Merry Christmas - Two Page Scrapbook Layout

 Here's another Christmas layout from 2018. Actually, we didn't celebrate Christmas with the extended family until January 2019. Do you struggle to scrapbook Christmas photos? I really struggle... I think it has to do with each year's pictures looking similar, multiple colors on groups of people all in the same layouts. I'm not sure, but they are definitely not my favorite pics to scrap.

The weird thing is I usually like the layouts when I'm done agonizing over them. One thing that helps me is using a pack of matching Christmas paper. When I can mix and match it all together, then at least the paper decision is easier. For this one, I chose a predominantly black background poinsettia paper. It seemed like there was a lot of black in the photos, so that helped tie it all together.

I used my border punch to cut some ivory trim for the edges, and cut a tone on tone green paper for the sides. My StampinUp! five point flower is my "go to" punch for quick flowers. I used two layers of red with a button. The leaves are punched with the same punch out of green cardstock and then cut into leaves. Simple... Strip journaling briefly tells the story of our extended family shenanigans.

We love each other so much, and enjoy being together for an entire weekend. My husband's siblings and nephew stay over with us, and my kids who live in town, sleep at their homes, then come back in the morning. It's exhausting but so much fun!! We can't wait until January so we can be together again!

Come back in a few days for some more Christmas layouts!! I really need to get at my Christmas cards! Did you make cards this year? I hope I still have time...Why don't I craft like it's Christmas in July??

Have a great week!!

Christmas Past - Two Page Scrapbook Layouts

I'm behind on photographing my most recent layouts. This is something I have on my "to do" list while I'm off for the holidays. For now, though, I'd like to reshare some of my favorite Christmas layouts from years past.

These are the sweet little faces of our grand babies helping us find just the right tree. I love that the whole family joins in the fun! I also love the non-traditional Christmas colors of this layout.

 Below are pics from one of our extended family gatherings! We always have so much fun together. Presents, games, food and time spent together is the BEST! We feel so blessed to have family that we love to spend time with.

 Christmas layouts can be so overwhelming for me. So many pictures, colors and distractions in all of the photos!! I just went with it below and used a lot of wallet size photos scattered randomly. The mainly black background helped tone down all the color, so that I could accentuate it with the title and embellishments. This is my crazy tribe celebrating in our old house for the last time!! :)

 Below are my three boys!! I love them dearly! They are especially proud of their facial hair at this time of year. I think they are handsome with or without it! Definitely crazy, but always handsome!

 This layout below done in a "Brady Bunch" style grid, is my most pinned Christmas layout on Pinterest.  It was so fun! The 2x2 square photos made space for lots of memories.

 Below is another extended family layout which I love, including the family photo shoot with all of us in plaid shirts. I still love the title which I actually dreamed up before we even took the photos!!

Well that is it for my layouts of Christmas past!! Hope you enjoyed! Have a blessed Christmas time with your family! Be sure to take lots of pictures!!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Big Kids"

Watching your kids grow up and become awesome adults is a major blessing! We snapped these photos of our sons and their wives enjoying Christmas last year.

 Our grands were already done opening and were playing with their gifts. Now it was time for the big kids to enjoy theirs.
These two boys are such a delight to us. We are so proud of who they have become and LOVE spending time with them just getting caught up on their week.They both live nearby and we can see each other often. That, alone, is a blessing!

I used super simple embellishments on this page. The gifts are simply rectangles with bakers twine tied around them and the poinsettias were made with StampinUp's 5 petal flower punch, doubled up with wood buttons in the center. For quick leaves, I used the same 5 petal flower punch with green paper and cut into multiple leaves and tucked them under each flower.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! More Christmas layouts to come!

Two Page Layout - "Seasons Greetings"

It's time to start sharing some layouts from Christmases past. If you know me, you know that I'm not a huge fan of scrapping Christmas. In fact, I didn't even do it for years. Now I bribe myself to do it by purchasing a fun new packet of holiday patterned paper. 😄

The Season's Greetings tag was one of my first Cricut Air projects that involved using pens! I think it turned out so cute! I know I was pretty proud of myself! The berries are cut outs to the red paper behind. So fun!

 So then I got sassy and did the holly berry borders. I believe I penned my own leaf accents to tie it in with the tag. Not too hard to do. and I love how it sets off the page.

