New Smile Layout

I'm finally getting started with scrapping my photos from 2018 (only 6 years behind now!) and this seems like a great place to start: my daughter getting braces for the first time in January 2018. Although I know it wasn't a complete success and she ended up having to remove them early since her poor dental hygiene was putting her teeth at risk, I tried to journal what I think I would have been feeling at the time. Can anyone relate? Actually, she now has braces again and we hope to finish the job, but even the first round did help a lot so her bottom teeth weren't cutting into the roof of her mouth!

Recipe:
Alphabet Solos N & Take Note stamp sets
Teen Spirit Girl papers (Echo Park)
Gypsy, Capri, Honey & White Daisy cardstock
Gypsy, Capri, Honey & Raspberry ink
White gel pen (Sakura)
Crafting tape - washi & glitter (Recollections)
Lavender check ribbon (Michaels)
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: tag, stars, banner
Star punch (EK Success)
Pattern: Sketch-n-Scrap #312 - includes twist of old papers + new embellishment (washi and glitter tape)

Challenges: My Time to Craft #551 & Let's Craft and Create #215 - both had challenges to use a sentiment, so in addition to the cute sentiments on the patterned paper, I used a smile stamp as part of my title)

Celebrate Christmas Again Layout for Lasting Memories #733

It's been a crazy week here in Southern California, with wildfires burning out of control and a family sheltering with us following the loss of their home, but things are slowly starting to get back to something approaching normal. I managed to get a layout done, my last one from my 2017 photos, and it is also my Lasting Memories design team entry for this week's challenge: do something a little out of your comfort zone for your journaling. I decided to go with hidden journaling, which I do use quite often, but I also added a moving piece, which I seldom do. I plan to laminate the top ornament for added protection, and then punch through my page protector to hang it on the brad. The top ornament will slide to the side to reveal the rest of the journaling. Hope this inspires you to jump out of your comfort zone with your journaling! Please join us over at Lasting Memories for this and the other challenges this month.   

And here's a view of what the back journaling looks like:

Recipe:
Jingle All the Way & The Holiday Life papers (Simple Stories)
Timeless Stripe paper (Daisy D's)
Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas paper (Echo Park)
Ruby, New England Ivy & Black ink
Ruby, Olive, Ponderosa Pine, Canary & White cardstock
Black marker
New England Ivy Bigger Brad
Primary Stars epoxy shapes (Bella Blvd)
Top Dog epoxy stars (Doodlebug Designs)
Be Merry & Bight mini tag set (Couture Creations)
Paper crimper (Fiskars)
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: Christmas title, ornaments
Cricut Artistry cartridge: Christmas trees, again
Pattern: Pagemaps sketch found on SB.com

Challenges: The Outlawz Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone with optional twist of try something new: my new is punching through a page protector - still freaks me out a little to do that! The Outlawz Festive Friday Challenge - Christmas + use blue (stars)

Let's Take This Outside Layout for Lasting Memories #732

Who's ready for a new challenge? Here's the second Lasting Memories challenge for January; this time, we're deliberately focusing on our title. There were lots of options to use, but I decided to go big for the key word "outside" while keeping the rest of the title small, and I also stamped and fussy cut a few of the letters from patterned paper to match the rest of the layout. My final touch was to use foam tape to pop the big title up and give it more dimension. Hopefully that inspired you to come check out the challenge over at Lasting Memories and play along before the end of the month!

Recipe:
Posterboard Alphabet stamp set
6"x 6" patterned papers (from my stash, source unknown)
Pebble & White Daisy cardstock
Black ink
Black marker
Hello Darlin' PML card
Red baker's twine (recycled from around a present!)
Merry Little Christmas Ephemera - Words (Bella Blvd)
Great Lengths sticker (CM)
3-D foam tape

Celebrate 16 Layout

After scrapping mostly Christmas layouts for the month of December and using pre-made embellishments, I seem to have lost the knack of  creating my own. This layout celebrating my son's 16th birthday certainly didn't come out as cute as I envisioned, but I guess it is finished and I will not worry about it!

Recipe:
Good Times papers & My Stickease
Buttercup, Sweet Leaf, Chocolate, Twilight & White Daisy cardstock
Buttercup, Sweet Leaf, Chocolate & Twilight ink
Brown fineliner pen (iBayam)
Garden Green brad
Starry Night stencil (Simple Stories)
Cricut Artistry cartridge: celebrate title
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #31

EMS Sketch Challenge #117 + Christmas Layout

There are many fun ways to start the new year, so I am hoping you will enjoy my special treat for you: a brand new double-page sketch! If you are anything like me, you take a ton of photos at special events like Christmas, and then you have to decide which ones to scrap. Well, this sketch can hold a whopping nine photos, and if you have more, you can do what I did and place the extras in a photo storage page. Of course, if you are not a multi-photo scrapper, I invite you to check out any of the other sketches here on my blog; they are made to be shared and used. Just click on the label in this post that says EMS Sketch challenges, and it will show you all my sketches.

