Designing with Stampin' Up! | December 2018

The Stampin' Up! Holiday Catalog is full of awesome products and I have had a blast working with those products over the past few weeks. I used the Making Christmas Bright Bundle to create this card. How cute are these Christmas lights?! 

I used the matching All is Bright Designer Series Paper for the background, then layered Real Red and Whisper White cardstock on top. I stamped the Christmas lights with Call Me Clover ink. The stars were stamped with Call Me Clover and Real Red inks. I used silver glitter paper, also from Stampin' Up!, for the tops of the lights. This card took a couple of tries to get just right but I love how it turned out. 

I hope everyone is busy preparing for the holidays and enjoying their December! Thanks for stopping by and have a great week. 

Annual Vacation in Washington State | 2018

Welcome, friends! I can't believe it's been a year since my last blog post. My life has been a wee bit hectic this past year and the ol' blog took a permanent back seat. Hopefully I can make time for most posts in the coming months. 

The kids and I traveled to Washington for a quick visit earlier this month and I am thrilled with the photos I took, both at parent's house and at Mt. Rainier National Park. We stayed at a beautiful resort near the Crystal Mountain Lodge for two nights. The boys loved hiking, the fantastic onsite pool, and of course the beautiful views of Mr. Rainier. 

We also spent a lot of time with Abby and Carter. Evan and Jack are so good with their cousin and Carter adores them, too. I love this photo of the three cousins together. So sweet. 

Evan and I brought a huge box of toys with us for Carter and he LOVED his new Switch and Go Dinosaurs. I think they were Jack's from when Jack was 4 or 5. Carter is a huge dinosaur fan and these dinosaurs are perfect for him. Before we flew home to Washington, Carter had convinced his mom to buy him another dinosaur to add to his collection. He is so hard to say no to! 

We had a wonderful time and the boys are already talking about our next trip to Washington. 

I still have a ton of photos of edit from our trip, then I need to send them off to the printer so I can scrapbook them! I'm thinking about making a mini album, but I'm also considering making individual pages plus a digital photo book for the boys (and one for Carter) so they can look at the photos whenever they want to. 

Thanks for stopping by! I promise to be back soon... much sooner than a year. :) Have a great week! 

Designing with Stampin' Up! | July 2017

The new Stampin' Up! catalog is here and it is gorgeous! If you haven't checked it out, you can see all the new stamp sets, dies, and papers here. 

I have a couple of sets that I love, love, love! For the card above I used the new Climbing Orchid stamps and Orchid Builder dies. I lifted the design from the catalog because I was anxious to put ink the paper and just wanted to make something. How gorgeous are these flowers?! The sparkle gems add a nice finishing touch.

My next card uses the Bike Ride stamp set and the Build a Bike die set. My parents bought me a cute cruiser style bike for my birthday a few years ago and it's lime green with yellow accents, so I made this bike to match. So, so cute!! My personal bike doesn't have a basket but I had to add a basket of beautiful flowers to this bike. After I colored the flowers with Copics I added clear Wink of Stella over the top. You can find the stamps + dies bundle here. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you like my cards! If you have any questions or need more information, please leave a comment below.

Hello Summer | July 2017

Happy summer, friends! I The kids and I made it to Washington for our annual trip and we are enjoying the gorgeous weather here, family, friends, and cool summer nights! I can't say I miss the humidity of Florida at all... we are loving the milder temperatures and cooler evenings. 
 

My mom planted beautiful flowers again in her yard this year and I look forward to photographing them every summer. The flowers she can plant in Washington are so different than what I can plant in Florida and I love all the bright colors and textures.

I have some crafty news! I created a new Instagram account strictly for my scrapbooking and card photos and projects. My new account is @erintaylor_papercrafting . I hope you will check it out!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer! I plan to be back soon with some cards or layouts... my blog has been sadly neglected the past couple of years. Hooray for blogging!

Designing with Stampin' Up | March 2017

I love matching stamp and die sets, but using dies alone can also make a huge impact. I pulled out my Stampin' Up! Succulent Framelits Dies, a few distress ink pads, and my favorite polka dot patterned paper and created a dimensional thank you card.

