Hey there!  Missy here today, and I have two layouts to share with you.  I can’t get enough of the new Sunshine & Happiness collection!  I love scrapping with bright summer colors, and this collection is right up my alley.  I chose a sweet photo of my daughter for this page, and her pink shirt coordinated very nicely with everything.  I used a lot of yellow, orange and pink from the collection, so I used some aqua and turquoise acrylic paint and ink spray to create a big color swatch on my background.  I love how the other colors contrast against it.  I found a fun loopy cut file from the Silhouette Store and cut several of them out on my Cameo to use as a background design.  I wanted this layout to feel fun and festive, and I think it definitely turned out that way.

I knew I wanted to use the “Sunshine” sticker as part of my title.  I created the rest of the title in my Silhouette software using the Luna font and then cut the letters with different patterned papers.  I arranged the letters and then used a metallic gold pen to trace around parts of them.  I also used a pencil to make them stand out a little more.  I created a fun little cluster over on the right using some of the Bits & Pieces and some stickers. 

Here is a close-up of the loopy cut files.  I love how they turned out!  I used some shiny gold thread to machine stitch through them for some extra interest, texture and shine.  I added some white tissue paper behind my photo for an extra layer and raised it up with pop dots.  I added a few more die cuts & stickers as well as some tangled thread.

I fussy cut this cute sun & cloud from one of the patterned papers and used it as a background element.  One of my daughter’s nicknames is “Sunshine” so I can’t resist all these adorable sunshines in this collection!  It’s so fitting.

These balloons were the perfect embellishment for this area by the photo, plus the colors were spot on.  I also used a bit of blue spray ink and my small paint brush to give the edge of the cloud a light blue tint to make it stand out a bit more.  I finished it all off by tucking in more tangled thread for extra pops of color.

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For my second layout, I challenged myself to combine two collections to create a unique look.  I used pieces from Heart and Carpe Diem.  I was surprised at how pretty the two looked mixed together.  I highly recommend pulling two collections out and try to mix and match.  I love how this turned out.  My background paper is from Heart, and it is so pretty!  The ombre look was perfect for a background.  I chose a fun cut file from The Cut Shoppe and used papers from both collections to cut lots of those fun shapes.  I scattered and layered them on the background and then stitched them down with some shiny gold thread.  I did add a bit of gesso and blue and aqua spray inks and some gold paint to the background to give a little watercolor effect.  I wanted the mixed media to peek through all the cut file designs.

I knew right away that I wanted to fussy cut the “heart” from one of the Heart patterned papers and use it as my title.  I love how it looks raised up.  I also fussy cut that gold heart from paper.  I pulled a few alpha stickers from the Light Snap Stickers to finish the title and used gold thread to stitch through it.  I love the pops of black in these papers, and the Carpe Diem Clear Stickers made the perfect little additions for that.

I added a few of the stickers from Carpe Diem, and I also used more balloons my page.  Balloons are a happy embellishment, and I think they can work on so many pages!  Since my mom, my sister and I were about to go out together in this photo, it seemed like the balloons symbolize a celebration.  And that’s what it was!

Here’s one more look.  I used a few stickers from both collections here and added some black and gold paint splatters.  All those fun die cuts in the background made this layout come together fairly quickly.  Once your background is filled up, all you have left to do is embellish.

Good morning all. Brenda Smith here with you today to share a few pages in the my new Marigold Carpe Diem I'm using as a memory planner. 

First, I've packed my pockets full of the pocket cards from the Dashboards and Pocket Cards pack. I stored some of my most often used sticker sets in the larger pocket. I used the Carpe Diem pouch to add a bit of whimsy and sparkle to my planner and filled it with some gold sequins that I recently rescued from my boss's trash can. Who could throw away something that pretty?!

I used the backside of a dashboard insert to add some gold foil stickers from the Designer Stickers pack. The sequins won't be a forever fixture in that pouch but they're a fun addition for now! 

