What's your style?

This week I read an interesting article over at Write. Click. Scrapbook. The title of the article was “Inspiration: Embrace your signature style”. Each designer described their own ‘signature style’. So that got me thinking, what is MY signature style?


And the truth is I’m not really sure what my signature style is. I do know what it’s not-it’s not shabby chic or grungy. It generally doesn’t involve a lot of layers. It’s not minimal either though. So, why is it so hard to define my own scrapbooking style? I know can define my fashion style so why not scrapbooking?

In an effort to figure out my style I took a little tour of my scrapbooks and tried to identify some consistent themes from layouts and thus, find my ‘signature style’.

Here’s what I noticed: I almost always use 12 by 12 paper. I love mini albums too. Most of my layouts are multi-photo. I tend to use lots of color. I usually use more than one pattern paper, and I'm not afraid of a pattern paper background. I love a good double pager. Photos usually flow across or down my layouts. I love a variety of photo sizes, specifically 2 by 3 and 3 by 4 to cram more pics onto the layout. I am a minimalist when it comes to journaling. My layouts are usually very linear.




I suppose as long as you like your pages it really doesn’t matter what your style is. So, I’ll be content with my scrapbooking so long as I LIKE how it turns out. I do know that having a look back at your work is a great idea because it’s an opportunity to challenge yourself and improve on your craft. So, here’s a few goals that came out of my research:

-improve on my ‘minimal journaling’: you’ll notice that in many of my recent latest layouts there’s a ‘story’ there that goes along with the pictures. I've been trying to improve on this one for a while now but sometimes I just love to play with the product and then there's little room left for journaling.

-create some 81/2 by 11 pages: this one’s hard for me because I love a square paper no matter the size!

-use stamps more: each month Studio Calico sends out beautiful stamps in their kits and I feel like I could be using those better!

That being said I'll leave you with a photo of what I'm working on right now!



Selpy+Maya Road Mini Album+tiny iphone photos=awesome Montreal Mini!

xoxo
K

5 For Friday

Is it really Friday already? Where does the time go?! Without further delay here's this weeks 5 for Friday.

1. I'm compiling my 28 list at the moment, à la Kelly Purkey, as I'm less than a month away from my birthday!

2. Write. Click. Scrapbook. has had an interesting line up of topics this week. I've been thinking a lot about this post where the ladies described their signature style.

3. Got some awesome happy mail this week-new pants for work, a few skirts and a few tops and another pair of shoes-grey swede ones. They are so pretty and I've been looking for a pair for ages. J Crew & Banana Republic have had some awesome sales on the past couple weeks and I managed to get everything for dirt cheap which is never a bad thing!




4. Today this catalog came. I'm inspired to create a layout based on the cover...



& this double page spread...



5. I'm thinking about buying a 'shutterfly' photo card. I need to print a ton of my project life photos and my local printers are kind of expensive & the photos are not the greatest quality either.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Mine's busy! Shocker right?!

xoxo
K

Some Tuesday Ramblings...

I found this thread on Two Peas yesterday and spent the afternoon brushing up on my photography skills. I had a few fun inanimate subjects who helped me out...



Studio Calico posted their Sunday Sketch challenge for the week. Here's the sketch:


Photo credit: Studio Calico

So, last night I put together a layout that's been a story waiting to be told for some time now. The journaling explains how M & I met. I wrote it in January but hadn't scrapbooked it yet. I love this picture-it's one way I manage to get both of us into a shot together, by using the shadows! Here's my take on the sketch:






I was trying to be simple with my layout a la Laura Kurtz. I needed more space for my journaling obviously but I think I kept it minimal.

I think i'm going to join pinterest. Some say it's another time waster, like facebook & twitter, but I think it might be a great way to organize my online inspiration.

That's enjoy randomness for one Tuesday!

xoxo
K

Weekend in Photos

Just a glimpse into our Easter Weekend...

family in town on Good Friday...


Dinner at Play with the family...


All dressed up for a delicious dinner...


so much good food...


and more good food...


baby visits...


Family dinner for Easter Sunday...

Saw this beautiful crane who took residence for the evening in the lake behind M's Aunt & Uncle's house on what we refer to as 'Wisteria Lane'. We've been folding paper cranes at school for Japan (we're very close to our 1000 crane goal) and had to take a picture to show the kids.

