Mini Christmas Cards

We're well into December now and that means there is a wonderful Christmas themed kit for December from the Scrapbooking Store. Today I have a dozen mini Christmas cards I created using it.

During the busy holiday season I like to keep things simple. These little cards are 4"x4" and are perfect for dropping in gift bags with a gift. These ones are going in my kids' teachers' gifts.

Scrapbooking Store's December kit has a lovely vintage vibe and is full of classic Christmas colors.

I hope you're having a wonderful an not too stressful December!

Discover the World Travel Layout

I'm continuing to work my way through our photos from Germany. Scrapping our travels is almost as fun as going on the trip. Today I have a discover the world travel layout to share.

Paper House has a couple of travel collection. For this layout I used one that is a bit older called Discover the World. I thought the map papers throughout the collection went really well with the theme of my layout.

The walls in Rothenburg are super old and provide some amazing views of the city and surrounding area.

When doing a large travel album like this Germany one will be, I tend to keep my layouts a bit more simple. It's all about getting my photos and memories down in one place.

It's always a big undertaking, but I just work at it one layout at a time.

I wrote this post while participating on the Paper House Creative Team.
Use code PH19SAMANTHA to get 20% off your entire order at Paper House.

Scrapping Maps

I'm working on more travel scrapping. Often, I like scrapping maps and memorabilia from my travels as part of my layouts. The layout I'm sharing today is one way I do that.

I keep lots of maps, tickets, and the like when I'm traveling. Some things I know for sure I want to include in my layouts and some things I keep because I might want to use them. This map was definitely a piece I knew I would include. What I wasn't expecting to include was the great snippet about the history of the city of Rothenburg that was also in the map.

I had some paper and embellishments left over from the Scrapbooking Store's May kit (featuring My Mind's Eye Happy Days). In fact, I used up the last of my paper left overs from the kit on this layout.

Sometimes my memorabilia is an accent, and sometimes (like in this layout) it's more of a focal point. Either way, I'm always glad I saved the little bits and pieces I pick up when traveling.

I wrote this post while participating on the Scrapbooking Store Design Team.

Fall Camping Layout

It's November, and that means a brand new kit from the Scrapbooking Store. I've already made a few layouts with it, and today I'm sharing a fall camping layout.

First, a little about this kit. You can find all of the details on the November kit reveal blog post over at the Scrapbooking Store. The kit is full of lovely fall themes and colors; rich golds, browns, reds, oranges, and a touch of blue.

My kit showed up while we were on our last camping trip before the camper went into storage. I knew this collection would be perfect for some photos from that weekend.

The Scrapbooking Store has a core kit and an upgrade kit. Usually I use a lot of embellishments from the upgrade kit, but this month I thought it would be fun to show what you can do with just the core kit for a few of my projects. Everything on this layout - every paper, every sticker - is from the core kit. The only additional tool I used was my Silhouette Cameo, which I used to cut the "CAMPING" title.

I hope your November is off to a great start, too!

I wrote this post while working on the Scrapbooking Store Design Team.

Outdoor Layout

Hello! This week I have an outdoor layout to share.

I used Paper House Great Outdoors for everything on this layout. The papers, alphas, and all embellishments are from that collection. It's one of my favorites, because it's so versatile and there are so many great embellishments to chose from.

Paper House rice paper border stickers are some of my favorite embellishments. They're similar to washi, but have a softer texture to them. In the layout above, I used them to ground my photos. Without the lines of rice paper border stickers (especially the grey and gold stripe stickers), the photos looked a bit like they were floating in space.I used a mix of card stock, epoxy, and 3D for the rest of my embellishments.

The title of this layout tells the story as much as the journaling does. This kid is so in his element when he gets to drive anything with a motor, especially his 4 wheeler. He's even happier when there is mud to drive through!

If you want to pick up some Great Outdoors or anything else from Paper House, remember to use my code PH19SAMANTHA for 20% off your entire purchase.

I wrote this post while participating on the Paper House Creative Team.

Welcome My Pretties Front Door Decor

My old Halloween welcome sign was getting a bit sun faded, so I decided it was time to create something new. I came up with this Welcome My Pretties front door decor.