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

I used the Sunshine & Hapiness collection for my first layout. I chose a recent photo of me eating an XXL ice cream. I just love ice cream and for me summer begins when I eat my first ice cream. So this line is perfect to document this moment, ‘cause it's a very happy and colorful collection, perfect for summer pictures. 

I used “Oh Yeah!” b-side paper as my background. I really like all these popsicles! I cut some stripes and I rolled them creating a heart and showing the “Lime Stripe” paper that I pasted on the back of the “Oh Yeah!” paper.

Then I glued my picture and I began with the embellishing. I used some stickers from Fundamentals Cardstock Stickers like the pink arrow, the sun or this super cute ice cream truck and some phrases from Expressions Cardstock Stickers. 

I combine letters from Fundamentals Cardstock Stickers and from Expressions Cardstock Stickers to make my title “Summer lover”.

I also added some of the self-adhesive brads (one of my favorite Simple Stories’ embellishment) and some colorful enamel dots.

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The next layout I’m sharing with you today was created with the “You are Here” collection, perfect for our summer travel projects. 

I started this page with the “Here We Go!” paper as my background. The pictures in this layout were two photos of our trip to Las Vegas (the funniest travel we’ve ever done!). So I decided to added a hand-stiched simple contour map from Nevada with orange thread to combine it with the colors of the paper.

Then, I used some elements from Fundamentals Cardstock Stickers for the embellishments like the stars and this lovely desktop globe. Also, I added some Wood Veneer to complete my layout. 

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

Never stop smiling! Kisses!!

Hi Everyone! This is Jennie and this week I was inspired by the red and blue colors and the outdoorsy fun photos to use the Bloom & Grow Collection.  

This week I had a lot of photos which for some people mean less embellishing but I can’t help myself and I went sticker crazy. I specially love the 4x6 Stickers and the phrases stickers! I just need to a little something extra to my photos.

The 4x6 Stickers also include labels which are perfect for stamping my weekly card. For the title and other details I used theExpressions Cardstock Stickers. The Expressions Cardstock Stickers come with 4 types of alphas and a bunch of phrase stickers.

The Photo Flips are becoming a staple on my pages. I just love the possibility of having a little extra room for photos or journaling.

This side was super fun! For the first time I used the Design 8 Pocket Pages. I used to be a traditional scrapbooker, but with pocket pages I get to document so much that I abandoned 12x12s. Once in a while it’s fun to do a mini layout like the one I made in the 6x8 pocket. In that 6x8 pocket you could also do a photo collage.

Embellishments clusters make me super happy. In this layout I used a lot of stickers, die cuts and enamel dots.

If you want to see how I put this page together check out the process video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXFIxQ97yqs

Thanks for checking out the post!

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First, let's take a look at the pages as they appear in the album...

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and now, the pages one by one...

A page dedicated to our visit of Monet's house and garden in Giverny. I added a Photo Flip...

The second page is about the Louis Vuitton Foundation and was trimmed down.

The other side is about meeting my friend Sylvie in front of the Rodin Museum in Paris.

We visited a fabulous exhibit about the Impressionists in Normandy. I bought this postcard and added a few important points on the back of it.

The last page is mostly about our last three days in Paris and meeting up with my BFF Virginie and her family.

Thank You! 

Hey, planner friends! Meka with you today to share my July Carpe Diem planner setup. I’m using the lovely revamped Robin’s Egg planner with matching insides and gold hardware, decorated with accessories from the absolutely beautiful new Posh Carpe Diem planner collection.  Posh has lots of totally new products, like fun Pocket Cards - they make decorating the front pockets super simple!

I’ve removed most of the months included in the Posh boxed set to make room for the coordinating A5 dividers. The Clear Stickers fit just right, and I added a few of my own (created with a label maker) to suit my needs.

Behind the “Inserts” divider, I’ve added a few sheets of each of the different Planner Essentials Basic Inserts available - grid and lined paper - as well as several different planning layout options.  The new Page Flags are just right as temporary tabs for the various inserts.

