When I saw the sneaks for the June Studio Calico kit So Cal, I didn't love it. But, I didn't dislike it. I was actually kind of excited about the large assortment of embellishments. (OK, minus the butterflies.) Then the reveal came and I wasn't tempted to buy any of the add-ons or even the add-on paper. This month is was a kit only month for me.

The kit arrived and I tore into it immediately like I always do. I'm not a very patient person.

Everything was pretty. And then I put it all back in the box and closed it. No ideas for anything popped into my head. I had a fresh supply of printed photos and finally decided to go through them and scrap whatever I could with the kit. I was worried if I didn't use it now that I probably never would. For some reason it just didn't excite me. I think the colors may have been too washed out for me.

I started with a Reese page for my personal album. She loves our dog (I think more than me!). I knew I could knock out some of the butterflies on a girly page. (This layout was inspired by a Maggie Holmes layout on page 35 of Creating Keepsakes new Simple Scrapbooks idea book.)

I thought the last day of school pics would work with the alpha and number papers from the kit. I grabbed some old library cards I had in my stash and cut them down to make tags. This layout is inspired by Waleska Neris' layout on page 90 of Simple Scrabooks.

I used Suzy Plantamura's layout on page 95 of Simple Scrapbooks as a starting point for this school awards page. I thought the map paper and border had a sort of "oh, the places you'll go" theme.

I inked the white woodgrain cardstock that came in the kit for this layout of Kevin with his cousins. I just LOVE how Reese put her hand on his shoulder to pose in the top pic. Again, I used my butterflies on a Reese page!

I have to admit that I did like the patterned papers in this kit. So, I used a lot of them in small strips on this layout of Kevin and his friends.

Back in February, we had a great time catching up with an old family friend, Fr. Ben, at the Lenton retreat at our church. I went with a simple layout to tell that story. I also took inspiration from Mandie Pierce's layout on page 30 of CK's Simple Scrapbooks idea book.

I used butterflies and pink on a BOY page!Added the pink tag and washi from my stash. This layout is a lift of Maggie Holmes layout on page 35 of Simple Scrapbooks.

I failed miserably at keeping up with Project Life this year, but still snap pics of my everyday life every so often. I had captured some of these random shots for May and decided to just scrap a page for my personal album. I had fun visiting a store (A Little Bit of Bybee) for the first time and snagging some pottery, I relaxed many nights reading with a glass of wine, and I also enjoyed our blooming lillies by bringing some of them inside. Plus, this was a good way to use up the buttons in the kit! This is the second time I used Kim Watson's layout from CK's Simple Scrapbooks as inspiration for a layout.

Finally, I finished my kit off with this simple page documenting our first ever container garden. We have produce!

Now that I have my June kit "killed" and out of the way, I can scrap with older supplies in my stash while I anxiously look forward to SC's July kit. The colors seem to be a lot more my style.

Happy scrappin'!

An oldie, but a goodie...

In March 2010, I attended a fundraising crop hosted by Shannon Zickel in Louisville. At the time, Shannon was on the design team for American Crafts and they were a big sponsor of her crop. I purchased several of their product line kits and couldn't wait to use them. I even tossed pics in the kit bags that I wanted to match up with the products.

And they sat.

And sat.

Finally, I pulled my "Junior" kit bag out the other day and started tackling the Blake's birthday photos from 2006! I was reminded why I had purchased doubles of this kit. I LOVE these sports/boy themed products and the colors are so fun and bright.

Everything on this layout was in the kit except for the Jillibean Soup journaling card and the red Doodlebug alphas.

For "Party Guests," I added Studio Calico wood veneer stars.

I used some brand new Jillibean Soup mini red alphas to spell out "Good Morning."

I can't get over how much my boys have grown. Time is passing too fast! And now, June is halfway over!

I even scrapped a new photo with these "old" products...

This is a pic of Kevin with his injury at one of Blake's baseball games. Being a bat boy is a tough job!

Have a great weekend!

Catching up...

