New Years in Florida

Its been a while...that's how it goes with blogging I suppose, especially when you have four boys to keep track of and a company to run!

We spent the week after Christmas and New Years in Jupiter, Florida.  I put together a quick spiral bound book using a packet of double-sided K&Company card stock, a number of coordinating embellishments and silk flowers and butterflies I bought on sale at Michael's.

The pages were simple in design with most of the focus on the photos and the journaling.

There are about thirty pages in the book - too many to post them all, but it was a fun, simple project that I was able to do at the kitchen table while my guys were watching the NFL playoffs in the family room.

Enjoy!

In the Christmas Spirit

This week, I picked up the Anna Griffin Holiday Traditions Paper Pack along with a packet of dimensional stickers and was overrun with a bad case of Christmas Spirit.  This never happens to me this early in the year (Usually it is Christmas Eve before I realize that it is Christmas already!).  So I went on-line and picked up some great layout ideas.  This first one is a near 100% scraplift from Scrapbook.com.  I had made these fans once before and just had to make them again.

Now to find a perfect vintage family picture to place on the layout.

This next layout is half scraplift and half original.  The left page was inspired by an Anna Griffin design.  The complimentary right page is my own, with my glittered three-dimensional peppermint lamp posts.

The whole thing was just too fun to create.  I know it is early for Christmas Spirit, but maybe it will motivate me to at least start my shopping.  I'd love to do these as a class (I was thinking about a "paper pack" class.  Purchase the paper pack and I'd spend a few hours showing everyone how to make both layouts and a few cards.) But not sure if I will have the time - or if there would be interest since you need the paper pack (and that's a lot of papers to purchase for just two layouts!)

But here's to early Christmas spirit...hopefully it will motivate you, too!

Lingering Days of Autumn

Another beautiful autumn afternoon today inspired this Autumn layout from my recent drive along Skyline.  Again, I used leftovers from Basic Grey's Indian Summer line.  The rays of afternoon sunlight and the leaves of my burning bush are a beautiful backdrop for this simplistic design.

Autumn in the Mountains

There is nothing more serene than an autumn drive in the Virginia mountains.  I took the day off on Friday and headed out onto Skyline drive with the kids  - my hubbie decided to join us for the first time this year.  The air was chilly - at 43 degrees is was a whole lot colder than we expected!  But the sky was clear and the sun shining.  Here's a quick layout I put together using last year's Indian Summer line from Basic Grey. Nothing fancy - just using the scraps I had left over from a couple of projects last year.  There was this little bird sticker leftover from the Elements Stickers pack that I gave new tail feathers.  I just love how the tail feathers transform an otherwise plain pink bird in too an awesome peacock!

A Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday we took Zach, Nicky and a friend to Pumpkinville, just outside of Leesburg.  It was a beautiful day!  I took a ton of pictures but this one was especially nice of the three of them searching for the perfect pumpkin.  As I am determined to use the papers and supplies I have been hoarding for the past few years, I put this layout together using last year's Little Yellow Bicycle line "Autumn Bliss" and two new Sissix Dies I bought last weekend on sale at Joann.

I used a craft knife to cut into the paper deisgn to create an overlay. Most of the embellishments, including those really cute leaf brads, are from the Autumn Bliss line of papers.

If I don't use a product line that I buy right away, it seems to sit on a shelf forever and becomes forgotten. Rediscovering this line again was such a pleasant surprise!