The 2 digital collections that were released this month couldn't have been more different and I loved that.  I knew I wanted to try my hand at both of them, so I started with Story of Us.  

 

One of my very favorite things about Simple Stories, that I think will shine through in my layouts, is their cards.  The design, colors, textures, words, illustrations, I just want to fill my page up with all of the beautiful things.  Of course, that might look like a jumbled mess so I had to control myself.  With the Story of Us, I was immediately drawn to the stunning black and white striped card with gold foil "LOVE" on it.  I knew I had to make that a focal point on my page so I just plopped it in the middle and started working around it.  As my page progressed I decided I wanted to make the card a part of my title work and so my layout came together.  

 

 

I love to journal on my pages so the assortment of cards with space for journaling is a huge plus for me.  And I decided to add the finishing touch of some of my favorite song lyrics to the outside of the circle.  One of my favorite things about digital scrapbooking is the ability to move things around and try different things without truly cutting up any paper and I can change my mind on a dime.  This is an excellent quality for a person who can never make up her mind. 

 

 

The other digital release for this month is the Hello Baby collection, which is sweet and precious and light and beautiful.  I knew immediately I wanted to use it to document some photos I took of my newborn niece.  Having two small boys myself, it is a delight for me to make a page that's more girly, but the beautiful thing about this collection is that it's so EASY to use it for either girls or boys (or both!).  

 

 

I was again drawn to the cards first and foremost, so I decided to make a digital pocket style page so I could incorporate my favorite photos from her newborn photoshoot and my favorite cards from this collection.  I loved the woodgrain cards tying the whole layout together, and I used the die cut "baby" card to create my title, layering the different colored woodgrain cards behind the cut-out part of the card.  I layered the beautiful stripe underneath it all to tie the colors together, and finished it off with the tiny pink alphabet.  

 

It all came together so easily and I just love how it looked!  It was hard to choose which elements and cards got used so I will surely be reaching for this collection over and over again to be sure I can make use of it entirely!

 

I hope you have enjoyed a closer look at some of the pieces in these new digital collections!  Thanks so much for stopping by!