New Layout and a WINNER

Hello friends! We are gearing up for the end of summer/back to school time here. So to help me get my mindset a little more around that, I decided to scrap this photo from our middle daughters preschool graduation...hard to believe that she will be starting first grade next week!! Where does the time go??

For this layout, I didn't want to do any traditional "school" colors, but I did want to use a few items that related back to the school theme. So..I used a fun number pattern, some lined paper, and apple wood veneer...again, using what I have, and trying to make my way through my stash.

I went for a messy/uneven grid design on this layout, I really just had fun with layering papers and embellishments, and didn't think too much about any type of design principals, I just did what I liked!

For the title, I knew two things...I wanted it to be Hello Kindergarten, and I wanted to use this Heidi Swapp wood veneer. The Hello lined up perfectly, and I loved the way it looked. I really struggled with fitting in the kindergarten...do I love this part of the finished layout, no, but it is what it is...I have realized on this journey through my stash that I need more of a variety of alphas..I have a pretty limited selection.

Now...on to the winner from the mini album blog hop! I truly appreciate everyone that too the time to follow along our hop, comment, and become followers! I hope that you were inspired along the way.

The randomly selected winner from my blog is......Heather Sweet

Heather, email me with your contact info and I will get your goodies out to you asap!

Enjoy the day, and take time to create something you love!

Mischievous Little Leprechan

Hello friends! I have another fun layout to share with you today. Around St. Paddy's day, my mom found all these fun little green beards and mustaches for the kiddos. I managed to snap this cute little shot of the boy. I had a little trouble with this one...I really wanted to play off of the green/orange combo from the photo..but I didn't have much in my stash, so this made for a more simple layout, but I must say, I really love the way the photo pops against that white background!

I really wanted to do a fun layered title. Different fonts, colors, etc. I love the way the "little" fits in there so perfectly, and the pop of orange it gave. With the differing words though, I was left with some awkward spaces..I added in a little stamping, and a few more small paper layers to fill those spots, and bring more interest to my page.

I loved these strips going up the side, but hindsight, I wish I would have made the orange one a little smaller; to try and fill in some of that space, I layered in a few tags. I used two blank orange ones from Chic Tags, and some of my Simple Stories clear stickers to customize them for this layout...seriously, how perfect is that mustache!

I am still loving these challenges of using what I have...though, I am DYING to go shopping!! All of these sneak peeks aren't helping either! lol.

Thanks for hopping in today, have a good one, and take time to create something you love!

Puddle Jumpers

Hello friends!! Happy Saturday! Today I have a layout to share with you that was inspired by this layout by Jamie Waters, that I stumbled across while pursuing the Studio Calico gallery one day. I loved the squares and embellishment all lined up across the left side...I thought it was a fun layout, and it immediately made me think of this day that I had been dying to get in the scrapbook!

I found this raindrop paper in my stash, I have had it for quite awhile, I received it in a kit, as I would normally not buy that. The colors are gorgeous, but not something I would normally use...but I thought, how perfect that I had held on to it for this layout! Adding in just the squared helped me to go with the "theme" of the layout, but not get overwhelmed by that and the busier chevron pattern that I used!

Then for my title, I loved how these Crate Paper alphas went with the colors I was using, and they gave a fun translucent effect..kind of like a rain puddle! Then, I had these cute little raindrop puffy stickers...again, would never have used them, they were one of the few stickers left on that sheet from Pinkfresh..but perfect for this layout!!

I am linking this layout up to Paper Issue and their Chip off the Old Block issue!! Details here!!

Thanks for hopping in today, have a good one, and take time to create something you love!

My People

Hello friends!! I have a fun layout to share with you today!! My littlest has had this lovely toddler obsession with some figurines that came with some books we bought him awhile back. These little "people" as he calls them, have been a constant fixture at his side for months now, so of course, I had to snap a fun picture one day when we were playing with them in the sand box...not kidding, they go EVERYWHERE, lol.

Not often, do I have a title in mind before I start the layout..usually that is the last thing I do, and its usually quite a struggle for me, but I knew exactly they title for this one..and the photo gave me this fabulous bright color pallet to work off of...really love how this layout turned out!

