Pebbles Lakeside cards

Happy Friday, blog readers!  My kiddos and I are going to celebrate the start of the weekend with a trip to the local Y pool this morning.  Wish me luck, chasing three little ones in and out of the water a zillion times.  I won't need to exercise today, this little outing is sure to wear me (and hopefully them, too!) out enough!

Before we head off on our days adventure, I thought I'd share some recent cards I put together using the Lakeside collection from Pebbles.

You might sense a bit of a flower theme when viewing these cards.  In my humble opinion, you can't go wrong with florals, when making a greeting to send to a friend.  Lakeside was the obvious choice for me, when I set out to create these happy cards.  The balance of pretty, colorful wildflowers, against the neutral tones of wood grain and chalkboard just make the flowers pop, and keep them the focus on the design!

Supplies used for all cards: Lakeside 6x6 Paper Pad, Accent Stickers, Chalkboard Stickers, Gift Tags and Chips; Basics collection - Cardmaking Pad and Rhinestone flower; Other- My Mind's Eye enamel dots and wood button, American Crafts twine, Hero Arts gems, Stampin' Up border punch and label die, Fiskars flower petal punch, machine stitching.

Thanks for visiting me today!  I hope you're weekend is as bright and happy as these cards! 

A Peek and a GIVEAWAY!

TGIF!  Is anyone else glad it's Friday? I'm looking forward to a fun family weekend, since my hubby will be off work.  I'm sure we'll spend some time in the water, as the temps are going to be soaring into the 90's, and if my kids get their way we'll also be heading to the theater to check out the new Monster's University flick.

Something else I'm really excited about is this...

 

Yep, that's right - I have a page published in the Summer issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today Magazine!!!  Here's a little peek of my page (which just so happens to be the 'staff favorite"!!!!)...

 

If you want to see the full reveal hop on over to the Scrapbook and Cards Today site where you can downloaded the entire issue for FREE, starting today!  I should also note that S&CT is celebrating in a big way with the launch of this, their 30th issue!  They are having all kinds of giveaways including a free year's subscription to this awesome magazine!

 

As always, S&CT was super generous to send me a box full of goodies and two copies of the magazine, with the return of my page. 

 

I would love to share the wealth and give my extra copy of the magazine to one of my blog readers!  Just leave a comment on this post and I'll pick and post a winner on Monday!

 

Have a crafty weekend, friends!

Making a big splash: A Pebbles Layout

The calendar says that tomorrow is the first official day of summer - woohoo!  Lucky for us though, it has felt like summer for a few weeks now!  To make our summer a bit more memorable and meaningful this year, we sat together as a family and created a 'summer bucket list'.  It's a list of activities (some fun, some learning) that we wanted to do together as a family.  We have already marked a number of items off that list - one of which includes: swimming!

At our house, we can't officially call it summer until we've taken that first dip in the swimming pool.  Whether that be our in our backyard kiddie pool, community pool or local water park.  So much time spent splashing in the water provides us with a wealth of pool time photos, by summer's end. 

I mixed and matched items from five different Pebbles collections, to create a bright, happy, summertime feel to this page.  This page is up on the Pebbles blog today along with another fun and bright layout by Emily!

Supplies used: Pebbles - Lakeside Journaling Cards (732245) Lakeside Gift Tags (732235) Lakeside Chips (732241) Love You More Chipboard Robin's Egg Thickers (732190) Love You More Blake (751420) Love You More Jacob (751423) Basics Clothes Pins (747205) Basics Aqua Mini Dot (751365) Party with Amy Locurto Tropical (751450) Party with Amy Locurto Shimmer (751436)Seen & Noted 6x6 Paper Pad (751323); Other: My Mind's Eye enamel dots, American Crafts cardstock, machine stitching, Veteran Typewriter font.

