Webster's Pages - So Many Layers

It's so hard to imagine that I've been married for 3 years now. Where has the time gone? It seems like I'm living day to day and suddenly look back to see that another month has passed. Wow, it sure sneaks up on me! When I think back to my wedding day, I can't help but smile and laugh at most of it. As a bride I agonized over every small detail and thought that I had made enough plans (and spread sheets) to have complete control over my wedding.    Ha! Not even close!

The actual day seemed to dash by in a blur: tons of things that I forgot or forgot to do. Hubbie even had to drive back to his parents' home because I forgot my shoes! Well, getting myself into that corset and dress by myself was like trying to zip up a Spandex sleeping bag. After I had finally squeezed myself in and zipped myself up, I stood back to admire my handywork. Only then did I realize that I had forgotten to put on my puffy slip.... the one that has to go on first before everything else.

I was very tempted to get frustrated and start systematically ripping off my dress, but instead I smiled and said a very enthusiastic "SCREW IT" and just laughed. Now looking back, I'm glad I did because without that puffy slip, my dress took on a very ethereal flowy look. I like it better!

Paper - Webster's Pages-Let's Celebrate Collection, Webster's Pages - Garden Gala - Fresh Air, My Mind's Eye - Follow Your Heard - Be Happy - Favorite Things, My Mind's Eye - Lush - Brown Diamonds Paper   Embellishments - Little Yellow Bicycle - Stick Pins - Wood Words, Michaels - Wood Embellishments - Songs of Spring   Ribbon - American Crafts - Premium Ribbon - Greeting, American Crafts - Premium Ribbon - Yellow Rosettes

I'm so glad my Mother-in-Law was taking pictures because she caught one of my favorite shots: my dad beside me and my dress in all it's flowy goodness. This layout was all layered up with bits and pieces of scrap and ribbon. I tried to incorporate the red tones of the Webster's Pages paper with my inked edges. Unfortunately, I purchased most of the supplies when I got engaged, so I can't find any active links to any of it.

Hope you enjoyed this!

Paris - L'Objet qui Parle

When I was preparing to visit Paris, I used Pinterest as my personal tour guide. I wrote down all the little nooks and crannies that I thought I could squeeze into a week. I knew I'd probably never get a second chance to visit, so I didn't want to miss a thing! One of the places I uncovered was a place called L'Objet qui Parle (The Object that Speaks).

Paper - My Mind's Eye - Market Street Collection - Ashbury Heights - Vignette

When I was at Sacre Coeur, I took two streets over and at the bottom of the hill (near the Moulin Rouge) was L'Objet qui Parle. It was the size of a small closet and it was filled from the floor to ceiling with all kinds of antiques! I wish I could've bought more stuff but there's no way I could fit the giant antique mirror of my dreams into my luggage. :)

When arranging this layout, I wanted the look to have the same hodge-podge look as the shop itself. Little bits of paper hear and there with some texture. The Ashbury Heights Vignette from My Mind's Eye held just enough antique whimsy and color to really make the picture speak. And the Glassine kraft paper was actually the packaging I received when I bought some ribbon from A Paper Palette.

Hope you enjoyed this layout!

See the World - October Afternoon and My Mind's Eye

Happy Saturday!
I'm back with a new 12x12 travel layout from my visit to Paris, France. My favorite part of Paris was seeing the Arc de Triomphe. It was so beautiful and mere steps away from our hotel. Everyday I would pass it to get to the metro and I miss it so much!

October Afternoon - Boarding Pass - Chip N Stick October Afternoon - Boarding Pass -Miscellany

My Mind's Eye - Jubilee Collection - Tangerine - Adventure Be Daring

Heidi Swapp - Hello Today Collection - Memory Planner - Ephemera Pack

 I used My Mind's Eye's Jubilee collection for the background because I fell in love with the little saying at the bottom. I layered it up with some of the bits and pieces from Heidi Swapp's new ephemera pack called "Hello Today". This layout also let me dig out my October Afternoon Boarding Pass embellishments. I've been waiting to use all of those for years!

Hope you enjoyed this one! See you soon!

Valentine's Project Life + FREEBIE giveaway

Good Morning!

The snow has been pounding us here in the DMV area. We just received another 8 inches yesterday and I'm so done with it! Well, on with my layouts and then I have a surprise for you!

Featuring Camera Journaling Card Je T'aime Card Love Jar Card Weather Journal Card

Featuring Valentines Day Journaling Cards

And now on to the super fun stuff... the Freebie Giveaway! Just CLICK HERE to download the 300dpi JPEGS to print at home!

