Hello Simple Stories friends!

Marcia here today with a Lil' Dude layout to share with you. This is such an awesome boy collection. I love the bright primary colors and the typical boy images of dinosaurs, cars, dogs, and frogs. I knew it would be the perfect collection to scrap this photo of my nephew playing at a park. Big adventures are dreams here where there are dinosaurs and dinosaur eggs that the kids can crawl in and around. Lil' Dude helped me capture his adventure to remember for years later...

I used a font called Adrian Stars to create my title;You Rock. I arranged the title around a circle with some of the chipboard dinosaurs as embellishment and well as some dinosaur footprints.

The Be Wild, Be Free, Be You bits and pieces die cut went with the dinosaur theme. I added a puffy arrow sticker on top to add some dimension. 

Under the photo is a fun chipboard banner and I could not resist adding the Rawr puffy sticker over the photo. I can just hear my nephew Rawring as he peaks his head out of that dinosaur egg as if he were a dinosaur that had just hatched.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you check out the Simple Stories Lil' Dude collection for capturing all your boy's favorite adventures too.

Hello again creatives! Leah here with you on the blog today. I finally got a chance to dig into the adorable Dream Big collection that I have been hoarding. My husband and I just moved into a new, bigger and brighter rental space and as I'm settling into my new craft room, I just want to scatter the Dream Big collection everywhere! I probably will make some fun room decor with it soon, but for now I decided to start a little smaller scale by using it to set up August in my traveler's notebook.

I dressed up the front cover of my monthly insert with lots of colorful layers. I love all of the texture! When making insert covers, I always cut a 12x12 paper down to the height of the notebook and then use the extra width to wrap around the edges of the front and back cover. This way the cover stays in place but can be transferred to another insert later. I added even more color to my insert by adding monthly tabs from the Tabs A5 Sticker Tablet.

In the Carpe Diem traveler's notebook monthly inserts, there is a notes page and monthly intro page in between each month's calendar pages. You can use the headers as is, but these pages are so easy to customize with a little washi tape or stickers to cover up/re-label the headers. This month, I am using the notes page on the left to document a couple of notes about my life currently. On the right, I have separated the page into sections and labeled them by each room in my new home. I then wrote out wish lists for each space. I have associated Pinterest boards for each space as well. I'm excited to budget for and check off the items on these lists eventually!

My monthly calendar is a lot less packed than it was last month thankfully. This month is all about taking some time to recover from the move, and then focusing my energy on unpacking and organizing. The Dream Big collection is just what I need to inspire me as I'm setting up my new craft space this month. I definitely want to sprinkle lots of color and crafty magic everywhere!

This is the first time I've had my own designated creative space and I cannot be more excited to transform it! You better believe my Simple Stories supplies will be pulling double duty – they'll be on display to beautify my space which will also keep me inspired and motivated to use them. 

Stay tuned to my Instagram for updates about how my craft room is coming along. Please tag me if you've posted photos of your creative space on IG. I'd love to see how you've decorated and organized it. Until next time, happy creating friends!

It’s my favorite time of year.... it’s never to early to start getting ready for Halloween!!! I love this new Simple Vintage Halloween line!!!  I used the darling journaling cards and bits and pieces to make up this adorable banner! 

I used pop dots to add more dimension. 

This banner will be adorable over any hutch, window or entry way. They also make darling big gifts!!!! 

I also made a few cute cards 

Projects on this post are made from the Simple Vintage Halloween collection kit and Bits and Pieces. 

Hey friends! It’s Kylie back today, sharing some inspiration from my August planning. This month I am using the divine A5 Colour Wash Planner. When I first saw this, I loved how the design also looked like little colourful macaroons!

I decided the ‘Good Vibes’ collection from Simple Stories would be the perfect match in this planner for my August pages. So much variety from the cute icons and patterned papers.

My planner has lots of storage room inside with 4 smaller pockets as well as two large on the front and back.Perfect for storing lots of goodies and extra papers. I adore the polka dot print of this planner on the inside also.

As with every month my favourite thing to do is make dashboards using the Divider Templates.They really make it so easy, just trace and cut to have the perfect size!

My opening dashboard I made using a heart cut file from Simple Stories, available from the Silhouette Store. I layered different papers behind it and adhered it to my dashboard with some foam tape so it had some dimension. I finished it with some fussy cut flowers as well as some blooms I punched.

Using the tab sticker book I easily added my various tabs for the month and covered them with the clear tab stickers so they were extra sturdy.

I always enjoy filling in my Monthly overview page. It’s a great way to quickly check month to month important dates as well as note your goals and any birthdays.I worked with some of the new stamp sets on this page and especially loved the Good Vibes set.

I’ve always been a fan of the 6 x 8 paper pads and this month I added some of my favourite papers next to each divider I made for extra colour.They are already a pretty good size to fit in my planner and I just used the Carpe Diem A5 punch to add my binder holes.

