2015 Christmas Card Letter

Here is the little letter that we included with our Christmas cards this year:

2015 was a great year! 2016 will have to work very hard to beat it :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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2016 Goals Layout for Elle's Studio

It's been an amazing year working with Elle's Studio! I've loved getting the happy kit in the mail every month and playing with the coordinating printables and cut files. Here's a look at all 12 layouts I made from January to December 2015, in order from left to right:

Today I'm sharing my last layout made with the Elle's Studio December kit:

2016 GOALS by Paige Evans

DESCRIPTION: I was tasked with creating a New Year or Year in Review layout so I went with New Year and tried to set some realistic goals. Stars remind me a lot of New Year for some reason (anybody else share this belief?! :) so I made a bunch of 'em.

JOURNALING SAYS: 1. eat healthier & exercise. 2. daily dog walks. 3. read more. 4. scrap more for me. 5. be present.

HOW TO: Turn the stars card from the December printables into a cut file, enlarge it to cover an entire 12x12 page, then cut the stars from a paper in the Thankful collection. Back the stars with dimensional adhesive and patterned papers, die cuts, and the cards used in product packaging. Use glue dots to attach all of the white acrylic stars over the page. Layer tags, cards, die cuts, and a photo across the bottom and add a die cut banner at the top. Stamp "GOALS" on a tab and tuck it under the top edge of the photo. Cut out the "2016" from a card and adhere in a slight curve with pop dots. Place a "hello" wood veneer piece above the numbers to finish the title. Print goals in a typewriter font (I used Traveling Typewriter) and adhere them across the top of the layout.

SUPPLIES: Patterned paper, kit, wood veneer, die cuts, product packaging paper, acrylic stars, stamps, tags: Elle's Studio; Die cut machine: Silhouette Cameo

Thank you for the fun year Elle!!

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December Daily 2015

I finished my December Daily 2015!

I worked on it in spurts, not daily, but there's no right or wrong way to make 'em, so it's all good!

I tried something a little bit different this year and created my memories in a Heidi Swapp MemoryDex. Originally it was in a MemoryDex spinner, but I switched to the box so I could see all the pages all at once and flip through them easier with both hands. But I love the spinner too so I'll use it for a different project.

The making of the foundation cards can be found in the A Heartfelt Christmas class taught by me and Wilna Furstenberg this past holiday season. I also shared a clip on my YouTube channel flipping through the spinner:

Days 1-4:

You'll notice that there are quite a few cards and journaling for only 4 days! That's because after the first day I jumped back in time and talked about the first snow and decorating our home for Christmas - those things happened back in November, so while not technically part of our "December Daily", I feel like they are the official start of the holiday season and definitely deserve to be documented! After narrowing down and selecting the photos I wanted to include in my album, I cropped them all square and created collages in Picasa - I made all the photos 2" square and even 1" square so I could pick and choose the size I needed based on the card the picture/s would go on. Some pictures that I really wanted to highlight I printed at 4x4", punched the MemoryDex holes into the bottom, and tucked them right into the album. When it was time to add journaling I printed what I wanted to say onto vellum and made them their own inserts or printed smaller captions onto grid paper and trimmed it to fit the cards. Such a whimsical and fun process!

Days 5-7:

Again, lots of cards for not many days! This time the reason is December 5th was a HUGE day with LOTS going on: not one but TWO Christmas markets, visiting Santa, AND our annual family photo shoot! Such a fun day and every bit needed to be told :)

Photo pockets:

If you look closely at the image of "Days 5-7" and find the cards with "Weiden Christmas Market" and "Grafenwöhr Christmas Market" on them, you'll notice that they're pockets that hold lots of photos! How could I ever narrow down the pictures I wanted to include from both Christmas markets we went to on December 5th and still have room for the rest of my December Daily?! Those pictures alone could have filled up an entire MemoryDex! I was in a major pickle. I was so happy when I thought of sewing paper onto cards to make pockets so I could include all the photos I wanted! Hooray! I made a couple more photo pockets later in the month to hold my favorite pictures from the Eschenbach Christmas Market and all the pics from our Christmas jammies photoshoot.

