Another Day In Paradise: Summer Layout

Hello, everyone!  I'm back today with another summer layout from the August kit at My Creative Scrapbook. 

I took this photo of my son on what we consider the first day of summer. Of course, that's the day after the school year ends. We always do something particularly summer-y on that day. It usually involves water and ice cream! On this day, we hit the pool and had a frosty later that afternoon. 

I needed a spot for my journaling and wasn't sure where to put in on the page. I decided to type out a sentence or two and tuck it in vertically alongside my photo. Even though it's very short, it covers the basics of Who, What, Where, Why and When. Well, not who. But I have only one kid so I know who is in the photo!

The kit I used featured the Summer Sun collection from Fancy Pants Designs and included this cute set of cards. 

I used several of these cards on the layouts I made with this kit. On this particular layout, I used the three circled in yellow. 

The card with the orange strip circled at the bottom is the vertical Take Note card seen above. It was the perfect landing spot for the die cut that reads: Another Day in Paradise. 

The card that says Travel: I tucked that card under the top of my photo.  I used the Hello Summer card at the top of my layout, and layered a few die cuts on top. 

Here's a look at the layout with the cards circled. 

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful weekend! 

Swimming Lessons: Little Fish

Hello everyone. I am back today with a summer layout about my son's swimming lessons. 

After a scary incident last August when Cory fell in a lake while on vacation with my parents, I enrolled him in private swimming lessons. While he had previously been in group lessons, those lessons for young children seemed more geared toward play. I wanted him to really learn how to swim. 

I initially enrolled Cory in a series of 8 private lessons at our local aquatics center. Swimming is a hard skill to learn and it was clear that it would take more than 8 lessons, so we continued with another set of 8 lessons, then another set and another. 

Cory did great in the water. A year later, he can now swim the front and back crawl for 50 meters (the length of an Olympic size pool), can tread water, do a standing dive, and is learning the breast stroke and butterfly.  

I'm proud of him and of course, I wanted to do a layout about his accomplishments. I used the August kit from My Creative Scrapbook, which featured the cute Summer Sun line from Fancy Pants Designs. 

You can find all the kits from My Creative Scrapbook here. Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Avoiding the Sharks: A Surfing Layout

My family just got back from the North Carolina coast, and, yikes, it was a little scary for this Mom whose young son loves his boogie board. The sharks are circling and two teens lost limbs to shark bites at a neighboring beach. 

I didn't want to make my son afraid of the ocean, so I didn't say much to him. Just tried to keep him as safe as I could: swimming in groups, avoiding the pier area and only going out in mid-afternoon (with lots of sunscreen). 

Success. No sign of sharks and, best of all, I had a cute photo from last summer of Cory with his boogie board. 

This is one of the layouts I made using the July kit from My Creative Scrapbook. I used a simple design with a long vertical strip down one side, very similar to the design I used last month for a different beach photo. 

I loved how bright and sunny this kit was. You can see all the MCS kits here.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend! 

Sweet Summer: My Creative Scrapbook Reveal

Good morning. I hope you had a great Fourth of July holiday. It's always nice to kick back, have a cookout, see old friends, light a few sparklers and raise a toast to our founding fathers. 

The new monthly kits are out for My Creative Scrapbook and they are perfect for documenting the Fourth of July or any other summer gathering. Like this one: 

I designed with the Creative Kit which has a colorful mix of summer lines from Pebbles and Doodlebug.

I'm trying to be a little more purposeful about including visible journaling on my layouts. I sometimes journal on a tag I slip under the photo (I also like that method) but then I have to remove the layout from the protector to read it. 

I took a card from the kit and ran it through my printer to add my journaling. I left a little room at the bottom for my title. I love these fun little cards that are featured in so many collections these days. 

Here's a photo of the cute kit I worked with:

You can see all the kits offered by My Creative Scrapbook on its website.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

The Sea & Me: Anatomy of a Layout

Hello and happy Friday!  I'm back today with a summer layout from the June kit at My Creative Scrapbook. 

This kit featured the Color Chaos collection from Bella Blvd and I really loved the fun mix of colors and patterns. 

