Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Smile Smile"

It's really heating up in northeastern Indiana. This is the perfect evening to catch up with my blog! I have so many summer layouts to share with you.\

Here's one form a few years back. Our extended family got together at my husband's sister and brother-in-laws home in Michigan. So much fun with siblings, nieces, nephews, and cousins! They have a lovely pool, so they're home is a big, big draw in the summertime. Getting us all there at the same time is the hard part!

 I used the circles to echo the circular window in the clubhouse. I didn't really want to cut these pictures into circles, but instead I used the circles as an accent. I also journaled around the cirlces.

 Aren't they cuties? The girl and the blondie are my grandbabies!! The other two handsome boys are my great nephews!! Love them all and it's so fun to see them play together since the great nephews live in Texas. They really don't get to see each other very much.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!! Stay cool! I'll be sharing a few more layouts from our family's extended weekend together over the next few days. Don't forget to stop back!

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Falling for You"

We don't take professional family photos every year, but when we do, it's typically in the fall. A few years ago we did a family shoot in a nearby park. Our photographer has the patience of Job!

 This layout features our grandson who was two at the time. Considering his age, I think our photographer got some great shots of our little man.

 The lined patterned paper was a nice backdrop for all of the color pictures. I rarely use plain cardstock. I'm so obsessed with patterned paper. The little banner is one that I purchased. It added a bit of a whimsical look to the layout.

There are nine pictures on this layout and still some rom for embellishments and journaling. I like the way it turned out. I'm in love with antlers, especially on a masculine page for our handsome grandson.

You'll have to come back and check out all the other layouts I created from this photo shoot. Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Little Guy"

This little guy is my favorite (and only) grandson! He's non-stop fun!

 The paper is

This one is for my book, but I made a similar one for his very own scrapbook.

The paper is from MME "Miss Caroline". The banners and strips of paper are from other scraps I had on hand. The banner across the right page is made with the StampinUp! itty bitty banner punch. This is the most simple banner possible. I didn't even punch holes and thread the string...I simply stuck the banner to the top of the string after laying it in place. Super simple and sometimes simple is just better.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!! Come back soon.

Two Page Layout - "Craft On"

Do any of you love to go away for an entire weekend and scrapbook with your friends? I am a lucky girl and get do this 3 times a year!! Woot! My husband is such a sweetheart and doesn't mind too much when I take off for a weekend of scrapbooking with friends.

The River Retreat House, Perrysville, Indiana, is one of my favorite scrapbooking destinations!! A beautiful old house to relax and enjoy time away with friends. It's totally worth the drive.

 So here is my scrapbook page about my scrapbooking weekend. =)

 The paper and embellishments are Echo Park's "This & That" collection.

 The title is from Cricut's Quarter Note cartridge. Here's a close up of the cute, itty bitty banner. The baker's twine is strung between two brads with a key.

If you ever want a great weekend or time away with friends be sure to check out the River Retreat House. It's a beautiful, relaxing destination.

Two Page Layout - "Stick Maze"



 Everybody loves vacation! I have several layouts to share from our family vacation to Florida last May. We stopped for lunch in Kentucky. I love it when we fall upon something fun to see or do with just a random stop for lunch.

This stick maze was pretty cool. it was big enough to walk through. You can see the size of it in the top left picture.

The title font is from Cricut's Life is a Beach cartridge. I edged it with a white Jelly Roll pen to give it a stitched look like the paper matt used on the right side. The journaling block is Doodlebug Design.

 I didn't make a note of the brand name of this fun flowered chalkboard matt, but the white stitching and flowers gave me the inspiration for the rest of the page. I cut layered flowers with my Straight from the Nest cartridge and punched a small green circle for the centers. As I look at it now, I think I would have liked it better if each of my flowers were matted in black. Apparently, I never stop critiquing my projects.

The stick maze was probably a temporary exhibit at the arboretum, but it's still a great place to stop for lunch, for sure! The flowers were amazing and the artsy hand was a great prop for pictures.

I'll be posting more layouts from our St. Augustine, Florida, family vacation in the next few weeks. Thanks for stopping by today!!

Two Page Layout - "Heartbreaker"

Scarlet seems to enjoy the men in her life. Her Daddy, Uncle, and PaPa are pretty sweet on her too. These pictures were taken about a year ago when she had a lot less hair. Yes, I'm that far behind in posting layouts to my blog! This one is super simple. I look back at it now and I think it needs something else...lol, but I'm posting it regardless.

 The Martha Stewarts crafts and Echo Park "This & That" team up for a cute layout complete with ball fringe and baker's twine. My StampinUp scalloped circle punch makes an easy border, when you cut each circle in half.

 The title is cut with Cricut's Sweetheart cartridge and the wings with Indie Art. They layer up nicely and the line of rhinestones adds a little bling. I used a scalloped border punch on the top and bottom of the journaling tag and put the scalloped border across the tag before adding the writing.

