Chokushi-Mon Layout

Among the many beautiful sights at Kew Gardens, we enjoyed the intricately carved gate found in the Japanese Gardens.  If you are ever at Kew Gardens, it's well worth seeking it out! I tried to recreate the look of the maple branches found on Japanese art and added a couple of butterflies just for fun.

Recipe:
Tiny Typewriter stamp set
Emporium paper
Topiary, Espresso, Tulip & Sunset cardstock
Topiary ink
Burnt Sienna fineliner pen (iBayam)
Butterfly Bits ephemera (Simple Stories)
Birdsong Ephemera Bits (49 and Market)
Krafty Garden Essentials rub-on transfer (49 and Market)
Coffee Break enamel dots (Altenew)
Woodgrain washi tape
Peeled Paint distress spritz (Ranger)
Cricut Design Space: branch and maple leaves
Challenges: Alphabet Challenge Blog I is for insect - added two butterflies; Cupcake Inspirations #640 In the Garden; The Outlawz Anything But a Card

Father's Day 2019 Layout

I've been busy putting our house back together after we packed up five rooms in order to refinish the hardwood floors, so although the floors now look beautiful, I haven't had much time for scrapbooking. Today I decided to just make the time, so here is my latest layout. It features photos from Father's Day 2019, including a few of the card I made for my hubby and that all the kids signed. Enjoy!

Recipe:
Party Invitation stamp set
Country Woods paper (SU)
Joy in the Journey paper
Journey & Saffron cardstock
Journey & Saffron ink
Ocean marker
Mars Black Fineliner pen (iBayam)
ShinHan Touch Twin markers
Gold metallic pen (Staedltler)
A Father's Love sticker (BoBunny)
Wood veneers (Amazon)
Gold Heart paper clip (American Crafts)
Ruby chevron ribbon
Chevron embossing folder
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: tag
Cricut Design Space: title
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #117

Challenges: Can You Handle the Pressure? Used a chevron pattern on the yellow cardstock + includes optional twist of bees; Pick 3 Challenge #8 - I used polka dots paper + stamping (on tag) + insects (bees); Little Red Wagon #873 Anything times 3 - I used 3 wood veneers.

The Family - June 2019 Layout

I've gotten into the habit of scrapping all the miscellaneous photos from a month on one layout so I don't have to do a bunch of one photo layouts, so here is the one with the random photos from June 2019. Fun fact: there are actually only two pieces of patterned paper on here (the two backgrounds), and the banners were decorated using stamps and stencils. 

Recipe:
Background Builders stamp set
Botanical Textures paper (SU)
Cranberry, Black, Pebble, Glacier & White cardstock
Cranberry, Black & Charcoal ink
White gel pen
Mars Black fineliner pen (iBayam)
Color Kaleidoscope Thickers (American Crafts)
Glitter Black & White enamel dots (Eyelet Outlet)
Black Bigger Brad
Red gingham & Black organdy ribbons (Offray)
Geometric washi tape (Recollections)
Tim Holtz Burlap stencil (Stampers Anonymous)
Cricut Design Space: title, frame, pocket, tags, banner, flowers
Pattern: Let's Scrap 6-1-18

Challenges: Little Red Wagon #872 Q is for Quote (I'm not sure if I can enter more than one project per challenge, but I am on a roll with the quotes - used a quote from the movie He Said, She Said on the pocket, plus the words, "Living the dream!" are a quote I found on Facebook from my kids at the time I took the picture of them at the park; Neglected Stuff Challenges I haven't pulled the Color Kaleidoscope Thickers out to use since June 2025; One More Page Any scrapbook layout; Stencil Fun Used a stencil to add a pattern to my grey banners; Triple B Anything goes including a bird, a bloom, and/or a butterfly.

Welcome to the Big Time! Layout

Love these pictures of my happy girl on the day she received her leadership belt at her karate dojo! She was so excited. I went a little old school and used a stamp set, Versamark ink, and embossing powder to create the word welcome for my title. I really appreciated my Cricut after I sat there fussy cutting the embossed word; the rest of the title that I created on my Cricut only took seconds to cut out! Funny story: I could have sworn I had used the black embossing powder previously, but when I couldn't get the lid off, I realized it still had the wrapper on it, so I guess it was new. Glad I got to pull it out for this challenge.

Recipe:
Urban Alphabet stamp set
Summer Stack papers (DCWV)
The Flower Emporium paper (49 and Market)
Gypsy, Black & White cardstock
Gypsy, Buttercup & Versamark ink
Gypsy marker
White gel pen (Sakura)
White acrylic flowers & hearts
Black glitter enamel dots (Eyelet Outlet)
Wild Wheat ribbon (SU)
Unicorn ribbon (American Crafts)
Black embossing powder (Ranger)
Cricut Design Space: scalloped circle, title using Austin Hearts font
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #115

Challenges: A Cut Above Anything Goes including a die-cut with optional twist of fall flowers (not sure if mine are fall, but I did include lots of flowers); Heart’s Quest Challenge Blog #87 Anything with a heart goes; Little Red Wagon #872 Q is for Quote (I used a quote from the movie A Few Good Men as my title);  Love Those Pretty Papers Anything goes as long as you use lots of patterned paper; NBUS Challenge #89 my never before used stuff is black embossing powder for the title.

