Gettin' By

Happy Halloween & a Festive Giveaway!

Well TGIF and Happy Halloween! And can I just say how glad I am to be celebrating the night of ghosts and goblins on a weekend this year?! The fact that we can stay up late, fill our treat bags to the brim, play a few tricks, and get to sleep in late the next day means we just may avoid the inevitable sugar-crash-I'm-tired-and-whiny-and-up-way-past-my-bedtime meltdown of years past. And my kids are sure to appreciate not having to deal with THAT mom.

But before the All-Hallowed Festival of Candy Corn begins, I thought I'd share a seasonable page (and a little giveaway, too!). This layout features my goofy kiddos in the pumpkin patch, obediently jumping for photo ops and in anticipation of seeing the Great Pumpkin. We may have just missed him, but the caramel apples totally made up for it. (And bonus! Mom was happy with the photos!)

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You can read more about my inspiration for this page here, but suffice it to say my love for circles still runs as deep as my love for candy corn.  And while the overall design is very simple (say, like the ingredient list for oh, i dunno, candy corn?) I tried to add extra texture and detail with my baker's twine stitching.

 

I'm currently finishing up my layouts for the November JBS kits, but I have a nice little selection of goodies left over from October that are perfect for fall scrapping. And so a giveaway is in order!

I'll send out the above collection to one reader - all you have to do is tell me your favorite Halloween candy. Or sweet treat. Or sugary indulgence. Because (gasp!) I'm feeling the need to branch out from my beloved candy corn and try a new addiction.  So leave me a comment and I'll draw a winner on Monday!

Hope your Halloween is spooky, sweet and most of all, saccharine-filled!

 

Wardrobe Wednesday | Indian Summer

 

 

We've been having an oddly warm fall and while I'm anxious for boot-and-sweater weather, I have to admit that it's kind of nice to be approaching Halloween with any trace of snow. And my kids are definitely happy not to have to plan their costumes around a ski jacket!

While I've already packed away my sandals and shorts, I am still holding on to a few of my favorite summer pieces  - like my white denim - and getting every last wear I can out of them. Yeah, I know the whole white after Labor Day can be a polarizing topic (or maybe just for me and my fellow Fashion Police addicts) but when paired with more wintery items, I think it's totally do-able. Besides, I've always been a fan of breaking the rules any time you can get away with it!

Here, I added a favorite heathered tee with velvet elbow patches, a plaid scarf and booties for an easy fall look. Also easy? A messy top knot when you (uh, meaning ME) are just too lazy to style that hair.

And with that, I'm off to enjoy the lingering days of Indian Summer, content to keep the sweaters on the back shelf for a bit longer. Please remind me of this come February when I'm complaining about cold and snow and can't wait to ditch the sweaters for tank tops, umkay?

Oh and in case you missed them, you can see more of my fall wardrobe transition posts over at Wardrobe Wednesday. Have a happy, happy day!

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H&M heathered tee (fall 2013) | similar
Old Navy jeans | similar
asos plaid scarf - on clearance!
Jack Wills clutch (sold out) | similar
nicole booties | similar
Warby Parker "Roosevelt" frames
vintage belt & buckle

On the Fly

Oh hey it's Tuesday, and October is winding to a close, which means I have my plate full of the inevitable end-of-month deadlines like kit page assignments (fun!) and invoicing/bill paying (not so fun!). And all of them cut into blogging time, so this post is gonna be quick!

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And what better for a quick post than an easy, simple page design? This is a layout you can pull together in no time with a few paper scraps. I love this layered look on top of a favorite patterned paper - you know the kind you can't bear to cut up? This polka dot pattern was from a spring JBS Mercantile Kit, and I loved the happy polkies too much to slice it up. So using the polka dot colors as a cue, I gathered some paper scraps to layer under my photos. I tried to select largely solid patterns that weren't too busy so they wouldn't compete with the background.

 

 

I used a 3x4 journal card and a shaped paper clip together to form the title. Easy peasy! (And no die cutting, chipboard letters or stickers in sight!)

 

 

My journaling is tucked behind the first layer on another 3x4 card. I adhered a small epoxy heart sticker to the top edge so it's easy to pull out from behind the layers.

 

And now, fueled with candy corn and coffee, I'm off to tackle these month end tasks! Hope your Tuesday is terrific!

 

 

Scrapbook Video | Ad Inspiration #1

I'm not sure what happened to our internet service this week (are you listening CenturyLink?!?) but I think they may have reverted back to carrier pigeons to send interweb messages because holy.slow.uploads.Batman! But finally my new video is ready, despite the mind-numbingly slow internet speeds I've been dealing with lately. I not so patiently waited out the approximate 7983 minutes for uploading (I love how YouTube tells me in minutes, lest I be discouraged by the hour notation - just tell me it's gonna take three days already!!), and now it's live and ready to go! Holla!

