Cocoa Daisy's Sept Kit: Story Time

September is just around the corner and the story goes that it's a great month to be a subscriber and to shop at Cocoa Daisy!

Here are a few of the kits that are available to subscribers now:

MAIN KIT: STORY TIME

How I love it so! The perfect blend for both masculine or feminine layouts. As a mom to two boys it was such a fun kit to create with and my designs compared to the other designers are all so varied! It's is so fun every month to see just how different the looks are from the very same products! Seriously think that is my favorite part of the reveal! You can find all of the Daisy Designers September projects here: Daisy Designer Gallery

 DITL:

And a favorite pick of mine for this month--the exclusive patterned paper! I used both the A & B sides throughout my DT gallery projects! SO much goodness! 

And the add-ons this month are just as fabulous!! I created with Add-on 1; Fairy Tale. Isn't it dreamy?

 This stamp set is awesome! It is about 4x8 and the letters range from about 3/4 inch in height to 1 1/4. I will use this set again and again! (it counts for 2 of the usual 3 stamp sets in the stamp sub this month due to its large size). It does not disappoint. Trust me on this. ;)

 How fun is this stencil that is available in the shop now?

This is a sneak of the exclusive cut files. I will be highlighting the cut files on the Cocoa Daisy blog on September 22. Be sure to mark your calendars for then and stop on by! 

In the meantime, SUBSCRIBERS--head on over to Cocoa Daisy and shop early for the best selection! Kits will go on sale to the general public on Monday, Sept 1, 12PM EST!

Check out the latest addition to the CD kits; The Daisy Planner Kit! Perfect for all you organized people or just people who love a good Filofax type kit for trying to keep organized! ;)

Happy Labor Day weekend!

Suz

Fun Friday Share

Happy Friday everyone!

I am dropping by to share a scrapbooking related secret that I have had to keep quiet about (until now)!!

I am both humbled and honored to be a part of this crazy creative group of women and to be designing for an industry leader in quality and unique scrapbooking papers and products! 

I am so excited to begin this new creative endeavor and look forward to seeing how it all unfolds! Hope you find your Labor Day weekend restful and full of family fun time. 

Be back soon to share some of my most recent creations. Thanks for dropping by! Stop on by the OA blog and give a shout out to these other lovely ladies here.

Suz 

Time for A Story...

...STORY TIME that is! @cocoadaisykits has done it again and there is something for every type of scrapper in these kits from the exclusive patterned papers, script alpha stamp set and more! Here are a few sneaks to begin a new chapter...
Chapter 1: Day In The Life ( plus Add-on 1) Do I spy some fun exclusive flair below?

Chapter 2: Add-on 1 "Night Light" (I think that's the name of it!) ;)

 Chapter 3: Main plus Add-on 1:

The exclusive cut files are so fun this month too!

Be back with perhaps a few more sneaks later! In the meantime, happy Tuesday!

Photoless Thursday

Hello again! I am dropping in for a few to share that I am up on the @comeongetcrafty blog today with a photo less layout and a bit of an altered way to use those label stickers you have hanging around in your stash.

More details can be found here: Come On Get Crafty Blog

Be back soon with more scrappy happiness! In the meantime, have you seen what @aliedwards is up to?!  So awesome! Check it out here: http://aliedwards.com http://aliedwards.com

Times x Square

Happy Humpday! Sharing a layout created for @comeongetcrafty blog. More details and shop items used in the creation of this layout can be found here: http://comeongetcrafty.com/blogs/craftiness/15118909-bits-pieces

Be back soon with some sneaks of my September Cocoa Daisy kits; Story Time. :)

Suz

Sharing My Process | When My @cocoadaisykits Comes

Hi all! Back with you today to share my August edition of "When Your Kit Comes."

First, I begin by taking my monthly #mycocoadaisykitishere photo for Instagram (--a favorite "must do" for me) ;)

I am @SuzMannecke if you want to follow along. :) Be sure to post your own as well and hashtag it #mycocoadaisykitishere. It's a fun way to get started and to get excited about creating, yes?!

