Mini Valentine Card

Wanting to give a little love and encouragement to the ladies in my Bible study group, I spent yesterday making 14 mini Valentine's cards for them. The cards went through several iterations as I tried to figure out what I liked and had enough supplies to create, and I even "cheated" a bit when I used the plain colored back of some cardstock-weight patterned papers to cut the tags. The papers were from a 6"x6" paper pad that had been sitting in my stash for years, so I think it was a good choice to finally use them for something!

Recipe:
Background Builders & Conversation Hearts stamp sets
Topstitch papers
Cosmopolitan Embellishment papers (Making Memories)
Heavenly Blue & White Daisy cardstock
Baby Pink, Heavenly Blue, Chocolate & Cocoa ink
Heavenly Blue grosgrain ribbon
Art Philosophy cartridge: tag
Artiste cartridge: heart
Pattern: Sketch-n-Scrap Card Sketch #294 (I compressed it a little to create a square card)

Challenges: Just Us Girls #809 Heart die-cut; Sweet Stampin' Love theme; Festive Friday #202 - used pink, die-cuts, square card, hearts & arrows

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie #213 - I started out trying to use a solid blue heart stamp, but I couldn't get it to come out evenly, so I swapped for the mini hearts pattern, but I was originally inspired by these blue cookies!

Mission Inn LO for LM #785

Since I still have no scanner, I have been avoiding creating any double page layouts because I wasn't sure how well I could photograph them, but this week's Lasting Memories challenge pushed me over the edge to work on one of them. The challenges this month - hosted by me! - are all about journaling, and this week's challenge is to write 50+ words of journaling. For our wedding anniversary in 2019, my hubby and I stayed at an awesome hotel in Riverside, the Mission Inn and Spa, and took a bunch of photos while exploring this Historical Landmark location, so I knew I could write a lot about it. I discovered that 50 words is actually not that many, and I ended up using about 175 on this  layout!

Recipe:
Glamour Alphabet & Whooo's Your Valentine stamp sets
Perfect day papers
Juniper, Sorbet, Cashmere & White Daisy cardstock
Vellum
Juniper, Sorbet & Tulip ink
To Go Sentiments rub-on (K & Company)
Simple Vintage Essentials Butterfly Bits (Simple Stories)
Heritage stickers - silver (MAMBI)
Let's Wander stickers (American Crafts)
Juniper brads
3-D foam tape
Cricut Artiste cartridge: hearts
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #111 (left) & #5 (right)

 

Challenges: A Cut Above Anything Goes including a die-cut (mine are the hearts); Heart’s Quest Celebration of Love #2 for 2026 - remembering our anniversary trip; Inkspirational Challenges #360 XOXO - I used a heart stamp with XOs on it, plus the LO celebrates 27 years of married love;  Neglected Stuff Challenge - my neglected stuff is the circle stickers that have been in my stash since 1999, and that I haven't pulled out of my stash since before I started blogging in 2009! Triple B Anything goes including a bloom (on the patterned paper) and a butterfly (ephemera).

14 Layout

For his 14th birthday, my son just wanted to go video gaming with four friends, so I only have a couple of photos of the event, but it made a nice change from the 200 photos we took at my other kiddo's birthday party! I'm still taking photos of my layouts because I don't have a new scanner yet, so that's why half of the layout looks a lot darker than the other. I'm sure there's a technique to photographing layouts, but I haven't figured it out yet.

The file folder opens up to display a journaling spot. I haven't written my journaling yet because my son needs to give me more information about his memories of the event, but I would probably have to cover up all the names anyways, so I decided to go ahead and show what it looks like with just the blank card. I also included a embossed piece of cardstock that I sanded so the words show up better; haven't tried that in a while, but I like how it turned out.

Recipe:
Vicki Boutin Mixed Media patterned paper (American Crafts)
Glacier & Lagoon cardstock
Glacier ink
Vicki Boutin Old Soul ephemera & stickers (American Crafts)
Birdsong Ephemera Bits (49 and Market)
Washi tape (Recollections)
Happy Birthday embossing folder (Cuttlebug)
Cricut Design Space: file folder
Pattern: scraplift from Lisa at Scrapbook.com
Challenges: Heart's Quest Celebration of Love #2 BEWAS themes - birthday; Can You Handle the Pressure? Anything goes with an embossing folder - I used a birthday themed one; NBUS Challenge #83 - my never before used schtuff is the washi tape; Crafter’s Café Anything goes with optional twist: one for the boys; Little Red Wagon #844 Picturing Love - I couldn't resist adding this layout to the challenge since my son not only invited his current girlfriend to his birthday celebration, but also the girl he knew was interested in him and whom he subsequently ended up dating!

