Fun & Sun Layout for Lasting Memories #701

Good morning, everyone, and a happy Mother's Day to all the hard-working moms out there. Hopefully you can relax and get some "me time" today in addition to spending time enjoying your kids, big and small. I did my scrappy work in advance so I can bring you this post today with the latest Lasting Memories challenge: inspired by a book. As I was going through my list of books I have read this year, the cover of Beach Read by Emily Henry caught my eye and made me decide to scrap beach photos and use the journaling card with the beach towel on it. Whether you're an avid reader or even if the only books you read are to your toddlers, come join us at Lasting Memories for this fun challenge!

Here's my layout:

And here's the cover that inspired me:

Recipe:
Diverse Backgrounds stamp set
Blue Skies papers
Canary, Almond, Heavenly Blue, Lagoon, Flamingo & Green Apple cardstock
Canary, Almond, Heavenly Blue, Lagoon, Flamingo & Green Apple ink
Black marker
Beach Party PML card
Freshly Baked enamel shapes
Sweet Rush Collection - Loving This puffy stickers (American Crafts)
Cricut Artbooking Cartridge: title, scalloped frames, sun
Cricut You Are Here Cartridge: waves
Pattern: Splitcoast Stampers Sketch16Jun3

Challenges: Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: use die cuts (I used lots)

Imagination Station Layout

I always take a bunch of photos at Vacation Bible School (or my hubby does), and then I have to decide which ones to put on a layout, always a challenge. I'm so grateful for pocket pages so I can slip a bunch more photos in between the two sides of my double page spread and don't have to worry about creating yet another layout for them! While creating this layout, I wanted to use a funky font stamp set for the title, but the "i" had a curly tail and looked more like a "j" so I did something I have never done before - I cut my stamp! I love the result, but it was a weird feeling to do surgery on a stamp. Has anyone ever done that? Am I strange to feel weird about it? LOL!

Recipe:
Swirl Stroke Caps and Lowercase stamp sets
Hip Hip Hooray paper
Field Trip papers (American Crafts)
Carolina, Sundance, Fern & White Daisy cardstock
Carolina, Sundance, Bluebird & Fern ink
Star Spangled Blue marker
Candy Apple Shimmer Trim
Cricut Accent Essentials: gears
Cricut Artiste cartridge: puzzle pieces
Pattern: scraplift from Splitcoast Stampers
Challenges: Double Trouble #166 Stash and Trash (Thing 1 - used papers from 2 paper packs); Colorful Options (I started out using the Royal Blue option, but ended up adding too many other colors, so I switched to the rainbow option)

BSF Thank You Cards

We just finished our year in Bible Study Fellowship and I wanted to give thank you cards to our teaching leader and my daughter's two leaders, but I had used all the ones in my card box. What's a girl to do? Well, get to work making some new ones, of course! I used basically the same supplies for two of the cards, but a whole different set for the third.

This card didn't follow any pattern. I had a scrap piece of patterned paper that had a hole cut in it, so I used that as my base and put another piece behind it.

I used card sketch #265 from Sketch-n-Scrap for this card.

And for this one, I used card sketch #756 from Tuesday Morning Sketches.

Recipe (cards 1 & 2):

I Heart Us papers

Canary, Sweet Leaf, Mint, Raspberry, Slate & White Daisy cardstock

Pixie, Raspberry, Mint, Lagoon & Bluebird ink

ShinHan Touch Twin marker

Gold Metallics marker

Junebug Puffies stickers

Cricut Artbooking cartridge: sun

Cricut Artiste cartridge: thanks

Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: scalloped border

Cricut Just Because cartridge: sheep, scalloped rectangle, thank ewe

Challenges: Cut It Up #303 die cut + sentiment (both cards); Tic Tac Toe Challenges #246 (used the middle column with butterflies + free + patterned papers for card 1 and the diagonal with flowers + free + die-cuts for card 2)

Recipe (card 3):

Inspirationals stamp set (SU)

Thank You stamp set

Life Delights papers

Chocolate, Blush, Craft & Colonial White cardstock

Chocolate & Blush ink

ShinHan Touch Twin markers

Clear embossing powder

Colonial White circle tag

Chocolate & Sweet Leaf ribbons

Pink & White heart brads (from my stash, source unknown)

Challenges: Let's Craft & Create #207 AG with optional Pretty Pink; Festive Friday #158 (used brown + pink + paper tearing)

Working Like a Dog for Lasting Memories #700

It's time for another month of challenges to start over at Lasting Memories, and I was able to get some scrappy time in yesterday for National Scrapbook Day. I created a layout to go along with the latest challenge, which is to be inspired by a song. I chose the Beatles song, "Hard Day's Night" because the lyrics "working like a dog" seemed to fit these photos of my son working hard to apply sealer to our swim spa. Please join us over at Lasting Memories before June 2 to share how the songs in your life inspire your scrapbooking!

