Disney Daze: A Trip through the Magic Kingdom

For me the Magic Kingdom and Epcot tie as my favorite parks, but for a lot of people MK is in first place without a doubt. And you can't blame them. With five whimsical lands, it's hard to not get swept up in all the magic. I mean even before you reach the castle you're already showered in pixie dust and in awe at the characters all around you.

Here's a look at the layout:

Disney Daze: England? Is that you?

Before you point it out, yes I do realize that two of these pictures are in France, but most of it's in England so just play along.

Now back to what's really on our mind. It's finally the weekend!!!!!! Whether you're spending this weekend crafting, partying, or studying (sadly I'm partaking in the latter), I hope you find a way to make the weekend fun.

Here's a look at the layouts:

Disney Daze: Morocco Lovin'

Y'all I could've spent the entire Disney vacation just roaming around the Moroccan pavilion at Epcot. I'm dead serious. It's amazing how much effort goes in to getting the details of each place just right. Morocco was breathtaking to say the least. Don't believe me? Take a look for yourself.

Here's the layout:

Disney Daze: Hey There Epcot

If I could use the wave emoji here I would. Everyone say 'Hey Epcot!'

Okay, good. Now that you've got it out of your system, let's dive into the album.

Disney Daze: Let's Resort Hop

Hello Disney Daze, my how I've missed you. After finally having a week where I'm both off of work and school AT THE SAME TIME I was finally able to tap into my creative resources and get to crafting. The result is an almost COMPLETED (yes COMPLETED) album. 

That's right ladies and gents I may have finished an album with less than a year's effort. Ain't it crazy? 

So let's look at the layouts shall we?

Okay before you get confused keep in mind that picture one is the front of the pockets and picture two is the back. Usually I photograph how it would look laying next to each other but there was a fluke so just bare with me. 

Once we arrived in Orlando we had time to kill and no park ticket to use so naturally we resort hopped. The best thing about resort hopping is you can ride the monorail and still experience some of the magic without ever having to pay to enter the park. Although if you drove 12+ hours just for resort hopping then you seriously need to reevaluate. 

Disney Daze: An Epic Adventure

Disney Daze are back baby! And by that I mean on one glorious day a few weeks ago I had time to put together this layout. It's the best way I could document what was the crazy fun car ride we had to Orlando. 

So let's get started.

The "Here We Go" was stamped with Studio Calico's Laina Alphabet Stamp in black ink. The "adventure" stamp is from the Odyssey Fairytales digital stamp set from Studio Calico (it is no longer available). 

The blue PL card is from the Sunshine Project Life Core Kit. The "Adventure is out there" stamp is from Studio Calico (it is no longer available). I love including snapchats in my layouts sometimes because it shows what I was thinking in the moment I took the photo. 

Hope your Monday is treating you well. If not there's always a cup of coffee waiting for you.

Bye for now

- Ally 

Throwback Thursday: Have a Holly Jolly Christmas

Guys we are almost done with the 2014 album!!!! Before you get too excited I just have to warn you that there's one more 2014 post coming, but after that I. AM. DONE. Surprisingly enough I think this is the fastest I've ever finished an album. That just goes to show you how on top of things I am. 

Anyway let's get started:

I love everything about Christmas. The food, the music, the way everyone just seems excited all the time. I think this layout tied all of my favorites together in the perfect way. Take a look:

The top left picture is of me and my cousin who is so freakin' precious he just makes my heart explodes. I'm not a kid person, but you wouldn't know it when I'm around him. The top right card is from the Walden Project Life Kit. I wrote "holly daze" as a fun play on words, because puns, like Christmas, bring me great joy. The bottom left card is also from the Walden Project Life Kit. Finally the bottom right photo is a selfie that took probably 20 shots to capture. It's important to get just right lewk ya know?

The top left photo is from a hole-in-the-wall beignet shop in my hometown. Over the years we've developed a tradition of going out for beignets before driving up and down the levees to look at all the bonfires. You can read more about the tradition of bonfires on the levee in Louisiana here. The blue "Yes Please" tag is from the Walden Project Life kit as well. The top right photo is of me and my sister in front of a plantation on the levee. The bottom photo is another artistic selfie of all us girls enjoying our traditions. I stamped "traditions" with the Clearly Kelly Outline Alphabet stamps.

I hope your Thursday is treating you well, and that, if you're lucky enough you'll have beignets in your life come this Christmas.

Happy holly daze (see what I did there),

Ally

Disney Daze

Four words: best senior trip ever.

It all happened last minute. We (my mom, grandmother, sister, and I) got a condo, I bought my tickets, and a month later we were on our way to Disney. Yes I realize a month isn't super last minute, but in Disney time that's like planning a trip the day before!

