Happy Halloween - Two Page Scrapbook Layout

 Halloween is not my favorite holiday, but I do enjoy a few things about it. Greeting the neighbors, seeing it through my grandkids eyes, and nice fall weather. 

Poor Sawyer was sick this year, so we missed seeing him dressed up. My son actually is a police officer, so his costume is legit!

This picture, bottom right (above) was the view from our porch. Lots of fun stuff happening in the neighborhood. This was four years ago, and we didn't have quite as many trick or treaters this year.

I'm not sure of the paper line, but how cute are these little bats, witch, and spider web stickers. I don't normally use a lot of stickers, but this was such a cute collection.

Thanks for checking out my Halloween layout!

Pumpkin Patch - Two Pager Fall Scrapbook Layout

 Hello! It's been awhile. 

I have so many fall layouts to share, and now winter is at our doorstep. But maybe some of you are working on your fall layouts? Here's a little inspiration, either way. 

One of our traditions that we've managed to keep up with is taking the grands to the apple orchard and the pumpkin patch. 

I'm not sure how it's been 3 years since this particular pumpkin event, but WOW! Once again, time proves to be faster than the blink of an eye. 

First...ugh, I wish I had beautiful hand writing. I spend most of my day on a computer now, so I really don't get much practice with writing anymore. Currently, I use my Cricut for most of my journaling because it's just more fun and the results are much more legible.

The pics look a little weird in the photos of these layouts. I'm not sure why, but they don't look like that for real. Anyway, I love the argyle style paper for these fall pics. Hope the layout inspires you in some way.

Have a beautiful week!

Another Birthday - One page Scrapbook Layout

How is it the middle of September??? Of course, my favorite month and season is suddenly upon us, and seems like it is slipping away too quickly. 

Yesterday was my birthday! Yikes! Those keep rolling like a slot machine, but I'm so grateful for each day and year the Lord gives me. We celebrated by eating Mexican together, followed by cake and ice cream at our house. Our big kids and their wives were tossing the football in the yard. It touched my heart to see them having fun together. It was my favorite part of the day! Our 9 year old grandson is building some great skills at throwing and catching the football too. You should have seen the smile on his face!

In honor of my birthday, I'm posting a layout from a few years back. Why do I scrapbook my own birthday? Well, because some day, these photos might mean something to the generations to come. I hope they do, but if they don't....I still had fun scrapping and preserving them. These pics are from my birthday 3 years ago. 

Peanut butter pie is one of my favorite desserts. Actually, anything with that combo is probably on my faves list. We had homemade ice cream to go with! Also... note that pictures of people blowing out their candles are rarely very flattering. :)

The paper is from Glitz Design along with several miscellaneous vintage looking scraps from my scrap stash. Peep the owl!! I've been crushing on owls ever since my now 11 year old granddaughter's nursery had an owl theme. So cute!

Well my birthday is a wrap and it's back to the grind of normal life, without all the spoiling. Enjoy the cooler weather, and break out your booties, sweaters, and pumpkin spice. Fall is here!!

Family - Two Page Scrapbook Layout

 Oh how we miss our siblings! It seems like it has been forever since we've been together. We have such a tight bond and really enjoy each other's company.

This layout is from 3 years ago and I'm not sure why I haven't posted it before. It was a pretty simple layout. Really nothing special about the layout, except that I love these humans. :)

I am pretty excited about the title. This is a draw and cut image from Design Space. Love the extra detail of the drawing. 

And the little foxy. I love foxes. They are so cute. The banner at the upper left corner is a sticker from a paper pack. I don't love using stickers, but sometimes they make sense for a quick easy layout. 

This would be a time that the Cricut journaling would have been handy. My writing is so bad! Hopefully somebody will be able to read this when they look back at it. 

I'm my own worst critique, but in hindsight, I would have carried the horizontal banner all the way across the layout. But it's fine...it's all fine. And the beautiful memories of family fun are being preserved for future generations.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Academy Graduation - Two Page Scrapbook Layout

 Wow...It's been awhile since I posted anything here. Life has been hard, and somewhat out of control. But, here I am with another scrapbook layout form my son's graduation from the police academy. I decided to add the program for the ceremony.

Look at that almost bald head! It's a little longer now, but academy is all about the close cut, super shined shoes, etc. It was such a proud day for all of us!!

I used some masculine navy hounds tooth washi tape, cut a few badges, and used my Cricut to journal. It's so much more legible than my own writing. 

Have a happy Mother's Day and enjoy your family. 

We're So Proud - Two Page Scrapbook Layout

 Today I have another two page scrapbook layout to share with you. It's been almost two years since the day my son graduated from the police academy. Have you ever been chest-popping proud, almost like your heart just couldn't hold it all in? 

Being a police officer in today's society is so dangerous, and quite the sacrifice. I'm grateful to all who take this step in serving their community. 

These pics were taken directly after the ceremony. We are blessed with a wonderful family. Not perfect, by any definition!! But wonderful, and all mine, and they make me so proud! Family sticks together through thick or thin and I pray we continue to make each other better because of our bond! 

