Project Life 2014: Week 47 & Hunter Storyteller Collection

This was a fun spread to create! I'm always nuts about Jaimee's pocket page templates, and the color palette for the Hunter Storyteller collection is so fresh and fun! This collection is a lot of  fun to work with. If you make it all the way to the end of this post, you'll see I also created a traditional scrapbook layout with the collection as well. Here is week 47:

created with Hunter Storyteller Collection by Just Jaimee; Wisdom Script, Bebas Neue, CK Jot fonts

Left Side:

Right Side:

The Storyteller collections have undergone some changes for 2015, including a new subscription option which is really exciting! You can find all of the changes detailed on Jaimee's blog. Here's my other page - this page design was created using one of the templates in the collection as well, which I always love!

Here's a preview of the whole shebang:

Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life 2014: Week 44 & January MPM

I'm reaching back and sharing an older week today - week 44. I've got week 47 done as well and will share that in another post. This week is a bit odd because it was Halloween week, but I chose to use the new Janurary Memory Pockets Monthly collection which has a fresh start/new year kind of theme.  But here's the deal: I had already placed the photos for the spread, and had just downloaded the new MPM which I was dying to play with, and realized that I could get this done quick if I just put the two together. It's not the most natural choice, and I didn't use a whole lot from the collection, but again, it's DONE. Another week documented, which in an of itself makes me really happy. And you can bet that I'll use this collection again on another weeks spread - it's gorgeous!

created with January Memory Pockets Monthly collection

Left side:

Right side:

Here's a peek at the MPM collection I used:

Also- I hope everyone had a very happy holiday! This year we created so many fun Christmas memories & photos, I'm hoping to get some of them scrapped very soon.

December... Daily? (maybe just twice)

Hey there. I love December Daily!  Well, I love the idea of it. I love the idea of documenting this time of year, with so many fun traditions and special memories. However, I'm not really great at doing it. In fact, I never really commit to doing it because I know I won't be able do complete it, at least not in the sense of documenting something each day. But I do want to document our various holiday activities, and there are SO many awesome holiday products I'm dying to use that I always seem to create something.

But between my dead EHD, the added stress and busyness of this time of year, and a kid who doesn't like to go to bed (ahem... DANIEL), I haven't had much of a chance to play. I finally cranked out a couple of pages! These my be the only pages I get done, but at least it's something!

created with Memory Pockets Monthly: JOY; Joyful Papers, Joyful Elements, and Pocket Full of Joy by Stolen Moments Design; Bebas Neue font

created with Dashing Collection; Holiday Spots, DOTW Stamps & Transparency Journal Cards by Digital Design Essential, Pea MelodyShay font

For the first layout, I used the Memory Pockets Monthly collection plus some add-ons by Stolen Moments:

 

For the second page, I used a bunch of new things from Digital Design Essentials. Gina has been adding new things to the shop almost daily, plus tons of freebies on the blog!

We'll see if I get anything else scrapped... hope you're having a wonderful December too!

Goodbye MSA!

My Scrapbook Art is closing its doors in a little less than a month. It's sad to see a site that's been around for many years go away! I've been blogging there for the past couple of years and have really enjoyed being a part of the team and being so inspired by the gallery and blog posts. It was one of the few open galleries left, but I can see it was time to let it go. I know Jen (the owner) poured a lot into keeping the site going, but the truth is people just aren't hanging out there anymore. 

The sliver lining is that there's a beautiful farewell collab kit available from some of our talented past sponsors including Allison Pennington, Digital Scrapbook Ingredients, Jacque Larsen, Gennifer Bursett, Sissy Sparrows, Snips 'n Snails,  Fiddle Dee Dee Designs, Sugary Fancy, Tracey Martin, and Little Butterfly Wings. This kit is really pretty, and includes more than just what you see in the preview:

I used this kit to create a page for this months journaling challenge, which is to journal about goodbye or a "last" something. I kept it light by scrapping about saying goodbye to my yellow living room and changing it to a mellow blue. Come play along, one last time!

created with the MSA farewell collab kit, Hello... Goodbye; Housegrind and The Reed fonts

A very fond farewell to MSA... you will be missed!

Project Life 2014: Week 49 & and sadness...

Ugh. Sadly, I have lost my ENTIRE scrapping stash. I did everything I was supposed to - I had it all on an external hard drive which was backed up to my CrashPlan account (cloud back up service) - or so I thought. My hard drive died over the Thanksgiving holiday, which was confirmed by the Geek Squad guy at Best Buy. So I got into my CrashPlan account and my files aren't there. My computer hard drive is all backed up (but I didn't keep scrapping stuff there), and some of my external drive, but it looks like the last few years aren't on there. I'm still dealing with CrashPlan to figure out why it wasn't continuously backing up my EHD, but I've pretty much lost hope of recovering those files. Needless to say, this has been a HUGE mojo killer.

