Marlins LO’s using Spring Training by Ohana Designs

Here are a couple of pages I made using Michelle’s new Spring Training kit.

For the past few years I’ve been so focused on scrapping our summers with the Little Man that I forget to do pages on the years he lived in Florida. I have a section in my Places We Go scrapbooks for Miami with exactly one thing in it- ticket stubs from this game. I’m glad to finally have a couple of pages to go in there now. Sometimes I need a themed kit to give me motivation 🙂

Journaling reads- We were excited to go see a pre-season Marlins baseball game with Charles’s after care program. june 26, 2008

Credits:
Spring Training by Ohana Designs
Monsteriffic template by Juno

My next page was a simple pocket page template. Jason took a lot of pictures of the action on the field, so this was a quick and easy way to get those in the books. I have a feeling this will be a trend for my pages in the coming year- a “pretty” page with lots of product + a simpler photo pocket style page.

Credits:
Spring Training by Ohana Designs
template by Becky Higgins

*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 Me by Ohana Designs and Romantic Scrapbooking class!

Michelle has some lovely paper packs for this month’s Grab A Byte at Scrapbook Bytes.

For my first LO, I made a page about Jason using words from this post I wrote last year. I love it when half the work for the LO has been done for me already 🙂 Well more than half, because I lifted this beautifully simple page by Melanie Louette. Love those sweet vellum hearts! I got the look in digital form by using a Vellum Style by Mommyish.

Journaling reads-  You are the best. Best friend. Best listener. Best encourager. Best analogy maker. Best IT guy. Best sunset photographer. Best pancake maker. Best driver. Best planner. Best hugger. Best keeper of my heart. Just the best.

My second LO was inspired by the Romantic Scrapbooking class taught by Noell Hyman. (That was Jen’s birthday present to Jen). I’ve only watched the first couple of videos, but I have several ideas for pages I want to scrap. My “Jason and Jen” scrapbook has the most pages of any of my others, but there are still a few holes in our story that I’d like to fill. And I think this class will help with that.

I did a “How We Met” page a few years ago, but it was kind of an overview. I’d like to do a few pages giving more of the details. One of the suggestions in the class was to do a page about your first impressions of each other, or those first early feelings. So I did a little journaling about what it was like after our first big, day long conversation.

Journaling reads-

Jason and I “met” each other in Second Life, but it wasn’t until we started IM’ing in Yahoo that we really started talking. That first day we talked about all kinds of things. I wish I could remember them all. But what I do remember is that we talked all day long that first day. And that he made me laugh so much. The biggest thing that I remember that day, after hours of talking, walking into my kitchen to start dinner. I thought to myself, “We will be great friends”.

And we are.

*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 2013 we…

I love doing wrap-up pages at the end of the year. It can be overwhelming, but they’re some of my favorites to look back on. Here is this year’s page.

Journaling reads- In 2013 we…. Saw the Statue of Liberty. Ate cotton candy. Exterminated (program) bugs. Saw castles. Visited with family friends near and far. Found out who Red John was (we think). Had a zombie obsession. Added to our lighthouse and bridge collections. Had an Empire State of mind. Ate interesting hot dogs and nachos. Walked through Times Square. Ran a 5k. Loved Sleepy Hollow (the place and the show). Rocked out with Muse, Fuel, and STP. Grew tomatoes. Made art and music. Lost twenty pounds. Became three again. Made way for ducklings. Took the longest road trip to date through nine states. Were quiet at the Tomb of the Unknown soldier. Were loud at the water park. Walked over the highway. Saw a rocket launch and the shuttle at rest. Visited Lincoln and Washington, but couldn’t get close to the White House. Saw dinosaurs and mummies. Made friends with butterflies. Explored the zoo and a battle ship. Gave high fives to Miss Kitty. Made bunny ears. Went swimming and played soccer. Blew out candles. Saw fireworks and where the 1% live. Had picnics and beach days. Drew with chalk on the sidewalk. Acquired a crossbow. Defended the world from villains and bloons. Discovered the joys of apple pancakes and brined turkey. Bought a new iPhone and iPad. Rediscovered iTunes Music Festival. United with fellow Marshmellows. Devoured crab cakes. Played in the snow. Got dressed up for a wedding. Made cookies. Tried eating clean. Put white lights on the Christmas tree. Kissed a lot. Took a photo walk. Saw dozens of sunsets. Followed the adventures of Kiron in Kimono. Watched the Superbowl and an inauguration. Decorated cakes. Laughed a lot. Cried a little. Loved the most.

Credits:
Bucket List collection by Ohana Designs

*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.

Christmas pages using December Essentials

Here are a couple of Christmas pages I made using the December Essentials collection by Ohana Designs. I absolutely love these papers, and I’m sure I’ll be using them again.

 

As much as I adore making big cluster-y pages, it’s a nice change to do simpler pages every once in a while. I like the challenge of only using papers with no ellies.

