December Daily 2016 - day 4

Here is my layout for day 4.

I do not have to create my pages in order this year because I have decided not to use divided page protectors. I was sick of the divided pages and the journal cards available that go in them. Using full 6x8 pages everyday makes it easy to go out of order.

I don't currently print from home, I batch print. I have an order in process for all of the days I have planned out and will print, most likely from Persnickety prints, when I am ready.

For day 6, they printed these photos at the event for me. so I had them on hand to work on this page. 

The background paper is from SEI Alpine Frost. It is lovely in person with debossing and glitter accents. I used some glassine bags that I had unearthed from my stash moments before and realized they would be perfect pockets on my pages for today.

So excited to use my first metal number tag. Realized that I have to place it on a solid color to make more visible, so may add a bit of a challenge to use them. Layered with some tags and bits from Simple Stories DIY Christmas. Embellished with more snow flake sequins.

In the pocket, I included half of the postcard invitation to the party we attended.  I attached a bit of ribbon at the top with my tiny attacher to act as a pull. 

On the back, I included the journaling for the day and stamped using the Christmas Star stamp set.

On the second page, I used the pocket to include all of the photo booth photos we had taken at the party. The older two had a blast with it!

Added the number sticker from Simple Stories Handmade Holiday. Heat embossed the stamped sentiment on the label with black embossing powder.

Added the same ribbon from the SEI collection and more tags from the Simple Stories to embellish the bag.

Love how this layout turned out. It was fun to create layouts rather than piecing the pockets together. So far enjoying the process!

Hope you will visit again soon for more pages.

December Daily 2016- The Reason Why

I have begun my December Daily for this year. I got off to a rocky start because none of the kits or paper collections I saw being offered this year were really inspiring me. 

After checking my stash of Christmas supplies, I found that I had more than enough to make my own kit.

I did purchase a few new things this year. The product I was most excited that came out this year were the Tim Holtz metal circle numbers. I also purchased a few of Ali's Edwards' stamp sets released this year, Christmas phrases and Christmas Star. The last little thing I bought was red sequins and snow flakes from the Target hot spot.

The papers I chose for the base of my kit were from an old SEI collection called Alpine Frost. I found that the red green and grey were a fairly good match for the leftover Simple Stories I had from previous December Dailies. The DIY Christmas from last year and Homemade Holiday from 2013. I also had some Stampin' Up! paper that worked as well. 

So here is my first page completed. I don't tend to do my title page until later in the month when I have a good family photo to use.

Some years I include a reason why page, some I don't. This year I was inspired by Ali's Christmas phrase stamp set. I had written my reason why and was pleasantly surprised there were a handful of sentiments on the stamp set! I typed my journaling and changed the words I was going to stamp in white on the computer and printed. Stamped the words in red and adhered to my patterned paper. Added some photo corner stickers from SEI and wood veneer piece from Simple Stories.

The snowflakes are from Target and white heat embossed a Story Stamp "Click" for my title. Capture this is also a Story Stamp's sentiment from last year.

I was excited to find this free calendar printable from A Stitch in Time. Great way to document our advent calendar surprises.

Off to get started on some layouts. Hope to share  more soon!

31 More Things - Spirit Hair Mess Move Sweet Happy Ritual Break Water Heart & Camera

Here are the last of my 31 More Things Class layouts completed! So happy to have this done and off my perpetual To-Do list!

This topic was not part of this class. Ali had repeated the topic Drink from 31 Things and it wasn't one that I felt I needed to do again. However, I had written 2 on Spirit and only created a layout on one of them so I decided to add it to this class instead to make it 31 Things.

Used some photos of my hair cut 2 years ago where I was able to donate 13 inches of hair. The second is a before shot taken by my son in the hair salon where I got it cut.

There are always messes around here and I actually take pictures of them sometimes so actually had a few to pick from!

Used photos from our move from California for this one.

I actually opted to use a stock photo for the Oreos. I have taken quite a few photos of them myself but googling was easier than searching and editing. The happy photo was a selfie I took of my baby and I using my DSLR, so we didn't both make it in the photo. Thought it was an interesting shot and crop of me and included it.

All three of my kids had their photo taken by me monthly with these blocks, a bit of a ritual, I thought, so fitting, even if it doesn't talk about it in the journaling. Break was taken while I was very pregnant, but I do talk about how I enjoy the break of waiting for Aaron to get out of school at pick-up.

Lots of water photos to pick from. Thought the baptism photo of Ally was a neat way to represent water as well as sprinkler photos. Used some water drops to embellish the second page.

Love this photo of my kids. Shows a great representation of them at that moment! Another selfie for the second, but we do not take enough photos of the two of us! 

Last but not least, camera. Used a mirror reflected photograph for the camera of a selfie I took for Ash Wednesday. Thought it was cool to have the camera in my hands. Took a new photo of the camera with the new lenses I got for my birthday last month.

