KELLIE STAMPS AUGUST REVEAL

This month Kellie Stamps is releasing a birthday stamp and it's AWESOME! You can buy it in digital form or as a clear stamp. And can I just add that I love the Wayne's World wink!

My daughter turned seven in August so this stamp set for perfect to use for my traditional birthday interview project. I also wrote a bit about her day.

I found this pin to inspire my layout design. It gave the layout great movement together with the photos of her trying out her brand new roller blades.

Here is the birthday interview translated into English:

My favorite colur: blue, purple and pink
My favorite toy: my crafty stuff
My favorite TV-show: Ben 10
My favorite movie: Frozen
My favorite animal: ladybug
My favorite game: Twister
My favorite game to play outside: running with my friends
My best friends are: Smilla, Thea, Rosaline, Sally and Isabel
My favorite thing to do: sports such as gymnastics and dancing
My favorite holiday: Halloween
My favorite food: sushi
My favorite candy: anything jelly
My favorite drink: soda
My favorite breakfast: pancakes
My favorite school subject: maths
When I grow up I want to be: someone who makes things like furniture

Happy birthday Nea!

/Magdalena

SC DESIGN SCHOOL

I knew that catherine Davis' class Design School would blow me away, and it has. Her design skills are beyond amazing. I've made as many layouts for the class as I've made for the rest of the year all together. So much inspiration!

Here's the layout I made after reading through the Typography lessons.

This is how you illustrate your title and cover up the fact that there is only one E in the kit. I drew inspiration from this pin.

I found that what I struggle with in design is movement. I'm not fond of too obvious designs like putting too much emphasis on the visual triangle or using really obvious arrows to point the viewer in the right direction. Subtle is my game! When I found this washi tape I knew it was discrete enough to work as my arrows towards the photo. 

Here is another movement layout I did, using sequins to symbolize the waterfall we had just come down.

I'd also like to share a sneak for Kellie Stamps August release. This month her stamps are birthday themed. You won't be disappointed! Full project will be shared on Saturday the 27th.

See you on Saturday!

/Magdalena

JULY REVEAL FOR KELLIE STAMPS

Hey peeps!

As you may have noticed my sneak didn't go up on Tuesday as planned. The issue is that I had 2 spreads for our July PL  completed, and I hated how they looked. I had decided on doing 12x12 for the second half of 2016, and the format wasn't working for me at all. I ended up redoing the pages and going back to 9x12. 

So, instead I'll be sharing a layout for Kellie Stamps July reveal. During the summer me and my collegue have a reading competition with the kids in our class. If they read more pages than us during the summer, we will throw them a reading party after returning to school. So far I've read 10 books and 2805 pages. I've made a layout to document it.

The title is made up of two separate digi stamps. This one and this one! The SUMMER digi stamp came out earlier in the year, but the "reading list" is brand new. And, it also comes as a clear stamp! I borrowed my daughter's water colours and painted in my title. The ink from the printer blead a little, so I cleaned up the lines with a black marker. The patterned paper is from the most recent Studio Calico scrapbook kit, Pool Party, and the thickers are from my stash. I stamped the dates for which the competition is open in red ink.

Which means there are only two more weeks of summer vacation for me. Sigh.

/Magdalena

SUMMER PAPER CRAFTING

First off, I want to let yuou know that the Slim Jim clear stamp alpha set in now in stock at Kellie Stamps. I've had a lot of fun with these stamps! Here's another card I've made using the Slim Jim alphas.

My July sneak for Kellie Stamps was meant to go up this weekend but I ran into some problems with the pocket pages I was making. I'm hoping to be able to post them tomorrow.

Are you taking Catherine Davis' design class at Studio Calico? I signed up the moment I heard she was teaching it. I knew it would be awesome, and it is! The first lesson was on editing. This is my first lauout after taking her class.

I was inspired by this pin for the title:

Instead of the strict grid, I followed the flowing line of the grass on the sand dune my daughter is running down.

Hoping to see you with some Kellie Stamps sneaks tomorrow!

/Magdalena

PL JUNE

With the June pages finished I'll be starting another PL album. I'm planning to do a 12x12 album for the second part of 2016. I've taken lots of photos this month so there is quite a bit of work left to wrap up June. Here are my first 5 pages of the month.

