Shoot

This month I have been participating in Marcy Penner's "On the Grid" class over at Studio Calico and since the first lesson,  I have been obsessing a little over the grid design. The concept of the grid is not unfamiliar to me and it pops up in my scrapping often. I love using a grid as a design element. It's fun and there are a whole lot of  ways you can interpret it. Here is an example:

 

 

As you can see, I pretty much filled my 6x8 page with a very loose grid using paper, diecuts, a frame, and a few chipboard pieces. Simple and quick. 

 

 

 

I have found that in my scrapbooking, if I find myself stuck I will either turn to layering or using a grid design. Simple techniques that will get the creative juices flowing. I guess you can say that they are my backup plans ;).

 

Michelle



Citrus Twist March Sneaks

Happy Friday! I don't know about you, but this has been a looong week here at my house. Sick kids, lots of basketball games, and a husband working a different schedule has had me feeling off and wishing for the weekend!

The best thing about it being Friday though, is that I can share some Citrus Twist sneaks of the awesome March Add-On Kit! Here is a tiny peak at the four layout I made:



Well, what do you think?? Anything your excited about?  Can't wait to share the full projects with you in a few days!  Until then, wishing you a happy weekend :).

Michelle

Best Ever

I own two watercolor sets. However, I very rarely use them. Why? I do not like how they dry on paper. The warps and the wrinkles caused by the water aspect of painting just kills me everytime. Yet, I still would like to use them.

The solution that I have found that allows me to both play with watercolors and keep my cardstock and paper warp-free, is to use my watercolors on diecuts that I want to go onto my page. For example, I used my lovely blues and greens to paint this diecut title from the Dear Lizzy collection:

 

 

I know this is a very small detail, but it was fun working on the "Best Ever" with my watercolors. And not to mention it was a good little art lesson for my five year as I showed her how to mix colors and layer them to get a specific color. (She worked on a few herself right along side me.)

 

 

Isn't art fun??

 

Michelle

Surf

Lately, I have been stealing photos off of my husband's phone and I am totally okay with it. In fact, I am so thankful that he, possibly the last man on earth without a cell phone, finally got one last year! So far I have taken pictures of surf trips, our dog, and yesterday I took a picture of our dog with a RAINBOW in the background! I felt like I hit the jackpot yesterday when it showed up in my IG feed.

I have been pretty much the sole photographer of the family, so our albums are usually filled with stories told and seen from my perspective. That's great, I'm the storyteller in this household, but by including photos and stories from other family members my albums are becoming a little bit more well rounded. So, I have officially become a photo thief :).  And here is a recent layout featuring a photo I "took" from January:

 

 

I should have went on this particular trip because the weather ended up being GREAT, but since I didn't, I am so thankful my old school hubby snapped this picture with his cell phone!

 

Wishing you a great day!

 

Michelle

So Entertaining

As I have been working working on my projects this past month, I have found myself reaching for photos taken during all four seasons and that lends itself to the versatility of February's kits. For this next layout, I pulled a picture from this past summer and paired it with the bright colors of the MME papers and the watercolor paper from We R Memory Keepers, to create a fun layout.

I had intially planned on making a title with the blue glitter alphas from the February Main kit. However, as I was playing around with my layout I decided to go with a title cut with my Silhouette because I wanted something in a softer color to compliment the water color paper.

I have also really been enjoying the Heidi Swapp washi tape from the February Embellishment Kit. I think it is super innovative that there is more than on pattern on each roll. This makes it more usable for a person like me who takes forever to make a dent in one roll because I tire of that particular pattern after a few uses.

 

 

Wishing you a great last week of February!

 

 

                     

2015

Happy Friday! Today I wanted to finally share my title page to my 2015 family album. It's actually been finished for a while, but you know, I thought I would wait until the end of February before I'd share it!

Now before you get to the actual photos, I must warn you that I am not all adept at photographing pockety style pages. I rarely do. Which is exactly why they are not top knotch quality and I am a little shy about it. With practice though they will surely get better and I already have some ideas for next time!

