Sunday, March 17, 2024

View from the Top - Two Page Travel Scrapbook Layout

 How do you feel about heights? We rode the Aerial Tram in the Teton Village on my birthday. It wasn't that high, and we loved it. The smoky haze from the wild fires dampened the view just a bit, though.

We caught the tram right in the village, just steps away from our hotel. 
The paper is Basic Grey "Periphery" and Paper House with Zaomo washi and twine. I added some ephemera from Kaiser Craft "Let's Go" collection. I stamped the camera, tag and other doodads  with CTMH "Life in Pictures". I created the tag in Design Space and journaled on it. I also designed the title myself. 




Thanks for stopping by! Have a crafty week! 








Saturday, March 16, 2024

Enjoy the Ride - Two Page Travel Scrapbook Layout

 Hello again. Here's another layout from our visit to the Grand Tetons area in Wyoming. 

For my birthday, we rented bikes for a day! So much fun. I wanted to try out an electric bike. Oh my word...GAME CHANGER! Our path was flat, so I didn't really need it, but it was the perfect time to try something new. 

We rode 6 miles to a cute french cafe. We ordered lunch, and sat and enjoyed our coffee in the sunshine. I forgot to even turn on the motor until the way back! Mark was a little sad as I left him in the dust behind me. I've been trying to find a way to justify an electric bike at home since this was so fun. They are pretty expensive, and my current manual pedal bike is new and I love it so much. Maybe some day I'll upgrade to electric. We do have some smaller hills and inclines near our home.
The paper, stickers and ephemera are from the lovely Echo Park's "Good Day Sunshine" collection. Pretty appropriate name, in my opinion. Especially for this particular layout! It was such a great day!!
I added Paper Studio washi tape above the Cricut journaling. The Enjoy the Ride title is also from Design Space. I popped up the center for definition. 
Thanks for stopping by! I have so many more travel layouts to share.




Thursday, March 14, 2024

Horsin' Around - Two Page Scrapbook Layout

 Here's another layout to share from our trip to Wyoming's beautiful Grand Tetons. We stayed inside the Teton Village. These horses lived on the corner as your turn into the village. We rode bikes past there a few times, and had to stop and talk to them. 

Of course, I wanted to bring one home with us💗!!  Do they even have a clue of their beautiful surroundings? They're living the best horse life possible! They can wallow in the mud, munch on the grass, or hang at the fence and mingle with the curious tourists for lots of "pets".
For this layout I used Kaiser Kraft's "Let's Go Collection" and ephemera. I'm not sure if the brown leather look paper was part of that set or something from my scrap stash. I designed the title in Design Space and also cut the camera, horse silhouette, and horseshoe. I went with Cricut journaling cut into strips. Pretty simple layout! The focus stays on the beautiful creatures! Wish I had a picture of myself with them, because I was much more enthralled than my hubby.

Thanks for stopping by for some travel and equine inspiration! Enjoy the rest of your week!



 

Thursday, March 7, 2024

String Lake - Two Page Travel Scrapbook Layout

 Hello friends! Loving the Spring weather we are starting to see here in NE Indiana. It could be "false Spring", but I'll take it!!

Today, I'm sharing another layout from our tip to the beautiful Teton area in Wyoming in 2020.

We still had a bit of smoky haze in the skies from all the wild fires. Still gorgeous, though! I'm always amazed at the beauty of God's creation. 


The paper and journaling card is Heidi Swapp's "Wolf Pack" and the coordinating flowers are KaiserCraft "Collectables Antiquities". I designed the title with Design Space fonts, merging some of the letters together. I lean a lot on Design Space journaling too. The writing font is Elementary. My own handwriting is quite "elementary" looking too, but it isn't very legible. 😆


Thanks for checking it out today! Hope your week is blessed in unexpected ways!

Published Layout - Spring 2024 Creative Scrapbooker Magazine

 

Hello friends! I'm super excited to share this bit of news with you. My layout "Happy Place" was selected to be published in the Spring 2024 issue of Creative Scrapbooker magazine!!! This issue is stunning and full of all kinds of inspiration. You can check me out on page 116!

This layout features photos of me in my scrapbook/office space! We built and moved into our home at the end of 2017 and was blessed with my very own dedicated crafting space for the first time in my life! It truly is my "happy place". I still work a full time job, but love the moments I can get in there and play around with all my crafty stuff. The layout also reminds me to practice self love. These photos of me turned out okay, but who knew they'd show up on a published layout. Yikes! 

If you've never checked out one of their magazines, you definitely are missing out! You can view a super quick online preview here and scroll down to the short video. Every page of this issue is full of colorful inspiration and will feed your longing for sunshine and all the Springy things.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Have a blessed and crafty week!


