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