The Karate Kid Layout

I was trying to crank out one last layout for a 30 layouts challenge over at A Cherry on Top, and I am proud to say I did it! This final layout came together really quickly (well, quickly for me) and I love how it turned out, especially the title. I used the closest font I could find to the original movie font for The Karate Kid and arranged the title in the same way. Hope you like it!

Recipe:
Let's Wander Mixed Media paper (American Crafts)
Paprika & Black cardstock
Vellum paper
Oh Happy Day Bits & Pieces ephemera (Simple Stories)
Bold & Bright ephemera (American Crafts)
Beetle Black Puffy Hearts (Doodlebug Designs)
Artbooking cartridge: banner
Cricut Design Space: chevrons, title (using Haettenschweiler font)
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #64 (rotated left)

Challenges: Heart's Quest Challenge Blog #78 Anything Goes with Black or orange hearts; Color My Heart Color Dare #671

Can't Stop This Cutie Layout

This layout for my son's school album was inspired partly by the stop sign (I had to use octagons for a challenge over at A Cherry on Top), and partly by how cute he managed to be, whether he was dressed up or had dyed his hair red!

Recipe:
Swirl Stroke Caps Alphabet stamp sets
Pet Shoppe Cat paper (Simple Stories)
Good Day Sunshine paper (Echo Park)
Stardust paper
Cranberry & White Daisy cardstock
Cranberry & Outdoor Denim ink
Outdoor Denim marker
Childhood PML card
Candy Apple, Lagoon & yellow ribbon
Falling for You Shape Sprinkles (Doodlebug Designs)
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: stop sign, octagons
Pattern: Sketches in Thyme #677 (from Facebook)

Taking It to the Streets Layout

My hubby is not a sit around and chat for hours kinda guy, so when we visited my relatives for Christmas 2018, he talked my nephews and three of my kids into playing a game of football out on the street. My brother lives on a cul-de-sac so there was little traffic, and fortunately no cars were harmed during the game!

Recipe:
Timberline stamp set
September/October 2023 & March/April 2022 Mix-In paper
Scarlet, Toffee, Black & White Daisy cardstock
Ruby, Grey Wool & Black ink
Black marker
White gel pen (Sakura)
Everyday Moments pocket journaling card (Scrapbook.com)
Red ribbon (Offray)
Say Cheese III cardstock sticker (Simple Stories)
Cricut Design Space: football, house border
Cricut Art Philosophy: scalloped border, banners, geotag
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #96

Challenges: Let's Craft & Create #223 Anything Goes with optional lots of layers; Paper Rocks Scissors #8 - used scissors to trim my ribbon.

Love My Dog Layout

Our dog, Huxley, was not acquired by normal means; we were at a birthday party and one of the attendees was trying to find a home for him. We joke that he was the best party favor we ever got at a party, so that's what I based my journaling on. I used some new stuff on my layout (the papers and stickers), and the scalloped frame which had been sitting in my stash since I cut it out in 2023 but couldn't use it because my paper was too skinny and the left side got chopped off. Because I tucked the frame under my other papers, I was finally able to rescue it from the discard pile - woohoo!

Recipe:
Fur Baby Dog papers (Simple Stories)
Fur Baby 6x8 paper pad (Simple Stories)
Glacier, Cashmere & White Daisy cardstock
Glacier, Moonstruck, Goldrush, Candy Apple & Chocolate ink
Burnt Sienna fineliner pen (iBayam)
Brown marker (Zig)
Fur Baby cardstock stickers (Simple Stories)
Red gingham ribbon (Offray)
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: scalloped frame
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #103

Challenges: Neglected Stuff Challenge - mine is the scalloped frame (see story above).

Tis the Season Layout

My friend Diane hosted a Christmas tea in 2018, and for some reason I only took two photos. I am usually an avid photo taker at events like this, so I was pretty surprised at this small number of photos. However, there is a possibility this was the year I led the ladies in singing Christmas carols on guitar for the first time, so that would explain why I was so preoccupied and didn't take many photos. Hopefully Diane remembers, but in the meantime, there is no journaling on my layout because I can't remember all the facts!

The washi tape and spatters didn't show up well in my scan, so here is a close-up photo I took.

