Simple Stories

Introducing Project Idea Sheets

Howdy!  Layle here with you again today with some fun news. 

We're super excited to introduce Project Idea Sheets - free, downloadable project idea sheets with step by step instructions.   Beginning with our most recent releases, you can now look forward to Project Idea Sheets with each of our new collections!

Project Idea Sheets include 2 projects - a 12x12 layout & a Pocket Page Spread - as well as a list of tools and products needed to create the project along with step by step instructions. 

Today brings you the first of our new Project Idea Sheets - Homespun; simply click on the link below to download & enjoy!

Homespun Project Idea Sheet

We hope you enjoy it!

Did you know we also have free, downloadable Simple Inspiration eBooks?  You can see that here!

On Pinterest?  To view more Homespun projects check out our Homespun Pinterest board -

 

Life Documented with A Charmed Life

Hello All! Alissa here today with another week of my life documented! Yay!!! The Simple Stories collections make it so easy to get these weeks done! Weeks from the middle of 2013, even. :) Today, I've got one of the new collections from the 2014 Winter CHA show, A Charmed Life. I LOVE the greens, blues and yellows of this line. It's not only for spring and St Patrick's Day. I love it for everyday!

It's such a pretty collection.

I used 2 different designs of the 12x12 Pocket Pages (Design 3 and Design 5) and 2 different designs of the 6x8 Pocket Pages (6x8 & 3x4/4x6) as a 3 page insert. I LOVE adding inserts! Too much, sometimes, i think. I'm moving into my 3rd 12x12 album for 2013 and I'm sure I will need 3 for 2014. Darn inserts! HAHA.

All the die cuts in the Bits & Pieces packs are perfect for Life Documented scrapping. There are lots of little labels and tags to add to photos and cards. PERFECT!

 

I think the Happy and Lucky cards are my favorites in the whole collection!

Here's insert page number 1. I added in all the extra photos from the week in a 6x8 pocket from the SN@P! Pockets pack and journaled about the week on the front. Just slip it in a 6x8 Pocket Page and you're good to go.

This was the week I took a bunch of photos of my team at work, on the green wall (I LOVE that green wall!) and included them all in a couple of the 3x4/4x6 Pocket Pages.

What an awesome way to add in a bunch of extra photos each week. See? Inserts. I love them! Simple Stories makes it SO EASY to add inserts!

Here are a few close ups of my spread pages.

A chipboard arrow, a few stickers and a date stamp turn one of the 4x6 cards from from the Horizontal Journaling Card Elements set into a weekly title card.

I always LOVE the Simple Stories brads, too.  Especially these from the A Charmed Life collection.

I know it's a lot of photos, but I wanted to share it all with you. This collection is so awesome and is perfect for so much more than just St Patrick's Day!

I'm using the 12x12 SN@P! Faux Leather album in Teal for my Life Documented spreads. I just love these albums. They are super sturdy and the teal color is fabulous!

 

Also, here are the Pocket Pages I used in the spread.

Design 3...

Design 5...
There you have it! A Charmed Life documenting a late summer week of everyday stuff. Perfect! This line is so much more versatile than the first glance might just offer! What will you create with A Charmed Life?

Products used from A Charmed Life:

• 12x12 Collection Kit #3700
• Expression Cardstock Stickers #3703
• Bits & Pieces #3729
• Chipboard #3728
• Brads #3727
• SN@P! Pockets #3725
• SN@P! Cuts #3726
• SN@P! Cards #3723

Life Documented with Summer Sn@p Set !

Hi everyone !

It's Mindi here and I am super excited to share with you today a Pocket Page using the Summer Sn@p Set. I used a Page maps sketch as a starting point in making my Beach day layout.

The first thing I did for my title card was cut out the middle of the doilie from the Homespun Collection. Now it was ready for the title, the date and then the patterned paper on the bottom. I am in love with the honeycomb paper on one of the Summer Sn@p Cards. I cut up the paper to make a great patterned for the top of the title card.

I did some more hand cutting up the Sn@p cards again and made some waves for this journaling card. The clothes line banner from the Squares and Pieces Summer Sn@p Set was a perfect fit to embellish this card.

The other side of my 2 page spread came together super easy with these fun pocket page.

I love to use big photos in my layouts. They can make a big impact to the overall look. This pocket page was perfect to house my big photo. To add to my photo I decided to use one of the new DIY Clear Photo Overlays. I made a clear frame with a slick writer and added some pieces from the Summer Sn@p Squares and Pieces.

I needed to add some type of journaling card to my Pocket Page. This one was perfect and super fast because it was already mostly embellished.

One last close up.

