Say Cheese - January 2009

I took these photos of Hayden and Haylee for their homeschool i.d. cards last year. I hadn't planned to use the photos for anything else until Storytellers Club posted a contest where you had to create a layout from a particular PageMaps sketch. I had so much fun with this! And I think it turned out to be one of the prettiest layouts I've ever made. Thanks to Steve for his help with the title.


I used patterned paper and coordinating burgundy paper from the Wild Asparagus pad by My Mind's Eye. I used a homemade bracket shaped template to cut out the patterned paper and then inked the edges of it with a brown ink pad from Ink It Up. I used a Kraft paper background and also for the title letters that I cut with my Craft Robo. I punched strips of the burgundy paper with a Fiskars border punch. The bird/swirl rub-ons were from Dollar Tree, and the small row of rub-ons on the paper strip across the center are from American Crafts. The paper flowers are from Prima, and the rhinestones are from the jewelry making section at ACMoore. The clear letter/number stickers I used for the date are from Dollar Tree.

Believe - Christmas 2007

These photos were taken on Christmas Day 2007. It was just 3 days before I gave birth to Holden! I had already had two false alarms to labor & delivery in the week prior to that. Boy, was I ever ready for him to come! Hayden took some of the photos for us.

I used the "Believe" theme from the December 2009 Ultimate Storytellers Club Kit. I added the 2 gold ornaments from Jolee's Boutique along with the golden sheer ribbon from which they "hang." I trimmed the cream Bazzill textured cardstock in the kit with a Fiskars Scallop border punch.

Bee-Boppin - September 2009

These are photos of Holden when he was 20 months old. He loves to wear headphones and bop to the music! Crazy kid.

I started with a simple pre-printed layout page by Scrapbook Wizard. Then I stamped green flourishes and added my photos after I rounded the corners. I put blue and green irridescent plastic flower embellishments on as photo corners (they were in a bag on clearance at Wal-Mart). I used clear alphabet stickers for the title. Then I stamped the blue dotted circles inside the pre-printed border circles, and I added layered Prima Flowers on top of that with flower brad centers. I thew in some flower shaped buttons and a dimensional tag on the other two circles. Then I added 2 metal charm words from Making Memories and 4 metal bug charms. I hand-drew the bug trails with a brown marker and added the date on the bottom right.

Fun to Cook - September 2009

I was in the kitchen baking with the kids one night, and Steve snuck in and took these photos. We were all in our pjs with little aprons on. Holden absolutely loved holding the electric mixer, and now he scampers into the kitchen and stands on the stool whenever he sees me getting it out! I have so many little "helpers" now!

I used the "Memories" theme from the January 2010 Storytellers Ultimate Kit. Everything I used was included in the kit except the dangling metal word charms, the pop dots, and the green ric rac. I double matted some of the photos using the Bazzill cardstock that was in the kit.

Sweet Memories - August 2009

These photos are from the annual Burgess Birthday Bash (aka Hayden's and Haylee's combined birthday party). It's always an exciting event that many folks look forward to each year. Hayden turned 10, and Haylee turned 5, and they chose an Italian theme this time around. All the children got to make their own individual pizzas with the toppings of their choice, and the adults had a delectable menu of Bruschetta and Cheese topped Stuffed Chicken Breasts, Spaghetti and Meatballs, Fettuccini Alfredo, Topped Italian Bread, Italian Garden Salad, and Chocolate Italian Cream Cake! It was quite a feast!

I used the Sweet Memories theme from the Storytellers March 2009 Ultimate Kit. Even the buttons and Bazzill cardstock I used were included in the kit. The only non-kit item I used was the two flower shaped pink brads and pop dots. The paper with the large circles and patterns was a bit too busy for me, but I toned it down by taking advantage of the printed 1.5 inch circles and added photos on them so they looked like photos mats. I raised up the cupcake tag and the date tag with pop dots to add dimension, as well as real buttons on the cupcakes. I had a lot of photos to incorporate from this event, so I trimmed them down to the bare minimum...just enough to capture the essence of each photo...and then played around with their placement until I came up with this layout. I love how it turned out!

Cow Appreciation Day - July 2009

These photos are of Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A in July 2009. They had printable costume accessories on their website this time around, so we all had cow noses, hats with attached cow ears, cow tails, cow spots, and Eat More Chikin signs on. It was fun!

I didn't have any grand plans for these photos as far as the layout goes, but I really wanted them in my scrapbook, so this is one of those times where I cheated and pulled out a pre-printed scrapbook page. All I had to add were the photos, floral embellishments, and a label of the event and date. Easy-peasy! The two larger flowers are Perfectly Posh flowers from Imaginesce, and the smaller flower in the center of the stack is from Prima. I punched the tiny flowers from polka-dotted paper. I printed the label on vellum and adhered it with vellum glue dots.

10th Birthday - August 2009

These photos are from Hayden's 10th birthday. Steve was out of town visiting his family at the time, and I wanted Hayden to have special day, so I told him I'd make him anything he wanted for dinner. He wanted barbecued baby back ribs and a pineapple upside down cake, so that's what I made. He enjoyed every bit of it and had a smile on his face the entire time! I got lucky and happened to snap the photo just as he was blowing out his candle.

I used a sketch in the Pages By Design idea book as a basis for the design of this layout. I printed my journaling on vellum, used lots of rub-on words, and some cool dimensional foam letter stickers for the word "TEN" that I got from the kids' craft section at Joann Fabrics. The extra large blue and white flowers are Perfectly Posh from Imaginesce, and the orange one in the center of the stack is by Prima. I love the band of fabric flower ribbon across the plaid paper strip.

So Busted! - July 2009

This was a funny scene to walk in upon...I had just cut up half a watermelon and left the other half on the counter while I went around offering some to everyone. In the meantime, Holden dragged a stool over to the kitchen counter and helped himself to the other half by scooping out the middle with his little hand. The juicy evidence was everywhere...the floor, dripping down the front of the cabinets, and all over the countertop! It was quite a sight to see, and he gleefully pointed it out to us as we entered the room. :)

I used a border stamp to make the watermelon seeds and cut them out by hand. I printed my journaling on vellum and cut it to fit the edge of the mat. I used Thickers for my title letters. I stamped the flourishes behind the photo.

Nugget Man - July 2009

On the way home from a busy outing, we stopped and McD's and got Holden some chicken nuggets. There's not much that keeps him from eating, but he was so tired that he went to sleep...WITH A NUGGET IN HIS MOUTH! Too funny. Obviously, it was a picture-worthy moment. :)

I used the Family theme from the January 2008 Storytellers ultimate kit for this layout. I added a large Perfectly Posh flower and some Rub-Ons & Rhinestones from Imaginesce, along with Prima flowers, polished brads, and a rhinestone flower. I used the ribbon and blue cardstock from the kit and punched a strip of it with a Fiskars border punch.

Life Is Good - July 2009

I made this layout today using the Life Is Good theme in the March 2009 Storytellers Club Kit. I was so pleased with how quickly I was able to complete this using only the supplies in the kit. I just love the colors! The photos are of Holden and Haylee at the Bay Electric Picnic on July 11, 2009. Bay Electric is my husband's former employer, and they are still kind enough to invite us to their picnic every summer. Holden was delighted with the slides and played on them nearly the whole afternoon! Haylee loved the snow cones. Hayden didn't make it in any of the photos because he disappeared! He was playing volleyball with the older kids.