Project Life Focus: 4x6 Cards

I have been happily combining traditional layouts with Project Life style pages for the past two years. After having spent a few years attempting two separate albums-one a traditional album and one a Project Life album-I finally found my sweet spot by combining the two. 

However, just because I have found my groove, it doesn't mean I am without my struggles. Today I want to talk to you about my biggest one--4 x 6 cards.

The problem I have with finding 4x6 cards to use, is that I don't have very many to find! With my sub to Studio Calico's PL Kit and my design work with Gossamer Blue, I get only a handful of 4x6 cards. Then throw in the fact that I am a little (too) picky about which ones I choose, I am left with only a few to use. 

Now the obvious and easiest solution would be to just buy more, but I have tried this and it does not work at all for me for the following reasons: I like variety and I am not to keen on repeating cards; I really don't have a whole lot space to store any of the PL core kits; I feel like it's too wasteful to buy more cards when I already have so much product at home--certainly I could make my own out of what I have right?

So what I have been doing recently to sort of tackle this problem is pull from what I already have and to keep a little bit more of an open mind about those cards that don't spark a whole lot of excitement for me.

Take for instance, this set of three cards:

These three cards range from the simply altered to completely made over. This first card began with a completely blank canvas. The card is designed with lines to include journaling and that's why I skipped over using it--I rarely (maybe never) write on larger cards. However, when I went back for a second look I decided I could use it as a background and went to town with some stickers, chipboard, and sewing.

The initial reason I skipped over this next card is that we didn't fly to Las Vegas-I drove there-which meant the "Jetsetter" sentiment didn't really apply to me (despite the fact that I have to drive really fast to stay alive on the way there). As I was working on the page for this set of photos though, this card and it's colors went really well, so I decided to look beyond "Jetsetter" and saw "adventure," "let's get outta here,", and "wander."  All of a sudden this card made perfect sense and with a little embellishing I had a card I was super happy about. 

This last card really embodies my true PL style-simplicity. Ironically, the the card itself was a little too simple so I jazzed it up a bit with a chipboard sentiment and enamel dots. 

In my dream world, I have lots of 4x6 cards that are ready to slip into pockets, but until that becomes a reality I am just going to have to make what I do have work for me.

Have a great day!

Michelle

The Cut Shoppe: Lovely

Fall is by far my favorite season to scrapbook. I definitely love the summer and enjoy all that it brings, but near the end of August I am so tired of the hot temperatures that I am usually begging for autumn to begin. I am so happy when I finally get to trade in my air conditioning and flip flops for warm socks, hot drinks, and pumpkin pie! Sweather weather is the best and most comfortable in my opinion!

Of course my love for fall extends itself to digital cut files and for this next layout I reached for the super versatile "Fall Finds" cut file which is currently available at The Cut Shoppe.

When planning my layout I knew that I really wanted to emphasize the pumpkin element of my photo and I chose to feature the string of pumpkins along the bottom edge of my 6x8 layout.

Since I was working with a smaller sized canvas, I ended up cutting off the last two pumpkins so that the strip of pumpkins would fit across my page. I could have just sized the pumpkins down to a six inch width in Silhouette to include them all, but I really wanted the pumpkins to be big, so I kept them as is. To adhere the pumpkins, I used a small amount of adhesive and then ran them carefully through the sewing machine.

If you love fall cut files as much as I do, I encourage you to jump on over to The Cut Shoppe Blog and check out what the rest of the design team is doing with the plethora of fall images that are available--lots and lots of inspiration I promise you!

Wishing you a great day!

Michelle

Oh, Yes

As much as I love everything about scrapping autumn, the reality is that I still have a stack of summer photos to get done. So even though I am skipping ahead a bit and documenting the fall festivities that are happening right now, I am making a conscious effort to continue to move forward with the summer stories.

Oh ,Yes is a layout documenting a fun picture I took of my teenager carrying his sisters' floaties down to the pool in July and I love it! The photo is one of my faves for the reason that I struggle a little bit with capturing my oldest--he's pretty good at detecting the moment when I hit the camera button on my phone! Haha. On this particular trip, he surprised me quite a bit about being pretty open to picture taking and I took full advantage.

Last month, I had a thing for circles. This month I am sensing a color blocking theme as is evident in this post here. I like to mix up my project designs, but I am super okay with repeating a recent design if that is what I am craving. Even though this type of layout is pretty simple, there are plenty of ways to add details and interest. One way I did this was by adding in a circular element and a few star shapes that are in opposition to the basic squares and rectangles. I also stitched around the photo and the journaling card in the top right of the page to bring emphasis to them.

So how do you go about balancing what stories you document? I like to keep current with my scrapping by remaining only a few months behind and I actually find it super difficult to scrap older photos from last year. I guess I like to scrap in the moment while it's still sort of fresh.

Wishing you a great day!

