Project July

I could kick myself. It's now a little after 4, and I am just now sitting down to write this blog post. Why am I kicking myself, you ask? My 18 month old takes 2-3 hour naps everyday. The perfect time to write blog posts, create a page, pick up the living room. Really, it's the perfect time to get anything done that requires little hands to be somewhere else.  And I wait until 20 minutes AFTER he wakes up to sit down to write.  So I am going to keep this short, because otherwise, it isn't going to get done!

Crisdam Designs has a new kit out today, Project July. I love looking forward to each new Project installment each month, and this is no exception.

Project July Kit

Project July Alphas

Project July Bits & Pieces

This kit is perfect for events and themes in July and all year. I used it for a non-July themed page, inspired by the Week 27 Challenge at Log Your Memory. It was a perfect fit for the photo, and the quote bubbles matched the theme to a T.

Crazy things are wrapping up at Gotta Pixel.  It was Gotta Grab It weekend, which means the designers all used the same color palette to whip up some delicious coordinating paper and elements packs. Isabel and Danyale both came up with some gorgeousness to play with, and they are on sale for a few more hours only!

Here are some pages I made with these packs:

Sweet Dreams
All supplies by Etc by Danyale
Summer Sherbert Paper Pack
Summer Sherbert Gumball Alpha

 I kept this page simple because I loved this picture. She has just a touch of a smile, though I don't know what she is thinking of. I have a hard time getting pictures of her where she is looking happy, let alone showing a bit of a smile, so this is a nice one for me. I love the sweetness of the alpha, and that gumball machine was too cute not to use!

Easter Haul
All supplies by Crisdam Designs
Project June Paper Pack
Project June Element Pack

 I had been meaning to scrap with these pictures I took at Easter this year, and these colors were a perfect match for the candy-hued (and filled) baskets that arrived on Easter morning. Journaling reads: The Easter Bunny brought a whole lot of fun Spring toys this year. Maggie got a garden themed basket, with gardening tools and a strawberry plant, in addition to candy and an iTunes gift card. John got a car track, and a summer outfit. You two got quite a haul!

When You Were 1
Layout inspired by Week 24 Challenge at Log Your Memory
Kit: You Make Me Happy by Nikki Epperson
Alpha: Time 4 Presents (recolored) by Etc by Danyale

This challenge was to compare the people in my life. It is super easy to compare these two sweeties, as there are so many things that are opposites! I listed some of the things I remember Maggie doing when she was one, and compared (or contrasted) the same things with John. These are two of my favorite pictures of each of them at about a year old. I can't believe how fast time flies!  Just this week, John has had his first visit to a swimming pool, and Maggie has shown her grandma how to use an iPad. A lot has changed in such a short time!

It's Spring Time!

The weather is finally starting to feel like Spring here, which means I once again have to juggle being outside in the beautiful weather with my compulsion to sit on the couch with my computer.  There's a balance somewhere in there, I'm sure.

But I have been scrapping even with the beautiful weather, and twice with my friends in real life, which makes any day great! I also pulled the photos off my two memory cards (one for each camera) and used photos from each upload in the pages I made this weekend.  (Also a bonus that our trip to Best Buy today resulted in a new charger for my camera battery, which means new photos with the good camera again!)

It was Danyale's birthday earlier this month, and she celebrated by creating this great party themed kit full of color and texture.

On my point-and-shoot card, I found some photos of Maggie blowing her candles out at her last birthday that are perfect with the colors in this kit.

And the newest installment of Isabel's Project 2011 series was released today, Project April.  I found some great pictures of Johnny enjoying a beautiful February day to use with this sweet kit (and yes, I realize the irony of using April's kit for February photos, but you gotta go with the inspiration!).

There are also matching Alpha and Bits & Pieces kits for Project April.  Now I'm off to scrap a little longer tonight.  

Looking Back and catching up

Catching up on my blog reader this morning, I was reminded of some other layouts I haven't posted here yet.

I used photos of my great grandma that were scanned a few years back to include with my family history research. So far, these photos pretty much sit on my hard drive, moving from computer to computer over the years. Danyale's Looking Back kit inspired me to create with them though.

Created using Looking Back Kit, Looking Back Borders by Etc by Danyale

Created using Looking Back kit, Looking Back borders, and Looking Back Monograms & Decos by Etc by Danyale

Also, I have a freebie cluster available on Danyale's blog using her cute Egg Huntin kit.  It's available here.