Recipe:
Love Life stamp set
Traditional Christmas Papers (KI Memories)
Woodgrain papers
Garden Green cardstock
New England Ivy, Pomegranate & Cocoa ink
Winter Reflections Accent Pack (CM)
The Holiday Life chipboard stickers (Simple Stories)
Jingle All the Way chipboard stickers (Simple Stories)
Reasons to Smile washi tape (American Crafts)
Fairy Crystals (Memory Box)
Peeled Paint Distress Spritz (Ranger)
Pattern: Splitcoast Stampers Sketch15Aug1

Challenges: Holly & Ivy Challenge #192 Anything Christmas Goes; Peace On Earth #96 Christmas; Time Out Challenges #298 Word Inspiration - I used spatter + season (perfect for my title!) + Metallic (the gold washi tape)

A Million Reasons to Smile Layout

I finished up scrapbooking the last of my November 2018 photos this morning by scrapping a birthday party for a little girl we know. We haven't seen the family for a while, so I reached out to the mom to check on her daughter's age in the photos, which turned out to be a blessing as we caught up and I remembered what great friends they were. That's my scrapbooking bonus for the day!

Recipe:
Reasons to Smile papers (American Crafts)
Lagoon & Mulberry cardstock
Lagoon & Petal ink
Petal marker
Reasons to Smile ephemera, puffy stickers, cardstock stickers, enamel dots & washi tape (American Crafts)
True Colors Floral Bits (Simple Stories)
All Aflutter Shape Sprinkles (Doodlebug Designs)
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: title, scalloped borders
Pattern: Sketch-n-Scrap #252 (throwback to 2022!)

Challenges: Crafter's Cafe #323 Anything goes with optional floral; Heart's Quest Challenge Blog #77 Orange and/or purple hearts; Love Those Pretty Papers Anything Goes with lots of patterned paper; NBUS #78 My never before used schtuff is the rainbow washi tape and the "Reason to Smile" sticker (first sticker off the sheet); Sketch-n-Scrap Throwback sketch.

Elizabethan Dinner Layout

I'm skipping all around in my scrapbooking, so today I decided to scrapbook some Christmas photos. One of the high school students at church invited my hubby and me to an Elizabethan dinner because she was on the royal court. It was a lot of fun, and since I couldn't find any music themed paper in my stash to go along with the Christmas caroling, I enjoyed creating a mixed media background using distress spritz and stamps. Mixed media is still not my forte, but I am getting braver. I'm just bummed the sparkle of the distress spritz doesn't show up well in my scans, but IRL it is very glittery!

I also included two additional photos in a pocket under the black framed photo. The pull tabs are so you can remove the photos when the page is in a page protector.

Recipe:
Universal Backgrounds & Holiday Magic stamp sets
The Holiday Life paper (Simple Stories)
Ruby, Almond, Black & White Daisy cardstock
Ruby, Toffee & Black ink
Black
The Holiday Life Page Pieces & stickers (Simple Stories)
Red glitter gems
Lumberjack Plaid & Peeled Paint Distress Spritz (Ranger)
3-D foam tape
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: tabs
Cricut Design Space: title using Poor Richard font (curved and welded to circle)
Pattern: Creative Memories Sketch found on A Cherry on Top

Challenges: Creative Inspirations, Holly & Ivy Challenge #192 & Peace on Earth Challenge #96 - all Christmas themed challenges!

Tutankhamen Cartouche Layout

I have four more layouts to scrapbook from the King Tut exhibit we went to back in July 2018, so I decided to pull out my papers and get one done this morning. This is actually a continuation of the Graven Images layout I completed back in July, and I couldn't think of a cool title, so instead I used the cartouche with Tutankhamun's name in it that I created and cut using Cricut Design Space. If you're fluent in Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, you should be able to read my title easily!

Recipe:
Land of Pharaohs paper (Stamperia)
Pacifica & Canary cardstock
Pacifica, Canary & Bamboo ink
Ancient Egypt Ephemera book (Ruth Harding - purchased on Amazon)
Indian Corn Blue embroidery floss
Blue sparkles
Circle Double Stitched Steel Dies (Art Impressions)
Cricut Art philosophy cartridge: banners
Cricut Design Space: Tutankhamun cartouche using image found on Wikipedia Commons
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #64 rotated right

Challenges: Paper Rocks Scissors #8 - used scissors to fussy cut the mask ephemera and trim the embroidery floss; Try It On Tuesday Pretty papers - my photos covered up a lot of this fabulous piece of paper, but you can see the left strip and two other sections.

