30 minute layouts

Bam! More layouts done when Gracie goes to sleep and Emma's having her last 'nap.'

It's amazing how productive you can be when the clock is ticking.

I was inspired by the saying in the top, left corner: "Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine." So true. 

Then I saw a scrap of the orange sunbeam paper and thought of these pictures of Gracie playing on the ballet barre at our strollersize class. I added some MME elements, a few strips of scrap paper and grounded everything with a few touches of black. Quick, easy and I used up scraps. Huzzah!

Next up, a quick layout from our Europe trip. Start with a beautiful background paper, add two banners cut from coordinating pages, smack the pictures down, add a title and a few stickers... stand back and admire. No fuss, no muss. 

I love the freedom of not being fancy, just getting them done and enjoying the memories. 

Instagram Love

I love the look of instagrams on layouts. 

This handy little app for your phone allows you to add filters and borders to your pictures instantly. Fun.

Butterfly Masks

We created some beautiful butterfly masks with Grams and Jada this weekend.

Gracie Butterfly

Jada Butterfly

Grams and the girls.

 

 My favourite.

Or this one, of them checking out each others masks.

Love it!

Wintry Walk on the Farm

Loving the beautiful weather. It's especially nice when you have the wide open spaces of a beautiful farm to enjoy it at.

Brad hasn't made it to the farm in nearly a year because of work. It was time.

Cool cow.

Sled rides with Grams.

Papa.

Queen of the bale stack.

Feeding cows.

Climbing a snow mound.

Yanking my little field mouse out of the bales before she disappeared ;)

Gracie's Big Haircut

Gracie's been debating a haircut for awhile, but she always changes her mind before we actually make it to a hairdresser. She was sure about it this weekend, so Grams gave her a stylish bob, and it looks great and she loves it. 

Before

During

Checking it out with her mirror.

And, the after shot. Thanks Grams!

Scrapbooking with Grids

Grids are a simple way to add lots of photos to your pages and keep it looking tidy. Plus, it's fast, because you know what you have to work with.

I got 9 pictures on this two page layout, but keeping the photos squared, and the lines clean, it doesn't look cluttered. 

This layout features photos of Montreal's architecture. There are 14 photos of buildings on this two page layout, but it's grounded with a solid stripe along the bottom, with three clusters of elements to guide your eye from the top left, down to the bottom left, and across to the bottom right. 

Even if you use a grid for your photos, feel free to add layers elsewhere, with papers, embellishments, tags, and titles, as I did above. Notice the border is a zipper?? 

And if your pictures are straight and centred, you can still add some angles to other elements on your page, as I did with the title above.

Bright Colours Make Me Happy

Let's forget about the dull old wintry weather and pretend it's summer. The beautiful season when swimsuits, parks, and beaches reign and sunscreen is put on instead of parkas. 

Sigh.

To help you envision sunshine, I've got some bright, sunny layouts for you.

I love these pictures of Gracie and her friend, Berlyn. It captures their relationship perfectly. Gracie likes to snack, and Berlyn is always suspicious of what Gracie is up to... Odd personality traits, I know, but that's who they are. And I like the picture of Gracie and I, too. Emma's even in this one. I was about 20 or so weeks pregnant in this shot.

The layout is made with MME patterned papers, Prima bubbles and Studio Calico alphas.

Gracie loves a park. We spent days walking in Europe and she was fine to keep going as long as we took snack breaks and play breaks at every park we passed. Again, 24 weeks pregnant. I like to point out that Emma was on this trip, too, because one day, she'll wonder why we haven't taken her to Europe, yet. Now I can point out that she was there.

Park Break is made with Studio Calico, Echo Park and MME patterned papers, Studio Calico alphas and Doodlebug Designs stickers.

Barcelona's beach, Barceloneta was one of our favourite places on the whole trip. Such lovely weather, clean sand, beautiful blue water and lots of fun to be had. 

Barceloneta is made with Glitz, K and Co. and Creative Imaginations patterned paper and Jillibean Soup alphas.