more Monthly Moments: March...

I'm back with my third and last project working with the Monthly Moments collection for March by Papertrey Ink! Today I'm going to be using the new Journal Accessories stamp set and A Few Pointers stamp set and dies as well.

When thinking of what to make, immediately my mind went to the journaling cards in the kit (oh, how I love color and pattern!). Then inspiration struck! A mini album with these as my pages would be so neat. It's not really spring here yet (no flower blooms here yet, mostly snow!), but I used the March stamps with photos from my recent trip home to South Dakota see my parents and brother's family.

The front cover base is a Monthly Moments: March journaling card. I made my own background on the front by die cutting a Journal Card 1 and stamping it with  all of the cute sayings from A Few Pointers. The little squares are Moda fabrics I found at a scrap store, but you could easily replicate this look with Aqua Mist cardstock and some flower stamps and dies!

I made some of my own pages with the stamps also. These notebook journaling cards below were made from scratch. I cut them out with the Journal card 1 die and then stamped them with this set, the Journal Accessories stamps, and I'm going to use them with the March Monthly Moments journaling cards!

And some of the little cards you'll see throughout the mini album were die cut with the March dies and A Few Pointers dies.

OK, let's get to the inside! 

First, a little journaling card I made from scratch telling about our trip home. Same as the above card I made, but here I added a Tropical Teal back to it with the Journal Card 2 die. Isn't it cute how the two journal card dies layer so well together? Washi tape and a little enamel dot add a tiny bit of color and pattern.

On the birthday pic of my dad, I used the March dies with the Birthday Classics: March stamp set. He turned 63 while we were there visiting!

I cut the March with the March die collection and layered it - one cut with white and one cut from a journaling card in the March Monthly Moments collection.

Next, some pics of my girls playing with their cousins outside at my parents' home! Here's one of these accent cards I cut out with the A Few Pointers die. You can use it for journaling or simply as a neat embellishment to accent your photo! The tag is cut with Tremendous Tags from a journaling card.

At the top of some of these cards, I added a few little fabrics to jazz them up, just wrapped them around and stapled them on. The spring circle was stamped with the March stamps.

Another pic of the kids playing. They get along so well and always have a blast together! My brother has two boys right around the same ages as my girls. As you can see, it's been a really snowy year, so I wasn't able to scrap flower buds and springy things with this kit like I wanted to, but it worked out just fine!

And here is one more handmade card created with the Journal Accessories stamps. "Sunday" is from A Few Pointers. I added a few pics of the day we went bowling.

Another fun thing that I captured was when all the kids went out to play was when my dad was showing the girls how to shoot BB guns. They loooved it! I love this pic of my dad helping Kati. She was good too - hit the target right away!

Here she is standing proudly in front of her target. :) I stapled a journaling card to the edge of the photo with one I stamped myself with all the fun sayings from A Few Pointers. Then I covered the staple with washi tape that coordinated with her shirt.

Here is my other daughter shooting BB's with my older nephew. The kids always do cool stuff when we go to visit! My dad let them drive his golf cart around one night. lol (I was gone, but would have loved to get pictures of that!)

Seeing all of the patterns and colors together makes me happy. I have a couple more things I still want to add...a few more pics of some sight seeing we did together to Mt. Rushmore, etc. Then I'm just going to punch holes and assemble it all together on a binder ring. I think I might insert it into my monthly moments album after the Feb. page, just to keep all the months together in one place.

Mini albums are kind of like one big layered card with lots of little cards inside. Cards for me are easier than scrapbook pages, because it's a smaller palette to work with, a smaller space to fill. So when you begin a mini album, think of each page as a little card palette and how you could add interest to each page. Also when you stack the cards, look at them as layers and choose ones that look good next to each other or on top of each other (which is quite easy with these kits, because they all coordinate)! I wanted to add just a little more color to mine, so I laid out a bunch of goodies from my stash that I thought would work well together before I started. I've got some washi tapes and little fabric swatches from Moda that I picked up the other day. For inks, I grabbed the ink colors in the kit: Spring Moss, Harvest Gold, Hawaiian Shores and Aqua Mist. Then I added a few more inks to my palette: Melon Berry, Tropical Teal and Berry Sorbet. Just to add a tiny bit of warmth to the color palette. At this point, I'm not sure if I'm going to use ALL of these items in my mini album, but it's inspiring to see them all laid out together and have so many choices.