I have to say if you're planning on going to Disney GO WITHOUT KIDS, even if they're not your kids, go without them. It makes the experience so much better, trust me. I had so much time to just roam around and do what I wanted without worrying about someone else.

My favorite part this go round was probably taking in all the details of Disney. I purchased what I maturely dub a 'fancy camera' before the trip and got a lot of use out of it during my week at the park. There are so many beautiful things that people dash by on their way to the rides, so it was nice to have the down time to walk around and take it all in.

So here's a look at the beginning of the most magical album ever. Stay tuned for what will hopefully be a weekly dose of magic on this blog as we make our way through the best senior trip ever.

The brown paper is from old scraps, I decided to make this album 9x12 because it's the best size for everything I wanted to put in it (I used the fuse tool for my page protectors but you'll hear more about that later). The diamond chipboard pieces are from the Park Ave Scrapbook Kit that I got in one of Studio Calico's Last Call sales. The blue and yellow stars are from the Park Ave Project Life Kit . The gold alphas are from American Crafts.

We're almost to Friday, keep it up!

xo

Ally

It's Time to Give Thanks (Or It Was At Least)

As we reach the end of the 2014 album we reach the end of this "project throwback" series as one of my many inspirations Juli Maniago likes to call it. But dry your tears because there's still a lot more to come from this blog. I did a lot this summer, and a lot in 2015 so far, and get this: I'm going to scrapbook as it happens. 

You heard it here ladies and gents I'm putting project throwback aside and living in the now (well as much now as I can, you know a girl's gotta study). As I enter college you'll get to follow along through layouts, and when I don't have time for that you'll get to follow along through pretty pictures, or sad iPhone pictures (we'll see how the day is going). So brace yourselves, there's going to be more than scrapbooking up on this corner of the web, but there will still be lots of layouts to fill your hearts with.

So let's get started:

I want to preface with the fact that I love this layout, and I'm not even sure why. I think it's the colors involved, and how the embellishments are tiny but meaningful. Or maybe it's that my dog is in half the photos and he's just the best. 

St. Jude Give Thanks Walk 2014

One of my favorite parts of the Thanksgiving holiday is the St. Jude Give Thanks Walk, and although the walk will be in September this year, it's still a great event that I look forward to every year.

I started attending the Give Thanks Walk in 2013 to support my neighbor and friend Breanna Bercegeay. It was great to walk with our community to help support Bree in her fight with leukemia. Although Bree passed away in October 2014, we still got a team together to show support only a month after her passing. 

This walk was definitely more emotional than the last but it was an unbelieveably heartwarming event to be a part of.

So this year I challenge each of you to go out and find an event center to walk at. They're all over the country and it's really easy to be a part of. If you want to get even more involved you can raise money for your team, or you can just show up the day of (although I do think there's a registration fee). If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments below.

Anyway here's a look at the layout: 

A Look At November

As this blog grows it is becoming increasingly hard to hide my love for food. I even dedicated an entire menu tab to it. Go ahead check it out it's at the top of this page. Anyway, because I love food so much I feel no shame in photographing my food, or, as the kids call it these days: foodporn. I love looking at the color in food photographs and the different textures that each food as to offer. While my photographs weren't that great a year ago they have gotten better in present day, but you'll see that in posts to come. For now let's travel back to November, not quite as catchy as Taylor Swift's Back to December, but it'll do.

Here's a look:

The top left photo is from a late night trip with my family to TCBY, mom really wanted froyo so naturally we all had to go. The photo on the top right is of a breakfast for dinner meal I made for myself. Can you say adulting? Who knew I would be so prepared for college.

Cinnamon Rolls and Other July Fun

Sometimes it is so nice to just take in what your own city has to offer. Go out and explore where you live you never know what you're going to find! In this case I found a great coffee shop tucked away in downtown Baton Rouge that serves the MOST AMAZING CINNAMON ROLLS. Yes I used caps lock, it shows excitement. 

So, like any foodie would do I snapped a picture to document the wondrous pastry and then devoured it with help from my mom.

If you're ever in BR check out Strands Cafe and experience one of these bad boys for yourself.  

I love using mostly photos in my layouts, especially when I don't have a lot of photos for one month. The wooden veneer that says "Yes 100% yes" (which describes my exact feelings towards this cinnamon roll) is from the Studio Calico Park Ave. kit, and the heart stamp is from the Walden Project Life kit. I used my tiny attacher to secure the wood veneer to the page.

Hope you're having a great Sunday full of cinnamon rolls.

xo

Ally

Goodbyes Are Always the Hardest

We thought about staying up all night, but alas we were tired. That didn't stop us of course from dancing the night away in a ballroom in our dormitory. Kick lines were involved, we're not really sure why.