These journaling cards are made to coordinate with Music Volume 1 Journaling Cards.

 

*****DISCLAIMER: I am not affiliated with Project Life or © Becky Higgins, LLC.. I am a customer that uses the system and designer making cards for my use and for sale. Visit BeckyHiggins.com to learn about her program. 

2/21/15

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope you're staying warm, where ever you are! The snow is coming down heavily here, so I'm stuck inside for the weekend. That's fine with me though.

Snow + Puppies + Blanket = Warm Snuggly Heaven

So, while I'm staying inside today, I thought I'd share my layout about the flight to Paris. I'm currently using this page as my cover page for the album. Once again, I haven't been able to take great pictures in a while. Please forgive me!

My Mind's Eye - Jubilee Collection - Tangerine -Honor Traveler  

 October Afternoon - Boarding Pass - Chip 'n' Stick

Recollections Travel Stamp Jar

Some of the items I used were from my scrap pile, so I'm not sure who they belong to anymore. It's been so liberating to try using only my scrap pile nowadays, but it does get frustrating when I'm trying to give credit. Either I've forgotten totally or the item is no longer around to link to.

I used brown string to show were I was coming from and going to, and then placed a chipboard airplane on top. I've been waiting to use the cute airplane chipboards that I have for a while now. We usually don't fly to places so they've sat in storage for quite some time. When traveling, I always try to take pictures that truly tell the story. Your plane ticket, favorite coffee, local cuisine, etc. These photos normally tell more about your trip than the average tourist picture. 

Oh, and don't forget to check out my Etsy shop! I've got some great printables in there for TRAVEL and Valentine's Day!

2/7/2015

Happy Saturday Everyone!

Since the weather was nice today, I decided to go out for a walk. We rarely seem to get a warm day around here. (I can't believe 50 degrees is what I consider warm nowadays!)  I suited up and took the puppies out with me. Hubbie says that I look silly in my workout gear, but here's a secret.... I feel sassy! LOL

Then I sat down to my Project Life album. I'm a little behind but I was so happy to be able to use my new set of journal cards that I made. You can see my Work Life Journal Cards and my NERDY Journal Cards. There's also a sneak peak at one of my future sets to come.

I just had to scrap my BLACKLIST obsession. I signed up for Hulu just to get caught up again on the most current episodes. Love that show!

I hope everyone is enjoying some sunny weather today. Get out there and make some memories to scrap!

Hello Again!

Hello again friends! I hope some of you are still reading.

Time sure does fly! We've managed to move to two different states and two completely different jobs. Hopefully life has settled down enough that I can get back to my blogging world. Here's some of what I've been up to.

I'm still scrapping my wedding album. I can't believe that it's been over 2 years and I'm still working on it. (Please excuse my photos for a little while. I'm having to use my phone's camera nowadays).

I had the opportunity to go on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Paris France with my hubbie. I'm probably going to be scrapping those pictures until the day that I die!

And now I'm making Project Life cards on the side for my Etsy shop. Make sure to stop by and check out some of my goodies! https://www.etsy.com/shop/VibrantValley
I'm slowly adding things as I can. Life sure is getting interesting. :)

I'm Moving

Summer Love

Can't wait to show you what I have coming up! Make sure check back with me soon.

Maya Road & October Afternoon Mini Album

I was browsing through my local Hobby Lobby when I came across the cutest mini album in the world. It was a three ring binder by Maya Road that had a removable canvas cover. As soon as I laid my eyes on the mini album, my MIL and I both grabbed one. You can see a similar one here, but my mini album doesn't have the jean pocket on the front. It came with 3 canvas pages and 3 chipboard pages. It was so nice that they mixed up the pages like that because it gave me plenty of surfaces to choose from.

Tattered Angels - Glimmer Mist - Electric Blue,  October Afternoon - Farmhouse Collection - Shape Stickers,  October Afternoon - Farmhouse Collection - Journaling Cards, October Afternoon - Farmhouse Collection - Gravel Road, October Afternoon - Sasparilla - Little Flyers

I decided to use my mini album for all the extra engagement photos that I knew I would never get around to scrapping (I have TONS of pictures everywhere). First things first, I took the canvas cover off my mini album and sprayed it with Electric Blue and let it dry. The color dried so pretty, not too dark and not too bright. Looking at the color blue, I decided to go with a simple prime color scheme (Blue, Red, and Yellow). The yellow doily sticker and the red rose sticker brought those colors to the cover of my mini album without being too childish. That's one of the main things I love about the Farmhouse collection; the colors are bright but mature. To ensure that everything stuck to the canvas cover, I used my sewing machine to sew them down.

