Simple Stories

Instead of a dashboard for this month, I made a simple pocket folder with a Charity cardstock paper by folding the paper up 3” and folding it in half vertically.  Then trim to fit an A5 and hole punch into planner.  I use the pocket to store extra sticker sheets and other little papers I don’t want to lose.  I also made a bookmark from tracing a manila tag and adding some ephemera and decorative brads.  You leave it unpunched and slip it into one of the pockets, or punch it and use for mark off specific pages.

This collection also includes a Home Sticker tablet that includes sheets of stickers that are perfect for planning.  I used a lot of the icons for chores and shopping and some of the box stickers from the 4x6 collection.  

For my monthly spread, I mostly used the Faith Sticker Tablet because it contains a variety of functional and decorative icons that can be used on a calendar.  I also utilized the Faith Roller Stamp in a few boxes and the Believe cardstock across the top border to add a pop of color.

On the weekly spread, I used the 4x6 stickers sheets from the Faith collection, the Believe washitape across the bottom trim, and ephemera pieces to fill in the blank spaces.  I also punched the manila tag I made and used as page marker for my weekly pages.  

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I’m using the beautiful Faith collection and hopefully it brings you some inspiration into your daily or weekly planning routine.  Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you next month!

Hello everyone! Leah here with you today, excited to share a new planner setup with you! When I saw the new Recipe Planner Inserts from Simple Stories, I was super excited to put them to use! For years, I have been scribbling recipes onto whatever pieces of paper I could find. I kept meaning to organize them all in one place, but just never seemed to get around to it. As a result, I often misplace recipes and have to go searching for them online again, or I have to remake my own recipes and try to remember how I did it the first time. I have finally gathered all of my written recipes and am beginning the SLOW process of copying them into my new recipe planner.

I set up the Recipe inserts in my platinum Carpe Diem planner. The Recipe planner collection only comes with a few products other than the insert pack, so I also used several products from the Domestic Bliss collection to decorate with. As always, I started setting up this planner by decorating the front pockets. 

In the pockets, I used several cards from the Domestic Bliss SN@P! pack. I rounded the corners of some cards, punched a circle out of another and made a couple of tags. I also used several of the die cut pieces. In the top pocket, I layered some washi tape and a couple of stickers from the Recipe sticker tablet.

I love how this little tag turned out! I cut the tag from a 3x4 SN@P! card and the flower is one of the 2x2 cards. I layered some doily pieces behind the card to add some texture and interest. 

On the right side of the planner, I have a few decorative dashboards from the Recipe insert pack. This is my favorite one because I LOVE lemons! 

The front cover dashboard is so pretty, I didn’t need to add any extra décor! 

I labeled my dividers using stickers from the Recipe sticker tablet. I have the planner sectioned into favorites, salads, main dishes, side dishes, desserts and sauces. I felt like most of my recipes would fit within these categories. Similar to my last blog post about my wellness planner setup, I am again using metal epoxy clips on my dividers to make it easier to open up to each section. These clips are from the Domestic Bliss collection. 

One of my favorite pages from the Recipe inserts is this simple one that says “from the kitchen of” with a blank for you to put your name or family name. I used some alpha stickers to spell out “The O’Neils” and included a few photos of my husband and I, then added a bit more interest with a doily and some bakers twine. 

The first recipe I put into the planner, in the “side dishes” section, was our favorite mac n’ cheese recipe! I included a photo of the dish but glued it to a card and added a tab. Underneath are the instructions for making the dish.

On the left side of the planner, I added another one of the decorative dashboards from the Inserts pack. Isn’t this Mason jar adorable?! I even gave it a little tag and bow to dress it up!  

I am really in love with this planner and am so happy to have a place to organize all of my favorite recipes and future recipes to come! It will take me some time to get all of them transferred into here, but I know it will be so worth it in the end. No more lost recipes! I hope to be able to take photos of each finished recipe eventually and create my own family cookbook.   

