Memories in Bloom!

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Hey friends—its been a while. Its been the worst two years of my life. I was not really prepared for the direction my life was taking but now that I am here I am grateful for the things that God was lining up for me before I knew what was happening. It was not an accident, it was a plan designed to save me.

I am thankful for my crafting community, especially those who were in the nitty gritty with me as I cried through teaching classes or needed to vent, who kindly offered me reassurance that I would not be stuck in that space for long. Because that is the thing right—we are never actually in that space for long. No matter what we are always moving forward. For a long time I was coasting along on the tide of life into an ocean where I did not want to be. But now I have the chance to bring myself and my kids into a space where we are meant to be.

I want to get back to share my creativity with others and focusing on creating life long memories with my kids and friends, and capturing these in a paper legacy! I look foward to sharing with you in this space. Including recipes and just general life stuff. One day my kids can look back on this too :)

I hadn’t been to disney since before Covid…its the same nostalgic feeling!

In May I spent a week in Disney with Reese. It was a amazing. Every mom should be so lucky to spend time on a vacation with their son, and in a place as fun as Disneyworld. I could not have asked for a better travel companion! Our first stop in the Magic Kingdom was for a Starbucks and a picture in front of the castle.

I created this page as part of a series for my Scrapbook the Day event that I have been hosting every few months in my Home Studio. Its been fun to take our kits and turn them into other designs, treat people to a homemade lunch and dessert and have happy energy in my crafting studio.

I used the Memories in Bloom kit as the backdrop for this page. Personally I feel like you can use flowers for almost anything. I really loved the colors of the kit and the fact that there was a matching bundle to incorporate. The Pretty Florals bundle was a great add on to bring dimension into my design as I am not prone to just using the pop out images from our kits. My personal style is for things to be more dynamic.

However, I did pull in a lot of other supplies as well to complete my page. I am loving the new Party Banners Dies and the Celebrate Together stamp set is an #addtocart moment if you have not already. I have used the ‘A Day to Remember’ so many times already! It’s a perfect scrapbooking or memory keeping stamp set. Storybook Life is another fantastic memory keeping stamp set and that is where ‘Big Smiles’ is found.

My sentiments are stamped in Secret Sea ink which is such a great alternative to Memento ink.

TOP TIPS:

Combining pop out pieces with stamping and die cuts is a great way to use a kit and bring a design to life. I like my pages to have texture and interest.

Balancing out a busy pattern by layering a solid card stock over top is a great tip when you do not know how to use those busy pattern.

I used one of the large flowers from the Thankful Garden stamp set to fill in some space on the Petunia Paper base (stamping tone on tone). A combination of different embellishments is also fun (use up those random sequins or gems that you have left, it’s a crime they get abandoned!)

I hope this page sparks some new ideas in your own memory keeping!

If you are just starting your memory keeping journey—check out my gallery for a bunch of inspiration and follow me on instagram @stampwithbrenda if you are not already!

And wish me luck on my new journey—as I have been saying Brenda2.0 has just launched! If you are inspired to create this page please consider shopping with me in Canada—this helps me to keep loving what I do!

Happy Spring!

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Happy Spring everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying family or friendship time together. The sun is shining here and its a beautiful day.

I wanted to share a scrapbook page that I made with some pictures I took with my kids last spring. We went to Banff National Park and even though there is still snow, it was spring and a fun way to spend Mother’s Day weekend.

This picture is actually in Lake Louise and minutes after we took it, an avalanche happened across the Lake. It was amazing to witness.

I started with a White Willow 12 x 12 base and used the color palette of Fresh Freesia, Petunia Pop, Soft Seafoam and Lost Lagoon for my hexagons and flowers.

I used some current, soon to be retiring and retired DSP for the hexagons, which are cut with the Meant to Be Dies. They are the only dies I have used from this set if I am being honest. And I love them. They are an #addtocart moment, trust me!

My current obsession has been the Thankful Garden stamp set. I just cannot stop using it (take a peek at my Instagram @stampwithbrenda) and you will see what I mean!

