Just ONE more! (Teenage Dream)

These are cool girls doncha think?!

Credits:
Pixels & Co.:
Painted Solids (June Company Stash) by Karen Funk
Stitched Flowers (June Company Stash) by Gennifer Bursett
Leathers Katy (so fab, teenage dream, arrow) by Gennifer Bursett
Leathers Candy (frame) by Gennifer Bursett
Happiness Lies Within smears by Mye de Leon
Almost Done v. 3 by Dawn by Design

A Job Shadow!

My son is growing up and thinking about what he really wants to be "when he grows up." So cool! I'm proud of this kid!

Credits (all at Pixels & Co.):
These are the Days by Karen Funk
Fun with Shapes v. 3 by Crystal Livesay
Fierce Word Art (Work Hard and Be You) by Robyn Meierotto
Fly Away Woodgrain paper by Gennifer Bursett
Schooled kit (notebook flower) by Mommyish
Life 365 buttons (thought balloon button) by Karla Dudley
Life 365 stamp sheet by Karla Dudley
Walter buttons (I heart this kid button) by Karla Dudley
Take Note elements (white flower) by Karla Dudley
Hello Flairs ("&" button) by Creashens

A Bunch-O-Pages! (Spring & Memorial weekend)

I did a bit of scrapping this week and thought I'd share a few pages with you - all at one time! (FYI, all these pages were created from product available at Pixels & Co.)

Here the first ... I think it's spring ... for real!!

Credits:

Mye DeLeon Carefree kit

These next pages are from our Memorial Day weekend "up north" this past weekend. I created a two page spread and a single pager.

Credits:

Creashens | Torn Bits No. 2 (frames)

Mye DeLeon | Date Stamps + Hello Summer stamps + Hello Summer elements

Karen Funk | Cherry Blossoms papers + Painted Solids papers (June Company Stash)

Karla Dudley | Clear Essentials (staples)

Gennifer Bursett | Made of Awesome elements

Fonts: Sail + Ostrich Sans

(and of course the single view of these pages):

Credits:

Deena Rutter | Twisted Ombre Paper Pack 2 (June Company Stash) (LOVE these papers BTW!)

Mye DeLeon | Hello Summer stamps | Date Stamps | Off We Go elements

Karen Funk | Cherry Blossoms papers (June Company Stash)

Karla Dudley | Everyday Life Templates + Anywhere buttons

Gennifer Bursett | California Girls elements

Karla Dudley & Gennifer Bursett collab | Green Lights Ahead elements

2013 Project Life | Week 21 (Memorial Day weekend!)

Memorial Day weekend ... what a great time!!

Supplies:
Pixels & Co.
Karen Funk's Frown Upside Down kit

Asleep on the Stairs | Laptop Scrapping in the Car!

I scrapped this page in the car tonight. I love being productive on car rides! If you've got a laptop and haven't tried scrapping in the car ... try it out. You might just love it!

Just for fun I'm think I'm going to pull out random photos of the kids when they're little and scrap them. It's fun to jot down some of these old memories. I already scrapped this photo years ago and it's already in my son's toddler scrapbook, but I scrapped differently then. Back then I scrapped it as just a cute photo among a bunch of other photos. When I paper scrapped I didn't journal on my pages nearly as much as I do now. Now, as I go back and re-look at some older photos, I want to add some bits and pieces to those books to fill in some detailed memories. It's fun!

BTW ... the fact that my son fell asleep on a top step completely freaked us out! I can't believe he did that! The things our kids survive when they're little!

So ... do you ever go back and re-scrap old photos?

Credits:
Pixels & Co.
Frown Upside Down papers & elements by Karen Funk
Walter Frames by Karla Dudley

One additional note ... I LOVE the sunburst shaped stitching in Karen's kit. From that stitching I created a bunch of masks for the awesome papers in this kit to created this stitched/quilted sunburst background paper. It was fun!

My goofy kids and a volleyball tournament

I'm going to share two pages with you today that I created this week. I made both pages using gorgeous kits/templates that you can check out at Pixels and Company today!

The first I created is from an afternoon when my kids were being silly and were chasing each other around the house. Cabin fever perhaps? I had so much fun watching them run around and listening to them laughing that I just had to document it on a page!

