{{backseat photobomber}}

This picture just cracks me up! It had to be on it's own page and the latest sketch at "Let's Get Sketchy" was perfect for it:

I dug out an oldie but a goodie - Echo Park's "Country Drive" collection, which was at the bottom of my spring papers drawer.

My hubby and I were cracking up at our daughter peeking into our "car selfie" on our recent road trip. We had such a great time - more layouts to follow ;)

-Suzanne

{{xoxox}}

This past May my grandma had open heart surgery. She is the matriarch of our family, so naturally we were all very thankful that even though recovery was long and hard - she is doing well. I'm grateful that, being a teacher, I was able to spend lots of time with her this summer! This is our first selfie (thanks snapchat for making us look so refreshed haha!) where she was feeling up to a photo.

I used the middle column for the Scrap Our Stash tic-tac-toe challenge:  Simple Stories' Love and Adore collection, 2 canvas polariods I had in my stash, and brads (center of flower diecuts).

I am also entering The Paper Girls Challenge for the "roses" theme.

Have a great week!

-Suzanne

School Days!

School's out for the summer!! So that means a LITTLE more time for scrapbooking. And look at the first project I tackled:

I picked this awesome leather album up at Hobby Lobby for my daughter. I want to make a layout with all of her school pictures and keep in one spot.  She just finished her first year of preschool:

I journaled some of her favorite activities (playing dress up, teacher helper job, and being able to use the climber outside) and favorite playmates. I added some of the things she learned (writing her name, the days of the week, etc). Couldn't forget her LEAST favorite - naptime lol. 

I used a bunch of different things in my stash and this sketch from Sketch N Scrap:

I also created a layout with her class picture, which will go beside this one in the album (which obviously, I won't share). Here's to summer vacation! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne

{{Halloween Nights}}

Good Saturday morning!

I was so happy to dust off my cricut when I saw the pumpkin challenge at Fantabulous Cricut - it has been neglected lately and fall is my favorite season. Good excuse to make some time to play with paper!

I cut this adorable pumpkin family (and the spider!) from the Doodlecharms cartridge. Doodlebug paper is the perfect match for these fun images (even more fun with googly eyes!).

This is my little family last year on Halloween. A rare candid picture (not a selfie!) of the 3 of us had to get its own layout. I also dusted off my Martha Stewart punch around the page spider web set for a fun frame.

Have a great weekend!!

-Suzanne

{Sea Sun Sail}

Wahoo for 3 day weekends!  I hope to finish my January-June 016 album and that means part 1 of our Cape May sunset dolphin cruise - featuring a favorite cousins photo. My girl is the little one ;)

I used the fun sketch at Stuck Sketches!

and my new Echo Park Mermaids collection.

Enjoy your Saturday!

-Suzanne

A Special Graduation!

I just finished my 12th year of teaching first grade. Do the math and you'll find my first students just walked across the stage in their caps and gowns - oh how they've grown into wonderful young men and women! A coworker (who also shared in the joy of her first class graduating) and I attended graduation and were SO proud to congratulate them all in person. I took my first grade class photo from 2004 and held it in this photo of my "little Nate". That bright smile has not changed, even though he's now a foot taller than me!

I used the awesome Bella Blvd "Star Student' collection - with Brenda's sketch:

I am also entering it into Rochelle's challenge:

I have those cute owls on my page :)

Thanks for stopping by - have a great weekend!

Are We There Yet?

I've thought about this page all month and finally made the time (and the stars aligned.. ha!) to put it together this evening. I used the sketch at Imaginisce:

The Imaginisce "Happy Traveler" line was perfect for this adorable photo of my daughter (far left) and 2 nieces squished in my backseat on a road trip to the American Girl Store last December. Everything on this page is from the collection with the exception of the glittered hearts.

What a road trip this was!! :) So glad to have this photo and memory documented. Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!

Let Your Heart Be Your Compass

I just loved the sketch over at Scrap Our Stash. You also needed to use a heart patterned paper, arrows, and a heart embellishment. Check, check, check ;)

I used a favorite photo of my hubby and daughter. I printed it 5x7 and then cropped it 5 inches square to layer on my polariod frame.



I was thrilled to use my new Simple Stores Homespun papers I just ordered. I love the more masculine colors for page, even though it has hearts ;)

I needed something for the top right corner and couldn't find anything in my stash that I liked (please tell me I'm not the only one with all these awesome supplies but "nothing" that works lol). So I looked up the collection's diecut sheet and fell in love with this camera, then kicked myself for not ordering it too. After coming to my senses, I made my own :) I love how it turned out!

The journaling/title for this layout is based on my latest favorite Lady Antebellum song "Compass". You must give it a listen (and the video rocks too!):

Have great weekend!! :)

{Artful Delight} COUSINS!

Is there anything better than COUSINS? How about having 3 girl cousins? I'm so glad my baby girl will grow up with lots of family fun and mischief with these 2 ;) I used the sketch at Stuck On U Sketches , just substituting one photo for 2.

I used my super girly January Scrapbook Kit from Artful Delight to showcase this pic:

The quote says "Cousins are the first friends we have as children. No one understands our crazy family like cousins do." True no?

 Everything on my layout is from the January kit except for those wood alphas (only because I used up all the "s's" from the included alpha on my "Sass" layout.. lol!).