There you have it. My mini album process. I hope some of these tips inspire you to try one. Visit Heather Nichols and Melissa Phillips for more Monthly Moments inspiration for March!

Monthly Moments: March...

The March "Monthly Moments" kit will be coming out at Papertrey Ink on the 15th! Would you like a sneak peek? 

We are previewing March's Monthly Moments papers, Monthly Moments: March stamps and die, Journal Accessories stamps, A Few Pointers stamps and the Journal card 2 die.

On this layout, I started by placing the large journaling cards from the Monthly Moments kit on the sides. I always pick out my favorite papers first! Then I had a watercolor paper laying on my table that I painted earlier in the day, and I loved the way the gray looked with the colors in the March Monthly Moments kit with the yellows and blues! So pretty! So I trimmed it down to fit in the center and added some stitching at the top. The butterflies are cut with Beautiful Butterflies from polka dot vellum. The arrows are from a new stamp set and dies called A Few Pointers! Aren't they cute? I used the "I am lucky because" stamp from the Monthly Moments: March stamps.

The leaves were cut with Doodlie-do dies with Aqua Mist cardstock. The buttons were cut with a new die called Bitty Button Stacks with Raspberry Fizz cardstock. I added a little bit of watercolor paint on the layout background in the top left corner (right above the photo) and bottom right corner. I love how it blends the journaling cards right into the paper and makes the transition between the journaling card and the paper look so soft! I bought some new watercolors at Michael's in these tubes, and you just need a tiny dab right on your stamping block or paint palette. These will last a long, long time.

"Be Happy" was trimmed from one of the journaling cards.

The journaling reads, "Colorado is exactly what we needed in our lives. What are the chances of Tracey's company being bought out by a company here? Just when I prayed for a sign. Someone is definitely looking out for us. We were brought closer as a family and get to do more active, outdoor things here together that we couldn't do before. I simply can't express how lucky we are to be here, how good this life change has been for all of us."

Be Happy layout:

STAMPS: Monthly Moments: March, A Few Pointers

INK: Raspberry Fizz, Harvest Gold, Tropical Teal, True Black

PAPER: Monthly Moments: March paper pad, watercolor paper, vellum by Recollections, Aqua Mist and Raspberry Fizz cardstock

DIES: Doodlie-do dies, Beautiful Butterflies dies, Bitty Button Stacks die, A Few Pointers dies

OTHER: watercolor paint by Reeves from Michaels Stores, paper clips, machine stitching, gold dot - Studio Calico.

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Next I was inspired to do another layout. I first painted the background, but this time I used Papertrey Ink's ink refills in Ripe Avocado and Hawaiian Shores onto watercolor paper. If you wet the paper before you add color with your paintbrush, the colors blend together so much better.

The new Journaling card 2 die was used to cut out a piece of gray cardstock, then I used the cut out piece for the mat for my photo. The photo was cut out with the Journal card die. I wanted to offset the picture, so you could see more of the pretty colors underneath.

The lines and "memories" were stamped with the new Journal Accessories set. Sayings and arrows were stamped with A Few Pointers. And the Monthly Moments: March die was used for the title. Twine and a few flower die cuts from the new Embellished Elegance dies finish it off. The journaling reads, "Today as I drop Kati off at the bus and drive around the block, I see the beautiful rec center, snow gently falling and it reminds me how lucky we are to be here. There are so many great things about our new neighborhood!" 

March layout:

STAMPS: A Few Pointers, Journal Accessories, Embellished Elegance

INK: True Black, Harvest Gold, Ripe Avocado, Hawaiian Shores

PAPER: watercolor paper and gray from Michaels

DIES: Monthly Moments: March, Journal card die, Journal card 2 die, Embellished Elegance

OTHER:  Rustic twine.

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All of these new products will be available at Papertrey Ink on March 15th at 10pm EST. I think I'm going to wait to do my album page spread until the 1st. That way I'll have more March photos to choose from for my big March spread! I haven't taken very many pics yet for March. (Mostly all of the snow!) No spring for us here yet. :) 

Visit the rest of the Monthly Moments team to see more with the March kit products: Heather Nichols, Melissa Phillips, Nichole Heady.

More Monthly Moments: February...