Here's a look at our goodbyes:

A blurry photo full of action, I was going to layer it with vellum, but I thought that would blur it even more. I stamped "A Night to Remember" with the Kelly Purkey Outline Alphabet. As you can tell in the photo the stamping got better the more letters I did.

Our Last Day

After time-sensitive deadlines and treks across the state we finally finished our newspaper. What else was there to do but celebrate with a day at the pool and a night "out on the town".

Here's a look:

I love the chaos of the photos. Like how someone's thumb is in the way, or the fact that the bottom photo was taken on a flip phone but still captures the amount of happiness and friendship in all its pixelated goodness. The "I love right now" wood veneer perfectly captures my feelings about that moment (I attached it with my tiny attacher), and the "Low quality photo high quality friends" is one of my favorite captions to help make bad photos infinitely better (I inherited the bronze tag so I don't know where it's from). 

We decided to have a mini photo shoot before we left for dinner, but my favorite photo would have to be the rockstar selfie I took with my friend Jerrell on the way to dinner.

All chipboard stickers are from Me and My Big Ideas. 

Enjoy today, you got through Monday already so that's an accomplishment. Bravo!

xo 

Ally

Exploring Professionalism

I have to say the University of Alabama trusted us a lot with our skills in journalism. After running around the state getting information for good stories we took a trip to Birmingham Magazine and AL.com to get advice from more professionals. 

It was great to see how a typical magazine office ebs and flows. I was intrigued by how no one had their own desk, but instead there were lots of different spaces where you could set up for the day, but still take off at a moment's notice to cover the next story. It was a true display of how quickly the world of journalism is changing. 

The top left card is from the Studio Calico Park Ave. Kit. I love how the pink hexagon pulls out the pink light coming through the window in the bottom photo. The letter stamps are from Walmart.

This layout is actually on the back side of the layout above. The yellow card is the back of the pink one above. I love being able to use one card for multiple layouts (makes me feel like I'm saving money or something). The date stamp is from Studio Calico. 

How's your Sunday going? Have you had a cup of coffee? You should probably fix that if the answer is no. Either way please kick back and relax, take in the day to recharge.

xo

Ally

Party Like a Journalist

One of the best parts of the Multicultural Journalism Workshop was that we had the opportunity to work at the level of fully paid journalists. We were each given what I formally refer to as a "fancy camera" and a city to research. My group's city: Scottsboro, AL. We researched and researched and researched until we found two beautiful spots in rural Alabama including Gorham's Bluff and Pikeville Store-N-Deli. 

But more about that later, let's take a look at the layouts (I apologize for the photo quality in advance I just found these laying around this morning and realized I never photographed them, lets just pretend that the blue tint is some kind of ethereal artistic choice, it'll be our little secret):

Gorham's Bluff was a beautiful bed and breakfast community tucked away in Alabama. It was absolutely breathtaking and these photos don't even do it justice. So if you're ever in backwoods Alabama look them up and kick back and relax.

The top photo is of me and the ladies in my group. We were the only group of all girls, and we had a lot of fun. The bottom photo is the view from the backyard of Gorham's Bluff. 

Everything in this layout is from Me and My Big Ideas. Here's the link to both the alphas and stickers. I don't know which set the card is from though. The date stamp is made by Studio Calico, but I inherited it from my mom's collection so I don't know where she got it.

Our second stop on our trip was at Pikeville Store N Deli, a little hole in the wall burger joint at a literal fork in the road in Scottsboro. It was the BEST burger I have ever had in my life! And it was so CHEAP! I'm just saying that if I'm ever in a 2 hour vicinity of Scottsboro you can guarantee I will be making the trip to the store again. 

The top photo is of the marvelous burger I devoured, and the bottom photo is of a staircase from Gorham's Bluff.

The "Good Stuff" stamp is from Amy Tangerine and the "Headline" card is from Me and My Big Ideas, although I'm not sure which kit.

Here's to hoping you're having a great Friday Eve!

xo

Ally

MJW: A Week of Journalistic Fun

For the next week I'll be posting a look at my Multicultural Journalism Workshop layouts. If you want more info about the workshop you can check out my opening post here.

The blue checkered 4x6 card is from the Studio Calico Walden Project Life Kit, and the gold alpha is from American Crafts.

I used PicFrame to print the two 3x4 photos on one page. The "hi. hello" washi tape is from Joann and the diamond washi tape pieces & label on the bottom photo are from the Walden kit. I used the Phonto app to write "Dorm Shenanigans" on my photo, but my Canon selphy cut off the top half of the letters. 

Hope your Tuesday is sweller than your Monday.

Here's to a great week!

xo

Ally

The Long Weekend: an experience of a lifetime

Coming out of my junior year of high school I was scouring the internet for good journalism programs for the summer. I needed to do something, I couldn't just sit at home all summer. I needed to write.

