1st Noel: Santa Babies

Hi everyone. It's almost Christmas! Nothing quite beats the first Noel: little babies in Santa hats.

 

This is Cory and his cousin Zack on their first Christmas.  Zack's mommy and I were both late-life Moms. What a thrill it was for our family that we both had babies that year. It was a miracle, really, and puts a spin on the caption,"We Believe." 

I used the December kit from My Creative Scrapbook to make this layout, which featured papers and embellishments from the new manufacturer Photo Play.

Here's a couple closeups:

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

Read To Me, Santa!

At age 20 months, my son was sure of one thing: his love for lift-the-flap Maisy, his very favorite book. He was a whole lot less sure about that old guy in the red suit.

As we approached Santa in the mall that year, Cory stood a good 10 paces behind me. Nope, he wanted nothing to do with that guy. No amount of coaxing would convince Cory to come closer until I handed Maisy to Santa. As Santa began to read, Cory inched closer and closer and finally climbed on Santa's lap. Score one for Mom!

Oh, I loved this age. It was such a sweet and tender time. If only I could bribe him so easily now.

To make this layout, I used the December kit from My Creative Scrapbook which featured the Dear Santa collection from the new manufacturer Photo Play.

Here's a closer look at the embellishments:

 

They were just perfect for this photo.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Christmas Traditions: Visit To The Tree Farm

Good morning!

In the great debate over real or artificial Christmas trees, my family leans toward real. I have fond memories as a child going to a local Tree Farm, picking out our tree, chopping it down, and hauling it home. We are continuing that tradition with Cory and, in fact, have returned to the same tree farm we went to when I was his age.

I took this photo of Cory with my folks at the tree farm last year. I layered the picture on top of a variety of patterned paper from My Creative Scrapbook's December kit. The kit features the holiday line from Photo Play.

To the right of the photo, I added a tree, embellishing it with stickers and a flair, then stamped the year, 2014.

I wish I had added some journaling to this layout and will go back to add a couple of short journaling trips to the upper right.

I have scrapbooked this tradition in previous layouts and in my December Daily. You can see the layout from our 2012 trip here and my 2014 December Daily entry here. 

Here's a photo of the kit I used this year:

 

I appreciate your stopping by. I'll be back with additional layouts from this kit on Friday and next Monday.

Home for the Holidays: My Creative Scrapbook

Hello everyone!

I look forward every year to welcoming in December and all the accompanying holiday traditions. The best tradition of all, of course, in welcoming home family.

Cory adores his cousins in Texas and it just doesn't feel like Christmas until they are back on the East coast with the rest of us.

I made this layout with the new December kit from My Creative Scrapbook. It features the new manufacturer Photo Play.

Here's a photo of the Creative Kit I used.

You can find more information on all the kits at My Creative Scrapbook on its website.  Thanks so much for stopping by. I'll have other layouts with this kit on my blog this week.

Scrapbooking Thanksgiving: Grateful

Hello everyone!

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just a week away. I love the Fall season, but it always seems to slip by so quickly and the next thing you know, Christmas carols are playing. 

Before we turn on the holiday music at our house, I wanted to pause for a moment and honor Thanksgiving. I have so much for which to be grateful and I took a few minutes to jot that down on this layout. 

I made this page with the November kit from My Creative Scrapbook. It featured a mix of lines from Echo Park Paper and Doodlebug Design. 

I included a few lines of journaling right under the photo, which I took of the table setting last year. 

Wishing you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. 

The Cutest Pumpkin in the Patch

Good morning, everyone!

I have another Fall layout today from the November kit at My Creative Scrapbook. 

I frequently scrapbook holidays and events a year after they happen, e.g. I 'll scrap Christmas 2014 in December 2015. I like to scrapbook in the same season as the event, but since it takes me a bit to upload and edit photos and I work with designer deadlines, the holiday is often well past. So, I just hold the photos for next year. Thus, I made a layout of last year's pumpkin patch visit just last month, which you may remember. 

In a break with tradition, I'm scrapbooking this year's pumpkin patch visit this year! The colors and icons in the November MCS kit worked perfectly for a pumpkin patch, so I got her done. 

Here's a close-up of the page:

I have a simple style. I most often use a strong 4x6 photo as my focal point. I try to include a bit of journaling on my layouts too, but I didn't here. I handwrote the date (2015) and the title tells where we were. We go to this particular farm each year and other layouts about our visit to Hodges Farm tell a little more of the tradition. 

This November kit featured a mix of Echo Park Paper and Doodlebug Designs. I used primarily Echo Park here. 

This is the kit I used: 

You can find out more about My Creative Scrapbook on its website.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Beautiful Highland Haven: MCS Kit Reveal

Hello everyone. It's the 5th of the month and reveal day for My Creative Scrapbook Kit Club. 

Here, I used the kit to document a trip we took in late September to the Virginia Highlands. My parents bought a little piece of property there and it is a sweet spot! It's a great place to watch for deer or pick apples or just relax and soak in the views. 

The November Creative Kit is a fun Fall-themed kit, featuring Echo Park Paper and Doodlebug Designs. 


Here's a photo of the kit I used: 

You can find all the kits here.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Trip To Chimney Rock

Good morning! I'm back today with a vacation layout. 

Chimney Rock is one of the most iconic sites in North Carolina, offering sweeping views of the mountains and gorge. So when my parents bought a new RV this year and wanted to take a trip, the first place we went was to Chimney Rock State Park. 

I took this photo of Cory and my parents at the base of the park in the shade of the trees. 