Michelle

Elle's Studio: October Reveal

Today's the 10th and that means it's time for the reveal of the new kit and gallery from Elle's Studio!  This month I took my cues from the cards and tags included in the exclusive October Kit and documented pumpkins and Halloween-two of my fall faves! 

Instead of jumping right in and sharing my projects, let's first take a look at the new products and class that Elle's Studio is offering this month.

October Kit

Printables and Digital Cut Files

Tradition Stamp, Acrylic Houses,  and Vellum Feathers

October Kit Mini Course

 

Here is a look at the two projects I made for the month of October:

The Thankful Collection (which is also available in the store!) is a great match for the tags included in the kit. 

Next, I chose a few photos to document from last year's Halloween. I paired the Halloween themed cards from the kit along with the fun glittery bat from the package of Halloween Acrylic and Glitter Foam shapes.

My pocket page style is pretty simple and I love that the cards and tags that come in the kits are pretty much ready to go. I generally go for a minimal amount of embellishment and then into the pockets they go! 

Now that I have shared my projects, I want to encourage you to jump on over to the Design Team Gallery for an extra dose of inspiration, but before you head out, make sure and note that there is free shipping available right now for purchases over $50 with the shipping code found below:

Wishing you a great day!

Michelle

The Cut Shoppe: Today

Holding on to scrapbook supplies and waiting for just the right project to use them with seems to be pretty common place. For me, this even extends to digital cut files and this next layout that I am going to share features a cut file that I have been patiently waiting to use.

The Little Letter's cut file appeared at The Cut Shoppe a few months ago in anticipation of all the back to school stories that were going to be recorded and I have finally found the time to use it! Yay!

The Little Letter's cut file is an alphabet background and that is exactly how I chose to use it to tell my daughter's own story about how she rocked the first day of kindergarten!

I worked on a 9x12 background and I sized the cut file to be even smaller than that with the idea that I would layer my papers and photo on top of it while leaving some white space. Since I thought that using an additional alphabet for my title would compete with an already busy background, I made sure to layer in a tag with a small title word.

It felt really great to finally get a chance to use this fun background on my layout-almost as fun as listening to my daughter tell me all about her first day of school! Wishing you a great day!

Michelle

Citrus Twist: October Reveal

This month at Citrus Twist Kits, I had the opportunity to work with the Main, Embellishment, and Pattern Play Add Ons. The kits are a mix of Pink Paislee's Memorandum, the latest from Dear Lizzy, and B Side from Basic Grey. Today I want to share two of my projects with you!

I went super crazy for the pieces of lavender in the kit! I know I am in the minority in this, but I really like purple and this shade is just so pretty.  I had a really fun time mixing it with the black and woodgrain in this layout. 

For this next layout I introduced more colors from the kits by cutting apart the patterned paper from Pink Paislee's Memorandum that features labels and paired them with the fun floral and some black diecuts from the package of Basic Grey frames.

To make the labels a little bit more interesting I added in washi shapes from the Memorandum collection. The "#lovethis" is actually a strip of washi that I layered over the label. 

I am also super excited to say that I have also contributed to the newest class over at Citrus Twist!

I really went to town when I created my project for this class--major layers going on! And the best part was that I did it all with my left overs from my September Kit. If you're looking for ideas on how to use up your scraps and/or kill a kit, this technique is perfect! 

Wishing you a great week!

Michelle

Gossamer Blue: October Reveal

Good morning! Today is reveal day for the newest scrapbooking kits at Gossamer Blue and I want to share my first two projects with you!

This month the October Kits are super versatile and I was able to scrap a range of photos. First up is Apple Season--my first official "fall" layout of the season-yay! I used a combination of both the Main Scrapbooking and Main Life Pages Kit:

I was so excited to receive the cork Thickers and bows from Dear Lizzy's newest collection Documentary and was happy to find a place for them on this layout. Another fave are the magenta alphas from Simple Stories because I think they are such a cool and totally underrepresented color in scrappy supplies. I am already wishing I had more of them.

 

Up next is Lucky Us, a layout I made using Add On Kit #2 that features a great mix of We R Family from Simple Stories, Pink Paislee's Cedar Lane, and some more Dear Lizzy.

I went with a simple grid design because I wanted to highlight the journaling cards I cut from a piece of the Cedar Lane paper that is in this kit. I loved the little saying "everyday is a blessing" and the mix of little acorns and leaves was just too perfect. The chipboard pieces from Simple Stories were a great choice for embellishments!

Well what do you think?? I don't know about you, but I think fall kits are my fave. Certainly I am always excited to see what every new season brings to scrapbooking, but the colors and the motifs in fall are always just so beautiful. Also the whole vibe of gratitude and counting your blessings that comes with the fall months makes me all warm and fuzzy inside, not to mention the hot drinks, falling leaves, and sweaters! Now if I could just channel these fall feelings into the middle of winter when I am cranky and cold ;).

Will be back soon to share more projects!

Michelle