Credits:

Simply Tiffany Studios Windows System Templates 5

Karen Funk Frown Upside Down Collection

Scott Girl Design Date Stamps 2

The second page I'm going to share is from my daughter's final volleyball tournament of the season. It was her one and only out of town tournament and she/we had a great time, so of course I had to make a page, right?!

Credits:

Scotty Girl Design Round and Round templates

Robyn Meierotto - Mod Pop pattern papers, Mod Pop Take Stock solid cardstock and Mod Pop Labels

Creashens - Griddy Frames

Karla Dudley - Life 365 Album Cards

Springtime fun with the cousins swinging on a hammock!

It was a gorgeous spring day today and my daughter had a great day hanging out with her cousins and swinging in our new hammock. We've only had this new hammock for two days now, but it sure has gotten a lot of use!

Credits:

Mommyish "Spring Sweetness" kit at Pixels & Co.

Digi Project Life | Week 20 - 2013

Spring has sprung!

Credits:
Scotty Girl Design - Lets Go Collection
Karla Dudley - Card Love Set 1 Cut Files

A German night out!

We don't go to German restaurants very often, but when we do ... it's always with my side of the family and it's ALWAYS a great time!

Who doesn't love singing (along with an accordion of course!): "DOS a beer a Mexican beer. RAY the guy behind the bar. ME the guy I buy beer for. FA a long way to the bar. SO I think I'll have a beer. LA la la la la la la. TEA no thanks I'll have a beer! That will bring us back to DOS ... "

Credits:

Pixels & Co.: 

Scotty Girl Designs "This Year"

Mye DeLeon "Date Stamps" and "Happiness Lies Within" elements

Karla Dudley "Blah" elements, "Take Note" frame overlays; "Life 365" stamp sheet

Echo Park Hybrid "Holly Jolly"

Hanging out with the cousins when I was a kid!

I loved hanging out with my cousins when I was a kid!

Credits:
May Storyteller Collection by Just Jaimee

EEK! A BAT in the house!

A couple of weeks ago we had a bat in the house. You know what that means ... I HAD to scrap some pictures about it! It made for a crazy night, but I'm pleased to say we're bat fee now and the spot where they were getting in has been sealed. We're hoping this saga is now over!

I wasn't sure what kind of kit to use for this page. There certainly wasn't a "themed" kit. Well, of course I have plenty of bat elements in my stash for Halloween, but nothing really seemed to be right for this page. I ended up choosing One Little Bird's Stay Tuned kit because I liked the cards, and I also used this and that from kits at Pixels and Company. It was a fun page to put together!

Full list of credits:

Creashens Euphoria paper pack (Pixels & Co.) ... this is a paper pack I go to ALL the time when I'm looking for solid textured paper
Gennifer Bursett Snippy Alpha (Pixels & Co.)
Karla Dudley's Walter kit (epoxy button) (Pixels & Co.)
One Little Bird Stay Tuned Kit

An iPad for school!

Our school district is beginning a new technology program that started being phased in this year and will continue through the next couple of years. The first phase of the program was to purchase (or are they leasing, who knows!) iPads for all of the middle schoolers (7th and 8th graders). The rollout began at the end of January and to say my daughter was excited to get an iPad of her own for school would be an understatement. Sure, my husband has an iPad that she can use whenever she wants but that can't compare to having her OWN iPad. I've seen some of what the kids are doing on their iPads and it's pretty cool. I think it's going to be a great learning tool for the kids! (I imagine it'll be a sad day when the end of the school year comes and she has to turn it back in for the summer. I wonder if she's thought of that yet. Hmmm!)

I used Mommyish's "Get Schooled" kit at Pixels & Company to create this page. I love all the bright colors and school themed wordart and elements. I think the first thing that drew me to the kit were the journaling cards. I'm totally into journaling cards these days. I love the composition notebook card. It's just way too fun!

