Odessa Reichel's Blog Posts

05.20.20

Hi! Odessa here with a project I’ve been working on with the new Simple Stories Birthday Blast. It was just what I needed to go with some photos of my two boys. Packed with bright bold colours, fun patterns and lots of balloons and streamers and banners, I was excited to get embellishing.

I used the Birthday Blast 6x8 Pad to decorate the cover of my Teal SN@P! Binder. I used the fun rainbow plaid as the base and then used different blue patterned cardstock from the pad on the top and the bottom of the page set at an angle. 

I added an extra strip of each of the edge cardstock paper and then used some big word stickers from the Combo Sticker Sheet with s cheery balloon Chipboard Sticker. I finished it off with a couple of the banner stickers from the Combo Sticker sheet. It’s was really easy to put together with just a few stickers and some cardstock.

I kept the angle layers going on the inside, echoing it on a photo and journal card. I decorated the page with all the colours and patterns from Birthday Bash. In the middle I used one of my favourite SN@P! page protectors, It has a 2x8 pocket on the inside edge and if you cut it apart from the rest of the protectors it’s great to use as a divider. It’s a fun way to separate things, add more layers or just embellish more.

Inside my little divider with all kinds of stickers and enamel dots. I sealed it up with the scalloped border from the Combo Sticker sheet with washi stuck to the back and put a big chipboard sticker Happy Birthday Banner on top.

I love instant photos so I used the fun plaid pattern on the Wish Big! Cardstock to make an instant photo inspired frame to go over my photo. I used the deep blue Birthday Boy cardstock as the background and added a ton of embellishments. Those glitter enamel dots are a favourite.

This photo had an ugly air conditioner hanging out in the back so I used the It’s My Party cardstock just like on the cover to hide it. I added a splash of Bits & Pieces, Chipboard Stickers, Enamel Dots, Brads and more to make it extra cute. The balloons in the 3x4 Element next to it matches the rainbow stripes perfect. Birthday Blast was just what I needed to go with these photos.

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05.02.20

The Simple Stories Summer Farmhouse collection is packed with bright colours and everyday summer fun! I had so much fun revisiting some summer adventures with this collection. The bold yellows popped out at me so I used the Yellow SN@P! binder with Summer Farmhouse

I was really inspired by the quilt-like pattern of the Simple Pleasures Cardstock and used that inspiration to decorate the chipboard cover of the Yellow SN@P album. I took a few of the papers from the Summer Farmhouse 6x8 paper pad and the regular 12x12 cardstock and cut up a bunch of squares which I then made into triangles. I played around with different quilt inspired configurations and settled on a simple starburst. The different patterns in Summer Farmhouse worked great to make a quilted album cover. It’s so much fun! I then used a bunch of the Bits & Pieces, stickers, enamel dots and brads from Summer Farmhouse to add some embellishments to the cover. I finished it off with some thin strips of the Backyard BBQ cardstock to frame my paper quilt. I really like how it turned out!

Inside there is lots more fun and bold yellows with sky blues accented with perky pinks and primary reds. The journal Bits & Pieces had just the right touches to add some words to my pockets and the Summer Farmhouse 4x6 sticker book has some great little tabs like that cute pink and red heart tab I added to a photo.

To fill this 4x6 pocket I used a handful of the Summer Farmhouse 2x2 Elements adhered to a piece of 4x6 cardstock. I like the cute patchwork effect that ties it in with the cover of the album.

This page is popping with fun! I used the Summer Farmhouse Simple Pleasures cardstock here for more quilty fun with a simple 2x2 Element added to it. My photos all had a lot of sky blue so I used a lot of the yellows from Summer Farmhouse to balance it out. These fun colours and icons are just so cheery!

On this photo I used the new Colour Vibe Foam Alpha stickers in Yellow for a bold accent on my photo. These new Foam Alpha stickers are an instant favourite for me because they come in all of the classic Simple Stories colours and are easy to coordinate with different collections. The yellow on the blue sky goes perfect with the cute 3x4 lemon journal card above it. To balance the bright yellow stickers I added some of the Summer Farmhouse red gingham washi along the bottom with some phrase stickers and a cute Decorative Brad

This pocket is probably my favourite and was the most fun to put together! I cut out a 4x6 piece of the Sunnies & Sandals cardstock and covered it with all things summer. I used a word die cut from the Summer Farmhouse Bits & Pieces in the middle of the pocket and arranged various Bits & Pieces, Chipboard Stickers, Decorative Brads, Enamel Dots and stickers from the 4x6 Sticker book and Combo Sticker sheet. I spent a bit of time rearranging everything just perfect, but it was worth it.

If you need some cheer right now, the bright colours of Summer Farmhouse and some photos of summer fun might help!

Supplies
04.15.20

Hi everyone! I was SO excited when I first saw the Best Year Ever collection. It was just what I was looking for to work on my annual family album this year. Lots of great SN@P! cards and coordinating embellishments that go with all the months and seasons all ready to go.

I organized all the supplies from the kit by month so that when I print my photos at the end of the month I just need to pull out those things and it’s just so easy to pull together a few SN@P! pages and have another month documented. So far I’ve managed to stay current, fingers crossed it keeps up!

I paired Best Year Ever with my favourite album, the Robin’s Egg Stripe Binder. Its such a cheery colour that goes with everything!

I started my album with a big BEST YEAR EVER page from the Best Year Ever 6x8 paper pad. Next to it is the start of January. I love how many journal cards there are. I’ve been using these big oval ones to lay out what happened that month. Each month has it’s own colour scheme and icon set that works together great and highlights some important things that month. There is even a page of coordinating stickers in the sticker book for each Month with phrase stickers and icons and other cute things. It’s perfection!

I’ve been really into dividers lately and had a few saved up from some old SN@P! binders. I pulled them out and used some of the Best Year Ever cardstock and stickers to embellish them. Simple and cute! On the left side I got one of those big bold month cards from the SN@P! pack, the type is so cute! I also used the new Color Vibe Foam Stickers in blush on one of my photos, they are so fun!

There are also some great calendar SN@P! cards in the SN@P! pack. I included one for March for all the days we’ve been hanging out at home. I used one of the new Color Vibe alpha sticker books to add some matching alpha stickers. There are so many colours to choose from, it’s perfect! The Best Year Ever Foam Stickers had a perfect phrase to put over my not so lucky dolled up cat.

Playing with layers is my favourite thing after bold colour! I used one of the 2x2 filled SN@P! pages here with a mix of photos and embellishment. They are a great way to add in a lot more photos without taking up too much more space. I’m hoping to get the year into two albums so I can see more of these pages sneaking their way in. Aren’t those March colours gorgeous?!?

More layers and another one of those big bold month title SN@P! cards. All my favourite things. I really like these protectors with two 3x4 pockets in the middle with a row of 2x2 pockets on the top and bottom of them. It’s a great way to focus on a story or set of photos. February was a another favourite, all those hearts are perfect!

If you’re looking for a great collection to document the whole year check out Best Year Ever!

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