Hello crazy crafters! My name is Candace Robichaud from Edmonton, Alberta and I am ridiculously thrilled to be a guest blogger for my all time favorite magazine today (total brownie points)! I own my own automotive magazine Carsgone.com (shameless plug), I am an aspiring photographer and have a background in graphic design. I have been scrapbooking for about 8 years and am currently on the design team for Treasured Memories. I also pretend to work there a lot, and sometimes they even let me design their amazing month kits! It is one of my favorite things to do besides sip a Timmies Ice capp, surf Netflix, or enjoy a foot massage from my 10 yr old daughter Tayla who happens to be well-trained.

All of the projects that I am pumped to share with you today were created with the Treasured Memories October Month kit, which I put together and named myself. “P.S. I Love You” is filled with all sorts of goodies. Basically you get $50.00 worth of product for only $35.00, total deal people. I personally love working with kits because it challenges me to work with what is right in front of me and allows me more time to focus on creating instead of fishing through the 100 lbs of embellishments and paper I brought with me but know I will never use (sound familiar?).

I literally did 12 layouts with this kit in under 24 hours; everything came together so easily. My style is kinda streamlined; I prefer straight lines, white space and pops of color. But most importantly, I try to journal on every single page because to me the stories and messages behind the photos are what’s most important.

The first layout I did I created the journaling by cutting it out directly on the paper with the Silhouette Cameo. It’s what I like to call my dream machine. If God forbid my house is ever on fire I will rescue my kids first, my dog second, and then my Silhouette Cameo. My husband will have to fend for himself. But seriously, when I first saw this paper I immediately had this vision for it, and I think it worked perfectly.

This Layout I also made the design of the paper work for me by cutting out a triangle from the pattern and placing a photo in behind . I also used the same triangle that I cut out to pop up my title as well as hand cut right into my bottom photo.

We really just need to take a minute or 40 to talk about how adorable my dog is, lol. Her name is Bella, she is a Yorkinese and she is a whopping 7 lbs of love and cuteness. Look at that face! Ok ahem…. Right, the layout. Another one of my signature styles is using LARGE scale photos. If I have a favorite picture I want to feature this is usually how I do it. You can get this look by printing your photos at Costco in 12X8 for only $1.99! Awesome deal. I usually trim quite a bit off, so tend to use pictures with a lot of white space or background I can chop off.

Here is another example of using a 12×8 photo. I really trimmed this one up to allow for a ton of white space on this page. Photo taken by Capture it Photography (Sheri is kind of awesome). This is my Mom and my new Step-Dad during their engagement photo shoot. See how I worked with the paper pattern again for my journaling?

Another favorite photo. My Dad and my sweet daughter. This photo captures their love for each other perfectly and shines above everything else on this page even amongst all that gold!

I often use Project Life cards on my scrapbook pages as journaling cards, or as mini titles.

Random fact: My dog Bella has her very own 12X12 album, I can’t help it, also she is ridiculously photogenic! You can see her as a puppy in the Fall issue of Canadian Scrapbooker.

Candace….your layouts are adorable, your photos are adorable …and your pup, now SHE is super adorable!! Thanks for sharing your fabulous layouts with us today!  We love your style!  You can find Candace’s personal blog HERE.

Fun Facts about Candace:

• I have 4 kids, Tayla 10.5, River 8.5, Daniel 17.5 (step-son, seriously I am not old enough to have a 17 yr old people), Bella 1.75
• My husband Ray and I have been together for 10 years and he is 14 years older than me, total cradle robber.
• I have had the same best friend since I was in grade 5. I would be lost without her.
• I once got serenaded by an acapella group in front of 500 inmates and their families. Hands down most embarrassing moment of my life.
• My garage is full of about 20-30 arcade and pinball machines at any given time. Also I am kind of awesome at foosball, my hubby plays in a foosball league on Tuesday nights. Yes there is such a thing.
• My name is Candace and I have a serious washi tape addiction. Like 550 rolls serious. Who wants to start a club?
• My favorite thing about scrapbooking is the friendships I have formed because of this amazing hobby. Nadine, Karen, Lisa, Koren, Annette, Sheri, the whole Treasured Memories crew, I am so very blessed and would trade all the wood veneers in the world to have you all in my life. You are kind of a big deal.
• I have been on 4 design teams, taught classes at local scrapbook stores, was published in Scrapbook Trends magazine, published over 20 times in Canadian Scrapbooker magazine, featured on numerous blogs and websites such as Studio Calico, Cosmo Cricket, and now Canadian Scrapbooker. Holy horn tooter.