2013 Project Life | Week 19: May 5 - May 11 + A Confirmation + A 50th Anniversary Party!

It was a big week for us. There wasn't much going on in the world of everyday life BUT we had a couple of big events. My son was confirmed on Monday and on Saturday (day before yesterday) we celebrated my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary. I got so many photos with the extended family I just couldn't bear to cut so many of them out, so I ended up with 6 pages (3 spreads) for this week. When I pull out my Project Life book down the road I really want to be able to get a feel for what was going on with us at the time - and I want to be able to look back and see snapshots of everyone (extended family included) - so what the heck ... I made a few pages! It was fun. It was great spending so much time with family this week!

As far as putting these pages together ... there were so many PL/journaling cards in the More Is Less iNSD kit from Pixels & Co. that I used them again for all of these pages. I really am glad I switched to a Project Life format for my pages this year. They are just so quick and fun to put together! So, without chatting more, let me share my pages/photos with you! {NOTE, it was a pretty photo-intensive week!}

For those of you who want to see closeups, here are the individual pages:

Regular Week (Week 19):

(FYI, Karen ... you crack me up. I love the way you joke around with Grant! You drive him nuts and crack him up at the same time. It's great!}

CONFIRMATION:

50th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY:

Scrappy credits for these pages:

More Is Less - Pixels & Co. (designer kit + creative team journaling cards)

On the regular week page I also included a screenshot from the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper. I thought the saying: "True Success is Creating your own Definition and then Living It" was awesome so took a screenshot and included it on my page!

You'll always be my little boy | My son driving cars - then & now

For me one of the fun things about scrapping is scrapping new photos right alongside old photos. I think it's so fun to see the change over time. (OK, lets be real ... showing the change in the KIDS over time is fun; showing MY changes over the last ten or so years isn't nearly as fun for me! LOL!) I love the photos I used on this page of my son as a little guy! He was always into cars and trucks and construction vehicles. He was crazy about them when he was little. I still have an ratty old paperback book that I read to him all the time when he was little. I pulled it out and showed it to him a month or so ago. He thought it was really odd that I could still read big chunks of the book by memory. {I'm sure he didn't think it was weird. I'm sure he was amazed by me. LOL! I can tell myself whatever I want, right!} ... "I'm a rattle tattle dump truck. I am rough and I am tough ..." (I could go on, but I won't!)

My son is 16 years old and driving now. (He's a good driver!) I thought it would be fun to scrap a photo of him driving off (he was actually coming home in this photo) with these old photos. I told him I needed a shot of him driving the car. He had gone to the grocery store for me and came back, but when he came back his car was facing the wrong direction for the way I wanted to take the picture. I asked if he'd be willing to turn the car around for me so I could get a photo of him going the other way. What a nice kid ... he of course did that for his mom. I love this kid. He understands the importance of pictures - and of making his mom happy!

Credits:

Echo Park Hybrid - Little Boy

Katie Pertiet - Buttoned Up (epoxy button)

Design by Dani - Imagination (car)

Simply Tiffany Studios - April Coordinates Templates v. 1

In Honor of Mother's Day | Two pages - 1971 & practically today

I created two - yup, 2, Mom-related pages using the same kit ... Scotty Girl Design released a beautiful kit today in honor of Mother's Day. It's called More than Just Mom and it's so spring-y and cheerful. For the first page I created I knew right away the photo I wanted to scrap with it. It's a photo taken at my first Communion in 1971 and it's of me, my sisters and my mom. Is that weird that I knew a particular photo I wanted to use from 40+ years ago? I don't think so! OK, maybe it is. Ha!

Now ... if I'd get on the ball and have even more heritage/childhood photos scanned I'd have even more photos to choose from. (Lately I've been enjoying scrapping some old photos! Could this be a new trend for me? Scrapping the "today" photos one day and the next old photos?!) Hmmm ... I'll get to scanning again one of these days!

Oh ... aren't the dresses we're wearing adorable? My mom made all of our dresses back then. She worked full time AND she made our clothes. How in the world did find time to do all that?!

For my second page using this kit (and Tiffany's newest Modern Masters collection) I wanted to scrap photos I took a couple weeks ago of my daughter's manicure. She's been growing her nails and when she and I were out shopping she bought some super cute nail polish. Of course that meant as soon as we got home it was time for a manicure. I love the attitude she shows in these photos so of course I needed to document it on a page!

NOTE: All product available at Pixels & Co.