My scrapbooking and my life is always changing and evolving, and I am cognizant, therefore, that some of my habits or organizational needs might be too. For example, this month I began by creating with my kit at home but then ended up taking it on the road to our cabin, to complete my designing with the kits there. That's where my trusty ole plastic Iris container comes in! I get out my Cocoa Daisy Iris container and remove the previous month's contents. I add the past month's kit to a ziploc type crop bag and label it with the name of the kit. Now my container is ready to go for my new kit scrappiness! I add my new kit patterned papers to it. Later, when I am done creating with my kits, the rest of the little bits and pieces I have left over (if any) go into it.

And then on to the embellishments! Here is a new little dish that was begging to receive some Cocoa Daisy August Kit goodies:

While at home,  I organized my kit embellies and tags as shown below.  The woodgrain organizer is an acrylic brochure stand (like one might find in a doctor's office) that I gave fresh look to with some woodgrain contact paper. It is super handy and has four tiers to house my cards, tags, and CD cases of the month's stamps.

I like to start by taking photos of each kit and making notations as to which kit they belong to. This helps me later on when I am uploading and creating my Daisy Designer gallery, so I can label appropriately what comes from which kit. Sometimes I don't know this information at the time I receive it (as there are times some things arrive after our designer kits go out because of the timing of shipments from manufacturers) but it sure is helpful and doesn't take much time at all!

I then separate out the embellishments and place them in some type of organizing dish; in this case an old muffin tin I have down at our cabin. I love that everything is close at hand and visible!

After I figure out the papers and cards I am going to work with, I set aside the rest in the Iris plastic storage container that I mentioned earlier.

 Regarding the exclusive kit stamps: Another habit I do each month pertains to  how I organize my stamps that come with my kits. Fellow Daisy @Samara started a helpful post here about clear stamp storage with lots of great ideas! There was much talk about the Avery Elle products. I may try those once I run out of CD cases, but for now this is what I have been doing and what has been working for me: 

I take some plain white paper or card stock and stamp the images onto it and then label what kit the stamp set comes from (if I know this information at the time. If not, I simply label it the August Kit and add the specific kit names later).

Then I have them already organized and on hand for creative play!

So what tips can you share here that help you get organized simply, so you can spend more time creating? I would love to hear! Please post any tips you have in the comment section below. Happy crafting!

** Chic Tags- delightful paper tag **: Love & Grace

** Chic Tags- delightful paper tag **: Love & Grace: Hello there everyone! Suz back today with a few tips to share that I implemented in the creation of this layout that celebrates 19 years of ...

A "Something Different" Favorite Scrappers Blog Hop

Hello and happy Monday everyone!
I am back today as part of a fun little blog hop that is going on in the online scrapbooking community where we share and highlight a little bit of our favorite scrappy people that we are inspired by and then share a bit about ourselves. I was tickled and humbled when my crazy talented friend (from halfway around the world and more) Sasha Farina tagged me!

If you are not familiar with Sasha and her beautiful hand stitched creations, I have to wager a guess that you are new to scrapbooking! ;) Sasha's designs are uniquely her own with hand stitching, meaningful journaling, and spectacular photography. You can get a great feel for Sasha's style, talent, voice, and sense of humor by clicking over to her blog here: SASHA'S BLOG.

So, as part of this hop, each of us were given a few questions to answer.

Q: What are you working on right now?
A: Right now I am working on tidying up my scrap space and putting away some brand new products for a DT assignment of which I cannot share just yet, but I will as soon as possible! ;) I did find a little bit of time to scrap last week before leaving for NYC. This is a bit of what I was working on.
Little bits of machine stitching, enamel dots, and lots of trims and embellishments. :)

Q: How long does it take me to create a project?

A: Wayyy too long! Seriously I am a pretty slow scrapper unless I already have a sketch or a finite amount of items to create with (Like my Cocoa Daisy kit), then I seem to be able to create a bit more quickly.

Q: What are my favorite things to create with at the moment?

A: My Cocoa Daisy Kits never cease to disappoint me each month and get my creative mojo flowing! I also still love to use my Silhouette Cameo and recently my Fuji Instax printer. I love that I can get Instax photos but can use any image from my iPhone or Mac to print from it! So cool!

Q: How does my writing/creating process work? 