I had a ton of Pixels & Company stuff, and now with most of those designers gone and setting up shop at The Digital Press, I can't just go back in and download that stuff. (That includes my PL template, by Laura Passage.) Luckily, I will be able to recover everything from the designers who stayed at P&Co, since they keep your download links forever.

I also had a TON of product from The Lilypad. They only keep download links for a month though, so I was only able to re-download a few things. I had to re-download the collection I used for this PL spread.

And of course, I had various other things from all over digi land, much of it kits for sites like My Scrapbook Art that only offer them for a limited time before they're gone forever. :( I'm just really bummed about it. I'm trying to keep it all in perspective- this is SUCH a first world problem - but it's still pretty disappointing. I've also spent countless hours organizing and tagging my product in ACDSee and it all feels like such a waste.

Le sigh... anyway, I'm still trying to scrap, despite my loss. I made the template myself, with square corners because I'm lazy but I do like the rounded better. Being on Jaimee's team, I am able to re-download things if I need to use them again, so I grabbed the December Storyteller to use on this spread. Isn't that card with the animals and trees the cutest? I also love the cut out words cards in this kit, and had to use one. It's beginning to look like Christmas around here!

created with December Storyteller Collection by Just Jaimee; template by me, The Reed and Bebas Neue fonts

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Right side:

So, thanks for reading/listening to my sob story! Maybe go check your back up, just to make sure...

Family Photo Shoot

Last week, Pixels & Company announced its new monthly subscription. I'm so excited about this! The collection is huge and it has options for pocket scrapping, more traditional scrapping, and even a bonus product - this month is a set of gorgeous printables.

 

Beautiful, right?! There are so many possibilities with this collection! I broke it out earlier this week to create a spread that will be in insert in my Project Life album. While we were on Thanksgiving break, we had a big family photo shoot with everyone in my husband's family. I snapped a bunch of phone photos and used them to create this:

created with Joyful Digital Scrapbook Collection and Joyful Everyday Life Journaling Cards by the Pixels and Company designers; Page 2 Templates vol. 1 by Meredith Cardall

What I love about the subscription (besides the fact that is gorgeous and HUGE!) is that you have the option to subscribe for 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months, and the longer you subscribe the more savings you get! I'm thinking this would be an AWESOME Christmas gift for the digital scrapper in your life - it's the gift that keeps on giving all year long! I can't wait to play around with this collection some more!

Holiday Traditions

We have quite a few different holiday traditions, and one of my very favorites is a trip to Temple Square in Salt Lake City to see the lights. Oddly enough, we usually don't make it until the week after Christmas, but it is still a big part of our celebrating! I made a page using some Instagram photos from our visit last year:

created with 2014 December Storyteller Collection by Just Jaimee; Harting font

I used the big & beautiful December Storyteller from Just Jaimee. There are so many fun things, I was barely able to scratch the surface with this layout. I can't wait to use this collection again for some December Project Life pages!

Thanks for stopping by!

Do You Elf?

I know there are a lot of elf lovers out there, as well as some pretty passionate elf haters. Our elf, Fritz, came to us three years ago and has created a lot of Christmas magic for our family. He isn't one of those super mischievous elves... he just likes to keep and eye on things from different places around the house. He is much beloved by the children in our home, and an important part of our December traditions & celebrations. This new pocket collection by Just Jaimee and Mommyish was the perfect thing to document our elf.

created with Real Life In Pockets - Shelf Elf by Mommyish and Just Jaimee; Project Grids vol. 2 templates by Amy Martin; Deming and Handy George fonts

In fact, Fritz always makes an appearance on November 29 - that's today! We are out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday until tomorrow... I wonder if he will be waiting for us when we get home?! Happy Holidays!

Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With String

... these are few of my favorite things!  (This song is totally stuck in my head.  And now yours, probably.) I wanted to share a pretty and easy way to wrap gifts this holiday season.  We are heading out of town for Thanksgiving later today, and we'll be seeing our entire family on my husband's side. We are going to do a big family gift exchange while we're together.  I'm explaining this just so you know I'm really not that on top of my game this year - this is the only Christmas shopping & wrapping I've done so far!

But the wrapping... I love wrapping gifts. I saw these tags in the Pixels & Company shop and knew I had to use them. I went with a kraft paper and baker's twine to keep it simple, and helped myself to some of my neighbor's evergreen sprigs (snip, snip!).  I think it turned out simple and lovely.

brown paper packages, tied up with string... made even prettier with Fair Isle Festive - Tags by Celeste Knight

To print the tags I just arranged some of them on an 8.5x11 canvas in Photoshop Elements (I resized a few of them), printed on white cardstock, and cut with scissors. Very fast and easy!

