{Peace*Joy*Love}

there's a certain type of peace when anyone enters my home.

at our entry, as soon as you open our door - you'll see a wall of crosses
that I've been collecting through the years. Some are old, some are new,
some are bright..some are blue. (sorry, my inner Dr. Seuss came out)

Each one has a story. Some are from near (Hobby Lobby!) and some are
from FAR away (Jerusalem, Israel is my farthest one).

I love this cross nook in our entry. I want to fill the entire entry walls
one day. Right now, I LOVE how calm, peaceful & serene it is.

It's a representation to all who pass by or enter - we are believers.

I used the Melrose kit to create my layout. I intended it to be soft,
muted & gentle. BUT I had a little gold mist incident & decided...

it looks ok, I'm leaving it. So I added on top of it.


I crinkled all my papers & distressed them before gluing them down.
The vellum - wow, that is beautiful! And cuts like butter. I made 3 banner
strips, crinkled and glued them first.

I added a flair button by Shelley (you can find them here:  A Flair for Buttons
in the Noel Mignon store. 


Thanks for letting me share with you today!

Have a great week!
~Leslie

I Call You....

Good morning!

Today I'm dropping by with a layout using the delicious (play on words)

January - Soda Shoppe kit:

Lilly (Pulitzer) is the most photogenic puppy we've ever had. She's so full of personality

it's unreal. She's always a ham for any camera, especially our iPhones.

Sometimes when I sweet talk to her - I call her little "lilly vanilli" -

which to some of you would probably make NO sense other than it rhymes...

but it's a play on the old 80's band - Milli Vanilli. LOL!

We're just lucky her name happened to rhyme. 

I wanted her real name to stand out so I used the American Crafts Thickers that

are in the kit for her name. I added "vanilli" using Studio Calico's letter stickers

stacked - with a cute little Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic flower to the side.

In this kit, Noel included super cute little chevron paper bags.

They were PERFECT to hold my journaling on each side of my photo's.

I cut the Elle's  Studio 5x7 card that came in my kit in half 

& journaled on each side, tucking into my sacks. I really like how that turned out.

I had some leftover heart thought bubbles from an earlier project that I 

decided to back in the dark (black) woodgrain paper to stand out. 

I made it 3D and added "I call you" to the top.

I also cut out an Elle's Studio flag and added it to my straw 

photo corners I created. The straws were a FUN addition to the kit this month!

There's so many ways you can use them. As a border, stems to flowers, make cute little

lollipops, embellish with them, use as a letter or cut for a word - 

here I used them as photo corners, framing my 2 Instagrammed photo's of 

our Lilly Vanilli...

The MME Dots are addicting, fun and just cute as all get out.

I thought they looked like pieces of candy added here to Lilly's page.

I also decided to use packaging from Glitz Design's Glitzers pack - 

I cut the "hello friend" from there and placed just above our Lilly girl.

and finally - here's a glimpse at my journaling that's tucked into my little bags.

SO cute! 

Thanks for stopping by today - I hope you've enjoyed this post!

Have a great day!

~Leslie

*Oh Snap with Soda Shoppe*

Hi everyone! Happy New Year's Eve!
I hope you enjoyed your Christmas and are ready for 2013.
Wishing you and yours ALL the best for the new year!

Today I'm stopping by to share a layout I made
using January's Soda Shoppe kit.
When I received it, I couldn't WAIT to break into it & make something.
This kit is amazing. It really is! It's full of such fun, bright colors & details!

You will love it.

Here's a layout I did of my kiddo's. This is from a series of photo's I took of them
when they came home from college for Thanksgiving...

Check out the STRAWS! I love those. I couldn't wait to use them once I saw them!

If you're wondering "what am I going to do with them?" Think outside of the box.

They don't have to go on a layout. How cute would they be decorated and in a small
vase, or on a card, or any project?
I decided when making this layout - to make it fun & a bit whimsical, mimicking

the kids and their "shooting" me shooting them. So I added my straws as stems
to my "whimsical" flowers. Or lollipops. I couldn't decide what they looked
more like - ha!

I love how it all came together.
That Heidi Swapp trim - YUM.
The washi - fabulous. I'm addicted to washi's lately!
The only thing I've added here is the jute.

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today!
I hope you've enjoyed seeing what I did with Soda Shoppe.
If you'll check below this post you'll see Virginia did a video recap of all

the gorgeous details of this kit. You don't want to miss out!

Before I go, I'll share a couple of close up shots!
I hope you have a VERY happy New Year's!

Celebrate big!

*A Jolly Merry Christmas*

Scoot over Adam...
It's Eve's turn!
Happy Christmas Eve, everyone!

Just dropping by for a quick post to share a layout I did using December's
Glad Tidings kit:

Our Christmas card this  year - I love how it turned out & it's perfect

with Glad Tidings!

I adore my kids - they were so sweet for pics!

Here's a couple of close ups:

 

Just a tiny quick tip:  Don't cut off and throw away your strips at the bottom of your
patterned papers. Not only do some have CUTE designs on them - they also have GREAT words
that apply to your project! I used to strips here on my layout.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve today and
a  wonderful Christmas tomorrow!

~Leslie

Monday 2 For 1 Post

hello everyone! happy Monday!

 

I accidentally missed my post last Monday and I apologize!
So because I did... today I'm doing a "2 for 1" post.
Meaning...I have 2 things instead of 1 to share with you today!
I hope you enjoy:

 

Both layouts are made using the December's Glad Tidings kit.