A: I'd like to say that my journaling comes first, but most often it does not. I have found, however, that if it is a really sentimental story, a story that pulls on my heartstrings (like stories about my Angel Sister; Linda, or her kiddos) those words seem to come more easily. I guess because it is a way to help me with my grief and it makes me feel good to know I am helping to document memories for her kiddos and for the rest of her loved ones she left behind.  To help remember. To never forget. 

Q: How do I become inspired and stay inspired? 

A: I am seriously inspired by everything around me! Things my boys say, the tiles on an airport bathroom wall, magazines, music, commercials, nature, other people, and of course, Pinterest (although I really enjoy most being inspired by what my eyes see and my ears hear -in real life!) :) 

I think I best stay inspired by balancing my creative life with my daily life. For example, if I am not feeing super creative at a moment, I will go for a run on the treadmill and I often find myself feeling inspired to create afterwards! Maybe its the endorphins kicking in, yes? I don't try to force my creativity. If I am not feeling inspired, I often will tidy up my scrap space and that seems to help too. A clean space to create helps declutter my mind and makes it more open to creative possibilities. :)

Q: What is my signature style:

A: While I think my style is always evolving and changing as I grow, I think there are a few components to my style that seem to transcend time. My designs almost always have stitching on them, they always have repetition of design and visual triangles, and they usually have a fair share of white space. I love trying out new trends and techniques while still staying true to my own design aesthetic. I never tire of using my Silhouette Cameo and some stamping on my creations. (And my vintage typewriter. It's fun to use as well!)

Little details that help add to the story that I am trying to convey on my design are always a must. I try to keep it simple and not overwhelm the eyes with too much visual clutter-especially if the stuff does not add to the story I am trying to tell. I think each detail should have a purpose in helping to add to the story. If it detracts, it doesn't make the final cut.

Here is a recent layout I created that I think is a good example of my current signature style:

The inspiration for this layout was the "+" patterned paper and the wood veneer viewfinders. 

And while this design is a bit more "busy" than I customarily do, I think you can see my signature style exhibited in it and that there is some white space still evident!

 The repetition of design; with the play of my title work to the wood veneer viewfinders, to the view in my photo, and me facing the title of my design, to the repetition of the theme of positivity in my title, the patterned paper, the stickers "picture positive" and to the Silhouette cut file I created. All of this was very intentional. I continued with repetition of design with the yellow color in my title work, the star pin, and the star sticker, and the yellow arrow sticker. The destination theme was repeated in the tags and geotags on my layout. My stitching was repeated as well; around the Silhouette cuts, along my title work down the side of my layout, and around "happiness". 

So, you can get a pretty good idea now why my creations take so long to create! Lots of thinking (and overthinking) involved! LOL 

Now on to three of my favorite scrappers!

First up is Tara Elias! I love this girl's spirit, her positivity, and her clean and simple style. It has been so fun watching her find her style over the years and to see it evolve to what it is today; stunning! Go find out more about Tara here: TARA'S BLOG

Next is Jan Matsunaga (aka "MochaJan") I first met this lovely girl at Winter CHA. She is so talented and humble, and I love her giving spirit! She shares the love of all things Project Life with so many people not just online but in her local community, having taught several classes on PL in So Cal as well as helping others to get started with PL online via social media (namely Instagram and Facebook). And most recently, she has helped Shanna Noel get the story out on Bible Journaling too! You can read more about Jan and get a strong sense of her PL style and philosophy as well as her servant's heart here on her blog: JAN'S BLOG

And lastly is Ginny Hughes. I have yet to meet Ginny in real life, but have had the honor and blessing of being on a few design teams with her and getting to be her "cyber friend" via the online community at SC. I just know if we ever met IRL, she would be exactly like her online presence is; radiant, positive, and supportive. Ginny has a huge heart and a hugely talented noggin for creativity. Her designs are some of the most inspiring I have found and seriously- the woman works outside of the home and cares for 5 little chickens! (er...I mean kiddos!) to boot! I love that she has taken on and embraced hybrid scrapbooking too and I look to her for inspiration on a regular basis. Please get to know Ginny a bit more on her "5 Little Chickens" blog here: GINNY'S BLOG  

Go. Now!

I promise it will be worth your time to learn a little bit more about these inspiring crafty ladies! ;)

Suz