Happy Thursday!

I have a quick layout to share today, and it's over at the Lily Bee blog too!

Don't let the princess bike fool you.

Journaling says: She is wild on wheels. Jordan is determined and fearless when it comes to riding her bike. So when you see her round the corner in her princess bike with pink and purple streamers, and wearing as skirt and a dinosaur helmet, watch out! She's fearless! Don't let that princess bike fool you! June 2011.

These photos make me laugh every time i look at them. Her face is priceless.

And i must add-- as i was taking pictures of the kids on their bikes, she would ride right.up.to.me and then swerve away at the last second. me thinks she was challenging me to a game of chicken.

For this layout i used Lily Bee's new collection Head Over Heels (love!) and challenged myself to use the fabulous doily paper in the collection (that i had already used and cut up not-quite-yet into shreds) and incorporate it into my layout.

Feel free to swing by the Lily Bee blog to see my process on using last bits of (beloved) paper in your layouts.

Thanks for stopping by today!

CHA day 3

So I noticed something about CHA- day 2 (on the floor) is much more productive than Day 1. For reals. I was like a kid in a candy shop day 1-- running around looking at paper, meeting up with friends, taking pictures.... it was alot.

The second day on the floor was all about focus and really thinking about future Elle's Studio project kits, collecting catalouges, and brainstorming. FUN. Here are a few more pics...

Loved hanging out at Lily Bee's booth. I know i have already blogged about their four new lines quite a bit- but WOW are they gorgeous in real life. I really enjoyed meeting Kristen (the owner and designer) for the first time-- she is so fun!!!

I feel really blessed and fortunate to be on this team-- such great people. We all had a lot of fun together.

A few other booth pics I want to share... Crate Paper had a gorgeous booth with many tiny vintage touches.

i've been a fan of Christine Middlecamp's work for a few years now-- the details and layering she puts into her layouts are just incredible. So seeing some of her work in real life was a treat. She's just awesome (i was gawking too much to take a photo!).

I am really excited for all three lines coming out, and especially have my eye on the Christmas line-- Peppermint. it's a perfect mix of christmas and every day papers. you know you made a great Christmas line when sweet Keshet (who celebrates Hanukkah) wants to buy this line :)

October Afternoon's booth was really fun and well-thought out. It was an Wild West Saloon (inspired by their new line Sasparilla... which i had to ask what a sasparillia was/is-- ha.). Brain-dead me never got a photo of the outside of the booth or anything--- sheesh! (however jenny larson has some great photos of it.)

This project? Incredible. Trying to find out who did it because really it's a piece of art. (ETA: just found out it's by the incredible Jill Sprott!) Really loving how she worked in all the ephemera in Farmhouse.

Miss Lexi made this incredible layout with Boarding Pass-- i am really in awe of the design and those airplanes? genius.

Their Sidewalks line is very carefree and happy-- how cute are those little flags?

Loved seeing some of Marcy's work up close-- her whimsy style and layers are gorgeous!!

Another booth i really enjoyed was Melissa Frances-- they have a GORGEOUS Christmas line called Deck the Halls-- very soft, clean, vintage, and sparkly. Different from many of the Christmas lines out there.

Love this layout by Danielle Flanders-- i am such a fan of her work!

Just think of all the fun projects you could do with these items! I love those little houses to pieces- and those vintage ornaments are just gorgeous!

It was such a great show. I left so inspired... and feeling SO blessed to work for such great companies (Elle's Studio, Lily Bee, and Ella Publishing). It really meant so much meeting these friends and spending time together.

Thanks for swinging by!!

CHA day 2 (alternately titled as Paper Heaven)

we woke up somewhat bright and early Tuesday morning to begin the first official day of CHA (the Craft and Hobby Association Tradeshow-- for all my friends who have no idea what i am talking about!).

Keshet, Jenny, and I went together tuesday morning to the convention where we met up with Val-- we were super excited and ready to hit the show. It was fun to have Press Passes with Ella Publishing! (be sure to check all of their blogs- great CHA recaps!)

And guess who else went to the show? do i have the best husband, or what?

Todd says that if I was in Paper Heaven, he was in Paper Purgatory. humph. :)

The Christmas decorations upon entering the show were just beautiful. These shows are creative overload. Everywhere you turn there are incredible ideas-- it's hard to capture/describe/remember everything the show had to offer.

Felt hot chocolate, cupcake wrapper paper flowers? yes thank you!

Martha had a great party display and we were excited about some of the new punches she has coming out.

Is this deer bust awesome or what?

We were excited to see the Smash Books and all the new books and accessories they have coming out. Smash is defintely a hit (i have one!). There were also mini smashes-- perfect for on the go or to stash in your purse!

I loved running into my friends Ronda and Christine of Cocoa Daisy!! We reminisced about our fabulous Greece trip (that was almost a year ago- yikes!).

American Crafts Fall line has incredible thickers-- love these fonts.

One of the highlights of the show was seeing Amy Tan's new line with American Crafts, Amy Tangerine. I just adore everything this line has to offer. The colors, the design, all the different embellishments, journaling spots, thickers... let's just say i plan to own every.single.piece. of this line. pure perfection.

Her booth was awesome!! Loved the backdrop with the luggage, hangers, window shutters- loads of fun.

A photo of the Ella Friends with Amy-- she is just adorable!

Another highlight was making our way to the Studio Calico booth. It was a bit of a reunion as we are also all members on the message board and have made some great friendships over there.

