Hallween cuties

Hubby was out of state for two weeks, and took our trusty laptop with him, so I wanted to catch up with last weekends Halloween looks. We moved recently at the end of August into our new home, which with the growing belly, is still slowly coming together. The same week of moving, the stores started placing out the Halloween goodies, causing the girls to NEED their costumes before school even began. This preggo mam figured it was one last thing to plan at a later time, so we went ahead and grabbed our chosen costumes, planning and replanning the details in the weeks that followed.

Little L settled on a Vampire Cheerleader, and we were able to find some fun face stickers which I outlined with white face paint!

Little A fell inlove with a rainbow fairy costume, and with the help of trusty Pinterest, this mama found some fun face paint ideas to match!

Little K rounded us off as the cutest darn witch ever!!Although, admittedly, the hat and broom lasted literally one house before she gave up on them for the night, but atleast we got it on photo first!

Daddy being away meant this mama had the sole responsibility of waddling around the neighborhood with them, but their sweet smiles and thanks you's made it more than worth it!!! I hope everyone had a great Holiday night as well!!! One major holiday down for this year!!

Brianna

Crazy day catch up

A new move, baby brain, and three kids in school again the past month makes for a poorly neglected blog! Between getting settled in the new home and getting ready for baby in 8 more weeks (EEK), you would think scrapbooking was the last thing on my mind, but as we all know, paper has a way with our hearts, needing it to really keep our crafty hearts singing. Here are some fun layouts I have been making the past weeks for the greatest Scrapbook store, My Scraps and More!!!

Thanks for peeking in I hope everyone is have a beautiful fall!! The fall season in in full swing in my neck of the woods! Just beautifully perfect for the soul!!
                                                                        Brianna

hello exhaustion!!!

                                          Tomorrow marks my 28th week of pregnancy;

5 days past the first day of school here, little K started Pre-k, Little A started 2nd grade, and little  L  began the 4th grade ( oh how I wish the time would slow down!)

And 3 weeks since moving into our new home!

It has been a very tiring summer, between traveling to see family, packing, purchasing, moving, and unpacking into a new home, and general pregnancy tiredness. We have just three more sweet months to get settled in before baby girl #4 completes our Family. I have been getting things unpacked and ready, next step is to get her crib!!

On a more of a fun note, we have settled on the perfect name, making this all much more real!!!

I am so happy to be settling in, and getting everything unpacked,( I still have a large bin in the garage of all my crucial scrapbook supplies, but I cannot lift it :( so I am slowly unpacking it as I need things!!) I hope everyone had an amazing summer, and is as excited for fall as I am;( hello pumpkin spice latte's and fall scented candles!!)

Brianna

 

Photo Friday

I was par oozing  my old SCRAPBOOK BLOG looking for something for an upcoming design team challenge and came across some fun throwback photos that I had posted weekly on Fridays, and decided it was about time to keep that old idea going! So here is my first ( second round) of Photo Fridays. We just came off vacation from visiting family and seeing the most epic rock concert ever, The Foo Fighters. They played in Fenway Stadium in Boston, and they rocked ALL NIGHT LONG!!!! Minus the migraine I had all night, it was a pretty amazing date night with hubby and a great birthday gift for the two of us!!

                                                                Brianna

Playing Catch up

It has clearly been crazy here, between the pregnancy, the end of the school year, and also we have been house hunting to move out of our rental in a few months. This poor blog has been a tad bit neglected. I wanted to share some super fun layouts I have made for Scrapbook Challenges this past month or so.
I created this one for sketch 443. I loved breaking out some newer and older Heidi Swapp lines to create this page. I wanted to make a fun background by mixing punched circles.

The next layout I created for the fun Gold Foil Trend Challenge. Between gold foiled paper and rub-ons, this layout has quite the good amount gold foil. I wanted to play with my photos by doubling them up for a fun look.

And lastly today I wanted to share this fun layout  I made for sketch 440. I was pleasantly surprised to find I had one last months kit from Scrapbook Circle. I wanted to really play with the paper, and cut strips into a type of mosaic pattern. I snapped this fun pic one day of my headphones with the wire wrapped like a heart. Music is a big part of my soul and I loved creating a page to document some of my all time favorite songs( which is unbearably difficult to narrow down into a small list that fit in this journaling space.)

 As you can tell, I have been LOVING playing with my paper lately in strips, circles, fun shapes!
Thanks for sticking with me through my tiny blog hiatus and thanks for peeking in!!!
                                                               Brianna

Paint stick play

I was recently invited to participate in a fun art swap, at the genius thought process of the very talented Tina Walker. I mostly share scrapbook pages on this blog, and as most of you know, I am not big on adding a lot of art supplies and paint on my pages, but surprisingly I LOVE to draw and paint, I just don't mix the two. I loved the idea of pushing myself to create something to share outside of my normal go to "scrapbook pages".