To the back of this divider I added a small pocket I made as I found it handy for storing my sticker sheets for when I am planning on the go.

Here’s a peep at one of my weekly spreads.I am using the vertical inserts this month and had heaps of fun adding the borders from the Make A List stamp set.They are the perfect fit! I also added some coloured paper strips to the base and side of my pages which again added some more colour!

I used some of the chipboard stickers for this divider.They add some nice dimension to the overall effect.

I round off the month with a page marker.I usually add an extra ½ to 1 inch to the height of my planner when cutting these so the tab sits to the top above my pages.

Thanks for stopping by today.I hope you feel inspired by my August planning!

Kylie.

Hello everyone!!  Jackie G here on the blog today to share a fun little card and mini album using the Dream Big collection.  I created this little gift for my son to give to his girlfriend.  They are 5 and 6 years old and are inseparable!!  They share a love for unicorns so this paper collection is perfect!!  Young love and unicorns!!

Since this album is going to a 5-year-old I wanted the front to have a fun interactive feature so opted for a shaker element.  Lots of glitter, hearts and sequins to create some “unicorn sparkles”.  Paired up with the Be Younique rainbow paper it makes for a fun scene.

This mini album may be fairly small but can hold lots of photos…and let’s just say we are going to need the space!!  These two love to take photos together!!  The 4x6 and 4x4 papers make perfect photomats!!  If you would like to see a full walk through of this album you can head on over to my YouTube channel HERE.

I only created two pages for this mini album but they are pocket pages so both have inserts for extra photos!!

The last page I used the space to create a big waterfall full of photomats, twelve to be exact!!  I ran out of magnets so a paperclip and ribbon closure.

Lastly, a gift isn’t complete without a card!!  Using some left over stickers and bits and pieces I had from the album. 

I hope you enjoyed my projects today!!  Don’t forget to head on over to my channel for a walkthrough of this mini album!!

Hey, Planner Babes! It’s Rachel, and I’m up on the blog today gushing about the new Carpe Diem Planner Stamps. If you follow me on Instagram, then you know that stamps are one of my favorite planner supplies. Now, I know some planner babes are a little hesitant when it comes to stamping, so I thought I would share today three reasons I love planner stamps and three tips for getting started. 

Three things I love about Planner Stamps 

1. They are reusable and customizable – you’ll never run out! 

Have you ever had a planner sticker you love, but there is only one or two on the sheet? What do you do? You save it, because you want to save it for that perfect planner layout.  I do it, too! Enter planner stamps – you can use the image, icon, phrase or pattern you love a hundred times and it will never run out! The new Carpe Diem Planner stamps have all the adorable icons and patterns from past collections like Good Vibes, Domestic Bliss and Crafty Girl (you know, the ones you have been saving because there are only a few) and the small functional icons us creative planners use all the time, and you can use them forever!

You can also mix and match stamps to fit your needs and whims. With the Mug Life Stamps, I was able to stamp the same messy bun image with different sentiments underneath. How fun, right?! 

2. They are great for dating (or re-dating!) your planner pages. 

One of the things I love most about Carpe Diem Inserts is that they are undated. Having the freedom to use different insert styles makes planning more fun. With the new It’s a Date Stamps, dating planner pages has never been easier. Here, I have used It’s a Date Stamps to date my August monthly spread. Some stamps need to be “primed” before use, so when using new stamps, I always stamp a few times on something that is not your planner page. For me, that usually means stamping onto labels or sticker sheets. With these stamps, however, I was happy to discover that they stamped perfectly right out of the package! Now that’s a good stamp set! 

As it turns out, the extra stamping came in handy. I dated one week wrong, so I used the stamped date stickers to correct my mistake! 

Stamps like this set are also great for altering the dates of old planner pages or changing the headings altogether. I love the Carpe Diem Daily Inserts, but I don't always use them on the days of the week printed on the insert. To fix this, I simply stamped the month on sticker paper and covered the part of the page where the days of the week were printed. Now I can use these pages any time in August! You could also change the heading to “Today” if you wanted to use the insert anytime of the year.

3. They are versatile – stickers, washi, backgrounds, oh my!

With a few helpful supplies, stamps are one of the most versatile planner supplies around! They can easily be made into stickers, washi, and used for backgrounds with the color palette of your choosing!  

Here are some examples of how I used a masking technique with washi to make fun backgrounds for the vertical boxes on my weekly insert. Added bonus? You can write directly over the stamped image so you aren’t losing real estate on your planner page. I also created a mini habit tracker by stamping a grid with the lines from the List It Stamps and added icons from the Get it Done Stamps.  

For this weekly spread, I experimented with stamping faux washi across the top, middle, and bottom columns. I love how this turned out! Being able to use my favorite color combination made this page feel very "me"!

This daily planner page was also created with only stamps! Again, I stamped some faux washi directly onto the bottom of the page. The faux washi on the top of the page was stamped onto sticker paper and trimmed to look like a strip of washi. I highlighted my work schedule with a box stamp from the Make a List Stamp set and a pin icon from the Plan it Stamp Set. I have a feeling those boxes are going to get a lot of use!

