Catching up with Albums Made Easy

I have been just itching to scrapbook since Lily was born, but sleep won out every time! Now that she is getting in a better routine I feel human again and that means scrap time for me!

Since my time is so limited, I need the easiest route possible! I love these new Albums Made Easy cards from Teresa Collins. 

This first layout is about the day Lily was born. I wanted to keep things as simple as possible to really add impact to the colors and photographs, but I also wanted to personalize it some. I am in love with all the script fonts that are out now so I decided to try my hand at some writing. 

Here is a close up of the making of this card. I wrote everything in pencil to start off with. I wanted her middle name in a different font tucked right under her first name but I'm not very good at winging it. I used 2 pieces of washi tape to give me some writing guides. I penciled it in and then went back over it in pen. To get that script font look you widen the parts of each letter that were down strokes.

Be sure to gently erase all pencil marks when you're through. 

 I loved how her name turned out so much that I did the same thing with the word baby. 

I absolutely adore this next layout. I captured some priceless moments of all my girls just waking up on a Saturday morning. I knew I wanted a punchy title and since I'm really loving the script font writing I decided to do it again.

 While I was creating my layout my oldest mentioned how she hated her bed head in these pictures. So I decided to use that as the basis for my journaling. I wanted her to know that I see so much more in these pictures. To make the journaling really stand out I chose to use some alphabet stickers for certain words. The journaling can be read either all together or by just reading the words made with the stickers.

These layouts came together so quickly and easily! I really love these pocket pages and cards! My 3rd layout I added an clear overlay that is part of the Albums Made Easy card sets. I love how subtle it is without distracting from the photograph. 

Once I placed all the cards and started embellishing them I realized I had very little room for actual journaling. To make room for that I used washi tape and taped 2 cards together. The bottom card slides into the page protector allowing the top card to be flipped up and the journaling to be read without having to remove the card from the pocket. Did I mention how easy these are??

My final layout was a super simple one. I have a lot of catching up to do on last year's Project Life album and these cards were perfect for getting this accomplished. I finished this layout in under 30 min which included printing the photos too. At that speed I see the light at the end of the tunnel for this album.

I used another one of the beautiful overlays that was included. I just love these!

Thanks for stopping by! I am so excited to be scrapbooking again and look forward to sharing many more layouts!

Product List:

Teresa Collins Albums Made Easy "Snapshots"

Teresa Collins Albums Made Easy "Archived"

Teresa Collins Albums Made Easy "Hello Life"

Teresa Collins You Are My Happy Kit

Valentines Card Drive

Just sharing a quick card with you today. Every January my kids and I participate in a Valentines Card Drive to benefit children in the hospital. I am so very blessed to have healthy kids and I love the idea of giving someone else's kid a smile. Our goal this year is to make 100 cards. We are over halfway there, so hopefully we can reach our goal.


I usually design the cards and the kids are my worker bees. They help assemble, do some coloring and then sign the insides. This is something we look forward to every year at this time. Its also a really great way to avoid the normal post holiday blues. We have to keep the design simple, and without any choking hazards on them. This card below is just one of the designs we have made so far.

If you are interested in contributing some cards you can go HERE to read details. All cards have to be received by January 31st.

Best from 2013

I can't believe 2013 is really over! It seems like someone hit the fast forward at places. I keep seeing many other blogs posting their top photos from the year and I thought this would be a fun one to do. Last year was a very dead year for my photography. I think everyone goes through slow times, mine just lasted most of the year. I had lots of other personal projects and for a first time in a long time my photography took a back burner.


That being said when I went back and reviewed my pictures for the year this one particular jumped out at me. This is a photo of my niece playing in the pool. She has such spunk and energy and I love that I was able to capture some of it in this picture!

Thanks for stopping by!

Fearless

One of the reasons I love scrapbooking is the photographs. I love looking at a photograph and not only remembering the moment, but also sharing the experience so that my children will grow up knowing that moment too.

This particular photo was taken during my oldest daughters swim lessons. She was 5 at the time and by the end of the class she was able to jump off the diving board into the deep end. I remember sitting poolside watching, anxiously. I remember holding my breath at one point. I remember praying her instructor would move just a little closer so that once she hit the water she could be rescued immediately. I remember watching her not even hesitate when it was her turn. In fact she was one of the only ones who ended up jumping out of her class. And when she was done, I remember thinking how absolutely fearless she was.

Thanks for stopping by!

iPhone Costume

My youngest had a really tough time deciding what she wanted to dress up as this year. She is 8 years old and pretty much done with the princess phase. Many hours were spent on the internet going thru page after page of ideas. She finally decided to be an iPhone. Now I don't own an iPhone, so the "details" of my finished product may not actually LOOK like an iPhone, but my daughter is THRILLED!

 My husband built the frame out of a med. size moving box from home depot. He stapled rope in as the "suspenders" that will go on my daughters shoulders. I then painted the sides black.

Then I bought 2 black foam boards and went to town printing off pictures of apps and cutting the battery and white bars out of my silhouette cameo.

Once those were all cut I arranged them how I wanted them and then used quick dry glue to attach them. While we were at the hardware store, my husband introduced me to this foam board adhesive. it comes in a tube similar to caulk and you use a caulk gun to apply it. This stuff was amazing. I was worried any glues I might try to use while attaching the foam boards to the moving box frame just wouldn't be strong enough. I didn't want it falling apart while my daughter ran all over the neighborhood. That would just be bad.

So here is the finished front. This was the EASIEST and cheapest costume I have ever put together. She can't wait to go trick or treating tonight!

Thanks for stopping by!

Witchy Treats

Halloween is almost here! Almost time for trick or treating and dressing up!! My kids are so excited, especially my youngest. I will posting her costume tomorrow, so be sure to come back and see it!

Here is a fun goody box for the teachers!

Just one more day :)

Pumpkin Friends

Since we are into October, today's layout is seasonally themed. Even though its still warm here, I have put out all the Halloween decorations and we have some pumpkins outside too! Pumpkin carving is a BIG deal in our house. The designs are never the same, but we always have so much fun carving them (and then eating the roasted pumpkin seeds afterwards!) Paper Issues Blog is having a link party for Halloween projects. The prize is pretty sweet if you want to join in!

This entire layout was created with Bella Blvd products. The photo idea I got from Rebecca Cooper last year. I was looking for a new way to photograph the pumpkins and this was perfect! 

Thanks for stopping by!