Guest Designing with Everyday Explorers Co.

Hello friends! I was recently invited to guest design for Everyday Explorers Co. and I wanted to share the project I created with the Spring is Here stamp set which is part of their latest release. 

I paired the Spring is Here stamps with papers from Heidi Swapp Art Walk collection for a vacation themed layout. I created my own filler card with the "Here comes the sun" stamp and also added a "relax" banner on my journaling card. 

Finally, I used two shaped stamps on light patterned paper and added them directly on my 4x6 photos (with foam squares for dimension). This one below even leaves space to add a bit of journaling:

Are you familiar with this small business? I have been a fan of Everyday Explorers Co's designs and mini journals for a while and I loved the variety in this particular stamp set. Thank you Christine and Jennie for the invite and for the stamps! I had a lot of fun playing with them and I love my pages!

Elle's Studio February Reveal | 6x8 Travel Album: The Treasury

Hooray! It's February 10th so it's reveal day in the Elle's Studio shop! For this first project, I went back to my unfinished and long ignored 6x8 pocket album about our crazy Summer 2013! You can find my previous pages by checking the "6x8 pocket pages" category in the right column >>>

I loved the color mix in this kit so much and found them to work great with the "pink" hues of my photos:

 Supplies: February kit, Puffy Icon stickers, Die cut labels, All My Heart 6x6 Paper Stack, Puffy Hearts Spring Mix, Yellow Puffy alphabet, Hazel alphabet stickers in white.

The Treasury is the name of the most famous façade in the ancient city of Petra (thanks to Indiana Jones and other movies). It is really awe inspiring and worth the two days that we spent in Jordan that Summer! I will never forget it!
Here are a couple close ups:

 This "Wonderful" card is my favorite! I added a puffy icon sticker on top of the O and a "yes/no" diecut from the kit.

I love how clean and colorful this spread is, leaving center stage to the photos. Take a look at all the new goodies released today:

The extras:

 The cut and digital files:

 If you are interested in purchasing any of them, here is an affiliate link to the shop: Elle's Studio New Arrivals. Thank you so much for your support!

Sweet Summer 6x8 Pocket pages

I could not wait for Summer to arrive before digging into the brand new Doodlebug Design Sweet Summer collection! It totally inspired me to go back a few years and work on this unfinished 6x8 pocket page album! Check out the two spreads I have to share with you today: * links are affiliate

I created a few pockets out of papers from the 6x6 Sweet Summer paper pad and started embellishing with several elements from the Chit Chat pack. The speech bubbles add such a fun touch when placed directly on a photo!

I also really wanted to add a piece of ephemera but it seemed kind of lost in the pocket so I attached it with a Jelly Clip (from the Hello collection) and now I love how it captures the eye.

Stickers were my next step after taking care of my journaling (done on my typewriter). I used the 12x12 This & That sticker sheet and the Mini Icons Cardstock stickers on both spreads.

After a few bits of washi tapes (from the Candy Stripes assortment), I finished off with a Cute cloud Clip paired with a happy sun (raised with pop dots).

Before calling it done, I always look around and check: do I have different textures and some dimension? Yes: jelly clip, metal clip, raised stickers, and finally enamel dots. Other ideas could be Doodle-Pops, shaped Sprinkles, staples, stitching...

No matter how YOU add dimension and texture, you are bound to have fun with this happy and colorful new collection! 
Thank you for stopping by today! I'll be back soon...

6x8 Travel Album... the Monastery

This Travel Album is my side project, that's why you see it popping here only once in a while. It has been ongoing for many months/years? now and I am not even close to being done... but I enjoy switching format so here is a 6x8 spread which includes a full layout on one side and a pocket page on the other:

It was created with a combination of the March Life Pages and Planner kits from Gossamer Blue and a couple of items from the Main kit (alphas). 

I used to create so many 12x12 pages not so long ago but now the idea, well mostly the size, frightens me. This is my first attempt in months at making a layout and, even though I felt a bit rusty, the smaller canvas made it less scary and more accessible. It also helps to have inspiring supplies!

If you are wondering, this amazing structure is part of the ancient city of Petra, in Jordan. "The Monastery" as it is called requires a long hike and many steps to get to (especially hard in the Summer, when we went) but, man, was it worth it! It was truly a once in a lifetime trip, hence the reason I will finish this album! One day...

