Laura's January 2014 "My Story" Layout: Coffee Card

Hello! I'm excited to finally be able to share my finished project with you. I enjoy creating not only Pocket Pages but cards, particularly for family and friends. I love how this card turned out and it's been killing me to keep it a secret! Here's the finished product using goodies from this month's Take 10 pocket kit:

I am more of an event pocket scrapper so when I opened this month's kit and saw the bullet-ed week card, my brain started churning out other ideas to use it. I love going out for coffee with a friend any day of the week! 'Going out for coffee' doesn't always mean actually getting coffee but it does always mean meeting up with a friend. As a busy mom of 2 (almost 3) littles, my coffee dates are few and far between but oh so precious. This card brings together my love of friends and coffee and will be a joy to send out to a dear friend.

 The base is just white textured card stock, which I covered with an array of gelatos to match the palate of the watercolor card I wanted to layer on top. Then I took my brush and water to it to get the watercolor effect. If you're considering investing in watercolors, I highly recommend going with gelatos instead. They're less mess and so versatile! Once my card base was dry, I layered on some blue card stock to pull out the blue coffee cup, weekly bullet card, watercolor card and the coffee cup card which I trimmed around the top to mix up the shapes. I stamped the 'I...' on by covering the 'today' with washi tape and added some of the adorable puffy stickers and the rectangular label. I used my Cameo to cut out coffee but it would really look nice handwritten too.

I hope you're inspired my this month's My Story Pocket Kit and I look forward to seeing all your creative projects and pocket layouts! You can see more of my work at www.howtheliliesgrow.blogspot.com or on Instagram @liliesgrow1227.

Take 10 coupon deal

Here's a peak at a card I'm working on that's from Take 10 Kits! Check out the kit and everything else in the wonderful Studio29 Designs shop and use the code Laura10 at check out to save 10% thru 2/2! I just love the sweeping pinks, oranges and yellows in this watercolor card. But the quote doesn't work with my current layouts so I'm giving it a little extra love. :) What card can't get better with some embellishment especially when it includes some Nebraska love!?! I can't wait to share more with you. It's coming soon, I promise. Check back later this week for the full reveal of my projects with this amazing kit!

Laura's Sneak Peek: "My Story" January 2015

Hello! I'm excited to share my first sneak with you! This month's kit came after the storm of Christmas vacation at our house and it took me some time to get inspired. You know, how sometimes you get a kit and it's beautiful but it doesn't speak to you right away? But I've really fallen in love with this kit as I dug in and made it my own. Because it's very focused on a particular color palate, it makes it easy to mix together with other mediums.

I love these little puffy stickers from Pink Fresh Studio! They add the perfect little pink and orange pop of dimension to the card I'm working on. I can't wait to share the rest of my project with you and see how you use the My Story kit this month!

See my official Take 10 Kit sneak at The Studio 29 Designs blog. 

Creative Team Member

I'm so excited to announce I'm part of the Studio 29  Designs Creative Team for Take 10 Kits!! When I started Pocket Scrap-booking a year and half ago, I began following and gaining inspiration from many different design and creative team members at pocket scrapping companies around the world on Instagram and Facebook.

By the way...
If I say pocket scrapping or project life I mean the same thing! Project Life is what Becky Higgins calls it and she's by far the biggest name and promoter of pocket scrapping out there. The majority of the product I own is by her because I like her style and vision and availability.

So anyhow, I began to get inspired and when January (for most companies) rolled around I saw many people talk about applying for design or creative teams. As a beginner, I in no way felt qualified to apply but it planted a dream. Some day.. I thought.. I'll take that leap and maybe I can be on a team like that. I wanted to use my creativity to grow and meet new people and of course get free product. Let's be serious, if you don't admit that's a big draw, you're kidding yourself! ;) I fell in love with a small scrapbook company called Take 10 Kits so when they did a Design Team call this fall, I thought about it. I had bought a few stamps from them and won a kit giveaway one month so they were familiar and safe feeling. I said no... I'm too new, I'm too busy, there's no chance I'll get it. But on the very last day to apply I figured 'why not!'. The least they'll do is say no.

