Explore - Two Page Scrapbook Layout

Today I'm sharing another layout from the sunflower field photo shoot a few years ago. This one features my sweet, and super smart grandson! This little man is such a blessing!

Just look at him! What a little stinker. They were both enjoying all the attention. 

This is one for his album. He enjoys looking at his book almost as much as his Sissy. I really need to add to it more often!! Slacker Grandma. 

The paper, journaling card and zip strip are from Close to My Heart "Dream Big" collection. I cut the title with my Cricut. I added some little banners and woodgrain pieces from my scraps and the buttons and markers are StampinUp! I added a little bit of narrow sunflower washi tape to attach the journaling card on the side. 

This is a really simple layout, but I absolutely love it, mainly because my favorite people are gracing the pages with smiles.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Enjoy this amazing fall weather!
 

One Page Scrapbook Layout - Work Selfies

 Just a few random selfies of me at work. Not sure why I took these, but I really don't take enough pictures of myself. These are from a few years ago. I didn't note the date on the layouts, but that's the way it goes sometimes. They must be at least 2 years old because I have new glasses now. 

I like mixing black and white with color photos. Fun paper, cute flowers from scraps, Baker's twine and some washi. Done!

Hope this inspires you to scrap yourself once in awhile. Have a wonderful rest of the week. I'm preparing for my birthday this weekend. I will enjoy being with my family.

Sunny Days - Two Page Scrapbook Layout

Sunny days in Michigan are my favorite!! The lake and sky are so beautiful. We wish we could afford to have a place up there and rent it out part of the time. I mean why not? They make it look so doable on HGTV!! Unfortunately, it always take some money to make some money.

 These photos were taken at a lakeside park in Traverse City. 

 I love all of the sunny colors on this layout. The chevron patterned paper started the color party, with the yellow photo matts running a close second. Cricut journaling is so much more legible than my own handwriting. I wish that weren't the case, but it is very true.

As I look back at this layout, I think of more that I might have added and possibly some pops of black, but I'm still proud of it and hope you are inspired in some way by it.

Have a lovely week!

Police Academy - Two Page Scrapbook Layout

This boy of mine...gives me all of the feels. He's my oldest, and in his own way taught me how to be a Mom, a working Mom, and hopefully a good Mom. My kids are my pride and joy, even though they mess up along the way. I know I made my mistakes along the way as well. Right now, I will just talk about how proud I am of his service to our community!! My heart swells when I look back at these layouts from his academy days. He worked so hard to even get into the academy. It took almost a full year of applying, testing, interviewing and extreme physical demands in order to make his dream of being a Police Officer come true...and he did it!!

This picture above is the entire class after they were sprayed with tear gas so that they can experience how it feels. I can tell by their eyes that it was definitely not a pleasant experience. They also had to experience being tazed! Fun stuff.

He ended up graduating with HONORS! His class graduated right in the middle of all of the riots and protesting mid-2020. It's scary knowing that his life is on the line every day, but I know he is in the Lord's hands at all times. 

I hope you will stop by for more layouts! I'm trying to get back on a schedule of posting. Thanks for following along!
 

Fresh - Two Page Fall Scrapbook Layout

 Here we go with another fall layout. This one featuring pictures from a farm market that we went to with siblings during one of our getaway weekends. Most of these pictures are from the Farmer's Market in Flint, Michigan. We enjoyed looking at everything they had to offer. Fun stuff!!

I love the fall paper with the hint of blue! The "fresh" cutout was perfect for the theme, but didn't show up quite as I hoped it would on the patterned paper. I guess I could have backed with cardstock, but I chose to roll with it. Look at all of those beautiful home grown veggies, and the flowers! 

I didn't add much to the right side. All of the flowers, banners, etc. were part of the woodgrain patterned paper and worked with the theme of the layout. The donuts were homemade pumpkin spice Keto donuts by yours truly. Everybody really liked them.

More layouts from this weekend to come. I miss my hubby's siblings so much. It's been a rough couple months for many of us and we just need a weekend-long group hug. I'm so thankful for each of them in my life. Do we always get along perfectly? No...but for the most part, it is a time of joy and so much laughter!! We are blessed to have each other.

Trick or Treat Y'all - Two Page Scrapbook Layout

 Here is a fun two page Halloween scrapbook layout from 2019. Hope you get some spooky inspiration as you go into your trick or treating season.

White pumpkins are so pretty. I used this one for my title. All of this came straight from Design Space. I just had to size it to fit the corner of my page. Love the bat and bird on the corner banner detail. 

And for the right side, some spooky bats to add a little balance to the white pumpkin on the left.

The silly faces of my family above make these pages the best. Their are nine pictures here. Wallets help so much to add the outtakes or any other pictures that add to the page without having to be center stage.

Hope you love this page as much as I do! The people in it are my faves!! Happy Halloween Y'all!

Happy Birthday - One Page Scrapbook Layout

This is our beautiful daughter-in-love on her birthday last year. We are so very happy to have her as part of our family. Our sons have both done well choosing their forever love.

