Top 10 in 2015

One of my favorite things to do at the end of every year is to look back on my work from the past year and pick some of my favorites.  It helps me discover what my style is, how its changed and what things I want to improve on in the new year.  This year I made a whopping 130 layouts!  I was lucky enough to serve n some amazing design teams.  2015 was definitely good to me, creatively, and I hope to continue my creative journey in 2016.  In order of when they were created, here are my 10 favorite layouts from the year:

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As you can see, I've got a lot of Bella Blvd layouts in here - and I haven't quite gotten over my proclivity for a clean white background :)  If you're interested in any of the products used in these layouts, just click on the source link under each photo and it will take you to the original post with the supply list.

Happy New Year everyone - hope it's a safe and happy time for you and your families!!

Jot Magazine, Issue 12

Hey, everyone!  I hope you had a safe and joyous Christmas!  We just hung around and did nothing - it was AWESOME :o)

I am stopping in this morning to share a layout that I had in the most recent issue of Jot Magazine.  It seems like I'm using all my Jot submissions to get my wedding album finished!  It's about time, I suppose!

I used a ton of Bella Blvd products on this layout.  The pinks and oranges in their lines coordinate perfectly with the pink and orange color scheme of our wedding.  I also used some pretty ampersand paper from Studio Calico's older line, Print Shop.  I love that pattern!

Thanks for popping in today - happy weekend!  

Layout: Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper: Studio Calico, Bella Blvd; Everything Else: Bella Blvd

Merry Christmas Eve

Good morning, everyone!  Merry Christmas Eve!!  I hope you and your family have a safe and happy holiday season!

I wanted to pop in and quickly share a few Christmas projects.

The first is some gift-wrapping that I did using some Bella Blvd products.  The Bella team did a Secret Santa gift exchange this year, so these were the gifts that I gave.  I had too much fun wrapping these:

The second is a layout I have up on the Pretty Little Studio blog this morning.  I love the fun colors of the Merry & Bright collection and I love this adorable photo of Moose Dog in front of our tree.  A perfect combination!

Thanks again for stopping by - Merry Christmas!!

Gifts: Base Paper: Target; Tags: SpiegelMom Scraps; Staples: Tim Holtz; Everything Else: Bella Blvd (Twine unknown)

Layout: Cardstock: Bazzill; Mist: Heidi Swapp Staples: Tim Holtz; Doily: SpiegelMom Scraps; Everything Else: Pretty Little Studio

Bring on the Sparkle Blog Hop

Good morning, everyone!  I've had lots of blog hops on here recently - and today I have another one for you.  This one is for SpiegelMom Scraps.  I had so much fun creating this fun little layout of my niece in the snow a few Winters ago:

Seriously, isn't she a cute kid?  :o)

For this layout, I broke out a lot of my favorite SpiegelMom Scraps supplies.  For me, it wouldn't be an SMS layout without at least one doily!  I also added in the cork chevrons and hearts, the black and white skinny chevron washi and some of the gorgeous Blizzard Mix Sequins.

Hop along for more more inspiration and your chance to win a fun prize!!

Here is the whole line-up:

Jody

Charity Feit

Amy Lee

Kat Benjamin (You are here!)

Sarah McClellan

Louise Forsyth

Thanks for stopping in!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee; Title, Mist: Heidi Swapp; Doily, Cork Embellishments, Washi Tape, Sequins: SpiegelMom Scraps

Clique Kits' December Pep Rally

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to the Clique Kits December Pep Rally!  I am so glad I was able to find time to participate this month.  I almost didn't make it - I've been sick and busy lately - not a good combo!  But I love this kit SO MUCH that I made it work (cue your best Tim Gunn voice).

The bright colors and fun embellishments of this month's kit, Girl Cave, are so much fun!  I decided to re-scrap some photos that I scrapped earlier in the year...honestly, the pictures were just too perfect for this kit and I couldn't resist:

I know I do that big heart thing a lot now, but it is my favorite way to use a really busy patterned paper that I love but am some what intimidated by :o)

Here is the whole blog order:

Clique Kits 
Maryam 
Carolina 
LeeAnn
Kim 
Justyna
Donna 
​Evie 
Sandy 
​Melissa
​Candace 
Kat  < -- You are here!
Kim 
​Hannah  

Thanks so much for stopping in!  Enjoy the hop!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee; Flair, Journaling Card: Clique Kits; Doilies: SpiegelMom Scraps; Alphas: Bella Blvd; Mist: Heidi Swapp; Wood Veneer: My Mind's Eye; Black Glasses: Maya Road; Stamp: Dear Lizzy

A Quick Layout || Pretty Little Studio

Good morning, everyone!!  Can you believe it's only 10 days to Christmas?!  WHAT?!?!  I still have way too much to do to get ready :)

I had a layout up on the Pretty Little Studio Blog last week.  I could make anything I wanted and since I'm totally in love with the Merry and Bright Collection at the moment, I decided to go that route and make another Christmas-y layout.