*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.

Sky photos

I cannot believe it’s been almost two weeks since I’ve posted! I’d love to say I’ve been super busy doing really important things, but that would be a lie. I have a few things to catch up on, so I’m going to just jump right in!

Jason and I take a lot of sky pictures. He loves sunsets and I have a thing for palm trees. So what to do with all those pictures?

Scrap a memory. Many of my sky photos are taken on our walks around the complex. This is something we do several times a week, so it’s definitely worth documenting.

Journaling reads: I love walking with you under the magical sky holding hands.

Credits-
Stargazing by Ohan Designs
Template by Seatrout Scraps

Scrap a song. I took this one on our recent photo walk downtown. During most of the walk, I had this song from the Vampire Diaries soundtrack stuck in my head. I thought it was pretty appropriate for the occasion.

Journaling reads: I shot for the sky. I’m stuck on the ground. I’ve noticed lately that I take a lot of sky photos. Like, a ton. I’m almost always looking up when we go for walks, which I’m sure is annoying to Jason, as he is constanly having to pull me here and there to keep me from tripping over something or stepping in doggy “presents”.

Credits-
Wood it Be papers by Inspired by Dominic
Wood It Shine styles by Inspired by Dominic
Bebas and Architect’s Daughter fonts
Lyrics from Down by Jason Walker

Am I the only one who’s obsessed with sky photos? I think sky photos are the new feet photos 😛

*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.

October Essentials (and the three kinds of pages I love the most)

Holy cow, do I love this collection. I mean seriously. I could not stop using it! Sometimes when one of my designers puts out a kit, I’ll jot down a few ideas for pages. Just brainstorming, you know? I did that for this collection, and I came up with eleven ideas! Which I’ll probably never make eleven pages, but you really could. It’s that versatile of a collection.

Okay enough gushing…

One cool thing that I did find while working with this kit last week is that I think I make three distinct kinds of pages. Pretty pages (product driven pages), story pages, and photo pages. And the thing that I love is that there is room for all three in my books!

So here’s how these three pages came to be.

When I got this kit, this LO by Wilna was fresh in my mind. I loved that big gold frame she used and how she just kept cramming things in behind it. So as soon as I saw this fancy frame in Michelle’s new kit, I knew I wanted to make something similar. I thought it would be great for one of our Sleepy Hollow Bridge pictures. I had a creepy story to tell about me on the bridge, so I picked this picture. Well with one thing and another, I just kept adding and adding product until there was no room for the story. To be honest, I forgot I was even trying to tell a story for awhile there I was having so much fun.

Once I came out of my “pretty product haze” and remembered my story, I whipped up another page. Really simple, just papers, pictures, and words.

Journaling reads- One of my very favorite parts of our trip to New York was visiting the Sleepy Hollow Cemetary and Bridge. This isn’t “the” bridge where the Headless Horseman chased Ichabod Crane. That bridge is long gone, if it existed at all. This bridge is hidden away in the woods inside the cemetary gates. It is incredibly peaceful there, which was a wonderful relief from the hectic pace of that week.I approached the bridge with some trpidation. It looked old and rickety, and I wasn’t sure if it would hold me. I ventured out to the middle of the bridge. So far, so good. I looked down into the water and was soon lost in thought, mesmerized by the water below. Suddenly my reverie was interrupted by a noise right behind me. Something large and loud was coming across the bridge, making the bridge creak and sway.For one crazy second, I thought it was the Headless Horseman himself, and I almost jumped the rail right into the creek.Of course it was only an SUV crossing the bridge. Apparently the little rickety bridge was a lot stronger than it had first appeared! As silly as it sounds now, it was pretty scary at the time. I could have sworn the tires running over the slats in the bridge sounded just like the clip-clopping of a horse’s hooves…. 4-26-13

A little overdramatic? Probably. Do I care? Not at all!

Once I had those two pages finished, I thought about all the other pictures we took that day. They needed a page too. I took inspiration from this LO by Jennifer Kinkade. This collection has a ton of gorgeous tags, so I wanted to show them off while still having room for several photos. I also made my own flairs again, because clearly I’m obsessed. I liked that I was able to use the Sleepy Hollow font again, tying the pages together even more.

I have one more story and a few more photos to go, and then the whole story of this part of our trip will be complete. Which is huge for me because I never ever scrap an event “completely” I flit around from one thing to another, and usually that’s just fine. I’m not a chronological scrapper, and I don’t ever worry about being “caught up”. But I’ve really enjoyed the process of making these LO’s and I can’t wait to get them printed and put into my albums!

