A One-derful Easter

The layout I am sharing today is another for my youngest daughter's baby album. It is the story of her first Easter. Because of her birthday, her first Easter fell after she had already turned one and I wanted to emphasize this on this layout. 

I participated in Simple Scrapper's Square One class this year and this layout is based on Sketch 613. I took a lot of liberties with this sketch to make it work for me and this layout. It had a band of paper at the left of the 2 page layout. It wasn't a 12x12 two page layout sketch, so I had to modify the sizes of things to make them work. 

The papers I used were from American Crafts Hello Spring paper pad. I only had one piece of the pink dotted paper left to use so I used a half and half design to stretch it across the two pages.

I found the Easter title in a SCT Sampler kit and paired it with tiles from Simple Stories.

To embellish, I had bunny buttons in my stash and figured it was time to use them! The butterflies I cut from a cut apart card from the paper pad and I created the labels using Elle's Studio stamps. Finished the clusters off with star Thickers and some pearls from my stash.

Initially I tried using AI to create a clever title that emphasized the fact that my daughter's first Easter was after she had turned a year old. It came up with nothing good. I outsourced it to the Simple Scrapper members that were at a zoom crop and this was the title they came up with, with the egg on the O and everything!

The title was fun to make mixing a glittered Thicker font, some flat stickers from Kelly Purkey and the puffy alpha from SEI. 

The chipboard circle was from Ali Edwards that I picked up from a local crop's free table. 

Love how this came out, even though I don't know if you looked at the sketch, you would be able to tell I started there! 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Ally at Bedtime

This layout I am sharing today was inspired by the Square One class at Simple Scrapper. I had this story saved as an Apple Note and thought sketch 568 would be perfect for it!

The background paper was from Dear Lizzy Star Gazer collection. The other paper were from Shimelle’s Little By Little collection. I saw the owl on the cut apart and thought it was on theme for my story.

I used wood veneer from my stash and some Felicity Jane alphas for the title. 

So glad to get this story told! Thanks for taking a look!

 

Rosie’s First St. Patrick’s Day

The layout I am sharing today is for my youngest's baby album to celebrate her first St. Patrick's Day. I used Simple Scrapper sketch 241 to participate in the Square One class. I modified the sketch a bit using 3x4 photos instead of 4x4 and replaced one of the 4x6 with 2 3x4 photos.

The strips of paper on the right of the layout inspired me to use a rainbow of papers. It was a great way to use up some of the 6x6 papers from my stash, some of which were SCT Sampler papers.

The chipboard Thickers were from an Amy Tangerine collection but they were craft. I loved the size and sentiment of them but the color wasn't working for me so I heat embossed it gold. Which was on theme for St. Patty's day! I used the same rainbow papers to run across the top of my journaling card that were on the right page and layered the title over the top. 

The rubber rainbow pieces were an Ali Edwards product that I picked up from a free table at an in-person crop, another perfect embellishment for this page.

I had fun embellishing the rainbow strips with repeating embellishments, trying to go tone on tone. 

Finished it off with some star gems in most of the colors of the rainbow. 

Love how the sketch informed the products and direction of this layout to include the rainbows. Loved getting this story told and using up quite a few things from my stash.

 

Details- Ally and Rosie’s purses

The layout I am sharing today was inspired by Ali Edwards Story Stamp for the theme of Details. After consuming the class content I was inspired to do a flat lay of my girls’ new purses and what were currently in them. 

When selecting a sketch, I remembered seeing on in the Square One classroom that would work perfectly with the number of photos and story, and used Simple Scrapper Sketch number 315.

When going through my old SCT Sampler stash I ran across the perfect collection for this from My Mind’s Eye Cool Vibes that matched mood and color for my story. Used the 6x6 papers to make layers under the photos and used the die cuts to embellish.

I remembered seeing the “details” Vicki Boutin Thickers in my stash and thought it would work for this layout as well. 

Finished it off with a few stamped sentiments from the Story Stamp and used the enamel dots that were in the Sampler Kit. 

Love using up things from my stash and getting another fun story told about right now!
 

You’re Invited

The layout I am sharing today was inspired by the Ali Edwards Story Stamp for the theme of Savor as well as Shimelle’s Use What You Buy Class for Stickers. 
 

The lesson challenge was to use a tuck away border. I used so many stickers! Some from Shimelle’s Box of Crayons sticker folder, some American Craft sticker books and Maggie Holmes gold foil stickers. 

The layers of paper and journal card were from a SCT Sampler in my stash. 

Love sneaking in some of the stamps in with the stickers and in the red pattern as well. 

This was a fun one to make! Thanks for stopping by!

