Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Week 19 - Pebbles

For week 19 I used Pebbles products to document our all about Vinny week.


and some close-ups...



Our Vinny is a type 1 diabetic and has been for 3+ years and this was the first time that he landed back in the hospital in ICU.  He is fine now, but just an eye opener, once again, about what diabetes can really do.  We will continue to believe that "by His stripes we are healed."

See you tomorrow for a look at my favorite 2013 layouts.
Good-bye 2013 and hello 2014!





Monday, December 30, 2013

Week 17 & 18 documented

Weeks 17 & 18 using Making Memories PL cards that I found at Jo-Anns.  


I like to use the same products on facing pages so that meant I had to make the cards Christmassy when they weren't!


See you tomorrow with one more PL page.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

2 Different Versions - This is a Wonderful Place

Have you ever made a layout and really liked it and then decided to shake it up a bit?  I don't normally, but sometimes I will fit a layout to a call that is open at that time.  This layout was made from a Studio Calico kit and I wanted to incorporate the chalkboard trend.  I really feel a little lost with this trend so to help me get my feet wet I decided to cut some elements from the chalkboard paper included in the kit.  The arrows, clouds, sun, and sentiment were my first attempt at the chalkboard trend (other than a background paper).


Now I love this layout, the colors just make me happy and the patterns, plus these pictures were good memories of our first few days here in FL.  But, I decided to shake the layout up a bit and try some string art...


First of all, I wanted to really fill in my new title SMILE - I started with the Amy Tan template and then added additional holes.  It was harder than I thought and a little frustrating, I did discover that you should put tape on the back of the page before poking holes - that really helped!  I also added in a few Studio Calico pieces with wood veneers and the vellum pieces.

I personally think I like the HEY better from the first layout, but I like the addition of the other pieces in the second layout.  What do you think?

Thank you all for stopping by!  
Merry Christmas to you and your families, see you in a few days!




Monday, December 23, 2013

Meet the Gang - Bella Blvd

I have a few more layouts I've created and haven't shared yet, thought I had better get busy before 2014 gets here!


This layout is made up of various Bella Blvd pieces and the letters are from Crate Paper (love those things)!

Friday, December 20, 2013

I Believe - Heidi Swapp and a sketch

Here is my last layout for the Sketch-a-thon at Memorable Seasons, you have until December 30th if you'd like to play along, to link up, click here.

This was my absolute favorite layout that I created with this kit.  First of all I was able to get ahold of the ephemera package (thank you Cassie at Paper Issues!) which was the perfect touch to create this, all those lovely bits and pieces!  I love this picture I took of the kids Christmas morning before opening the presents; I could have asked for anything at this point as they wanted to get started, lol!  I really wanted to keep this paper intact, but I was finding it hard to ground my picture and also embrace the floating stars.  By placing my photos in the stars (it really worked better with only 4 pics, but hey we had 5 kids then) and using a bold title I was able to create a flow through the whole page that was pleasing.  I made sure to use a few pops of black to make visual triangles.



Here is the sketch I created from my layout,



Thanks for stopping by, I'd love to see if you used any of my sketches just leave a comment and I will stop by!

Thursday, December 19, 2013

I am Dad! - Bella Blvd

Daddy has been roaring a little bit lately, but we still love him!


Hee-hee, I just could resist making this page - it uses some Pebbles Thirty-One collection and Christmas Countdown from Bella Blvd, plus the PlayDate collection, embellishments were from Studio Calico and Basic Grey.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Snap Snap Snap - Bella Blvd


I'm up on the Bella Blog today with this layout for What's New Wednesday - all items came from the summer CHA release, and all of these items were my personal favorites!  I love how this layout turned out, hope you enjoy it too!  Make sure you stop by the blog to see some close-ups!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Possibility for Joy - Bella Blvd

Even on the worst days there's possibility for Joy!
Last winter we froze, this winter we are wearing shorts!
Last winter we lost electricity due to the heavy snows and huddled together to keep warm during the nights.
This winter we have the AC on.


