Take the Scenic Route - Two Page Travel Scrapbook Layout

 Here's another layout from our rafting trip in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This was the last full day of our trip, so we wanted to do something a little different. As I mentioned before, we didn't see much wildlife, but we had a good time and the views were beautiful from the Snake River. And did I mention, our guide did ALL the paddling. 

While the raft looks like it might be comfortable. Me and my knees were struggling with it, but it was still enjoyable.

The Cricut journaling is a bit time consuming with their current program, but it makes the story so much more legible.

The paper is Close to My Heart "Aurora", "Timber" and Scrapbook Customs "Camping Things". 

I'm not sure which brand the washi is (black wood grain), but I used that to border my patterned paper, and cut the other epehemera from Design Space. I used some miscellaneous scraps and zip strip for the banners in the corner.

I believe the mountain scene was a sticker from the Scrapbook customs paper set.

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy your week.

Float Trip - Two Page Travel Scrapbook Layout

 Wow! It's been awhile! I've been super busy with my day time job and have neglected blogging. Life gets like that sometimes. Working full time is a blessing in so many ways for us; however, it can really get in the way of my crafting. 

I have so many more layouts from our Wyoming trip, three and a half years ago. I'm so far behind in posting these and taking photos of my more recent layouts. 

Here's some photos of a raft ride that we took. It's fun to see the sites from another angle. We didn't see a lot of wildlife, but it was fun, and relaxing.

We did see a Bald Eagle. So magestic! 

The first thing I think of looking back at this layout when I was taking pictures of it a year ago, is where is that shirt? I haven't seen that in awhile. Did I forget it at the hotel? I finally found it a month ago when I was purging some clothes in my closet. It was complete buried. Excited to have a "new" shirt to wear. :)

The paper is Kaisercraft and Heidi Swapp Wolf Pack. I designed the title myself. It was a pain to cut since it was so intricate. This was before we had the offset option. Boy, that would have come in handy here. I used Cricut for my journaling and cutting the binoculars and paddles. 

Thanks for stopping by!

The Mountains are Calling - Two Page Travel Scrapbook Layout

 Hopping on again to share another travel scrapbook layout from the most beautiful, Jenny Lake, in Wyoming. The scenery is beautiful on it's own without us in the foreground, BUT it's a must to prove we were there, right? 😂

I used patterned paper and wolf card from Heidi Swapp "Wolf Pack" collection, Simple Stories "Happy Trails" woodgrain design, and Close to My Heart "Aurora across the page horizontally. The decorative tape (brand?) is such a simple way to elevate the design of the page. The title and mountain range embellishments are from Design Space along with the journaling. Each photo was matted in blue to help them pop off the patterned paper.

I hope you are inspired by this page in some way! Maybe you'll scrap some of your trips, or maybe you'll plan a future trip to the Tetons! I highly recommend it.

Jenny Lake - Two Page Travel Scrapbook Layout

 

Sorry that I've been MIA for several weeks. I'm fine! Just got out of the habit of posting for awhile. 

Here's a travel layout from September 2020 during our visit to the Cascade Canyon in the heart of the Teton Range in Wyoming. Jenny Lake was the most beautiful inland lake we have seen to date! With beautiful pines framing it all around and the majestic Teton mountains as it's back drop, it's absolutely breathtaking! You need to go see the entire area, if you haven't yet. I can't imagine how much more beautiful it would have been had we not had some of the residual smoke blowing in from the California wildfires. 

This is one of those destinations where the pictures will always fall short of the incredible beauty you experience in person.

I used a dark olive green shade of textured Recollections cardstock as a backdrop to a fun blue and green plaid from Close to My Heart's Timber Collection. Scotch brand green wood grain decorative tape makes a nice transition around the edges of the plaid. The Aurora travel stamp set, also from CTMH, came through for the perfect embellishment. This is one of my favorite stamp sets so far for travel layouts.

I designed the title myself from 3 different fonts in Design Space. I usually try to connect the words and letters where I can so that I don't have to line up a bunch of individual letters. I just prefer the way it looks to design my own and it's fun for me. The journaling is also written out with my Cricut and designed to fit in the space available. 

Hope you enjoy this layout! My favorite part is the plaid paper and the color combo. I like how it brings out the natural beauty of the photos.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! 

Grand Teton National Park - Two Page Travel Scrapbook Layout

And just like that, the Christmas season is over. We're still decorated here, but that is how we roll. My husband loves to keep things up until his birthday in the middle of the month. I try to humor him as much as possible, because he does that for me. 

I didn't get as many of my finished Christmas layouts posted as I would have liked, but I'm moving on to some of our travel photos.

We were blessed to take the most wonderful trip to Wyoming after one of my work trips in the fall of 2020, when almost nobody was venturing out.  The Tetons are truly amazing. I want to go back some day. The scenery is breathtaking. 

The title is from Cricut Design Space. So fun to find a title that is perfect and ready to go on your page. 
 

I kept the colors natural to match the beautiful photos. As the journaling mentions, the smoke from several wild fires as visible in all the pictures, but still so beautiful. I can't even imagine it being more beautiful with clear blue skies. 

We took nature drives every day. Even when there was no wildlife around, the views couldn't be beat. 

I used a natural colored tan scrap, along with some checked Kraft washi tape to ground the photos. Super easy!!

