This month our theme is Ten Things. Lists are suck a lovely way to capture the essentials. They can help you focus your thoughts, to make order out of your photo stacks, and to provide a starting place for a layout. Let's look and see how our awesome team took on the theme. If you would like to see the layouts larger and read the journaling, pop on over to the photo album!
The Best Thing about New York City | Aliza Deutsch
12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Bazzil Basics) + patterned paper (Basic Grey, Studio Calico, Cocoa Daisy, Simple Stories) + buttons (Evalicious) + labels (Basic Grey) + mist (Maya Mist) + stickers (Jillibean Soup, Basic Grey) + fonts (Linenstroke)
A Note from Aliza
A co-worker recently played the song, “New York City” by They Might Be Giants at work. I am not usually a romantic music type, but as soon as I heard it, I felt a little teary, and I knew I wanted to make a layout with me and my husband. I typed out the lyrics to the chorus on vellum, and I used my top 10 photos from around the city, that I felt captured the city and our lives in it. However, I didn't have a picture of us together! I had to do a little silly Photoshop work to make that happen.
July Fun Fact
We just celebrated our 17 year anniversary.
Top Ten Favories | Celeste Smith
12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Emily Merritt Bright, Allison Pennington Twirl, Shalin Studio Melon Sorbet, One Little Bird Click, Valorie Wibbens Tales of Summer, Paislee Press Road Trip) + word art (Erica Hernandez 31 Things) + elements (Sahlin Studio Melon Sorbet, Valorie Wibbens Sprinkles v14, One Little Bird Click) + fonts (Headline, Underword Champion)
A Note from Celeste
Erica Hernandez recently offered a series of 31 "All About Me" word art prompts on her blog. I just loved how she made the cut outs with the titles so I took one of them and modified it a bit to make my title. I then wrote up my list and gathered photos that I had on hand paired with images from the web to create a grid. This gives a little snapshot into my June.
July Fun Fact
I might be a little too excited for both my boys to go to sleep away camp the same week this month. I know by mid-week I'll be missing them terribly!
10 Weeks of Viggo | Lisa Ottosson
8.5 x 11 | materials patterned paper (Project Life Blush Filler Cards)+ stickers (American Crafts Minimarks, KI memories, Lillibean soup)
A Note from Lisa
I twisted the theme of favorite 10 a bit. Almost every week since my nephew was born in February I have featured a photo of him in my Project Life album, calling it Weekly Viggo. On this layout I have 10 weeks worth of Weekly Viggos' ;)
July Fun Fact
I love being an aunt! I couldn't have imagined how much it would mean to me. And of course my 2 nieces and 2 nephews are the greatest kids!
Ten Random Facts | Jenny Larson
12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Bazzill) + patterned paper (Scenic Route, October Afternoon, Jillibean Soup, Lily Bee Designs) + vellum (Crate paper) + circle cutter (Coluzzle) + die cut (Quickutz) + wood veneer (Studio Calico) + ink (Studio Calico, Jenni Bowlin) + stickers (October Afternoon) + die cut (Crate paper) + pen (Zig) + fonts (Times New Roman)
A Note from Jenny Larson
I decided to make a top ten list of my favorites, but I couldn’t limit myself to one in each category, so this is a top ten list of lists!
July Fun Fact
I discovered recently that rubble and debris scenes in superhero movies make me mildly anxious. I always wonder who will clean up the mess.
10 Favorite Pictures | Ann Costen
12 x 12 | materials software (Adobe) + digital kit (Gennifer Bursett Collab) + fonts (Travelling Typewriter, Contribute, Gill Sans Ultrabold)
A Note from Ann
For this month's theme, I chose to do a pictorial list by creating the first 12x12 layout from our epic adventure to South East Asia in March 2013. I was so exhausted from the trip that it took me several weeks just to edit some pictures and get them printed. I took close to 4000 pictures over 24 days so it was quite difficult to pick the 10 that are part of this layout. Looking at these, I'm still amazed at all that we did and saw on this trip! I am creating a 5-up album to document this trip (to be shared in September) and I'm using the same digital kit for both the 5-up album and the 12x12 pages.