Recipe:
A Typeface stamp set
Floral & Dot paper (DCWV Stack 4)
Gingham paper (from my stash, source unknown)
Pear, Pacifica & Colonial White cardstock
Pear, Pacifica & Honey ink
Moonstruck marker
Summer Vibes PML card
Blue Jean Heart puffy shapes (Doodlebug)
Cricut Artbooking: sun, grass
Cricut Artist: title
Cricut Chore Chart: dog
Pattern: Sketch-n-Scrap NSD Bonus sketch (reversed)

Challenges:  Time Out Challenges #262 Photo Inspiration (inspired by the dots, gingham, and dogs)

Maker Fun Factory Layout

I didn't have as much time as I wanted to scrap today on National Scrapbook Day because our family went to see the Star Wars exhibit at the Reagan Presidential Library. We had a great time and I was able to say, "May the fourth be with you!" multiple times. When we got home, I pulled out a layout I started back in February (basically I adhered the photos and ribbon) but laid aside because I just didn't know where to go with it. With the help of a few challenges, I finally finished it today - woohoo!

Recipe:
Have a Happy Day stamp set
Let's Wander Multi-Media paper (American Crafts)
Gypsy & White Daisy cardstock
Gypsy & Moonstruck ink
White gel pen (Sakura)
Gold Metallics marker
Gold ribbon
Gear It Up sequins (Craftin' Desert)
Field Notes Thicker (American Crafts)
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: tag
Cricut Design Space: title using BFC Night Kiss font
Pattern: Stick It Down February 2024 double sketch

Challenges: The Outlawz AG in a Card-Free Zone May challenge; Cut It Up #303 Add a Sentiment (I added the "smile" sentiment on my arrow); Splitcoast Stampers VSBN Challenge #2 Add 4 items from a list to my layout (I chose sequins + ribbon + die-cut items + tag)

Crazy New Friends Layout

May is such a fun month for me with National Scrapbook falling on the first Saturday. Our family has plans for tomorrow so I can't scrap all day, but that's okay because I am going to celebrate NSD all month long! Here's my first layout of the month, with a few photos of my boys hanging out at Magic Mountain with some new friends, the sons of my hubby's college roommate /best man. 

Recipe:
Happiest Place & May/June 2022 Mix-In papers
Green Apple, Lemonade, Black & White Daisy cardstock
Nectarine, Glacier & Sunny Yellow ink
Black marker
Happiest Place acrylic shapes
Field Notes Thickers (American Crafts)
Scalloped border punch (Fiskars)
Cricut Design Space: title using Agent Q font & Friends cut file from NC Mom
Cricut Art Philosophy: arrow
Pattern: Splitcoast Stampers Sketch16 Aug1

Challenges: Double Trouble #165 (Thing 1 = Anything Goes + Thing 2 = played along with Crafting Happiness #172's Way Up High theme with stars, suns, and roller coasters + Thing 3 = used yellow, light green, and orange from the inspiration board); My Time to Craft #533 (chose the friendship part of the challenge to go along with my sons' new friendship)

Showing Off Layout

Still working on my son's school album, and this layout marks the end of his second grade photos. Progress -woohoo! I played along with a scraplift challenge over at Scrapbook.com to jumpstart the creative process on this layout, and even though I like the original layout better, I still am okay with how this turned out. 

Recipe:
School Rocks, Picture Perfect & Smarty Pants stamp sets
Zoe papers
Canary, Smoothie, Sweet Leaf, Carolina & White Daisy cardstock
Canary, Smoothie, Sweet Leaf, Carolina, Mint, Pewter & Black ink
Fineliner pen (iBayam)
ShinHan Touch Twin markers
Cricut Design Space: title using BFC Night Kiss
Cricut Artiste cartridge: notebook borders
Pattern: scraplift from Scrapbook.com
Challenges: Double Trouble #165 Anything Goes+ played along with previous partner Heart's Quest Challenge Blog #53 (used a schoolhouse for the open house and the phrase Love this)

