Perfect Hiding Spot

Hello friends! I have another layout to share with you today using the Thankful collection from Elle's Studio. I really loved the blues and greens in this collection, and wanted to play on that color scheme and how well it played off of the colors in my son's shirt.

I went layer crazy on this one..I really wanted to main focus to be right there in the middle. So I first made a messy mat for the whole middle section, then I went in with some different patterns and made a separate layered mat for my photo. I love how this really makes the photo pop.

I kept embellishing to a minimum on this one..I really just wanted those layers and the photos to stand out. I did layered in some labels, and green star paper clips...to add a little more dimension, and get some more of that green color in..I found that is was really just an accent in the collection..there weren't many embellishments that were this color.

For the title, I really wanted to use this older Dear Lizzy thicker set, I have had these forever, and never used them. They were the perfect shade of blue for this, but they were just a little too big for the space and look that I had. So, by cutting of the extra boxiness, I was able to make them fit...and love the final look!

The green stickers, are actually part of this collection, and I loved that I could get a little more of that color in...the just weren't doing it for me straight on the page though..so layered them on a label, and loved it! A little stamping, some splatters, and enamel dots...and I love it! :)

Thanks for stopping by today, have a great Monday, and take time to create something you love!

Feels like Home to me

Hello friends! Happy hump day! ;) I have another layout to share with you today using some more goodies from my stash. I have done so good this summer of really using what I have, and I am loving how it is making me really think and stretch my supplies!

For this one, I was inspired by a photo that popped up on Pinterest...and I can't find it now for the life of me. I was scrolling through and it was there, and I LOVED the idea of the little house so much, that I immediately went to create...and know I can't find the photo! 

I went really light with this one..and while it is not my norm..I really love how soft and light it is. This is mainly Crate Paper, with a little bit of the Simple Stories "I am" collection through in...love how they had the same tones and could be used together but weren't too matchy matchy.

These sentiments were just perfect for this page. I really just let all the word stickers and elements speak for themselves on this one...I didn't feel any journaling was necessary. I added in a little stamping for some interest, since so much of that background was kept plain and white.

This element was fussy cut from a Crate Paper...I think Confetti line. It had a 5, and it was close on colors, so it had to go on there. I added in some of those puffy gold stickers, for added dimension and fun.

Love how this one turned out..and just look at that photo...love my family! :)

Hope you all have a great day, and take time to create something you love!

Picture Perfect Summer

Hello friends! Back for another layout to share with you today! This uses the "Here's the Scoop" kit from Felicity Jane. Question...have you ever bought a kit because you knew that it was perfect for just one photo?? I did with this one right here! lol. When I saw that adorable popsicle, and the colors..I instantly thought of this photo and knew I had to get it. I was able to create some other projects with the kit, though I will admit none of them came together as easy as this one. I will be sharing those later in the week. 

Back to this though, I knew I wanted to use that popsicle card, and this summer paper, but I didn't want to have all that business up by the photo. So, while this is not my normal style, it really worked to highlight my photo and those elements that I knew had to make it on here!

The kit also came with these adorable acrylic pieces...I thought it would be so fun to layer this on top of the card for a little dimension, and it also made a perfect resting spot for my date!

I loved the summer stamp, but once I had it on there, it needed something else, so using another stamp from the kit, I stamped and fussy cut the " heart" this, and added in a clear sticker from mambi. Finishing it off with a few more papers layered, and an old Dear Lizzy flair from my stash, and it was good to go. Adding in a few drops of mist..and this one was done!

Gotta through it in here how much I love that photo...they had gave me a super cute posed one, with eyes and smiles on me..but then they started playing, and I captured this one purely by chance...those kind always end up being my favorites :)

Thanks for stopping by today, have a happy Monday, and take time to create something you love

Multi Tasking Mamaw

Hello friends! Long time, I know. We have been so crazy with back to school/work, soccer, enjoying the little bit of free time that we have, you all know the drill! The good news is, I have been creating in the meantime, and we have finally get settled into the schedule, which means I will be posting on a more regular schedule again! Yay! :)

For my layout today, this is a random picture that I snapped of my son, mom, and nephew on a day out we were having. My mom loves to take my two girls, sister in law and myself out for pedicures everyone so often...we usually have the boys with us, and of course, they always want to be all over Mamaw! Good thing she loves it!

I pulled out some more goodies from my stash on this one, I am really making a dent in that stash! I loved this striped My Mind's Eye paper, and I used it to pull my color scheme together. 

I didn't go too heavy on embellishments on this one, I really liked the lines that I had going, and how great everything was flowing..so I kept it simple so that could shine through.

I love this color scheme, and how well it worked with the photo...these cork circles have been in my stash FOREVER! I was so excited to finally get them on a layout, and I think they were perfect for this one!

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

Super Duper Cool

Hello friends!! Happy Monday!! We are gearing up for back to school/work here...this summer has FLOWN by...not quite ready to head back, but will be nice to get back onto somewhat of a normal schedule.

Today I have a layout to share with you..I love the way this one came together. I started with a half sheet of the Pink Paislee circle paper, and just built from there, adding in with colors and patterns that coordinated, or just that I liked they way they looked together! lol

I really had no rhyme or reason with this one, I just put stuff down where I liked it...and I must say, I had so much fun creating this layout, and its probably one of my favorites out of my recent ones. Probably one of my favorite things is how well my journaling lined up on those diagonal lines, and then how the " this was amazing" stamp framed that in on the top perfectly! Love it.

Here I used a tag punch from Stampin Up to layer some tags in that same Pink Paislee paper, then I layered them under my paper layers, and added embellishments..both under the layers and on top...love the added dimension it gave!

Here are some more layers to build up the photo. Then I added my title right on to the photo, love the way everything seemed to fit so well in area, but isn't lined up perfectly. Oh, and the torn paper..I think it has been awhile since I have added torn paper onto a layout...but I have to say, I really liked it on here, I might have to use that look more often!

I'm also linking this layout up to Paper Issues and there new Monday issue " It's All About The Face" You can find all the detail, and link up your own project here!

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

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!

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!!