Magic Monday with Mickey

Good morning! Just popping by to share couple of layouts with you this morning! Today's layouts feature our meeting with Sorcerer Mickey in Hollywood Studios. This was a great character meet and greet for us, with very low wait times. We were able to see Mickey and the Incredibles in less than an hour. It was also our first time to actually talk to the "main mouse" himeself.
The layouts were made with bits from my June Counterfeit kit, and other various leftover bits and pieces from other past kits.

 My youngest, Cecilia made the mouse ears paper for me with some Sharpies, so I had to find a way to use it, and I thought that a page about Mickey himself was perfect for it. She was so excited when she saw that I used it for a page!

This next layout came mostly from my Counterfeit kit, along with a few left over bits and pieces from previous kits, like the circle border sticker from my May add-on kit, and other various scraps.

Thanks for stopping by this morning to share in another "Magic Monday" with me! Have a "Magical" day!

P.S. Can you believe it's almost time for the July Counterfeit kit challenge reveal? I am busy editing my photos for that, and preparing for a baby shower that I will be hosting for my little sister later this month. I can't wait to share it all with you guys!

Finally Friday!

And I'm back,  just popping in quickly before work, and sharing another page that I made with my Counterfeit kit for June. I'm trying to get it all wrapped up for the month, as it is all winding down, and getting very close to the time where we will be sharing our new kits for July, and working with those. I can hardly believe that it is almost July!

I made another Disney page, this time about my son:

Somewhat simple, but I tend to make my boy pages a bit simpler, anyway! I used the "o's" from the set of  orange letter stickers for my Mickey head.

June CKCB Member Blog Hop

Hi, and welcome to the June member's blog hop for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog!
I hope you have enjoyed your way through it, and welcome to my blog. Since I am the last blog on the hop, if you are coming to me first, you will definitely want to work your way through the rest of the blogs to see what everyone is making with their kits.As a quick refresher, this is the kit of supplies that I started with from my stash:

 I made several pages with my kit this month, some of which I have already shared, and some of which I will share later. I actually got a nice stack of older photos scrapped, which makes me happy!  First, I have the page that I made for the "transportation challenge":

Challenge #2:  Transportation Challenge:  Have something transportation related on your project.
(and yes, I realize the riding mower photos are a bit of a stretch as far as that goes):

Here is a peek at several more pages that I have made with this kit:

This page was made with papers from the kit-I flipped the teal and black patterned paper on the bottom row for my background sheet here:

And this page (another where I used the opposite side of the paper that I showed in my kit):

(my favorite part of this page is the sequins! Hands down.)

The background sheet for this page is the purple distressed paper's other side:

I used these papers as shown-I thought the constellation paper would be the perfect match for a page about bedtime stories:

And the background of this page is the B-side of the green and cream diamond patterned paper:

So, a lot of B-sides used, some older, not technically great photos used, some great stories and moments recorded,  and a great deal of the kit used up as well. I even have a few more to share, but figured that I need to stop somewhere, so as not to overwhelm you with pages and photos. But I will continue sharing for sure!

If you haven't made the rounds just yet, have a look around at what the other members' challenge projects look like, and what they have been doing with their kits. You are sure to be inspired!

CKCB   http://www.counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com

Lisa   http://lisahausmann.blogspot.de

Tina   http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com

Leslie   http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com

Julie   http://jsquaredscrapspot.wordpress.com

Karen   https://pinkycrafter.wordpress.com

Susan   http://littlethingsbigdays.blogspot.com

Cindy   http://www.cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com

Kate   http://www.kateblue.blogspot.com/

Margie   http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com

Magic Monday...Arghh! No Pirates

Good morning! Welcome to a new segment on my blog that I plan to make a regularly recurring segment, Magic Mondays. I intend to start sharing my Disney related scrapbook pages (and any other Disney DIY, news, etc, on Mondays. Mainly  as a way to motivate myself to get those Disney layouts scrapped, as we are planning another trip in 2016! Yay! Today's layout is made using my Counterfeit Kit for June , plus a few leftover bits from previous kits, and an ancient pirate themed sticker sheet.

Here's a look at my layout for today:

We had such fun meeting Tinkerbell-she was one of our favorite characters for sure! Her interaction with everyone was so funny and unique. When Natalie came up to meet her, she tried to stave her off with a giant crayon, because she "must be a pirate, since she had a tattoo". We all laughed and laughed!