I am so happy to be back with Simple Stories creating for another term this year! I look forward to bringing you lots more inspiration for how to use your Carpe Diem planners. The possibilities for the many ways you can use your planner are endless and Simple Stories is giving us so many great options with all the new insert packs from the Spring collection. Check them all out here! I hope you will come find me over on Instagram @sunny.leah and say hello. Also, if you haven’t seen the Simple Stories Instagram lately, be sure to hurry over and check out the AMAZING giveaway going on right now! 

Hey there! It’s Lori again, and today I’m sharing more behind-the-scenes from the CHA/Creativation show. Today it’s all about our awesome Carpe Diem Emoji Love products!

The Emoji Love Carpe Diem collection is filled with OMGs, LOLs, and of course, emojis! Great for young and not-so-young planner users, this line has a little something for everyone!

Take a moment to walk through a virtual tour of the Emoji Love A5 12 Month Planner Insert Set and see all the FUN & functional products that are included!  Inside you’ll find over 270 pieces of goodies: 12 monthly tabbed dividers, weekly inserts, 1 main dashboard, 1 acetate dashboard, 6 die-cut dashboards, 1 storage pocket, and 3 A5 sticker sheets!

Inside the Emoji Love A5 12 Month Planner Insert Set, you can record your goals, birthdays, #TBHs and #LOLs. Clip and bookmark your pages with our Decorative Clips so you can flip to pages easily.

The 3 pages of Emoji Love stickers included in the insert set are filled with bitty emojis to accent line items in your planner, flags, labels and tabs as well. Aren’t these adorable?!

If the emojis don’t have you falling in love, the colors, the punchy acronyms, and the inspiring designs will surely have you twitterpated!

Grab your Emoji Love Insert Set at a participating retailer soon! To locate an online store or retailer near you, check out our store locator. Be sure to call ahead to make sure they have this insert set in-stock, because they’re selling quickly!

Can’t wait to get inspired? Be sure to follow our Live Love Plan Pinterest board for more than 600! Carpe Diem Planner ideas and inspiration!  

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As the month comes to a close and we look towards the rest of 2017 and the exciting things we have in store for you this year,  we say a fond farewell to some of the amazing ladies on this past year's creative team. 

As J.M. Barrie, creator of Peter Pan, said -

"Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.”

We'll never forget these talented designers we've had with us and the contributions they've each made to Simple Stories and the amazing growth we've experienced this past year.  So, rather than saying goodbye, we'll say a very fond farewell.

We thank these wonderful ladies for sharing their art with us the last 12 months, and for a number of them, the last several years.  We are deeply thankful for their contributions to Simple Stories and the creative ways they have shown you how to use our products -

Alexandra Sirgue-Macleod

Allie Stewart

Jennie Garcia

Laura Whitaker

Marcia Dehn-Nix

Mary-Ann Maldonado

Meka Allen

Missy Whidden

Shei Garcia Pena

Stacy Koo

Theresa Doan

Vicki Boutin

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Hello friends! It's Jennifer here to share a fun mini album I created using the new Say Cheese III collection!  I am usually a layout girl but my second love is making mini albums! The SN@P! 4x6 Albums are the perfect size to document your favorite event or trip! Each binder come with a variety of pocket pages as well as eight different journal inserts! I was thrilled to see that Simple Stories added to their Say Cheese collection as all of the lines coordinate!  Of course a new collection means new embellishments such as washi tape, enamel dots, and decorative pins!  

I also love when a plaid print is included in a line; my eye instantly goes to that page and I can't wait to use it!  I layered a strip of the B side of Magical Memories  one of the 4x6 cards from the Say Cheese III SN@P! Pack.  I typed up my journaling on my electric typewriter then added a cute Epoxy Metal Clip and a strip of the 100% Fun Washi Tape!  To accent my journaling, I stamped some sentiments with the Say Cheese III Roller Stamp. 