So here you go, Team Wedertz, year 2015:

 

I kept it simple and bright with small details.

 

 

 

I don't do a typical Project Life album.  Instead, like last year, I will continue to do a combination of both traditional and pocket style scrapping for 2015. This year though I am going to try to simplify a little bit and streamline the albums more. Last year it took me FOUR 12x12 albums to hold 2014. And that is just my main family album. (I also do an album for each kiddo.)  It was a lot of work keeping track of everything.

 

Some of the things I am doing this year, is to include photos from the Collect app because I like their clean, consistent look and I can include details right there with the photo. I am also going to be a little bit more judicious about what goes in what album and how. Last year I would usually scrap one event/photo series per pocket page, but I am going to try to include more. I am also switching up my album sizes. I will be using a Handbook album for my son because is just perfect for a camera-shy-I-am-never-home teenager. It will also give me the option of playing around with a 6x8 size for my traditional scrapping. For both my main family album and my girls I am using the 9x12 size (also from Studio Calico.)   

 

And after all that, I have to say that documenting 2015 is going pretty well so far. How about you? Are you making any changes this year? If so, how are things going? I would love to hear from you!

 

Michelle

 

 

 

Hip Kit Club: Every Single Day & March Reveal

Hello! Today I have two things I want to share :). First, here is a new layout made with the February Hip Kits.  

 

 

 

For Every Single Day, I went with a completely different color scheme then the previous two layouts that you can see here and here. Having a versatile kit is pretty much a necessity, don't you think?  

 

 



 

And finally, I want to share the Hip Kit Club March Kits! They were revealed on the 14th and I am so happy to see such a beautiful color scheme and product line up!

 

March Main Kit

 

 

March Embellishment Kit

 

 

And introducing the March PL Kit!

 

 

Aren't they lovely??  I already have photos lined up and ready for this kit! The Hip Kit Club also offers a Paper Add-on Kit, a Color Kit, and a Cardstock kit. To purchase and see complete product lists head over here. Kits begin shipping on the first!

 

Michelle

Simply Magical



This year I decided I would be bold--and take my youngest daughter who is two to the movies. I know, I know, two year olds are unpredictable and rarely able to contain themselves long enough to sit still in a dark theater and not disturb grumpy adults ;). But you see, I LOVE the movies. I do. And since having my oldest daughter Maleia in 2010, trips to the movies have been far and in between. Last year I was finally able to venture into the theater with Maleia and she behaved beautifully. But she was four and acts like she's twelve. The littlest, Allora, not quite so mature yet. And she's sort of loud. But I did it anyway because I am STARVED for movies and took both girls to see Big Hero 6 and lo and behold, Allora rocked it!

 

 

Allora has now been to three movies, with Paddington being the most recent and the most enjoyed by all three of us. And because the movie touched us all, I had to document it :).

 

 

People, I just have to say the Life Documented collection from Simple Stories is awesome! It's been a while since I have really fell in love with a primary colors based line, but this one had me from the beginning. I have missed the color combo of red, blue, and yellow so much.

 

 

 

 

I had so much fun working on this page. The combination of the story and the colors, and the products really got me excited! Thanks for stopping by today :).

 

Michelle

 

P.S. I do not recommend taking young children to see Into the Woods--way too long and a little too complicated. I certainly liked the movie, but I had a totally different idea in my head of what the movie was going to be like and I was a little off. LOL. It is a total understatement when I say I was relieved when Allora finally fell asleep :).

 



Love

As long as I have known my husband, I have recieved a dozen roses on Valentine's Day. And of course I love this! And to make things even better, since marrying him five years ago, I also can count on a dozen on my wedding anniversary. Now that is a total of 252 long stemmed red roses so far--yeah, my guy is awesome!

Therefore, when I signed up for a "love" themed project for Elle's Studio, I went straight to my last anniversary and printed out a pic of my recent bouquet.



 

 

 

And just a reminder to stop by Elle's Studio and check out the special sale going on through tomorrow night!

Wishing you a great and love filled day!

