Hello there, my friends.  Heather's here today with you to highlight a really cool concept from Simple Stories.  I'm sure you've all read about and seen the new Life Documented planners and collection and are just as excited about it as I am.  I had a strong need and desire to organize my life and I'm am just overjoyed to have such a great solution now!  

While I was putting my planner together to keep track of all family activities, do my meal planning, track deadlines, etc, I came across the Life Documented Planning Inserts.  Imagine a light bulb going off.  No, even better...the clouds cleared and birds starting singing - I was that excited!

Do you see that cool little grid in the photo and the section below to plan out your photos, supplies, ideas, journaling???? Genius! I stopped everything I was doing and started sketching.  Take a look at how I used this cool feature of the planners.

I started by selecting the photos I wanted to scrap. Then, I pulled out my Life Documented supplies and started sorting through them, looking for the perfect papers and embellishments. I jotted them down along with a few other items I knew I wanted to use.  I didn't have any memorabilia this time. We ended up donating my daughter's hair to those in need but once we get the confirmation letter back, I will add it to the page somewhere, maybe behind.

I love that I can use this to plan everything out in advance so when I'm ready to scrap, I have my plan and I'm ready to go.

So, let's see how it all transpired into an actual layout...

I really wanted to use the awesome paper with all the words.  The words were soo fitting for what my daughter was doing.  She grew out her hair and it took her a while to make the decision to cut it but she did and I am soo proud of her.  She felt soo wonderful knowing that she was helping another child in need.  It was definitely a FABULOUS, EPIC, AWESOME thing for her to do.

I toned down the words on the paper by adding gesso and then I added the graph section to the bottom, lining the dividing line with tags and banners.

I created the title using a combo of hand cut and die cut words.  I am still deciding what exactly I want to journal about but I do know it will go right there in the empty section near the title.

Hello Friends! 

It's Kristine Davidson with you today and I am here to share a Life Documented spread featuring the NEW LIFE DOCUMENTED Collection! How exciting is that? You are going to love the diversity of this collection to create layouts, projects and Life Documented Spreads in 2015.   

This collection is filled with bright primary colors, journal cards that make it easy for you to document your daily activities or adventures, filler cards, and the cutest bits & pieces!

The Left Side of my spread has one of my favorite title cards that I made. I used the TODAY diecut and added popdots for dimension, I then added sewing on the initial card and cut up a quote @this very moment from another Day to Day card. I love it! I then added the date with a roller stamp and it was so easy ;-)

The Right Side of my spread has 6 SN@P! Insta Squares that I sewed together to create a 4x6 card. I added a few extra details by using bradz, Stickers, and Bits & Pieces.

This collection is so much fun to play with. You'll enjoy creating your own cards and making this collection one of your favorites!

I hope you enjoyed my Life Documented post today and I hope you enjoy creating with your Simple Stories Life Documented Collection!

Hi there Simple fans! Nancy here today with a video on how I set up my new Life Documented Planner. Take a look at the video as I walk you through the set up I plan to use to organize my ideas, schedule, project life and sketches.

Click here to watch the video or watch below.

Here's a peek at how I'm using the daily planner inserts:

Hi everyone! Nichol here today with a new layout and card showcasing the fabulous new Life Documented Collection from Simple Stories! I love this new collection. The colors, the designs… perfection!

I created a layout showcasing my daughter and her friend from several years ago by grouping several photos into a photo collage border and adhering them on a woodgrain background from the Life Documented Collection. 

I trimmed several strips from the Life Documented diagonal stripe papers in light blue, navy and green and adhered three of them at the top of the page and three below the photo collage. I added a title for my page using a combination of Life Documented die cut shapes and stickers.

I used embellishments in the same colors as the three striped patterned papers plus a bit of yellow to unify the design. I used the Life Documented die cuts, stickers, chipboard, and enamel dots.

I printed the journaling for my page on one of the 4x6 journaling cards and tucked it behind the photo collage, embellishing it with a label sticker and chipboard sticker. I finished the page with a few wood veneer shapes and sequins.

I created a simple card using the Life Documented journaling cards, washi stickers and stickers.

To see the creation of the scrapbook page from start to finish watch the video below or HERE on youtube.

Hi Simple Stories fans! Rebecca here today to share my latest absolute favorite Simple Stories Collection - Life Documented.  Life Documented is one of those incredibly versatile collections that once you see it, you will want to use it on everything in your life - layouts, cards, SN@P albums, planners, pocket page spreads and more!  Today I am here to share 2 layouts, but believe me, I will be back soon with many more projects featuring this fabulous collection. It has everything you need in one all encompassing collection.

