My Valentine

Still trying to get into the scrapping groove in-between all interruptions of daily life. I used one of the photos I took on Valentine's Day. While it was a quick snap right before I dropped the little guy off at school, it turned out well. I decided to feature it on my layout using Ume from ninigoesdigi. 

First, the kit:

Courtesy of ninigoesdigi

And here's the page I created:

My Valentine by cyranoscrap for ninigoesdigi

CREDITS

Ume by ninigoesdigi

Template: Happy Thoughts (Design by Soco)

Fonts: Underwood Champion (date, journaling), Tropical Brush Script (title)

I love Nini's brushes in this kit, which was one reason why I had to use a white background. This kit also has some gorgeous patterned papers. I'm just glad they.are versatile!

Goodbye 2016

Ninigoesdigi's first kit of the year, Tsubaki, is one I loved on sight. I think it was the red accents that drew me in. With the help of a template from Designed by Soco, I ended up creating a page that even surprised me, lol.

Here's a look at Tsubaki:

Courtesy of ninigoesdigi

I found a simple template from Designed by Soco in my stash and set to work creating this:

"Goodbye 2016" by cyranoscrap for ninigoesdigi

CREDITS
Tsubaki by ninigoesdigi
Template: Simply Clean No. 1 Templates (Designed by Soco)
Fonts: Breakout (title), Arctic (journaling, date)

There are some days when I surprise myself with what happens on my computer screen. :)

Inspire Your Heart With Art Day

Yesterday, January 31, was Inspire Your Heart With Art Day. Essentially, it's a day to appreciate art and how it affects you. I took it as a day to create art. With that in mind, I did a little bit of creating, warming up by finishing two regular digiscrap layouts, then creating an art journaling page - something I haven't dabbled in for quite awhile. 

Valeria of Little Butterfly Wings holds a monthly template challenge. I hadn't thought about participating until I saw a page from a fellow digiscrapper using January's template. I decided that since I had failed to complete many of the challenges from The Lilypad's Month of Challenges 4 this year, I could at least do the monthly template challenge, especially since I own lots of kits from Little Butterfly Wings. :D

Visiting Santa by cyranoscrap

CREDITS:

All supplies from Little Butterfly Wings unless otherwise noted

Papers: Santa Claus is Coming, My Own Little World

Elements: Santa Claus is Coming

Template: January 2016 Template Challenge

Fonts: Reba (title), My Underwood (date and journaling)

My biggest challenge on this layout was trying to do all the journaling. I haven't written a lot of journaling on my layouts in forever. On this layout, I now have the back story on the little guy's first visit with Santa.

Next up, I finished a layout that I had started on Saturday. This was a two-page template from The Daily Digi as part of their Gratitude Journal, a memory-keeping project. Luckily, I have been keeping track of my daily life in a planner (The Happy Planner from Me & My Big Ideas), so being able to create this spread wasn't too bad. I did change the dates a little to be more in line with how I keep track of the weeks. I'm still not used to the Monday-Sunday layout (that's how the planner is laid out), so I may change this again (the template runs from Friday-Thursday and I'm used to Sunday-Saturday). Good thing it's digital! :D

Project Life 2016 (journal-style): Week 3 by cyranoscrap

CREDITS:

Papers: Get Messy (The Daily Digi - The Digi Files #85)

Elements: Every Day of the Week and XOXO (Pink Reptile Designs); The Little Things, Sweet November, and Scrap Time Mini (Little Butterfly Wings)

Template: Gratitude Journal – Week 3 (The Daily Digi)

Fonts: Facile Sans (week); Pea BMad (journaling)

Finally, after realizing Sunday, January 31st was Inspire Your Heart with Art Day, I was compelled to make an art journaling page. Art journaling doesn't come easy to me, but there are lots of great digiscrapping "tools" available for me to make the process easier. 

What's wonderful about art journaling is being able to just do whatever you want, without any particular rules. I love being able to have spattered and messy backgrounds, elements that can be scattered... For this particular creation, I had no desire to have any frames, and I wanted to try out a mask over a not-so-great quality photo.

Together We Make A Family by cyranoscrap

CREDITS:

All supplies from Crafty Button Designs

Papers: Home

Elements: Home, Love Story, Maskin Momma V6, Colorful Chaos, Cotton Candy, Full Circle

I'm glad that I had "practiced" a little by doing other pages before I created the art journaling page. It's really hard to just put an art journaling page together when you don't scrap on a regular basis, lol. 

Anyway, I'm proud of myself for at least getting a few pages done. It's been a long time coming!

Embracing Imperfect Photos

A few busy days, and my good intentions for The Lilypad's MOC4 went out the window. Sigh. I was afraid that was going to happen. I found a layout from the Day 5 challenge that was partially finished. I went ahead and finished it this evening.

