Labor of Love

I have another favorite layout to share with you today. The pictures in this layout are very special to me- taken right after I checked into the hospital to be induced to give birth to my son. I was excited beyond belief and scared to death at the same time. Whenever I have really special pictures I am always nervous about whether I will be able to create a layout that will do them justice. I am not always able to come through with that, but in this case I was very happy with how this layout turned out and I think it really complements the pictures of a very special memory for me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Here it is:

I generally like the paper I use to match the colors or the tone of the photographs I'm featuring and that is why I chose this paper- the Primrose Stack from DCWV. I thought it was feminine and a little subdued, and I always like anything vintage-y. All the paper used is from this stack, then I used an MS punch for the lacy borders, and added some thickers for the title.

I love rulers. I'm not sure why, but anytime I find one in a collection, stack or kit I have to add it to a page.

I can't take credit for the title, but it was so perfect I just had to use it. And it couldn't be more true.

Here is the stack in case you would like to pick up some of this goodness for yourself:

Henry Blair Holbrook

Hello my friends! I am back with another project to share with you! I told you in my last post that I have just been flooded with inspiration. Well, it had been probably a good year since I had done any crafting, other than a small project here or there, and when I did this layout it all came together so amazingly. This layout actually ends up being one of my favorite ones that I've ever done. It was such a cool feeling to know that I hadn't lost my 'touch' so to speak, and has really fueled me to keep creating! It's so fun to see Henry's baby album coming together! I also picked up a new hobby in the last year- photography. Not to do professionally, but I just wanted my scrapbook photos to be of a better quality, so it's fun to finally start scrapping some of the photos I've taken! Here is my layout:

For this layout I used the Baby Boy stack from DCWV. Hopefully you can see the nice foil accents on the blue on a lot of the pages.

This was a cute pre-printed tag that I cut out to include Henry's birth details.

I fussy cut the banner pieces out and popped them up on foam dots for depth.

The cute green banner with this lovely sentiment was also fussy cut from a page, and then I added Thickers for the title. I love how the orange color really pops out from the page, but also complements some of the smaller instances of orange elsewhere on the page. I also added a little confetti style sprinkling of sequins to add some more whimsy to the page.

I hope you enjoyed the project, and here is a look at the stack I used:

I have entered this layout in the current challenge over at Scrap Our Stash, the theme this week is Confetti, which I have represented with the sequins. I have also linked up with Jill's Sunday Funday link party over at Everyday is an Occasion. 

A son is born...

Hi friends! Sorry about yet another extended absence from this blog. I had a good reason this time though!! I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on January 20th. The last few weeks of my pregnancy were a little rough, and it's been quite the adjustment being a first time mom and adjusting to life with a newborn. But my little Henry is 7 weeks old (7 weeks new??) now and I have just been flooded with crafting inspiration this past week! I can't tell you how amazing it is to actually scrapbook my own child instead of "borrowing" my nieces and nephews. It has opened up a whole new world for me! So needless to say, I am going to have a LOT of projects to share with you over the next few weeks. So without further adieu, here is my baby Henry's very first scrapbook page, which is also his very first photograph- minutes after he entered this world. I used some DCWV product- the Delightful Stack. I loved how the color palette of this stack matched the tone of the photograph- which is actually a happy accident. My boyfriend had accidentally set a filter on the camera of his phone. I had to have a C-Section, so we didn't end up being able to bring our nice camera with us, and the camera phone was all we had. But it ended up making a really nice photograph! Here is the layout:

All of the paper is from the stack. I popped up the banner pieces on foam dots for depth. I used Thickers for the title, and added some Washi from my stash. Here is a close-up of the journaling, which is basically my birth story:

I hope you enjoyed the project. If you like the paper, make sure to pick up the Delightful Stack at a craft store near you!

2 Christmas layouts with Basic Grey for Scrapbook USA Expo

Hi all! I'm back with a couple more Christmas layouts- this time using some beautiful Basic Grey product. I was sent a paper pack of their 25th and Pine collection. This collection includes a TON of pretty papers as well as an embellishment sticker sheet and an alpha sticker sheet. The thing I love the most about Basic Grey product is the fun and unique patterns and the how well they coordinate together. I always find it inspiring to find different ways to incorporate as many of them as I can into my projects. This collection is no exception. Here is the first layout:

This is the Christmas photo we're using this year. Our baby is due January 12th, but he could be here any day really! I have asked him not to come on or before Christmas, but anytime after that is all good! Hence, the "Do Not Open Before Christmas" tag. Because this photo had some darker colors, I liked that the paper patterns had some darker colors in it as well.

The "special delivery" tag couldn't be more perfect, right? It even says "Do Not Open Before Dec. 25"! I love it. Both this and the gold tree tag were cut out from a page with lots of different tags and journaling blocks.

The upper sticker said 'Christmas Greetings'. I only wanted the 'Christmas' part so I covered with another sticker and layered the second part of my title over the rest. The 'bliss' font is the sticker alphabet that came with the pack.

There were several cute, coordinating border stickers as well as some fun shape and journaling stickers. Because the background pattern is so bold, I decided to keep the rest of the layout more simple so there wasn't too much distraction on the page.

