An Amazing Year

 Hello! Merry Christmas! The December 'Fresh' Take 10 Kit is so fun and the perfect kit to kick start your 2016 album. I was so excited about the background stamp as soon as I saw it! So here's my card using a variety of 'Fresh' products...

I used a few of my new Christmas goodies too. :) I love my new Ranger craft mat. I just scribbled a blue and turquoise distress markers on the mat and sprayed with water. I dabbed my stamp in the ink and then all over my moist watercolor paper for the first layer of my background. After it was dry I make another sharper layer with a little less water. That gave me some darker dots and also some lighter ones where the new water took color off the previous layer. I love how it turned out!

Then I layered on a bunch of goodies from the kits to create a cute 2016 themed card. I used my new Tiny Attacher to anchor the label. My white ink didn't turn out very crisp on the '16 so I traced the edges with my new white gel pen. And I used a puddle of blue gelato on the 'have an amazing year' stamp. I can't wait to put this card in my 2016 album!

This is one of my last posts for Take 10 Kits and I just want to say thank you! It has been an amazing year on the creative team. I've loved sharing all my projects with you and being inspired by all of you. I'm excited to see what you all create in 2016! Happy scrapping!

Stay Cozy!

Hi! I have one more page to share with you using the November 'Today' Take 10 kits plus a few of my favorite things from the December 'Fresh' kits. 

I was able to use most of the back sides on this page. I love it when I can use both sides of the cards! It makes my kit go further makes those few pages more cohesive. I've been mixing most of my cards with the Project 52 core kit this year (2011) too. I love having an eclectic, mix and match album but there needs to be at least a thread that ties it all together!

I love how this pocket turned out! I knew I had to pair the picture of my rosy cheeked girl with the red cheeked emoji. Sometimes you just have the perfect picture! She was rosy cheeked and happy about it. This girl just doesn't feel the cold because she loves playing in the snow so much. 

Since most of you are getting your December kits any day now, I wanted to share a couple of my favorite pieces. I love the washi! The 'I love you' sentiment and something I'll use often. I usually stick to documenting the good moments because honestly I don't want to remember all the complaining and discipline that goes hand in hand with little kids. That's just life and when I look back I don't want to read about how tired and worn out I was. I want to remember fondly my sweet little girl and all the cute stuff she did! And I don't take pictures of grouchy faces! I know I'll have a perfect spot for the 'life... live it!' flair. 

I hope your happy mail arrives today and you have a few moments alone this holiday season to scrap your memories or prepare pages for 2016. Merry Christmas!

Happy Snow!

 Good morning! I have another happy snow page to share with you today. Once again I used the November 'Today' Take 10 Pocket Kit and Glam Bag. I'm really loving these kits! The colors and designs are just the perfect compliment to these pictures. My snow pictures turned out a little dark since my daughter scooped snow with daddy after work in the dark. So the colorful cards with crisp white backgrounds are great! 

I know I said this but I just love the versatility of the cut-aparts! On this card I used one of the strips to create a washi tape look.

I've had this cute mitten embellie for ages and never found the right spot for it. So I'm glad to finally use it to add a pop to this card. It's so cute! :)

I hope you're enjoying snow - or white sand if you're in a warmer part of the world - this time of year! I know I'm hoping for another storm so we can have a white Christmas.

Snow!

Hello! The page I'm sharing with you today is about one of the first snow's I remember experiencing with my daughter. It's so fun to watch her see new things! 

I love how the cards in each Take 10 kit are 2 sided.. sometimes the same and some a little different. This month a few of the very colorful cards were just grey tones on the backside. I used a bunch of them on the page I shared last week. And I try really hard to use both sides of my cards if at all possible. So this week I have a much more mellow looking page. But I really like how it turned out! 

 I added a couple cards from my stash (the BH Project 52 core kit) to finish it out. And the November Glam Bag embellishments added the perfect pops of color! I love the cut aparts to add just a little something special to a card.

Harvest of Love

Hello and happy Friday! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are getting a sorts of great Black Friday deals today. Or just having a great day if you're international! :) The November 'Today' Take 10 Kit is just so much fun and I have another pocket page to share with you. 

The football game I blogged about last week was the day after thanksgiving and these pictures are about the time my daughter spent with her grandparents while we were there. The bright colors of this kit just make this page so cheerful! I love it! I had 3 pictures that I had to create backgrounds for this time...

In this pocket I used some gray paper from my stash and layered on a card from the kit and created a banner. I cut up one of the 2x2 squares in the glam bag to create another pendant to go with the ones from the cut apart sheet. Don't you just love those cut aparts!

For this background I pulled out some previous months' supplies. I used the book stamp from last month with my gelatos to create a background. I used the frame and puffy tag from another month. My little girl is a bookworm so it was a perfect fit!

I hope you're enjoying all the inspiration from the creative team for your 'Today' kit. If you haven't read all the posts this month, feel free to browse while you're online shopping or snacking on leftover turkey today!