I adore seeing gorgeous paper and projects in real life, but meeting friends was by far the best part of the show. Even if it was for a few minutes-- it's a neat thing to have a face to face connection with these wonderful people. Relationships and friendships are the best part of this industry if you ask me.

Nic Harper and I at the Studio Calico booth (love her).

The booth was filled with incredible inspiration (as Studio Calico always does so well). SC knocked it out of the park with their new lines Autumn Press, Memoir, and Classic Calico. It's hard to choose a favorite but i love the warm/fun autumn colors of Autumn Press.

It was about this time when i heard from Elle of Elle's Studio that she had landed in Chicago! It was a BLAST hanging out with Elle and brainstorming for future project kits. I have known Elle for almost two years now and it was just wonderful spending time with her. She is one incredibly talented woman!

I of course had to take her to Amy's booth upon arrival :) Here is Elle and I with Amy.

Another favorite of ours was Jenni Bowlin's booth. Loved all her detailed vintage displays and products-- and her Halloween and Christmas lines are just fabulous.

How adorable are these little thimbles? So fun!

The day seemed to fly by and before we knew it the floor was closing. we headed back to the hotel and then Todd and I went out to dinner with Elle and after that we met up with Keshet, Jenny, Linda, and Cindy for drinks at their hotel (which was crazy swanky with a pool pretty much in the lobby- fancy!).

(PS totally stole this pic from keshet's blog :) WHEW! what a fabulous and full day!!! loved it! be back soon with more CHA eye candy!

CHA Day 1

We woke up Monday morning bright and early to head for Chicago for CHA (the Craft and Hobby Association trade show)! The kids spent the night at my mom and dad's the night before so (amazingly-- or not really:) it took no time at all to get ready and on the road.

Well, sort of on the road. we had about a million little things to do before we left- take the dog to Todd's sister, drop of kids backpacks to my moms, pick up rental car (um yes because i had an "incident" the week before)... so we didn't get on the road until close to 11am!

The trip there was only about three hours- really quick! The convention center was a bit outside of the city (it was right by O'Hare) So we did a little drive by.

We checked in and waited to hear from my Ella Friends- Jenny, Keshet, and Valerie as to when their planes came in. We were the official Ella Friends airport shuttle :) it was so fun to swing in and pick everyone up!! Although i LOVE all things paper, the best thing about CHA is meeting friends in real life!!

After everyone checked in, we picked up Lexi and Suz- friends we know from the Studio Calico message board and headed to Toboun Grill. Keshet keeps kosher so we joined her as poser koshers for the night (which Valerie cleverly coined us as "poshers"). And you know what? it.was.so.good. i am just fine being a posher. :)

they had the best pitas i have ever had in my life. we also tried falafel-- it's made of chickpeas and herbs. never tried this before but it was awesome!!!

Todd and I shared the "beef special" which was also excellent. We were STUFFED when we left! So great to spend dinner with new friends!

After dinner we piled in the car and headed back to the convention area and met up with some of my Lily Bee Friends-- Linda Barber, Cindy Liebel, and Lisa Day for drinks and dessert. I have to say i laughed- alot. Those girls are hilarious! We totally shut down the place! It was a blast. Day 1? I would say it was a success.

American Crafts Guest Design

I am still pinching myself that I have had the opportunity to guest design for American Crafts. Just about every single layout/project I make has at least one item from American Crafts. I had so much fun playing with their gorgeous, classic lines- Campy Trails, Peachy Keen, Confetti, Margarita and of course the THICKERS... a girl can't have enough!

My assignment was to focus on the Thickers in my layouts and projects -- here is what i came up with!

We met up with family at Turkey Run a few weeks ago-- and i may or may not have dressed Jonah in an orange shirt to match the Campy Trails line :) !! To highlight the Thickers in this layout I mounted them on solid orange pattern paper, and outlined with pen, and trimmed. Then, i mounted the thickers on white cardstock and trimmed.

Outlining and mounting gives the letters an extra pop when you place them on top of photos!

Pinterest is my new favorite source of inspiration! I recently saw this piece of artwork/typography floating around Pinterest, so I decided to put it to a layout! I love the meaning behind it, and knew it would be perfect match with a family photo. Using Thickers as a type of typography is alot of fun-- so many different font/color options!

This photo still cracks me up when i look at it! we were running through the sprinkler and setting the timer on my camera to get some fun pics. As i was checking my images in the camera i looked over to see Jordan checking her camera- ha! I used the fun Margarita line for this layout and created a back drop with the journaling cards. I hand cut butterflies from pattern paper and created my title as a border along the design.

Not going to line, making cards makes me nervous! but i am so happy with the way this one turned out-- maybe because it's simple and whimsy. I used many different left-over Thickers from my stash (you know, there are always left over "w"'s and "z"'s!) to create a stream of letters! Love that typewriter sticker too :)

For this card I created a heart out of Thickers and layered the word "love" over the heart. A fun and quick way to add an unexpected layer of dimension to a layout!

Last Week was VBS week (Vacation Bible School) for my kiddos, so that inspired me to make a mini book based on the 7 Days of Creation as found in Genesis 1. I had SO much fun with this project! It really stretched me to be creative and i (and my kids:) adore how it turned out...AND they are learning!

Swing by the American Crafts blog to read more! thanks again to American Crafts for this fun opportunity!