So Grateful for You!

Hi friends!  Hope you are doing well! We are on Thanksgiving break and mostly we've been relaxing.      It finally looks like fall around here too.  We have to enjoy it while it lasts because next week everything will just be brown and ugly.  

Today, I'm sharing some simple cards I made to attach to some bags of cookies I gave to the kids's teachers and in the front office at school.  I LOVE Becky Higgings Project Life Cards for quick cards!  The 3x4 inch size is perfect.  Sometimes I use patterned ones from the Core Kits but for this project I used grid cards.  I added some coral washi tape and some gold foil leaf stickers from the Target Dollar Spot.  I stamped a Close to My Heart sentiment and leaves in brown ink.  After that, I just wrote the person's name at the top and signed our name at the bottom.  Easy peasy!  

Have a great day, friends!  And if I don't talk to you, Happy Thanksgiving!

Fluttering 2014 Layout and We Need Your Help!

Hi friends!  I hope you are doing well!  We are pretty good!  We kicked off our month long Fluttering project yesterday.  If you haven't heard of Fluttering, you can read my blog post HERE.  In a nutshell, we have committed to moving 12 dragonflies from house to house for the whole month of September to spread awareness for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and to raise money for Unravel Pediatric Cancer.

Today, I'm sharing the Project Life pages I made to document last year's Fluttering.  I used Becky Higgins page protectors, Heidi Swapp Project Life cards, tons of Heidi Swapp embellishments, American Crafts Thickers, and a bunch of embellishments I had in my stash.  This is the first layout I've done in mostly black and white and it has a really cool effect.

Our family needs your help!  We set a goal of $1000 to raise in the month of September for our Flutter Campaign.  If you have it in your budget, please consider donating to our page.  All the money goes towards the fight against pediatric cancer which is EXTREMELY underfunded.  The statistics are heartbreaking.  Seven children die everyday in the US from cancer yet pediatric cancer gets under 4% of the allotted federal funding for cancer.  Our children deserve better!  Please help if you can.

DIY Pocket Scrapbooking Journal Cards

Hi friends!  I hope you are well!  We have been sick since Christmas and it's really starting to get old.  Is it spring yet??  This is why I haven't been blogging.  :(  Hopefully, things will turn around soon!

Today, I'm sharing a fun and simple way to make your own coordinating journalling cards to go in your pocket scrapbook.  For my cards, I used the Becky Higgins grid cards for the base.  I really like writing on the grid since I tend to slant my words as I write.  I used Pebbles Home For Christmas collection for these cards.  (Yes, I'm still scrapping Christmas.)  Confession time: all my weeks in my pocket scrapbook have their own paper collection.  I'm HORRIBLE at mixing and matching.  Also, I don't like to buy full kits of cards (like the Becky Higgins) for holidays since I feel like I don't use that many cards since I only make one layout for the holiday for each year.  I started making my own journalling cards and I thought I'd share the idea in case anyone wants to make their own too.

I really like making these because I use the printed bottom strips of 12x12 paper that I used to throw away.  I always said I was going to use them then I would leave them in the bag and they would get crinkled and I would toss them.  After adhering the strip, I either use chipboard, stickers, or cut out images from a paper in the collection.

 These are super fast and easy to make!  They match with all the papers I used and I can do tons of journalling on them.  No need to go out and buy matching journalling cards!

Have a great day, friends!

7 for 7: Bossy Joscie

Hi friends!  I hope you're having a great day!  We are pretty good.  We started decorating for Christmas today.  The kids are excited.  Guess what I'm excited about?  GIVEAWAYS!  I have 12 other giveaways so be sure to scroll through my blog to check them out!

Giveaway Rules: Join me each day this week for a TWO new giveaways.  (There *might* be some bonus giveaways too.)  To enter the giveaways, you'll need to use the Rafflecopter that I post at the bottom of each blog post.  Each giveaway will be open for 14 days from the day it starts since it's a holiday week and I want to give people a chance to enter.  All readers are welcome, US or international, unless a giveaway specifies.  Winners will be announced on my blog and my Heart Hugs Designs Facebook Page.  Winners will have 72 hours to contact me or a new winner will be drawn.  Good luck to everyone!

My next giveaway is from Bossy Joscie.  Joscie and I have been crafty friends for a while.  She's so nice and really really creative!  Her store has flair buttons, regular and personalized rubber stamps, and supplies for digital scrapbooking.  All the things she designs are so trendy and fun.  You need to check out her shop, it's awesome!  She offered up this fabulous Modern Christmas Flair to one winner.  (US shipping only.)

I've ordered a bunch of times from Bossy Joscie and I love my flair!  There are tons of different colors and designs.  I like to use them on my pocket scrapbooking pages.  Here are some examples of how I've used the flair.

To enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

2014 Album Title Page

Hi friends!  I hope you are doing well!  We are doing ok.  Dustin went out of town for work today and was gone ALL day.  It was a LONG day, I'm just sayin'.  That's why I'm blogging so late today.  