I found this Dear Lizzy striped paper in my stash, honestly not sure what collection it is from, but it was perfect for what I wanted...then I knew I needed to add in some of this "you are awesome" paper from Pebbles...again an oldy from my stash. I really wanted these papers to stand out on this layout, so instead of using these papers as layers..I left the strips larger, and just stacked them on this fun background paper from Gossamer Blue. I didn't worry about them being straight on the same size, I just cut, and glued!

Then, I pulled out all the coordinating pieces in my stash, and began weeding out those that I didn't want to use...when I found this Elle's Studio card, I knew it was perfect to layer beside my photo.

Then I wanted to bring down some more embellishment by my title to balance out the heaviness of the top...with my photo, cluster, and journaling all being up there...but I didn't want everything to compete for attention...so I tried to make everything staggered. So that nothing lined up perfectly, that way it would force your eye to travel around the full page. I added in a little stamping, and a clear sticker from Mambi to add in some more black, and light embellishing.

This layout turned out even better ( to me) than I envisioned it..and I used up a lot of supplies that I have had for quite awhile...I am really loving this challenge of using what I have, and trying to downsize some of my stash!

You still have time to enter my mini album blog hop giveaway. You can find that post here!

Thanks for stopping in today, have a good one, and take time to create something you love!

Mini Album Blog Hop

Hello friends!! I am your next stop on the mini album blog hop list! You should be coming to my blog from the talented Kelly Jean...if you are just starting here, make sure and head over to Kelly's blog, and start from the beginning so that you don't miss any of the amazing inspiration coming your way today!!

Here is our complete hop list, just in case anyone gets lost along the way!! :)

1.  Kelly Jean  kelsterjean designs

2.  Amanda - Random Sweetness

3.  Nubia - The Papercutting Nerd

4.  Beth - Scrapping Wonders

5.  Heather M - Heather's Crafty Heart

6.  Lynn - Lynn's Everyday Ideas

7.  Charity - Scrappin' Chaos

8.  Mandi - Kraze of MJ

9.  Heather S - Coffee and Pretty Paper

10. Kristin  rukristin papercrafts

For this hop, we wanted to share our love for the mini with you! A mini album is great to document and event that you have lots of photos from, a special photo shoot, a holiday or occasion, or for just the everyday!

For my projects, I am going to share with you a couple of past mini albums that I have made. These are still some of my favorite projects to this day!

First up, I have this Lovely Day mini album. My daughters took part in a tea part photo shoot, and they pictures were to die for..so of course, rather than just choose one to document the occasion, I put together a little mini album.

For the next layout, I wanted to document just fun, everyday moments with my family. This are just some favorite snapshots, put together in this album!

To celebrate and share my love of minis even more..I have a fun mini album themed giveaway! To be entered, simply become a follower of my blog ( let me know that you have done this, and let me know if you already were), and leave me a comment letting me know what your favorite thing about a mini album is...for an extra entry, follow me on instagram, username gracehope!

Now, for your next spot on this hop, you are going to visit the talented...Nubia!!

Thanks for hopping along with us today, enjoy this hop, be inspired, and take time to create something you love!!

Selfie time

Hello friends!! I have a layout to share with you today using some of the Simple Stories Life Documented collection.

 Let me start off with saying how much I love the colors in this collection! Lovely, saturated, navy, red, yellow, gorgeous! Now, with that being said, let me tell you how hard of a time I had with this paper when I originally got it. I was not a huge fan of the floral on the b side, but I really struggle with those sunburst patterns! I finally decided, to challenge myself, and just go with it, and see what happened.

I kept this layout fairly simple, I really wanted the challenge of using that paper as is, no cutting allowed! lol. It was a struggle for me though, so I chose to try and centralize everything into the wood grain circle in the middle. Light layers and embellishing.

The came the time to put a title on...I was lost at first as to where to put it. I knew that I wanted to use these fun Crate Paper alphas..I have had them forever, and NEVER used them! I really like the fun vibe they added to the layout!

Way different style for me...and honestly, I am undecided if I like it, but I LOVE the fact that I challenged myself to step out of my comfort zone, and use up some more of my stash!!


Thanks for stopping in, and take time to create something you love!

A little sweetness

Hello friends! As you all know, I am on a kill my stash quest, so today, I have another layout to share with you, using up some of that loved but unused product.

