Summer.....

I was hoping for a more relaxed summer this year but so far, its been hectic.  (Last year I traveled for most of the summer and it really screwed with my inner clock....)

I sneak in some time every week now to spark or at least move some stuff around in my scrap room.   I even had a friend over for a couple of hours one Friday and snuck in a 6 hour crop at a store last week.  The only reasoning I'm mentioning it, is because its kind of a big deal for me.  I'm sad over lost time.  I used to have plenty of it and no one to scrap with.  Now I have a group of people and any of them are ready and willing but I have no time.

Anyway, I threw together a bunch of layout bases and have slowly been adding to them.  A piece of flair here, some stitching there.  I have a stack of in progress projects - even a summer mini!!

Here are a couple of layouts that I actually finished this week and I love.

Using some older Echo Park line.  Some of their older stuff is timeless.  I love the patterns.  I've used bits and pieces of this line a couple of times. I'm starting to use up whats left.  

 I love these alpha stickers.  They're puffy stickers from Freckled Fawn.  So cute.  They come in a few colors but black is my go to color right now.  I'm embarrassed to say how many packs I bought.  It's not like I don't have a basket full of AC Thickers to use.

My little cluster of photos.  He was so cute.  My arrow flair (from A Flair for Buttons) points to my favorite one.  I'm not a football fan but this was too cute.  He picked that ball up and knew exactly what to do with it!

I miss this park, the little boy he was turning into, the days of being home with him.  I never wanted to be a Stay at Home mom.  I was forced into it at the time with layoffs so I embraced it.  It lasted until he was 5 and I'm so glad for that time.  I went back to work 3 years ago and now I regret that.  I miss the carefree days in the park and our big backyard.   

Again, an older line of paper from Carta Bella this time.  Usually I don't go with the distressed look but I liked this line.  Simple layout to showcase the photo itself and the memory behind it.  I too this while we sat on the beach in Princess Cays on one of our last big cruises before the kid came along.   I added some flair and the title.  The stamped title is a set from Studio Calico.  They sold a solid set of letters and then a pattern.  This was stamped twice but I *love* the look of it!

'PLAY' flair from A Flair for Buttons again.  I'm so lucky to design with her products!

If you ever want to purchase the set I used or see what she has in her shop, you can click the links and go directly to the set.  If its a generic style (like the arrow) I link you to all the arrow sets.  Happy shopping!

Most of the papers are a year or two old and the pictures are from 2004 and 2009.  Yikes!  I have a secret.  Whenever I go to a crop or retreat, I pack kits.  When I get home, I have leftover kits that I set aside thinking I'll get them done.  Hey, everything is ready to go right?  Nope.  Then something new rolls in and I have to use that.  During a cleaning frenzy, I find those kits and suddenly whats old is new again.  Thats what happened with both of these.  Older paper lines with photos I had ready to scrap.  The only thing new would be the lettering for the two titles.  Everything else is older. 

And last but not least...... coming next week!

I'm SO excited about this!  I love Simple Stories and pretty m much every line they put out.  Having Shelly design flair to go with this line???  Yes Please!

Check back next week for updates or bookmark the {a flair for buttons} blog so you don't miss a thing!