First off, the challenge: Embracing Imperfection, aka a photography challenge. The main point of the challenge was to take a less-than-perfect photo and alter it. I took a color photo during Christmas of my mother and one of her great-granddaughters. The photo had terrible lighting and too many colors, so I changed it to black and white. With a brush mask, I took out all the extraneous background so I could focus on the subjects of the photo. Voila! I salvaged a photo that I didn't like as is into something I loved.

Moments Make the Memories by cyranoscrap

CREDITS
Papers: Naturelle (Pink Reptile Designs)
Elements: The Little Things (Little Butterfly Wings); Love the Life You Live (Pink Reptile Designs); Sprinkles V.28 (Valorie Wibbens); Family Almanac (Sara Gleason)
Word Art: This Year (Word Art World)
Fonts: PW01 Script

It bothers me to have half-finished layouts, so I'm trying to make sure I finish them - a small resolution for this year. Let's hope I can keep it. ;)

Listers Gonna List

Day 2 of The Lilypad's MOC4. Today's challenge: Journaling in a list format. 

I don't mind doing journaling in a list format. It reminds me of doing bullet points for PowerPoint presentations, but on subjects that are much more fun!

The rules:

1. All of the journaling on your page must be in the form of a list.
2. You cannot have extra journaling on your page other than your list. You CAN add the date of your photo if you wish.
3. You can use additional word art, word strips as your title work or as elements on the page, however your all of your journaling must be in the form of a list.

Not so bad, right? The hard part for me? Trying to figure out a topic for the list!

There is another challenge called 30 Days of LIsts that I have yet to try, but that I've seen. The list topics are pretty fun, like "Today's Playlist," "What I Like About ____," or "Recipes I Want to Try." These are just a few examples from the website, but I know there are more interesting lists that can be made as well. Anyway, I suppose the easy thing would have been to go get a few ideas from this website. Ha!

What I ended up doing was making a list of my "Favorite Hallmark Christmas Movies." Crazy, I suppose, but when the Hallmark Channel has their Christmas movies going from Thanksgiving through New Year's, I end up forgetting the titles of the ones I really like. So, that's where I focused my efforts. 

Favorite Holiday Movies by cyranoscrap

CREDITS

Evergreen (One Little Bird): Papers, Elements

Chesnut Lane (One Little Bird): Papers, Elements

There’s Something About Merry (One Little Bird): Elements

Advent – Story Seeds (Sara Gleason):  journaling card

Fonts: True North Textures, Very Berry Pro, Underwood Champion

Not a terribly exciting page, but I'm still quite pleased with the result. And, I have a list that I can refer to next holiday season, when all the Hallmark holiday movies come out!

It's Groundhog Day...

...and I always think of the infamous movie of the same name - none other than Groundhog Day! Unfortunately, I didn't watch the movie today since I didn't have time. Oh well, there's always tomorrow, unless like in the movie, there is no tomorrow...

Phil: Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today. 

Of course, I'm going to choose to believe there is a tomorrow. :D

Aside from not watching the movie, I also spent most of my morning in conference calls so that I was brain dead by lunch. Fortunately, I was revived enough this evening in order to do a little scrapping! Here is one of my new favorite photos, finally scrapped!

So Happy by cyranoscrap

CREDITS

Kit: Honey, Honey (Blue Flower Art) - also used edge overlays, paint overlays and journaling cards 

Font: The Great Escape

Template: Oh Snap (Our Misadventures)

The collection I used, Honey, Honey from Blue Flower Art, had the perfect colors for this photo. Here's the collection up close:

Honey, Honey Kit, courtesy of Blue Flower Art

Honey, Honey Paint Overlays, courtesy of Blue Flower Art

Honey, Honey Journaling Cards, courtesy of Blue Flower Art

Honey, Honey Edge Overlays, courtesy of Blue Flower Art

The overlays are so much fun and add so much depth and texture to the layout. And I feel like my page looks much more artsy without having to do all the work! :) The Honey, Honey collection was just released today - you can grab each of the packs at 20% off each or the whole collection is over 50% off! Go get a little artsy with this fun collection!

A Little Christmas in June

I LOVE Christmas! In fact, I keep a Christmas playlist on my iPod year round. Since holiday music tends to make me happy, I figure I should listen to it whenever I need a little happy. :)

Anyway, in the spirit of Christmas, Design by Heather T. is having sales on several of her holiday kits for Wonderful Wednesday at Mscraps!

If you're planning a tropical holiday, Ho Ho Ho: Hot! is a great kit for that, or you can always use it for your fun summer getaway. For today, you can grab this kit for only $3.00!

Courtesy of Design by Heather T.

For more traditional holidays, pick up Noel 1 or Noel 2 - both are commercial use (CU) kits and specially priced at just $2.50 a pack! These vintage illustrations can be used in lots of ways to add a little holiday touch to your projects.

