Wild & Free

Hey! I just wanted to share a quick layout today! I created this with the new Maggie Holmes Confetti Collection. It is totally hoard-worthy. Working with beautiful new supplies is always so fun but difficult. For me, I don't get to scrapbooking stores basically ever. Usually I only ever get things from Studio Calico because it's definitely the most reasonable shipping to Canada. So, when I get something brand new and beautiful and I know I won't be able to get it again it is SO hard for me to actually USE it. That background paper is my favourite of the collection. Cutting into it was not very easy, ha! Using these things is difficult as well because I want to make it stretch. I don't want to use it all on one page, but also I do! *Sigh* It's a mental battle. The struggle is real you guys! I adore the way this turned out and am so glad I cut up that paper and didn't tuck it away for the never-to-be-found perfect layout!

I adhered that paper on and used my favourite stencil and clear heavy gel to get that subtle shiny texture. I smudged in some gesso and used some watercolours on top 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Project Life share

Hey! I'm sharing a few project life spreads today using mostly the Carolina Moon kit and some new Dear Lizzy goodies! Honestly, it's taking me a while to get into the swing of doing monthly project life instead of weekly. At first I found it really difficult to know what photos to put where, and felt to constricted to the weekly format. I have definitely loved that its more free flowing. If I have more photos I just do another spread, and it doesn't matter if I have 5 spreads for the month or 3. Its also been nice to be able to match colors in the photos. So, lets say you have a stack of photos covering a few weeks in May, you just pick and choose the ones that go together and it doesn't matter what week its from. That's something I struggled with last year doing the weekly spreads. Sometimes the color tones and clothes the kids wore or what not just did NOT go together, so chances are some photos just didn't get used because it just didn't look right. There's always black and white of course, but I send my pictures out to be printed so when you get them back, lay them out you see the colors that clash and there's just not much you can do. SO anyway, onto the spreads!

 I totally covered up the "books" part of that coffee+books=bliss. As much as I loved reading when I was younger, I just am not into it anymore. I guess life is so busy when I do have a few moments there are so many things I want to do, reading is pretty low on the list. That and I never have a clue what I would read. So if you have any good book suggestions, please feel free! I mixed in some of the midnight core kit in this one. (or the "little black dress" of project life kits)  

 I've really been trying to do more stamping, I always love the stamps, but somehow they don't make it on alot of layouts. 

 On this layout I used that 4x6 chipboard May 2015. I simply painted it white and distressd the edges slightly so it wasn't to perfect. A few of the cards are this months Studio Calico kit, some are cut aparts from the new Dear Lizzy collection, like the Life is Sweet card. That red matches those chipboard hears so perfectly. This is a pretty journal heavy layout, May is a busy month around here! This year I've really simplified my spreads, less is definitely more when it comes to project life!

And that's it! Thanks for stopping by!

eight.

next week my husband and I celebrate 8 years of marriage. Seriously? Where has the time gone! It seems like yesterday, on our very first anniversary, we told each other on our 10th Anniversary we would renew our vows, and go on the honeymoon we never had. Hard to believe that's only 2 years away now. We've been through alot together and we've overcome alot of odds. Here we are, still crazy and in love, building a pretty wonderful life together. I tell ya, I'd marry him all over again. Anyway...

I resurrected an old collection from my stash. My very favourite collection of all time mind you. Dear Lizzy's Daydreamer. Gosh, I bought every single piece (minus those gorgeous puffy hearts because they were never ever in stock. curses!) I put together this little mini documenting our 8 years to give to my husband, and since he's going to be out of town for work on our day I let him see it already. I'm impatient like that. 

For the cover I used washi tape to tape diagonally across a piece of chipboard and just painted it with acrylic paint. thickers. eight. done. 

Here's a look at the inside, tags, throwback photos, hidden love notes and a whole lotta love

 for this one I created a pocket and tucked tags inside with throwback photos, from when we were dating, engaged, newlyweds. 

some close ups... .

That's about it! This is my first ever mini album and I just love it. I see more of these in my future...Thanks for stopping by!

Happy (inter)National Scrapbooking Day!

Happy day-after (inter)National Scrapbooking Day!

I was able to complete 2 (holy cow!) of the Studio Calico challenges, the second one actual completes 2 of the challenges in one. Here's a look at my finished projects 

wander

I used the sketch to start. Even though I loved the sketch idea, I really struggled with putting the embellishment at the bottom and journalling on the side. I knew I wanted to use that wander circle from the Lisse Street kit and that piece of leftover tab to start. I pushed the paper around for a bit, tried to find a journalling card to put on the side but nothing really worked for me. Then I put that tag on the side. And boom goes the dynamite. Perfect. From there I went to that wander circle. I punched a couple other circles and placed them. I also busted out my old scalloped 3 in 1 punch and added a few other bits. I was just going with the flow once I got the basic placement of my main pieces. A few wooden plus signs, puffy stickers and word stickers finished it up. I also typed my journalling in a column at the bottom. Here's a closer look at the details:

 You are You

For this layout I used the mood board to guide my color scheme. I stamped out my quote. I won't lie this was harder then you think. I won't admit that I stamped it out 3 times. I'm a little OCD like that. The first time the spacing wasn't even enough to fill out the left side of the page. The second time I forgot a word, tried to fit it in, but then the spacing looked weird. But since I'm really not admitting any of this really took place I'll just move on. I watercolored the letters in colors to match the mood board. And splattered it up a bit along the way. Sometimes its just so fun to be messy! I love the mint and hot pink, with the bold navy. *swoon* I layered up my photo on a few pieces of paper from the odyssey kit and the lisse street kit and a bit of tissue paper. A few  puffy hearts in that lovely visual triangle and I called it done. I really wanted the quote and water color to be the main focus. I love this picture of me and my middle boy. It really speaks to his personality and our relationship. He's so silly. I love being silly with him. He always needs his shades on outside because he hates the sun in his eyes. He's gangster like that. Everytime I see this picture I laugh, my heart feels happy and I think. Yup, he's my kid. This is us. 

And that about raps it up. Thanks for stopping by today!