The journal pages include grid and ledger prints which are my favorite! They are great for adding larger photos or telling more of your story!  I trimmed my photo down to 4x4 so I could add more embellishments! I layered pieces from the Bits and Pieces pack as well as the SN@P! Pack.  

Here is one of many different pocket pages included with your SN@P! Binder! I used 3x4 cards from the SN@P pack to include about my photo (I love the look on my son's face! LOL).    An easy trick to add depth to your page

I also love the 2x2 slot that are perfect as an accent page in your book!  I used inserts from the SN@P! Pack as well as the smaller stickers from the 4x6 Sticker Sheets.  It's always fun, too, to make a "shaker" space with sequins and smaller die cuts.  

I love utilizing the 3x4 Journaling Cards along with the SN@P Pack pieces! I added a strip of the cute Photo Op Washi Tape to the side of my journaling card. The 2x2 pockets paired with the 4x4 is a fun combo to add smaller accents such as the cut out stars and hearts from the Combo Sticker Sheet. 

I like to add my own flair to some of the cards in my pocket pages. I used strips of paper underneath the "Castle" Decorative Brad for one of my cards. Also using a favorite hand punch, such as a pennant is a great way to accent your card.   

​Thank you for stopping by today! You can check out the Say Cheese Collections in their entirety by clicking HERE! Have a great day!

Hello Simple Stories friends! Marcia here today for some layout inspiration with the beautiful Simple Stories Faith collection. This collection has some gorgeous pattern papers along with faith based die cuts and verses and can definitely be used for scrapbooking and cardmaking in addition to Bible journaling. 

For my first layout I Have No Greater Joy, I am not scrapping a religious photo but the photo goes well with the biblical verse I chose to use for my title. I used one of my favorite pattern papers for the background. I didn't want to cover too much of the paper up, so I die cut a larger title and used a single photo in the lower corner. 

The negative space of my title is backed with white cardstock and to emphasize the word Joy, I backed it with a pretty floral pattern paper. Then I added the die cut words using a script font in navy over the top. Mixing fonts and colors in a title adds interest.

I kept the embellishments to a minimum, using only the chipboard sticker butterflies, enamel dots, and a couple of stickers.

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For my second layout I really wanted to scrap some photos from my nephew's baptism. In I Am A Child Of God, I used a big sun die cut to symbolize God's grace. I love how bright and happy this turned out.

I added texture by machine stitching the yellow sun rays. The Grace chipboard sticker adds dimension as does the butterfly.

I love this cute little sheep Bits & Pieces die cut. The verse was perfect for my baptism photos too.

Under the photos you can see one of the Faith collection's washi tapes with words of inspiration adorning it. Isn't it beautiful! I embellished with some chipboard sticker flowers, decorative brads and enamel dots.

The 3x4 journaling card makes for a perfect title.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Have a great week!

We’re happy to announce we’ve added some great new cut files to our Silhouette store that you're sure to LOVE & ADORE!  

Visit Simple Stories here in the Silhouette online store & check out these new cut files along with thousands more of your favorite Simple Stories designs!

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My next page, There’s an Emoji for That,  also uses a whole bunch of stickers to build up the background.  

 

 

I can’t help but be drawn to the sweet circular faces in this Emoji Love collection. The circular shape calls me! haha. 

 

I first thought to use a square photo but it just didn’t look right. I trimmed the photo into a circle instead and it instantly looked better!  I loved the bold black and white script of ‘Be a Unicorn’ but it would’ve overpowered the page, so I’ve cut a large circle as a base shape and placed it on some white cardstock and then, laid my stickers over the top. You’ll notice the design of this page is similar to the one above, but this time it draws the eye predominantly down the page, instead of across. 

 

 

These rectangular sticker shapes from a pack of Emoji Love 4x6 Stickers are fabulous for use in Carpe Diem planners as well as any other paper projects! I love folding them over the top of pages or using them in a title. Here, I have used two sheets of these stickers (removing one or two that I didn’t think added anything to the page) which left behind a few gaps, but I quite like the effect!

