Before I Do….

This is the first of approximately 52,000 pages I plan to do about renewing our wedding vows last weekend. I have a lot to say, and there are A LOT of pictures! My father-in-law is a fantastic photographer and he really outdid himself.

When faced with an overwhelmingly large number of photos, I did like I normally do and scrapped something silly. I will most definitely get to the big lovey dovey pages eventually though, no worries.

Also you can ignore all the snowflakes on this page if using snowflakes on a beach page offends you. I think they’re pretty. A lot of the kits I’m planning to use to scrap this event have snowflakes, so I might just make it a theme. I’ll take a page out of Nancy Nally’s book and call them “ironic snowflakes“.

Journaling reads- Just hanging out a couple of minutes before the ceremony. I’m gesticulating (as usual), Jason is making me laugh (as usual), and poor Charles looks like he’s about to be sick. I think he was nervous. Jason had to give him a Sprite to settle his stomach. Poor guy!

Credits:
No Two Alike bundle by Mandy King

*I am a Creative Team Member. This means that I receive free products in exchange for making and advertising layouts for designers. However, the opinions expressed here are my own. The enthusiasm expressed here is definitely my own. See more of my CT layouts here.

Do you wanna build a snowman?

I think these are the only snow pictures I have left that haven’t been scrapped. They’re from our trip to West Virginia in 2013, which was the first time we’d seen snow in years. I told Jason that means we need to travel somewhere snowy next winter or I’ll have nothing to work with. 🙂

Journaling reads- We met Jason’s mom at Dairy Queen for lunch. While we were waiting, we came across a little bitty patch of snow in the shade. Of course we were goofily excited and had to make little snowballs. That was the most snow we’d seen in years! November 11, 2013

Credits: Once Upon A Snowball by Mandy King

*I am a Creative Team Member. This means that I receive free products in exchange for making and advertising layouts for designers. However, the opinions expressed here are my own. The enthusiasm expressed here is definitely my own. See more of my CT layouts here.

The Guys, using Mr. Snowman by Mandy King

I won’t say I’m over winter kits, but they’re obviously hard for me to use, living where I do. So I have become a master at throwing themes out the window, or using them in ways that I’m sure my poor designers never intended. I don’t think they mind to much though 🙂

I loved this woodsy paper and I was determined to find a use for it. I’ve already scrapped our only snow experience together. This paper would have been perfect for yesterday’s page, but I didn’t get the kit until after I’d scrapped that already. So I decided to ignore the fact that the trees are covered in snow, and use it for a different outdoorsy page. And I loooove it!

Inspired by- This page by lori, which uses a similar kind of BG paper.

Journaling reads- Jason and John taking photos on the levy. November 26, 2014

Credits: Mr. Snowman collection by Mandy King

Library of Memories album- I think I’ll make two copies and put on in the Louisiana book, and the other in Jason’s album. That’s where I put a similar page that I did a couple of years ago of the two of them taking pics together.

*I am a Creative Team Member. This means that I receive free products in exchange for making and advertising layouts for designers. However, the opinions expressed here are my own. The enthusiasm expressed here is definitely my own. See more of my CT layouts here.

Love these two

I’m clearing out my Projects folder for the New Year and I found this page. I’m pretty sure I meant to share it in November, but it fell through the cracks somehow. Not sure why, it’s a definite favorite. (They’re all my favorite though) The photo was taken in 2012 during our Super Secret Thanksgiving Surprise.

Journaling reads- A walk on Thanksgiving with two of my favorite people.

Credits: With Grateful Song by Mandy King

Layouts using Slow Me Down, a collab from Mandy King and Saxon

Mandy is killing it with the awesome collars lately! This time she teamed up with Saxon to bring us Slow Me Down. It’s full of rich colors, and just perfect for scrapping those quiet moments.

My first page tells the story of our first morning in our new apartment. It was kind of like the eye of a storm between the craziness of moving, and the busyness of having my sister stay with us. Jason and I took a few quiet moments out on the balcony to try and let everything sink in.

