Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from All of Us here at Noel Mignon!

I created this layout recently about how thankful I am for my parents. They are such good people and I am honored to call them my mom and dad. :)

I used the Mill Street Kit (sold out) and Licorice Spritz by Shimmerz.





This second page is my take on the current New Moon Challenge on the Noel Mignon Challenge blog. I used bits and pieces of past Noel Mignon Kits, Licorice Spritz, Prima Gallery Roses, and jewels and ribbon from my stash.





Thanks for coming by!
Jana

This is my take on our current challenge. I used bits of pieces from the Mill Street Kit and the Dear Santa kit (along with a few things from my stash).

(You can see how I made this background for my layout here on our Tips & Techniques blog.)

My journaling is from an old blog post. It reads:

Motherhood came as shock to me.

After trying unsuccessfully for a couple of years to conceive, I was elated when I found out I was pregnant with Em. When we discovered that we were having a little girl, my excitement- and number of daydreams- rose. I fantasized about pigtails and giggles and little pink clothes. We couldn't wait to meet this tiny little girl.

Then... Em arrived, in all her screaming wiggly glory. Quiet & sleep became a thing of the past. No more "moments to myself." Leaving the house became near impossible for a while.

I had loads of problems breastfeeding (something I had always been determined to do). Unbeknownst to me, Emerson had a painful case of acid reflux that made eating and laying down really uncomfortable for her, which equalled a screaming baby all the time. To top it all off, I ended up getting a severe infection. This left both Em and I in a soggy, crying mess most days.

My idealized fantasies of strolling around the mall as a cute new mom with her adorble pink, be-ribboned doll child went right out the window.

Things slowly got better over time. My infection healed, Em was prescribed medication for her acid reflux, and I began to get showers every day. (LOL)

Four months into being a mommy, I found out I was going to be one again.

I learned how to juggle morning sickness and early morning bottles; my naps and her naps; OB check-ups and play dates; a little one on my lap, sharing space with the new one in my ever-expanding tummy.

It wasn't "planned" by Shaun & I... but God knew we were ready for this. I was scared I wouldn't be able to give the kiddos the best mothering, but somehow we make it through every day with lots of hugs, kisses, and snuggles.


I couldn't imagine our life any differently.

Welcome Home

The new challenge up today at the Noel Mignon Challenge site is all about "changes". It seems just when everything is going smoothly in life, whether for the better or worse, we are faced with bumps in the road. My husband has been relocated with his job and we are in the process of selling our home and looking for a new home, so we can all be together again. This challenge was the perfect opportunity for me to take some pictures around the house and document thoughts and feelings of our current house and our stay here.

It was easy to incorporate the red, black, and white color scheme since I have those colors as accents in my home. I was able to pull appropriate papers and elements from the Mill Street kit and a few from the Five Foot Two Kit. I took a picture of my "welcome" wall art and my "HOME" alphabet art prints that hang above my scrapbook room and used them as elements for my title. I wanted the snapshots around the house to look like a photo gallery at the bottom.

Fresh Veggies

I can't tell you how glad and happy I was to create this layout. Alyson picking veggies from the ground no less - LOL! The pumpkin patch we go to let you pick veggies for dirt cheap! So of course Alyson was all about it! What a fun time!

I of course used the Mill Street Kit (sold out) and the October Afternoon paper was absolutely perfect! Never thought I would need sheep, pigs and veggies on a layout! Heee! Can you tell I am a city girl?

I used a lot of inking on this layout. I think a farm layout isn't complete without that rustic sort of look right?

And that little sticker with the sheep and the pig - I just had to use it! It didn't quite go with the journaling - so I cut off the journaling part and then just inked it up and used some 3 dimensional adhesives to make them pop!

I hope that you get some time to scrap this weekend before all of the festivities coming up. I am looking forward to my week off!

Have a lovely Friday!