Seriously! Rainbows, grids, floral, hearts, arrows, stripes, ampersands. And the colors?! Navy and white, cream and wood grain as the neutrals, with pops of brights. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this collection. Of course the Bits and Pieces are always a personal favorite of mine, but new to Simple Stories for Life Documented are clips. Perfect for planners or layouts!

 The clear stickers in white or black layer well over photos or over die cuts.

 Chipboard stickers and epoxy dots are perfection in this collection.

I couldn't stop at one layout!  The large numbers on this next layout are from a 12x12 patterned paper. I mounted them on white cardstock and cut around for a large die cut piece in the middle of this layout.

Another new favorite? Bradz! They are self adhesive and you dont have to wrestle with prongs/'wings' anymore!  I used to cut the prongs/'wings' off of brads and adhere to my layouts, so having the work done already for me is awesome!

I love combining all the fun embellishments like on this die cut tag with a Bradz and chipboard sticker.

And I can't get over the cuteness of the clips, like the 'good stuff' heart below. I hope I don't use them all up on my layouts, because I want to save some for my planner!

I can't say it enough! I love every little bit and piece of this amazing collection! Happy documenting!

Hello everyone. It's Mindi here and I am so excited to be sharing a few Life Documented pages using the brand new Life Documented Scrapbook collection. This one is one of my favorites, for sure. 

Here is a look at both pages together. 

I just love these week title cards from the Week in Review card set. They are already made for you, and there is one for every week of the year! Makes it so easy to add to your pages, and fast. Talk about fast. Slide in the pocket page & done. I added a few embellishments to my title card this time.  

The Life Documented Scrapbook collection is just perfect for those every day, weekly photos. I took a Facebook post from this particular week and added it straight to my journaling card shown here. In the beginning this card was 4x6. I chopped it down to a 3x4 size and thought that it would look good with the chipboard arrows. 

Here is another 4x6 card that I wanted to use. I left it 4x6 and added my photo to the blank space to the left. To add some embellishments I added the white clear photo stars as sort of a border on top of the saying. 

On the right side of my pocket page I wanted to add a bigger photo to my spread. I chose this photo of my son pretending he was trying out for American Ninja Warrior. He has been climbing every door way in the house lately. I cropped it to be 6x8 and cut it up to fit into the slots. It worked out great. I finished it off by adding a journaling block to the empty space in the photo. 

I just love this number diecut!! Don't you ?  It went perfectly with the theme on the right side of my spread. I added it to the empty space on one of the 4x6 cards. Adding some personal touches with lots of fun embellishments finished it off. 

One more close up of a journaling card and a photo. My son just started Kindergarten and we have been practicing counting a lot. 

I hope you have enjoyed this Life Documented Post today. I hope I've inspired you to get those everyday moments documented!! 

Hello – this is Amber, Creative Director & founder of Simple Stories. The big day is finally here!  Yesterday we shared a fun video of our new Life Documented Planner collection and today we’re so excited to reveal the entire new program and products!

This entire 'planner' program has been a long time in the making…from the minute I held the first sample of our 6x8 faux leather albums, I was in love and couldn’t wait to develop a day planner system to compliment these beautiful albums.  I've always been a day planner junkie and every year I search for the perfect planner for my personal use.  After spending lot’s of $$ on many different planners and sizes over the years, I’ve never been truly happy with the final results- even with some of the big names and trendy designs.  Whether it’s too generic, too detailed, too small, too big, too restrictive, too complicated, too limited – nothing seemed to fit my life.

For me, the perfect planner had to be big enough and with just enough space needed for day-to-day planning.  I didn’t want it to be limited to an 'off-the-shelf', 'one-size-fits-all' planner; I wanted options to personalize my album, but not so many options that it became complicated or overwhelming.  It had to offer complete functionality and choices - from full size daily inserts, to weekly pages and monthly calendars, to notes, lists, journals and menus - however I chose to plan my life.  Of course, it had to be fun and bright with just enough creativity to keep me excited about planning my day-to-day life.  And last of all, I wanted something that covered all the facets of my life from work, business, home, family, personal and even my memory keeping hobby.

To say I’m excited about our new Life Documented Planner collection is an understatement – I am absolutely thrilled to share this entire system with you….and this snappy new way to plan your life! 

The Life Documented Planner products are designed to fit in our 6x8 faux leather binders.   Available in a variety of colors, these binders feature high quality construction (so important in a day planner!), top notch faux leather, 2 interlocking D rings, stylish contrast stitching, metal corner accents, a decorative metal spine bookplate and 10 pocket pages.

Your life is unique, shouldn't your planner be?!  We thought so, so everything in the Life Documented Planner collection is a la carte - meaning you decide the specific products you want to include in your planner to make it unique for organizing your life!