In this video, I focused on a source of inspiration - a print ad for L'Orèal – and showed you how I translated it to a scrapbook page:

Advertisements are a favorite source of inspiration for me and I love taking cues from their design to help my own pages come to life. From the ad, I took the elements of a large photo + circular graphics and incorporated them into a double-page spread that features the new Crate collection, Open Book. 

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I can't seem to resist a good grid, and creating one from circles is especially fun. I mimicked the bottles in the ad and created a colorful arrangement of circles layered with lots of embellishments. From stickers to die cuts to chipboard to tags to brads - I used them all on this spread!

 

 

 

I hope you'll check out the video (you can view it right here!) and let me know what you think. And just a little behind the scenes info: my tripod had an unfortuate run-in with my foot (and consequently, the floor) and is out of commission, so I had to rig up a different filming contraption at the last minute. Which consisted of a tall glass vase, a two-by-four, a Gorillapod and a roll of duck tape. Very professional. At any rate, it proved to be slightly less than stable and there a few times during filming where it wiggled and wobbled due to my overzealous hand movements. I did my best to edit out most of it, but there are still a few clips that might induce motion sickness. Forgive me - I'm hoping to find a new tripod set up before the next video!

 

So there you have it. I've posted two videos in less than a month, which means I totally deserve a beer. If you need me, I'll be sipping a cold one while browsing Amazon for tripods. And trying to get the duck tape off my phone.

 

 

Make It Monday | Nine Square Grid with Herbs & Honey

After a long weekend in the mountains with bright, crisp days and cool, chilly nights, I was reminded that fall is fleeting. Before we know, snow will be flying and we'll be hitting the slopes. In fact, we moved our ski equipment into our new locker at the base in anticipation of opening day - it's less than a month away! Which reminds me, I totally need to pull out my camera and document my favorite parts of the season before they are gone. Time to use some of that Halloween candy I've been stockpiling to bribe the kids into a little photoshoot!

And speaking of seasons, today I wanted to share a quick page that captures some of the fantastic summer blooms from a field trip we took to the Botanic Gardens. It's a simple nine-square grid format, with each square measuring 3-inches. I included four photos, but you could easily use more or less with this flexible design.

S U P P L I E S :

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I positioned the four photos around the center square, which houses my title. It's a combo of a die cut word, alphabet stickers and chipboard letters layered over patterned papers. On the four corner squares, I used various papers and embellishments to create accents that reinforce my page theme. The base layer of each measures 3-inches square, and each consecutive layers gets slightly smaller to create a pyramid-like stack of papers, chipboard, tags and accents.

So are you ready to document something about the season today? This grid design base will help you pull it together in no time. And for more examples of nine-square grid designs, you can check out these posts here, here and here!

I'm working on finishing up a new video and hope to have it live this week, iMovie willing. I'l let you know when it posts! Hope your Monday is marvelous!

NYC Recap

Here it is Wednesday already and I'm still playing catch-up after a (super fast) trip to NYC last weekend. It was not nearly enough time to see and do everything on my bucket list, but I did manage to cram in a lot of venues in the short time we were there. This may have required staying up 'til the wee hours of the morning (3:30 anyone?), an act which I may still be paying for four days later. I think that means I am officially an old fart.

At any rate, while I go tackle my tasks for the day, please enjoy a few of my favorite photos from the trip. It was all iPhone photography here - my heart was racing too fast the entire trip to worry about DSLR settings and such - but I did capture some shots I love!

The kids have fall break on Friday which means a three-day weekend at the cabin in the mountains - a distinctly different scene than last weekend. And definitely an earlier bedtime. 

Happy Wednesday, my friends!

Give-It-Away Thursday | Lily Bee Design

This week is slowly winding to a close, which excites me beyond belief because on Saturday I'm headed to NYC for a girls weekend - woo hoo! I am going to be a total tourist and hopefully cram as many city sights as possible into the short 48 hours we'll be there. But before I get to the most pressing issue of my day - what to pack - I wanted to pop on and share a page (plus a little autumn giveaway!) to kick off the weekend a bit early. So here goes!

S U P P L I E S :

InLinkz.com

Nothing too revolutionary in this design - just a bunch of squares that I stitched down and a big, bold title! I love those giant MAMBI letters and have had fun working them into designs. Obviously, they work best for short titles or monograms, but they add a huge punch to any page!

 

 

Onto the giveaway....I discovered a cute little collection of Lily Bee goodies in my giveaway bin that are made for fall scrapping. There's a 6x6 paper pad and lots of 3x4 journaling cards perfect for scrapbookers and project lifers alike!

If you'd like to be entered to win this package, just leave me a comment here today with your best travel/packing/vacation tip! I'll draw a random winner on Monday and post them here.

Off to dust off my suitcase - Big Apple, here I come!

