2 Peas Hop

December 22nd, means another round of the Garden Girl hop!

 Two of my favorite layouts in the Garden right now....

This is by Garden Girl Amy Heller. I love the traditional Christmas red paired with the wood washi. This is such an interesting mix of textures and details, all wrapped up in design perfection.

This peek is from fellow Pea Jaimeelynn's December Daily. She's used a beautiful combination of red and gold. Her book is filled with beautiful details and memories. It's inspired me to give the December Daily another shot. I just may do one right after the holidays and fill it with some of my favorite memories from this season.

Some of the things I've added to my collection this week:

1.  Kelly Purkey's Bright Idea Stamp
2. The Love Story Collection by Echo Park Paper Co.
3. Wood Veneer Alphabet by Studio Calico
4. Studio Calico's version of enamel dots, Gems
5. Crate Paper's Fourteen Collection
6. Secret Crush Photo Tabs by Pink Paislee

And now for a fun prize. How about a $10 gift certificate to twopeasinabucket.com? Just leave a comment and tell me what your favorite Holiday Tradition is and you're entered. Don't forget to leave me your PeaName too.  I'll announce the winner right here in one week.

And now hop on over to Garden Girl Lynn Ghahary's blog for more inspiration + links.

Jillibean Soup Staples

This boy loves art. He has since he was old enough to hold a crayon. I remember him drawing and painting the most colorful, detailed pictures. All of his trees were rainbow colored and I never once corrected him. He could spend hours sitting at the kitchen table creating.

I wanted to combine his love of color and rainbows (through the patterned paper) and the "where" of the story. Using the geotag symbol here made sense. I kept the layout pretty simple, based on white card stock and stripes of Jillibean Soup Staples paper. The circle die cut was filled with a  jumble of random Alphabean letters and made an interesting background for the ART title. The navy blue banner strip was cut using a Silhouette.  I used a black and white photo because the lighting and shadows in the picture were really bad. Changing it to B&W and sharpening it a bit 'saved it'.

These pictures are almost four years old and you can still find that very same boy drawing + painting in that same spot. As a matter of fact, just tonight he was drawing a very colorful, detailed Nutcracker for me. Some things really don't change.

Sadness

This is my First Grader. 

I've been hugging him extra tight all weekend. Each time I see the faces of the Newtown angels, I see my boy and his classmates.  I can't imagine the profound grief of those parents. I can't wrap my mind around this violent world we're raising children in. I try to keep him safe and sheltered from it. But time is not on my side. I pray. I hope. I vote. I wait on the world to change.

Echo Park This & That Christmas

Back into the Christmas spirit and way back in time. This is Nico and my Dad in 2006 at our local Christmas tree farm. He was so tiny and bald at the time. Hence that knit reindeer hat. I thought it was so cute at the time. Now I think it just looks 'different'. Ha!

I started the layout on the woodgrain paper in the This & That collection by Echo Park.  I love the traditional holiday colors and pretty patterns in this line. They compliment my photos + story.

The arrow and "tree tradition" were cut using a Silhouette. The rest of the embellishments are stickers and chipboard from the line. You can download a printable PDF and full instruction on the Echo Park Paper website.

SUPPLIES USED:

InLinkz.com

Jillibean Grandma's Lima Bean Soup

Our challenge over on the Jillibean team was to design a page around a long title quote. And I came up with this one...

I made this right after Thanksgiving and the quote was so fitting for the time. The layout is pretty simple and straightforward. Layers of horizontal patterns and one super long title using Alphabeans. The arrow and pocket balance out the photo on the opposite side. Everything centers and draws the eye back to the title. This page is so different than what I usually do - and I like that!

SUPPLIES USED: 

Grandma's Lima Bean Soup Dry Lima Beans Paper Lima Bean Diecuts

InLinkz.com

Believing

I know that the 'believing' days in this house will probably end way before I'm ready. Nico still believes in the magic of Santa with his whole heart. He knows kids at school that don't, but mostly he thinks they're crazy, foolish kids. Nico can be just a wee bit bossy and if he says Santa is real, then it just is.

I'm preparing for the inevitable though. For now, I'm enjoying this little bit of magic...

I was trying to come up with a way to use all of these wood circles by Studio Calico. The package comes full to the brim with different sizes and edges. Filling the circles with patterned paper, flair and a photo added dimension and design to this page. It also used up a whole lot of them without overwhelming the photos.

This layout is copyright twopeasinabucket.com

The title was cut with the Silhouette and the font is Lobster. A cluster of tags at the upper right, enamel dots and some journaling complete the layout.

New Christmas Video

Another new video for 2Peas. Yup, two in a row for me this month. I don't even remember why it was scheduled that way, something to do with an extra Monday in November I think. It's my last one in the Memory Keeping Mondays series and I enjoyed it.

The story is about Nico and our tradition of reading Christmas books during this time of year.

I combined a lot of older October Afternoon from last year and a few new things I picked up this year. The vellum pocket is something I sketched out months ago and was waiting to use on the just the right page. I thought the wood stars would like super cool through the vellum. I do like how the title shines through this colorful page.

Take a look at how it came together. PS. Sorry about the background 'noise'. There was a neighborhood football game going on in my backyard. I didn't realize how crazy loud they were being!

2Peas Video: Pebbles Seen & Noted

This week's Memory Keeping Monday video centers around the geotag. The funny little mapping symbol that's so popular right now. Every time I see it, it reminds me of Google maps. My assignment was to do an "in review"page. I feel like so many of my pages are already an "in review" type, so I decided to add a little twist - symbols.

