Family Advent Art Journal Using the Handcrafted Story Printables

Every year at Christmastime, I try to find some simple ways to point our family to the beauty and hope of this time of year. It's so hard because so much else wants your attention! I'm part of an art journaling community on facebook that recently had a post linked to it that I was super excited about using for our family this year. It's a free, simple set of printable cards telling the advent story of Jesus.  

My plan is this: to have our advent journaling box available all month long, and each member of our family take turns adding to each page leading up to Christmas. 

I added lots of kid friendly options to our box, and I'm sure we'll use more as the month goes on. 

I used the Cable Knit kit to personalize the journal and not just have it a completely blank canvas.

Clipped together are these little pages. I backed each one with patterned paper or cardstock from the kit. I really wanted to go all out and embellish it but that kind of defeats the purpose of an art journal, eh?! 

I hope this inspires you to make some meaningful connections with your family this advent season!

Blessed: A family photo

Happy Black Friday friends! I hope you're enjoying the day whether you've been out shopping, if you're cuddled up at home or if you're still surrounded by lots of family. I hope you are enjoying the moment.

I thought I'd capture one of our big family moments with this layout using the Maple Creek kit. The photo is of my husband's ginormous family. Me? I come from a very small family. But HE has a huge one, and somehow we all managed to fit into a photo. So of course I had to scrap it. The Maple Creek kit was perfect for that!

I really love the bold colors of Basic Grey's geometric pattern. I pulled the gold color from it and chose to use that color as my background especially since it was also the color of the house. Then I flipped to the backside of the geometric paper and chose to use its pink color too.  Then I accented the page with rub-ons, the blessed tag, the wooden die cuts, and Elle's Studio tag.

On this Black Friday--whether you're in a shopping frenzy or enjoying a lazy day off--I hope you remember to tell your loved ones how cherished they are, and even capture them on a scrapbook page. That is, afterall, what scrapping is all about. Right?

Happy Black Friday!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Hello friends and Happy Thanksgiving! Today I have a fun project to share with you using the Sweet & Simple Classic Kit. I loved the deeper reds and blues of this kit, and I really thought it would be perfect for putting together this home decor piece I had had in my mind for awhile.

I started with a small natural pallet, then using the Homemade paper from Simple Stories that was included in the kit, I covered each slat with one of the patterns. I cut a tree from the burlap paper from Fancy Pants, and then I picked some of my favorite papers out of the kit, and traced each of my kiddos hand prints for the top of my tree!

I wanted to keep the embellishing very simple on this, I really wanted that tree to take center stage. I did add in some fun details in the bottom left corner.

I wanted to add in a sentiment or title of some sort onto this, I tried many different ideas around, but finally settled on a simple "love", and I think it fits it perfectly!

Going to end this with a close up of those sweet hand prints! So excited to get this hung up!

Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving, and take to time remember what is important this holiday season!!

Cable Knit Daily Diary Kit Reveal!

Here you go! And since these are already sold out (sorry!) be sure to rush rush rush to get your Cable Knit Classic Kit! All the same feeling, but way way way bigger!

Happy Tuesday!

Two Post Tuesday!

Hey everyone! I am so excited to tell you that I got the newest Daily Diary kit yesterday from Noel for December! It's called Cable Knit, and it's adorable! I am going to be making a little reveal video here in a minute, but wanted to hop on to show you a layout I made using the Maple Creek kit first.

I had such a great time at the pumpkin patch this year with Reed - he was a total champ for pictures! And I certainly took my fair share!

I love combining lots of elements, on different layers of the page, and especially love when little bits peek through, like the thankful cork piece there, behind the vellum. I've been waiting for the perfect place to use that little hello rubon for a while now! Love combining kits!

I used the leftover scraps from some leaves that I cut out for a banner I made using the Early Autumn kit to create the background for the page. Just tucked in some paper behind a couple for a little contrast, then added lots and lots of layers on top. It's ridiculous how much I love that wood leaf!

I used that adorable striped ribbon at the bottom to anchor the page, and those arrows from Pink Fresh were totally perfect to move your eye inward. So many different ways to use those little guys!. And can we talk about layering rubons? DO IT!

Here I tucked a couple of leftover leaves I had cut and layered a little flower I had leftover from my wreathe project on top of that cute butterfly sticker - another little guy I have been hoarding :)

And in the immortal words of Forest Gump, that's all I have to say about that.

So. Be sure to check back later today for the reveal video for the Cable Knit Daily Diary kit - it's a goodie!

Bye for now!

gratitude cards

Hello!

It is so nice to be back here!

