Day 70: My New Business Cards

So I knew I wanted new business cards for the Making Connections event I attended this weekend and the upcoming Heirloom Pro stamp show. I usually use a premade template from Vista Print, because I like to have pictures on my cards and that seemed easy. But this time I wasn't feelin' any of the designs.

So I opened up a blank canvas in PicMonkey and set the size to 2100 x 1200. I designed my card using lots of my favorite glittery projects, and some funky fonting that made me smile.

I used to put a listing of my classes on the back, but this time I felt inspired to add a quote that speaks to me about why I love this craft so much.  When they arrived just days before I headed to Seattle I was so pleased to have a card that felt, well, like me.  I just got home from Seattle and Making Connections was so uplifting and awesome. I hope you did something awesome today!

Practical Scrappers Two Page Layouts

Today over at Practical Scrappers the ladies are showcasing two page layouts. I just LOVE a two page layout...though those one pagers are slowly growing on me... Anyhow, in the spirit of practicality (and since I'm up to my eyebrows in projects I cannot share until after convention), I shared this sweet and simple Studio J layout. 

While the layout itself is from an Express collection, I did do a bit of customization, as I wanted that picture of Gabe and Ben on the right hand side to go across two photo wells. So I loaded it up into each well, sized it up so I could only see one boy at a time, and lined up the two photos so it looks like the photo is one single piece. You can't tell a bit on my printed layout (or the jpgs I got with my purchase), so I felt pretty clever! 

20 minute (including fussy photo placement) layout is one more reason I love Studio J!

Don't forget to pop out to Practical Scrappers and take a peek at the gorgeous two pagers shared by the ladies!

My Week

My week this week has been rough, busy, topsy-turvy, full of smiles and giggles...in other words, just life! This Express Collection Studio J digital layout is a glimpse at a week of random cell pics from January of last year. Was life simpler and easier then? Nope! But when I look at these pics I'm remembering the sweet moments and how small and precious the boys were, not the silly brother fights, spilled drinks, tantrums, and messes. This is why I scrapbook. This is why I love to scrapbook. 

Best of all...I got all that "stitching" and I didn't have to sew a thing! I'm off to CKC Portland - if you're local, come find me cropping at the big round tables during the afternoons for an inky treat! 

Have a scraptastic weekend!

One Day at the Zoo

I'm still working on projects that cannot be blogged (yet), so here's another of my Studio J Bonanza from last week. How cute is this new (online only) kit? We have a ton of Zoo pics, because we've had a membership for years, and yet I can't help taking pics of the boys every time we go. Someday I'll be able to do a through the years at the zoo mini album for each boy!

This is one of those 5-10 minute layouts. Choose the kit, load in your pics (just like uploading pics to Costco or Snapfish), choose the colors for your pre-placed embellies and you're done! 

Kind of like this blog post - KISS!

Be Awesome Today!

Today my second child is 5 years old. That's him in the biggest photo, with the biggest smile, wrestling around with my Dad and Sister on a trip to CA last year. See him off to the right with his arms flung up, running full bore with abandon, giggling with glee? That's my brilliant boy Ben! 

Ben leaps headfirst into everything, loving life, ready for action, can't hold still for a second. Sometimes his focus on living in the moment leads to disaster...like when he snapped his glasses in half (twice) or this weekend when he managed to chip two of my husband's teeth accidentally while literally CLIMBING THE WALLS (well, the doorways) of our home like Spider-man. But mostly this little tornado of glorious energy reminds me to try anything, never give up, to enjoy life, to just be awesome. He adds a B to the front of words so they'll sound more like his name. I wish I had his self confidence!

Plus, even though the anxious worrywart mom inside me might wish that he could not scale to the top of the doorways spider man style to dangle from the top of the door frame... how awesome is it that he can? Ben's philosophy in life tends to go along the lines of "Why Not?". "Because it's not safe, buddy." "But I'm awesome at (insert physical and possibly dangerous activity here)". 

Yes, buddy, you are awesome, indeed. Happy birthday, B-awesome Ben!

This was one of my favorite layouts tucked away in those Studio J Express Collections. I love the trendy grey and yellow color combo, the "stitching", the stampy flowers overlapping the pics. This is a collection of pics of weird placed my little guys fall asleep. I tend to snap pics of them when they are sleeping like that and shoot them off to Instagram, so I end up with a bunch of cutie one-off pics that don't match anything. I changed them all over to sepia tone so they wouldn't clash (right in Studio J) and now I've got a sweet reminder of my hard sleeping buddies, all done in about ten minutes!

Shhh! I know that's exciting, but don't wake the babies!

Lucky Me! I've got Studio J!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Today I'll be sharin' the green with you...the digital green of Studio J! 

This is one of the Express Collection layouts I've been raving about. See all the stitching, the faux washi, the banners and the mixed and recolored papers? Every bit of detail was ALREADY DONE for me! I dropping in my Ben is a monkey pics, added the journaling and this page was done in about 5 minutes. And if I had dumping in my pics and not liked the page? I'm out nothing - it's all free until you are ready to print your adorable layouts!

Studio J might just be the pot of gold at the end of my never-ever-ever-getting-caught-up scrapbooking rainbow! 

P.S. - Sweet Scrappin' Friend Valerie mentioned that she loved the cropping of my photos on the last layout. I responded there on that post...but I have to say it again - it's all Studio J! I've loved that crazy photo quilt layout since it first came out in one of our How To books, but I only made it in paper ONCE. Once was enough - cropping those crazy shapes and getting the edges and angles just so was a huge PAIN. Now I can make it anytime I want...once you drop in your pics you can just grab them and scoot them to show exactly what you want, no mathematics required! 

Now everyone join with me in emailing CTMH to demand sweetly request glitter paper options on every paper packet! We want more bling!