 

 

To give them a bit of a less ‘structured’ feeling, I have also used the excess bit of the sticker paper and used it as an overlay.

 

 

The title phrase was snipped from a sheet of Emoji Love 4x4 Elements.  Journalling cards are such a great resource - they can give you extra wording, phrases and shapes to hand cut. Plus, you get a few on a single sheet of paper - great value!  Other elements on this page include die cuts from the Bits & Pieces pack, decorative brads, some roller stamping and a few little hand-drawn elements using some coloured pens.

 

 

OMG - such fun! ;)

 

 

 

Thank you so much for stopping by today!  'Til next time!

 

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Hi everyone! It’s Lori, marketing manager at Simple Stories, and I’m excited to be sharing more of our behind-the-scenes goodness from the CHA/Creativation. Today, I’m sharing so many great things, and they're all from our most recent Carpe Diem planner release!

The gorgeous new planners, insert sets, and accessories have created a lot of excitement in the planner community as well as in the crafting community these past few weeks!  Look at the yummy colors and designs as they are displayed in our booth!  If eye candy had a taste, these collections would be super luscious and sweet!

During the 2017 CHA/Crativation show, we introduced two stunning new A5 planner colors: Clover and Grape. After lots of requests from our fans, we were happy to add these two colors to our line of A5 planners! The Clover green is fresh and springy while the Grape planner is vibrant and rich. Both colors are well on their way to reaching our top sellers list, so if you’re eying one of these colors, be sure to grab one soon!

Everyone was thrilled to hear that our new Carpe Diem 6 ring, A5 punch was announced at the 2017 show! These awesome punches can be used to create your own Carpe Diem dashboards, inserts, or simply to help you organize all of your papers and things to have in your planner. Are you excited to pick one up? They're shipping to retailers in May!

Once you get your planner organized and you’re busy checking off your to-dos, why not dress up your planner and personalize it just for you? Our new Planner Decals were announced at the show, and everyone fell in love with the many different designs. They’re decorative and easy to apply and remove, so you purchase a few to change out with your mood.

Want to see more of our booth and all of the fun new designs?  Take a personalized tour with Simple Stories owner and art director, Amber Crowell, in the video below. You’ll not only get to see all of the amazing designs, but you’ll also hear a bit about the creative process and ideas behind the products.

Stay tuned to the blog during the next few weeks for an up-close look at the many fun & functional insert sets that were introduced at the 2017 show. We’ve got lots of great things to come; you won’t want to miss it!

Can’t wait to get inspired? Be sure to follow our Live Love Plan Pinterest board for more than 600! Carpe Diem Planner ideas and inspiration!  

Hello friends! It is Stacy here today with 2 layouts using the Simple Stories Faith Collection. When I laid eyes on this collection for the very first time, I thought of all the travel photos I could craft with it. Travelling to me is always a new adventure, setting foot on foreign soil and not knowing what could come next. Every culture has its own unique characteristics so each experience is special. Every time I travel, I get inspired. There is always a new perception to grow my knowledge or inspire me on a different level. Every trip I go, I let God decide what is good for me. This faith keeps me wanting to go travelling often, to explore and be inspired.

The recent trip to US for the Creativation 2017 show was an eye opener. I had never flown halfway around the globe before, and this trip gave me new experiences I would never forget. For my first layout, I decided to document the trip to San Francisco just before heading to Creativation 2017.

The sun was up that day despite it being extremely cold. The weather was a blast! Love this picture taken at San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf, the background in the photo gives me a lot of memories to remember!

Inspired by the weather and the logo of the Fisherman’s Wharf, I used a sunburst digital cut just behind the photograph to give it a spotlight. I also did some regular back stitching to highlight the rays of the cut. I left some of the negative spaces intact. On alternate sunrays, I punched some circles in different sizes to fill up the spaces in order to give it some colors. The Faith collection has a good range of pattern papers! The colors appeal very much to me, so I could not help but to showcase some of the lovely colors in the sunburst die-cut.