I started the page using the pretty blues as my base, cut down to 11 x 11 inches, layering them on kraft paper. I loved the script paper but wanted to make it a bit softer, so I added a layer of vellum on top. It gave kind of a dreamy look, which I liked. I stitched the vellum, script paper and kraft together, then added the other layers. 

I created a photo mat with the star paper, added a photo, and tucked a journaling tag underneath. I added some pops of black to ground the layout. 

Here's one more look: 

Thanks so much for stopping by. You can find more information about the monthly kits offered by My Creative Scrapbook on its website here.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Take Me Out To The Ball Game: A Baseball Layout

Happy Monday!  I hope you had a great weekend. It was gorgeous here. Yay for summer!

Of course, baseball is the perfect summer activity.  We went to cheer on our local triple A team a couple weeks ago and I snapped these cute pics. 

I paired my photos with the fun patterns and icons of Bella Blvd's Color Chaos collection, which was featured in the new June kit at My Creative Scrapbook. Though the kit wasn't baseball themed, the colors worked well with the photos. 

Under the photos, I added a journaling block and a line of various Lsized banners. 

There you have it: a baseball layout. My first, I think.

Originally, I was going to make some handmade baseball embellishments, but in the end, I decided to go with the lively vibe of the banners and the fun pops of color. I think it captures the overall feeling of the day without being theme-y. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have a great week!

Documenting Everyday Life: My Creative Scrapbook

Good morning!  

It's reveal day at My Creative Scrapbook and I loved the fun, colorful papers and embellishments in the June kit. 

I have been holding onto this photo for awhile. Though taken on the Fourth of July, I knew I wanted to use this picture to document a story from our everyday life. 

My son loves American flags.  He began to really notice them at a young age and when he was a preschooler, he came up with a game to play in the car: to count American flags as we passed them. We have played this game hundreds of times and he is usually the first to spy a flag. He has keen observation skills, which led to his nickname, Sharp Eye. You can't get anything pass that kid!

I journaled the story under my photo. I just ran regular paper through the printer in landscape mode. Nothing fancy, but it accomplished my goal. 

I added a few embellishments to the left of the photo, including a flag pole made from a long Q-tip I got at the cosmetic counter of our local department store. 

This kit primarily featured the Color Chaos collection from Bella Blvd. I've long been a fan of this particular manufacturer and I had a great time putting together layouts with this kit. 

You can find information about all the kits offered by My Creative Scrapbook on its website.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful weekend!

Puddle Jumper & Wave Rider: Summer Layout

We're fortunate to live fairly close to the beach, about a 4-hour drive, and when Spring fever strikes, it's hard to resist the pull of the shore. 

The ocean water was pretty chilly this April day, but it didn't stop my 6-year-old from jumping in. He was particularly anxious to try skimboarding. After a few tips from a fellow boarder, he was on his way. 

The water themed papers and icons from the May Creative Kit at My Creative Scrapbook were perfect for this layout. I used a sheet of blue patterned paper as my backdrop and created waves on top with kraft paper. 

I handcut the waves. Nothing fancy, then stitched them down, creating a pocket in the bottom wave for my photos. 

I tucked a series of photos in the wave pocket and stitched them in place. Then I added a a title and a few embellishments to the bottom wave. 

At the top of the layout, I created a cluster of stickers on a journaling card to balance the page. On the left, I added a shipping tag with a bit of strip journaling. 

Here'a another look at the full layout: 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I'll be back on Monday with one more layout from this kit. 

Giggles and Goggles: Using A Kraft Paper Background

Good morning.  I am back today with a sunny, happy layout, as promised. 

I love using kraft paper as my background. It is one of my favorite scrapbooking trends. Kraft paper is like khaki pants. It goes with everything! Kraft paper lends itself particularly well to layouts about boys, I think. It has sort of a rough and tumble look all on its own. Plus, bright colors really pop against kraft. 

I've been holding on to these photos for awhile. I took them at a July 4th party when my son was 4. These photos went perfectly with the new May kit from My Creative Scrapbook.  The kit features Echo Park Paper. 

I printed the series of photos small (2 x 2 inches) and cut 8 circles (1.25 inches each) from the colorful paper with a circle punch.  

Below the photos is the title. I put my son's age on the sailboat using little alphas from the kit. It was a way to dress up the sailboat and add a little demographic data at the same time. 

