Favorite Layouts of 2011

Hello friends! I've had such a wonderful time since I became a member of the design team here but sadly, this will be my last post and inspiration on the layout blog. I'm so thankful to Noel for the opportunity to create with her beautiful kits each month and I certainly won't be a stranger around the message board. I'm a Noel Mignon kit club fan for life! :)

Towards the end of the year I always reflect back on the work I have created and decided that for my last post here I would share some of my favorite layouts I have created with Noel Mignon kits in 2011.

1) January's "Very Virginia" kit -

2) February's "Truly Scrumptious" kit -

3) March's "Delightfully Domestic" kit -

4) April's "Jump & Jive" kit -

5) May's "Mary Ellen" kit -

6) June's "The Bee's Knees" kit -

7) August's "Salt Water Taffy" kit -

8) September's "Study Hall" kit -

9) October's "Sleepy Hollow" kit -

10) November's "Dear Diary" kit -

I'm still working on my December Memories album with the "Mistletoe & Holly" kit so if you would like to see my pages, please keep an eye on my blog. Thanks so much for your friendship and mutual inspiration this past year!

All the best!
Jill

December Memories: 13-16

I'm back with the next four spreads of my December Memories album. I have fallen slightly behind again as I have been fighting off a cold the past week but I'm still plugging away at it trying to record and preserve our memories!

13) Family letter - Every year we put together a short letter to update our family and friends on what we have been up to in the past year. We also try to include a few photos of our family. The pocket page in the Fancy Pants album was the perfect place to add the letter.

14) New Christmas Pajamas - One of our favorite traditions is to buy the girls new pajamas each year. This year we went with super cute "Frosty" pajamas, and the girls love them!

 

15) Baking is Joyful -  We had a baking morning with Grandma Mary and made cut-out cookies that we frosted. The girls had a great time baking with their Grandma. Lily was especially into rolling out the dough and cutting out the cookies. With the girls' food allergies, I was especially excited to find a mix that we could put together so they could have cookies!

16) Anticipation - The photo on the left has to be one of my all-time favorite photos and you will definitely be seeing it on a layout sometime in the near future! You can just tell by both of the girls' body language that they are just dying to ride that train! The "anticipation" of Christmas fun and activities has been so amazing to experience with the girls this year!

So there you have it! I'll be back with more next week!

Jill

December Memories: 5-12

I'm back again with more pages of my December Memories album...please settle in for a photo heavy post! :)

5) Buddy the Elf - We introduced a new tradition with our new Elf-on-the-Shelf this year. The girls named him "Buddy". We might have just watched "Elf" so the name was conveniently fresh in their minds. :) We also picked up the animated movie that goes along with this tradition and it was fabulous in introducing him to our family. (There were even twin girls in the movie). We have been having a blast coming up with crazy things for Buddy to do each day (I don't know who has more fun with him - the girls or mom and dad!) Ha!

 

6) Decorating the Tree - For this page, I took advantage of the pocket to add a few more photos to this memory. The girls had so much fun decorating this year! Glen could barely get the tree started before the girls were trying to hang ornaments.

 

Here's the pocket page...

7) Coffee - I have a slight obsession with specialty drinks around the holidays but I do limit myself to one (or maybe two) a week. My favorite places to go are Panera, Caribou Coffee and Starbucks and I love that each place has pretty cups to go with their festive drinks. I used the actual coffee cup sleeves for each place on this entry.

8) Gingerbread House - We put together a gingerbread house this year. I discovered as I was mixing the frosting together that it had egg in it but we decided to put it together anyway. (My girls are both allergic to eggs). We had a minor incident with hives and red eyes but they were otherwise okay. It's a little difficult to stop two-year-olds from tasting the frosting but it was a fun time, nonetheless. :)

9) Snow? - Yes, that is snow with a question mark. If you are my facebook friend, you might have watched a little video of two little girls who created their own snow from the stuffing of my giant couch pillow. Take pictures first, right? Then discipline. :)

 

10) Special date - This past Saturday Glen went around town with Lily and Nora ran errands with me. It's not something we get to do very often so it was a fun memory to document. A little one-on-one time is wonderful! 

 

11) Around the house -  I've added some new decor this year. I have a couple projects I created myself (the Santa and Merry gift boxes) and then I picked up the Santa pitcher and record at an antique store. I also added some new vintage books to my collection as well.

12) Holiday Twinkle - This year we took the girls to Jolly Holiday Lights for the first time. They loved seeing all the Christmas lights and were quick to pick out the "car carts" at Hy-Vee, the gingerbread house and all the great tunnels we got to go through. 

