All Spruced Up Layout

When I saw Heart 2 Heart's All Spruced Up challenge, it immediately made me think of getting all dressed up for a special occasion. Since I don't have the paper line by that name, I went with this alternate meaning for my layout, since it shows off my son and our church youth group kids all dressed up to serve dinner at a banquet at church.

Recipe:
Washi Wonder stamp set
Heartstrings papers & cardstock stickers
Crystal Blue, Black & White Daisy cardstock
Cranberry, Crystal Blue & Lagoon ink
Black marker
Crystal Blue "Love" Ribbon
Grey Wool washi tape
Black & White enamel dots
Red Pearls
Cranberry embroidery floss
Wooden birds (Art Minds)
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: stencil
Cricut Design Studio: title using Chloe font
Patterns: EMS Sketch 18

Challenges: The Library Challenge #51 Romeo and Juliet (inspired me to use the rose paper plus I picked up on the green-blue in Juliet's dress and added "love" touches around the layout)

Bold & Beautiful {Brianna} Layout

In case you've never visited the site, there are so many fun challenges to play along with at Scrapbook.com. Whenever I need inspiration, this is one of my go-to places to help me add that extra item or idea to my layout that takes it from just okay to being a star in my album! For this layout, here are a few of the Scrapbook.com challenges in which I participated:

Click on the layout for a close up view!

• Scraplift the Person Before You: lifted Lela's You & Me layout (see link below)
• Daily Inspiration challenge for 1/20: use the word "dream"
• Music: used the lyrics "You're a rock star" and "Only shooting stars break the mold" from All Star by Smash Mouth
• Baker's Dozen: added the following 13 items to my layout (see if you can find them all!)
1. Rainbow
2. Stickers
3. Stickles
4. Edge punch
5. Envelope
6. Sequins
7. Unicorn
8. Inking
9. Something hand drawn
10. Die-cut
11. Dry embossing
12. Ampersand
13. Star
There are a bunch more challenges to play along with, so feel free to join us and have some fun!

Recipe:
Molly Sketch With Style paper (Bella Blvd)
Black, Kraft & White Daisy cardstock
White Daisy textured cardstock
Vellum (The Paper Company)
Raspberry & Lagoon ink
Black marker
White gel pen (Sakura)
Star Dust Stickles (Ranger)
Teen Spirit Girl Frames & Tags and Ephemera die-cuts (Echo Park)
Oh Happy Day Bits & Pieces ephemera (Simple Stories)
Color Kaleidoscope stickers (American Crafts)
Molly Treasures & Text stickers (Bella Blvd)
Raspberry baker's twine
Lollydoodle Assortment bling
Lagoon & Cotton Candy washi tape
Black washi tape (Simple Stories)
Suede decorative ribbon (from my stash, source unknown)
Scalloped border punch (Fiskars)
Heart punch (EK Success)
Cricut Simply Sweet cartridge: title
Cricut Artiste cartridge: envelope
Cricut Noah's ABC Animals  cartridge: horse
Cuttlebug embossing folder Swiss Dot
Pattern: Scraplift of Lela's You & Me Love layout at Scrapbook.com
Challenges: Lasting Memories #480 White Space (I really struggle not to fill every last inch of my layouts, so here I left the top and bottom of the left page and the lower left corner of the right page embellishment, photo, and paper -free!)

That's How I Roll Layout

Love these photos of my son playing hard and enjoying life before he crashes hard! He has always been a sound sleeper, probably because he expends so much energy when awake.

Recipe:
Spot On Backgrounds, Star Struck & Tiny Typewriter stamp sets
Something Fierce & I Heart Us papers
Bluebird & Juniper cardstock
Clear vellum (The Paper Company)
Bluebird, Juniper & Versamark ink
Something Fierce stickers
Emoji stickers (American Greetings)
#Life card: Enjoy
Teen Spirit: Boy ephemera (Echo Park)
Celebrating Freedom Noteworthy die-cuts (Bo Bunny)
Canary baker's twine
Clear embossing powder
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: frame
Pattern: Sketches in Thyme #404

Challenges: Heart 2 Heart color challenge - Bluebird; Retro Rubber Challenges #127 (I chose the column with twine, die-cut, and vellum, and all my stamps are from 2009 or earlier)

In-n-Out Layout

I wanted to play along with the January Joy of Sets board again, plus a few other challenges, so I pulled out these fun pictures of my kids at In-n-Out, our favorite burger place. If you're not from Southern California or one of the few states that have In-n-Out, you don't know what you're missing!

