10 favorites of 2010

I've seen wonderful blog posts of people's favorite layouts of the past year. I thought it would be hard to pick, but it really wasn't. I browsed through the PSE Organizer and made a list, and surprisingly, 10 jumped out at me. (Actually 11, but one is going to be published--yipee!--so I can't put that one up.) Here they are, in no particular order:

For this page, "Favorite Photos of 2010," I used a photo template from LOAD February made by Barb Wong--Loved this idea and am going to do it again this weekend. Seriously, it does not take long to pick the photos. They just jump out at you. I also used my favorite Studio Calico kit ever for this, Whodunit.

The journaling on this page, "More than Tolerance," means a lot to me. Click on the photo to read it better.

I did the journaling summer 2009 for this, but used the color scheme for the Color Room and a leftover photo to put it all together. This page still makes me laugh.

Plus, I love to stitch. That really became apparent this year.

Speaking of stitching...

Another leftover photo that inspired this somewhat sentimental page. I used some of my typical design elements--strips of PP plus a border punch, and clusters of embellishments.

A rare non-photo page for me. Funny, the page was inspired by the typewriter sticker, which I got with a Studio Calico kit, I think. People on their MB wondered how to use it, so I followed where it inspired me to go. More clustering, and really fun journaling for me. Click the photo to read it better.

I did this page as guest designer for Sketchy Thursdays. Love the happy pictures and colors. Plus it shows how much I started shrinking my photos onto 4x6 paper and using them regularly on my pages.

More misting, more stitching, more use of PSE 4x6 templates I created. Plus more yellow. I love yellow.

I did this page, ispired by Karen Grunberg, during the August BPS free class. This page makes me happy. and a little wistful for summer...

This page is hybrid, which I started dabbling in more. The photo used a grunge texture overlay as well as the flourish brushes, all masking a blurry photo. I was inspired by a sketch at Sketchy Thursday. I like how I mixed lots of stuff--that's paint I used to stamp those dots, and I like the stitching flourish row.

After we went to Disneyworld, my husband pointed out that this photo looks eerily similar to a photo taken when his family moved to Hawaii when he was young (he's the tall lad on the left). I had to scrap this when he said that; how often does my husband tell me something I should scrap? I used a color combo from The Color Room for this.

So here's my favorite 10 layouts of 2010, a year full of mist, DMC, subtle did touches, and a heap of yellow. Have a happy new Year, everyone!

Final remnants

Here's the last few layouts that I made this year that I didn't post:

I do a popsicle layout every year, it seems. It's a sign summer is fully here when they can go out on the deck with them. And how happy am I that popsicle makes them sugar free?

I also made this page because I hadn't yet used those K & Company frames and forced myself to use them.

This was from a sketch at CK that didn't get picked up. I love love love how good my garden looks in this layout. I also like the combo of red, green, and yellow for summer pages. Lastly, I love my stitched butterfly paths. They just make me happy.

The idea behind this page will become a yearly layout for me, I think. I wrote about a challenge Rowan had the past year in school and how he worked to overcome it.

The title, which my husband came up with, is a pun on "spelling bees."



My younger son up and decided he was done with training wheels. As the journaling says, sometimes bravery is a decision. I used up remnants from my September Studio Calico kit for this. My Ella friend Donna was unsure about this border punch; I was too, but I like how it suggests wheels without getting too thematic. The stitched Algerian Eyes suggest wheel spokes even more.



This last layout was part of my submission for the Sketch Support team. (That site goes live Saturday; check it out!) I just want to point out how fresh it looks even though I am using LOTS of old product (1+ years). I adore the midair shot of my younger son leaping into the pile. The story behind it is funny; click on the bottom photo to read the journaling.

Remnants take 2

This past year I made a mini of things that I love. I used a Cosmo Cricket mini I'd coveted off Peachy Cheap but never used, plus some dies from Quickutz and some My Little Shoebook mini stickers (I love those so much I could eat them).Here's the final product:








It was fun trying to take arty pictures of everyday things.

BTW, the white line around the photos I learned how to do from a digi/hybrid tutorial on Cathy Zielske's blog. If you click on the digi tag, then search around, you can find it too.

Here's another couple pages that never saw the online light, topical because they're winter themed:

To make the snowflake, I used a template from Crafter's Workshop (scrapbook.com has them) and some Tattered Angels Marshmallow mist. I love red and brown as a winter combo--so cozy.


The purpose of snow is hot chocolate after, I think.

The journaling for this layout is one of my favorite quotations:

"Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy marshmallows, and it's kinda the same thing."

If the purpose of snow is hot chocolate, then the purpose of hot chocolate is marshmallows for my boys!