There you have it! Priority #3 is crossed off the list. Finished this class in a bit over a year. That's good considering having a 3 month old when I started the class!

Now I am on to Priority #4- Maddie's Baby Album. Time to get it organized! Can't make progress on it if I don't know what needs to be done to finish it!

Thanks for looking!

31 More Things - Memory Quote Feet Learn Fear Path 7:30pm and Paper

After searching my photo library, I was able to finish up a handful of 31 More Thing layouts from Ali Edwards' class.

I had taken a photo of some picture frames I had gotten last year and finally hung up and thought it was perfect for the topic of memory. The quote photo was a screen shot of my quotes board on Pinterest. 

For feet, I had created this collage of my feet in all of the season for my 2013 Project Life album and figured it was perfect for this as well. 

Fear was a hard one. I opted for a photo of a friend of mine on the Tower of Terror in Disneyland. Not a timely photo for the journaling, but love to have it here.

Path used another oldie but goodie photo. The photo for 7:30pm was taken at that time on the day of the journaling. Love that it captured that moment. Gives me the itch to participate in Day in the Life more often.

These photos span a fairly large time frame. The first is my pages in progress pile as well as my scraps in my old studio before I had to give this room up for the baby. The second some papers from the kids' school on the fridge. 

So there you have it! On my way to completing this class up! 5 more topics to go!

Really love this class! Have ideas to go back in a few more years and revisit some of the topics from both classes like technology and transportation to see how they have changed. So many of my stories told! Love it!

31 More Things - Most Important Thing & Make up

Now that I had completed Priority #2 (see last months posts), I moved on to #3 since I am on the fence on what photos I have on hand for completing the last 2 challenges of Shimelle's class.

I have had the journaling complete for Ali's 31 More Things class for over 6 months, but haven't sat down to figure out pictures for each of the topics and tweak the digital layouts to completion. I had most of the digital layouts ready to go, ready for the photos to be dropped in so I have been able to complete these rather quickly.

For this layout, I had to take a picture of my make up to add to this one. With a new lens I got for my birthday, this made it a bit more fun to play around with the composition. 

Love this class, the stories it gets me telling and the simple and quick design. 

Stay tuned for more!

Explore

Here is a layout that I recently completed using some leftovers from my Basic Grey KOTM from 2011, maybe. 

There were train icons in this collection that lended itself to this set of photos. 

The title was something from my stash (a gift from my mom) from Michaels. I decided since I didn't have a whole lot to say, that I would write my journaling directly on the background of my layout.

This kit contained stickers, fabric brads and die cuts. I used some of Tim Holts gears and brads to embellish the page. I also found some rhinestones in my stash that would tie in the title.

Enjoyed creating these embellishment clusters!

Loved this BG line, will miss them greatly, now that they are no longer making paper products!

Thanks for taking a look!

All Lined Up

Here is another layout from my pages in progress pile. Finally got a title, journaling and finishing touches to deem it complete. 

This layout uses product from MME Alphabet Soup collection as well as the road paper that I have no idea who makes it because I bought it from someone at a crop for a dime-- a total win!

I had printed the top photo as a 4x12 at Persnickety and trimmed a bit of it down on the top and bottom. Love how the photo spans the width of the page!

I have found that when I design a page without the though of journaling, I tend to either use a journaling card (which is good because I have way too many) or I print my journaling on strips to add it. I am wordy, so typing it is my usual go to.

I did sneak a Collections Story Stamp on the page, since this page was about my son's Hot Wheel collection.

I created the title using Simple Stories Alphas and some wood veneer arrows. 

Another page complete! 

**I have completed a few other layouts from the pile, but I had used Scrapbook Generation kits and not my own original design, so have decided not to add them to my blog. I have completed what I intended to complete from this pile this quarter!

Race for the Cure

As we start approaching the end of the year, I have taken the advice from Jennifer Wilson from Simple Scrapper to make a priority list of the pages and projects I would like to complete for this quarter. Before I get myself immersed in all things December Daily, I had these priorities.

Priority #1- Finish Shimelle's class, the 20 Project.

I have completed 17 of the 20 challenges. There is one challenge that just doesn't fit my process (make page kits from my scrap basket) so I don't think I plan to complete it. I make my own page kits, but usually from paper lines and I store my scraps that way until the collection is depleted to the point that I use it to make cards. I have made many of the pages for the other challenges using my own "kits" but I don't create them in the same way as she had.

So that leaves 2 more challenges for that class.

Priority #2- My pages in progress pile

So if you have been checking out my blog for a few years, you would know that I have a stack of pages in different stages of completion. This stack I have made sure has not gotten any larger. I don't start a layout that I don't intend to complete before starting a new one. 

This layout below is an example of one of my pages in progress that I finally finished. It needed journaling and a date.

This layout has been in the works for a very long time. I purchased a Sizzix kit on clearance years and years ago that had dies and texture plates themed perfect for this event. I was bound and determined to use it!