This layout all started with this paper, "Yellow Umbrella" from the BasicGrey Soleil collection. I LOVED this paper when it first came out, so much that I bought several sheets, which is not common for me, especially with BasicGrey..I usually find their collections harder to work with, but I loved this, so bought several, and they all have sat there ever since. So, I finally decided to pull it out, and use it up!

Deciding to use it was the easy part...making it work, was the hard part! I love a patterned paper background, but usually go for a more soft, tone on tone look...but I just could not bring my self to cut this up, so I started working on my layers, and figuring out where I wanted everything to lay out, then I went in with a little white acrylic paint, to soften up around my photo and embellishment area.

From there, everything just kind of fell into place. I pulled out coordinating supplies..some old, some new, and just went for it.

I added in some black stamping and splatters, since there was the black border, and some darker colors in my photo. I thought this helped to tie everything in together..and I like how it popped against the more pastel colors of the layout.

I found this fun wooden tags at Target, and I loved how well this one fit in. It made a perfect spot for the vellum ampersand! I have tried using that on my past 4 layouts!! Glad I could finally make it work! lol.

I am loving these challenges I have been giving myself...stretching my creativity, and using up some of those harder products I have! This is probably one of my new favorites!

Thanks for stopping in today...have a good one, and take time to create something you love!

Hello 6

Hi friends!! I am back today with a fun layout to share with you. This past year, for our daughter's birthdays, instead of having a big ( and stressful) party..we took each of them out for a day that was just about them! They got to choose they activities, where we ate, what we did, everything...and it was just them, and mommy and daddy! We all loved getting to have that one on one time..and Mommy got to enjoy their birthdays with them stress free!! I am so hoping this will become a new tradition!

So...I have had this fun Confetti patterned paper from Crate Paper, almost since the collection became available...and I was so excited when I got to this photo of our middle daughter, and saw how perfect it went together!

I didn't want to embellish much along the left side...I wanted to let that awesome typography shine! I did however, find a few vellum shapes from some other Crate Paper collections, and I filled in all the spaces between the words with a shape. I thought this was a fun way to add a little more embellishment, without overpowering the layout.

Now, around my photo, I did lots of layering, but I kept everything in tight together as to again not detract from the title work. I wanted enough that it brought your eyes into the photo, but wasn't overpowering against everything else.

I am so in love with these colors!!! For the large wood veneer "6" on this layout, I wanted to color it to blend in more with this pallet.  I started by inking the whole number with a gold ink pad that I have, while that was gorgeous, it wasn't quite the look that I wanted. So, I went back in, right over the top of the gold, while it was still wet, with a Prima chalk ink in turquoise, and it gave me this gorgeous color. It is a little darker than the other elements on the page, but I like how that makes it stand out more against everything else.

Then To balance out everything at the top, I needed another small cluster at the bottom of my photo. This little party hat was adorable, and honestly, I don't use theme-y items very often, so it was fun to use as many of these as I could!

Then for that last finishing touch, I wanted to add in a little embellishment to that top corner. I kept everything very light, most of it is vellum pieces, so it wouldn't detract, or really draw your eyes up, but just so that there was a little more interest in that space.

I am linking this layout up to Clique Kits and there "Anything Goes" July challenge, I have been having fun playing along with them...you can get all the details here! :)

Thanks for stopping in today...have a good one, and take time to create something you love!

I love you

Hello friends!! On my mission to get "caught up" on some of my photos that have been sitting there waiting, I came across this older one and me and the little guy. It was just us this day, the girls were both at school, and we were just having a good time and being silly taking pictures. I happened to get lucky and snap this gem. It quickly turned into one of my favorites, and has stayed at the top of the list.

I really had fun with this one, pulling out some more loved, but unused/unopened goodies from my stash! For the circles behind my photo...I pulled out the embroidery hoop wood veneer from Crate Paper! They were the perfect shape and size for what I had in mind...a little color shine, and mister huey's, and they were the perfect color too!

Then for my title...I really wanted to use this large wood veneer "I love you" from Fancy Pants...adhered it my page, and went to put those finishing touched of mist splatters, and wouldn't you know I got mist all over it...instead of pulling it off, and trying to find something new, I embraced it. I covered up the area, as best I could, and began splattering right on my title. Love the look, and it added more of that green into the layout!

