I {heart} Noel Mignon's "Sun-Kissed"

In May, Noel Mignon's July kit was previewed and an early release date of June 5 was announced. I (im)patiently waited until June 5 to place my order.

I had friends question me about whether or not I was sure I liked it. There was a lot of pink in the kit! But, I loved it. I wanted it. I just HAD to have it.

It arrived. I was not disappointed!

Sure, there were a few patterned papers included that I wouldn't have bought on my own, but I set to work to use them first.

"Almost Famous" uses some My Mind's Eye patterns to document the story of my boys shouting that they were "famous" when they saw my layout in an idea book in Barnes & Noble for the first time (May 2009).This layout also completed a challenge for an online crop at PersonalScrapper.com to use 3 patterned papers, 3 ribbons, and 3 additional embellishments.

I have to admit, I was never a fan of the Basic Grey "Lemonade" line, but there were only two sheets included in the kit. They matched these photos from Mother's Day '09 of the boys with my mom, so I put them to good use. This layout also includes some Making Memories papers (that I wouldn't have bought myself either).I really think the cool embellishments pull it all together and make me happy with this layout.

I didn't really set out to divide up the kit by manufacturer, but now realize that when I scrapped with it, I did that. "Don't Pee in the Pool" is a fun layout that uses the We R Memory Keepers "72 & Sunny" line. Background story: My sister's bathroom was being renovated and yes, there was a toilet on her deck. Blake couldn't resist goofing off with it when we were over there swimming. I thought it was appropriate to use yellow Spritz to spray the background cardstock. ;)

"OOOOO...Catch!" is a page that makes me happy. I mixed a sheet of new Echo Park (yellow dot) with teh WRMK line. I had already printed my photos from this water balloon toss into two 4x6 collages. I just cut the photos apart to get them arranged on my layout. I fell in love with the drink umbrellas that were included in the kit!

Now for some pink. I'm not a fan of pink. Never have been, but I am really drawn to the bright pink and overall color combination of the new Cosmo Cricket DeLovely line.

I used a June '10 PageMaps sketch for "Wonderful Easter." I just added the yellow foam Thickers from my stash. These shots are from this past Easter. Also from this Easter, is "Decorating Eggs." This is an Allison Davis inspired page. I added some Jillibean Soup corrugated alphas (sprayed with three different Glimmer Mists/Spritz colors) and a set of glitter Thickers.
This may become another "go-to" design for future 2-page layouts.

PersonalScrapper.com also had a crop challenge to scrap a childhood memory. I was determined this crop to scrap certain photos and/or use certain products that inspired me instead of working my layouts around challenges. Since no childhood photos were on my wish list to scrap, I thought I'd skip this challenge. But, while scrapping Blake's Easter photos, I came across this one of MY eggs that I colored this Easter. I scrapped it with a story about how we did eggs when I was a kid. (It's pretty much the same way I do with my boys.)

Everything for "Easter Memories" is from the kit, but I added a couple additional alphas.

Speaking of memories, I just LOVED Kevin's description of Easter on a worksheet he brought home from school. I trimmed out the oversized "journaling box" and scrapped it.

And, I just can't use pink products and not scrap Reese! One afternoon when I watched her, we ended up with matching toenails. (I didn't mark the back of my layout, but I'm almost certain I used a PageMaps sketch for this layout. )

I still have a ton of this kit to work with - haven't even touched the Jillibean Soup papers and still have plenty of Echo Park papers, too. I'll be home all next week. Maybe I'll find some time to scrap.