Samantha Taylor Archives

Remember Layout

Sep

Today we are grateful to have guest designer Samantha Taylor join us on the blog. She is sharing a project that’s very close to her heart in memory of the tragic events that shook the world on September 11, 2001.

When people ask why I paper craft, or why I scrapbook, there are so many reasons. It’s fun, it’s a creative outlet for me, it’s a way to preserve memories. Today I’m sharing a project that is truly about preserving memories, even ones that are hard…especially the ones that are hard.

Sometimes it’s hard for me to believe that this happened before my kids were born. I know some day my kids (and probably my grandkids) will ask me, “Where were you when?” I wanted to get my memories down on paper, and I wanted to do it in a way that would be reverent and respectful as well.

I started by keeping this layout photo free. I cut the New York City skyline, and then made the towers out of gold foil paper. I didn’t get too fancy with the embellishments because I wanted the towers to be the focal point of this layout.

While this layout is a way for me to record my memories, I didn’t want my journaling to be the center of this layout – I wanted it to be a piece of this layout. The best way for me to accomplish this was to make a little hidden pocket under the skyline, and slip my journaling in there. I did add a bit of gold glitter washi tape. There is something hopeful and beautiful to me about glitter, and it may sound silly, but we found light in the darkness that day, and I wanted a piece of that reflected in my layout.

Finally, I used the same gold foil paper from Home+Made to create the Remember title for my layout. As a side note, I was a bit worried about how well the gold foil paper would cut with my Cameo. It cuts beautifully (almost better than regular paper) with a Cameo!

Thank you so much for letting me share my Remember layout with you today. This is truly a layout that is close to my heart.

Supplies:
Home+Made Gold Foil Paper
Home+Made Grey Whimsy
Home+Made Loveseat
Home+Made Gilded
Home+Made 6×6 Paper Pad
Home+Made Die
Home+Made Decorative Tape
American Crafts Black Precision Pen
Silhouette Cameo
Home+Made Notes

Mix and Match Mini Album

Jul

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Everything is much more fun when it’s mini! Design Team Member Samantha Taylor is mixing and matching different goodies from all across the Pebbles board to make this darling mini album.

Some of my very favorite things to create are mini albums. Usually I grab a single collection, and stick to that when making an album. However, for my project today, I grabbed leftover bits and pieces from lots of different Pebbles collections. It was a lot of fun, and turned out pretty cute. Here’s my mix and match Hooray Mini Album:

Mini size is fun size! Especially when it comes to this precious mini album made by @samanthajt using a variety of #PebblesInc lines. #minialbum #specialdelivery #gardenparty #birthdaywishes

I love Pebbles journaling cards, so I used one to create the cover of my album. “Hooray!” was already printed on the paper, and I used my computer printer to add “Let’s go exploring” underneath.

Pebbles Birthday Wishes washi tape goes from birthday theme to generic themed if you rip off just the “happy” part.

My absolute favorite page is this one. I kept it simple with photos and rub-ons, but it needed something extra. I added an extra page in the middle by sewing together 2 photo overlays with sequins inside. I don’t know why, but that sequin page make me so happy!

I kept all of my pages clean, simple, and flat. I knew I was going to bind this album only with a bit of twine, so I knew that keeping the embellishments flat would be important.

This photo deserved a bit of extra attention, so I used a journaling card to do just that. I took this photo from the top of the lookout tower with my husband and sons standing in its shadow. I love that you can see the whole shape of the tower in the shadow!

Just a simple tag with some washi tape and the date of our adventure completes the back of the book. Just a simple mix and match mini album!

Supplies:

Pebbles Garden Party 6 x 6

Pebbles Special Delivery Boy 6 x 6

Pebbles Birthday Wishes Journaling Cards

Pebbles Garden Party Journaling Cards

Pebbles Birthday Wishes Washi

Pebbles Basics Washi Black

Pebbles Basics Washi Apricot

Pebbles Basics Washi Gray

Pebbles From Me to You Phrase & Accent Stickers

Pebbles Front Porch Phrase Stickers

Pebbles From Me to You Black Rub-ons

Pebbles Special Delivery Photo Overlays

American Crafts DIY Shop Kraft Notch Banners

American Crafts Precision Pen

Sequins (Studio Calico)

Mini Envelope Money Holder

Jun

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Are you enjoying the fun mini envelope projects we’ve been sharing? Today Designer Samantha Taylor is joining us to share a fun mini envelope money holder. This project is great for birthday cards, graduation and fun summer gifts.

My nieces and nephews are starting to get older, so we often give them money for their birthdays. We like to come up with fun ways to give them their money (last year we gave my nephew his all in nickles). For my nephew’s upcoming birthday I wanted to make a money holder card that is a little bit different, so I came up with this mini envelope money holder.