EMS Sketch Challenge #127 + B-Day Breakfast Layout

I hadn't created a new sketch yet this year, but Sharon over at Splitcoast Stampers asked for one for the virtual crop (VSBN) they are having this month over there, so here's what I came up with. After I finished it, I realized it features 4 vertical photos just like my last sketch, but hopefully the simplicity will  appeal to those who didn't want to add all the banners next to the photos! Feel free to rotate it, flip it, use different sized photos, or just use it as is, but be sure to share your layout in the comments below. And we would love to have you play along with the crop at Splitcoast; it's easy and free to sign up for an account, and there are 7 love-inspired challenges to help you get some scrapping done.

Here's the sketch:

And here's my layout:

Recipe:
Noted Backgrounds, Hodgepodge Alphabet, You & Me, Love Life & Whooo's Your Valentine stamp sets
Field Trip papers (American Crafts)
Pet Shoppe Cat paper (Simple Stories)
Candy Apple, Toffee & White Daisy cardstock
Candy Apple, Capri, Outdoor Denim & Honey ink
Prussian Blue fineliner pen (iBayam)
Monograms 2 Chippies (Mintay Papers)
My Happy Place Shape Sprinkles (Doodlebug Designs)
Cool Summer Night enamel dots (Altenew)
Red Dot Essentials washi tape (Echo Park)
Seagull decorative scissors (Fiskars)
Cricut Artiste cartridge: hearts
Challenges: Heart’s Quest Challenge Blog #82 Red and/or gold hearts; Crafter’s Café #326 Anything goes with optional twist: one for the boys; The Outlawz Anything But a Card Anything goes.

One True Love Layout

My hubby and I seldom go out to dinner on Valentine's Day because the restaurants are crowded and the service is usually very slow. Instead, we wait a day or two and then go out to celebrate, as we did in these photos. For some reason, the photo my hubby took of me had lots of issues with focus, but it's the only one I had of me from that evening, so I decided to try to rescue it using AI. It's still not perfect, but much better than the original. Glad AI is useful for something other than kids plagiarizing essays. LOL! I created the leaf paper on the left using stamps and a stencil, something I rarely do, but I like the result here.

Recipe:
Something Splendid & Background Elements stamp sets
Vicki Boutin Mixed Media patterned paper (American Crafts)
Dusty Rose Sunflower paper (Keeping Memories Alive)
Mini Powder Curtain paper (Chatterbox)
Burgundy floral paper (SU)
Sangria, Black & White Daisy cardstock
Pomegranate, Blush, Wisteria & Bamboo ink
Versamark ink (Tsukineko, Inc.)
Gold embossing powder
Dot Fade stencil (Stampers Anonymous)
To Go Sentiments rub-on (K & Company)
Heart brads (from my stash, source unknown)
Paper crimper (Fiskars)
Cricut Design Space: Love, heart
Pattern: Sketches in Thyme #694 from Facebook

Challenges: Cut it Up #348 My Heart - I used Design Space to cut the word love that has a heart in it; Heart's Quest Challenge Blog #82 Gold Hearts; Krafty Chicks #805 Anything Goes with embossing - I wet embossed the word love in my title using a stamp, Versamark ink, and gold powder; Shopping Our Stash #566 Love Me Do - perfect for my Valentine's layout; Pick 3 Challenge #1 - used tree (stamped leaves and there is also a palm tree at the edge of the bottom photo) + texture (crimped paper) + stencil (dots on leaf paper)

Meow Layout

Since I scrapbooked my dog this weekend, I decided to give my kitty some equal time. He spends a lot of time sleeping on my bed, but sometimes he joins me in my scrapbooking room, where he either looks out the window or falls asleep on my scanner because it's warm! Speaker of which, I am still scanner-less, so I had to take a photo of my layout instead. The colors didn't come out as vibrant as IRL, but until I can figure out which scanner to buy, I guess it's my only option. It's so frustrating to think I've found the perfect scanner, and then I read a review that absolutely trashes it! What's a scrapping gal to do? Eek!