Credits: 1971 First Communion Page
More than Just Mom by Scotty Girl Designs
Paper Stacks Templates by Scotty Girl Designs
Skinny Stitches by Scotty Girl Designs

Credits: Mom & Me Manicure Page
More than Just Mom by Scotty Girl Designs
Modern Masters Add On Pack 4 by Simply Tiffany Studios

Caught Napping! {Yay, I'm not the only one who falls asleep watching TV!}

All I can say is "YAY!" I'm so glad I've got photographic evidence that I'm not the only one who falls asleep when they watch TV! I love this picture!

I used a bunch of Just Jaimee products to create this page. I went back to my new-favorite April Storyteller Collection kit plus I used a photo mask and a paper from another of her kits. Geez, I've used the April Storyteller kit quite a few times already this year. I can't wait to see what she comes up with for her May Storyteller Collection!!

Credits (all available at Pixels & Co.):
Just Jaimee: April Storyteller Collection, Less is More Templates No. 1, January Storyteller (grid paper), Basic Photo Masks
Fonts: Rebekah's Birthday and American Typewriter

Morning Routines (normal, everyday kinda moments!)

Karla Dudley recently released an awesome new everyday kinda scrapbooking kit called "Blah". The sticker sentiments and epoxies are fun for those moments that you want to remember, but that aren't big events. {Like my son and my husband's morning routine - that's just a regular every-day kinda thing but that makes me laugh but that I don't want to forget!)

There's tons to this kit: some wonderfully textured papers, a great color scheme filled with blues, greys and creams, epoxy buttons, elements and sentiment stickers. Besides those "everyday" scrapbook pages, I'm thinking it'll also make a great addition to my Project Life pages!

BTW ... Every morning these guys make me laugh - and drive me a little nuts too! Life is good!

Credits:

Blah (papers, elements, buttons & sentiment stickers) by Karla Dudley
Everyday Essentials (staples) by Karla Dudley
Font: KD Everyday (Karla Dudley Everyday)

I had a chance to play!! - 2013 Project Life | Week 18: April 28 - May 4

I had a chance to play with the cards that the Pixels & Co. creative team (me included) created for the iNSD (international scrapbooking day) blog hop. I seriously LOVE the cards! (I'm hooked on Project Life cards!) There were 59 (fifty-nine!) cards we created using the More or Less iNSD kit so there were so many to choose from.

I decided that this week's Project Life pages would be the perfect chance to use a number of the cards. Take a peek ... see how fun they are! BTW ... I'm pretty sure I'm going to use this same kit for next week's Project Life pages too!

NOTE ... the craziness this week was the two (yes 2!) bats we had flying around in our house. Can we say EEEWWW! Gross! (They're gone now so the bat situation is over. I may have gotten a couple more gray hairs from the "incidents" - but who can tell? I have a zillion grey hairs already! LOL!)

FYI ...

In case you're wondering (and I'm sure you were! LOL!), these are the cards that I created for iNSD using the More or Less kit:

I made both a horizontal and a vertical card because I really like having both options when I'm creating my Project Life pages so I assumed others would too!

P & CO iNSD CREATIVE TEAM BLOG HOP!!

Hi there! Happy International Scrapbooking Day everyone! OK, it’s not officially International Scrapbooking Day until Saturday, but what the heck … let’s celebrate all WEEK! 

Welcome to my stop at the P&Co creative team blog hop! This amazing set of journaling cards coordinates with the iNSD collaborative digi kit “More or Less.” These awesome cards are probably why you’re here, right?! 

You’re going to collect a series of letters by hopping from blog to blog. Make a note of these letters (in order). Once you’ve worked your way through the blog list, the letters you collect will be your coupon code to nab the journaling cards we created using the More or Less kit - and it's all for FREE. Easy peasy, right?! In case you haven't seen it yet, here's a preview of the More or Less iNSD kit. (FYI, you can get the More or Less kit for free too through the designer's blog hop.)

FYI, the story behind the journaling cards is that each member of the P&Co creative team (me included) created a card using the iNSD kit. When I saw all the cards (lots, but not all, are included in the preview) I was amazed at how different they all were! I can’t wait to scrap with them! Once you've got the complete coupon code for the journaling cards, click here to go to the store and nab the set!