I'm loving the square cornerns of the documenter cards this month. So much easier to work with. I've lifted an old spread by Catherine Davies where she used punched circles to pull the page togther. I've lifted it many times before, I just love how it looks! Find the YEAH! digital stamp here.

While I have you here reading my blog I must really, really recommend the graphic novel series "Love & Key" by Joe Hill. It's a bit brutal but the story is really amazing for those that enjoy stories about the supernatural. It centres around a family that inherits a large, very old house filled with mysterious keys that unlocks anything you can imagine, including a great evil.

In this spread I used a mix of old and new cards to give it a summer feel. Instead of punched circles I did some messy date stamping to create cohesiveness.

I really love doing pages in all one colour! Here I pulled every red card I had and picked my favorites. This whole page is about a day spent with my collegues celebrating the last day of school. Summer vacation, whoohoo! (Faces blurred for privacy.)

Here is a mix of photos from our first week off. I stuck maintly to black & white plus bright yellow. Pineapple sunglasses FTW!

This week I have a challenge posted on the Studio Calico blog. Hop on over and see what it's about!

/Magdalena

MAKING CARDS

How I miss Studio Calico's card kit! I only got it 3 times or so, but it was enough to fill my stash of birthday cards and other greetings for a long time. I easily got 20 cards from one kit. Recently SC had a sale and they had a bunch of card kits in the shop. I only really wanted one, the Galileo kit with the cute bunny and ice cream stamp. It got sold out before I managed to grab it but another member kindly sent it to me since she had several already. SC rocks that way!

Me abd my daughter sat down to make a few cards today, and this one is my favorite!

It looks like the little bunny is popping up in the window waving it's arms and going "Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello..." It's a top folded card that I punched a window in and then glued a strip of the hello paper inside. The bottom of the bunny lies flat but I tucked some foam adhesive under the ears. The card still looked a little empty so I stiched on the silver banner in the corner.

In the card below I stamped the strawberries in red ink, then I flipped the stamp over and used the back of the stamp with pink ink to color them in. I love the contrasting blue cardstock I used as base. I added the gold heart for a little additional color and texture.

I hope you haven't missed out on Kellie Stamps June release that includes clear stamps this time! Here I combined the Galileo bunny stamp with the Slim Jim alpha stamp set to create a fun bunny birthday party.

My daughter let me borrow her water colors to paint the bunnies in, and then I added some sequins as confetti.

And here are two more cards I made today:

I'm not a card maker, and only sit down and make them in batches like this maybe once a year, but I hope I have given you some fun easy card making ideas. I don't have the patience to spend more than maybe 10-15 minutes per card, I'm sure there are more you like that.

Keep on making stuff!

/Magdalena

ROUNDING UP MAY PL

I've wrapped up my May pages in our PL album. I've used a whole lot of Kellie Stamps digital brushes, old and brand new. First up is a page about a family day in Stockholm. For those of you that don't know Swedish geography we live about 100 km north of Stockholm. By train it takes us just short of an hour to get there. Usually we have some sort of cultural and educating activity planned when we go there (teacher moms, sigh), but this time was just for shopping and having lunch.

The "DID SOMEONE SAY ___________________" is so awesome! I love it! I see myself getting so much use of that one. All digital brushes on this page are from the June release and you can get them here. This month there are also TWO clear stamp sets and a sticker sheet in the release. Don't miss these!

I rarely record anything sporty because we're not a very sporty family, but in this page there's a whole lotta sports! The top two photo are from a 5 km run I participated in with my collegues. It's a race aimed at recruiting blood donors. I forgot my running shoes at home so had to run 5 km in my Chucks. But I did it! The bottom photos are of our daughter who started soccer practice. She has since quit soccer practice... We'll see if it is an interest she wants to pursuit again in the future. 