Tuesday, February 20, 2024

The Mountains are Calling - Two Page Travel Scrapbook Layout

 Hopping on again to share another travel scrapbook layout from the most beautiful, Jenny Lake, in Wyoming. The scenery is beautiful on it's own without us in the foreground, BUT it's a must to prove we were there, right? 😂

I used patterned paper and wolf card from Heidi Swapp "Wolf Pack" collection, Simple Stories "Happy Trails" woodgrain design, and Close to My Heart "Aurora across the page horizontally. The decorative tape (brand?) is such a simple way to elevate the design of the page. The title and mountain range embellishments are from Design Space along with the journaling. Each photo was matted in blue to help them pop off the patterned paper.

I hope you are inspired by this page in some way! Maybe you'll scrap some of your trips, or maybe you'll plan a future trip to the Tetons! I highly recommend it.


Sunday, February 18, 2024

Jenny Lake - Two Page Travel Scrapbook Layout

 

Sorry that I've been MIA for several weeks. I'm fine! Just got out of the habit of posting for awhile. 

Here's a travel layout from September 2020 during our visit to the Cascade Canyon in the heart of the Teton Range in Wyoming. Jenny Lake was the most beautiful inland lake we have seen to date! With beautiful pines framing it all around and the majestic Teton mountains as it's back drop, it's absolutely breathtaking! You need to go see the entire area, if you haven't yet. I can't imagine how much more beautiful it would have been had we not had some of the residual smoke blowing in from the California wildfires. 
This is one of those destinations where the pictures will always fall short of the incredible beauty you experience in person.
I used a dark olive green shade of textured Recollections cardstock as a backdrop to a fun blue and green plaid from Close to My Heart's Timber Collection. Scotch brand green wood grain decorative tape makes a nice transition around the edges of the plaid. The Aurora travel stamp set, also from CTMH, came through for the perfect embellishment. This is one of my favorite stamp sets so far for travel layouts.

I designed the title myself from 3 different fonts in Design Space. I usually try to connect the words and letters where I can so that I don't have to line up a bunch of individual letters. I just prefer the way it looks to design my own and it's fun for me. The journaling is also written out with my Cricut and designed to fit in the space available. 

Hope you enjoy this layout! My favorite part is the plaid paper and the color combo. I like how it brings out the natural beauty of the photos.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! 





Thursday, January 4, 2024

Grand Teton National Park - Two Page Travel Scrapbook Layout

And just like that, the Christmas season is over. We're still decorated here, but that is how we roll. My husband loves to keep things up until his birthday in the middle of the month. I try to humor him as much as possible, because he does that for me. 

I didn't get as many of my finished Christmas layouts posted as I would have liked, but I'm moving on to some of our travel photos.

We were blessed to take the most wonderful trip to Wyoming after one of my work trips in the fall of 2020, when almost nobody was venturing out.  The Tetons are truly amazing. I want to go back some day. The scenery is breathtaking. 
The title is from Cricut Design Space. So fun to find a title that is perfect and ready to go on your page. 
 
I kept the colors natural to match the beautiful photos. As the journaling mentions, the smoke from several wild fires as visible in all the pictures, but still so beautiful. I can't even imagine it being more beautiful with clear blue skies. 

We took nature drives every day. Even when there was no wildlife around, the views couldn't be beat. 
I used a natural colored tan scrap, along with some checked Kraft washi tape to ground the photos. Super easy!!

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Sunday, December 24, 2023

Christmas Memories - Two Page Christmas Scrapbook Layout

 
Hello friends. I have another Christmas layout to share with you today!

Do you love plaid paper as much as me?? I also love the black matting behind the pictures. Especially for Christmas layouts! Here's a few pictures of our tree, and some of our Christmas decor from a few years back. 

This photo of my grandkids is my absolute favorite!! I love their smiles and relaxed, but excited, expressions. Aren't the adorable? 
Thanks for stopping by again!! Merry Christmas Eve!

Saturday, December 23, 2023

Fantasy of Lights - Two Page Christmas Scrapbook Layout

 I'm on a roll here with posting my Christmas layouts from a few years back. It's been fun reliving the memories as I share my layouts with you. 

I love the paper with this layout. It reminds me of vertical light strings. I added the simple evergreens with white "snow", and cut a few strands of mini lights to drape across the top. Love when you can save the free pass and use it for the title!
I had the two glittery scraps (journaling background and horizontal piece) that match your layout perfectly. I love to use scraps!

I hope you are inspired by this layout. It's such a busy and exhausting time!! Here's to getting everything done and then being able to relax and enjoy the magic and peace that follows.
I'm planning to post a few more, if I can squeak in the time.

Friday, December 22, 2023

It's All About the Cookies - Two Page Christmas Scrapbook Layout

 Oh I miss the cookie making! We didn't have time to get together for this tradition this year. It makes me sad, but I'm also trying to be realistic with everybody's schedules. I miss it! Hopefully we can make a few in the New Year before the extended family gathering. We'll see. 


