Hazy Sunset - Two Page Travel Sunset Scrapbook Layout

 Here it is! The last layout from our trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and the Grand Tetons. It's taken awhile to get through all of these, but we made it!

As previously mentioned, there was a thick, smoky haze over the mountains while we were there, unfortunately. Not a clear, crisp view, but WOW! I love a good sunset and this was beautiful in it's own way.

 The paper is Close to My Heart's "Aurora". How perfect! All of the embellishments were cut with my Cricut in Design Space. 

Thanks for sharing this amazing trip with me! I hope you take the time to visit the Grand Teton area. I've been blessed with some amazing trips, thanks to being a meeting planner. This has been one of my favorites! 

I'll be back soon. Not sure what I'll be sharing next! It will be a surprise for both of us.

 

Honor -Two Page Graduation Layout

Here's another two page layout from our oldest son's graduation from the Police Academy. These photos were taken before the ceremony and it was the first time we saw him in his dress blues! Wow...such a chest-popping experience for his Mom and Dad. Yes there were tears from his Momma, and still are when I look at this layout. He worked so very hard for this and HE DID IT! I love everyone in these pictures!! Sometimes family life can be really hard and heart-breaking. But, I love seeing all of the happy faces here and that is what I will try to dwell on.

It may seem like an odd patterned paper choice, but I am very happy with it. I love how the green pulls the color from my granddaughter's dress and really pops off the blue. Stars are a perfect embellishment for patriotic layouts like this. I just happened to have some little bronze stars to add to the center! I love it when I have the perfect finishing touch hiding right there in my stash. 

Hope you enjoy this super simple layout that holds so much meaning for me. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog today! 

Masculine Birthday Cards

 Brrrr.....Baby it's cold outside. I wish I could sit home all day, and make stuff. No, really. I'm ready to retire, but my age bracket doesn't quite hit than benchmark yet...Nor does my IRA. Looks like I need to keep my day job. Do you look forward to retirement? The older I get, the more I can't wait!! 

Today, I thought I'd share a few masculine birthday cards with you. I honestly, struggle with cards in general as compared to scrapbooking. Typically I browse my Pinterest boards and find something for a jumping off point. 

I love this city scene. I think it is super cool. This one was created for one of my nephews. I liked the simple black and white color scheme. The stamp of the city is cut out and popped up with foam squares, but it would also work as super quick one layer card.

I can't get enough of tree stamps. Fall is my favorite, so trees, leaves, pumpkins and the like run rampant in my collection. This was a quick card, but it looks classy. You could add additional layers of colored solid cardstock under the patterned paper, or not...you choose.

This is probably my favorite on this post. Striped washi tape, grungy background stamps, a bit of ribbon, a popped up bright red star, and a graphic birthday stamped pennant. The colors give it a masculine look, but it would be fun experimenting for a similar grungy girly look.

This one is my second favorite and so stinkin' simple. If you are like me, you have a ton of patterned scraps. Grab some with coordinating masculine colors/patterns and cut a mustache either by hand, or on your Cricut. Add some grungy dots and you're done. The men in my life all love their facial hair, so it was perfect.

Team Work - Two Page Hawaii Layout

We always plan a session of team building events for our Agent Trips. This one went off without a hitch and the agents are still talking about how much fun they had! We broke the huge group of people down into smaller groups who worked together as a team to accomplish each of the challenge events, gather points, and compete for the winners' bragging rights. 

The games were played out in the beautiful shady courtyard of the Royal Hawaiian. Thankfully, the rain held off, and  it was a little overcast. Each of the games required all team members to participate in some way and to work together. It was so much fun to watch them surfboard in unison, put together puzzle pieces, throw coconuts, fish for items, and throw water balloons to each other for the final competition.

Insurance agents are fiercely competitive, but these particular agents are also building strong bonds of friendship with their peers and spouses. It's so fun to see them come together and "play". With all of the colorful bandanas designating each team.

I went with colorful paper and stars for embellishments. I used my Cricut to write the journaling and placed it at the bottom under the pics continuing across the two pages.  Matting each photo on white helps them to pop! It turned out to be a very colorful page and I love reliving the fun memories of that day every time I look at it.

Hope you will stop back for my Hawaii layouts. Have a crafty week!

Birthday Boy - One Page Masculine Birthday Layout

The sun is shining in NE Indiana today and I am grateful! I'm still working from home, but I'm loving the sunshine streaming in the window. I even took a little drive just to soak it in through the sunroof. I hope you are enjoying a beautiful day.

Speaking of sunshine 🌞...this man lights up my world in so many ways. He is my rock and my forever love. I don't know what I'd do without him.

I believe all of the paper used is Graphic 45. I love mixing all of the patterns here! It was fun to put together all of the elements for this page. I rarely pull out my mini alpha stickers, but sometimes they are the perfect touch. The sentiment stickers were from another set of paper, but I think they worked well with the style and colors.

Hope you enjoy your day!! Thanks for stopping by!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Houston e4"

Every now and then, I'm invited to go to a conference for work. This was a travel conference, and it was pretty amazing.

 My room had a great view of the ballpark and downtown area! We were able to pick out our own gifts and actually fill a bag with lots of different items from a store they'd set up in the hotel, just for the conference participants. How fun is that?

 I really liked the colorful logo they used to depict Houston, so I printed a picture of that and found  patterned paper (in my scrap stash) and embellishments to match. The circle of stars was cut with my Cricut with the Edge to Edge cartridge. I used some of the cut out stars around the page, because they were too cute to waste!

I loved the conference and learned some things. The hardest part for me was not knowing anybody, but I put myself out there and met a few people. It was a great experience!