Again with the Challenges.

So most of my scrapping this month has been based on completing the LYM challenges.  It was a longer month than I had anticipated, and it feels great to finally be able to come up for air!

The Log Your Memory Forum and Gallery are closed at the moment, pending a server move, so I've linked these pages to other galleries where they are posted for credit purposes.  All materials used are listed and linked in the galleries. (Read: I'm still recovering from the last three weeks, and an up and back drive to Cheyenne, and don't have the energy to post individual links to each product...sorry!)

Week 10

Image is linked to Gotta Pixel gallery for credits

Week 11

Image is linked to DST gallery for credits

Egg Huntin'

The blog silence is broken! It's been a crazy few weeks here, so I haven't made it to the blog in a while.  But I didn't give up scrapping during that time, so I will try to get a few things posted this week to make up for the silence. But first, a new release!

Image is linked to product in store.

Just in time for Easter, Danyale (Etc by Danyale) has released a great kit.  Know what's even better?  It's also been released just in time for Pixel Tuesday! There are matching alpha and word art sets too.

Here's my layout I made with the kit.  I haven't added my journaling yet because sometimes my daughter likes to look at the pages, and I don't want her to read the journaling, as she still believes in all holiday things magical and mysterious, including the Easter Bunny.  It will talk about how this playset was intended to be from the Easter Bunny, but she found it the day before Easter in it's hiding place. There was some frantic searching for a new present, but the Easter Bunny came through after all, and Maggie got two special treats near Easter that year!  (Note to self...must figure out what year that was!)

I hope everyone enjoys their week!  It's Spring Break here, so I will definitely be enjoying some much needed time off (and scrapping as much as I can!), though there are several projects on my to do list that look remarkably like chores.  I guess there's no fun without a little work, right?

Again with the Catching-up!

Day three and still going strong.  Hurray for scheduled posts, right? Ok, so I did not really write this today...but if I posted all these posts and layouts on Monday it would be blog overload.  A little at a time is much easier to digest. (If only I could remember the same about Girl Scout cookies!)

I've used two of Connie Prince's new kits in the last little bit.  My Favorite Things, which is her offering for Grab-A-Byte at scrapbookbytes.com (and was also used in the Puppy Love layout for one of my DIDer lessons), and Main Street Magic.

Kit and Template: My Favorite Things by Connie Prince

I don't usually use much purple in my pages, but love the way this looks with the green.  And on the subject of my favorite things, I couldn't resist scrapping about my love of my kindle and all things book-ish again.  My Kindle had an unfortunate run-in with my elbow last weekend, and is now in Kindle heaven.  I am anxiously awaiting it's replacement in the form of a 3rd generation Kindle (with a new case, of course) which SHOULD arrive by Thursday if the tracking information is correct as of Monday afternoon.  And yes, I think I have learned my lesson, and the Kindle will stay in it's case so I can't smash the screen.  And it will stay on my nightstand, not underneath the comforter where it can't be seen. Yup, lessons learned.  (I did mention in a previous post that I am a learner, right?)

Kit: Main Street Magic by Connie Prince
Template: For the Love of Layers Vol 9 by Connie Prince

Oh, I have scrapped Maggie recently, I wasn't thinking of this layout when I wrote the end of yesterday's post.  While I don't have any Disney pictures, which is hinted at in the title of the kit, I loved the energy of the papers and colors, and thought they would be perfect for a birthday page.  I was actually the "excited" tag that brought the birthday idea to my mind, and I meant to journal about how excited Maggie was to have a skating party, even though she was not a proficient skater before the party.  By the end of the session though, she had figured it out and was skating very well. You can bet we'll be skating more often this year, especially now that she has her own skates (part of the party package).

I'll be back for one more post this week on Friday.

Continuing the Catch-Up

Kit: Bride to Be by Crisdam Designs and Mye De Leon

Kit: Loveable by Crisdam Designs
Template: February Twisted Pixels by Crisdam Designs

I hope I haven't posted these layouts before.  I'm pretty sure I haven't posted them before.  I know at least one of them is new here. Guess I need to figure out a better recording system for my blog posts!  

Isabel Mendez of Crisdam Designs has had a lot going on this month.  She had a week in the spotlight at Gotta Pixel last week, and has a couple new kits out this month.  Of these two pages, one is a new kit and one is an older kit, but they are both beautiful kits!  Working with her new "Bride to Be" collaboration with Mye De Leon made me realize that I need to scan in some more pictures of my wedding though...I only have this one on my computer!  