I started with a 12 x 12 wood hanging chalkboard from Jillibean Soup's Mix the Media collection. I wanted to keep it simple so I decided to go with "Welcome my pretties." cut with my Silhouette Cameo. I used a font I had on my computer and used the offset feature to add a shadow/outline cut to the phrase.

I used papers from Paper House Wicked Good collection for the background patterned paper and for the letters. I added some card stock stickers (with pretty orange foil) from the collection for a finishing touch.

I hope you have some wicked good fun planned for Halloween. Remember you can always use my affiliate code PH19SAMANTHA for 20% off your entire purchase at Paper House.

I wrote this post while participating on the Paper House Creative Team.

Smile Travel Layout

Hello! I have another travel themed layout to share today using the Scrapbooking Store's October Kit. I'm calling this one "Smile Travel Layout."

We take a lot of selfies when we travel, because, to me, traveling is all about getting to explore different places with my favorite travel companion. We also climb anything there is to climb (it's an awesome way to see the city and burns a few calories from all the extra goodies we eat when we're traveling).

I'm using (Halloween) papers from the Scrapbooking Store's October kit again. They're from Simple Stories Happy Haunting. I'm primarily using the "B" sides of the paper. There is just something about the mix of pinks, oranges, gray, white, and black that really speaks to me. It feels so fresh and unique to me.

The flower die cuts are also from Happy Haunting (also part of the October kit). The rest of the stickers and embellishments came from my stash. 

I wrote this post while participating on the Scrapbooking Store design team.

Autumn Card

It's World Card Making Day, so of course I needed to share something. I whipped up this autumn card to share on this fun October day.

For this card I used Paper House Autumn Woods collection, because I find it to be just the perfect fall collection. It's full of lots of autumn-y colors like rich browns, purple, shades of teal, and orange.

Because it's Paper House, there are lots of great coordinating stickers and embellishments. The thin strips of leaf washi tape that I used are bronze foiled leaves (I know it's a bit hard to see the pretty foil in the pictures). I used a mix of puffy stickers and card stock stickers to add texture to the card. I also used some foam adhesive to attach the top to layers of patterned card stock for some added dimension.

I hope you're having a fun World Card Making Day. As always, don't forget to use code PH19SAMANTHA for 20% off your entire purchase at Paper House Productions.

I wrote this post while participating on the Paper House Creative Team.

Happy Haunting Travel Layout

Happy October! A new month means a new kit from Scrapbooking Store. I fell in love with this kit and made multiple layouts from it. Today I'm sharing a Munich travel themed scrapbooking layout created from the October kit.

The main kit contains paper and die cuts from Simple Stories Happy Haunting. As you can probably tell from the name, it's actually a Halloween themed line. I did, in fact, make one Halloween layout with it, but I fell in love with the unique color combos in this collection.

I felt like the unique mix of orange, black, and pink made for a perfect color combo to scrap some of our recent photos from Munich, Germany. 

The patterns in this collection are gorgeous, too. There are lots of spider webs, and ghosts, and other Halloween themed papers, but there are also gorgeous stripes, pretty plaids, lots of fun dots, and even some florals. Usually, one side of the paper is Halloween themed, and the other is a generic print.

Likewise, the die cuts are a mix of Halloween themed words and icons and floral die cuts. If you opt for the upgrade part of the kit, you'll get some cute Halloween themed puffy stickers, some Heidi Swapp puffy stickers (that I used on this layout), and some fun rhinestones.

October's kit from Scrapbooking Store was such a fun surprise. I was expecting only Halloween themed papers and embellishments, but I got Halloween and oh so much more!

I wrote this post while participating on the Scrapbooking Store Design Team.

Packer Layout

In this house, we're Packer Fans. I grew up in Wisconsin, and the rest of my household has been happy to adopt my football loyalty. This year my husband and oldest son took the 16-hr round trip trek so my oldest could attend his first Packer Game at Lambeau. So, of course, today I have a Packer layout.

I found this really great Packers Pride Football paper pack from Scrapbook Customs. Honestly, I usually have a hard time using paper that is so heavily themed, but this layout came together really quickly. This collection was so easy to work with!