I used my October kit from My Creative Scrapbook to make this layout. The kit's theme was family and that was perfect for this photo. I don't worry too much about the papers being matchy matchy with my photo. Mom is wearing a pink floral summer shirt and I just ignored that! I used the papers instead to bring out the Fall colors from the photo. 

I wanted to add a bit of strip journaling to the page. I typed a couple of short sentences on the computer, printed them out, then took a small piece of aqua paper from the kit and placed it over the journaling. I used washi to temporarily hold the aqua paper in place, then ran the paper through my printer again. 

I used a paper trimmer to cut the journaling strips then placed them on my layout. 

The bottom third of my layout are just strips of border paper from the kit. Easy peasy. This is from the cute Family Frenzy line from Bella Blvd. 

The border strips give the layout a fun pop of color. 

Here's a photo of the kit I used from My Creative Scrapbook: 

Here's one more look at the layout: 

Thank you for stopping by. Have a great week!

Hodges Farm Pumpkin Patch

Hello again. I am back today with a layout documenting our annual trip to Hodges Farm to pick a pumpkin.  

Hodges Farm is my favorite pumpkin patch. I think it might be the sunflowers groves that sealed the deal. 

I used the October kit from My Creative Scrapbook for my layout. I looked through the papers, then looked for photos that coordinated. I confess: the fastest place to look for photos is my Facebook feed! I found this cute photo below of Cory with his chosen pumpkin from last year's outing and it worked perfectly. 

I love this blue graph paper from Echo Park. The cluster of flowers in the bottom corner was a great place to anchor my photo. I added a dark blue header and footer to frame the layout, added a few stickers and journaling strips and was done. I am partial to a simple layout. 

Here's one more look at the whole page. 

Thank you for stopping by. Have a great week!

My Creative Scrapbook Reveal: iPad Fans

Hello everyone. Happy October!

Today, I have a layout documenting my young son's iPad love. He was just 3 years old here and no matter how many toys he had, he loved the iPad best!

I made this layout using the new October kit from My Creative Scrapbook. The kit was family-themed, combining the Family Frenzy collection from Bella Blvd and The Story of our Family from Echo Park Paper. 

I made the base of this layout using the front and back of one sheet of paper called "Around the Block" from Bella Blvd.  The houses are the front and the yellow pattern is the back. 

I used my trimmer to carefully cut out a large square of yellow and used kraft cardstock to hide the cut marks. 

Once I had my base, I layered other papers from the kit and created a colorful mat for my photos. 

Below is a photo of the kit I used: 

Here's one more look at the layout: 

You can find all the kits from My Creative Scrapbook on its website.

Thanks for stopping by!

Let's Go: Kit Club Travel Layout

Hello and Happy Friday!

Today, I have a travel-themed layout using the September kit from My Creative Scrapbook.

This kit featured bold, bright colors and travel-related icons from the paper manufacturer Imaginisce. 

I thought the map paper was really fun and I wanted to showcase it without overwhelming the page. I cut it so that I could see the outline of the United States and used alphas and a geotag to mark where we were.

I anchored the page with a pair of suitcases. I added silver brads to the buckles for a little pop of texture. 

I also added small black buttons to the scooter die cut. I like the bit of depth that gives the page without being too bulky. Both the buttons and brads were part of the kit. 

I wasn't sure where to add my journaling. I could have added strip journaling right above the suitcases and I think it would have looked fine there. Instead, I printed out a short sentence that covered the basics and tucked it under the left side of my photo. 

Here's one more look: 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend! 

First Day: Documenting Kindergarten

School's back in session and it's great to have the household back in routine! To celebrate, I made a layout of my son's first day of Kindergarten. 

Cory was so excited to start Kindergarten. He may feel differently about later grades, but it was fun to capture his joy on this day. 

I made this layout using the Happy Traveler collection from Imaginisce that was including in the new September kit from My Creative Scrapbook. I loved the primary colors and thought they were perfect for a school page. I used the journaling cards that read: There is a great big world out there and Pack your bags to support the Kindergarten theme. 

I use this notebook edge punch from EK Success on a lot of my layouts because I just like it. But it works especially well here with a school page. 

Below is a photo of the September kit I used from My Creative Scrapbook. It definitely doesn't scream school, but the bold colors got me thinking in that direction. 

Here's one more look at the layout: 

You can find information on all the kits offered by My Creative Scrapbook on its website.

I'll be back tomorrow with a travel layout from this kit!  

Let's Do That Again: The Dirty Dancing Trip

Good morning!

I hope you had a great Labor Day weekend.  It's always sad to see the summer fade away, but it also nice to welcome the first tinges of Fall. I love Fall weather. 

Before summer slips away entirely, I wanted to document this family trip to Lake Lure, NC. I made this layout with the new September kit from My Creative Scrapbook. 

Lake Lure was the principal filming location for the movie Dirty Dancing, which was released in 1987 and made Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey stars. 

The cast and crew stayed at the iconic Lake Lure Inn, built in 1927. 

We stayed in a camper! But we did get a side view of the inn from a boat ride. 

The boat ride was one of our favorite parts of the trip. I took of photo of my mom, dad and son on the boat as we were pulling out of the dock. 

The kit featured mostly bold colors and patterns, but I chose some of the softer ones for my photos. 

I tucked the photo of the Lake Lure Inn in the upper left corner. 

Here's another look at the full layout. 

Here's a photo of the kit I used, which featured a travel line by Imaginisce. 

You can find information on all the kits offered by My Creative Scrapbook here. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!