Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Meet Our May 2020 Guest Designer: NICOLE MARTEL


Hello CTK friends!
Today we are so honored to introduce our May 2020 Guest Designer, NICOLE MARTEL.  We love her colorful and dynamic style, and we are always awed at her Life Crafted layouts.    We cannot wait to show you what she has created, so let's get started..






I am a wife and a mom of a 10year old boy. I live in Maryland with my son Edward, husband Pete, and two cats, Toby and Jessica.


When I'm not working, I can be found at home playing with my son, watching shows on Netflix, reading and scrapping! I always make time for scrapbooking and reading no matter what. It keeps me sane. I enjoy creating layouts and minis albums and I like to play with wood crafts.


 Q & A with Nicole

·  When did you start scrapbooking?
       I began scrapbooking in January 2002, but I didn't really get serious about the hobby or discover the online communities until August 2006. I remember when my mom asked me to go to a Creative Memories party with her. I laughed at her, telling her no way am I going to sit at a table of older people and scrap. I was young and stupid. LOL. I told her I was not creative enough... But by the time I left that party, I had my first album, cardstock in several colors, pens, trimmer, scissors, stickers and several triangle cardstock shapes! LOL.

·  What is something most people would not know about you?
I moved out of my biological family’s home at 15 to live with my teacher who became my legal guardian. I grew up in a broken home and wanted to get away from it all. To this day, I have no regrets.



·  What are the 3 scrapbooking products you can’t live without?

    • Die cuts (love them)!
    • Stamps
    • Paint

·  What do you love about the May Life Crafted Kit:  JOURNEYS?
    I am a huge fan of scrapbooking beach/vacation themed photos so when I received this kit, I was so excited to play. I love the die cuts, chipboard and stamps!


    ·  Finish this sentence “If you could  see my scrapbooking space now . . . “ you would think it’s too clean… and that’s because I literally just cleaned and organized!




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    Hello CTK friends! I can't wait to share all the projects I've created using the May Journeys kit. This kit is perfect for scrapbooking those vacation/beach pictures! I happen to have a good amount of photos from the a family beach vacation I took in 2015 so I decided to create a mini album using most of my favorite photos from that week.


    I kept the cover of my book pretty simple. I printed this photo on a letter size photo paper and then cut it down to measure 8"x4". Then I added the stickers and die cut with a stamp and gem. Super simple...I wanted the photo to be the main focus. The sticker and die cut are perfect! 




    This is the first full spread from the album. I cut down the journaling card to fit across the top of the layout. Then I cut the photo so it would fit behind the die cut frame. I used a scrap piece of the photo from the cover to tuck behind the frame to add some sand... and then added a few die cuts to complete the layout.


    One of my favorite things to do is to scrapbook directly on the photo and leaving the picture open in the book. For this layout, I used the "sunshine" die cut with the "well, hello" sentiment from the stamp set. Simple, but effective! This is my crazy sister, Katie. She lives in Colorado and I miss her!


    I love this spread. I think it's my favorite. I just love my son's smile. I used the "A LIVE WELL LIVED" journaling card for the top and then added the puffy heart from a previous kit with a tiny gem. Then for the bottom photo I added the chipboard and stamping at the bottom edge of the photo.

    To complete this spread, I stapled the flower on the bookmark page and hand journal Summer 2015 at the bottom.





    My last spread of today is a page filled with a variety of pictures from our week! I totally love the multiple square sleeve! I printed 8 photos to measure 2"x2" and trimmed them down a tiny bit to fit in each sleeve. I used a few stamps on the photo with just the right amount of embellishments



    I cut the sun and cloud from one of the die cuts to use as an embellishment for one of the blocks. It is perfect!





    I love the beach chair with the umbrella stamp. It's so cute. Initially, I was going to color it in with markers, but then I like the black with the black and white photo so I left it alone. 



    Thank you all for stopping by today! I hope I inspired you with my pages! I had fun making them all.



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    All we can say is, "WOW"... We love how she has used the JOURNEYS kit to create this amazing Mini album ( and there are so many more layouts that she added - be ready to see them pop on our social media feed).   Thank you Nicole for such beautiful project, we love each page.   

    Nicole will be back in a couple weeks to share more of her projects.  BE sure to stop leave her some love, and follow her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/nicolemartel1978/   you will love her amazing projects.




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