I love that the concept artist designed this bloom so that it can be cut apart and you can use just the blooms without the stem if you desire.

I colored the main full bloom in Fresh Freesia with a Soft Seafoam stem and then the individual blooms are colored in Fresh Freesia and Petunia Pop. If you creatively arrange them, you can’t tell they were not individually stamped flowers.

The butterfly is from the Beautiful Butterflies stamp set and I colored one in green and one in purples to maintain the color scheme.

I hope this page inspires you to scrapbook with our many amazing products or use the idea to create a fun card!

Yay! Happy Birthday to Me!

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Hey everyone! Wow, its been a hot minute since I have shared a blog post! Life has been really busy, I started a new job this past year as the Learning Support Teacher at a high school (a job I love and its perfectly suited to my skill sets), I still work at lululemon because I love my work friends and the product and YES—I am still stamping! Keeping up with my monthly groups, classes and events!

I miss sharing on here and I am going to try to be more committed to sharing on this platform because I do like to share projects that I am passionate about, especially scrapbooking. I make a lot of pages a month and I find they do not get the same kind of love over on Instagram (I hope you are following me there @stampwithbrenda).

This is me and some of my favorite people celebrating my birthday this year!

I wanted to share this fun page I made for a page class I teach as I am so happy with how it turned out. You know when you have a ‘vision’ and it comes to life? That is how I felt about this page!

I started with a base of Whisper White (as you know we can only order White Willow from this point on) and I cut myself a stencil using a Window Sheet and the Around it All dies. Using Blending Brushes and ink pads in Pretty in Pink, Coastal Cabana, Peach Pie and Lemon Lime Twist, I created a fun pattern along the side making sure to overlap the ‘bubbles’ so they felt connected.

The benefit of a window sheet is you can see through it, which makes placement a breeze—plus you can wipe it off to use over and over again! And don’t throw out the pieces or shapes that cut out—save them to use on another project as a fun element!

I used another die from the set in a slightly smaller size to stamp my sentiment ‘Make a Wish’ from the Birthday Celebrations stamp set. I absolutely LOVE this bundle and it will stay in my ‘keep me’ pile, especially because of the number dies included in the bundle.

I used the banner shape from the Mixed Labels die set to add behind my sentiment with some banners from the Lily Pond Lane DSP and some Linen Thread. The little tiny heart is from the Humble Home Builder Punch that was out during holiday season.

Adding some tone on tone embellishments also makes this a fun little area on my scrapbook page.

I stamped out ‘hooray’ from the Birthday Celebrations stamp set in Lemon Lime Twist to add overtop of that bubble—just like how I used the embellishments. As you can see on the page, anything added over top of the bubble coordinates with the bubble color—like the Peach Pie heart from the Hearts of Elegance Dies (a MUST HAVE—seriously #addtocart).

The remaining sentiments on this page are from the Wildflower Celebrations stamp set, which can be found in the Scrapbooking Brochure. I fussy cut them out and added them with a Pretty in Pink 49 to celebrate this birthday. Last one in my 40’s!

If you are inspired by this page, please help me keep loving what I do by shopping with me! I would be sincerely grateful—and if you are interested in joining my Making Memories Membership Program to learn how to scrapbook—get in touch!

Farewell for now friends! I would love to hear from you, so please leave me a comment!

Twelve Days of Christmas --with Brenda and Melanie!

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Hi friends! Welcome to the third annual blog hop between myself and friend Melanie, from Mels Inky Fingers! For the next twelve days you can toggle between our blogs for some fun holiday inspiration! I will be sharing a mix of scrapbooking and card inspiration with you over the next twelve days on a rotating schedule with Melanie. I am so happy you are here and please feel free to leave me comments!

Of course I want to kick off our 12 Days with a fun scrapbooking project! I love to scrapbook and I am getting a jump on some holiday page designs. After Christmas I will be able to simply pop some photos on my pages and it will feel so rewarding!

