for the love of lattes and decorating...

Happy Monday all! I'm up on the Paper Issues blog today sharing some new pocket pages. I've been working through my December Documented album, one memory at a time. I decided to take a very loose approach with my album this year, getting in the details of our first Christmas season in our new house and as a family of five but, NO daily photo pressure.

We hosted Christmas this year and had a lengthy project list. With a couple of late nights, we crossed off the powder room update and that needed its own page!

I added the paint sample cut to 3x4, accented with an Elle's Studio tab and a Simple Stories clear sticker and border. 

Ah, the love of red cups. It may be a cliche to scrap one's fancy latte but, since we finally have a Starbucks local and with a drive through (oh yeah!!!), my coffee ritual while running errands was a part of this month that deserved a nod. And, come on, the latte card just had to be used!

I layered a Simple Stories 3x4 card over one from Fancy Pant Oh Deer line and embellished with more Oh Deer bits and a big sequin from the Merry Memories Swag Bag.

The Paper Issues shop has holiday lines in stock and ready for you to document your own December memories and you can save 20% off your order with code JENBOOM

Thank you for stopping by and have a fantastic week!

Jen

documenting december...

Happy Friday! My focus has shifted to a seasonal album this month. I really had no intentions of making a December album this year but, well, all of the pretty supplies kept calling to me. And, it is both our first Christmas in our house AND our baby girl's first! The events of the month begged to be captured. Rather than taking a daily approach, I'm instead creating pages based on events and seasonal happenings. This first set of pages documents our first big snowfall of the season here in NY.  The first several pages in my album were created with the Citrus Twist Kits December Pocket Life and Pocket Life Embellishment Kits, as well as the lovely CTK Christmas Stamp set. 

Our visit to Santa was a mixed bag. G LOVED him, immediately climbed on his lap and started rattling off his long wish list. J was terrified and wouldn't even look at poor Santa. A was more than skeptical but, we finally got a few half decent shots while holding her tight.

And  my last two shares capture our North Pole Breakfast. Our elf Dizzy returned atop a tissue paper pom bearing a fun, seasonal breakfast. The kids were thrilled!

These are some of my favorite details...

More to come very soon! I'm in the process now of printing more around snowfalls, birthdays and decorations. So fun!

woodn't you know, it's fall? :: an issue...

Hello all! The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of projects, fall activities, lovely autumn weather (my favorite) and family time. I have not shared here as I'd hoped but, have a line up of projects ready to post starting...now! Paper Issues started a brand new Issue and link party this Monday, themed for fall, using wood items, wood grain - any or all! You can read more about the issue here.

I'm linking up today with a pocket layout documenting our family trip to the pumpkin patch. This gorgeous place is just minutes from our home and provided such a fun afternoon. I have more photos and details that I'll be scrapping but, wanted to get to these few right away. I've used mostly Fancy Pants True Friend papers and MME Jubilee embellishments to create this page.

I hope you'll create a project of your own to join the Issue linky party! Need some new fall scrappy goodies? Use my code for 20% off your entire Paper Issue order...

pl 2014: weeks 24, 28 and a bonus insert for 29

Today I'm sharing some of my favorite recent layouts in our family album. All were made from the August Citrus Twist Pocket Life kits, featuring the gorgeous Shimelle paper pad...love!!!

Week 24: World Cup 2014, time outside, projects and a visit with Papou....

Our yard in bloom, well visit, lacrosse, building and a little decorating. The "pretty things" quote is on a glassine bag that hold my journaling about what's been done so far in my scrap room...

Week 28: Never having picked up my dSLR this week, this spread is made entirely of iPhone photos and I used two Design F pages to best accommodate the 3x4's.

Breakfast with dinosaurs, sushi, new sounds and textures, coffee 'me time' and a pool day...

A power outage, art by Jack, man in trees (!!), and frozen custard! I am loving the look of white cards with typewriter journaling and simple embellishements.

Detail on some of my favorites...

Week 29 Insert: Our first time picking blueberries...

Loved this local farm with u-pick berries. The berry crop was incredible!

They even had farm animals for the kids to pet and feed. At home I found a recipe for an incredible Blueberry Cobbler and had to include it for future years...

project life: weeks 22 and 25...

With every first season in our new town, our new home, it's exciting to see what blooms, what new things we can discover and to see the children growing in this space. That is the beauty of Project Life. I'm getting it all documented simply - even in summer! Awesome.