Courtesy of Design by Heather T.

Courtesy of Design by Heather T.

Don't miss out - these special deals are only good for Wonderful Wednesday!

The Happy Challenge: Days 75 & 76

Days 75 and 76 of 100 Happy Days Challenge.

Happy stuff - Day 75 (May 25):
1. Outdoor lunch with visiting friends (and I forgot to take any pictures - oops)!
2. Actual touchable scrapbook goodies I bought on sale - less than $4 for all of this...

Happy stuff - Day 76 (May 26):
1. Trying to teach the toddler to say "despicable" (as in Despicable Me 1 & 2 - his favorite movies of the moment).
2. Putting out the flag to commemorate Memorial Day.

The Happy Challenge: Day 46

Day 46 of 100 Happy Days Challenge.

70% off sale on Easter candy. Score!

And just how cute are these mini peeps?!?

Oh My Words!

I love word art. It's fun to use word art on layouts. Oh My Words #2 is a new release from ninigoesdigi, who is guesting at Oscraps. These word art packs are on sale for 44% off this weekend and coordinate with the April Mini-O's too!

Courtesy of ninigoesdigi

There is also another version of these words in cursive - Oh My Words:

Courtesy of ninigoesdigi

One of the phrases that jumped out at me was "CHOO CHOO," since my toddler is currently obsessed with trains. I went ahead and documented a little bit of his playtime with a friend's train set.

CREDITS

Papers: Downtown (ninigoesdigi and Pink Reptile Designs)

Elements: Downtown (ninigoesdigi and Pink Reptile Designs); Oh My Words #2 {English}, Exposed, Scrap On (ninigoesdigi)

Fonts: Orator (title); My Underwood (journaling)

Template: Template 32 (ninigoesdigi)

Obviously, I'm behind on scrapping my photos, since these were taken just this past Christmas, lol. Oh well, it's always fun to look back at the old photos, and I know that I don't mind scrapping about Christmas, even if it's spring!

The Happy Challenge: Days 39, 40, and 41

Days 39, 40, and 41 of 100 Happy Days Challenge.

So real life kept me from having barely any time to do any blogging, let alone check on emails. And, sadly, I didn't get a lot of pictures over the weekend. Now to catch up on the happy challenge:

Happy for Day 39 (April 19): Having tacos for dinner!

Happy for Day 40 (April 20): Seeing this outside the house on Easter morning...

Happy for Day 41 (April 21): Paying all the bills! (A weird happy thing to put down, but seeing that I've barely had time to do anything in the midst of two pressing deadlines over the weekend, it was a relief to just get that task off my list.)

The Happy Challenge: Day 38

Day 38 of 100 Happy Days Challenge.

A big happy - listening to all the music on my iPod (which hasn't been synced in a few years...yikes)! I especially love hearing the Christmas music, since Christmas songs always make me happy!

Another happy - Pad Thai for dinner! I haven't had it in so long, and it was soooo good! I even have some for lunch tomorrow. ;)

While I know this challenge is to find just ONE happy thing in your day, I've been challenging myself to find more than one happy thing each day. Maybe I'm just an overachiever, lol.

Celebrating Passover

While I am not Jewish, I have several friends who are. Some have mentioned problems finding items to scrap their holidays. Fortunately, there are some designers who are sensitive to this. Peppermint Creative is one of them, and Miss Mint is offering a freebie of Passover stamps:

Courtesy of Peppermint Creative

I think this is a terrific find, so be sure to hop on over to the Peppermint Creative site to download the stamps. She also has lots of other cool things too, so take a look around. :)

And Happy Passover to those that celebrate it!

It's National Pancake Day!

Did you have your pancakes today to celebrate National Pancake Day??? IHOP has been running ads over the last couple of days, so with project life in mind, I decided we should celebrate this event, even if I couldn't eat them.

The toddler got a free short stack of pancakes (which he made a dent in, but didn't finish), complete with boysenberry syrup for an early dinner. We had fun having a little outing, just the two of us, especially since I don't make pancakes much at home, mainly because the gluten free ones just aren't the same, no matter what recipe I try. I miss the fluffiness of the gluten-filled pancakes, so it's just easier to stay away from pancakes in general. Of course, that's no reason to restrict my toddler from eating them, so I figured this would be a nice little treat for him.

Granted, I wanted to have something interesting to put in my project life album for this week, which is what spurred me to even partake in this "holiday." It's funny how I sometimes plan on doing things, just so I can put them in my project life album, lol. But, later, it's nice to look back and know that I'm experiencing life in general, doing little celebrations for little things as well as big. Does anyone else ever do that? Or am I just the crazy one? ;)

Scrapping in 2014

Happy New Year!

Last night, we rang in 2014 with the usual New Year's Rockin' Eve festivities in Times Square. 

