14 Days of Love In February Mini (and a Giveaway!)**

Hi all! I am back today to share with you a quick little mini album that I have prepped for the upcoming month of February. The core concept for this mini album is my idea that I would take the first 14 days in February and document something I love about that day. Kind of like a December Daily, but on a much smaller timeline and on a much smaller scale.The core inspiration for this album was the Allison Kreft Webster's Pages Recorded transparency 

paired with some Lawn Fawn Into the Woods and Webster's Pages Recorded   12x12 sheets.

And,  of course, embellishments and stitching. ;)

The tools & supplies I used for this mini album were my Big Bite hole punch, my Fiskars trimmer and Microtip Precision scissors, Tim Holtz tiny attacher, my "Brother" (sewing machine),  my vintage Royal typewriter, roller date stamp, gold ink, and adhesive, and two circle rings.

I simply cut up each piece of the 12 x 12 transparencies and patterned papers and sized for uniformity, stacked several together, and punch two holes in each. Then I began assembling them, stamping the day's date on them with the roller date stamp, stitching them, and adding embellishments . I layered in the transparencies in between each page and will add photos and journaling as each day comes along.

 

Shop Items Used: As linked above plus Freckled Fawn Wood Chips, Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party epoxy stickers, Crate Paper Close Knit Wood Veneer Shapes, Pink Paislee Hey Kid canvas stickers, Webster's Pages Recorded 6x6 paper padand more. 

I am stoked that I have this mini album prepped and ready to "find love" in February!!

 >>>>>Come play along with me as I will be posting some of my progress with this album on Instagram. My user id is "@SuzMannecke". 

>>>>>>Post your creations and progress there with the hashtag #Suz14inFebmini and #comeongetcrafty as I will be giving away a chance at some yummy @ComeOnGetCrafty stash goodies!  I will post the winner of this giveaway on Feb 15th on my blog and here! (I also will post a sneak of some of the giveaway goodies on IG). If you aren't on IG (you so should be IMHO) you can post your creations here by linking them in the comment section below.

Here's to finding love in February! Looking forward to seeing what you create!! :)

 xo

Suz

Come On Get Crafty January Sketch Challenge

Hi there and happy Humpday!

Back to share with you my take on this month's sketch challenge over on the @ComeOnGetCrafty blog. Be sure to check out all of the inspiration and wide variety of takes on this design from my fellow design team members! They rocked it out! You can see this post by clicking here .

I had so much fun with this sketch and "busted" (broke) open my watercolors to paint an ombre effect on the fun patterned paper from the Glitz Wild and Free collection.

*Click any image to view larger. 

 Little bits of machine stitching here. Besides the watercolor painting, my favorite part of the page is the little mountain scape I stitched above my title work.

*Full product shop item listings are on the COGC January Sketch blog post. ;)

 ****GIVEAWAY ALERT! >>>>   Simply link up your creation using the sketch to this post by Saturday, January 25th, 2014 and get a chance to win a $5 gift card to the COGC shop.  Good luck and thanks for stopping by! 

Sketch Challenge with Come On Get Crafty and our newest DT Member Sasha Farina!

Hello again! Busy week here as I get ready to travel to CHA and finish up some creative deadlines regarding it. In the bustle of cleaning house and packing, I wanted to stop in to tell you about a fun sketch that I created with recently; the January sketch challenge at Come On Get Crafty, with our latest DT member, the fabulously talented Sasha Farina joining in!

Here are a few sneaks of my layout. It's my favorite layout this year! ;) LOL Seriously though, I had a bunch of fun creating a layout based off of this sketch!

I may have busted (broken into for my grammar loving friends) out my watercolors for this one! Eeee!

Have a great week. Stay warm and start scrapping!! 

Suz

January Sketch Challenge with Cocoa Daisy

Hi all! Stopping in to let you know of a little sketch challenge I am hosting over on the Cocoa Daisy Blog this month!  Play along and you could win a $10 GC to the Cocoa Daisy Boutique! More details on the blog here as well as how my fellow Cocoa Daisy designers interpreted the sketch, and my interpretation too. :)

Here is the sketch:

The takes that my fellow designers have created are all so unique and fun. I love the wide variety of designs and styles! Something is sure to inspire you there! Go check it out now! :)

Free Download: PL Weekly Date Cards | January 6-12

Hi all! I am back with a quick post about my One Little Word for 2014. Here it is:

I will have more to say about this one little word in the future, but for now I will just say I am embracing it and have already taken some steps to move towards it in my life. Good stuff. 