The two weeks I'm sharing today are more recent and both use the fabulous, full of color July Citrus Twist Pocket Life and Pocket Life Embellishment kits. I'm not completely caught up yet but, am getting there. Of course, having printer ink on hand helps (note to self: order more today)!

Week 22: this week brought a new lawn mower and other yard tools, a damaged car, vists with family and dear friends, ice pops, Jack shananigans and big brother mischief.

Week 25: World Cup, a family zoo trip, a good book, planting flowers and cute kid moments.

How are you documenting your summer? I have a fun little project that I'm working on and will be sharing soon!

oh, we're halfway there: project life update and a blog hop!

2014. you have been amazing, trying, awesome, fulfilling, frustrating and have not failed to surprise. We are at the halfway point this week. How? Moving to a new house, having a baby two weeks later and being home with three children under five years old might have gotten me a little behind in my scrapbooking. It's okay. Really. And blogging, well, you can see how well that's gone since my last post was...when exactly? Today, I'm sharing several weeks in my 2014 album. I am not caught up. Not at all. But, every week day moment that is documented is an accomplishment.

Follow along with me on today's Blog Hop sharing Project Life updates and inspiration...

Here is the entire line up!

 Loving Life's Little Blessings 

Today Kelsey Is 

Earthy Scrap 

Scrapping Wonders 

Lekkiwood 

Scrappy Leigh 

Mrs Crafty Adams 

The Beauty of Creativity

I'm sharing five weeks worth of pages today. The first two are very simple, get them done types with very little embellishing. The others are pages created with my monthly Citrus Twist Kits...

Week Eight: This week, we had lots of at home down time and special visits with family.

Week 10: This week found us settling a bit more into a routine as a family of five. The weather let up enough that we were able to enjoy a bit of fresh air and our little sweetheart started smiling!

I love writing out stories and documenting events but, sometimes a short hand list works just as well! This card from the Kiwi core kit was perfect for summing up this week.

Week 14: Exploring a local park for the first time, Amalia is two months, Gold Card status and G attending his first Home Depot Kids Workshop.

Week 19: Mother's Day, our new yard in bloom, time with friends and family.

Week 20: Creative play, a visit with my mom, my new iPhone arrived, a visit to a local farm and lots and lots of coffee.

I had a LOT of photos I wanted to use this week and really am trying not to use inserts, to conserve space in my albums. This layout is an example of how to get the story told while maximizing those photo slots: 1) my date card is a list of highlights, 2) this filler card (below) has a little punched notch revealing the hidden journaling cards I slipped behind.

Thank you for joining me! I hope you'll continue the Blog Hop and find inspiration for your own Project Life album.

project life: week 15...

The past few weeks have been filled with visitors, home renovations and being outside enjoying the gorgeous spring days in our backyard. With all of that, my blogging has fallen away but, there has been sporadic creative time behind the scenes.

Today, I'm sharing my week 15. My pages have been trending toward a lighter, brighter, simpler approach lately. My Project Life time often happens in 2-5 minute increments now, as I can catch a quiet moment in the day. A natural evolution toward simplicity. This week uses the May Citrus Twist  Pocket life and Pocket Life Embellishment kits, as well as the add-on stamp.

Back to that simplicity? Part of that has meant quick journaling on white backgrounds with a bit of embellishing. I feel very strongly about the personal touch of using my own handwriting on my pages for a personal feel so, I've made sure to add in bits here and there.

This week also shows my concerted effort to get photos of myself and my husband in this album regularly. Since I am a stay at home mom and take photos of the kids all day long, it's easy to have only those three little people represented but, that isn't the whole story! Mommy and Baba need to be there too. Relationships need to be documented with photos. It matters.

Week 14 will be up later this week and, if I can get it photographed, also a throwback to Week 8 that was just recently completed. Hopping all over this year but getting it documented.

project life: week 9

My goal this week is to finish printing photos for the missing weeks in February and March and all of April so that I can just sit down to journal and bang out several weeks. My children, however, may have plans to derail this effort. We shall see!

For now, I'm sharing my completed Week 9. I love, love, love how this week turned out using the April Citrus Twist Kits. All of a sudden I am wanting to use more white and lighter colors. It must be the influence of spring! This week was my first completely on my own with all three of my littles. It seemed daunting at the time and I wanted to document that feeling prominently, as you can see in the top right card. As with most things, the kids and I all rose to the occasion and made it out alive ;)

Other highlights:Miss A was one month, Mr. Boom and I celebrated 5 years of marriage and we took our first road trip as a family of five.

Here are a few of my favorites bits from this week's layout:

dvdv