This layout did not take me long to make at all - maybe 20 minutes.  I always love when a project comes together quickly!

Thanks for popping in!

Background Paper: My Minds Eye; Everything Else: Pretty Little Studio

Gingerbread Houses || Bella Blvd

Good morning, everyone!  I hope your weekend has gone well.  I have unfortunately, been sick all weekend long, but I think I'm on the mend now (fingers crossed!).

I wanted to pop in and share a layout that I made for Bella Blvd.  We were told we could make anything we wanted...which is always so fun, but also a little overwhelming :)

I decided to make a Christmas layout and combined the Christmas Cheer collection with the Family Frenzy collection.  I fussy cut a bunch of words from the Christmas Cheer collection - it was really fun to do - kind of cathartic!

Thanks for popping in!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Mist: Heidi Swapp;; Everything Else: Bella Blvd

Clique Kits + Tombow Blog Hop!

Hi and Welcome to the Holiday Blog Hop with Tombow USA and Clique Kits! We have a great lineup of Holiday projects created with Tombow USA Adhesives and the Clique Cards Holiday Edition Kit! In addition to all this amazing inspiration we have two amazing super prizes!

I used the Clique Cards Holiday Edition kit and a lot of fun Tombow products to create this layout, including the Tombow Xtreme Permanent Adhesive to hold down my paper, the Tombow Mono Aqua Liquid Glue to hold down my wood veneers and the Tombow Adhesive Dots to hold down my punched circles:

We have two awesome prizes for this hop!

The first prize is a Tombow USA Adhesive package: Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, Tombow Foam Tape, Tombow Mono Aqua Liquid Glue, Tombow Stamp Runner Dot Pattern Adhesive, Tombow Adhesive Dots,and Tombow Xtreme Permanent Adhesive.

The second is a Clique Cards Holiday Edition Kit!

Use the Rafflecopter to win one of these prizes! Giveaway ends December 20^th, 2015. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here is the whole line-up:

Tombow USA

Jennie García

Marica Dehn-Nix

Beth Watson

Sandra Spitalery

Daniella Hayes

Kat Benjamin (ME!!)

Jennifer Priest

Sandra González

Amanda O'Banion

Latrice Murphy

Clique Kits

Enjoy the hop!!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper: PhotoPlay; Wood Veneers: Cocoa Vanilla Studio; Mist: Heidi Swapp; Ribbon: May Arts; Alphas: Bella Blvd; Woodgrain Tab: Pretty Little Studio

Clique Kits' December Challenge

Good morning, everyone!  The Clique Kits' December Challenge is now live on their blog!  The same rules apply as always:

1.  You can create anything you want.

2.  You don't have to use CK kits or products.

3.  You can enter up to 3 projects.

Seems like a pretty sweet deal, right?!  This month a $30 gift card to Evalicious is up for grabs!

For my challenge layout, I used the December Clique Kit, Girl Cave.  This kit is too much fun.  It features awesome papers from Pink Paislee, embellishments from My Mind's Eye, Jillibean Soup, and CK exclusives, and alphas from Bella Blvd.  I'm a definite fan!

Here is what I created:

Isn't that flower paper the most fun?  I love it!

I really hope you can play along with us this month!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper, Washi Tape: Pink Paislee; Wood Veneers: My Mind's Eye; Sequins: Jillibean Soup; Alphas: Bella Blvd; Mist: Heidi Swapp; Doilies: SpiegelMom Scraps; Cut Files: Clique Kits exclusive

Pretty Little Studio December Sketch

***If you are looking for the SpiegelMom Scraps Holiday Hop, please click here.***

Happy Friday - woo hoo!  This was a loooooooong week for me, so I'm very happy that the weekend has arrived!