 

 

After grabbing some paint sticks from Lowes, I went strait to pinterest for inspiration. I sat on these sticks for far too long, creating at the last minute as I always do! I found great ideas, I have been loving folk art, but nothing felt right. I thought to create a mural on all three sticks that could work split up, but again, nothing felt right. In the end I chose to go with a typical painting style of mine mixed with a typical layout embellishment I use on every page.

When painting without reason, I tend to create floating crosses in many colors. I love the movement it creates, and the fun colors it can add. If you look closely at my layout details, I ALWAYS use my bubble punch to create patterned paper dots in multi size, floating them around for added movement. When creating these sticks, it just felt natural to add these two elements together. I chose to add a few more painted orange dots and bright pink glitter confetti for visual interest.

I chose to use some music note washi tape to stamp my words on, and upon stamping, found the dark notes clashed too much with the black ink, so I chose to white wash them with white paint, and than a hint of orange paint for interest.
I searched and racked my brain for the right phrase to use on the sticks, when it just clicked that this is a swap of one anothers creativity, why not create a saying about creativity, and settled on
"Creative is a way of life". I know for me it is, as is music!!!

I was happy the way this project took me and am so glad to have gone with my instinct to join in!!!
We each created and sent out 3 sticks to other members in the group, making for some great art to collect and display! You can view the other amazingly creative sticks by checking out the other participant blogs below!!!
                                                                       Tina Walker  
                                                                   Michele Kosciolek       
                                                                     Susan M. Brown

                                                               Melissa McRay Johnson

                                                                       Sara Vukson

                                                                      DeeDee Catron

 

 

My loves

This month at My Scraps and More is all about spring. Spring to me is one big celebration of life by the beauty of nature, inspiring me to create a very festive page.

I wanted to create banners and LOVED all the of the fun and festive papers from the new American Crafts Fine and Dandy line. I just LOVED the gold vellum paper mixed with the bold black and white striped and polka dot papers.

I grabbed this quick photo of the girls one day, and chose to break it up and spread it out on the page. All grandma wanted for Mothers Day was a nice pick of her grand babies, but they were less than enthused to cooperate,( my have been the excitement of their new trampoline)

I suppose I cannot complain, atleast I got them all together! I LOVE the gold embellishments from Heidi Swapp and loved trailing them with other goodies below my photos. Just the right amount of fun to complete the page!
                                                                     Brianna

And then there were 6!

Clearly I have been neglecting this poor blog as it has been nearly tow months since posting, but all is within good reasoning. As tried for an planned, just a week before Easter we found we were expecting baby #4!!!!

It has been a tiring and sickly few weeks. I have the honor in pregnancy to never get sick, but rather stay nauseated 24/7 waiting for the sickness with no relief, it makes for little desire to do more than basic functions!
Just when I reach the second trimester, the golden thresh hold of less nausea, I have been hit like a brick wall with extreme exhaustion, sleeping nearly 12 ours this weekend and most days doing little more than laying on the couch. I remain greatly optimistic that the next few weeks will bring more energy and well being. Until then I was excited to share our wonderful news, and I hope to play blog catch up!!!
                                                                             Brianna

I AM my mother's daughter

I am a woman of many titles; mother to my amazing three girls, wife to my highschool sweetheart, caretaker of one slobbery mut. But no matter where life takes me, one thing I will always believe; every part of my past made me who I am in my present. I am my mother's daughter. I am the woman she raised me to be, and that will forever be my basis of being.

I wanted to keep the focus of this page centered near my photo, and chose to luster some embellishments within the chipboard frames of the super awesome I AM line by Simple Stories.

Looking at the fun cut squiggles, floating circles and embellishment clusters just makes me happy!

                                                                                Brianna

simply me

Happy Wednesday friends! I hope everyone had a fun day yesterday. I personally do not go out of my way for making a presence of little green men in the house this holiday, I blame it on a burn out of 25 days of making a presence from one little Elf all December month!
I do have another personal celebration to share today , however. This coming Friday little L and little A chose to participate in their school talent show. Coming from a family with a background of singing on stage ( myself and my mother), its always fun to see the girls overcoming  shyness to sing on stage. The amazement of a child through a parents eyes never stops surprising me.

I want my girls to always see themselves as my husband and I see them! They are sweet, smart, beautiful, and greatly loved! I would be lying if I didn't admit that they seem to be growing far too quickly for my heart to accept, but I wouldn't trade it for all the world.
This layout was created for this weeks challenge over at Scrapbook Challenges. It was a fun recipe challenge, and I had fun adding a hint of paint to my page.

 

I have been loving purple tones lately, and chose to paint small circles to back my paper dots trailing on my page!

I came across the sweetest quote on Pinterest to use on this page for little L.

 

How stunning is that coral colored frame from the Simple Stories, I am collection!! you can find a lot of the collection HERE in the My Scraps and More store!

I do believe I shall turn this saying into a canvas on her wall, may she always see it, read it, and deeply believe it!
You can join in this fun challenge and link up your take on it! You can view all the other fun layouts the team created HERE!!
                                                            Brianna

Summer & you

Happy Wednesday friends!!! Its another week which means a new sketch up at Scrapbook Challenges! I rarely work with large photos, but Had this large photo from uncle Ken6y's visit last April on hand. Making it work for me, I chose to rotate the sketch and use a large circle rather than a second photo!