 My cutie pie grandkids make Christmas even more special! These pics are from Christmas 2017 in our pevious home. We moved a week later! Crazy!! We didn't put up many decorations, but we had the nativity scene, a small tree on our table and a few small decorations that were easily accessible. Do I look stressed or just exhausted here! lol

I hope you are ready to see some more Christmas pages, because I have plenty more to share!! Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Plaid Tidings"

Last Christmas (2015), we were able to get together with the entire Leonhardt extended family at Mark's sister's home. Her two boys were both there, one of which came from Texas with his wife and two little boys! We had great fun together!!

We'd planned in advance to try to take a giant family photo of all of us together, not knowing when we'd all be togehter again. LOL! We all brought a plaid flannel shirt for the occasion! What a hoot!! The kids don't always cooperate, but that's no big deal.

We invited Santa and Mrs. Claus, who told us the Christmas story from the Bible. We also celebrated family birthdays that we'd missed being together for. The infamous group photo is below under the title. All except my grandson, Sawyer, were pretty excited about the picture, hence the empty chair and him crying in his smiling Mom's lap. I love it! She's learning to roll with the punches and is such an awesome Mom to our grandchildren. as you can see the picture under the star, he was pretty happy to sit in Santa's lap.

 We had a great time together! I hope that we can all be together again soon!!

 The paper is again Heidi Swapp. I love the black and white bakers twine tied around both pages. I managed to get 9 pictures on here and tell the whole story. I still had room for some cute house and tree embellies. The funniest thing is that I came up with the title for my page way back when we decided to wear the plaid shirts, long before we were even together! I love it when that happens.

Merry Christmas to you and your families!!! Jesus is still the reason for the season! Take time to remember the greatest gift we've been given. Christmas blessings to all of you!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Merry & Bright"

Last December, my husband and I celebrated 30 years of marriage in Key West, FL! What a great trip! These pictures were taken on our anniversary. We went out to dinner and then drove around looking at the Christmas lights in town. The pictures we took turned into kind of a tropical Christmas/anniversary page.

 I love the wood-grain paper from Heidi Swapp's Christmas stack. The mini lights across the top of it set the stage for the design.

 The palm tree was cut with my Cricut. I forgot to make a note of the cartridge, but I had fun decking it out for Christmas.

 The picture of us is not the best, but it still captures the memories. I'm not sure why I wasn't smiling more...I really am happy. LOL!

Sometimes it's tough to choose photos, so I print them in wallets in order to use as many as possible. There are 11 pictures here, and still room for some fun embellies.

I have several layouts from our KeyWest anniversary trip which I plan to share after the New Year. Stop back for some warm and sunny layouts.

One page scrapbook layout - "Joy"

Here's another Christmas layout with Heidi Swapp paper and embellies. It's easy to crank out nice looking layouts with a stack of paper that all blends and is easily layered up together.

 We all try to get together and visit my Mom at Christmas. She's three hours away in an assisted living center in Michigan. It's hard to make the trip up there, especially when weather is so unpredictable. She enjoys the craziness of a big group, when we can all make it, although she tires quickly.  It's nice to spend some time with my brother and his wife too! This year my son, Jacob and his GF, Katie came along.

 The ribbon is Celebrate it and the floss from Sew Easy. The title font "Joy" is a great find from the old Wild Card cartridge.

Thanks for stopping by! Stop back tomorrow for another Christmas layout!

One Page Scrapbook Layout - "Monster Feet"

Who doesn't love these fuzzy monster slippers!!!

 This is my son's GF, Katie. We love her like family and so do my grandchildren. They're hoping to call her Aunt Katie soon.

The paper is all Heidi Swapp. I popped up the tree embellies, and added some lace to give it a vintage look.

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Noel, Noel"

Are you excited that Christmas is right around the corner? I know we are. I finally feel like the shopping is done and now just some wrapping, baking, and blogging!! The great news is that I'm off work all week so I can take my time and enjoy doing these things. I don't enjoy them nearly as much when I'm racing against the clock.

I'm attempting to post the rest of the my Christmas layouts this week! So get ready for lots of posts from me! I know...shocker!

This layout is one of my fave Christmas layouts. All the crazy, silly family fun that we're blessed with at our house.