I will be using the Teal Sn@ap Faux Leather Album for my Life Documented pages.  It is so durable and looks great !

Sn@p Summer Products Used :

• Summer 4 x 6 cards
• Summer 3 x 4 cards
• Summer Squares and Pieces
• Summer Stickers

DIY Products Used :

• Card Foundations
• Enamel Dots
• Stickers-Words
• Stamps-Journaling
• Clear Photo Overlays

Thank you so much for letting me share my pages with you today !

 

 

Life Documented | with Homespun

 

Hello Everyone! It's Kristine Davidson here today with a Life Documented post using  the NEW Homespun Collection. I have to admit that I LOVE this collection. I will be using it until I have little scraps of paper left and then I'll create something using those scraps! I love the colors, the elements of spring, the hearts, and oh so much more! If you haven't had a chance to purchase this collection yet I'm sure you LSS will be adding it to their list of must haves shortly! 

Alright, here is my story for this Life Documented post. In early 2013 I decided it was time to reformat my computer.  I have fast fingers when it comes to typing and I love DELETING! I love a clean screen and well ... see where this is going ? I sadly DELETED ALL MY PHOTOS!!!!!!!!!! ya ya i know backup ... well i was going to backup my hard drive but instead i guess i just deleted all MY PICTURES folder. So with that said I thank Instagram for allowing me to download ALL my photos from when I first opened my account with them. So, i downloaded all my pictures and right after my February post here on the blog I decided to document 2012! After losing all my photos I decided to document what I had and atleast I would have some stories to tell. 

So, here I am documenting 2012. I decided to do this on a Monthly basis and not weekly. Here is my spread for the month of APRIL 2012 and perhaps this will inspire you to create your Life Documented album. Regardless of size or format - documenting your stories is what matters. 

 

For this page, i created a layout from one of my photos, and on the other side I used a pocket page with 2x2" inserts. This allowed me to add more photos and also decorate and journal. I really love the idea of having a layout on the left side, it seems to showcase a bit of what my month was like. I met up with friends at a scrapbook event and it was excitement all month long. So a big part of April 2012!   

 

 In my pocket pages, i added photos, and also didn't put dates on any of them. Like I mentioned previously this is more about documenting the month/ year than remembering what day something happened.  You'll see in my next picture why ! ;-) 

 This is the other side of the pocket page featuring the 2x2 card inserts. Again I added photos, and decorated the cards to add some character to my spread. On the right side of the spread you see a photo with tons of little mini pics?  

This picture of tons of mini pics is done using an APP called Project 365. This reminds me on a daily basis to upload a pic I took of that day. It can be anything and sometimes it's just my face, the weather, what i ate and other fun stuff. It keeps me on track by reminding me and at the end of the month I can upload my picture or email it to family members. I Love it! SO since i lost all my picture I had this as a back up. This helps me remember what happened on that day and allows me to remember something I might have forgotten! That happens often ;-) 

 This is the last page of my month. It is a photo taken at a scrapbook event and it was saved from my facebook page!  This was a special day laughing with friends and I wanted to save that in my spread for 2012. 

As you can see Scrapbook products even in a 12x12 collection kit can be used for Documenting life spreads. The elements in this kit were perfect in helping me document my lost photos and a month that was specially shared with friends at a crop. 

I'll be back next month to showcase another one month in the year 2012!

I will be using the 6x8 Sn@p! Leather Album in black for all of my Life Documented pages for 2012. It's sturdiness, metal corner accents, and stitch details are fantastic and durable. The album will be handled often so durability is a must - this Sn@p! album is the best!!

 

I used a variety of inserts for this monthly spread - a 6x8" size featuring 2x2" to 4x6 and also a full 6x8. The Sn@p pocket pages come in a variety that you can add to your album. PERFECTO!

 

Homespun Products Used :

Fundamental Cardstock Stickers 
Expression Cardstock Stickers
6x6 Paper Pad
Bits & Pieces 
Brads 
12x12 Simple Basics Kit
Insta-Squares
Sn@p Cards

The DIY Products Used:
Enamel Dots - Teal Red & Yellow
Burlap Stickers - Icons

Hope you enjoyed my Life Documented pages and will be inspired to create your own using our new collections ;-) 

 

Pocket Page Scrapbooking with SN@P! Birthday Set

 

Hi there Simple Stories fans, Nancy here with a SN@P! Birthday  Set layout and pocket page example. I began with a Page Maps sketch to lay out photos from my niece's birthday celebration. I love the variety of shapes and sizes in this sketch. It was so easy to include all of my favorite photos from this event.

