Hello Love

Hello Monday! Hope you had a great weekend.

A few months ago I printed out a stack of photos and they've been neatly stacked on my desk ever since. Today I started a layout with one photo and then decided the design wasn't matching the photos, so I swapped the photo for a few wedding photos from my sister's wedding last summer. I love having a few photos printed and ready to go so that when I'm ready to create I'm not spending a ton of time digging for photos.

The design for this layout was inspired by a few paper strips that were out on my desk. This is the 6th layout I've made with the same kit, so I'm starting to get down to having a bunch of paper scraps. It started out with just a few strips under the photo as a mat, but then I decided to play around with stacking paper to fill the whole page.

I love how this incorporates so many different pattens and colors! Sticking with the stacking in the design of the paper, the photos were also stacked on each other. I like how the stacking reminds me of the layers on a wedding cake!

I'm thinking this small paper strip stacking idea might be cool to try covering the entire background of a layout. Might be seeing that idea soon!

Layout Supplies /// Today is Beautiful Kit /// Dream Big Add-on

K + D >>> Scrapbook Circle Blog Hop

Welcome to our Scrapbook Circle Blog Hop! Scrapbook Circle has a new creative team, as well as a fabulous August kit, and we'd like to introduce you to both today. We are giving away five August Kits and the winners will be selected from the comments posted along the hop. 

If you just left the talented Tessa Buys blog, you are in the right place. If not, I hope you'll join us for the entire hop by starting at the Scrapbook Circle blog.

We are all so excited to feature the new August Island Paradise kit today. I hope you are filled with inspiration!

One fun thing to note: Scrapbook Circle is running a promotion this month that all new subscribers can choose a past kit to ship for free with their August kit. Just add the Island Paradise kit to your cart, then add a favorite past kit to your cart and use the code "FREEKIT" in the promo box at checkout.

As I mentioned in the post about my sister's bridal shower, we've had a whirlwind couple of months around here prepping for Kristen's wedding. The day came and went earlier last month and I'm now enjoying time looking through some of the pictures I took on the wedding day.

I printed off a couple of my favorites and used them on a layout celebrating Kristen and Doug's wedding day. Their story is quite amazing and I hope she gets it all written down somewhere. Not only does she now have a wonderful husband, but four really great kids too. Instant family. I couldn't be happier for her.

I loved using the August Island Paradise Kit on this page. The black and white background paper was a perfect backdrop to the wedding photos mixed with pops of color from the embellishments.

Layout Supplies /// Scrapbook Circle August Island Paradise Kit /// Bungalow Add-on /// Tiki Torch Add-on

I hope you've had a fantastic time hopping around to the Scrapbook Circle team blogs today! Remember to comment along the way while you hop and we will choose five lucky commenters to win an Island Paradise kit. Winners will be posted on the Scrapbook Circle blog next week.

Bridal Shower

The past month has been full of wedding planning and activities for my sister Kristen's wedding. Her engagement was only a couple of months, so we crammed a lot into the past couple of months. She and my mom definitely did most of the planning, but I helped where I could. Cake testing is a hard job. 

One of the highlights of the wedding preparations was hosting a bridal shower at my house. I kept the decor simple and enlisted help with food from my mom, my cousins, sister Michelle and Costco. Plus I tortured my kids by giving them long lists of cleaning assignments. I love hosing parties because my house is cleaned up and free from most clutter.

The Food

Pioneer Woman Asian Noodle Salad

Fruit Salad

Sautéed Green Veggie Salad with Feta and Almonds

Costo Croissant Sandwiches

Berry Punch (Sprite, Lemonade, Crushed Raspberries and Pebble Ice

Dessert: Homemade Peanut Butter Brownies and Cupcakes

The Decor

Photos + Balloons made the decorating simple and fun. Over one of the dining tables, we hung balloons with strings and photos attached. Tip: We used double sided tape to stick the balloon to the ceiling. No helium required.

 One of the dining tables had frame pictures of the happy couple.

I had a few extra invites (I ordered these from Minted) and decided to use them as a base for a banner. The invites made perfect flags and I alternated them with some die cut hearts and then sewed everything to a teal ribbon.

The party was a success! Kristen received a lot of nice gifts and we all got to spend enjoyable time with friends and family.

Project Life >>> May 19 & May 26

Project Life continues to be one of my favorite ways to document our family life. I'm going to play a bit of catch up today and share two weeks of PL.

Week of May 19, 2013. We had a lot of good things going on this week. A highlight was a quick weekend visit from some friends who used to live here, but have moved to UT. We love having houseguests!

Audrey's 13th Birthday /// Sam's Club Grocery Shopping /// Day at the Lake

At Saguaro Lake with Crystal and Jennie /// Ward Speaking at PHX Creative Mornings /// Flag Football Ends /// Stitch Fix

Week of May 26, 2013. We were getting closer to the end of the school year. One fun thing to note is that I cut out the patch on Audrey's school uniform polo and included it on this spread. The shirt was stained plus she wasn't going to be returning to the school, so I figured it would be a cool thing to save in the album.

In addition to photos, this week I added a printed copy of an email from the kids' school talking about the end of the year plus a wedding invitation. I love being able to include things like this.

Sunday Night Dessert @ Grandpa and Grandma's /// Visiting the Cemetery with Family on Memorial Day /// Nightly Ritual /// Dress Like Your Teacher Day /// School Uniform /// Getting Yogurt

Memorial Day Breakfast /// Family Room /// Cousin Katie and Alani's Wedding /// Michelle Made the Wedding Cake /// Uncle Bill & Me

There you have it! Another two weeks documents.

Orlando and a Wedding

Hello!  Hope your week is off to a great start. We returned from a few days in Orlando on Sunday and have now enjoyed a couple of quiet days at home. We went to Orlando so we could visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando. That place did not disappoint!  Seriously so well done. I may have taken just a few pictures.

If you ever have a chance to go, I highly recommend it. We visited Zonkos, Honeydukes, Hogsmeade and Hogwartz. We may have consumed way too much butterbeer while we were there. Oh well, that's what vacations are for, right?

I do have a layout to share today! It seems like it's been a while since I've created a page, so it felt good to have some time to create today.

I put this page together about the day we spent at my cousin's wedding. It may seem a little funny that I didn't include a picture of the bride and groom on a page about their wedding, but I just loved this photo of my kids, sister and brother that I took at the reception and wanted to use it.

Got to go. It's Taco Tuesday here at our house and it's time to make the guacamole.

Layout Supplies /// Let's Chat /// July Embellishment Add-on