She is such a great wife to my son, Momma to our grandkids, daughter, daughter-in-love,  friend and many other roles that she wears so well. She is much stronger than she thinks she is and takes each new day in stride! She is primarily a Stay At Home Mom and I have so much respect for that role. She is adored by her family...and all of us!

Today is her special day and I hope it is the BEST year yet for her!!

Egg Masters - Two Page Easter Layout

We went to the most wonderful Good Friday service this morning. Believe it or not, it was a drive in style service at my place of employment! Great music and an absolutely wonderful message given by one of our employees. There was lots of whooping and honking when it was over. What a great way to start our day, focused on how Christ loved us so much that he gave his life for each of us! There were some dark days before he rose from the dead! But, now we can rejoice knowing that Easter is coming!!

Here's an Easter layout from 2017. This is my son and daughter-in-law coloring eggs in the kitchen at our old house.

 These two get super creative with their egg decorating. It's fun to watch them. I got a little creative with my paper choices for this page!! There is a lot going on here...lol. As I look back at this, I might have changed a few things, but that's okay. I'm not going to change it. It's done and the memory is preserved. The mission was still accomplished.

 I love the two little scalloped flower clips on the title. It doesn't lay very flat in the album, but it will continue to flatten out over the years.😆 The red rick-rack is like masking tape and is so quick and easy to put down on a page. It's very forgiving and pulls up easy if you need to adjust it.

I hope that you have a very meaningful Good Friday, even though you may not be able to celebrate the way you have in the past. It will be different, but I know that God is working all things for our good and His glory. Stay strong and stay safe! If you have a chance come back for another Easter post on Sunday.

"Walk this Way" - Two Page Wedding Layout

Sorry for the recent delay in posting. We've been busy hosting Christmas gatherings and putting away all the decorations. It's such a big job! I'm so thankful that my husband is so patient and proactive with it all. I'm not sure what I would do without him. 😍

Now it's time to get back to some more of my son and daughter-in-love's wedding layouts!

 As each beautiful pair walked through the doors, I remember the excitement building as everybody waited for the bride to enter!! Oh the feelings I had that day! There was excitement and joy for my son marrying the love of his life, there was shock and amazement that this day could be here already (wasn't he still 5 years old??), and there was raw grief from the loss of my Mom the day before. So many feelings from one end of the spectrum to the other. The joy of the wedding won out for most of the weekend, but I sure had my moments trying to pull myself together.

 I had a little fun with the title as I did with many of the layouts from their wedding album. For me, titles add so much, but I know many don't do the title thing. That's okay too.  I matted all of the photos in a crisp white to break up the gold on the page. The strip along the bottom in the color of the the bridesmaids' dresses helps anchor the page. I added some additional banners to bring in the color of the groomsmens' suits, and a few strips of plaid patterned paper to tie it all together. 

Thanks for looking! More to come!!

"Team Groom" - Two Page Wedding Layout

Hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving. It's probably my favorite holiday!! We were truly blessed with wonderful family moments and yummy food...If I do say so myself. 😄

It's time to share another wedding layout. Today, it's the boys group photos!

 Of course, there will be some silliness with this bunch. They all have fun together, which makes a great photo shoot. I love the mix of fonts on the title which left just enough space for the wood mustache. There is no lack of facial hair, man buns, and long flowing locks on these handsome men.

 I used a mix of scrap patterned paper across the middle of the page to anchor the photos, and matted the photos in burgundy to help them pop on the wood grain background. The mustache paper scrap banners were another nod to the facial hair, adding yet another touch of masculinity to the "Team Groom" layout.

Again, I must apologize for the darker yellow look on the left side. I will have to be more careful to have more even lighting next time I photograph my layouts.

Make sure you come back for the next post featuring my daughter-in-love, the beautiful bride! Have a great week!! Stay warm and cozy.

Bride Tribe - Two Page Wedding Layout

Here in NE Indiana we already have some snow on the ground. It snowed 2-3" on Monday, and some of it still lingers on the leaf piles and pumpkins. I'm not a fan of snow this early in the season! I'm still not ready to say goodbye to fall's beautiful array of leaves and all things lovely about the season of  harvest. But, here we are...so I'm learning that I don't get to call the shots in the weather department. 

Today I'm sharing another layout from my newly completed album of my youngest son and daughter-in-love's wedding two years ago. It seems like they've been together for so long already! I guess time flies when you're having fun, right? 

 These young ladies are so lovely! What a beautiful wedding celebration! I really wanted the photos to stand out, so I matted them in a light brown and didn't add a lot of other embellishments. I do love the beautiful floral scrap that tied in all of her colors so nicely. I used a strip on both sides of the page at the bottom to ground the layout, and added some banners on the right. And that title from Design Space...I love how it turned out.

This sweet little one is my precious granddaughter and she loves her new Aunt Katie! She's a lot of sweetness and a little bit of sass.😍 I really enjoy the time I have to bond with her. She loves to get into my crafty world and would love to have her own Cricut! I adore spending this time with her. She definitely has a creative flare! I can't wait to see how she uses that gift down the road.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Hope your weekend is relaxing and enjoyable!! 

