Summer Mini Album Idea

Why didn't you remind me that I needed to show you my completed Summer album? Oh, you forgot about it? Me too ;) I forgot about it until my kiddos were looking at it the other day. Today, I'll share it with you, finally. You can see the album at the beginning of our Summer HERE. We didn't accomplish everything on their bucket lists but overall they had a really great Summer.

 I didn't change anything on the cover. I really like how it was when I started the album.

The highlight of our Summer was the road trip we took to Nebraska to see my brother and his family. The kids LOVED our trip! It was a little rough on me. I am not a fan of long road trips and I came home with a case of strep throat. All in all, we had a great time and I loved spending the time with my family.

I should have counted how many watermelons were consumed at our house this Summer, or maybe it's a good thing that I didn't. There were a few days when we went through 2-3 watermelons a day *yikes*.

The first half of our Summer was all baseball and softball. The kids were in heaven! Mom and Dad were excited when there was a little less running around to do. We're so proud of the kids they did so well.

The lemonade stand has the best story of the Summer! A few of the little girls in our neighborhood set up a lemonade stand late one afternoon. They were so excited but only had a few customers. I called my mom and asked her to stop by on her way home from work. When she pulled in the driveway and saw their sign that said, "five star lemonade" she commented on how the lemonade must be really good if they named it "five star lemonade." My daughters friend piped up and said, "well, we made the sign before we actually made the lemonade so...." (then she just grinned and shrugged her shoulders). We laughed about "five star lemonade" for days!

We did make it to the pool a few times. (The kids didn't think it was enough, shocking.) I was so excited to get a few decent photos at the indoor pool.

The page on the left is documenting the vast amount of groceries we went through each week when we had 6 kids in the house eating 3 meals a day. The grocery store accountant loves it when I walk through the door! They know I'll be leaving a good chunk of cash when I leave.
The page on the right documents celebrating my little man's 5th birthday...I still don't want to talk about it. I can't believe my baby is 5.

This last 2 page spread is a little bit random that just documents some of the random fun things we did. We did a lot of playing with cousins and eating popsicles on the porch.

I hid a bit of journaling under the photo...sneaky, I know.

I tucked a few photos and some more journaling in the pocket on the last page. These photos and journaling document a quick day trip we made to see my grandparents and a morning we spent at the zoo.

Do you have your Summer photos scrapbooked? Don't worry, I don't either. I still have a long way to go. I really want to get an album done with all the photos I took on our Nebraska vacation. Maybe that will be my project when the quietness of January comes.

* Supplies Used:

American Crafts This To That Foam Adhesive, Dots
Summer Pockets with card inserts Summer Whittles Clothes Pins
American Crafts Summer Paper Pad 12x12
Summer Clear Acrylic Stamp Set
Summer 6x6 Paper Pad
Summer Photo Overlays
Summer Pinwheels
Summer Flair Adhesive Badges
Summer Accent and Phrase Sticker Book
Summer Adhesive Backed Cork Shapes
Summer Acrylic Die-Cut Shapes

American Crafts 6 by 6-Inch 8 Pages Square Grid DIY Shop Chipboard Book, Mini
(This post contains affiliate links, by purchasing items through these links you will not pay more for any of the items I will just receive a small percentage of the sale. These affiliate links help to keep my blog running and to support my family. Affiliate links are shown with an *)

 

Summer and Bella Blvd's New Collections

Good morning! Today I'm blogging from my bed, I'm being lazy this morning recovering from spending an afternoon at the pool with the kiddos. We had so much fun but it's exhausting to take a toddler to the pool. She loves the water and has no fear, I'm thankful for the invention on the life jacket. Even with a life jacket she's a handful!

 

They're already asking when we can go back. The answer they got from me was, "maybe tomorrow if daddy can come." I think it's best if we take more than one adult to the pool when we take this little lady!

While the kids and I were playing in the pool the Sierra Pacific Craft show in Salt Lake City was going on. I wish I was headed to this event. It's only a couple of hours away, maybe I should run away for a day ;) Bella Blvd is revealing their 4 new collections. I was lucky enough to play with these 4 collections a couple of weeks ago. I must say that they are adorable!! I love all of them: Tiny Tots, Hello Autumn, Halloween Magic and Christmas Cheer. I thought I would share all of my projects with you today.

Let's start with Halloween Magic. I'm a sucker for a cute Halloween line and this line didn't disappoint me. I know I'll be using every last scrap of this line.

 I rarely use purple in my projects, I just don't love purple. Somehow, I think it's okay mixed in an adorable Halloween project.

Let's look at Hello Autumn next. Can you tell I'm ready for Fall? I'm really not much of a summer person. I don't mind the warmth but I don't enjoy the sunburns that come with fair skin and long sunshiny days. I'm always ready for sweater season. I do own quite a few cardigans ;) Remember this layout?

Yeah, I pretty much love sweater season!

Back to Bella Blvd's collections. Hello Autumn. 

This is one of my all time favorite layouts. There's nothing fancy about it but I love the story that is told and the products that I used. It's a perfect match.

Now, I may be ready for Fall but I'm NOT ready for Christmas. I do love the Christmas Cheer collection though. It's so bright and cheerful. Traditional Christmas lines are my favorite to work with.

And last but not least, Tiny Tots. I showed this layout to you a few days ago here.

Whew, that's a lot of projects! I had so much fun making all of them! I can't wait to work with these collections a lot more in the coming months.
Which of these collections will be making their way into your stash? Are they all on your must-have-list?

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5647627/?claim=7752wwhjuaz">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Guest Designing for Top Dog Dies

Have you heard of Top Dog Dies? Honestly, until a couple of months ago, neither had I. After browsing their website I was so excited to start working with their products.
Top Dog Dies is a new online store that offers their own brand of wafer-thin and steel-rule dies, along with dies from brands you already know and trust, including Little B, Lawn Fawn, Taylored Expressions, Savvy Stamps and Cheery Lynn Designs. Top Dog Dies is also the leading U.S. retailer for Tattered Lace, a new line of intricate dies designed by British designer Stephanie Weightman.
I was given the Butterfly Finishers Die Set to work with. There are so many cute wafer-thin dies and a huge steel-rule die that you can use for a mini album. I used the large die to create this mini journal for my little girl to keep track of all the books she's reading this summer. (You can find a full tutorial on this project on the Top Dog Die blog.)

I also created a layout using all the butterfly shaped dies in this set. By cutting several butterflies from white cardstock and then adhering them to white cardstock I created a fun textured background.

I used lots of fun elements from American Crafts and Imaginisce on this project as well.

Don't you love the background? It makes the layout so much more interesting than if I had just used one plain piece of cardstock.

Top Dog Dies is also doing a fun giveaway for you, as a reader of my blog. The winner will receive $50 worth of exclusive dies from Top Dog Dies (your choice!) You can enter that giveaway HERE  The Deadline to enter will be Monday, June 30 at midnight Central Standard Time. Hurry, you're almost out of time!

Thanks for stopping by today!