I Hope For You

 

The layout I am sharing today was inspired by Ali Edwards Hope Story Stamp as well as the first session of Square One class at Simple Scrapper. The class challenge was to create space for journaling and I used the rays on this sketch to house my journaling. 

I found a patterned paper that had a radial pattern on it which limited the choices of papers I needed to make to create this layout!   

I used the stamp set to create the title as well as a sentiment for the tab at the bottom. 

The star stickers were from Ali Edwards and matched the colors perfectly!

So happy with how this layout turned out and that some of my hopes have already come to fruition! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Family Tree

The layout I am sharing today was inspired by the Family Story Stamp by Ali Edwards. The stamp “sometimes family is just hard” resonated with me to tell the story of my complicated family tree. 
 

The background paper is one from a Jen Hadfield collection. I used a leaf die and manually cut all of the leaves. I inked the leaves based on parentage but not sure how noticeable it was in the end. 

I hand stitched the lines to connect the leaves with embroidery floss. 

I used an acrylic word from a SCT Sampler kit and letter stickers from my stash. 

I was hesitant in adding the cluster at the top and the right side of the journaling, that it would be too much, but I really wanted to use the stamps and I am happy with the result. 

Names were added to the leaves after I took this picture for privacy and I am sure someone would be mad on my choices on who and how to include this information. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Fabric- Flowergirl dress

The layout I am sharing today was inspired by Ali Edwards Fabric Story Stamp. This tells the story of how the flower girl dress for my wedding came about. 

The background for this layout was a piece of card stock with holes that I used to stitch through with ribbon and ended with bows. 

I managed to sneak a few pieces of memorabilia on to this layout. The flowers are made from remnants of the same fabric as used for the dress. I used fabric stabilizer and die cut  using the Tim Holtz tattered flowers dies. 

The other memorabilia on the page were images of the pattern used in making the dress. 

Used a SCT Sampler for the products used on the page. 

Really happy with how this came together!

New Smile

This layout was inspired by the Old/New Story Stamp by Ali Edwards. My daughter got her braces off and I thought it would be cool to see the transformation of her smile throughout the process.

Working my way through the Square One class at Simple Scrapper and this used sketch #310. I used prompt 5 to modify the layout. I modified the background by adding a few more layers in the middle as well as the border strip at the bottom. The layout felt a bit top heavy without the detail at the bottom.

I used Shimelle's Reasons to Smile collection, stickers from her Main Character Energy as well as an old Elle's Studio card that I used for the sentiment at the top of the page. 

I used the Story Stamp to create the half circles on the layouts. Labeled the date on all of the photos.

Layered papers under the feature photo, the “after shot” to give it more prominence on the page. 

The acrylic word was from an SCT Sampler kit from Freckled Fawn that I paired with the stamped word from the stamp set that nestled perfectly on top.

This was fun to make and love the result!

 

Corner of Hope

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

While I am participating in the Square One class at Simple Scrapper, I was challenged to use a Simple Scrapper sketch and modify it to suit my story. I chose sketch 135 and used Prompt 2 to repurpose spaces on my layout. I switched the space for the title with the space for the journaling.

Lately I have been mindful of the sketches I have been selecting to allow me to use some of my SCT Sampler kits in my stash. The sampler kits came with 6x6 papers, so sketches like this one allow for many smaller pieces of patterned paper and get these kits used up. 

I selected sampler pieces from this Simple Stories I am collection because of the "Bloom baby, bloom" die cut sentiment, as it went perfectly with my story. It also contained other sticker sentiments and labels that would allow me places to use the Story stamps.

The sketch does not use a paper stack with the photo, but I thought it would be a fun opportunity to repeat the papers used at the top.

The title was created using some puffy alphas from my stash paired with the stamp.

On the sketch there was a subtle circle pattern on the background. After finishing up Shimelle's Use What You Buy class stencil addition, I was inspired to pull out an old Studio Calico stencil from my stash and with some Picket Fence Distress Ink, create a similar effect. I had never stenciled with the white on patterned paper, so I was unsure how it would turn out, but I was happy with the effect. 

Really enjoyed using this sketch and making it my own. It helped me create a layout I am really happy with. 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

“Twos”day

 

The layout I am sharing today was completed for a Simple Scrapper Stash Bash challenge. During Stash Bash there were a list of requirements that need to make it as part of the page.

Item 1: Kraft paper

Item 2: Use a symbol (logo, punctuation, mathematical)

Item 3: Use wood veneer 

 Bonus challenges: 1- to use one of 5 sketches (which I just couldn’t make work for the photo and pieces I wanted to use) 2- Use a pocket to hold the journaling.

