14 Favorites in 2014

I thought I would pop in today and share 14 of my favorite layouts from 2014. Of course my favorite subject to scrap looks to be Miss Ada (who can resist new baby photos!) but I think I got a good mix of the family here.

Here they are in no particular order:

 

After looking back through the layouts I made this past year, it was really hard to pick just 14! I hope you enjoyed looking back with me. I look forward to everything the new year holds. Have a happy and safe New Year's Eve!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ohana means family

Hello everyone! It's a very cold day in this neck of the woods and I have declared it my "do whatever I want all day" day! It seems like this entire Christmas break I have been on the go and I am ready for a day off!

First of all, I want to tell you that I love challenges! They help to get the ol' wheels to turnin' in my brain. I love challenges - I am just awful at remembering to get them posted by the time they are due. And most of the time I even write them down with the due date - I just forget!

At the first of the year I joined in my Yahoo groups' 52 week challenge. Not so hard to remember this one because if I forgot, I was out! Today I am sharing my week 52 layout with you. It feels so good to know that I made it the whole year and I have (at least) 52 layouts in my albums!

Supplies used - patterned paper - Blue star - Close To My Heart, solid yellow - MME Market Street collection, blue wood grain - KaiserCraft - Off The Wall collection, off white background - Basic Grey - Spice Market collection, yellow with pink hearts and yellow and grey chevron - Studio Calico Snippets collection, Wood veneers - Studio Calico, Alphas - Ohana - Lawn Fawn Cole's ABC's dies, small alpha - Jillibean soup.

We take a lot of family photos around here. A lot. So coming up with titles can be a challenge for me. When I was planning this layout I was having a hard time coming up with a title. Then this line from Lilo & Stitch popped into my head and stuck. My family means the world to me and I love every single minute we get to spend together.

I am also entering this layout in Shopping Our Stash's challenge #182 - Thrice is nice - to use 3 (or more) patterned papers on your project.

I also used this sketch from Let's Get Sketchy - Get Inspired Magazine - Christmas edition.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Merry Christmas!

 

image courtesy of Teri Anderson

 

 

 

I just wanted to pop in and wish you all a very Merry Christmas! I am really looking forward to spending time with my family the next couple of days and making more memories to scrapbook!

Pocket Style Cards

I think I may have a new obsession - an obsession with pocket style cards! Let me back up just a bit.

I really had good intentions of starting Project Life in 2014. I got my title page done, I've kept up with sorting my photos, and I've kept a planner of all that's been going on this past year. But, I just can't seem to make myself start. I just get so overwhelmed.

There's so many choices to make. Do I use a variety of page protectors or go with one design throughout? Will I have enough photos  to do a double page spread every week and if not, what then? And then there's all the cute cards to choose from...how in the world will I decide which ones to use! I know a lot of these questions can only be answered as I go - there's no right or wrong way. I just need to do it and see what works best for me.

So, I am going to start in 2015 and figure it out as I go along. If I have time I will go back and work on 2014 since everything is basically ready to go.

With that being said, I am finally getting around to the purpose of this blog post. I have been a member of the Project Life Card Swap community on Facebook almost from the beginning. Every month they have swap sign ups for PL style cards and every month I have looked but I hadn't ever signed up. It took my good friend, Tina, joining  the group and the swaps to get me to join in the fun. Reconnecting with her has really gotten me excited about starting with this way of scrapping.

So, I signed up for my first swaps in November (a total of 7!) and I really had a lot of fun making my own pocket cards. I think these cards will be so much fun to add to my albums. Now for January I have signed up for 10 swaps. Did I really just say 10?! I must be crazy! But I really do enjoy making these little cards. Now if I can just make myself get started and actually use them!

I am still going to make traditional scrapbook layouts. I just have a lot of pictures that don't necessarily need their own page, but they add to the story. So, I'm going to give it a try. Who knows, maybe I'll try to add a weekly or monthly blog post about my Project Life style scrapping progress!

Thanks for stopping by, wish me luck, and have a great day!

Time for an adventure

Good Monday morning! Christmas break is in full swing around here and I am lovin' it! I can't believe that Christmas is only 3 days away. I still have a few things that I would like to get and I haven't even started any baking. Nothing like waiting until the last minute - it's all I know!

I have a snowy layout to share with you today. We haven't had much snow yet this winter, but last December we did! The boys got out of school early on Thursday, December 5th due to bad weather and then they were out on Friday the 6th and all but one day the next week. Those were the earliest snow days that I can remember. Ada was still in the hospital but was due to go home at any time and we were wondering if the roads were going to be safe enough to travel.

Matthew didn't waste any time - he braved the cold and the snow and took the dogs for an adventure!

supplies used - Patterned paper - DCWV - The Christmas Combo Stack - Stamps - Fiskars - Alphas - Doodlebug Designs, EK Success, Punches - large snowflake - EK Success, small snowflake - Marvy Uchida, Scallop Circle die - Sizzix, Bling - Studio G.

 

I am entering this in Lasting Memories #220 - Snowflakes Galore challenge from December 7th. The challenge is to have snowflakes on your layout - either in your paper/embellishments, or in your photos.

 

I also used the December 1st sketch from Stuck?! Sketches.

Thanks so much for stopping by! See you soon!

Christmas Pajamas

Since Christmas is this week I thought I would share a Christmas layout with you! I am awful about scrapping Christmas photos right away. I may have a few photos that I really want to scrap, but for the most part they get put off for another time. Like this photo of the kids in their Christmas pajamas from 2012...and I'm just now getting around to scrapping it...2 years later!

