Just me My Soldier and our 4 little chicks

2 Peas in a Pod- MME

I just got back a box full of My Mind's Eye layouts from CHA.

As I was sorting through them, this one brought a big grin to my face.

And I realized I never shared it here!

One day Sadie and I were bored, so we started playing around with my iPhone.

When I saw the results I cracked up. Guess I know where she gets her facial expressions. HA!

This layout uses papers and embellishments from the Collectable-Notable line.

It's the happiest collection of colors and patterns and I adore it.

I backed each strip with patterned paper and then put washi tape on the left and right borders of the photo mat (the arrow strips are tape).

A scattering of chipboard flowers, enamel dots, and stick pins complete the easy and quick layout.

For those of you wondering how I did the photobooth strips, I used the Incredibooth App (which I LOVE).

Happy Monday y'all!

oxox

cate the great

I have another layout up on the Paper Party blog today.

To see tips on how to put this together quickly as well as a list of products i used... head on over that way.

In other news...I got my first Stitch Fix box last week and I am loving the idea behind this service.

Working on a Stitch Fix post for tomorrow. See you then...Jimmy is having shoulder surgery and 2 of my 4 have strep, so wish me luck. :)

xo

S

Martha Stewart Valentines

This post is brought to you by Martha Stewart Crafts. The home of fun and easy craft project ideas to keep you inspired and full of creativity.Click here for more details.

Hey y'all, happy Tuesday! Today I wanted to share some cute and simple valentines that Martha Stewart Crafts sent us.

There is a simple reason that I say yes when the folks at EK Success/Martha Stewart Crafts ask if then can send me crafts.

They are always cute and they are always easy. No fuss, no stress, no crazy cleanup, no 29834023840 hours of planning to do something with my girls.

These valentines were no exception. How adorable are they?

Sadie and I worked on these for our "special time" yesterday.

Yes, she is wearing a leotard. That's how we roll around here. :)

And Sadie's review? Two thumbs up. She had a BALL.

Each valentine is a cute/miniature/vintagey Bingo card. The wood stamps and sticker sheets fit the boxes perfectly.

Oh my heart...she wanted to make the first one for her daddy. :)

We were also sent a couple of sheets of darling cupcake and Valentine's themed stickers...just right for securing the envelopes closed.

But the absolute best part was seeing the look on her face when she gave the card to daddy.

She was SO proud that she did it all by  herself.

So overall-

The pros about the Wood Stamp Set...perfect for little hands. Crisp images and the sentiments and images are just precious.Great storage too..

cons-i wish they would have come with mini ink pads (in valentine's colors) for little hands to match the size of the stamps.

The pros about the Valentine's Day Card and Envelope Set- sweet and vintage vibed graphics, cute size and color. easy for little ones

cons-No cons for this one.

And one more thing- there's a fun VDay contest going on right now!

Whatever you craft for Valentine’s Day, be sure to enter it in the Martha Stewart Crafts “Craft Your Heart Out” Sweepstakes for your chance to WIN a DIAMOND HEART NECKLACE! Visit HERE for more details and to enter.

 

Have a great day, sweet friends!

xoxo

Registration is OPEN for The Ties That Bind!!!

CAN YOU TELL HOW EXCITED I AM BY THE FACT THAT I AM YELLING?????

Registration is now OPEN for my very first BPC class...The Ties That Bind- 3 Ways to Scrapbook Your Most Important Relationships.

Y'all. I worked so hard on this class and poured my heart and soul into it. I created five layouts that i LOVE and I am really proud of the content.

I first came up with this class idea and started to develop the content with BPC... when I was pregnant with Cate and Lucy. Yes, that was years ago.

I am so glad I finally went ahead and completed the class these past few months.

There was a LOT of second guessing and overthinking and I am so grateful to Jimmy for keeping our sweet girls occupied while I worked to make this class just right.

I really,truly hope that lots of you will join me in this class.

If you sign up, please let me know in the comments!

