Holiday Traditions - Two Page Scrapbook Layout

 Tis the season for all of our wonderful family Christmas traditions. First, is our family Christmas tree hunt. Even though the kids are out of the house, we have continued our real tree tradition each year. One of our sons has gone with artificial in their home and the other chooses a real tree. This year, we almost pulled the trigger on an artificial tree for our family, but we just couldn't do it. One of the reasons we almost went artificial is because our tried and true Christmas tree farm (shown below) was asking everybody to make appointments, wear masks (even outside), etc. due to Covid. We have found a new tree farm to use this year. We're going TODAY, so we'll see how it goes at the new tree farm. As you can see by the date last year, we are over a week behind!!

This layout features pics from our 2018 tree hunting adventure. As you can see, it was a beautiful sunny day, but chilly. Almost everybody was able to join in the fun. Our daughter-in-love had to work. It's wonderful to have two big, burly, lumberjack sons to help us get the tree in the car!!

I used woodgrain paper with a Christmas star pattern banner across the bottom. The grid layout helps me fit a lot of pictures on the page. I matted the digitial size pics in a taupe color which sets them off on the white star paper. The embellishments are few with three plaid mini pennants (SU punch) on the left under the title and another larger one under the date on the upper right. The title was cut with my Cricut from design space and brings out the red and green accents in the photos. That's it! Super simple.

I know this year is playing out very differently than past years in so MANY ways, but we're all trying to make the best of it!! Hoping you and yours can carry on with your family traditions as much as possible.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

West Maui Mountains - Two Page Maui Layout

 Hello on this happy first day of  December!! Can you believe it? This year has seemed so long and hard, but some how it has flown for me. Here we are 24 days from Christmas. Ready or not, it is coming.

I'm still enjoying sharing all of my layouts from our amazing Hawaii trip last year. It's time to share some more sunshine with you.

What a beautiful day this was. Of course, every day was beautiful! These pictures were from another day of explorations through the West Maui Mountains. The vegetation is so beautiful and lush, and the rainforest type atmosphere was fun to experience.

I used a large floral tropical paper from Kaiser Craft's "Paradise Found" collection for the background and added a layer of a peach which had a much smaller pattern to highlight the photos also from Kaiser Kraft "On this Day". I almost always matt all of my photos. It makes them pop off the patterned papers that I love to use. I used some orange travel washi and journaling cards and chipboard (WeRMemory Keepers "Jet Set")  tucked under the tape along with small title letters with woodgrain design.

I cut some pennants for the right and stamped a directional arrow (Close to My Heart) to add a little detail as well as some twine around the travel cards. I need to use stamps on my pages more often! I have so many that would be appropriate for scrapbooking!

There are a total of 6 digital size pictures here. I love using this size, especially with vertical pictures. They leave enough room at the top and bottom to add some design to the page.

Thanks for looking! I have lots more Hawaii layouts to share in addition to some layouts from Christmases past! Tis the season! Have a great rest of the week!

Two Page SCrapbook Layout - "Jaffa Walking Tour"

Today, I'm sharing another two page layout from our amazing time in Israel. Jaffa's claim to fame is the TRUE story of Jonah and the Whale. The Lord told Jonah  to go to Nineveh, but he went to Jaffa (aka Joppa) where he boarded a ship and went to Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

My husband took some great pictures as they walked through the town and learned more about the history of Jaffa. It was yet another blistering hot day, and everybody came to dinner sweating!! But, again, well worth the effort. We ate our last meal together as a group before we all boarded our airport shuttles. The coast is very scenic, especially with TelAviv's skyline as a backdrop. I love the colorful doors, brick walkways, and interesting architecture.

 This layout was super simple with the solid aqua cardstock, seven photos and map embellishments. A little bit of twine around the left side, camera die cut, map letter stickers, and postcard journaling to finish it off.

This is another example of how I pack in the photos. Here I used digital size photos to give enough room to stack the vertical photos on top of each other still leaving a bit of blank space all the way around.

Hope this layout inspires you in some way!! Thanks for stopping by. One more Israel layout to share soon!! 

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Family Fun"

 

Here's another layout from our extended family time in Michigan two years ago. We had such a great time being together, even though we had a full house!

Here we are gathered in the living room just being together and enjoying a meal on the porch. It doesn't get any better than this.

 Great food and fun together! This is summer at it's best!

Thanks for stopping by today. My next layout will be a pool layout, so be sure and stop back for more family fun layouts.

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Finally - Dream Home"

If you've been reading any of my posts, you know we moved into a brand new home a year ago. It's been a wonderful experience for us! Something we'd dreamed of doing for a very long time.

 These pics were taken about a week before moving in on December 29, 2017. The moving experience was one I don't ever want to repeat! I hate moving, but moving in sub zero weather is just ridiculous! However, it was totally worth it to get into our new home and start enjoying it.

It's been a fun year of decorating, getting organized and starting some of our own projects that we took on. My husband loves a project (or five). Unfortunately, he doesn't have a lot of time to actually make them a reality, but we'll get there and in the meantime, we're loving our new place and making lots of memories here. 

Thanks for checking out our new place. Stop back soon! 

Two page Layout - "Grateful - Thankful"

Here's another layout from my 30th work anniversary celebration! My oldest son (tall, dark and handsome bearded one) and grandson (short one with blue eyes, who doesn't look much like his Daddy) were able to stop by for a cookie. My oldest friends from work were, of course, there by my side as well. I'm truly blessed with good, solid, true friends at work.

 This smiley friend above in the bottom, left corner picture with me is such a hoot! We have way too much fun. We've been working together for 20 years or so... and we never cease to crack each other up. We have so many stories to tell...we really should write a book. I've been working with my beautiful friend (upper left) for 30 years now! She was at Brotherhood before me. She greeted me within the first week. We got to know each other and have been besties ever since. We even hang out often when we're "off the clock". So she must truly enjoy my company, right? 😜

 My silly grandson has the biggest blue eyes ever!! 😍😘 He had fun hanging out with us for a little while and eating yummy cookies.The handsome man next to me is my husband of almost 33 years! He loves me well and I'm truly blessed for his example of gentleness, kindness, and patience in my life.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today !! I'm not sure what I'll be posting next, so you'll just have to come lookin'.