Pocket Inserts and the Pouch are great places to house stickers, Bits & Pieces, and mini dashboards.

The Sunday-start July monthly layout has been transformed to Monday-start by first covering the horizontal weekday bar with thin washi from the Totally Chic Posh washi set. Then I cut apart a days of the week sticker from the Weekly Stickers pack, and adhered the individual days on top. Stickers from the Planner Essentials Clear Numbers pack worked great for the dates.

For last week’s layout, I couldn’t wait to play with the new Vertical Weekly Inserts. I dove deep into Posh embellishments -- Bits & Pieces, stickers, and washi galore! Doodles and hand-lettering, gave the layout a personal touch. The new 140gsm weight of these inserts hold up well to marker and watercolor accents, with no bleeding through to the back. 

For this week’s layout, I chose the Weekly Horizontal Inserts (with the same 140gsm weight). After applying watercolor as a base layer, I added the details of my week with more Posh embellishments. Did you notice the redesigned horizontal format? These are undated like all Carpe Diem inserts, but the new circle space for the date matches up perfectly with the Clear Number Stickers.

My favorite part of this week was getting to use the new Planner Essentials roller stamp. July 4^th was a fabulous day, so I went to town stamping “best. day. ever.” all over it!

The last little nugget of goodness is the new set up for the back of the planner. There’s now a large pocket that’s great for housing extra sticker sheets, the new Carpe Diem Doc-It journal (not pictured), or loose papers. The smaller pocket accommodates the Posh bookmark tablet for quick notes and lists.

You gotta agree with me that Simple Stories knocked it out of the park with their latest launch! So many beautiful accessories, décor, planner upgrades and the drop-dead gorgeous Posh planner collection—what’s not to love? Be sure to visit me on Instagram (Instagram.com/yespleaseplanning) to share more Carpe Diem planner love!

Hello scrappy friends!  Laura here with you today sharing two new layouts using two fabulous collections!
 

I used the Heart collection for my first layout.  I just love the colours and sweet theme of this collection and couldn't resist pairing it with a photo of our puppy.
 

I started my page by die cutting hearts from a variety of patterns and adhered them to my background, to mix things up a bit I used one of the hearts as a stitching template and added in some hand-stitched hearts. I really love the water-colour look of this patterned paper and so I liked being able to leave more of it visible through the open hearts.

From there I layered my photo onto a couple of layers of patterned paper, and some die cut circles.
 

I focused on a title next, which is something that I often "wing" as I finish my page, but this time I really wanted to used the "heart" sticker, I love that it looks glittery.  I flanked it with another sticker that I cut up to finish off my title.
 

I kept my embellishing to a minimum (well for me anyway, lol) adding a small cluster to the top left of the photo.
 

I also added in these great wood veneer hearts, from the "Life in Color" collection to each of my stitched hearts, and then topped them off with a navy enamel dot from the "Bloom and Grow" collection.
 

I also added a small cluster to the lower right side of my layout, I really love the way the colour of the wood veneer meshes with the gold-yellow colour of the Heart collection.

This layout is a little "more", more pasterns and embellishments and much more vibrant and was so super fun to create! I started by cutting a few circles from this fun orange polka dot paper and stitching them to my background.  Then I layered up my photo with a few of the cut apart cards and some foam dots.
 

I just loved the Washi tape from this collection and wanted to find a way to use it all! Ha!  I created this cut file to use as a large focal point on my page.  I covered the insides of each letter (the part that you might discard) with a variety of Washi tape patterns.  I so love how it looks!
 

And then I added in my embellishments.  This time going bold with these fabulous summery colours! I adorned the left side of my photo  with a large cluster.
 

A more modest cluster sits atop my photo.
 

And a smaller cluster adorns the bottom of my title.
 

Wanting to add a bit of journalling necessitated another small cluster. Simple Stories always has fabulous stickers and "bit and pieces" for their collection that are so perfect layered together, and make this fan of clusters so happy!

