It's All About the Cookies - Two Page Christmas Scrapbook Layout

 Oh I miss the cookie making! We didn't have time to get together for this tradition this year. It makes me sad, but I'm also trying to be realistic with everybody's schedules. I miss it! Hopefully we can make a few in the New Year before the extended family gathering. We'll see. 

I like the non-traditional aqua paper for this layout. It "makes it" for me. I used the cut and draw feature for the "cookie" title. It gives it a vintage, homespun vibe.

Sometimes family pictures break my heart for the way things were, but at the same time, these are such fond memories for me, I can't "not" post them.  

I was able to get 8 pictures on this layout and still add some patterned paper and journaling. I call that a win. Hope this inspires you in some way!

I'm still not ready for Christmas, but here I am blogging about cookies from 3 years ago. Thanks for stopping by! :) 

Road Home - Two Page Hawaii Scrapbook Layout

 Happy St. Patrick's Day! Spring is coming, and I'm so grateful for the warmer temps. I've been really busy at work, and at home. Gosh...I need a nap!!! But I decided to take time to squeeze in a quick Hawaii post for a little inspiration.

As I mentioned in our last post, we took the sketchy road home from Hana. We had a jeep, so why not? We were not the only tourists taking this route, and I was grateful to see a few other cars on the road. It's hard to see from these pics, but there wasn't much of a road for a little while. It was starting to rain, making the super narrow little roads even more treacherous. But, we made it through and the views along the way were so unique and breathtaking.

I quite often make a grid with my pictures. Mainly because it allows me to fit a lot of them on a page, but also because I think it makes it easier, at least for me.

I cut the road signs on Cricut and popped them up. The palm branches and clear pearls that look like water droplets were just enough with the large scale palm pattern paper on the left. 

Hope this layout inspires you in some way! Have a blessed week!!

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!

Adventure - Two Page Maui Scrapbook Layout

 Time to share a sunny and fun layout! These pictures are from our first full day on Maui. We ventured out in the rental jeep to take in all of the sites as we drove up the west coast. We found extraordinary beauty at every bend in the road!!

The color of the water and the sky, the sun and the greenery...it's all amazing! You really need to go! I want to go back already. 

I love this tropical paper. I only had one sheet, so I cut off the floral border on the top and the bottom and used them both on each side at the top of my layout. I added a coordinating woodgrain with hints of light blue on the bottom. The title and leaves were cut with my Cricut and the mini flowers were punched with StampinUp punch and topped with a tiny pearl in the center.

We had such a blast exploring. It never got old! We went out wandering almost every day. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I hope that you are inspired in some way. Have a great week!... I should really be working on Christmas cards. 😊

Sail Away - Two Page Hawaii Scrapbook Layout

This is my last day of working from home full time!!!😩 I really don't want to go back to the office yet. I've been so productive! But I'm psyching myself up to return next Tuesday. Right now I'm distracting myself from thinking about that with all things crafty.

Today, I have another Hawaii layout to share. These pictures were taken during our sunset dinner sail for our award winning agents.  The views from the water were amazing!! Unfortunately, the sea was a little rough!

The Wanderlust tag at the top was drawn with my Cricut with an image from Design Studio. I love how it turned out. Layering it with a few seafoamy green pennants really made it pop against the blue. I love the color combo. This chevron paper was in my stash and it was a fun way to highlight the picture of my husband and I. The StampinUp! Bitty Banner punch with a mini brad adds a little extra detail.

 Laying the pics in a grid with a white border helped me fit more pics on the page. I stretched the title across the top, and layered with a white sail boat and waves.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Hope you have a fabulous Memorial Day weekend honoring all of those who gave their life in service to our great country!

Celebrate Love - Two Page Wedding Scrapbook Layout

Is anybody else happy that it's Friday?? Man, it just couldn't come soon enough for me this week. I love my job, but sometimes, I'd just rather be home playing in my craft room!

Today, I have another layout from my son and daughter-in-law's wedding album. These pictures were taken directly after the ceremony, outside of the chapel. The lighting was so perfect!

 Choosing pictures was the worst...so many great options! Thankfully, I was able to pack a lot of pics on this page.

 Aren't they they cutest couple! We are chest-popping proud of both of our boys! We are blessed beyond measure, for sure. Their wives have brought so much additional joy into our lives. The empty nest stage of life is growing more familiar and enjoyable as our kids become the great people we always hoped and prayed they would be. 😍 The resulting grandchildren are our greatest reward for surviving the toddler and teen years.

 It's such a cute saying, but honestly, there was no "stealing" necessary!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Have a blessed and crafty weekend!

Daddy's Little Girl - Two Page Wedding Layout

Here's a layout of my beautiful daughter-in-love's "sneak peak". She wanted to let her Dad be the first to see her in her dress before the ceremony. It was a very sweet moment for the two of them. I love these photos. She has a very close relationship with her Daddy. What a blessing for both of them!

 The left piece of paper is flipped over purposely so the flowers would come down from the top to help frame the photos. I cut out the 3 flowers (bottom left) from another piece of paper in order to have them in both bottom corners as well as the top.  I lined up the pictures in grid format, and used a scalloped border punch around the bottom edge. That's it! Pretty simple.

 I cut the title with one of the fonts in Design Space after kerning the letters so they touched and welding each word so that it cut as one word. It's definitely worth the effort.

Hope you like the layout! It's been fun sharing their wedding layouts with you! Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Next up with bee the family pics taken before the service.

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Pool Time"

As promised, here's my pool layout. 😀 We have so much fun together! This pool looks so inviting right now with the heat wave we've had going on. Guess we need our own pool. 😎

These pictures are from time with our extended family in Michigan two summers back. We don't get to see our TX family very often, so it's always a special time together when they are able to join in the fun.

