Just me My Soldier and our 4 little chicks

scrappy saturday- cbh

Happy Saturday sweet friends!

I wanted to quickly share a new layout with y'all today.

Supplies: Patterned Papers-My Minds Eye Kate&Co-Cambridge Court;Feathers- JBS;Brads-MME;Gold Thickers-American Crafts;Veneer Heart- Freckled Fawn;Enamel Dots-MME;Washi Tape(exclusive for SC)-Freckled Fawn-similar here;Star Sequins-Michaels;Doilies-Freckled Fawn;Journaling Card:MAMBI;Stickers-October Afternoon (You are My Sunshine),Dear Lizzy (This is My Happy Place,heart border sticker,butterfly), MME (You Light up the Room, The Sweetest Face)

You know I can't resist some good clustering and this layout is no exception. :) Had fun on this one.

Hope your weekend is fabulous!

xoxo

S

You Anchor Me {Layout Share}

I have a new layout on the Paper Party blog and I wanted to share it here, too!

I've seen a lot of talk of anchors lately. Whether people like them or not...whether they ar overplayed or not.

Here's a confession. I don't care if they are overplayed. I don't care if doilies, butterflies,feathers,  or anything else is over played. No one is going to know what the trends were when they look at my albums one day.

Hell, no one might want my albums and they might end up in a box in a musty basement (but with four girls, I'm hoping otherwise).

The point is...no one is going to look at my albums when I'm gone and say "oh, anchors were so overplayed in 2013." or "this page doesn't have anything to do with xxx and it has an xxx on it".

I'm a prep at heart. I love anchors. I love bows. I love stripes. :)

So I use them. B/c they make me happy.

On this page, they actually fit into the theme, too. Which is a plus.

I have long said that Jimmy is my anchor. I'm the social butterfly. I do more "flitting". I fret more.

He is my solid, steady, dependable, strong anchor.

And I thank God for that every day.

Hence this page:

Supplies: patterned paper:Dear Lizzy(stripe,red behind main photo, 4x6 chevron card), Glitz (You Anchor Me paper layer);doily:michaels (silver,i used the back side); anchor washi tape:Glitz ; anchor garland:Glitz;mint green color shine (i misted the back side of the chevron card):Heidi Swapp;all stickers and chipboard accents:Dear Lizzy;anchor tag:Dear Lizzy;mini doilies:Greatest View;enamel dots:MME;journaling tag:Chic Tags;heart chipboard frame:Crate Paper;doily envelope overlapping right side of main photo- Martha Stewart

A few things I did that I wanted to talk about...

I had these die cut cards from Dear Lizzy:

They are really cute but I had a hard time making one work with the colors in my layout.

So I flipped it over and misted it with Mint Green Color Shine. Note...rub it in with your fingers to give it a textured look.

Another thing I did was make the washi more like "streamers". I wanted the ends to have a "flowing" look, similar to waves/water...so I only stuck the tape down in certain spots. Glitz tapes are easy to do this with as they are more papery.

I put a bit of baby powder on the spots I didn't want to stick and I reinforced the parts I did want to stick (with glue dots).

So there you have it. Another layout. Two in a week. What the what?

Oh- and guess what? My Tooth Fairy receipt was on Apartment Therapy. SQUEEE!

Okay. That's it. Y'all have a beautiful day!

xoxo

S

Monday Layout Share

I finished this layout yesterday. And as I was adding the final touches I realized something.

It took me over a week to complete this layout.

True story. That's how I roll these days. That's why I never do any layouts. That's why I'm weeks behind on Project Life.

Good times. But that's life.

I was feeling grumpy yesterday and told J that it was because I needed to make something.

So I made the time and finished this page. Yay me!

I've had a box of gorgeousness from Gossamer Blue sitting on my desk for quite some time and it's been killing me not to put it to use.

I made this using the April Main Kit.

It's chock full of Studio Calico, Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper, and Dear Lizzy.

Oh, I added a few things from my own stash. I'll list them in the product section.

This picture of Sadie makes me laugh. This is the face she makes when she's just....over it.

It's so her. And I am so glad I snapped it.

Supplies: Gossamer Blue April main kit, from stash -->Dear Lizzy lucky charm stickers, Martha Stewart kraft tags, Maggie Holmes pin, various enamel dots by MME, doilies, Heidi Swapp edge distresser(super old and discontinued but i LOVE it)

I hope you have a wonderful Monday. See you all tomorrow with a new spotlight and giveaway!

xo

New MME layouts!