So, there's a big update today! I'll be back with more next week! :)

Jill

December Memories: 1-4

Happy December! I decided last month that I wanted to create a December Daily album but when I actually sat down to work on this project, I knew that wasn't going to work for me. We are several days into December now and have already done so much for Christmas around our house that the idea of a daily album honestly stressed me out. So I decided to take this project and create a "25 Memories of Christmas" album instead! That way I am not restricted to keeping what we do on specific days and make it more about the memories we are creating. I have four memories to share with you today and I'm hoping to be "caught up" on the rest of them by this weekend.

I am using a combination of the brand new "Mistletoe and Holly" kit and some older product in my stash from past Noel Mignon kits. Call me silly, but some of the products in the kit I can't stand to use yet because they might make it into my regular family albums, and I want this album to have more of a journal feel to it. I also picked up the Fancy Pants Brag Book from the shop in red to use as my album.

1) North Pole Breakfast - We started a new tradition in our family this year by bringing in December 1st with a festive breakfast. Buddy the Elf made his first daily appearance and we also started our Advent calendar tree (both of these events will have their own pages so I mainly shared about the breakfast itself.)

2) Cinnamon Ornaments - We made applesauce cinnamon ornaments for our tree and to give as little gifts to family members. The girls had fun rolling out the dough and cutting shapes - a preview to cookie making later this month.

3) Christmas Countdown - I shared a photo of the actual calendar itself and then us opening up the tree the first day and the little treat inside. (By the way, I love the pages in the album with the swirls - they add so much to the album).

4) Grandma's Cream Wafers - I do A LOT of Christmas baking each year. And this year, I got it started by making my Grandma's famous cream wafers. They are so much work but sooooo worth it. I'm happy to be carrying on this family tradition. 

So, there you have it! Four Christmas memories preserved in a very simple, journal style. As soon as I'm "caught up", I plan on working on this each night and it shouldn't take me more than a half hour or so. By the way, I should also share that I have not yet completed the cover for my album. Anytime I create a mini album, I save the cover for the very last. I just seem to create better that way!

See you next week with more!
Jill

The Pick of the Patch

Before we dive right into Christmas and holiday projects, I have one more layout I want to share with you using the Hudson Valley kit. I still have plenty of fall photos to scrapbook so this certainly won't be my last project with this kit. Today's photos highlight a trip to a pumpkin "patch" near our house. We always photograph the girls in the same spot each year and I love looking back to see how they've changed.

I created the title by using stickers by Crate Paper (in the kit) and American Crafts (from my stash).

 

For my journaling, I did something a little different and wrote it on cardstock strips and then machine stitched them to the page.

I layered a Crate Paper sticker, October Afternoon sticker, Jenni Bowlin flower and Crate Paper brad.

See you next week!
Jill

Give Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! I hope you are enjoying your time with family!

Today I have a two-page layout to share with you about the girls' very first Thanksgiving at just 6 months old. I used the gorgeous Hudson Valley kit from Noel Mignon to create my layout. These photos are only a couple years old but wow, did I ever go down a walk on memory lane as I was looking through them and editing.

Here I created a block of patterned paper squares and stitched an "X" through several of them and then embellished with items in the kit. (Look at those little girls!)

I carried the squares and stitching to the other page and embellished with an American Crafts leaf embellishment and then a Melissa Frances rub-on I had in my stash.

 

All of my journaling is housed on an Elle's Studio "gratitude" tag. 

Don't forget to stop by the shop tomorrow as you start all your Christmas shopping and pick up the "Mistletoe & Holly" kit! I'm actually going to attempt a December album with mine!


Thanks so much for looking and have a fabulous holiday! :)
Jill

I Love You Sis!

I was so excited to dig into my beautiful "Hudson Valley" kit with these photos of my girls hugging each other this fall. I feel so blessed to be able to witness the two of them develop such a loving relationship toward each other. I have two sisters myself but there's something about seeing twin sisters together that is so unique - I hope they always have the type of relationship where they are best friends!

Here I layered a transparency by Hambly, banner stickers by Crate Paper and a label sticker by Mind's Eye.

I love all the alphabet stickers included in this kit - here I combined almost all of them! 

The tag, twine and "Together" sticker are by Crate Paper and the label sticker is My Mind's Eye. 

See you next week!
Jill

Art with Grandpa

I just love the versatility in the September kit, "Study Hall"! My girls aren't near school age yet but they are certainly learning new things every day and this layout celebrates a unique chance for them to learn from a talented artist right in their own family - Grandpa Pete! Here Miss Nora draws with Grandpa on her Magna Doodle and I captured their special time together on this layout.

I created a little badge for my title using a chalkboard sticker and star rub-on by Fancy Pants, Amy Tangerine thickers and burlap trim by My Mind's Eye. 

Try using the Study Hall kit to capture family relationships where one person learns from another!

See you next week!
Jill