Remnants

Note: If you are Jessica and posted to win an Ella ebook, please contact me right away so I can send you the code! Otherwise, I'll draw for a new winner.

On to the pages...

Right now I am working on a few pages for design teams. I LOVE them, but I have to hold off a bit on posting them, so for now, I thought I'd share a few pages I've done but haven't posted (or I don't think I have), for a variety of reasons (Click on the photos to see them larger):

I do a serious amount of bubble pages every year. I liked mixing circle punched paper with some Skittles to add some play (and movement) to the page.


I don't think I've posted this--I made a photo grid using this tutorial by Cathy Zielske of some of my favorite spring shots. I trimmed a pom pom ribbon to serve as stem to a flowers. That blossom is old too--using old product makes me feel righteous.


Here I did a lift off a page at two peas. It was very girly, and I wanted the challenge of making it more linear and masculine even with some girly elements (like jewels and buttons). The bottom corner is a typical cluster for me: layers of mostly punched strips of paper, plus threaded buttons and gems. It works because there are similar clusters elsewhere around the page.

Last year I made a mini album of Christmas--I seriously did no layouts. I had bought a TON of Christmas product (bad Jenny!) and had to use it up, so a mini album was perfect. This year I may do a two pager with a collage of photos. That will take planning, though. I can do that though. I'm nothing if not anal--er, a planner.

This was a card I made with a sketch from Allison Davis, for my application to the design team for Sketch Support. SUPER fun to make, using a Build-a-Monster stamp kit from Stampin' up!, plus circle stamps from Studio Calico and BoBunny.

I had leftover camping photos from our camping trip to Maine a few years back and remnants of camping paper and stickers, so I put them together into a mini. A six by six mini is VERY easy to make with 4x6 photos, untrimmed.

My boys have gotten disposable cameras for our last two vacations, so I decorated covers for them in small brag book albums, using the remains of a Studio Calico travel-themed kit from last summer. I also put a label on the page protector to indicate what vacation the photos came from. The boys love these.

My favorite kind of page: a conversation page. The title comes directly from my son's words, which is a handy trick.

The idea for this page came from an assignment my son did at school, where he decided as a career he wanted to be an alien capturer. How much fun would that job be? I used some really cute Crate Paper Alien products I had lying around. Plus the goofiest photo I had.

More remnants tomorrow!

Fort Larson

The boys, although they loved Christmas and opening presents, have loved playing outside even more. Despite single digit temps this morning, they have built dream forts in the drifts along the driveway. (Don't worry, I've made sure the forts are not too tall and won't get plowed under in the street.) Here's some happy boys:




Hope your holiday week is well, although it sounds like some of you East Coasters got walloped with snow this weekend. Take care!

Christmas photos

We are blessed to be able to spend Christmas this year with Grandpa L, Derick's dad. To share with relatives across the country, here's some photos from our holiday:

We've drunk a lot of cocoa and tea this weekend. It hasn't been too cold, but it's been nice to play outside and warm up with cocoa and marshmallows. Here's Grandpa with the boys and their friend. (Check out the iPad, which Derick uses for recipes in the kitchen. He's so 21st century. If you look in its screen, you can see me taking the picture.)

Derick's cousin and his family came to spend the holiday with her family. Here the boys spend time with their second cousin, like they've been best friends for years. They really hit it off.
(BTW, you can tell one of these three doesn't live in Minnesota!)

Larson males hit the mall: We went to the Mall of America Christmas Eve. TOTALLY my husband's idea. No one believes me when I say it's empty in the morning, so here's proof.

The new Lego store is open. Grandpa took the boys to do their Christmas shopping. Rowan was spastic. He could not decide. He finally found something on this wall.

We followed the Mall with an outing to our favorite restaurant, Three Squares. This photo gives a little physical proof that this has been the snowiest December in Minnesota history: notice how the snow gets to at least their knees. These guys are both around 6'4".

The boys Christmas Eve transfixed by Norad Santa. I think he was in Argentina by the time they went to bed.

We went for our traditional Christmas sled at Elm Creek this year. Here's Derick and I, me with my new scarf. Thanks, honey. (You can see me taking my own picture if you look in my sunglasses.

Grandpa didn't sled, but he watched out for safety at the bottom of the hill. I took a picture of him (at his request) in front of a very funny sign:

See, the sledding hill is above the beach area, which is drained in the fall and laid open for sledding when snow comes. Thank GOODNESS the beach was closed today, because it was NOT bathing suit weather!




Sledding. Whoppee!

The Larson males at the end of our driveway, demonstrating how high the drifts are. Again, these grown-ups are at least 6'4". Rowan is at the top of the drift, and he towers over them. And we're supposed to get more snow before the new year rolls in.

At least more shoveling will allow me to work off more pie.

Here's to good Christmas memories.