Layout Credits
Sleepy Hollow Bridge 1
October Essentials by Ohana Designs
Autumn Ellies
Autumn Tags
Basic Ellies
Halloween Ellies
Masks and Splats
Solids and Gradients

Sleepy Hollow Bridge 2
October Essentials by Ohana Designs
Basic Patterns
and Gradients/ Solids
Sleepy Hollow 3.0 and Avenir font

Sleepy Hollow Graveyard
October Essentials by Ohana Designs
Basic Ellies
Basic Patterns
Halloween Tags
Solids/ Gradients
Masks/ Splats
Flairs made by me using Clear Styles by Bekah E.

*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.

Sunrise on the Beach using the Just Breathe bundle by Ohana Designs

Love the soft colors in Michelle’s new kit! So versatile, you could realy do almost any kind of page with it. I had a completely different idea for that mask at first, but I really love how it looks tucked behind everything. I’d never thought of using a mask that way. Always learning 🙂

Journaling reads- One of our favorite things to do is to watch the sunrise on the beach. We try to do it on birthdays and holidays, or whenever the mood strikes. It’s really wonderful to be outside in  the fresh air before it gets crowded with people. To stand together on a deserted beach and watch the sun rise above the ocean is one of the very best parts of living here.

Credits:
Just Breathe by Ohana Designs
Template by Seatrout Scraps (modified) Facebook Freebie

*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.

Another Super Kid layout, plus Tomb of the Unknown using Remembering by Ohana Designs

Have I mentioned how much I love this kit?

I did this LO for the scraplift challenge at Scrapbook Bytes this month. For some reason the challenges at SBB are really inspiring me more than at any other site right now. I’ve looked at several other sites since SDD closed, and SBB has the best challenge rewards system by far. Anyway…

This LO tells the story of how Jason and Antoine dressed alike for the 4th of July this year. If this had happened to ladies, the claws would have come out and they would’ve spent the entire day avoiding each other in separate corners. Ha! But being dudes, they just laughed it off. 🙂

Credits: Super kid bundle by Inspired by Dominic

Journaling reads- Great minds think alike! What else would they wear on the 4th of July than Captain America shirts?

I also did another LO using the Remembering kit by Ohana Designs. This one was for the Sketch challenge at SBB. (I did my first LO with Remembering here back in May). It’s interesting how they’re both so similar, which was totally unintentional. I think that kit lends itself to using big “statement photos” with minimal embellishment, although it does have some great elements! I have a ton of photos from our recent travels that I want to make similar pages with.

This photo was from our visit to Arlington and the Tomb of the Unknown soldier back in June. We were at a strange vantage point, but the most awkward part was this random tent they had placed beside the monument. You couldn’t get a photo without that tent. So I chose to cover it up with a wreath of flower embellishments. You can definitely still see the tent, but it’s not quite as obtrusive, I think.

Credits: Remembering by Ohana Designs

*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.

Evening Walk in Nashville using Evening Walk by Ohana Designs

One of my very favorite things to do is use old blog posts as journaling for my pages. I used this photo walk post as the inspiration for this LO, and copied the journaling directly from the post. Super easy, and super quick! I’m playing a bit of catch-up with my CT’s this week. They’ve all put out such great kits in the past six weeks!

I did this one for the Alphabet Soup challenge at Scrapbook Bytes. You can grab the glittery alpha for free here until the end of the month.

Credits: Evening Walk kit and Alpha by Ohana Designs

Journaling reads-

I love downtown Nashville. So. Much.

I’ve spent so many hours walking these streets. Visiting my dad at work. Waiting on busses. Shopping. Going to plays and the museum. Running errands. Running for busses. Running to pick up my sister from school. Running to grab breakfast before work. And yes, falling on my butt once or twice from all that running.

I could write a book full of all the memories I have of this place. But until then, I’ll share a few photos we took when we visited Nashville back in November. I’m so glad we got to spend some time, just the two of us, walking around one of my very favorite places.

*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.

Beachy LO’s using Tropical by Ohana Designs

I have a weakness for beach themed kits. Posibly because I have hundreds of beach photos. 🙂

We found this tiny, nearly deserted beach tucked away in Boynton. We should really go back there one day.

Credits:
Tropical kit and alpha by Ohana Designs

This was one of my favorite days with Jason ever. (Though it started out pretty crappy). Our first trip to Key Largo was just… magical is the only word I can think of to describe it. Pretty hokey, but true.

I wish the photos were better, but these were from our old Blackberry’s I think. And you can see Jason with hair!

Journaling reads- How many people can say they learned how to swim on a beach in Key Largo? We went to Harry Harris Park, which has a rocky beach.. The water is a tidal pool and very calm. It was the perfect spot for swimming, Jason was very patient and a wonderful teacher. Luckily it wasn’t crowded., so it wasn’t too embarassing for a 30 year old flopping around in the water. trying to learn to doggy paddle. I won’t say I became an excellent swimmer that day, but that is where my love affair with the water really began. May 28, 2008

Credits:
Tropical kit by Ohana Designs (some recoloring)
Template by Seatrout Scraps
KG Like A Skyscraper font