I got into NYU's Pre-College program, but after laughing off the $13,000 admission price I moved on to another option. The University of Alabama's Multicultural Journalism Workshop, also known as the best week of journalism in. my. life.

The Multicultural Journalism Workshop accepts 15 students from across the nation for a full scholarship to attend a week long program in Tuscaloosa, AL. I'll have more details about each day in future posts, but let me just preface with the fact that this program blew my expectations out of the water.

The program started off with 'The Long Weekend', a journalism seminar for students entering grades 6-12. It's jam-packed with journalism workshops and classroom lectures with a final project at the end to showcased what you've learned.

Here's a look:

I absolutely love this title page. It's bright, colorful, and detailed. I used identical cards from the Midnight Core Kit on the top and identical cards from the Sunshine Core Kit on the bottom. The alphas are from American Crafts. I used an old Studio Calico date stamp to document the beginning and end of the weekend, and then I scripted 'the university of alabama' at the bottom of the layout. 

The above photo is from the first day of brainstorming and lectures. The 'Today' washi is from the Walden Project Life Kit from Studio Calico. The bottom photo is my lovely Team Yellow group that helped me fall back in love with journalism. The sticky note-tab is from the Park Ave. Project Life Kit and the twine is from the Walden kit. I tried to make a bow, now it just looks like some abstract object, it's cool, I've accepted it.

Hope your day is full of trafficless rides and warm cups of coffee.

xo

Ally

Dreams Do Come True in New Orleans

Why not start off your Sunday with a Disney reference, it can only help the day get better am I right or am I right?

Let me just start this post off by saying that my parents are experts. Experts at hiding a gem of a city from their children for upwards of 16 years. 16 years I say! For people who live outside of New Orleans but still in Louisiana, 'NOLA' is the city you stay away from unless you want hot smelly walks down the street, at least that's what I was told.

I find that in the south there are four magical weeks in the year when the weather is just perfect. Two in the fall and two in the spring. You never know when they're going to hit, but the second they start, prepare to pack all of your outdoor activities into them.

Luckily for us, our visit to New Orleans fell right into the spring session of weather magic.

We didn't even break a sweat, hell I think there was a light breeze. That ladies and gentlemen is how you should tour New Orleans. Well that and with a beignet in hand at all times, don't worry Cafe Du Monde will keep you stocked.

Here's a peek into our trip:

While the layout doesn't capture the sprawling landscape of the city (I wasn't a big photographer last year), it does capture the details of what I loved about our visit).

The top left card is from the Sunshine Edition Core Kit. I used old pink alphas to spell out 'nola'. The top right photo is my sister and our cousin, he's adorable and you can bet your money that if he visits a picture of him will make it into my album (i.e. my easter layout).

The bottom left photo is but of course a Starbucks picture. Yes they spelled it wrong, no I'm not bitter the drink made my hurt feelings melt away. The bottom right card is also from the sunshine kit and the silver heart is from Me & My Big Ideas.

Finally, I saved the macaron box from Sucre (you must go there if you visit it is SO GOOD, it is also the only macaron I've ever had so I'm probably biased) and did a little journaling on it. I then hole punched it to go into my album.

Hope you're enjoying a lazy care-free Sunday. Have a cup of coffee for me.

xo

Ally 

It's Crawfish Time... I Mean Easter

Growing up in the south Easter time meant two things family and food. That food being crawfish. And that family being everyone you could fit on the back porch.

Here's a peek into what I was doing Easter of last year, project life style:

The above picture is from Easter morning. Yes we still have the Easter baskets from when we were babies, no we don't plan on changing them any time soon, same thing goes for our Christmas stockings.

The bottom picture is of the family at the annual crawfish bowl complete with a 'Today' sentiment from Me & My Big Ideas.

This is one of my favorite layouts from this year. The top left picture is me and my sister licking icing off of beaters (let's be honest isn't that the whole point of baking). I love how her shirt coordinates with the blue in the other two pictures, and how my shorts coordinate with the crawfish picture.

The wood veneer is from the Studio Calico Park Ave. Kit, I secured it with glue dots and later added staples from my new tiny attacher (not pictured). On the bottom left picture I stamped "Seriously Cute" from an old Fiskars stamp set I got at JoAnn's with Staz On Ink. 

I cut down the picture of the crawfish to eliminate any negative space, and so I could mat it with this cute card from the Midnight Core Kit. And to top it all off I wrote 'laissez les bon temps rouler!' or 'let the good times roll'.

Although it's not Easter in real time, it is hot outside. What are your favorite ways to beat the heat? Leave your suggestions in the comments below.

xo

Ally