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Craft Squad - Two Page Crafting Layout

I've been so blessed to go to many multi-day scrapbook retreats with some of my bestest crafty friends!! We have so much fun together!! We get a lot done, we rest more (some even take naps😕), and we share wonderful meals together. We love making great memories, while we're scrapping our older memories!!

Have you ever scrapbooked with friends for a weekend? Do you have a special location where you go? Our favorite is Riverside Retreats in Marshall, Michigan. They have several houses situated together along the river, but most are booked for years in advance.

I love this beautiful paper! It's a little crazy with all that I have on the page, but I still love it and all of the people in the photos. I think it works! Wish my photo around the table was a little bit lighter so you could see all of their lovely faces. 

I love all the layers of embellishments. As you see, I used some wallets so that I could fit pictures of the deer family on the page too!

 I am heading off to another scrapbook retreat next week! I just can't wait to hang out with my friends and enjoy another creative escape!

Thanks for stopping by!! Hope you get some crafty time this week.

Hello Sunshine - One Page Florida Scrapbook Layout

 Here's a sunnier layout from our quick trip to Florida. Last one!! We were able to take a quick trip to the beach to just soak up some of the warmth before flying back to freezing Fort Wayne.

I used my Cricut to journal. It's so worth taking the extra time to do this!! My writing is so awful. I used a Cricut fine point pen and the DTC Bikini Babe font. 

The paper is American Craft's "Explore", and Echo Park's "Good Day Sunshine" and "Happy Camper". I love the whimsical cameras and the fun colors. The title stickers are Close to My Heart's "Blue Skies". I used a mish-mash of different products, but love the way they all work great together.

That's the last of the photos from our Florida trip! Thanks for stopping by. Hope these inspire you in some crafty way. Have a blessed weekend!

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.

Mackinac Island - Two Page Scrapbook Layout

 Mackinac Island is one of our favorite summer trips! Have you ever been? My favorite thing to do there is rent a bike and ride around the island. It's so beautiful and unique!

I love being able to cut out the states for our travel layouts.  I used it as a base for my layered title. Super fun and some what subtle with the colors I chose.

A few strips of torn washi tape and a cute orange bike added to the fun. This was during Covid...hence the awful masks. It was a hot day and I struggle with mask wearing, but they were super strict about it on the ferry ride. I thought I was going to die. Okay...I'm being slightly over dramatic.

We love watching the big draft horses and looking for rocks on the beach. They'd had some erosion to the path around the island, so it was actually blocked off on one end. We just followed everybody else around the barricade. It was probably there for liability purposes. 😎

We had a great time, and I made it all the way around with only a little whining.  LOL! I would definitely do it again as long as my knees can continue to ride!! 

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

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!

Silent Night - Two Page Winter Sunset Scrapbook Layout

I saw a beautiful sunset last night. There is something about a winter sunset. Maybe it's because we can see more of the skyline when the trees are bare, but for some reason the colors seem brighter and more spectacular. It reminded me of this gorgeous sunset on Christmas Day a few years back. I don't always take pictures of the sunset...well maybe I do. 😀

Yes, this is a Christmas layout, technically...but I chose not to use the crazy Christmas patterns with this. I liked this natural graphic background to let the pictures stand out more. I did add a few mixed plaid patterned strips in the middle. I loved this silhouette scene of the barren trees and the deer. I found it in Design Space and then broke it up and spread it out on the layout to frame the pictures.

I'm so thankful for our beautiful home!! It has been such a place of solace for us lately. No we don't really see deer in our yard, but that's okay. Maybe some day. Speaking of "some day", the back of our porch is not done yet in this photo. Now we have sloping white square pillars on a field-stone base in the outside corners and a pretty Craftsman detail in the peak of the roof, and the ugly temporary peak support is gone!  However, finishing this off is a process and it's still not done-done yet. The underside of the roof still looks just like this! I'm not a very patient woman, but I'm working on that. I'm trying to focus on the progress!

The branchy looking title was perfect for the layout. I like the way it turned out....my non-Christmassy Christmas Day layout. Hope you are staying warm and enjoying some solace of your own. Don't forget to look for the beautiful signs of God's creation each morning and evening. He is in control and the rhythms of each day are a comforting reminder of that.

Have a blessed weekend!

LOVE (Michigan) - Two Page Scrapbook Layout

 Here's a bright and fun layout to share from a recent trip to Lake Michigan...one of our all time favorite places for a quick getaway.

This one started with some pictures of blue sky water, and a couple of goofie selfies. The white cardstock sets off the bright patterns and colors. I didn't matt the photos which is unusual for me, but I liked the way they popped off the paper without the matting. The teal geometric was from my stash of scraps and the bright zig zag lines of washi adds to the fun.

I added some black silhouettes of sailboats and had fun with the title. I used some brightly colored scrap cardstock to match the Washi and cardstock, then cut a silhouette of Michigan to replace the "O". Cute? I love the way it turned out, especially the title.

My Cricut is such a great tool for titles, embellishments and even journaling. I hardly ever buy stickers anymore unless they are part of a pack of designer paper. I also used a StampinUp border around the journalling and then matted in a bright pink. My kids would vouch for the fact that Cricut journalling in just about any font is so much easier to read then my own writing. I still add my own handwriting at times, because some day they'll miss my chicken scratching. 😁

Hope this bright layout inspires you in some way! Thanks for stopping by my blog today.