Hey You Layout

I spied a layout by Elizabeth Sarah on instagram a few weeks ago and immediately knew I had to scraplift it. The stitching was too epic to not give it a go! Here's my version:

HEY YOU by Paige Evans

DESCRIPTION: Here is the page I lifted by Elizabeth Sarah:

Amazing right?! Her patience for stitching puts mine to shame! And the ombre thread and the embellishing! Perfect to a "T". Wouldn't change a thing about it, and I didn't!

JOURNALING SAYS: Hey you crazy cute kids of mine! Always being so silly and making wacko faces! You're adorable!

HOW TO: Use a Silhouette Cameo to draw a doily (I used Design ID #63763 - Lace Doily by Lori Whitlock) onto cream cardstock, pierce a hole every 1/4" or so around the shape, and then backstitch with embroidery floss, using the darkest color in the center and changing to a lighter color as you work your way outwards. Create an embellishment cluster on the top left corner and add the photo/title/journaling/more embellies on the bottom right corner. 

SUPPLIES: Patterned paper, wood veneer, buttons, epoxy paper clip, foam Thickers, chipboard stickers, die cuts: Take Me Away by Paige Evans / Pink Paislee; Cardstock, adhesive, pen: American Crafts; Bow punch: Fiskars; Floss: DMC; Doily cut file: Design ID #63763 - Lace Doily by Lori Whitlock

DETAIL SHOT:

Next stitching projects: a spider web and summer words background!

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Stay Weird Layout

Lots of layouts up my sleeve, but I can't quite share them yet, but I wanted to share something made with Take Me Away! So here it is!

STAY WEIRD by Paige Evans

DESCRIPTION: Itching for more stitching lately! I used an old Dear Lizzy cut file to create the floral background.

JOURNALING SAYS: You make my heart happy! Love you oh so much! You guys are my sunshine! Love you two to pieces and love you whole!

HOW TO: Draw the Dear Lizzy cut file onto white cardstock, poke a hole every 1/4" or so around the entire shape, then stitch each flower using a different color of thread. Paint inside each flower using watercolors. Layer a photo over patterned paper and a doily on the bottom left corner and embellish minimally (let that background shine!) using my Take Me Away collection.

SUPPLIES: Patterned paper, chipboard stickers, epoxy paper clips, button, foam heart Thickers, die cuts: Take Me Away by Paige Evans / Pink Paislee; Cardstock, adhesive: American Crafts; Die cut machine: Silhouette Cameo; Background cut file: Dear Lizzy; Floss: DMC; Paint: Loew Cornell; Doily: Wilton

DETAIL SHOTS:

Thanks for stopping by!

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Jane at 4

And just like that another year has come and gone! Tomorrow Jane will be 16! But really, she just turned 4 and it's gone by in the blink of an eye.

 Jane's nickname is Sweet & Sour - she's always either 100% sweet or 100% sour, there is no in-between. It amazes me how two kids born from the same parents with pretty much the same surroundings and upbringing can have a totally different personalities. That's genetics for ya!

Some quirks about Jane: she is so klutzy! She's the only member in our family to have broken a bone. Can you spot the big ol' bruise on her cheek in the pic above? She got that shiner from the see-saw at the park yesterday. She falls off chairs and bumps into things all the time. I don't know if I should be worried?? Chris says I'm quite klutzy too so maybe like mother like daughter. She has a high tolerance for pain though and usually just makes a frownie face for a few seconds after she gets hurt and then goes along on her merry way. 

She still IDOLIZES Fox. When looking back through photos of our kiddos, I swear in 95% of them she is looking at Fox to see what she should be doing instead of looking at the camera. Whatever he's doing she wants to do, whatever he's eating she wants to eat, whatever he's playing with she wants to play with too, whatever game they're figuring out on iPads she wants to try, wherever he is she wants to be too. I don't have an older sibling so I don't know what that's like, but it sure is sweet to watch. I hope Fox always takes good care of her and watches over her, though funnily enough it's the opposite right now: Jane is always protecting Fox and making sure people are nice to him at school.

