Happy New Year!!! Happy 2013!

I really have to get better at this whole blog post thing. Its part of my new years not-resolution. Resolutions are always broken so its a not-resolution. Part of fitting that into my schedule right now, however, means a little less writing and a little more photos. A photo is worth a thousand words right? Well here it goes…I still need to upload some photos of my December Daily but that’s not quite done yet. It will be soon though. I felt guilty that my SC kits have been sitting there for a whole month untouched so after working on some of my DD this past Sunday, I broke out the kits and this is what I ended up with…

<3

December Daily Organization

Happy December everyone! There’s been so much going on lately that I haven’t had a chance to get on here and post. I’ll try and be better about it and I just may keep that promise this month since I want to share my DD. Time has just been rolling and I feel like it was just Halloween a couple days ago…where has the time gone?

So what have I been up to lately? Well, tons of stuff with the holidays going on but I’ve also vowed to spend less time online buying scrappy stuff and more time creating with what I’ve bought. I’ve actually been pretty good about scrapping with my scrappy bff and together we’ve accomplished quite a bit of layouts in the last couple months. I’ll share some of those later but for now you can view some of them here.

Anyways, to get this DD stuff going…I have my organization up to share with you today. The system I chose was something that I was already using as part of my scrappy organization. It was important to me to use some of what I already had so that once the holiday passed, I could re-use it to store any kits or projects I’m working on. Here’s some photos:

I’ll be using the SC w/Ali Edwards DD Kit as well as some items from Chic Tags, MME and my stash.

The storage system is stackable paper trays and organizers by Martha Stewart and Avery and can be found at Staples. It’s affordable, especially with the 40% off coupon available until December 31, 2012.

I’ll be back with updates on the DD album soon!

Hope you’ve enjoyed!

<3 Erika

August Social [Media] Butterflies Blog Hop

Hello again everyone!

Welcome back to those of you joining us for another month and welcome to those that are new the hop. This months challenge was to a) find some inspiration from other blog hop members (hardly a challenge, right?!?) and b) use the following color palette.

Now, I didn’t follow the colors exactly but I did the best with the colors I had. And here’s what I came up with. (Excuse the lighting on the photo, I had to take it indoors.)

This is a picture of my puppy child a year ago when we first got her and I was so nervous about this encounter with another pup. The German Shepherd pup was only 1 year and already so huge! Being the well-trained dog that she was, she laid right down and let Coca jump all over tugging at her tail and ears. It was too cute not to document.

So for the last part of the challenge which was to find inspiration from other people on the hop, I took a little inspiration from everyone. There was no way to decide. I browsed and browsed through blogs and layouts and Instagram photos until I literally lost track of what I was supposed to be doing. But, in all of that browsing, I saw these ladies layer on their layouts and use bold colors and use cuts from their Cameo and I had to include all of that in this layout. I’ll eventually get the hang of layering like these other pros…just give me some time.

Thanks for stopping by to have a look and below is the blog hop order in case you missed something along the way.

Melissa P http://www.melissapriest.com/ click click

Ellie http://scrapbookmamaof4kidz.blogspot.com/ eaugustin

Jenny http://mycreativelife29.blogspot.com/ MrsJennyG instagram, Jenny G on SC

Angel http://kindlelover.blogspot.com akochmcelroy

Suz http://livealifeextraordinary.blogspot.com/ SuzMannecke

Patricia http://harmonyhealthandfaith.blogspot.com/

Erika http://erikabardo.wordpress.com/ erikabardo <—you’re here!

Trisha http://www.trisha-grace.blogspot.com/ trishacakes instagram, trishacakes24 on SC

Amanda http://somethingsorta.blogspot.com/     mandadej

Sabrina http://vixendeity.com/ vixendeity

Shay http://sbookinshay29.blogspot.com/ sbookinshay29

Kristin http://rukristin.blogspot.com/ rukristin

July Social [Media] Butterflies Blog Hop

Hey Everyone,

This month on the Blog Hop each person was asked to find something from CHA Summer 2012 that inspired them to create a layout. There were so many new lines that were all fun but of course, we have to wait for the products just a bit longer. So I took my inspiration from a line I know you all are going to love. Elizabeth Kartchner’s Dear Lizzy’s 5th and Frolic line. Here’s some photos of her booth from CHA and I just fell in love with the colors! Below is a layout I made using similar colors from my stash of Studio Calico products.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the blog hop!

Just a reminder: Here’s your starting point!

Click here to go to the next blog!

<3

Social [Media] Butterflies Blog Hop

Tags

#smbigbloghop, Facebook, Instagram, Studio Calico

Hello to everyone on the blog hop or just joining in!

In case you didn’t start from the beginning, you can go to Shay Tibbs blog. That is where this whole adventure starts. There a chance to win some great prizes and get some inspiration along the way. All of the ladies on this blog have connected through social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, the Studio Calico community and blogs to gain inspiration for use in our own creative projects.

As you go along, you will see each person create a project using inspiration from the person in front of them on the hop. This blog will happen each month on the 29th and will always originate on Shay’s blog.

Now for my project, I got my inspiration from Kristin Tweedale’s layouts on the Studio Calico site. You can see them here and here. Now, my layouts looks nothing like either of those great projects but the inspiration was there as a starting point. This layout changed A LOT from what I originally had in mind along with some major tweaks along the way (with the help of my fiance who calls himself my creative director).

Feel free to leave some love. Hope you enjoy the Musketeers!

Your next stop on the blog hop is Kristin’s blog or visit here SC layouts here. If you get lost along the way, just click back to the original blog here.

~ Erika

Happy National Scrapbook Day!

It’s National Scrapbook Day in case you weren’t aware and Studio Calico has some amazing challenges to try out so head over and give those a shot.