I die cut the three large flowers from white cardstock, then used my mini distress tool to rub on two colors of ink per flower. I overlapped the colors slightly, making sure to blend them together well.

I used glue dots to adhere the three flowers together, then added a button and twine to the center. How cute is that?! I love how my big, colorful flower turned out. I added a die cut "thank you", also from white cardstock + colored with my mini distress tool, under the flower. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Thoughtful Branches stamp set. 

The Oh So Succulent stamp + die set is a must have! I have two more cards to share later this week using the stamps and dies. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Jack | Right Now

Reading | the first book in the Percy Jackson series. Up next is book two. His reading skills have improved so much in the past year, and more importantly, he is reading for fun. He is in the top reading group in his classroom and has come so far from his "I don't need to learn to read" days (hello Kindergarten). 

Playing | Playmobil, Lego, his own made up Minecraft games, Roblox on the computer, Nerf guns. He has always been a kid who loves to play, and he still loves play above everything else.
  
Wearing | a uniform to school. At home he mostly wears joggers or track pants and a t-shirt. We also had to buy him a new sweater this year (he outgrew his previous sweater) that turned into a big argument. Jack insisted on wearing his old, too small and in need of replacement sweater, and refused to let me buy him a new one. I finally bought him a new one right before Christmas and he responded with "I guess that will do". Oy, he is a finicky kid.

Studying | math, English, orthography, Spanish, science, and history. History is his favorite subject and he loved studying the ancient Greeks this past fall. 

Eating | grilled cheese sandwiches, pizza flavored fish crackers, waffles and pancakes, milkshakes, apples, and GoGurt. His favorite food is french fries, preferably from McDonald's. He is also a fan of the free bread at Texas Roadhouse (but nothing else on the menu). 

Loving | beanie-boos, the color blue, playing with his neighborhood friends. Riding his bike. Learning about history in school after school snacks. Joggers and sweatpants. Asking to be tucked in before bed. 

Not Loving | going to school five days per week (three or four would be better), homework, cleaning his room. 

Watching | Dan TDM on YouTube. Pokemon cartoons on Netflix. Cat videos with his mama. 

Anticipating | two field trips in March (including a trip to the movie theater to see the new Beauty and the Beast movie... I won't be missing this field trip!). A sleepover at Arianna's house that has been in the works for a few weeks. Grandma and Grandpa visiting in April. His birthday party at a nearby park with his classmates. 

Thriving | as a second grader. He had a hard time adjusting to first grade (longer school day, more rigorous curriculum, less playtime), but he has turned the corner in second grade and I am seeing huge improvements across the board. I couldn't be more proud of my sweet Jack.

B&N Night | Traditional Layout

A couple of weeks ago the kids and I participated in Barnes and Noble Night in support of their school. I took a a bunch of photos of Jack running around the store, filling out his scavenger hunt sheet, and several of him reciting the Preamble with the rest of the 2nd grade scholars. I picked the best four photos, printed them to 2.5 x 3.5 inches, and trimmed them keeping a white border around each photo. 

I pulled out the Studio Calico Roman Holiday scrapbook main kit for my layout. This is such a versatile kit and I used bits and pieces from most of the embellishments, plus two pieces of patterned paper. 

My favorite element of this layout is the adorable chipboard pencil. How cute is that?! I added an aqua enamel heart on top and adhered it to the bottom right corner with two other elements. The black phrase stickers are from Ali Edwards' Read Story Kit, and the plastic stars are from the Studio Calico Smalls kit.

A few things to note:

• I am loving white borders around my photos right now. I use a Canon Pixma photo printer and I adjust the pictures so I have a thin (or sometimes not-so-thin) border around the edges. 
• Scrapbooking the boys' school events has become a priority. Their school has so many wonderful programs and activities and I want those events represented in their albums. 
• In 80% of my photos, the boys are wearing their school uniforms. I need to make sure to pull out my camera after they have changed into street clothes... all of my photos look the same! 
• This basic grid design is super easy to replicate and works with virtually any photos (everyday, birthdays, holidays, etc.). 

I'm hanging out in chilly Washington this week with my family. I haven't been able to celebrate my birthday with my parents in almost a decade, so when my parents offered to fly me to WA for a week as an early birthday present I jumped at the chance! My birthday is mid-March but I'll take what I can get. 