A day in the life of Jane:

7:00am - wake up

7:15am - eat "red cereal" (Lucky Charms)

8:00am-12:00pm - preschool with Fox

12:00pm - lunch. She loves "fries with black spots" (aka pepper) from Popeye's

1:30pm - nap time! She still takes a 2.5-3 hour nap every day!

4:00pm - play with Fox, read with mom, color, etc.

5:00pm - dinner

6:00pm - play with Dad, watch a show, play games on the iPad

6:30pm - bath time!

7:00pm - popcorn time!

7:30pm - bed time!

Here are some funny things Jane has said lately, I could always do better writing these down because goodness kids say the darndest things!

High heel shoes are called Dashels. (What the what??)

Pink flamingo = flinkamingo

“It’s poop!” (She changed the title of the “games” folder on the iPad to poop emojis.)

"I love mom. I love Fox. I hate Dad. And I love me." (Chris had put Fox on time out earlier in the day. I told ya, she's very protective of her big brother!)

She just learned how to say "yellow" properly and every now and again she'll come up to me just to prove it and say "YELL" "OH". But then ask her to say it fast and she reverts right back to "lello."

YEARLY Q&A:

What is your favorite color? Blue.

What is your favorite toy? A red dragon toy.

What is your favorite food? Nachos.

What is your favorite show? Rio.

What is your favorite game? Monster game.

What is your favorite snack? Sour Patch Kids.

What is your favorite animal? Fat kitty.

What is your favorite book? Plants vs Zombie book.

What is your favorite song? Shake Shake (Shake it Off).

What is your favorite holiday? Ice cream (??? lol).

Who is your best friend? Tessa and Evelyn.

What do you like to do outside? Play and not be loud.

What is your favorite drink? Milk and orange juice.

What do you want for dinner? Bisgetti.

What do you like for breakfast? Mommy's cereal (frosted mini wheats).

What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a dragon.

Love you sweet Jane!

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Circles Layout for Pink Paislee

It's Circles Week on the Pink Paislee blog and here is the layout I made featuring this shape:

SO HAPPY by Paige Evans

DESCRIPTION: While I was teaching at Scrobby I did some shopping in their super cute store and found this EK tools confetti circles punch:

The circles range from 1/4" to 1 1/4". I could think of so many uses for it on the spot, so, needless to say, it hopped into my basket and I couldn't wait to play with it!

JOURNALING SAYS: I just think that you two are the coolest, cutest, and sweetest kids on the block! I love how much you love each other (most of the time ;) and I love being your mom!

HOW TO: Use the aforementioned punch on the 6x6 Fancy Free papers and then adhere the circles across a yellow cardstock background. Use a sewing machine to stitch crosses over the largest circles. Splatter white paint and black mist across the background and let it dry. Create a focal cluster with a photo, paper blocks, a doily, journaling card with journaling written on it, tags, buttons, wood veneer, puffy stickers, and glitter Thickers.

SUPPLIES: Patterned paper, buttons, wood veneer, puffy stickers, glitter Thickers, tags, journaling card: Fancy Free by Paige Evans / Pink Paislee; Cardstock, adhesive, pen: American Crafts; Sewing machine: Brother; Thread: Coats & Clark; Confetti circles punch: EK Success; Paint: Americana; Spray mist: Heidi Swapp; Doily: Wilton

DETAIL SHOTS:

Are you a punch hoarder like I am? Come on, tell me the truth :)

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Christmas in July with Kerri Bradford Studio

Can you believe Christmas is less than 6 months away!? Time is flying! To celebrate the halfway mark, the Kerri Bradford Studio design team has been decking the halls and getting into the spirit of Christmas this past week!

To make these tags I used an assortment of festive images from the OH WHAT FUN and BETTER NOT POUT sets:

Sometimes I moved the words around to better fit on the tag space, but most of the time I just centered them and then die cut them from white cardstock. I also cut some plain white cardstock tags to back the tags once I finished decorating them. I backed all of the die cuts with patterned paper first and then worked on each card one at a time to embellish. The last step was tying ribbon through the holes. Quick and easy and they'll be so fun to add to presents!

I used the last Christmas collection by BasicGrey - Juniper Berry, to make these gift tags, plus American Crafts ribbons.

