Weekend Life + Fancy Pants Down by the Shore

I'm just catching up from this past weekend. It's Thursday, I know! What can I say, the last week of school for Nico has been filled with PTO parties, activities and duties. But today we officially start summer vacation. I'm not sure who's more thrilled, me or Nico.

This weekend we celebrated with our annual Father's Day picnic at my Dad's. It's the one thing my Dad asks for every year, for us to gather and me to cook his favorite foods. So I start on Saturday shopping, prepping, cooking and on Sunday while the Dads rest and the kids swim, I man the BBQ. On Sunday night I fall into bed exhausted, but happy. Happy to have so many great Dads in my family.

 These three are growing up much too fast. If I could keep them this age, I would. They are just the right amount independent, innocent and opinionated. I love just talking with them. Their perspective makes me smile.

She is loving everything neon. Who would've thought THAT would come back? I told her that back in the day I wore fingerless neon gloves and gummy bracelets like Madonna. She asked "who the heck is Madonna?". Gasp.

Nico lost another tooth while snorkeling in the pool. He  comes out with blood dripping down his chin, hands me the tooth and then jumps right back in. Ahhhh...little boys.

Every once in a while I take a picture and really capture their personalities. In this one I got that plus their relationship. My nephew with his sad little eyes and my niece who is the epitome of bubbly and strong. She protects him fiercely even though he's older. They've been through a lot. I must scrap this one!

And this little pip hasn't changed all that much. He's still trying to conquer that shark (see below).

This is a monochromatic layout I made a while ago for 2Peas. I used navy, turquoise and light blue paper and embellishments from the Down the Shore line by Fancy Pants.

I started by laying down wide strips of patterned paper in a horizontal pattern. Next, came the two 4x6 photos. To offset all these horizontal lines, I layered the embellishments in a vertical line along the left side of the page. By alternating tags and envelopes I created punches of color and different shapes to the otherwise boxy page. The circle shapes in the buttons, flair and envelope enclosures are also an important design element - they add movement to the page. The monochromatic color scheme and staying with one collection pack, made this page quick and easy to put together.

And the photos from last year on the page and the one I took this year prove - the more things change, the more they stay the same. I have a feeling Nico will still be trying to wrestle that shark at 21.

Milestones

This month our Garden Girl theme assignment at 2Peas is milestones. I pretty much knew exactly what I was going to do from the start. Goodness knows milestones have had a significant impact in our lives over the past 7 years.

Nico was a preemie. Not a month early, but three. What they call in medical terms a micro preemie. Little miracles who survive, but who oftentimes suffer from the long term effects of their prematurity. So you never know if autism or ADHD or cerebral palsy is in your future. And so over the past seven years we've patiently ticked off some of the most serious complications. But no matter how big and strong he grows, in a flash I can still remember Nico as that tiny preemie.

I've done a total of three pages on this subject. It's too overwhelming and I don't necessarily want Nico to think that prematurity defines or limits him in any way. So that's the story behind the page...

The design was the fun part (it usually is). I started with a mood board that 2Peas provided. I loved the color palette of mint and navy. I added bits of kraft and yellow for a little pop. I used embellishments from the Lucky Charm and Unchartered Waters collections to get this layered look.

While you might think that anchors are just a nautical element, they are also a symbol of stability and strength. Constellations remind me of the future and dreams. Stability. Strength. Future. These were all things closely related to the story behind the page. I rarely use embellishments that don't somehow tie into the theming of the page. Sometimes you just have to look beyond the first layer of meaning.

The layers behind the photos include a calendar (the marking of time), an anchor (strength), a sun punch (happiness), and finally a round constellation die cut. I added a bullseye stamp and enamel dots to further embellish the die cut.

To balance out the huge title and embellishment cluster, I added a few rows of chipboard numbers to represent the months/years of waiting. The large jewel includes one of my favorite sentiments ('choose happiness') and adds a little pop of dimension to the rows.

Telling a story through photos, symbols and pretty paper. This is what I love about design.

