Women's Retreat 2025 Bookmarks

Our church's women's retreat is coming up this weekend, and since I had some free time on my hands, I volunteered to make bookmarks for each lady attending. I had done this before at my old church, but we usually only had about 25 ladies, so I didn't consider how much work would be involved in making 70 bookmarks! My printer doesn't like thick paper, so I ended up printing the Bible verse on colored printer paper, stamping the designs, and then adhering it to the patterned paper before laminating it and hole punching it to add the ribbon. I made the first 25 but was already getting tired of the design, so I decided to make three iterations. Here's the first set:

And the second (2 variations since I ran out of plaid ribbon):

And the third:

And in case you, are wondering what 70 bookmarks looks like, here they all are together!

Design 1 recipe:
Love Life & Save the Date stamp sets
Meg Paisley paper (Making Memories)
Amethyst, Spring Iris, Ocean & Black ink
Lavender gingham ribbon (Michaels)

Design 2 recipe:
Tickled Pink, Bugs & Hugs, Love Life & Grown with Love stamp sets
Brown Paisley (DCWV)
Brown Bag, Mocha, Sunflower & Capri ink
Pure Brown marker (Zig)
Plaid ribbon (Berwick)

Design 3 recipe:
May Word Puzzle, Love Life & Find Your Style stamp sets
Floral paper (from my stash, source unknown)
Raspberry, Pixie & Pear ink
Plaid ribbon (Berwick)

Challenges: Paper Rocks Scissors #7 - I cut each length of ribbon in addition to trimming individual bookmarks that were a little wonky!; The Outlawz Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone - I usually submit scrapbook layouts, so I though this would be a nice change of pace.

10 Things That Make Today Great Layout

My husband and eldest son love to hike, while I love to scrapbook, so put them together and I get to scrapbook pictures of them hiking! The younger kids and I were actually part of this excursion, so I dredged up every fun thing about it that I could remember for my journaling. I may never love hiking, but spending time with my family is priceless.

Recipe:
10 Things & Forest Critters stamp sets
Pathfinding paper
Kraft, Chocolate & White Daisy cardstock
Saffron, Olive, Glacier & Chocolate ink
Burnt Sienna fineliner pen (iBayam)
ShinHan Touch Twin markers
Yellow paper flowers (Recollections)
Beige Adornaments fiber (EK Success)
Summer Harmony Bigger Brads
Summer Afternoon enamel dots (Altenew)
3-D foam tape
Cricut Artistry cartridge: title shape & frame
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #14 (I'm doing a challenge to use the same sketch five times, so you will be seeing this sketch again this month!)

Challenges: Little Red Wagon #820 Be Krafty (use kraft cardstock); Neglected Stuff Challenge - my neglected stuff is the two stamp sets: "10 Things" I seldom use because I'm usually too lazy to come up with 10 things, and "Forest Critter" I bought and forgot about until now; The Outlawz Festive Friday Challenge - Critters; Double Trouble #197 You're in the Spotlight - my three colors are blue, green, and yellow, and I played along with Triple B's August challenge by adding some blooms to my layout.

Our Christmas Tree Layout

Every year, we go down to Walmart soon after Thanksgiving to pick out a tree. The kids are less interested now that they are older, so I am happy to have these photos of a time when they thought this was exciting! I played along with Rochelle Spears' monthly sketch, and it was like a puzzle figuring out how all those layers fit together. I'm pretty pleased with the results, but I think I will go simple on my next layout - LOL!

Recipe:
One Wish papers (Sweetwater)
Santa's Village & The Holiday Life papers (Simple Stories)
Merry Christmas paper (from my stash, source unknown)
Cranberry, Ponderosa Pine & Colonial White cardstock
Cranberry, Saffron & Cocoa ink
Sap Green fineliner pen (iBayam)
White gel pen (Sakura)
Scrapbook Stitches Forest Green embroidery floss (Making Memories)
Jingle All The Way decorative brads and chipboard (Simple Stories)
Merry Little Christmas Ephemera Words (Bella Blvd)
The Holiday Life Journal Bits (Simple Stories)
Magic Mesh (Creative Imaginations)
Believe rub on (I had to insert a V from another set because the V in the word got crumpled up)
Swiss Dot embossing folder (Cuttlebug)
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: TREE, stamps
Pattern: Rochelle Spears August sketch

Challenges: Can You Handle the Pressure? Anything Goes with an embossing folder; Cut it Up #336 Use a sentiment and a die-cut (hopefully the title, "the perfect tree," and "Merry Christmas" count as sentiments; Let's Craft and Create #222 Use polka dots and/or stripes (I used both); Love Those Pretty Papers; Scrap With Stacy August Tic Tac Toe board - I used the left column and the middle row.

