My winter wardrobe

Remember my capsule wardrobe post a while back? If not you can read it here! It seriously is the best thing ever. I just finished putting together my winter capsule. I know I don't have to add accessories, but I had the space, so I did. 

I like getting a bit of help combining things in new ways.What I do is search Pinterest for the items I already have, like "plaid shirt", then I pin all the outfits I like with that item. My fall and winter capsule is almost the same, so that was an easy transition. I strongly dislike spring clothes and colors, so I already know that is going to be difficult. As a help I've already started pinning things for spring. Follow me on Pinterest if you want to see a few of the ideas I've found. See the red button to the right of this text!

/Magdalena

November PL

November is awful for taking pictures here in Sweden. It's so dark, and this year it's been even worse than usual. Stockholm had 2 hs of sun in the entire month! This means I didn't take many photos this month, so one spread is all I have for my November PL.

Materials: SC Walden PL kit

/Magdalena

My first Park Ave. layouts

I only got the scrapbook and PL main kits this month. Limiting the number of products I have to work with really helps my creativity. I've actually cancelled my scrapbooking subscription at Studio Calico. December was my last month. In the future I'm only getting the PL kit monthly, and then buying scrapbook products when I need them or really like them. It will take some pressure off that I have been feeling when not being able to use up a kit. I don't want to spend money on items that will sit in a crop bag. Well, here are my first two Park Ave. layouts:

I couldn't believe my luck when I found two whole sheets of POW paper in my stash! One silver, one gold. I really miss those papers and I would lovefor SC to start carrying them again. On this layout I used my craft knift to cut out some of the diamonds on the patterned paper. I then backed it with the silver POW, and added some silver sequins. That's a lesson I learned from Lisa Truesdell. Always add some thing circular when you have many straight lines and sharp angles on your project.It really softens things up.I love how wintery the layout feels, as if it's covered on ice crystals. For the words on the photo I used these templates by One Little Bird. 

Our daughter takes dancing lessons "in the city" as she calls it. So this adorable cityscapepaper was a perfect embellishment. The journaling is about her stagefright, and about her being sad that she was too shy to perform at their dance recital. That's what the tile is for - move forward, don't dwell on this one. Better luck next time sweet girl!

/Magdalena

Hello Christmas

I've started in on my December PL pages. Since the only holiday themed PL cards I have are from the SC mini addon kit, I also went through my stash and added any and all cards I could find with a Christmassy feel to them. The photos I had were from several occasions so I scattered lots of circles over the pages to make the spread feel cohesive.

I spend the entire yesr waiting for my favorite tea shop to start carrying their Christmas flavoured teas again. To document what flavours I bought this year I cut and punched pieces from the golden paper bag the one of the teas came in, and wrote down the flavours. Saffron & chili, mulled wine and orange & cloves.

My favorite card turned out to be the top left one on the second page. It's a photograph of my son's class singing for us at their annual Advent morning celebration. Someone from the audience had their big head right smack in the middle of the picture, so I punched out a circle and stuck it on top. It turned out really nice!

/Magdalena

Halloween PL

I loved the Halloween PL card addon that came with the Studio calico October kit, so I wanted to use as many of those cards as possible. I put together a full page for Halloween. The kids and me also had some fun with our photos at www.picmonkey.com.

The Halloween embellishments are from the Witch Hazel line from October Afternoon. I think it came out two years ago, but I still have some leftover product.I'm very fond of everything Halloween so I tend to hord it. ;)

/Magdalena

GRIDS GRIDS GRIDS

Is what I do when I don't know what else to do design wise. Because a grid aaaaalways works.

Two-square grid:

For me a page without a living thing is too boring. So for this autumn quote page I added this photo I took of a Mourning Cloak butterfly I found inside a hollow branch. Isn't it beautiful? I used gold ink on the veneer heart and then I wanted to sew the twine into golden rays coming out of the heart. I later noticed it looks more like a spider. But hey, it goes with the bug theme, right?

Four-square grid:

This layout is about a trip to the city to visit grandma. The pumpkin photo is just for added interest. And I love that happy little fox! It goes well with the smiling cloud and the picture of our daughter. I did some off-stamping because I didn't want the title to take center stage. The veneer leaves are cut from a wreath that came in one of the SC Walden addons. The strip on the bottom is navy, and matches Nea's sweater. And yes, that mango cheese cake was delish!

Six-square grid:

These photos are from the same occasion as the top layout. We had a picnic in the meadow next to our house. It's used for grazing sheep in the summer, and full of large rocks and fallen trees, and so much fun for the kids play with. Initially I wanted to do a digi stamp title and had a nice one that said "wonder" - I think it was from a class taught by Shanna Noel. The stamp never made it onto the layout but the title was already in my head by then. I also took a tip from Nicole Samuels and traded one of the letters for an image. 

All materials are from the Walden kit and addons.

/Magdalena

AMAZING FALL COLOURS

I love the colors of the Studio Calico PL kit for October. They went so well with my photos for the month.

I have two more pages for October to do, before I start in on November. It's such a hard month for photographing. It's SO dark here in Sweden nothing really turns out good. Last year I only managed two pages for the entire month. Looking forwards to some snow falling to lighten things up!

/Magdalena