Two Page Layout - "Smooth Sailing"

One of our favorite adventures in San Diego last year was sailing on the America for a whale watch tour. What a beautiful ship!

 The crew was fabulous and so knowledge about the area.

The paper is Heidi Swapp "No Limits" and Schmatic. I used the Fiskar's postage stamp border punch to frame around the photos. The journaling tag is DCWV "World Traveler" collection.

 This is one of my favorite pics of my dear husband. He's the best, and this pictures shows him off well. I can't think of a better person to partner with for almost 30 years of marriage!! What a blessing he is in my life! The die cut in the upper corner is from Graphically Speaking and the title font is Plantin Schoolbook.

Thanks for stopping by Random Memories blog today. I can't wait to scrap the San Diego trip we are on right now!!! We are enjoying it with a fabulous group of people. I never knew work could be so much fun!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Fun and Games"

When my husband's family gets together for any extended length of time, we end up seated around the table playing games. We're a bit competitive, but mostly it's just about having fun together. Our favorite game to play with a big group is Mexican Trains. Every once in awhile we have to break out the rules to make sure nobody is bending them in their direction. =)

We played together during our Christmas celebration a few weeks ago, but last year, I actually took some pictures with a scrapbook layout in mind. Do you ever do that?

The domino paper is from Pickle Press. Our family is a colorful bunch...a little light blue and red cardstock run through the crimper and some black and white ribbon was just enough to bring out the color in the photos. The file tab was cut with the Art Philosophy cartridge. I used matching teal brads to attach it to the page.

 The title was cut with Cricut's "Nifty Fifties" cartridge. My hole punch came in handy for lots of pretty colored domino dots to scatter diagonally across the page.

I took a bunch of random shots during the game, then made everybody stop and pose while I took pictures of their hands, and the funky domino design. I even took a few of the additional items that we used for the extra trains. (There is never enough trains for each person when we all play.) If you look closely, you'll see my favorite...an eyeball from an old stuffed toy that my grandpuppy chewed up.

 The pop top and bitty stamp is from StampinUp. I ran it through the Cuttlebug to flatten and fold down the edges. I layered it onto a scalloped circle, and added a ticket stamped with the date (Close to My Heart stamp set, cut with Art Philosophy cartridge), and finished it off with a little bakers twine. I loved the journaling tag from Smash. I have no idea what my son is doing in this picture above...LOL! I sure do love my family!! We have the best time together.

I hope this inspires you to gather your family and play some games!! Oh, and don't forget to have your camera handy. Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

 

Two Page Layout - "Guess Who Loves You"

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the beautiful change of colors, the crisp cool air, and  everything pumpkin including foods and decorations. It's just such a cozy time of year. I find myself shopping for sweaters, scarves, and hunkering down under a blanket each evening.

Today, I have one of my favorite fall layouts to share. Scarlet was about six months old here and sporting the most adorable owl hat.

 Out popped Grandma's camera, and an adorable scrapbook page was born. The paper is Adornit "Pink Hoot" Collection, DCWV.

 Border punches and and swiss dot embossing folder add texture to both the title and border strips. The title is from Circut's "Hoot N Holler" cartridge. The journalling tag is from K & C Company.

  I used Art Philosophy cartridge to cut some circular frames, then embossed them and cut them into pieces to frame the photos. StampinUp flower punches and the owl stamp and punch added to the theme.

 Hope this inspires you to do a fn owl page! If you have do, please comment with a link to your project. I'd love to see it!

Two Cruise layouts - "Putt Putt" and "Bon Voyage"

We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary almost three years ago now. Such amazing memories!! Every time I look at my scrapbook, I just want to escape with my hubby again.

I am officially finished scrapping all of the cruise pictures, but I still haven't shared them all...so here we go.

"Putt Putt": Have you ever played miniature golf on the top deck of a cruise ship? It was super windy that day, but gorgeous. It was a little tricky since we didn't have our "sea legs" yet.

 The colors really draw me in and they remind me of the beautiful view of sky and ocean we had from every hole on this course. This sketch is one I found online by Amy Alvis. The paper is Bazzill, Coredinations, and Heidi Swapp "No Limits". The cute green circle border at the top was made with a border punch from EK.

 All of the ribbon is from Making Memories.

I love this picture of my husband posing with the statue of the really giant woman! Too cute.

"Bon Voyage": You really can't scrapbook a cruise without using this title at least once. These pictures were taken our first evening on the ship. We knew we were off on a great adventure together. This was our first cruise, so everything was new and exciting from the curly paper on the straw to the live music on deck.

 The paper is Jen Wilson's "Breaking Free" and Moxie "Maiden Voyage". The title was cut with Cricut's Life is a Beach cartridge. I hope I get to use this again some day...soon!

 It's a little bit difficult to see the metal embellishments (Momenta), but they were a nice addition to the page. The journaling tag is from We R Memory Keepers "Great Escape".

