December Moments 2014

Have you managed to complete your December Daily?  There are many people who take it on each year, and my hat's off to them.  I'll never forget the first year I tried to hop on the bandwagon and document every day of our December.  Needless to say it was a massive failure, with not enough photos, that resulted in an unfinished album.  Since then I've tried a couple of other ways to document the Christmas Season around our home, and what I've found is that daily is just not for me.  I find that choosing to simply document the month as a whole works well for our family. There are so many days, where there simply isn't a photo, that choosing to document only what I find 'document worthy' relieves some of the pressure of having that perfectly well ordered album, with numbers from 1-25.

This gorgeous Pink Paislee album, and the coordinating Merry & Bright Collection was what I chose to work with this year.  

I was drawn to the fact that the album had these really fun transparency dividers, and canvas pages, giving it a mixed media feel.

I kept my title page very simple, using one of the kraft tags (sold out) from the collection, and a few coordinating pieces from my stash.  I stitched the alphas down to ensure they would stay in place for many years to come.  If you've ever received an order from the Paper Issues store, you'll recognize that red satin ribbon in a heart beat.

For me, Christmas begins when Starbucks pulls out their holiday cups.  I, in turn pull out the few that I have gathered over the years to use at home.

I made sure to have my oldest get some photos when she joined for friend at the annual Santa Claus parade downtown.  Again, I scrapped right onto the clear page, and paired it with a pocket page.  The 4x4 size is perfect for the photos I print at home with my Canon Selphy.  The journaling is done on this sheet of coordinating patterned paper from the Merry & Bright Collection.

It all begins with one single solitary ornament.

These silver word strip phrases, go so nicely with my trusty old label maker, great for a fun journaling element.

These countdown cards from the collection, are perfect for filling pockets to use up space, and also for adding some journaling.

So many cute patterns, of course I had to create a page to showcase as many as possible.

Don't you just love that itty bitty satin bow from the collection.  I'd like a few of those in all the colours of the rainbow.  It may seem a little silly to have my birthday photo included in my December Daily, but since this is not a daily, but rather a December Moments album, documenting our month including concerts, birthdays and all, it's all good.  This album is all about not having to follow any set rules, but creating pages my family is going to enjoy looking back on.  

Just love the canvas pages.  Flair button from A Flair For Buttons 

The tags really do get addictive for documenting the event.  Flair button from A Flair For Buttons

Our friends Will & Pao came over for games and snacks on the 23rd, and we did it all over again on the 24th with my husbands sister and her kids, including one birthday boy, and a soon to be married couple.

The snowflake is a cut file by 17 Turtles and the joyful frame is an old one from Studio Calico

The "magic" & "merry&bright" cut file is another oldie from Studio Calico. 

I still cracks me up that her arms are waving so fast you can't even make them out in the photo.  It was so fun to keep this secret for several months before she was able to open her "big' gift on Christmas morning.

That quote is a screenshot I captured off of Andrea Howey's IG feed, that girl has some serious talent. 

I thought it was a pretty clever play on words to use the last of the black glitter words on this journal card.

The best part of doing a December Moments album as opposed to simply a Christmas album is that you get to end on New Years Eve, a wonderful way to bid farewell to the old and hello to the new.  Incorporating a little gold from the Dear Lizzy Serendipity collection seemed like the perfect touch for the celebration.

And there you have it, another year in the books.  This is the first time I feel incredibly proud of each and every page of my December Memories album, and it all started with the gorgeous Pink Paislee products.  It's amazing how much creativity can be birthed by gorgeous product to get the senses overflowing.

If you're still working on your December album, and looking for a few more goodies to complete the job, hop over to the Paper Issues shop to get your hands on what's left of our Christmas goodies.  Use code: SHERRI at check out and save 20% off everything you placed in your cart.

Happy shopping friends,and all the best with wrapping up your Christmas memories. Thanks so much for stopping by today! Pin It

Little Dude {aflairforbuttons}

Popping in to share a page about the totally spoiled Canine in our home.

Wilson became a part of our family in April 2009.  I am a woman who learned almost promptly after having my first baby to "never say never".  I was never an animal person growing up, and never saw myself with a dog, but alas here we are.

He's smart, super cute, and totally loveable.  The fact that he allows us to dress him up, put props on him (especially at Christmas), and take pictures is just an added bonus.

As soon as I saw these woodgrain flair buttons in the {aflairforbuttons} Etsy shop, I knew I wanted to use them on a simple white background page so they'd pop.

