Three California Dreamin' Scrapbook Layouts

Here's a few layouts from our 2015 trip to California. This was a work trip, but we managed to have some fun at the same time.

 This was our beautiful hotel. Very comfortable! Couldn't ask for anything else, except to take all the sunshine back home to Indiana.

 Don't you love this tropical floral paper? The colors are amazing.

Here's a layout showing off the outside grounds for our hotel.

 They had a walkway over the Pacific Coast Highway which took you right down tot he beach.

 I think it's time for another CA trip. You can't really beat the weather and the views.

Here's another layout of the hotel grounds. Loved our stay there. I spent much of the time a little stressed out due to being the meeting planner, but what a place to be stressed!

 The pool, fountains, and flowers were gorgeous!

 I wish I'd had a little more time to sit on the beach, but since I was there to work, I can't complain.

Thanks again for stopping by my blog. See you soon!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "California"

Southern California is one of my favorite destinations. I've been three times and each time is a new experience!

 Enjoy this beachy layout and try to hear the waves crashing in!

 We are blessed to be able to visit so many great destinations, even if most of the time the trips are work related.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Seaside Stop"

I think this is the last layout I have to share of our California trip in June, 2015. It was a fabulous trip!! We're heading back for a business trip next week, but there won't be much time for sight-seeing, so I probably won't take very many pictures.

 I adore this paper from We R Memory Keepers. The California journaling tag is from Echo Park wrapped with Karen Foster Scrappers floss. The burlap flowers are Paper Studio.

 I punched several different size mini flowers with my StampinUp punches and layered them up to create different flowers. The title font is called "Seaside".

Thanks for stopping by my blog and checking out the last of my California layouts. Have a lovely day. The sun is finally shining here in NE Indiana, and I'm loving the warmth!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "LaJolla"

Here's another layout from our 2015 trip to beautiful, sunny California. Looking at these pictures makes me long for sunny warm weather!

 LaJolla is a beautiful little seaside town that we consider to be a "must see" if you are near the San Diego area. There are some great shops and eateries in town, a pretty beach, and sea lions to watch on the rocks below.

The paper is Kaiser Kraft's "Sea Breeze Collection" and the fence is cut from narrow strips of Close to My Heart woodgrain paper. The fence was a little time consuming, but I love the way it turned out. I laid down a length of hemp cord (Hemptique) and glued the strips of paper on top of it to hold the hemp in place, creating the look of a distressed beach fence.

 The banner is punched with StampinUp's bitty banner punch. I used a small hole punch along the top and wove white string through it to create the banner.

 The title font and seagulls are from Cricut's Life is a Beach, and the grass along the fence is Wild Card.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! I have one more California layout to share in the next few days, and I think the show and tell from that trip will be done. Time to go back!!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Me & You"

In 2015, we took a business trip to California, and were fortunate to extend a little while on our own. There is so much to see and do, resulting in so many pictures to scrap. 😉

These photos were taken at Sunset Cliffs near San Diego. Wow! This was actually our second time to visit there, and also my second layout for this location!! But how could I not scrap it again? See the first layout here.

 The paper is We R Memory Keepers "Shine" and green woodgrain Scotch washi.

The sun is cut with Cricut's Wild Card 2, and title with Graphically Speaking. The itty bitty banner is My Mind's Eye "Indie". I love when different brands of paper and embellies that I find in my stash just happen to work well together.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Hope this layout brings a little bit of sun to your day.

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Sweet"

Have you ever been to Extraordinary Desserts? It's an upscale, and amazing bakery in San Diego. If you're ever there, you need to at least experience it once.

 I admit, it's way too expensive, but most amazing and one of a kind food is overpriced.  I've never seen such beautiful, and delectable desserts in my life. There was a line well outside the door!

 It's hard to see too much of it with these photos, but trust me that it's worth experiencing.

 The shiny Kraft paper is from StampinUp! I used the Quarter Note cartridge for the title, Birthday Bash for the cake, and Artistry for the "Eat Cake" embelly. The SU 3 flower punch was perfect for the little flowers decorating the cake. I glammed it up with some Wink of Stella.

 Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today!! This may not be my last California layout! I may actually have a few more... :)

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Bike Hike"

This is the second to the last layout from our California trip last summer. We hosted a bike tour on Coronado Island with a few of the agents who were on the agent trip.

 What a beautiful day we had! I picked a cruiser bike and it was a pretty comfortable 10 miles with only a few hills here and there. We took some great pictures along the way, and had great fellowship with our agent friends.

 Beautiful sites to see at every stop. The paper, paper clip embellishment, and letter stickers are Fancy Pants "Down by the Shore". The title font is from Lyrical Letters 2 and the bike is cut from Going Places.

Hope you are enjoying looking at my California trip album as much as I've enjoyed sharing this trip of a lifetime with you! There's one final "sweet" layout to share...Stop back tomorrow.

Two Page Scrabook Layout - "Dream Job"

Hello! Today I'm posting one of the last few scrapbook layouts from my California trip last June.

Have I mentioned that I love my paying job? Well, of course, there are many duties and days that are not my favorite, but overall, I truly love what I do each day. This layout is about one of the fun parts of my job....travelling and meeting planning!

 I help plan our company's agent and incentive trips. This agent trip is what brought my husband and I to California for this wonderful and amazing experience. The above pictures are from the welcome night on the patio at our beautiful hotel in SanDiego. After spending weeks and weeks planning out all of the details, it was a blast to see it all play out and watch our agents enjoy themselves and build deeper relationships with each other and our company.

 Our agent spouses have developed long time friendships and enjoy their time together. We planned a mini spa morning and made bookmarks for the stacks of books our group donated to underprivileged children in the San Diego area.

Hope you enjoyed a little window into the fun (and very stressful) part of my job! It was a wonderful trip! There was actually very little time to take pictures of the "work" part of my trip, but I think I have one more layout of a bike tour on Coronado Island. Check back in a few days to see it.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!!!

One Page Scrapbook Layout - "Top Gun"

Here's a fun little one pager from our San Diego trip.

We ate at the Kansas City Barbeque where the sleazy bar scene from the movie Top Gun was filmed. It a fun place to visit and check out some of the memorabilia from the movie. The food's not bad either. The jet is from Cricut's Stand and Salute.

The paper is from Close To My Heart. Thanks for checking out my blog today.

One Page Scrapbook Layout - "Midway Memories"

I rarely do one pagers. However; I only had one decent photo to scrap from our gala event at the USS Midway. Thankfully, a professional photographer snapped pics of each couple in front of one of the planes or there would be no scrapbook page for this event.

Our final event was supposed to be on the deck of the aircraft carrier, but a last minute storm rolled through and forced us to move the event inside. I thought it never rained in southern California? Boy, was it warm in there and there really wasn't much ventilation. It was a great evening, though, with entertainment by the Andrew Sisters (reinvented, of course).

The patriotic paper is some I had in my stash. The matt of white stars was cut with Cricut's "Stand and Salute" cartridge. Probably one of the quickest layouts ever for me to put together, and I still like the way it looks.

Come back soon!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Unconditional Surrender"

San Diego, California is home to the iconic statue of the stolen kiss named Unconditional Surrender. Not only is there a great story behind the statue, but it is absolutely huge.

 The first time we saw it was from the aircraft carrier venue USS Midway, but we went back at the end of our trip, so we could see it at ground level from the Navy Pier.

 Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Hope you are enjoying my California layouts....More to come!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "The Anabella"

From Beverly Hills, we drove to Anahiem, CA and stayed at a beautiful hotel just outside of Disney Land called the Anabella. We had such great hotel experiences every place we stayed! I'm sure this was the result of the many hours we spent online researching hotels in each location. My husband gets all of the credit for this find, though!

 The patterned paper is Simple Stories "Life Documented". Love the cute cameras! The camera die cut is from the Artistry cartridge. I popped up the center circle in the lens.

 The heart and arrow pins were also cut with Artistry and I again pulled out my favorite mini circle alpha stickers to create my subtitle. The "shine" tag and journaling tag are from Studio G.

