The vintage odds and ends from this month's kits are just wonderful, and I put a few of them to good use on this layout, which also uses the artisan kit. I incorporated a grid using tiny rectangles, embellishing a few with a stencil from a past kit. The background was created with a dot stencil (also from a past kit) and a Lemon Drops paint dabber.

It's graduation season, and the abundance of stars in this month's kit were just what I needed to create this "superstar" graduation card. I was inspired by a trifold Valentine's card from "crafty sahm i am" on Pinterest, which uses stamped and punched hearts as accents. Here, I used a die-cutting machine to cut various sizes of stars, and paired them with the wooden hearts. I embellished the stars with Lemon Drops mist and paint, as well as gold glitter (based on the school colors of the graduate who will receive this card), and layered the stars on both sides of the card.

This month my husband and I celebrate our fifteenth year of marriage, and this mini-album (which I put together with this month's mini-album kit) documents fifteen observations on married life.

I used the Fab Rips to bind the pages together. The pages themselves are a mix of patterned paper, overlays, and the negative spaces left behind from the stars that I used on another layout.

If you want to have a little fun, grab your camera and capture a sequence, as I did when I saw my crazy kitty rolling around in our driveway. I arranged the photos in a grid, and backed them with layers from the main kit, one of which I "funked up" using paint dabbers, mist, and a dot stencil.

When I saw the terms "dazed" and "crazed" on a sheet of patterned paper from the new JBS Wren line, I had to laugh. I knew this strip of pp would be perfect for this page, alongside the printed journaling strips, which I machine-stitched, adding a wee bit of charm.

Yet another reason I love paint dabbers: they quickly and easily transform any title! I used a Speckled Egg paint dabber here.

I used the envelope in the main kit as the basis for a mini-album. Within it is the story of my grandmother's first pregnancy. It is a terrible, tragic story, but it is also one that needs to be told. In college, I interviewed my grandmother and compiled an oral history about this time in her life. When I became a mother, it was this story that haunted me throughout my pregnancy. I have always felt daunted by the prospect of recording this part of our family's history in my scrapbooks, but this week, over a decade after that interview, I finally realized what approach I needed to take. In this album, both of our histories and birth narratives intersect.

I began by folding the envelope in half, leaving the pocket open on the right side, and creating another pocket on the left side by making a slit at the top and trimming away the excess. I backed the open section with a sheet of patterned paper from the main kit. I love that these papers have a delicate, vintage feel. They perfectly complement the story that I am trying to tell. I softened this floral paper a bit with Malted Milk ink.

This is the inner right pocket, lined with vintage ledger paper. I haven't written on the journaling cards yet, but I will be including a prayer. I'm still finding the words.

I created an insert in the album by folding a sheet of patterned paper and sewing up the center. I made the right side of the paper longer than the left so that I could fold it over once more to create a pocket, where I placed the sewn booklet that contains my grandmother's narrative.

This is a page from the oral history that I composed. The questions and comments that I asked during the interview have been removed, and the resulting narrative that I pieced together is fully her voice, including her linguistic mannerisms.

This is a portrait of my grandmother, pregnant with her first child. The pocket behind the photo holds my own narrative.

The Wren Mini Pattern Sheet contains squares that are the perfect size for cards. I cut out a piece that contained two squares, and folded it at the seam between patterns. On the front of the card, I added one of each letter from the Thickers (found in the main kit) and painted the "U" so that it would stand out and preface the message within the card.