Millennium Bridge Layout

Another layout for my London album, this time showing views of the Millennium Bridge over the River Thames. I was looking for some water or waves paper and found a Simple Stories beach themed paper pack that had just what I was looking for, plus it had some cool geotag/road map type paper that worked well for this layout. My pictures featured pretty drab colors with just a few pops of red, so I used the pink and red cardstock to cheer up the layout.

Recipe:
My Life stamp set
Just Beachy papers (Simple Stories)
Cotton Candy, Chocolate, Ruby, Blush, Black, Pewter & White cardstock
Bamboo, Flaxen, Juniper & Tulip ink
Very Merry Christmas wood stars (Pinkfresh)
Chocolate baker's twine
Slate polka dot washi tape
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: banners
Cricut You Are Here cartridge; bridge
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: arrow, notebook paper edge
Cricut Design Space: title using Amertha font
Challenges: A Cut Above Anything Goes including a die-cut; Love Those Pretty Papers Anything goes with patterned paper; NBUS Challenge #88 My never before used stuff is the patterned paper and the wooden stars; One More Page Scrapbook pages only; Paper Rocks Scissors #18 Used scissors to cut the baker's twine.

Fun & Sun Layout for LM #809

Today is a perfect day for the layout I just completed, since it's supposed to be sizzling here in Southern California! I plan to cool off in a movie theater this afternoon, but first let me share the latest Lasting Memories challenge with you. Design Team member Lisa has been sharing some mood boards with us, and I found inspiration from the lovely color palette of this week's board. Feel free to play along with this or any of the Lasting Memories challenges this month before the linky closes on Saturday. Here's my layout:

And here's the mood board:

Recipe:
Dotty for You papers
Honey Butter, Smoothie & Nectarine cardstock
Creme Brulee, Smoothie ink
Bug-a-Boo stickers (Frances Meyer)
Summer Afternoon enamel dots (Altenew)
Flower embossing folder (Cuttlebug)
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: title, sun
Pattern: Sketches in Thyme #717 (from Facebook) rotated left

Challenges: Can You Handle the Pressure? Use an embossing folder; Cut It Up #361 Use a die-cut + embossing; Let’s Craft and Create #233 Fun in the Sun.

Art {National Gallery} Layout

On our 2017 London trip, my hubby and I went to the National Gallery multiple times and tried to see as much art as possible, but I definitely didn't want to scrapbook all the photos we took, so here is a sampling of the 17th and 18th century paintings we photographed. The others are going in a pocket page. I also included the map of the National Gallery in a vellum pocket behind the photos, so it can slide out for future viewing. Funny story: I was trying to make sure the photos were all from the right centuries for this layout, and discovered that the map, while faithful to the time we visited, is now totally out of date. I guess the museum has so many pieces of art that they move them around depending on what they want to feature, so if we ever visit again, there is no guarantee we would see the same paintings!

Here are a couple of close-ups, one of the title and one of the map:

Recipe:

Belle Fleur paper (photoplay)

Watercolor paper

Vellum

Cranberry, Canary & Sage ink

Garden Green marker

DE Monograms chipboard

Belle Fleur Elements stickers (Photoplay)

Ink Splat stencil (Amazon)

3-D foam tape (Scrapbook.com)

Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #13

Challenges: The Outlawz Anything But a Card; Paper Rocks Scissors #18- used scissors to cut the little bumps off the chipboard letters; Stencil Fun –  included the optional twist of  patterns (stenciled ink blots on the chipboard letters).

Everyday London Layout

On the trip my hubby and I took to London in 2017, we saw many beautiful buildings that we did not have time to explore further, but I thought I would put a few of them together on a layout. The buildings paper from American Crafts was perfect for this layout! I also used a London newsprint paper that I had purchased, not realizing that it was all about Hyde Park, a place we never visited despite it being pretty close to our hotel. This seemed like a good opportunity for me to use a large piece of it, since there are photos and embellishments covering a lot of it.

Click on the photo to see a close-up of the details!