Days 8-18:

I originally made a lot of "filler" cards, or cards that had big elements on them meant to go in-between days. But it turned out I needed more cards than I planned, so often times I took off the large embellishments and replaced them with photos. I used all 85 cards that I cut!

Days 19-25:

All finished!

These December Daily albums are some of my favorite to look through. Every year has so many similarities with traditions and activities that only come with the holiday season, but every year is also very different because of where we are living, the kids getting older, and other special instances that make every year of documenting a fun and new experience.

Thank you to Ali Edwards for dreaming up the December Daily!

I already can't wait to create next year's album! I think I'll go back to a traditional mini album base, but it was SO FUN to create this MemoryDex album!

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Best 9 of 2015

Saw this all over instagram, thought it was fun, so I'm jumping on the bandwagon! Here are my best 9 photos of 2015 from top left to bottom right:

10,000 Easter eggs tree / paper flower ampersand for Big Picture Classes / 10,000 Easter eggs tree again

pumpkins galore / paper flowers for the ampersand / 3 years & 10k giveaway

scrapbooks / Day of Love giveaway / throwback Thursday layout

Only one actual scrapbooking layout! Who woulda thunk?! Should I not post scrapbook layouts anymore?!?! J/K, J/K :)

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And for kicks and giggles, here are Chris's:

Game day at the dental clinic / Do you wanna build a snowman? / Our family in Positano, Italy

Fox & Jane on Halloween / Fox & Jane mesmerized by dad at work / Our family in Trier, Germany
Our family in Gibraltar, United Kingdom / Our family in Madrid, Spain / Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany 

Go to this website to find your top 9 of 2015!

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Favorite Movies

There are some movies that I could watch over and over and over and over, any time, any place. I'm ALWAYS in the mood to watch these while I'm scrapping or the kids are napping or after they're asleep for the night. There are MANY. I love movies. I love a lot of things. My favorite movies are as follows, in alphabetical order (TOP favorites are underlined):

Age of Adaline

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging

August Rush

Back to the Future series

Best in Show

Casino Royale

Catch Me If You Can

The Count of Monte Cristo

Crazy Stupid Love

Dan in Real Life

Elizabethtown

Ender's Game

Ever After

Fever Pitch

50 First Dates

Good Will Hunting

The Guardian

Harry Potter series

Hook

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

Imitation Game

Inception

Interstellar

Juno

Karate Kid

A Knight's Tale

Mean Girls

Memoirs of a Geisha

Miss Congeniality

Mr & Mrs Smith

Never Been Kissed

The Notebook

Overboard

Pirates of the Caribbean

Pitch Perfect 1 & 2

Pride and Prejudice (Kiera Knightly version)

Remember the Titans

Runaway Bride

17 Again

Shawshank Redemption

Silver Linings Playbook

The Social Network

The Sound of Music

10 Things I Hate About You

That Thing You Do

13 Going on 30

This Means War

Titanic

Truman Show

21

27 Dresses

Twilight series

The Waitress

A Walk to Remember

While You Were Sleeping

Wimbledon

You've Got Mail

Zero Dark Thirty

Are any of these your favorites? Anything you'd add? This list doesn't include any themed/holiday movies like Christmas with the Kranks or Paranormal Activity. I'll save those for next year :)

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Pages from Paige's Pages 04

Hello there! Today I'm sharing the 4 layouts that I created for Paige's Pages 04 at Big Picture Classes! The start-to-finish videos plus free cut files, tips, techniques, and more(!), can all be found on the class website, so take a look at the layouts here then head over to Paige's Pages 04 to watch and learn and be inspired!

GOOD TIMES @ HOME by Paige Evans

Can you guess the theme here? It's CHEVRONS! Made super easily with a square punch!

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I HEART THIS by Paige Evans

Using the newest Pinkfresh Studio collection and a technique I call "die cut & watercolor" I shared a free floral cut file so everyone can make this layout!

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FUN STUFF by Paige Evans

I was inspired by a layout I saw by Diana Tuckwell - the paper strips were divine and I wanted to try something similar.