Hey y'all! Happy Friday!

I just wanted to share some layouts I made with the new MME lines and show you how you can win them.

Today's the last day of the giveaway so make sure to follow my links and enter!

These were for an email blast that MME sent out, so they are a little different than my usual layouts (fewer photos,more product driven, no mixing of brands)...but I love these new lines and wanted to share them.

This one is the Cambridge Court color scheme from the new Kate&Co. line.

I am in love with Kate and Co. It is bright, happy,and fresh.

You can win the entire thing by commenting HERE.

This next layout was made using the Up and Away color scheme from Rhonna Farrer's new line Find Your Wings and Fly.

It's romantic and modern all at once. And I'm not typically a romantic product lover, but y'all..this is a gorgeous line.

You can win the entire thing HERE.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! We kick off our Spring Break this afternoon. YAY!
xoxo

S

Greatest View Guest Designer Layouts {And a Giveaway!!}

This month I had the privilege of being asked to guest design for Greatest View.

Greatest View is an adorable Etsy shop owned by an amazingly sweet lady named Gail. The shop sells badges, twine, envelopes, ribbons,and my favorites...petite doiles.

They also have a wonderful blog and FB page, so make sure to check it out!

Here are the two projects I made for Greatest View.

 

I had so much FUN with these products!

Would you like a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to the shop?

Leave a comment here for a shot at the shop credit. And if you are in the mood for even more chances to win these awesome badges,

READ THIS POST

AND THIS POST

Each of the above links contain a chance to win all of the products I used on my layouts.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

And thank you so much for giving me this fun opportunity, Gail! It was a joy and a pleasure. :)

xo

 

You Make My Heart Sing

I have another layout up on the Paper Party blog! Thought I'd share it here too.

This entire layout is made with the new Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm  line.

I am OBSESSED with this collection. Seriously. I'm using bits and pieces of it on every single thing I make lately.

For a breakdown of how I made this layout (six five minute chunks!) and a supply list head on over to Lizzy's Paper Party blog.

Happy Thursday! What are you up to today? What are you making/working on lately?

xoxo

S

My 2013 Project Life

Happy Tuesday, y'all!

I hope you are having a wonderful week. I wanted to do a little (brief) post about Project Life today.

Some of you have asked if I will post my PL every week and the answer is no.

First of all, I am not really stressing myself out about when I work on PL. It's just fun for me.

So I don't want to try to post about it regularly.

Also...all project lifes look alike to me! PL is special to each of us because it is ours.

It's not revolutionary or earth-shattering and I love that.

I share some photos and stories in my PL that aren't for any eyes except Howell eyes. HAHA!

Now there are some scrapbookers that share amazing and new ideas for PL.

I'm not one of them. I'm going low pressure, low technique, photos+words.

Like you've seen/read everywhere...Project Life is whatever you want it to be.I want it to be easy and low cost.

But every now and then I would like to share products I've found that I love and show you how I used them.

Today I want to show you the album I'm using and some awesome printable cards I've found.

As far as my album goes, I'm using a Studio Calico Sundrifter Oilcloth Handbook.

For inserts, I'm using a combination of Handbook page protectors in style 1, style 2,and style 3. Heavy on the style 2.

Last year I bought a core kit and did a 12x12 album. It was too much for me.

And now for some of my favorite printables that I've used recently.

As always, Geralyn's cards remain my favorite.

These custom "what harper said" (there is also a "what sadie said" version) cards will always be a staple.

Some other printable cards that I'm loving are these Nemo Nor'Eastern cards from rukristin 's blog.

I love the way they look with the snow photos. Simple,graphic,clean.

I've been using lots of the Pebbles cards in my book. They are simple and happy.

Another great (free) printable is the Oscars card you see to the bottom left of the photo below.

I found this set on Laura Kate's blog. They are fantastic.

I decided to do a card about television shows and movies my family was enjoying.

I found this free printable TV programs card (bottom left) on the scrapbook printables website. Perfect.

The last printables I want to share are AMAZING. I cannot believe they are free.

The "fabulous life" card, Jan 28-Feb 3 card, Life is Good card,and Hello Today card are all from Miss Tiina. I LOVE THESE.