Hello Grade 3 Layout for Lasting Memories #699

April is almost over and it's time for the month's final sketch challenge from Lasting Memories. This week's sketch was a little more challenging for me than last week's, but I knew I wanted to do something with the circles and two photos. I found a background paper with fun green and gold circles and added some cardstock mats to set off the photos. My favorite part of the process was creating the mixed media piece behind the horizontal photo; I brayered three colors of ink onto watercolor paper, then used a wet brush to blend the inks together a bit. I'm not usually very adventurous when it comes to mixed media, but this turned out so well, I may just get bolder! My final layout strayed a bit from the sketch, but that's the fun part about sketches: the end result looks so unique for each creator. Come join us for this or any of the other sketches before time runs out on May 4th! 

Here's the sketch:

And here's my layout:

Recipe:
August Word Puzzle & Stacy's Hand Alphabet stamp sets
Let's Wander Multi-Media paper (American Crafts)
Ballerina cardstock
Watercolor paper (Canson)
Ballerina, Honey, Pear & Black ink
Sweet Rush Collection - Loving This puffy stickers (American Crafts)
Color Kaleidoscope Sticker Book (American Crafts)
Dream Maker stickers
Challenges: Let's Craft & Create #206 Anything Goes with optional twist of Butterflies; Color My Heart #598

Best Math Day Layout

I'm almost done with second grade photos for my son's elementary school album, so today I decided to scrapbook this random photo we took of my son and his "Best Math Day Ever" award. Learning did not come easy to him, so this was a huge deal! There is a lot of stamping on this layout, and I even fussy cut the big XOXO, the talk bubble, and the owls after I stamped them. I was tempted to put lots of numbers on the layout because of the math theme, but decided to just use the measuring tape ribbon, then I stamped plus signs on the red ring, and the X could stand for multiplication and the O for zero, so those are my math tributes.

Recipe:
Happy Everything, Priceless Love Word Puzzle, Live Out Loud, Balloon Talk, Whooo's Your Valentine & Classmate Alphabet stamp sets
Moon Doggie papers
Garden Green, Cranberry, Bamboo, Black & White Daisy cardstock
Garden Green, Cranberry, Bamboo, Cocoa, Chocolate, Black, Indian Corn Blue & Honey ink
Black marker
Everyday Moments pocket Card (Scrapbook.com)
Measure Up ribbon (Offray)
Cricut Artiste cartridge: hearts, arrow
Pattern: Sketches in Thyme #609

Challenges: Colorful Options Rainbow Colors; Heart's Quest Challenge Blog #52 (chose XOXO + stamped hearts)

2nd Grade Class Photo Layout

I am cranking along scrapping photos for my son's school album, and I decided to play along with the Baker's Dozen challenge from Scrapbook.com for this large photo. We have a list of 13 items (a baker's dozen) to include on a single layout, and it's always challenging but fun to see if I can get them all in. Here's the list:

1. Hexagons - stamped on the faux washi tape, one die-cut
2. Overlay - the numbers on the right side
3. Embossing folder - dots on grey cardstock
4. Stamps - faux washi tape, hexagon
5. Ribbon - on tag
6. Wood veneer - arrow
7. Stickers - dinosaur, grey "2"
8. Eyelet - in tag
9. Words - printed on photo
10. One photo - class photo
11. Stitching - faux around layout
12. Stenciling - hearts above and below photo
13. Heart - stenciled

And here's my layout:

Recipe:
Washi Wonder & Honeycomb stamp sets
Something Fierce papers & cardstock stickers
Carolina, Charcoal & White Daisy cardstock
Vellum
Raspberry & Honey ink
Fineliner pen (iBayam)
Opaque matte texture paste (Ranger)
Cotton Candy washi tape
Green eyelet (MM)
Maize grosgrain ribbon (Offray)
Wooden arrow (Crafter's Square)
3-D foam tape
Swiss Dot embossing folder
Heart stencil (Scrapbook.com)
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: tag, number overlay
Cricut Artistry cartridge: hexagon
Pattern: Sketches in Thyme #607 (on Facebook)

Challenges: Cut It Up #302 Starts with a B (used blue cardstock for my background); The Outlawz AG in a Card Free Zone with optional twist of  numbers (used numbers in several places); Time Out Challenges #261 Inspired by Words (I was inspired to use multiple crafty techniques to create this LO: stamping, stenciling, and die-cutting) 

Stay Sharp Layout for Lasting Memories #698

Greetings, everyone, and welcome to another design team, reveal for Lasting Memories. Design Team member Brandi has created some amazing sketches for us to work with this month, and I am loving this week's sketch. I might even try to complete another layout using it this month! My only thing I think I would do differently is create a template for placing the hexagons. I eyeballed it but am not sure I got 

them all lined up correctly. If you are inspired by this sketch, please pop on over to Lasting Memories and share your layout with us before May 4 when the challenges for April end!