 

First up is:  Photo Shoot -

this was So fun to do. I enjoyed every bit of this kit. especially the Studio Calico mask.
Noel added some FUN stamp markers & instead of using the usual mist or paint that I use

for a mask - I decided to color some of the stars from the mask.

My kids are always obliging me with photo's... I love them!

and the next layout:  You've Been Framed:

My sweet boy - allowing his mom to not only shoot him (take a pic)

but also frame him  - ha!

 

Here I had the best time using the Basic Grey banner going down the side of my layout

and tying it all together by taking some jute & free forming a whimsical shape with glue at the

bottom to "frame" out my entire page. 

 

and just a little journaling to end my page creation..

 

I hope you've enjoyed this post today!

Make it a GREAT week!
Merry Christmas!





 

 

Sparkle & Shine

Hello, hello everyone!

I'm sharing a fun way to use the Distress Stain in the Willow Creek kit. The sponge applicator tip makes it so easy to add a touch of distressing to your projects, like I did on this layout.

I simply rubbed the applicator tip along the edge of my layout, giving it a beautiful antiqued look. I also applied the ink behind my photo and embellishment cluster, creating a beautiful frame for my focal point.

For the finishing touch, I applied the stain on top of the cut-out flowers to age them and topped them off with sequin and pearl brads in coordinating colors.

I hope you will get the Distress Stain out and experiment with it a bit. It is really a lot of fun and so easy to use.

Thank you for visiting and have a fabulous day!

*Epic Love*

Happy Monday morning, everyone!

 

I'm here today to share my Epic Love:

a layout of my precious kiddo's using the Noel Mignon November kit:  Willow Creek

I used my cameo to cut a sun from the HS paper in the kit. I cut my sun in half & placed it

behind my sunshines - I mean kids. ha!
I like to TRY hard to come up with creative titles for my pictures. If I can't, I go searching

for poems, quotes, anything that will spark my brain to think of something to say.
Epic Love just came to me while looking at their faces in this picture. It's one from last fall,

(since I haven't seen them both together this fall - YET. I can't wait...just a few more weeks

and we'll all be together having Thanksgiving!)

 

Anyway - this layout was FAST to put together.
I also decided to just "dot" my paper with the distressed ink from the kit.
I kinda like how it splattered! I didn't mean to do that at all.

 

Here's a couple of close up shots:

 

thanks for stopping by!
Hope you have a great day...

Fall - Willow Creek Style!

 

Good Monday Morning, friends!

It's me -

 

 

 

here with a "oh hey, fall!" post for you!

 

before I show you my creation - let me tell you something.

I got my November "Willow Creek"  kit a few days ago

& the MOMENT I got it, I knew I had to start

creating with it that second. Because I had some plans..it KILLED me to put

it aside & play later.

Well...later came & play I did!

I couldn't WAIT to make something with this fabuous kit:

 

 

delicious, right?
have you seen the video Virginia did on Friday about this kit?
if not - go check it out here:  Willow Creek on Friday

and watch Virginia show you everything in it. you'll be amazed!

 

Here's my layout I created:

(model:  Presley Blake - my amazing niece!)

 

here's some close up shots:

 

 

 

I went with my family to the patch  & shot these pics of sweet little Presley.
These photo's were PERFECT for this kit!

 

I also cut those fun leaves with my Silhouette Cameo & had a totally different idea

for them, but in the end, love the way they look. 

 

A little tip before I go - always check the end of your paper (where the barcode is)

for cute sayings (by the mfg of course!) or on the back - a border!
Here I used several different borders that were cut from the bottom of my papers.
and that tag? cut from one of the patterned papers in the kit.

seriously...you won't regret it. get this kit.

Happy Fall, y'all...

have a GREAT day!



 





 

 

 

 

Please Call

One of my best friends moved to Alaska this week, which, from Alabama, feels like pretty much the other side of the world. 

One of our friends caught this picture of us at the airport, with our eyes full of tears. It is the most sad and sweet photo and I definitely wanted to scrap it! 

(made with the Student Council kit!) 

I made these little pictures for her family's going away party, using my Silhouette machine: 

I was left with the negative space vinyl pieces, and wanted to use them as a stencil for this page, so I pulled out the Heidi Swapp Shine spray from the kit and went to spraying! 

I LOVE how sparkly and opaque this mist is! 

Noel has a ton of new colors from the Shine line- you should go check them out in the shop and add a few to your order... I promise, you will love this mist! 

First Day of School

I finally got a chance to pull out the wonderful Student Council kit and got the first day of school pictures of my two bigs that I've been saving to use with it! 

(The Student Council kit is sold out, BUT there is a Student Council Limited Edition up for grabs!)

This was the first time I've gotten to use the MME acrylic dots, and boy do I love them! I really like how they fit right in with a splattering of mist and big brads!

Also, a small tip for other "literal" scrappers like myself... for some reason, I have a hard time using things like speech bubbles if it's not coming out of someone's mouth (hence why I call myself a "literal" scrapper), so I just snipped off the tip of the "school days" wooden speech bubble and used it as a regular ol' embellishment. Perfect! (I also have a hard time using animals like deer on my pages unless it has some connection to the theme of my layout. Weird much? Yes.) 

And now you know another little peek inside of my crazy brain. Please still be my friend. ;) heheh