So there you go. A few shares that were too good to keep to myself!

If you have any questions ask in the comment section. As always, I'll answer there.

Have a wonderful day!

xoxo

S

Scrappy Sunday- All You Need is Love

Good Morning, sweet friends!

Hope today dawned full of sunshine and possibilites.

And that Springing Forward didn't kick your hiney too hard. :)

As for me? I'm always sleep deprived, so today is no different.

But I'm thanking the good Lord for that extra hour of sunshine in the evening.

I need that here in snowy RI.

I have a new layout to share today...I threw this one together yesterday...all in ONE chunk of time!

I discovered that I could scrapbook with the babies. By using washi tape. All I had to do was hand them piece

after piece

after piece

while I was working on my page...and they just stuck it all over themselves. And laughed REALLY hard. It was awesome.

And luckily I'm a fast scrapbooker!

I've been wanting to make a washi heart for a layout ever since I made them with the bigs in February.

So I made one using my favorite tapes. Easy,right? Cover a piece of cardstock with your favorite tapes and then cut a heart from the paper.

A note: I trimmed the gold AC glitter tape into chevrons/arrows because I wanted some white to peek through.

I grabbed the triangle tag from Chic Tags and wanted to add it to the layout somehow...and discovered I could just adhere it as the bottom of the heart.

I mounted the entire heart on a doily (natch).

Supply List:

yellow anchor tape- glitz design

bokeh (dot) tape- glitz design

yellow floral,black and white dot fabric tapes-basicGrey

gold glitter tape- american crafts

teal stripe tape- freckled fawn

pink woodgrain tape-not sure, think it's an older american crafts tape

with love tape- you can find it on Etsy

glitter alphabet- Reminisce for Michaels

"awesome" badge- Dear Lizzy

heart paperclip- Target dollar spot

star sequin,doily- Michaels

"you melt my ♥" triangle tag- Chic Tags

"happiness captured" fabric tag-basicGrey

chipboard floral accents-basicGrey

enamel dots-MME

small chipboard hearts- dear lizzy

pen- american crafts precision pen

My final step was (of course) one of the embellishment clusters that I have to always put on my layouts.

I added a cute badge, some chipboard pieces, a clip, a fabric tag, and a sequin.

A glitter title (added some tiny chipboard hearts in place of the o's)+journaling+my ever-present enamel dots= DONE.

Aren't those heart clips SO cute? i got them a while back in the dollar spot at Target.

I have to say that this page makes me happy.

One of those "grin the whole time you're making it" pages.
The best.

And the babies agreed! Ha!

Happy Sunday, y'all!

xoxo

TGIF

Happy Friday y'all! I hope you all had a wonderful week and that you are staying warm (in my neck of the woods we have snow!).

I wanted to share this layout that I have up on Lizzy's Paper Party Blog!

Head over to the blog for supplies and a breakdown of how I put this layout together.

Have a beautiful and blessed weeekend!

xoxo

S

safe.

I have a new way of scrapbooking.
I used to "speed scrapbook". No more than 30 minutes on a page.

And I still do...but now I scrapbook in chunks. I literally add a couple of things to a page each day. It takes me about a week to do a layout, but it's all good.

I'm still making something and that makes me happy.

Here's a page I completed today. We took these photos quite a while ago (on Ocean Drive) and I've been waiting for the inspiration to scrapbook them!

SUPPLIES patterned paper- crate paper//chipboard accents-crate paper (flowers),dear lizzy (arrows//star sequins-michael//stamp-dear lizzy//doilies-freckled fawn//journaling card-dear lizzy//glitter tape-american crafts//anchor embellishment-glitz design//remember sticker-dear lizzy//alphabet stickers-studio calico//american crafts precision pen//versamark ink//stampin' up scallop border punch

I love these Studio Calico thickers and I've been waiting to use them on a page. They were one of my favorite alphabets at CHA!

They go nicely with the Dear Lizzy flag stickers and arrows.

I'm also loving anchors right now. Maybe living close to a Navy base is rubbing off on me? :) :)

Also, I don't think I'll know what to do if Crate Paper ever stops making their chipboard accent stickers. I use them on everything I make!

So there you have it. A super simple page to make that only takes A WEEK! Hahahahah!

Happy Tuesday,y'all.

xoxo

S