When I last straightened up my scrap area, I realized I had several "kit bags" with photos inside waiting to be scrapped. I used to do that often - toss pics inside kit bags that I wanted to pair them with. But, then I get busy and forget about them!

I pulled the kits with photos out and set them aside together with the intention of scrapping with them. And so that sat...

Until last week when I finally decided to start using them. Now.

Here are a few of the early results...

I had Echo Park's "Splash" line from last summer (or earlier???) with pics from our Great Wolf Lodge trip in '10.

While I had this line out, I realized a couple recent pics would work with it, so...

I created this layout with pics of Rhett's first swim. I was working and my sister was nice enough to invite the boys over to swim. I lifted a layout by Kimber McGray in CK's Simple Scrapbooks idea book.

I also pulled out my bag of the Countryside line by Studio Calico. I remember being so excited about this line when I purchased in (in March '11!). I guess I was "saving" it???

Oh well, it worked great with the Band of Horses concert photos I had tossed in the bag.

I miss my sister, Kaitlin, but am glad to have these pics scrapped.

And, there are plenty more bags with photos ready to scrap...

More 35mm with Studio Calico...

When I pick up a new order of photos, I am inspired to scrapbook. I was happy to find that a lot of my recent photos paired nicely with the May Studio Calico kit - 35mm.

These pics that Kevin took himself with Reese and Rhett are some of my recent favorites. I was inspired by a layout in the new Creating Keepsakes idea book Simple Scrapbooks. The layout was by Nicole Harper (page 12).

I had to scrap my Mother's Day breakfast that Blake made for me. This layout was inspired by a sketch by Laura Vegas on page 19 of the same Simple Scrapbooks idea book.

This simple layout was inspired by a Linda Barber layout on page 26 of the same idea book. The pics are of my boys acting crazy at dinner after a ball tournament. I had to convert them to b/w since they were laughing so hard, the pics were a bit blurry!

I took a Heidi Swapp flip book apart to make individual sheets behind my photos on this page. I also added some SC wood veneer stars and a chipboard alpha. Blake's mohawk started out as a joke, but stuck around for about a week. He's thinking about going back to it.

My Mother's Day layout was inspired by Kim Jackson's layout on page 54 of Simple Scrapbooks. I added some SC chipboard alphas, Thickers from an older kit, and Queen & Co. washi tape.

Blake came home from school with a nasty cut on his ankle. Of course I had to scrap it! I scraplifted Kelly Purkey's layout on page 44 of the CK idea book Simple Scrapbooks. Added some OLD Thickers, twine, a Jillibean sticker and the numbers cut from a SC advertisement card in a kit.

I also have one project that I finished with the March kit, Story Hour...

Blake will be the first to tell you that he isn't artistic. So...it was big news when he came home from school with an amazing art project for which he earned an A!!!

Needless to say, I am enjoying my summer vacation from school!

So proud of our son...

Every day I amazed by our boys. Sometimes it could be because of something they do, and other days it might just be from looking at them and realizing how proud I am of the young men they are becoming.

Recently, Blake has been working really hard on his Eagle project. This week he mailed out his fundraising letters. I am proud of him for deciding on a project that is important to him. Last month Blake's Troop held their Court of Honor (awards ceremony). Blake was awarded his merit badges and also recognized for earning his Life Scout advancement. He presented me with my mother's pin for Life Scout.

When I had my pictures printed, I couldn't wait to scrap them. I know my next mother's pin will be even more special.

For this layout, I used my March Studio Calico kit - Story Hour. I added some Studio Calico alphas and kraft stars that weren't included in the kit. My layout was inspired by a page by Megan Hoeppner in Creating Keepsakes' new idea book Simple Scrapbooks.

With Blake's Eagle project in sight, I realize I need to get caught up on scrapping his other scouting memories! Time is sure flying by.

Simple Scrapbooks...

I used to subscribe to Simple Scrapbooks magazine years ago. I admit, I was really sad to see it go. In between tournament games a couple weeks ago, I was excited to see that Creating Keepsakes magazine had released an idea book called Simple Scrapbooks. I quickly flipped through the magazine and realized that I loved many of the layouts and could use it as inspiration to jump start my scrapbooking.

