Hey there and Happy New Years eve! Wow.  On the  Paper Issues Blog today, we are sharing a year end round up of our favorite projects of 2018. No, this is not the same as the instagram best nine. These are 9 of my favorite layouts I created in 2018. 

They are filled with all different manufacturers including Crate paper, Fancy Pants, Shimelle, PinkFresh, Carta Bella , Pebbles. and of course, our amazing Swag Bags. Clearly I am not loyal to any one, and use what suits my mood. I love them all. 

Thanks so much for spending time with me here at my creative view this year. I look forward to creating and sharing more again in 2019. Hope you will follow along. 

Happy Hanukkah

Hey there and good morning! I', out on The Cut Shoppe blog today sharing a fun holiday project. I used Happy Hanukkah portion of the FriYay Freebie Celebrate the Season cut file. 

This file is so fun I wanted it to shine on its own. I used Photoplay Happy Hanukkah paper, cutting it it pretty large using as both a title and embellishment. Cutting it in darker paper then backing it in lighter paper really makes it stand out! Lastly, I used pop dots so it really looks like its jumping off the page. The rest of the page is really simple. A few PinkFresh embellishments and a piece of hanukkah A Flair fir Buttons flair and it's finished. I love it. 

I love that he still likes spending time with his grandparents. And that he likes to travel by himself. It was a pretty special hanukkah for both of them. 

Thanks for stopping by my creative view today. Share your project  with us in The Cut Shoppe Scrap Spot facebook group. We love to see what you are creating with cut files! 

Stix are for Kids

Hey there! I'm on the Paper Issues  blog today sharing my project for the Rolling with the Punches challenge. 

Guess what. I wasn't feeling the punches. Nope. I was intrigued by the rolling part. I've used straws for something like this, but had never rolled my own paper. What a better time to try!  I grabbed some more Crate Paper Hooray. I mean really, it's not just for birthdays anymore.  I cut a bunch of strips out of several different paper, rolled them upon then glued them down. So easy. Time consuming yes, but easy nonetheless.  They look just like the candy sticks in the photo don't they. Secret? I did that on purpose.  In the end, I did break out one of my punches. It's a border punch that makes holes all the way across. I threaded the twine through it at the top and bottom of the page. 

These candy sticks remind me of my childhood. We used to get them at Disneyland and a local candy store. My sister and I loved them. We tried all the flavors and had our favorites. We weren't allowed a lot of sweets when we were little, so these were favorites because they lasted a long time. 

Thanks so much for stopping by my creative view today. Ive got a couple more posts before the end of the year. Come back to check them out!  Head over to the Paper Issues Facebook Group  where you can find this and all the other December challenges. Shop the store for new products including the upcoming January kit. you wont want to miss it! Use DEVRA at checkout for 20% off your purchase.

Birthday Balloons

Hey there and good morning! I'm part of today's Get It Scrapped blog article talking about different ways to scrapbook your favorite subject. 

I love to scrapbook my children. I used to scrapbook the things they did as they were growing up, such as going to the park, visiting the zoo, or playing with their friends. Now that they are older, there are fewer of these opportunities. I try to capture unique pieces of their personality through feelings and emotions.

Here I'm showing the pure joy these balloons bring my son year after year. The look on his face hasn't changed. I could share his joy in other ways, but his smile and reaction is genuine. I love to look at his beautiful smile knowing that is truly how he feels.  

I used the new Crate Paper Hooray collection emphasize the birthday event for this layout. The For You paper is a great foundation for all these photos! This also enabled me to play along with this months Take 5 challenge at Paper Issues . I used stripes, mint, stickers, wood pieces and fussy cutting. Patterned paper is a given! 😀

Every year on his birthday we buy our son a dozen balloons. Each year we do this, he realizes more and more it's a special day for him.

Thanks so much for stopping by my creative view today. Check out the Get It Scrapped blog to see more examples as well as the Paper Issues Facebook group to see all the December challenges. See you again soon, I have more to share.

supplies: Paper, stickers, die cuts, alphas-Crate paper/American Crafts, wood pieces-Studio Calico, Pen and adhesive-EK Success

Beautiful Life

Hey there and good morning.Im on the Paper Issues Blog today with a project for the Odd Man Out challenge. This is a new challenge for us and I kinda like it!All you have to do is use odd numbers of things on your page.  So this is what I did. 