Have a great week!

Designing with Stampin' Up! | January 2017

The new Stampin' Up! occasions catalog is full of beautiful stamps and dies. I received some new goodies to play with last month and I finally had a chance to sit down and play! The Beetles & Bugs stamp set is adorable and the first set I used to create a card. Something about the perfectly symmetrical little bugs that I just love. I am not a bug person (at all!) but I love them as stamps! 

Here are step-by-step instructions for completing this card:

1. Create the stamped background using four cute little bugs (outlines only... no solid stamps or detail images). I used four ink colors (navy, lime green, aqua, and orange) and used one stamp per ink color. I started at the bottom right and stamped my way up to the top left. 

2. After the background is finished, ink the edges using a mini distress tool or makeup sponge and lime green ink. I used small, sweeping circular movements to keep the ink light and avoid swirl marks. 

3. Die cut aqua cardstock from the middle Framelits - Labels Collection die. The Labels set is currently unavailable, but this set is similar! Trim the edge off the aqua cardstock and adhere it to the card front. 

4. Trim a piece of vellum to 1 1/4 inches by 6 inches. Stamp sentiment with VersaMark and sprinkle on embossing powder. Heat set, then wrap around card front (centering sentiment on aqua label) and adhere. 

5. Wrap black and white twine around card. Adhere enamel dots above and below sentiment.

The products in the Occasions catalog are available until May 31, 2017. I'll be back with more projects using this stamp set and several more cute stamp and die sets. Thanks for stopping by!

Evan | Right Now

Reading | so many wonderful books at school and he just finished the Harry Potter series at home. He received Harry Potter and the Cursed Child for Christmas and read it in two days. This kid is a super fast reader and flies through books almost as fast as I can buy them.

Playing | soccer, football outside with his friends, board games and card games, Roblox on the computer, and occasionally Legos. 

Wearing | a uniform to school, with little complaint. This kid is not too picky about his clothes, although he prefers basketball type shorts and t-shirts to long pants and long sleeved shirts. He doesn't like wearing bulky or heavy clothing at all and hates wearing a jacket, even in cold temps. 

Studying | math, history, English, science, and Latin. He is doing really well in school and made the A/B honor roll for the second year in a row. PCCA has a much more difficult curriculum that he has adapted to beautifully. 

 

Loving | his friends and play dates. This past year he has made some new friends in our neighborhood, plus he has buddies on his soccer team that he likes to hang out with. Friends are extremely important to him at this stage in his life. 

Not Loving | rice, the color pink, waking up early, brushing his teeth, and sharing the computer. 

Watching | mostly YouTube and videos of people playing video games. I must admit I don't understand the appeal of watching other people play video games (why not play them yourself?), but he loves it. He doesn't watch any TV shows except sports (Seahawks, WSU football, and baseball).

Anticipating | his birthday and birthday party. He has already decided to have his party at the Field of Dream park with his school friends and his soccer friends. This park has so much for the kids to do and will be the perfect place to throw a birthday party. It should be a great day for him.

Thriving | at school and home. Yes, there have been some bumps in the road and yes, we are dealing with some preteen/tween angst, but I've seen my sweet, loving 10 year old during winter vacation, and I love it.

Designing with Papertrey Ink | Color Pop Butterflies

Hello there and Happy New Year! The boys and I are in Washington for the holiday which means I get to play in my mom's stamp room. Yay! She has a wonderful collection of supplies that differs from mine, including the adorable Papertrey Ink Stamp set: Color Pop Butterflies. 

This kit is so much fun because it includes matching paper and stencils to go along with the stamp set and dies. I used the gray background paper and created my own colorful butterflies using various Tim Holtz distress inks and a mini distress tool. 

The "so happy" die was die cut from Stampin' Ups Pacific Point textured cardstock three times and glued together (carefully!). I popped up a butterfly and added three gems to the center, and sprinkled some enamel dots above and below the sentiment. 

I hope you enjoy my card! I have added Color Pop Butterflies to my wish list because of how versatile the stamps and dies are. I also plan to use more stencils in the coming year... they are so much fun to use! 

Have a great week and I'll be back soon!