The layout is pretty simple. I backed the photos with a light gray/blue cardstock to help them pop off the dark patterned paper. The lighter diagonal woodgrain across the bottom, and the washi help to ground the photos and draw your eye across. I overlapped a few of the photos and used a Chevon stamp and punch to highlight my faves. That's it! Simple and easy to duplicate. 

Stay tuned for more academy graduation layouts! We took lots of pictures of this proud event!

Police Academy - Two Page Scrapbook Layout

This boy of mine...gives me all of the feels. He's my oldest, and in his own way taught me how to be a Mom, a working Mom, and hopefully a good Mom. My kids are my pride and joy, even though they mess up along the way. I know I made my mistakes along the way as well. Right now, I will just talk about how proud I am of his service to our community!! My heart swells when I look back at these layouts from his academy days. He worked so hard to even get into the academy. It took almost a full year of applying, testing, interviewing and extreme physical demands in order to make his dream of being a Police Officer come true...and he did it!!

This picture above is the entire class after they were sprayed with tear gas so that they can experience how it feels. I can tell by their eyes that it was definitely not a pleasant experience. They also had to experience being tazed! Fun stuff.

He ended up graduating with HONORS! His class graduated right in the middle of all of the riots and protesting mid-2020. It's scary knowing that his life is on the line every day, but I know he is in the Lord's hands at all times. 

I hope you will stop by for more layouts! I'm trying to get back on a schedule of posting. Thanks for following along!
 

Puppy Love - Two Page Pet Scrapbook Layout

Do you enjoy winter and all that comes along with it? I like to watch the snow through my window, but that's about it. As I get older, the snow is something for me to tolerate rather than enjoy. Thankfully, the season doesn't last that long and I try to make the best of it. How about you? Did you get dumped on with the latest snow and ice that hit the midwest? We got about 10" which is less than what they expected for our area, but that's okay!

The pictures are from quite awhile back, but I realized I had never shared this layout. I hope it inspires you in some way.

This is my family and our new (at the time) grand pup. Isn't he just the cutest? He's all grown up now, but still pretty darn cute. 

Ooops, I took the picture of the double layout with the right and left sides flipped! I'm going to be lazy right now and not go find it and take another picture. I think you get the idea. I love the plaid and the denim decorative tape.

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

Together - Two Page Christmas Scrapbook Layout

 Here's another Christmas layout. Who is ready for some extended family time? I know I am. My husband's siblings are the best friends that we have and right now, I'm missing them so much.

Love the chevron woodgrain paper, even though it's not Christmas specific. We always gather a few weeks after Christmas because we have some family in retail. Any earlier and it's just too hectic. I found a whitewashed look woodgrain scrap with a large snowflake pattern for a banner to frame the title, and cut some simple white snowflakes to place around the layout. To tie in the blue title, I added blue dots to the snowflake by hand. I am happy with the way it turned out. Nothing fancy about this page, but the pictures are telling the story.

The silly pictures are a requirement with the grandkids and sometimes with all of us. I love their antics!! 

Hope this inspires you as we race into the Christmas season! Enjoy your time with family!

Happy Easter - Two Page Scrapbook Layout

Hope you made it through your Easter quarantine with a smile on your face. I will admit, it was a struggle for me. We are so used to hosting dinners for our grown kids. I miss seeing their faces around my table. We have seen each other, but it's definitely not been the same. But Easter isn't about family, going to our church building, traditions, or a special dinner. It's really about what Jesus did on the cross for us! I tried to keep that in my focus.

 These pictures are from our first Easter celebration at our new house!! Love having a little more space for everybody. Coloring eggs is something we try to do together each year...Something we didn't get to do together this year.

 There is really not much to this simple layout. I love to mix patterned paper, so that part was a no-brainer. All of these embellishments came with this pretty spring stack of paper. The title was cut from Design Space.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. More layouts from Easters' past to share this week.

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Easter Blessings"

I'm not sure how I've had this Easter layout for 4 whole years and not shared it until now! I try to post my layouts during the appropriate season of the year and apparently I forget to post at Easter time.

 Some of my most favorite people are in these photos, but for some reason I'm not a big fan of how the layout turned out. Of course, I had to share it anyway because of my cute little grand bunnies on the page!

 They're all spiffed up for church! Don't they look precious? The long piece along the bottom is folded randomly to give it some texture and depth. The banners in the top corners are from leftover scraps. I try to hang on to scraps that are at least 4 x 4 so that I can use them for things like this. It's amazing to find so many random pieces that work well together on a page.

We are blessed to have our two boys living so close to us. Both are within 15 minutes of our home! We all typically have dinner together every Sunday evening. Sometimes it's a little crazy and chaotic, but that's what family is sometimes and we love EVERY minute we have. You just never know when life can change drastically. We will all be together tomorrow (including my youngest and his wife) for Easter dinner. I just finished making our traditional Italian Crème Cake. I pretty much destroyed it, but it's amazing what a lot of yummy cream cheese frosting will do to patch a messy cake back together. :) I'm sure it will taste amazing and nobody will even know what a nightmare it was trying to get it out of the pan. Ugh!