It's been a lovely weekend filled with family and friends. Now it's time to put the push on for the end of the school year...there's so much more to cram in before that though! Stay tuned!

xoxo
K

Hoppy Easter!

If you celebrate today I hope you are having a wonderful Easter Sunday!

I started my day off early this morning baking a Red Velvet cake ! It looks pretty spectacular if I do say so myself! I'm in charge of bringing desert tonight to M's family dinner party.

While I waited for the cakes to cool I ran my 10 mile (a.k.a 16 km) long run! I did it! I did it by myself and burned a ton of calories-which earns me some mini eggs and a great big piece of that Red Velvet cake tonight. I RUN to EAT folks!

We also had a little visit this afternoon from the big 'O'. Friends of ours had a baby a month ago and came by to return some ice cream tupperware and brought their bundle of joy. I love babies so this was an excellent surprise to my Easter Sunday!



Note: Excuse my 'look'! I am still a sweaty mess from my run this morning! I'm a dirtbag in this picture so just focus on the adorable baby that's cuddled into my chest!



Isn't he just the cutest?! Kind of makes me want one- but only for a little bit!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! I'll be back tomorrow with a 'weekend in pictures' post.

xoxo
K

Scrappy Saturday

So the title of this post is actually very deceiving. I scrapbooked yesterday but frankly I just can't tear myself away from episodes of "The Good Wife" long enough to put together a page today. I tried...really I did, but The Florick's and the lawyers at Lockhart/Gardner & Bond just kept calling me back. Just a note here but if you DON'T watch this show you really should. It's soooo gooood!

Anyways, here's a few layouts that came together from Sketchbook #7 & #8 yesterday.

I killed another kit with this layout. I'm officially down to the bare bones of some embellishments in the add-on kit that I ordered with the "Candy Shop" kit from Studio Calico. I was inspired by Susan Weinroth's layout for using those American Crafts metal plates. I had a long story to tell so I tucked it in at the top of the page with a little tag to pull it out.

Then there's this layout. I dug through my box of kit scraps to find all the green I could to make this weaved background. Everything here is leftovers. I probably should have done this layout around St. Patrick's Day instead of Easter Weekend! It's very GREEN but so are those fighting Irish, also known as the Boston Celtics. It was a great game and my journaling is very simple- Great man, seats, & game.

I'm shocked that I'm almost up to date in this class (Sketch #9 came out yesterday!) because I've got a terrible track record with online scrapbooking classes. I guess that my New Year's resolution-of actually partaking in the scrapbooking classes I sign on for-is easier to stick to than I thought. This is two for two now-Ali Edwards's 'Scrapbooking on the Road' & Kelly Purkey's 'Sketchbook 3'. Well, so far!

Hope you're enjoying your long weekend wherever you are in the world! Tomorrow is Easter Sunday here at our house and there's a long, long run awaiting me and a Red Velvet cake to make for family dinner tomorrow night. I'm sure I'll squeeze in some scrapbooking somewhere in there-or maybe just watch more episodes of "The Good Wife".

Hoppy Easter!

xoxo
K

Weekend in Review: Part 2

I managed to knock a few things off my scrapbooking to-do list this weekend.

I caught up on Kelly Purkey's Sketchbook Class #3,4,5 & 6. I created a layout for a sketch on the Crate Paper blog as well.

So for this layout I followed a sketch from the Crate Paper blog. I wanted to use a colour photo and some black and white photos as well. The crossword paper seemed like the perfect place for some journaling. The paper's are all from their Emma's Shoppe collection which is fun and flirty and perfect for Spring.

Here's a shot of the journaling as well.

Then there's this one. I'm not so fussy on the layout myself. I had a hard time translating the sketches in Kelly's class to an 81/2 * 11. It's not really my thing I don't think. Nevertheless, it's one more layout scrapbooked.

I had all these photos of M & his friends- some old and some new. I've wanting to do a layout to chronicle their friendship for ages and was inspired by another one of Kelly's sketches for this one as well.

A little close up of the layering on the flower-not too girly!

Then I got into the stack of road trip photos that have been sitting on my desk calling my name for over a week. I was excited to scrapbook some of these for sure!

This one is kind of an opener for the section of our Road Trip in my Project Life album. It came together with another Sketchbook class sketch.

I love the way the hipstamatic photos came out!

Then there's this one. I managed to organize this layout so that I had 15 photos in a grid. I worked from another Sketchbook class sketch here as well.