Here's the sketch:

And here's my layout:

Recipe:

Oh Happy Day papers (Simple Stories)

Black cardstock

White gel pen (Sakura)

Oh Happy Day cardstock stickers (Simple Stories)

Cricut Artistry cartridge: hexagons

Challenges: Cut It Up  #302 Starts with a B (my son's Biome project for his class); My Time to Craft #532 Die-Cuts (I have tons of die-cut hexagons and a die-cut circle on this layout!)

Capture the Moment Layout

Elliot's school holds a luau every year, and the year that they included the laser tag course was a huge hit for him. Since these pictures were taken at a luau and my son was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, I went with Hawaiian themed papers and embellishments instead of gun and camo. However, I wrapped some orange embroidery floss around one of the photos as a nod to the laser beams on real lasers, fortunately absent in this game!

Recipe:
Post Card - Travel Series stamp set
Summer Vibes papers & cardstock stickers
Fern, Nectarine & White Daisy cardstock
Fern, Nectarine, Glacier & Candy Apple ink
Black marker
ShinHan Touch Twin markers
Beach Party PML card
Cats & Bats enamel dots
Orange embroidery floss
Sweet Rush Collection - Loving This puffy stickers (American Crafts)
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #111

Challenges: Festive Friday #157 (used orange + green + enamel dots + thread)

Congrats Layout for Lasting Memories #697

I don't take many single photos and, since this week's Lasting Memories challenge features a single photo, I wasn't planning to play along. However, one of the design team members is in the hospital, so I needed to come up with a layout in a hurry to fit the sketch. Fortunately, I happened to have a single photo of the pastor and elders honoring of the class of 2017 graduates at church, so I went to work and whipped this layout out in less than two hours (that's fast for me)! I'm loving the sketches Brandi has been sharing with us this month, so hopefully you are inspired to check them out and join in the fun before the end of the month.

Here's the sketch:

And here's my layout:

Recipe:
This Happened stamp set
Olive, Espresso, Ruby, Black & White Daisy cardstock
Ruby & Black ink
Black marker
Second Avenue a la carte Congrats ephemera (MME)
Round sparkles
Scalloped border punch (Fiskars)
Cricut Artiste cartridge: filmstrips
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: hearts
Challenges: Cut It Up Challenges #301 (3 gems + 2 die-cuts + 1 sentiment); The Outlawz AG in a Card Free Zone April challenge with optional twist of numbers (I stamped the year on the photo mat)

Ancient Words Layout for Lasting Memories #696

This month, Lasting Memories Design Team member Brandi is challenging us to use some brand new sketches. I loved this week's sketch, although I don't know that I did it justice. There are only so many embellishments you can add to a layout about stone tablets - LOL! The Polaroid photo part of the sketch was perfect for adding some journaling about each of the tablets, but I can see that on other layouts, it would work equally well to leave these spaces blank. Hopefully you are inspired to check out the design team's creations this week and join us for this or any of the sketch challenges this April!

Here's the sketch:

And here's my layout:

Recipe:
Timberline stamp
March - April 2022 Mix-In, July - August 2021 Mix-In, May - June 2022 Mix-In & Passages papers
Glacier, Sage, Espresso, Black & White Daisy cardstock
Glacier, Sage, Peach, Flamingo, Desert Sand & Black ink
Black marker
Burnt Sienna fineliner pen (iBayam)
Flamingo Dots
Washi tape (Recollections)
Cricut Artbooking: banner
Cricut You Are Here; boat, house, waves
Cricut Design Space: title (using Maiandra font), ring
Challenges: Color My Heart Color Dare #595 - Fancy Five (used Peach + Glacier + Flamingo + Sage)

Elliot's Ancestor Day Layout

I finished my eldest son's elementary school album last month and decided to keep the momentum going by working on my second son's album this month. Ancestor Day is a 2nd grade tradition at the local elementary school, and it's always interesting for my kids since they were all adopted. We have no contact with Elliot's birth mom (her choice), so he picked my mom as his ancestor to interview and write a report about, which he summarized for the class. Unfortunately, she lives far away so she could not attend the event itself, but we enjoyed hearing about her and eating food from the various countries represented by the ancestors.

