Aaron's Faves

This layout was inspired by Ali Edwards' Hello Story class. The story structure for this one was Opposites.

I decided to use the annual story of my son's favorites this year as well as his least favorites for a twist this year.

The background was created by stamping and heat embossing the background circles. Some of the circles are from Laura Wonsik's collaboration with Ali Edwards and the others are a set from Studio Calico. 

I created the full circle using a stitch stamp set from Elle's Studio that was a good diameter and masked the other half. 

I designed myself in a corner with the black paper, because journaling in white wasn't going to easily happen. I have no luck with the white journaling pens. So instead I printed the journaling and reversed the black on white for the white side. 

This was a lot of work, but love how it turned out and to use so many of the untouched stamps in my stash!

 

When Tiffany Met Tom

This layout was inspired by the Hello Story class by Ali Edwards. The lesson was on Mathematics, and while this layout doesn't overtly look like it works, the journaling was created by subtracting words from a book page. 

 

My supplies were inspired by a challenge over at Simple Scrapper, to do a monochromatic layout with the background being black and white. Since the book paper was cream, I opted for a cream and black pattern. Thought the Maggie Holmes music paper fit the theme for this story well.

I struggled with picking a story to tell with this technique, but when I found the book paper and started finding a story within the words, I knew it had to be used to tell how my husband and I met.

I found some Story Kit pieces of chipboard from the Begin Story Kit and Time Story Kit that worked well as well as the First Story Stamp.

Seek

Sharing a layout I created that was inspired by Ali Edwards' Story Stamp by the theme of Seek.

I went a completely different direction than the color scheme of the kit for this one because of the red in my daughter's jacket. 

The background paper is one of Vicki Boutin's mixed media papers. The Journaling cards are from Shimelle but only one was used as a card. The others I cut into circles. The polka dot has an embossed treatment, which I love the added texture of.

Used quite a few of the stamps from the Seek set. 8 to be exact! Love that the camera was made up of two; the outline and a stamp to fill it in with color.

The paper ribbon down the center was something that I picked up from my friend Tami and love the texture and dimension that it gives the layout. 

Love how this one turned out. Thanks for looking!

 

Community

This layout was inspired by the Community Story Stamp by Ali Edwards. 

The journaling was something I had written for Simple Scrapper after I was asked to be their first Member Profile within the membership. 

The post card image of the old Simple Scrapper logo was from a kit I got from Everyday Explorers that was a collaboration with Simple Scrapper.

The supplies from this layout are from Felicity Jane. I managed to pick up a handful of their products before they closed up their shop.

I was in a stash bashing mood and got into my button stash to locate a few to embellish this layout instead of my go-to enamel dots. Love the stitching detail it adds. 

The leave die cuts are from an old Sizzix die from my stash. 

 

Tough

Sharing a layout I created for Shimelle's Use What You Buy- Stamp Edition as well as Ali Edwards Story Stamp for the theme of Tough.

I struggled with this one, selecting appropriate papers and embellishments, but when I saw Shimelle's cloud paper, it seemed perfect for this story. Not too happy, not too sad, perfect for a "tough" story.

 

I had some cloud stamps in my stash that I used for this as well as the Tough Story Stamp. 

Used some stamps from a collaboration between Ali Edwards and Laura Wonsik, the half circles.

Used some Thickers for the title and put my journaling on a tag with some twine from my stash. Love how it turned out!

40 By the Numbers

This layout was inspired by Ali Edwards Hello Story lesson on Numbers. 

I capture 40 things that had to do with numbers in my life during my 40th year. From phone numbers to number of kids to the number of to be read books in Good Reads.

I used the collection Simple Vintage Life in Bloom from Simple Stories as well as the number paper from Just Add Color collection from Bella Blvd.

I used some stamps from Ali Edwards Numbers Story Stamp.

Braved a bit of mixed media on this one! I used some of my Distress Inks and some splatter stamps on the edges of the number paper. Got a bit more brave an splattered with out the stamps as well!

So happy to have these numbers documented! 

 

Awesome Smile

 I created this layout using the Ali Edwards Story Kit and Stamp for the theme of Awesome.

I paired it with a paper from 49 and Market’s Spectrum Sherbet collection and a few border die cuts. 

The 3x4 card in the middle was put in upside down on purpose because it was the shape of a smile. I couldn’t get the vellum embellishments to feel right that way, so I didn’t. 

Finished with a few enamel dots from my stash.

Thanks for looking!

Morning- bring on the routine

This layout was inspired by Ali Edwards’ Morning Story Stamp. 

I used a Vicki Boutin mixed media paper for my background. Love the look and I don’t have the struggles in making it!

Since I was a little hesitant in stamping the title on the background after I had added the acetate suns, I opted to put on vellum and adhere instead. I used some Stampin’ Up! yellow embossing powder. 

The acetate and puffy suns were part of the Light Story Kit. Stitched the acetate in place so regular adhesive wouldn’t show. 

Used a few other Ali Edwards stamps from my stash to finish it off. 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Baby-Sitters Club

This layout had quite a few inspiration points. 

Simple Scrapper had a Bucket List Project class that I took over 3 years ago. I had identified a story I wanted to tell about my love of Baby-Sitter Club books and my collection of them.

Fast forward a bit and I discovered a set of printables designed by Brandi Kincade that were on this very topic and they were awesome, so I purchased them.

I have continued to work through my bucket list stories and this one finally rose to the top to complete.

