Always Take the Scenic Route - Two Page Scrapbook Travel Layout

 Hope you aren't tired of seeing my Wyoming scrapbook layouts. I only have a few more, and then I'll move on. Promise! 

Here's a fun layout of the route north of Yellowstone Park. Again, the scenery is amazing. So many beautiful photo ops. We stopped every 5 minutes to take pictures. 

Echo Park's "Let's Go Anywhere" paper was fun to use with these pictures. I was unsure of all the black and white pattern, but actually love how it turned out. I used the DTC Shiplap font for the journaling, cut some whimsical pines, and a fun wood road sign (I have no idea what line it's from). I loved mixing these two patterned paper and lining it with the black and white woodgrain washi tape. 

Hope you ae having a great week!!

Mom's Apple Crisp - One Page Scrapbook Layout

Everything about this layout makes me hungry. My Mom was the best cook I've ever known. I miss talking to her about recipes and getting her advice on everything from food to relationships...and everything in between. She was a great listener and stayed calm, and gave advice when I asked for it. I'm still learning from her, even though she's been gone for five years. I miss her so much. Pulling out her recipes brings her memories closer. 

I try not to make much dessert because I end up eating it. I still probably eat more of it than I should. This apple crisp hits the spot on a cool day once apples are in season. Yum!

This one page layout was inspired by my Mom's recipe in the picture. I would have loved her company while I peeled, cored, and sliced all the apples by hand. Even though she wasn't here with me, so many of her memories came flooding in.

Before I start sobbing...how about this layout? I created a down-home, country look with the red bandana patterned paper, the simple black and white checkerboard and the scrap of paper that looks like a handwritten letter. Lots of layers, and even some patriotic paper. The apple is a Design Space Image as well as the title. I like to scooch the letters together and weld them as much as possible. It just looks more designed to me than separate letters on the page. Plus, they're all lined up properly.

 Hope you enjoy the layout, and the recipe if you choose to try it out. She won blue ribbons for her cherry pie. Maybe I will have to make that some time, and take some pics for a future layout. My husband would love that. 😉

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 - "Udderly Fun"

Here's a fun layout from the Indiana Fair two years back! It's going on now. Wish we could get there, but it's been such a busy, busy summer. These layouts remind me of the sights, sounds, and yes, the smells, of our day at the State Fair.

I think we all left that barn wanting a cute baby calf of our own! 😍 They wouldn't be too much work, would they? They're actually smaller than our dog and I'm sure he'd like a playmate. 😀😁

 The cute paper is by BoBunny"Kiss the Cook" and Reminisce "In the Kitchen". I love the red accents with it. I cut the title and cow with my Circut. The State Fair embellishment was made with a scalloped circle punch and a 2" circle punch which fits perfect inside of it. I used a little bakers twine and a Kraft tag on top. I love to layer my embellies.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Come back to see one more State Fair Layout on Friday morning! 

Two page layouts - "Sleepy Head" and "Bundle of Joy"

Hello scrappy friends! I have just enough time for a quick post and today, it's two for the price of one because it's been awhile.

First up is "Sleepy Head". This layout was really out of the box for me. I fell in love with the doodle-look paper and then I had a little bit of trouble trying to figure out how to make it work. In the end, I was happy with it.

Left side:  Most of these doodles were all on the paper. How fun!!I had some leftover glitter tulle for rolling up some fun flowers. They are a little thicker than what I normally put on a page, but super cute.

 Right side: I was not in love with this page until I used the texture folder on the red cardstock. That made all the diference. I freehanded some clouds to match the doodled clouds on the opposite page. The pink and red on one page was a bit of a challenge for me...but now I am pleased with it.

Here's a closeup of the tulle button flowers. I used clear gemstones, but colored them with sharpies for more of an impact.

Here are the two sides together. My grandbaby is such a DOLL!! We sure are enjoying her.

Next up...Bundle of Joy. This layout is from when she was fresh out of the NICU. I believe it was our first visit to their house after they brought her home....so fresh and sweet!!

Left:  Most everything on this page is from the Bundle of Joy paper pack (Echo Park). I added the Tim Holtz washi tape and the lace at the top. These are my two boys lovin' on Scarlet....Proud papa Joel is in the upper right and lower left. Uncle Jacob sure does love her too. =)

Right:  More borders and embellishments from the Bundle of Joy pack. I love these pictures of my son and daugher-in-law standing on the front porch of their home with their new and precious bundle of joy. They were so happy to bring her home!!! It brings tears to my eyes just remembering all of the emotion.

Here are the two sides together.