One of our family traditions is to open up one present on Christmas eve and that present is always Christmas pj's. Even though the kids know what it's going to be, they still love being able to open a present. Shane loves opening presents, but is never impressed with "pants and a shirt" as he calls them, but he's a good sport anyway!

For this layout I used My Mind's Eye - 12 Days of Christmas collection. It is one of my most favorite Christmas collections and I think I only have two sheets of the same paper left in it. I'm sorry to see it gone, but happy to know that I used almost every bit of it!

I am entering this layout in Lasting Memories Home for the Holidays challenge - where you are to show a holiday tradition that you do.

I also used this sketch from Let's Get Sketchy - December week 2.

I am also entering this into Scrap and Play's Challenge #15 - Happy Holidays:

The three items that I used are red, green, and a present.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'll be seeing you soon!

Scrapbook Generation Blog Hop Winners

It's time to announce the winners from the Scrapbook Generation Blog hop that took place on December 1st.


Using Random.org to select the winner,

the Blog Hopper who won is...

Tina Gale - http://tiggersscrapplace.blogspot.com

 Tina please contact Stacey at stacey@scrapbookgeneration.com and she will provide you with the prize (one sketch bundle of your choice from the SG store).

There is also a commenter that won the same prize.
The comment who wins is from Laura's blog http://happinessequalscreation.blogspot.com/ which had 10 comments, the winner is...

 comment #9 Iris.

Iris - Laura should be contacting you about how to collect your prize.


Congratulations, ladies! Thanks for hopping along!

Birthday Girl

Good Sunday afternoon! I hope y'all are enjoying your weekend.  I am pretty excited that this is the last week of school before Christmas break! We are all in need of some time off!

This is so unlike me. I picked up my pictures from Ada's birthday party yesterday and I have already made a page using some of them. I never scrap that fast! Pictures usually set on my desk for weeks (even years!) before I scrap them. But for once I knew exactly what papers I wanted to use and when I saw the most recent sketch from ScrapMuch I knew it would be perfect for these photos. Once I got started it all just came together quickly.

For this layout I used the October Afternoon Cakewalk collection that I have been holding on to forever. Ada looked so cute sitting on her present table before everyone got to the party, I couldn't resist taking a few photos of her.

Here is the sketch - be sure to go to ScrapMuch and check it out:

Thanks so much for stopping by! Enjoy what's left of your weekend!

I'm One!

 

Good evening! This weekend just went by way too fast. We had Ada's first birthday party yesterday and I am tuckered out! Thank goodness there are only two more weeks until Christmas break. I am ready for some lazy days with no place to go.

I have a layout of the birthday girl to share with you today. Abby had taken some pictures of Ada on her actual birthday and I couldn't wait to scrap my favorite one.

 

I used the sketch from the December sketch challenge over at Scrappin-N-Chattin and I'm also using this for my week 49 layout for there. Only 3 more weeks to go - I think I'm going to make it!

I used up a few more scraps from my scrap box. I seriously need to use bigger scraps on my layouts. At this rate I could make layouts and cards just out of my scrap box for a good 6 months and still have scraps left over! At least I have made it a habit to check the scraps to see if there is anything I can use before I cut into a new sheet.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great week!

Scrapbook Generation December Blog Hop

Good morning and welcome to the Scrapbook Generation Blog Hop for December. You should have made your way here from Lori's blog. If this is your first stop, you might want to start at the Scrapbook Generation blog and then hop through each link.

Supplies used - Patterned paper - Echo Park - Little Boy collection, Pebbles (You are awesome and striped), chipboard embellishments - Simple Stories, alphas - Doodlebug Designs (you truly are), Lawn Fawn - Finley  alphabet die, gold metallic thread - DMC.

For my layout today I have chosen a sketch from the new Sketches for Christmas book.  I love that I can take a sketch from a Christmas sketch book and use it for something else. I sometimes have trouble thinking outside the box on these things. If I see a sketch with Christmas samples, I want to make a Christmas layout, but looking through this book I can see so many ways to adapt the sketches to make them work for whatever layout I am working on.

Since this was a two page sketch and I only used the right hand side of the sketch, I needed somewhere to add my journaling. For this layout I just added it behind one of the photos.

You can find the SG sketches in their books and as downloads in the Scrapbook Generation store,  There are four free sketches every month in case you wanted to try it out. You can find a link for the November free sketches here.

Next on the hop is Cicily. Check out her beautiful blog to see what she has created. Be sure to leave a comment on each blog and one lucky commenter will receive a free sketch bundle of their choice from the store.

The winner will be drawn on Monday, December 8th which leaves you one week to leave a comment.

In case you get lost at any point, here is the list all the blogs
Scrapbook Generation blog - http://scrapbookgeneration.blogspot.com/
Ruth - http://scrapmachine.com/
Steffanie - http://steffanies.blogspot.com/
Devra -  http://mycreativeview.blogspot.com/
TinaGale - http://tiggersscrapplace.blogspot.com
Lori - Http://savingmine.blogspot.com
Lori S - http://loriannie670.blogspot.com
Cicily - http://www.pinkdalmatianscrapper.com
Pamela - http://reflectionsofmyartandsoul.com/blog
Katy - http://scrappinkaty.blogspot.com
Laura - http://happinessequalscreation.blogspot.com/
Lyne - http://lynnseverydayideas.blogspot.com/
Penny - http://pennyscraps.blogspot.com
Laureen - http://mybusyscrapbookinghands.blogspot.ca/
Casandra - http://casandra-scrappinbliss.blogspot.com/
Sharlene - http://inspirationstationbysbe.blogspot.ca/
Corrina - http://anotherthingoffthelist.blogspot.ca/

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful day!