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!

Project Life: Weeks 41 & 43

I've got two new spreads to share today! I'm kind of scrapping out of order, but I'm ok with that. Sometimes I want to work on what's most recent, and then I go back and scrap older weeks when I get a chance. Both of these spreads were created with new Digital Scrapbook Day releases. First is week 41, created with a beautiful new collection by Digital Design Essentials, Grateful Heart. I pretty much stuck to my usual formula, but I went with a different journaling font this week.

created with Grateful Heart collection by Digital Design Essentials; Everyday Life vol. 1 templates by Laura Passage; AniTypewriter font

Left side:

Right side:

For week 43, I used the brand new November Storyteller Collection by Just Jaimee. It's jam-packed with goodness as usual!

created with November Storyteller Collection by Just Jaimee; The 52 Weeks by Heather Joyce; Everyday Life vol. 1 templates by Laura Passage; CK Jot font

Left side:

Right side:

I switched up my templates this week and used the ones included in the November Storyteller, which I like to do when I'm using the Storyteller for a PL spread. I really liked splitting the big photo on the right page over the four smaller pockets.

Hope everyone had a happy DSD weekend! See you next time!