Blizzard Ahead Layout

I’ve never created a layout without pictures before, but any pictures for this topic would have been just a mass of white anyway, so I took the plunge to tell the story using journaling as my focus. Thanks to Double Trouble challenge blog for their Hit the Road challenge that pushed me to scrap the last page for a vacation we took in 2011! I scrapped the rest of my photos in 2017 but hadn’t done this page yet because it was such a departure from my usual process. Glad it’s finally done.

Recipe:
Pen Pal Alphabet stamp set
Glacier,  Black, Slate, Whisper, Pacifica & White Daisy cardstock
Glacier, Slate & Whisper ink
White gel pen (Sakura)
Black stitch grosgrain ribbon
Large black brads (from my stash)
Confetti embossing folder
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: snowflakes
Cricut Artistry cartridge: snowflakes
Cricut You Are Here cartridge: car, arrow road sign
Cricut Artiste cartridge: title road sign
Pattern: Sketches in Thyme #375

Challenges: Double Trouble #31 (Thing 1 - Hit the Road holiday/vacation theme with dry embossing, Thing 2 - play along with Pile It On challenge #155 - transportation, and Thing 3 - sign you would see on vacation.

May the Fourth Be With You Layout

The highlight of the July 4th parade in 2014 was definitely the Star Wars characters. My kids were fascinated by them, and even we adults enjoyed them! I used the Star Jedi font in Cricut Design Space to create a title that resembled the logos I had seen for Star Wars Day.

Here are a few more photos from the parade:

Recipe:
Charming Cascades stamp set
Almond, Espresso & Lemon cardstock
Brown Bag ink
Coffee marker (Zig)
White gel pen (Sakura)
Creative Impressions gold star brads
Cricut Design Space using Star Jedi font: title

Hello Summer Layout

I used a fun sketch from Let's Scrap to scrap these beach pictures, although I tweaked it a a bit to fit my photos!

Recipe:
Dream Pop & Dotty for You papers
Lagoon, Canary & Almond cardstock
Lagoon, Sunset, Smoothie & Slate ink
Smoothie marker
Summer Daydreams cardstock stickers (Photoplay)
My Crush Assortment stickers - Best Day Ever & Besties
Grey Wool baker's Twine
Base & Bling heart charm
Junebug Puffies
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: sun
Pattern: Let's Scrap 6-15-19

Challenges: Lasting Memories #451 - "Summer” in the title; Heart 2 Heart You Are My Sunshine;  Scrap With Stacy - Photo Inspiration (beach, flip flops, playing in sand)

Reece Layouts

We took a ton of photos of my niece when she visited us as a baby (her family came, too!), but I had a really hard time deciding which ones to scrapbook because they were all so cute. I ended up using almost all of them, so I did a double page spread with a photo storage page between. The base paper is quite old but by combining it with some brand new stickers, hopefully I was able to bring new life to it! After so many years of scrapping boys, pink is a challenge for me, but I managed to get these pages done, hopefully the first of many.

This is how the layouts will appear in my album, with a traditional page next to a pocket page.

To see my niece up close in all her cuteness, click on the layout to enlarge it!

Recipe:

Precious Alphabet stamp set
Sassy Simple Sets (SEI)
Hopscotch papers
Color Kaleidoscope papers (American Crafts)
Smoothie ink
Black marker

Mind Your Manners cardstock stickers (Bella Blvd)

Color Kaleidoscope sticker book (American Crafts)

Color Kaleidoscope Phrases and Icons Puffy stickers (American Crafts)

Hopscotch PML cards

Childhood PML card

# Life Card - Enjoy
Field Notes Journaling Ephemera (American Crafts)
Pattern: Sketches in Thyme #376 (right side of layout only)

2 Much Fun Layout

My son Adrian has always been very intense about his video gaming, so it was funny to see him with his cousin who is just as intense when watching Adrian play! The stamp that says "2 peas in a pod" totally reflects this similarity. I finally opened up my "Something Fierce" kit from CTMH and used it in conjunction with a sketch from Scrap Our Stash to create this layout.

Recipe:
Kid Power stamp set
Something Fierce paper & Complements (die-cuts & stickers)
Kraft & White Daisy cardstock
Raspberry, Bluebird, Sunny Yellow & Clover Meadow ink
Black marker
Color Kaleidoscope Thickers
3-D foam tape
Pattern: Scrap Our Stash June Pick Your Side (I chose the right side but had to adapt it since my square photos were a little larger than specified.)

Challenges: The Paper Girls #178 Toys (video games aren't the toys I grew up with, but I think they're here to stay as the toy of choice for kids now!)

Imagine {California Science Center} Layout

Despite living relatively close to Anaheim, my family seldom goes to Disneyland, but I couldn't resist buying a few Disney themed sticker sheets recently, thinking I could adapt them for other events. I broke the first sheet out today because the colors coordinated so well with these photos I was scrapping. Combined with some products from other collections, I think they worked really well with my photos!

Recipe:
Enchantment Paper Fundamentals - Saffron
Glacier, Cranberry & Black cardstock
Saffron ink
Black marker
Childhood PML card
Say Cheese III cardstock stickers (Simple Stories)
Mind Your Manner Ephemera & cardstock stickers (Bella Blvd)
Illustrated Faith Family die-cut (Bella Blvd)
Mini wooden ladybug (source unknown)
Scalloped border punch (Fiskars)
Challenges: Use Your Stuff #364 - stickers

July 4th Fireworks Layout

For me, it's always challenging to get good photos of fireworks and the excitement surrounding them, so I used the few decent ones from our 2014 July 4th experience to scrap. There are also six more photos in a mini pocket page between the two pages of these layouts, so that's why the kids are looking to the right in the top photo on the left hand page.