Thanks for joining us on our journey through southern California! I should finish scrapping our California trip next week, and hopefully finish posting them over the next few weeks.

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Location, Location, Location"

I'm still working my way through the layouts from our California trip last year. This one features pictures from our brief visit to Beverly Hills! Yes, it's beautiful there, but no, we didn't see anybody famous. :)

 I really like the way this layout turned out. The colors are vibrant and it has a vintage look! The title was cut twice from Cricut's "Graphically Speaking" cartridge. I attached them with foam dimensional squares between the two layers to give it extra definition and to create a shadow effect. Placing it on the white circle and setting the title on an angle really made it pop.

 I adore the Route 66 die cut from Cricut's "Nifty Fifties" cartridge! How cute is that!?! My husband and I would like to drive the entire route of Route 66 some day...bucket list trip. October Afternoon's circle alpha stickers add to the vintage look of the page and echo the polka dot patterned paper from Simple Stories "Snap". The arrow and yellow stars are also from "Nifty Fifties". I attached the stars with mini red brads.

Pretty easy page, really, with just enough embellishments to let the photos be the focal point. Using wallet size photos helps me to pack in the pics and still have room for design elements.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! I'm going away with friends for scrapping Monday through Thursday of next week!!! I can't wait!!!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "HOLLYWOOD"

A visit to Hollywood was never on my bucket list, nor am I a big fan of the entertainment industry in general. That said...we were so close to Hollywood we wanted to stop and check it out. It was definitely something to see.

 We enjoyed checking out the stars on the Walk of Fame and trying to find a good place to snap a pic of the Hollywood sign.

The sidewalks and streets were wall-to-wall people at one point and I was literally starting to panic. Apparently there were some celebrities from Magic Mike who had just pulled up in limos. People were going crazy....ugh, not my thing at all, but it was all part of the experience.

Basic black cardstock was my best bet for the craziness of this page, because I definitely wanted the Hollywood title to be in white like the actual sign on the hill. The patterned paper and Washi are from Glitz Designs. I added a few more stars with some bling as embellishments. There are 12 pictures on this page!! Thank goodness for wallets! I could have used flip flaps on this page because we had so many pictures, but I just couldn't make it work with the design. So, I picked my favorite photos, took a deep breath, and told myself I didn't need to scrap every last one of them.

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Giant Trees..."

Here's my second and last layout of the Sequoia National Forest. I really make myself pick the very, very best photos so that I'm not doing an entire album for a really special one day event. It's hard, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggles to not scrap every single great picture.

 Which photos tell your story the best? For this layout, I picked the photos of the biggest tallest trees with the best lighting, and if possible with people in the picture to show just how huge the trees really are. I quite often print several pictures in wallet size so that I can put more on a page. I didn't do that for this photo, but I did use True Digital size which is a little smaller than 4x6.  This really helps when you're trying to maximize the number of photos on a layout.

 Why do I limit myself? Have you ever had a close friend or family member who went through ALL of their trip photos with you one by one by one? It can be painful as you pretend to remain interested. I try to keep that in mind when I'm scrapbooking my own photos. My albums are for me and my loved ones to cherish, but nobody will want to look at them if there are too many layouts of the same event...they won't even know where to start, and they'll just get bored. It's sad, but true! These are the things I think about when I scrapbook, but I know others like to scrap every picture, so please do whatever you have time to finish, and what makes you happy. I try to be realistic with myself...scrap the event, not every photo, so that the album can actually get done and be shared. It's one of the many beautiful things about digital photos, you only print the best.

Now I'll step down off my soapbox. ;) The paper is Heidi Swapp's "Forever" and Paper Pizzaz (barnwood). I used Simple Stories "Snap" little alpha stickers and the title font is Cricut's "Jubilee - Runt". I used marker on the little StampinUp! wood elements to give them a little more definition. The banner at the top was made from a piece of scrap that I had on hand and my SU bitty banner punch.

I'd love to hear how you decide which photos to scrap. Do you limit yourself? Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Hope you are able to enjoy some scrappy time really soon.