Recipe:

Chloe papers & stickers (Bella Blvd)

Capri & White Daisy cardstock

Capri, Honey & Sunset ink

Ink Blue fineliner pen (iBayam)

Chloe Ciao Chipboard (Bella Blvd)

Scalloped border punch (Fiskars)

Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: hearts

Pattern: Sketches-in Thyme #693 (rotated left)

Challenges: Cut It Up #348 My Heart; A Cut Above Anything Goes with a die-cut; Love Those Pretty Papers Anything Goes; The Outlawz Anything But a Card

Wake-Up Machine Layout

Can you believe we only have a week left of January? Time certainly flew for me! Speaking of time, it's time for the final Lasting Memories challenge of January, and this time design team member Wendy found us a great sketch with four photos. The background was kind of plain, so I added four 6" x 6" squares of patterned paper to go along with the four photos. Love these fun memories of the days when my little guy hated getting up in the morning, so the dog helped me wake him up! Please visit us at Lasting Memories for more inspiration and to check out all our sketches from this month. We would love for you to play along!

Here's the sketch:

Recipe:
Fur Babies 6"x8"paper pad (Simple Stories)
Sapphire, Canary & Black cardstock
Sapphire, Canary & Juniper ink
Turquoise fineliner pen (iBayam)
Fur Baby Decorative Brads (Simple Stories)
My Happy Place & Love This Shape Sprinkles (Doodlebug Designs)
Red Glitter Gems
Red gingham ribbon (Offray)
Cricut Design Space: title (using DTC Spring Break font), alarm clock, hearts
Challenges: Cut It Up #348 My Heart - used 2 little die-cut hearts; Let's Craft & Create #227 Something New - I bought the circle decorative brads a while back but never used them until today; The Crafter's Cafe #326 One for the Boys - this is a memory of my sweet boy Oliver.

Kimberly Crest Layout

I have been struggling with lots of pain from an infected tooth that resulted in me needing a root canal, and so I haven't been really with it the last week, but I finally finished the layout that's been on my desk for several days. It's a continuation of the weekend getaway my hubby and I took for our anniversary in 2019. We love historic homes, so it was a treat to visit Kimberly Crest, a California state landmark in Redlands. We weren't permitted to take photos inside the house, but the outside was magnificent, as you can see from the photos we were allowed to take. I pulled out some lovely papers from a MAMBI wedding collection someone had given me, not my usual style but perfect for these photos. Does anyone else have the experience of being the recipient of scrapbooking supplies that someone else doesn't want, but assumes, since you are a scrapbooker, that you will instantly have a use for? LOL! I'm not sure when I will use the rest of this collection, but was glad to have the papers for this layout.

Recipe:
Stitched Journaling Panel stamp (Autumn Leaves)
Bonnie Belle Wedding papers (MAMBI)
White Daisy cardstock
Peacock ink
Light Grey fineliner pen (iBayam)
Fancy Cuts Botanicals
Doilies (from my stash, source unknown)
Vintage washi tape (Emmoolife)
Acrylic hearts
Field Notes ephemera pack (Tim Holtz)
Dress It Up buttons (Jesse James & Co)
Simply White Nuvo Drops
Cricut Design Space: title using Austin Hearts font
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #70

Challenges: Heart's Quest Challenge Blog #81 white hearts; Love Those Pretty Papers; NBUS - my never-before-used-schtuff is the butterflies from a new ephemera pack; Paper Rocks Scissors #12 - used scissors to trim excess off doilies and off flower die-cuts after I punched them out of the backing; Triple B - included blooms and butterflies.

Nuts About You Layout for LM#782

This month, Lasting Memories' design team member Wendy is challenging us to use some sketches she chose, so here is my layout for this week's 3 photo sketch.   It was perfect for these photos of a visit with a friend and her kids, although I chose not to crop all my photos into squares, and I added a large heart in the background. Sketches are so fun because you can adapt them to work with your photos and theme, so feel free to play along with us over at LM with one or more of the sketches we are showcasing this month!