Lately as we've had some ups and downs at home I have had time to reflect on some of the things that I am most grateful for.

What are you thankful for?

It is so important to share and thank others for their friendship and for the blessing they are to us.

I decided to create some "thankful" cards to share with y'all this week:

Each of these cards took just minutes to make. 

I used kraft cardstock as my card base. 

For the card above I used spray mist to create the colorful background and added some Jillibean Soup tape and leftover leaves from the wreath I shared last week. 

For this card I used a few more leaves, a doily and a couple of stickers. 

For this last card I used an embossing folder on the white cardstock. I also added a diecut and some ribbon from the kit along with more leaves I had leftover from my "give thanks" frame. 

Don't forget to thank those who have made an impact in your life. 

Coming soon you will see lots of Christmas holiday projects!

I can't wait for my kit to get here!!!

Don't forget to check out all of the great new products in the store!

Happy, happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Noel Mignon!

I treasure you!

Hi friends! I've got a quick card to share with you today that I plan on giving as a part of the hostess gift I plan to give our Thanksgiving hostess. This kit, Maple Creek, is so perfect for this kind of sentiment. I love all the rich colors that work so well with the season.

I chose to layer my sentiment on top of a punched shape, and on top of a tag so that it would stand out on the card. I also chose to punch the bottom edge of the brown Basic Grey patterned paper with a scalloped border punch. I went back and layered the yellow reverse side of that same paper underneath the brown to add more emphasis and texture. I'd forgotten how much I love my punches and it was fun to pull them out again! To finish off the card, I added brads to the right of the tag, and a snippet of the checkered ribbon through the tag. Now I'm all set to hand this off, probably with a Thanksgiving hand towel or a bottle of wine, to Josh's grandmother who will be hosting us this year.

We Are So Blessed

Welp, I gotta say, people, I am blessed. Truly.
These last couple of weeks have been a doozy! A lot of work and running around, and not knowing quite how I would get it all done, but luckily, I am blessed with a stinkin' awesome kid, amazing and supportive husband, and a super fun and giving Mamala! And a couple of hours magically appeared on Tuesday night to be able to pull together this little layout. It's funny how right when you need a little miracle, one can just magically appear, isn't it?

After a long weekend visiting my Mamala, I got a phone call in the wee hours from her in her bedroom to come and help. And there she was, with a couple of funky-looking toes! So it was an unexpected extended vacation, without all of the things one normally packs for a two-week getaway. You know, like my Noel Mignon kits! LOL! Luckily, my amazing hubby made some time last weekend to come down and visit us, and bring me my kit box so I could make up this little guy, just in time for Gratitude Week here on the blog!

The title of this layout is "We are so Blessed" and man, we are! Even though it has been a hectic couple of weeks, I feel so lucky that I am able to take this time to help when it's needed. Not everyone can do that, and I am so grateful to my hubbs that I am able to be a stay-at-home mama and live-in nurse when the Mamala calls!

I have been in a very layery mood the last several months, where my layouts are concerned. And all of the cute little individual bit of ephemera that Noel puts in the kits are so perfect to tuck and stitch into place. And I love the translucency of that gorgeous vellum! LOVE it! But I basically love all things gold right now, so I super love those cork star stickers with a little Zazz on them!

And speaking of Zazz and cork - I mean, come on! Was that a no-brainer to do with those super cute We R stickers? Um yes.

And I can't tell you how grateful I am for RUBONS THAT ACTUALLY WORK! I mean, you know what I'm talking about, people! There is nothing more irritating than going to rub down an image and - NOPE - not going on! Very grateful that we get the best goodies in our kits, that I can always count on to work perfectly!

So that's all for me today. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you are having a great week so far!

Family Gratitude Journal

Happy CHILLY morning from here in Alabama- it's a breezy 20 something degrees here! Brrrr! 

This morning I have a simple Gratitude journal that I made with the Maple Creek kit. It is super easy and fun to put together! I cut different sizes of papers and folded them in half and nested them inside of each other. To hold them in, I used the beautiful kraft tape from in the kit to attach each page in. I love the layered look of this little book! 

As you can see, there's lots of little tabs and pages peeking through here- perfect for little spots to adhere in gratitude cards my children have been working on!

I hope to keep adding to this now through Thanksgiving so we have a nice fat book of reminders of all the blessings we have. 

Thankful for YOU, all our NM family! :)

I am Grateful

Hello friends! Happy Monday!! Today I have a gratitude project to share with you using the Early Autumn kit!

