Scrapbook Process: The Sweetest Thing from My Minds Eye

This week I am on a roll, finishing pages for my "heritage" album.  This album is not just old photos of my family, but also contains newer family portraits, so they are all together.

For the Make it Monday challenge this week at The Memory Nest, I used their sketch to finish another page for this album:

Here is my interpretation of the sketch:  (sorry for the lighting glare!)

From my stash, I used the collection "The Sweetest Thing" from My Minds Eye.  The title, journaling block and the parentheses chipboard pieces were the only things not from the collection, along with the cream paper for the background.  This layout is of my niece and her husband's wedding from just seven years ago, but it is a must addition for the family album.  I thought the soft blue, flowered paper was a perfect choice for wedding photos.  

You still have time to complete your own layout using this sketch from The Memory Nest!

Mojo is Back!

After a long break from crafting and blogging, it's good to be back with some new layouts, cards and challenge posts!

These last few months have been busy with homeschool and homeschool co-op with my youngest, plus spending time with my oldest, taking him to his new job and teaching him to drive in the process.  I also signed up as a Stampin' Up consultant, which has been such a fun time! (more on this later)

We just took a ten day Spring Break, in which I took the opportunity to go through my scrap stash and purge many things that hadn't been used for eons, and probably wouldn't ever get used.  I grouped what I planned to keep by collection, so it would be easier to grab a sleeve of product and finish a layout when I only had a few minutes.  Needless to say since reorganizing, scrapping has been more fun, and over the Break, I finished MANY layouts, cards and pocket scrapbooking pages! (Videos coming soon to my YouTube channel!)

For this post, I wanted to share two layouts that I completed yesterday for the Make it Monday sketch challenges over at The Memory Nest blog.  (You can find the challenges on the right margin of Leslie's blog)

The first sketch is this one for Make it Monday # 35.

For this layout, I used the remainder of the 2010 Fancy Pants collection on hand called "My Family". The only additions were Basic Grey chipboard letters, along with a few gems.

The next sketch is for Make it Monday #36:

Again for this layout, I grabbed one of my sleeves with what I had left of the 2010 Little Yellow Bicycle's "Twig"collection.  Once I started to follow the design, I remembered this photo and the page took on a different twist.  The back layers are probably the only original item from the sketch, but I am happy with how this turned out.  

In addition to the collection paper and embellishment sheet, I added the chipboard title phrases from K & Company.

There is still time to take part of these challenges, where you could win a gift certificate from The Memory Nest store.  

I hope this post will inspire you to get out those old collections and use them up!

Back from Summer -- and a Scrapbook Share!

We have had a busy summer, as I am sure you have too!  We started our homeschooling on August 5th, so we are slowly getting back into the regular routine.

For most of July I scrapped my heart out, working on my oldest son's birthday album with the RSVP collection from Basic Grey.   Some old pages that were done in the past on 8-1/2" x 11" were completely redone (since I had photo duplicates) so that the entire book looks cohesive.  The RSVP kit was purchased from The Memory Nest, and comes with a great collection of papers for a boy or girl, a sticker sheet and three different sets of letter stickers.

Here is the latest video where I do a quick share on what I have accomplished so far for the album.  For the teenage years, I will be transitioning to the new Celebrations collection from Carta Bella:

What have you done this summer for scrapping??

Monthly Wrap-Up: Scrapbook and Card Layout Share with the "Chairs" Color Kit!

This bright and summery kit from The Memory Nest was a delight to work with this month!  In order to show you everything, please watch the YouTube video below.  I wrap-up the month by showing the layouts completed and highlighted on The Memory Nest blog as a Design Team Member (most layouts have their own process videos on YouTube) in addition to some Graduation cards!

Visit The Memory Nest to get this kit for your summer layouts -- it's only $9.99 -- while supplies last! 

Flashback Friday: Killing Kits from The Memory Nest!

In the past few months as a Design Team Member for The Memory Nest, I have received some awesome product kits for creating!

To close out the month of June and my time as a Design Team Member, I decided to go through all the past kits, gather all those yummy leftover pieces and put together a new double page layout.

The challenge for myself was to only use what was left of these kits without adding anything else from my stash.  Do you think I was able to accomplish the challenge??

Here are the kits that I worked with:

Recollections by Echo Park
PB&J from Basic Grey
Dapper Dan from Glitz
Feels Like Home from Little Yellow Bicycle
RSVP from Basic Grey
Weaving Color Kit (The Memory Nest)

And here are some photos of those yummy leftovers:

While this seems like a lot of goodies, it was still going a little intimidating to mold all these goodies into a cohesive, pleasing layout.

Here is the finish product:

Mission Accomplished! Thanks for stopping by!