Recipe:
CTMH Fall 2019 Mix In & Animal Cookie papers
Lagoon, Tulip, Clover Meadow, Cashmere & Cocoa cardstock
Tulip & Sunflower ink
Black marker
ShinHan Touch Twin markers
Later Sk8r PML card
Enamel hearts
Black grosgrain ribbon
Lagoon satin ribbon
Triangles Washi tape (from my stash, source unknown)
Oh Happy Day Bits & Pieces ephemera (Simple Stories)
Color Kaleidoscope stickers (American Crafts)
Cricut Artistry cartridge: title
Cricut Autumn Celebrations: hamburger
Pattern: Sketch-n-Scrap #192

Challenges: Double Trouble #48 - Thing 1 = something that makes you smile (my kids) + Thing 2 = play along with Atlantic Heart's card sketch challenge (I chose sketch #352 and incorporated the rainbow leading up to an image into my layout) + Thing 3 = favorite comfort food (In-n-Out burgers - oh yeah!); Heart 2 Heart Cutting It Close (I die-cut the hamburger and title using my Cricut); Joy of Sets #13 (I used red, hearts, and ribbon this time for a totally different look from my last entry into this challenge - love how versatile these boards are!)

Let's Explore Some More Layout

This layout is a mix of some old things and some new. I needed to finish up the photos of Windsor Castle's Middle Ward, so I used some older patterned papers from My Mind's Eye and combined them with a curved title that I created in Design Space with the help of this video. Although that's not a new technique, I had never tried it before, so it took some experimenting, but I love how it came out!

And here are a few of the photos from the facing pocket page:

Recipe:
Magnolia papers (MME)
Pear, Canary, Tulip, Pixie, Sky, Espresso & French Vanilla cardstock
Pear & Crystal Blue ink
Black marker
White Gel pen (Sakura)
Enamel dots
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: flowers, title (created using Cricut Design Space)
Pattern: Sketches in Thyme #403

Challenges: Heart 2 Heart & Bitten By the Bug Something New challenge (my something new was using Cricut Design Space to curve my title)

Middle Ward Layout

The past week has been extremely difficult for me as I struggled with the flu, which gave my creativity a real nose-dive, but I'm on the mend so I decided to finish up a layout I started before I fell ill. One of my 2020 goals is to scrapbook at least three days worth of photos from my 2017 vacation in London, which probably doesn't sound too challenging until I share that we took 682 photos in those three days! Before I got sick, I made a start to the photos from Windsor Castle, so this layout is a continuation of that story. Since I have so many photos to scrap, I combined a traditional page with a photo storage page.

Recipe:
Belle Fleur papers (Photo Play)
Grey Wool, Topiary, Wisteria & Colonial White cardstock
Juniper, Creme Brulee, Black & Gypsy ink
Black marker
Creme Brulee ribbon
Greenhouse paper flowers (American Crafts)
Juniper, Tulip & Colonial White brads
Magic Mesh (Creative Imaginations)
Sparkly butterfly (from my stash, source unknown)
Small heart punch (EK Success)
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: title, scalloped shapes, hearts
Cricut Wall Decor & More cartridge: M, W
Pattern: Serendipity Sketch September 2018

Challenges: Lasting Memories #479 - I chose to use my new Belle Fleur paper pack; Scrap With Stacy January challenge (cardstock, circle, punch)

Joy of Sets Challenge #13 + Windsor Layout

I was invited to be the resident scrapbook layout designer over at Joy of Sets, so this is my first challenge as a design team member! The fun grids always offer lots of options, and this time I chose to use the middle column down with silver, hearts, and floral to scrapbook these photos from Windsor Castle. The silver is a bit hard to see, but there are three silver hearts scattered around the layout.

Here's my layout:

I made a major mistake on my journaling here; we actually entered the Upper Ward through St. George's Gate, and these pictures of the Henry VIII Gateway and the Round Tower were taken outside the castle walls. Sorry, it's been almost three years since we were there!

And here's the grid:

This month, Joy of Sets is being sponsored by Visible Image Stamps, who are offering a £25 gift token to the winner of the challenge. You have until January 31 to participate, and all kinds of projects are welcome, so come play along!

Recipe:
Stack 4 papers (DCWV)
Color Kaleidoscope papers (American Crafts)
Barn Red, Black & Whisper cardstock
Black & Whisper ink
Black marker
Color Kaleidoscope Thickers & stickers (American Crafts)
Love Letter Rub-Ons
Clear Sparkles
Cricut Wall Decor & More cartridge: W
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: title (except W)
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: heart banner
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge 84

Challenges: Scrap Our Stash January Bingo Challenge (I chose the bottom row across with banner, cardstock, flower, rub-on, and bling)

EMS Sketch Challenge 84 + Open House Layout

Welcome to a new year and a new sketch! Here's a double pager with space for 9 photos, all either 4" x 6" or slightly trimmed down from that. As always, feel free to adapt the sketch to fit your photos, and post a link in the comments to your completed layout.

The sketch:

My Layout:

Recipe:
Simple Type Alphabet stamp set (SU)
Celebrating Freedom Beauty & Independence papers (Bo-Bunny)
Dutch Blue, Tulip & White Daisy cardstock
Sapphire ink
Outdoor Denim marker
Celebrating Freedom Noteworthy ephemera (Bo-Bunny)
Cranberry polka-dot ribbon
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: banner
Challenges: Lasting Memories #478 - Anything Goes