Double Scrapbook Layout - " Life's Moments"

Happy New Year!! Here's hoping that your 2014 will be filled with more joy than sadness, and more blessings than your heart can hold. We're expecting our second grandbaby in April, and can hardly wait to meet this bouncing baby boy. It's so exciting that we will have another generation to carry on our family name. We're also thrilled for our son and daughter-in-law to be blessed with both a girl and a boy in their family. We had great fun raising two boys, and I always wondered what it would have been like to have a girl. Having a granddaughter to fuss over and spoil has been such a treat for us!

Have you started working on any of your Christmas photos yet? I'm hoping to start working on mine this weekend. Maybe this layout from Christmas 2012 will inspire you in some way. I am honestly not a huge fan of scrapbooking Christmas photos. They tend to look similar year after year. But, last year I actually completed several festive layouts, and was happy with each of them. I find that it's more appealing now that our family is growing and changing again each year with grandbabies and grandnephews. =)

 These pictures were taken with my hubby's side of the family in Michigan. Mark's nephew and niece-in-law have a toddler, and our granddaughter was about 8 months old at that time. Oh what fun!!! I adore the picture of my granddaughter (bottom right) as she spots her face in the mirror on the toy! She couldn't stop squealing and smiling at herself! The patterned papers are Basic Grey's Aspen Frost. The "moments" part of the title is cut with Cricut's Graphically Speaking cartridge. This is my "go to" cartridge when I can't think of a creative title. The word "LIFE'S" was cut with Nate's ABC's cartridge.

The Stampin Up five petal flower punch makes a cute, quick Christmas flower, especially with two layers of red cardstock. The red ribbon is from Michael's. The snowflake border sticker (Aspen Frost) was sliced in half lengthwise for twice the yardage. The decorative label punch comes in handy for journaling.

 What do you think of my tree? This was cut with Art Philosophy. The swirls are cut into the top layer, so the bottom layer shows through. The swirls were to cute to waste so I cut it into pieces and layered them under the punched flowers. I distressed the top layer with ink and used multi-colored pearls from Me & My Big Ideas, then topped it with a snowflake sticker.

I am a huge fan of using wallet prints on my pages! They help to add some variety to a collage. You can even cut them into squares. There are 11 pictures on this layout!!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I'm super excited to be scrapping Friday and Saturday! It's been a few months since the last time. Hopefully it won't take me too long to get back in the groove!!

Have a productive and fun weekend!!

Two Page Layout - "Making Spirits Bright"

Today is my last official vacation day during this year. (Insert sad face.) I had more to use, but decided to carry a few over into 2014. Thankfully, there is still Saturday and Sunday yet to enjoy, then it's back to the grind. I'm scheduling a few posts for the future so that I can get all of my Christmas layouts from last year posted. 

Our family times bring so much joy and fun to our lives! The hubs and I are pretty much empty nesters now, except when our youngest is home from college. Sometimes, the house seems a little empty and lonely. Family times brings us together for fun and chaos, and I wouldn't want to miss a minute of it.

I hope you will enjoy this layout of family selfies from Christmas 2012. We had a lot of fun taking them. It's funny how a photo-shoot can bring out the fun and silliness of a family.

 Once gain the paper is Basic Grey's Aspen Frost, in addition to some Authentique "Festive". The washi tape is from Me & My Big Ideas. The chevron tape made a great place for some journaling, and gave me an anchor for my title.

I cut the stars from glitter chipboard and scattered them around the page to add a little bit of bling.

 The title font and ornament were cut with Cricut's Winter Frolic cartridge. I love the layers on the title.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!! Have a great weekend.

Two Page Layout - "Merry Christmas"

The day after Christmas is a great day to wind down from all of the Christmas hustle and bustle. There is plenty of time to shop the sales, eat leftover Christmas goodies, and just chill out on the couch. Hope your Christmas was merry and blessed!

Grandbabies bring so much additional joy to Christmas. We took tons of pictures over the last week, and I can't wait to scrap them all!! In the mean time, I will continue to share a couple more Christmas layouts from last year.

 The great patterned paper is Basic Grey's Aspen Frost collection. I love this paper. Using a matching set of Christmas paper makes it so easy to add layers to the design.

I glittered the chipboard snowflake and the negative to add some sparkle to the page.

 

 I try to maximize the supplies and add as many photos as pleasingly possible to the page. Wallet sized photos work great for events like Christmas. Anchoring all of the photos to the horizontal banner in the center, helps to draw your eye to each of the photos without it being overwhelming.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!! I hope you are able to enjoy some additional time with your families during the holidays and maybe, just maybe, some crafty time.

Two Page Layout - "Christmas Cutie"

I'm so excited to have some vacation time to use at this time of year. I'm off for a week and a half!! Hopefully I can use my time wisely and be productive, and get a little downtime in too.

As you can see my favorite baby girl seems to be the main event on many of my Christmas scrapbook pages from last year! How could she not be? Our family brings so much joy to us! I know many people are hurting at this time of year, and my heart breaks for them, as I am reflecting on all of my blessings.

 The paper is Basic Grey's Aspen Frost line. I used several layers of different coordinating papers from this set as a backdrop to the pictures. Each photo has a thin red matt to give it definition.

 The die cut ornament journaling tag is from Art Philosophy. I popped it up with dimensionals, threaded it with ribbon, and taped it on the back of the page, hanging it from the top of the layout. Photo credit to my daughter-in-law! She's doing a great job photographing Scarlet and saving a lot of money in the process.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today to see our Christmas Cutie!! I have 5 or 6 more Christmas layouts from last year, and I'm hoping to share them all in the next few weeks.

Enjoy this season of Christmas! Cuddle up by the Christmas tree with some hot cocoa!