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MAKE MEMORIES ALL OVER THE WORLD by Paige Evans

It's all about confetti on this page! It'd be a snap to make these confetti pocket letters with a Fuse tool, but I got creative and used a sewing machine instead!

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All of these layouts are available to learn how to make in start-to-finish videos at Paige's Pages 04 at Big Picture Classes! I'll share the layouts from Paige's Pages 05 soon and then Paige's Pages 06 will be live in a few weeks!

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Eschenbach Weihnachtsmarkt 2015

Eschenbach also had a 1 day only Christmas market on Sunday December 13th so after naps we headed out, rain and all. We're tough like dat :)

The kids in their snow gear. Always holding something!

 We parked at the bottom of the hill.

Walking up the hill, pausing every few feet to ooooh and aaaaah over all the festive lights and decorations!

 I can see the market!

 First stop: a quick viewing of the Manger.

 I got a nutella crepe from this vendor. I've never met a nutella crepe I didn't like.

I just want one of everything from every vendor, is that too much to ask?! :)

Über cute'n'festive.

This is the same carousel from the Grafenwöhr Christmas market, but the kids didn't know or mind, they just wanted to ride ride ride!

 And ride, they did.

A little lot of Christmas trees for sale.

 Well I'll be! The lights are just so lovely!

The following photos are slightly different sizes because they were taken with my phone - my camera battery died. I forgot to charge it after filming all the lessons for Paige's Pages 06 at Big Picture Classes - coming soon!

 We didn't bring umbrellas so we whimped out pretty fast. Guess we're not so tough like dat :)

 We walked back down the hill and to our car and drove the short way home.

 Another Christmas market in the books for 2015! They just make me so happy and put me in the Christmas mood like no other!

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Past Christmas Layouts

First, I just wanted to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Those words just aren't adequate enough for the pure gratitude that I feel towards each and every one of you who took the time to leave a little love in a comment and left encouraging thoughts here, Facebook, Instagram, email, and more! LOVE YOU!!!! Let the next countdown until the Fancy Free by Paige Evans / Pink Paislee collection is available, begin!!

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As much as I love Halloween, Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year! I love documenting our memories in layouts and thought it'd be fun to share some past holiday pages.

JINGLE ALL THE WAY by Paige Evans

I backed a large title with funky holiday papers to make this bold layout!

CHRISTMAS 2013 by Paige Evans

I was inspired by a quilt for this layout and pieced together little triangles to make this page.

FA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA by Paige Evans

I created a "mixed media" background and then layered like-colored embellishments on top!

FOX'S 1ST CHRISTMAS by Paige Evans

Here I trimmed patterned papers into pennants and layered them in a shape of a Christmas tree for a background focal point.

FUN TIMES TOGETHER by Paige Evans
After trimming patterned papers into thin strips I arranged them in the shape of a star on a white background for a dramatic effect!

MOMENTS by Paige Evans

I die cut a large snowflake and then backed with with tiny pieces of torn paper in non-traditional holiday colors for a fun look!

FOX'S SAD 1ST CHRISTMAS by Paige Evans

I trimmed uneven strips of patterned paper and layered them into a, you guessed it, Christmas tree shape! I also glued the photos into a small Christmas tree. From the time Fox was sick with RSV at Christmastime.

JOLLY GOOD by Paige Evans

Torn paper strips line the top and bottom edges of this layout leaving room for a trio of photos in the middle.

ALL IS CALM, ALL IS BRIGHT by Paige Evans

For this layout I die cut a bunch of Christmas trees and then filled each one with a little something whether it was patterned paper, sequins, buttons, badges, ribbon, journaling, etc.

4 more sleeps until Christmas!

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Fancy Free by Paige Evans | Pink Paislee

UPDATED WITH THE GIVEAWAY WINNER: Congratulations Danielle!

Please email me (paigetaylorevans at gmail dot com) with your info and I'll hook you up as soon as Fancy Free is in my hands!! Thank you everyone! There simply aren't adequate words describe how grateful I am for you!

