What a Boy Wants Layout

For my son's 9th birthday, he really wanted a Despicable Me party, complete with themed games, decorations, and cupcakes. And of course, he was thrilled to receive lots of presents to delight a young boy's heart. Instead of writing down each gift and giver, I decided to have him pose next to the person who gave him the gift, figuring that would be a more meaningful memory than a list. I just scrapbooked a few of the photos, and put the rest in a photo storage page. The layout ended up being pretty clean and simple, but I will always enjoy the funny expressions on my son's face!

Recipe:
Fanfare Level 2 papers
Canary cardstock
Pacifica ink
Pacifica & Black markers
Elemental envelope & tag
Cricut Artiste cartridge: title & stars
Pattern: Lasting Memories March challenge sketch (birthday layout using sketch)
Challenges: Bitten by the Bug 2 birthday challenge

EMS Sketch Challenge 64 - Cliff Palace Layout

I took a week off scrapbooking to enjoy some time with a few favorite books, but I'm back with this month's sketch challenge. It's a single pager with room for four uncropped 4" x 6" photos. The style is similar to a pocket page layout, but there is some overlap in order to fit in a bottom border and a photo mat. Hope you enjoy the sketch, and please link up your completed layout below so I can ooh and aah over it!

The sketch:

My layout:

Recipe:
Passages Level 2 papers
Cocoa, Bamboo, Garden Green & Brown Bag cardstock
Cocoa, Bamboo & Garden Green ink
Black marker
Dreamer charms
Natural hemp
Burlap ribbon
Tumbled Stone Alphabet stickers (All My Memories)
3-D foam tape
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: sunburst, curved arrow, pennant
Cricut Artistry cartridge: arrow
Challenges: Use Your Stuff  #253 Use a favorite sketch (my most recent sketch is always my favorite!); Scrap Our Stash March tic-tac-toe board (I used the left vertical column, and it really helped me get some stuff out of my stash pile, so thank very much!)

An InLinkz Link-up

Parents vs. Kids Layout

As I was preparing to scrapbook yet more photos of our trip to Mesa Verde, I thought it would be fun to go a different direction from the nature-colored palette the subject matter suggested, so I played along with a couple of color challenges to come up with a black/white/red layout. The title idea sprang from the long-suffering look on my son's face in the bottom photo; he plainly wasn't as excited about visiting ancient ruins as Mom and Dad were!

Recipe:
A Typeface stamp set
Animal Cookies & For Always Level 2 papers
Tulip, Black & White Daisy cardstock
Black metal tag
Black & White embroidery floss
Black baker's twine
Black gingham ribbon
Decor Journaling Spot
Heart brad (from my stash)
Cricut Simply Sweet cartridge: title, hearts
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: tag, circles
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: triple hearts
Pattern: Sketch-n-Scrap #122
Challenges: Bitten By the Bug 2 Red + White challenge; Another Colorful Creation Black & White + One challenge (I chose red as my third color); Picture This It's In the Air Blog Hop (for Ali's stitching challenge, I stitched a line through the hearts plus added Xs to the bottom picture)

At the End of the Day Layout

When I first got these photos developed, I had no idea how I wanted to scrap them, but a sketch from the Memory Nest and a couple of challenges (check them out below) came to my rescue!

Recipe:
Life is Sweet, Charming Cascades & Star Power stamp sets
Clementine Level 2 papers
Whisper, Creme Brulee, Sorbet, Twilight, Goldrush & Colonial White cardstock
Creme Brulee, Sorbet, Saddle & Twilight ink
Twilight marker
Coffee marker (Zig)
White gel pen (Sakura)
Twilight brads
3-D foam tape
Cricut Artistry cartridge: pennant
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: title, stars
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: Day circle, sunburst
Pattern: The Memory Nest Make It Monday sketch #81
Challenges: Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge - use the word Today; Picture This It's In the Air Blog Hop (for Christine's stars challenge, I stamped stars on my background cardstock and traced over them with white gel pen, plus I added 3 die-cut stars)

Crafty thought for the day!

Can anyone relate?!!!

Time Goes By So Slowly Layout

I was invited to be the single page guest designer at Stick It Down this month, and although I didn't have any single photos I wanted to feature on a layout, I thought the circles in the sketch could easily be converted into photos. I combined the sketch challenge with the February VSBN Music challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers, Sharon wanted us to use lyrics from Unchained Melody as inspiration for a layout, and when I noticed the lines about "Time goes by so slowly," they seemed like a perfect title for a road trip layout! Anyone who has ever traveled hundreds of miles with young children knows it sometimes feels the trip will never end, right?

Here's the sketch:

And here's my layout:

Update: This layout was featured on the Use Your Stuff blog!

Recipe:
Cherry-O Level 2 paper
Slate, Outdoor Denim & Twilight cardstock
Slate, Outdoor Denim, Twilight ink
Outdoor Denim marker
Outdoor Denim grosgrain ribbon
Later Sk8r Picture My Life cards
Timberline Assortment wooden veneers
Cuttlebug embossing folders: Wicker weave, Swiss Dot, CTMH Chevron
Crist Artistry cartridge: title
Challenges: Picture This It's In the Air Blog Hop (For Arianna's 3+ photo challenge, I used 4 photos); Use Your Stuff Bingo challenge: I used the bottom line across, tucking 3 journaling cards behind my main photo, and adding 3 wood veneers, ribbon, and lots of embossed circles.