If you celebrate Easter, I pray yours will be full of blessings, family, and sweet memories! I thank God for being my LIVING Savior. He is so good!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Future Mrs."

My husband and I were born and raised in Michigan. Most of our remaining family still lives there. We decided to shower my future DIL with a celebration up there so that our MI relatives could join in the fun. My wonderful sister-in-laws helped with all of the planning, food and décor.

 Katie's Mom was able to join too. We had a great time and she received some great gifts. My two daughters-in-love, pictured there on the love seat, are amazing young women. I have a lot of respect for them and I pray that our family will continue to grow together and love each other. We have a ton of fun. I think we spend as much time laughing together as we do eating together.

 And then there is my most adorable granddaughter!! She and her brother are the light of our lives! She can be a stinker sometimes, but I'm not surprised since I raised her Dad. 😂

 There's a lot going on with this layout, but I love all the heart garland, doilies and gemstone brads. Most of all, I love all the smiles and great memories from that day.

My family has my heart and I'm so grateful for the bond we share. Both my husband and I have already lost our parents. That means he and I are now the ones working on building and leaving our legacy to our children, grandchildren and future great grandchildren. I pray that we will leave a legacy of love, laughter, and a strong faith that will pull them through all of the tough times.

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

One Page Layout - "Blessed"

I try to do life with an attitude of gratitude, but I certainly don't achieve it most of the time. Even though I have so much to be thankful for, I sometimes get stuck focusing on the small negative things.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for that very reason. It's a reminder to focus on all of our countless blessings. It's a day to hangout with family, eat yummy food that we typically don't eat the rest of the year, and to thank God for all that he has blessed us with.

This family of mine is by far my biggest blessing. We're not perfect, and we don't always see eye to eye on everything, but we are always there for each other. The lists of wrongs are kept short, and love rules the day. Each of them bless my heart in countless different ways, that they're probably not even aware of.

This layout is from the last Thanksgiving meal we shared together in our previous home. That home holds many fond memories, and we'll never forget bringing our babies home and raising them in that special neighborhood. We're so grateful for the blessings of being able to buy it, make it our own, and enjoy it for 28 years! We're now in our new home and the blessings just keep coming. The new memories are stacking up, and we are trying to use it for God's glory in every way possible.

Thanks for stopping by today. Take time to count your blessings, even though you may be going through some rough times. Being grateful can and will change your attitude and rub off on everybody around you.

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 - "Imagine"

I'm squeezing in a few more fall layouts before we're fully into the Christmas season.

 These beautiful photographs are from a fall photo shoot in 2014. It's taken me a while to get these posted!! What a gorgeous little family! They mean the world to me! This is my son, daughter-in-love, and our two beautiful grandchildren.

 I love these beautiful paper and journaling tag from My Minds Eye "Indie Chic". What beautiful way to show off my sweet family. The title is cut from Circut's "Graphically Speaking". I used the SU washi and 5 petal flower punch topped with a brad above the journaling tag.

 As families, things are never perfect, but we never give up and we love each other unconditionally. We are truly blessed beyond measure.

Thanks for stopping by my little blog today!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Last Goodbye"

I used to only scrapbook the fun things... the events, happy holidays, and the other joyous occasions of life, but something about that seemed a little empty and unrealistic to me. Lately, I have forced myself to scrapbook some of the sad times. It's worth remembering the times that we feel totally raw and undone, not sure of what tomorrow holds for us, or how long the hurt will cloud our hearts.

 My Dad died two years ago in August. We had a memorial service, but my Mom was not sure what she wanted to do with his ashes. After some research, we decided to have the internment service at the Great Lakes National Cemetary in Holly MI.

 It was a very chilly day, but we huddled up together and sat through the short military service where we honored my Dad for the last time. It meant a lot to all of us to watch them meticulously fold the flag in my Dad's honor, and then kneel down and give it to my Mom.

We've been missing him for longer than the two years he's been gone. He was diagnosed with Alzhiemers ten years prior, and we watched him slowly slip away from us. The last few years, he didn't know our names, but I could still see a small twinkle in his eyes when we came in the room right up until the last six months or so.

Thankfully we have so many great memories to hang on to! Most importantly, I know that he is whole again, and that I'll see him one day when I arrive at my heavenly home. 

Do you scrap your sad memories? I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Double Scrapbook Layout - "Let's Play"

Oh my....they grow so fast! This is my darling granddaughter, two years ago. We get together with my son as a family every Sunday. Every once in awhile, even though nothing spectacular is happening, I'll pull out my camera. I should try to capture these every day moments more often.

 This lovely lime chevron paper is from Bo Bunny "Lemonade Stand". The felt flowers are from StampinUp!, and the lace is from Paper Studio.

 I punched a few scalloped circles (SU) and clipped inward as the bottom layer of the flower embellishments. The washi is from Studio G.

I still can't get over that this is two years ago! Maybe I'll get caught up some day, but what fun would that be?

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Have a great rest of the week.