May ’16 Top 5

June 7, 2016October 10, 2016 Diana SanchezLeave a comment

I need help!!! I’m in LAZY mode right now, so so lazy. So lazy that it’s taking me forever to write this blog post. I’ve lost my craft mojo and I can’t find it. Ok ok, I’m over exaggerating but I have been feeling motivationally challenged lately and it doesn’t help that my craft room is a complete mess and I can’t see the dream craft room I had once envisioned in my head anymore (drama queen).

Enough about what my husband would call my every day, I’m pretty stoked (new word I decided to try out, doesn’t feel natural to me though) about this month’s Top 5, it has stamps galore!

May '16 Top 5

1. Altenew Majestic Bloom Stamp Set

May '16 Fave 1

This just makes me want to make a card… so bad. By now you should know I love layered stamps and I haven’t bought this type of stamp in a while but I just couldn’t pass this one up! As soon as I saw it I put it in my shopping card and I’ve had no regrets. I cannot wait to put this stamp set to good use!

2. Concord & 9^th Sophisticated Script Stamp Set

May '16 Fave 2

Here’s another stamp set I just had to get as soon as I saw it. I love this font and I think these letters fit perfectly together leaving you with letters/words that look like they were really handwritten in.

3. Kelly Purkey Tiny Victories Mini Kit (Designed by Brandi Kincaid)

May '16 Fave 3

I cannot get enough of this kit! Right now I’m just loving Brandi’s drawings, I follow her on Instagram and think Harriet and Paloma are so cute and clever (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you really need to check Brandi’s Instagram feed). In this kit, you get alphabet stickers, two flair buttons, 12 4×4 inserts (back and front), and a full stamp set, which to me, is exactly what I want in a kit.

4. A Beautiful Mess A Color Story App

May '16 Fave 4

I was so happy once this app was available for android because you guys know I’m only using my Samsung Edge to take pictures this year. The app is free and you get a couple of filters for free but I went ahead and purchased all the filter packages since I’m obsessed with editing. My favorite feature of this app is the color fog effect, I like to fog the crap out of my pictures! I didn’t fog this pic but here is a picture of my girls that was edited using the app.

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5. Christine Herrin KPxCH Brush Bundle

May '16 Fave 5

If you follow me on Instagram you probably saw how excited I was to discover digital stamps. Why did it take me so long? I don’t know, I guess because I’m lazy. I had a little extra cash burning a hole in my pocket and figured “why not give this a shot?”. This bundle is awesome and I highly recommend buying it if you’re into digital stamping. I plan on starting to incorporate more digitals in my Project Life layouts. Check out my before and after of one of my Vegas pics (most editing done with Light Room).

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There you have it folks, my Top 5 for May. I may not be doing a lot of crafting but I’m still shopping, which is not always a good thing. I’m not going to lie, a couple of these things were bought online while I was in bed. So bad, right?

Project Life

Project Life: March’16

May 18, 2016 Diana SanchezLeave a comment

Hello everyone! Today I am sharing my first two layouts for March. I was planning on sharing them sooner but you guys know my situation, no internet and no craft area equals a sucky situation. Anyway, the reason I bring that up is because when I made these layouts, we still had the ducks and I was able to take this awesome photo of Shadow (before he tried to bite me). So cute (ducks can do no wrong in my eyes)!

Here is a before and after of the picture:

For the first layout I used Becky Higgins Pocket Pages Design H and 6×12. I’m still using the Project 52 2016 Calendars for my monthly cover, and I used cards from the This and That Digital Value Kit. I LOVE this kit!!!

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On the second layout I used the same Pocket Pages, but I used my fuse tool to make the bottom 4×6 into two 4x3s. For this layout I used the Everyday Edition Core Kit as backgrounds for my Instax pictures. I had my two 6×12 pictures printed at Persnickety Prints.

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That is it for now. I hope you guys enjoyed today’s post and I hope to be back with some more layouts soon!

My Favorites

April ’16 Top 5

May 7, 2016February 21, 2017 Diana SanchezLeave a comment

Hey guys! I am back from what feels like a mini hiatus. April was such a blur. We have officially moved into our new house. We’re still unpacking and trying to figure out our new routines but we’re loving it! My new craft room is nowhere near ready, just FYI. But… I’m envisioning it in my head and it looks fabulous (fingers crossed it turns out that way)!

We also just got back from our Vegas trip and it was oh-so-awesome!!! The casinos, the food, the concert, the shopping…. ugh, I didn’t want it to end. But, alas, we’re back in Texas and I have some great news. I was interviewed by the sweet Jess Forster for her podcast, Pocket Talk. The episode is available now on her blog and on iTunes. I yelled in the jeep (and scared AJ) when she e-mailed me asking for an interview. She has interviewed so many of my favorite memory keepers so I could not believe I was going to be on the line-up among all these talented ladies! Please go check it out!

And now on to my April Top 5! This month I decided to go with my top 5 YouTube channels, Memory Keeping edition.

Apr Top 5

1. Julimakesthings by Juli Maniago

I love Juli’s style and I also enjoy her Instagram feed. She makes pocket page scrapbooking look super easy, especially on video!