For this layout, I am using this fabulous sketch from Clique Kits:



I am also linking up to their fun Anything Goes July Challenge! Get all the details here!

Take time to create something you love!!

Be Inspired

Hello friends!! Hope you all had a great holiday weekend! Today, I have a layout to share with you, using up some more of my stash. I had an idea with this layout to do it all on the diagonal. I have seen a few layouts here and there lately using this style, and I thought it would be something fun and different to try out!

This is an older picture of our oldest daughter. We were all outside one day, just sitting and playing, enjoying the beautiful day...when she all of the sudden runs inside, and comes back out with her journal and some other scrappy supplies. She plops down beside me and gets busy..I ask her what she is doing, and she says, being outside gives her inspiration..so she wanted to scrapbook. Of course, I had to document this moment!

I wanted to use some fun and colorful pattern on this since her clothes were so colorful..they aren't exact matches, but I really thing that the tones work well together, and it makes the photo pop...I didn't want the patterns to overwhelm the page though, so I cut some triangles, and just went through and placed them in a way pleasing to my eye. Then I wanted some type of border, so I grabbed one of the papers I had used for the triangles, and fussy cut out the full strips to have my top and bottom border.

Then, I just began to fill in spots with embellishment. I tried to stick to the color scheme, and also added in some wooden elements to go with the outdoors type of photo, and meaning.

I layered embellishments across the triangle, to add some cohesion and to bring everything together. I hadn't' measured the spaces when placing my triangles, and with all the white space around them, they really needed something to ground them, and make everything flow together a little more. You can see this here, where I had elements going across and "uniting" several of the triangles.

Thanks for stopping in today, take time to enjoy and create something you love!

11 years

Hello friends! This weekend, my husband and I will be celebrating our 12th anniversary. Hard to believe!
 Last year for our anniversary, we had a nice relaxing day spent mostly out exploring, and just enjoying each other. I didn't get many photos that day, but I did manage to get this one taken, selfie style.

I have held on to this paper from Jillibean Soup for awhile, I knew I wanted to use it with this photo, I just wasn't quite sure the direction I wanted it to take. Finally I just decided to go for it...I pulled out some papers and built from there. Love the way it turned out!

I always seem to struggle with where to place my journaling, so I decided to use one of the open spots to my advantage. Bring in some more embellishing and color, and make a perfect place for my journaling.

I tried to keep some symmetry with the color on this layout. I used the arrow paper as my starting point for the colors I wanted to bring in, then by picking a theme of hearts for my embellishments, I was able to easily go through my stash and find coordinating colored items to spread out.

Then, for this last cluster on the photo, I wanted to build more up on the sentiments, since I had kept my journaling so simple, and really just told about what we did. I found items in that same color scheme, that helped to convey my feelings both for that day, and for my husband, and layered them up for a kind of second journaling section.

Not a lot of paper layers on this layout...a little different for me...but I don't think that I could have made a more perfect layout to celebrate the memory of this day!

Thanks for stopping in today, have a good one, and take time to create something you love!

Halloween in...July

Hello friends!! I'm sure you have all heard of Christmas in July...but have you heard of Halloween in July?? That's the theme of my layout today! I was going through photos, trying to get "caught up", and found these from Halloween 2013, and decided it was time to get them scrapped.

I knew I wanted to play on some of the "traditional" Halloween colors...so I went with orange, green, and black..with a little gray thrown in for good measure. I had a lot of fun digging through my stash on this one.

I have found that when it comes time to purge out some supplies, I have no trouble getting rid of patterned papers, embellishments are another story..I hold on to them FOREVER!! So for this layout, I wanted to challenge myself to use some of those embellies that have been laying around, and make them work for what I needed!
I started with pulling these goodies out:

The flair were the perfect color, and I really wanted to get some circular elements onto this page...the sentiments/designs on the flair however, were not what I needed for this. So I grabbed some stickers, and went to work...very simple changes, but with a little tweaking, I was able to finally use up some of my stash, while making custom embellishments that were perfect for my layout. Here are some pics of the finished flair:

Thanks for stopping in today..be on the lookout for a fun announcement coming soon!!

Have a great day, and take time to create something you love!