Family Football Traditions

The November 'Today' Take 10 kit is full of color! In Nebraska fall is still in full swing but my mind has started to wander to winter thoughts. There's frost on the grass in the morning, the wind has a new bite to it and we saw our first flurry of snow this week. The November kit has that hint of winter too! The colors and patterns are the perfect transition from fall to winter.

If you live in Nebraska you're probably a Husker football fan. Or fanatic if you're in my family! And we always have a big game the Friday after Thanksgiving. Some people dedicate black Friday to shopping but in our family the afternoon is for football.

In this layout I documented the year we attended that game. It's not very often that I go to a game with my hubby, especially now that we have 3 kiddos. Attending a Husker football game at Memorial Stadium is one of my favorite things! Especially when we win! :)

I love how these 2 cards turned out together! I combined them to make my football time title with the clock embellishment.

I can't wait to see how you use the November kit to capture fall memories your thankful for. Happy Friday!

Love: Gratitude Documented Mini Album

During the month of November, I enjoy doing thankfulness activities with my kids. A couple years ago I realized I wanted to do something to anticipate Thanksgiving the way we do Advent for Christmas. So I went to Pinterest for ideas! Isn't Pinterest so addicting?! I found a beautiful thankful tree with real branches and paper leaves. But after using it for decor at church my branches appeared to have a bug so I had to toss them. And really that wasn't very kid friendly. But I knew I could tweak that idea to be the perfect fit for us. I drew a tree on poster board and cut a bunch of leaves with my Cricut Expression. (I have a Silhouette Cameo now and can do the same thing.) This tree is perfect to pull out every November and add more leaves each year as we remember what we're thankful for. And it's fun to look back at last year and see silly things like marshmallows!

I have often done an informal thankful project for myself this time of year too. I usually make a few journal entries and post a few pictures on Instagram without making it through the whole month. This year I was so excited to learn about the #GratitudeDocumented project from Illustrated Faith. They posted this list of things to focus your attitude of gratitude on for the next 30 days and also send weekly email updates with corresponding verses.

My ability to be thankful is completely wrapped up in my faith in Jesus! Without Him I wouldn't know true love and my thankfulness for the little things in life flow out of my gratefulness for His sacrifice.

I knew I wanted to create a mini album with this theme. I had this cute Insta sized teal album that I'd won in a giveaway a few months ago and when I saw all the colors in the October 'Woodlands' Take 10 Kit, I knew it was the perfect fit. The colors are a match and so many of the cards and pieces reflect thankful sentiments!

This page is about LOVE from day 8. I put down a thin layer of gesso on watercolor paper so I could get a nice creamy look with my gelatos. I combined 3 different shades and used water with my finger to get this gorgeous background color. I used pieces from the Woodlands glam bag and washi to embellish. The alphas are from a previous Take 10 kit. After adding the verse from Romans 12:9 I one bare corner that I filled with some hand drawn hearts. I had planned to use a heart stencil for a slightly different looking background but technical difficulties interfered. Now I'm glad because I really like how this turned out!

On the back side, I water colored a heart and some splatters with my gelatos. Then I used the 'love you' tag, label and leaf stamps to both cover and add interest to a space that I mostly filled with my personal reflections about love.

Thanks for letting me share this unique page with you! I will be working on this all month and look forward to sharing more with you! I'm so thankful for this scrappy community I can be apart of with you and hope you can find gratitude in today's big and small moments!

Thankful for PJs Card

Hello! I have one more project using the September 'Homestead' kit from Take 10 Kits to share with you. I think coffee related cards are so cute but they don't really fit in my PL right now. But they make adorable cards! I used this coffee cup card as the base for a fun card I can send to a friend for encouragement. I think it'll make a great 'thinking of you' card. 

I cut out a piece of paper to cover the middle of the card and misted it with my purple gelato mist. I knew I wanted to layer a few more things on top of that card so the quote didn't fit. Once I layered on the pajama cut apart and 'thankful for' quote from the stamp set, I need a little more. So enamel dots and that cute little leaf stamp to the rescue! I stamped the leaf with a distress marker. I colored the marker on my wax paper and sprayed it with water to get a softer look. I'm using wax paper until I get a craft mat. :) I pulled purple and orange from the colors on the coffee card to line the edge and really pull the space together.

I hope you're enjoying the last few bits of your September kit as you wait for your October kit to arrive! It's super cute! If you didn't pick it up yesterday, make sure you click over to get the 'Woodlands' kit and enter 'take10' to get 10% off. Enjoy!

Fri Yay Card

Happy Fri-yay! I'm not sure who came up with that expression but it's kinda fun to say! :) As the count down to moving day kicks into gear at my house, I decided to whip up a few quick cards before packing up my desk. I had a few cards from the Take 10 September kit that were super fun but didn't quite fit with the pocket pages I'm working on. Fri-yay doesn't go with my toddler or 2012. :)

I also just added whipped spackle to my mixed media arsenal so I was itching to use it on a project. I used the whipped spackle with one of my homemade stencils I recently cut with my cameo. The circles added just enough texture and visual interested to my plain black card. Drawing from the mood board colors I misted the circles with purple. I used my gelatos and mini mister bottles to create my own purple mist. I love that I can make my own! Then I layered on the Fri-yay card and the bicycle ephemera.