Thank you for stopping by! I appreciate it!

PS: To see more pages from this album, check the "6x8 pocket pages" category on the right hand side >>>

6x8 Travel album with Kellie Stamps

Hello, I am back with a new pocket page but this one is in my smaller (6x8) summer travel album and it features the brand new Kellie Stamps set "Looks like Summer" which just came out today:

This album is an ongoing/unfinished project and I am glad that Kellie's Summer themed set made me go back and work on it! I forgot how fun this format is and how great that summer was :) Revisiting memories is one of the best parts of this hobby!

I love the variety of word stamps and their scale makes them perfect for pocket pages. I had fun stamping them directly on a photo, on a label and journaling card.

 I combined two stamps to create my title card:

Here's one more look at the spread:

Here's a direct link if you wish to order this set: Looks Like Summer but there are a couple of other new releases in the shop worth checking as well!

Supplies: Kellie Stamps "Looks Like Summer" set, Scraptastic Club journaling card and patterned paper, Dear Lizzy puffy sticker, misc. labels and enamel dots

Thank you for visiting!

Planning your Holiday album? My 5 tips/reminders

Happy weekend friends! Today I would like to talk about my plans for recording the Holidays. For the third time, I will be crafting a December album with a Stocking Stuffer kit from Scraptastic. I love my previous albums so much that I decided to repeat the experience this year! I’ve learned a few things in the process and while looking back through the pages of those albums, I came up with a list of 5 tips/ideas and reminders for myself. Things I like and things I’d like to improve…Hopefully you’ll find them useful too!

1/ Include memorabilia
I love looking at the memorabilia I included: gift tags, gift cards, tickets, music programs, wrappers, parts of cookie boxes, receipts, Christmas cards… I would like to add even more this year and rather than putting it all into pocket pages I would like it to be more in between pages, either by punching holes directly in it or putting it in paper sacks or envelopes…

2/ Use prompts
I did not use prompts in the past but they can be helpful especially for days when you lack inspiration (we all have them!) or when not much is going on. There are SO many sources from photo ideas to journaling starters, just check this link to my Pinterest search: December daily prompts. I have been intrigued by the #30daysoflists idea and might try it out…

3/Don’t worry if it is not all Holiday related:
Just as Jill Sprott said in her post, I love how this project “keeps you centered on making this time merry and meaningful”. Each  time I worked on a December album, we as a family, at least once or twice, forced ourself out of the house (ok, I forced them!) to do things Holiday related that we probably would not have done otherwise. That’s great but let’s be honest, nobody does something Holiday-ish every day for 30 days starting December 1st! This year I’ll stress less about capturing the “perfect Holidays”, I’ll stay real and record “normal” days as they go. I will continue to record what we are watching on tv, reading, eating, mailing, receiving and things in the news… Remember, the entire album does not have to be about the Holidays.
Which brings me to my next point:

4/ Daily or not?
Even though I did not work on them every day, my past two albums have numbered daily pages (some half a page, some two pages…) and I am planning on doing it the same way again this year. It’s working for me. You can decide on a looser approach and not use numbers/dates but rather organize your album according to themes (baking, gifting, decorating, traditions…) or only record things you think are worth documenting.

5/ Keep it simple and don’t worry if it is not finished on December 31st! 
I have always finished my albums later on, in January or even February. With the busy end of the year and traveling, it is not realistic for me to expect being done before. Especially towards the end, keep it simple! You’re not trying to create a masterpiece but to record this meaningful time in your life! If you lack photos, write more… if you don’t like journaling, use more photos, borrow photos from family members, print them off the internet ( I do that for movie posters, book covers, gifts I didn’t get a picture of, news event…)

Don’t pressure yourself too much but share your progress with friends that will help you, it always works for me :)

6x8 Travel spreads (Portugal)

Hello friends! I had a bit of time to work on my 6x8 pocket album from our Summer 2013 vacations and wanted to share a couple of the new spreads with you:


The top left pocket is actually a flip pocket with the journaling under it. The supplies are from the August This Life Noted kit by Scraptastic Club (sold out).
For this second spread, I printed a map of our itinerary for that day (using google maps) and also added a flair from Feed Your Craft (the Travel mantra set):
Three things I noted:
1/ I am loving the emphasis on more photos. I even have full spreads with photos only.
2/ I am loving this format more and more
3/ I believe a typewriter would simplify my life! :P

Thank you for stopping by!