Recipe:
Timberline stamp set
Cosmopolitan Collection papers (Making Memories)
Kraft, Chocolate, Capri, Bluebird & Sapphire cardstock
Capri ink
Black & Sienna fineliner pens (iBayam)
White gel pen (Sakura)
Leaf Green ShinHam Touch Twin marker
Adornaments Fibers - Blue (EK Success)
Milepost Shapes
Cricut You Are Here cartridge: globe, title
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: tags
Heart punch (EK Success)
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge 109

Challenges: Double Trouble #163 Let's Get Crafty - Thing 1 = use kraft paper and corrugated cardboard + Thing 2 = play along with Inspiration Station's challenge photo #60 (see below) + Thing 3 = shades of blue (not sure I made them my focus but I used several shades)

Sing {Fishfest} Layout

I'm determined to get some serious scrapping done this month, so here's my first layout. I wrote quite a bit about this event (Fishfest, a Christian music festival in Southern California) when I scrapped the companion layout back in February, so I decided not to add a bunch of journaling. Instead, I just listed the names of the band/artists who performed, plus my hubby and son's names, by writing them around the bottom set of photos, then added some doodling for fun. For the background, I stamped and embossed the splatter stamp first, then brayered over the whole page using purple ink. The purple didn't come out as dark as I wanted, but I guess it shows up the photos pretty well, so it's all good!

Recipe:
Background Elements stamp set
White Daisy cardstock
Goldrush & Black ink
Lovely Lilac ink (SU)
Black marker
Clear embossing powder
Dimensional Elements Monograms chipboard - S,I,N,G
3-D foam tape
Pattern: Stick It Down April single page sketch from Facebook
Challenges: Color My Heart #593 Only Two (loved the Honey Butter and Royal color combo but didn't have either ink, so I did my best color match using old inks)

5th Grade Grad Portrait Layout

My mojo has been seriously missing this month, but I managed to pull together this layout in just a few hours, so hopefully it's slowly returning. My goal for this month was to finish my eldest son's elementary school album, and I actually did it! He turned 22 this past December, so this achievement is way overdue - LOL. I decided not to include any journaling since this layout will go right after his fifth grade graduation layout (lots of journaling!), plus I've said everything I needed to say using the word ephemera and stickers.

Recipe:
A Typeface stamp set
Field Trip patterned paper (American Crafts)
Spring 2020 & Jan - March 2023 Mix-In papers
Mocha & White Daisy cardstock
Sapphire, Toffee & Mocha ink
Candid Moments PML card
Petticoats & Pinstripes ephemera ((Echo Park)
Field Trip ephemera (American Crafts)
Teen Spirit - Boy ephemera (Echo Park)
Slice of Life puffy sticker (American Crafts)
Field Notes Thicker (American Crafts)
Let's Go Tidbits (Chic Tags)
Field Trip Thickers puffy stickers (American Crafts)
Pearls
Confetti Dot Brown grosgrain ribbon (Offray)
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: photo corners
Pattern: Sketch-n-Scrap #293

Challenges: The Outlawz Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone + optional Bingo (I used the diagonal starting at the top left with Words + Pearls + Free + Photo + Brown)

Open House Layout for Lasting Memories #694

Hooray for Sundays and Lasting Memories challenges! Here's another Getting Into Shapes challenge from Sandy, and this time we're focusing on triangles with a twist of using ephemera. I am almost done with my eldest son's elementary school album, so I decided to grab photos from his 5th grade open house and incorporate triangles by adding a little banner for the title. What creative way can you use triangles and ephemera? Come show us over at Lasting Memories by March 30!

Recipe:
Smarty Pants patterned papers & stickers
Kraft, Candy Apple, Buttercup, Colonial White, Black, Grape, Fern & Bluebird cardstock
Candy Apple, Desert Sand & Fern ink
Black marker
Twilight Bigger brads
Sunset baker's twine
Illustrated Faith Family ephemera (Bella Blvd)
Field Trip Ephemera (American Crafts)
Field Notes ephemera (American Crafts)
Slice of Life puffy stickers (American Crafts)
Let's Wander Thickers (American Crafts)
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: banners
Cricut Artiste cartridge: title
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #59

Challenges: The Outlawz Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone;  Scrap With Stacy March Tic-Tac-Toe board (used the diagonal with stickers + circles + puffy stickers)