By the Sea Shore mini-album

Happy Monday! I just wanted to say a quick welcome to my new followers: thank you for all your kind comments--they really mean a lot to me!! Over the next week or so I will be trying to stop by and say hello--one of my favorite parts of blogging is finding new blogs to follow and meeting new creative people myself. If you haven't already, be sure to comment on the post below for a chance to win in the blog hop--and visit the other blogs on the hop for more prizes :)

I want to share a mini-album and layout I made using October Afternoon's Seaside line--one of my new favorites. I know it isn't a brand-new line, but I only recently bought it, after coveting it for months and months, and I love it in person just as much as in pictures! The papers and stickers are perfect for these photos I have from last summer at the beach. (You can click on any of the following pictures to make them bigger)

 I'm sending this album to my amazing Grammie (in the pictures) while she's in Florida for the winter--she's as sweet and loving to her 10 great-grandchildren as she was to her 6 grandchildren, and we can't wait for her to come home later this spring!

I made a layout with the same line--kept it simple as well:

Thanks for stopping by! I'm linking this up to Paper Issues favorites linky party--have you posted your fave yet?

Paper Issues Blog Hop!

Welcometo Paper Issues' first-ever blog hop! You should have arrived here from Jackie Weeks' fabulous blog--if not, head on over to Michelle Hernandez's happenin' bit of blogland to start from the beginning! Our theme is Favorite Things, and we're having a linky-party, so get ready to play favorites :)

A few details on the hop:

• All the participants will be from the Paper Issues Creative Team (some of them are on Design Teams for some really great manufacturers)
• You can win a RAK on my blog (2 8x8 SEI paper pads!) simply by leaving a comment
• Many of the blogs participating have *giveaways*
• Blog Hop starts at March 19th 9:00am EST and the cutoff for comments is April 2nd
• You can win a fantastic Crate Paper Paper Issues Kit by leaving a comment on the Paper Issues blog after the hop starts

Alrighty then! Here's my layout using a few of my current "favorites":

OK, who am I kidding, this is almost ALL from Echo Park's For the Record collection...I am loving every last bit and piece of that line! Plus a couple other faves: cute & funky buttons, baker's twine, notebook punch, and iphone instagram pics! What are your current favorite collections? Do you have favorite products that you return to again and again? Share in the comments below, and I could pick you to receive 2 brand new 8x8 S.E.I. paper pads! Here's another layout I made using For the Record (told you I can't get enough!):

This is the end of the road for Team Papers' hop, but if you want to go on another adventure, head on over to the multi-talented and super sweet Chris Aiton's awesome blog for even more eye candy! And don't forget to link-up/leave a comment at Paper Issues--there's an awesome prize up for grabs! so get moving!

October Afternoon Altered Memo Board

I'm sharing one of my October Afternoon projects I made a while back, made using this picture frame/memo board I found on clearance at Michael's:
I simply painted and distressed the fame, then covered the left half (the memo board part) using Farm Fresh patterned papers and Mod Podge.
To make the magnets, I covered the Farm Fresh cardstock stickers in Glossy Accents, then adhered a magnet to the back. They curled and subsequently cracked quite a bit--if I was doing this again, I would use chipboard instead of coardstock.
I made the fence and frame around the word 'messages' out of distressed and crackled Popsicle sticks, and used craft glue to hold them together.
Inside the frames, I layered the Farmfresh journaling cards and patterned paper under my pictures. It's easy to change out the pictures--guess a photo-op trip to the farm is in order!

 

And there you have it, a cute piece to display pictures and use as a memo board! 

I'm Baaaaaaack (Weeks 9 and 10)

It was a whirlwind of a trip, but SO nice to get away! And scrap! And hang with awesome peeps! I even got to sleep in...sigh...so nice! I am constantly amazed by the genuine people I have met through scrapbooking online. I know when it comes to the interweb, you have to take everything with a grain of salt (what that means exactly, I dunno)--I mean it's so easy to present aspects of self that aren't necessarily 100% accurate, but I swear I lucked out--won the lottery--when it comes to this crew (and including others who weren't there in person, but defintely in spirit!). My heartfelt thanks to these four lovely ladies for a fantastic and much needed mini-adventure!

Hopefully some of their pics came out good, because I am pathetic at taking photos and only took 4. With my phone. And one was of my thumb (you'll see what I mean in a bit).

So, I have hit a wall with 52 Week Project, and have been having a tough time with these self-portraits. I hate myself in photos, and I'm not a very good photographer, so I'm a little bit at my wits end...should I continue? What are my goals for this anyways? How can I make it a meaningful project for me, and forget about meeting unrealistic expectations for what my photos look like? I'm still pondering...but in the meantime, here's Week's 9 and 10:

Yeah...meh, I know. I wanted to do a cool eye-shot. This is okay...I guess I need to be okay with okay, but it's hard for me. I like to be good at stuff, or I don't like doing it. Which has actually kept me from doing a lot of things I like to do. But that's a conversation for the couch, I guess!

And...there's the thumb, lol. This was waiting for my flight out of Baltimore. I wanted to document my solo trip, since it's a big deal in my world! I walked around the gate, trying to find something reflective, but no such luck. Which brings me to picture #4 from my trip:

Like I said, I hope someone's pictures came out!

Finally, I have a couple layouts to share:

 

Thanks for stopping by! Come back Saturday--Paper Issues is doing a Blog Hop, and oh yes, there will be prizes :)

Slacker...

Pictures for Weeks 9 and 10 are still on my camera, and I haven't been in a mood to do much output here on the blog...But I am super excited that for the first time since I was preggo with the twins, I am getting away for a little me-time. With some awesome crafty chicas, I might add! Like this one, and this one, and this one, and this one! Can't wait to get in that cab tomorrow morning at the a$$crack of dawn and be on my way!

Here's some baby-love while I'm gone...although I guess we're officially at toddler-dom at this point (when does that happen, exactly? 15 months? 18 months?).