 Here's a close up of the journaling.

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a fantastic weekend. I'm scrapping again! Anybody else??

2 Double Page Layouts - "Turtle Farm" & "Underwater Views"

What a crazy couple of weeks at work. I'm so excited to take a minute and share a few layouts with you.

I'm still finishing up my album from our 25th anniversary cruise a few years back. This layout features pictures from the Turtle Farm at Grand Cayman. The turtle and title font are cut with Cricut's "Life is a Beach" cartridge.

 The background paper is pretty cool. The aqua stains and faint writing adds to the pretty/grungy look. I did add a strip of solid aqua to break up the pattern, but then decided to add a faint script background stamp to match the grungy look.

 I added the title to the right side and wrapped it around a picture with the turtle diecut. I inked it up with a little more aqua ink to make it look a little watery. The idea was to not add too much contrast to the page, but to allow the title to blend in a bit.

 Here are both sides together. These turtles are so cute. It was fun to actually hold some of the smaller ones.

Here's another layout from our Grand Cayman excursion. Again, the grungy paper...I can't help myself. =) The friendly fish and cute crab are also cut from Life is a Beach cartridge. The layered circles reminded me of bubbles. I added a bit of Stickles to the fish and crab just for fun.

 The antique boat we were in was really interesting, and we were able to see many different types of fish.

Here is the whole layout, side by side. I still have a few more cruise layoutos to do. My album will be bursting out of the binding!! Such great memories! It's hard to not scrap them all!

Two Page Layout - "Ludington"

It's been a rough week, hasn't it? It's so hard to even watch the news with evil running rampant in our world. I don't think we are meant to understand the evil, what triggers it, or what kind of person it takes to carry it out. This is one of those weeks where I pray hard and keep trusting my father in Heaven who is still in control. My heart goes out to the families of the Boston Marathon victims. I felt like I couldn't just start a new post without sharing a little bit of my heart with you today.

 

I have no idea how to transition into scrapbooking from here, but I think some sunshine and peaceful pictures could do us all a little good. These pictures were taken in a beautiful little town on the shore of Lake Michigan. If I could live anywhere and money was not an issue, I would probably choose to live somewhere on Lake Michigan. =)



 The flowers are made from scraps of denim that I saved. I'm 5'11" and I am pretty sure that this is the first time I've ever had to shorten the hem of any piece of clothing. The jeans were "talls" and apparently there are some who are taller than me. I threw the scraps in with my scrappy treasures. I started with a Gluber circle, laying the denim around the outside edge and working my way to the middle. It looked a little messy in the center because the denim was so stiff, so I used a button to cover it.

 The picture grid is bordered on the top and bottom with scraps of paper cut with several different border punches. To keep the clean look of the page, I journalled along the bottom edge. I didn't feel like much journalling was really necessary because I've used other pictures from this destination in my layouts. 

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. Anybody scrapping this weekend??? I AM!!! Can't wait. I'm hoping to get lots of pages done. Have a great weekend no matter how you choose to spend it. =)

Double layout - Snow Fun

Thanks so much to somebody on the Google forum who answered my question on my issues with uploading pictures. Turns out it is a known issue that they are fixing...Until then, there is a work around!! YAY! What a huge help! Thank you Google person!!

Yes, my Christmas decorations are still up. Anybody else??? Maybe I'm the last one in all the land? I hope not. We do love Christmas at our house, we get busy, and well it just takes us awhile. Since the snow all melted away, the reality of all the decorations hanging around is starting to get to me. Maybe this weekend....but no guarantees.

In honor of our melted snow, I'm posting a snowy layout from last winter with our dog, Riley. He is such a good boy. We think he's very handsome too. =) That was his first winter. He's from a dog racing track in Alabama, but he obviously adores the snow!!

I had "snow" much fun with this layout. First of all the paper is a from the We R Memory Keepers, Teen Angst collection. I can't get enough of the grungy, inked- up look. I added nothing to the paper. The snowflakes are texture embossed with a snowflake folder, and swiss dots. I love the texture it added. The centers of the snowflakes are popped with foam adhesive squares.

 

I used two different strips of paper under the picture grid. The top one is red paper strip punched with a scalloped border punch. I wadded it all up in my hand, and then flattened it out and used it for my journalling. The bottom strip was fringed with my Martha Stewart scissors. I cut the long strip into small 2" pieces and then placed them at random so they look uneven at the bottom. I'm not sure what possessed me to do this, but I like the way it came out. I like it with the slightly misaligned picture grid.

Have a great week, everyone! Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Double layout - "Ropes"

My favorite time of year seems to be slipping away too quickly! Brrrr! Praying for the East Coast and everybody inland who is dealing with or preparing for "Frankenstorm". That's one serious looking storm on the radar.