July Fun Fact
We ate deep fried bamboo worms and stir-fried frogs in Thailand. We drew the line at the BBQ field rats and did NOT eat those!
Top Ten | Amy Coose
12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Studio Calico, Basic Grey) + letters (Basic Grey) + tags (Chic Tags) + cork embellishments (Studio Calico) + die cut machine (Silhouette Cameo)
A Note from Amy
I wanted to capture my family’s top ten lists so that we would be able to look back and see what was important to us. I am going to make sure that I do this every year, so we can see how our tastes change.
July Fun Fact
I am not a big fan of summer because I HATE to be hot. Sweating all day long doesn't appeal to me in the least, and I’d take the cold over the heat any day!
Summer Top Ten | Christine Newman
12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Michaels) + patterned paper (Lily Bee Design) + washi tape (Freckled Fawn, Kid Made Modern) + glitter pen (Sharpie, Elmers) + pens (American Crafts, Staedtler) + letter stickers (American Crafts) + spray mist (Studio Calico) + sequins (Kelly Purkey) + wood veneers (Studio Calico, Freckled Fawn) + adhesives (Scotch, Glue Dots)
A Note from Christine
I have several layouts over the years that depict sun rays (both digital and paper). To me it is the perfect symbol of summer and I love creating the sun rays. For this layout, I layered washi tape horizontally and vertically across a sheet of white cardstock. Then I cut out the big circle from the layers of tape to create the main part of my sun.
July Fun Fact
I think of July as the "sandwich month" of summer. June is the start and August is the end. July doesn't seem as fun, but I'm determined to make it fun this year!
Her Best Moments | Christa Paustenbaugh
12 x 12 | materials cardstock (American Crafts) + patterned paper (BasicGrey, Webster's Pages) + thickers (American Crafts) + die cuts (Studio Calico, Jillibean Soup, Ormolu) + mist (Studio Calico) + stickers (Jillibean Soup) + ink (Versamark) + flair (Sasha Farina) + stamp (Studio Calico) + embossing ink (American Crafts)
A Note from Christa
My oldest daughter just finished up fifth grade this year and I just can't believe how utterly fast time flies! I had her come up with her best moments of elementary school list and it was so fascinating to see what stuck out to her versus what stuck in my mind.
July Fun Fact
July is all about water activities for us since it gets so incredibly hot here. Looking forward to field trips to several beaches with my family!
Life…there's an app for that! | Diane Payne
12 x 12 | materials cardstock (American Crafts) + patterned paper (Studio Calico) + buttons (Studio Calico, My Mind's Eye) + flair (A Flair For Buttons) + washi tape (K&Co.) + mist (Studio Calico, Heidi Swapp) + stickers (Studio Calico) + fonts (Bebas)
A Note from Diane
Doing a layout about how much I love apps and how they have simplified my life and made things more fun has been on my mind for awhile. The "Top 10" theme this month was the perfect way to document it. As I sit here looking at my finished layout I've noticed that four of my favorite apps are photography related and one other app tracks all my social media and lets me record little notes and photos that I don't post to social media. It is easy to see from this layout that my iPhone and its apps are an important tool in my memory keeping process.
July Fun Fact
I recently traveled to France with my husband and while there enjoyed a cooking lesson with a chef that cooked for Jacques Chirac, the former President of France.
First 10 Books | Marnie Flores
12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Glitz) + font (Bondoluo)
A Note from Marnie
For the past few years I have tried to read 5 books a month. This year, I am hoping for 2 a month and trying to keep my house tidy each day. Much less fun...
July Fun Fact
Football practice begins this month. With five days of gymnastics and five days of football each week, June seemed to slip through our fingers. We are going to make a better effort to enjoy summer this month!