Good morning friends! If you haven't yet seen the planner collaboration happening between The Reset Girl and Simple Stories, you're going to want to check this out.  Go ahead. I'll wait. Now, isn't all that stuff GORGEOUS and so different from everything you're seeing on the market today? But you might be saying, "I'm not a planner. I don't need that stuff." Not so fast! You might change your tune when you see how versatile these supplies really are! 

I created a pocket page using only The Reset Girl supplies that will be shipping with the planner release at the end of July, early August. The base of my page is made using a set of 12 pocket cards  intended for the 3x4 window pockets of the TRG Carpe Diem planners. 

Combined with the 6x6 Sn@p Basics Pad, I transformed the cards to fit my needs. I trimmed down some graph paper to 2"x3" from the pad to serve as journaling spots on patterned cards. I used some die cuts from the Bits and Pieces pack to cover up some parts that were too planner-specific for my everyday pocket page. 

The card with the ladies on it actually says "Planner Girl" but I covered it up with the graph paper and word art. The pennant and "happy happy happy" card are covering up another planner-specific phrase. 

I knew I wanted to keep this pages simple and fairly straight-forward since I didn't have many dimensional embellishments to work with so I added visual interest and texture with some machine stitching in pink thread. I find that I can take a "meh" page and transform it into something I really like just by adding stitching. 

The Planner Basics Stickers, Icon Stickers, and Word Label Stickers are the perfect embellishments for photos and cards. I found that there were plenty of phrases and icons applicable to everyday life, including the "finding my happy" sticker on the 4x6 photo. 

The rolls of washi tape that coordinate with this line are perhaps one of my favorite things from this release. You can never have too much washi tape! I just tear off small pieces and use as part of my layering embellishments. I commandeered some tags from the Bits and Pieces pack to use under my photos for journaling. When I ran out of those, I cut more small bits from the 6x6 Basics pad. The Clear Stickers make great faux stamps for your photos (the "SMILE" camera sticker seen here). 

Happy 4th of July!!  

Who says that the Hero Simple Set  has to be used just for our deserving military or 4th of July?  My husband is a retired Marine, I have ample photos that this collection could be used for.  However, I decided to document my son's accomplishments instead.  Just recently he bridged from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts.  The colors of the uniform and ceremony itself worked perfectly with this collection.  I picked the sentiments that worked and focused on the blues, reds and grays!

Hello, everyone! Independence Day, Boom, Boom, Boom is what most of us will be hearing. Fireworks, blasting away,  it's a reminder of our freedom! It is a time to be grateful for those who have sacrificed their freedom so that we can have ours. This is what 4th of July means to me. This month I have used the Hero Simple Set along with pocket pages in my Carpe Diem planner.

The Elements with all the Red White and blue were perfect for this patriotic page. The elements cards are a perfect fit for my pocket pages. Below you will find the front and back decorated with Fundemental stickers and Expression stickers. They added just the right amount of color and decor.

Let me introduce you to my heroes, my Father-in-Law Tom and my Brother George. They  both have taken time out of their lives to ensure we have a life of our own. I am so very proud to call them my heroes.

Next you will find pockets full of patriotic goodness. I grabbed some of the stickers and ran them through a laminator, trimmed them and hot glued them to a paperclip and secured the back with a piece of felt. I measured and trimmed the paper to fit in the pockets and also used some of the cut apart elements. 

The Heroes collection kit is a blast. I am so blessed to be able to live in the United States of America. I want to take this time to say thank to everyone who has fought for and defended our freedom. You all are true heroes! 

Hello Simple Stories friends. Marcia here today.

With the 4th of July right around the corner, our focus on the blog this week is on the Hero Simple Set.  My first layout features my husband. He is a former Marine and now volunteers his time with fellow police officers from the Minneapolis St Paul Airport Police Department on their Honor Guard. They attend funerals of police officers around the state, but they also volunteer to stand guard over our fallen soldiers coming back from overseas to their final resting place. I used the Bits and Pieces Star Background digital cut file from JustNick Studios.
 