On this date, I recorded 22 Things that were going on that day as well as took a photo. I printed the photo not knowing what I was going to do, so the Stash Bash challenge was perfect!

The title I hand wrote and then cut by hand.

 I began with the wood veneer number that I found in my stash. It drove the design a bit since it was so big. I found the craft numbers from a Maggie Holmes paper. The 22 is an acetate piece from Felicity Jane that I backed with patterned paper and the time was stamped using Ali Edwards Time Story Stamp.

The clock pocket was from an old Studio Calico kit, and I thought it was perfect for this layout. I didn't quite realize how much I had written for this story but making the booklet was a perfect solution to hold more story.

The circle wood veneer frame was from the Time Story Kit and since it matched so well with the 2 wood piece, I made it work for this layout.

This was a super fun challenge and was excited to use quite a few odds and ends on this layout that I may not of ever thought to use! Happy with how it turned out and all of the lovely layers on top!

Rosie- 9 Months

The layout I am sharing today is the last monthly page in my youngest’s baby album. 

I used inspiration from Shimelle’s Use What You Buy class, Bold Pattern paper edition for this layout. The challenge was to use a floral pattern and 1/3 composition. 

The supplies for this layout were from the Dear Lizzy Stay Colorful paper pad and her AC sticker book. The floral is accented with gold foil as well as the pink dotted photo mat. 

Loved that I could showcase this paper as well as a great photo of my baby.
 

For the journaling layouts for this month, I was able to repeat the papers used on the 12x12 and more stickers from the sticker book. 

Love to have this in the album and another class challenge met!

You Matter

The layout I am sharing today was inspired by Ali Edwards' Story Stamp for the theme of You. When I saw the stamp that says "you matter" I knew the story that I wanted to tell. That stamp and the "love you" stamp are the only ones that appear on the layout, but I am okay with that.

Once I had the story and photos I wanted to use for this, I found a Simple Scrapper sketch #713 that fit the number of photos and space for the words. During the first session of Square One this year, I decided to replace the florals on the sketch for the butterfly cut file, designed by Paige Evans. I added a few other embellishments until it felt complete.

I am also working through Shimelle's Use What You Buy classes with other members of Simple Scrapper this year and this mixed media background was on the Bold Pattern Papers edition. I didn't use the framework Shimelle did to create this layout, but I don't know if I would have pushed myself to use the paper if it weren't for the class. 

The papers are from Vicki Boutin's Color Study. Loved the sentiment I found looking through this collection and found it perfect for this story.

 

I am not going to lie. Backing cut files like this are a labor of love and take quite a bit of time. Wasn't sure I was going to get to many of the layouts I had packed for the day crop I attended where I started with this layout. Love how it turned out in the end!

The Adventures We Didn’t Take

 

This layout was inspired by the Adventure Story Stamp, but once I began working on it, I found the stamps from Roam a better fit for my story. I also found a stamp on the Journey, "Embrace the detours" perfect for one of the suitcases.

The design was influenced from a sketch from the Simple Scrapper sketch library, number 578. The Square One class we are working on as a community is focused on using the sketches in the membership and how to make them work for us.

My paper selection was informed by Shimelle's Use What You Buy- Bold Pattern Paper edition. I was to use a non repeating pattern for this lesson, and when I came across this suitcase pattern in Shimelle's Go Now Go collection, I thought it was perfect.

The story for this layout is about the vacations we didn't take because of the Covid shut downs. I found a few stickers in my stash of Covid supplies that worked for this story- like the "cancelled" sticker.

Loved the cork phrase stickers, but found they are not forgiving when it comes to moving them around! They come apart if you try to move them. 

I ghost stamped the Roam stamps on the red paper and used the number stamps from Journey Story Stamp to match with the journaling.

Used the cork arrows to repeat from the title.

So excited to use one layout for so many challenges! Thanks for looking!

Best Friends

The layout I am sharing today was inspired by Ali Edwards Friends Story Stamp. I decided to tell the story of my daughter’s best friend.

 Simple Scrapper has a challenge this journey to use three things to create embellishment clusters.

This layout didn’t end up using many of the stamps, just the friend title I gold embossed, and I created the card in the photo strip with a few of the flowers and the sentiment.

I used the Stay Colorful collection by Dear Lizzie to create this layout with the marbled paper coming from Carousel by Maggie Holmes. I thought the sentiment I cut from the cut apart was perfect for this story.

In staying with the Simple Scrapper challenge, I layered a chipboard piece, and you will have to forgive me, i don’t remember where they are from, a heart die cut i made using a Stampin’ Up! Die and some enamel dots.

Love that I have this story told! Thanks for stopping by!