Pay it Forward

***WINNERS: I randomly chose email #'s: 7, 21, 75 and 82. The winners are:

Cardstock - Chelsea S.

Cardstock - Mendi Y.

Embellishments - Michelle U.

Embellishments - Anya L.

Thanks so much everyone for playing along. Winners, I'll be in touch with the details.
__________________________________________________________________________


Pay it forward. The idea of asking the beneficiary of a good deed to repay it to others instead of to the original benefactor.

I love this concept and I've decided to use it to give some of my extra scrap stuff away. I have two Large Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes full of cardstock and two full of embellishments. They are free to a good home. You pay the shipping through PayPal ($16.85) and pass on the kindness to someone who needs it. That makes me happy (and saves some room around here).

Here's an example of the range of colors that is in each box. It's all Bazzill textured card stock. I'm not sure how many sheets are in there, but it's just about 5-1/2 inches tall.

The embellishment boxes measure 12x12x5.5". Here's a peek at one of them. I promise there is more than just Echo Park in there! There are 6x6 pads, washi, decorative brad packs, stickers and all types of embellishments.  

I have two boxes of each. You can request either a cardstock box OR an embellishment box. One box per winner please. I'm shipping only within the U.S. this time.  Email me at nancydamiano@gmail.com to win. I will pick four random winners in the morning. I'll email you if you've won with further instructions. 

 Thank you for playing along! Good luck.

Class Winner + Echo Park Sweet Girl

The winner of a spot in Jen Gallacher's Tool School Class is Pea: scrapnkristi.  Congrats Kristi! I'll contact you on how to collect your prize. I think you are really going to love it.

And I can't just post without a layout. Here's something I made a while ago with the Sweet Girl Collection by Echo Park. I love the pretty colors and vintage feel in this line. I used just one photo to highlight this time. Mostly because it one of my favorites of her and I wanted the focus to be on the story here.

 That shy little girl grin captures my niece's personality at this age. It went perfectly with the the retro palette and icons in this line. Layers of bold colors in tiny prints keep the focus on the picture. The title strip and journaling ground the layout. The white ledger paper across the middle ties together the photo, journaling and embellishment areas.  The enamel dots leading to her age add a fun little touch to the page. I like using the entire 12x12 space even though there's only a single photo - it gives me more room for the fun stuff.

Jillibean Soup

My Dad and today's childrearing rules do not go hand in hand. The worst of them being bicycle helmets. He goes on and on about how as a kid the best feeling in the world for him was the freedom of speeding down the road on his bicycle - wind whipping through his hair. The more I try to explain that 'when you know better, you do better', the more he rolls his eyes at me. Sometimes I do wonder how I made it through my own childhood alive. We didn't have helmets or seat belts for that matter.

So on this day, Grandpa was breaking the rules. No helmet bike riding. Now don't judge me too harshly, I didn't stop it because they were on grass and moving at a snail's pace. Nico was loving it. But then again, Nico loves anything that involves being naughty and rule breaking, so there you go. I loved watching them laugh together.

I based the layout on white card stock so that the patterned paper could really stand out and shine. I mixed primary colors and mostly small patterns randomly and then added the two photos.  Notice how I added a small yellow subtitle right on the photo. That highlights both the photo and the meaning behind the page.

The title cluster is grounded on the kraft tag. I chose kraft because it was different from all of the rest of the colors I was using plus the dark color was a great contrast.  The script title stickers from Jillibean Soup make for great titles. I mixed all the colors of the layout on the tag so it would match and bring it all together.

Garden Girl Hop!

It's that time again. It's time to hop with the Garden Girls. Follow along to see sneaks, favorites and a chance to win a free class.

A little something I've been working on for June. Stop by the Garden on 6/1 to see the reveal this month. Can you guess the theme? (hint: it's not Baby).

I love Jody Wenke's style. She has a great talent for putting together clean, graphic pages that are visual eye candy. Just the right amount of color+design+detail. I find myself drawn to her great style. Set aside some time to browse her gallery.