Because I am also working through past Story Stamp classes, I consumed the Read Story class in there and decided I would find a way to incorporate some of the stamps for this layout as well.

Being a bucket list story, I knew there would be plenty of words so I had to create a design that would allow for pocket cards and a lot of words. 

I found a Vicki Boutin mixed media background that went well with the colors of the printables as well as some papers in one of her collections that I used for matting.

I did use a few stamps from the Read Story Stamp, but I used a handful of others as well: Kerri Bradford read stamp set, Elle’s Studio heart label stamps and matching dies, and an old Technique Tuesday/Ali Edwards stamp with the read stamp.

Love how the last stamp is really subtle with the same color as the background!

I used 5 cards from the printable kit. The title card was a must, then I cut the light bulb and phone from 2 others. I wanted a good green color match to die cut the leaves, so die cut the green out of the last. 

I used some My Favorite Thingsdies to cut the flowers and added some enamel dots from my stash. I also tore a bit of the background in placing my journaling on sticker paper down, so to cover it up, inspired by the stash bash challenge at Simple Scrapper, I used a skinny washi to “finish off” the journaling block and tucked it into 2 of the other clusters. 

Glad to finally have this bucket list sorry told, the printables showcased and stamps from my stash used! Thanks for stopping by!

 

Pieces of Life Right Now

This layout was inspired by Ali Edwards Hello Story class. The story structure used on this was pie charts.  Loved the graphic look without having to have it "mean" anything.

The cards with the words on them were from Tim Holtz. The papers were from Vicki Boutin's Print Shop collection. Used a stamp from the Pieces Story Stamp.

Love how this one turned out and happy to finally have this story in an album!

 

Progress

Sharing a layout I created that was inspired by Shimelle's Layer on Layer on Layer class. The story was inspired by Ali Edwards' Progress Story Stamp set.

I used a subtle ledger paper with a rainbow water color strip down the left side. I then used the colors from the strip to inform my ink choices.

I used a planner type stamp from Ali Edwards as well as some paint splatter stamps to create a colorful background using stamps. 

I really enjoyed this process, but struggled a bit when I went to put my journaling on sticker paper down realizing the text over text stamps were making it difficult to read. 

I was able to pull up the sticker paper a bit to add some white paint and water to blend the ink and "fix" the mistake. Out is definitely not perfect, but stamping rarely is.

A friend of mine that saw this layout commented that she found it funny I chose to use yellow splatters for potty training. This did not even cross my mind. The only color I tend to stay away from splattering is red so it won't look like a crime scene. Maybe I made that choice subconsciously, I don't know. 

Thanks for taking a look! 

 

Unexpected

 

The layout I am sharing today was inspired by Ali Edwards' Story Stamp for the theme of Unexpected.

For the design of this page, I decided to go a bit unexpected and used a sketch that was a bit out of my comfort zone. 

The papers are from Studio Calico and I loved the rainbow stripe with the subtle diagonal variations in color. I chose to use that diagonal to be the horizontal line with my triangle pieces.

Used the wonky timeline stamp from the set and used it around on my background along with the tone on tone word.

I am always surprised at how many things I can pull from my stash that coordinate with the Story Stamp themes! Like the Me Oh My sticker with this paper collection.

I was able to modify some of the other stickers in the collection with my stamps to make them perfect for this layout.

The layout was feeling a bit flat so I added a few stitches to add a bit of texture to pull you across the page and add a bit of something to a sticker.

So happy with how this turned out! Especially since I was including such a long story that I was able to create a dynamic page despite that. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Review - Celebrate Rosie @3

The layout I am sharing today started with the words. Occasionally, when I am living through a special day, I will decided there are so many details I want to remember that I document them right away. 

For this layout, originally I thought I had selected a sketch that would accommodate the words for my story, but when going to print it out, found I was sorely mistaken! Instead of editing my story down or shrinking the font tiny to fit the space I had on the layout, I took some advice from Shimelle that she gave me during a YouTube Live, to make a 6x12 insert for the words.

The paper collection that I used for this layout was something vintage from my stash. I don't tend to gravitate toward anything brown these days, but with my daughter's brown pants in the photos, it seemed like a good match. I struggled to cut the paper with the die cut edge at the top and bottom, but I channeled my inner Shimelle and cut it. Better pieces used in my album than a whole sheet in my stash!

 Die cut the title from a SCT Sampler exclusive die. The number was an old Heidi Swapp product.

Loved using the Elle's Studio Celebrate stamp set for both the 12x12 and the 6x12 for this layout! I watercolored them with shimmery paint. 

Also used the Review Story Stamp from Ali Edwards.

 

Eat- This meal

Sharing a layout that was inspired by Ali Edwards Eat Story Class and Stamp. This layout didn't use as many stamps from the set that is my usual, and I added an Everyday Explorers stamp to finish off the journaling block. 

Papers and embellishments are from Amy Tangerine. Used the doily border die from Tim Holtz. 

So happy to have this story told!

 

Just Breathe

Here is a layout that was inspired by Ali Edwards' Story Stamp for the theme of Breathe.

I used a cut file and backed with heat embossed stamped backgrounds. 

The papers and embellishments are from Pinkfresh Studio's A Little Lovely collection.

Thought the "flower" or mandala shaped stamps would pair nicely with the circle cut file. It gave them a "home" on the layout.

Loved the gold foiled acetate pieces from Pinkfresh!