Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Life at our Home

I was thinking that it was about time to let you have a little peek inside our home again. It has been a while since my last installment. I received the kindest most positive messages and emails from you. It meant the world to me to hear from you!
Things are going well. We're as busy as ever keeping up with the kiddos and all their extra activities. On my busiest days I make 6 trips a day running kids around. Yes, they're busy kiddos and that makes for a busy mamma. I've been doing pretty good at keeping up with them. We've gotten into a good routine and I'm learning how to manage my energy and I'm learning when its time to stop.
A couple of weekends ago my brother and his wife came from Nebraska for the weekend. I was SO excited for their visit. They have 2 little girls that I adore and I want to spend all the time with them that I can. We had a wonderful weekend! The weather was beautiful. We didn't do anything very exciting. Mostly just hanging out at my moms house visiting and playing with the kids. It was fun to have all the cousins together. They spent hours and hours playing in the sandbox at my parents house. The kids (and my parents house) were constantly covered in sand.

 I had my infusion treatment a couple of weeks before they came (around the first of October) and I worked really hard the week prior to get my blogging/scrapbooking work caught up so I could have the whole weekend to spend with my family (I over did it and got a little tired). Then the weekend of their stay came and we hit the ground running I was up too early and stayed up too late for a few days and didn't follow my diet as closely as I should have (I over did it and got a lot tired). As a result, I got run down which left me vulnerable for infections. On the day they left I came down with a case of the shingles. I went to urgent care and got the treatments I needed and pretty much spent the rest of the next week in bed. Not only was I hurting but I was exhausted too! Luckily, I recovered quickly and I'm almost back to normal...almost. I'm back to running the kids and playing a little bit of catch-up as far as my creative projects go.
While I was recovering I spent way too much time watching Netflix and not enough time reading. I did finish one book though, (Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker) I really liked it. It was an interesting perspective on the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. The next book I'm reading is The Last Letter from your Lover by Jo Jo Moyes. I adore Jo Jo Moyes. She's one of my most recent favorite authors. I'm going to try to spend more time reading and less time on Netflix in the future...(please, ignore the fact that as I type this I'm watching an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, yep, on Netflix). I can't read and type at the same time.
While I was recovering (toward the end when I was feeling a little better) I decided to create a few scrapbook pages...just for fun. I don't remember the last time I created a project just for fun using the products and theme that I wanted too. It felt so good! I'm going to make it a priority to do that more often. Here's one of the projects I created. I used lots of brand new goodies from the Paper Issues store. This project primarily came from the Gramercy Road line from Gossamer Blue and the Crate Paper Open Book collection by Maggie Holmes. I think these collections are adorable! I loved working with them It's a different color palette than I usually use but it was fun to do something a little bit different.
 Last Sunday my husband and I celebrated our 14th anniversary. I took a quick picture of us and made a collage and added it to this layout. I actually scrapbooked this page on our anniversary. 
 We looked like a couple of teenagers when we got married (we weren't though). I can't believe it's been 14 years. I'm so lucky to have such a great guy that is so supportive and takes such great care of me.
Looking forward I have some fun projects that I think you'll love, lots and lots of holiday projects. I'm excited about a project I'm working on with Christmas cards. I can't wait to share it with you. I'm thinking we'll spend a whole week talking about Christmas cards. I love me some Christmas cards! I do have a few questions for you regarding Christmas cards...

  1. Do you send out Christmas cards?
  2. If you do send out Christmas cards do you make them yourself or do you buy them premade?
  3. If you send out Christmas Cards do you include a photo(s)?

If you could let me know in the comments below that will help me to pull all my projects together in a way that I know you'll love!

(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 up and running.)

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Inspired by Pinterest

 
Pinterest has taken the crafty world by storm and that's no different for the scrapbooking world. I could spend hours and hours pinning beautiful layouts, mini albums, and cards...oh wait, I do! As of today I have 2,021 on my scrapbooking Pinterest board. That number grows almost daily. Pinterest is a great tool for finding and organizing great ideas! It's also a great tool so that you can find out what your preferences/style are. For example if you look back at your Pinterest scrapbooking board and see that 90% of the layouts that you've pinned have a white background, you may want to start your next project with a white background. The same thing can be said for many different things: the number of photos on a page, a color scheme that you see repeatedly, or the placement of embellishments.
Recently, I was scrolling through my Pinterest board looking at what projects had been repinned the most. I was shocked to find that one of the layouts that I had pinned has been repinned 1,484 times (as of when I'm writing this post). None of my other scrapbooking pins can even come close to that number.

