Scrap Our Stash June Sketch.

Scrap Our Stash is a site/group that inspires you to use your stash and supplies. They do 2 challenges a month - one is a stash challenge (1st of the month) and one is a sketch challenge with a stash prompt (15th of the month).  The Design Team examples are shown everyday to inspire you to put together a great page!  To learn more you'll have to check out their site at http://scrapourstash.blogspot.com/

This month's sketch is very fun! It's a great way to use multiple papers in your stash up in one layout! So that's exactly what I did! I love seeing my stash dwindle down. For the lists- I picked polka dots, Quartz, and rub ons! 

I thought this sketch was perfect for the multiple photos I took from a family day outside! All the family enjoyed the nice summer weather- the cat and the dog in the same area- don't say that is true! It's just been an enjoyable summer already with all the opportunities to take Sienna out to run around. Can't wait to see what else this summer holds for us all. Also with all the fun photos - I thought Pibk Paislee's Fancy Free was perfect! The fun bright colors just screams summer! 

I just loved this challenge by SOS- and I hope you join us and link up your page for a chance to win a awesome prize! 

Xo. Renee 

Weekly Wednesday .03

It's so weird how it's almost July. Summer is literally going by so fast.

I got to be a bit honest. I feel like I haven't enjoyed it as much a I should be. I need to break out and spend more time out in the sunshine. I need to go on more adventures. That's what life is all about. I'm focusing too much on the future and not so much on the "now".

But while I'm thinking ahead of myself, I thought I'd share with you what I've done with my July spread.

I love so much the bright fun colors of the newer MAMBI supplies.  I can't get enough of it- and it's perfect for summer!  I have a lot of them linked up in my first Weekly Wednesday post- which are all tagged together.  On the side, I utilized the space to make list that deal specifically with the month.  Such as taking care of business a.k.a bills. And goals for the month- I used a few stickers from the fitness pack for that!  

My favorite idea that I'm including in my planner is pictures! I know- shut up- not a new idea. But I decided to put the person's / people's picture on the date that signifies importance.  This month in July - my beautiful sister and her husband got married 10 years ago on the 29th. I love this picture of them together. I printed it to the size of the square ( okay a little bigger ) and then took a 29 from the date stickers I have- placed  it in the corner.  I'm hope to add more pictures along the way but I think this is a very cute start!   

Also I am planning to show you how each month spread ENDS up looking like!  So this is the beginning of a crazy July!

xo. Renee

Make Ahead Monday .02

You know when you have ideas and you just have to do them.... like now. Definitely the case with this, I am not even 100% positive where I got the inspiration - I've been on Instagram and Pinterest looking for ideas and pinning everything I see.  

As I have told you before in previous Make Ahead Monday, I am trying for a 6x12 project life this time around. I was ideally going to start on my 30th birthday but the anxious me - well, we're not going to wait. I'm not sure if I declared it on the blog or not, but I am going ahead with starting with the summer. 

So this cover page was born.  

I began with a 12 x 12 Project Life Protector that I had that had (4) 6 x 6 squares on it. I cut down the middle to create the (2) 6 x 6 squares also making it 6 x 12 size.  Nifty. I wanted something fun and summery to start out with. Brought me to this collection I spotted at Michael's not too long ago, had a lot of beachy and fun summer papers. I took one of the sheets I adored - cut it to match the 6 x 12 size. Again, 6 x 6 then better yet in to 3 x 3's. 

With the squares I lined them up to fill the space, so I could properly line up part of my title which I just used some kraft colored adhesive alphas I found from the Target dollar bins. I liked the off set look of them and cut off where they didn't fit on to the page.  

I embellished it a bit with some of the stuff from Simple Stories "You are Here" line as well as sequins. I slid the first two squares in to the 6 x 6 slot then took my new Project Life "Fuse" like tool to seal the cards in to place along the top and middle edge, making it look like they were in 3 x 3 pockets. Again, I placed the next two in above it - I didn't seal the top of those pockets on top - just the middle between them.  Did the same again for the top 6 x 6 section. 