I am thankful for all the different experiences we've had over our married years together, they have only served to grow each of us into the people we are today.  

Monday, December 16, 2013

Week 15 & 16 - Simple Stories

I created these pages using Simple Stories Sn@p cards - Everyday and Christmas.  I love using the Bella Blvd stickers for my PL pages as they are small enough not to overpower my pictures.  And of course my favorite embellishments, wood veneers, I even managed to snag a few sets of the Lily Bee new Family veneers!




Friday, December 13, 2013

The Season to be Jolly - Heidi Swapp and a sketch

For the next few Fridays, you will find a sketch here on my blog.  If you'd like to join in at Memorable Seasons' Sketch-a-thon, you have until December 30th to link up, here.

This is actually a layout created about the Fireman's parade held each October, but it is the beginning of the season of activities that we always looked forward to.

This paper, from Heidi Swapp's Believe collection, was really busy, but it looked like lines and moving which inspired me to use these pictures.  The pictures I took because of it being dark didn't turn out the greatest so I didn't want to use large pictures, but I did want to include enough pictures to tell the story.  I thought the reindeer and Santa's sleigh made the perfect addition!



Here is the sketch I created for this layout



Thursday, December 12, 2013

Christmas Idea Time - Day 4

I love to make wreaths!  I make them for all seasons, from anything I can dream up, and I have to give most of them away because I can't store everything I make.  This Christmas I got out a wreath and my first thoughts were wow, this is pretty, wonder where I bought that?  Then I looked at the bow, and realized that was my ribbon and my bow, I had made the wreath!  LOL

Here are some of the wreaths I have made, as I said I give them away and often forget to take pictures so I've asked the reciepients to send me pictures...

Here is the wreath hanging in our house that I didn't know where I bought it, lol!


I made this wreath this year for a gift using my Pebbles DT products, click here for more details.


Gave this one away...


I made 2 of these and love them, you really do use a lot of balls though.  One was made using my Grandmother's vintage Christmas balls and was very delicate, but a wonderful way to preserve memories after the tree has been put away.


This wreath was made with Webster's Pages goodies and ribbon, I rolled 6x6 pieces of paper to form cones.  A detail shot follows...



I made this wreath for my grandmom using muslim, twine and burlap after being inspired by Christy Tomlinson's first ornament class, she has one going on now too.


I gave most of my Christmas goodies away when we moved to FL because I was having a hard time grasping how to celebrate Christmas when it is warm.  While I miss making these goodies I have been too busy this year.  Maybe next year I will put together a few wreaths!  Thanks for joining me this week for a peak of Christmas goodies, I will be back tomorrow with a Christmas layout!







Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Christmas Idea Time - Day 3

Ornaments!  I have made many different types over the years and constantly see more that I want to try, but my tree is quite full and also baby proofed right now so some of the ideas will have to wait!

Twine Ornaments original post with directions


Click here for the original post on making these icicle ornaments.



Music Paper ornaments, click here for tutorial.


Pine Cone ornament (directions were linked with the Bella projects yesterday).


See you tomorrow for my favorite projects, wreaths!





Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Christmas Celebrations with Bella Blvd



Christmas Idea Time - Day 2

Today I have a Christmas village to share with you.  I had the pleasure of designing for Little Yellow Bicycle for their Christmas collection last year and this is one of the projects I made.


You can find more details on this post.

Tomorrow I have some ornaments to share with you.



Monday, December 9, 2013

Christmas Idea Time - Day 1

I thought I would take the next few days and share some Christmas projects I have made over the past year.  Some have been on my blog before and other haven't, enjoy!

Let's start with our advent calender that I made last year.  This project used Bella Blvd products and the numbers were from Lily Bee.  Here is the original post with step-by-step pictures.


I thought I'd share a few other Bella projects that I loved from last year too.


Here is the link to the canvas' original post.



Here is the original post for the flower ornament and the flower tree.

See you tomorrow for some more ideas to get your Christmas hopping!