 

 

Crate Paper | Sock Hop

I am currently really loving the newest Crate Paper collection, Notes & Things, and the fact that it mixes pretty seamlessly with the vintage ephemera that I often get in the JBS Mercantile Kits. The collection has a softer, aged color palette blends well with the old advertising and marketing pieces that populate my stash.

Recently, I pulled out an old parchment advertisment and vintage ticket booklet that I've been wanting to use on a page, and opted to pair it with some of the goodies from Notes & Things. Because the ad was somewhat fragile I photographed it, reduced the size, and printed it on a piece of cardstock. Here's how I worked it into the design:

S U P P L I E S :

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Using my distressed stripe technique from Monday's video, I cut the ad into strips and created a striped background, adding in some of the Notes & Things papers and vintage tickets. It was an ideal background for these photos of Riely dressed up for a 1950s-themed spirit day at school.

All the machine stitching helps add to the vintage feel, as well as referencing the journaling, which talks about sewing a poodle skirt for this occasion. The die-cut tags from the collection provided frames for my photos, and topped with natural jute twine, they also have that vintage vibe. The striped background has plenty of color, pattern, and texture, so I kept my embellishments to a minimum, using layered butterflies, cork and chipboard accents.

 

In other happenings, I've been attempting to make exercise a habit again, without the long hiatuses between work-outs, and am on Day 4 of consecutive sweat-it-out sessions. Not really that impressive, but given my propensity to take week long "breaks" lately, I'll take it. Along with a few Advil and some ice. Blergh.

Much more remarkable than the exercise streak is the fact that I gave a cat a bath yesterday. I know. It was fast and furious, and I have more than a few battle wounds as a result, but we have a much fluffier, softer, and less stinky version of a kitten now. Fair warning that upcoming posts may contain an overabundance of cute photos.  

Oh, an I also put up a new post over on Wardrobe Wednesday. Which has nothing to with exercise or stinky cats. Because that's what you come here for, right? 

Have a great day, my friends!

 

Scrapbook Video | Distressed Stripes

I know it's taken me quite awhile to get a video up on my neglected YouTube channel, but my recent upgrade to Mavericks and my new iPhone (that I film on) have me pulling my hair out, yelling bad words and consuming an inordinate amount of candy corn, due to their inability to just.work.already. I appreciate your patience and I promise to try and produce a video on a bit more regular basis from now on. Because if I keep consuming this much candy corn, I'm likely to be awake 23 hours a day and how else will I fill the time??

So please hop on over to my YouTube channel (and subscribe if you haven't already!) and take a peek at my latest technique video on Distressed Stripes. It features the construction of this page using the October JBS Mercantile kits:

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Admittedly, I am not a very technique-y scrapper. If technique-y is even a word. I tend to stick to the very basic cut-and-glue, but every now and then I get a real wild hair and start distressing things. I kinda love the imperfect, worn look that results and how it contrasts with the somewhat simple and graphic look of basic stripes.

I'd love to hear your feedback on the video (good or bad - I'm all high on candy corn, remember??) and also any suggestions for future video topics. Do you like technique videos? Step-by-step page constructions? Design principles? Let me know - it might be the kick in the butt I need to get started on my next video before a month rolls by!

And please stop by later this week as I'll be sharing another page that uses this same distressed technique in another way. Happy Monday!

Meet Jasper.

On Monday the kids and I were picking up some dog food at PetSmart, and as we usually do, we strolled by the adoption center to see the animals. Several new kittens had been brought in just a few hours earlier, and a little orange one who was huddled in the back corner of her kennel caught our eye. She was timid and cautious, but slowly crept toward us and offered up a meek meow. 

We spent the next hour in the introduction area, playing and cuddling and petting this little creature. She had a shaved belly, fresh from her spay the day earlier, and had been through microchipping, vaccinations, deworming, and transport to the center in one day. She was a bit weary, with broken whiskers, matted fur and watery eyes...but with a giant purr that belied her tiny presence and rough start in this world.

It was that purr that did me in. It reminded me that amongst the hardness of the world, there are still soft hearts. And purring kittens. We had no plans to adopt a new family member that day, but she came home with us. Of course she did.

So we have been spending the past few days introducing her to the other family members, orienting her to the new surroundings, and doing lots and lots of snuggling. Meet Jasper, the newest member of our purr brigade. (Or as Riely insists we spell it: JasPURR.)

And the bonus? She's got a mean vampire kitty impression - just in time for Halloween!

Happy Friday!

 

P.S.  I know I promised you all a video this week but iMovie and my new iPhone are not playing nice and I've spent an ungodly amount of time trying to get them to kiss and make up so I can get the project done already.  I think I finally figured out the kinks, and am hoping I'll have the new video posted Saturday...Monday at the very latest! Thanks for your patience :)