Three Tips for Getting Started 

1. Set yourself up for success with quality stamping supplies.  

High Quality stamps and inks along with the right size stamp block can take a lot of the frustration out of stamping by reducing “user error”. Start with high-quality stamps (like these!) and archival pigment ink in a neutral color like black or gray. You can always color in stamps with colored pencils or markers, so there is no need to run out and buy stamps in every color. Having one good ink pad is better than 10 not so great inks.  I do like to have multiple clear acrylic stamp block sizes because there can be quite a bit of variation in the size of stamps. When the acrylic block is roughly the stamp size as your stamp, you tend to get a better impression on the page. Luckily, stamp blocks are often sold in sets so you can purchase one set and that will be all you need!

2. Be efficient with your stamping.

One of the complaints I sometimes here about stamping is the time and effort it takes to get all the supplies out. To avoid this, I like to be efficient with my stamping. What does this look like? It looks like stamping “all the things” at one time, rather than stamping as I go throughout the week. If you are dating planner pages, date several months at a time. If you to track a particular habit, go ahead and stamp out several weeks for that habit. 

As I mentioned above, when I stamp on my planner pages, I also stamp a few onto sticker paper, too. That way, I always have a few stamped icons that I can tuck into my planer for later use. On the sticker paper, I can stamp images in a variety of colors, too. I just love the customization of stamps!

3. Practice, Practice, Practice! 

Stamping can be a little bit of a learning curve. Don’t give up! I have been stamping for a while now and I still make mistakes all the time! Remember earlier about me stamping the dates wrong? Progess - never perfection - Planner Babes! To take the pressure off, I practice! This coincides with the previous tip. If I have an itch to get “stampy”, I set aside some time to practice before I ink up my planner pages. Again, with new stamps especially, I like to stamp an image several times on a blank sticker sheet before I stamp in my planner. Added bonus – an extra “sticker” sheet for on the go planning! You can always cover up a mistake, so don’t worry about getting it right every time.

For storage in my planner, I either punch the stamped sticker page directly into my planner with the planner punch, or I use a 4x6 pocket page to hold smaller stamped stickers. I always have a small set of scissors with me so I can easily trim and use these sheets when I’m planning on the go.  

I hope you enjoyed reading about my love for the new Carpe Diem Planner Stamps. Maybe, I convinced you to give them a try as well!

Follow me on Instagram to see how I continue to put these stamps to use! 

It's rare that you find a collection for boys that can span all the way from when they are toddlers to teens and the Lil' Dude collection does just that! Hello! Jana Eubank here with a birthday layout featuring my son, Owen.

The 4x4 Elements paper played a big role in this design. I not only used one of the squares for my title ...

... but also as page elements scattered below the title. Here you can see where I fussy-cut the speech bubbles from another one of the 4x4 Elements, as well as how I punched out the circle journaling block.

I also punched the "It's a Boys World" from the 3x4 Elements to use as a page accent.

At the top of the page, I used a smaller circle punch to punch the "So Rad" circle from the 2x2 Elements.

After I placed the larger pieces, I came back in with the die cuts from the Bits & PIeces pack and the puffy stickers to fill in the spaces.

I love how this design grabs your attention at the top of the page with the title and the photos and then leads your eye down the "waterfall" of page elements through the journaling and then finally ending on the photo at the bottom of the layout.

Thanks for joining me today! I hope you felt inspired to create a scrapbook page of your own. 

See you next time!

Hi it’s Cara today, along with my son Cedric, my ‘Lil’ Dude’. We’ve been planning and recording some summer memories.

What I love best about traveler’s notebooks is that they can be anything you want them to be. A notebook, a planner, a sketchbook or journal. You could use yours as a memory planner or a bullet journal or simple just to decorate. Or, my favourite, a mix of any of these!

For this project I wanted to mix a bit of planning with a bit of memory keeping and I want to do this project with my children. I used a blank insert and we will have some bucket list type pages and some more scrapbooking/memory planner pages and anything else the children would like to add. At the end of the summer I hope to have a nice document of what we did during our school holidays.

Today, I was creating with my youngest, Cedric. He’s 5 and is obsessed with dinosaurs, I knew I would have to share my dinos from the Lil’ Dude collection, but that’s ok, there was lots to go around and I’m a nice mom :D

I asked him what he wanted to do during his holidays and wrote down his answers. basically, all dinosaurs all day! 

While all his brothers and sister were away at camp I took him to a dinosaur museum in Germany. He was in heaven! I used a few photos on this spread and of course some dinos! 

The big kids were still away so the two of us sat down to craft together. I created this page and let him have at it with my left over dino stickers. I did hide them from him for awhile so I could make my last project, which you can see here.

This is what he came up with, he even drew his own T-Rex and added a couple of dogs and a robot for good measure. I think he’s caught the TN bug now :D