When I set out to create a layout documenting moments in my life that reflected a title of "Little Wins, Simple Joys," I quickly decided to document an everyday photograph where I felt like a little accomplishment brought me so much joy. I chose a selfie of me while reorganizing my craft room. As I sorted through stickers and organized my papers, my daughter curled up into my crafting chair and fell fast asleep. There was something so grounding about that moment, decluttering my room and my mind. The gentle rhythm of organizing, the hum of a calm afternoon, and the peace of knowing she felt safe enough to drift off asleep next to me. No grand milestone, no perfect picture...just a sleepy kid, a messy room getting better one small section at a time, and a reminder that joy often shows up quietly--if we're paying attention.

What better way to document a layout that captures that feeling than to use Traci's brand new Faves collection! I also wanted to challenge myself on this layout and played along with a challenge which asked you to use: 1. 4 6x6 papers 2. Arrows and 3. the title "The Little Things." I also wanted to challenge myself by creating a shaker pocket--something that I am trying to improve my skills on. So I chose the black ombre glitter paper as my base paper--I cut it into 4 6x6 papers and adhered them to some scrap cardstock in my stash to meet the first challenge requirement. I found a heart cut file on Cricut design space and cut it out in the center of the layout using my Cricut. I chose the black ombre paper because I knew I wanted to back the heart cut out with the pink ombre glitter paper and I wanted the heart to stand out on

Once I cut out the heart, I set about creating the shaker pocket. I adhered some plastic to the back of the heart cut out. I then took another scrap piece of cardstock and placed the pink ombre glitter paper on it and surrounded the heart with those beautiful florals in the Routines Stickers set, this would be what you would see behind the heart cut out. I print then cut several of the little flowers included in the Routines Stickers and placed them on the pink heart...these would be my shaker element in the pocket.

I placed a thin layer of foam around the entire heart cut out on the back of the black ombre glitter paper so that the shakers would stay in place in the shaker. I then applied foam to the rest of the back of the black ombre glitter paper. I adhered both papers together...being careful and mindful to line everything up. My shaker element was completed...now onto embellishing!

I now had the second challenge to meet, arrows! Traci had plenty of arrows in this collection so I added my photograph, backed with the pink ombre glitter paper, to the bottom left of the layout and added some florals, hearts, camera, and arrows to that cluster!

That just left the final challenge, to use the title "The Little Things." This title perfectly summed up the feel of this collection as well as the photograph. So I chose to add the 3x4 card from the Faves collection that included a quote that started with "enjoy the little things," I underlined the little things so as to meet this part of the challenge. I then added some more florals, a camera, hearts, another arrow, and the title Simple Joys around that cluster. I completed the layout by adding a journaling spot with some word phrases scattered around it that captured this moment and added some hearts and more floral embellishments on the page!