A now for the giveaway. Just leave a comment (with your PeaName) by 5/29/13 to win a spot in Jen Gallacher's Tool School Mini Workshop. Good Luck!

Hop on over to Garden Girl Celine Navarro's blog for another chance to win. If you lose your way, find a list of all the Garden Girls participating on the 2Peas blog.

Scrapbook Haul Video - The Pier by Crate Paper

I've been thinking lately about what I want to do with this blog. I took a break for a little bit, concentrating more on actual scrapbooking rather than writing about it. And while I loved the creative time, I missed the blogging . I like having a platform to share my work, life and pretty things.

Although Pinterest and Instagram have been taking up most of my time, I took a minute to film a recent 2Peas order that I received. I thought it would be a nice way to come back to blogging.  I'll be sharing some of process video on my YouTube Channel, as well as monthly Mail Call videos. I hope you like it! Click on the link below to watch.

To watch the video click on my channel@:  You TUBE

Echo Park All About a Boy

All about a boy works I am partial to boy collections. Not just because I'm a boy mom, but because I love the shades of blue and orange and yellow that are typically used. This new collection by Echo Park is no exception. Add in some really fun spinners, number wheels and cogs and you have a really versatile collection.

These photos of Nico learning the logic of tic tac toe remind me so much of me at his age. I loved logic games. And I especially loved learning how to beat them. I used pencil and paper, while he uses an iPad - gotta love the technology.

The spinners and cogs in the line tied in the logic and fun of playing games. They were perfect for the theme of the photos. To create the spinner I layered chipboard, stickers, a brad and some foam pop dots for dimension.

The winner of the Echo Park Blog Hop is:

Andrea GarlandFebruary 19, 2013 at 9:05 PM

Aww Those pics are cute and go so well with the scoot Collection.

Congratulations! I will contact you very soon on how to collect your prize. Thanks so much for hopping along.

It's the March 2Peas Hop!

I love these little blurbs of a hop. More photos, less words is a good thing. So here we go, let's hop 2Peas style.

This is a peek of a very colorful page I made for the April Garden reveal. Can you guess our theme this month? Look for it in the Garden Girls Gallery on the first of the month.

This beautiful layout is by Melinda Spinks. I love how incredibly creative the hearts made of slips of paper is. I want to try this technique on all kinds of shapes. You can see more of Melinda's work in her Gallery at 2Peas. She's one of my favorite designers.

Just of the few of things I'm using on layouts right now.

1. Snippets Collection by Studio Calico. Bright + bold colors, great graphics.
2. Jewels Rhinestones from Glitz Design. Love the nautical theme and large size.
3. Flair from the Trendsetter Collection by Fancy Pants. Perfect combo of salmon + navy.
4. Chipboard camera from Studio Calico.
5. Chipboard stickers from the Lucky Charm collection by American Crafts.

And now for a giveaway. Leave a comment and tell me what you current favorite collection is. Don't forget your PeaName too! You'll be entered to win a $10 gift certificate to twopeasinabucket.com. The winner will be announced one week from today. Thanks for playing along!

Now hop on over to see what Garden Girl Marcy Penner has going on. And if you've missed a step, go back to GG Jana Werner or the Two Peas Blog.

Weekend Life

This weekend we spent some time by the shore in Atlantic City. It was chilly, but there is nothing like walking the boardwalk and smelling that sea air.

It was a weekend for us to be a couple, gamble some, dance a little, laugh a lot and spend time together.  I love weekend getaways like this.

The little guy spent some quality time with his grandparents. I think he might've been spoiled a bit more than we were. Although on the ride home, he did say 'it's good to have our family back together again." Love that boy.

He's Crafty

We celebrated 100 days of school a few weeks ago. The assignment - decorate a shirt with exactly 100 items. He insisted we go to Michael's. He picked out the foam shapes. Chose a matching shirt himself. And then insisted on laying out the entire design on his own.