I knew I needed to add a little more dimension to my page to balance out that of the flair buttons, so I used my Amy Tangerine stitching template, and my sewing machine to add a little tone on tone stitching, and voila, done.

I hope I've inspired you to create today.  Perhaps there's a pet layout in your near future.  Did you grow up with a four-legged love, or perhaps you're partial to another type of animal these days. Whatever it is I'd love to have a peek.  You can tag your projects on FB and/or Instagram with #aflairforbuttons and the team will be sure to see it.

Sets used on my layout:
Woodgrain 1
Here & Now

Thanks for popping in today friends! Pin It

School House Rock

Here is a layout I shared on the Chic Tags blog the other day.

I was so happy when my girlfriend emailed me these photos of Eden.  This was her first day of Kindergarten 6 years ago.  She has always loved the camera...anybody's camera apparently.  These photos so wonderfully capture her sweetness, and spunk, and most of all her sheer excitement about FINALLY getting to go to school like her older sisters.

I've popped dotted one of the Photo Toppers, right over the File Card here, as well as the Mini Icon. The file cards are my absolute favourite Chic Tags product.  I considered making this one removable so I could include my journaling on it, but decided I liked the look of it sticking out the bottom of my paper strip too much.

 Another Photo Topper here, backed with one of the pennant stamps from the co-ordinating stamp set.

 A couple of the sweet hashtag stamps here.  I love stamping right onto my photo.  I find that Rangers Archival ink is the best ink for that.  And that strip of ruler paper is actually the top portion of a Mini Tag.

And the rub ons...oh the rub ons.  I'll be honest I gave up on rub ons years ago.  I gathered up the whole lot, including my pricy rub on tool and gave the entire bunch away at a crop several years ago.  I was tired of them cracking, and not coming off the backing nicely, and then leaving you with a mess to have to fix up on your layout.  But these rub ons....these are lovely.  They come off so nicely, and cleanly (the red stars and "FIRST DAY" are rub-ons), I found myself wanting to use them more and more as I scrapped the other night.  Veronica and Albert have done a wonderful job providing the industry with top of the line product all along, and these are no exception.  Each of the new collection has a co-ordinating package of rub ons.  Oh and that wonderful atlas flair is from A Flair For Buttons Etsy shop.

I was given these photos in June, and have been saving them until now to scrap them with the School House Collection I think the wait was worth it.  You can find the entire School House Collection in the Chic Tags store.

If you're interested my first post for A Flair For Buttons is up today.  Here's a little peek for you.

You can see the rest here if you'd like.

Thanks for stopping by today, hope you leave inspired to create something beautiful!

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Picture Perfect

Happy Friday Friends!

This week I celebrated my one year anniversary with Chic Tags.  And thought it would be fun to document the occasion using our brand new Happy Place Collection, and a photo from my CHA experience.

I was fortunate enough to be able to use some frequent flyer points to fly down to Vegas for the event. It was like a dream come true meeting Veronica in person, and helping out in the booth introducing CHA goes to Chic Tags products, and meeting so many great people from all around the world.  An added bonus was meeting fellow DT member Malika and connecting with several Instagram friends in person for the first time, like Chiao Tan pictured here.

One of the biggest hits with our new collections is the clear tags.  I've used 2 on my layout and adhered them both by holding them in place with just a teeny bit of adhesive, and them sewing around the inner border.  Love the way it turned out.  I used this idea of "happy" to create the design of my layout.  To me, all the circles give the layout a happy feel.

The Happy Place collection includes 8 - 3x4 journaling style cards, perfect for both traditional layouts, and project life style scrapping.

I think my favourite thing about the new collections are these mini icons, and the perforated strips at the bottom of the 12x12 papers.  I love the little sayings and sentiments, and the fact that they are pre-set to different styles, like this "good times" one shown here.  All I had to do was use some 3D foam dots to pop it off the page, easy peasy.

Hope you've been inspired to create something great today.  Come back on Sunday for our next Creative Scrappers reveal.   Have a wonderful day friends. Pin It

Reveal Sunday

It's Reveal Sunday over at Creative Scrappers, our first week back, and I think we're all equally excited to be here and share with you our first reveal of this new chapter using sketch #251 created by Kristine Davidson.

First up is my take on the sketch.

Jounaling reads: It was the week of Dance Camp when Théa and Haley decided it was time for their puppies to meet.  A quick call to Tara and a date at the park was in order.  08/20/13

I used the new Hello Again collection by Kaitlin Sheafer, and simply freehand cut a bunch of circles in alternating sizes, stacked them together and stitched away to create all the circle elements.  A few Studio Calico Sequins, and wood veneer shapes and a few hearts, and brands from my stash, and voilà, done.  The photo is of my middle daughter and her friend with their puppies Wilson, and Jake.