Saturday, December 7, 2013

Today's Messy Moments - Chic Tags

I have been joining Corrie Jones each month with documenting who I am.  I have found that each time I have a child, it takes me some time to come to grip with my new reality.  Each month I have been able to objectively look at the good and bad and realize I'm okay!


When I saw this paper from Chic Tags I knew I had to have it.  It wasn't my normal but I loved the bright colors and wanted to see if I could work with it.  I chose to use triangles and circles to show the continuous motion my life is - some things are going away, some are just starting, and some are continuous (Can anyone say feeding 6 kids and laundry, lol!).  The feathers were a way for me to show that I am feeling like I am being blown around, that my course isn't really under my control, but blown by a bigger source (Thank you Jesus that I am not in control and you are!).  I scattered my journaling as my brain is quite scattered lately and I didn't want the layout to see too rigid if I put it beside my picture.  I think it is so freeing that I can put a picture of me in hot pink on an yellow/orange/teal layout and not flip!  I have learned to enjoy scrapping and go where my creativity takes me - whether it meets a certain rule or not, I encourage you to try it, it is very freeing!

Thanks for joining me, I will see you Monday with plenty more.

Friday, December 6, 2013

Christmas Joy - Heidi Swapp and a sketch

For the next few Fridays, you will find a sketch here on my blog.  If you'd like to join in at Memorable Seasons' Sketch-a-thon, you have until December 30th to link up, here.

Here is the layout I created.  I was inspired by the tilt of the paper - to me it seemed to drive off the page and so the pictures of our little one and his new truck were perfect.  I wanted to further the look of a road by using the black cardstock as the base of my layout.  I chose to hang a few ornaments to fill in the dead space and of course my favorite, wood veneer stars from Studio Calico.  The layout was created with my December kit from Memorable Seasons, Heidi Swapp's "Believe" collection.


Here is the sketch I created from the above layout, have fun!



Thursday, December 5, 2013

Always & Forever Mother - Studio Calico kit

Mother of 6, I am still getting used to that, but I still love it (most of the time)!


This was made from a Studio Calico kit, I thought the scribbles on the page resembled the chaotic-ness of my life, the feathers floating around is the minutes of my days that just float on past, the & is because there is always an and, lol!

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Christmas picture wreath - Pebbles

I'm not much of a ribbon girl, so when I received the pack of American Crafts Christmas ribbon I wasn't sure what to do...

So how about make a wreath!


I started by tying the ribbons onto the wreath, you can see from the shot of the back, that I covered every bit of the wreath.


I added in some strips of tulle also to give the wreath more fullness.


I added in the frames from the Front Porch collection to further dress up my wreath.



I used some recent pictures of the kids and adhered them inside the frames.  The frames have adhesive in them already, but to make sure my pictures didn't fall out I also used some of the Teresa Collins liquid adhesive at the bottom of the frames.


I used some of the foam squares to give dimension to my stars and then I glued on a few more Christmas items.  

Thanks so much Xyron for giving me the chance to try out your adhesive package!

Check out the Pebbles blog for a Note Set perfect for gift giving!






Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Project Life Week 13 & 14 - Bella Blvd

I'm on the Bella blog today sharing my project life for week 13 and week 14.


The highlight of week 14 was my ride on the airboat shown looking for alligators.  It was sooooo much fun and we even spotten a few alligators!



Monday, December 2, 2013

Magic of Christmas - Heidi Swapp

I received the Believe collection from Memorable Season for December; I kept putting these papers into my cart, so I was thrilled!  I loved the tilts of the different patterns on the papers, but I found that I had a hard time when I tried to use the paper as it was created, but...  A little trimming made for some great pages that I really enjoyed putting together!


This first one I created was meant to look scattered almost chaotic, just like it was the night we walked down Main Street USA at Magic Kingdom and right into our dear friends!  I was so thrilled and it meant so much to me to stop and visit.  While the picture didn't turn out the best, the memories were amazing!