On my last page of the month I recorded the books I've read in May. You can find the book rating digi stamp here. I found this fun photo of Stephen King on Pinterest and kept the heart on his shirt red while changing the rest of the photo to black and white. I've read his Bazaar of Bad Dreams. It's an anthology of short stories. I liked the stories and the fact that he has written a short introduction to each story talking about how he came up with the idea for it. I've also read parts 5 and 6 in the Locke & Key series by Joe Hill. It is BRILLIANT! If you like horror and graphic novels you need to read it. So good! I got them from the library, but after I finished the series I ordered the set from an online book store. I know I'll be reading them again. My last book in May is "Kunskapens frukt" (The Fruit of Knowledge) by Liv Stromqvist. It's about the role female sexuality has played throughout history. It's presented in the form of a graphic novel. Very interesting and enlightening!As you see in the photo I'm currently reading The Fireman by Joe Hill but I haven't finished it yet. All books are added to my 2016 Reading Challenge Pinterest board.

Yesterday my June documenter kit from Studio Calico arrived so I can finally start in on my June pages. Looking forwards to it!

/Magdalena

HELLO SUMMER!

It's June and summer is finally here! Only two more days of school for the kids, and six more days of work for me, then eight long weeks of summer lazyness. I can't wait! We have a trip to Legoland in Denmark planned and the rest of our summer activities will be spontaneous. 

Our daughter recently signed up for soccer practice, and that inspired the journaling of the layout above. The Swedish word "Hopp" means both jump and hope, and I wrote all about my hopes for her not to have to suffer through sports and gymnastics like I did in school. I was so tiny as a child, short and skinny, and that is rarely an advantage in sports. I was I ran the slowest, jumped the lowest and couldn't catch a ball to save my life. My fine motor skills have always been top notch but my grand motor skills are lousy. I'm so happy that isn't the case for my daughter. 

I used the bouncing balls as a guide to place my punched circles at the bottom of the journaling page, and then added a heart sticker under the title. Since my photo paper is A4 size and not letter size I needed a strip of paper to fill it out. Some gold star sequins finishes the layout. 

Today I'm also sharing a sneak for the Kellie Stamps June release:

/Magdalena

WEEKEND RECAP

Spring is changing into summer and I am finding myself exhausted. May is such a busy month for teachers, wrapping up the year. In my last post I promised to post my NSD projects but I never ended up making any. I did spend the day sorting through my chaotic recipe folder. I designed a 4x6 card for printing and then hand writing the recipes. I used digital stamps to adapt the card to different categories - salads, bread, main courses, desserts, snacks and drinks. I'm still missing dividers and tabs, but I'm so glad to finally have this done!

This weekend has been cleaning, grocery shopping and doing laundry. I love when it's warm enough to be able to hang the laundry outside! I've been baking muffins with fresh rhubarbs from our garden and even taken some time to read. I've read more books so far this year, than I did in all of 2015. To follow my reading progress during 2016 visit my reading challenge Pinterest board.

Last weekend I also wrapped up our April PL,and started in on the May pages. I used Kellie Stamps May release "My fave" digital stamp set on my photos.

I hope you haven't missed that my new class "Pocket Page Design" is up at Big Picture Classes! I've put together seven lessons each with a video and several examples on how to use different design principles to tell your pocket page stories. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

/Magdalena

NSD

Today is National Scrapbook Day peeps! What challenges will you be taking part in? I'm waiting for Studio Calico to start posting their CT challenges. 7 am for SC is 1 pm for me. While I'm waiting I'll be working on this combined challenge by Kellie Stamps and Color Cast Designs.

I'll be updating my blog with my NSD projects, but while you wait I'll let you have a look at Kellie Stamps May release. Hurry to get yours! The special is only for today.

Happy NSD friends!

/Magdalena

APRIL PL AND A SNEAK

I've started in on my April pages for our Project Life album. Last month I managed to put together twelve (12!)pages, but April won't be nearly as many. I've only been able to share one of those pages, yesterday on my blog, because the rest of them I made for my upcoming "Pocket Page Design" class for Big Picture Classes. I had so much fun design the pages and the class, and I learnt a lot myself. I really hope you will check out my class when it arrives! I have no definite date yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I have.

If you'd like to make a set of donut coasters for yourself check out this pin.

And here is a sneak of Kellie Stamps May digital stamp release. I will be posting the full project on May 5th, which is also the release date for the new sets.

/Magdalena

DOCUMENTING YOUR READING

This year I've taken the time to read more books than I did last year. I like to document the books I read with short reviews included in my project life album. I also document our children's reading progress, which I'm sure they'll appreciate as adults.