Monthly Dividers - Includes {27} Double-Sided 6x8 Cardstock Divider Pages - monthly tabbed calendar pages, month in review & designer pages, and bonus planner pages (including a fold out year-at-a-glance planner).  The months are non-dated, giving you the option of when to start your 'year'! 

Weekly Planner Inserts - Includes {26} 6x8 double sided weekly planner insert pages, for 52 weeks.

Daily Planner Inserts - Includes {156} 6x8 double sided daily planner insert pages, for 365 days.

Basic Planner Inserts - Includes {36} 6x8 double sided basic planner insert pages, 6 each of 6 designs.

Basic Dividers - Includes {6} 6x8 Tabbed Cardstock Divider inserts. 

Life Documented Planning Inserts - Includes {26} 6x8 double sided Life Documented insert pages, for 26 weeks.  Perfect for planning your weekly pocket page spreads!

Plastic Bookmarks - includes {3} 6x8 easy insert, transparent plastic bookmarks

Washi Paper Tape - includes {24} 3x4 sheets, 2 each of 12 designs.

Clips - includes {16} plastic clips

Sticky Notes - includes {10} sticky notes each of {10} different designs

Stickers - Includes {8} 4x6 sticker sheets, available in 3 designs - Letters, Numbers & Calendar

Envelopes & Pockets - Includes {1} 6x8 envelope and {2} 6x8 pockets, perfect for adding memorabilia, photos, receipts & more to your planner!

Pouch - semi-transparent 6x8 zipper pouch, perfect for storing your Life Documented products in your planner

So there you have it - the Life Documented Planner collection!  These products begin shipping to retailers next month, so it won't be long before you can get your hot little hands on them!

How about a chance to win a LIfe Documented Planner prize pack before you can buy it?!!  You have 2 chances to win!  

First, simply enter via the Rafflecopter widget below -

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Second - PIN TO WIN!  Just pin your favorite(s) of the Life Documented Planner images in this post, name your pin Simple Stories Life Documented Planner, then leave us a comment on this blog post telling us that we've been pinned and include your Pinterest user name.

That's 2 chances to win a Life Documented Planner goodie box before you can buy it!  And because we're feeling extra generous, how about a 3rd chance?!  We'll be doing giveaways on Instagram as well throughout the week, so follow us at  simplestories_  for a 3rd chance to win! 

We'll announce all of the winners throughout the week in one giant celebratory post here on Sunday the 9th so make sure to check back then to see if you're one of the lucky winners!

Good luck - we can't wait to hear what you think about the Life Documented Planner collection!

And remember, today is only Day 2 of 5 fun filled days, so meet us back here tomorrow morning for Day 3 for the reveal of the Life Documented Scrapbook collection!

Hi everyone! Allison Davis here with a Life Documented layout using the Seasons SN@P! Set and I've got a new sketch to share with you that mixes the SN@P! Pocket Pages with traditional scrapbooking.

You can download the full sketch with measurements and placements here.

The left side of the sketch features a more traditional design while the right side uses the SN@P! Pocket Page, Design 6. Here is my layout based on the sketch:

Being the mother of boys it's not often that I get to use girly colors so I jump at the chance to use them when I can. When my oldest son, Drew, turned 9-years-old his best friend got him a purple princess tiara. It was kind of their own little inside joke that had been going on for the last year. The best part was watching all of these little boys at the party fight over wearing the tiara. They all do martial arts together and usually worry more about being tough, but there they were dancing around the room in a purple tiara! It was hilarious!

I used the backside of six 3x4" cards to create a colorful background and then added some stitching to the edges of the cards.

With all of the bold colors and patterns, I kept my title simple and clean with a small arrow and heart embellishment.

I went the simple route on the other embellishments on the left page as well.

For the right page I used a combination of cards and photos with the SN@P! Pocket Page, Design 6.

I used the 3x4" card to help embellish an large amount of empty space in the photo. I thought it was funny to have one of the pictures of Drew laughing really hard right next to the "It's a Happy Day" card.

I love adding my own touches to the SN@P! cards, usually in the form of stitching. On the camera card I added a stitched circle and a circle sticker to the lens.

I added a photo to the "Best Day Ever" frame, added some stitching around the heart, and then finished the look with some word stickers and an arrow.

I took advantage of the open space of the "today" card to showcase some of my favorite pictures of Drew laughing.

I'm using the 12x12 SN@P! faux leather album in black for all of my Life Documented layouts. I love the quality of the faux leather and the pretty accent stitching! I also used the 12x12 SN@P! Pocket Pages, Design 6 from the Variety Pack. I love how many great designs and options you get with the Variety Pack.