Malm's Visit

My mother dearest (we call her Malm) just visited for 10 not nearly long enough days! We had lots of day trips and even an overnighter planned to the Eagle's Nest, buuuuuut... the weather was a no go down in Berchtesgaden, so we didn't go... We mostly just stayed home! And it was WONDERFUL! Best vacation ever. Here is a short recap of some of the things we did do:

Swipe Jane's face and she will instantly be put into a trance. 

My little brother figured this out at my little sister's wedding reception when Jane was a baby. Works like a charm every time! Tantrum in the middle of the grocery store? Swipe her face. Want her to go to sleep? Swipe her face. It's the answer to everything.

The first morning after Malm arrived we were sitting at the table and I noticed she had a chip in her front tooth. I asked Chris if he could fix it. An hour later we entered the torture chamber and Chris worked his magic! Good as new!

On Saturday we drove an hour south to Regensburg to eat at our favorite German restaurant - Weissbräuhaus. The kesselspitze (deluxe mac'n'cheese) is top notch.

Regensburg details:

Another morning we hiked up to the top of Rauer Kulm. Beautiful views and a beautiful day!

Another day we went to Weiden and window shopped along the pretty town square.

I'm basically a grown up child because I LOVE Legos. Oh so much. I was stoked when we went into Müller and saw a Beauty and the Beast set I hadn't ever seen before - I looked it up as soon as we got home and it's not even due out until August. Score :)

Another morning we were going to walk to the bakery in Eschenbach, but when I google mapped it, it was an hour away. Soo... we drove and were there and back again within 15 minutes.

Joey and Rachel liked having a new human around to love. 

The real reason my mom came all the way to Germany:

But for reals, I think she bought 30 pounds of gummy bears! I can't blame her. They're good. So good.

While I was scrapping throughout the week, Malm was working on her tasseling business! She brought all the supplies to create a new item for her shop - a cute cake topper! I talked my mom into getting us some more flowers, my fave :) Thanks Malm!

Other things we did that I didn't get pictures of: we went to the food court and ate a lot of Taco Bell, got Thai food twice, ate at the soldier's cafeteria per Malm's request, had popcorn every single night, shopped at the PX and commissary, printed photos at Rossman, made delicious sugar cookies (we STILL have some Malm!), watched The Mentalist every evening after the kids went to bed, Malm watched the kids while we went and saw the movie Me Before You (soooo good! I cried like a baby!), relaxed outside in the sun (the weather was for the most part glorious - we even had a few thunderstorms which Malm loves), and basically just chilled. I know some people would think Malm is crazy for coming all the way to Germany to not really go anywhere, but, it was just so nice to spend some good quality time together and for the kids to see their Grandma! They've lived in Germany most of their lives so any time family comes it's a special treat!

Miss you Malm!

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Love Layout for Scrap-Info Magazine

I have an interview in the next issue of Scrap-Info Russian Scrapbooking Magazine and made three layouts for it! Here is the first one:

LOVE by Paige Evans

DESCRIPTION: I saw a quilt on Pinterest with lots of little squares which is where the inspiration for this layout came from. Quilts to the rescue once again!

JOURNALING SAYS: Loved being with you at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria. I love traveling the world with you and spending eternity with you my love!

HOW TO: Use black thread and machine stitch a 1" grid across a pink patterned paper background (this is paper from C'est La Vie!). Punch 1" squares from patterned papers (I used Fancy Free and more C'est La Vie) and adhere them inside most of the stitched squares. Remove some of the paper squares and replace with a photo. Add "LOVE" chipboard letters and other embellishments in the empty squares. Journal on the white space of the photo and drop black ink diagonally across the page. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

SUPPLIES: Patterned paper, chipboard letters, puffy stickers, cork hearts, die cuts, mirror stickers: Pink Paislee; Square punch: Recollections; Sewing machine: Brother; Thread: Coats & Clark; Ink: ProArt; Pen, adhesive: American Crafts

DETAIL SHOTS:





Have a lovely day!