And here's the sketch:

Recipe:
Hello Friend & Universal Backgrounds stamp sets
Twitterpated papers
Sorbet, Chocolate & White Daisy cardstock
Sorbet, Chocolate, Brown Bag, Sweet Leaf & Crystal Blue ink
Sienna fineliner pen (iBayam)
All Aflutter & Love This Shape Sprinkles (Doodlebug Designs)
Slice of Life puffy stickers (American Crafts)
Cricut Artiste cartridge: title
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: heart
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: branch, leaves
Challenges: Cut It Up Challenges #347 Favorite die(s) - the heart is one of my favorites, used so many time that I have lost count; A Cut Above Anything Goes with a die-cut (used heart, title, ranch, leaves); Heart's Quest Challenge Blog #81 Anything with a heart; Neglected Stuff - the patterned papers and the big heart that I cut out in 2018 and never used;  Inspiration Station #81 - inspired by the squirrel and nut in the photo

Feminine Birthday Cards

As I was going through my craft room today trying to tidy up and organize, I came across a box of bits and pieces left over from when I used to do card workshops. I haven't done a card workshop in years, and I think I made fewer than ten cards in 2025, which means my box of extra cards is pretty depleted, so making up a few new cards using these scraps seemed like a good idea. For the first batch, I used Sketch-n-Scrap's January card sketch and made two birthday cards for gals. I used the sketch pretty much as is except I didn't round the corners and I added a larger sentiment, but on the second version, I rotated it a half turn. I also added some shimmer to the Happy on the first card and the big flower on the second card. I tried to photograph it so that the sparkle showed (see the third photo), but I'm not sure how successful I was, so you will have to take my word for it that it is pretty!

Recipe:
Joyful Birthday stamp set
Wedding Kit (KI Memories)
Pastel Vellum (Paper Pizzazz)
Sweet Leaf, Indian Corn Blue & White Daisy cardstock
Sweet Leaf, Spring Iris & Pixie ink
Fancy Cut Botanicals
Clear shimmer brush
Cricut Artiste cartridge: happy
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: flower
Pattern: Sketch-n-Scrap Card Sketch #293

Challenges: Love Those Pretty Papers; Unicorn Challenge Blog #116 Birthday; Double D Challenges Birthday; Retro Rubber Challenges #263 Anything Goes with an older stamp - the Happy Birthday stamp is from 2013

Memories of SBCM Layout

For our anniversary in 2019, my hubby and I spent the weekend in Redlands, checking out a museum and some historic homes, plus we stayed at the amazing Madonna Inn. We took lots of photos, but I tried to pare it down to the best to scrapbook, so here are a few from our time at the San Bernardino County Museum.

Recipe:
Passages papers
Brown Bag, Garden Green, Barn Red & Vanilla Cream cardstock
Brown Bag, Cocoa & Barn Red ink
Sienna & Burnt Sienna fineliner pen (iBayam)
Brown alphabet stickers (CM)
Jackson pocket cards
Birdsong Ephemera Bits (49 & Market)
Vicki Boutin Old Soul ephemera (American Crafts)
Yellow ribbon (American Crafts)
Timberline Assortment wooden shapes
Wooden Arrows
Bon Bon Heart Assortment puffy shapes (Doodlebug Designs)
Earthy Matte dots (SU)
Frayed Burlap Distress Spritz (Ranger)
Tree punch (McGill Craftivity)
Staple
Sunbeam embossing folder
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: arrow
Challenges: Can You Handle the Pressure? Anything Goes with an embossing folder; Heart's Quest Challenge Blog #81 Anything Hearts goes; Paper Rocks Scissors #12 - used scissors to trim the ribbon; Neglected Stuff Challenge - my neglected items are the patterned papers. the title stickers, and the punch I used to make the little trees.

So Very Happy Layout

For these photos of the kids (and my hubby) playing games at my son's birthday party, I dug deep into my stash for all the supplies. I was actually surprised at how well the rub-ons adhered since they are from 2007! Hopefully the layout doesn't look too dated, but even if it does, it was great to use up some older product. Always need to make room for the new stuff, right?

Recipe:
So Very stamp set (SU)
Good Times papers & stickers
Sweet Leaf, Chocolate & Colonial White cardstock
Sweet Leaf, Chocolate & Twilight ink
Riley chipboard buttons & rub-ons (Love Elsie for KI Memories)
Sweet Leaf, Chocolate & Colonial White embroidery floss
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #109

Challenges: Neglected Stuff Challenge - everything on the layout has been sitting in my stash for years;  Unicorn Challenge Blog #116 AND Double D Challenges Birthday theme; Heart's Quest Celebrations of Love - BEWAS themes - I chose birthday.

