Three Things : Outdoor Inspiration

As the summer begins winding down (we have just a month left here before Simon goes back to school and I know there are lots of places around the country that go back sooner) I wanted to share three of my favorite outdoor/nature inspired products:

1. Woodgrain Overlays + Patterned Paper : Overlay from Hambly Studios and patterned paper from Urban Scrapyard (see layout below for an example). The Urban Scrapyard paper is almost the thickness of wallpaper - it would be cool on the outside of a minibook. On the layout below I split both sheets in half and adhered to my background cardstock.

2. 7gypsies Mountain Vacation Cardstock Stickers : This series of word stickers have long been a favorite. I really like the mixture of the cirle word stickers and the strips of words. These are great as accents on a few different layouts or to tell a story within a minibook.

3. Anna Griffin Sierra Collection patterned paper : The muted-colors and kraft-colored background are what I really like about this set of papers.

[ Supplies : Cardstock: Worldwin; Patterned Paper: K&Company, Hambly, Urban Scrapyard; Circle Overlay: new Heidi Swapp; Letter Sticker: Making Memories; Font: AL Messenger; Circle Metal Embellishment: Tim Holtz ]

The Story : Hesitant to go in the water first. Not sure about the little fish you could see swimming around in circles right beneath the surface of the water. Holding on to Grandpa's neck oh so tight. Relaxing your grip as the minutes go by. Becoming more comfortable with the water, the little fishes, the whole situation. "They're not going to eat me." Grandpa walks you to the other side. You check out the bank. Grandma documents the whole thing in photos. Eventually you are back in the water. And then there you go. Playing. Swimming. Kicking. Laughing. Enjoying the moment.

[ Three Things is a weekly product series : check out the archives here. ]

I also wanted to let you know that I did an interview last week with Noell at Paperclipping.com about my new book Sharing Your Story: Recording Life's Details With MiniBooks (due out sometime this month). Click here to listen.