2. Kelly Purkey by Kelly Purkey

Kelly makes it onto my top 5 yet again, but come on, she’s freaking awesome and I adore her style of memory keeping. Her videos are just as fun to watch as her layouts are.

3. Stephanie Makes by Stephanie Bryan

I love seeing someone’s layouts/spreads and thinking “how come I never thought of that?”, and that is what Stephanie does for me all the time and it’s so inspiring to be able to see her make her spreads on video.

4. Amy Tangerine by Amy Tan

Amy has some of the best videos! They’re fun and vibrant and I love how she gives us little sneak peaks of her personal life. Watching her videos seriously feels like your BFF is video chatting with you.

5. Martu Alterada by Marta Andilla

If you guys haven’t checked out Marta on YouTube (or Instagram), you’re definitely missing out! While her videos are in Spanish, you can still watch and see she’s very creative and has her own style of memory keeping.

I hope you guys check out these YouTube channels and leave some love for these ladies.

I hope you guys enjoyed this month’s top 5!

My Favorites

March ’16 Top 5

April 5, 2016October 10, 2016 Diana SanchezLeave a comment

Hello everyone! We are getting closer towards our closing date for the new house! But… of course, this is a bittersweet time for me. Moving not only means a new house and better area for us but it means saying goodbye to my childhood home, my family’s home, and the pear tree my dad planted in the backyard. This past weekend we also said goodbye to Shadow and Lucky, our ducks. It was VERY, VERY hard for me. I did not take it as well as I thought I would even knowing that they were going to our friend’s ranch, here in the same city. I think everything is just hitting me all at once. But, I’m trying my best to think positive and to welcome this new adventure with wide open arms and I’m ready to embrace this new chapter in my life. I tend to get scared with changes but I know my husband and I have worked really hard for this new house, and that is something I am very proud of.

So enough about that.

Today I have a “normal” Top 5 for you guys! I know it’s been a while so if you don’t remember why I had to stop my regular Top 5, check out this post.

I was finally able to do some shopping, and most of this stuff I was able to get at Hobby Lobby with my 40% off coupon (gotta love that coupon).

March '16 Top 5

1. Fiskars Deluxe Paper Trimmer with Aluminum Cut Rail

March '16 Fave 1

I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve been pretty happy with all my Fiskars paper trimmers. This is the third one I have purchased. The first one is similar to this but it’s a rotary trimmer. It worked just fine up until I got the Sure Cut Deluxe Paper Trimmer. The Sure Cut just cut better and has been my go-to until now. Because of the aluminum cut rail, I get straighter lines, which is a must-have for my printed photos.

2. Hero Arts Kelly’s Coffee and Donuts March '16 Fave 2

The coffee addict in me just had to have this stamp set! It’s perfect for your planner and also for Project Life. I think the coffee cup, coffee beans, and the donut would be perfect as a background stamp. Now I just need to plan a coffee or donut date so that I can mark that special occasion in my Midori calendar!

3. Heidi Swapp Lightbox March '16 Fave 3

I just love this! Once I started planning what my new craft room was going to look like, I just couldn’t imagine it without this lightbox. It also didn’t help seeing all the pictures of it on Instagram. I’m so ready to decorate with this, especially for holidays!

4. A Beautiful Mess Emojis Stamp Set March '16 Fave 4

Who doesn’t love emojis? This is another great stamp set to use for planners and Project Life. This set deserves a thumps up, a fist bump, a dance number with your twin, and a “put your hands up in the air and wave’em like you just don’t care”, that’s what that emoji is, right?

5. Mama Elephant Zenith Borders Stamp Set March '16 Fave 5

You know I love me a background stamp, yet I don’t know why it took me so long to get this stamp set from Mama Elephant. This would be perfect for making your own Project Life inserts or for making backgrounds for cards. Imagine doing a repeating pattern in pastel rainbow? Egads!

I’m excited to be able to do this kind of Top 5 but I don’t know when the next one will be. This will be a very busy month for us. If everything goes according to plan, we should be moving next week. My entire craft room has been packed up, I waited until the last minute to pack my “essentials”. So please bare with me, not only are we moving but going on a trip a week after that! So much fun stuff coming up!

Thanks guys for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed!

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(Photo courtesy of Bldg 25 Blog)

Project Life

Project Life: February’16 (Part Two)

March 28, 2016October 10, 2016 Diana SanchezLeave a comment

Hi there! I hope you guys had a nice Easter weekend!

Today I am sharing my last two Project Life layouts for the month of February. I was really excited to hear Christine Herrin had designed a kit for Becky Higgins, I love all her designs. The “Wander” core kit was perfect for documenting AJ’s first solo marathon.

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I’m trying to embrace my handwriting… Still not loving it, doesn’t look as good as other people’s handwriting (ahem, Kelly Purkey) but it’s unique in it’s own way…

For my next layout, I went with the Becky Higgin’s “Currently” core kit. This kit was designed by Peppermint Granberg, another favorite designer of mine. I love the colors and patterns on this kit.

This layout shows the progress on our new house and AJ’s first driving lesson. The ampersand flair button I used for this is from Scrapbook and More, designed by Janna Werner.

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