Here's the sketch:

And here's my layout, staying pretty faithful to the sketch:

Recipe:
The Holiday Life papers (Simple Stories)
Almond & Fern cardstock
Ruby, Fern, New England Ivy & Black ink
Black marker
Ho Ho Ho puffy stickers (American Crafts)
Pear & Partridge PML card
The Holiday Life Journal Bits & Page Pieces (Simple Stories)
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: hearts

Sweet Memories {Christmas Eve 2017} Layout

I've been cranking out layout this week in hopes of making my yearly goal of 100 layouts! I'm very close, only one to go, so wish me luck as I scrap in the New Year. Here is another layout I completed today; I am finding it easier to scrap all these Christmas layouts because they are all using the same theme, so I was able to just pull out all my Christmas papers and embellishments and get to work without reinventing the wheel for each new theme. This layout is Christmas Eve 2017, so I also hope to finish scrapping that year and start the New Year with 2018 photos. Hopefully . . . .

Recipe:
Very Merry Christmas stamp set
Evensong papers
New England Ivy, Cranberry & Sorbet cardstock
New England Ivy & Cranberry ink
Black marker
DE Mixed Shapes chipboard
White embroidery floss
Xmas Red Stickles (Ranger)
Ho Ho Ho puffy stickers (American Crafts)
Jingle Joy PML cards
Merry Little Christmas Ephemera - Words (Bella Blvd)
Forest Green grosgrain ribbon
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #113

Top Golf Layout

I started this layout three weeks ago and just couldn't figure out how to finish it once I got  the photos and patterned papers on it, so I put it aside until today. Coming back to it, I added a title and some puffy hearts, plus stamped some phrases on the talk bubbles, and now I am much happier with it!

Recipe:
Captured Happiness & Friendship Word Puzzle stamp sets
Summer Celebration B&T papers
Black & White Daisy cardstock
Topiary, Dutch Blue, Ocean & Watermelon ink
Black marker
Hopscotch PML card
Bubblegum Hearts & Blue Jean Hearts Puffy Shapes (Doodlebug Designs)
Falling for You Shape Sprinkles (Doodlebug Designs)
Cricut Design Space: title using Mochiy Pop One
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #68

Challenges: Heart's Quest Challenge Blog #69 Anything Goes with multicolored hearts

Tower of London Wall Walk Layout

Since it's been over 7 years since my hubby and I visited the Tower of London, I had to do a lot of research to figure out what some of the locations were that we photographed on the Wall Walk, a self-guided tour of the battlements of the Tower. I think I got them all correct, but please feel free to leave a comment if I messed any up! Anyway, I originally laid out my photos from left to right in the order that we snapped them, but eventually decided to scrap them  as if we were re-enacting our walk around the walls. This means we entered at Lanthorn Tower at the southern boundary of the Tower (bottom right on the layout) and started our tour at Salt Tower (#1 and #2 on my layout), and then moved around the eastern wall (#3 - #4) before exiting at Martin Tower (#5 and #6). The final photos (#7 and #8) were taken as we exited and made our way over to where the Crown Jewels are housed. Clear as mud? I included a scanned map with a big red arrow at the bottom where we entered and another arrow at the top where we exited. No one else may care, but it will at least help me remember in future times!

And here's the map:

Recipe:
Vintage Type stamp set
Grandpa's Attic papers (SEI)
Mink cardstock
Barn Red ink
Black marker
Let's Wander Thickers (American Crafts)
Black label tape (Dymo)
DIY Shop Cork arrow stickers (American Crafts)

Bloody Tower Layout

I decided to switch gears from Christmas layouts and work on finishing scrapping the photos from a 2017 visit to the Tower of London, so here is the facing page to the ravens layout I posted earlier. The vertical photo will lift up to show off another photo and my journaling, but I am not quite finished with the journaling, so here is a link to the history of the Bloody Tower for those who are interested in how it got its name.

Recipe:
For Always papers
Black, Cranberry, Rosemary & White Daisy cardstock
Black ink
Silver photo hanger
Charmalong key (Bead Landing)
Vintage washi tape (Emmoolife)
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: title, tear drops, scalloped border
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #114 (right side only)

Legendary Birds Layout for Lasting Memories #731

It's not quite 2025, but over at Lasting Memories, we're getting a jump start on our challenges for the new year! This month, I am hosting challenges centered around the idea of deliberate designs, or focusing on an area of your layout. Today's challenge is to use a sketch for the basic design of your layout. I love creating sketches, so I decided to use my most recent one but adapt it for a different topic than I had scrapped last week. I know a lot of you scrappers like to use sketches, so feel free to join us to show off your sketch-based layout using the link above!

Here's my layout:

And here's the sketch I used:

Recipe:
For Always papers
Black, Rosemary & White Daisy cardstock
Black & Whisper ink
Black marker
Black hemp
Vintage washi tape (Emmoolife)

Black enamel sparkle dots (Eyelet Outlet)
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: tag
Cricut Design Space: title using Chloe & Copperplate fonts

Challenges: My Time to Craft #550 - New (I chose to use a new set of vintage washi tape my sweet son gave me for Christmas - totally not my style, but I really appreciated the thought so I will strive to use them as often as possible!)