So I applied with this email and a few pictures of my layouts... My name is Laura and I love Take 10 Kits! I've been doing Project Life since August 2013. I always planned to create a baby book/scrapbook for my first daughter. She's 4 now and I never started. Traditional scrap-booking is too intimidating and I hate to cut up my pictures. So when I heard about Project Life, I was immediately excited and jumped right in. I currently use Project Life or Pocket Scrap-booking as a way to document my babies in a chronological/event based system. I have 2 and 4 year old daughters and a baby boy on the way. Some day I hope to document more current events in our lives but I'm still enjoying the baby years. :) Another thing I love about pocket scraping and particularly your kit club is the affordability. I document on a budget! That doesn't mean I don't drool over all the latest cards and embellishments, but I keep my spreads simple and use what I have creatively.

Well, after Christmas passed and I actually thought I'd missed the deadline so I didn't make it, I got an email... I got it!! YAY! So click on over to Studio 29 Designs LLC to learn more about Take 10 Kits and see my official introduction on the blog! Also come follow me on Instagram to see all my pocket layouts! You'll be seeing a lot more about my love of pocket scrap-booking around here!

Pocket Love

I absolutely love Pocket Scrap-booking and I've never blogged about it! What a crime! :)

  

My start... I've been doing Project Life since August 2013. I always planned to create a baby book/scrapbook for my first daughter. She's 4 now and I never started. Traditional scrap-booking is too intimidating and I hate to cut up my pictures. So when I heard about Project Life, I was immediately excited and jumped right in. My first kit was the Baby Edition for Her from Becky Higgins. And though she's not the only person to do Pocket Scrapping, she has completely blown up her version of it called Project Life. Check out her website!
I currently use Project Life or Pocket Scrap-booking as a way to document my babies in a chronological/event based system. I have 2 and 4 year old daughters and a baby boy on the way. Some day I hope to document more current events in our lives but I'm still enjoying the baby years. :) Another thing I love about pocket scraping  is the affordability. I document on a budget! That doesn't mean I don't drool over all the latest cards and embellishments, but I keep my spreads simple and use what I have creatively.

 

 
This is a quick sampling of what I've done. I still have a lot of catching up to do! But I enjoy the process more than the idea of being caught up. :)

Check out my Instagram for more spreads.

Harvest Chex Mix

I just love this chex mix! I just sends me straight to thoughts of fall. I got it at from my mom a few years back and it's been a favorite ever since. Though I don't often make it... It makes a big batch that's best shared and all these ingredients don't add up to a cheap snack. So I look forward to enjoying it once or twice a year!

Harvest Chex Mix Recipe:
1 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1T cinnamon
Combine above ingredients in a small sauce pan until the butter is melted and you have a sauce. Do not boil.
1 box Crispix
1 box Honeynut Chex
1 can mixed nuts
1/2 bag pretzels
3 packages apple chips
Mix together in a large bowl. Then pour over butter mixture while still warm. Spread on 3 cookie sheets and bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with M&Ms

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

I just love this recipe for chocolate chip cookies! It's what I grew up with. They're always soft and they freeze really well too. This recipe is from the good old white (because there's another yellow cover version) Bethesda Mennonite Cookbook. All the ladies in the church submit their recipes and you end up with an amazing cookbook full of home cooked goodness and traditional Mennonite foods. I believe it's out of print but you can always find a copy floating around Christmas gatherings. It's a real hot item for those group pick and swap type gift games!

The Recipe:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
1 4oz pkg instant vanilla pudding
2 eggs
12 oz chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts, optional
Combine butter, sugars, vanilla and pudding; beat till smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs. Add flour and soda; then stir in chips and nuts. Drop onto baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. For chocolate chocolate chip cookies use chocolate instant pudding. 1 batch = approx 3 dozen.

My husband sometimes asks for 'regular' chocolate chip cookies. You know, the recipe on the back of the bag. That's what he grew up with. These have a cake-ier quality that's good but different than those. But I don't make them very often. I find them dry, crumbly and crunchy after they cool off. But I've heard that if you have a good seasoned cookie baking stone they're better. This particular time I made these cookies was for AWANA Cubbies at church and my daughter really wanted M&M cookies. Because of the possibility of allergies, I couldn't go with my monster cookie recipe so I decided to experiment. So in this doubled batch I put 2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips and 1 cup of mini M&Ms. They're just as yummy! And of course, we tested the M&Ms for quality before adding them. :)

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!