Thanks for looking! 😊

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Happy Birthday"

Wow...I sure have been holding out on all of the birthday layouts. Here's a layout of my grandson's 3rd birthday.

 Lots of pictures, but also a little bit of white space. I love all of the colorful stars.

 This little dude makes my heart smile. He is a sweet boy and doesn't like to disappoint, but he can be ornery! And the energy level....Wish he could share that with his Grandma!

 My son's fiance (now wife) asked my daughter-in-love to be one of her Bridesmaids during the party. Of course, this was a highlight of the day! I love them both, and we feel blessed that our son's have found the love of their lives. We've watched with joy as our boys have grown up and turned into amazing husbands!

 Super simple layout, but the stars and the title set it off for me. Hope you find some inspiration and have a scrappy week!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Made in USA"

Happy Labor Day! I hope that you are proud to be an American, like I am!! Thanks to all the workers past and present who have contributed to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of this great land!

Yes, I realize this is really a Memorial Day layout, but it's patriotic, nonetheless! It's time to proudly show off our stars and stripes. This layout features  my precious grandbabies from two years ago. We're helping to raise them to love and honor their family, their communities and to be proud of this great nation that we are blessed to call home.

 The die cut title is from Cricut's Stand and Salute cartridge. I love the baby blue with the typical red and navy blue theme. I had the washi in my stash and the paper is Bazzill Basics "Freedom" along with the banner on the right side.

For me, no summer holiday is complete without family, food, and the great outdoors. I hope you are able to spend time doing what you love today and celebrating life in the land of the free.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "HOLLYWOOD"

A visit to Hollywood was never on my bucket list, nor am I a big fan of the entertainment industry in general. That said...we were so close to Hollywood we wanted to stop and check it out. It was definitely something to see.

 We enjoyed checking out the stars on the Walk of Fame and trying to find a good place to snap a pic of the Hollywood sign.

The sidewalks and streets were wall-to-wall people at one point and I was literally starting to panic. Apparently there were some celebrities from Magic Mike who had just pulled up in limos. People were going crazy....ugh, not my thing at all, but it was all part of the experience.

Basic black cardstock was my best bet for the craziness of this page, because I definitely wanted the Hollywood title to be in white like the actual sign on the hill. The patterned paper and Washi are from Glitz Designs. I added a few more stars with some bling as embellishments. There are 12 pictures on this page!! Thank goodness for wallets! I could have used flip flaps on this page because we had so many pictures, but I just couldn't make it work with the design. So, I picked my favorite photos, took a deep breath, and told myself I didn't need to scrap every last one of them.

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Purple Mayhem"

Are you ready for some purple? My son was part of a men's a cappella group called Note to Self at Ball State. The whole family went down to watch one of their performances called Purple Mayhem. Whenever our two boys get together they get a little goofy.

 Oh man...the girls were swooning with my two handsome boys showing off their modeling poses.

 The paper is Teen Angst. I've had this stack forever and have enjoyed it immensely. It's edgy, bright colors with metallic accents are pretty fun. Since both my boys are sporting facial hair, I thought a mustache would be appropriate, along with the mustache washi. Super silly!

These two crack me up and I can't get enough of them. They've grown closer now that my oldest is married and out of the house, and it's fun to see them goofing off.

My youngest is now graduated, but Note to Self lives on and is becoming more well known in the world of a cappella.

Thanks for stopping by today!! Have a wonderful weekend.

One Page Scrapbook Layout - "Daddy's Boy"

This is one of those unplanned photo shoots that turned out so perfectly! These were taken outside my son's home on the morning before our grandson's first birthday party.

 I typically do full two page layouts, so this is rare for me, but I absolutely adore how it turned out. I picked up the title idea from a layout I saw on Pinterest. I'm in love with all of the color, and those two special guys in the pictures.

I simply adore my entire family, and we're blessed beyond words to be so close.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Go Blue"

We are originally from Michigan, and we are true blue University of Michigan fans. My husband sometimes gets free tickets from work which makes him a very happy man. He loves the game and the time with his sons, friends, or whoever he decides to bring with him.

 As you can tell this was a colder game in November of 2014. They look a little cold, but they still had a great time watching Michigan beat Indiana.

 I used a bunch of scraps for the embellishments on this page. This is one reason I save my scraps. Sometimes they will give me the inspiration I need for the page. Normally I wouldn't have used green for  U of M page, but the striped piece had green, so I thought, why not? You can only have so many maize and blue pages, right?

 

Thanks again for stopping by my blog. 

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.

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 layout "Dream Rides"

Hello! Have you seen the great contest over at Page Maps blog? Check out all of those sweet embellishments we can win!!! I decided to do a layout based on the sketch and give it a try.

Here's the sketch they provided.

 

I made mine into a 2 page layout...that's just how I roll.

The pics are from the Detroit Auto Show that my guys try to get to each year. This year they met up with family and had a great time dreaming about their next car!! Yea....well they're probably never going to own one of these, but it's free to dream, right?



My favorite display from the pics they took is the cool green car in the center here which they displayed on an orange track like a HotWheels car...Pretty cool!!

Here are some closeups of the diecuts and embellishments, including my cute little flag. I freehanded it, and think it turned out pretty cute. I popped up the center to give it some life. The sketch used a file tab as a matt behind the main pictures, so I cut this one with my Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge and used metallic dots on each side of the tab.

I topped the smaller star with a circle and cut in at an angle towards the center all the way around to give it a spiral lok and added another metallic dot in the center. Like the sketch, I tucked my journaling tag behind one of the photos so as not to detract from the pictures.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!! Have a marvelous week and I hope you are able to work in some time to do what you love. =)