Easy layout, and a most adorable grandbaby. I am blessed beyond words! Her baby brother will be making his appearance some time next month! We are super excited to meet him. =)

Sorry for the delay in posting. I had a few chaotic weeks at work and then a business trip in San Diego...Now it's back to the real world including chilly temps and leftover grungy snow that can't melt fast enough for me. Spring is coming, though! I heard the birds singing a song this morning.

Double layout "Sweetheart"

Sundays are family day for us. Today our son and daughter-in-law invited us to their church and then we all went out for lunch together. We are empty nesters while our youngest son is at college, so we look forward to this time with our oldest and his family. We are so blessed to be near them and really enjoy being part of their lives and so close to our Granddaughter! She is such a delight!!

She is growing so fast! I can hardly believe she will be two in April, when her little brother is due to arrive. =) Until she has to share the camera with baby brother, she is my favorite thing to scrap about! I have several layouts that are done, and I just haven't made time to share them yet as well as another stack that I'm waiting for a nice sunny day so I can snap pictures.

This layout features her 9 month photo shoot. What a doll baby!

 The newsprint paper is Pink Paislee Secret Crush "Love Notes". The banner across the top is all part of the paper...so cute! I added the doily on the left from my stash for a little bit of journaling. A little bit of glitter paper is used as the matt to highlight one of the pictures. The title is cut with my Cricut. I have a very crafty friend who crocheted a whole bag of beautiful flower embellishments for me. Isn't it great??

I found the pink ribbon with the glitter scallop design on clearance. The doily at the bottom of this page is, again, part of the patterned paper and it made the perfect spot for some additional journaling. I used StampinUp's 5 petal and butterfly punches, and added rhinestones and brads to layer with the newsprint paper flower embellishments.

Didn't my daughter-in-law do a great job capturing Scarlet's personality in these pictures? I absolutely adore each one!

 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Two page layout - "Pentwater Pier"

It's official! Summer is here for real. We have the hot, muggy temps to prove it. My husband and son are out working on the house. Dinner is in the oven so we can all eat something yummy and healthy when they come in. I definitely have time to post a layout before folding the laundry. =)

With summer in mind, here is a layout from a quick weekend getaway last summer. Our first stop when heading up the west coast of Michigan is usually Pentwater or Ludington.

I punched flowers with StampinUp! five petal flower punch. The leaves are punched from Kraft and helped add to the beachy look.




  This burlap ribbon is my favorite. I can't remember where I purchased it. The burlap is held together by a plastic mesh to keep it nice and neat and a little see-through. The patterned paper strips and some of the flower layers are "Down on the Boardwalk" by We R Memory Keepers.

I've scrapped Pentwater pictures before, and they probably look similar to these....What can I say, we really like Pentwater and always take pictures. They're too cute not to scrap, even though the day was a little overcast.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Stay cool!

Two Page Layout - "Ludington"

It's been a rough week, hasn't it? It's so hard to even watch the news with evil running rampant in our world. I don't think we are meant to understand the evil, what triggers it, or what kind of person it takes to carry it out. This is one of those weeks where I pray hard and keep trusting my father in Heaven who is still in control. My heart goes out to the families of the Boston Marathon victims. I felt like I couldn't just start a new post without sharing a little bit of my heart with you today.

 

I have no idea how to transition into scrapbooking from here, but I think some sunshine and peaceful pictures could do us all a little good. These pictures were taken in a beautiful little town on the shore of Lake Michigan. If I could live anywhere and money was not an issue, I would probably choose to live somewhere on Lake Michigan. =)



 The flowers are made from scraps of denim that I saved. I'm 5'11" and I am pretty sure that this is the first time I've ever had to shorten the hem of any piece of clothing. The jeans were "talls" and apparently there are some who are taller than me. I threw the scraps in with my scrappy treasures. I started with a Gluber circle, laying the denim around the outside edge and working my way to the middle. It looked a little messy in the center because the denim was so stiff, so I used a button to cover it.

 The picture grid is bordered on the top and bottom with scraps of paper cut with several different border punches. To keep the clean look of the page, I journalled along the bottom edge. I didn't feel like much journalling was really necessary because I've used other pictures from this destination in my layouts. 

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. Anybody scrapping this weekend??? I AM!!! Can't wait. I'm hoping to get lots of pages done. Have a great weekend no matter how you choose to spend it. =)

Two page layout - "LUV Her"

The sun is shining here in Fort Wayne and it's marvelous. I have to share something colorful with you to celebrate the sun!! This is actually one of my faves and I'm excited to share it with you. I tried something new with chipboard....Chipboard+Washi Tape+Ink = Fun layout!!

First of all, the beautiful subject of these photos is my grandbaby, Scarlet. She was 3 months old at the time. She'll be one-year-old later this month. What a precious gift from God!

Now back to the chipboard fun! I picked up these chipboard flowers at a garage sale. They were originally white and as you can see the center circle is removeable. I covered the center with Washi tape, inked the outside scalloped edge with hot pink, and Voila!