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

Vintage Wedding Album - FINISHED!

I had such a great time scrapping this past weekend. Always great to getaway and enjoy some friends, and get some layouts done!!! I can't wait to share them. One of the things I finished up was the album of my parents wedding photos. If you haven't seen the past layouts, you can see all of them here.

 Here's the remainder of the double layouts. Hope you enjoy checking out these old photos! You can click on any of these pictures and it will enlarge for you, then just hit your back button to come back. I tried to keep them fairly simple so the project wouldn't overwhelm me, and so that the photos would be the center of attention.

I really enjoyed this project and felt honored to do this for my parents. They are such great people. They are still together after all these years....unfortunately, they are both dealing with some health issues, but I'm praying to have them around to see lots of great grandchildren!

Two double Scrapbook layouts - Vintage Wedding

Hello! Hope you are all doing well today. I'm in upstate New York getting some continuing education credits for my daytime paying job. It sure is beautiful here! We're in Lake Placid in the Adirondacks. Perfect weather. I'm so glad my hubby can be here with me enjoying some time away from the grind.

Today, I have a few more vintage wedding layouts to share with you. I took it upon myself to redo my parents' original wedding album because it was fallling apart. They have now been married 56 years. Quite an accomplishment in this day and age!! They have stuck it out through thick and thin and especially through long term health issues. I love them dearly and am proud of the heritage they have given to me and my family.

So I will admit I missed the mark on this page. =( All the way through on this album, I've been using black for the title, and I didn't do it here....Not sure what I was thinking, but after seeing it here, I will be redoing it in black. It just doesn't pop off th epage the way that it should.

The hearts were cut with my Cricut and the Sweethearts cartridge. The color is just enough darker that it shows up fine. I used the photo matt to journal some details. 

Here are the two pages together. I'm definitely going to fix the title on the left. I guess sometimes you can't see an error until you photograph and post it. LOL!  Also, I think some of the pictures I found were not the best shot. of the two of them. I used some of the better ones previously in their 50th anniversary album. But, I love these shots anyway and they were too good to just let deteriorate and turn yellow. 

Here's another layout of them walking back down the aisle after they became man and wife. Aren't they cute? I used the Stampin Up triple flower punch for all of the flowers on this page. I layered them up and topped each one with a pale blue pearl gemstone. Again, I went back to the black title (yay me!) and cut it with Quarter Note cartridge. I used my Fiskars border punch on some tone on tone patterned blue paper to edge the photograph.

Here they are with their first bite of cake.  

I scattered the flowers from top left diagonally down to the bottom right on this one. I like how it seems to draw the eye across the layout.

Thanks for stopping by today. Enjoy your week! Be sure and leave me a comment. I love to hear from you!

Simple cards to share

I cropped this weekend and believe it or not, forgot to take my pictures. Not to worry, though. I spent the whole day making cards and getting back into the crafty groove. Thought I'd share a few with you today.

These are all made from scraps. I bought a pack of white cards and envelopes on sale recently. It's so nice to have these on hand for making a quick card. Then I just pull out my scrap file and see what's in there. =)

For the first card, I used a  SU sentiment, oval punch, and two scalloped punches to matt the sentiment. The black and white paper is CM.

I used the same papers here with another SU sentiment stamp and frame. I used the scalloped punch to punch it out and then another of the same size scallop punched in black, then offset it to give it some definition. The pink matt was cut with Cricut Accent Essentials at 1/4" larger than the scallop punch. I layed 3 strips of ribbon/twine under the paper on the right side before sticking it down, then tied each in a bow after sliding on the sentiment tag.

Basically the same idea here on the third card, but used three different patterned papers and attached the sentiment in the corner with foam dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Enjoy your week!

Double double vintage wedding layout - "Family" and "The Bridal Party"

Hello! Happy Monday, if there is such a thing. =) My heart goes out to you east coast followers who may have experienced storm damage and/or power outages. Wow! The U.S. has definitely had their share of natural disasters this year! My thoughts are with you.

With my father-in-law's death and my son off to college, my husband and I are still trying to find our new normal. I've had zero time to scrapbook lately. What a whirlwind of emotions and activity!

I want to take a few minutes, though, to post another vintage wedding layout. Still working on my parents' wedding photos. I really hope to be able to work on it again soon!

Left side pictures my Mom's parents. I like the way the flowers match the matting and really help the picture pop.

Right side pics are my Dad's parents. The blue base of the flowers is punched with a SU punch and the store bought flowers are layered on the top with a pearlized blue gem for the center of the flower. The leaves are hand cut and inked around the edges.  