The Mission Layout

Today I scrapped some more photos for my son's school album, and it was funny to see what he chose to photograph when he went on a field trip to the San Juan Capistrano Mission. All his photos were horizontal, and he didn't include any people in them, and hardly any exteriors of the mission buildings, but he got a gorgeous photo of the church altar! At any rate, I had fun working with the photos, and even managed to create a little vignette for the bottom left corner of the layout.

This is the scene from the mission that I was trying to replicate.

Recipe:
Tan Squares paper (Rusty Pickle)
Cocoa, Paprika, Toffee, Mocha, Lagoon, Sage, Olive, Shortbread & Black cardstock
Cocoa, Autumn Terracotta, Toffee, Espresso, Lagoon & Olive ink
Sienna fineliner pen (iBayam)
ShinHan Touch Twin markers
Sweet Safari PML card
Love This Shape Sprinkles (Doodlebug Designs)
Cricut Design Space: title (using Amertha font), mission, tree, brackets
Patterns: EMS Sketch Challenges #48 & #12

  AND

Challenges: Heart's Quest Challenge Blog #77 Orange and/or purple hearts; Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone; Inkspirational #350 I already had a beautiful tree in one of my photos, so I added the die-cut olive tree to my page as well as the branches on the journaling card.

Super Layout for Lasting Memories #769

Can't believe it's already time for the final LM challenge of September, but here it is! This week, Sandy challenged us to use plaid paper. Plaid can be kind of overwhelming in large doses, so I elected to just include a long strip and a small one as accents to the apple paper on my layout. It's been a low-participation month over at LM (people must be busy with school starting), so hopefully this is the inspiration you need to grab some photos and dig some plaid paper out of your stash and join this challenge!

Thanks to Lisa over at Scrapbook.com for the inspiration to do the circle journaling tag!

Recipe:
Harvest Apple Plaid paper (Daisy D)
Sweet Safari papers & journaling cards
Espresso & White Daisy cardstock
Espresso, Candy Apple & Lagoon ink
Burnt Sienna fineliner pen (iBayam)
School Is Cool ephemera icons (Bella Blvd)
Field Trip Puffy Thickers (American Crafts)
Candy Apple Striped ribbon
Wooden arrow (Crafter's Square)
Simply White Nuvo Drops
Staple
Pattern: Sketch-n-Scrap #320

Challenges: Paper Rocks Scissors #8 - used scissors to cut the striped ribbon; Neglected Stuff - mine is the apple paper, which has been sitting in a box since 2014 when my neighbor gave it to me because she was moving!

Presidio Layout

I'm working on my son's school album this week, so here is another layout, this time with his "presidio" project for California history. 

Recipe:
Pet Shoppe Cat paper (Simple Stories)
Fur Baby 6x8 paper (Simple Stories)
Glacier, Sundance, Candy Apple & White Daisy cardstock
Glacier, Honey, Candy Apple & Outdoor Denim ink
Outdoor Denim marker
Ruby Red fineliner pen (iBayam)
Reasons to Smile ephemera (American Crafts)
Bold & Bright ephemera (American Crafts)
Love You More Shape Sprinkles (Doodlebug Designs)
Chevon embossing folder
Cricut Artistry cartridge: title
Pattern: Sketch Savvy 87

Challenges: Can You Handle the Pressure? Embossing with optional twist of lots of layers; Neglected Stuff Challenges- mine is the double sided heart/stripe paper that I bought in March 2023 and never used.

Air Museum Layout

My husband has a life-long love affair with flight, train, and car museums, so here are some photos from the Palm Springs Air Museum. I didn't add any journaling here since it will be on the pocket page I am putting between the two pages in my album. I think I am going to make my hubby write it, too!

Recipe:
Vicki Boutin Mixed Media Collection stamps (American Crafts)
Watercolor Patterned paper (Recollections)
Vick Boutin Mixed Media Collection papers (American Crafts)
Fall 2019 Mix In papers
Juniper, Sapphire, Black & White Daisy cardstock
Canary, Saffron, Juniper & Black ink
Beetle Black puffy hearts (Doodlebug Designs)
Summer Afternoon Enamel Shapes (Altenew)
Bold & Bright Puffy Title Stickers (American Crafts)
Black Geometric washi tape (Recollections)
Cricut Design Space: title using Austin Hearts font
Cricut You Are Here cartridge: airplane, helicopter
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #51

Challenges: The Outlawz Anything Goes in a Card-Free Zone; Alphabet Challenge Blog L is for Love Letters with Hearts -  since my husband loves flight museums, I added three hearts to each side of the layout plus one in the title.