Here is my second layout:

The color palette is a little subdued and almost vintage-y looking. I cut out some snowflake-like shapes from my Cricut and used the insides as well, showing the reverse paper patterns. Always looking for ways to incorporate more paper onto my layout!

I used some border strips here- I love incorporating these in my layouts and Basic Grey's are very unique! This ticket was cut from a page of cute tags, tickets, journaling tags and other cute images.

This cluster includes another tag cut from a page, as well as some of the cute stickers.

I found some coordinating thickers and used them for my title.
Again I had enough paper and embellishments left over to at least do another layout or two as well as several cards! Lots of fun, cuteness to work with! Thanks for looking!

Christmas Tree Decoration with DCWV

Hi all! I have a fun (and easy!) home decor project to share with you using unfinished wood shapes, acrylic paint and DCWV paper! DCWV has some really cute holiday stacks this year and the nice thing about this project is you can customize it to suit your taste and decor (traditional, whimsical, vintage, etc.).

To start with I got some unfinished wood Christmas tree shapes with dowels on blocks. Here in Utah we have a local store that sells these fun shapes, but I know that a lot of craft supply stores sell things like these now.  They look a little something like this when you're first starting out:

Next you're going to choose your paper. I chose some papers from the Jolly Whimsy stack. I like the whimsical look for these trees, but as I mentioned earlier, there are several stacks to suit your personal taste!

Once you have your papers chosen you're going to mark the FRONT of your tree and flip it so it is facing the BACK of the patterned paper you chose. Then you're going to trace the outline of the wood piece on your paper and cut it out. Don't worry if it isn't perfect or if you couldn't get to some of the really tight nooks and crannies. You can always trim it up after it's adhered to the block with a razor or sand paper.
Next you're going to choose your acrylic craft paint color and paint it up! I color the entire back and most of the front where the paper is going to go, but you can paint just the part that is going to show if you wanted to save time (and paint!)

Once this is dried you are going to adhere the paper onto the front of your shapes. You can use Mod Podge for this, but I was once recommended to just paint on wood glue and that has always worked great for me. I just paint on the glue the same way I would the acrylic paint and then carefully place the paper. The glue takes a few minutes to dry so if you need to reposition the paper it's not a problem. I use a squeegee type of tool to make sure there aren't any air bubbles and then lay it paper side down to let the glue set so it doesn't pucker.

While that is drying I paint my bases and dowels. I found some fun glitter paint that I used on the bases. I drop a little wood glue in the hole on the base and then place my dowel to help secure it. I do the same thing when securing the tree to the dowel.
Now all you have to do is add some embellishment. The possibilities are endless- ribbon, craft wire, glitter glue, etc. Whatever suits your fancy! I used some tinsel ribbon on mine.

I hope you enjoyed the project- thanks for checking it out today!

2 Christmas Layouts with Echo Park for Scrapbook USA Expo

Hi friends! It's that time of year again! Time to start making Christmas crafts and projects! I love how I am always so much more motivated to do projects during this time of year- gives me a chance to catch up! So I was privileged to receive some wonderful product from Echo Park. I was sent the Tis the Season paper pack. This pack has some very nice traditional elements as well as some fun, modern trends (like chalkboard!). I have included 2 full layouts that I created with the pack, but easily could finish a couple more as well as some cards! There is a LOT to work with including 2 sticker sheets and some journaling tag/card pages. There is one page that has numbers 1-25 in different fonts which would make an adorable advent calendar project. Here is my first layout:

With this layout you can see a little bit of that fun chalkboard element that is so trendy right now. The rest of the colors and patterns really complement each other very nicely.

I created a little cluster with fun stickers in the upper right of the page, and added some border stickers in the corner.

I thought this chalkboard style card was so cute I decided to use it as my title. I love when products can do double duty- really makes my layouts come together quickly.
Here is the second layout:

I cut the music style piece on my Cricut. I love that it was done in the chalkboard style as well.

I created the title using one of the cute journaling cards, and the letter stickers from the pack.

The little banner was also fussy cut from one of the pages and popped up on foam dots for dimension.

I hope you enjoyed my projects, and be sure to pick up Tis the Season for your holiday projects- so much versatility and inspiration in this pack!

Winter Subway Art box decoration

I thought I would share some of the other crafts that I have been doing lately (besides layouts! Yes, I do occasionally do something different! ha!) There's an awesome store here in Utah called The Wood Connection. They sell unfinished wood craft projects which you can then paint and decorate however you like. They recently started doing out-of-state delivery, so you should definitely check them out! This project was SUPER easy. All I needed was a 12x12 wood shadow box, a subway art style scrapbook paper, acrylic paint, brush, wood glue (or Mod Podge) and ribbon.

It was really this simple: I painted the edges with the acrylic paint and a foam brush. I then painted some wood glue onto the front and carefully adhered the scrapbook paper. Some people use Mod Podge for this, but the gals in the store said they use wood glue, so that is what I have used and it has always worked out great. I figured- if it ain't broke, why fix it, right? I then adhered some ribbon around the outside edge using the red super tacky tape. I topped it all off with a big bow and a cute fabric button that I adhered with a craft dot. Easy peasy!!

Subway art is so popular right now, and I thought this was such an easy method to make a cute home decor item using it! Hope you enjoyed it!