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

an iconic winter: toni from designs flair...

The day before Thanksgiving brought a major snow storm to our area. My husband was thrilled because he was able to use his brand new snow blower for the first time. The kids were thrilled because, well, they are kids. I was thrilled for perfect scrap material! I created the two pages here for my December album using a bunch of on-hand supplies and Toni From Designs Christmas Icons flair.

I love the wood grain background of this flair set, paired with white silhouettes:

Here's a closer look at my pages and the flair details.

You can find this flair and so many other great sets in Toni's Etsy Shop! Use code JENBOUMIS for 10% off any order of $10 or more.

handmade christmas: ornament from scraps...

Every year I make handmade gifts and decor for the holidays. Some for us and some to give. This year has been no exception. The little die cut snowman in this ornament came in my special edition Merry Swag Bag from Paper Issues. As soon as I saw his cute little face, I knew that I couldn't just use him on a scrapbook page that would live in an album. He needed to be displayed!

Earlier this month I had picked up a few clear, fillable plastic ornaments at the craft store for $1 each. I had no clue what to do with them at the time but, this idea struck this morning and within minutes it was done. Glitter paper circle, die cut snowman and candy cane and a teeny bottle brush tree on a bed of cotton ball. The backside holds one of our family photos taken this fall.

I'm linking this up to Monday's Pinspire Me at Paper Issues. We want you to show us what you've created! You can link up to this Pinspire Me in our Facebook Group...Paper Issues {Friends & Fans} You have until January 11th to add your creation to the Pinspire Me post/picture on our Facebook Group for a chance to win one of 2 awesome prizes!

Use code JENBOOM to take 20% off of your entire Paper Issues order...swag bags included! 

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!

get your sketch on with pagemaps and paper issues...

The Paper Issues Creative Team had the opportunity to partner with PageMaps using their December 2014 Sketches. I had the pleasure of working with a fantastic two photo, 12x12" layout sketch. As soon as I saw the suggestion of a large snow flake on the sketch, I knew exactly which photos I wanted to use and ran with it!

I used the wood grain paper from Ruby Rock-it's Country Cookin' collection to play up the wood deck in my photos and the multi-colored herringbone from Fancy Pants Oh Deer for a pop of color. The title, scallop border and snowflake are Silhouette files.

Please stop by the Paper Issues blog today to check out the other Creative Team members' layouts!

Looking for some fun scrappy goods? Use code JENBOOM for 20% off your Paper Issues order!

birds of a feather flock together: a new issue!

Hello friends and Happy Thanksgiving week to those of you in the US!

Today starts a brand new Issue over on the Paper Issues blog and I am thrilled to be a Creative Team contributor. Here are the details! Have fun with this and be sure to link up your own project (you can even link up directly from Instagram!) on today's PI Link Party for the chance to WIN the awesome Ruby Rock-it Country Cookin' collection:

ISSUE | Birds of a Feather Flock Together: ideas would be pictures of your Thanksgiving turkey, bird watching, having a bird as a pet, having a bird (as in things that drive you crazy), use flocking, use feathers, friendships, who do you spend Thanksgiving with, do you tweet/Twitter, family, what's on your Thanksgiving menu, traditional menu items, recipes, use Ruby Rock-It products.

Here is my take on the Issue - a photo of the boys making one of our standard Thanksgiving sides, Pumpkin Bread! We have so much to be grateful for this year and just a couple of things on that long list are food aplenty and that my boys are both interested in helping out in the kitchen...even if they almost never don't always eat the result.

Most products I used in this layout are from the Ruby Rock-it Country Cookin' collection (how awesome is that b/w text paper???) along with a piece or two from a Paper Issues Swag Bag. One of my very favorite layouts to date! I loved working with this collection.

Need a little scrappy something? Use code JENBOOM for 20% off your entire Paper Issues order, even Swag Bags...woot!

pocket scrapbooking: back to basics...

Just wrapping up my 4th year of weekly pocket albums, I'm finding myself drawn back to the basics more and more. My favorite pages are less embellished, uncomplicated and are full of photos and stories. I do enjoy adding bits and pieces to kit cards to make them pop but, in a more understated, manageable way. With very limited, after the kids are in bed scrapping time this is what is working best for me now.

Here are the must have supplies that I use over and over when creating my weekly layouts:

My Basic Supply List:

• 3x4 Grid Cards, plain white cards, kit cards 
• Pigma Micron Pens - .02 is my favorite size
• Pencil - I always write out my journaling in pencil for spacing, then write over in pen and remove the guide lines/letters with a white eraser
• Corner rounder
• 6x6 patterned paper - scrapbook paper designs are scaled down in these pads and are perfect for pocket pages
• Alphabet stickers 
• Labels - all colors and shapes. There are many free printables online!
• Hearts - stickers, enamel, chipboard. I love adding hearts here and there.
• Clear Stamps and an acrylic block + a black Staz-On ink pad
• Paper Issues Swag Bags - a fantastic little bag of mixed embellishments and cards each month. Perfect to get a great variety of current supplies without breaking the bank!

A white base card and a few little bits go a long way!

Thank you for popping in today! I'd love to hear your own must have supplies.