First, I grabbed some more PinkFresh Indigo Hills 2. I really, really wanted to do something with those chipboard frames. After about, ummm, 50 tries, I got them into a good design. All 5 of them. After that, the rest wasn't so bad!  There are 9 die cuts, 3 hearts, 5 stickers, one piece of paper, one piece of twine, 3 colors of mist and 5 total Nuvo drops! It was totally fun to plan the page out this way!

See! Here's one of the Nuvo drops !

And some of the layered stickers & die cuts

I couldn't have been happier to have my family together for Thanksgiving. It's been a season of change for us with one of the boys away at college. This just made me feel even more grateful for everything I have. 

So you know what I'm going to say now. Thank for stopping by my creative view today. Ive got lots of ideas floating around in my brain so come back again soon to see what becomes of them. Remember, we want to see what you make and after you do, we want you to join our Facebook Group, where you can see all the December Challenges . Head over to the Paper Issues shop to stock up on all your holiday needs. Use DEVRA at checkout or 20% off your purchase!

Rock the Year

Hey there! I'm sharing this layout on both The Cut Shoppe and A Flair for Buttons blogs today. First, I want to show you how I used one of the Traveler's Notebook cut files from the Story Teller group on a 12x12 scrapbook page. It was super easy!

One of the things I like to do with all of my scrappy supplies is to use them in ways that suit me, and that's not always as there were intended. Well, this cut file is no different. I loved the Alphabet one from the minute I saw it. I thought it would be great for a back to school page, which is what I did today. All I did was enlarge it. Yep. I didn't change the proportion or anything. Then I centered it on my page, using it as a back drop for my photos.  See? Easy! Its big, stands out and looks great!

I stuck with the school theme using some Simple Stories School Rocks collection. I was so excited to use the new Back to School2 flair! The books one fit perfectly on top of that green notebook don't you think? How about that ABC-123? Yep. Goes perfectly with this cut file and paper!  Sometimes its fun to go super themed. Today I'm glad I did!

My son loves school so much. It keep him on a routine which is good for all of us, but besides that, he knows it's his place to go to be himself. He likes his teachers and his friends. I'm so happy knowing he wants to be there.

Thanks so much for stopping by my creative view today. Im starting off December right, and plan to crate the whole month. Come back again to see what's new!

Home Sweet SLOme

Hey good morning! I'm up on the Paper Issues Blog today with my project for the Pinspire Me challenge. I love this month's board. It's so different!  Well, if you know me, you now I probably  took a different approach today....

So I know you are looking at my page thinking what does this have anything to do with the Pinspire Me board? Well, I was inspired by the brick wall and that became the design of my page.  I cut apart the Kitsch Fall paper from the Fancy Pants Yellow Door collection piecing it across the page to look like bricks in a wall. It was that easy! umm, maybe not that easy. I had to arrange them so it didn't look too busy. I wanted to use the die cuts , and stickers, especially that owl! How cute is he?

I know this is a fall line, but it goes so well with my photo! Bricks for the brick wall, the house for my son's new home and the wise old owl within coffee cup to help him study! See what I did there?

Yes, this is his new home, I still cant believe he's there and not here. I sincerely hope this quickly becomes his home sweet home.  

Thanks so much for stopping by my creative view today. Come back gain soon, I have more to share. Head over to the Paper Issues shop to get some Fancy Pants Yellow Door  of your own. You'll be happy you did. You'll be even happier the you use DEVRA at checkout  and receive 20% off your purchase, See you again soon!

Halloween Things

Hey there! I'm on The Cut Shoppe blog today and I'm super excited to share my project with you! Why? Because this is one of those rare times when my page turned out almost exactly as I saw it in my head. 

I'd been wanting to use the Halloween Things cut file since I first saw it. But I didn't have a photo! Lucky for me, I got this gem of a photo of some friends and I dressed up at work. It couldn't be any more perfect for this cut file if I'd tried.

I cut the file out of black cardstock, backing each letter with Vicki Boutin Field Notes patterned paper. Yes, it took some time, but yes, it was also well worth it!  Want to know how I got them placed so well? After I sprayed and dribbled paint down the page, I laid the negative cut space over the white, then placed each letter back into it's original place. I added more black in some of the embellishments, to make sure the title stands out. this page really didn't need much else. I cut a few circles, added some A Flair for Buttons Halloween flair and called it done. I like using a cut file as a title on my pages. This one especially grabs your attention right away don't you think?

Thanks for stopping by my creative view today. Ive got a few more things up my sleeve score back agin soon. Share your projects with us in our Facebook group, The Cut Shoppe Scrap Spot. See you next time.