Have a great week!!

Making Spirits Bright

This is my 2nd layout for Artful Delight using the December Scrapbook kit.

These are my cousin's kids Gabe and Lucy last Christmas. Love them!

I used red stickles on the letters that came in the kit.

I used my circle punch to create the scallop.

My layout was inspired by the sketch at Stuck! I'm also sharing at Whimiscal Twist for their holiday challenge. Have a great week!

{Artful Delight} December Scrapbook Kit

This month has been so crazy, between SNOW in the northeast, a sick baby, and getting ready for Christmas... I have not shared the new December Scrapbook Kit at Artful Delight:

This festive kit includes:

Carta Bella So this is Christmas collection 12x12 sheet (1 each) 

Christmas Dots

 Authentique Joyous collection 12x12 sheet (1 each)

 Diverse

 Classic

Echo Park ‘tis the Season collection 12x12 sheet (1 each) 

Snowflake Flurry

 Snowflake Falling

 Echo Park Reflections collection 12x12 sheet (1 each)

 Christmas Floral

 Fancy Pants merry little Christmas collection 12x12 sheet (1 each)

 Santa’s Workshop

 Baubles

 October Afternoon Silent Night collection 12x12 sheet (1 each)

 Sleigh Ride

 The First Noel 

My Mind’s Eye Vintage Christmas collection 12x12 sheet (1 each)

 Joy 

Coordinating Cardstock Bazzill 12x12 sheet (1 each)

 Red Devil

 Quick Sand

 Aqua

 Gumdrop

 Embellishments – size and color may vary per kit 

1 package October Afternoon Silent Night collection Sew Fun Banners 

1 sheet Fancy Pants Large Red Alphas 

1 package Petaloo Red Faux Dried Flor 

6 Queen & Co Gumdrops Red buttons 

6 Queen & Co Gumdrops Green buttons 

1 package Queen &Co Red Twinkle Goosebumps

1 package Queen &Co Clear Twinkle Goosebumps 

3 – Prima Gillian White flowers 

1 package Crate Paper Bundle Up collection Badges 

10 yards Maya Road Twine Sparkle Silver 

1 yard American Crafts Caramel Ribbon 

The first layout I made was my husband and I last Christmas; it was a sad reminder that it was "just us" for another year. We are smiling in this pic, but as the journaling reads in the upper left hand corner says we just had to "fake it till we make it". Well it's Christmas 2013 and we finally have our lil one (who was SO worth the wait). We made it baby!

{Artful Delight} Look a Likes

Good morning! Today, I'm sharing my final layout with the Artful Delight November Scrapbook Kit! I had so much fun working with it this month. I used many of the patterned papers and embellishments that remained unused on this layout (inspired by the sketch at Stuck?!):

Man, I love these 2. It's crazy how much our daughter (who is adopted) resembles my husband.. down to her hairline, her eyes, and especially her expressions.  I didn't REALLY see it until I snapped this pic of them watching football together.

Again, I fussy cut one of the sentiments from the paper to use as a subtitle.. added some of the lace trims and flowers.

I love that grey/white camera paper and used some of the Sky Mr. Huey's mist in opposite corners.

Hope you stop by Artful Delight to see more inspiration. Have a great week!

{Artful Delight} The Story of Snoopy

As you know, we adopted our baby girl in July.  Baby M and her birthmom share a special stuffed animal, an adorable pink snoopy. When I saw the pink ombre paper from MME in this month's Artful Delight kit, I knew I wanted to print this special journaling on it. After a lot of measuring and trial and error, I got it to work and love there result!

(click the photo to read the full story)

I was also able to include the tag that came with Snoopy.. so fitting ;)

This arrow paper was another favorite in the kit and worked great to put the attention on my sweet lil one's expression.  The chalkboard "everyday is a blessing" sticker finished it off. This kit also packed with high quality cardstock which I used a lot of on this layout for layering!

Thanks for stopping by today! Click HERE to check out the Artful Delight blog and find more info on LeeAnne's awesome kits. Have a great week!

{Artful Delight} November Sketch Layout

Each month, there's both a layout and card sketch challenge happening at Artful Delight. 

and P.S. I will be designing the card sketches this term!

I used the layout sketch to create my first page with the November scrapbook kit:

That's a favorite photo of our gorgeous baby girl from her newborn photo session. The chalkboard papers were a perfect compliment to the prop she was in!

Isn't that pink chevron ribbon FABULOUS? Stop by Artful Delight and check out the other goodies included in the November kits.

Have a great week!

Hope Rock

When I saw this sketch at Creative Scrappers, I decided to use one of my daughter's newborn photography pics.

This is a special one of her with my "hope rock". A colleague at my school gifted it to me when we I started my infertility treatments. She had a similar journey and kept this close to her heart and eventually got pregnant. Although our journey led us to adoption, I never doubted my hope rock would lead us to the same "destination". This baby girl was so meant for us.

When we had her newborn portraits taken, we could bring a few special props and this was the top of my list. I kept the colors brown and creme to go with the photo and feel of the page. There is hidden journaling with more details on its' significance behind the photo (you can see a little peeking out above).

My friend April gifted me these scripture stamped sentiments a LONG time ago. It is so nice to use my stash on these pages and this fit PERFECTLY.

Stay tuned for one more layout!