First Day Layout

I decided to scrapbook another layout in my son's school album, so I pulled out some Bella Blvd supplies and played along with a few challenges to get this page done.

Recipe:
Chloe papers & stickers (Bella Blvd)
Star Spangled Blue, Flaxen & Cranberry cardstock
Flaxen & Nectarine ink
Star Spangled Blue marker
School Is Cool ephemera icons (Bella Blvd)
Spring Fun sticker (KI Memories)
Warm and Cozy enamel dots (Altenew)
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: title, apple, ruler
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #104

Challenges: Let's Craft & Create #223 Anything Goes with optional twist: lots of layers; The Outlawz Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone; Colorful Options Anything Goes

Back to the Sea Layout

Although I love how mixed media looks on other people's layouts, I have never been a  big fan of doing it myself. Somehow, it always seems to not look quite right when I try to incorporate it into a layout! However, last month I tried scraplifting someone's layout that had a water colored background, and I loved how it turned out, so I decided to try another lift in hopes it would inspire me. I think it was actually a digital layout, but it gave me the guidance I needed. Once again, I like the result, so who knows, maybe one day I will get brave enough to create my own water colored backgrounds!

Recipe:
Distressed Backgrounds stamp set
Watercolor paper (Canson)
Watercolor patterned paper (Recollections)
Emerald Green & Lilac Mist cardstock
Topiary & Desert Sand ink
Star Spangled Blue marker
Sap Green & Cobalt Blue watercolor paints (Artist's Loft)
Monograms 2 Chippies (Mintay Papers)
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: heart banner
Cricut You Are Here cartridge: turtle
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: mini banners
Pattern: scraplift from A Cherry on Top
Challenges: Double D Challenges Make Your Own Background; Art Impressions #412 Wild About You - my wild animal is a turtle; NBUS #78 - my never before used schtuff is the Mintay chipboard letters that I bought in June and finally got around to using on this layout.

I Can Feel It in the Air Layout for Lasting Memories #768

This month at Lasting Memories, Sandy is challenging us to use up some of our stash of patterned papers. The focus of this week's challenge is floral papers. I wanted to get some Christmas layouts done, so I pulled out a collection that had some floral papers, one very subdued with a tone on tone look that I used for my background, and the other more elaborate with lots of blossoms that worked well as an accent piece. Now hopefully you are inspired to hop on over to Lasting Memories and play along with our challenges this month! 

Recipe:
The Holiday Life papers (Simple Stories)
Black, Olive & White Daisy cardstock
Olive ink
Black marker
The Holiday Life Journal Bits & cardstock stickers (Simple Stories)
Jingle All the Way chipboard stickers (Simple Stories)
Wooden arrows
Ebony Black Nuvo Drops
Circle Double Stitched Steel Dies (Art Impressions)
Cricut You Are Here cartridge: title
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #64

Challenges: The Outlawz Festive Friday Challenge - Christmas; Paper Rocks Scissors #8 - I used the scissors to trim the foam tape that popped up my floral pieces on the end of the banner; Unicorn Challenge Blog #113 - Circles

Elgin Marbles Layout

This is the companion page to the Monuments page I created earlier this week. There will be a pocket page between them to hold more photos and my journaling, which usually means I can scrapbook the two pages in totally different style even though they are thematically related, but I got lazy and just used the supplies I already had on  my desk from the other page!

Recipe:

Baroque Borders stamp set

Wonderland & Dreaming Big papers
Chocolate, Indian Corn Blue &White Daisy cardstock
Indian Corn Blue, Chocolate & Whisper ink

ShinHan Touch Twin markers
Washi tape (Recollections)
Simple Vintage essentials stickers (Simple Stories)
Frayed Burlap distress spray (Ranger)
Simply White Nuvo Drops

Zoo Assortment Matte Sprinkles (Doodlebug Designs)
Cricut Design Space: pillars

Cricut Artiste cartridge: title

Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: leaves

Pattern: Splitcoast Stampers Sketch16Aug1

Challenges: A Cut Above Anything Goes with a die-cut

Monuments Layout

I did a little bit of organizing in my scrapbook room this week, with a pleasant surprise resulting: I found the last set of photos from the British Museum that I had misplaced, so here is a layout of the Nereid Monument, an impressive Greek tomb. There are also two photos of the Parthenon Frieze, which is why I felt justified in titling my layout Monuments (plural). Journaling will be in a facing pocket page, and I am working on another layout with the rest of the Parthenon sculptures. For the background, I started with white cardstock which I brayered with the blue ink, then  stamped the corners and added some distress spritz. Not usually a mixed media gal, but I like how this came out!