While the cover was off, I covered the inside chipboard of my mini album with a fun and simple stripe. I loved it because it reminded me of seersucker (which is a southern thing!). I can't say enough about this Maya Road album. It was so easy to maneuver and the binder rings are so fun. I wish I had grabbed another mini album like this. Hopefully they will still be at Hobby Lobby for a ways to come.

The journaling cards were just perfect for all of my journaling. The colors and sayings were fun and they were the perfect size for the pages in the mini album. I didn't have to trim them at all. I just said what I wanted to say and glued it down.

This picture is actually a funny story. I wanted to have my engagement photos outside purely for the fields and hay bales. After spending months looking up "engagement photo ideas" I had a specific look in mind. Unfortunately, God had other things in mind.... like rain. When we got to the farm, all the hay bales were soaked and we couldn't sit in front of them or on them. But I was hell bent on a photo with one, so I made Caleb lean against one with me. I got my hay bale after all. : D

I love this journaling card specifically because of the church on the hill. I thought it tied in with the theme of marriage and a wedding. So, to go with the rolling countryside, I chose a picture of us out in 'the country'. The good times sticker is actually a rub on from their 5 and Dime collection. I couldn't find a link for you since it's no longer available.

The 'My Best Friend' sticker on this spread is actually from Sasparilla's little flyers. It was meant to be put on a flag, but I just liked it alone. The chipboard pages lended themselves to photos very well. All I did was run my ATG on top of the chipboard and press my photo onto it. Then, I flipped it over and used an exacto knife to trim around the edges. Lastly, I rubbed the edges with a nail file to get a smooth finish.

This picture was so cute but the photographer waited until the very end of the photo shoot to do it. Why does that matter? Well, it's a very simple equation:

1 tired man + 1 cutesy pose = 1 extremely grumpy man. 

He did NOT want to do this picture, but I'm glad I forced it out of him. I think the heart that our hands make is very sweet. What can I say? I'm a mushy kind of girl.

And this is the very last page of my mini album. I thought it would only be fitting to end on the photo of Caleb and I looking towards the future and leaving everything behind. This is also very meaningful for me because this is how Caleb walks with me ever since our first date. Ever the gentleman, his hand is always firmly on the small of my back. 

I absolutely love this mini album and I hope I get a chance to make another one of these. And I also hope that you'll stop by to see me again soon. If you haven't already, make sure to follow my blog by choosing an option on the right side of the screen. I appreciate all my followers and you'll be updated if I post anything new! See you soon!

Tiny Bird with a Big Song - My Mind's Eye

When I laid my eyes on MME's paper, Songbird, I fell in love with the saying. "I feel like a tiny bird with a big song." It really struck a cord with me because when I got engaged I wanted to shout it from the rooftop. Even now, I can't help but weave wedding plans into any conversation. (I promise that I truly don't mean to. I just happens.) I just feel like I'm bursting with happiness and there's not aren't enough voices to sing it all. In my engagement photos, there was a succession of three photos. The one I loved the most was of me laughing. I know that it wasn't the most flattering of them all, but it really showed how I was feeling: happy, excited, and bursting with energy.

My Mind's Eye - Follow your Heart - Be Happy - Favorite Things, My Mind's Eye - Follow your Heart - Be Happy -  Happy Doily, My Mind's Eye - Follow your Heart - Be Happy - Striped Pink, My Mind's Eye - Follow your Heart - Be Happy - Songbird, The Paper Studio - Spare Parts - Doily Ribbon 3 pk, Spellbinders - Nestablities - Lacey Circles

The journaling reads: I had thought about cancelling our engagement photos because everyone said they were a waste of money. I'm so glad that we went ahead with them. They are so precious to me.

When in doubt, I can always fall back on simple design basics. You can't go wrong with a simple three photo layout with one photo enlarged. Your eyes automatically go to the enlarged image and then can wander equally between the outer two. This also works with color. If you want to draw attention to a specific photo, you can turn all the other photos Black and White and leave only one photo in color. To bring more attention to my center photo, I made sure to only mat that photo with white cardstock.

When I had finished my layout, I realized that I had an uneven page. The cluster at the bottom right seemed to weigh down that side of the paper. So, I knew I had to focus on the top left to even things back out. I cut out the doilies from Happy Doily using just regular scissors and not trying to be too accurate. I just went around the general shape. Then I used the Spellbinders die to cut them out. This gave me a very intricate cut and lots of detail. I placed them in between the papers to show the different layers.

