Hello scrappy friends!

Nicole here and today I'm sharing a new spread in my Heidi Swapp Storyline Chapters insert. For this project, I'm also using our January sketch that is currently live in our Facebook group. This is a month long challenge where you have a chance to win $25 shop credit to Clique International! Be sure to stop by and join in the fun! Now, on to my project!

For my double page spread, I used the gorgeous Paige Evans Take Me Away line. When I was figuring out the layout I wanted to use for this, I knew that I first, wanted the spread to be just about me.  It's been a crazy year and I wanted to focus on just me and tell my story thru selfies. I also knew that I wanted to focus on my absolute favorite selfie, which I used as my large photo on the left page. I used a stamp from my stash and glitter heart enamel dots from Paige's collection.

For the right side of my spread, I focused on eight other selfies that I took of myself throughout the year. Some of them were happy moments, some funny, and others, well, not so pleasant. I documented them all because they tell my story of 2020. They tell the story not only of the struggles, but also the triumphs and accomplishments too.
Using different papers and embellishments from Paige's collection along with the super cute Jolee's felt birds, I created two photo strips and embellished around them. I thought that "Take Me Away" was a very appropriate title for 2020 as well. I added in a few other bits of stamping, florals from the same Jolee's sticker set, paper clip and more of the glittery enamel dots to finish the spread. Here are a few other close ups of the completed project:

Thanks so much for stopping by! Be sure to join our Facebook group and participate in our monthly challenges! They are free and you don't have to use specific products to join in the fun!
Until next time, have a crafty day!

Amber is back today sharing a layout that is twice as much fun! That's because unlike the majority of 12 x 12 scrapbook layouts these days Amber created a two page spread for us. I love that she created a cohesive design with repeating elements and used several different photos to tell her story.
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Here is what Amber had to say about this project!

Here is a close up of her beautiful mixed media sparkly lake/water inspired background! Those blues and aquas are stunning!

I know that lots of you have been doing some camping, fishing, and hiking this past summer because the Happy Trails collection kit from Simple Stories sold out mighty fast!  I would love to hear some of YOUR fish tales! Leave us a comment below if you have fishing photos you need to scrap. You can also post your projects in the Clique group anytime. We'd love to see them!

Hello crafty friends! Rita here again to share a layout with you, using the „Ticketed“ Digital Cut File, some bits and pieces from my stash and an alpha stamp set.  

Just recently I have found an older photo I've taken in New York in 2012. (Time surely flies!) The photo on my layout hung on a pinboard in my old apartment. When I moved out, I put it in a box and never in an album. Now it gets the attention it deserves. I wanted to make a double site layout for this photo. On one paper I used large Alpha stamps (the one I used are from Studio Calico, but you can use any other one!). The words are lyrics of an Alicia Keys song. On both backgrounds you can spot some watercolor splashes and strokes. Those were done right in the beginning, before anything else.  

I cut the Cut File in an approx. 8,5 x 8,5'' format, because I wanted it to back up my photo. Some of the tickets (with the numbers on it) were loose after cutting, so I put them around my photo. Each ticket holds a memory of that trip. I fussycutted some flowers from an Amy Tangerine paper (from the Shine On Collection) and used some clear stickers from the Amy Tangerine Sticker Book.  

Both pages complement each other, so because the right site was full of black and white, I wanted to emphasize that contrast on the left site aswell. My last step was to make some big black splashes and use a couple of black enamel dots (from the Pinkfresh Studio "Sweet and Simple" collection).   

I hope you feel inspired to use this great Cut File. It's perfect to document your trips and you can use the tickets to document your memories. Don't forget to share your work on Instagram and/or in our Facebook Group "The Clique". We love to see what you create! Thanks for stopping by and till next time!
​Happy crafting!  

Hello Lovelies, I am Theresa Moxley with you today sharing a pocket page layout using the September Farmhouse kit. Our focus for this week is Story, and pocket pages are my favorite way to tell our family stories on a weekly basis. Here is my layout.
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I am currently working through our 2013 album and this kit was perfect for a layout from March of that year. We had a few photos of spring beginning to show in the yard, our beloved cat (who is sadly no longer with us), and sports activities from that time. This layout quickly became a two page spread and I loved filling these fun pockets!
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Whenever I am working on a pocket page layout, I always begin with the date card. This is a great place to start if you ever have blank page syndrome - I always know what needs to go on that card. I have used one of the patterned papers as the background for this card and then layered the black alpha for the week number. Since my background was yellow, I chose black and white and pink elements to contrast with the background.
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One of our important stories from this time in our lives was our cat named Sissy. She died not long after these photos were taken, so I am really glad to have taken her photo. She spent a lot of her last days parked under the lamps for warmth. She shared this spot with the laundry many days, but she never helped, the stinker. 
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Creating layouts from the past can sometimes be challenging to fill in the stories, and I must admit I am unsure why we took photos of our wedding bands, so I allowed the embellishment to tell the story here. I have repeated circle elements in several places, including on the photo and also on the lemon journal card. Always remember that word art and word embellishments can help you tell your stories even if you are unsure of what you want to say. Include those photos anyway, you will be so glad you did!
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One of the things I loved most about the photos for this week is how subtle the colors are. They are almost black and white, and the black and white in the Farmhouse kit is perfect for these photos. For the right side I continued using circles in the form of polka dots, and hearts.  Always lots of hearts!
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At this particular time my husband Alan was interviewing for jobs and this pensive photo was taken while we did some head shots of him. Even if specific details cannot be shared, we can still include the story and the photo and especially take the opportunity to express pride in our loved ones. Our families will read these words long after we are gone, and we want them to feel loved. All of these stories and words are love letters.
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Writing stories and including journaling in our pocket pages does not have to be overly complicated, and for this photo of Nick at indoor soccer it really is one quick sentence (he is the kid with the number 2 on his back). Nick is the kind of kid who loves strategy and loves things that make him think, and in this photo you can tell he is deeply pondering how the team should proceed in the game! I took one of the frames in the ephemera pack and flipped the inside so I had room for the journaling. Also notice how I took the word stickers and punched it using a heart punch as an embellishment.
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One thing I have been loving recently is including a recap of the week, as I have done on this journal card below. Since this is a layout from the past, I wrote about how those photos make me feel today, at this moment in time. I know sometimes it can feel overwhelming to try to include journaling on past layouts, and this is one way to approach that - simply write about how those photos make you feel today.
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I hope this layout has given you some ideas to help you tell more stories in your layouts! Have you been using your Farmhouse kit this month? If so, please share and tag us! We would love to see!