Badges-I love them so much! Here’s a link to an etsy type store where you can find some of these. They are such a hot item in scrapbooking and paper crafting at the moment.

Go forth and shop in honor of National Scrapbook Day!

http://seriousscrap.bigcartel.com/

I’ll be back to share some more layouts soon.

~ Erika

Back with lots of layouts to share!

Tags

Encyclopedia add-on, Story Hour, Studio Calico

I know, epic fail on my part for not blogging in over a month. Shame on me. I’ve been doing so much that in my free time all I’ve been doing is scrapping. I finally subscribed for a membership to Studio Calico (which if you’re unfamiliar is the best scrapbook monthly kit ever to receive). Their stuff is just to amazing! And if that isn’t enough, their website is so inspirational. First off, their design team rocks some serious scrapbook skills. Second, the community tab is so welcoming and informative for different things. And, their blog and community tabs host challenges all the time that are so fun to join in on. These are challenges that immediately get you thinking “I want to give that a shot”!

I’ve also just started my first scrapbook class ever at Studio Calico hosted by the amazing Kelly Purkey! Its called Sketchbook 4 and its seriously awesome. So inspiring! Its online and I can take my time and follow along but I find myself dying to try each sketch instantly.

If you’re thinking, “Wow, a monthly kit. No way, I have too much stuff already and its all just sitting here.” Well, you’re just like me but I kid you not when I say, I received my kit on March 10th and created 5 layouts with the kit using mostly all of the product with the exception of some extra border and scraps and the stamps (omg the stamps). AND, I did this all just before I received the April kit exactly a month later. Yes, I’ve accumulated a lot but these kits don’t just get added to the stash, they actually get used.

Anyways onto some layouts (all use the Studio Calico Story Hour kit + Encyclopedia add-on):

This is from our December trip to Miami, oh how I miss it.

This one uses a printed image from Google maps of the Florida coast and then 3 of my own pictures linking back to the map and where we explored.

The Ft. Lauderdale by the water was one that I sort of struggled with thinking what else can I add. Then I saw a challenge on the Studio Calico (SC) blog that said to “keep it simple” (Inspiration from Stephanie Howell, a SC Design Team member). That’s when it clicked that this layout was good just the way it was. Simple.

The next 2 I made for Kelly’s Sketchbook 4 class:

Let me know what you all think. I’m to play with April’s kit called “City of Lights”!

More scrapping fun…

Tags

double layout, little treasure, santa monica pier

Just wanted to showcase some of the layouts I’ve finished up recently. I’ve been using some of the older stuff in my collection along with some of the newer stuff and I’m just really excited to see a lot of stuff getting used up. (That means I get to buy more stuff to restock my craft room). Hope you enjoy…and as always, feel free to follow my blog. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Here's a layout from Universal Studios. Its a pretty simple layout with a collage of 3 photos in the middle and some smaller pictures cut into stars. Love the title!

Same thing on this page but added my own little caption and loving the film strip. Its a little treasure I've been hanging on to for quite a while and thought this was fitting.

Here they are side by side...I obviously like double page layouts.

This double layout is from Santa Monica Pier and I used the SEI "A Fair Day" collection...love it! So many fun things!

 

I love you…

Tags

BasicGrey

This last week, BasicGrey (one of my favorite lines of scrapbook products) had a scrapbook challenge. The challenge was to create a layout finishing the phrase “I love you…” I caught it last minute and threw together a layout which (to my surprise) came out better than I anticipated. With help from my fiancé, this is what we came up with. Woohoo!

 

A couple more layouts…

Tags

CA, Canvas corp, Dear Lizzy, Huntington Beach, Queen and Co, San Diego

I’ve been away for almost a week. I hadn’t even realized it had been that long, man how time flies. I’ve been submitting and creating for Design Teams all week long. I REALLY want the opportunity to be on one. I think it will really enhance my skills and push me.

I’ve been browsing over all of the new product that is making its way to CHA now. I like browsing to see what’s new but also to get some inspiration. There’s so many companies, collections and lines debuting that its hard to keep track. Here’s a link I found that shows most of the big ones in one place along with links to the websites for more detail.  http://enewsletter.scrapbook.com/public/?q=preview_message&fn=Link&id=iz47l5m9vfeet5ey3vrxtn4j16qm8&ssid=11401&t=3 . My top 3 favs are the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan Party, Queen and Company Trendy Tape and the Canvas Corp Coffee Paper Line (as soon as I find out who has these in stock first, I’m all over it). Enjoy!

Onto my other projects that I’ve been working on for the week. My craft room looks sort of like a craft-hoarding space (I’ve been cleaning and sorting all week to get it more organized-its an ongoing effort). I love buying anything and everything catches my eye but I also have stuff from years ago that I’ve been hanging onto for the perfect layout. Well, recently, I’ve been pulling that stuff out to work with it. It may not be new but that doesn’t mean it can’t inspire. I know everyone has something that gets buried in the very back and the few times we actually see it, we think “I’ll put that back and save it for just the perfect thing” or maybe you just forgot it was back there. Dig it up and use it. You might find yourself thinking, “I can’t believe I didn’t use that sooner. Where did I get it again? I might need some more of it!”

Here’s just a couple of the things I submitted this week. I know its the middle of winter and here I am posting a beach layout but the light and breezy colors are my comfort zone (or maybe I’m just missing the warm summer sun and sounds of the waves). I’ve already set up some layouts to put together over the weekend that are more winter-y. I’ll post them throughout the weekend.

If you’re browsing through here for the first time, please follow my blog from the button on the right and share with anyone you think might enjoy a little inspiration! Thanks in advance!