Rough Water- Two Page Vacation Layout

 Pointe Betsie Lighthouse on Lake Michigan used to be one of my old hangouts with the guy I dated previously to my husband. His family had a lake cottage near here and the whole family would come and watch the sunset.  My husband and I stopped there a few years ago when we were passing through the area. The water was crazy!! I love watching it crash in on the breakers! It was surprising how much of the beach had eroded in the last 35 years or so. 

I used three different strips of coordinating patterned paper across the page. Oh...I see my little strip of ruler paper on the right has slipped. Ooops! Why don't I see those things when I'm taking my pics. I wanted the little Frankfort MI tag to be at an angle but not the ruler piece. You'll have to use your imagination.

I matted all the pics in light blue to pop them off the green. I created the title and welded it all together on my Cricut. I cut a lighthouse similar to the one at Pointe Betsie and wrapped some black and white Baker's twine around it. I added some washi and some patterned Kraft flowers from my stash and used  my Cricut to journal the story.

I hope you are inspired to do something crafty!! I've had ZERO motivation over here lately. I'm going to be scrapping for 5 whole days with my friends next week so I need to find my creative juices soon!! Hope you all have a great weekend.

Waiting for Sunset - Two Page Summer Family Layout

 I've had a crazy busy summer. I've been away on business for two separate weeks, followed by some vacay days. It's been crazy, but mostly good! Hope your summer is going well.

So many fun summer layouts to share with you, so I'm going to get right to it. We had a long family weekend in Holland, MI on Lake Michigan four years ago! I can't believe it's taking me so long to post, but hey...you're probably not shocked.

Ugh...I didn't put the date on here but it was summer of 2018 based on the other layouts I will be sharing later. This paper and journaling tag came from a really cool distressed pack of paper from We R Memory Keepers. The scalloped yellow chevron banner is a paper banner by Heidi Swapp. I love how they match perfectly even though they are different brands. In addition, I added some random paper flowers from my stash.

I love all the people in these photos and the wonderful memories they bring back. Our family dynamics have changed dramatically since then. Sometimes that makes it very hard to post my layouts, but I'm choosing to dwell on the happy memories that I've documented with love. The photos of the kids playing on the beach and the anticipation of the beautiful sunset makes me smile.I really like the way it turned out and seeing all of the smiles of my beautiful family.  

 I have not felt very productive or motivated lately. I need to break that trend! When I get home from work, I make so many excuses to just not do anything, "I'm tired", "My eyes are stressed", "I need to make dinner"...you name the excuse and I've probably used it.  Then I end up doing basically nothing. Tell me all your secrets to change my lazy habits!! :)

Aloha from the Lanai - Two Page Maui Scrapbook Layout

 Here is the very last layout from our 2019 Hawaii trip. I've loved reliving the memories from this trip as I've been sharing it with all of you. Given the fact we just got a few inches of snow, these pictures are a welcome treat. I sure hope this is our very last snow of the season here in northeast Indiana!! I'd like to be done with it until December 24! 

What better way to celebrate my last share from the album than by sharing our final sunset from this fabulous trip.

If you have been following my blog for very long, you already know how much I love sunsets! I try to watch it every night, if I can! Our new home has a west facing view at the back of the house, and I love watching it sink below the horizon as often as possible. But how grand watching it set from our lanai in Maui!!

This paper already had the beautiful tropical flowers in the bottom right corner. I turned one of the pages to put flowers in both corners of the double layout. I also used the bottom identifying strip at the bottom of the paper as the horizontal strip on the page to serve as an anchor for the photos. It's a super simple (and free) way to add something extra to your page. I cut the title with my Cricut in Design Space. This was a pretty simple page, but I really wanted to let the photos steal the show.

Well that is it for my Hawaii album!! I hope that you've enjoyed it and found some inspiration. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Which one was your favorite? Are you planning a trip to Hawaii anytime soon? It's such a great escape!!

Thanks for stopping by my blog! I pray you are having a great week!!

Adventure - Two Page Maui Scrapbook Layout

 Time to share a sunny and fun layout! These pictures are from our first full day on Maui. We ventured out in the rental jeep to take in all of the sites as we drove up the west coast. We found extraordinary beauty at every bend in the road!!

The color of the water and the sky, the sun and the greenery...it's all amazing! You really need to go! I want to go back already. 

I love this tropical paper. I only had one sheet, so I cut off the floral border on the top and the bottom and used them both on each side at the top of my layout. I added a coordinating woodgrain with hints of light blue on the bottom. The title and leaves were cut with my Cricut and the mini flowers were punched with StampinUp punch and topped with a tiny pearl in the center.

We had such a blast exploring. It never got old! We went out wandering almost every day. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I hope that you are inspired in some way. Have a great week!... I should really be working on Christmas cards. 😊

A Royal Arrival - Two Page Hawaii Layout

I'm ready for some super sunshiny warm weather. How about you? I think it's time to share some of my Hawaii layouts from our amazing trip last year. It was part work trip, part vaca for us and 100% amazing!  Let's start at the beginning with our arrival!!

One of the perks of my job is to help plan our agent incentive trips. What an amazing blessing this has been for us. Especially Hawaii! We were there 10 years ago, so were super excited to go again.

We had quite a delay in our home town airport, so by the time we arrived in Honolulu it was after 10:30 pm Hawaii time. But because our travel partners are so good to me, they still had their car ready to transfer us to the hotel...the Royal Hawaiian (aka Pink Palace). What a beautiful place!! Unfortunately, you can tell how tired we were from the pictures. Tired, but super excited!!

 We received beautiful leis, chocolate covered strawberries, and beverage cups. Aren't those strawberries almost too cute to eat?

 I think this gorgeous patterned paper was perfect for the photos. I matted the photos on black, added a row of pink decorative tape, and cut leaf outlines to tuck in behind some of the pictures. The leaf outline echos the leaves in the patterned paper. Of course, after I was finished with the layout, I decided to add the little pink crown to the title. You can see it better in the top picture. I thought it was appropriate since we felt like King and Queen! I added a little spark with some Wink of Stella.

I hope you come back as I share more of our amazing adventures. We're just getting started. 😎