Journaling reads- Our first morning at the new apartment. It didn’t seem real. Were we really going to live here? Was this really going to be our home? It seemed too good to be true, like we were going to wake up from a dream any minute.

Library of Memories album- Places: Coral Springs

My second LO is a bit on the personal side. I took this photo for Week in the Life, and scrapped it that same night. I love love love it, one of my favorites of us together, ever. I wrote the journaling months ago. I’m not sure what prompted those words, sometimes I just start writing whatever’s on my mind. I saved it to Evernote and it sat there, waiting for me to figure out what to do with it. I went very minimal with the embellishments. I’ll probably cut this in half vertically to create two 4×8 pages that I’ll store back to back.

Journaling reads-
He doesn’t want her help putting together furniture or washing the car.
She doesn’t want his help packing, whether it’s a suitcase or the whole house.
He could probably use more help planning trips.
She could probably use some help with the dishes.
He doesn’t do laundry or cat boxes.
She doesn’t drive or pay bills.
Sometimes it’s best if they divide and conquer. They go with their strengths.
They are both excellent e-mail and card writers.
They both know pretty well when to give hugs and when to give space.
They always have each others’ backs.
If they don’t agree, they can usually find a compromise.
They grocery shop quite well together.
They are each other’s biggest fan.
They make a great team.
That is their strength.

Library of Memories album- All About Us: Jason and Jen

*I am a Creative Team Member. This means that I receive free products in exchange for making and advertising layouts for designers. However, the opinions expressed here are my own. The enthusiasm expressed here is definitely my own. See more of my CT layouts here.

First Dance using Best.Day.Ever. by Mandy King and Seatrout Scraps

There is so much scrappy excitement going on here lately! I can’t wait to share my exciting news over the next few days!

But first, I had the pleasure of working with a fabulous new collab between Mandy and Seatrout Scraps called Best.Day.Ever. The purple papers in the kit were perfect to scrap our friends’ wedding. (Their color scheme was purple, since you can’t tell from this pic). I love scrapping weddings! Maybe one of these days I’ll finish up my own wedding… I’m not in a hurry though, I love being able to relive the day with each page I make. ❤

Credits- Best Day Ever collab by Mandy King and Seatrout Scraps
Template pieces provided by Luv Ewe Designs

Library of Memories Album- People We Love

*I am a Creative Team Member. This means that I receive free products in exchange for making and advertising layouts for designers. However, the opinions expressed here are my own. The enthusiasm expressed here is definitely my own. See more of my CT layouts here.

Autumn Adoration LO’s

Mandy has a very pretty new fall kit out today called Autumn Adoration.

I went very simple for my first page, about our love for Gone Girl. I’ve often thought of doing LO’s for books that I love, but they’re not very high on my list for some reason. So I was excited to see that one of the challenges at Gotta Pixel this week was to scrap a favorite book.

Journaling reads- Our favorite book recently has definitely been Gone Girl. I read it this spring, then when I heard it was going to be a movie, I read it again. One night we were in bed and I was blathering on about the book. Jason got out the iPad and went to find it on the iBooks store. He asked me if it was worth eight dollars, and I said “Definitely!” I love that we live in a time when you can buy books on a whim and get them almost instantly! He stayed awake late that night reading, then finished it up on the weekend. It was so hard not to give him spoilers! He would act sneaky and try to get info out of me, but I kept quiet. (Though I think I let something slip, I’m not sure if he noticed). After he finished the book, we obsessively watched the movie trailer and dissected it for way longer than it warranted, I’m sure. It’s funny though, that when we finally saw the movie, we didn’t have much to say. It was a pretty faithful adaptation and we were both pretty satisfied.. But I love that we both got so excited about a book together. It has made for hours of lively discussions for the past few weeks.

I girly-ed it up for my next page, about my sister’s changing style.