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Fancy Free Projects by Scrappy Friends

One of the most fun things about releasing a scrapbooking collection is seeing how people use it in ways I never would have thought to! I love perusing instagram and Pinterest, Facebook and blogs, finding all sorts of layouts and projects and cards featuring Fancy Free! Thought I'd share some here today that particularly struck my 'fancy' :)

LEARN TO PLAY by Zinia Amoiridou - how gorgeous is that fussy cut floral wreath?!

BEST EVER by Elizabeth Gardner - paper weaving is a super fun technique, but Elizabeth took this to a whole 'nother level!

CHA by Gail Lindner - the large title is so eye-catching with those pops of color and stitching! WOW!

COLORFUL KIDS also by Elizabeth Gardner - this is just so outside the box with the wrapped string and only a partial heart. LOVE.


GIFT BAGS by Rebecca Luminarias - super duper adorable, cute, fun, and functional! Win-win-win-win!

MOM HEART MARQUEE by Gina Lideros - this is one of the most beautiful pieces of home decor I've ever seen!

HIKING by Flóra Farkas - backing all of those letters must have taken a good chunk of time, but the results are SO worth it!

DADDY'S BIRTHDAY by Katie Ehmann - I LOVE how Katie filled in the sections of the heart Paige kit with different bits and baubles! Edible like candy!

FIVE by Becky Williams - totally crushing on all of the different "five" elements here!

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH by Missy Whidden - Gasp. Swoon. Love. Everything Missy makes is amazing.

PLAY NOW by Bea Valint - big hearts are totally one of my go-to techniques so when I saw this my heart nearly burst! I love it so!

MY CREW by Michelle Gallant - I'm such a big fan of colored and patterned paper backgrounds! And I love the backed die cut technique!!

SMILE by Laureen Wagener - I love love love how she eliminated pinks (never in a million years thought I'd say that!) and focused on the blues and greens in Fancy Free! Superb!

SO HAPPY by Diane Tuckwell - What's not to love about the die cut butterflies framed with watercolors and backed with patterned papers?!

YOU ARE MY EVERYTHING by Claudia Van Rooijen - the placement of the Thickers = GENIUS! So clever!

SO HAPPY also by Laureen Wagener - so many gorgeous little details! Swoon!

SUMMER by Leigh Odynski - Totally crushing on that hand stitched string-art style cactus paired with Fancy Free!

P.I. GIRLS by Rachel Kleinman - I haven't used this paper as a background yet and I'm totally inspired to after seeing this!

UP & AWAY by Elsie Robinson - there are no words for how jaw-dropping this layout is. Simply stunning.

Keep up the amazing work talented friends!

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Teaching in Spain & Berlin & Another Scrobby Class Added

Exciting things are happening and in the works!

On Friday September 23rd from 5-8pm and Saturday September 24th from 10am-2pm I'll be teaching how to make 3 layouts (Friday night!) and a mini album (Saturday morning!) in Valencia Spain at La Sonrisa Creativa Scrap & Crafts! Then the next day, Sunday September 25th, I'll be teaching the same mini album workshop in Reus Spain at Marakiscrap! Olé! 

Each class is €70 or if you take both in Valencia it's €125 combined. Sneaks of the projects coming this summer using my next Pink Paislee collection (sneaks of that coming soon too, yaaay!!!)!

For more information and to sign up for the classes on the 23rd and 24th of September in Valencia, please email: info@lasonrisacreativa.es.

For more information and to sign up for the class on the 25th of September in Reus, please email: info@marakiscrap.com.

Hope to see you there!

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Also an update about my workshop at Scrobby in The Netherlands - the first class filled up so I'll be teaching a second layout and Project Life® workshop on Sunday July 10th 2016 from 10am-4pm! The layouts and Project Life® spreads will be unique to each class (meaning the supplies and projects will be different!) so make sure to come on both days! Each class is €59.95 and I believe there is a discount if you take both classes! Sneaks coming very soon using a fun combination of Fancy Free and other kits!

For more details and to register visit Scrobby.nl or click on the button below:

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On Saturday October 2nd 2016 I will be teaching a layout workshop at Cathleen Kick's store in Berlin, Germany! The price is €79 for four layouts using my new Pink Paislee collection! Sneaks of the layouts coming this summer!