Earlier this year we attended a birthday party for a friend of the family. The shindig was at a youth center and they had a fabulous ropes course, up in the rafters of the gymnasium. Crazyness! Not for me, but my son had a ball. Of course, it did make for some great pictures.

Once again, I had a lot of pictures, so placing them in a grid worked the best. The lined graph cardstock helped emphasize all of the horizontals in the pictures. A couple of different border punches on strips of paper help to draw the eye across the two pages.

That's his worried Mama looking up, praying he won't fall. =) The little bungee cords made out of braided hemp didn't photograph very well. When the paper lays flat, as it will inside the plastic sleeve, it looks way better.

I happened to have the hand paperclips on-hand (lol...coudn't resist) in my stash. I used a couple new stamps from SU on Kraft paper inked with black around the edges and a handmade Kraft flower for embellishments. I journalled right on the cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by! Take care and be safe out there in your corner of the world.

Blessings!
Julie

Two page layouts - "Dorm Sweet Home" and "Tigers Baseball"

It's days like today that make me love the fall so much. It's cool and breezy and I'd like nothing better than to stretch out in a hammock.

My son is back at college, and I'm missing him already. This seems like the perfect time to share a layout of him in his dorm last fall.



The paper is from Teen Angst paper stack. I used the Fiskars notebook border bunch and zigzag ribbon. I love the hand-shaped paper clip giving a thumbs up to his dorm room. This was such an emotional day for us. He's only an hour a way, but when they're not in their bed at night, they seem so far!

I really miss his gentle happy spirit. Both our boys have the ability to light up the room. We've been so blessed to be given the opportunity to raise them. Jacob is our youngest...Makes for an empty-feeling in the house.

We had the opportunity to take in a Tiger baseball game in July. Yep, I scrapped it already (patting myself on the back). Right in the middle of our hot, muggy, almost unbearable summer was this perfect night for a baseball game...Seriously, the weather was in the lower 70's with a nice breeze. I was so excited not to be cooking in the sun.

The best part was they played great and won. This was one of the first games in the series and very exciting to watch...that is coming from somebody who is not a fan of baseball. =) I actually find it kind of boring to watch, but this game was so enjoyable! 

I prettied up the baseball theme with a scalloped oval punch border. The word baseball was cut with Cricut's "Sports Mania" cartridge. The 3D looking stars are from Art Philosophy. I acutally remembered to work the ticket stubs into the design this time. I played with the grid a little bit to get as many pictures in as possible. It's a good thing my camera ran out of battery or I might have had to do a second two pager...lol.

Have a great week!!

Double scrapbook layout - "Glorious Views"

Hello!! Happy Monday to all. What a glorious day we are having here in northeast Indiana!! The weather is just perfect. We really need rain, but if it's not going to rain, I pick this every day!

It's definitely time to post another double scrapbook page featuring more pictures from our Lake placid, NY trip last year. The views were spectacular.

 The patterned paper is K & C Company "Happy Trails". I used my Fiskars postage stamp border punch and StampinUp! flower punch on this side. The felt leaves are also from SU.

 The  font was cut with Cricut's Art Philosophy cartridge. I use the cartridge ALLLLL the time. If you only want to get one cartridge (plese realize it would be next to impossible to restrain yourself to only one), this would be THE one to get. I used strip style journalling and miscellaneous buttons to top off the flowers.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!!! I really apreciate your comments and feedback. Have a glorious day.

Two double layuots - "Around Town" and "Miracle"

Happy National Scrapbook Day!!! I wish I were scrapping, but hopefully soon! Thought I'd better at least take time to post something. =)

This is another layout of Lake Placid, NY. We were there last fall and I'm still working on cranking out the pages. We took so many pictures. I'm trying to only scrap the best, but still have a lot to work on.

I had lots of fun with circles and faux stitching. The base is Little Yellow Bicycle's "Twig". All of the circles came from my scrap box, Cloud 9 Design, Deja Views, and more. I lined up the photos on a matt edged with the Fiskars postage stamp border punch.

The circles are made with SU 2.5" circle punch. I used journalling strips and inked the edges with T. Holtz pumice distressing ink.

The title font is from Cricut Cake's Birthday Cake cartridge.

Do you remember the 1980 winter Olympic games when the US defeated Russia for the gold medal in hockey? Okay, so I'm not a hockey fan at all, but those olympic games are a huge part of Lake Placid's claim to fame. You should check out the movie made about it called "Miracle on Ice". These pictures were taken at the arena where it all happened.

The paper is Coredinations and Paper Studio. I opted for letter stickers from The Paper Studio for the title. I matted the photos with two different colors of gray. The fun 3D looking star accent is from the Art Philosophy cartridge.

It's extremely rare for me to not use any patterned paper on a page. I wasn't even thinking about it at the time, but sure enough, there is none to be found. =) It lets the multiple pictures (9!!) shine through and be the stars of the page.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Enjoy your weekend!!