Michelle Lanning

Little Tenderheart

When I am in a scrapping rut, I love to use pictures of interior design as inspiration to find color combos/ratios for my page. I also use these pictures as a way to draw sketches to start me on my creative path.

Here is one I did recently using the Noel Mignon Mill Street kit. (Photo is from the Country Living website)




This is the sketch I initially drew up using the picture as the inspiration. Do you recognize the shape of the chair, pillow, small table and couch in the shapes of the layers? :)



But as I worked, my page ended up looking more like this one. When using sketches, don't be afraid to adjust them if they aren't working for you. Go with the flow. Listen to your heart and let it take you on your own unique path. :)



And here is the actual page.





I used the Noel Mignon Mill Street kit. The letter stickers are by Collage Press and the crystal accents are by Zva Creative. The burlap is from my stash.

Thanks for coming by!
Jana

Fall Decor

I know that Christmas music is already playing on many radio stations.....and I've already done some Christmas shopping.....but seriously? It is still fall......the temps are cool, the leaves need to be raked everyday, I can smell people's fireplaces going, and there is a certain "fall smell " in the air. Why rush the seasons? Don't they already go fast enough? I know I am enjoying the last week or two of fall before heading into the next holiday! So with that said....I am sharing a lil' Fall hanging that I created using the fabulous Mill Street kit. (sold out) I just Modge Podged the DP to the heavy cardboard. ( I bought the letters and twine from Hobby Lobby really cheap!) I added some fall accents and ribbon to finish it off. I hung it on my fireplace in the living room. And....soon enough I will be taking it down and hanging up those stockings! : )

Happy "Hump" Day!!!! : )

This & That

I love notebooks, lists, planners- any sort of written form of organizing my thoughts.

I was totally inspired by the "This & That" sticker from the October Afternoon stickers in the Mill Street kit to make a little notebook for myself... for all my random little thoughts, lists, quotes, and things that needed to be jotted down.

Is it silly that this makes me TOTALLY happy? :)
(Using a trimmed off portion of the transparency on top of my embellishments keeps them protected from wear & tear. Pretty cool!)

Backyard

The earthy tone papers in the Mill Street kit are perfect for scrapping all those outdoor pictures. I believe I took these pictures on 3 different occasions back in the summer, but I wanted to be able to put them all together.

In case you were wondering how to create cool sun flare shots like I got with my girls. Use the manual or AV mode on your camera and narrow your aperture setting. Higher number like 21. Focus on the sun and then recompose to your subject. If you shoot with the lens wide open, a lower aperture number you will get too much light flooding your shot. It is always fun to catch the sun setting behind a fence, house, or other building.

Have you seen all the awesome kits Noel has been putting up lately? Have you gotten your hands on the new Dear Santa kit yet? Looks like that one may sell out FAST!!!

Banana Bread

The bug made its way to our house. We are finally mending and I have FINALLY been able to get in my craft space. Yippee! Nothing like some creative therapy to get me feeling better!

I was bummed that I didn't get the chance to complete my challegne assignment in time to show with the rest of the design team work - but I finally did my page which makes me happy. If there's anything I hate more it is being behind - in anything I do.

I even had the photos taken and was ready to go! I scrapped about my yummy banana bread. I love it and it makes it all the more yummy because I made it from scratch. Since I don't cook - baking is high on my list and I have to say I do it well.

I used the beautiful Mill Street kit for this. Just gorgeous and perfect for a layout with food. Right? hehe!

Yummmmmm.....now I think I need to bake!

Have a wonderful Friday!

Michelle

Addicted.....

......to cookbooks that is! The one in particular I love is Cuisine at Home. It has gorgeous photos of the finished recipes, as well as side dishes to prepare. I created this page for the current Home Cookin' Challenge. (Hosted by our very own Jana!) The photos are mine.....of dishes I actually cooked! And they tasted pretty good too! : ) (Which is a huge improvement since I got married 16 years ago. Back then, burnt and overdone were part of my regular menu! LOL!)