You know I mostly make layouts so it was really fun to push myself out of my comfort zone a bit and make something different!

These will be so fun to add to presents or to tuck into a small acrylic box and wrap with more ribbon to give as a gift!

I totally was humming Christmas tunes as I was crafting these. It happens!

156 days until Christmas!

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Take Me Away Collection + Giveaway!

My second scrapbooking collection with Pink Paislee called TAKE ME AWAY has started shipping - look for it in stores any day now!!

Want to win a TAKE ME AWAY goodie box?! Leave a comment on this post and tell me what product you're most excited about from this collection! I will randomly select a winner and update this post with the winner in one week (Wednesday July 27th 2016). Open worldwide, please only one comment per person. I will also be doing a giveaway on my instagram (@paigetaylorevans) so be sure to check that out as well! Thank you and good luck!!

UPDATED WITH THE WINNER! Congrats to Elodie L! Please send me an email to claim your goodies!

Thank you to everyone who entered!! Look for Take Me Away in stores NOW! :)

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Cologne, Germany

On our drive home from the Netherlands we were set to pass right by Cologne, so we decided to stop and check it out. Cologne, or Köln in German, is home to Germany's greatest Gothic cathedral and that was our first stop after parking. The cathedral, the most ambitious building project north of France in the 13th century, was stalled in the Middle Ages and not finished until 1880. Even though most of it was built in the 19th century, it's still technically a Gothic church rather than "Neo-Gothic" because it was finished according to its original plans.

The church was begun in 1248 and was first inaugurated in 1322.

Inside the 140 foot ceiling towers above. Stained glass, enough to cover three football fields, fills the church with light. 

The windows at the east of the church are medieval originals, while those along the nave are from the 19th century when that portion of the church was finished.

Out in front of the church on the Roncalli Platz is a Roman arch. It was the north gate of the Roman city and dates from A.D. 50. 

Leaving the square we circled around to take in the whole grandeur of the Dom.

Beautiful! Just behind the cathedral is the Roman-Germanic Museum. You can see it's prize piece for free by peeking through the large front windows. An intact mosaic floor that was once the dining room for a rich Roman merchant is preserved in its original position as what was then street level (the museum was actually built around this).

Then we continued down towards the river. On the right is a statue honoring Kaiser Wilhelm II who paid for the Hohenzollernbrücke (below).

The Hohenzollernbrücke is the busiest railway bridge in the world with 30 trains an hour all day long crossing it. It's a classic Industrial Age design from around 1900. While it was destroyed during WWII, it was rebuilt in the original style.

Just upstream from the bridge is the cutest row of houses in the whole city on the Fish Market Square. The tower of Great St. Martin Church looms above.

I shared a photo of these adorable houses on my instagram and was so happy to see that A Beautiful Mess regrammed it!

Cool manhole cover. 

During WWII, bombs destroyed 95 percent of Cologne. It was mostly rebuilt in a modern style.

Despite the destruction during the war, somehow the City Hall survived. The tower dates from the 15th century and symbolized strong civic power against the power of the church bishops while the Renaissance porch in front is the only historic facade that was left standing after the war.

The carvings on the facade stress civic independence and feature scenes from the Bible, like Daniel in the lions' den and Samson fighting lions.

Rick Steves said the City Hall is often busy with wedding parties, and not only did we see some confetti leftover from a previous wedding, we saw another wedding just finishing up!

Then we made our way to Hohe Strasse, the city's busy pedestrian shopping street. The street thrived during the Middle Ages when Köln was a major player in the Hanseatic League of northern European merchant towns. The street was rebuilt after its complete destruction during the war and was the first pedestrian shopping area in Germany. The best part of the street? A Lego store!  Ever wonder why men's fragrance is called cologne, or more properly Eau de Cologne? Because it was invented right here in Cologne! The first company to make it was 4711, named after the address that the company was housed in.  Our very own bottle of cologne from Cologne.  The Evans family in Cologne, Germany on Tuesday July 12th 2016. After a fun stop, we made the excessively long drive home. Autobahn construction is no joke right now, just sayin'. #stau We love home! Home sweet home!

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