Before I move on, I also wanted to take just a moment to share with you four of my very favorite P&Co kits. (It was hard to choose just 4!) These are kits that I use all the time.

Here are quick links to the kits in the store:
Life 365 | Karla Dudley
Take Note | Karla Dudley
Modern Masters Template Mega Collection One | Simply Tiffany Studios
April Storyteller Collection | Just Jaimee

In case you want to check out a couple of pages I've created using these kits, click here, here, here, here, and here. And, finally, I created an ENTIRE vacation album using the the Modern Masters collection. It's one of my favorite albums actually. Click here if you'd like to check out the album. 

So, without further ado, here’s a link to the creative team blogs:

P&Co Blog

Sarah Hemmert

Kat Hansen

Mandi Buchanan

Kate Christensen

Rachel Alles

Anna Drozd

Jan Fortier

Carey Bridges

Emilie Stevenson

Ronnie Crowley

Amy Kingsford

Jennifer Hignite

Celeste Smith

Melanie Ritchie

Aria Andrus

Jennifer Flaherty

Linda Roos

Christy Carlson

Barbara Unzen        < THIS IS ME!

Mary Rogers

Arielle Gordon

Jeryn Carlisi

Indah Permati Sari

Melanie Call

Jen Papadimitriou

Erin Taylor

Kelly Mobley

Kim Hammond

Wendy Bretz

NOTE ... if you didn't arrive at my blog from Christy Carlson's blog, remember, you need to START at the P&Co blog (here) first so that you get your code in order!

And here’s my letter for the mystery coupon code:

FYI, your next stop on the blog hop is Mary Rogers' blog!

Have fun and thanks for stopping by! Come back and visit my blog again sometime!

And last but certainly not least ... to make it super easy for you, here's a quick overview of the schedule of events for iNSD at Pixels & Company!

Just a quick note ... two blogs are not live yet. Until they're up, the missing letters are:
C - from Mandi (your 9th stop)
D - from Kim (your next to last stop)

1968: An old time family photo (and a new kit by Mye DeLeon)

Mye DeLeon has a kit at Pixels & Company that came out today. It's her collection for iNSD (International Scrapbooking Day). It's called Happiness Lies Within (check it out here) and I have to tell you, I fell in love with it immediately. I was first struck by the journaling cards. Before I did Project Life I didn't always pay a lot of attention to journaling cards. I don't know why ... they can be such a great design element, not just be used as a journaling card! Now journaling cards are one of the first things I check out when deciding whether or not to purchase a kit. Then I looked at the papers and elements and smears, and o.m.g. WOW!

Anyway, the kit struck me and I immediately took a look through my photos for something to scrap with it. I chose a photo taken in 1968. I've always loved this photo for some reason. Maybe it's because it looks like such a relaxed, happy time. And it's so vintage ... I LOVE that! I like looking closely at the photo and seeing my little sister's adorable smile (check out the little one in the stroller!) ... the way everyone is all dressed up for an everyday walk. Look at the old gas pump. It's just all so cool. (At least to me!)

So ... happy International Scrappingbooking Day (week!)

My first online "how to" tutorial (Creating Strokes and Outlines)

I created my first scrapbooking/PhotoShop "how to" a week or so ago. It's posted on the Pixels & Company website. (They share different tips and tricks all the time so check their website out for  other "how tos" as well!)  I meant to share my tips here on my blog but somehow it completely slipped my mind. Hmmm. Better late than never, right?

I for one absolutely love on-line Photoshop tutorials. There are just so very many different ways to do things in PS and I enjoy learning new tricks (and learning how to fine-tune and speed up processes that I perhaps already know how to do, but that I could be doing faster) so I'm on the lookout for tutorials all the time!

Check it out. Click here for a link to my "how to" on using strokes/outlines on your Project Life and regular scrapbooking pages.

Happiness Is ... a Snowball Fight (in the spring?!)

Ahhh ... a spring snowstorm. When life gives you lemons ... make lemonade!

Credits:
More or Less by A Pixels & Company collaboration
Dual Pagers Pack 1 by Simply Tiffany Studios
Penelopi epoxy button by Karla Dudley
Dream On paint spatter by Mye de Leon
Life 365 epoxy button by Karla Dudley
Font: CK Jot