 Doesn't this look inviting? I used some fun patterned paper for the title to jazz up the plain background. The washi tape and white puffy clouds seemed like the perfect addition. I doodled around the edges of the clouds and sun with a white gel pen. The center of the sun is popped out with dimensionals.

 These pictures are from two years ago and so much has changed since then. It is so bittersweet to see them all grow up. My youngest son wasn't even married yet in these pictures, my Mom was still alive, and my youngest grandchild wasn't even in pre-school yet. Time sure does fly!!

Feeling super blessed by my family!! Hope you enjoyed checking out my pool layout. Thanks for stopping by!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "City of Ruins"

So many ruins, and so little time! We did our best to see it all in the 110 degree heat! This layout is of Beit She'an! I just realized I need to remove an "n" from my title😕. This was our first stop on our travel day from Tiberius to Jerusalem on Day 5 of our trip. I'll have a few more layouts from this location, because there were just too many great pics and I struggled to choose.

 I'm not a huge fan of this patterned paper, but I really like it with these pics and the green photo matting. The paper is from a large travel stack that I've had in my stash for awhile. The gears are embossed and shiny.

 Extensive excavation of a large mound in Beit She'an has revealed over 20 layers of remains from ancient civilizations. It is mentioned in the Bible several times and is best known as the site where King Saul and his sons were hung from the city walls.

This layout is super simple...line them up on green paper and top with a few strips of washi.  Hope you are inspired in some way by it. More to come! Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Noel, Noel"

Are you excited that Christmas is right around the corner? I know we are. I finally feel like the shopping is done and now just some wrapping, baking, and blogging!! The great news is that I'm off work all week so I can take my time and enjoy doing these things. I don't enjoy them nearly as much when I'm racing against the clock.

I'm attempting to post the rest of the my Christmas layouts this week! So get ready for lots of posts from me! I know...shocker!

This layout is one of my fave Christmas layouts. All the crazy, silly family fun that we're blessed with at our house.

 Most years we eat a big breakfast together and then take our time opening gifts. It's typically not on Christmas day, but usually on Christmas Eve. That's fine with me as long as we're all here under our tiny roof together.😀

 I adore this stack of Christmas paper. I'm not a huge fan of scrapping Christmas pics, but this paper has made it so easy and fun! All of the paper and embellies are from Hiedi Swapp, except the StampinUp! bling.

 Aren't they just great!! I love my family so much. None of us are perfect and we sometimes get crosswise with each other, but we are quick to work things out. That's what families do.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!!! See you soon.

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Zoo Day"

The Australian adventure is always a highlight of our local zoo. Scarlet really enjoyed watching the kangaroos hop around. So did Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Jacob!

 The paper is StampinUp! The title font is Jubilee cartridge. I used the Fiskars border punch for the postage stamp look, and the SU decorative label punch to journal some of the high points on the photos. My favorite is the cute little kangaroo die cut (Zoobaloo?) and the butterfly ribbon on the left.

 Wallets were very helpful again in capturing all of the memories and fitting them all in.  I can't help myself...there are just too many cute pictures of our day. :)

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!!!

Two page scrapbook layout - "A Wild Day"

Here's a little zoo layout from two summers back. I can't believe how much she has grown since then!  Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Jacob had fun with our little darling and experienced all the fun zoo exhibits with her. She had fun and was such a good girl. We met up later with her Mom and Dad and saw a few more exhibits together. We took her to the zoo a few weeks ago and will have more fun pictures to scrap...This time with little brother too!

It's so hard to choose the best pictures for a layout. I limited myself to two zoo layouts for that trip. Ugh....so hard to do! This is one reason I order a lot of wallets. I was able to use 14 pictures here and highlight my favorites in 4x6 size.

 The paper is My Minds Eye "Indie Chic". and I used the Zoobaloo cartridge for the vine.

 The journaling card is one I had in my stash. I'm not sure what the brand is, but I have used so many of them for vacation photos, that I went back and bought more.

Many of the layouts I see on blogs and Pinterest use just one or two pictures. I love the look, but it takes a lot of product and time to do a layout. I guess I like to make the most of my resources and time, especially when I'm scrapping an event with so many great photos to choose from.

Do you ever scrap with a lot of photos? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Two Page Layout - "Best of 2013"

My thoughtful daughter-in-law gave me an envelope with some great pictures of various events that had happened throughout the year. Many of these pictures I hadn't scrapbooked yet. So, I did a Best of 2013, kind of a year in review page.

I'm somewhat ashamed that this is now 2 years old! However, to my credit, I keep plugging away and posting things as I have time. I'd like to post more often, but since I work full time, my blogging time is limited. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

 The bottom right picture is extra special to me now as my Dad is pictured in the bottom right photo (above). It would have been taken spring of 2013. He had Alzhiemers and was starting to look pretty frail and having issues with falling at that time. The disease took his life in August, 2014. I sure do miss him!!

My sweet Mom is pretty lonely without him. She has Parkinson's and her mobility gets harder every day. It's so hard to watch, especially living 3 hours away. God is definitely in control, and I know I will see my Dad again some day. Hopefully we have many more smiles, laughter, and memories with my Mom. She is such a special lady. She adores her great granddaughter!!

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

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Team Spirit"

Here is another BSU football layout from last fall. Go Cardinals! Chirp Chirp!!

 BSU won with the help of the amazing Charlie Cardinal keeping the team spirits high!

I love the various colors of blue stars on this green paper!! The team colors are red and white, but who says you can't branch out a little and use some other complimentary colors?

 

This was a super simple layout using a grid with Washi tape leading the way across the page. The red ruler tape is so fitting for football in addition to the grid paper. Thanks for stopping by my blog again. Enjoy your week.