Some more good stuff. 

Project Life.

Last year was the first year I felt I really kept current.

I never got behind more than one week. 

I have to say that felt good. 

And, this year, so far, I am current too! (Insert a small woot! woot! I realize it's only the second week of the new year, but I believe in celebrating the big and little accomplishments in life, yes?)

In celebrating the new year, and both big and little accomplishments I am sharing my PL weekly date cards that I created in PSE. 

I was super inspired by the simplicity of my 2014 Stendig Calendar  in the designing of these cards (image below).

(Little tidbit of info: It is the only design calendar that is in the MOMA; Museum of Metropolitan Art) 

Love that font.

Love its simplicity. 

Graphic and bold. 

Clean and simple.

FREE DOWNLOAD>>>>>>>>Here ya go with the FREE DOWNLOAD. Just click here to begin the download.

I would love to see your pages created with them! Feel free to share on IG (let me know by tagging me @SuzMannecke  - no spaces)  or here by commenting with a link to your creations in the comment section below!

If you have any difficulties with download, leave a comment below. Hopefully you won't. I am not super tech savvy, but I will try to help if I can. :)

Oh, and please, credit the designer (Suz Mannecke) when posting or sharing. Thanks :) ;)
Have a beautiful Monday! Stay warm!!

Suz

Cocoa Daisy Kits | 2014 Blueprint Reveal

Happy New Year All! I hope 2014 is off to a fresh new start for you. I am so excited to be official with Cocoa Daisy and to share with you my first Cocoa Design Team Gallery creations! I hope you leave here a bit inspired and ready to create! :)

I created my January gallery using the Day In The Life Kit,  Main Kit; Blueprint, as well as the patterned paper add-on kit; Graphite.


First up, I must share that I created my gallery from the road as we were away on travel. I took an Iris container that held my kits, my Selphy CP900 wireless printer, my portable vintage typewriter,  my Brother (portable sewing machine) my tiny attacher, black pen, adhesive, some spray mist,and a few pre-printed photos. No Silhouette, so I was a bit roughin' it, but I still had a bunch of fun creating with these kits regardless. :)


So,  to bring in the New Year in fun fashion, I created my 2014 title page for my PL/ Day In The Life album.

My inspiration for this layout was the super fun Amy Tangerine Cut and Paste blocked paper from the main kit; Blueprint, and the January 2014 DITL cards. I used the flair from this month's kit as well as the DITL monthly stamps (stamped in ombre fashion) and stitched around many of the blocked patterns in the Cut & Paste paper. I pop-dotted the "Hello 2014" card for added dimension and added the exclusive kit flair from the main Blueprint kit along with some stash embellishments and my hoarded herd of wood veneer bucks. I used the kraft Basic Grey Micro alphas from Blueprint to spell out "Simplify"-my One Little Word for this year.
*The glittered snowflake ornament (top left) is one I bought from Michael's and is not part of the Cocoa Daisy kits.

I used my Creative Memories circle cutter to cut out the circle for our family photo and machine stitched around it after centering and adhering the photo behind the patterned paper.

 The camera was cut from the Crate Paper patterned paper in the kit. Below I used the versatile months of the year from the DITL kit in an ombre fashion:

The day I took these photos was overcast, so the images are darker than they are IRL. Sorry about that. It is what it is.


Here is my DITL spread:

I used more of the kit stamps on the page below ("Dec" and chevron arrows on each side of "how I feel" as well as all three arrows on bottom left journaling card.

I love, love, love the wood veneers in the kit and in the shop this month (here)! Hashtags, ampersands, "@"s and geotags oh my!
I couldn't resist adding a few of the geotags  to the "o"s here:

Next up is a fun card I created using the Basic Grey items in the main kit; Blueprint. I simply cut in half the mint colored Capture tags and arranged them to resemble a snowflake. I placed the Micro letters in the center for the sentiment, stitched along the base of the card, misted, and added a few punched starbursts/snowflakes and enamel dots to the centers of the tabs. So love the collection of Basic Grey items in this month's Blueprint kit.