I followed that up with the Tournament of Roses Parade this morning. This year was the 125th anniversary of the parade, so there was a big opening celebration to commemorate the milestone. 

As I was watching the parade, I was reminded of how my mom used to watch it every year. I've never scrapped anything about that particular memory, but it's probably one I need to capture someday, preferably sooner rather than later. :)

Speaking of memories, I am attempting Project Life for 2014. This will be my third year. I've only successfully completed Project Life for 2012. 2013 was a miserable fail. 

For 2014, I bought a big box of the official Project Life page protectors (Style A - purchased at Michaels using a 50% off coupon!) and an official Project Life album (also purchased at Michaels when there was a 50% off sale before Christmas). I couldn't resist the design of the album - absolutely LOVE it!

I did not, however, purchase any of the sets with journaling cards. I wanted the freedom of putting whatever colors and designs I wanted, especially since I have TONS of digital scrapbooking stuff that I still haven't used on anything. I've seen albums that are all color-coordinated throughout, but I also like the ones that have a bit of everything. Plus, I don't have to put much journaling in for a particular week. I can just put photos or decorative journaling cards in. I do like knowing that all my pages have the same number of pockets and same orientation.

After editing HUNDREDS of my photos, I notice I tend to take more photos that are portrait-oriented. Now I'm more conscious of that and will try to take a photo both ways. While the Style A pocket pages might be a bit challenging with a portrait-oriented photo, I'll see if I can make it work for me. If I discover it doesn't work, there's no reason why I can't change it, right? ;)

The thing I just need to keep reminding myself is that the idea is to capture the memories. That is why I scrapbook. Although I wasn't very good at capturing the last year (and I believe I can still try to do it!), I watched my son look at the 2012 albums over and over. There was something about seeing himself in lots of the photos or pointing out people in our lives that resonated with him. Watching him turn the pages was all the justification I needed to remind myself that scrapbooking isn't just a hobby. It's a way of life.

Here's to memory-keeping for 2014!

Happy Halloween!

Although we didn't go out for Halloween or dress up (my kid must be the only kid who isn't interested in candy!), I decided to do a little bit of scrapping with one of the few pictures I have with my little one in costume.

All supplies used in this layout are from the October 2013 Storyteller Collection from Just Jaimee.

Hope you all had a happy (and safe!) Halloween!

Oooh So Charming!

As part of the July Memory Mix at MScraps, ninigoesdigi released papers, washi tape, elements, and alphas called Oooh So Charming!

I love the colors of this collection. The entire collection is 20% off through Sunday.

Here's my page with Oooh So Charming:

CREDITS

Oooh So Charming papers, washi  tape, and alpha (ninigoesdigi)

Scrap On (ninigoesdigi)

Sakura Sakura (ninigoesdigi)

Font: Pea BMad

The photo was taken at the end of the parade. I almost forgot to take it, lol! I'm so glad we got a group shot!

Christmas Faves

I've always wanted to do a page about my favorite Christmas things, but I wasn't in any hurry to do so. However, when the Copycat Challenge at Oscraps came around, I found my opportunity. The rules were to lift a layout from your own gallery. I chose to lift this layout (which was completed back in March):

CREDITS

Kits: Oscraps’ 7^th Birthday Celebration Kit Freebie; Here. There. and The List (Studio 68)

Fonts: CK Ali’s Hand (captions, date); Clingy (title)

Template: Template 13 Freebie (Mommyish)

And here's my re-do:

CREDITS

Shine On (TaylorMade)

Bloomin’ Tidbits and Here.There. (Studio 68)

RetroSweets (Paula Kesselring)

Vintage Album Collection: Live. Learn. Love element pack (Joanne Brisebois)

Template: Template 13 Freebie (Mommyish)

I love this template! There are so many ways you can use it! And it gives you a chance to put lots of photos on a page.

Loved...

This being Memorial Day weekend, I really wanted to scrap a military-themed photo. As I was looking over the challenges at Oscraps, I found the perfect quote in the Quote Me challenge to go with the photo I used in the page below.

This is one of my all-time favorite photos, and there were some distractions in the background, so creating a mask was perfect. Also, it gave me a chance to play with one of Jen Maddocks' cool kits!

CREDITS

Heart Matters (Jen Maddocks Designs)
Lovestruck and Sugar Sugar (Studio 68)

Fonts: Pristina and StamPete

Happy Mother's Day!

Enjoying a little peace and quiet during naptime...

The Panera lunch (not pictured since I ate it there and forgot to photograph it) and card were courtesy of my friend Brenda. Thank you, Brenda!

I saw this quote earlier and felt it was highly appropriate for today:

"Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn’t know you had, and dealing with fears you didn’t know existed." - Linda Wooten

Yes, it really is. Happy Mother's Day to all!