If you follow me on Instagram, you have heard me talk about Zoe's freckles more than once. See I don't have cute freckles. I have a husband with cute freckles and a best friend with cute freckles, but I just have random freckles/beauty marks/moles. I've always wanted freckles sprinkled ever so perfectly just on the bridge of my nose. Thankfully, because of her father and his cute freckles, Zoe has inherited the perfect amount.

Since this particular story involved my own tale of ugly crying, I didn't really want the journaling front and center. I used a 3x4 journaling card and a plastic tab to hide the story.

Some stories are harder than others to tell. This one was hard for me. It was a reminder of those frustrating feelings I felt as a mother. All my worry and stress rolled into one scrapbook page. But, it was important for me to write down my true feelings because one day Zoe will read those words, maybe in a year, maybe in a few years, and maybe when she has children of her own. When she reads those words she will see how much I cared, how much I worried, and how everything turned out okay.

This story is more than just pictures of the first day of school, and that's just one of the reasons I love scrapbooking so much.

Where do you write down your stories? A journal, scrapbook pages, twitter?

XOXO,

Hello friends!

This post will be short and sweet. I wanted to share my easy recipe for Pumpkin Alfredo sauce. It's the perfect base for any pasta dish and the mix-ins are endless! I chopped up some left-over chicken kabobs and wilted some spinach. It was delicious.

• 1 can of pumpkin
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2-1 cup milk
• salt and pepper, to tase
• 4 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
• 3-5 sage leaves (finely chopped)
• sprinkle of dried rosemary
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 

I hope these ideas help you pull out those gorgeous specialty papers and start using them! I know I need to be better about using my favorites and not just hoarding them.

XOXO,
Holly & CO.

With smartphone cameras being comparable to a point and shoot camera quality, we carry a camera with us the majority of the time. But even then, not all stories we want to tell, get captured on camera. Over the years I've found three good ways to scrapbook without photos.

1. Fill the page with text.

Whether it's handwriting, typewriter or a newspaper article, words are the foundation of stories. Don't be shy, add lots of details and adjectives to document on your pages.

I wanted to document all my childhood Christmas traditions, but because we spent most of those moments together participating, there was no photo to go along with it. I used a calendar page, filled in some of the square with patterned paper and then made small blurbs randomly, about each tradition.


2. Use supplies to tell your story.

Use patterned paper, stickers, stamps, colors, even typography to help recreate the occasion. Just looking at the page and you can already catch a glimpse of what story you are telling

I used a map on a patterned paper to document all the places I've been and what brought me to each place. I used twine and printed labels to easily identify each place with a quick look. 

Do you ever scrapbook without photos? I would love to hear your experiences.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

My little sister is now a mama! We went down to Utah a couple weeks ago, for Lily's baby blessing. Zoe was in heaven with her tiny little cousin. She spent a lot of time just sitting next to her. Lily was a good sport and even gave us a couple smiles while we were there.

This page was so fun to make, adding the pops of color to each frame, and cutting apart the tiny phrases. Rather then add embellishments to the page, which would cover the cut frames, I added them to the photo.

It's that time of year again, when lots of new scrapbooking products are coming out, but instead of looking at buying new items, I'm going to be working on the stash I already have. With moving in a few months, I need to lighten up the amount of stuff we need to move, so be looking for some giveaways, coming soon.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

Isn't my friend's little boy perfect? I asked her to let me use these photos because they are the perfect candid pumpkin patch photos. The colors and expressions are just fantastic. She is my photography hero.

If you know me at all, you know I LOVE fall! Like probably an unhealthy amount. I've been to my fair share of pumpkin patches. I wanted to share a few of my tip for getting great pumpkin pictures.

1. Go during the evening, and during the week if you can. The less busy, the better. You can get great photos of the whole pumpkin patch, if there aren't other people around and the light is always better in the evening. Plus, you might even get a cool sun-flare photo.

2. Wear muted toned clothes. I love that the orange and green of the pumpkin POP against his brown and tan shirts. Also, avoid wearing orange. Orange on orange is a lot of orange.

3. Follow your kids while they are looking at pumpkins. My favorite photos are always the candid ones.

What are you favorite pumpkin recipes? Have you ever made your own pumpkin puree? I've been thinking about doing that this year, but I'm a little nervous to try.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

We got rather lucky with the weather. This morning there was 6+ inches of snow on the ground. We spent all day playing in the snow and then coming inside and cuddling, watching movies.

Check back tomorrow for a scrappy post!

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

Baby Brooke is only 6 days old and precious as can be. She was an angel while we took her pictures, barely made a peep. This was my first newborn session outside of a hospital, and I'm glad I had a sleepy baby to work with.
I just couldn't wait to get a look at these, and I wanted to share a few of my favorites.

Wow. That took longer than I expected. We are finally in our new place and getting things back to normal. We are adjusting to reduced rooms and trying to find the perfect place to store everything. My Ikea Expedit bookshelves are proving to be a wise purchase.

After some thought and a few more photography sessions booked, I decided I needed to make a photography website. It's nothing great, but it's a better portfolio than my blog. I'm hoping to re-design and amplify it in the near future.

















I'm super excited about my upcoming shoots, gorgeous families and kids. Thanks to all those who've encouraged and supported me. The link is available on my blog, click the "photography" button or just click HERE.

And this will come as no surprise to my family, as I've been playing with make up for years, but I'm also offering make-up services.

So if you or anyone you know is in the Rexburg area (or Utah Valley, as we travel there quite a bit) send them on over. I'm still portfolio building right now, and would love to add to it.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

Is there anything better than spending an evening with your best friend and her adorable family?

Friday night, we spent a few hours taking some family pictures. I just wanted to share a few of my favorites.

Aren't these pictures so much fun?!?
A couple weeks ago, while we were down in Utah to visit some of Ryan's family, I was able to snap some quick pictures of Zoe and some of her cousins.

I originally planned to do a film strip type layout with all the different photos, but it took a different direction.

Thank goodness I got some crafting in today, because I just found out my craft room needs to be disassembled for awhile, so the management can take care of the leak issues. I am pretty sure they are gonna rip out the wall. Which means it might be awhile before I can have my whole room back together.

There will be a lot of sorting and cleaning up - maybe even a stash downsize giveaway....

I got some new goodies from Paper Issues this week and my favorite thing is the Prima resist canvas.
Have you seen this? It's amazing! They are die cut made from canvas, with different patterns on them. I had so much fun testing these out. I mixed some mist colors, my favorite combo is Studio Calico Mr. Huey Cameo + Lemonade.