This layout was made using the DITL kit and a few pieces of the patterned papers from the Graphite Add-on.  I decided to cut up one of the journaling cards into strips and made a pocket from another DITL card to house the journaling. Lots of reflecting back on 2013 and moving forward to 2014. I always enjoy doing year end-new beginning layouts and looking back at them a year or more later.

So, for this layout, I took full advantage of the awesomeness that is the talent of Stephanie Wheeler and this month's exclusive Cocoa Daisy patterned papers.

I cut up the Study Hall paper and played off it's circular elements for this "Star Trek" themed layout. I decided to raise it up off the page by adhering foam adhesive behind it.

 I really enjoyed fussy cutting the hexagon exclusive paper and used a few pieces to continue drawing the eye upwards to my title work and to the idea of the boys being "beamed up" along with the other members of the U.S.S. Enterpise.

I used the manilla tag in the kit to add a subtitle/quote from the movie "Live Long and Prosper." Loved the subtle effect that gold ink had on the stamps from Blueprint as well. I used them to house the names of each of the boys.

I have a few other creations that I have made with my January Cocoa Daisy Kits. I will be back a little bit later to share them with you here. In the meantime, you can find more inspiration from my fellow Daisy Designers here and January's Guest Designer; Ann Marie (Morris) Espinosa's gallery can be found here.


and the kits are for sale here.

I will be hosting a Sketch Challenge on the Cocoa Daisy blog next week, January 7th. Be sure to stop by and play along. You could win $10 to the Cocoa Daisy Boutique! ;) Happy Friday all!


Suz

Merry Christmas Blue Skies and Blueprint Style | Cocoa Daisy

Hello everyone and Merrrrrrrrrrry Christmas! Posting from above a mile high and stopping in with winter wishes and some sneaks of my first Design Team gallery with Cocoa Daisy Kits!

There is so much to love in this month's kits including seriously awesome exclusive patterned papers from the talented Stephanie Wheeler as well as wood veneer, exclusive flair from Evalicious, and a bunch of Basic Grey goodies too!

Be sure to drop by Cocoa Daisy for reveal night chatting from 8-10PM EST on Saturday, December 28th!

xo
Suz

It's Sunday Share Day | Cocoa Daisy 2014 DT

Hi all! Dropping in on this beautiful Sunday to share some fun and happy news (and some sneaks!)!! 2014 is looking to be filled with more creativity, fun, and lots of Cocoa Daisy goodness! I am so excited to finally be able to share that I will be a part of the Cocoa Daisy Creative Team starting with January's kit, Blueprint, (sneaks and info you will find below). 

>>>A special thank you to Christine and Emily for inviting me and entrusting me to design with Cocoa Daisy products and for believing in me! Another thank you to my fellow designers who have given me such a warm welcome! xo -Suz <<<






Be on the lookout for the sneaks on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and ourmessage boards. Search for the #CocoaDaisySneaks hash tag. ;)

**note: My personal Twitter and Instagram user name is SuzMannecke (no spaces) for those who aren't already following and want to see current Cocoa Daisy designs and sneaks and happenings!

Now back to gift wrapping! After reading Jen Hatmaker's 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess  this past January, we decided to simplify things a bit in our home and this included gift giving. As a result, we are following the mantra/philosophy: Want. Need. Wear. Read. with the idea that each family member will receive a gift from each category. 

I will be back soon with a post of how I incorporated this mantra/philosophy within the pages of my December Daily album, so be sure to check back later! :)

Ok, off to wrap those gifts and to work on some DD pages! Have a great week leading up to Christmas. And remember: 

xo! :)

Suz

Thinking Outside the {Gift} Box @ComeOnGetCrafty

Well, hello there! Happy December! I don't know about you, but I have been a busy little elf gearing up for the holiday festivities. And that includes, gift wrapping. I am up over on the Come On Get Crafty blog today here with several says to spruce up your gifts for under the tree.

Here is just a little sneak of what you will find over there:

There are several ideas, so be sure to head on over and check them out!


Oh, and Elf has been my long running favorite Christmas movie in recent years ( you wouldn't have guessed it by anything mentioned in my blog post over at COGC- LOL)

but we just went to see Frozen,

and I must say…it was surprisingly wonderful! So adorable and the soundtrack is awesome. I really, really hope it is made into a Broadway production!!

Back later with more holiday happenings!
Xo
Suz