I have also added Faith Collection Washi Tapes at the joint between the white cardstock and the pattern paper. It is a good way to mildly eliminate the contrast between the 2 sections!

On the lower half of the layout, I have cut a bracket shaped element from the pattern paper. This time, I had a lot more journaling which I wanted to add to the layout, hence the choice of this element to fulfil my journaling purpose. I later added elements from the Bits & Pieces pack. I like to stick butterfly embellishments by folding it halfway, and only applying foam dots to the centre of the butterfly. I find that it gives the butterflies some flexibility and it looks like it is fluttering away!

There are so many new experiences in the trip where I felt inspired! So, I could not help but to add the light bulb chipboard piece, marked with the inspired sticker. I have also added a little digital cut arrow as the background for the sticker piece.

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For the second layout, I have used a photo taken at the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts. 

It was a beauty and quite a sight to breathe in, and every walk around this palace was calming and inspiring. It was always a joy to travel, and especially so with a great crafty friend like Aida!

I started the layout by first doing some random stitching on the background. I like the wood grain background, smoothing and calming suitable for this photo. 

I love the Sn@p pack! It is great for many different reasons, and I used it as part of the layering behind the photo to create contrast. There are so many wonderful pieces in this pack! In here, I have layered it up with chipboards and embellishment pieces.

Here, I have completed the layout with a title “Travel Joy”. The mint alphabet stickers are available in the sticker pack. It is also a good size for subtitles, or naming the places where you have visited.

Hope you get some inspiration from the layouts, and thanks for stopping by today!

We're thrilled to introduce you to the 2017 Creative Team!  Look forward to seeing work from these talented ladies beginning in April!

Hi there!  It’s Shei here today. I’m so happy to be back on the blog sharing two layouts.  Let’s get started!

For my first layout I decided to work with the amazing “Faith” collection.

I started with a white cardstock as my background ‘cause I like the brightness that the white color brings to the whole project. To add color I used the “belive” b-side paper. I cut it in three parts and I created the background with them.

I used a very sweet pic, hahaha! I like very much cupcakes and I love chocolate, so you can know which was my cupcake… 

Next came my favorite part: the embellishing! For that I used some flowers from 6x12 chipboard and from Combo Sticker. I also added a few enamel dots and some decorative brads to give dimension to my layout.

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The next layout I’m sharing with you today was again created with the beautiful “Faith” collection.

I started cutting a very big picture of me and my husband, hand in hand, on our wedding day in Las Vegas. I cut it in 12 pieces and I glued them like a puzzle on the “Hope” b-side paper.

Then I glued the paper on a white cardstock and I rolled two corners, so you can see the other side of the paper (so beautiful!).

I titled this layout “love” using the word from the 6x12 chipboard. Then, I added many embellishments ‘cause it’s very difficult to choose only one of the beautiful Simple Stories’s embellishments. I love all of them!!

So I used the heart from the decorative clips, some hearts, arrows and sentences from the combo stickers, more hearts and the ballons from the 6x12 chipboard and some decorative brads like the house or the feather. Finally, to give a bit more dimension to my project, I added some enamel dots of different colors, and that's all!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post! I hope you enjoyed my layouts! 

Never stop smiling! Kisses!!

Hello everyone! It’s Lori again on the blog showing more of the behind-the-scenes from CHA/Creativation. Today, I’m sharing the bold and bright Say Cheese III collection—a glorious follow up to our best-selling Say Cheese & Say Cheese II collections.

The excitement about this creative line was energizing at the show!  The beloved Say Cheese collections always have people swooning and getting giddy about planning their next vacation!  Our wall of goodness did not disappoint at the show!

The polka dot papers and sweet camera accents are fun additions to this collection, and the strong black makes the primary colors pop. The color palette is great for theme park trips, but it’s also versatile enough to use for other summertime play!