"Team Bride" - Two Page Wedding Layout

Hope you all had a fun Halloween. It's not my favorite holiday of the year, but I do enjoy seeing it through the eyes of my grandchildren! We had a fun time trick or treating the neighborhood together. Scarlet was a hippy and Sawyer was a lego, but he already took off his costume before I snapped the pic. Somebody told him Legos can be pretty scary when you're barefoot in the middle of the night.😂 Oh, how I remember....

Fall is slipping into winter so quickly! Yikes! I'm not ready to give it up yet.

Thought I'd share some more of my son and DIL's wedding layouts. Here's a layout featuring the lovely "Bride Tribe". They were so photogenic, it was really hard to choose what pics to feature on the layout.

 Above is the right side of the layout. Apparently, I forgot to snap a picture of the left side. Sorry about that, but you can zoom in on the pic below if you want to see it more closely. I used a mixture of both black and white and color photos on most of the layouts in the album. I like the contrast of the black and white!

I kept it simple with 3 banners of different lengths going different directions from my scraps. I used the largest banner on the left to balance out the fewer pictures and to highlight the title. The title could have been a bit bigger, now that I look back at this.😞 The antique round brads are from StampinUp! The paper flowers have been in my stash forever and helped to make the page look more feminine along with the blinged up little bitty butterfly.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Stay warm out there! 

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Make a Wish"

My boys share a birthday, and we think it's pretty special. The boys aren't as much of a fan of it, but now that they're older, I think they see how unique it is. They're like twins, two years removed...however, they don't really look much alike.

 This particular birthday was two years ago, already! Time sure flies. As you can see from the date, their birthday is two days from now! I have another layout to share with you on that BIG day. The big news is my oldest will be 29 and my baby will be 27!! They're making me feel so old right about now. We couldn't be any more proud of the amazing men they have become!!!

This cake was something to talk about!! Cookie dough brownie cake! It was pretty amazing, but even I must admit, it was almost over the top with chocolate. At their request, I made it for them again last year, but left off the chocolate chips from the side of the cake. I will be making it again this year because they love it. It's super easy too, but shhhhhh...that'll be our little secret!

I use this mustache washi tape a lot in their layouts. My hubby and boys love their facial hair so it's perfect for all their layouts. And the plaid....very masculine!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. You'll have to stop back on Thursday for the other layout of their 2017 birthday. Love our boys!! 😍🙌They are simply our best contribution to society.

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - Indiana Fair

Who has been to a State Fair this year?  Anybody??  These pics are from a few years ago during our first time ever to the fair. We met our kids and grandkids there. So much fun to see it with them!

I thought the paper from Simple Stories "Say Cheese"was super fun for this occasion. The smaller square pics really help me fit more pictures on the page.  I simply matted my photos with a thin black matt, added a few embellishments like layered scalloped circle punches (StapinUp!) and a title with the same colors and DONE.

Hope you enjoy! You can double click the pic for a closer view. Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I have a few more State Fair layouts that I will share this week, so come back and check them out!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - " Hosanna Walk"

It was a beautiful morning to walk down the cobblestone path from the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane.

It was a long steep, and narrow road down the hill. The immediate view into the valley was a huge cemetery. It went on forever. There were some people there laying stones on the vaults. I wish I could have seen it back in the time where Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem.

 This day was a scorcher. Glad we started early in the day, but it was still exhausting for me and my knees with the steep decline. Definitely a moving experience for all of us as we walked where Jesus walked.
Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Have a great week!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Jordan River"

Here's another Israel layout! My husband decided to be baptized in the Jordan River with many of our group. It was an amazing experience for everybody.

One of our agents is from Israel, and his family still lives there. His Dad is a Pastor and was happy to do the honors of baptizing our group!! You may wonder why I didn't get baptized. I was one of the hosts/planners of the trip, so I felt like I needed to be helping out. Probably a lame excuse! Honestly, I was also a bit afraid of the muddy water, and doing it in front of a group of my peers.

My husband loved the experience! We were both baptized in our teen years, but this was meant to be a symbolic experience, being baptized at close to the very spot where John the Baptist baptized Jesus.

¹⁶ As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” - Matthew 3: 16-17

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!! 

Two Page Travel Layout - Bath House Ruins

Here's another layout from my newly completed Israel scrapbook! What a trip!!

Beit She'an was so fascinating. Beautiful columns, walls, tiles, arches, and a very interesting bath house.

 It was super hot (around 108-110)  even though it was still pretty early in the morning. But we made it without melting. I tried to envision the pool that was outside the bathhouse at one time....It would have been so refreshing in that climate.

I would have loved to seen this city when it was still intact and bustling with people.

Thanks for stopping in today.

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Beit She'an"

Here's the second layout from this marvelous city of ruins tour from our trip to Israel in 2017. I still have to pinch myself when I look back at these pictures. I never dreamed I'd be able to go to Israel!

 I used a lot more wallets on this page...Again so little room and so many pictures😂! The strips at the top and the middle are cut from travel paper.

 I managed to fit 10 pictures on here, and still had room for a little bit of design fun, a title and journaling. Another pretty simple page once I figured out how to best layout my pictures. Again...print the wallets!!

Hope you are having a lovely, crafty week!