He likes to make stuff. Wants to do it all on his own with no suggestions from the Mom peanut gallery. He told me 'Mom, I have this' a dozen times. I stepped away and he did his thing.

I think he did good, that little crafty boy of mine.

Dear Lizzy's Lucky Charm + Video

Scrap Your Stash

Every 4 weeks I dig into my stash and pull out something I've been sitting on for a while. You know those embellishments that keep piling up or that collection pack that gets buried under the new stuff.

It's a challenge coming up with new ways to use things up. I'm much better at hoarding them. That's why having a video assignment like this is good for me. It forces me to think out of the box (I try to anyway) and I make a dent in my collection. My stash of flair was up this week.

And this is the end result....

There's a process video so you can see how it came together...

And then a few of the other examples I worked on. This first one is a 'border of flair'. What I love most about it is the Lucky Charm collection with it's bold red and navy colors and beautiful patterns. You'd think the collection is more on the feminine side, but I've been using it a lot for layouts about Nico.

These are photos + stories about the first time he visited the Hershey Chocolate Factory in Pennsylvania. His little chocoholic self was loving it!

This next layout shows a cluster of flair, leading the eye around the page. The photos are old. Nico was right around four here and that was his cute BFF Abby. They were very sweet together and I'm glad I got this memory down in his book.

Still working on doing more videos for the blog. I enjoy it, just wish I had more time!

Playing Catch Up - Jillibean Soup

Do you ever have those moments when you look at a photo and it brings you back to the exact moment you took it? I have a crystal clear memory of taking these 4 years ago. We were in Disneyworld, sitting on Main Street watching a parade. I was busy taking pictures of the parade, when I turned and looked at Nico. He had flipped his Mickey shades over his eyes and was sitting back in his stroller paying close attention to every float that went by.  He was tired and it was hot, but he was totally relaxed.  I remember smiling at him really big, just being grateful for him and being happy. 

I wanted the layout to convey 'happy' and what better way to do it than with a dose of bright + sunny yellow. The title card provides some journaling and a pop of color. The hexagon paper is precut and should be coming soon from Jillibean. It was a quick and easy was to add texture and shape to the layout. I filled some of the spots with word strips and sun punch outs to emphasize the theme. Most of the papers here are from upcoming Jillibean lines (Chilled Cucumber Soup and Fresh Vegetable) that should be available in March. The play on words in the title add a little whimsy and fills up dead space in the photos. 

These are some cards that I did for Jillibean's booth at CHA this year. Sorry about the poor photos. Somehow I forgot to take pictures with my camera. These were shot with my iPad at the last minute. You can see some of my messy trays in the background there. 

All of these cards were created with Jillibean's brand new lines (Cucumber Soup, Fresh Vegetable and Irish Farmhouse) coming to 2Peas soon! 

Echo Park Hop and Scoot!

Welcome to the Echo Park Paper Design Team Blog Hop! Today the Echo Park Paper Design Team is showcasing projects from our latest collections. I made this bright, colorful page with the Scoot Collection. I love the all of the classic boy icons in this collection and it's perfect for scrapbooking the everyday moments in a boy's life.

This is a quick and easy page to make, just basic patterned paper, stickers and a few enamel dots is all it takes. I love how the fun photos really stand out against the bold color palette. The pops of sticker add fun and whimsy to the page.

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! 

Echo Park Paper Company

Laurel Seabrook

Susan Stringfellow

Linda Auclair

Wendy Sue Anderson

Tamara Tripodi

Olga Vasilieva

Lowri McNabb

Kandis Smith <---visit here="" next="" span="">

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, February 24th to qualify for the drawing. The winner will be announced on each blog Monday, February 25th  so be sure to check back to see if you've won.

Valentine's Inspiration

Come take a peek at 24+ new projects fresh from the Garden Girls at twopeasinabucket.com. See the one at the bottom left with the 'moments' tab? That's my small contribution. You can see the full reveal in the gallery. See you there!