I had this page perfectly planned out in my head, in hopes that it would actually translate just as well when I put paper to glue.  To my surprise, it did - don't you love it when that happens?!?!  Specifically, I had the idea for the splashes surrounding the larger focal point photo.  I didn't have a diecut image that would work, so I free hand cut the droplets out of an array of turquoise colored Pebbles papers.  A few strategically placed enamel dots add a nice detail and more of a 'watery' effect.

 

I can't make a page without out the journaling, as you know!  This little story was one I don't want to forget - so glad I have it documented for my son's book now!  I accented my journaling square with a sun cut from patterned paper and embellished with a button and a sweet little tag from the Lakeside collection.  A small orange paperclip holds all that cuteness into place.

 

 

I'll be back tomorrow with a bit of a peek and maybe even a little giveaway!  I hope you'll join me then!

 

Double the Doubles!

Hi blog friends!  Sorry for the brief hiatus.  Apparently, my week of blogging at the end of May, wore me out completely, because I haven't been back to share or update with you all since then!  In all reality though, I should probably blame my absence on a new little addiction I've acquired.  My hubby and I just started watching and in turn have been completely enthralled with the TV series Breaking Bad.  It's so wrong and twisted, but oh so good at the same time!  We are watching two and sometimes three (if we can stay awake!) episodes a night on Netflix and just can't get enough of it.  Fortunately, for this blog, he is away tonight hanging with some friends and I have been forbidden to watch it without him.  LOL!  So, lucky for you...blogging it is!

 

After all that blabber, you may be wondering where the title of this post is coming from, right?!  Well, let me explain! I'm up on the Bella blog today with not just one but TWO 2 page layouts to share with you.  So, that's double the doubles - get it?! 

 

The first page is some recent pictures of my sweet girl playing on the playground.  Boy is she going to keep me busy (and running!) this summer.  This little sweetie has no fear - climbing to the tops of anything she can reach.  Something tells me, she took good notes from her brothers during all those hours she logged in the stroller and watched from the sidelines.

 

I mixed and matched elements from several different Bella collections to pull together this page.

 

Supplies used: Bella Blvd -Love and Marriage: May Eighteenth, Esther Fleming Floral; Engaged at Last: He Proposed, Alpha+Bits Bachelor-ette, Sand and Surf: Beach Balls, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits; Kiss Me: Bouquet Kisses; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Gulf; Clouds, Family Words, Trees, All American Icons; Designer Tape: Gulf Dot; Other: Bazzill cardstock, Veteran Typewriter font, machine stitching.

 

If you went looking through the array of Bella chipboard sheets, you might not immediately find this exact title.  What's my trick? I pulled letters from various different chipboard collection sheets to spell out a word that would work for my page.  To customize my title even further I covered some of the letters with patterned papers that better matched my page and color scheme.

 

 

 

I was inspired to sketch and cut out a few of my own cloud pieces to coordinate back to the cute images in some of the Bella papers.  I couldn't resist adding hearts to a few strategic ones, and actually used the negative part of the shape and filled the blanks spots in with coordinating washi tapes, for extra interest and dimension.

 

 

Now onto the second of my double page spreads.  As you know, if you've been a reader of my blog for some time my youngest son is four years old and I am STILL working my way through his baby album.  Bella's Baby Boy collection to the rescue!

 

I love so many of the patterns and images in this collection that I wanted to find a way to incorporate as many of them as possible on my 2 page spread.  My trusty square punch proved to be the perfect tool to allow me to include bits and pieces of many of the patterns, while also creating a quick and easy, cozy quilt design to showcase my photos.

 

 

Supplies used: Bella Blvd - Baby Boy: It's a Boy, Baby Blue, Momma's Boy, Wild About You, On the Go!, Heaven Sent, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sophisticates: Brown-Cream High Five Alphabets; Doodlebug buttons, American Crafts cardstock, My Mind's Eye enamel dots, Veteran Typewriter font, machine stitching.

 

Thanks for stopping by!  I'll be back soon with more to share!