 

Michelle

Hip Kit Club: Hello Beautiful

Hello again! Today I wanted to share my second layout created with the February kits from the Hip Kit Club. For this one, I wanted to create a title that would include the "hello" speech bubble from the Crate Paper Notes & Things chipboard pieces in the Main Kit. I also wanted to highlight the neutral papers included in the We R Memory's 6x6 paper pad from the Embellishment kit.  Here's what I came up with:

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today!

 

Michelle

2015:Read

Books are amongst my favorite possessions. A lot of my favorite memories come from books. Books have always been a constant companion.....but over the past few years, as I have raised small children and began to scrapbook more, my time spent reading has went down. I still read, but I move slowly and sporadically through books.

This makes me a little sad. I imagine that as my children get older and I sleep better, I will have more room in my life to devote to reading again, but I don't really want to wait for this--I want to read more now. So, enter the 2015 Popsugar Reading Challenge. The challenge is to read 50 books in one year, with each book coming from one of fifty categories. Sounds fun and frankly, nothing quite motivates me like checking things off on a list ;). 

Of course, I had to scrapbook this.....

 

 

 



 

How about you? Are you a book worm, or not? When do you read? I find myself reading the most while waiting to pick up my son from school or practice because the girls are usually occupied and locked into their carseats. Reading before bed is usually not an option because I am so darn tired and just want to go to sleep. I'd like to set up a designated daily quiet/reading time for the girls and I, but I'm not quite sure if my two year old would cooperate. Will have to work on some ideas if I am going to make the 50 books happen!

 

Michelle

February at Elle's Studio

February 10th means that today, Elle's Studio's exclusive February Kit and Add-ons go live and if you are anything like me, you are going to love it ALL!

 

Here is what you will find.....

 



February Kit, Wood Veneer, & Stamp

 

 

Printables and Digitial Cut Files

 

 

This month we were given permission to pull a little bit more from our own supplies to show you how easy  and fun it is to mix the Elle's Studio kits with things we already have. I was really in love with the turquoise, plum, and yellow in the kit so along with some neutral papers and kraft alphas from Elle's various collections, I pulled out a piece of floral patterned paper, a sheet of vellum and a few odd's and ends from my supplies.

 

 

"Love" is all about layers and I even included the heart frame from this month's digital cut files.

 

 

I really wanted to feature the yellow ampersand card in "Safety First" and used it as a starting off point for my layout.

 

 

I wanted to include some extra pictures to go along with the previous layout, so I quickly put together a pockety page using my favorite card from the kit.

 

And because Elle's Studio is awesome, this week Elle is having a sale! Woo hoo! 

 

 

To see what the rest of the Design Team did with this month's products, make sure and take a look at the gallery!

 

Michelle

Adventures in 9x12 Scrapbooking

I'm a pretty dedicated 8.5x11 scrapper, who likes to dabble in the 6x8, but recently I took the leap and tried out a 9x12....

 

I really didn't think the size difference would be that much, but it was. In the words of my two year old, the page was "giant-normous." Ha ha.

 

 

As part of my 2015 memory keeping plan, I am doing one album just for me-related stuff and I've chosen to go with the new 9x12 white leather album from Studio Calico. It's actually quite an understatement to say that I am really excited to get some stuff in it. Is it strange that an actual album excites me??  Ha ha. (Is it even more strange that I laugh at myself, often??)

Michelle

 

 

Hip Kit Club

Last Sunday I made the happy announcement that I had joined the Hip Kit Club Design Team and today I want to share my first layout made using the fun February Kits.

 

 

 

 

The colors in the kit have been a dream for me. Really they have. Pinks, minty green, black, grey, and woodgrains--all my faves!  And this particular paper Webster's Pages' Beautiful Chic collection featuring the multi-patterned dots is AWESOME. Such a cool piece of paper and I want to use it everywhere!

 

 

I am also hearting the pink bird from Crate Paper's Notes & Things, yes-I want 10 of them! Heck, I am really considering lobbying the scrapbook industry for more birds.  Anyone else with me on this?? 

 



Michelle