Beautiful {Kew Gardens) Layout

One of my scrappy goals for this year is to finish scrapping all the photos from a 2017 trip my hubby and I took to London. Since we took thousands of photos, and I haven't been very consistent with scrapping them, it's taken almost nine years to scrap the first nine days of the trip, and I now have five days of photos left, so wish me luck in getting them done before the ten year anniversary of our trip rolls around! On the day I am scrapping now, we went to the lovely Kew Gardens in outer London, so here is a layout showing some of the beautiful wildflowers we saw.

Here are a couple close-ups so you can see the details:

Recipe:
Notice the Details stamp set
The Flower Emporium papers (49 and Market)
Pear cardstock
Toffee, Pear, Indian Corn Blue, Desert Rose & Black ink
Mars Black fineliner pen (iBayam)
Simple Vintage Junk Drawer foam stickers (Simple Stories)
Tim Holtz Field Notes ephemera (Idea-ology)
Old Soul ephemera (American Crafts)
Krafty Garden Essentials rub-on transfers (49 and Market)
Timberline assortment wooden shapes
Wooden Arrow
Green organdy ribbon (Offray)
Green washi tape (Recollections)
Garden Green spiral clip
Staples
Tim Holtz Rays stencil (Stampers Anonymous)
Opaque Matte Texture paste (Ranger)
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #114 (much adapted!)

Challenges: Alphabet Challenge Blog H is for Horticulture AND Inkspirational #374 Word Inspiration: Garden - since I have a brown thumb, I scrapped photos of this lovely public garden; Triple B Anything goes including a bird, a bloom, and/or a butterfly; The Outlawz Anything But a Card; Stencil Fun - I definitely didn't do the optional twist of CAS, but I did use the rays stencil; Unicorn Challenge #123 - Layer it up!

EMS Sketch Challenge #130 + Les Miserables Layout

Happy Monday morning, everyone. I haven't created a new sketch for a while but needed one for these photos, so here is my latest, featuring four 4"x6" photos with two cropped to a smaller size. This would also work well rotated if you have more horizontal than vertical photos, and a vertical title would look fun! As always, feel free to adapt the sketch to your needs, and please leave a link to your completed layout in the comments below so I can enjoy seeing what you did with the sketch! Here's the sketch:

And here's my layout:

Fun fact: a local theater is doing Les Mis this season, so since the Les Mis logo never changes,
I cropped it out of their advertisement to use as my title! 

Recipe:
Country Woods & Painted Illusions papers (SU)
Grunge Rust paper (Reminisce)
Ruby, Indian Corn Blue, Toffee & White Daisy cardstock
Ruby, Indian Corn Blue & Toffee ink
Twilight marker
Ruby Red fineliner pen (iBayam)
VIP Acrylic Shapes
Antiqued Copper eyelets (MM)
Cranberry embroidery floss
Cricut You Are Here cartridge: treble clef, hearts
Challenges: Heart’s Quest Challenge Blog #87 Red and/or Yellow hearts; Let’s Craft and Create #234 Anything Goes w/optional twist: Distressed paper; NBUS Challenge #89 My never before used stuff was the Country Woods paper; One More Page Any scrapbook layout; Paper Rocks Scissors #19 Used scissors to trim embroidery floss.

Movie Day Layout for LM #811

Hello, everyone, and happy Sunday. Today is the reveal for the latest challenge over at Lasting Memories, and this time, Jill has challenged us to  create a layout showing our favorite brand or designer. This is always a challenge for me, since I was so loyal to CTMH for many years, but then they went out of business - bummer. I have a few new favorites now, with anything by Vicki Boutin topping the list. Here I used her mixed media paper as my background, then added patterned paper for the frame and the strip across the page. The "with you" puffy sticker is from one of her collections, too. We would love to see who is your favorite designer or brand, so feel free to swing by Lasting Memories to share a layout with us!