And that is just what I did on Memorial Day!

"From: Wendy" was inspired by Lydia Jackson's layout on page 76. I used my March '12 "Story Hour" kit from Studio Calico to make this page. That kit had some of the best embellishments! It was really fun to use.

As we pulled into the subdivision one night, Kevin rolled his window down and started goofing off by acting like he was a dog. Not sure why? Of course, since I wasn't driving I snapped pics of it and had to scrap them. I used the same "Story Hour" kit for this layout that was inspired by Wendy Sue Anderson's layout on page 18.

I pulled out Studio Calico's older "Elementary" line to scrap my photos of Kevin's academic team event. This layout isn't inspired by any one particular page in the book, but many. I liked the photo placement on a 2-pager and used it as a jumping off point for my single page layout. After seeing so many things I liked throughout the book, I think I was able to pull bits and pieces from many layouts while they were fresh in my mind.

My Easter layout is a lift of Kim Watson's layout on page 25. I just made a few adjustments since I used 3 larger photos than the four she used. I also added a banner. I wish I had used Prima ink instead of mist on my "Easter" alpha stickers. I think it would have matched better and left a cleaner finish. I used Studio Calico's "35mm" kit.

I loved the simplicity of Jamie Harper's layout on page 10. I had some pics from last fall when my nephew was born that I loved, but the colors in the photos were a crazy mix. I selected soft simple patterns for my page using my SC "35mm" kit, but felt that it was missing something. Finally, I decided to add a berry colored sticker to back my title since it matched the top center photo. To repeat the color again, I used it to color the sticker letters for "visit."
And that was my Memorial Day!

Working with Studio Calico...

We had a rare school year this past year - NO SNOW DAYS! Does that ever happen??? We were finished with school on May 16. Let summer vacation begin!

I started my vacation scrapping with random Studio Calico...

I continued using my sketches from the online class I took - Sketchbook 4. I used the May 35mm kit to finish this layout of my nephew, Rhett. I actually used my LEAST favorite paper and cardstock, but with his pics, was able to make a layout I adore. I was inspired by Vee Jenning's take on the sketch.

I was inspired by Jennifer McGuire's take on Sketch 11 for my next layout of Reese enjoying her strawberries. I used the Candy Shoppe kit from February '11.

Using pics from the same visit with Reese and Rhett, I continued working with the Candy Shoppe kit and Kelly Noel's take on Sketch 3.

While I had Candy Shoppe out on my table, I pulled out some photos from Valentine's Day to make a layout documenting Kevin's big Valentine gift from his "girlfriend" this year.

Next, I decided I needed to get this year's school portraits scrapped, too. (I get two 8x10s - just in case!) I used Studio Calico's "old" Elementary line for these two layouts.

While I was pulling out older kits/supplies, I reached for the July '11 "Mind the Gap" kit to work with some Scout photos.

I will go back and journal on this one for Blake. And here's one for Kevin...

I picked up a new idea book while we were killing time between games at our last baseball tournament. It gave me more inspiration and I have a lot more layouts to share. Later...

City of Lights...

No, I've never been to Paris, but I sure did enjoy working with Studio Calico's April Kit "City of Lights" - it was amazing! I actually enjoyed using sequins and butterflies if you can believe it. And I stamped!

The first layout I made was for Kevin's album. I was inspired by the bikes on one paper to pull out pics from this spring of him riding his bike while I walked.

In April, I also signed up for an online class at Studio Calico - Sketchbook 4 by Kelly Purkey. It was the BEST online class  I have ever taken. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I could access a PDF that included a sketch, plus three different takes on the sketch.

For sketch 1, I completed the following layouts:

Here are my takes on Sketch 2:

Sketch 3...

Sketch 4...

Sketch 6...

Sketch 7...

Sketch 8...

And with that, I officially "killed" my April kit from Studio Calico!