Journaling reads- And somehow, without my knowlege or approval, my sister has morphed herself into Stevie Nicks, complete with scarves and long swirly skirts. I find this hilarious coming from a girl who used to throw fits when I made her put on dresses for church as a child.

(template by Angelclaud Artroom)

Thanks for looking 🙂

*I am a Creative Team Member. This means that I receive free products in exchange for making and advertising layouts for designers. However, the opinions expressed here are my own. The enthusiasm expressed here is definitely my own. See more of my CT layouts here.

In Search of Hollywood using Chore Monster by Mandy King

This page is quite different from the one I shared yesterday. But I wanted to show the diversity of a themed collection like Chore Monster. There are plenty of neutral themed products to play with. (I did manage to re-use those cute house edgers again though!)

My California kick is still going strong. The blues and oranges in this collection will blend in well with the rest of my album. I’m excited to keep making these pages!

Journaling reads- We decided that before we headed to Bakersfield, we’d make a quick trip to see the Hollywood sign. I mean, how hard could it be to get to such a large iconic landmark? Well turns out, it’s pretty hard! We drove around and around these hilly neignorhoods, but power lines were blocking every view. We kept getting lost and turned around, not sure if our rented Mustang would make it through the narrow streets. We kept having to pull in people’s driveways to turn the car around, and we were sure someone was going to call the police because we were driving so eratically. We finally gave up getting a good view and settled for pulling over on the side of the road so we could get a few pictures.

*I am a Creative Team Member. This means that I receive free products in exchange for making and advertising layouts for designers. However, the opinions expressed here are my own. The enthusiasm expressed here is definitely my own. See more of my CT layouts here.

Division of Labor using Chore Monster by Mandy King

Mandy’s new collection is a fun departure from her usual kit style. This one is all about chores!

I decided to make a LO about the “division of labor” in our house. I did a similar page back in 2011, but it’s always interesting to revisit themes like this to see changes through time.

Here’s my older page. It’s funny, I didn’t look at the page from 2011 before I made this one, but they’re very similar. No photos, turquoise, and neutral colors. I think I’ll put them next to each other in my Home album.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a totally different way to use the kit, which doesn’t involve cleaning at all 🙂

*I am a Creative Team Member. This means that I receive free products in exchange for making and advertising layouts for designers. However, the opinions expressed here are my own. The enthusiasm expressed here is definitely my own. See more of my CT layouts here.

CT layout- High School using Schooled Up by Mandy King and Saxon

Inspired by- This fun kit by Mandy King and Saxon. I love that it’s school themed, but for older kids. I thought about making a school page for LM (and I still might). But the kit features my school colors, red + blue, so I’m using it myself 🙂

I’m surprised I had so much to say about my high school experience. It’s not something I scrap about often. I just started typing and this is what bubbled up. I have many gaps to fill in my personal scrapbook, which I’ll talk about sometime soon.

Journaling reads- I went to “the Cliff” for high school from 1992-1996. For some people, high school was the time of their lives. For others, it was miserable. For me, it was a somewhere in between. There were wonderful times with my friends, but there was also a lot of drama. It was high school, of course there was drama! It was the place where I saw my friends, the place where I met my first serious boyfriend, the place I went to escape home. And I suppose I learned things there too… It’s strange thinking back all those years. I graduated almost twenty years ago! I don’t talk to anyone from that time except for Melissa. I purposefully don’t add my school info to social media because I’d like to keep all of that in the past. I’m a very different person than I was back then.

Credits- Schooled up by Mandy King and Saxon

Library of Memories album- All About Jen

This is number 1 of 25 layouts I want to make by the end of September. And if you want to see more Teenage Jen (with gigantic bangs) there’s a LO for that.

*I am a Creative Team Member. This means that I receive free products in exchange for making and advertising layouts for designers. However, the opinions expressed here are my own. The enthusiasm expressed here is definitely my own. See more of my CT layouts here.