I like the way it turned out. It's difficult to deal with all black and whites, but throwing in bursts of color seems to help. The title again is cut with the Cricut Quarter Note cartridge.

 The second layout is the bridesmaids. The newspaper article that my Mom saved described the wedding in great detail. It's been really helpful picturing the colors in my mind. I journaled arouond the yellow matting, describing the colors the bridesmaids wore. The bridesmaids on the left are my Mom's sisters, and her maid of honor is actually her then future sister-in-law. I thought that was interesting, but most likely she chose my Dad's sister so she didn't have to choose between her own 3 sisters for a maid of honor.

Her colors were all pastel. I used some small polka-dot ribbon with the same pastels and gathered it up a little on one end. The flowers are punched with the SU three flower punch and topped with a tiny gemstone. 

The title which is split between the pages is also from Cricut's Quarter Note. 

Thanks for stopping by. Blessings to each of you!

Vintage Wedding Double Scrapbook Layout

We are home from work today helping my son pack up for the big day tomorrow. He'll be heading off for his Freshman year at Ball State University. He is pretty excited and nervous. We feel the same way...torn between excitement for him, and beginning to feel lost without him. However, we are very proud of him and will soon settle into this next phase of life...empty nest!

Now that I'm feeling all sentimental, it is the perfect time to share the first few pages of a new project. When we cleaned out my parents' condo, I found their wedding album and it pretty much fell apart in my hands. So, I brought all of their 8 x 10 original wedding photographs home with me. The goal is to preserve them, and I feel the best way to do that is to get them into a photo safe album that will hopefully last even longer than the first one. In order to have the pictures available for reprint, I first scanned each one and saved them in a separate folder (and backed them up). Then, came the fun part where I could get a little creative.

Here is the first page of the album. The flowers are from a tube that I purchased quite awhile back. I like their vintage look. I used some paper punched flowers to add to the centers and pick up the pastels of their wedding colors. The swirls are cut from with the Sweethearts Cricut cartridge. I like the soft tone-on-tones paper together with the newsprint.

The base paper for all of my layouts is from StampinUp. The entire pack is full of 4 different variations of newsprints. I thought it was perfect because of the faded, yellow look in the pictures. Neither black nor white seemed to work for me. I like the look of the newsprint, and I think that my parents will too. They have a pretty laid back, eclectic, casual and simple style. All of the photos are black and white or should I say cream and gray now that they've faded quite a bit. I found a newspaper article that described the pastel colors of the bridesmades dresses and the flowers, so my color scheme will match. 

I love how thre black titling really pops. I will use this throughout the album to help tie it all together. The font is from Quarter Note cricut cartridge. The flowers are handmade using layers of scalloped scircles. After punching them out I wadded each one up individually and then layered 3 together to give it depth. The other smaller flowers are created with a SU punch that cuts 3 different types of small flowers at the same time. I used these as centers of the larger flowers and added a gemstone for the very center. There won't be much journalling in the album, but I did add a description here of my Mother's wedding gown. All of this information came from the same article in the newspaper. I'm so glad that she saved that article because it really made these old photographs come alive for me. I typed out the description and printed it on cardstock using my commputer printer. I then matted it to match the photos on the page.  

Here are the two pages together.  

Thanks for stopping by....You'll be seeing more of these layouts really soon. It's been such a fun project so far. I've finished about 3/4 of the project already! Can't wait to finish it up. Scrappin time has been minimal lately....sad face.

8 x 8 wedding album for Gramma - 2nd of 3 posts

Here is the second post with pictures from the 8x8 wedding album for my Mom. The wedding was absolutely beautiful! Cindy put all of the details together so perfectly for their special day! We all had such a great time. I still can't believe my son is married and that I'm now blessed with a daughter-in-law. Notice the pretty pink Stampin Up felt flower on the first page. =)
So excited to have some my Mom and Dad at the wedding and had to feature their photos in the layout. I know it was a HUGE day for my parents, with their first of 2 grandkids getting married!
Here is a closeup of the layered flower. I put this together with a bunch of different items that I had in my stash. Stick pin, white doilie, fabric leaves, and the large vintage patterned flower are from a prize package that I won some time back from Paper Secrets. I had never used a stick pin, but I LOVE it here! The green and brown paper flower was punched and crumpled and inked with brown on the edges. The buttons were from my stash and I used some light olive ink on the plain white flower petals to add more definition.
Their cake was beautiful and it tasted so good! REAL frosting!!! Yay! The flowers draped around and down th cake were beautiful!