I simply remember my favorite thiiings.... anyway, thanks for stopping by! Have a great Thanksgiving holiday!

Project Life 2014: Week 45

Hi - I'm back with another week of Project Life to share. I recently signed up for the Memory Pockets Monthly subscription at The Lilypad and this is my first PL spread using this fantastic collection!

I really had a lot of photos and stories I wanted to add this week; I feel like it's a bit crowded but I like how it turned out nonetheless. Here is week 45:

created with Memory Pockets Monthly - Gather collection by Allison Pennington, Designs by Lili, Sahlin Studio, Sara Gleason, Stolen Moments Design and Valorie Wibbens; Everyday Life vol 1 templates
by Laura Passaga; CK Jot and Bebas Neue fonts

Left side:

Right side:

Thanks for looking :)

New Layout + Template Freebie

I just finished up a page and - shocker - I decided to post it here right away. I've been dying to work with the Handmade kit since it came out, and as I was going through some photos I decided I wanted to scrap this picture of me + my kids taken on Mother's Day earlier this year. I think the two came together nicely!

created with Handmade kit by Gennifer Bursett and Jen Allyson; Pistilli and QuickType Condensed fonts

Here's a look and a link to the beautiful Handmade kit I used for this layout:

And here's a link to a template, based on my layout.  Feel free to download and enjoy! Happy scrapping!

Project Life 2014: Week 46

Hey. So I'm behind a few (three) weeks again... but I sat down last night and put last weeks spread together. When I'm that far behind I like to start with the most recent week and work my way backward until I fill in the gaps. For this spread I decided to use the HUGE We Are Storytellers collection that was given away by The Lilypad earlier this year. I don't think you can purchase it altogether, but each designer has a contributing part you can find in their store. Here is a look at my week 46:

created with We Are Storytellers Collection by The Lilypad designers; The 52 Weeks by Heather Joyce; Everyday Life vol. 1 templates by Laura
Passage; Bebas Neue and CK Jot fonts

Left side:

Right side:

Thanks for looking!

Christmas is coming...

Hi there! We're just a few weeks away from Christmas, and new products are already hitting the shelves. Over at The Lilypad, the Document Your December (DYD) products were just released and I had some fun playing around with them.  First off, I made a page using new goodies from Just Jaimee, Stolen Moments, and Quirky Heart.  This layout features a photo I took last Christmas of my daughter in the glow of the Christmas tree, pure magic.

scraplift of The Crazies, a Princess, and Me by joelsgirl: http://the-lilypad.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=59952&title=the-crazies-2c-a-princess-26amp-3b-me&cat=667
created with Bling Alpha, Bling Bits, and Gesso Paint Bits by Just Jaimee; Merry Holiday Papers by Stolen Moments Design;  Jolly Junque 2 by Quirky Heart

And then I got crazy. That's right, I fired up the printer, pulled out my scissors and created this really fun Christmas Stocking Advent. A few years ago I saw this idea and I thought it was such a fun way to do an advent. I purchased 12 different pairs of socks and split them up. I hung them from a string with clothespins. This year I added the numbers by Stolen Moments which was so quick and easy, I just adhered them with good ol' scotch tape. Each day will have a small treat or a slip of paper with an activity that we'll do that day. So excited for this, and I love how it turned out with these numbers!

created with Coutndown Cards by Stolen Moments Design

I'm usually not a huge fan of Christmas things before Thanksgiving, but working with the new DYD stuff has really got me in the Holiday spirit.  I'm hoping to create some more magic with these products before the season is over. Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life 2014: Week 40

Hi there! I'm sharing a Project Life spread today, this is the last of my "forgotten weeks" that I've been trying to catch up on. I'm still just a couple weeks behind but I've filled in all the gaps and now I just need to scrap the past two weeks.  Here is week 40:

created with Every Little Bit: Grateful Bundle by Deena Rutter; Everyday Life vol. 1 templates by Laura Passage; Bebas Neue, CK Jot, and Cookiesandcream fonts

Left side:

Right side:

You may notice that I like to use different designers from week to week, but I generally stay within one collection per week just to keep things simple.  I really love working with a collection that has coordinating papers, elements and cards.  For this week I used Deena Rutter's Every Little Bit: Grateful collection. All of here Every Little Bit collections are just gorgeous! The really fun part is that during this week I got to hang out with Deena and several of the other P&Co designers and team members (see bottom left photo), so I found it very fitting to use her products on this weeks' spread.  Thanks for looking!