Zoo Scavenger Hunt: Part 1

I'm excited to share my first August Take 10 Kit layout. It's a bright and cheery kit this month. This is the left page of a two page layout. I'll be sharing the other half next week.

 

I went with a red and aqua theme on this page. Those alphas are left over from the June Take 10 Kit. 

 

There were so many elements I really liked in this kit. The giant enamel dots are fun and the gold clips are awesome!! 

 

 

 

Our summer bucket list included a homemade zoo scavenger hunt. I made a checklist with pictures and words of different animals and other fun items (like the train and popcorn cart!). I clipped them to our clipboards and supplied each with a crayon. They loved this activity. It gave us a whole new way to enjoy the zoo. 

I'm happy to share my checklist with you. You can cross out any items that aren't applicable and still use it at your local zoo. Download printable Zoo Scavenger Hunt file HERE.  (Download tip: If a login dialog box appears and you don't have/want Dropbox, just close it. When printing, select Fit/fit to page.)

Thanks for visiting,
Holly Genc

Summer Time Family Fun Pocket Page

Summer Fun! I'm bringing you another summer layout using the July Refresh Take 10 Kits.

That Top 10 Things about Family card is so unique and fun to fill out. I love it.

See what I did there? I liked how the word "love" in the stamp set this month went with this frame. And those yellow and green puffy hearts! Had to use them.

It is so awesome when you find another stamp that works well with a punch you have. Yay!

There is that "love" stamp again. I used it on this cute coordinated film strip slide (from the July Cut Apart Card) to highlight the date. Then, I went over the lettering and stamp with some glossy accents.

Thanks for stopping by.
Holly | Take 10 Kits Creative Team

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

 

 

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

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

Stories of Me: Labor Day Weekend 2014

Today, I'm over at The Pocket Source participating in the June Stories of Me group. There is still time to grab the freebie provided by Artfulleigh Creative and make a June layout. It can be found here,

I had fun adding these outdoor themed layouts to my 6x8 Stories of Me album that I began when this group over at The Pocket Source started up. I manipulated the cards just a bit for my layout. I added a title in Photoshop to the colorful striped card. I used some of the coordinating digital stamps in some of my photos. The Sunnies journal card was cut down from a 4x6 card.

Have you ever rented a bicycle built for 8? We did this with my parents and sister 12 years ago on the weekend of our bridal shower. This time we have 3 kids in tow. 

The next two page spread highlights the second half of the day I planned outdoors. I got us all tickets to ride a tall ship on Lake Michigan. It was a beautiful day for it.

Holly Genc

www.paintedladiesjournal.com

Mix and Match Project Life

Today, I'm over at The Pocket Source with my Creative Team Post.

I'm sharing a layout I just created from Easter Egg Hunting photographs this year. I used my stash for this one, so it's quite a mix. Do you like to mix product lines or use the same line throughout a layout? I do a bit of both, but this one is definitely a mix. 

The "Live Simply Dream Big" card is a MAMBI embellished card. Have you seen these?? There are several different theme packs. The glitter gold pieces you see in several spots are also by MAMBI. They are their chipboard stickers. 

=

Anybody recognize that "Lucky" puffy sticker? That is Amy Tangerine's High Five line. The little bunny is from the same set. The chick is a wood chip by Freckled Fawn. The felt doily is also Freckled Fawn. (I bought up some goodie packs from FF awhile back, fun stuff). And, there is one of those glittery gold MAMBI chipboard stickers.

This detail contains a mix of MAMBI, Amy Tangerine High Five and Freckled Fawn. I inked the wood chip bird.

More MAMBI plus an unknown puffy sticker.

Thanks for "tuning in" today. Find me on Instagram.

Holly Genc

The Pocket Source Creative Team

www.paintedladiesjournal.com

Scrapbooking Two Years at Once

This is a repost of my Creative Team post over at The Pocket Source. If you don't know them yet, hop over and check it out. It's a fabulous community.

I got so far behind I decided to do 2014 and 2015 simultaneously. It was a goal I posted about back in February, here. I had visions of getting tons done and being caught up with both by the end of this year. Well, I'm not trending in that direction but I've revamped my plan to make it more doable. That said, I have been doing some simultaneous months. It is fun comparing pictures that are a year apart. Sheesh, kids grow too fast. They are not going in the same book, I'm just doing January layouts, for instance,  from 2014 at the same time as those January 2015 layouts. Here are two I just did.

  

I used cards from Project Life Jade and Plus One in this 2014 layout, studio calico wood veneers, Target washi and my good old embossing label maker.

These cards and embellishments were from the April Paper Issues Swag Bag. I tried it out when they had it on sale. Love!! Will definitely be shopping with them again.

So, my process has morphed since the idea of doing 2014/15 simultaneously. I'd love to do another post that gives more details on that, but I'll just give you the abbreviated version.  

• I planned out all the layouts in the PL app for Jan-Apr 2015. It was getting a bit old by the end, but it makes printing and putting them together quicker. And now, I keep that up along with journaling in the PL app, just so I can get more of those cute little stories written down. It's is so good for me to do it this way! 
• I already had Jan-Feb 2014 printed. For 2015, I did ALL the photo editing on my phone, using a combination of pic stitch, pic tap go and Dropbox. As I referred to my layouts, I saved my edited photos to a new "print" folder in Dropbox. 
• Then, I uploaded that whole folder to Persnickety Prints. Wow, my first order from them. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go anywhere else. I was overwhelmingly happy with my prints. 
• I could barely contain my excitement, as I filled my pocket pages, again referring to that PL app of planned layouts! So, then, I had this book full of just photos, and I've been happily skipping all over the place working on whichever layout suits me at the moment. (I just had a mental image of myself literally skipping on top of my scrapbook pages with a big grin on my face. Anyone else? The horror!). I'm loving this system, people. It is so freeing to just have the photos where they go and dig into all my supplies and get it done!

EEK, I need a mani.

Go get some scrapbooking time in this week.

Holly Genc

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