I like the non-traditional aqua paper for this layout. It "makes it" for me. I used the cut and draw feature for the "cookie" title. It gives it a vintage, homespun vibe.
Sometimes family pictures break my heart for the way things were, but at the same time, these are such fond memories for me, I can't "not" post them.  
I was able to get 8 pictures on this layout and still add some patterned paper and journaling. I call that a win. Hope this inspires you in some way!

I'm still not ready for Christmas, but here I am blogging about cookies from 3 years ago. Thanks for stopping by! :) 

Thursday, December 21, 2023

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas - Two Page Christmas Scrapbook Layout

Hello again! I promised to post a few more Christmas layouts before the season is behind us.

I love the title for this page. It was a lot of work to cut out, but I think it was totally worth the effort, as most good thins are! I also love the fox Washi that I added across the page. It's so cute, but you can see my Cricut was having a little trouble with the cuts.
 Do you get a real tree for Christmas? We love real trees, even though they can be a hassle. I've loved the years where our kids and grandkids went along with us to pick it out. After, we'd grab some dinner together. Sadly, our other son and wife couldn't make it in 2020. The grands rode with us in the car and we sang some Christmas songs together on the road.

The pictures above were taken of a home in our neighborhood which is beautifully decked out for Christmas each year. The reflection of the lights on the pond is quite spectacular. This is not one of those "tacky" Christmas displays. It's really beautiful!
So many wonderful memories of Christmases past. So much can change in the scope of a few years. Enjoy every moment with family! 

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Joyful, Merry and Blessed - Two Page Christmas Scrapbook layout

 I just returned from a five day Scrapbooking retreat! It's a crazy time of year to be away from home, but how wonderful to have a break from the craziness of Christmas preparation. I took some time to do Christmas cards and finished up some pages from our trip to Florida for a conference on travel that I attended. Mainly, I chatted with friends and it did my heart good!

Time to share a few more Christmas layouts. I don't have a lot of time for a long post, so I'm going to throw them out here for you and not say a lot. I don't love scrapbooking Christmas pictures. They always seem kind of busy and they look the same to me after a few layouts, but I do them anyway. Every Christmas is different and you never know when you might lose a loved one.
This layout is from our annual "after Christmas" get together with our beloved extended family. We have so much fun together. I feel blessed that we actually enjoy each other's company.

I hope you are inspired to scrap your family Christmas photos! I will try to post a few more throughout the end of the year and maybe into January. There are so many more to share!

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Christmas Cheer - Two Page Christmas Layout

 Here's another Christmas layout to share featuring my kids and grandchildren opening their stockings.💓😍 Again, 2019!! Yikes. Better late than never in posting this one. 

I love all of these smiling faces! Our life seemed a little easier three years ago. We've faced some hard changes and challenges since then. These are beautiful memories to hang on to, for sure. Look at Scarlet all dressed up in her Christmas dress. And...you should see her now, 3 years later! She's turning into a beautiful young lady.
Love the way this simple layout turned out. I was able to pack in a nice handful of photos and still add some embellishments and style.
I hope your Christmas decorating, shopping, baking, planning, and parties are falling beautifully into place. Even if they aren't...try to take a deep breath and choose not to stress about it all. My motto this year has been to try to go with the flow. That's not who I am instinctively, but it's the only way I can stay focused on the true reason for the season! 

Hang in there everybody!! Stop back for some more Christmas layouts....Promise!


Thursday, December 7, 2023

Peace and Love - Two Page Christmas Scrapbook Layout

 Here I go with the first of my Christmas layouts to share this season. 

Do you scrapbook chronologically? That is typically the way I do it. It keeps things in order and that seems to be less confusing for me. Otherwise, I'm wondering what is done and what isn't. Ugh...that's just how I roll and it works for me! 

As you can see I am posting at least a few years after the pictures were taken. I'm really only a year to year and a half behind in actually scrapping my photos....It just takes me awhile to take photos of my layouts, and then post them here. These last two steps, are my least favorite and they tend to sink to the bottom of my at home "to do" list.

Anyway, here's my first Christmas layout post of 2023! It is December, after all!

I love watching our boys and their girls opening gifts. They seem to have fun with it, just like the little kids. I just read the date and this layout is actually from Christmas 2019!!! 
So much has transpired in the last almost 4 years. I love my family so much, even through the many ups, downs, and shock losses that occur along the way.
Since I do scrap chronologically, I tend to get tired of all the Christmas paper and traditional Christmas colors. I used olive cardstock here and a smaller scrap of some untraditional looking Christmas paper. I really could have added some embellishments here now that I look at it 4 years later. To be honest, Christmas photos are my last types of photos to scrap. I love Christmas, though!!! 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Hope your Christmas preparations are bringing you joy instead of stress and anxiety! I'm trying to keep the reason for the season front and center this year. God sent his son to save each one of us! Unconditional love given for a world that doesn't deserve His mercy and grace.