In an effort to find my long lost creative mojo, I took advantage of some of the fun challenges posted around the scrapping world for iNSD (International Scrapbooking Day) a few weekends ago. I was drawn to a sketch posted here by Studio Calico. Since I needed to dust off not only my paper crafting skills, but my digital skills as well, I decided to interpret the sketch both digitally and traditionally, primarily using Studio Calico products and kits. I eased my way in, creating my digital layout first. I wanted that safety net of CMD+Z (undo) before I dove... Continue reading

March is my favorite month of the year. To me, it means gorgeous Arizona weather, Nate's birthday, our anniversary, Cactus League Spring Training, family and visitors. It's always an activity filled month, packed full of fun! This year was no exception. MARCH SPREAD NO. 1 Before we jump into March, I'll recap the last bit of February, which can be found on the left side of the spread.My favorite photo? The one on the top, with me sporting my new bangs! It's been nearly 20 years since I last had bangs of any sort, and back then, they were a... Continue reading

The month of February is a blur to me. I'm not sure why, but between the busyness of work and life, the month happened and I don't recall much about it. Thankfully, I was busy sticking photos and memorabilia into the pockets as the month passed and I can now look back and let Project Life jolt my memory as to what went on. I love Project Life for that! The first spread of the month highlights a fun work outing to Olive & Ivy, followed by an afternoon spent painting and drinking at Dry Bar (I work for a... Continue reading

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I participated in the Bright Ideas class at Studio Calico. I’ve completed a few more class challenges, resulting in a few pages I really love. First up, is a challenge all about circles. GIRLS ONLY | Most of the circle elements on the layout are from the Bright Ideas class printables and cut files, which were exclusive to the class. I also added in buttons, flair, epoxy circles and paint splatters. There is a ton of circle action going on here! Fun side note, this layout was included in the class gallery highlight... Continue reading

Who knew that on that random March day in 2012 when I hit the purchase button in Amazon, I would be totally overtaken by a single project. Two days later, my Becky Higgins Design G page protectors arrived, changing the way I approach memory keeping forever. Fast forward to nearly a year later and here I am, still loving Project Life more and more each month. I bet a few of you were wondering if I was keeping up on Project Life in 2013. The answer is a big, fat YES! What I haven't been keeping up on is photographing... Continue reading

To help get me started on the right foot creatively in 2013, I treated myself to an online class at Studio Calico called "Bright Ideas". In total, the class offers 20 challenge prompts, paired with sketches to help push your creative limits. So far, I've completed around 8 challenges, resulting in some layouts I really love and some that I really don't. But do you know what the great things is? Not matter what the result, I pushed myself to try something new. Something different. I stepped outside my comfort zone, which in itself is a refreshing thing. While I'm... Continue reading

It's time to share my first layouts of 2013! A few weekends ago, some of my favorite crafty gals and I had a gathering at my new home. While the crafty hours didn’t produce a lot of crafting for any of us (we were distracted with lots of talking, interior design advice and Bloody Marys), it certainly got me in the mood to create. The result was two layouts, both made using leftover supplies from past Studio Calico kits. First up is a layout titled At the Lake. The lovely feathered vellum and the wood veneer feathers from the SC... Continue reading

For Project Life December, I tried something new...an all digital format! With packing, moving, unpacking, holiday traveling and more, I knew I'd never actually complete the month if I didn't go digital. It was an interesting process, and although I'm a lover of digital scrapbooking, I discovered I really did not like doing Project Life digitally. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy digital was an option for me. I would have never finished the month otherwise. What I discovered while completing the month digitally is that the process of using my hands and playing with paper and glue is what... Continue reading

As I flipped through the pages of Project Life November to write this post, I was surprised at how distant the memories felt. It was if they were from years past, and not just two months ago. My, how things can change in such a short time! Like the previous few months of PL spreads, I used papers and embellishments from the current (at the time) Studio Calico kit, which just happened to be Sock Hop. Instead of a detailed breakdown of each spread, I'll just provide a short recap. If you want to read more, or see something a... Continue reading

It’s been more than a month since I’ve posted in this space. Where did December go? Or the first part of January for that matter? The last month of 2012 was certainly a crazy, but good one. We moved on December 8. We traveled out of state just four days later. We returned home just in time to continue unpacking and hold a Christmas Eve celebration at our new house. And before I could blink my eyes, it was 2013! 2012 was pretty monumental. There were many major life changes in our household. Nate started a new job in January.... Continue reading

It seems the busiest of months often end up with the fewest spreads in my Project Life album. Like September, October's spreads are short and sweet. It seems the more I have to do, the fewer photos I take. I think it happens to all of us. Initially, I was a bit disappointed in the lack of photos for the month. But then I thought about it and realized, had I not been doing Project Life, NONE of these events would have made it into a scrapbook. That my friends, is why I love Project Life :) Like September, I... Continue reading

I went back to my traditional scrapbooking roots and whipped up a few paper layouts. It was so fun to play with paper and glue on a scale larger than Project Life pockets! I used part of my Studio Calico Roller Rink kit to create two layouts (the other half was used for my Project Life October). Both of the layouts are about my Grandma, Nanny, who I was lucky enough to see in August and in September! NANNYBRATION | This layout documents the "Nannybration", Nan's 80th birthday celebration, which was quite a bash! There were literally hundreds of family... Continue reading