January 2019 Layout

Since I am a chronological scrapper and tend to scrap almost all my photos, yet don't want my end of year scrapbooks to be too thick, I have started scrapping all my miscellaneous photos from a particular month together on one layout rather than scrapping a bunch of single photos. It's kind of fun as it gives a feel for various happenings throughout the month. For January 2019, I added labels with the date and event under each photo rather than making a long list in one place. The layout design is based on a sketch I created in 2019 but have only used once, so since The Outlawz Anything But a Card was challenging us to re-create a project you had previously done, I thought this would be a good sketch to use. Here's the link to my previous layout, where I pretty much did the sketch as is, whereas for today's layout, I flipped the sketch horizontally, added an extra photo, and extended the bottom border piece across both pages. It was fun to re-visit this sketch, so thanks for the challenge inspiration!

Recipe:
Vicki Boutin Mixed Media paper (American Crafts)
May-June 2022 Mix-In papers
Sky patterned paper (from my stash, source unknown)
Buttercup, Flamingo, Carolina, Nectarine & White Daisy cardstock
Sunny Yellow & Flamingo ink
Turquoise & Black fineliner pens (iBayam)
ShinHan Touch Twin markers
Monograms 2 Chippies (Mintay Papers)
Raindrops/umbrella stickers (Recollections)
Lace (Celebrate It)
Star Dust Stickles (Ranger)
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: butterflies, dragonfly
Cricut Artiste cartridge: sun, cloud
Pattern: EMS Sketch Challenge #82

Challenges: A Cut Above - Anything goes with a die-cut; Let's Craft & Create #227 Anything goes with optional theme of  something new - I used a brand new sticker set that I just bought on Saturday; NBUS #82 - my never-before-used-schtuff is the raindrops and umbrella stickers;  Paper Rocks Scissors #12- used scissors to cut the lace; Color Dare #685 - used all the colors plus black, white & grey.

New Beginnings Layout for Lasting Memories #780

This month over at Lasting Memories, Design Team Member Wendy is encouraging us to use some sketches she picked out, and I was so happy to have the perfect photo for this first sketch! Well, I did have to rotate the sketch, so almost perfect - LOL. I used some old stuff from my stash in addition to a couple of newer items to celebrate the start of a new year. Wendy has three more great sketches in store for us to use this month, so please click on the link above to join in the fun and share your layout with us before January 31st. Here's my layout:

And here's the sketch:

Recipe:
Make It Count stamp set
Slice of Life paper (American Crafts)
Modern Christmas paper (SU)
Dutch Blue, Raspberry, Toffee, Black & White Daisy cardstock
Dutch Blue ink
Black marker
Confetti stickers (Mrs. Grossmans)
Dot stickers (CM)
Reasons to Smile ephemera (American Crafts)
Raspberry baker's twine
Washi tape (Recollections)
Flower trim (Daiso)
Ebony Black Nuvo Drops
Frayed Burlap Distress Spritz (Ranger)
Word Search embossing folder
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: tag
Cricut Artiste cartridge: clock hands
Cricut Design Space: arrows
Challenges: Can You Handle the Pressure? - Anything goes with an embossing folder and optional twist of winter blues (added some pops of blue); Challenge YOUrself #144 - anything goes with a picture of yourself; Cut It Up #346 Anything goes with a die-cut - I kinda went wild with the die-cuts on this one!; Inkspirational #358 Shine/Shiny AND Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Sparkle and Shine - I dug out some gold and silver confetti stickers from my stash, plus added a glitter heart and star; NBUS #82- my never-before used schtuff is the flower trim.

Happy New Year and Snapshots Layout for Colorful Options

Happy New Year, everyone! May 2026 be a wonderful year full of scrapping opportunities for you all. I was invited to be a guest designer for Colorful Options this month, and I have to say it was a fun way to start the year! Their color board was monochromatic blue, not a strength for me, but hopefully I rose to the challenge as I found a bunch of blue items to put together my layout. The challenge is open all month, so feel free to hop on over and play along! Here's my layout:

And here's the challenge board:

Recipe:
Happiness Never Grows Old stamp set
Magnolia papers (MME)
Outdoor Denim & White Daisy cardstock
Sky, Outdoor Denim & Black ink
Star Spangled Blue marker
Birdsong Ephemera Bits (49 & Market)
Floral embellishments (The Paper Studio)
Teal enamel dots
Blue Adornaments fibers (EK Success)
Circle Double Stitched Steel dies (Art Impressions)
Challenges: Heart's Quest Challenge Blog #81 - 6 blue hearts; Little Red Wagon #839 Use the Force - I used force to die-cut the stitched circle and to stamp the leaves.