Now I have an adorable card that I can send just to say 'hi' or 'I'm thinking of you' when I want to send a smile. Have you been able to create any fun 'out of the pocket' projects with your Homestead kit?

Fall Family Fun

 

Hello! This week is really feeling like fall in Nebraska. The mornings and evenings are cool, almost brisk and the days are still warm. This morning had me wondering if we should turn on the heat! But I had some mocha and put slippers on instead. :) I don't know about you, but we wait as long as possible before switching the furnace over in spring or fall. 

Today I'm sharing the second page of my October 2012 Pumpkin patch page with you. This was almost exactly 3 years ago! My little girl is 5 now and this is still our favorite pumpkin patch to visit.

The glam bag was full of cute embellies that I used with the stamps all over this page. And the washi strips are the perfect pop of interest to add on any corner. I also misted some gelato a couple places. I though the white background on the family card was too stark for this page. I love my gelatos! They're so versatile! If you're thinking about getting into any painting or mixed media work, I'd definitely start there!

What's your favorite fall activity? Do you have special family traditions? Enjoy a special treat (pumpkin spice latte here!)? I hope you're using the adorable September Take 10 kit 'Homestead' to document your family fall traditions!

Pumpkin Patch

 Hello! Today I have a festive fall page about our trip to the pumpkin patch to share with you. This month's Take 10 Kit just immediately made me think of fall when I opened it. The purples, reds and cozy feel of Homestead was the perfect match for these pictures from 2012. I finally have all of my pictures from 2012 printed and in my album. Now I'm going thru and adding cards and journaling to complete it. If I get a kit like this month, I'll often jump around to complete a spread that fits. 

This is page 1 of 2 (you'll see the other one next week) documenting a trip we took with friends to a local pumpkin patch. This was my daughter's first pumpkin patch experience and we all had a blast. It was a really windy day but that's normal for fall in Nebraska. She also wore her PSU shirt in support of Daddy's team but only because it was an off week for Nebraska. ;) 

All the embellies that came with the September pocket kit and glam bag really worked to make my page pop! I really love this new take on washi tape! The strips are so easy to use. The 'together is our favorite place to be' is my favorite card in this kit. I love the barn wood look and it made the perfect title card for this outing.

I hope you're all having a wonderful fall! I can't wait to see how you're using your Homestead kit!

Everyday Mixed Media Card

 

This week I have a fun card to share with you! I finally purchased some gesso (jess-o) and was anxious to use it with a stencil. So I pulled out the Take 10 stencil from this past spring and started making a mess. 

 

Let's be honest, I pictured it turning out much more clean and crisp. But for my first go with gesso, which turns out to be runnier than I expected, I'm pretty happy with it! I layered some embellishments from the August Pocket Kit and Glam bag over the arrow pattern after adding a few swipes of red gelato. The pieces I used on the card, I wasn't sure I'd find a home for in my pocket scrapbooking. I don't get in much traveling these days.  I'm not from California. And I tend to be a little too literal with my supplies. If it says California Hwy I have to use it on a page about that. :)  But all these embellies came together to create a fun travel inspired card that I can use for a birthday or everyday encouragement note. 

 

Inside the card I stamped the Wonder sentiment in white so it pops off the navy paper. I love how this card turned out! I'm looking forward to sending to a friend. And I'm looking forward to more 'trial and error' mixed media projects in the future!

Making Today Count

 Today I have a fun page with the August Take 10 kit to share with you! This the the first page of a very fun trip we took the the Children's Museum with friends in 2011. It was one of my daughter's first times at a place that has become a favorite. Then we stayed in the toddler area and enjoyed all the activities that were just her size. These days we roam all over the museum and enjoy hours of fun! All the color in the Wonder kit is the perfect compliment to this fun day trip.

I used my new distress markers in couple different shades to color my 'go 'wood veneer the right shade of pink as an accent on this picture.

I used yellow alphas from a previous Take 10 kit for my title card. I loved being able to use the airplane and letters here. Even though at this age we hadn't discovered it, later the airplanes and post office became a favorite place to play in the museum. I hope you have moments of fun this weekend! Happy Friday!

A Little Girl's Wonder

Hello! I don't know about you but this end of summer thing is giving everyone at my house vapors! So today it was so nice to sneak away for some me time with my August 'Wonder' kit. This page captures some special everyday moments of my then 1 year old baby girl. She's 5 now and I hope I'll look back as fondly on these days too. The pinks, blues and pop of orange were the perfect compliment to these pictures! My little girl fell asleep in the car on the way home from church and I just had to snap a pictures. There's just nothing sweeter than a relaxed sleeping face of a toddler. This page also records her first pigtails! Oh how I waited for her baby hair to be long enough to fit in these cute little stubs!

I can't wait to see how you're using your August Take 10 kit! I hope you all are having a wonderful Friday and are taking time to enjoy special everyday moments!