My Sunshine Girl

We have had the most nasty last couple of weeks here in Alabama... lots of just cold, rainy, gray grey days. And the next week looks like more rain is coming! I normally love a rainy day but for some reason, this year, it has really affected me. 

I have some adorable sunshiney pictures of my baby girl and combined with the Shine Bright kit (a couple still available!), it has perked me right up. Colors make me happy!

I'm glad I got more of those resin flowers from Noel's shop... I used THREE on this layout!

After I made my layout, I realized- WOOPS! I made a little journaling error.

I fixed it easily by just handwriting some words to highlight and adhering down on top. Easy! 

Did you see this deal on the NoelMignon facebook page? Yeah I thought you might have missed it! 

Mixed Media Heart Flower Canvas Tutorial!

Come over to the NoelMignon blog to see my tutorial on how to make this canvas!

Seven! (Hey Girl NoelMignon Kit)

Before I dive into the scrumptious NoelMignon "Love Life Kit" (there's a few left!) , I wanted to use a few leftovers from the Hey Girl kit. Since my girl turned seven last month, I wanted to be certain to use these bright, vibrant colors to celebrate & document her! 

I loved that the thickers had a few other little designs mixed into them, including these hearts. I just matted it on some patterned paper as a little accent.

As I mentioned in my video, I wanted to try spraying the felt bows with a little mist to see how it would look. I love the results! I didn't completely saturate them because I liked bits of white peeking through, but you could definitely completely change the color if you'd like! 

Some scrappy updates

It's been far too long since I've updated my blog! I kind of wonder if people read it anymore? I know my own blog reading has dropped off a lot in the last year or so. I miss it!

I have several layouts to share on here... even if no one is reading this, I love having a place where my life is stored. :) I love to go look at old blog posts and watch my babies grow up.

All these layouts have been made with the NoelMignon kits- who I still design for! I've been so grateful to be a part of the team for so long. It continues to humble me that Noel keeps me around. :) If you haven't stopped by the website lately, we revealed a completely new look to it last week. It looks amazing!

Snow much Love!

Hi friends! I have a quick little layout to share with y'all today... I'm surprising myself because for the first time in a long time, I've almost used up everything in a kit! Whoop whoop! I've been working with the Fresh Start kit and only have a little bit left to try to knock out before the next kit (the "Wishing Well" kit for March- make sure to check out the sneak peeks on the NoelMignon facebook page!). 

We've had a record amount/number of snows here in Alabama lately, so of course my camera has been busy documenting it. I love having pretty snow pictures to work with! I made a very simple page using some recent mpix prints I ordered and a large title cut with my Silhouette machine. 

To add a little something "extra" to the title, I mixed some mod podge, a little water, and a dab of liquid watercolors for a light colored wash. I sprinkled glitter on top of it while it was wet. This is a technique I was inpsired by Kim from Happy Like Yellow with... and I can see that I'll be having lots more fun with it! 

Sabby- Fresh Start Kit

As part of my intention this year to live more creatively, I took my girls out last week to do a little photo shoot with them. I struck scrapbooker's gold with the results, and the photos have been so fun to play with! 

I was inspired by this image found on pinterest, and it was the jumping off point for my color scheme.

(credit: creature comforts blog)

The lovely colors of the Fresh Start kit (sorry, sold out!) also just happened to fit this, so I pulled out the kit and starting laying down papers.

I love the look of layers peeking through each other, and played that up with this feather cut with my Silhouette machine and layered stickers behind it.

I just had fun... which fits my girly. 

Oh and guess what's coming soon??? :)

Happy New Year!

We started our new year off with a bang... with a dear family friend's wedding!!! Not only did I take the photos for the wedding, but my littlest was a flower girl! It was quite the busy weekend. Hee! 

Not only did she get to be a flower girl, but her BFF was one with her as well! To say they were cute together is an understatement. :) I couldn't wait to scrap these pics of them with the NoelMignon Fresh Start kit! 

I needed one more element down on this left corner, so I cut a flower with my Silhouette machine and then inked the edges with the tiny ink pad from the kit. I like the depth it adds to the flower. 

I wanted to tuck in some of the baby's breath from the wedding... the little envelopes was the perfect spot. 

My December Memories Album

I absolutely treasure our December memory albums that we have. So do my kids. I keep them put away with all our Christmas story books and fill a big basket with them every December 1. We all love flipping through them. So, as I have realized, a December Daily album is not easy for me to keep up with, a simple December memories album is completely achievable. 

This year, I used the Ribbon Candy kit  and the Heidi Swapp File Kit to create the album. 

I simply selected a few of my favorite photos and memories from this month to highlight. For the cover, I used a printable from the children's Bible we read our Advent stories from, the Jesus Storybook Bible. 

Inside the first spread is a picture of my oldest after we got out from seeing "Frozen" at the beginning of this month. The picture reminded me of one of my favorite lines from the Christmas hymn "O Come O Come Emmanuel." It's so beautiful and haunting and hopeful.

A little tip I read on faking a calligraphy style handwriting is to draw a second, thicker line on every "downstroke" your pen makes. I think it looks so pretty. 

In keeping with the Christmas carol them, I added two titles here that coordinate with the photos.

I have quite the little note writer in my family, so the perfect place to save them would be inside one of the folders! One of the notes is her Christmas wish list, so I put it along with our photo of St. Nick and one of the lines from "The Night Before Christmas." I have such sweet memories of my dad reading that to us every Christmas eve... and my dad totally embodied the spirit of St. Nick. I can't read it without thinking of him. 

Share with us in the comments a link to your Christmas albums! I'd love to see them!

Countdown to Christmas- Chalkboard Clipboard

Merry Christmas, friends! I'm so in the holiday spirit... I just love this time of year! 

It's kind of freaking me out, though, that the season is so short this year. EEK! I definitely have to be on the ball with all the holiday activities I'd like to do before Christmas. I made us a countdown calendar in order to keep up with the days.

First, I got a mini clipboard from Office Depot. I love the smaller size of these. They are just cute! 

Then I painted it with chalkboard paint and seasoned it.

I painted with white paint the "Days 'til Christmas", and then decorated with the NoelMignon Ribbon Candy kit.  The little white frame made a perfect spot for my chalk numbers to go, and the epoxy dots added just enough "pop" for it. I also loved how the Jolly rhinestone fit perfectly on the clip! A gathering of ribbons, sparkly Dollar Tree filler, and tulle cover the logo on the clip, and the little reindeer sticker adds a perfect final touch.

Thankful Buckets

A friend of mine inspired me the other day with some little goodies she'd left on her bed for her kiddos to surprise them when they got home from school. Most days, I get home at the same time as my kids, so I don't get to do little surprises like that... but this week, I am off for Thanksgiving and was excited to make these little "thankful" prizes for my kids. 

They are very simple, really... just some little strawberry baskets I purchased on etsy filled with baggies of our favorite chocolate drizzled popcorn for an afternoon snack. I added tags made with the NoelMignon Gather Together and Union Square kits. 

Just like any other mom, I find myself getting into a rut with fussing and reminding and nagging and everything else with my kids... and I want to be more mindful of telling them of the good they are bringing to our home. That is the point of these little tags... so that they know, regardless of them leaving their shoes and backpacks on the middle of the dining room floor for the bazillionth time, that I am THANKFUL they are in our family... thankful that they are ours. 

I hope they love them... and that they feel that they are loved!