I hope you enjoyed this layout and hopefully it gave you a little inspiration for your own projects. If you haven't already, make sure to follow my blog so you can get updates instantly!

Lovely. Beautiful. Darling. - My Mind's Eye

I know it might sound strange, but I looked forward to my engagement photos much more than I look forward to my wedding photos. When I look at wedding photos, I can't help but always see them as fairly basic: white dress, tuxes, and only the bridesmaid's dresses to add color. On the other hand, when I look at engagement photos, I see two people who are in love and can't wait to show the world. So, as soon as I got my photos in, I went to work making the light and romantic layouts that I've had planned in my head for months.

My Mind's Eye - Be Happy - Honey Pink, My Mind's Eye - Be Happy - Be You, My Mind's Eye - Be Happy - Favorite Things, My Mind's Eye - Be Happy - Striped Pink, My Mind's Eye - Be Happy - Follow Your Heart layered stickers, Tim Holtz - Tissue Tape - Symphony, Tonic Studios - Tim Holtz - Paper Distresser

I absolutely loved the cluster in the top right corner of 'Be You'. I didn't want to cover it up. So I decided to keep the majority of my page in the bottom left. I began layering with pieces of 'Honey Pink' that I had cut out with an exacto knife. The overwhelming color in the top cluster was pink, so I needed the pink piece to draw your eye down to the bottom of the page. (Believe it or not, your eyes automatically want to play connect the dots when it sees multiple objects of the same color. Cool huh?)

I added a layer of Tim Holtz's Tissue Tape to give a little weight to the background. With all the solids and stripes on a layout, it's nice to mix things up with an intricate pattern (use sparingly). Then, I started layering papers to give a nice background to my photo. I went around 'Favorite Things' with some machine sewing to add to the romantic feeling of the page. On the blue cardstock paper, I went around the edges with Tim Holtz's paper distresser. I like the shabby feeling it gave and when you're using a bunch of papers in a similar tone, it's always a good idea to infuse as much texture as possible. 


I've been looking for a reason to use those wonderful layered stickers on my layouts and this was just the ticket. I added one of the stickers to the bottom of my photo to help ground it down. Lastly, when I looked around my layout I noticed a lot of white space to the right of my photo that was oh-so-conveniently lined for my journaling. The scrapbook queens must have known I'd need it. 

The journaling reads: 

I absolutely love

 this man. 

He sees all my faults 

and simply smiles 

at them.

He is my constant.

He is my comfort.

When I look

at him, the

weight of the world is

off my shoulders

and I am home. 

I hope everyone enjoyed this. I've been going crazy with anticipation for my photos and I hope this layout does the picture justice. Make sure to stop by again soon!

My Hometown - October Afternoon

A long time ago, I entered this little canvas tag mini album to be published. I wasn't able to post it because they specifically asked that it be something that has not been viewed before. After 1 year, I never heard anything back. So, I guess it's safe to show now. I have to say, this will probably be my favorite mini album for a while.

Maya Road Canvas Tag Album

October Afternoon '5 & Dime' papers

October Afternoon 'Seaside- Sandcastle' paper

'5 & Dime' Tin Pins 

'5 & Dime' Rubber Charms

October Afternoon Mini Market letter stickers

October Afternoon 'Modern Homemaker' Label stickers

I made this mini album all about my hometown. Every year it changes and looks so different. I thought it would be a great idea to document it so I can show my children one day. The canvas tag mini album was just the thing because it's so fun and homey. I absolutely love October Afternoon because of their wonderful colors and retro feel. You can use it to scrap a two year old child or a 90 year old woman. It's perfect for just about anything.

This was my childhood home. It was sold two years ago, so I definitely wanted to scrap a picture of it before the new homeowners changed anything. The fabric of the mini album canvas tags didn't want to stick with any glue I used, so I used my sewing machine to attach a background piece of paper. Then I was able to layer on just like a regular layout page.

This is my high school. I'm a little upset that I didn't get a picture sooner. The high school recently had an upgrade and additions on the front so it already looks so different from what I remember. The apple on the right was an image that I cut out of one of the papers. I glued it inside a vintage red button and filled it up with glossy accents. I actually have to pat myself on the back for the little pennant on the right. This mini album was made before pennant flags were a big thing. I had to use a kitchen toothpick!

This is my family's business. This is the most important to me because this is my heritage. My grandfather started this business all by his self and it has been passed down to my father. I loved the little dog image and I found a button that looked like a little ball for him to play with.

I hope you enjoyed this mini album. I wish that I was able to share it with you when the 5 and dime collection was new, but hopefully you'll enjoy it just the same. : )