A couple of the centers were a bit of a tight squeeze to fit back into the scalloped edge. A gentle sanding around the outside edge did the trick.

 This colorful tape is from Smashbox. I lined it up on the page for some additional color. I added a few colored metallic dots, Baker's twine around one of the scallopd edges, and a button, then journalled around the outside of the circle.

Thanks or stopping by my blog today! Have a fabulous weekend! I'm going to do some scrapping. =)

Two Page Layout - "U R Here"

The sunshine today has been beautiful. I just took a quick walk with my dog and it's deceivngly chilly out there still. I have faith that spring is coming, and I'm ready.

We took a trip to Lake Placid, New York, in September 2011. You must go and check it out sometime. I was there on business, but we extended a few days to see all the sights. Unfortunately my husband was behind the camera and I was the focus of attention. I much prefer it the other way around.



I do love the colors in this layout. I splurged on a pack of pretty flowers and went to town with them.

We were actually checking out the ski slopes where the olympics were once held. Gorgeous views!! The title is from Graphically Speaking (Cricut)....One of my favorite "go to" cartridges, especially for a quick title.

You can't see it here, but the lacy border strip is actually fuzzy. Wish you could feel it. =) I broke my own rule and didn't really journal, except for the date and place. The view kind of say it all, and this was one of several layouts from the same area.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Have a great weekend!!

Two page layouts - "Sleepy Head" and "Bundle of Joy"

Hello scrappy friends! I have just enough time for a quick post and today, it's two for the price of one because it's been awhile.

First up is "Sleepy Head". This layout was really out of the box for me. I fell in love with the doodle-look paper and then I had a little bit of trouble trying to figure out how to make it work. In the end, I was happy with it.

Left side:  Most of these doodles were all on the paper. How fun!!I had some leftover glitter tulle for rolling up some fun flowers. They are a little thicker than what I normally put on a page, but super cute.

 Right side: I was not in love with this page until I used the texture folder on the red cardstock. That made all the diference. I freehanded some clouds to match the doodled clouds on the opposite page. The pink and red on one page was a bit of a challenge for me...but now I am pleased with it.

Here's a closeup of the tulle button flowers. I used clear gemstones, but colored them with sharpies for more of an impact.

Here are the two sides together. My grandbaby is such a DOLL!! We sure are enjoying her.

Next up...Bundle of Joy. This layout is from when she was fresh out of the NICU. I believe it was our first visit to their house after they brought her home....so fresh and sweet!!

Left:  Most everything on this page is from the Bundle of Joy paper pack (Echo Park). I added the Tim Holtz washi tape and the lace at the top. These are my two boys lovin' on Scarlet....Proud papa Joel is in the upper right and lower left. Uncle Jacob sure does love her too. =)

Right:  More borders and embellishments from the Bundle of Joy pack. I love these pictures of my son and daugher-in-law standing on the front porch of their home with their new and precious bundle of joy. They were so happy to bring her home!!! It brings tears to my eyes just remembering all of the emotion.

Here are the two sides together.

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

Two page pet layout "Winter Sprint"

I have really been enjoying the light covering of fresh snow we've received over the last few weeks. Today, it's disappearing again. I enjoy winter for the most part. Everything looks prettier when it's dusted with snow!

Our adopted greyhound loves the snow! These pictures are from a year ago. My son, Jacob, was home for the weekend from BSU. He and my hubby took Riley to the dog park and had a blast. I printed some in black and white for a change. It gave me a fun opportunity to embellish with colorful snowflakes. =)

Left: My favorite picture of them running off into the distance. A great shot!! It looks like Jacob had a head start.

Right:  Riley's tongue tells the story of all the sprinting he did that day. He ran so fast, his coat was literally flapping in the beeze behind him.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!! Are you doing any fun crafting this weekend? I am still hoping to get in a few Valentines cards. I have some ideas floating around in my head. As always, it's more a matter of getting all of my stuff out and just getting started. I can do this!!! =)

Two Page baby layout - So Many Reasons

Hello friends! My week has been crazy busy. I believe it is well past time for a little distraction from all things work related and time for some blogging. It's chilly and drafty in our house tonight, so I will have to type fast to keep my fingers from freezing. =]

Today, another sweet baby layout of my new grandbaby. These are her newborn portraits. So beautiful!*

 Patterned paper is My Minds Eye. I love the vintage look of the paper in this MME stack! Lots of wood grains, florals, and chevrons.

Left:

Right:

Here is a closeup of the embellishments including Prima flowers, pearl drops, stick pin, and amazing crocheted flowers and leaves. Thank you so much to my BSBFF who slaved over these crocheted flowers for me!! I LOVE them!!

Here's another closeup of the flower embellishments and scalloped circle frame that I used for a bit of journalling.

Thanks for stopping by today. If it's cold and blustery where you live, be safe and warm.  I'm going to snuggle up with my hubby in front of the TV now.  =)
*Photo credit: Eta Fe Photography