Earlier this week the December sketch was posted on the Pretty Little Studio blog.  It's a fun sketch with a lot of layers and I had a ton of fun playing with it.  Here's the sketch:

Here's my layout:

I really love the fresh color palette of the Merry and Bright line.  I picked out papers that contained mainly light pink, aqua and green and I really love the end result.  It's still Christmas-y, but in a new, updated way! 

Thanks for popping in!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Mist: Heidi Swapp; Cut Files: Clique Kits; Everything Else: Pretty Little Studio

Bella Blvd Mix & Match Layout

***If you are looking for the SpiegelMom Scraps Holiday Hop, please click here.***

Hi, everyone!  I just wanted to pop in quickly to share a layout that I had on the Bella Blvd blog today.  We were asked to mix & match different Bella collections.  I chose to mix the Rover collection with the Valentina collection to create a layout about Moose dog and how much he is loved :)

Here's the layout:

Isn't he the cutest pup?

Cardstock: Bazzill; Everything Else: Bella Blvd

SpiegelMom Scraps Holiday Hop

Good morning, everyone!!  Welcome to the SpiegelMom Scraps Holiday Hop!  Hopefully you've been truly inspired along the way :)

How about a little sketch challenge?  Here's the sketch:

And here's my take on it:

I had a lot of fun digging into my SMS stash to create this fun layout.  Of course, the large shipping tags and gold doilies are my definite go-tos, but I also added in some beautiful Gold Stardust!  Such a pretty product!

Here is the full order of the hop in case this is where you checked in:

Jody Lynn

Kat Benjamin - Me!  :)

Sarah McClellan 

Louise Gannon Forsyth 

Charity Feit

And one more thing - Jody is having a SpiegelMom Scraps design team call!  Full details can be found here.  This is a really fun team to be on - you should definitely apply if sequins, wood veneer and fun embellishments are your thing :)

Happy hopping!!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper: Lily Bee Design, My Mind's Eye, Pink Paislee; Mist, Word Sticker: Heidi Swapp; Expoxy Stickers: Freckled Fawn; Alphas: Jenni Bowlin Studios; Tag, Doily, Sequins: SpiegelMom Scraps

Shipping Tag Fun || Pretty Little Studio

Good morning, everyone!  Happy day after Thanksgiving if you celebrated yesterday!  Now we have to decide if we want to brave the craziness of the outdoors to run any errands this weekend.  Black Friday always scares me :)

I'm up on the Pretty Little Studio blog today sharing a layout that features tons of shipping tags.  I love all the PLS shipping tags - they come in such pretty colors and fun patterns!

For this layout I scraplifted one of my fave layouts this year.  I really like the end result:

Thanks for popping in today!  Good luck if you decide to brave the madness of Black Friday!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Mist: Heidi Swapp; Everything Else: Pretty Little Studio

Bella Blvd + Kerri Bradford Studio Team Up

Hi, everyone!  Last week some members of the Bella Blvd team had the wonderful opportunity to team up with the team of Kerri Bradford Studio to bring a week's worth of awesome inspiration.  I was lucky enough to be one of those team members.  Kerri gave us a ton of great cut files to work with and I ended up creating some of my favorite Bella layouts to date:

I’ve been really trying to play catch up with my wedding album recently (it’s only been 3 ½ years since we got married!) and when I saw the “restroom people fancy” cut file in Kerri’s About Town collection, I knew I just had to use it.  I played off our wedding colors – pink and orange – and pulled in a lot of different collections and embellishments to create my layout.  I also used the “laughter” cut file from Kerri’s Giving Thanks collection to add a bit more interest and fun!

Since November 11^th was Veteran’s Day in the U.S., I figured it was the perfect time to scrap this picture of my Grandmother.  She was a Marine during WWII and worked on planes back in the States so they were in good shape for the men overseas.  I’m so proud of her.  She was a remarkable woman who passed away just under a year ago at 100 years old.  She’s definitely my hero!  For this page I used Kerri’s USA collection and the postage stamp frame from the Life Additions 2 collection.  I cut out the frame in all different sizes and filled them in with patterned paper and topped with a variety of embellishments.

Thanks for popping in!

Layout 1: Cardstock: Bazzill; Mist: Heidi Swapp; Staple: Tim Holtz; Everything Else: Bella Blvd

Layout 2: Cardstock: Bazzill; Everything Else: Bella Blvd

Painted Background || Clique Kits

Good morning, everyone!  I was up on the Clique Kits blog last week with my last layout made from the November kit.  My layout focused on using acrylic paint to create your background.

