{Scrappy Goodness}Santa

Hello Everyone. Today I wanted share with you a layout I did using the Bo Bunny Candy Lane Collection from FotoBella.

My poor girls.  We had an expected trip to see Santa.  He happened to be at the National Tree at the same time we were and it had already been a long day.  It was raining outside and they really just wanted to go inside for a little while.  Jalyn was a little more of a troop than Jaleesa, but we saw Santa and got to tell him what we wanted for Christmas.

Overall:

A few-close ups:

Have a beautiful day! Smiles, Jessica

{Scrappy Goodness} Oh, Christmas Tree

Welcome!  Today I'm sharing a layout I did for FotoBella DT using the Basic Grey Evergreen bundle. I love that this line as more than the traditional Christmas colors in it.  The colors are great shade, not to dark but not really bright.  A little hard to explain, but they are great to work with.  I love the yellow and turquoise in it.

Ok, so on with my layout.  Since we moved to the DC area, we have gone to visit the National Christmas tree every year.  It is becoming a nice family tradition and I am enjoying seeing how different the girls are each year as they have grown.  It is also fun to see how the tree changes every year.

One of the other things I love about this line are the stamps.  They have a little of little sayings that are perfect for adding to the layout.

Overall:

A few close-ups:

Have a beautiful day! Smiles, Jessica

{Scrappy Goodness} Botanical Gardens

Are you ready for a double page Christmas layout?  It is rare for me, I know.  I just have so many pictures from going to the Botanical Gardens at Christmas time that I wanted to do two pages.  These five pictures don't even put a dent in how many I took but they were some of my favs.

I used the Basic Grey Evergreen Bundle from FotoBella to complete this layout. One of the main attractions at the gardens are all the different species of poinsettias.  When I received this bundle in the mail, my brain went right to these pictures.  I pulled a lot of the poinsettias embellishments out to complete the layout.

Overall:

A few close-ups:

Have a beautiful day! Smiles, Jessica

{Blog Hop Goodness} Dec Daily Blog Hop 3

Hello Scrappy Friends!  Happy Friday!! I don't know about you but I'm glad it is Friday!Welcome to the third week of our Friday December Daily Blog Hop.  We are so excited to share with you are fun December Daily Projects this month.

If you came here from Angie's blog at Living a Crafty Life you are in the right place.  If you didn't come from Angie's blog you can start at the beginning of the hop here.  There is a list of the hop order at the bottom of this post if you loose your way.  I'm also linking up to Ali Edward's Blog today to share in the fun with her.  I thought it only fitting since she is the mastermind behind December Daily!

I'm not going to pretend that I'm not really far behind.  However, at this point in my life I'm ok with that. :)  This week I got the cover for my book done and one of the inside divider pages.  I wanted to share both with you. I'm going to apologize right now for the pictures.  They are really dark.  I haven't been home during daylight hours at all this week. Then I got the bright idea to take the pictures under my tree for visual effect.  It didn't work very. But, this is what you are getting.

And because I feel like bragging, here are some pictures of what we did this weekend.  Have I mentioned I love living in the DC area!! And yes these will all end up in my book.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Your next stop on the hop will be Crystal at Capture the Moment.

Also, you can link up your own projects below.  I would love to see how you are documenting the season.

Blog order:

Leslie

Jennifer

Angie

Jessica

Crystal

Have a beautiful day! Smiles, Jessica

{Scrappy Goodness} Kite Festival

Hello!  Today I wanted to share a layout I did for the Scrapbooks Plus design team.  This month we are playing with Maggie Holmes line with Crate Paper.  The paper is really beautiful.  I really loved the cloud paper and new that I just had to use it.  Recently we headed into the District for the kite festival.  You can read more about that here.

This line as a lot of little inking elements to the paper.  I knew I wanted to ink all of my embellishments to incorporate that into my layout.  I also that it would be fun to try distressing the edges of the paper.  I know people have been doing it for years but I never really felt that I had a layout that would be good to do it on.  And honestly, I was always scared of ruining my layout with it.  So I used to just jump and not look back.  Let me tell you I am so glad I did.  It is perfect for this layout.  I also love the add element of stitching with this layout.  It works perfect with this paper line.

For my kites and clouds I googled kite template and came across this blog that had a free template download.  I wasn't quite sure how I was going to use it but knew I like the multiple size options.  I used papers from the line to cut out several different sizes of kites and clouds.

Once I inked my photos and attached them I started playing with the different combinations and groupings of the kites and clouds to figure out what I wanted.  I also inked the edge of the embellishments.  As you can see below I used pop dots to help give them some added dimension and not just be flat to the page.

For the strings on the kites, I used embroidery floss and attached them directing to the base of the kite.  I let them just sort of free flow down instead of attaching.  I think it helps it look more like a kite in the wind a little.

 

Another look at the completed left side of the 2page spread. 

and the completed right side.

 Just as an FYI... This event happened to be part of my March DITL.  I will still be adding this day to my project life album for March's DITL with all the pictures from the day.  Sometimes I just want to do a traditional layout for an event as well.  I am perfectly ok with having it double places.


Have a beautiful day! Smiles, Jessica

Kite Festival (March DITL 2013)

I can't believe we are already half way through April.  Sometimes I just don't know where the time goes.  I have several things I need to get up on the blog.  A couple weeks ago we went into the District for the Kite Festival.  It also happened to be the same day that I did Day in the Life with Ali Edwards.  I'm not going to give you all the detailed time today.  Just wanted to talk a little about our adventure.

We had so much fun that day!  The weather was fantastic and it was perfect kite flying day.  It was really busy on the Mall and we were so glad we had taken the metro in.  Plus, Jalyn was so excited to be on the 'train'.  She is an old pro at riding the metro. She likes to look at the map and see where we are going and everything.

 Once we were down there we set up shop in a nice open empty area.  I was really surprised at how friendly everyone was that day.  Probably because it was the weekend and no one had to be somewhere by a certain time.  I packed us snacks and a picnic so that we wouldn't have to worry about finding food.

Jalyn was so excited to try her kite.  She didn't care about trying to see any of the competitions.  I have to say that teaching Jalyn and John how to fly a kite was one hilarious task.  John of course had way more patients with it than I did.  We got it up there for a few minutes but it came down pretty quickly.

There were lots of kites in the air.  It was fun to see all the different styles and shapes.  As you can see the skies were a gorgeous blue that day.

 Jaleesa was more interested in chewing and shaking her toys.

 We took a little break for lunch and Jalyn decided to lay back and enjoy the kites.

 After lunch Jalyn and Daddy switched gears a little and played some soccer.  Yes, that is a pink soccer ball.  She picked it out all on her own.

 Jaleesa and I hung out on the blanket together.  It isn't easy keeping that girl entertained.  She wants to move.

 You know you have had an awesome day when you have two girls passed out in the backseat on the car ride home!

Not only was this my DITL for March.  It also crossed another item off of my 32 list.

Have a beautiful day! Smiles, Jessica