Happy Together Layout

For this bunch of photos of the kids riding scooters and skating around our cul-de-sac, I decided to feature three photos on a traditional layout and put the rest in a pocket page. The design is actually a scraplift of Sandra's "Biker Dawls" layout from over on Scrapbook.com. Down the left side of her page, Sandra had a bunch of sayings she had cut out of a piece of pattered paper, but I chose to ink up my stamps and get to work stamping and cutting! I used the rainbow paper from my brand new "I Heart Us" paper pack from CTMH, and that gave me a whole rainbow of colors to chose from when stamping the little sentiments.

And here's the journaling card from the pocket page:

Recipe:
Boys at Play, Framework Alphabet, Friendship Word Puzzle, It's Your Day, Just for Boys, Kid Power, Later Sk8r, Take Note, This & That, Whooo's Your Valentine & You and Me stamp sets
I Heart Us papers & My Complements stickers
Canary, Bluebird & White Daisy cardstock
Canary, Pixie, Thistle, Key Lime, Lagoon, Sweet Leaf, Raspberry & Bluebird ink
ShinHan Touch Twin marker
Hopscotch PML card
Stargazer and Cats & Bats Dots
Thistle striped ribbon
Staple
Star punch (EK Success)
Challenges: Heart 2 Heart Happy Times challenge; Lasting Memories #444 alphabet stamps (used to stamp "happy" in my title); Double Trouble Something, Anything, Everything challenge (for Thing 1, I pulled out a bunch of stuff I have never used before - the I Hearts Us papers, Bluebird cardstock, Bluebird & Raspberry ink pads, and a roll of Thistle ribbon, then for Thing 2 I played along with Heart 2 Heart, and finally I used tons of word stamps for Thing 3).

#Old Spaghetti Factory Layout

I'm getting more into decorating some of the pockets when I do pocket pages (my usual M.O. is just stuffing photos into every pocket), but I have to say I admire scrappers who do it on a consistent basis. It's a lot of work to think up a design and embellishments for every pocket! On this layout series, I have a pocket page between two traditional pages, but I only embellished the first side of the pocket pages because I needed space for six photos on the back.

FYI: I'm not a Tweeter, so I may have gotten the use of the # in the title wrong, but one of the challenges over at Scrapbook.com included putting a hash tag on your layout, so I did my best!

Used a Sketches in Thyme sketch for the left side.

Used a EMS Sketch challenge for the right side.

Recipe:
Brothers papers & Stickers (Echo Park)
Kraft, Canary, Sunset & Outdoor Denim cardstock
Canary, Sunset & Outdoor Denim ink
Outdoor Denim marker
Outdoor Denim spiral clips
My Crush Best Day Ever Assortment sticker - "It's all good"
Sunset grosgrain ribbon
White ric-rac (Wrights)
3-D foam tape
Star punch (EK Success)
Cricut Artiste cartridge: title, arrow
Pattern: Sketches in Thyme #367 & SCS Sketch15Oct3
Challenges: The Studio SPRING Challenge
S - stickers, spiral clips, stars
P - plaid, polka dots
R - ric-rac
I - ink
N - number
G - grosgrain ribbon

Easter Egg Hunt 2014 Layout

This month, Heart 2 Heart challenged us to use our favorite sketch, and I had such a hard time deciding on just one. I love creating and using sketches, but there are probably about three that I've used repeatedly. This one worked with my photos, so it's my favorite for this month!

EMS Sketch 29:

My layout:

Recipe:
My Peeps, Sensational Season, March Word Puzzle & This Happened stamp sets
Dreamin' Big papers
Glacier & White Daisy cardstock
Saffron, Juniper & Tuxedo Black ink
Black marker
ShinHan Touch Twin markers
Sorbet grosgrain ribbon
Opaques mini pearls
Challenges: Joy of Sets #4 (I chose the column with ribbon, floral, and pearls)
Scrap With Stacy photo inspiration (bunnies, children, and eggs)

Zoo Play Park Layouts

A few weeks ago, I created a layout with some fun photos of my kids at the zoo, but I never finished the companion pages. Since today is Blah Blah Blah Day, a time to complete unfinished projects, I made it my mission to have this layout done by today! There will be a pocket page in between the two sides of the layout, so I decided to post the pages as they will look in my album.

Here's the first side of the pocket page:

And a close up of the pocket card:

And here's the back side of the pocket page, along with the traditional scrapbook page:

And these are the pocket cards I made for this page. The top one was simple since it was a pre-printed card and all I had to do was journal and embellish a little. The bottom one was my own design, and I was inspired by a couple of challenges. Heart 2 Heart has a "Weather or Not" challenge going on, so I decided to add the sunshine, cloud, and Liquid Glass raindrops, plus I used a few lines from a poem about "the sunshine of your smile" as my journaling on the big page. Since Double Trouble was also asking for "showers," this gave me double inspiration!

Recipe:
Jeepers Creepers papers
Lagoon, Tangerine & White Daisy cardstock
Goldrush, Gypsy, Whisper & Black ink
Black marker
Jeepers Creepers washi tape
Purple glitter gems
Field Notes Journaling Ephemera (American Crafts)
Escape the Ordinary Thickers (American Crafts)
Color Kaleidoscope stickers (American Crafts)
Liquid Glass
Cricut Artiste cartridge: sun, clouds
Heart punch (EK Success)
Pattern (for traditional page): Sketch-n-Scrap #174

Zoo Daze Layout

No, the title of my layout is not a mistake! Sometimes these zoo photos tend to all run together since we have visited so often, hence the daze. The last time I scrapped zoo photos, I realized I didn't have much animal themed paper, so I picked up some zoo prints at Hobby Lobby. The only problem was, when I went to use it, it was really too wild for my layout so the pictures were being overwhelmed. I flipped it over and used the more muted backside, and just used a small strip of the animal print. Easy fix! The purple may seem like an odd choice for a zoo layout, but both Brianna and I wore purple, so it was calling to me, and I like how it turned out.

