Getting the most out of your kits...

I have a little tutorial up over at Gossamer Blue! When playing with the September kit, I discovered something fun you can do with these pretty Solstice stickers.

Of course you can use them as is, and they are gorgeous! But I had started a project that had a lot of gold on it already, and when I went to add more gold stickers, I felt like they were getting lost in the design. So...I discovered that you can flip them over, peel off the backing and add color to the back of them! You can watercolor them, paint them, or even add embossing powder and heat emboss them!

The background of my card was watercolored with gray paint splashes, and then I began assembling my card with the main Sept. kit contents. I layered a polkadot clear tag over the Crate Paper peach sticker and added the "And" ephemera piece. The gold medallion was tucked under the "And" piece.

Last, I added some sewing machine thread, one of my watercolor heart stickers I made and a cork heart. The striped tab was tucked under the left edge.

You can send this as a card, or even use it in your project life pages as a decorative card with your photos.  Stop over to Gossamer Blue to see the finished result!

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!

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.

make your own PL cards...

I've been thinking long and hard about my future in crafting, and I've got some big decisions to make, as far as where I'm headed. Now that we are almost all settled in and I'm full force ahead again, I feel like I want to do more with my work. I'm going to give it some serious thought over the next month. You may see changes coming! Anyway, yesterday I felt like making some PL cards. I know, I know...I don't dabble in PL yet, but I've been getting the itch to do so! I love scrapbook pages, I love cards, but sometimes you feel the need to try something new. Right? I do...most definitely. I enjoy working with smaller canvases, so it felt very natural to me.

So here are the handmade cards I created with Pink Paislee's new Hey Kid line! There's no reason we can't make our own little PL cards with our stash. On this one, I folded a piece of vellum and stitched the side and bottom to create a pocket, then filled it with some of the Hey Kid Ephemera and punched circles. You can add a photo, journaling etc in the pocket. (The top is open.) Isn't the texture great on these canvas stickers?

The "shoot for the stars" card is stamped with the new Sentiment Series stamps.  The third card was just trimmed from the 6x6" Hey Kid paper pad.

I added more canvas stickers over the top and to help it blend and coordinate with the other cards, I added a strip of patterned paper to the bottom. The stars saying is Super Stars by Papertrey Ink.

The circle card is my favorite I think! I trimmed it from the 12x12" die cut paper.
The vellum one came just like this (3" x4") in the Hey Kid Ephemera pack. I added more ticket ephemera over the top and some chipboard. Layers, layers, layers!

The last one is trimmed from the 6x6" paper pad and added an ephemera saying with some Luxe arrows. It's backed with vellum.

If you are into Project Life, visit the Pink Paislee blog all this week and next for more ideas. Have a good one!