Today, I'm sharing my title page for my 2014 Project Life/Pocket Style Scrapbook album.  For this page, I used a Becky Higgins Design A page protector.  The cards are from the Project Life 5th and Frolic kit.  This is one of the rare times I used mostly a core kit on a page.  I'm trying really hard to simplify my album more this year so I can GET IT DONE.  That's what I really need.  The "Hello 2014" flair is from my friend Taniesa's store, The Craft Pickle.  (She has SUPER cute flair, check it out!)  I used some Studio Calico wood veneer potty people on this.  The alphabet stickers are from American Crafts and the camera clip is from Maya Road.   

I've been experimenting with my photography on my layouts.  I think this is it.  I should probably pull everything out of the pockets, but with the kids running around all the time and my desire to use natural light on these, it's challenging.  We shall see.  Have a wonderful day, friends!  

Week 15 2013

Hi friends!  I hope you are doing well!  We are doing ok here.  We had our family pictures taken for our Christmas cards today.  I feel like I'm constantly running late these days.  Hopefully, my cards will be out before Christmas.  Tonight, we are going to a holiday party.  It should be fun.

Today, I'm sharing a Project Life layout with you.  I'm having the hardest time blogging these layouts because I hate photographing them.  I've tried diffused flash and it doesn't look great.  I use natural light with these photos and I think it looks HORRIBLE.  I'm just having huge issues.  I might try my Ott Lites next.  I have tons of weeks that I would like to share but the thought of photographing and editing them makes me what to pull my hair out.

I set out to make this layout for the Paper Smooches Sparks challenge this week which is Anything Goes.  I do make a ton of cards right now so I figured it would push me to do my Project Life.  I pulled out ALL my Paper Smooches stamps and dies for this layout.  I should get a prize for using the MOST Paper Smooches.  ;)  It was REALLY great!  I love using the dies to make custom journalling cards.  I don't have a Silhoutte and this is a GREAT way to make my own cards with that transparent look without having to spend $250 on a machine.  I also loved using my Alphadots stamp set since I usually use stickers.  This gave me a really cohesive look across my layout.  I also love that the dies, sentiments, and alphas are in the same(ish) font.

For this layout, I decided to use the Blush Project Life Core Kit as well as all Becky Higgins page protectors.  I trimmed a lot of the cards down.  At first I wasn't ok with that but you know what?  Not all my page protectors are 4x6 or 3x4 and it had to be done and I'm quite happy with it now.  I do wish I had the BH corner rounder though so I could re-round the corners once I trim the card.  

Full layout with insert

Full layout with insert turned the other way

 Layout without insert in

Left side

 Right side

Insert front

Insert back

 Have a great day, friends!

Simple Stamped Journaling Cards

Hi friends!  I hope you're having a great day!  We are doing ok.  We are wrapping up our summer which is bittersweet.  Avery is growing up super fast and she's getting more teeth.  The boys are doing pretty well.

Today, I'm showing some fun cards I've made for my Project Life album using stamps from Stampcow.    These are really cute stamps that are perfect for scrapbooking.  They are super cute and fit well with my style.  I have been really into Project Life lately so of course, I wanted to make some journaling cards.  I used washi tape and small alphabet stickers to make these cards.  The base are the Becky Higgins grid cards.

Have a great day, friends!  

Project Life 2013: Week 5

Hi friends!  I hope you all are doing well!  We are doing ok.  We got our van back and (knock on wood) it seems to be ok now.  Now, we need to start our summer adventures.  ;)  We haven't made any kind of list or anything yet though.  But I feel like we have to hurry because summer goes by SO fast.  I mean, June is almost over already!

Today, I'm sharing week 5 of my Project Life album.  Yeah.  I'm a little behind.  What can you do?  I don't want to give up because I love having these weekly layouts and I adore that we are recording those little everyday moments that might be overlooked in a 12x12 layout.  Onward I trudge.

This week, I used Walnut Grove from Pebbles.  I love love love this paper line and I feel like I didn't even use my favorite papers from this collection.  That's ok because I'll use this collection again on a different week.  I also used the stickers and Thickers that match Walnut Grove.  I also used a couple cards from MAMBI.  I don't think that the MAMBI cards have names but it was a love themed set.  Then I added some washi tape, wood veneers, enamel dots, mini alphas, BossyJoscie flair, and bling.

I'm also getting featured on Michelle Bostinelos's blog this week!  YAY!  I really enjoy Michelle's Project Life layouts!  She has two boys and a little girl, like me.  And her boys like the SAME things my boys like.  It's really cool to see her layouts.  Each week, Michelle does a Saturday PL Blog Hop.  I will be featured there tomorrow and I'm SUPER excited!  She always has the most talented and inspiring people on her blog hop.

Have a great day, friends!  