Scrapbook Stamping Saturday...Fun with Ombre ink!

I have had this fantastic new ombre ink

for a few weeks now, and I thought it would be just the right motivation to start my Saturday Scrapbook Stamping back up with!
 I also had some pretty scraps from a previous counterfeit kit, some fun border Stickers from my May add-on kit, Buttons and Bows, and this is how it all came together for me:

The ombre inks worked beautifully with some large flower stamps for layering, and just added the perfect touch of pizzazz to the layout. I layered several of the border stickers in the center of the page, over the join of the papers.
The stamping:

All Layered Up:

I got a little bit of ink on my finger while stamping, which I promptly smudged on my layout:

Which is why I decided to stamp the three small butterflies on the upper left side! What do you think? Good enough for a cover up?

It's Time for a Throwback Thursday(An Evolution in Scrapbooking)

Just for today, I thought that it might be fun to re-share the first layout that I shared on my blog. It was an 8x8 layout, that I shared in February of 2009, and I am not really sure where it is now.

I still think that I like it, even though my scrapbooking style has taken many swings in many different directions since then.

I went through a diecut heavy phase, back when I used to scour the internet searching for hours for the perfect free file:

(I posted that one in May of 2010) Which also was the beginning of a flowery phase-I didn't like a layout unless it had some sort of flowers on it!

October 2010:

February 2011:

April 2011:

During April of 2011 sometime, I realized that bigger pictures=a good thing on my blog, so my pictures got bigger, and my layouts just kept getting heavier. 

I still love this page, though!

September 2011:

(more flowers)

November 2011:

(My layouts for that year or two were very heavy, and filled about 2 scrapbook albums very full each year!But, that's what I loved right then, and I didn't care)
After that, I went through a phase for about a year where I used a sketch for nearly every layout or card that I made. Partly because I wanted to enter a bunch of the contests that the websites ran, partly because I felt that I could scrap more quickly that way. Until I discovered Shimelle's classes/Glitter Girl videos on 2Peas, and I finally started to find a style that just flowed for me. I loved layering, I loved using up my bits and pieces, and she was just so easy and inspiring to listen to. Here is the first Glitter Girl inspired layout that I shared on my blog:

One from Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party class:

One of several that I made inspired by her Scrapbook Remix Class:

One of many inspired by Shimelle's Return to the Collection class:

Shimelle got me interested in watching all of the other garden girls videos on two peas, as well, and then I fell in love with Wilna's dreamy, artsy style.
Here's one of my favorite pages inspired by her Art and Design class:

And finally, one of my most recently completed pages, using my April Fantastic&Fabulous kit:

I definitely used bits and pieces of inspiration that I have gathered from both Wilna and Shimelle in this page, but it just sort of flowed out for me. No sketches, just me, some fun products (the flowers were printables from Wilna's Art and Design Class, and the lightbulbs on the previous page were cut files from that same class-so I guess this falls in the "sharing my homework" category as well).

Thank you for stopping by today, I hope you have been inspired as I have reminisced through at least my online scrapbooking history today!

What I'm Loving Wednesday...

Just thought I would share a little bit of what I am loving today...

Google Photos
Did you know that Google offers free unlimited photo storage, and it organizes them for you, and you can pull all of your digital photos from all of your devices into one place? Me either, until a week or two ago! I have since been uploading all of my digital photos, and I am so happy to have my photos all (or it will be all when I get finished uploading-there are thousands and thousands, so it takes a while!) backed up to one place, and organized by date. I think it will also help me to reorganize my photo library when I am finished, as well. I have rediscovered treasures such as this:

And, thanks to Google photo, I can easily see that it was taken shortly after 2:00 pm on Sunday, March 16, 2003. Yes, she's 16 now, and he's 13. This just melts my heart!
And here are a couple from the twins' 3rd Birthday in 2006...

I just love their expressions sooo much!!

Okay, also loving right now (on a somewhat different topic, for totally different reasons...) Senior Inspire on instagram , because they find and share some gorgeous examples of senior photography, and just give so many ideas to use at work. Do yourself a favor and check them out if you love gorgeous photography like me!

Also loving:
This fantastic looking tutorial over at 36th Avenue:

I have a huge area on my deck that this would be so perfect for!! Now if I can just talk my hubby into making it for me!!