I used Noel's Mill Street kit. (The whisk charm and the painted parenthesis/bracket were from my own stash.)

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great one!

A "Terrible" layout & Grandma's Cookies

Made with a little of the 31st kit and the Mill Street kit from Noel Mignon!Wanting to remember these moments... as crazy as they are!


The latest challenge got me scrapping some pictures I took last Christmas of my Grams & some of her famous cookies, using the Mill Street kit (Sold Out!) .
I also got to use my Grams' Silhouette machine to add a few fun elements onto it... guess what I'm asking for Christmas from Santa? ;)

Have you seen the new Limited Edition kits Noel's been doing? They are super cute! Also, don't forget to take a peek on the message boards for sneak peeks at the "Dear Santa" kit being pre-released this weekend!

1st Solid Food

The current Food Challenge has my tummy rumbling! I am already thinking of all the goodness Thanksgiving will bring in a few weeks. I love following page recipes to get a layout put together! For this challenge I decided to use this photo collage I printed on an 8x10 picture of my baby girl. The October Afternoon papers in this kit are perfect for this challenge.

Happy Thursday!

Halloween is officially over and we are making our way into the holiday season. I am enjoying the beautiful Fall weather while it lasts because I know that before long there will be snow on the ground.

I have two pages to share with you today. I'm excited about this first one because it is very RARE that we get a picture with all six of our family members in it. (I really do need to be better about asking other people to take a picture of all of us together.) We were visiting my parents on Halloween night and my dad took this picture of us. I was so excited about it that I immediately put this page together that same weekend using "The 31st" kit.




I used the fabric in the kit to create Yo-Yo's. This was the first time I've ever made them so a big THANK YOU to Greta Adams for her wonderful Yo-Yo tutorial on the Noel Mignon Tip & Technique blog! I love the way they turned out and can't wait to make more for future pages!



This second page is a random snapshot of my youngest daughter. I love the expression on her face in this photo, so comtemplative! :) Because there really wasn't a story to go along with this photo, I decided to use it as an opportunity to record a fun memory about my daughter. My favorite thing she says right now is, "Mom, I love you all the time!" :) I know it is her way of telling me that she loves me very much and I think it is so sweet!



This page was created using the beautiful "Mill Street Kit". I added a Heidi Swapp Ghost Frame to the corner of my photo as well as the Prima Rosey Gallery Roses. And if you know me, you know that I can't leave flowers alone . . . I gave the roses a wash of Gold Glimmer Blingz by Shimmerz.




Thanks for coming by today!
Jana

Beeutiful Bee

I want to thank Noel for asking me to join the team for the month of November! I've been having fun getting into the Fall mode with the new Mill Street kit. There are so many pieces of paper in this kit and so many different ways it can be mixed!

I wish I could say that I had pictures printed out already from Halloween this year, but I did have some shots from last year that were begging to be scrapped! So, in keeping with the current Halloween challenge, here is my "Beeutiful Bee".
(I added the new black October Afternoon letter stickers that are in the store)

Family Time

I love that every year my lil' family goes apple picking together. I love that we have these family traditions....and hope that we don't lose them too soon! Plus, they always make for great photo opportunities! For this LO, I used Noel's Mill Street kit. (Sold out!) I love all the country charm of many of the papers! I used my circle and scallop punches for some of the accent pieces.

For the title I staggered the letters and placed pop dots under every other letter. I love the dimension it gives it!

Hope your weekend is FABULOUS!

Busy, busy, busy!

I've been having lots of fun with my Noel Mignon kits.

This first one is for the new challenge that will go up on the Noel Mignon Challenge blog today. Happy Halloween!!!

I created this page using "The 31st" kit. I LOVE those sparkly chipboard pieces in there and had a great time layering the green swirls from the Pink Paislee alphas with the orange shapes by American Crafts.






Then I've been busy playing with my "Mill Street" kit. Here's what I made!







Have a great week!
Jana