I picked a few of my favorite photos that they sent me that day. Since I didn't get to go along (I was a little envious, but I still remember my first Packer game with my Dad, so making this a father son outing just seemed right), they made sure to take and send lots of photos. I also made sure one of the tickets ended up on the layout. Scrapping bits of memorabilia like tickets or maps is a great way to make sure those little bits of nostalgia don't get lost over the years. 

I hope your fall is starting off as wonderful as ours is...and Go, Pack Go!

First Day of Middle School Layout

Scrapbooking Store's September kit is out and it is perfect for scrapping those back to school photos. So far, I've created 3 different layouts. Two of which you'll have to check out on the Scrapbooking Store's social media accounts, and the third I'm here to share today with this first day of middle school layout.

I'm loving the rich colors in this kit. The colors are a little deeper than bold primaries, so the look is great for older kids and first day of school layouts that want to be a bit more sophisticated. 

The big deal with middle school (besides being in a new part of the school) is that they get lockers with a lock on them. There always seems to be a bit of a learning curve with this, and it seems to be the thing the kids worry the most about. I thought it would be fun to use one of the locker chipboard stickers from the Upgrade to September's kit to add that as an embellishment on the layout. P.S. He's mastered his locker no problem.

Thanks to the Scrapbooking Store's September kit, this may just be the fastest I've gotten my kiddos' first day of school photos scrapped!

I wrote this post while participating on the Scrapbooking Store Design Team.

Rustic Wedding Card

My husband was in need of a wedding card for a coworker of his, so today I have a simple rustic wedding card to share with you.
 

I started with a little bit older collection from Paper House called Wedding Day. The color palette is fairly neutral with soft touches of blue, yellow, brown, green, and pink. There are lots of wood and burlap details to this collection lending to an overall rustic feel.

I combined stickers from the collection with stickers from Paper House's To Have & To Hold Card Stock Sticker Pack for embellishments. I especially liked that the "Two become one" sticker has a shiny silver finish to it. It's a nice detail that makes the card really pop. 

Speaking of popping, I used a little dimensional adhesive to pop the wedding cake sticker up just a little. I also used a bit of dimensional adhesive between the cream wood grain layer and the top blue wood grain layer of patterned paper.

Remember you can use code PH19SAMANTHA when you purchase anything from Paperhouseproductions.com to get 20% off your entire purchase.

I wrote this post while participating on the Paper House Design Team.

Dog Layout

In June we added a new family member. Today I'm sharing a dog layout about our sweet Kevin the basset hound.

I have a lot of partial collections sitting in my craft room, so I've been trying to use up my stash before buying too much new stuff. The paper and most of the stickers I used for this layout are from an older Echo Park collection called Bark.

I had already used about half of the paper and stickers on other layouts, so my goal was to make a cute layout from what I had left.

I supplemented with some word and pet themed stickers from Paper House that coordinated with the colors from the Bark paper.

We are so in love with this sweet, silly puppy, so I thought it would be fun to make a journaling card that focused on some of the reason we love him (from his long ears to his wiggly butt and his goofy personality).

Thanks for letting me share my dog layout and my sweet Kevin with you today!

Custer Peak Layout

This summer my family and I took a long weekend in the Black Hills of South Dakota to 4-wheel and sight see. We made a trek up to the top of Custer Peak for some breathtaking views and great photo opportunities. Today I have a Custer Peak layout from that day.

For this layout I used the Scrapbooking Store's August kit. The main kit's papers and stickers are from Echo Park Good Day Sunshine. The kit is full of saturated summer colors and fun summer themes (like popsicles, picnics, lemonade stands, campers, and wagons).

My only complaint with the kit is that there is only 1 sheet of every paper. The kit is so good that I'm having a hard time deciding if I should use the A side, the B side, or half of each side!

The alphabet stickers I used are part of the upgrade kit. They are some of my favorite alphas and blend perfectly with the collection.

I have quite a few more photos to scrap from this trip, and I'll definitely be using all of my Scrapbooking Store August kit up on these and other summer photos!

I wrote this post while on the Scrapbooking Store design team.