I love the look of vellum in the multiple million pages I've seen. So I took a piece of vellum, cut it down to fit in the middle of my page pretty well. I added more to the title with some grid like white alphas. Adhered it with my ATG gun to the pocket page.  

I think it turned out so gorgeous. Love the colors and think the two lines meshed really well together. Too bad I'm not really on that sandy beach with a fruity drink in my hand! I'm excited to see how my next pages turn out after this!! 

xo. Renee 

Do you guys sketch out ideas before you do them or do you go in without any plans ? How do you guys store all your ideas? Let me know how you work!! :)

Fitness Friday .01

So I haven't been the best blogger this week - I swear my life- is crazier than I thought it was.

Anyways, but I will try my hardest to keep pushing when I can with great posts :)

I'm sitting here almost a week after my last race. What?! I know- I didn't mention I had a race coming up but I will give you a little recap? There isn't much to say. The normal 5k run down.

So last Saturday I participated in the CWC Heartland Day 5k in my hometown.  Leading up to it- I'm not going to lie- I didn't run as much as I probably should have been and I could list a million excuses but simply said- I just didn't get out there.

Allergies this year- for me- have been horrible. Constant stuffy nose, itchy eyes, and best part of all- the worse sore throat ever. I've been to the doctor twice- I swear to them- it has to be strep. It has to be something. Nope- they swear to me it's just allergies. Suck it up buttercup- take your Claritin.

So I've been tackling those- somehow. That morning I woke up with the worse throat ever- and barely any voice. Could I breathe through my nose? Not so much. Could I swallow? Kind of.  Also, did I mention all week long we've had temperatures in the 80s with 100% humidity.  So of course, Saturday was predicted to be the worse all week.

After much thinking- I decided I'd just go down to the park and pick up my packet and head home. There wasn't any reason to make myself sicker.  I got to the park - immediately got jealous- I know I would be mad at myself if I once again dropped out of a race. I decided basically - why the hell not? Grabbed my headset and sunglasses out of the car.   Clipped my bib on, grabbed as much toilet paper as I could crumble up, and got myself to the starting line.  In my head, I know the weather isn't great and hell- I could barely breathe so I would take whatever time I can get. This wasn't going to be my best.

Honestly, it could have been a great race.  My first mile wasn't bad at all, but I'm a sucker and when I see someone walk- I feel I tell myself sometimes I should walk too. I could have gone longer without taking my first walk break. I probably could have taken less walk breaks. My dad had to work, but my mom did catch me a few times along the route. Literally every time she caught me- I was walking. Maybe I'll blame it on her, she cursed me ;)  I didn't walk crazy slow, I utilized my walking for a drink break as well as to blow my nose then hustled back to running.   I didn't finish at all near my best time but it also wasn't my worse. So that made me feel a little better.

Because of the weather, as well as multiple conflicts- this race ended up being rather smaller then normal. I watched the times be placed on the board- I noticed I was the third person to come in in my age group for females. WHAT?! Okay for many reasons this shocked me, I'm in a popular age group- I didn't realize how small the race was either. So I ended up with a shiny medal.  I loved that I placed- how fun is that. But I know had circumstances be different, this wouldn't have been possible at all. So by no means am I letting it distract my thinking that I do need to work harder.

I'm going to get my ass back in to gear. Hopefully stick to some medicine everyday so I get battle these pesty allergies. Take advantage of the outdoors with strength training in the park and swimming at the pool during adult swim hours. Run - of course, like always. I plan to sign up for some more races- just have to do some digging around and my calendar out!

Hope you all been enjoying the wonderful summer and that your allergies haven't gotten you down! 

xo. Renee

Scrap Our Stash June Stash.

Gosh, sometimes life just gets in the way and interrupts what I'm trying to get done. I'm sorry I have had mix ups with other things but I'm here a few days later with my Scrap Our Stash June Stash post! 

Scrap Our Stash is a site/group that inspires you to use your stash and supplies. They do 2 challenges a month - one is a stash challenge (1st of the month) and one is a sketch challenge with a stash prompt (15th of the month).  The Design Team examples are shown everyday to inspire you to put together a great page!  To learn more you'll have to check out their site at http://scrapourstash.blogspot.com/

I just thought this inspiration was perfect for the month of June. Father's Day is coming up and it's a great way to feature those daddys in our lives.  Although the props of yellow- that definitely was part of a challenge for me- it's one of those colors I don't use a whole lot in scrapbooking! 