Today is my second installment working with Papertrey Ink's new line of stamps, dies and papers for February called Monthly Moments. This line was designed for scrapbookers and pocket page scrappers, but of course can be used on cards as well! I made another pocket page, reviewing our highlights from February. Pics are of us on my hubby's birthday and my daughter Kati on the morning of her school Valentine's party. (Just to warn you, my teen doesn't like her pic taken these days, so you may see a lot of Kati. Ha. I will figure out a way to get Taylor into a few pictures as well.)

I had a really hard time photographing this. It's so colorful in real life!

I started with the journaling cards. I know. I know what you're thinking. "You don't start with the photos?" Well, I had an idea of what photos I was going to use, but I tend to work backwards, working with the colorful journaling cards first. I figure out where to place them, then add my photos after. I like to spread out the color!

Often times in my mini albums, I make little fun things to go between the pages. I just like to create fun surprises for the reader. I made a pocket with vellum (fold vellum and stitch sides) and stamped "this" several times, then embossed it with white embossing powder. I added a Monthly Moments journaling card inside, the February calendar from the free download and a letter that I typed up about all of our February highlights! The pocket floats in between the pages.

Next to it, I used the Valentine Stitches dies to poke little arrows in the cardstock. Added some washi tape to the bottom before I die cut the arrows. "Here's The Story" was stamped with Monthly Moments: Library Card stamps.

On the left side, I kept it super simple, 2 photographs, a journaling card, and then a fun pocket made with the Framed Love die. The hearts were cut from one of the Monthly Moments papers. Washi tape adorns the outside of the pocket to match the one on the vellum pocket.

Next, a little pic of my cupcake...hee hee...next to some cupcakes that we made for daddy's birthday. Took this one of her before she left for school on the day of her Valentine party. She was all dressed up, she HAD to get a red dress for that day, so we found one at Target. "Today is a perfect day" was stamped with Monthly Moments: Days of the Week stamps.

Behind the pocket is one more pic of Kati the morning of her Val. party. I used the Wonderful Words: Love die to cut out the word and added it over the pocket.

On the bottom right, I stamped "happiness is us" with the Monthly Moments: Slide Frame stamps. Love adding these little sayings!

Visit Nichole Heady, Heather Nichols, Ashley Newell, and Melissa Phillips to see more!

Love pocket page layout:
(All supplies are by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)
STAMPS: Monthly Moments: February (this heart), Monthly Moments: Library card (Here's The Story), Monthly Moments: Days of the Week (today is a perfect day), Monthly Moments: Slide Frame (happiness is us)
INK: True Black and Versamark
PAPER: Monthly Moments journaling cards and papers and free download with kit, vellum
DIES: Valentine Stitches dies, Framed Love dies, Wonderful Words: Love die
OTHER: washi tape - unknown, pearls- Melissa Frances, white embossing powder machine stitching.

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Design team tips...

For today's "Design Team Tips", I wanted to revisit the new Monthly Moments stamps and dies by Papertrey Ink to show you how you can use these products to create your own BACKGROUNDS. Whether it's a background on a layout, a card, or a pocket page, you can use these stamps to create a fun look! I was a scrapbooker before I became a card maker, so many of my card techniques and ideas come from scrapbooking. ANYTHING you can do on a layout, you can do on a card and vice versa. Use scrapbook layouts for inspiration if you are a card maker. Or use cards as inspiration if you are a scrapbooker! (Remember, it's just paper! Techniques can be used on any sort of project, big or small!)

Watercolors are so trendy right now. They are everywhere. If you read my "feather" post, you'll remember the technique I used, painting the feather stamp directly with reinkers. Why not try it on a larger page? So, I pulled out my watercolors, watercolor paper (Artist's Loft from Michaels) and the Monthly Moments stamp sets...and just played around with different combinations of stamping and watercoloring.

Ready? Let me show you how to get this look!
First, you'll grab some watercolor paper, watercolors, a paintbrush, little cup of water and the Monthly Moments: February stamps. I'm using the heart image from this set. Grab some red on your paintbrush with a tiny bit of water.

Paint the heart stamp. (There's no right or wrong way to do this! Each time you'll get a different look, and that's what is so fun.)

Stamp it two or three times without getting more paint. It will be a loose watercolor effect, not perfect. Don't worry! That's part of the charm.

Now using your Pure Poppy stamping ink, add a red heart at the top.