Party Layout

I missed Christmas in July but decided to scrap a few Christmas events in August. Here's my first layout, using photos from my husband's work party. My kids were pretty fascinated by the guy carving the ice sculpture, but he was taking forever so we never got to see it finished because we had to get home. Unfortunately, many of my photos from this night are grainy because of the low light conditions, but at least the memory is preserved, right?

Recipe:
Very Merry Christmas & Cityscape stamp sets
Sparkle & Shine papers
Have a Holly Jolly Christmas paper (Echo Park)
Juniper, Ruby, Slate & White Daisy cardstock
Juniper, Ruby & Slate ink
Black marker
Sparkle & Shine chipboard
White organdy ribbon
Ruby baker's twine
White embroidery floss
Ruby sparkle buttons
Winter stickers (Recollections)
Silver Stickles (Ranger)
Lumberjack Plaid distress spritz (Ranger)
Christmas Tree steel die-cuts (these were a gift so I don't know the source)
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #113

Christmas Challenges: The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #189 Anything Christmas Goes; Make My Monday #258 Snow in August (Christmas); NBUS #77 - my never before used stuff is a set of Christmas tree dies that were a RAK from someone at Scrapbook.com)

Autumn Days Layout

Last week, I scrapped photos from the car show at a local park, so here is the companion page showing our visit to the pumpkin patch at the same park later that day. There is a pocket page between the two layouts with more photos from the events, so I didn't try to match the other page at all!

The bottom right picture also lifts up to reveal two more photos, one of them with my journaling on it. I wrote about the lack of clearly defined seasons in Southern California and how a visit to the pumpkin patch signals the advent of autumn.

Recipe:
Fall Favorites stamp set
A perfect Autumn & Celebrate Autumn papers (Echo Park)
Kraft cardstock
Mocha, Saddle & Nectarine ink
Chocolate pigment ink
Shin-Han Touch Twin markers
White gel pen (Sakura)
Clear embossing powder
Brown grosgrain ribbon (Michaels)
Puppy Love Shape Sprinkles (Doodlebug)
Woodgrain washi tape
Autumn to Remember woodgrain die-cut & word stickers (SU)
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #121

Challenges: Heart's Quest Challenge Blog #76 Anything Goes with red and/or orange hearts; A Cut Above Anything Goes with a die-cut; NBUS #77 my never before used schtuff is the woodgrain title and the three banner/phrases under the circle, all from the SU collection Autumn to Remember

EMS Sketch Challenge #124 + The Good Stuff Layout

I didn't do a scrapbook sketch last month, so I decided it was time. We took a bunch of photos at the car show, and I managed to put some of them into a pocket page, but I needed to squeeze the remaining five onto a layout without it looking overcrowded. That was the intent behind the sketch, so let me know if I succeeded! As always, feel free to change up the sketch to suit your needs, and please leave a link to your completed layout in the comments below.

Here's the sketch:

And here's my layout:

Update:

Recipe:
You're a Classic Stamp set
Wood Grain & White Pines patterned papers
Cranberry & White Daisy cardstock
Cranberry, Ocean, Desert Sand & Black ink
Burnt Sienna fineliner pen (iBayam)
Charmalong key charm (Bead Landing)
Cranberry baker's twine
Puppy Love Shape Sprinkles - hearts (Doodlebug)
Magic Mesh (Creative Imaginations)
Chipboard (I know it's from CTMH but can't remember the name of the kit)
Cricut Art philosophy cartridge: photo corners
Challenges: Heart's Quest Challenge Blog #76 Anything Goes with a red heart; Little Red Wagon #818 Masculine (it's a car show, but hopefully the hearts didn't wreck the masculine vibe!); The Neglected Stuff Challenge - my neglected stuff is the nameless chipboard and the Magic Mesh, plus I used Ocean ink which has been discontinued and unused by me for many years.

Luncheon Layout for Lasting Memories #762

I love shopping my stash, so I was really excited when I saw that fellow Lasting Memories designer Wendy had decided to do a stash busting challenge this month. The first week, she has asked us to use any or all of the following: ribbons, lace, fibers. I chose to use some ribbon to make two big bows on my layout. Hopefully you decide to join us over at Lasting Memories this month to use some of the items that are piling up in your stash!

Recipe:
Hawthorne papers
Vanilla Cream, Sangria & New England Ivy cardstock
Saffron, Toffee, Sage, New England Ivy, Vineyard Berry & Sapphire ink
Prussian Blue fineliner pen (iBayam)
Wild Wheat ribbon (SU)
Cork Color-Ready Alphabet Stickers
Mocha Opaques pearls
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: banners
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #14

Challenges: Paper Rocks Scissors #7 - used the scissors to trim my ribbon ends and to fussy cut the hexagon paper; Love Those Pretty Papers - I had lots of fun fussy cutting the hexagon paper and creating the journaling pocket with folded over paper; Colorful Options - this rich color palette worked perfectly for my photos and paper!