The home décor pieces decorated with this collection were so much fun to create! Remember, these gorgeous designs can be used in other projects besides in your scrapbooks! The chevron shapes, tray and clipboard turned out so cute! Who wouldn’t want to see those fun projects displayed in their home?!

And how about this adorable wood garland created for us by Julie Johnson from Paisleys and Polka Dots?!

If you’d like more behind the scenes peeks into the booth at CHA/Creativation, check out this live video from the show to see more of the Say Cheese III collection!

In case you missed it, be sure to check out our behind the scenes posts for our Faith, Domestic Bliss, and Emoji Love collections for even more inspiring ideas!

Hey there, friends!  Missy here, and I’m excited to share two new layouts today featuring the new Domestic Bliss collection.  It inspired me to document a few “everyday moments” type of photos.  There is never a dull moment around our house with our two silly girls, and this collection was perfect for my photos. 

For my first layout, I wanted to scrap this memory of my youngest daughter and the huge mess she made in her room one night.  The photo is grainy and not great quality since it was kind of dark and I took it with my phone, but I couldn’t pass up the moment.  I had to snap it because she looked so proud of her little self sitting in the middle of her toy pile on the floor!  I wanted the layout to resemble a mess since that was the subject of the page, so I used a messy scribble cut file from Just Nick.  I used a lot of white gesso on the background paper, which is called Work it Girl.  I used a lot of watercolor on the background before attaching the cut file.

As soon as I saw the word MESS on the 4x6 Horizontal Elements sheet I knew I had to use it as part of my title.  I fussy cut it out and then hand drew “hot” on a piece of paper from the 6x8 Paper Pad.  I cut that out and arranged it at the bottom of the layout.  I went a step further with the “messy factor” and added a bunch of tangled thread under some of the letters.  I added a few stickers below that from the 4x6 Sticker pack.

I layered in one of the cute house die cuts from the Bits & Pieces pack here under the photo.  I also added in a bit of vellum and a few paper scraps.  I ran it through my sewing machine to give it some texture.  I also added some adhesive foam under the photo for more dimension.

On the left side of the photo, I added a fussy cut heart and one of the Decorative Brads. I cut the prongs off and glued it down like a button.  They are easy to dismantle if you’d rather use them this way.

Here’s one more close-up of the title area.  You can kind of still see the pencil lines where I drew “hot” but that doesn’t bother me.  It kind of adds to the messy look, I think!

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For my second layout, I decided to go simple and create a grid design using two photos.  Again, I wanted to document the silliness that goes on my house on a daily basis.  My girls doing random things like wearing these crazy glasses is just one of the funny things we get to experience all the time.  I was inspired by that cut apart piece that says “Home is Where My Bunch of Crazies Are!”  I just love that, and it was perfect for what I wanted to do.  I created four equal sections using my ruler and a pencil and then coated a lot of gesso on the background (a sheet of light kraft cardstock).  I created four clusters using patterned papers, chipboard, stickers and other embellishments.

I like adding large titles to the center when I had a grid design.  I wanted it to span across almost the whole page, so I cut it pretty large on my Cameo.  I used the Shoreline font and white cardstock.  I used lots of coordinating watercolors for the background over the gesso and then worked with pieces from the collection in those colors.  Here you can see I used a few of the Clear Stickers as well as some of the 4x6 Stickers.  I added foam under all the main pieces to create depth and some shadowing.

I ran the background through my sewing machine using grey thread.  To jazz up this photo area, I added some stickers here and some tangled thread.  This photo just cracks me up!

I did the same thing for this photo.  I love the watercolor peeking out from behind everything.  I fussy cut the “Today” letters from patterned paper.  I like how this mimics the letters beside the other photo.

Here’s a great shot of the dimension created by the foam adhesive underneath everything.  I layered this cute house on top of the cut apart and added a brad as a layer.  I just love this saying!  It definitely fits our home and our life!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a great day!