​Hello Lovelies! It's Theresa here and today I wanted to share with you my favorite way to tell our family stories: in pocket pages. I have been using pocket pages for our family albums seven years now and I love how it has helped me tell our family stories all in one place! Some of my albums are complete and others I am still working on as I work through the current year, so today I am sharing a layout from our 2013 album. I am working with the May Riga kit, which features Pinkfresh Studio Be You, Let Your Heart Decide, and A Case of the Blahs collections. Perfect for story telling!

The lovely thing about pocket pages, and life itself, is how some weeks are hectic and busy, and other weeks are more quiet and subdued. That means some weeks might have tons of photos, and other weeks might have very few. For this layout I have combined two weeks, so Week 5 and Week 6.

When I do pocket pages, the photos automatically become the starting point for my stories. I love that I can snap a photo on the go, and then when I print the photo I know what story I wanted to tell to go with it.

The easiest place to start is always the date card, because I already know what my dates are. I have used heart shaped pieces from one of the patterned papers in the Riga kit to layer along with a label and a flair.

I will give you some tips today how you can include more stories in your pocket page albums!

1. Remember what was going on in your life during that time, even if you don't have specific photos for it. For example, in 2013 I was attending seminary, and while I didn't have specific photos from seminary, I knew that I had just gone back to school and that meant my creative time was replaced with study time. So that is something I included in my journaling for this layout. 

2. Remember that stories can be as simple as one small tag on a photo, just I have done on this image of my former studio. Just two words, "happy place" tell a story, along with the journal card above, of how I missed my creative time while I was in school!

Have a look here at the right hand side of the layout. The photos themselves might feel random, but it is the story telling that brings them altogether.

3. Remember to not only document things you love, but also why you love those things. In this photo below, I am documenting how we used to eat at Fuddruckers and they had the biggest rice krispy treats ever! I loved those so much. That restaurant chain is now closed, so I am happy I took that photo and now have that story documented in our album.

4. Use date cards to tell the overall feel of that time in your life. Again, on this layout I knew seminary was a big part of my life and even though there were no photos of seminary, I made it the main focus in my journaling. However, I made it relevant to the layout on this card by noting how all the people and things in my photos were the things that helped me get through school! These were all the things I want to remember.

5. Allow your embellishments to help you tell your stories too! In the photo below, my son Nick had just taken his testing for karate. The puffy sticker from the Riga kit sums up how I feel about the photo, about my son, and is an important part of these stories as well!

Telling stories is such an important part of what we do in our memory keeping, and I love that pocket pages make it so easy to tell our every day stories in such fun ways! 

It's been fun sharing this part of our life with you, and I hope you have found some helpful tips for telling your stories in your pocket pages! See you soon!

​Hi everyone,
My name is Angela Tombari, aka NG and I'm so excited to be here with you today on the Clique Kits blog!
What I'd like to show you is a double page layout that comes to life by chance, thanks to the beautiful 12x12 pattern paper of the Be You collection by Pinkfresh Studio, Sincere, which is in the Riga May kit.

​As soon as I saw it I've thought to un-structure it. Would you like to know how? Well, I started cutting all the stripes and sorting them by color. At that time, I didn't have the intention to make two scrapbook pages, yet.
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​Then, arranging the colors, I realized that it would be fun making two similar layouts, using the stripes divided by color, on a white cardstock.
​The first page I came up with is the bluish one.
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​As you can see in the close-up, I stitched each stripe with my sewing machine and glued them following the same design of the original paper.
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​I love stamping, so I created a frame of little words and phrases stamped all around the page to define the edge of the stripes.
​In the second page, I followed the same process as before.
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​​The shape of the stripes reflects the design of the other page, as if the pink triangle of stripe could slot into the other blue page.
The embellishments I used are always part of the Riga May kit, by Pinkfresh Studio. I didn't use a lot of them, because I wanted to focus on the design of the page.
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​On both the pages I matted the photos with a layer of stripes made of white cardstock  randomly watercolored with Distress Ink and, to make the page more dynamic, I used the same Distress Ink to break the white of the background with splatters of color.
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​Here is another close-up where you can better see all the details of stitching, stamping, splattering and layering.

​Voilà, here is the finished double page layout! 

​I hope you like this project of mine and to have inspired you somehow. Thanks for stopping by, see you soon!
Love,
NG