LPBA_lg
This layout was created by Libby Pritchett. I think that she's a digital scrapbooking designer. I decided that I would recreate this layout using my own supplies and my own style. There are a few things about this layout that made me think that I would not like the end result of my project. The first thing I noticed was that the photos were cut unto shapes. I rarely, if ever, cut my photos into shapes. If I do cut my photos into shapes its a square or a circle, that's it. When I was creating this layout I even thought about trying to rework the design a little bit so I could avoid cutting my photos but the further I got into the project I decided that I would stick with the original design. I cut my photos into a pendant shape *gasp* and I LOVED how it turned out *even bigger gasp*
 I used the Bella Blvd Family Forever Collection. I adore this collection. I find myself reaching for it all the time.

 And here's the final project:
I did a couple of things differently on my project. I added a border sticker toward the bottom of the page. It felt a little more 'balanced' to me with the sticker at the bottom. I also didn't use as many photos on my project. I wanted it to be about my kiddos and I have three kiddos so naturally I have three photos on my layout.
I gave this basic idea a second try using the same concept but switching things up a bit. I came up with this last night:
 This layout is a combination mainly of 2 collections (Gramercy Road by Gossamer Blue and Crate Paper's Open Book collection).


 Have you ever scraplifted a layout you found on Pinterest? This is the first time I've done it and I love the results, you should give it a try!

Friday, October 24, 2014

Pumpkin Shaped Cards

Hello! Today I have an adorable pumpkin shaped card to share with you. I pulled out my Silhouette to cut the shape of the pumpkin and then just did a little bit of embellishing.
Pumpkin shaped card by Becki Adams #pumpkincard #cardmaking #shapedcards 
I tied the sentiment tag around the stem of the pumpkin and added a gold butterfly. Easy peasy, but adorable! I have a set of three of these pumpkin cards up today on the Pebbles blog. Hop over there and let me know what you think! 

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Family Photos Mini Album

Recently, Elle's Studio sent me these adorable wood veneer mini album covers.
Autumn Wood Veneer Mini Album Covers
I combined these wood veneer covers with the October Kit, and a few bits and pieces from the Sycamore Lane collection to create a mini album showcasing our recent family photos.
Family Photos Mini Album by Becki Adams @jbckadams #scrapbooking #minialbums #familyphotos
 I loved the detail on the wood veneer cover that I didn't want to do much embellishing on it. I wanted the wood to stand out.
Family Photos Mini Album by Becki Adams @jbckadams #scrapbooking #minialbums #familyphotos
There isn't a ton of journaling in this album it's mostly a fun decoration to sit on the entry way table in our living room.
Family Photos Mini Album by Becki Adams @jbckadams #scrapbooking #minialbums #familyphotos
Family Photos Mini Album by Becki Adams @jbckadams #scrapbooking #minialbums #familyphotos
I love photos of the girls together and the boys together.
Family Photos Mini Album by Becki Adams @jbckadams #scrapbooking #minialbums #familyphotos On this page I added a transparency with a a little bit of flair. 
Family Photos Mini Album by Becki Adams @jbckadams #scrapbooking #minialbums #familyphotos
This two page spread just simply shows the kids ages at the time the photos were taken.
Family Photos Mini Album by Becki Adams @jbckadams #scrapbooking #minialbums #familyphotos
And last but not least...a page for mom & dad :)
Family Photos Mini Album by Becki Adams @jbckadams #scrapbooking #minialbums #familyphotos
Just in case you missed it HERE's a link to the post about how to take your own family photos.
Do you have your family photos taken for the year?

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

A Week in the Life

 In my living room there's a basket (actually three) full of mini albums. Even though, I need to find a different storage method. (Some of the albums aren't holding up very well to this system.) My kids love looking through these baskets and reading their albums.