Many of the scrapbook pages I am going to share over our 12 Days, use the A Little Bit Festive Specialty Paper found in the Holiday Catalogue. This is such a fun and economical way to scrapbook as you can create so many different layouts with the pieces found in this collection.

I started with a base of Garden Green (probably my favorite holiday green if I had to pick) and used a pieces of Real Red as a photo mat for a 5 x 7 picture.

This paper collection has a bunch of shapes that you can pop out and a sheet of six 4 x6 cards. I chose the card with the ornaments and actually fussy cut these out for the top right corner of my page. I stamped the little snowflake image around and under the ornaments using the Happiest Day stamp set. The phrase ‘Good Tidings’ is from the Sophisticated Sled stamp set.

A little Real Red & White bakers twine and some Gold Ribbon through the Good Tidings tag and some Peppermint embellishments finished off this little section of my page.

For the bottom section of my page, I stamped the same image again in the background and popped up the three ornaments from the collection. I added a bit of the Blueberry Bushel gingham pattern from the DSP underneath the top and bottom of my photo mat.

The sentiment is from the Reindeer Fun stamp set that I punched out with the Modern Oval Punch. A added a little more Red & White twine behind it and some more Peppermint Embellishments.

I hope this page inspires you to do some holiday memory keeping. Now its time to head over to Melanie’s blog to see what project she is kicking our 12 Days of Christmas off with! Click the image below to visit Mel’s Inky Fingers!

Please consider shopping my online store if this page has inspired you. Your support helps me continue to love what I do!

Color Fusers--Black & White!

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Welcome to the Color Fusers Blog Hop for July! This month the team is crafting with Black, White and a color of our choice. I picked Pretty in Pink as my color!

I decided to use one of my 12 x 12 Basic Black card stock sheets that I have been hoarding. I am hoping these will be available again in the fall for Halloween crafting—fingers crossed!


I layered the new awesome Wood Textured Specialty paper over top that I blended with some Pretty in Pink ink. This paper is a hidden gem in the Annual Catalogue and is definitely going to replace Basic White in some of my scrapbook designs!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Reese and my 3 nieces at Greenwater Lake—an annual trip we do each summer. There is nothing like a day by the water side enjoying some time with family.

I love how the blending of ink accentuates the wood grain tone in the paper! Its such a subtle wow!

I used the Mini Alphabet Dies to spell ‘cousin’s’ in Pretty in Pink cardstock. This is such a great die because you can easily cut the whole alphabet at one time or use little scraps of paper the isolate the letters you want.

I couldn’t resist adding in something completely NEW so I used the Golden Greenery Dies to cut out these sprig shapes in Basic Black card stock. I love how these do not look ‘holiday’ at all! Another great reason to #addtocart!

Along with the new, I added in florals from the Textured Floral stamp set. One that I have used many many times in my crafting. If you are new to this hobby, I would definitely recommend adding this to your collection.

The flowers are stamped with Basic White Craft Ink on Basic Black card stock and sprinkled with embossing powder. Remember to heat from the bottom to get a better looking finished embossed image.

I also stamped the smallest flower from the stamp set in Memento Ink and Pretty in Pink ink.

The leaves are from the large Leaf Collection background stamp. I trimmed them into separate images and added them around the page. I cut a strip of 6x6 DSP and tore the edge to tuck underneath the photo which is on a Pretty in Pink photo mat. To me this DSP from the In Color collection feels just like the Leaf Collection stamp.

The sentiment is from the Textured Floral stamp set. I added a few pink embellishments from the Adhesive Backed Dots for Days collection.

I really love how this page turned out. It is a design that you can easily replicate with using different stamp sets and dies. We have so many to chose from!

Next up on the Hop is Melissa Kerman—I know she has created something awesome and I can’t wait to see what color she picked to add to Black and White!

If you want to go in reverse, or if the hop has a broken link, you can always go back to see what the amazing Sue Vine has created too.

Regardless, I hop you visit everyone on the hop to see what color they chose to add to the Black and White theme!

Thank you for visiting my blog today! Please leave me any feedback and if you are inspired, consider shopping my store so I can continue to do what I love!