Eleven favorites of 2011...

Hi friends, I hope you had a very happy holiday! I just finished posting a few pics over on Facebook of our Christmas. I didn't take many photos this year...just felt like I wanted to sit back and enjoy it... more than worrying how great my photos were! Know what I mean? It was nice.

Each year I like to do a "year in review" and choose my favorite layouts over the past year that I've created. It's fun to look back and see how you've grown or changed in scrapbooking. I think I'll just stick to layouts today...maybe I'll post 11 of my favorite cards next!

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Here we go!
1. This first one was done for Pink Paislee... I had fun mixing and matching colors and papers. I'm trying to get better at adding more color and trying new placement for things!

2. I think I'm in love with the color gray this year! The "Remember" layout was made for Glue Arts, we were working with Hero Arts stamps (red words "you brighten my day").  I happened to catch my girls sitting together and holding hands one day...a RARE occurrence! I used some older products for this one, a Cosmo Cricket chipboard album cover (heart) and a fabric piece I think was from K & Co.

3. The "Grateful" layout was another Pink Paislee layout from this fall when we went to the pumpkin patch. I love the phase right now of using punches. It really allows you to add lot of pattern to your pages by adding little punched bits and pieces.

4. The 5 Years layout was made with Jenni Bowlin products!  I really had fun with the design here.

5. This one was Pinterest inspired, made for a guest post for Pebbles. I painted the limbs and added punched circles. Making your own backgrounds is really addicting with mists, paints and stamps...so many possibilities!

6. "Chasing the Chicks" was done for another guest post for Hip 2 Be Square Scrapbooking. This was a visit back home and we stopped at a tourist attraction called "Old MacDonald's Farm". Kati chased the chickens all over the place! Who knew chicken pictures would be so fun to scrap! HA

7. "Her Perspective" is actually one I haven't posted before. It was one of my layouts that I made for the Scrapbooking Girls E-book by Ella Publishing. (You can still purchase this - link is in my side bar!) I gave Taylor my camera and asked her to take photos of her favorite things, like her favorite hobby, music, food, etc. We had the BEST time together finding her favorites around the house and she loved using my camera and getting a photography lesson! It was a neat way to spend time together and create a page to remember her favorites at this age. This page also reminds me that I need to get better at using MORE photos on a page!

8. "Let It Snow" is one of my favorites as well - just love this new line by Pink Paislee called Snow Day and love these pictures of my 3 making snowmen together. It was one of those layouts that fell together very fast! Love when that happens!

9. "A Happy Heart" layout makes me happy when I look at it. Just scrapbooking another hobby I love, making quilts for friends and family. My mom always tells me a busy heart is a happy heart and she's so right! (made with October Afternoon products)

10. This was a layout that I made for the Mission To Create blog. I used some vintage paper, lots of bits and pieces from my stash and some Dusty Attic chipboard words! My daughter took this photo of my husband and I at the park one day when she was 5 and it was our 11th anniversary. I was glad to have a photo of that particular day. She did a great job!

11. The last one makes me smile, because Kati is always a happy girl, and these photos are so indicative of her personality. I tried something different with the design here and also tried a new technique with Papertrey Ink stamps (new to me) called "kissing your stamps". Again, I'm trying to balance out my pages with color and fun embellishments, also adding stamps to my layouts.

Scrapbooking is like creating a journal, except we are adding color and photos to our journal. I've learned lots this year about creating, design, and of course stamping from my good friends at Papertrey Ink. I've learned more about the things people like to see and how design pleases the eye. Creating makes me so happy, and I can't wait to see what this year will bring for me! Thanks for reading and stopping by! I really appreciate having so many friends who understand the scrapbooking passion. Here's to a great 2012. xo,