Instead of backing each of those tiny squares with different pattern papers, I opted to selectively fill portions of the negative space with pattern papers from the Simple Stories Hero Collection Simple Set to mimic our American flag ... with the colors reversed. There are a few embellishments thrown in from other Simple Stories collections as well. Then I added some stars scattered across my layout with modeling paste.

I love the overall look. I didn't want to ruin the star focus, so my journaling was done around the edge of the die cuts.

For my second layout I wanted to show how the Hero Simple Set is not just for your military photos. You can use the pattern papers for vacation photos of patriotic places too. I scrapped a photo from our trip to Pearl Harbor this past winter. To add interest, I added lots of banners with a variety of pattern papers from the Hero Simple Set.
 

I used the alpha stickers from the collection to create my title which I placed at the bottom of my layout so it wouldn't get lost among the busy banners. More star stickers and enamel dots are scattered across the page very similar to my first layout.
 

Thanks for stopping by today! Look for the Hero Simple Set at your local scrapbook store or favorite online retailer. I know you will love it.

Hello everyone! Leah here again, ready to show you how I have decorated my planner for July using the Hero Simple Set! The Fourth of July is one of my FAVORITE holidays. I try to remember to be grateful every day, but on this holiday especially, I am reminded of the strong appreciation I have for how far we have come as a nation, for all the people who have brought us here, and the heroes that continue to protect our freedom every day. I love all the traditions we have to celebrate this holiday… spending time with family, enjoying the summer weather, the fireworks and sparklers, the cookouts! The sense of celebration and patriotism really brings the American people closer together, even during times when the nation has felt the most divided. Because the month of July always makes me feel extra Patriotic, I decided to use the Hero Simple Set to add some U.S.A. themed décor to my planner!

One of my favorite papers in the Hero collection kit is the one titled “Brave.” I love the shadow of the Continental U.S. map in the background. I wanted to find a way to incorporate this page into my planner so I decided to cut it in half and create a two-page decorative “dashboard” for the month of July. I chose to highlight the map by tracing all the states with a stitched white line, using a white Uni-Ball Signo gel pen. I really love the sewn effect it created!

To dress up the left page, I started with a red watercolor cardstock tag that I picked up in a pack at Michaels awhile back. I layered different colored paper strips and word phrases from the Hero 12x12 papers (using the title strips that many people trim off and throw away). I added a chipboard sticker from the Sunshine and Happiness collection (the girl with sunglasses) to make the page feel more fun and summery. I also added a gold glitter chipboard star I had in my stash (from Michaels), and used the white gel pen to draw in more of the white stitched lines.

At the top of the page, I added a title using a few more items from my craft stash. The yellow frames around the words are cut out of a card from the Life in Color SN@P! Pack. The letter stickers that spell out “America the Beautiful” are from the Sunshine and Happiness 12x12 Expressions cardstock sticker sheet. I added a couple small pieces of gold glitter washi tape, red-and-white string, and a sticker from the Hero 6x12 Fundamental Stickers sheet.

On the right side of my July dashboard, I used a blue watercolor tag as a base and added strips of yellow and gold glitter washi tape. I cut out the words from a 12x12 Elements sheet and arranged them how I wanted on the tag. I added some star stickers from the Fundamentals Sticker sheet and tied red-and-white string to the tag. I laid out the string how I wanted it on the page and then glued it in place.

The “July 2016” at the top of the page was created using more letter and number stickers from the Sunshine and Happiness 12x12 Expressions Sticker sheet. I also added more star stickers from the Hero sticker sheet and a wood veneer star from my stash (from the Life and Color collection).

For my July monthly layout, I used a 3-inch circle punch and banner punch to cut out a few shapes from the 12x12 papers in the Kit. All of the other pieces are cut out of the 12x12 Elements sheets or are stickers from the 6x12 sticker sheets.