I'll be back again with more from Connie Prince and Log Your Memory.  I'm slowly but surely catching-up!  

So much to say

It's a busy weekend over at Gotta Pixel!  Between Gotta Grab It new releases, and a super sale, it's crazy!

First off, GGI... All the designers use the same colors to create packs for $1 each...this month's colors are great spring colors, that REALLY make me wish for Spring!  Since I work with three designers at Gotta Pixel, it's a VERY busy weekend.

Papers and elements by Crisdam Designs

Isabel has a paper pack, matching elements, and alphas in the mix this weekend.  I made this page for the Week 6 challenge at Log Your Memory, about a special relationship.

Flea Market Word Art and Borders by Etc by Danyale

I suppose I could have also used this page for the same challenge.  Using the packs by Etc by Danyale, this page went together super fast.  I knew I wanted to make this page as soon as she started talking about what her general idea for the packs were, and I feel like this word art was made especially for me to use, because it fit my vision exactly!!  A few of her borders, a quick piece of word art, and the page was finished!  (And because I couldn't find paper like I was looking for at the time I was building this page, I made my own!)

Connie also has new packs in the store this weekend too, but I haven't had a chance to play with them yet.

And the sale!!

The designers are having a HUGE SALE.  The GGI packs are not part of this, but it's a great chance to stock up.

I am hoping to get some good scrapping time in this weekend.  Jessica Sprague's new Digi in Deeper class started this week, and so far I'm still on the first layout.  I put my sketch together, but haven't had the time to sit down and actually work through the lesson.  Suddenly I'm very behind!

A Tale of a Tuesday

I've been dealing with a pain in my neck (literally) for the last few days, so will keep this post short, in the interest of my pain tolerance.  Not much new scrapping this weekend, once my neck really started acting up, but luckily I have a few things I put together last week that I can share.

To start with, Isabel's stores are on sale for the entire month of February!

She has a new release today, Project February.  Part of a yearlong project, these kits are perfect for P365/52 or everyday memory keeping.  I made this month's desktop calendar with the February kit.  (And only after saving it, realized it's the same picture I used for January.  Guess I need to take more pictures with both kids!)

All supplies from the Project February line by Crisdam Designs (Isabel Mendez)

Kit: Always by Crisdam Designs (Isabel Mendez)
Flowers: Crocheted Flowers by Crisdam Designs (Isabel Mendez)

Part of the Dollar Pixel sale today at GottaPixel, Isabel's Always kit and Crocheted flowers were a perfect combo to put a page together with wedding pictures of my parents and grandparents.

Connie Prince also has a new release collaboration today: Pocket Finds with Victoria Feemster.

Kit: Pocket Finds Collab by Connie Prince and Victoria Feemster

These colors are my favorites, and I'm hoping to have time to play with this kit again later this week, I have a few more ideas swimming in my head.

I also put together two layouts for challenges at Log Your Memory.

Everything except red alpha by Crisdam Designs (Isabel Mendez) (pieces from Project 2011, and Project January)
Red Alpha by Etc by Danyale (Burning Love)

 Week 4 had to do with a project, and while I have a lot of those laying around, I don't have many completed at this point. This idea popped in to my head, and I have used many of these excuses on many occasions, especially if there is no due date for a particular project.  What can I say...I am a procrastinator at heart!

Papers by Orchard & Broome, and Queen of Quirk
Elements by Geek Chic, Latz Designs, Crisdam Designs (Isabel Mendez) and Kitschy Digitals
Alpha by Etc by Danyale
Template by Trixie Scraps Designs

Week 5's page was to tell a fairy tale.  With my current struggle to prioritize, leave work at work, and leave a little time for play, I couldn't come up with a regular fairy tale, and just wasn't feeling a love story, so I turned my struggle into a fairy tale.  I am hoping the end is happily ever after, but I know it takes work, and I know I am on my way in the right direction!

Sorry for no links in todays post, I'm trying to keep this as quick as I can while still giving credit where it's due!  Now I'm off to rest my head and gear up for another day in the classroom!

Coming up for Air

It's been a busy two weeks, but I think I am finally finding a rhythm of work and family and fun. At least, I hope I've found a rhythm!  I have a calendar planned out with responsibilities and daily activities planned out, including time for scrapping and perusing the galleries and forums.  Last night, my calendar included Craft Night at a friend's house.  Always a fun time, I was able to get a lot of my upcoming scrapping assignments completed, including some that were a little more overdue that I would have liked!  This morning, I was able to get up and post 4 new pages to my galleries.  That's a lot of scrapping.  (Not to mention the bits and pieces I've managed to get done over the last couple weeks.)