And if he makes that, I want to make these awesome wine bottle torches to go around the rest of the deck:

See the tutorial here on Design Sponge.

So, that is just a little peek into what I am loving on this Wednesday! What are you loving right now? I would love to know-leave me a comment so that I can be inspired, too!

Counterfeit Kit Challenge: One Side or the Other

Hi, all! Today, I am sharing a page for the Counterfeit Challenge blog's 3rd challenge of the month;

Challenge 3: One side or the other.  Focus on only ONE side of your project and keep the rest white space. 

I think I did pretty well with this challenge, although I did cheat just a little bit... I had a compass rose acetate piece that fit perfectly, and really tied the page together for me. So, I almost followed the rules...
I did use the rule of thirds for this page, loaded up the left third of the page, and let the other 2/3 breathe.
The journaling reads: "Disney knows exactly how to draw the kids in with glow in the dark everything for the fireworks shows. I came prepared with necklaces and bracelets for all of the kids. Honestly, I kind of wanted some, too!"

My Month of May (AKA a little of what I've been up to)

You may have noticed a much less frequent posting schedule in May...here are just a few of the reasons why...my "babies" graduated from 5th grade:

I know that the whole "fifth grade graduation" thing is a bit silly, but it does symbolize growing and moving on. They are leaving a small elementary school of less than 200 kids and going to a middle school of 600+ kids, so I know it will be an adjustment for them! Also, I am not sure if I am ready for 4 teenagers in the house!

Speaking of teenagers, this girl turned 16:

We got a Pandora charm bracelet for her for her birthday, so that she can start collecting charms and momentos from the good things we share as a family, since we realize that our time with her at home is becoming very limited!

And, the biggest reason that I haven't been posting as frequently is that I got a job at a photography studio in my town, helping with senior portraits. I am learning so much, and truly enjoying the process! I am still pinching myself, because I feel so blessed to be able to do something that I enjoy so much, and get paid for it!. I am still working out the whole balancing act, though, since I have been a stay at home mom for the past nine years, it is definitely an adjustment! I love it, though, and the people that I am blessed to work with are fantastic. They already feel like family!

June Counterfeit Kit

Good morning! Can you believe that it is already June 1st? I can't! Somehow, the days slipped away from me so quickly in May! May was a super busy month for me, but I will post a bit more about in another post. For now, I am sure you are here to see my kit! This month, we were given the challenge of "counterfeiting" a new Basic Grey collection. I don't know about the rest of you, but I do remember the days when I used to save to buy all of the collection packs of BG that I could get get my hands on, and I would hoard every scrap of my precious Basic Grey paper. Now, with the rise of the signature collections through American crafts, by some of my favorite designers such as Shimelle, Amy Tan, Maggie Holmes, and Dear Lizzy, it has been a while since I really took a good look at Basic Grey. This challenge gave me that perfect opportunity! Here is a look at their newest collections:http://www.basicgrey.com/scrapbook .
For this challenge, I chose to counterfeit the Aurora collection. The purple, mint, and navy color scheme just drew me in! It is the collection that I most wanted to purchase from the choices offered, but I knew what to do instead...counterfeit it! Here is the Aurora collection:

The notes I made for counterfeiting...geometric patterns, stripes, stars/star charts, navy, mint, purple, with touches of kraft or gold, and black. Here are the papers that I chose:

I may end up using the "b" sides on some of them, but I think I pretty well captured the feel of this collection. We were given a good bit of liberty with choosing embellishments, so I tried to stick pretty close to the feel of the collection, but added in a few extra bits for texture that I wanted to get used up. Here is my whole kit for June:

A closer look at embellishments:

I am very happy with the colors and dreamy feel of this kit, and look forward to playing with it this month. And I promise to share, as the kids are out of school and sports for the summer, and my life will hopefully be settling down a bit. I hope you will play along, and perhaps reignite a love for all things Basic Grey!
Now, grab a cup of coffee (or whatever beverage you may prefer), and have a look around at what the other designers have chosen to put in their Basic Grey inspired kits!

Guest Designer Emma  https://www.flickr.com/photos/64255593@N06/

Leslie:  http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.ca

Lisa:  http://lisahausmann.blogspot.ca

Lynnette  http://www.sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com

Margie:  http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com

Stephanie:  http://skylinepaperie.blogspot.com

Susanne:  http://snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com

Julene:  http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com