It’s summertime for sure.  Ol’ Mr. Sun has cranked up the temperature quite significantly and a lot of us are finding ourselves running towards cool waters on the nearest pool!  Just make sure that you remember to take the camera with you!  You wouldn’t want to miss all those smiles that accompany the giggles or the splashes that Fido made while trying to jump in to swim with the kiddos.  We’ll be right here waiting for you with all of these perfect kits, embellishments, and alphas to scrap with when you get back from your awesome day at the pool.

The ideas must be hitting you like a freight train right now!  LOL… or should I say… they’re coming along SWIMMINGLY!?  I know I’ve gotten a ton of ideas just going back through and posting all of these…. so I’m off to scrap.  Join me in the gallery and share all your perfect pool pages.  We’ll be looking to show some off… soon!

Comin’ at here today with another “So Hot…it’s Cool”  blog post!  Our purpose is to highlight some of the things we’ve been seeing that we really like!  Here in Michigan we are in full throws of summer, and we are loving it!!!  Camping, cookouts, games ourdoors, etc…!  With all the outdoorsy activity it seems like today’s feature just works so well for so many layouts!  We are spotlighting woodgrain and all things wood related!!!  First a few LO’s that I found that I loved:

First off…love the rubbed off woodgrain of this background paper!

And oh my flying stars, look at this next one!  The paper looks just like a deck which is perfect for all of those deck parties and ourdoor summer layouts!  Love the clouds stamped on it!!!

I love the subtlness of the woodgrain on the while paper here – so many uses!

And of course the woodgrain goodies work well into fall too, for a warm soft fall layout!

Lots of different uses, and I have really fallen in love with all things woodgrain!  Here are some items that we have at The-Lilypad!  Each image is linked.

There’s even painted woody bits by CD Muckosky that are fun to play with!

So, I hope that I have inspired you to check out what’s hot and use some woody papers or elements on your next page!  There is so much out there, and even at the Pad there is more in our store – just type in the word “wood” in our search box in the store and you will come up with at least three pages worth of products to check out!

Maybe it’s the vibrant energy of summer lurking around the corner that’s driving this trend? Or maybe it’s just that it’s so much fun to add flare!  Whatever the reason, the galleries are filled with pages that are sporting bold patterned backgrounds!  Patterns like stripes and polk-a-dots are making a big impact on layout designs, and the results are fabulous!!!

There’s so much you can do with a bold patterned paper.  It can be used as the primary background element…

by amandaresende

Or it can peek out from underneath layers of papers and goodies piled up…

The pattern can be combined with a solid or a more neutral patterned paper to add distinction to the background…

by mommy2boyz

by geek girl

Or several different pattern styles can be combined…

by cnscrap

Different solids and patterns can even be combined to make your own patterned background…

by mommatrish

However you put them to use, there’s nothing understated about using bold patterns in your design.  These stripes and such are sure to add loads of personality and energy to your pages! It’s what’s hot!!  Don’t be afraid to go bold!  You might be surprised at the results!

We have tons of bold patterned goodness in the shop to give this trend a try.  Here are just a few.  Plus, you can check out all of our Paper Packs here.