For more details and to register visit cathleenkick.de or click on the button below:


Hope to see you there!!!

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Pink Paislee "Memories" Layout

It's "Snips & Snails" week on the Pink Paislee blog and here is the layout I made featuring the new Outfitters collection!

MEMORIES by Paige Evans

DESCRIPTION: My first thought was to punch a whole bunch of stars... and then what?! I threw them across the background, decided it reminded me of the night sky, and wanted to create a "constellation" look so I stitched them all together.

JOURNALING SAYS: Mrs. Dodsen was such a great and influential teacher for Fox! She loved what she did and the kids knew she loved working with them. She'll always be remembered!

HOW TO: Punch a bunch of little stars from paper #3 then adhere them across a light gray cardstock background. Connect the stars together with machine stitching then splatter white paint across the page. Layer a picture over a constellation photo overlay and two tags and embellish with a die cut title, puffy stickers, and cute canvas banner. Add colorful tiny heart stickers all around and create a cluster of embellishments on the top and bottom edges - journal at the bottom.

SUPPLIES: Cardstock, pen, adhesive: American Crafts; Patterned paper, stickers, die cuts, canvas banner, tags, photo overlay: Pink Paislee; Star punches: Fiskars, Martha Stewart Crafts; Sewing machine: Brother; Thread: Coats & Clark; Paint: FolkArt

DETAIL SHOTS:

Have a lovely week!

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San Marino, San Marino

Can I be a downer for a second? Cuz San Marino looks AMAZING!(!!!) Exhibit A from the internet:

Aaaaaand this is what we saw:

Our entire Italian road trip was planned in the first place because we had not yet been to the micro country San Marino and the Scrap 2 Days workshop was only an hour away. I was so excited! Because it looks amazing! Exhibit B from the internet:

And this is what we saw:

Because, RAIN. Probably the most rain I've ever seen with mine own two eyes!

Yeah, there was no way we were going out and getting drenched to our very cores. The views are supposed to be top notch and one of the main draws for visiting San Marino, and we obviously weren't getting that in this weather, so we begrudgingly peaced out.

Although the morning started off promising! I taught my 2nd mini album class and then we hit the road as fast as we could to make it to our airbnb near Innsbruck, Austria before midnight. Pretty views coming down the mountain:

As soon as we entered San Marino there was the most beautiful flower garden - I asked Chris to pull over so I could get out and document.

Proof we were in San Marino!

We were hungry so the first stop was McDonald's where we paid with cash and got a euro coin minted in San Marino. This later turned into our magnet (we get a magnet from every city we visit and is one of the highlights of each trip).

As we were eating our burgers and fries, we kept looking up out the windows to the towers above town (darn I should have taken pictures then!) and could see them slowly being enveloped by clouds... Dern it!

When we walked back to the car to drive up to the parking lot by the towers, the rain started coming down harder and harder and harder. It was heartbreaking.

So instead we will live vicariously through the internet and those who have seen San Marino in better weather:

I really would love to go back!

Not to mention the drive back up north... what should have taken 5 hours took 8 (EIGHT!) because of the toll leaving Italy. I still can't even think about it without getting flustered. Never will I ever drive through that stretch of highway again on a Sunday. It should be illegal, that kind of hold up. And there was nothing we could do about it, no way around it, no detours, we just had to drive 5 kilometers per hour for three hours. Aaaand, the cherry on top, we never got a pass entering the Italian freeway near San Marino (not our fault, the rail thing never came down so it wouldn't dispense a ticket!!) so we had to pay a $110 fine. I just don't want to talk about it. LUCKILY: the airbnb we rented for the night near Innsbruck Austria was so amazing and comfortable.

Lovely Austria! 

The next morning we were going to walk around Innsbruck, but it was still raining and we were so DONE. We drove the rest of the 4 hours back to Germany and got home in time for the kids' nap. We all chanted "We love home! We love home! We love home!" for the last 5 minutes of the drive. I will always remember that tender moment. We really do love home.

And that concludes our Italian roadtrip! Next adventure: Edinburgh, Scotland!

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