Dude Played Us!

Hey there! I'm on the Paper Issues blog today, and I'm playing along with the Let's Get Sketchy challenge. Here is the sketch which you can find in the November Challenge album in the Paper Issues {Friends & Fans} Facebook Group

Ready? Here's my page. So here's the thing about sketches. You can have 10 people using the same sketch and every one will look different. Why? Any number of reasons, we all use different paper, we all have our own style. We can flip it, turn it upside down. Anyway, I love them. And this one does not disappoint. They are often a starting point for me. Sometimes, I follow them exactly. Other times, like today...Well, look for yourself.

I think I used the last of my Simple Stories Li'l Dude for this one. I love these bright colors!  So I stayed pretty close the the sketch on this one. Ok, I added a few layers, some extra bits and bobs, using stickers and  bits & pieces but you see it right? 

If you haven't figured me out by now, I also love a bit of humor too. See this kid? He's laughing all the way home after saying goodbye to his brother when took him to college!  So yeah, he played us BIG time!

Thanks so much for stopping by my creative view today.   We'd love to have you join the fun. You have until Dec 3 to enter your projects for a chance to win a Gift Certificate to the Paper Issues store, where you can find so much new stuff, including Create Paper and Echo Park. Use DEVRA at checkout for 20% off tour purchase.  See you again soon!

Brush Them Chompers

Hey there! I'm on The Cut Shoppe blog today. I have a confession. I did it again. I used multiple cut files. Maybe that's my thing? Anyway, my other confession, is that I had no real plan when I began this page,

I knew I wanted to use the new Buffalo Plaid  cut file. I really wanted to stitch it. So I converted the cut line into stitching lines. That's when my plan tarted to come together.  I hadn't intended on filling it with paper, but it was too plain. I offset the file internally, and voila, that part was done.

Now that I had a plan, I chose photos, which led me to paper. I wanted a colorful happy page and went right to my stack of Shimelle Box of Crayons. Paper then led me to frames!  I love frames!  I also like to be kitschy.  The 'smile' frame from the  Instant Camera and 'cheese' frame from Say Cheese  fo with my photos so well I had to use them!  The colors are bright and bold, the frames around my photos are perfect and in the end this no plan thing worked out well!

You have no idea how important these photos are. Getting him to brush his teeth, even him letting us brush his teeth has been a lifelong battle. After some extensive dental work, we were determined to end the battle. It has taken some time, but I can say that every day, we battle less and less. And some days, like this one, he will even try to so it himself. So smile and say cheese indeed. 

Thanks so much for stopping by my creative view today. I hope I've inspired you to try multiple cut files on one project. Some back again soon. I have much more to share.

Wonderful

Oh hello November. What? How did that happen so fast. Well, nothing like starting the month off with a new project! I'm on the A Flair for Buttons blog today with this layout I made for  the November Challenge with The Cut Shoppe. 

This months challenge is white on white, meaning use white cardstock for your cut file as well as the background for your project. I will say, I do not usually do this, so yay for trying new things! I used the Go With the Flow cut file, but only used 2 sides of it. I filled in the spaces with some of the softer prints of Amy Tangerine Shine On. I added color with the embellishments. The two pieces of flair I used are from the Let Them Eat cake and Lovely Words sets. They had the color, style and sentiment I was looking for. Over all this was actually quite simple to do. The result is soft yet striking. I'm happy with how it turned out. 

Lovely Words 7

Let Them Eat Cake (aqua)

Thanks so much for stopping by my creative view today. Check out The Cut Shoppe November Challenge in our Facebook Group. hope to see you here again. I have lots to share this month.

Fall Home Decor

Hey there! I'm on The Cut Shoppe  blog  and I'm so excited to show you my project today! I made a DIY fall decor piece that I've been wanting to do for a while.

I used three different cut files. Fall Wreath and Finally Fall were cut with vinyl for the front of the glass block.  The wreath was easy. I made it small enough to fit on the block, then cut the vinyl.

Getting 'fall' cut was a bit tricky. I used the knife tool in the silhouette software to slice the 'feeling' off of 'feeling fallish'. Once that was done, I was able to cut just 'fall' to add to the center of the wreath.

Now on to the paper part! I cut several leaves from Leaf It to Me, backing them with patterned paper from the Simple Stories Forever Fall collection to add color, pattern and yes, strength! I layered them on each side, on the top of the block. It looks so pretty siting on my table!