6x8 Pocket Travel album: inserting memorabilia

Yesterday, I spent some time working on my 6x8 Summer Travel Album and I am still really enjoying it (except for the selecting and printing of photos which I do not enjoy!). The supplies used in those two double spreads are from the May This Life Noted kit (available here).

Here's the first one where I have added tickets in one of the pockets:

and here it is with an insert:

I was pretty happy when I figured out a way to use the die-cut tabs included in every This Life Noted kit to insert a trifold brochure: first glue the two sides of the die-cut together, punch it in the middle then sew it (or use strong adhesive) only onto the cover of your trifold, that way it is very easy to open even when it is in the binder:

And this is the second spread which transitions from one day/place to the next with a large 6x8 photo:

Voila, I hope to have inspired you to work on those vacation photos.... or to go to Portugal! :P 

A bientôt!

6x8 Pocket Travel Album: Porto (Part II)

Instead of whining about this long unfinished project, I've decided to take my time so that I could relive these wonderful vacations for as long as possible :) So here are two more spreads from our vacations in Portugal in the Summer of 2013:

This first one was created with the January This Life Noted kit from Scraptastic Club and some of their stamps as well. It features photos from the most beautiful bookstore I have ever seen.

This second spread was created with the February This Life Noted kit and features photos from the same day in Porto, when we visited the beautiful train station.

I just tried out a different brand of 6x8 pocket pages. I have used Simple Stories so far but didn't like how the top pockets were a bit too "wide" and cards had a tendency to slide up. I just purchased some Becky Higgins 6x8 pockets and I think they're much better in that regard (the photo above has one of each).

Do you take forever to scrap your vacation photos? Do you think you consciously or unconsciously do it on purpose like me? :)

6X8 Pocket Travel Album: Porto

Let's continue with 6x8 pocket pages but these are not Christmas related... Slowly but surely, I have been working on my Simple Stories Summer travel album. The two spreads I am sharing today were created with This Life Noted kits from Scraptastic Club. The first one uses a few elements from the October kit but focuses mostly on photos...

... and this second spread was created with the November kit (still available)

The kits always seem to have elements matching my photos :) and I am really loving the Crate Paper rub-ons that have been included in those past two kits. 

Have you tried this format already? What do you think about it?

I'll be back here tomorrow because it'll be time for a new "One Photo & Twenty Words" installment :)

Hello Christmas album: Day 28 to 31 and my 2014 plans

Here we are on the final stretch of this album. The key to finishing such a project for me was not to worry about being all done in real time but rather to take the time in January (I wouldn't wait too much longer past that) to gather the last days worth of photos and to do them all at once.

Here are December 28, 29 and 30:

and some close-ups:

and the 31st:

At the very end of the album I added a full size page protectors, labeled "best wishes" and added all the Christmas cards we had received.

Now what are my plans (or lack of) for Christmas 2014? Due to the fact that I have worked on three online classes during the past two Holidays, I decided to take a break from the concept this year. I will probably stick to creating a few layouts to highlights the events but nothing too demanding ;)

Hello Christmas album: Day 24 to 27

This is part 3 of my sharing my 2013 Christmas album. If you have just gotten here today, you can check the previous two posts to get the "full picture" :) If you are working on your own December album, leave me a link as I would love to see it!

Here are December 24th and 25th:

For the 24th I used a large (6x8) photo and filled the pocket with sequins. I also added a sticker and tab directly on top of the page protectors:

This is December 26 and 27:

There are some super cute gift tags out there so don't hesitate to incorporate them into your album as I did here (stapled on the top of the page protectors):

I have one more post to finish sharing this album and we'll get back to our normal programming ;)

Hello Christmas album: Days 19 to 23

As I explained yesterday, I am sharing never-before-seen-on-the-blog photos of my 2013 Christmas album. Days 1 through 18 can be viewed in the previous post and here are Days 19 through 23:

and a couple of close-ups:

Days 22 and 23:

Since yesterday was reveal day over on the Scraptastic Club site I wanted to show you my goodies ;)

Main kit

This Life Noted kit

Be sure to check out the site as there is always another kit to choose from (and it is a pretty one!)

See you tomorrow!