Around Here

A little glimpse of our life right now.  We are just so busy.  All.the.time.  I so thought January would slow down a little, but apparently, we are already at the end of the month.  Wow.  I wish I could stop time and savor each and every moment.  Is it just me??

Our days have been full of school activities. adventures and awesomeness.  January has rocked and I hope that all the rest of the months can keep up with this one!

Happy Friday, friends!! 

xoxo

Embossing and Watercolors

Sometimes I need a little bit of a nudge to get out of my creative zone.  Paints, watercolors, embossing and stamps aren't necessarily my "go-to" items when I'm creating, but whenever I do pick them, I fall head over heels for them (again)!  There is just something so magical about painting and watercolors.  I'm definitely a novice when it comes to watercolors, but I actually kind of like NOT knowing how a page is going to turn out until it's finished.  That's just so different than my normal creative routine.

For this fun page, I used the Little Things stamp from Studio Calico and a few little odds and ends from the Flying Trapeze add-on.  The best thing about this stamp is it's size!  I love large stamps and how they are so dramatic on a background!!

I started by embossing the floral stamp using opaque embossing powder on my page.  I had the idea of maybe having the watercolors/embossing on one side with a photo to the right of it, so I embossed the flowers a little to left of center.  Then, I grabbed out my watercolors, picked a few colors that seemed to coordinate well with some background papers and then painted around the embossed flowers.  As you can see in the photo above, I also added in a few paint splatters here and there.  I love the messy look of watercolors!

I layered my photo to the right of the watercolors, but made sure you could still see those beautiful embossed flowers!

I kept my embellishments pretty simple and scattered a few hearts and stars around the page.  The Dear Lizzy gold foil word stickers were a no-brainer when it came to a title.  The pop of gold was exactly what the white background needed. 

To add a little more depth and contrast to the white background, I adhered a medium sized butterfly by my photo and lifted the flaps for some dimension.  The bold color definitely helps the photo pop from the page!

I just love the effect of embossing and watercolors!  Have you ever tried out this technique??

Studio Calico Cirque Reveal / Project Life

Oh Project Life.  I sure do love you!!  As you've probably read and seen, I'm taking a different route for my Project Life this year.  I love the new approach.  But I'm still a big fan of the 12x12 spreads as well.  Design A is my all time favorite, so I plan on adding in a few more photos to our 2014 book (using the larger page protectors this year).  It is kind of helping me ease into my new approach and size!!

I used the Studio Calico Cirque Project Life kit for both spreads seen here.  One is a traditional Design A spread, and one is a mini Project Life spread (note: be prepared to see more of a mini Project Life album with February....I'm so excited!!).

The Project Life kit this month is hands down awesome.  The cards are definitely perfect for February, but they are super versatile and are easily adapted to any spread!  I actually used them to fill in some of my 12 on the 12th photos from August!!  

This spread was inspired by a journaling card that said "happiness is..." (it's the trimmed card you see sewn onto the photo of my son in the bathtub).  I decided to use this saying to help focus my journaling for these photos.  Since these pictures were taken a few months ago, having a journaling focus really helps me with my words.  It kind of takes all the pressure off of having to remember exactly what happened on that exact day!

I used tags, alpha and banners on my photos to add my journaling using the "happiness is..." prompt!

I was actually super surprised at how quickly the journaling came together.  I usually work on recent photos, so I wasn't sure if I would have anything to say about this pictures.  A prompt is a great way to get those words flowing!

I used my typewriter to add journaling directly to my photos and cards.  It's a little messier than adding journaling digitally, but I love the look!

This next Project Life spread was inspired by the 2x2 transparent cards in the Cirque Project Life kit! They are phenomenal and it took all my will power to not hoard them (so instead of hoarding, I just bought another kit).  I thought they would be perfect for a week at a glance spread, so I printed out photos from our week, slipped them into the WRMK 4x4 page protectors, added some journaling and small embellishments and called it done!!  I will definitely be doing a spread like this again!  I love how graphic it looks and how it gives a glimpse of our week!  It actually got me thinking about photos and our everyday, so I'm thinking of picking one week each month to document (not a week in  the life type of project...more of a photo a day project).  Sound interesting to anyone else??

These cute little mini pages came together so super quickly! I created a collage of my photos using my all time favorite, Picmonkey and printed them out six photos to a 4x6 piece of photo paper!  The white border isn't perfect around the photos like I would like, but it is too fast to complain!!  I just love the mini size!!

It's always fun to play around with the "oldie but goodie", but it's also fun to experiment with something new and different!!  Don't you think??