Mini envelope money holder via @samanthajt for @PebblesInc using the #BirthdayWishes collection. #graduation #birthday #card #handmade

I started by creating a card base that, instead of being folded in half, has a 1/4″ spine to it. My card base measures 5 1/2″ x 8 3/4″ and is scored at 4 1/4″ and 4 1/2″. Then I folded my card and decorate the front of my card just like I would any card, using the super fun new Birthday Wishes collection.

The inside is where this card really gets different. I grabbed 5 mini envelopes, scored those envelopes at 1/4″, and then attached the 1/4″ score area to the 1/4″ spine of my card.

I attached 5 envelopes in all to card. You could do less envelopes than that, but I wouldn’t suggest doing more. I used some stickers and die cut shapes to decorate the front sides of the mini envelopes, and put money inside each of the envelopes. To make this extra fun, you could put different denominations in each envelope. Alternately, you could stuff the envelopes with love notes, movie tickets, or IOU coupons.

Because this card is thicker than a normal card, I’ve created a special box envelope for this card.

You find the step by step instructions for creating this envelope over on my blog today.

Supplies
From Me to You Mini Envelopes
Birthday Wishes Birthday Wish
Birthday Wishes Happy Birthday
Birthday Wishes Sprinkles
Birthday Wishes Die Cut Card Stock Shapes
Birthday Wishes Phrase & Accent Stickers
Pebbles Glitter Candy Dots Black
Pebbles Glitter Candy Dots Blue
American Crafts 12 x 12 Card Stock Tropicals
American Crafts This to That Foam Tabs
American Crafts This to That Red Tape
Corner Rounder

Patriotic Sign

May

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Memorial Day ushers in the start of summer, barbecues and red white and blue. The holiday is right around the corner and we’re so excited to start showcasing more of the Americana line. Today Design Team Member Samantha Taylor is sharing a fun patriotic sign made with papers from the line.

Every year I eagerly wait for Pebbles American themed collection to come out. It is always my favorite, and this year is no exception. I love Americana, and couldn’t wait to make a patriotic piece of home decor.

This project is so simple, but is a great focal point for 4th of July decorating. It’s a simple as cutting out a patriotic saying, and gluing it to a wood background. Each line is cut in a different font to give it a bit of a subway art feel, but to keep it cohesive I repeated the patterned papers for the top and bottom lines. Finally, I added a few pinwheels and candy dots to give the whole thing a bit more dimension.

In case you want to try this with some alternate patriotic sayings, you could also try:
“Land of the free, home of the brave”
“My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty”
“God bless America, my home sweet home”

Whatever saying you choose, cutting them in Americana is sure to give it that extra bit of patriotic flair!

Supplies:
Americana Justice
Americana Home of the Brave
Americana Bright Stars
Americana Pinwheels
Red Candy Dots

Baby Boy Mini Album

Apr

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There’s nothing more fun than documenting all of baby’s firsts. Stick around and check out the sweet baby boy mini albums Samantha Taylor created.

When my boys were babies, I had not yet discovered the joy of scrapbooking, so I have lots of notes about their first year in a traditional baby book. I thought it would be fun to use Special Delivery to create a mini album for each of my boys with the highlights from their first year. Since I have 2 boys I created 2 Big Moments Mini Albums

To keep these simple, I decided to put just the notes and dates into these albums. As you can see, there are no pictures.

I went through my boys’ baby books and made a list of the moments I wanted to include for each album. I made sure they were in chronological order, and then I just dug into all the amazing papers, stickers and embellishments from Special Delivery. I created my covers first, and then worked through the albums one event at a time.

You can use any style of mini album to do this, but I chose a method called back to back mini album binding. You can find a tutorial on how to put this kind of mini album together on my blog today.

When you’re all done you’ll have some great memories all in a cute and compact book! My finished books measure 4″ x 4″ and are less than 1/2″ thick.

Supplies:
Special Delivery B is for Boy
Special Delivery Lil Man
Special Delivery Heaven Sent
Special Delivery Love you so
Special Delivery Little Boy Blue
Special Delivery Sweet Dreams
Special Delivery First Tooth
Special Delivery Watermark Rubons
Special Delivery Phrase Stickers
Special Delivery Journal Cards
Special Delivery Die Cut Shapes
Special Delivery Phrase and Accent Stickers
Special Delivery Paper Clips With Flags
Special Delivery Adhesive Labels
It’s a Boy Thicker Stickers
Scoring Tool
Corner Rounder
Precision Pen
Sequins
White Gel Pen