To customize the page, I added a ruffle of white tissue paper  and some stitching to one of the 4x6 cards. The 3x4 typewriter card was dressed up with some stamping.

The birthday girl's age was emphasized with a countdown right in the balloon die cuts below. The ruffled tissue paper was repeated just under the card to add some birthday flair to this pocket. A white stitched circle and some stickers dimension to a plain 3x4 card. 

A play on words was used to dress up a colorful 3x4 card. I used my niece's initials "YS" and dubbed it the 6.0 version.

While I was able to fit all of my favorite photos in this pocket page, I had a special story that I wanted to highlight. There was a funny moment during her birthday celebration, when the boys (being their usual ornery selves), teased her about being cake poachers and eating her cake. This photo and story perfectly capture the stage they are in right now.

Using the left over supplies from the SN@P! Birthday set I was able to create this clean, linear page. 

All of the dimension and pops of color can be found in the title and strips of patterned paper from the Homespun collection. With just a few simple embellishments and a 3x4 card from the Birthday set, I was able to tell one of my favorite stories.

Both the pocket scrapbooking pages and the traditional layout lay side by side in my teal SN@P! leather album. I love how sturdy it is and how many layouts I can fit in it.

SN@P! Birthday Set Product Used:

• Birthday Squares and Pieces
• Birthday 4x6 Cards
• Birthday 3x4 Cards

DIY Products Used:

• Enamel Dots Teal, Red & Yellow
• Enamel Dots Pink, Green & Orange
• Stickers - Words
• Burlap Stickers - Arrows
• Stickers - Letters
• Stamps - Journaling

Homespun Products Used:

• Green Dots patterned paper
• Yellow Dots patterned paper
• Teal Dots patterned paper
• Red Dots patterned paper

 

 

Life Documented with Homespun

Hi everyone! Allison Davis here with a Life Documented layout using Homespun and I have another new sketch that combines traditional scrapbooking with the Sn@p! Pocket Pages.

You can download the full sketch with measurements and placements here: Life Documented Sketch #9

The left side of the sketch is designed as just a normal/traditional style scrapbook page while the right side of the sketch uses a combination of photos and cards to fit the Sn@p! Pocket Page, Design 7.

Here's what I put together based on the sketch above:

After we finished taking our annual Christmas card photos last year I ended up with some fun "brother" shots. The boys were being goofy and just having fun since the official photo shoot was over. Homespun ended up being the perfect match for these photos. The colors, style, and theme were exactly what I was looking for to document this moment. I especially love how the wood background almost perfectly matches the wood fence in one of the pictures.

One the left page I have a big grouping of photos making up most of the design on the page. I love photo blocks (a big grouping of photos) like this on sketches. This is always a great area to adapt the sketch to fit the amount of photos and the size of the photos you have. I see these blocks as a puzzle, an opportunity to play around with different sizes and combinations. There are endless possibilities!

I thought the little jar and "filled with love" brad was so cute! Every time I looked at it I thought of this jar being so filled with love that it was bursting or overflowing so I used small hearts coming out of the top to make it look like it was.

I added a small title at the bottom of the 4 x 6" photo. The main title for the whole layout is on the right page but I wanted something on the left, more traditional side of the layout too.

On the right page I used a Sn@p! Pocket Page. I really, really enjoy how quickly my pages go together when I use a Pocket Page!

For the 6x12 pocket I went with the simplicity of the 6x12 Page Elements patterned paper in the collection combined with my own design of photo layout. 

For the title of the page I just went with the large "family" already on the 6x12 piece and just simply used the red alphabet stickers to add brothers to it.

For some extra detail I added a few heart accents around the photos.

In the top 4x6 pocket I used a 4x6 card and paired one of the 3x3 Insta-Squares with a 2x3 photo. These Insta-Squares are one of my absolute favorite things right now. I love working with squares and tend to use a lot of 2x2, 3x3, and 4x4 photos. So having these cute little squares to go with those photos is awesome!

I finished the design on the 4x6 card with a double stitched border.

I will be using the 12x12 Sn@p! Leather Album in black for all my Life Documented pages. I love the quality of the faux leather and the stitching accent!

I used the 12x12 Sn@p! Pocket Pages, Design 7 from the Variety Pack. You get so many great options and designs with the Variety Pack!

The Homespun products I used were:

• Fundamental Cardstock Stickers

• Expression Cardstock Stickers

• Chipboard

• Brads

• Grateful Patterned Paper

• Stitched Together Patterned Paper

• Homemade Patterned Paper

• Beautiful Life Patterned Paper

• Heart & Home Patterned Paper

• 6x12 Page Elements Patterned Paper

• Grey Wood/Grid Patterned Paper

• Green Dots Patterned Paper

• Red Dots Patterned Paper

• Yellow Dots Patterned Paper

• Teal Dots Patterned Paper

• Insta-Squares

• Sn@p! Cards

I hope you enjoy using the new Life Documented sketch!