Battleship Buddies Layout

I love these photos, from the intent look on my older son's face to the huge grin my younger son is sporting, so it was a pleasure to scrapbook them! I went with a color palette of blues with touches of grey and yellow, and added some nautical touches like the knotted "rope" and the waves because my boys were playing Battleships.

Recipe:
Timberline stamp set
Babycakes & Proplayer Level 2 papers
White Daisy textured cardstock
Outdoor Denim, Indian Corn Blue, Slate & White Daisy cardstock
Outdoor Denim, Indian Corn Blue, Slate & Buttercup ink
Natural hemp
Cobalt circle bling gems (Jolee's Boutique)
Yellow enamel dots (American Crafts)
Liquid Glass
3-D foam tape
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge: title, stars, teardrop
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: waves
Pattern: Creative Scrappers Sketch 303
Challenges: Lasting Memories' Celebration of Love challenge (I chose to celebrate a special moment when my boys bonded over a game - love when that happens!)

Remember NHM with Emily Layout

I love the bright colors of the Free to Be Me kit from CTMH, so I enjoyed using them on this layout with the addition of a kraft background so they wouldn't overwhelm the photos. Our family has been to the Natural History Museum so many times that I wasn't sure how to accessorize this layout without being repetitive from past layouts, but I managed to pull out a few embellishments that I hope work for the theme!

Recipe:
Alphabet Solos T & H, Atomic Caps & Atomic Lowercase stamp sets
Free to Be Me Level 2 papers
Free to Be Me embossed cardstock
Kraft, Lagoon, Pomegranate, Black & White Daisy cardstock
Black, Lagoon, Pomegranate & Flaxen ink
Black marker
Remember wooden veneer (Heidi Swapp Wanderlust Collection)
Stuck on You Puffies (heart)
Junebug Puffies (water droplets)
Trinkets Wooden Shapes (arrow, flower)
Cricut Noah's ABC Animals cartridge: deer
Cricut Art Philosoph cartridge: butterfly, leaf
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: friends forever brackets
Pattern: Let's Scrap February 1 sketch

U Have My Heart Layout

I have been feeling frustrated by a set of three random photos that I kept pulling out and putting away because I couldn't figure out how to scrap them, so today I decided to create my own challenge and see where it took me. Since it's February, I'm doing a word play challenge by adding an element to the layout for every letter in the word February. Here's my list of what I finally added:
   F – Flight of the Arrows stamp set
   E – Embroidery floss, EMS Sketch 13
   B – Brothers Chevron patterned paper, Boy's Pocket die-cut
   R – Ribbon
   U = "U" chipboard
   A – Arrows
   R – Ric-rac
   Y – Yellow enamel dots

It ended up being fun as I pulled together papers and embellishments from at least five different manufacturers, and I love how it all ended up melding together without being too matchy! If you enjoy this challenge, feel free to play along and leave a link below to your completed layout.

Recipe:

Flight of the Arrows stamp set

Brothers Patterned paper (Echo Park)

Cashmere, Chocolate & Sky cardstock

Cashmere, Twilight & Buttercup ink

DE Monograms chipboard "U" 

DE Arrow chipboard

Sunset grosgrain ribbon

Yellow ric-rac (Jo-Ann's Craft Essentials)

White Daisy embroidery floss

Yellow enamel dots (American Crafts)

2nd Avenue Boy's Pocket & Star die-cuts (MME)

Let's Go Tidbits (Chic Tags)

Cricut Artiste cartridge: title, heart

Pattern: EMS Sketch challenge 13

Challenges: Lasting Memories Hearts and/or arrows (I used both!); Use Your Stuff hearts challenge

An InLinkz Link-up

Valentine's Day 2014 Layout

It's the month when we celebrate love, so I created this lovely sketch for Splitcoast Stampers that showcases two pictures embellished with hearts and a hand-holding couple. I had some Valentine's Day photos in mind to use, and I pulled out my Cricut Artbooking cartridge to die-cut the couple. My pictures were taken at a dinner theater, so the gold dotted vellum seemed like a good accent for the bright lights, but it turned out I had no other gold paper. I improvised using gold embossing power around the photos and on the circles, and I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out. Hope you like it, too!

The sketch:

My layout:

Recipe:
Spot On Backgrounds stamp set
Enchantment Paper Fundamentals - Pomegranate
Free to Be Me Vellum
Black, Pomegranate & White Daisy cardstock
Pomegranate & Versamark ink
Black marker
Gold gel pen (CM)
Gold embossing powder
Licorice Opaques
Organdy ribbon
3-D foam tape
Cricut Artiste cartridge: title
Cricut Artbooking cartridge: silhouette couple, hearts
Cricut Artistry cartridge: tie
Challenges:Lasting Memories All in the Name of  LOVE challenge (L - Licorice Opaques, O - organdy ribbon, V - vellum, E - Enchantment Paper Fundamentals, embossing); Bitten By the Bug 2 Valentines / Love challenge; Heart 2 Heart Falling in Love challenge