Recently, I've been paying closer attention to the albums that my kids spend time reading. I've noticed that they spend time reading books about "when I was a baby" and a lot of albums about our daily happenings.
Becki Adams #scrapbooking #aweekinthelife #Spendaweekwithus
The album that they read a lot is the album I titled "Spend a Week with Us." I stumbled upon Ali Edwards, "A Week in the Life" and I loved the concept! I printed the forms out to record our daily routine and I got started. I documented our week and then a few weeks later I got organized and put the album together.  I was trying to remember if I did the project at the same time as Ali Edwards did hers but I honestly can't remember. I loved doing the project but I remember being surprised at how hard it was to keep up with it. I got caught up in doing our daily routine and I forgot to write down what we were doing and take photos. While I was putting the album together I noticed that I had a ton of information at the beginning of the week and then toward the end of the week I didn't have as much information or as many photos. Because my kids love that album so much and because after reading the last album I realized that our daily routines have changed so much, I've decided to do do another album titled "Spend a Week with Us".

This time I'm approaching the project a little differently and little more a lot more prepared. Ali Edwards has changed her project a little bit and she now sells a kit to go along with her project. I was tempted to buy one of her kits. They're beautiful! Just before I clicked "purchase" changed my mind. I look around at my scrapbook supplies and decided that I would put together my own kit. Here's what I put together:

Supplies:
  • Binder (I chose a 6x8 album)
  • Sheet protectors (depending on the album you chose)
  • journaling cards
  • pen (or 2 or 12) American Crafts Precision Pens are my favorite
  • Date Stamp
  • letter stickers
  • washi tape
  • 2-3 sheets of white cardstock
  • 4-6 sheets of patterned paper
I chose to work with the Pebbles Home+Made collection by Jen Hadfield. This is such a fun collection to work with and has a great everyday theme to it. There are tons of 3x4 and 4x6 journaling cards.
Becki Adams #scrapbooking #aweekinthelife #Pebbles #Homemade
I chose the Project Life Album, 6 by 8-Inch, Pink Lattice and page protectors. I love how the album goes perfectly with the Home+Made Collection. I also grabbed the 6x6 Paper Pad . I thought the 6x6 paper pad would be perfect to cut into journaling cards and accent pieces.

Becki Adams #scrapbooking #aweekinthelife #Pebbles #Homemade
 I gathered a few letter stickers (Homemade Large Alpha Stickers)and embellishments.
Becki Adams #scrapbooking #aweekinthelife #Pebbles #Homemade
I also grabbed some washi tape (Homemade Decorative Tape) and premade journaling cards from my stash.
Becki Adams #scrapbooking #aweekinthelife #Pebbles #Homemade
I also created some printables to go along with my album. I've uploaded them (daily schedule and daily notes) if you'd like to use them as well.
Becki Adams #scrapbooking #aweekinthelife #Pebbles #Homemade
 They are created so they will fit into a 6x8 page protector.
Becki Adams #scrapbooking #aweekinthelife #Pebbles #Homemade
Have you participated in the Week in the Life project before? If you haven't, gather some supplies, check out all the details on Ali Edwards blog, and let's get started! I'm starting on Monday, October 27th and I'll finish on Sunday, November 2nd. I'll come back here and share with you the finished product in November.
Really, come join me!
Becki Adams #scrapbooking #aweekinthelife #Pebbles #Homemade

Monday, October 20, 2014

Winter Themed Cards

We had such a fun weekend! My brother and his family were in town for a long weekend visit. I love it when they are in town. We spend all the time we can with them while they are here. My kids love spending time with their cousins. They spend hours and hours and hours in the sandbox at my parents playing with cousins. The amount of sand that those kids were covered in was amazing. I loved hugging all those sand covered kiddos. Nothing makes me happier than spending the weekend with all of my family.
Unfortunately, a long busy weekend was the perfect storm for me to end up with some complications from my treatments...so I landed in Urgent Care yesterday. Yesterday was rough! I was really really frustrated and just mad. Today is a new day and I'm doing better. I'm excited to spend some time at my desk creating. That's the best medicine for me!
Today I'm happy to share a couple of cards that I created with the Carta Bella Bundled Up collection. This collection is perfect for winter photos, perfect! It's full of shades of blue with just a splash of red! It's adorable!
These cards were so easy to create! It's simply a few stickers, a doily, and some patterned paper backgrounds. I did stamp the sentiments on these cards but the stamped sentiment could easily be replaced with sticker sentiments to make them even easier.
Isn't that snowman adorable?!?!
 And who doesn't love a cup of hot chocolate in the winter? I know that's one of the only things I like about winter.
Happy Monday! I'm hoping you can spend some time creating too!

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