Life Documented with Homespun

Hello, Simple Stories fans! Melissa here to share another week in my Life Documented album as I continue on with catching up some weeks from previous years that are still left to scrap. This week finds the Homespun collection being used to document some Independence Day fun!

Last time I hosted the blog, you may recall that I talked about using non-seasonal collections to scrap seasonal events, and I'm doing the same thing with this layout. Homespun isn't a 4th of July themed collection, but the family motifs and home-y accents definitely work for all of the bold colors in my photos of hanging out with my family and watching fireworks. I tweaked a few of the products here and there to make it all come together, and I'll share a few of those techniques with you below. 

 If you haven't tried the new DIY (Design It Yourself) collection yet, you really need to check these pieces out! I used a DIY speech bubble die-cut as a layer under a chipboard camera from Homespun, and there are lots of great neutral layers in DIY that will coordinate with any of Simple Stories' collections!

This red-bordered journaling card was actually pre-printed for Thursday, but since I needed a Tuesday card (and the Tuesday card in the collection didn't jive with my layout's color balance), I found a die-cut in the Bits & Pieces pack and layered it with a sticker to help the card fit my layout. 

 A pre-printed 4x6 card can help build the fastest embellishment cluster ever! The doilies and banners were already printed on this card, and I simply added a tiny chipboard heart and a word sticker to both help tie the photo to the design as well as create a dimensional cluser in no time flat.

 Simple Stories' Insta-Squares make fabulous embellishents on Life Documented pages, even if you don't use the square Pocket Pages. Here I tucked a 2x2 heart card from the Homespun Insta-squares behind a small photo and layered on a die cut from the Bits & Pieces pack to finish it off. Quick, easy, and cute!

As I close out my 2011 and 2013 Life Documented albums, I'm using the 12x12 faux leather Sn@p in teal to hold my layouts. These albums are simply gorgeous and have such a luxurious feel to them!

 

All of my weekly Life Documented pages for 2011, 2012, and 2013 use Design 3 Pocket Pages- I'm so used to using this design that I totally get into a zone when choosing photo sizes to print, and it goes super fast! Editing and printing photos is my biggest hangup when it comes to any variety of scrapbooking, so I'm all for anything that simplifies the process.

Homespun Products Used:

• 12x12 Collection Kit
• Fundamentals Cardstock Stickers
• Expression Cardstock Stickers
• 6x6 Paper Pad
• Bits & Pieces
• Chipboard
• Brads
• Insta-Squares
• Sn@p Cards

Introducing Simple Inspiration eBooks

Howdy!  Layle here with you again today with some fun news. 

We're super excited to introduce Simple Inspiration eBooks - free, downloadable idea books.  Beginning with our most recent releases, you can now look forward to an eBook with each of our new collections!   

Simple Inspiration eBooks include beautiful photography, project ideas, design tips and inspiration on how you can create with our fabulous Simple Stories collections!  The new Simple Inspiration eBooks include a little something for everyone - layouts, SN@P! Binders, pocket page spreads, home decor items and cards.

Today brings you the first of our new eBooks - the Homespun Simple Inspiration eBook - 16 pages of amazing inspiration; simply click on the link below to download & enjoy!

Homespun Simple Inspiration eBook Download

(note - if you were having trouble downloading the eBook earlier, the link has been fixed!)

We hope you enjoy it!

On Pinterest?  To view/pin some of the projects included in the Homespun eBook, as well as other inspirational Homespun projects, check out our Homespun Pinterest board -

 

Life Documented with SN@P! Summer

Life Documented with Sn@p!

Hi everyone! Teri here today, and I'm here with another Life Documented project. I'm excited to share with you a few pages I made with the SN@P! Summer set.

I went to California last month and extended my trip by a couple days so I could go to Disneyland. What can I say? I'm a big kid, and I love going to the park. Lucky for me that one of my friends extended her trip as well so we were able to enjoy a couple days at the amusement park together. 

Sure, the adventure was in January. But I thought the happy colors of the SN@P! Summer set made it perfect for documenting the fun time we had. I mean, we are talking Disneyland! Hello, bright and happy colors!

One of my favorite things on the left page is "This is Awesome" cut-out. That's a cut file from Simple Stories that's available in the Silhouette Online Store. I simply cut it from cardstock and then adhered it to a 3x4 SN@P! card. To give it some extra pop, I used my trusty sewing machine to stitch a line over the "awesome" word.