I was excited though to be able to use a few of my scraps ( which include yellow! ) from what was left from other pages to mix them up and create this page I have for you this month! 

This month's challenge worked perfectly for me because I have taken so many pictures of my father lately! We've been a little gutsy lately with taking our dog Sienna out on many adventures. When we first got her, she loved to escape her kennel and run run run. So we've been so nervous to let her out without a leash, but we took a chance on life and let her out. I think now she's realized this is home or maybe there's something about having her grandpa- my father- around but she's been so well behaved while we play outside. So she's been having many adventures lately and being my father and her are two peas in a pod- many of the pictures I've taken had my dad in them.  I'm glad I've was able to catch and document them as their relationship is truly priceless. 

I can't wait to see what you all come up with for this challenge! Remember to post them by the end of the month at http://scrapourstash.blogspot.com for a chance to win a prize!! 

xo. Renee

Weekly Wednesday .02

Here I am again with Weekly Wednesday! 

I know that my planner won't start until July but all the jump starts I can get- I'm going to take!  I don't know about you but I'm a HUGE list person. Although - I don't always remember to keep said list or cross off things if I do them - it helps me remember what I need to do when I write it down somewhere. Also I always actually forget ideas I have all the time because I never write it down right away. One of the millions of reasons I need to utilize my planner more! 

So the one way I'm going to do that is with these Note Paper Add-ons that MAMBI makes for their planner! 

I already took a sheet and added it in to each week's spread til December. I think if each week has a little piece of paper there- I'm in a position to go ahead and write it down if it doesn't belong in a date slot.  For the first week of July- I already started by making a reminder list of things I need to do before a photo shoot in August. I know that it's still time away but this way I have plenty of time to find all the stuff I need. 

I put in marker the main idea of what I needed to do- and in pencil added other thoughts that may change. I got the marker in one of the Planner Kits I bought from the Studio Calico sale they had a few weeks ago and I love it! It doesn't bleed through the paper which is great :)

To make the list fun - I added bits of the washi from the MAMBI Washi set.  I love the bright colors- it's so fun and summer- I can't wait to fill the whole week!  

I don't want to wish my summer away  but I'm very excited to start this planner as well as my project life!  I need to find some fun projects to do in the mean time! 

Tell me how you are using your planners! I would love to gain more ideas!! As always- follow my instagram and pinterest for ideas I have shared! 

xo. Renee

Make Ahead Monday .01

There's one project that I'm super excited about starting!

You're probably all thinking I'm crazy, in which- I probably won't argue it with you- but I'm excited about starting my Project Life.  Again- you're probably making a confused face. "Why haven't you started it yet? It's the middle of 2016."  Well I'll let you in on a secret- I kind of forgot to get it started in January. It was all prepared- I was sure that I liked a paper collection I was going to use all year through. But I just wasn't excited, I didn't have a life- so it fell to the wayside.  

Anyways! A few years back, I did Project Life starting on my birthday in a SMASH book. (Remember that craze?)  I did weekly spreads and it went really well! I tried again with the same concept in a 12x12 PL album, I thought it went pretty well for the most part- maybe it was too big for me so it was hard to finish because I simply didn't have enough pictures. Last year - I started in January in a 6x8 book and did monthly spreads. I loved it!  Was small enough, didn't feel I needed to have something to document EVERY week.

Which brings us to this year-  I'm excited to be starting it on my birthday!

The beginning of my "Dirty Thirties".

I already have some great things in the making for my 30's so I'm very excited to take a shot at documenting it all in a project life.

For this album, I'm using 6x12- which I'm hoping will be perfect - the more I look around the more I wish I had picked up a 9x12. I picked up a few packets of the only set of 6x12 I could find and cut down some 12x12 sheets I had. <-- for="" instagram="" nbsp="" p="" thanks="" the="" tip="">
I also may or may not have stocked up on multiple Studio Calico kits from their sale a few weeks ago. I just love the style of their cards! After so much inspiration from Pinterest and Instagram- I also have so many more ideas on how to use them.  Check out from the side menu my Pinterest board and Instagram!