And here are a few of the pocket page photos:

Recipe:
Celebrating Freedom Independence papers (Bo Bunny)
Dutch Blue & White Daisy cardstock
Outdoor Denim marker
Celebrating Freedom Noteworthy die-cuts (BoBunny)
Cranberry organdy ribbon
Cranberry conchos
Red sparkles
Challenges: Joy of Sets Tic-Tac-Toe #6 (I chose ribbon, banners, bling)

Barn Animals Father's Day Card

I posted my dad's Father's Day card earlier this week, and here's the one I made for my hubby. Sometimes our house feels like a barnyard with all our kids running around, so I found this cute cascade card on Cricut Design Space and adapted it for my husband. It was perfect for our family since there were five animals and I needed one each to represent myself and the four kids.  I had so much fun coloring the animals, and then the kids all wrote a note on one of the pull out animals (no handwriting prizes here - LOL!), and I did the final one.

I couldn't find directions since I bought this on Design Space, but I finally figured out how the card fit together.

Here's with the note cards pulled out.

Recipe:
Barn Red, Black & White Daisy cardstock
ShinHan Touch Twin markers
Cricut Crazy Cool Cards cascade card
Challenges: Try Stamping on Tuesday #412 fancy fold cards (no stamping but certainly a fancy fold); 2 Crafty Critter Crazies #27 animals

Biking to the Park Layout

I was getting a little stuck with scrapbooking my July 4th photos, so I skipped ahead to these photos of the kids at the park. The layout came together rather quickly, and there was enough interesting stuff happening on it that I didn't miss not using any patterned paper.

Recipe:
Garden Green, Cranberry, Lagoon, Canary & White Daisy cardstock
Raspberry & Olive ink
Black marker
Illustrated Faith Family & Go die-cuts (Bella Blvd)
DE Snapshots & Irresistibles Frames chipboard
3-D foam tape
Cricut Accent Essentials cartridge: rings
Pattern: Stick It Down June single page sketch (added extra photos)

Challenges: Word Art Wednesday #390-391 - Anything Goes (a new to me challenge site, but I love the idea of using scripture on your artwork!)

Outta This World Father's Day Card

I needed to whip up a quick card for my dad for Father's Day, and the Stargazer papers paired with the cute rocket ship die-cut and stamp did the trick!

Recipe:
Outta This World stamp set
Stargazer papers
White Daisy cardstock
Sapphire, Ruby, Canary & Black ink
Cranberry marker
Silver metallic marker
Ruby Chevron ribbon
Black enamel dot
Enamel stars
Cricut Artiste cartridge: rocket and pennants
Challenges: Bitten By The Bug Father's Day

Watching the 4th of July Parade Layout

July 4th photos aren't usually my favorite to scrapbook, not because they aren't fun pictures, but because I struggle with the red, white, and blue combo for some mysterious reason. This time, I pulled out some old DCWV papers that featured more muted tones of those colors, and it seemed a little easier to create my pages.

Here's the left side:

And the facing pocket page:

And both pages together:

Recipe:
July Word Puzzle & 10 Things stamp sets
The Summer Stack papers (DCWV)
White cardstock
Outdoor Denim, Cranberry & Bamboo ink
Outdoor Denim marker
White enamel stars
Color Kaleidoscope sticker book, puffy stickers & Thickers
Petticoats & Pinstrips ephemera (Echo Park)
Pattern: Let's Scrap 6-1-19 sketch (with the right side as a pocket page). The diamond shapes didn't work with my layout, so I used circles instead.

Challenges: Use Your Stuff #361 - Summer Fun (and what says summer fun like watching a July 4th parade for the first time?); The Paper Girls #177 Top Five (I chose "5 Things that make today great")

EMS Sketch Challenge 74 - My Kids Think This Is Fun Layout

Not sure why I skipped these photos from May 2014 when I was scrapping the other photos from that month, but they came up in my hubby's Facebook feed under one of those "Remember this?" posts, so I took that as a sign to get them scrapbooked! And I decided to use my brand new EMS sketch to do it. This is a six photo sketch using atypical sizes (3.5" x 5" and 4" x 4" photos), so you could either trim down 4" x 6" pictures or enlarge everything a bit. Whatever you decide, have fun scrapping and be sure to post a link to your completed layout in the comments section so I can check it out!

Here is the sketch:

And here is my layout:

Recipe:
Free to Be Me papers
Summer Stack cardstock (DCWV)
White Daisy cardstock
Black marker
White gel pen (Sakura)
Red enamel hearts
Gold ric-rac (Craft Essentials)
Staple
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: tag
Cricut Artistry: orange slices, title circle
Cricut You Are Here cartridge: title (welded in Design Space)
Challenges: Heart2Heart Geometrics (diamond and triangles on patterned paper, plus lots of circles around the page)

A Room for Brianna Layout

When Brianna came to live with us as a foster child, we didn't have much advance notice to get her room ready, so it took a while to transform it into a girly paradise, but we worked on it slowly as the budget allowed and here is the result! Of course, it doesn't look like this anymore since these pictures were taken in 2014, but I'm glad we have the two photos of what it was.

The little envelope opens up to reveal a journaling card telling the story:

Recipe:
Friendship Alphabet Small stamp set
Just Delightful Simply Scrapping kit (SU)
Smoothie, Creme Brulee, Sweet Leaf, Sky & White Daisy cardstock
Smoothie, Creme Brulee, Sweet Leaf & Sky ink
Smoothie marker
Smoothie grosgrain ribbon
My Crush Besties Assortment - envelope
Metal heat charm (ImpressArt)
Cricut Simply Sweet cartridge: "Brianna"
Pattern: Sketch-n-Scrap #162