Thanks so much for stopping by today!!  I hope these spreads have inspired you to think outside of the box with Project Life!!!  Happy crafting!!

Things I Love....January Edition

There are so many awesome new products in the shop this month!!  Here's what I added to my cart!!  I'm loving all of the Heidi Swapp stamps and stickers!!  They are just perfect for my memory planner (I'll be sharing more of January planner pages this week)!!

1: Heidi Swapp MemoryDex Stamps - I am counting down the days until Heidi's MemoryDex system is available!  It looks amazing!!

2: Heidi Swapp Gold Foil Stickers

3: Noah Stamps are BACK! - Need I say more???

4: Project Life Pen .01 - The absolute perfect pen for journaling!!

5: Heidi Swapp Foil Chipboard Stickers

6: Craft Market Wood Veneers

Cirque Reveal / Studio Calico Main Kit Layouts

It's reveal day over at Studio Calico, and as I mentioned in my previous posts, February's kits are so awesome!!  The colors are fabulous....and don't worry if you aren't a big pink fan!  There really is so much to choose from this month!!  The main kit is my favorite favorite favorite!!  The pops of black with the pink and yellow are fabulous!!  And I'll definitely be grabbing another Cirque Project Life kit.  Those transparent cards are so fun!!

There are lots of fun extras this month too....like the awesome NOAH stamps, transparency card set and some fun easter dies!!

I created four layouts with this month's main kit because it's just that good!!  Here's a look at my pages!!  I have two additional pages to share with a mix of kits, as well as some Project Life pages, so be sure to check back this week!!

Don't forget the Cirque digitals are up in the shop now, so grab them too!!  I used a bunch of digitals this month!!  Love all of the cut files!!

Happy shopping and happy reveal!!  See ya later this week!!

Cirque Sneaks / Studio Calico

It's almost reveal night over at Studio Calico and I can't wait for you all to see these kits!!  They are amazing!  February is always one of my favorite months as far as kits are concerned, and these definitely do not disappoint!  I think the Cirque Main Scrapbook kit is my favorite of them all!  I created four pages with this kit, and like usual, I had to make myself put it away to work on something else!  

Here are some sneaks to tide you over until midnight!!  The Cirque kits will be available to subscribers at 12 midnight tonight and at 12 noon tomorrow to everyone!!  

And if you aren't a subscriber yet and are thinking about it, you can start a new subscription for just $5!!  Use the codes FIVESTARTCARD to subscribe to the Card Kit or FIVESTARTPL to subscribe to the Project Life Kit!  Just add the Far Far Away subscription to your card, add in the code and you are all set!!  

And a FUN BONUS: One new subscriber will be randomly selected to receive a FREE 12-month subscription!!  Offer expires 1/26/15 at 11:59pm EST and requires a 6-month commitment!  

I have a few more projects that aren't pictured here to share, so be sure to check back all this week to see more!!  See you at reveal!!  

Maggie Holmes' Design Team: Love This Moment

Yesterday, I shared a new project over on Maggie's blog using the ever amazing Open Book collection!  I know I've posted quite a bit from this collection lately, but it is seriously one of my faves!!  Be sure to hop on over, check out my page and read about some of my tips for layering!!

January Project Life Album: Part I

I am so excited to be sharing the first part of my January Project Life album over on the Studio Calico blog today!!  I am having so much fun with this little book and I love that it really does hold every single bit of our lives from this month so far!!  And I promise you, putting this book together is so not complicated.  It may look look a lot of work because each page is a little different from the next, but the best part about this approach, is that I can work on a few photos at a time, or even just one photo and then be finished!!  I love adding in bits and pieces of our life, and you will see that I added that right into the book!  

And I am loving using up all of my supplies!!  I even STAMPED using those amazing Alyra Alpha stamps I've been drooling over!  That's right....I stamped....in COLOR!  Ah...new beginnings!!  For my January book, I used most of the January kits from Studio Calico!!  

The Project Life kit went so well with the pages, but the other kits worked out so nicely as well!  The silkscreens, stamps, papers and cards all make an appearance in this little book!  

Far Far Away Scrapbook Kit

Far Far Away Project Life Kit

Magic Carpet

Alyra Alpha Stamp Set

Because I love walk through videos, I put together a short video overview of my album.  I hope you will check it out!  In the video, I share with you why I love this approach so much, and how I'm making it work for me!!!  

The full page photos, photo collages and artwork are my absolute favorite!  I really am enjoying this process so much!  It's brought life back into Project Life for me!  

Here are a few photos, but you can see the rest in the video, as well as in the Studio Calico gallery. 

So what are your thoughts???