Recipe:
In the Wild stamp set (SU)
Friendship Alphabet Small stamp set
Safari Beast papers (Bo Bunny)
Gypsy & Colonial White cardstock
Tuxedo Black, Brown Bag & Saffron ink
Black marker
Black enamel dots
Escape the Ordinary Thickers (American Crafts)
ShinHan Touch Twin markers
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge 18
Challenges: Use Your Stuff Flora and Fauna challenge (I definitely have fauna with all those zoo animals, and for my flora I added grass under the stamped animals' feet, plus my hubby is posing next to a sign all about the carob plant)

Farewell Party Layout

Let's Scrap has a great sketch this month, with lots of spots for photos, a big draw for me with my photo heavy layouts! I combined it with the Heart 2 Heart color challenge to use Emerald, Smoothie, Glacier, Canary, and Peach, substituting Taffy for Peach since I didn't have that color. I must admit, I wasn't sure about this color combo to start, but I ended up loving how it looks, especially the vivid Emerald, which made a great contrast to the lighter colors.

Recipe:
It's Your Day stamp set
Canary, Glacier, Smoothie, Emerald & Taffy cardstock
Canary, Glacier, Smoothie & Taffy ink
Black marker
Fancy Cuts Botanicals
Let's Go Tidbits (Chic Tags)
Field Notes Journaling Ephemera (American Crafts)
Escape the Ordinary Thickers (American Crafts)
Color Kaleidoscope Puffy Stickers (American Crafts)
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: sun, sun border
Cricut Artiste cartridge: title
Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folders
Pattern: Let's Scrap 4-1-19 sketch

Challenges: Heart 2 Heart color challenge

Me & My Father Layout

This was our last Father's Day before our two youngest kids came to live with us, and I love these photos of my boys goofing around with Dad! I started off with a Sketch-n-Scrap sketch from last month and built the layout from there, using some super old papers and stickers that I wanted to clear out of my stash. Still have a little bit left but I'm always happy to make a dent in the pile.

Recipe:
It's a Guy Thing & Fresh Air papers
Cocoa, Indian Corn Blue & New England Ivy cardstock
Cocoa, New England Ivy & Barn Red ink
A Father's Love stickers (Bo-Bunny Press)
Twill ribbon
Durables round studs
Wood grain washi tape
Pattern: loosely based on Sketch-n-Scrap #172
Challenges: Double Trouble #25 - use something that looks like it's made from wood (I used woodgrain paper and washi tape). No optional twist this time but I'll try to include it on another layout this month!

Great Expectations Layout

Considering how far behind I am in my scrapbooking (working on 2014, in fact), it seemed like this day would never come, but it has finally arrived. Today, I started scrapbooking our adoption journey for our two youngest children! I was fortunate in that I had journaled about how it all unfolded at the time, so I was able to format the information and print it out to use on my layout. There's a lot of it, but since the kids came to us through the foster care system, I had to be careful in how I shared it in a public forum. My solution? Hidden journaling. I added a 12" x 6" Flip-Flap to the side of my layout, with photos on the visible side and the journaling on the back. My title is from the Charles Dicken's book, and it seemed fitting since this journey began with such high expectations for a short and simple adoption. We ended up being more like the family in Instant Family, but this is how we started out!

Here is what the left side of the layout looks like once the flap is opened. For privacy reasons, I  faded most of the faces and the journaling.

Recipe:
Chantilly papers & My Complements chipboard
Cotton Candy, Buttercup, Twilight, Pear & Grey Wool cardstock
Cotton Candy, Twilight, Pear & Grey Wool ink
Mind Your Manners Ephemera (Bella Blvd)
Field Notes Journaling Ephemera (American Crafts)
Illustrated Faith Family & Go die-cuts (Bella Blvd)
Pear Bigger Brads
White Daisy crocheted flowers
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: title
CTMH embossing folder: stripe
Pattern: Rochelle Spears April 2019 sketch
Challenges: Splitcoast Stampers Tell Me a Story challenge

EMS Sketch Challenge 73 - Just Fooling Around Layout

Welcome to a new sketch challenge! I made this sketch up a while ago and never had the perfect time to use it, but when I was asked to guest design for the April Fools challenge over at the Paper Girls, this sketch seemed like a perfect jumping off point for a light-hearted layout. I didn't have specific April fools pictures, but figured these photos of the kids goofing off at the zoo would do the trick.The bottom photo lifts up so you can see two more photos of my over-dramatic son, a handy trick if you want to fit more photos on your layout than are featured in the sketch. If you play along with the sketch, please post a link in the comments section below, and feel free to check out the Paper Girls challenge, too!

The Sketch:

My Layout:

Recipe:
Jeepers Creepers papers
Lagoon, Raspberry, Willow, Tangerine & White Daisy cardstock
Black, Pansy, Goldrush & Whisper ink
Black marker
Jeepers Creepers washi tape
Snapshots complements cardstock stickers
Field Notes Journaling Ephemera (American Crafts)
Purple Glitter Gems
Sunset baker's twine
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: circles
Cricut Artistry cartridge: title