Beach Cruisin'

Becky Young Designs has a gorgeous new kit in her store today called "Beach Cruisin'." I just love the bright colors in this kit (I'm a sucker for bright kits!) and the fun beachy elements. This kit has a very Hawaiian, tropical feel to it. I haven't been to Hawaii lately (sad day, I wish I could say that I had been) but my sister was so she sent along a picture of her daughter playing on the beach in Hawaii. That photo worked perfectly with this kit! Here's "Beach Cruisin'."

Here are my layouts using this kit. I realized that I used the cardboard color as backgrounds for both of them and didn't use the bright rainbow paper that I love so much! I'll have to make more layouts with this kit! Maybe I'll take my kids to Lake Michigan and snap some pictures at the beach there. Not quite as exotic as Hawaii! The first one I made for the font challenge at Stuff to Scrap.

Head on over to Becky Young Designs' store to pick up this kit!

Everyday Bliss

Did you know that Down This Road Designs is releasing a mini kit each month to help you with your Project 365 layouts? These mini kits are perfect to make layouts for a specific month. For example the April kit has an umbrella, flowers and some Easter elements. There is also a 13th kit that has the basics in it. After 3 months have been released, they are bundled up and you can get 3 mini kits for just $5! What a deal! Take a look at the two bundles that have been released already.



If you can wait for the bundle (which I know is hard because these minis are so cute!), you can get each month's kit for just $2 each. That's a great price too! I worked with Everyday Bliss 2nd Quarter Bundle and I actually used pieces from all 3 kits in my layout. You can mix and match! How cool is that?



Head on over to Down This Road Designs' store to pick up these bundles!

A Joyful Summer

Digi Designs by Nicole has a fun new kit out called "A Joyful Summer." The colors work perfectly for sunshine and water! It has cute sand and water elements in it. I had fun scrapping pictures of my kids playing in their sandbox and with their water table. They certainly don't stay dry playing with their water table! Here's a peek at "A Joyful Summer."

Here are my layouts. I made the second one for the Scraplift Challenge at Stuff to Scrap. I think the original layout is much better than mine but it's still cute, right?

I have a small freebie for you today too. It's another word art using the alpha and some elements from the kit. You can download it HERE. Don't forget to head over to Digi Designs by Nicole's store to pick up this kit.

Strikes & Spares

Been bowling lately? I sure haven't but it would be so much fun to go! I guess the most recent bowling I've done is wii bowling and I got a great score! When you take a look at this kit, I know you're going to want to go out to your local bowling alley and bowl! The Scrappy Kat has teamed up with Scrapalicious Cereal and put together 2 kits called "Strikes & Spares." These kits have tons of bowling elements plus snack bar food elements so it could be used for a cookout or a BBQ layout. It could also be used for any old random photos you may have, as you will see from my layout. Taking 15 month olds bowling would not be fun! Anyhow, take a look at "Strikes & Spares." Here's my layout that I made during a speed scrap a week or two ago. I very rarely scrap with 4 pictures but I love how it turned out. No bowling items in my layout!

Head over to The Scrappy Kat's store to pick up this kit! If you head to The Scrappy Kat's blog, some of her CT have made small freebies for you. You can find the links to her CT on her blog.

Contests

Why I signed up to compete in 2 contests while I'm on vacation, I'm not sure. Except that they have great prizes! One of the contests I'm doing is at Brownie Scraps called "Minitopia." I bought a ticket, got 5 great mini kits, and now am awaiting the second challenge to be posted. The first challenge was to use all the pieces of the first mini and scrap using white space and clustering. We had to scrap a moment that changed our lives. Well, we were all given aliases so I'm not scrapping pictures of myself-people would probably recognize my kids. I can't post my LO because then people will know my alias! There will be voting in THIS forum here at some point. If you know me well enough, you might recognize my photos and then you can vote for me!

