol. 02

[Originally posted on previous blog 06/30/2017]

Guys, I kind of can't believe that it's time for this. But it is. I just put together a Vol. 02 of my 2017 Memory Notebook! And I'm happy to report that I'm still so in love with this project. When I first started it, I had no idea that I would value it as much as I do. But oh man, it has quickly become one of my favorite projects. It makes me happy to work in and I love flipping back through the pages. I'm planning to film a flip through video soon, so be on the lookout for that!

I internally debated about using the same patterned paper for the new notebook but decided to create it from a new patterned paper. Both are from Shimelle's Little by Little collection. New sheet is Bear Hug. Old pattern is Funny Bunny. I like that both patterns are colorful circles. I like how the old notebook is on a black background and the new one is on a white. Fresh new start and all that!

I added a label to the front as before. You might remember that the old notebook had "2017" on it. Unfortunately, due to wear the gold flaked off of the stickers. So I peeled them up. Once I'm totally done with that notebook I'll added replacements on and call it done! Learning my lesson, I added the label to the new notebook and will plan to include "2017" at the end of the year when it's done!

Cheers & Besos,

Hello New Blog!

After a year blogging on the SquareSpace platform, I've decided to come back to Blogger! SquareSpace never worked quite like I wanted to. And at $150 a year that just doesn't seem worth it to me. So I'm packing up my stuff and moving back to Blogger. But, to this wholly new blog!

It feels like a lot has changed since a year has gone by, both personally and with my paper crafting. My scrapbooking has changed. I'm working on all new projects. Projects that I love tremendously! I'm working with a new (to me) company--American Crafts--and left another company--Simple Scrapper--early this year. I've taught a class at Big Picture Classes: Hidden Journaling! I discovered a love for traveler's notebooks.

Personally, I bought a house with my partner. We adopted a cat before that happened though. I quit my job and I've just started a new one! So there's a lot of new coming at me. Why not add a blog on top of it?!

I feel like I've never been in a better place with my scrapbooking game. This is because I've figured out a system/format that really works for me.

Here's how I'm documenting my memories:
Monthly via my Monthly Memories Project. Every month I condense the big stuff down into two 9x12 pocket pages.

Daily/Weekly via my 2017 Memory Notebook Project. It's a traveler's notebook that I write in everyday and then create one weekly story spread.

Weekly Bullet Journal spreads. This is very new. I use to bujo back in the day but have just got back into it and I'm loving it!

Traveler's Notebooks galore! I love this format. Here are the ones I have going: All About Me, People I love, My Home, Izzy, Dixie

Scrapbook layouts. Yep, I'm still making these! Though I'll admit, not nearly as much as I use to. I make pages in a variety of sizes: 12x12, 9x12, 8 1/2 x 11, 6x12. I have a 12x12 album that I mix all of these into along with my monthly memories pocket pages.

6x8 pocket pages. This is another new addition to my repertoire. I don't ever want to limit myself to only scrap in certain sizes. I love this smaller format and so I just started created for it!

And I'm keeping track of all of the stories I want to tell via a Storytelling Tracker. This might be my most favorite project of the year!

My goal is to blog here at least twice a week. Sometimes that won't be feasible. Sometimes I'll blog more I'm sure. I also really want to get into producing regular YouTube content. Maybe a video a week to start! I'm still trying to figure out my filming situation.

If you've read this far, I thank you! I hope you'll check back in every now and again to see what I'm working on. If you have any requests, I'd love to hear them!

Cheers & Besos,

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