Recipe:
Vintage Type Alphabet stamp set
Vicki Boutin Mixed Media patterned paper (American Crafts)
The Flower Emporium papers (49 and Market)
Practically Perfect - London Examiner paper (carta Bella)
Peach, Black & White cardstock
White Daisy textured cardstock
Peach, Sky, Desert Sand & Whisper ink
Mars Black fineliner pen (iBayam)
Simple Vintage Junk Drawer foam stickers (Simple Stories)
Krafty Garden Essentials rub-on transfers (49 and Market)
Curiosities in Willow Grove rub-on transfers (49 and Market)
Black striped border sticker (MAMBI)
Mocha Opaques
Pink baker's twine (American Crafts)
Charmalong key charm (Bead Landing)
Brayer
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: postage frame, scalloped border
Cricut Design Space: viewfinder reel
Pattern: Dusty Attic Week 25 Sketch

Challenges: NBUS Challenges #88 My never before used stuff is the foam stickers and rub-ons; Love Those Pretty Papers Anything Goes with lots of patterned paper; Let’s Craft and Create #233 Anything Goes.

Covent Garden Layout

This month, my goal is to scrapbook at least 5 layouts from our 2017 trip to London, so here is one from April 29th, when we visit Covent Garden (among other places). I was really expecting something quite different, as you can tell from my journaling below, so we only spend enough time there to grab some lunch before heading off to another venue. However, I decided to scrapbook the photos as if it still was a flower market, which gave me a chance to use the flower shop and flower cart stickers that I had previously wondered if I would ever use. I also created the title using the Harrington font on my Cricut as a nod to Eliza's line, "In Hartford, Hereford, and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly happen," from The Rain in Spain. Harrington wasn't mentioned, but it sounds like it should have been!

Recipe:
Watercolor paper (Recollections)
Life Is Beautiful papers (Echo Park)
Sage, Canary & Cinnamon cardstock
Blush & Sage ink
Juniper marker
Everyday Moments pocket card (Scrapbook.com)
Life is Beautiful stickers (Echo Park)
Heavenly blue organdy ribbon
Cricut Design Space: vine, circles, title
Pattern: Sketches in Thyme #716 (on Facebook)

Challenges: A Cut Above Anything goes with a die-cut; One More Page Any scrapbook layout; Paper Rocks Scissors #18 Used scissors to cut the ribbon ends; Inkspirational Challenges #371 - I was inspired by the flowers on the vine, the colors, and the lemons (used circles to stand in for the lemons)

Greystone Mansion Layout

The Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, CA, is a lovely place to visit, although you can only tour the gardens and peek in through the windows, but it has a pretty tragic past include an unsolved murder that was pretty high profile at the time. We took a bunch of photos of the garden and a couple of the interior (as much as we could glimpse of it), so I decided to scrapbook these 7 photos and put the rest in a photo storage page. I wanted to do a cloudy sky background but none of my cloud papers looked right, so I ended up creating my own sky using white cardstock, a brayer, blue ink, and a couple of die-cut clouds that I temporarily adhered using washi tape, then removed once I was done playing - so fun!

Recipe:
Life Is Beautiful papers (Echo Park)
Desert Rose, Sage & White cardstock
Desert Rose, Sage, Carolina & Grey Wool ink
Juniper marker
Emporium stickers
Field Notes ephemera (Idea-ology)
Brayer
Cricut Artiste cartridge: clouds
Cricut Design Space: title using Thick font
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #79

Challenges: Cut It Up #360 Create your own background and include a die-cut (the title was die-cut on Cricut Design Space, plus I used 2die-cut clouds as negative space when I created my sky background; The Outlawz Anything But a Card Anything Goes except a card; Triple B Anything Goes with a bird, a bloom, and/or a butterfly.

Dog Walk Layout for LM #807

This month at Lasting Memories, Lisa is challenging us to be inspired by the mood boards she created. This week's was difficult for me since I don't have any beachy photos to scrap right now, but I decided to go with the color palette after finding some pictures of my kids walking the dogs. My kids are wearing blue, and the dogs have lots of the tan shades, so I figured I could make it work. Hopefully you agree! The design team would love to have you join us this month over at Lasting Memories. Please check out the challenges and show off your layouts inspired by Lisa's mood boards!

Here's my layout: 

The layout doesn't have a brown border IRL but I added one digitally so it wouldn't blend into my blog background.

And here's the mood board:

Recipe:

Pet Shop papers (KI Memories)

Ice Blue Ribbon Plaid paper (Making Memories)

Toffee, Mocha & Almond cardstock

Almond, Mocha & Carolina ink

Burnt Sienna fineliner pen (iBayam)

DE Monograms - chipboard alphas

Teal stars

My Crush Best Day Ever sticker

Geometric washi tape (Recollections)

Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: circles, scalloped border

Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #80

Challenges: As You Like It Favorite non-Card project (mine is scrapbook layouts) and why (because I love preserving family memories); A Cut Above Anything Goes including a die-cut; Let’s Craft and Create #233 Anything goes with optional twist: Fun in the Sun.