Here are a couple detail shots.

See the super cute Maggie Holmes flair buttons?  I got them at CHA in July.  They are not actually flair buttons, but badges.  I simply removed the pin from the back and used Glue Dots to adhere them to may page. 

And those little banner strips are actually from the cover sheet in the collection.  I like the tiny patterns on them rather than the larger ones from the 12x12 sheets.  Talk about recycling heh?!

Here is Kristine's sketch.

You can see I stayed pretty true to the original idea, only substituted a few hearts for the starts, and changed my title and journal placement a little.  Sketches are a great way to get the mojo flowing when you don't feel inspired.  They're also an excellent way to break out of your shell.  I especially love playing with multi photo sketches since they are not my usual way of designing a page.

Our sponsor this month is Crazy Monday Kits.  To be eligible to win a scrapbook kit from CMSK, all you need to do is create a layout based on Sketch #251, and link it up to this post on the Creative Scrappers blog using the inlinkz widget at the end of the post.  A winner will be selected on October 1. You may enter as many times as you like using a new layout each time.  Good luck, hope to see you there!

Happy Sunday friends! Pin It

August Colour Suite

Thought I'd share the first of two layouts I had up at the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog last week.

This is Angela, one of my dearest friends on this earth.  We don't get too many photos together that we both love, so this one we got during our brunch date last month: of course had to be scrapped.

I used the summery colours of the  August Colour Suite Challenge to create this layout.

Lots of layered goodness, of course.  I just love the ephemera pack.

The "enjoy" is a Heidi Swapp cut file.  That I offset quite a bit, and tinkered with the keep the proportions right in my Silhouette Cameo.  I then used 3D foam squares to pop if off the page right on top of the photo.

This layout has quickly become one of my all time favourites.  I just love the way the colours, and all the design elements work together so perfectly.    

Thanks for stopping by today.  Leave me a comment, and I'll be sure to stop by and leave you some love at your corner of the web too.

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Guesting at Scrapbook & Cards Today

I have the awesome privilege of guest blogging over at Scrapbook & Cards Today.  I was thrilled when Catherine invited me to share what she calls my 'signature layering style' of scrapbooking with her readers.  Today is part one of two that will post this week on her blog, and I'm sharing with readers my take on the August Colour Suite.

The colours were a prefect match to The Pier Collection by Crate Paper, and the design elements in the ephemera package were a perfect start to introducing readers to how easy layering can be.  Here is a little peek at the layout I created.

I would love for you to pop over to the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog to see the rest of the layout, and have a peek at my post for today.  I'll be back there on Wednesday to break down my layering process if you're at all interested.

I hope you're enjoying this gorgeous Long Weekend.  Thanks for popping in today!

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Going Simple with Scraptastic

The I Found A Boy Kit at Scraptastic Club sold out pretty quickly, and I can show you why.  I have a couple of layouts to show you today.

I decided to try something a little different this month and go a little flatter than usual with my Augusts kits.  For this first layout, I really wanted to use a design that incorporated almost all of the patterned papers that came in the kit.  I just love the way they all coordinate so well.  Zero journaling on this one, which is a little different for me, but I thought the title and the photos were really all this layout needed.

For this layout I used mainly the I Found A Boy Add On Kit.  I thought it would be fun to cut up this sheet and stick the squares back in place to add depth to the "flatter than usual" design.

Journaling reads: "It was a little disappointing when our VACATION turned into a STAYCATION.  We made the best of it, by taking the girls to do things we wouldn't normally like Wall Climbing and getting their first pedicure.  August 2013" 

I used the stamp form the Classy girl kit to emboss onto a scrap piece of cardstock in the centre of the photos.  

See, pretty simple, but still gets the story recorded, and in an even faster time frame than I'm use to.  These kits are so jam packed with product that I've made 4 layouts, and two cards.  I even combined a bunch of the bits and pieces with my This Life Noted kit to create 2.5 spreads.  I have so enjoyed working with these brighter, bolder, more masculine colours.  The stamps are great too.  It appeared at first that the kit had a more masculine bent to it, but once I started working with it, it became increasingly clear that the colours were great for many of the photos I had ready to be scrapped.

I'll have the rest of my projects to share with you soon.  In the meantime hop over here to the gallery for inspiration from the rest of the Scraptastic DT and our members.  You can follow along with the blog here.

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