Farm Life from Best Creation

When Karen got the "Farm Life" paper by Best Creation into the store, I was excited to use it! I definitely have enough farm photos to create a variety of layouts.

First, I'll share the cards. I enjoyed mixing small bits of the pattern paper with solid color cardstock. When you use such small amounts of the pattern paper, you can make a whole lot of cards with one sheet of your favorite pattern!

 

For one of my layouts I used the project life page protectors with 9 4x4 squares-- it was a very easy way to slip some photos and pattern paper and build a simple yet creative layout.

 

And my second layout was simpler... I used a polkadot pattern paper and cut a creative edge to make it unique.  I printed an 8x10 photo but trimmed it to a 6x10 to give it a longer rectangle shape for the layout.

 

Do you have any farm life photos that you could use with this super cute paper?

Vintage Christmas

For this month's assignment, I got to work with the Vintage Christmas line from My Mind's Eye. It's been so hot around here that I welcomed a chance to envision colder weather!

 

 I don't usually choose papers that have too much of an already printed "story" on them, but this "Merry" one drew my eye immediately; I knew exactly the picture for it, taken ten years ago and waiting for a home! I wanted to ground that busy piece of background paper so I cut it down by 1/2", rounded the corners and layered it on top of a green piece of cardstock. I added a piece of red damask to the bottom to give a little more balance to the layout and stuck one of their adorable wooden buttons threaded with some ribbon on top of a circle cut from another piece of paper with my scallop punch. So cute!

 

And of course I played around with these fabulous papers in my Project Life system. I had all these great snowy pictures hanging around, so I decided to make a page dedicated to the garden at Christmas. The title slot is simply a piece of their "Joy" paper cut down to 4x6 and trimmed with a slice of a different paper. And since it was winter, I had to add sparkles. One little trick I've learned is to put your bling on the outside of the page protectors so they don't make the pockets all bumpy. And the rhinestones sparkle more on top too!

Wow! That was EASY!

I got to try out the Project Life style of scrapbooking for the first time this month. I was both nervous and excited. I was nervous because it pushed me outside of my usual style and excited because I loved that I could get more done quickly. It was quick, easy, and quite liberating, to be honest! I think it's perfect for the thousands of sports photos I take of my boys (you think I'm exagerating, but I'm really not!). This is going to change how I scrapbook those... okay, let's get real... I currently don't scrapbook 95% of the sports photos I take because I just don't have the time. Looks like I don't have that excuse anymore.  Sure, I'll still spend hours creating a layout for that one special picture, but now I'll also be able to get all the just-as-important extra shots in the boys' sports books using this method too.

Because I'm a texture and dimension-type of gal I decided to add elements, like these foam stickers on the outside of the plastic.

And check out what you can do with molding paste, stencils, and PanPastels. All of these items are available at Paper Pals! The molding paste isn't coming off either!

I also used my stencil and PanPastels on the team card. Just be sure that when you pick up your pastels that you pick up some fixative spray as well!

I just love the sheets of sports-themed papers that Paper Pals carries! All of these cards make journaling a breeze! Check out the full collection available a the store on the Paper Pals blog here.

Adding more texture and elements!

Such fun designs to choose from!

I decided to round the corners on the cards for this layout.

The other thing I like about this style of scrapbooking is that they will fit nicely into my D-ring binders!

I will definitely be incorporating more of these pages into my scrapbooks! I hope you'll check them out in person at Paper Pals, along with all the great products available to customize your Project Life!