I couldn't have done this without all of YOU and your support.

So thank you for all of the encouragement and love. Truly.

I'm hoping that this will be well received and the first of many classes to come.

xoxo

She She and Cake

I have a layout to share today and a a story to go along with it!

First...I did this layout for the MME blog, it's a lift of Tamara Tripodi's awesome page you can see here.

Thanks so much for inspiring me, Tamara!

Here's the layout:

Some details:

The supplies:

Supplies:My Mind's Eye My Girl: Flutterby patterned paper,Fancy Free patterned paper,Genuine patterned paper,Playful patterned paper,washi tape,felt stickers, layered stickers,enamel dots,decorative buttons,chipboard accents;My Mind's Eye Collectable-Unforgettable:'You Are' tiny word stickers,'First' decorative stickers;Collectable-Memorable:enamel dots;Collectable-Notable:'Love This' tiny word stickers;Misc:doilies,Simple Stories letter stickers,Dear Lizzy Thickers,American Crafts precision pen,adhesives

 

The story:

For the story on the design elements, etc...you can see the details on the MME blog.

I wanted to tell the story behind the page. Cate and Lucy are SO funny right now.

They laugh at each other, hug and kiss each other, and beat the you know what out of each other. I wish I was kidding on that last one, but I'm not. I'm talking "2 stooges" here. Face slapping, hair pulling, eye poking. Good times.

Moving on.

They call each other "She She"- Lucy and "Cake"-Cate. And I love it SO MUCH I can hardly stand it.

I don't ever want to forget it.

Funny story. Jimmy told me that the other night they were both in their high chairs (quite some distance apart) and Cate started biting her hand...

Sidenote: They are in that "I am two" phase where if you tell them "No" they get so frustrated that they are beside themselves and don't know what to do. They get so frenzied that sometimes they go "ARRRRR" and bite their own hands. HAHAHAH!

I know how that feels...don't you? I might try it, hehehe.

Back to the story.

So "Cake" starts biting her own hand and "She She" starts screaming "Cake NO, no bite!" "OUCH!" and holding her own hand and crying. Bahahaha. Twin empathy?

They are nuts, y'all. NUTS.

Okay, that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed the long rambly story and the layout. :)

xoxo

S

Cocoa Daisy Projects

I was so excited when Emily asked me to guest design for Cocoa Daisy this month.

I got the main and the Now Showing add-on and I had so much fun that I decided to do a mini when I was done with my layouts.

And I haven't done a mini in forever. I have to say that I want to do more now...i had a BALL!

Thanks for this honor and opportunity, Cocoa Daisy!

Winter CHA layout

I love the star background stamp that comes in the main kit. I used it on a layout for my BPC class too.

A little white embossing powder really makes it pop!

 

Simply Wonderful layout

A pretty simple layout but it makes me very happy. I need about 1928301280128 of these "choose happy" badges.

It's kind of my mantra. :)

This is a little mini album listing all of the things I love about Newport.

I made it by cutting up some of the Echo Park Photo Freedom patterned papers.

I hole punched each journaling card and bound them with jump rings.

The perfect little Instagram album. I printed each Insta at 2.5x2.5.

Super simple and super HAPPY. Oh- I added doilies from my own stash but everything else is from the kits. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by tonight!

Don't forget to enter the washi giveaway!

xo

s

 

 

 

Paper Party+BPC News!

So excited to share the news that I'm part of my friend Liz's new scrapbooking website, Paper Party.

I'll have a series called "Time's Up" where I share scrapbook layouts that are perfect for busy mamas/crafters.

You can see my first post here.

 

In other scrapbooking related news...I finished and turned in all of the content for my first BPC class, The Ties That Bind (Scrapbooking Life's Relationships).

It will be offered in February. I created five new layouts for the class (each come with a step by step and a downloadable PDF sketch).  I really believe this class is great and has wonderful content and I hope lots of you will consider signing up!

Here's a collage of some of the sneaks.