As you can see, I had a lot of design on the right side of the page. I could have stopped there and cut my page to 8.5 x 11. I am kind of digging smaller canvases these days. But in the end, I decided to keep the page 12 x 12. Since the left side was empty, I added a few elements to balance things out: strip journaling, a line of banners and a 3 x 4 card with decorative elements. 

Here's another look at the whole layout. 

Thanks for stopping by.  I'll be back tomorrow with another layout from this kit. 

Singing In The Rain: My Creative Scrapbook Reveal

Good morning!  

Today is reveal day at My Creative Scrapbook. The new May kit is sunny and happy and, well, a little bit rainy. Yep.  I played on that latter theme for my first layout. 

The May Creative kit featured Echo Park Paper's Sunny Days Ahead collection, which includes images of the sun, of course, but also clouds, umbrellas and rain boots. 

My first layout was inspired by this paper in the kit: 

The front side is adorable, but a little too girly for my scrapbooking my son. The B side, however, was perfect.  It has the text Singing in the Rain repeated over and over. 

The paper made me think of these photos I took last year of my son playing in the sprinklers, fully dressed, at our local botanical gardens. 

The photos aren't perfect. It is hard to capture crisp, sharp photos of an active child. Plus, there was the issue of not wanting to get my camera wet in the spray.  But the photos captured the joy of a child and that's what I wanted to scrapbook. 

I chose a series of three photos from that day and used the Singing In The Rain paper as my background with large yellow circles for a pop of color. 

In the bottom corner, I used a journaling card to anchor my page. 

We actually were at the gardens in late October last year for a Halloween event. So, I wasn't even thinking that my 5-year-old would run through the water spray. It was October!  But, as my journaling says: you can't keep a kid out of sprinkler. 

Here's one more look at the whole layout. 

This is the kit I used to create the layout: 

My Creative Scrapbook offers a main kit, creative kit, limited edition kit and an album kit each month. You can find all the details on their website. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. I'll be back tomorrow with another layout from this kit. A sunny one, I promise!

Sun Ray Tutorial: My Creative Scrapbook

Hello everyone. Today, I have a page full of sunshine. 

I made this beach layout with Echo Park Paper's Here & Now collection, which was featured in the September Creative Kit at My Creative Scrapbook. 

To make the sun rays, I started by cutting a piece of yellow patterned paper 11.5 inches across and 7 inches tall, rounding the top two corners, and placing it on top of white cardstock. 

Then, starting left to right, I cut yellow cardstock in the shape of rays and lightly tacked them on top of the yellow patterned paper. You can see that on the left side above.  I wanted to have a little light shining through (as you can see on the right side above), so I used a paper cutter to trim each side of the rays. 

When trimming, I kept the cardstock rays on top of the yellow patterned paper as a guide for where to cut.   

Once I had all the rays in place, I stitched them down.  A white doily hides any imperfections where the rays meet in the middle.   

I added a title block at the top using a frame and die cuts from Fancy Pants Designs and alphas from Echo Park. 

To make the transition smoother from the sun rays at the top to the blue patterned paper at the bottom, I used a yellow tape sticker.  The chevrons guide the eyes across the page to the photo. 

Above is another look at the completed layout.  The ribbon tab to the right of the photo pulls out to reveal hidden journaling. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. I'll be back tomorrow with another layout from this kit.

Backseat Treat: Fancy Pants Designs

Hi everyone.  We're in the midst of the dog days of summer here. It's been hot, hot, hot. And when it's hot, well, you gotta have ice cream!

The sherbert-y colors in this pretty striped paper by Fancy Pants Designs reminded me of ice cream and popsicles and made a nice backdrop for this layout about snagging a cone after swim lessons. I used the Memories Captured collection for this page. It's one of the mid-releases from Fancy Pants and has a fun mix of soft colors and chalkboard. I particularly like the mint, coral and blue hues in this collection. They pop so nicely against the black. 

Fancy Pants has several cork themed products out now that are so cute and trendy.  I used a cork envelope here (layered on a glassine bag) as a spot for my title, adding some letter stickers, die cuts and a sunny little pennant. 

Are you using cork and chalkboard items in your projects these days? I am seeing them everywhere. 

I appreciate your stopping by!