Scrapping My Little Man :)

I took some time a few weeks ago to create a few layouts of my little man. I will keep this post short and sweet, just wanted to share the pics. I used all Echo Park papers on these. They are my favorite line to scrap with for Weston. The first layout was done based on a sketch by Ashley Horton.



I hope you all have a great weekend and a Happy Easter!

Working Through My Stash and Tales of De-cluttering….

Good afternoon! In December we decided it was time to turn our office/my craft space into a bedroom for Weston. This was great for him, not so great for us in some ways. We had to find a place outside of our home to office (we’ve officed out of the home for 10 years now!) and I had to give up having a dedicated craft space. In order to do this, I had to really go through and purge a lot of stuff and get back to the basics. That means having 2 closets that contain two Ikea Expedit 16 cube shelving units. I had to be able to close those doors and have everything crafty contained in there. Plus, I had to move my beloved stainless steel top desk out to the garage 😦 So now I work in his room in the corner on a folding table, which I have pretty much ruined with paints and ink already. OK, not ruined in my opinion, but maybe in someone else’s 🙂 This would also explain the fact that I rarely use my Silhouette Cameo I got for Christmas. For some reason it’s in my bedroom on the other side of the house. It wouldn’t fit in the closet.

The reason I tell you all this, is that I need to publicly acknowledge that I may have a hoarding problem. 🙂 I have kits going back almost 2 years full of cute papers, neat-o embellishments, stamps, stickers…you name it. Tons of really cute stuff that I just put in a box fully intending to use, but never got around to it. I did an honest evaluation of my stash and determined first of all that all of those paper stacks (you know…the K&Co, DCWV, etc. stuff you get at Hobby Lobby and Michael’s) needed to go. There was no way I was ever going to get through them all. Plus, I once had hours on end to mix and match and coordinate different products and manufacturers. I have since learned the beauty of buying stuff that is already pre-coordinated for me. It takes the guesswork out of having a really well designed and cohesive page.

So that brings me to the point of this post. I have recently purchased some new goodies like the Maggie Holmes stuff from my last post, but I am seriously working on getting layouts done using those old kits. I have picked through some of them, so I may have to mix in a few new goodies. 🙂

That said, please don’t judge when you see (gasp!) paper lines from 2010, 2011, and early 2012. 🙂 I think that good design can trump the use of older products, or at least that’s what I’m telling myself!!

Here are a few pages I have been working on. I continue to struggle with 2 page layouts, but sometimes they just have to be done.

So go ahead and dig through that stash, who knows what you’ll find!! Have a great week!

Club CK Featured Layout…Plus 2 Scrapfit Workout LOs and a bonus!

I’ve got a lot to share with everyone today! First off, last week one of my layouts was chosen at Club Creating Keepsakes as a gallery highlight. It was one I created completely on my own, without the use of a sketch or anything. I’ve loved using this Dear Lizzy Neapolitan line recently!

Next up is a combined challenge layout. I used it for the weekly Issue Challenge over at Club CK, which was to use stitching through your title. I’m not very good at sewing, so this was the best I could do. I also used the sketch for Workout #63 at Scrapfit and Little Yellow Bicycle papers. I’ve missed Diana’s sketches since Sketchy Thursdays shut down, and was thrilled to see her over at Scrapfit now. This layout has special meaning for me, as it’s about 3 generations of men in my family.

This last layout is for Workout #64 Its Easy as 1,2,3… & A Sketch From The Paper Variety. I really liked this simple sketch to highlight the photo of my oldest daughter, Ashley, holding her baby brother. I finally was able to use my October Afternoon Sarsaparilla goodies that I’ve been hoarding!

And finally I did this one early last week just for the heck of it…I loved the pic so much of Sophie and her Opa and of course there’s the Neapolitan again 🙂

I got all of my work done yesterday so that means scrappy time for me today!! I will be working on my next Issue Challenge layout, and planning to do something scrap related this weekend after Natalie and I go see the Hunger Games tomorrow–can’t wait!!

Frosted Designs Sketch Along Tuesdays 3.20

First off I want to say Happy Birthday to my baby boy–he’s 3 months old today! 🙂
This week we had a wonderful sketch by Jenny Evans to work with over at Frosted Designs. I recently FINALLY got my items I’ve been waiting for from Stop and Scrap and one of them was the Echo Park “A Boy’s Life” set of papers. The very first sheet I pulled out of the package inspired me immediately to create this layout of my son:



And this was the sketch for the week:



Make sure to stop by Frosted Designs to play along! Just create a layout using the sketch and upload it to the Sketch Challenge. I can’t wait to see what you all create!