Horsin' Around - Two Page Scrapbook Layout

 Here's another layout to share from our trip to Wyoming's beautiful Grand Tetons. We stayed inside the Teton Village. These horses lived on the corner as your turn into the village. We rode bikes past there a few times, and had to stop and talk to them. 

Of course, I wanted to bring one home with us💗!!  Do they even have a clue of their beautiful surroundings? They're living the best horse life possible! They can wallow in the mud, munch on the grass, or hang at the fence and mingle with the curious tourists for lots of "pets".

For this layout I used Kaiser Kraft's "Let's Go Collection" and ephemera. I'm not sure if the brown leather look paper was part of that set or something from my scrap stash. I designed the title in Design Space and also cut the camera, horse silhouette, and horseshoe. I went with Cricut journaling cut into strips. Pretty simple layout! The focus stays on the beautiful creatures! Wish I had a picture of myself with them, because I was much more enthralled than my hubby.

Thanks for stopping by for some travel and equine inspiration! Enjoy the rest of your week!

 

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Jordan River"

Here's another Israel layout! My husband decided to be baptized in the Jordan River with many of our group. It was an amazing experience for everybody.

One of our agents is from Israel, and his family still lives there. His Dad is a Pastor and was happy to do the honors of baptizing our group!! You may wonder why I didn't get baptized. I was one of the hosts/planners of the trip, so I felt like I needed to be helping out. Probably a lame excuse! Honestly, I was also a bit afraid of the muddy water, and doing it in front of a group of my peers.

My husband loved the experience! We were both baptized in our teen years, but this was meant to be a symbolic experience, being baptized at close to the very spot where John the Baptist baptized Jesus.

¹⁶ As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” - Matthew 3: 16-17

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!! 

Two Page Travel Layout - Bath House Ruins

Here's another layout from my newly completed Israel scrapbook! What a trip!!

Beit She'an was so fascinating. Beautiful columns, walls, tiles, arches, and a very interesting bath house.

 It was super hot (around 108-110)  even though it was still pretty early in the morning. But we made it without melting. I tried to envision the pool that was outside the bathhouse at one time....It would have been so refreshing in that climate.

I would have loved to seen this city when it was still intact and bustling with people.

Thanks for stopping in today.

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 Pasge Scrapbook Layout - "War Torn"

Time to post another layout from our Israel trip in 2017.

 We took a jeep tour up into the Golan Heights area. The country was very beautiful, even though it was a bit sun-scorched and barren. Of course, it was very hot. They don't get very much rain there, so everything just looks extremely dry.

We drove along the green line of cease fire, just inside the border. When we got to the top, you could see for miles, including where Israel, Syria, and Jordan borders meet. We could hear shells exploding in the distance! One of our other groups taking this tour on a different date was told not to stand too close to the edge of the mountain as they were in range! A little scary to think about, but incredible that this is every day reality for the military in Israel. As you can see in the far left wallet sized picture, we were able to meet some Israeli soldiers at one of the military posts. They looked so incredibly young!

I used some travel washi showing the world, alpha stickers for the sub title,many banners from scraps I had in my stash, and a few brads to secure the banners. Hope you are inspired!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Mount of Beatitudes"

Today, I'm sharing another layout from my newly completed Israel scrapbook. The Mount of Beatitudes was one of the most beautiful spots we visited.

 As a group, we found some shade and took turns reading scripture. It was still morning, but boy was it hot outside already! 

 It was so surreal that we were there at the spot where Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount!! The view of the sea was amazing! They built a church here to represent the Biblical significance of the area. I have another layout that shows the inside of the church, but the grounds were so lush and green, these pictures deserved their own layout.

I used washi to frame the photos. It's subtle, but it's a repeating pattern of a world map. My journaling around the edge comes partly from the Sermon on the Mount. A few layered, punched flowers and a bright pop of green keeps the focus on the pictures.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! I hope the sun is shining where you are today!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Ancient Fishing Boat"

Here's my third layout from my completed Israel album.

 The remains of this ancient fishing boat were found along the shore of the Sea of Galilee in 1986. It was painstakingly uncovered, restored and put on display. There were many amazing pieces of history on display at the museum.

I tried to keep my embellishments to a minimum throughout this album. The point is for the photos of our wonderful trip to be the spotlight and tell the story.

 I hope these layouts will spark ideas for your future travel layouts or any kind of layout, actually. When I look at layouts others have created I'm usually trying to find the best way to arrange my photos on the page, where to put the title, journaling, embellishments, etc. I get a lot of ideas from Pinterest, but many times I just start laying out my photos to see what works. I tend to use a lot of photographs on each layout. Especially with this album, since I had so many great photos to choose form.

Thanks for following! Have a crafty week!! It's starting to look a bit like spring here in northeast Indiana. Thunderstorms are on their way later tonight.