We did a lot of eating on our trip. There was so much food and after uploading our photos I discovered there were also a lot of photos of said food! There's a few of our favorites listed on the left side for the journaling.

This one was inspired by all the awkward photos we had to accompany some funny stories from our time in Boston. It seems that wherever we go we end up having some funny stories to tell when we come home. I used a long journaling block from a set of Ali Edwards Journaling Blocks sold over at Designer Digital's for the stories. I also embossed the title with some Studio Calico stamps and red Zing! embossing powder.

And last but not least, I combined pictures from the Ben & Jerry's factory tour, shots from inside JP Licks and pictures of my new ice cream maker and recipe book. I wanted to try my hand at incorporating some circles in a layout. I also used the cloud stamps from Studio Calico which came in the Candy Shop kit to make an ice cream cone. Some washi tape and a few embellishments finished this layout off quite nicely.

Note: Excuse the shadow in the picture. I'm not quite sure what happened there...

And after all that I still haven't caught up on my Project Life album. I'm not worried about it though. I'll get around to it when I have time.

I am pleased that I managed to kill some more kit product that's been piling up in my bin. 'Candy Shop' is nearly depleted and I'm working on 'Into The Woods' as well.

Hopefully, I can work on Project Life this week during craft night!

Have a great Monday!

xoxo
K

Weekend in Review: Part 1

It's been a great weekend. A successful bachelorette and lots and lots of scrapbooking. Not to mention some pizza hut & cupcakes. Amazing!

The bachelorette party on Friday was a rousing success. The bride-to-be was in true form, enjoying her cupcake, ice cream and the variety of cheeses her guests brought. She enjoyed her drinks a little too much though and wound up asleep on the couch by 10:00 p.m. It was actually pretty funny! Here's a few snapshots of the action.

7:15: The house all set up pre-party...



7:15: Red velvet cupcakes with pink leopard wrappers-So sweet!



7:15: Her 'advice album' all set up. This was a huge hit. The Polaroids are hysterical too. They truly show the progression of the night.



8:00: Everyone pitched in and brought lots of cheese to eat!



8:30: The bride-to-be and her sister...



9:00: The bride-to-be and me...



9:30: Dancing...lots of dancing.



10:00: And then we sat down and it looked like this!



10:15: And this followed not long after...



I can't wait to scrapbook these photos.

I spent all day Saturday and most of Sunday scrapbooking as well with a little running thrown in for good measure. Look for a post with lots of layouts tomorrow.

xoxo
K

Five for Friday

1. I bought a cool new app for my iphone called pocketbooth. It's amazing! I can tell it will come in handy! Here's a strip of shots I took at recess today!



2. I caught these snapshots Wednesday night. Busted! That would be the ice cream container from the ice cream maker in his hands-yes, he's eating out of the bowl like a small child. I can't scold him because let's face it-we've all been there!







3. M & I cleaned out our closets last night. He found $65 in a pair of pants. Made the chore much less painful!

4. I ran 4 miles yesterday at 9 minutes. I have had an awesome running week this week. Tuesday I ran my 10km in well under an hour. I ran my 5km in well under a half hour. I'm getting faster which will make running with M for the half-marathon MUCH easier!

5. This weekends scrapbooking to do list looks a little like this:
*catch up on project life (It's still in February-limbo)
*work on sketch #3,4, & 5
*scrap a layout using mist and some punches for a cool background
*maybe print some of the Montreal pics to scrapbook

I'm hoping for a productive weekend. Wish me luck tonight with the Bachelorette party! I'm sure it will be a blast!

xoxo
K

This week...

*I'm working on organizing my best friend's bachelorette party. I made a little book for all the girls who are coming to take Polaroids with the bride-to-be and leave a little advice as well.





*I'm hoping to work on sketches #3 & #4 from Sketchbook 3. After the party on Friday I have the rest of the weekend in an empty house to scrap the day away. M is out for the groom's bachelor party weekend at the cottage.

*I have a long run-9 miles-to complete this weekend. Today I ran 10km in under an hour!

*I'm making delicious snacks for Friday including Cake Batter Ice Cream & Red Velvet Cupcakes.

*I'm listening to Ingrid Michaelson. I'm feeling a lot more mellow these days.

*I'm trying to get into my latest book but I'm struggling. That might be because I'm having a hard time tearing myself away from episodes of 'The Good Wife'.

xoxo
K