Playing Catch-Up

So...I am so far behind on blogging it's kind of tragic.  I have been crazy busy recently.  I don't even get to read my blog list anymore and I know I'm doing the bare minimum here.  I am taking advantage  of my holiday and working on scheduling some posts.  This Summer is shaping up to be a rather crazy one so I make no promises that my blog situation will get much better.  :)

Tonight I'm sharing a layout that I had up last week highlighting Pretty Little Studio's Tiny ABCs.  I love the Tiny ABCs, especially the vellum ones :)

For my layout I decided to use the ABCs to make a border on my layout about my nieces walking to the school bus.  Here's what I came up with:

I used some of my paper scraps to anchor my photos.

I am also totally in love with those puffy yellow alphas from Studio Calico.  I purchased one of their mystery boxes and I have to say these alphas are my favorite thing from the box (I was a little underwhelmed unfortunately.)  I wish I had gotten a ton more - they are pretty much the perfect size and font!

Anywho, here's to hoping I do better on the blogging front in this next month!  Have a good work week!

June Clique Kit

So, Clique Kits just revealed their June kit...and it is pretty spectacular!  I am such a big fan of the pretty mix of Elle's Studio and Jillibean Soup products.  When the kit arrived on my doorstep a few weeks ago, I instantly had to play and made a layout within hours of receiving it.

I broke out a cut file from The Cut Shoppe and had fun filling in the negatives while zoning out in front of the TV :)

Here's my layout:

Seriously, is this kit not adorable?!?!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper, Die Cuts, Wood Veneers: Elle's Studio; Alphas: Bella Blvd; Word Sticker: Jillibean Soup; Sequins: SpiegelMom Scraps; Mist: Heidi Swapp

Party Time! || Clique Kits

Good morning, everyone!  I wanted to pop in and quickly share my last layout made with the Northern Lights kit from Clique Kits.

For this layout, I decided to keep the design pretty simple.  I went with a big, simple title cut from my silhouette and backed the letters with the pretty papers from the kit.  Then I used a bunch of small photos from my husband's family birthday celebration to border the title.  Here was the end result:

I think I like it...although, I'm not totally sure.  I do know that I like how simple it was to make - probably only took  me about 15 minutes.  And that, my friends, is always chalked up to a win!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Mist: Heidi Swapp; Patterned Paper: Fancy Pants Designs, Basic Grey; Puffy Stickers: Fancy Pants Designs

Creative Scrappers + Clique Kits Team-Up

Hello, all!  I hope your weekend was fabulous!  I'm excited because two of my design teams teamed-up today for a fun challenge.  The Clique Kits design team was challenged to take on one of the sketches from Creative Scrappers.  So fun!!

Here is the sketch:

Here is my take on it, using the Spring Card kit from Clique Kits:

I hope you can play along - the winner gets a $20 gift card to the Clique Kits store!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Mist, Pink Label Sticker: Heidi Swapp; Doilies: SpiegelMom Scraps; Alphas: American Crafts; Patterned Paper, Acrylic Word, Die Cuts, Enamel Dots: My Mind's Eye

This Year's Annual Rainbow Layout

Every year I make at least one rainbow layout...and every year I really like how it turns out.  This year is no exception!  My rainbow layout this year was inspired by the Northern Lights kit from Clique Kits.  It is full of so many fun colors and patterns and as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to get all those pretty colors on to one page.  And hence this year's rainbow layout:

Have you made anything rainbow-y recently?

Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper; Fancy Pants Designs, Basic Grey; Alphas, Puffy Sticker, Washi Tape, Tag: Fancy Pants Designs; Die Cuts: Clique Kits

Clique Kits' NSD Celebration!

Good morning, all!  Happy (inter)National Scrapbook Day!  It's definitely one of my favorite days of the year - a whole day (usually weekend) dedicated to my favorite hobby?  Yes please!

Clique Kits has a really fun event going on for the NSD festivities.  You can find all the Scrap Your Heart Out challenges at their Facebook event here.  There are going to be a lot of great prompts to try your hand at and a lot of fabulous prizes up for grabs!

I just posted my challenge - a recipe challenge.  My recipe is pretty simple: Sparkle, Shine and Flowers:

For my 'sparkle' I used shimmer mist and sequins.  For my 'shine' I used metallic gold accents.  And for my 'flowers' I used a floral die cut.  I'm still digging the Clique Kits Spring Card Kit, which you can still pick up in the store.  There is a big sale today - 30% off everything with code NSD30.  Check it out!!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Mist: Heidi Swapp; Sequins: SpiegelMom Scraps; Die cuts, Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye; Wood Veneer: Studio Calico; Date Stamp: Shimelle

Pretty Little Studio || May Sketch Challenge

Hi, everyone!!  Pretty Little Studio published the May sketch earlier this week.  Have a look:

I had so much fun with this sketch.  I loved using the strip of patterned paper on the side of the layout and instead of putting photos across the whole top of the page, I decided to photos surrounded by a row of hearts.  I really kind of like the end result!

I'm still loving the fun Hello Heather Here + There collection.  I pretty much swoon over the awesome colors and patterns!

Thanks for stopping in!  We hope you'll play along with this month's sketch!

Patterned paper: Studio Calico, Pretty Little Studio; Enamel Hearts: Doodlebug Design; Alphas: American Crafts, Pretty Little Studio, Everything Else: Pretty Little Studio

Beautiful Girl || Clique Kits

Good morning, everyone!  I was on the Clique Kits Blog yesterday sharing another project I made with the Northern Light kit - this time it was a layout.  I also shared a few of my favorite scrap tips - definitely nothing revolutionary, but just little things that I like to do when creating.

1.  Bold patterns scare me.  I adore them, but I never know how to use them without my page getting too busy.  I'm really a white background, white space kinda girl.  However, when I find a pattern that I adore and just *HAVE* to use, I usually cut it into a strip and use it as the anchor for my design.  In this case, I used half of the paper I loved...this helps me feel like the paper isn't overwhelming my project.

2.  Keep the rest of your design simple when using a bold pattern.  Without the bold background, my page would be pretty blah.  But paired with a simple design, the bold pattern becomes a great accent - and I actually really like how the page turned out.

3.  Use embellishments in threes to make invisible triangles all over your page. 3 tags, 3 sets of enamel dots, 3 groups of mists, 3 strips of washi...you get the idea :)

Like I said, nothing earth-shattering here, but hopefully something you may find at least a little bit helpful!  Thanks for stopping in!

Cardstock: American Crafts; Patterned Paper: Fancy Pants Designs, Basic Grey; Tags, Flair, Washi Tape, Alphas: Fancy Pants Designs; Die Cuts: Clique Kits; Mist: Heidi Swapp