Continue with oranges, yellows, and greens, flowing them down your layout or card with the watercolors. Add in some stamped ones with Papertrey Ink stamp pads to add contrast and definition.

Inks I used to add some stamped hearts in were Pure Poppy, Melon Berry, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, Limeade Ice and New Leaf by Papertrey Ink.

The finished look...
a card made with this technique, so you could see that this process can work on cards as well.

Always Remember This Day card:

STAMPS: Monthly Moments: February
INK: Pure Poppy, Melon Berry, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, New Leaf, Limeade Ice
PAPER: watercolor paper, Lemon Tart cardstock
DIES: none
OTHER: watercolors, paintbrush, water.
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Here's the finished layout using this same technique (the one I started at the beginning of the post). Sometimes I love making layouts with journaling only that either tell the highlights of the month, or sometimes I'll just write a letter about how I feel. After watercoloring and stamping all the hearts, I added the lines by stamping the Monthly Moments: Library card stamps and journaled about the highlights of our month so far (swimming lessons, bought grandma and grandpa tickets to come visit us for a month this spring, my husband turned 37, Valentine's Day happenings, Taylor's 14 year check up, and Kati's 8th annual cardiology appointment.) Often times I feel like I don't have enough photos to document everything, but I love to write it down, so we remember!

The February die cuts were just stapled to the layout.

Heart This layout:

STAMPS: Monthly Moments: February, Monthly Moments: Library card
INK: Pure Poppy, Melon Berry, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, New Leaf, Limeade Ice, Enchanted Evening, Hawaiian Shores, Lavender Moon inks by Papertrey Ink, Soft Granite by Hero Arts
PAPER: watercolor paper, Summer Sunrise/Melon Berry/and Harvest Gold Pattern Pack paper
DIES: Monthly Moments: February die
OTHER: watercolors, paintbrush, water, enamel dots by MME.
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On the last layout, I used sort of the same technique, but I first stamped the frames with Papertrey Ink's inks with the Monthly Moments: Slide Frame stamps as a background onto watercolor paper, then painted over the top of the frames with watercolors to blend the ink a bit. I also painted inside each frame with a coordinating color. Love how each frame looks like a little window! I messed up on the red one a little bit, so that one received a photograph over the top! No biggie! I didn't stamp the frames perfectly, because I wanted it to look more artsy and random. (Sorry- my camera is doing this fish eye thing, and I'm not sure why. The frames are actually square on my page, I promise.)

All these cute little sayings are from the Monthly Moments: Slide Frame stamp set. I used the Monthly Moments: February die to die cut the title. Papertrey Ink colors used on the frames were Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, Lavender Moon, Hawaiian Shores and New Leaf. I chose these mostly because they would match my watercolors the best. The Hawaiian Shores was a little tricky, I had to blend blue and green watercolors a bit to get the right shade, but the others were right on!

The flowers were stamped onto vellum with the Bold Bouquet stamp set. "This" hearts were stamped with Monthly Moments: February stamps and cut out.

Here you can see the neat watercoloring effect up close. Start off with a darker color in the upper corner (to match the frame) and work with more water as you go down to lighten it. I love this!

Hope I've inspired you to get inky and painty...and to make something just for fun! Nourish that creative side of you! Wishing you a super-awesome-creative day!
Danielle

February Framed layout:

STAMPS: Monthly Moments: February stamps, Monthly Moments: Slide Frame stamps, Special Delivery Sentiments stamps (slanted lines), Bold Bouquet stamps
INK: Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, New Leaf, Raspberry Fizz, Ripe Avocado, Lavender Moon, Sweet Blush, Hawaiian Shores, Aqua Mist inks, Soft Granite by Hero Arts
PAPER: watercolor paper, Smokey Shadow Pattern Pack, vellum
DIES: Monthly Moments: February die
OTHER: watercolors, paintbrush, water, enamel dots by MME.

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New from Papertrey Ink! Introducing Monthly Moments...

If you are scrapbooker (or you inspire to give it a try) and love Papertrey Ink's products, I have some fun news for you! Papertrey Ink will be carrying pocket page scrapbooking products...a new line called Monthly Moments, which has inspired me to start scrapbooking in the "pocket page" fashion. Today I get to share with you my VERY first pocket pages!

By sharing my process with this kit, and how I approached it, I hope you'll see how easy it can be! The mini album I'm using is a Snap! 6x8" binder in black, available at Papertrey Ink soon.