Kiwi Lane Designs June Blog Hop (Giveaway)

Hi friends!  I hope you're having a great day!  A while back I was asked to participate in the June Kiwi Lane Designs Blog Hop and I can't believe how fast the time has flown!  I don't think anything makes time go by fast than having a new baby!

You should be coming from Karen Weingartner's Blog.  If not, hop on back to the Kiwi Lane Designs Blog to start the hop!  Leave a comment at all the blogs on the hop for a chance to win a $25 gift card to Kiwi Lane Designs.  One random winner will be drawn from all the blogs on the list (including the Kiwi Lane Blog.)  I will also be having a giveaway at the end of this post.

This was my first time using the designer templates from Kiwi Lane and they were a lot of fun to work with.  I got to work with the Playtime set.  I do a lot of moving things around when I create so these templates are perfect for me.  I managed not to waste any paper making this layout.

Full layout.

Right side.

Left side.

Title card with dragonfly from the set.  I cut the dragonfly out of the green paper and then used the pink paper behind it.  Not sure if you can tell.

Arrow template with a glassine bag.  I didn't want to cover up too much of this paper because it's one of my favorites.

Shield/road sign template turned on it's side to create a journalling area.

Arrow template again, on the layout it points to the picture that the journalling is about.

The dragonfly I cut out of the title card.

Giveaway: In addition to a chance to win the $25 gift certificate to Kiwi Lane, leave a comment on this post if you'd like to win the templates I worked with for this post.  I will send my set to one random winner.  All you have to do is comment.

Next up on the hop is Melissa Dehne.  And here's the whole blog order, in case you need it.

Kiwi Lane http://kiwilane.com/here/blog/

Omgits Emily http://omgitsemily074.blogspot.com/

Kristy Mackeen - http://mamasanity.blogspot.com

Heidi Trejo http://www.polkadotpixies.com/

Brenda Smith -http://www.Theimperfectscrapper.blogspot.com

Leslie Prinkki - http://www.scrapsofmine.blogspot.com

Karen Weingartner www.paperheartcrafts.blogspot.com

Ashley Newell - http://hearthugsdesigns.blogspot.com

Melissa Dehne- http://www.abitofscrappygoodness.blogspot.com/

Project Life: 20 Week Ultrasound Week

Hi friends!  I hope that you are doing well.  We are doing ok over here.  We are still trying to get into a routine.  Avery just turned one month on Jan 27.  Dustin goes back to work tomorrow and I'm just really nervous since he's been doing SO much around here.  Yikes!  Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Today, I'm posting an older Project Life layout.  This is from the week Brady started Kindergarten and when we found out that we were having a girl.  My friend also had a baby and we went to a memorial event.  It was a busy week so I did two layouts.  I don't ALWAYS do two.  ;)  

First page using Echo Park This and That Charming and a little This and That Graceful, SRM stickers, May Arts ribbons, Paper Smooches stamps, and lots of embellishments.  

Left Side

Right Side

Second page using Echo Park This and That Graceful and This and That Charming.

Left side

Right side

Have a great day, friends!

Linking Up

Project Life : Monterey Trip

Hi friends!  I hope you are doing well.  We are doing pretty good.  Baby Avery is gaining weight well and looks pretty healthy.  I'm having a few small issues after delivery and I'm taking some medicine to help with bleeding and blood clots but I should be fine in no time.  The boys are doing good.

Today, I'm sharing my Project Life layouts from when we took a trip to Monterey this summer.  (I made these a LONG TIME AGO and just never blogged them.  I have TONS of PL layouts to blog.)  For those of you who don't know, it's COLD there even in the summer.  It's right on the coast but in Northern California which is not warm like Southern California.  Though, we live in the valley which is SUPER HOT in the summer.  Ok, enough weather lessons.  ;)  

Here's our short trip to Fisherman's Wharf and some of the food we ate.  I used My Mind's Eye paper for these layouts.

Left side

Right side

Here's our trip to the beach and the aquarium.

Left side

Right side

I made these photos really big since I really like looking at the detail on Project Life layouts.  What do you think?  Too big?  I can scale them back.  

Have a great day, friends!  Hope to talk to you soon.

Linking Up:

Project Life July 29- Aug 4

Hi friends!  I hope you're having a great day!  I'm blogging two days in a row!  It's like I'm back to normal or something.  But really, I don't think I'll be blogging this regularly for a while.  I haven't been creating a lot and then I've been forgetting to take pictures of the stuff I do make.  What can you do?

Here's my second Project Life layout that I'm posting on my blog.  This is as far back as I've gotten.  This layout shows the days leading up to Parker's first day of school and his actual first day of school.  I used Imaginsce's Geek is Chic line for this since it's a school theme.  I embellished with lots of alphabet stickers, washi tapes, a camera wood veneer, and one of the Project Life grid journalling cards.

Here's the right side.  

And here's the left side.

And I'm linking up for the first time here: