Day at the Beach Pocket Page

July's "Refresh" Take 10 Kit and Glam Bag are chock full of goodies. I really had fun putting layouts together for this month. Her kits usually sell out on Day ONE, folks. You can see the kit before it goes live (Follow the Take 10 Kit Facebook Group). It is first come, first serve at 6PM EST on the 15th of the month. It is super reasonably priced and super cute, so they go fast. There are other goodies in her shop, too, so go check it out. And go to The Studio 29 Designs Blog for daily inspiration.

Today's post is a Day at the Beach with cousins. It was a slightly overcast day, which always makes for good photos. I really had to work to narrow down my selection for this layout. I knew I wanted to use the  "Cool Off" card, so that's where I started.  I cut down the  pink/blue "waves" from a 4x6 card. The yellow tied in well with the yellows in the photos. 

 

 

 

I love the overhead photo. It's a great active snapshot to get when a bunch of kids are playing on the ground together. The strip of paper is from the Refresh cut-apart.

 

 

 Love that pic of my oldest nephew. I framed it with a Crate Paper frame and embellished with some Pink Fresh puffy stickers.

 

 

New stamp set in the shop. Used the heart throughout and this heart label to record the date.

 

Go out and do something fun. Document it. Treasure it.

 

Holly

 

 

Going Pineapple Crazy

I still have some Take 10 Kit left from the June Breathe edition. That, combined with the Citrus Bliss add-ons that I have, allowed me to use lots of pineapples for this layout. I just couldn't help myself. It started with the stamp....and went from there.

Our Tuesday evening summer routine has been a lot of fun. My oldest takes swim lessons at a park a few neighborhoods over. The boys and I play outside while she's in swim for an hour. The park has a crepe stand, two playgrounds, five ball diamonds, splash area and bandstand with live music. We love it and usually linger longer after swim is over.

Items used:

Sweet Summer Pineapple Stamp Set

On My Plate Stamp Set

Scoops Stamp Set

Take 10 June Breathe Pocket Kit

Take 10 June Glam Bag

Citrus Bliss Ephemera Pack

-Holly Genc

Grocery Shopping Routine

I'm digging the July Stories of Me prompt over at The Pocket Source. I hope to do several of these for #myselfiescrapbook. I chose some fun photos I snapped of myself with my youngest on our walk down to the grocery store for a few staples one morning.

Since moving to my very walkable neighborhood, I've notice the way I grocery shop has drastically changed. Instead of the big trips with the car, I typically walk and carry back two shopping bags full a couple times a week. It's much quicker and more enjoyable. I still do the occasional larger trip with the car, or large peapod order, too, but the shorter trips are way better in my book.

I used two PL cards from my stash: "Enjoy Life" from the Honey Kit and the other from Clementine. I painted my wood veneer arrows with white staz-on ink and stamped "everyday" in the lower corner. 

Join us and pick a prompt from July's Stories of Me download for a quick layout of your own.

holly genc

The Pocket Source Creative Team

Down This Road Designs digi pages

Just sharing a few layouts I created using Down This Road creations products.  I was fortunate to be asked by Angie to join her creative team about a month ago and I couldn't be more thrilled.  Scrap Orchard was my first stop in my Digi journey - and I still love the designers at that store!

Scrap Orchard has a very active community - lots of inspiration, challenges and lots of freebies!  That was a big consideration for me as I was starting my digital journey about 18 months ago...you see having been a paper scrapper for so many years, I loved that I had a huge stash to use and select from.

When I started digital - I had almost nothing!  I love that I have been able to look around and actually be more particular about my design style.  I am trying to be good about not purchasing or even downloading freebies that I will not use.  Since part of my move to digi was to help purge the physical clutter of paper - I couldn't move down that same path in digital.  So far I have been about 50% successful...

Right now Scrap Orchard is having their big challenge for the year called Iron Scrapper - its lots of fun and a great way to challenge yourself at whatever level you are.  The great thing about Iron Scrapper is that everyone who completes at least 1 challenge has a chance to earn prizes! Plus there are lots of sales and chats to keep you motivated!

Here are some of my pages for the challenges so far:

Week 2 Tiki Tiki Tiki Room



Some of the other fun stuff I've made with Down This Road Design's - let me share some of my recent pages, enjoy!

Using DTRD Road Maps, Simply Pockets Vol. 2 and I Love Teaching kit

Using DTRD If Life Gives you Lemons and Scrapping With Liz SOT Template

Using Down This Road Designs (DTRD) June's Scrap Orchard newsletter freebie and Chelle's Creations Bunny Hop

Take 10 Tuesday | Resize Your Stamps

Disclaimer: Many stamp companies have copyrights on their images. Please seek permission from the company before altering their stamps in any way.

The Studio 29 Designs Blog has a weekly "Take 10 Tuesday" Post and this week is my turn. Go check out past posts for more crafty tips.

Have stamp that is perfect for your layout, but need it to be a different size? That happened to me in my last layout I posted about here. I have a quick and easy solution that I whipped up with my scanner, printer and Photoshop Elements (PSE). I have a Canon Pixma one-in-all, that I used (love it.)

That ADORABLE Scoop stamp is still available, kids. Go get it here. I imagine using this stamp a TON this summer. Here's a step-by-step of what I did. There are tons of great tutorials out there for PSE basics, so please check some out if this isn't quite making sense.

1. First, stamp the image onto white paper and scan it as a jpg.
2. Open the jpg up in PSE. 
3. I scaled my image down to a mini version and reset the CANVAS SIZE to 4x6 (because I knew I would print one a 4x6 piece of white cardstock). I made the resolution 300 for good printing.
4. Make a box around the scanned image with the selection tool. 
5. Copy and paste it. (Ctrl C, Ctrl V on a PC). It will automatically put your pasted image on a new layer.
6. Right click on that new layer and select "duplicate layer".
7. This third ice cream cone is where I filled in colors I liked with the paint bucket tool. Copy and paste that color combination. Then, repeat from Step 4 with new colors.
8. After you've filled your canvas, save as a high resolution jpg.
9. Print and fussy cut.

This took me roughly ten minutes from start to finish. If I'd been more ambitious I could have used my silhouette to cut out all of them. That seemed like too long of a process for my need at this time, but what a good idea if you need a lot of them.

Take 10 today to be crafty.

Holly Genc

Super Zoo Picnic

Today, I'm posting as Creative Team member for Take 10 Kits over at The Studio 29 Designs blog.

We have been zoo members since our first born was a wee baby. I think we will renew that one for many years to come. Lincoln Park Zoo is a regular visit for us, year 'round, but especially in summer. The annual member's picnic "SUPER ZOO PICNIC" seems to mark the official beginning of summer. This year, it fell on our last day of school. The zoo is open late. The carousel and train are free to ride. There are special games and bounce house obstacle courses set up. It is pure family fun.

I was probably more excited than the kids that the lions were up close to the viewing window today. Just chillaxing and grooming herself. And people watching.

"awesome" cut apart and alphas from June Take 10 Pocket Kit, ticket ephemera from June Glam Bag

Ephemera from the June Take10Kit Glam Bag. Card from Citrus Bliss paper pad (add on). Cut Apart (camera) from June Take 10 Pocket Kit. Using my embossing labeler for a title.

Cut aparts from the the June Take 10 Pocket Kit, Scoops of Fun Stamp, Ice cream cone created from June stamp.

 Stay tuned for a future post on how I created that adorable ice cream cone.

Card from June Take 10 Pocket Kit. "Hello Summer" June stamp

Card from June Take 10 Pocket Kit. Enamel dots from June Glam Bag.

Enjoy Summer and Document it

Hello Summer/Pineapple Stamp

Here's the Scoop/Ice Cream Stamp

Breathe Cut Apart Sheet

Holly Genc