When I received the Monthly Moments papers, dies and stamps, I first picked out the papers that caught my eye the MOST: the black polka dot, the gray and white circles and a couple of the heart journaling cards. And the free digital download with purchase of a kit! I placed them in the page protectors, alternating pockets, trying to balance out the colors and visual "weight" of the cards. (For example, if I had a lot of black on one side, I knew I needed some black on the other side to balance it.) I decided the other sections would be filled with photos.

On the left, I placed a 4x6 journaling card and a 4x6 photo of Kati writing out her Valentines the other morning. I journaled on a piece of vellum (a little trick I use when I'm scared of my hand writing and don't want to mess up writing directly on the card itself!) and stapled it onto the card. My approach to this is going to be simple, with a few added embellishments. I don't want it to get too complex. Added some stamping from the Monthly Moments: February stamps and the Monthly Moments: Days of the Week stamps. (The Be Mine circle is from the free printables!)

(She's making the tulle-wrapped treats for her class for Valentine's Day that I posted about HERE!)

On the "Love This" card, I used the new Monthly Moments: Library card stamps and the Monthly Moments: February stamps to document a few details about her grade, teacher and class size.

The new Journaling card die was used to cut out this photo from a 4x6" photo. Love how it rounds the corners for you!

And see the "February"? That is a new die also called Monthly Moments: February die. I tucked it in a little pocket with sequins, die cut arrows from Cupid's Arrow , a piece of flair and a frame cut with Limitless Layers 2.25" Oval dies. (I will be stitching this pocket closed at the top to keep the goodies safely tucked inside.)

February pocket page:

STAMPS: Monthly Moments: February, Monthly Moments: 
Library card, Monthly Moments: Days of the Week

INK: Hawaiian Shores and True Black by PTI, Soft Granite by Hero Arts

PAPER: Monthly Moments: February papers, white/Aqua Mist/Classic 
Kraft cardstock, free digital download, vellum

DIES: Monthly Moments: February die, Monthly  Moments: Journal Card die, Cupid's Arrow, circle punch

OTHER: sequins by Pretty Pink Posh, flair by A Flair For Buttons on Etsy, clothespin by Crate Paper, chipboard by Amy Tan, resin flourishes by Melissa Frances, seam binding by Zipperstop, 
washi tape - unknown, black marker by Sharpie.

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On the second page spread, I alternated journaling cards with photos again, balancing out the reddish-pink ones and the darker ones. I scrapped pics of both of my girls for a "what I love about you" page. I thought it would work well for a February theme!

I used one of the heart papers from the kit, but instead of using it as a paper, I trimmed the hearts out of it for heart "confetti" and tucked them free-flowingly into the large pocket. The stamping ("favorite photo" and "this is the best") is from a new stamp set called Monthly Moments: Slide Frame. A few flair pieces and wooden embellishments were added from my stash. 

I made some pull-out tags for journaling to tuck behind the photos. "What I Love About You" and the journaling lines are stamped with Monthly Moments: February! The "pull here" stamp is from Movers & Shakers Sentiments.

I don't know if you can tell, but the wooden embellishments are added with glue dots OUTSIDE the pockets! I'm living on the edge! :)

Forever Be My Always page spread:
(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Monthly Moments: February, Monthly Moments: Slide Frame, 
Movers & Shakers Sentiments ("pull here" stamp)

INK: True Black, Raspberry Fizz, Sweet Blush inks

PAPER: Monthly Moments: February, Sweet Blush and Aqua Mist cardstock

DIES: Tag Sale #3, Journal card die

OTHER: wooden flags by Basic Grey, flair by A Flair for Buttons on Etsy, sequins by Pretty Pink Posh, twine by Papertrey Ink, washi tape - unknown, Copic marker R20, Martha Stewart Heart Confetti punch (tiny hearts).

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The heart theme in the Feb. Monthly Moments kit and products (which can be bought together or separately) could be used to scrap anything...what you love about something, a moment that meant a lot to you, recipes/food you love, pets, etc. Even if you don't have children, it is very versatile in that respect! 

These products will be available on Feb. 15th at 10pm EST at PapertreyInk.com. To see more with these products, visit Nichole Heady, Melissa Phillips, Ashley Cannon Newell, and Heather Nichols.