I think that's it for now. Thanks so much for stopping by.😍

xoxo

s

Scrappy Sunday...CHA recap- favorite products

Okay...confession. I did NOT get much time to walk around and look.

And when I did walk (for the most part),I just got sidetracked by people and ended up talking to them instead of looking at product or photographing it.

I never made it to certain booths at all (I heard Fancy Pants was awesome, and I never really inspected Amy Tangerine even though it was all GORGEOUS...I think I was too excited to finally talk to Amy in person).

Some other booths (Studio Calico, Elle's studio) I really loved but didn't get any photos.

GCD Studios had some amazingly beautiful and usable products. Again...no photos. See a trend here?

But I did get photos in a few booths and I wanted to share what caught my eye.

 

Jenni Bowlin-I always love everything Jenni does. Her products are timeless and classic and I always want everything she makes.

Her 'feather tags' were my favorite product at the show:

jenni has always been my favorite scrapbooker (and she's the reason why i never do computer journaling), so i was so excited to see her layouts in person.

also thrilled for my friend lisa and her new jbs line modern mercantile:

SO EXCITED that jenni is bringing back her rub-ons. they were always my favorite...they are like BUTTAH. and i heard these will be available in gold and silver. EEEE!

 

 

BasicGrey- specifically the mint julep line. totally ME and i will be purchasing every piece:

how great is this sign? i want it for the girls:

 

Lily Bee- kristen hit the nail on the head with these releases. the heart/bokeh paper was one of my favorite papers at CHA.

 

 

Teresa Collins- i was pleasantly surprised and impressed with teresa's products this show. did you know she's in the MME family now? maybe that has something to do with why i loved everything so much! all i know is i want these goodies!

 

Crate Paper- My favorite new line of the show is a tie between Maggie's line for Crate Paper and Dear Lizzy.

I think Maggie got in my head and pretty much made my dream line. And her booth was darling.

Pebbles- I loved these journals and also they had a darling new line by Amy Locurto from Living Locurto.

 

Webster's Pages- Allison Kreft's designs are DARLING. Whimsical and fun and happy. I loved them.

 

Simple Stories- I particularly loved the albums and the Vintage Bliss line. The booth was also really cute. Love the counter.

I'm a big fan of the SN@P method of scrapbooking and I have an inkling that's how most of my scrapping will be done this year.

 

Glitz- They are really knocking it ouf the the park lately. I love everything they come up with.

 

Dear Lizzy- I don't even know where to start without gushing. Okay. I'm going to gush. I LOVE LUCKY CHARM. It's playful,reminiscent of my childhood, and just plain fun.

The navy floral paper is an instant favorite, I've already used it on two layouts for my BPC class.

And those albums? So me. I need a couple for sure.

 

Maya Road- loved this two-tone twine. i also found lots of stick pins and stamps i loved but (of course) didn't take photos for some reason.

 

Chic Tags- I loved every single thing Veronica came out with this release. Don't ask me why the only photo I have of this booth is the wall. She has lots of pictures on her blog, though.

 

Whew! There you have it...my show favorites!

Have a wonderful Sunday. :)
xo

S

Glitz Guest Designer!

Wow, my blog has been way more scrappy than usual,huh?
Weird!

So...you may not hear from me much this week as I'm preparing to head off to Anaheim on Friday for CHA.

But I wanted to share some projects with you today and send you over to the Glitz blog.

I'm their guest designer for the month of January and I had so much FUN. I love their products and they were so easy to use.

Sweet,delicate, and romantic with some vintage thrown in. What's not to love? :)

And yes...I did scrap a layout about Tim Gunn tweeting me.

Nerd alert! HA!
Happy Monday-

xo

 

Hey!

I wanted to share some layouts I did with the new MME lines.

You can see more and enter to win the entire collection.

Just head over to the MME blog!

 

One more thing...this is one of my resolutions this year...

and every year.

I sure miss Aleida. She made me laugh.

Will you join in?

xoxo

S