It started with the Silhouette geotag shape, the arrows in the patterned paper and then finally the longitude and latitude coordinates for one of our favorite islands.

The story is about Nico and his love of the ocean. Near or in the water is where you could find him on this vacation.

This layout is copyright twopeasinabucket.com

The bold color scheme, die cuts and patterned paper are all Pebbles' Seen & Noted. To take a peek at how the page came together, you can watch the video here:

SUPPLIES USED:

Pebbles Seen & Noted Mini Polaroid Folders Seen & Noted Journaling Cards Ki Memories Flashback Reasons Enamel Dots Lily Bee Alphabet

InLinkz.com

And the winner of an Echo Park collection of her choice is...

Melinda said...

I love your non traditional Christmas colors! It's always so nice to see something other than red and green for Christmas!

NOVEMBER 19, 2012 9:23 AM 
Melinda, please email me with your choice and mailing address and we'll get it right out to you. Thanks for hopping along with the Echo Park team.

Jillibean Pumpkin Chowder Soup

First, a page I made for the Jillibean Soup blog using the Country Pumpkin Chowder collection. It's about Nico and how thankful we are to have him and how much he changed our lives. I used pictures from the past - I think he was a year old in those and then some from years later. I like using 'then' and 'now' photos on a page. You can see how quickly kids change.

I love the little trees in this collection, so I used them as a focal point of the design. The sewn triangles lead the eye to my favorite photo. The pop of orange and intertwined circles add texture and interest to the design.

And speaking of thankful, we've been coming down from the carb overload otherwise known as Thanksgiving. It was crazy and loud and everything we love. Too much food, lots of family and kids running around. We totally crashed this weekend...

And then he opened the book. The most important book of the season. Hello Toys R Us.

He gets a Sharpie and methodically looks at each and every thing. Then he circles like mad. We went from Thanksgiving to Christmas in the span of one toy book.

Happy Turkey Day

This is the 15th Thanksgiving dinner we've hosted at our house. In a row. Let's just say I have the prep and set up down to a science. It took me years to figure it out. A bit of work each day for a week and when the big day arrives, I get to to enjoy it too. Mostly.

I woke up at the crack of dawn to put the bird in. The house is so quiet, it's still dark outside. I was thinking that in a few hours, it will be utter chaos in here. Good, funny, happy loud family chaos. 26 guests this year - some friends, some family, a bunch of kids, one new baby and a great-grandmother.

I predict that there will be at least one argument about politics (maybe two), 3 broken dishes, 2 report cards that are bragged about, one Band-Aid dispensed, a tray of uneaten lasagna left (yes lasagna, don't even ask), four screaming matches about the football game, 10 photos taken (yup, just 10), many games of dominoes, one dessert that never gets served, a dozen spats amongst the little ones, 6 loaves of Italian bread too many and countless family stories about Thanksgiving past retold.

Not perfect, like you see on television. But perfect for this crazy clan I call family. I'm blessed to have them all.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Echo Park Hop

Welcome to the Echo Park blog hop today! I created this card using the Happy Holidays mini-theme kit. It's a very simple card that I put together in just a few minutes. The accordion flowers were cut out of vellum with the Silhouette and are perfect for adding some opaque texture to the card.

Be sure to follow the blog hop list below as you hop from one blog to the next. Return to the Echo Park Paper blog at any time for the next blogger on the list in case you get lost or confused! ONE winner will be selected from each blog to receive an Echo Park Paper collection kit of their choosing. To qualify for the kit, comments will be due by midnight EST, Sunday, November 25, 2012 to qualify for the drawing. 

Echo Park Paper

Kandis Smith

Davinie Fiero

Susan Stringfellow

Tamara Tripodi  

Linda Auclair

Lowri McNabb

Wendy Sue Anderson

Jennifer Gallacher 

Echo Park Fall Fever

This layout is big on photo and low on journaling - not usually my style. I really didn't have much to say about this old shot other than I love it. So I played up some pretty product (Echo Park's Fall Fever) and a clever little title. I had to find a way to tie the 'owl' thing in. I couldn't just use random owls. Can't do it.

The very thin 'everyday' was cut with a Silhouette. I love how it can handle intricate shapes without shredding them. The banner negative was also cut with the Silhouette. The button in the title is simply there for necessity. I needed some way to stick that long banner to my photo. That button hides the adhesive. The rest of the title is stapled on.

For more instructions and tips on how to cut vellum with a Silhouette see this Echo Park Paper blog post.

SUPPLIES USED:

Echo Park Fall Fever Sticker Echo Park Fall Fever Paper Echo Park Fall Fever Paper Echo Park Fall Fever Paper Echo Park Fall Fever Paper

InLinkz.com

Hello Halloween

Halloween finally came for kids in New Jersey last night. And these three were non the wiser that they missed it by almost a week.

We followed the usual traditions....the cousins, grandparents, pizza party and dressed the house up. We've been celebrating this way since Nico was born.

But it was hard. My heart really wasn't 100 percent into it for the first time. It's hard to move on when there's so much devastation in my home State. Heck, half the kids across town are still in the dark. My niece and nephew haven't been to school since the 26th.

And yet...we get up everyday and try to get back to our routines. Support our neighbors, donate, celebrate, count our blessings and keep traditions. Life goes on.