It's hard to believe we're nearing the end of this workflow series. I've shared so much information yet, I feel like I haven't even started. As we close out the series, I'm going to share some more of my favorite tools and why I choose them.

I'm also going to be sharing in the next few weeks, some photography tips and tutorials, as well as how to save for web and upload to galleries. The end of November, I will be sharing how I prepare for Ali Edward's December Daily.

I was so thrilled and honored to have been asked by The Pocket Source to create and write a review of the newest collection from Elle's Studio. When I received the box, I was expecting just some cards and tags and labels from their regular monthly kits. I was totally not expecting to get a whole collection from them.

I am having so much fun playing in this class. Yesterday the kids were all sick, so the kids and I watched Frozen a couple times and I sat on the floor and created my own background based off the first video by Celine Navarro in the Studio Calico Mixed Media class. I had a blast and the paper turned out so yummy!!! I did end up covering most of it though. It's kind of hard when the photos are so large. I did trim down the 8"x10" photo though and I think that helped a ton.

One of my goals for this year is to use up all the 6"x6" paper pads I have laying around. I like them for the smaller pattern and how easy they are to cut into 4"x6" cards, which can later I can cut in half to make 3"x4" cards for my pocket pages. At Scrapfest, I came home with twelve 6"x6" paper pads. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with all that. I gave one set of 4 pads to my dear friend for letting me use her scrapbooking tote. One set I immediately cut into 4"x6" cards, and kept the other set whole, hoping I could figure out what to do with them. I also had a few other 6"x6" pads that I had bought because of my love for Christy Tomlinson's designs and/or just because I liked it.

I put aside some free time this week to play with my gelatos and foam stamps I got in the Archivers closing sale! It's been awhile since I've been working through the Art Classes by Wilna Furstenburg at 2Peas. I seriously LOVE the classes, I just haven't made the time to get messy and creative lately, so I made time. My sweet friend and designer, Juliana Kneipp made these awesome SVG files that I tested and I instantly was inspired to create and seriously LOVE this layout so much...

I also added a little brush script in there, inspired by the Life Scripted class at Studio Calico... I think a freebie might be coming soon to the blog with some more painty brush script, I've been inspired so much lately!!! I first started with some plain white American Crafts cardstock and then painted on the gelatos in assorted colors, blending them in, trying to match the colors of the kit I was using. I then spritzed the stamp a few times with water and stamped it on... I love the cool watercolor look it gives. I then filled in the centers of the flowers with more gelato and blended it in before the gelatos had dried.

I then practiced a little brush script before I went and added the "kiss" to the layout. I used Heidi Swapp Color Shine instead of the usual gouache and I totally love the shimmery watercolor look of it. I then printed out and cut the goodies I wanted to use for the layering behind the photo and grabbed some of my embellishments and went to town with the enamel dots and sequins... After it all dried I added the journaling and a few doodles and the date and I trimmed a bit off the edges of the 12x12 and added it to a 12x12 patterned paper from Pink Paislee... I can't tell you how much this made me want to scrap some more and got my happy back after being in a creative funk recently. I'm sooo very happy to be playing again!!!
Find Your Happy Place by Jennifer Barrette and Juliana Kneipp
I Heart You: Frames by Juliana Kneipp
other supplies:
American Craft White 12x12 Cardstock, Pink Paislee 12x12 paper, Silhouette Portrait, Neenah bright white cardstock, Becky Higgins Project Life journaling pens, assorted enamel dots, brads, sequins and other embellishments, Design Memory Craft Gelatos, foam stamp, Heidi Swapp Color Shine, #4 Sumi Brush, Tombow adhesive, Glue Dots, Studio Calico frame

LOL... life has been super busy and I've been terrible at keeping up... so here's an update on new releases for the past few weeks...

First up is this week's new releases... I've become obsessed with trying to get my shadowing right to make my digital pages look more like paper layouts and not so flat. I've learned a few things in the last few weeks about the wave filter and have been using that with the shadows since papers don't usually lay perfectly flat... I've also been playing a bit with the dodge and burn tools and have also started blurring my shadows too... it's been tons of fun playing with them... I've also finally started playing with Lightroom 5 beta and am totally amazed at how fast it's helped me complete getting my photos ready for print in less time... I've been saving up some money and trying to sell some stuff so that I can get my hands on Lightroom 5 at the end of the month. I'm so in love with it compared to Lightroom 2 and so happy that I hadn't upgraded until this version came out. It's going to make editing and getting photos ready for print for Project Life soooo much faster and easier and I've decided that maybe I should learn more about how to use this awesome tool, not just for photos but for organizing too.

Dani has a new kit and it's really awesome and cute! I love the colors and all the fun word art and illustrations!

DISCLAIMER: As a creative team member for the aforementioned designers, I have received their products for free in return for creating and posting projects (digital layouts, hybrids projects, etc). Some but not all of the layouts you see here were done as requirements for these CTs, please be advised that the product used was indeed received for free if I am on the designer's creative team. Any additional advertising that I may do for them or for the stores with which they are affiliated is purely out of my dedication to these designers and the wish to see their business succeed. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Oh goodness... Mark and I have been married for almost 12 years and I had started a Creative Memories album years ago, but never finished it... I had won a nice paper prize package from Elle's Studio and Paper Issues and decided to use a bit of it to tackle finishing up this album. I must say that I'm have a blast, though I'm totally giggling at some of my old layouts in this album LOL.

I cut up the Creative Memories albums and put them in a 3 ring album with page protectors... I had purchased the digital Project Life wedding mini kit and will be re-coloring the cards and printing them to match the colors of our wedding better. I'm super excited and can't wait to finish up this album.

The cool thing was that 2Peas had a new challenge up from Glitter Girl and it was to tackle a wedding album and I went straight at it. Here is the title page I created... I can't wait to share more of the pages with you as I get going on it...