I found leftover product from a Basic Grey KOTM that had the pinks I was looking for and a layout from Ali Edwards that I mimicked the page design from. I had a lot of photos and I didn't want to make this 2 pages so this design was perfect for them.

Here is the lovely texture plate a work. I have a handful of these and need to use them more. I totally resonated with Shimelle when she made that as one of her challenges. I buy these things but forget that I have them in the process of making a page.

I added the journaling on strips and placed it in the last open space on the layout. 

I had scraps of this die cut paper from Basic Grey that I absolutely love and found a way to use the last few bits of it that I had left on this layout.

I stamped the title with alpha stamps from my stash and letter stickers from the kit.

And here I used the Sizzix die of the ribbon to embellish the page. 

So glad to have this page finished! Now to complete 4 others from this pile this quarter and I will have met my goal for this quarter!

I have two other priorities this quarter before I want to get started on my planning for December Daily. 

Priority #3: Make Progress on Ali Edwards' 31 More Things Class

Priority #4: Maddie's Baby Album

More will be said about these priorities when I get further along with the others. 

Hope you will check on my progress and visit again soon!

Rock Til You Drop

Here is a page I used from a kit from Just Kitting.

This is another one of my pages in progress layouts that have been sitting, waiting for journaling for way too long. 

I did add a few stickers and the journaling card below to my kit to finish it off. 

I added a bit of washi to the Project Life card that were from Kelly Purkey (green numbers) and Ali Edwards (black sentiment).

Glad to have this one ready for an album.

Adore You

Here is a layout I recently did that DID NOT have anything to do with a class or a challenge.

I had recently purchased some product from Elle's Studio and was ready to make something with it as soon as it entered my house!

Some of the product is from the Sunny Days 6x6 paper and Bits and Pieces as well as the Little Moments 12x12 paper collection and Bits and Pieces. I also threw in Cienna stickers in to my order which I used some as part of the title.

My favorite piece of paper in the Sunny Days collection is this ombre wave paper. I used it to house my journaling and title. 

The title is a wood veneer from Heidi Swapp.

Loved that I could mix and match the bits and pieces of these two collections to make embellishment clusters.

 Added a bit of washi tape and wood veneers from my stash and my page was complete!

So there you have it! Really love how this page came together! Feels good to use up some favorite new products!

Just Chillin'

Here is a layout I completed with Shimelle's class, The 20 Project in mind. The challenge was to use washi tape with a purpose. 

I struggled with this layout a bit. I have had these photos, that are not the best, that were taken with a one use water proof camera, to be scrapped for a long time...2007. I paired it with this summer collection from Bella Blvd. Then I went through my stash of washi and found tapes that would coordinate with the papers. 

My photos had a bunch of unsightly clutter in the background that I tried to distract from by clustering embellishments there. I cut paper, used stickers and puffy stickers to embellish. I also used some Ali Edwards stamps to stamp summer 2007. 

Used a cut apart sheet and used the cloud for my journaling. 

Used the letter stickers in the kit as well as some green Kelly Purkey/Simon Says Stamp alphas t finish off the title.

Not my favorite layout, but liked getting some use out of old stuff in my stash and getting that much washi tape used on a layout. 

Thanks for visiting. Hope to share another layout with you soon!

Play All Day

Here is a layout I created for Shimelle's class, the 20 Project. The challenge was to whittle down that giant stack of photos. 

I had printed all of the photos my friend had sent me from a playdate at her house. There were over 10 photos in the stack and I had never figured out how to include them all in one layout. Those photos had been sitting a long time unscrapped and my philosophy of scrapbooking has changed a bit since then. Going back through, I had the choice to divide the photos into two different stories, and still whittle down the number, or get them down to even a smaller number of photos and make one 2 pager.

I opted for the 2 pager. I did however create a pocket on the back of the layout to house the extra printed photos minus 2 that were blurry that I reluctantly placed in the trash.

I created this layout using an extremely old BoBunny line. Old as in older than 2009. I had purchased the sticker sheet and two patterned papers that were super light weight a long time ago, but had paired it with some matching card stock.

This collection, when I bought it, was perfect for my son. Talking about playing in dirt,  and the colors, so it was fitting to find photos from that same time period.

For this challenge, Shimelle had pulled out her fabric brads and I thought, "Hey, I have some of those!" So I also challenged myself to use some as well. The brown corduroy brads are from Stampin' Up! and I don't know where the blue fabric ones are from.

I used a Martha Stewart edge punch to add detail to the card stock I used for the journaling spot as well as two other areas of embellishment.

The other thing I dug out of my stash were snaps. Do you remember those? I was tempted to get out my enamel dots to sprinkle around this layout, but opted to bust out the little more permanent snaps. Apparently I don't have a snap setter, because my eyelet setter flattened the tops of the snaps when I set them into the paper. Any snap tips, or is that part of the reason why no one uses them anymore?

Happy to have another challenge complete for Shimelle's class.