I started by putting some acrylic paint in an orange solo cup (no red for me - haha) and then adding in water.  The watered-down paint goes on really well and once it's dry, your paper isn't very wrinkled at all.  I also added in some grey paint splatters and gold mist splatters for fun.

Once the background was dry I sprinkled around some embellishments and stickers.  When I was done, I realized my background sort of looked like Texas - completely unintentional :)  Here is the finished layout:

Thanks for stopping in!  Remember, if you want to purchase any items from the Clique Kits store, use code KAT10 to save 10% off your purchase!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Stickers: We R Memory Keepers; Die Cuts: We R Memory Keepers, Pink Paislee, Mist: Heidi Swapp

Christmas Card...Already! || Pretty Little Studio

Hi, everyone!  I'm so excited today because the highs are in the 70s - it's finally starting to feel like Fall around here.  I even saw some people running with a toboggan on - I don't think it's quite that cool, but I think everyone is excited about it!

With cool weather comes the holiday spirit - I always love Christmas time.  However, I don't typically start thinking about Christmas until after Thanksgiving.  But, this year, I have Pretty Little Studio's Merry & Bright collection to play with - and I just can't wait to use it.

I whipped up this quick card to share on the blog earlier this week:

How do you feel about Christmas?  Ready for it or need a bit more time?

Cardstock: American Crafts; Everything Else: Pretty Little Studio

Fall Walks || The Studio

Hey, everyone!  There was a new challenge up at The Studio yesterday: scrap a fall-themed layout.  I love this challenge because it's s open-ended!  I decided to scrap some Instax photos of Moose before one of his walks.  He loves his walks, especially in the cooler weather.

To "Fall it up" a bit, I used a fun fall-themed collection from Doodlebug Design - the colors scream cozy fall to me!

I also sprinkled in my favorite gold rush sequins and a gold doily from the SpiegelMom Scraps shop.  Those two items are pretty much my scrap staples!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper, Paperclips: Doodlebug Design; Alphas: Doodlebug Design, Bella Blvd; Sequins, Doily: SpiegelMom Scraps; Mist: Heidi Swapp; Glitter Leaf: Making Memories

Clique Kits Share

Hi, everyone!  I had another layout up on the Clique Kits blog earlier this week.  My post was a "Geek Lab" post, meaning I was supposed to share a tip using tools or technology.  I went "old school" and pulled out one of my favorite tools - a Martha Stewart butterfly punch.  Sometimes we need to pay attention to our old faves!

Here's my layout:

Have you pulled out any of your older supplies recently?

Layout: Patterned Paper: We R Memory Keepers, Pink Paislee; Punch Martha Stewart; Die Cuts, Wood Veneers: Pink Paislee; Alphas: American Crafts; Sticker: We R Memory Keepers

More Circles!

I've certainly been on a bit of a circle kick recently.  Lots of circles making their way on to my layouts - but they're so much fun - and so versatile!

Today's circle-ly layout was made for Pretty Little Studio and popped up on their blog yesterday.  I'm still working my way through the photos we took when E's family came to visit us at the beach this summer.  PLS's Treasure Island collection is pretty much perfect for beach photos.  So, I pulled out some of my favorite patterns, cut out a bunch of wonky circles, layered them, and voila!  A page was born:

So simple, so easy!  That's my kind of scrappin' ;-)

Cardstock: Baziil; Mist: Heidi Swapp; Everything Else: Pretty Little Studio

Pretty Little Studio Shares

Eeeek!  Happy November!  I hope your Halloween was good and now you're in the right frame of mind to get ready for the holidays!  Where did this year go?!?!

I wanted to pop in and share two layouts that I made for Pretty Little Studio recently.

For the first layout, we were asked to use Word Art in our project.  Word Art are those fun die cut words that PLS sales.  I used the "I Love You" Word Art and focused on bringing the colors from the die cut into the rest of my layout.  I created a very linear design:

The second layout I created was for a Pinterest prompt.  Here is the photo:

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Here how I was inspired:

I placed my photos in a similar design as the planters in the photo.  I also really loved the white on grey, so I used white doilies on top of grey cardstock.

Thanks for stopping in.  Enjoy your Sunday!!