Summer Top Ten | Jennie McGarvey
12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Studio Calico) + vellum (Paper Studio) + alphabet stickers (Lily Bee Design) + stickers (Studio Calico) + wood veneer (Studio Calico) + sequins (Studio Calico) + pen (Sharpie) +
A Note from Jennie
This layout was inspired by SUMMER! I knew I wanted a fresh color palette so I stuck to crisp pastels and built from there.
July Fun Fact
I love summer! Heat doesn't bother me nearly as much as winter. With a pool in our backyard, you'll find me out there with my boys most days!
NYC Road Trip Songs | Katie Ehmann
12 x 12 | materials cardstock (American Crafts) + patterned paper (Crate Paper, Fancy Pants, Dear Lizzy, October Afternoon) + thickers (American Crafts) + stickers (Crate Paper, October Afternoon, Pink Paislee, Studio Calico)
A Note from Katie
This layout is based on my road trip to NYC to visit my sister last week. We drove 11 hours each way and also drove to the beach on Long Island one day, so we were in the car a lot. We had such fun listening to Top 40 pop songs! I wanted a fun, layered look for this layout, and used two pics from my phone to document the drive.
July Fun Fact
In early August I’m taking an adults only girls trip with a couple of friends to Disney World! I can’t wait!
10 Things I Didn't Expect | Amy Sorensen
12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Basic Grey) + alpha stickers (Echo Park, Lilybee, Pebbles) + notebook journaling card (Elle's Studio) + corner punch (Fiskars) + "10 Things" stamp (Close to My Heart) + label stamp (Technique Tuesday) + puffy cloud stickers (American Crafts) + various stickers from my "Words" drawer + font (Samo Sans)
A Note from Amy
Grouping a bunch of word stickers together is one of my favorite techniques lately.
July Fun Fact
Sometime this month, neighbors will start bringing tomatoes, peaches, and various types of squash to me from their gardens. I can't wait to make a big batch of fried zucchini.
10 Herbs | Francine Clouden
12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Bazzill Basics Paper) + spray ink (Kesi’Art, Tattered Angels) + stamp (Studio Calico) + die cut (Sassafras Lass) + chipboard (Maya Road, BasicGrey) + chipboard letters (American Crafts) + washi tape (MT Tapes) + leaf (American Crafts) + canvas flower (Basic Grey)
A Note from Francine
This page is based on a blog post from a series I did last year with Shimelle entitled 10 Things. The background for my page was inspired by this image that I pinned on Pinterest.
July Fun Fact
I adore cilantro but can’t stand parsley.
10 Things Right Now | Valerie O'Neall
8.5 x 11 | materials cardstock (Neenah) + patterned paper (Crate Paper, Simple Stories) + thickers (American Crafts) + stamps (Elle's Studio) + mist (Studio Calico) + ink (Prima) + small alpha stickers (October Afternoon)
A Note from Valerie
It was fun to record 10 things about my son that are "right now." I kept supplies and complexity to the bare minimum and will most likely add an 8 1/2 x 11 photo when placing in an album. This is something I look forward to periodically doing again in the future.
July Fun Fact
Looking forward to camping with friends this month.
Before we go, we have some good and bad news. Bad first.
The time has come to say goodbye to Erin Sweeney, Deb Duty, Monika Wright, and Paula Gilarde. However can we do that?? Erin and Paula have been with us from the beginning--we love Erin's sense of humor and Paula's innate goodness. Monika joined us not long after we started and brought with her unbridled enthusiasm and kindness. Then Deb came. With a depth of compassion and her well designed pages she won us over immediately. Saying goodbye to them brings us heavy hearts, though we know they are all bound for much success. Thank you, friends, for your dedication and hard work, and for touching our lives for the better.
And now the good news. We want to introduce to eight new teammates. We are so excited to have them join us and we can't wait for you to fall in love with them as we already have begun to. Here they are!
Aren't they beautiful? They are wonderful women who make wonderful pages. To get to know them more, click on their name in the left hand column where you will find some bios bits and links to their blogs. Oh, how excited we are to have them join our family!
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave some love for our departing friends and for those arriving.
And Happy Canada Day to our friends up north!