Swoosh! Crack! Thud! Whack! Layout

When you have been scrapping for a while, it sometimes gets hard to find a creative new title for similar events, so I was very happy when I saw a challenge over at A Cherry on Top to use onomatopoeia in your title. In case you don't know, onomatopoeia is a figure of speech where a word phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the natural sound that it describes. I searched online for suggestions for baseball related examples, and came up with the four I used in my title, so much more satisfying than using "take me out to the ball game" again!

Recipe:
Little Boy paper (CM)
Pear & White cardstock
Pear, Carolina & Canary ink
Mars Black fineliner pen (iBayam)
Active Nation Baseball stickers (C.R. Gibson)
Green Fields enamel dots (Altenew)
Jeepers Creepers washi tape
Diamond stencil (from Amazon)
Cricut Design Space: title using Madina Script, Cricut Sans, BFS Foxy & DTC Spring Break fonts
Challenges: Allsorts Challenges #853 Stencils; Neglected Stuff Challenge - my neglected stuff is the CM base page (so old it's from their 11.5" wide days) and the baseball stickers; One More Page - anything goes as long as it’s a scrapbook page; Stencil Fun - includes optional twist of patterns.

Tasty Layout

There are usually too many photos of life events for me to scrap just one photo, but when I have a single photo, I love creating a really special layout for it. For this photo of me enjoying breakfast at our Air BnB before hitting the road to do some exploring, I chose to use a Rochelle Spears sketch along with a color challenge, plus I threw in a few other challenges just for fun! Here's my layout:

And here's the Color Dare challenge. I used shades of the green, purple, and blue, plus some greys and white for my neutrals. How did I do?

Recipe:
Watercolor paper (Recollections)
Color Kaleidoscope papers (American Crafts)
Blue & green patterned papers (from my stash, source unknown)
Pear, Mink & Gypsy cardstock
White Daisy textured cardstock
Hydrangea, Gypsy, Sweet Leaf, Lagoon & Mink ink
ShinHan Touch Twin markers
Bold + Bright puffy stickers (American Crafts)
Faded Memory Lane rub-on transfers (49 and Market)
Tim Holtz Tiny Text Remnant Rubs (Idea-ology)
Spring Blossom Just Blooms
White paper flowers (Recollections)
Hydrangea craft button
Hydrangea embroidery floss
Lace & gingham ribbon (Michaels)
Magic Mesh (Creative Imaginations)
Purple Glitter gems
Grand Gothic Window metal die (Poppy Stamps)
Cricut Artistry cartridge: vine
Pattern: Rochelle Spears July 2026 sketch (rotated right)

Challenges: NBUS Challenge #88 - My never before used stuff was the Gothic Window metal die and the 49 and Market butterfly rub-ons; Paper Rocks Scissors #318 - used scissors to cut the ribbon and lace; Scrap With Stacy July 2026 Tic Tac Toe Board - used the middle column with rhinestone + 4 or more patterned papers + rub-ons)

4th Grade {Elliot} Class Picture Layout

I completed the companion page for this layout last May, but as I mentioned previously, I don't really enjoy scrapping class photos. They are so big and usually feature annoying color combos that don't match my kids' clothes at all, so it's a challenge to figure out how to scrap them. I solved that puzzle this time by just using almost all the same supplies as I did for my son's 4th grade portrait, so at least the pages will mostly match. I actually had the leftover papers in a bag because I kept thinking I would scrapbook this photo, so why put them away? It took over a year, but it's done and this marks the final page of my son's elementary school album - woohoo!

I realized after I scanned it that it is really hard to see the embossing on the grey cardstock, so here is a close-up of it:

Recipe:
Vicki Boutin Mixed Media Collection (American Crafts)
Fundamentals papers
Eggplant, Sapphire & Whisper cardstock
Eggplant & Sapphire ink
Fineliner pen (iBayam)
School Is Cool ephemera icons (Bella Blvd)
Craft buttons (from my stash, source unkown)
Blue Enamel & Glitter Duos dots
Extraordinary embossing folder (Uniquely Creative)
Challenges: Alphabet Challenge Blog E is for embossing (dry embossed a pattern into the grey cardstock); Can You Handle the Pressure? Use an embossing folder. Optional twist:  purple; Triple B Challenge Anything with a bird, bloom, or butterfly goes (I added the cute little owl to go with the school's mascot).