Layout 1: Cardstock: Bazzill; Mist: Studio Calico; Everything Else: Pretty Little Studio

Layout 2: Cardstok: American Crafts; Mist: Heidi Swapp; Staple: Tim Holtz; Everything Else: Pretty Little Studio

Playing Catch Up...

Y'all!  Life is moving so fast and I can't keep up recently.  I'm waaaaaay behind on posting projects here.  Anyone else feeling slightly overwhelmed and overworked?  Please tell me I'm not the only one!  ;-)

I have two projects to share with you today.  The first is a layout I made for Clique Kits using their November kit, Tapestry.  The kit has a lot of fun products from We R Memory Keepers and then some great add-ons from Pink Paislee.  It's definitely a yummy Autumn-inspired kit!

I was inspired by a fun image that I found on Pinterest and used it to create my layout.  Here is the image:

Here is the layout: 

My second layout was made for The Studio Challenges.  This week's challenge is a tic-tac-toe challenge.  I chose the line that contained gold, sequins and mint.  Here is my layout:

Of course, I used my gold rush sequins from SpiegelMom Scraps!!  (I acutally used them on the first layout, too!)

Make sure you head over to The Studio to see the full board.

Thanks for popping in!  Hopefully, life will slow down soon and I can do a better job of staying updated!

Layout 1: Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper, Chipboard Frames: Pink Paislee; Alphas: American Crafts; Die Cuts: We R Memory Keepers; Flair: Clique Kits; Sequins: SpiegelMom Scraps

Layout 2: Cardstock: Bazzill; Alphas: American Crafts; Patterned Paper: Pretty Little Studio, Bella Blvd, Studio Calico; Vellum Hearts: Cocoa Vanilla Studio; Wood Veneer: Evalicious; Enamel Dots: My Mind's Eye

Love Knox || Bella Blvd

Hey, everyone!!  I am popping in real quickly to share a layout that I had up on the Bella Blvd blog yesterday.  I had a lot of fun making this one.  I really like circles, but I don't always know how to incorporate them into my layouts.  I like this way because it also allows me to incorporate a bunch of fun patterns, too:

I haven't really had the opportunity to play around with the Whatever Is Lovely collection, so I decided that this was the perfect time.  I pulled out all the masculine colors and had a great time!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Everything else: Bella Blvd

October Pep Rally || Clique Kits

Hey, everyone!  Happy pep rally!!  This month we are showing off the October kit from Clique Kits.  This kit was so much fun - it was full of a lot of Pinkfresh Studio goodies and CK exclusives.

Here is my project for today:

I had a great time figuring out how to use that fun paper.  And I had a really cute photo to work with :)  The CK exclusive cut-aparts were one of my favorite things in the kit this month.  I think they are so cute!  Lacey always does a wonderful job designing!

Here is the full line up for today:

Clique Kits https://cliquekits.wordpress.com/
Gia http://www.giaaloha.wordpress.com/
Erica http://ericarosecreates.blogspot.com/
Leeann Pearce http://thepaintbrushgoesspottie.blogspot.com/
Maryam http://maryamperez.blogspot.com/
Aliza http://peopleofthescrapbook.blogspot.com/
Megan Blethen http://www.craftymeggy.com/
Emma Pescott http://emslifedocumented.blogspot.co.nz/
Melissa http://yesterday2day4ever.blogspot.co.nz/
Kim http://krodesigns.blogspot.com/
Leigh http://www.artfulleighcreative.com/
Renee Aslette http://www.reneeaslette.blogspot.com/
Kat http://kraftykat9.blogspot.com/ (me!)
Sandy Gonzalez craftythought.com/
Tyra Babington http://justtyra.com/
Marcia* http://www.onescrapatatime-bymumsie.blogspot.com/
Kim Allen http://kimsscrappyblog.blogspot.com/
Candace http://findingeverydayperfection.com/
Rhonda Van Ginkel http://snapwhiz.blogspot.com
Hannah http://scrapbookpagesandcupcakes.com
Evi http://lifewithevi.blogspot.com
Janet Zeppa http://janetsjoy.blogspot.com/

Melissa Goble http://mgphoto89.tumblr.com

Thanks for popping in!!  Happy hopping!!

Cardstock: American Crafts; Patterned Paper, Wood Veneers, Puffy Stickers, Alphas: Pinkfresh Studio; Sequins, Cut-aparts: Clique Kits