Here are a few close-ups - the extra ticket that pulls out of the envelope:

The title:

And the stamped sentiments:

Recipe:
Captured Happiness, Cherish the Day, Live Out Loud, This Way & Ticket to Ride stamp sets
Vicki Boutin Let's Wander Mixed Media & Printed Mixed Media paper (American Crafts)
Ruby, Chocolate, Pebble, Black & White cardstock
Ruby, Moonstruck, Flaxen & Black ink
White gel pen (Sakura)
Paige Evans Very Merry Christmas wood stars (Pinkfresh)
Red Sunset enamel dots (Altenew)
Blue Swiss Dot grosgrain ribbon (Offray)
White Daisy baker's twine
Sweet Rush Collection - Loving This puffy stickers (American Crafts)
Foam tape (Scrapbook.com)
Cricut Southwest cartridge: pistol, rug, boot
Cricut Artiste cartridge: filmstrip, tickets, envelope, movie
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: clouds
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: scalloped border
Cricut Design Space: Day using Chloe font
Pattern: Rochelle Spears August 2026 Sketch

Challenges: Little Red Wagon #870 Make an envelope - I created a tiny envelope for the tickets; A Cut Above Anything Goes including a die-cut (I went kind of crazy on the die-cuts but didn't manage the optional twist of fall flowers - maybe next time); Unicorn Challenge Blog #123 Layer it up; Scrap With Stacy Tic Tac Toe ( I chose the top row with foam (behind the clouds + enamel dots + 2 photos).

These Wonderful Walls Layout

My goal last month was to finish scrapping the photos from April 29 of our 2017 trip to London, and I almost made it but got distracted at the last moment and didn't end up getting this one done. Oops! Well, I finished it up today with some photos of the interior of the National Gallery, and I am pretty please with how it came out. Since the photos sat on my desk for a couple weeks, I had a chance to realize that the papers I had originally chosen were too busy, so I dug deep into my stash and found some other papers that I paired up with a new butterfly stamp set. I decided not to add any journaling, but hopefully the title speaks for itself.

And here are a couple of close-ups of the layout:

Recipe:
Let Your Dreams Take Flight stamp set (Recollections)
Vicki Boutin Printed Mixed Media paper (American Crafts)
8.5" x 11" paper and word sticker from my stash (source unknown)
Jingle All the Way - Coal Plaid/Gingham paper (Simple Stories)
Scarlet, Black & White cardstock
White Daisy textured cardstock
Black striped grosgrain ribbon
Black embroidery floss
Glitter Black and White enamel dots (Eyelet Outlet)
Black label tape (Dymo)
Heart punch (EK Success)
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: tag
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #107 (left side only)

Challenges: NBUS Challenge #89 My never before used stuff was the recently purchased Recollections butterfly stamp; Neglected Stuff Challenges the red and black patterned paper and the striped ribbon; Paper Rocks Scissors #19 Used scissors to fussy cut the stamped butterflies; Heart’s Quest Challenge Blog #87 Red and black punched hearts; Triple B Anything goes including a bird, a bloom, and/or a butterfly.

Picture Perfect Layout

I was going through a file cabinet trying to purge old files when I found an Olan Mills envelope that had proofs from some photos my husband and I had done when we had only been married a few years. There was no date on the envelope, so I looked through my scrapbooks and couldn't find that I had ever scrapped these photos, possibly because I didn't love how they looked at the time. With the passage of years, I look much more kindly on how my hubby and I looked in the photos, so I made a guess based on my hairstyle and my hubby's lack of a beard in order to figure out where these photos fit and decided to go with fall of 1996.

Recipe:
Best Friends Forever stamp set
Botanical Textures & Unknown floral paper from 2005 (SU)
Linen cardstock
Vineyard Berry & Black ink
Mars Black fineliner pen (iBayam)
Birdsong Ephemera Bits (49 and Market)
Dream Maker stickers
Fancy Cuts Botanicals paper flowers
Paper piercer (We R Memory Keepers)
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #96 

Challenges: Love Those Pretty Papers Anything goes as long as you use lots of patterned paper; NBUS Challenge #89  my never before used stuff is the black and white floral paper; One More Page Any scrapbook layout; The Outlawz Anything But a Card Anything goes except a card; Paper Rocks Scissors #19 Anything goes using paper and scissors - I used scissors to cut the extra nubs off the die-cuts.

Transport Museum Layout

I really wanted to finish scrapping all my London photos from April 29, 2017 before the end of the month, and I am almost done. Just one more after this. I think I can, I think I can! These photos were taken at the London Transport Museum, probably not a place your average tourist plans to go, but we enjoyed it.

And I had fun creating the little window scene, so here's a close-up:

Recipe:
Harmonious Patterns & Universal Backgrounds stamp sets
Yesterday & Today and Typeset papers
Kraft, Espresso, Toffee, Chocolate, Topiary, Heavenly Blue, Vineyard Berry, Juniper, Black & Colonial White cardstock
Espresso, Toffee, Topiary, Vineyard Berry & Juniper ink
Burnt Sienna fineliner pen (iBayam)
Nostalgiques Automobiles stickers (Stickopotamus)
Natural twill ribbon
Heart punch (EK Success)
Swiss Dot embossing folder (Cuttlebug)
Cricut Design Space; window, tree, title
Challenges: Can You Handle the Pressure?  Used a dotted embossing folder to create some texture on my die-cut tree; Heart’s Quest Challenge Blog #87 Used hearts in three colors, including red; Little Red Wagon # 869 One Thing - mine is one window scene; Paper Rocks Scissors #18 Used scissors to trim the ribbon ends and to cut off part of the tree and car so they would fit in the window scene.