I have a few more October Creative Team projects to share. I shared the first two in this post, back in October, but just discovered I didn't post the rest. My assigned designer for the month was Jodie Lee. Jodie designs beautiful papers, brushes and more. I'm often intimidated by her products because they're just so pretty and I'm afraid to mess them up! But, in the digital world, fixing a mistake is as easy as CMD+Z, so I went to work creating the layouts below. Click here to see product credits. SNAPSHOTS | This photo was taken during our... Continue reading

Here we have Project Life September. September is a blur to me at this point, but according to my documentation, it can be dubbed as the month of critters sleeping/laying/sitting on things. Especially Baxter, as you will see. My Project Life September was created using the Studio Calico Central High kit along with some various embellishments and letter stickers. I subscribed to Studio Calico back in August. My intention was to move away from so many digital layouts and move toward more paper pages -- which isn't what happened. Instead, I found myself using the kits in Project Life, which... Continue reading

While it's not really a Christmas celebration in November, I do have a holiday inspired album to share. It was brought to my attention, while discussing December Daily album's in a thread, that I had never shared my Holiday Memories album from last year here on my blog. I shared my plan and some of the foundations pages nearly a year ago, but never shared the finished product (not sure why!). When I set out to create the album, I knew I didn't want to create a true December Daily. Capturing a photo each and every day just seemed like... Continue reading

Let's rewind to August. It seems so long ago. Just looking back at the photos and events has made me realize just how quickly the past few months have passed by. August was a wonderful month. I spent the first few days of the month dining and celebrating my new job with my old coworkers. Then, I started my new job. After working just a week, I took two weeks off and Nate and I travelled the Midwest, making it to not only one, but two big family celebrations. I chose October Afternoon's Woodland Park line to document the month.... Continue reading

It seems my creative projects and posts have been far and few in between the past few months. With travels, my new job, and a slew of other things going on behind the scenes this last half of 2012 has certainly flown by! One day life will slow down enough for me to catch my breath, whip out a few DIYs, create a few layouts and maybe even catch up on Project Life (which I haven't touched since August). With that said, I actually did manage to complete a few digital assignments for JessicaSprague.com. Both layouts feature Echo Park products... Continue reading

California 2012: Part 3 is the third and final post sharing the pages of my California 2012 mini album. You can see Part 1 & 2 here and here. Can you believe how many photos and pages I crammed into one not-so-little album? The final day of our California journey began in Laguna Beach and ended in Scottsdale, with a day-long adventure at Joshua Tree National Forest sandwiched in the middle. Here's what it looked like: Journaling: July 1, 2012 - We awoke relatively early and gathered our belongings to depart for Joshua Tree National Forest. Once the car was... Continue reading

FINALLY! As I promised a few weeks ago, here is Part 2 of my Cali 2012 mini album (Part 1 can be found here). The pages and journaling below represent days two and three of our trip. Journaling: While the kids slept in, Missy and I packed bags and got ready for another day at the beach. When the kids awoke, we loaded up the car and drove down to the Main beach, which was much larger and, less rocky, than the Cleo Street beach from the previous day. Missy dropped us off, took the car back to the hotel... Continue reading

It's been a while since I've shared any JessicaSprague.com Creative Team projects. I took a break for the month of August to travel and to settle into my new job. Although it was a bit of a struggle, I'm proud to say I actually finished my September projects on time! My assigned designer this month was liv.edesings. Liv has been busy filling her shop with what I consider "digital essentials" - paint splatters, paint swashes, brown bagger papers and more. They're great go-to items for your digital tool kit. The first three layouts feature Liv's lovely products. THE STORY OF... Continue reading

At the end of June, my sister, niece, nephew and I took a road trip from Scottsdale to Laguna Beach for a long, relaxing weekend. Much of our time was spent on the beach (obviously) and exploring the quaint town of Laguna Beach. On the return home we made a stop at Joshua Tree National Forest (another item on Missy's and my "must see" list). In all, our four day adventure left us with around 700 photos. To say I was overwhelmed by all the photos would be a gross understatement. I honestly didn't even know where to start. So,... Continue reading

Nate and I are home safely and slowly, yet surely, recovering from our whirlwind 2012 Midwestern Tour. As many of you know, Nate and I both have family in the Midwest, his in Minnesota, mine in Nebraska. We make a point to visit both of our families over the course of the year, but have never visited both during one vacation. After working just one week at my new job, I took two weeks off. It was an arrangement I made when I started, partially due to a ten day trip Nate and I had planned. A trip that began... Continue reading

My goal was to not bombard you with an entire month of Project Life, once again. But, with all the changes here in my neck of the woods, time has simply passed me by. July was filled with an abundace of excitement including, the second half of our Laguna Beach trip, many crazy pet photos, and many, many lunches and happy hours to celebrate my NEW JOB! For those that haven't heard, I made the tough decision to leave the aviation industry. Although I'm still very passionate about aviation, I received an offer I couldn't resist in another industry I'm... Continue reading