 Most years we eat a big breakfast together and then take our time opening gifts. It's typically not on Christmas day, but usually on Christmas Eve. That's fine with me as long as we're all here under our tiny roof together.😀

 I adore this stack of Christmas paper. I'm not a huge fan of scrapping Christmas pics, but this paper has made it so easy and fun! All of the paper and embellies are from Hiedi Swapp, except the StampinUp! bling.

 Aren't they just great!! I love my family so much. None of us are perfect and we sometimes get crosswise with each other, but we are quick to work things out. That's what families do.

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

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Noel"

As I look at these Christmas pictures from a few years back, not only has my grandbaby changed tremendously, but both of my boys have also changed. I'm so proud of them and the choices they are making in their lives.

We all try to make it to church together for Christmas Eve service, so it's fun to snap a few pictures in the foyer while we were all dressed up. I have a beautiful family and my life is truly blessed by each of them!

 This paper is Photo Play's "Dear Santa". I love the plaid flannel look, especially for my burly boys. The noel die cut is from Jolly Holidays with a SU embellishment for the O.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Definitely more Christmas layouts to come.

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Holiday Memories"

Do you like scrapping Christmas pictures? To be honest, I'd have to say they are not my favorite pics to scrap! I think it's because the pictures basically seem so similar from year to year. I do; however, love the memoires these pages hold! Family times are the best, so I do my best to capture the spirit of the season for our family.

This set of paper and stickers with pretty blues, greens, sweater patterns, and woodgrains is from Simple Stories "Snow Fun". The washi is from Scotch, and the brads from BoBunny.

 "Holiday" is alpha stickers that came with the paper set, and "memories" from Cricut's Graphically Speaking. I like to mix up the fonts I use in a title.

Part of the reason I don't love scrapping Christmas is because there are jut so many great pictures, and it's tough to decide which pictures get in to the few pages that I want to create! I managed to squeeze 9 pictures into this layout and still had room for embellishments and design.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Stop back for more Christmas layouts this month.

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Making Merry"

Here's a Christmas Eve 2014 layout of my crazy family. Christmas brings out the "crazies" and the cuties!

 I cut the elf legs from some patterned paper and then popped them up on the page overlapping the pictures a little bit. The paper is Reminisce "Dear Santa" and the ribbon from Tim Holtz.

The title font is from Cricut's Plantin Schoolbook and the journaling tag from WeR "Silver and Gold" collection. The poinsettia is Cricut's Art Philosophy.

 Here's my favorite cuties sitting in front of my Christmas tree all ready for Christmas Eve service at our church. I love them so much!

Be sure to stop back for more Christmas layouts!!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Singing in the Season"

My son graduated from Ball State University in December 2015 and we're so very proud of him! We had the privilege of attending many wonderful concerts and musical events during his college career.

 He was in two different choirs as well as an a Capella group. We also attended a Straight No Chaser concert with him on campus. Have you heard of them?

 This young man of ours is now singing with another a Capella group called Smooth Edge 2 here in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Lets just say that music is his thing!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I have a bunch of Christmas layouts to share this month, so stop back soon!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Tree Huggers"

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here!  Temperatures have been dropping into the low 30's and the wind has been blowing! Soon the snow will be flying. I don't mind the snow, but the sub zero temps that are coming, are not my fave.

We're real Christmas tree people. How about you? My kids have fake trees, but they sure do enjoy coming with us to the Christmas tree farm to help us find the perfect tree. These pics are from our 2014 Christmas tree hunt. It was Sawyer's first Christmas! The weather was nippy, but the sun was shining, so we had a great time.

 Look at those red noses!

 I love the little stocking hat with the SU embellishment. The paper is MME Jen Wilson 29th Street Market and We R Memory Keepers "Anthology. The washi tape is Pink Paislee. I used Cricut's Winter Woodland for the hat and trees and Jubilee "Runt" for the title font.

 Here's the whole family, minus my youngest son's girlfriend. Thankfully, she joined us last weekend for this year's tree hunt. We always go out to eat afterwards, so everybody looks forward to that time together. We actually failed to get a family photo this year! Not sure if I'll have anything to scrap from this event or not (sigh).

Hope you are starting to feel the Christmas spirit in your home. Thanks for stopping by my blog. I have several more Christmas layouts to share this month.