Stroll down memory lane

After spending hours upon hours upon hours working on your pages, how often do you take the time to wander back through them? For me, not as often as I should. Last night I got a wonderful trip down memory lane as I browsed through my layouts looking for my favorites to submit to my LSS for their design team call. When it was all done, I settled for a nice mix of things I had just finished and things I had tucked away into albums. There were so many layouts I loved that I didn't even crack the 8x8 books.

In honor of my walk, I decided to share a few of my favorites. Starting with the 8x8s. I totally love working in this size. I can easy get 3 photos with a great layout. My top four from my daughter's book -

This is one of the first layouts I shared online. I did it for a challenge. As I recall it required a bunch of different patterned papers, ribbon and a certain number of buttons. It was so much fun to put together!


This one is from a kit swap. Each member would build a kit for their buddy and then swap. I love Sassafrass Lass papers, so this was right up my alley.


Here's one from an online class. The right size was the class, with the painting and angles, everything else is all me.


This last one was for a Fancy Pants Design Team call. The white is actually a transparency. I doodled on it with a resist medium and then let it dry. Once it was dry, I sponged pearl white paint onto the transparency. After it was all dry, I peeled away the resist to reveal my doodling. The transparency is then layered over cute Fancy Pants paper. I added a bit of Heidi bling and a glitter title to tell the story of my daughter getting her first bling. (Her daddy cried more than she did!)


Now for a few 12x12s. This one is one of my very favorites. I taught this in an online class on Create My Keepsake about a year ago. I love using bright bold colors with black & white papers and pair that up with black & white photos, with just the occasional color photo for added pizazz.


Another total favorite here. With both kiddos, we've done a picture of them curled up in Daddy's fire helmet. I held onto these for a long time before I found just the right papers and embellishments to really make them pop. The great title doesn't hurt either. She is truly her daddy's heart!


Fun techniques page. This one is loaded. The snowflakes are all stamped on a transparency. My favorite bit are the jumbo Making Memories grommets. This layout was actually on their gallery for a while. I love my grommet tool, even though I haven't used it in a while. Perhaps it's time to break it out again.


A friend of mine pointed out that I had a ton of pink in my gallery. I hadn't really noticed, but I do have a girl. Here's a couple from my pink obsession -




And a couple of single pagers. This first one was for a Design Team challenge. The challenge was to scrap your weakness. Tea is probably more of an obsession than a weakness for me, but I love how this layout turned out. The "{tea}" bit in the title is done on Shrink Plastic. It looks really cool in person. It's also blinged up with some Prima swirls for steam over my favorite tea mug.


This one is actually a 2 pager, but for the longest time, only this side of the layout was complete. I would drag out the other side and stare at it a bit on a regular basis. In fact, it's only been finished for probably two months. I realized this morning what has been continuing to bug me...no journaling! What was I thinking. I plan on picking up a journaling card at the LSS and fixing that before I hand over the portfolio. I didn't think to take pictures of the other page, so you'll have to wait until it get it back to see the whole thing.


Cards and Altered bits. Next to doing a layout, I love to stamp. After stamping, my greatest love is altering stuff. A good 95% of my altered stuff goes to family and friends as gifts. Here's a note, mostly to self, take time to take pictures before handing over the project! I'll post next week on the hazards of forgetting and having others photograph your work. Anyway...here's a few cards -






An adorable notebook. This is done in American Crafts. I just love this! I actually made 2 of these. The first one doesn't look near this pretty and only has a handful of pages still in it. I used the heck out of it. I need to make another before I start using this one. That way I'll always have one ready to go.


Totally fun Milk Carton. Shanel (my LSS owner) had these in stock and I fell in love with them. This is the only one I got pictures of, however. As far as I know, it is still living at her shop.


Combo card & altered. Pubcalls was doing a big birthday bash and giving away fun prizes. I didn't win anything, but I loved how this card and altered clothes pin turned out. I made a matching envelope for the card that is lined in the same patterned paper. I still have this. It's just too cute to give away!