Another thought I had was to maybe document by moments rather than time segments. So if I had a million moments in 1 week and none in months- it wouldn't matter.  Again, I'm just very excited I know I didn't show a lot of pictures but I just wanted to get it out!

I want you guys to fill me in on all your awesome trials with Project Life/Pocket Scrapbooking. Maybe your ideas will inspire me to take turns with this project that I didn't know I would try!  I can't wait to show you pieces of this. Also please check out my Project Life tag- I have work from the past year's book in various past entries!


xo. Renee

Throwback Thursday .01

So I'm sorry that I'm a little late posting this but life knocks and I have to answer it. Either way, I'm here with my first Throwback Thursday "official" post.  So I told you before that my throwback posts are probably more like 2015 and back. Yes, 2015 is ... kind of the past lol... does it still work for throwing back?  Well hopefully you all shook your head yes.

Anyways , I would love to show you the page that I made.   

                 

I know it's a bit silly but that's just how life with him was. Being dorks, it was kind of our thing. I'm pretty sure I probably did it first... but I put my hood up on my hoodie and pulled the strings all the way tight and this is the result. He joined me in silliness and quite frankly, my hoodie looks better. I just wanted to document this picture because even though it's been a while- and we're not together anymore- it serves as a great reminder of how being yourself is always best. Even if you look crazy, because when you find someone's craziness who is like yours- it's love. And face it, its a freaking funny picture.

I just can't get enough of Amy Tangerine's Better Together line- but it's winding down slowly and I thought it would work perfect with this page. I layered behind the picture with the cut aparts and splattered embellishments around it- tucking in tangled string behind pieces as well. I love always having a little cluster at the bottom of the page and at top- kind of like a diagonal balance of sorts.

                                   

I hope you enjoyed this Throwback. Even though we're not together, I still love that I can put together these memories. I had too much time living the moments before that I sometimes forgot that even the littler ones should be documented as well- because well, looking back on it now- they are the ones I often think of now that we're apart. If anything my advice- as a scrapbooker- don't forget to scrapbook the little moments besides the big celebrations. Those are the moments you either will forget or remember and wish you had them around again.

xo. Renee

Weekly Wednesday .01

I blogged a while ago about using the MAMBI (Me and My Big Ideas) Happy Planner Fitness verison for tracking my fitness needs earlier this year. Well that kind of fell to side although I still wrote in it what I did for workouts- I just didn't follow it for what I ate.  I just didn't have it around me 24/7 - and if you know me, I eat often also I forget 20 minutes later what I ate.  So by time I got to my planner- whew- all out the window. 

 As always though- I fall in love with the Happy Planners- so I'm giving it a go... again. Except with a general 18 month planner instead of Fitness based.  Although I did buy the fitness 5-pg sticker packet. Don't act like you're surprised. 

Here's the planner I picked :

Ain't she a beaut?

The inside is just is gorgeous with touches of gold foil on the dividers and flowers on all the calendar pages. I put in gold extender rings so I could add in various things as needed to my planner with out it exploding.   

Along with the planner- I fell in love with all sorts of other MAMBI planner supplies. So I may or may not have bought quite a bit of that. Here are a few examples of my favorite that I am excited to use! 

  

See a theme? Bright colors, Gold- perhaps? I can't get over it. Anyways, but it doesn't start until July and also I'm waiting until I get a pen that comes in a kit (yes, I'm that person.) that I ordered to arrive before I start plastering it with birthdays and events that are coming up. 

So hopefully that'll all begin by next week so I can starting showing you more specifically how I plan to use my planner! Each Wednesday I 'll show you in to the world of that week in my planner - I know a lot of people- including myself are very intrigued by planners so I'm hoping I can be as exciting as those I follow.  If not, I apologize far ahead of time. 

 All my supplies are bought at brick and mortar craft stores such as Hobby Lobby and Michael's but I can not say enough about the great service also at MAMBI. Hope you enjoyed my peek in to my planner world! I'll be back tomorrow with a Throwback Thursday post!! 

xo Renee