The card next to it had a summer saying on it. That wasn't going to work for my page so I covered it up with a kraft rectangle from Simple Stories' DIY collection and added a new title to it.

I really love that you can change up the SN@P! cards and make them your own. I added a tape sticker (yep, from the SN@P! Summer set) to the top of orange card at the bottom of the page.

I went to town with customizing the cards on the right page, too. I covered up some words on the bottom card with a strip of cardstock and added some stickers to it so it would say "the good times."

The polka dot SN@P! card on this page was so fun to customize! I added the picture and then embellished it with a overlay, a couple stickers and another phrase cut with Simple Stories' Check This Out cut file, also available in the Silhouette Online Store.

I'm using a 12x12 SN@P! faux leather album in red to document my activities in 2014. I love that the album's ring binding allows me to scrapbook out of order. Sometimes, I wait to record memories until months after they've happened. And sometimes I like to scrapbook them right away. I like the freedom it gives me as a memory keeper.

I used the SN@P! 12x12 Pocket Pages Design 3 for these pages. I like that these pages have a little extra room so you can embellish the cards that go into the pockets. It's nice to be able to add lots of layers if you want to.

Sn@p! Summer Products Used:

• SN@P! Stickers
• 4x6 SN@P! Cards
• 3x4 SN@P! Cards

Other Simple Stories Products Used:

• DIY Card Foundations - Kraft
• DIY Journaling Layers - Office
• DIY Journaling Layers - Kraft
• DIY Burlap Stickers - Banners
• SN@P! Stamps - Snapshots

Thanks for stopping by today! I'll be back again soon!

I'll be using the 12x12 Sn@p! leather album in teal as the year goes on for many of my Life Documented projects! I love the color of the album, and that it has a ring binding system! Since I employ a free spirit philosophy when it comes to these pages, I dig that I can easily work on my pages for it out of order. - See more at: http://simplestories.typepad.com/simple_stories/2013/06/life-documented-with-snp.html#sthash.3QLkzgNj.dpuf

Simple Stories & Petaloo Design Team-Up Day 5

Welcome to Day 5 of the Simple Stories & Petaloo Design Team-Up Week!  We’re so excited to team up with Petaloo to share some inspiring projects with you this week.

We’ll be giving away two great Petaloo prize packages at the end of the week, so be sure to play along and check back on Sunday the 16^th to see if you’re the lucky winner!

Here are the different ways you can play along –

1. Like Simple Stories on Facebook 
2. Share this blog post on your Facebook wall and tell us you did on our Facebook wall
3. Follow Simple Stories on Pinterest 
4. Follow Simple Stories on Instagram at simplestories_
5. Comment hereon our blog or on Facebook
   

Petaloo is also posting projects and giving away prizes, so be sure to check out their blog and Facebook page, too!

Hi, Alissa here with you today! I've got another Life Documented spread using the Homespun line from Simple Stories and several awesome products from Petaloo. I love how the Petaloo products add pretty layers to my Pocket Page spreads on the outside of the pockets. So fun!

I also included a 6x8 Pocket Page insert and I used the new 2x2 Insta Pocket Pages. I was even able to make a little confetti pocket with some of the Petaloo flowers. No sewing machine? Staples work great to close up the opening.

I layered the Petaloo flowers on the tops of my Pocket Pages. The larger ones I adhered with pop dots and the smaller one has a staple holding it one.

The chipboard piece from the Homespun collection is on the top of the Pocket Page, too. I prefer having my pockets lay flat and add the thicker embellishments on the top of the pockets.

And the insert page. I really LOVE these new smaller pockets in the 6x8 Pocket Pages!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Head on over to the Petaloo blog and check out what their Design Team has created using their embellishments and our Simple Stories products! They’re also hosting giveaways as well, so what are you waiting for – head on over!  J

Check in again with us tomorrow for more inspiring projects from Simple Stories & Petaloo!  

Supplies Used:

Simple Stories Homespun Collection

• 12x12 Collection Kit
• Fundamental Cardstock Stickers
• Expression Cardstock Stickers
• Bits & Pieces
• Chipboard
• Insta-Squares
• SN@P! Cards

Simple Stories DIY Collection

• Enamel Dots - Teal, Red & Yellow

Petaloo Products

• Fancy Trims (shades of beige)
• Bontanica Collection Faux Dried Blooms (red)
• Botanica Collection Faux Dried Blooms (cranberry/amber/green)
• Textured Elements Mini Blossoms (amber)
• Textured Elements Mini Blossoms (ivory)
• The Penny Lane Garden Collection Forget Me Nots ( robin egg blue)