Monday Meet & Greet: June 2011

Here are a few of the individuals, classes, shops, books, and blogs that I've stumbled upon this month, mixed in with a few old favorites.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

Kayleigh Wiles 

Now you can find everything Kayleigh all in one great place--on her new blog! Make sure to check out her "In the Making Series," which walks you through her page design process and participate in her Colour Challenges!  You can also visit her gallery, find out more information about her classes and buy her awesome Studio DD products.

Style Your Space

This e-course by Smile and Wave's Rachel Denbow is available at the Red Velvet Shop and is full of great ideas for your home.  If you're looking for great tips on how to get started styling your space,  inspirational home tours and inventive diy tutorials then this is perfect for you!  And for just $28...its a STEAL!  

The Happiness Project

Even if you think you are already happy...this book is still for you!  Throughout the book, Gretchen Rubin reminds us that what works for her may not work for everybody...but I think she's done a tremendous job of identifying the key sources of stress in most people's lives and has come up with a great system to tackle them, while building a healthy and happy set of daily practices.

Dainty Woods

This charming Etsy shop offers wedding accessories and decor with a "vintage woodland" feel.  If you're not getting married that's ok...I'd love to have one of her adorable vintage book stacks for my end table or one of her gorgeous headbands for everyday wear!

My Four Hens Photography

This is a great resource for professional and amateur photogs alike--with awesome actions, textures and presets available for purchase in their shop and great recipes and tips available on the blog.  If you stop by on or before June 28th you can even take advantage of the 50% sale she has going on! 

TGIF: Thankful Thought No. 1

"The Little Things"

Sometimes I get so caught up in everything that's going on that I forget to take time to appreciate all of the little things--the things that truly make my life so wonderful.  Today I am thankful that even though I do find myself  ignoring these tiny details from time to time, that I am still able to slow down every so often and cherish the little things and realize how collectively they make up everything that is worth treasuring in life.

Speaking of thanks... a big thanks goes out to Kayleigh Wiles for inspiring me with her Thankful Thoughts posts over the past little while on her blog and to Ali Edwards for reminding us all to give thanks by introducing Thankful Thoughts! 

Thumbs Up Thursday: Coffee Shop's Color Bar Templates!

You know me when I find something I LOVE...I can't help but share it! And this week I just had to share these handy Color Bar Templates from The CoffeeShop Blog!

Now let me tell you what I love about these templates:

• They're FREE!
• They help to identify the prominent colors in my photo simply and quickly.
• They help me to visualize obvious color schemes for my layouts.
• And I can easily resize the template so that the photo is the size I need  for my layout and then print the color bar out alongside it to match my papers to!

If you'd like a little extra help matching the products for your layouts to your photos then definitely give these templates a try.  Just hop on over to the Coffee Shop to download these--and while your there, take a look at all of their fabulous actions, presets, storyboards and tutorials!

I LOVE this Boy! He LOVES...

I Love This Boy...

He LOVES...

TRANSFORMERS

WATER

BASKETBALL

PAJAMAS

Unfortunately he doesn't love the camera so much lately...so I count myself lucky that I got these perfect shots of him this week!

Mojo Monday: Using Prompts and Challenges to Light the Fire!

Have you got a case of the Mondays?  Everyone loses their scrappy mojo once in a while.  When it happens to me I turn to the amazing ladies around me who are always quick to offer inspiration in the form of challenges and prompts.  Here are a few of my favorite resources and the pages they've inspired!

Lisa Dickinson's Lift This Page!

Capture Your 365's Monthly Photo Checklists

Paula Gilarde's Ad Inspiration Challenge

Get It Scrapped's Sketch Archive

Ali Edward's Thankful Thoughts

One Little Bird's New 52

Kayleigh Wiles' Colour Challenge 

The next time your searching for inspiration to jump-start your next layout, try taking inspiration away from one of the many challenges and prompt resources available to you.  

Do you have a favorite challenge blog or spot for inspiration?  I'd sure love to hear about it in the comments!

What I've Been Up to Lately...

• Cleaning and crafting for a surprise birthday party.
• Working on my class that will be debuting at Get It Scrapped this fall.
• Getting our backyard ready for daily use during the summer.
• Reading The Happiness Project and Sink Reflections.
• Implementing ideas and inspiration from the Style Your Space e-course I'm taking.
• Working on a some video tutorials for Masterful Scrapbook Design and my blog :)
• Taking lots of photos of my growing boys!
• Seeing all of the great summer movies.
• Orgainizing, decluttering and re-styling my home.
• And scrapbooking of course!

Well now that you know what I'm up to...how about you? Got any exciting plans!?

Friday's Five: Ways to Frame Your Photos

For this Friday's Five, I'd love to share a few ways that I like to frame my photos on my pages.


1. The Simple White Edge.
It may see like a boring choice in comparison to some of the others but the effect it creates on your pages is anything but!  A simple white edge or frame around your photos can create's a contrast that lets your photo really shine.

2. Just Doodlin' Around.
A doodled frame is perfect when all your looking for is something subtle to finish things off.  Try using a wavy outline or dotted lines to add a bit of whimsy to your page

3. Break Out The Brackets.

Brackets can be a charming way to frame a single focal photo, or to create a frame for your multi-photo arrangements.  It can also be the perfect opportunity for you paper scrappers to use up your leftover alphas!  

4. Frame it Up Fancy!
Using an ornate frame can help to dress up your photo, while giving it more weight on the page.

5. Getting Creative.
Go for the element of surprise and think about all of the fun things you could re-purpose as a frame..

Have a great weekend!

Words of Wisdom: Stuff My Kid Says

Now that my son is at the ripe old age of three-and-a-half...he is really starting to talk!  Everyday now he's learning new words, mis-pronouncing those same words, and repeating words he shouldn't...LOL!  Regardless, I am so proud of him, because just six months ago most people outside of our family had a very difficult time understanding his own little language.

This is a huge reminder to me about how quickly things change and how important it is to record all of these fun memories while we can!

Products by One Little Bird Designs and Paislee Press--available at Oscraps

In my layout "10 Caleb-isms" I listed a few of our son's favorite sayings at the age of 3.  Every time I read through these I not only can't help but chuckle, but I'm also reminded of all of the things he says that didn't make this list.

Tip: Try reflecting on the special, funny, or unique things you and your loved ones say to each other in your next layout.

And for those of you wondering--here's Caleb's "Secret Decoder Key":

"What's Wroggy"...what's wrong?

"I Peshu" ... I'm special.

"Crap-It"... damn it.

"Chamich" ... sandwich.

"Tooey" ... I tooted.

"Homon Daddy" ... come on daddy.

"Ga-ma" ... grandma.

"La-boo" ... I love you.

"Jassar Baby"... Jasper.

"Color Lello" ... that's cool.