All reading related digital brushes in these pages come from the digital Book Nerd set by Kellie Stamps.The "bookworm" plastic word is from a Studio Calico addon from last year. I had SO much trouble attaching it! I tried gluing it on three times. The third time I put a weight on top and it actually stuck to the page protector, but instead the "bo" broke off as I turned the page. Gah! I just gave up, ripped the rest of the word off and used my tape roller to attach it. So annoying people! Plastic words do not belong on the outside of page protectors...

Tomorrow I'll be sharing more of my April PL pages!

/Magdalena

HERE WE GO

Another layout using Kellie Stamps March release. I'm so happy that I decided to do layouts this month, rather than PL spreads. I do have parts and pieces of at least ten Studio Calico scrapbook kits, but so rarely make layouts these days. When I do, it's like "Oh yeah, THIS is what I used to do!" 

I started out trying to make a grid layout using two photos of my kids ice skating this winter. I enjoy working in PSE putting my design together and then printing it in separate layers, but I just couldn't get it right this time. Then I removed one photo and this happened. I like it so much more! I found a gold transparancy that I cut a few banners from and also a pack of gold thickers that I used for snow flakes.

I hope you haven't missed out on the fact that Kellie will be releasing her designs as clear stamps as well! She has extended her pre-order until the end of March 19th Aussie time! So hurry!

/Magdalena

MARCH RELEASE FROM KELLIE STAMPS

The March release from Kellie Stamps is here! I have used the AM to PM digital brush kit to put together a collage of my current favorites.

I used my two inch circle punch to create a fun grid and added a die cut heart to break up the grid a bit and put focus on the photo of me and the kids.

In the center you can see my most recent purchase for the 2016 Reading Challenge, Stephen King's new book The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. I'll be adding a short review of it on my Pinterest board as soon as I finish it. My favorite album at the moment is Stormar by Lastkaj 14,a local band. I warmly recommend finding it at Spotify! My favorite youtube channel for fun nail art is HannahRoxNails.

/Magdalena

DECEMBER DAILY 2015 FLIP-THROUGH

As promised in the blog post where I shared the last pages of my DD 2015, I have put together a flip-through video where I talk about the stories and the products I used. I have made a few tweaks here and there since finishing my album. One of the things I did was add a few label tabs along the right side. 

I was quite nervous to post a video where I had to speak English for a full 10 minutes, but I did it! Mistakes, accent and all. Just do it - right! I'm hoping to be brave enough to post some process videos with a spoken commentary this year too. 

So, without further ado, here is my video. Enjoy!

/Magdalena

DECEMBER DAILY PART 4

I'm all but done. Just Christmas Eve left to do. I will end my December Daily on the 24th since that is the day we celebrate Christmas here in Sweden. Today I'm sharing days 15 to 23.

For day 15 I went with a photo of one of our Christmas presents. The "So Very Merry" is from Studio Calico and is stamped on the dag. I took the photo before I signed the tag, so that I could add my journaling digitally. On day 16 are the liquorice toffees I make every year. The recipe, in Swedish, can be found here.

On the 17th I took our boy to the dentist. All embellishments here are from Ali Edwards' Cheer story kit.

For day 18 I put the number and journaling on a sheet of vellum. The "Be Merry" is from Kellie Stamps Grinch Moment digi brush set. I told the story of this electric chandelier or whatever you'd call it. My mother bought it with her first pay check in 1956. She was 13 years old and working extra at a local bakery. We still put it up for Christmas every year.

This one is selfexplanatory. :) I'm sure there are many a Star Wars page in the December Dailys of 2015.

On the night of the 20th we had an aurora borrealis over Uppsala. I wasn't up at that time though, so I borrowed this photo from a local photographer named Johannes Rousseau. He's taken so many beautiful pictures of our town. Go take a look!

Last day of schoolfor the kids, and for me of course. Being a teacher has it's perks. This is my ugly Christmas sweater for the year. Love it! I had some fun with the Magic digi brush set by Kellie Stamps, combining it with some old Studio Calico brushes in red.

And the last two pages for this post. Day 22 is another favorite Christmas candy of mine, homemade peanut butter cups. I have shared this recipe before along side a few other favorites of mine, in this post. On the 23rd we went grocery shopping, among other things.

Stay tunes for my last December Daily post - Christmas Eve.

/Magdalena