I wanted to create a project that my family and I could do together, and something that we could carry on from year to year. So I took the idea of the gratitude mason jars that you see all over on Pinterest, but adapted it a bit to fit the need of my idea.
First off, I used a vase instead of a mason jar...it gave the same general idea, but with it being larger, I would have more room for us to carry this tradition on.

I thought it would be fun to use some cut out leaves for our grateful items instead of just strips of paper. I cut a few with my silhouette, and will add more in as the years go on. I kept the jar itself very simple, so that way the notes and writing will stand out, and be the center of this piece. 

Just some simple layering, stickers, and a few sequins.

Wasn't that Fancy Pants ticket perfect for this!!?? :)

I am so excited to get started with this...I think it will be so fun to see how our feelings and thoughts change over the years as to what we are most thankful for...especially the kiddos! Will love seeing their handwriting change over the years also...have no doubt this will become a cherished family item!!

Easy and simple Thanksgiving Decor!

Have y'all been loving the "out of the box" decor items that the design team has been sharing this week? I know I have! I absolutely love brightening up my home with the papers and scrappy products that I enjoy using. 

I know as a busy mom, it's sometimes daunting or overwhelming to think about adding seasonal decor- trying to find the time, supplies, creativity... it all can get too much! I have something VERY simple and yet so charming that I think any woman out there could make quickly to add a personalized touch to their fall decor! 

I made this adorable jars by using some of my favorite papers from the Maple Creek kit. To make the letters, I used my Silhouette machine, but you could truly just use a letter sticker or handcut out the letters in a short amount of time. I thought about decorating each jar with embellishments and extra layers, but to be honest, once I wrapped the papers around the jars, I loved the simplicity of the look that I left them this way. Just a bit of adhesive on the back and some twine wrapped around from my stash completed the look.

I love how they look with the candlelight glowing through them. The bonus to wrapping double sided pattered paper around the jars is that the other side of the paper shows in the inside of the jar, glowing beautifully when the candle is lit.

I hope this gives you a simple idea to brighten up your decor in a few minutes! 

leaf garland

There have been some beautiful fall decor posts this week and if you haven't had a chance to take a look at them I would encourage you to go check them out! Today I have a super simple and easy way to decorate for the fall...and a way to use up those scraps from your kit!

I cut a bunch of leaves out of different patterned papers from the Maple Creek kit (and I think one of them might have been from the Early Autumn kit). I also punched out some leaves from vintage sheet music. Then I simply ran them through my sewing machine to make a super easy garland! If you don't have a sewing machine you could easily attach them to ribbon or twine. 

I don't have a fireplace so I always string garland on a big chalkboard we have in our family room. That always seems to be the festive spot in our house :)

Give Thanks

Hello again!

How do you like what you've seen on the blog so far this week?

It is fun to step out of the 12x12 box sometimes and do something different.

I loved Britt's idea of creating a wreath for every season and displaying it on that amazing board!

Today I have another home decor project to share.

In the past I have created things for this scrapbook display frame and for this week's post I decided to create a fall/Thanksgiving-inspired one.

I started out by gathering my supplies. I picked a few patterned papers from the Maple Creek kit and using a metal die I cut out leaves from each paper. In addition to the kit I also used some white/gold twine from my stash. 

After punching all of the leaves I used a white 12x12 piece of cardstock and traced with pencil around a lid (very fancy, I know!) to make a circle in the center of my page. I erased the pencil line so that it was very faint so that the pencil wouldn't show through the vellum leaves. 

I cut a 1/4" strip of green striped paper for each edge of the paper and adhered that before I got started on the rest of the project. 

Using liquid glue I added the leaves around the circle, putting glue just in the center of the leaf so that it wouldn't lay flat, giving more dimension to my project. 

I added leaves all the way around the circle and because I had lots of extra leaves I started tucking leaves under the first layer to create a second ring of leaves. 

After I added all of the leaves to the page I used the white/gold twine from my craft supply and wrapped it around in a circular motion near the border of the punched leaves as you can see above. I used Tombow liquid adhesive for this as well. 

The last step was to add the chipboard alphas for the "give thanks" in the center of the leaf ring. I decided that it needed a little "something" to fill in the white space above the saying so I added some gold rub-ons and then some dots of the gold glitter glue underneath. I also used the glitter glue to make a border all the way around the frame which gave it the finishing touch that I thought it needed. Plus, I love the gold! 

Here you can see more of the layering of the leaves: 

Don't forget that kit subscriptions are open now but time is running out! Make sure to head to the kit subscription page in the Noel Mignon store to get renewed/signed up so that you don't miss out on any future kits! ♥

Have a wonderful day and thanks so much for stopping by!