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This is a blog post I've been wanting to write for YEARS!!! Because it means my dreams have literally come true! I am so excited, elated, ecstatic, exhilarated, pleased, jumping for joy, thrilled, delighted, and every other "happy" word there is, to announce that I have my very own scrapbooking collection with Pink Paislee! 

Like unto Amy Tangerine, Dear Lizzy, and Shimelle for American Crafts & Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper (my scrappy idols!) I hope to create lovely lines with Pink Paislee and help spread the joy of scrapbooking.

Earlier this year I got up the courage to ask American Crafts if we could collaborate - specifically with Pink Paislee. As fate would have it, they said YES! We sent lots of emails back and forth, had fun video chats, started a secret Pinterest board for inspiration of what I wanted my line to look like, and six months later, here we are!

The official "blurb" for Fancy Free: Introducing Fancy Free, the debut signature collection from inspiring teacher and crafting innovator Paige Evans. Bursting with beautiful colors and creative new products, Paige’s collection will help you create impressively intricate layouts in almost no time at all. Playful, whimsical and fun, Fancy Free is the start of something special.

I've seen a handful of things over google video chat and it's going to be better than Christmas when that box of goodies lands on my doorstep! Here are some of the products that you will be able to find in Fancy Free which will be available in stores in March 2016!! Let the countdown begin!!

My favorite product in the whole wide world? PATTERNED PAPER! There are 12 double-sided patterned papers in Fancy Free:

Cut it out and use it up on the front, and a cool ombre triangle design on the back.

 Lovely flowers and a fun painted patches of pink patterns on the B side.

 So many ideas rolling around for the painted circles paper! Can't wait to see how this one is used. And a gorgeous blue painted ombre paper I can see for backgrounds.

 These will make good staples for subtly patterned solids.

 A super fun multi-colored patterned paper and more PINK! I love pink.

 Another great solid colored paper and I pretty much LOVE the multipatterned diagonal stripes! Oh the possibilities!

 So you know how I love to punch lots and lots of patterned papers into little bits for paper piecing? Well, this paper is perfect because it has 36 little punchable patterned squares on ONE piece of paper! Big bang for your buck! And the yellow ombre paper will make such a lovely background.

 Paper that reminds me of confetti and another subtle patterned solid paper this time in gray.

 I just love the painted look of this one and the bright teal on the back.

 These flowers are just begging to be fussycut! And the whimsical green paper is fun with white and dark blue stripes.

 This paper is my absolute fave. The painted pink ombre will make such a beautiful background paper and I can't WAIT to actually stitch through the printed stitches!

 This circles paper is totally NEAT because the circles align! Meaning if you punch or cut one out, there will be an exact corresponding pattern/phrase on the other side!

I love that there's a healthy dose of pinks & blues so you can get girly or more masculine by picking & choosing!

BUTTONS (my favorite besides patterned paper!) - they look like little pieces of candy, I just want to eat them :)

 12x12 chipboard sticker page:

Glittered wood veneer pieces:

Layered stickers:

Puffy stickers:

Patterned Thickers:

Journaling cards:

Pack of ephemera/die cuts:

Glittered foam phrases:

Introducing a fun, new product: "Paige" kits! These build-a-page kits are for those who don't own a Cameo or other kind of die cutting machine but still want to create that "die-cut-and-backed-with-fun-patterned-paper" look! It's one of my most favorite techniques, but it's also time-consuming and laborious, so these kits take out the hassle and fussy-cutting leaving everyone with a "Paige"-style page! There are two different styles: a heart and a geometric background. Here is the heart kit in use:


And introducing String Art Templates!

There are a few different styles, here is the heart used on a layout:

I'll be demoing how to use the string art kits at CHA - YES, I'll be at CHA! In just 21 days!! Do come say HI to me at my booth!

There is also a 12x12 paper pad and 6x6 paper pad - essentials :)

Thank you so much for your love and support and joy in this journey. To say thanks I'd like to offer a giveaway: a big prize pack with all things Fancy Free to one lucky individual, once I have the supplies on hand! How does that sound?! Simply leave a comment on this post and I'll announce the winner here on Saturday December 26th 2015. 

THANK YOU and GOOD LUCK!

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