Surprise! I put twinkle lights inside the block! This is what it looks like all lit up. I love the lights through the cut files!

Thanks for taking a look at my creative view today! Im looking forward to sharing more with you so come back again soon. 

Little Things

Hey there and good morning! I'm on the Paper Issues blog again today sharing this project featuring our FREE cut files. 

You know, there are so many great cut files in the shop! Sometimes I'm overwhelmed and have no idea where to start. Other times, like today, I have an idea in my head and can't wait to get started. 

Oh, so that idea? Well, leaves. Layered leaves. I mean it's fall after all right? So I cut a bunch of leaves from the November Tags, October Daily Tags, Collecting Leaves and Fall is My Favorite cut files using  Pink Paislee Auburn Lane. Yeah, now the fun part. What to do with them! After moving them around the Newsprint page for a while, they landed in the corners. I like them there. They frame the photo nicely. But then I had space to fill. I don't like a lot of wasted space. So I filled it with a wood frame and some ephemera. Voila! This is a simple page really but these cut files make it special.

Thanks so much for stopping by my creative view today. Ive got a few things up my sleeve before the end of the month so come back again soon. you can get  Auburn Lane and many other things in the Paper Issues shop. Use DEVRA at checkout for 20% off your purchase. 

Who We Are Now

Hello there! I'm back already! I have a layout to share today for today's Get It Scrapped blog article, inspired by OOTD and also  A Flair for Buttons.

OOTD is a current trend. There are Facebook groups, bloggers all kinds of places to see who's wearing what. But have you created a scrapbook page inspired by an outfit? That's what we did today.

The inspiration outfit is one of my very favorites from my own wardrobe. It's easy, comfortable and I always feel good when I wear it. The top is loose and flowy but still shapely. The watercolor of the stripes give it a softer organic effect Jeans are a staple for me. They coordinate with everything, like a neutral. The shoes are also neutral, in color but not style. I love the roping around the wedge, and that they go with everything.

I chose to take most of my inspiration from the neutral and organic aspects of my OOTD. The colors, woodgrain patterned paper and stitching on it represent the texture of my shoes, the organic nature of leather and rope as well. The Vicki Boutin embellishments have a watercolor effect to them which also comes from the stripes in my shirt. The butterflies are not only part of my story, but the design of the leather on my shoe has always made me think of butterflies. The marble flair  and lovely words 7 flair I added are really there to add some dimension and tie all the colors together.

This was a thoughtfully cretive way to draw inspiration from OOTD and I would definitely use this approach again.

Our son recently started college, My husband and I are transitioning to our new parental roles.

Thanks so much for stopping by my creative view today. I promise I'll be back again soon with more to share.

Supplies: Patterned Paper-Webster's Pages, Vicki Boutin, Diecuts, Chipboard stickers, -Vicki Boutin, Flair-A Flair for Buttons, Alpha-American Crafts, mist-Nuvo, Dylusions, pen & adhesive-EK Success, thread-DMC

Celebrate 18

Hey there! It's been a bit of an unexpected crazy month so not a very crafty one! Boo. Anyway, I'm on the Paper Issues Blog today sharing this page I made for the Let's Party challenge. Did someone say party? Yes please. We had a big birthday to celebrate this year. I think this photo fits this challenge don't you?

I'm all about quick, easy and what makes you happy these days. You know what? That's why I'm so happy Paper Issues is offering monthly kits now!  I still love everything about the Blue Ain't Your Color kit. Yes, I know it's from August but who cares?!?! It's fantastic. I think this is the 4th project I've made with it and I still can make a few more.  Seriously, everything on this page is from this kit and the Sept  Swag Bag.

Well, back to my layout. This isn't any old birthday page. 18 is a BIG deal and I wanted it to be BIG on my page.  One of my favorite things to do with scrappy products is to use them in different ways. That's what I did with the Stitching 2018  cut file. I deleted part of it, using only the 18. It gave me the exact look I was going for. I also used the 4th of July cut file for the word celebrate.

This gave me a chance to cross this photo off my list. Celebrating birthdays is always a big deal in my family. 18 is a really big deal. I cant believe how quickly this happened. I feel like he was little just a few weeks ago. 

So when I said easy, I meant easy. I highly recommend trying either or both the monthly kits and Swag Bags.  They will simplify your paper crafting and make it so much fun!  Use DEVRA at checkout for 20% off your purchase. Thanks so much for stopping by my creative view today. Come back again soon, I will have more to share.