Scrapbook Process: More with the "Chairs" Color Kit!

Today I am sharing more layouts using the versatile "Chairs" Color Kit from The Memory Nest!

This color combination is yummy and I had a blast with it!

There were also papers that I could take from fun (above) to elegant:

The story behind this "Selfie" page will be on my "Kill the Kit" video on YouTube later this month.  

Want to try this kit?  It's on sale and you can get it HERE!

Scrapbook Process: Using the "Chairs" Color Kit!

This month for The Memory Nest, I am using Leslie's "Chairs" color kit, and it was such a fun kit to use!  It's palette of color allowed me to do different layout themes -- from the light and cheery to the more elegant.  

You can see my kit reveal and process of the first layout  here: 

My first layout from this kit:

For the background, I used paper from Basic Grey's "PB&J" collection, plus a Snap journaling card and little embellishments and washi from my stash.  

A second layout was using "The Good Life" papers from Little Yellow Bicycle that are in the kit:

The bird and little flowers were chipboard in the kit, and I added to the title with Snap letters.  

This paper is darling, and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to play with it. 

Want to get this kit to play along too?  It's on sale, and you can get it HERE.

May Recap: Recollections Kit was Outstanding!

This month's kit, Reflections by Echo Park, was awesome!  I was able to do quite a few layouts and even a couple cards, with lots of papers and embellishments left over for more!

Here are photos of my layouts that I completed this month:

 And cards too!

Don't forget that this month, kits are 30% off at The Memory Nest!  

AND . . . . 

In honor of Leslie's birthday (the owner of The Memory Nest)
here's another awesome deal that expires June 30, 2014:

A full recap and "Kill the Kit" narrative will be on my YouTube Channel this weekend!

Ready for more inspiration?  Check out the other design team members!

Sindi

Shawna

Stephanie

Kelli

Crystal

Saskia

Christy

Throwback Thursday: More Reflections by Echo Park

During this month of May, I am scrapping with the Reflections kit by Echo Park, courtesy of The Memory Nest.  This kit has been a fabulous way to start scrapping some of my "heritage" photos!  Because the photos I used for my pages are "throwbacks," I decided that I would include these next two layouts from the kit to my Throwback Thursday Series!

For this first layout, I used an April PageMap -- it caught my eye because of the wood grain background paper and the use of an envelope for memorabilia:

This is what I came up with, after a lot of adjusting and changing:

The only items I used from my stash were gems, a button with twine and a paper clip.  Oh, and the background paper too.  Originally, I used a sheet from the kit with a wonderful wood grain effect to it (you can see it in my video HERE).  Unfortunately, I messed it up when I tried to add mist to it.  Ugh!  This paper in my stash (from Pink Paislee) worked just as well so that I could redo my page.  

There is a pocket to hold some special memories, and the photo (which is of my grandparents) is paper clipped to the pocket, since there isn't a copy of it yet.  I like the look -- I may just leave it that way!

When I started this layout, the paper in the kit was getting to an end.  From these patterned papers, I punched several squares and pieced them together for a quilt-like effect.  (The chipboard letters for the title are from the Basic Grey PB&J collection.)  Again, the gem and the button with twine were the only things pulled from my stash. If I would have had more patience with my sewing machine, I would have added stitching too.

I hope you picked up some ideas and inspiration for your own layouts!  If you are interested in this kit, head over to The Memory Nest.  All kits are 30% off right now!  Click the graphic below:

It's New to Me! Reflections kit from Echo Park

It's time to showcase another kit from The Memory Nest -- for May it is the Reflections kit by Lori Whitlock and Echo Park.

The vintage, early 20th century, European feel is what makes this kit so appealing.  To see what's included in the kit, the add-ons available and a tutorial on the first layout I completed, you can watch the YouTube video:



There were many stickers and chipboard left over --definitely enough for many layouts and/or cards!  I would definitely recommend purchasing coordinating solid color cardstock, and your kit will go even further!

This kit is 30% off right now at The Memory Nest!

Coming soon is another layout with this kit, in addition to some ideas for making masculine cards!

Happy (inter) National Scrapbooking Day!

We scrappers NEED our own holiday, don't we?  Not that we need any excuse to scrap!

Today I will share a couple different things in honor of our holiday:  a video with ideas on how to make your large album projects easily cohesive, a free sketch and a sneak peak at what I'm using for the month of May in the "New to Me" series at The Memory Nest!

First for today, here is a free sketch to get your mojo going:

Please feel free to share this sketch with friends if you'd like!

If you want to get some great bargain shopping in during a scrapping break, be sure to check out the new color kits at The Memory Nest -- and today Leslie has a super sale going on!!

See you again later today when I will post my tutorial video!