Some more layered paper strips and words are in the center – I arranged them in a way that reminds me of a firework.  In the bottom right corner, I used another blue watercolor tag and added a red United States sticker from the Fundamentals sticker sheet, blue glitter washi tape and some words printed using my label maker. I put the white star sticker over VA since that’s my home! I used a marker to draw a stitched line around the edge of the tag and added some red string for a finishing touch.

My favorite part of this whole layout is the part with the red plane sticker. I got the idea to use the red-and-white string to create a flight path that ends with a blue star sticker, which is supposed to represent a “destination.” Using my label maker, I typed out the words “My love spans across the miles.” This part of the layout has special meaning to me because it reminds me of all the love my dad expressed across the miles during his many deployments as I was growing up.

I loved making my planner Patriotic for July! It can be so fun to let yourself run away with a theme in your layouts! I may have also gone a little crazy in the Target dollar spot and bought a few red, white and blue sticky notes and pens to use in my planner as well…

Happy Independence Day everyone!

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Good morning! Brenda Smith here with you today and I am so excited because I have in my hot little hands a gorgeous ballerina pink Carpe Diem planner. First, look at the new pocket set up (for The Reset Girl planners only)!

The window is perfectly-sized for peek-a-boo 3x4 cards. This card came included with The Reset Girl boxed set but any 3x4 card you have in your stash (or one you make yourself) will work. 

Because The Reset girl dashboards and dividers and accessories are all very motivational and encouraging toward achieving goals, I decided to set up this planner as my creative goals planner. I used this monthly log page to set myself some very basic goals that I can check off as the month goes by. When the month is over, I'll fill out that circle with a pie chart of how I spent my time. 

On my goal tracker (one included in TRG boxed set for each month of the year), I set up a more broad goal and am keeping track of how often I achieve that goal throughout the month. 

Not many know this about me, but I did some graphic design stuff several years ago when I first started college. I've been yearning to get back to designing, so I am setting goals to make myself get back into it. This is a pocket insert that I'm using to hold some little bits and pieces that I've found on Pinterest and elsewhere. 

I have a theme in mind and chose a color scheme and then imagery or composition that sparked an idea. I also found some simple sayings or phrases that would fit well with my theme. 

I tried out the new 140 GSM vertical weekly inserts and they are AMAZING! They are relatively colorless with only a light grey and black so they can be fully customizable to your needs. And the paper weight is just everything I had hoped for and more. The past CD inserts had some ghosting problems, but I am happy to report that my trusty old Versafine Onyx Black does not show through on the other side of the insert! And do you spy those peach floral and black WASHI TAPES?! Hooray! 

The sheer number of coordinating sticker packs for this line had me so excited to add more and more and more to this page. I think The Reset Girl and the Planner Essentials roller stamps have quickly gone to top the list of my favorite roller stamps. They're just so versatile and usable and exactly the right size for planners and pocket pages, my two favorites. 

Hello there! Allie here today, and I have two new layouts to share with you today, using the two newest collections--Sunshine & Happiness and Bloom & Grow.

For the first layout, I used Bloom & Grow to create a quilt pattern across the page. I was inspired by this image on Pinterest!
 

To create the quilt pieces, I used a square punch and cut them in half from corner to corner. I started in the middle, and just copied the quilt design until my background was complete. I stitched the triangles down to add to the quilt look, and give dimension to my page. Once I was done with the background, I added my photos, title, and embellishments!
 

For my second layout, my goal was to mix Sunshine & Happiness with You Are Here!
 

I cut strips from the patterned papers of both collections, and varied them in size and length. I arranged them on my page, and then sewed them down. I left the ends of the thread dangling for a messier look. The theme of the page was Disneyland, so I kept the colors bright and cheery. I used the You Are Here! frames for my photos, as well as a cute phrase from Sunshine & Happiness.
 

 I loved the travel themed wood veneers, and added them to my page. The colors from the two collections coordinate so well!