Summertime Sweetness and Bag Tags

I *think*, after a long summer drought of feeling mojo-less, it's finally come back! :)

I sat down last night with the Salt Water Taffy kit (3 left), and these cutie pics of my baby girl and started to play. I actually began by punching holes in the piece of patterned paper on the bottom right, with the intention to use the circles as a scalloped border on another layout. I began playing with that, but this cute little paper with the holes cut out began calling to me.... and this layout was born!

Because the glittery thickers were a little too bright for the softer colors of this layout, I dabbed over them with some distress ink to mute them a bit.

Here's the piece that began this layout... I punched holes in the gingham paper, then used the same punch to create circles to nest inside of each hole. I inked/distressed all the edges and added a few embellishments to make this piece stand on its own.

(I added some trim from the Mary Ellen kit- still available!- to mimic the ruffles on Ariana's bathing suit.)

Next on my list was to do a little project for the kiddos. This would be great to do with kids that are a little older! I found self laminating pouches (in the wallet size) at Walmart, and began creating bag tags for the kids' backpacks.

The sheet of Echo Park journal spot paper in the Salt Water Taffy kit made the perfect starting point for these... they were almost the exact size needed (I had to trim them down just a teeny bit).
This one I created from a piece of Pink Paislee patterned paper; the gingham is one side, and the watermelon dots and polka dots are cut from the other side and then adhered to the front. I added a few stickles for sparkle. I punched butterfly shapes to make a see through element.

(I blurred out our personal information on Sabby's tag, but I have it written on the front on her card.)

A rub on, tiny cut out cloud, and stickles make this card a little more detailed.

Once you've finished creating your cards, just put them in the self-adhesive pouch and stick it all down. I used my crop a dile to punch a hole through and tie some cute baker's twine in. I think these will make their backpacks stand out from the crowd!