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Sea of Galilee"

Ever been to Israel? Is it a bucket list trip for you? We never thought we'd fulfill this dream, but in 2017 we were invited to go for a work trip! What a surprise and great blessing!

 First day of touring was a short sail on the beautiful Sea of Galilee! It was smooth as glass that day and it was hard to imagine that is where Jesus calmed the storms and waves and Peter walked on the water.

 What a great group of people to experience this with. We read Bible verses and sang praises as we crossed to our next destination.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "The Big Adventure"

Two years ago, we were blessed beyond belief to be invited to attend a work trip to Israel. One of the favorite parts of my job is helping to plan and organize agent incentive and training trips that we offer every two years. I typically am invited on the domestic trips only, but in 2017, I was giddy with the surprise invitation for my husband and I to join the group in Israel for our company's centennial year! Wow!!! 

I finished the album about 6 months ago, but haven't shared any of the layouts yet. It always takes me a while to photograph each page, then crop and edit them. So, now is the time! I will space them out a little with other family layouts, so that it doesn't get too boring. I was afraid all of the layouts might look the same, but I think they all have their own look and feel. So...here we go!! I'll share them in the same chronological order as our trip, because that is how my brain works.

What a long couple of flights! We broke it up a bit by laying over in Paris, so that I wouldn't get too sore from sitting. I have arthritis and sciatic issues, so getting out and moving was very helpful, even though it meant taking longer to get there.

From the moment we were picked up at the airport and ushered quickly through security, we were pampered and spoiled. The travel company took great care of us and we could relax and enjoy. It was such a joy to see the trip that we'd been planning for more than two years, playout in real life!

From the moment we started the commute from airport to hotel, it was obvious that we were not in the US. We knew this would be a great adventure and a trip of a lifetime for us!!

Even if you are not interested in Israel, these simple layouts can be used for any type of travel, or as a template for any two page layout, really. Just switch out the paper and embellishments and make it your own!

Thanks for stopping by today!

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 - "Thunder Hole"

I have one last scrapbook layout from our trip to Bar Harbor, Maine a few years ago. These pictures are making me excited for all of the fall color that is just around the corner.

 Acadia National Park is a beautiful place to spend some time. One of the must see places within the park is Thunder Hole where the waves flow into the rock formation making a sound like the clapping of thunder. If you stand in the right spot, you'll get a nice spray in your face.

 Ignore my windblown hair...It's a sure sign of a great day out exploring.

 I love the mix of polka dots, chevron and stripes on this layout. The die cut of the mountains and tree is really simple, but I like the added geometric look in brown. It kind of pops off the page. As I look at this, I should probably have made the chevrons off to the left in brown as well. Oh well...

I layered the state name and silhouette shape at the bottom below the journaling. Again, maybe the brown would have stood out a little more.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Hope you are having a great week!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Penobscot Bridge"

Here's another layout from our trip to Bar Harbor, Maine a few years ago. We passed this bridge as we were travelling to and from our destination! We loved the cool architecture and the views were amazing.

 Sometimes when I post my layouts I notice something I should have done differently. I love the layout, but wish I would have skooched the letters closer together int he first word of the title. Oh well....

 Love the amazing blaze of colors against the blue sky!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Three California Dreamin' Scrapbook Layouts

Here's a few layouts from our 2015 trip to California. This was a work trip, but we managed to have some fun at the same time.

 This was our beautiful hotel. Very comfortable! Couldn't ask for anything else, except to take all the sunshine back home to Indiana.

 Don't you love this tropical floral paper? The colors are amazing.

Here's a layout showing off the outside grounds for our hotel.

 They had a walkway over the Pacific Coast Highway which took you right down tot he beach.

 I think it's time for another CA trip. You can't really beat the weather and the views.

Here's another layout of the hotel grounds. Loved our stay there. I spent much of the time a little stressed out due to being the meeting planner, but what a place to be stressed!

 The pool, fountains, and flowers were gorgeous!

 I wish I'd had a little more time to sit on the beach, but since I was there to work, I can't complain.

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

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "LaJolla"

Here's another layout from our 2015 trip to beautiful, sunny California. Looking at these pictures makes me long for sunny warm weather!

 LaJolla is a beautiful little seaside town that we consider to be a "must see" if you are near the San Diego area. There are some great shops and eateries in town, a pretty beach, and sea lions to watch on the rocks below.

The paper is Kaiser Kraft's "Sea Breeze Collection" and the fence is cut from narrow strips of Close to My Heart woodgrain paper. The fence was a little time consuming, but I love the way it turned out. I laid down a length of hemp cord (Hemptique) and glued the strips of paper on top of it to hold the hemp in place, creating the look of a distressed beach fence.

 The banner is punched with StampinUp's bitty banner punch. I used a small hole punch along the top and wove white string through it to create the banner.

 The title font and seagulls are from Cricut's Life is a Beach, and the grass along the fence is Wild Card.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! I have one more California layout to share in the next few days, and I think the show and tell from that trip will be done. Time to go back!!