I have four pages that I made with goodies from My Life and Scrap, with a little bit of Danyale's gorgeous alphas thrown in too. :)

SAHM
Kit: A Day in My Life by Jen C Designs (at My Life and Scrap)

 This page has a coordinating left hand page also, but I have to wait to post it in my galleries because it's out for publication!  I'm very excited to see it "in print," even if I have to wait to post it around.  I really loved this challenge at Log Your Memory (week 3) and love the pages that were inspired by it.

Kit: Cold by Jen C Designs

 The blues in this kit just screamed skiing to me.  It has been a few years since we've been out, but the memories are great and we're hoping to hit the slopes again sometime soon!

Happy Boy:
Kit: Denim by ScrapElf
Alpha: Backyard Life by Etc by Danyale

 I love this photo.  John was so thrilled to bounce on the pile of rolled up blankets in the store, I think it's the only way we survived the last 20 minutes or so of that last Christmas shopping trip!  The picture isn't great, I only have my cell phone camera, and he wouldn't sit still long enough to get a crisp shot, but that's part of what makes it such an energetic photo, I think.

Kit: All I Want For Christmas by ScrapElf
Alpha: Backyard Life Alpha by Etc by Danyale

I haven't done much with my photos from this Christmas.  In fact, I think they were only taken off my camera's memory card about a week ago.  Long enough to decide that I needed at least ONE page this year, before next Christmas comes around!

And some older pages that have been sitting around here:

Kit: Chugging Along by Colie's Corner
Word Art: Chugging Along Word Art by Etc by Danyale and Colie's Corner

 Danyale had a new word art set out that coordinates with a release by Colie's Corner.  The train theme was perfect for using with this picture of John testing out his new ride-on train he got for Christmas.

And this is Danyale's newest solo release.  Loving the quilted alpha still!  This title is part of the word art set, and the hearts are all part of the alpha deco pack, but were so much fun to work with!  Making this page even made me kind of like this picture (which I have always disliked, even though my favorite pint-sized photographer snapped it)...I'm not sure which part makes me like it more, the pretties that I decorated the page with, or the Photoshop work that took away all the acne that had been on my forehead.  Turned it in to a half decent photo!

Kit, predecorated paper, and template: Sweetest Thing by Connie Prince

 I put this page together on the night my baby turned 1.  This is still my favorite infant photo of him, and one of the few I have of him actually sleeping those first few weeks.  The best part of this layout, is that it went together so fast.  The background is actually a pre-decorated page, and I piled a focal cluster from a template over the paper, clipped papers and elements into the template pieces and voila!  Super easy, super fast, and super cute!

Kit: Make a Wish by Isabel Mendez
Alpha (number 7): Time 4 Presents by Etc by Danyale (recolored)

This is the page I put together late on the night of my last blog post, but never got back to post!  It was another template page, so went together pretty quickly, all things considered.  I did recolor the 7 (it was originally a very Christmas-y green, but wanted the outlined number, and love the final look!

Here's to another week beginning, and hopefully a slightly more organized calendar, and more timely blog posts!

Gotta-Grab-It Madness

I love Gotta-Grab-It.  However, my bank and Paypal accounts do not always agree with that statement, so it's a good thing I can get a few of the packs for free through my CT positions. :)

From Danyale at Etc by Danyale, there are four fabulous alpha/word art sets.  I only played with one alpha, but I'm itching to get my hands on the second.

Priority

This page is also for the Week 2 Challenge at Log Your Memory.  It didn't take a whole lot of thought to come up with my word, because I am already having to do a whole lot of juggling to balance what I HAVE to do with what I WANT to do, and deciding what is really important.  Remembering that it's all about my own priorities makes me feel less guilty about the things I have to give up.

And I can't remember if I mentioned here before that I won a three month guest spot with Connie Prince during a New Year's Eve chat, but I also got to play with her GGI contribution, Time to Play.

Playmates

Isabel Mendez (Crisdam Designs) also has a great offering for the GGI sale this weekend:

I'll be playing with this one later today!  It's very fitting as today is John's first birthday.  I'm off to play with it, and will be back later with a new layout. :)