Recipe:
Baroque Borders stamp set
Wonderland & Dreaming Big papers
Chocolate &White Daisy cardstock
Indian Corn Blue, Chocolate & Whisper ink
Chocolate baker's twine
Washi tape (Recollections)
Simple Vintage essentials stickers (Simple Stories)
Frayed Burlap distress spray (Ranger)
Simply White Nuvo Drops
Brick Stencil (from Amazon)
Chevron embossing folder (on tag)
Swiss Dot embossing folder (Cuttlebug)
Cricut Artiste cartridge: title
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: tag, banners
Pattern: Rochelle Spears September 2025 Sketch

Challenges: Inkspirational #349 Add a Tag; NBUS #78 and Stencil Fun - used the brick stencil for the first time; A Cut Above Anything Goes with a die-cut - used my Cricut to cut the title, tag, and banner die-cuts; Scrap With Stacy Tic Tac Toe - used the diagonal with 2 or more photos + banner + twine. 

Let's Celebrate Layout for Lasting Memories #767

This week, Lasting Memories design team member Sandy is challenging us to use striped paper on our layouts, so I pulled out a couple of striped scraps to use as accent pieces. Originally, I was looking for a bright emerald green to go with the photos I was scrapping, but I am glad I decided to use a more muted tone, as it went better with my daughter's mint colored shirt. The LM patterned paper challenges will be continuing until the end of the month, so we would love to have you pop over and check out the design team layouts, and hopefully it will inspire you to join us!

I didn't add journaling yet because I scrapped this in the middle of the night and couldn't remember how the team placed but didn't want to sneak into my daughter's room to find her medal!

Recipe:
Pinwheel stamp
6x6 patterned papers (from my stash, source unknown)
Juniper, Nectarine & Black cardstock
Juniper & Nectarine ink
Fresh Paint PML pocket card
Reasons to Smile ephemera (American Crafts)
Orange ric-rac (JoAnn Craft Essentials)
Crisp Air enamel shapes
Spots & Dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug)
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #72

Challenges: Can You Handle the Pressure? Use an embossing folder + optional twist of balloons; Let's Craft and Create #223 Lots of layers; NBUS #78 My never-before-used stuff is the Let's Celebrate stamp that I got in 2014 but never used until today; Unicorn Challenge Blog #113 Circles (cut a photo into a circle + embossed circles onto two colors of cardstock)

Hands-On Learning Layout

My hubby used to teach Sunday school and asked me to help him out when he was doing a Passover meal for the class, so I got a few photos of the kids enjoying (or not) the foods. I decided to use the title "Hands on Learning" because it's the start of the school year and because it really was an interactive way to learn about this piece of history that is still relevant today. All the embellishments on the layout were die-cut on my Cricut using Design Space, and it was a lot of work, especially the seder plate items. Some were very detailed and didn't cut well at the small scale I needed, so I had to use the contour tool to remove all those details, which took more time than I should have spent - LOL! I popped up the sheep and the plate using dimensional tape, and the tag behind the plate pulls out to reveal my journaling, also done on my Cricut using a Cricut pen.

Recipe:
I Want Candy paper
Sapphire, Carolina, Fern, Canary, Shortbread, Chocolate & White Daisy cardstock
Sapphire, Carolina & Chocolate ink
Navy pen (Cricut)
White Daisy grosgrain ribbon
3-D foam tape
Opaque Texture Paste (Ranger)
Starry Night Stencil (Simple Stories)
Cricut Design Space: title (using Thick font), all Passover themed die-cuts, journaling (using BFC Autumn Woodland font)
Cricut Just Because cartridge: sheep
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: tag
Challenges: Farm Quest Grocery Game Challenges #21 Anything food related; A Cut Above Anything goes with a die-cut (I used a ton!); Stencil Fun Anything Goes with a stencil - I used a star stencil and texture paste to create the background behind the lower right photo; Unicorn Challenge Blog #113 Circles