Uncle's first request when flying to the west coast for the first time, and being from the east coast, was to visit and set foot in the Pacific Ocean!!

Little L and Uncle had great fun playing in the waves, and I wanted to create a playful movement that mimicked the fun nature of this photo. Punching all my little dots out, and armed with my sequins and tiny chipboard pieces, I created this fun bubble trail right over my photo!

The girls and us had so much fun that day, soaking up the sun and making sand angels at the beach! We will never forget this amazing week with Uncle before our move out of California.

We would love to have you play along with this weeks sketch and link up for a chance at this months prize. You can view the rest of the teams take on this fun sketch HERE. Thanks for peeking in and I hope yall are having warmer weather than the past few weeks as we are here!
                                                          Brianna

Let's capture Our Memory GD spot

Good morning Friends. I was asked to guest design for Let's Capture Our Memories this month, using this seriously GORGEOUS color palette.

Seriously How fabulous are these colors together! I found these colors in my too large to admit scraps and stash of Crate Paper product.

 

I created these fun banners to frame my page, alternating papers and loved how playful they turned out. I recently went digging through older photos to work with and came across this great photo of now hubby and I from High School ( yep, he has been stuck with me for over 14 years now)!

I am obsessed with these Heidi Swapp wood veneer words and cannot stop using them on all my current pages! And of course I made my floating confetti and sequins trail, it just adds such a stunning and dreamy look to my pages!

Thanks for peeking in and I hope yall are having a wonderful week!!

Brianna

Jillibean soup and Jot Magazine

I am so happy to share this love I have for pretty paper online, making great friends along the way. I was blessed to have Jot Magazine ask to use one of my layouts in the current issue #9. It showcases one of my favorite things to add to layouts; handstitching! You can find my layout on page 88 and you can view the rest of the lush inspiration HERE. The layout chosen was of my beaming little Kindergartener, Little A!

How I love that little stinker!! I was equally blessed to receive a short message yesterday telling me to check the Jillibean Soup blog today, where I found a layout of my oldest, little L! What a sweet surprise! I am so happy for moments like this to share these little smiling faces everywhere!
                                                                  Brianna

Pinwheel Passion with 17 turtles

This past week The My Scraps and More team were honored to be asked to work with the super fun cut files from 17 Turtles. I was asked to work with a super playful background cut file called Pinwheel Passion.

How fun is this design! I was super excited to use it, and little did I know, I would have to work with a slightly altered version. While waiting for my cut file to finish, a pair of tiny fingers came creeping into my scrappy space and " pressed buttons" stopping the cut when nearly done. At first I felt a bit defeated, removed the page from the mat, and realized, "you know what, I can work with this" !!!

I wanted to create a less common look, by choosing to fussy cut some shapes to pop out around my layout, creating some super fun dimension.

You can check out all the other amazing cut files used and layouts created this past week on the My Scraps and More Blog and be sure to check out the 17 Turtles store to see all the great cut files available!!! There are so many great designs, it will be hard to only choose a few!!!
                                                     Brianna

Love notes from Mommy

Good morning friends! It is "wicked" chilly here, and the girls and I are getting ready for our long 8+ hour drive back home to daddy today! I wanted to quickly share this sweet layout I created for the My Scraps and More forum. Friday challenges are a "free-for-all" challenge day, and I wanted to create another love themed layout in celebration of this month of love!
I chose to create this layout  as a love note to my youngest baby girl.

I used a bit of my American Craft Serendipity paper and some My Mind's Eye triangle paper mixed with my ever amazing October Afternoon Public Library paper and bits and pieces. I chose to write her a little love note as my journaling, embellished with a fun mix of floating elements!

I loved separating the My Minds Eye paper into separate triangles and using them to create great movement and direction to this sweet photo of my bubbly little girl!

Thanks for peeking at my "love notes from mommy". Now I am off for the long journey!!
                                                          Brianna

Mommy's always love their babies...Today, Tomorrow, and always!

Happy Wednesday Friends!! I hope everyone is having a lovely week! We are happily visiting family out of state and therefore have no complaints!! Wednesday means a new challenge up over at Scrapbook Challenges. This week we worked with a festive mood board.

How fun and versatile is this board! I love all the floating hearts and followed this look on my page with floating circles!

 

How yummy is this color combo!! I just had to use up this photo of my three sweet loves, and The pinks of their bathingsuits worked perfectly for the pink toned vellum circles!

I just love how well this floating hearts image from my Simple Stories stash looked here. Almost as if it were just made for this layout and mood board challenge.
 Some of the other takes on this board can be found on the Scrapbook Challenges Blog! We would love to see your take on the blog, where you can link up for a fun prize! In order to be eligible for our Monthly Prize drawing all completed layouts must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. PST February 28, 2015.
                                                               Brianna