The other contest that I'm competing in is "This Scrappers Got Talent" at Stuff to Scrap. I do NOT have an alias so I can show you my layouts. Each week we're given instructions on what to scrap. So far they definitely have been challenges for me! The first week was to scrap a layout of ourselves with the words "I am" somewhere on the page and to journal but not using complete sentences. I never scrap layouts of myself. Here's what I came up with. The kit is A Passion for Paisley by Scraps N Pieces at Stuff to Scrap. (I just realized I broke the rules because I used an exclamation mark! Oops)

I made it to the second round. The second week we had to do a top 10 list that used 10 pictures and was a two page spread. I haven't made many two page layouts. I really love what I came up with. The kit is Ambience by Digi Designs by Nicole at Stuff to Scrap. The border came from Utski Designs.

I haven't found out if I made it to week 3 but hopefully I will! There's no voting for this contest so I can't even bribe you for votes!

Playground Pleasure

Digi Designs by Nicole has a new kit out today that is perfect for all those outdoor playing photos. It's called "Playground Pleasure" and it has fun, bright colors. Plus it has such cute playground elements like a ball, swing, kite, wagon and more. I had a lot of fun with this kit! Here's a look at it.

I made 2 layouts, one using a playground picture and one for a birthday picture. This kit really is versatile!

I made a freebie word art for you using the alpha from this kit as well as a few elements. Here's a look at it.

You can download this freebie word art HERE.

Daddy's Hands

Gettin Scrappy with Britt teamed up with SAHM Scrapper to make a great father's day kit called "Daddy's Hands." I just loved the colors in this one. Lately I've been a sucker for orange! This kit is full of fabulous male elements and not a flower in sight! Take a look at this kit. There are coordinating brag book pages for this kit too that you can pick up and whip together an album to give to someone on Father's Day!

I made 2 layouts. I made one of my husband with our kids on his first father's day. The second one was actually more of a challenge because I made a Mommy and Me layout! I hadn't scrapped pictures of my son and I (because I have very few) and what we were wearing matched perfectly with this kit. I wanted to use flowers but there were none so I had be creative with my elements!

Strawberries

My niece loves strawberries! Her mom does too. It has been a tradition to have strawberries at my sister's birthday for as long as I can remember. Her birthday is in March and that is when the first strawberries used to arrive in stores. Now we can get them all year round but they don't start being really good until March! So when I saw Catia Cunha's Strawberry Girl kit at Digital Scrap Cafe I knew I needed it to scrap some pictures. This kit is perfect for all those strawberry lovers! There are so many cute elements-both strawberry and neutral elements. Take a look at this kit.

I scrapped some pictures of my niece eating strawberries. For some reason my kids don't like strawberries that much. Then again, I'm not the one know as a strawberry girl in my family so I guess my kids don't HAVE to like strawberries. More strawberries for me then!

I made this LO into a freebie QP for you! I did take off the title but if you want the font it is called "Pea Summer Funkyness" from kevinandamanda.com

You can download this freebie QP HERE. Head over to Digital Scrap Cafe to pick up "Strawberry Girl" by Catia Cunha.

A New Kit!

It's almost Father's Day! Have any plans? So far we have none! I don't even know what my children are getting their dad for Father's Day. I better start thinking about that. What a great gift to put together a mini album of your kids with their dad and give him that for Father's Day! I've got a wonderful kit to show you that would work perfect for Dad pictures.

Marti Scraps and Jacabean Designs have teamed up to create a kit called "One Cool Dad." The colors are so fun and masculine and the patterns are very cool! I had a great time scrapping with this kit. Let me show you what the kit looks like.

Here are my layouts. I really like how well the papers show off the photos.

I made a freebie cluster frame for you. Here's a look at the preview. You can download it HERE from the Brownie Supremes blog. Then head over to Brownie Scraps to pick up "One Cool Dad."

Watermelons

Scraps by Andrea has a beautiful kit in her store that I have been drooling over. I just love pinks and greens together. So "Watermelon Crawl" was just up my alley! The papers are beautiful and the elements so fun with all the slices of watermelon! This kit is quite large too with 21 papers and 68 elements! Take a look at this kit, you'll be drooling over it too.

Here are my layouts. I made the first one during a speed scrap. The second one I just made for the Template Challenge at Stuff to Scrap. The template is by Mommy Me Time Scrapper.