50th Anniversary Final Cruise Layouts

My final two cruise layouts really focus on the real reason for our cruise: time with family on the special occasion of our parents' 50th anniversary.  (If you missed the first installments, click HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.)  Again, I used the Postcard Perfect collection for this tropical vacation.  (You can get yours right HERE while supplies last!)

We all agreed that we would have a formal family photo shoot while aboard.  We all really loved how they turned out!  (This layout uses the third and final A Cut Above layout from the kit.  I did add in a stamped title.)

You can probably figure out that the photo at the bottom right is of my parents, and the main photo is of all 13 of us!

For the right side, I placed our photos in birth order: my family on top, then my brother's, then my sister's, and finally all of the cousins.

The final layout features a tradition that we absolutely love!  If you look closely, you'll see that we're wearing matching FFF shirts.  FFF stands for "Forced Family Fun," a coin we termed way back on a huge family trip out west when we were teenagers.  You can probably imagine some of the F words added over the years...  (In college especially FREE was very appealing!)

My sister had the great idea many, many years ago to have these shirts made and surprise our parents with them.  We've had to hand down some sizes and order more as our family has grown, but it is a privilege to wear this "uniform" at least once on our Forced Family Fun adventures.

Happy 50th anniversary, Mom and Dad!  We are especially proud to add that F (fiftieth) to our FFF!  We love you so much!

50th Anniversary Cruise Layouts #8-9

Welcome back to my series of layouts for my parents' 50th anniversary cruise!  (If you missed the first installments, click HERE, HERE, and HERE.)  Again, I used the Postcard Perfect collection for this tropical vacation.  (You can get yours right HERE while supplies last!)

Layout #8 uses the second of three Cut Above layouts from the kit to showcase some highlights of the ship experience itself.  (By the way, we were sailing on the Carnival Magic.)

I left several places for journaling.

 Our final day aboard was our second, fun sea day.

Since I wasn't able to use the long journaling strip from the Cut Above kit on the layout it was "supposed" to go on, I thought it worked really well here.

We enjoyed high tea and then went on to win a coveted "Ship in a Stick" for tying to win Harry Potter trivia! 

We had such a wonderful cruise together!  Tomorrow I'll post our final layouts of the amazing vacation.

50th Anniversary Cruise Layouts #5-7

Hopefully you're not tired of seeing our family's 50th anniversary cruise layouts! (If you missed the first installments, click HERE and then again HERE.)  Again, I used the Postcard Perfect collection for this tropical vacation.  (You can get yours right HERE while supplies last!)

This particular layout of San Juan, Puerto Rico, uses one of the three layouts in the Postcard Perfect A Cut Above layout kit.  These make great projects that you can easily make on your own!

As usual, I didn't exactly follow all of the directions so that I could make these layouts fit my photos.  (And I accidentally did not print my sister's family's photo, but that will be added before I give my parents their album).

That night was another formal night (and I'm hoping my parents have a picture of themselves that night!  If not, Mom can journal on the photo mat at left.)

Don't you love the addition of the Beautiful Friendship bows on that adorable flamingo?  Also, the title stickers are from the Cut Above layout kit.  I couldn't use them on the intended layout, which was okay because the entire collection mixes and matches so well.

 Our final port of call was beautiful (and HOT) Grand Turk.

For this layout, I used a mix of elements from the paper collection and the stamp set.  More to come tomorrow...

50th Anniversary Cruise Layouts #3-4

As promised yesterday, I'm back with more finished layouts for my parents' 50th anniversary album.  (If you missed the first installment, click HERE.)  Again, I used the Postcard Perfect collection for this tropical vacation.  (You can get yours right HERE while supplies last!)

Our first port of call was Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic.  Since this isn't our first family cruise (and ages span three generations), we all feel very comfortable doing different things during the day.  We have the tradition of gathering in my parents' stateroom before dinner and dining together nightly.

My family wandered around the port with the Grands, while my sister's family took a zip line tour and my brother's family swam with dolphins!  (On this layout, I again used the CTMH/Cricut Flower Market cartridge to cut my title.)

Our cruise ship docked the next day on beautiful St. Thomas.

The beautiful florals you see on the right page were stamped with the Postcard Perfect stamp set (no longer available) and my title was stamped with Inked Alphabet stamp set.)

This right page will have flip flaps added so that I can show off more of our beach pictures.  (They work best when added on top of your page protector.)

Thanks for letting me share my layouts from our trip!

50th Anniversary Celebration(s) and Cruise Layouts #1-2

My wonderful parents celebrated their 50th anniversary earlier this month, and we were blessed to be able to take a family cruise in June to celebrate and then have a backyard BBQ with friends.  I'll be posting my projects over the next week or so.  (MOM!  If you're looking, go away and come back after you get your album!!!!!!)

Here is the title page for their album, using the former "Dad Is Rad" collection.  (If you missed this one and would like to know more, click HERE.)

All of my cruise layouts use the Postcard Perfect collection.  (I have to give a huge shout out to Susan Williams for the amazing workshop that she created!  Contact me if you'd like to know more.)  You can still get the paper collection and A Cut Above Kit- while supplies last- by clicking HERE.

Layout #1 highlights getting to meet our baby cousin for the first time on the way down and embarkation day.

I cut my title with the CTMH/Cricut  Flower Market to cut my titles.

I added some Document Dots for dimension. 

Layout #2 was our first full day on board: my nephew's 10th birthdayand a sea day finishing with formal night.

Come back daily to see more if you'd like to travel vicariously and/or enjoy some tropical scrapbooking!  I'll be making my family's album as my next big project!  (I did make both sets of base pages at the same time.)

H2H Challenges: Fresh Air Fun

This week's Heart 2 Heart challenge is Fresh Air Fun.  You don't have to use the Fresh Air collection, but it's a great fit! This is the card I made my husband for our 23rd anniversary.  (My does time fly!!!) 

It didn't take long to fussy cut the focal image from the Fresh Air Scrapbooking set after stamping it in Fern and rolling it in New England Ivy.  The sentiment is from a retired CTMH set.  I used a sketch from Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 4 to put this together pretty quickly.  He really seemed to like it!

Be sure to visit the H2H blog and see our designers' inspiration.  All of our July challenges are open to the end of the month, so won't you join us for one or more?  You earn a special badge for participating in each of the month's challenges. 

Featured Paper Blog Hop: Central Park

No matter where you call home, you're going to love the Central Park paper collection!  You'll be amazed at how versatile this paper collection is, so be sure to hop all the way through this blog hop.  (If you're already hopping then you've probably arrived from Kathleen's blog.  From here, you'll visit Brittany next.)  This paper pack features primary colors AND pastels, and somehow they work together!

My first card is based on the Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 4 pattern 10.  I used my Thin Cuts/Cuttlebug to create the scalloped border.  The sentiment is from a retired stamp set.

Both of these cards use the Sending Prayers stamp set.  The one below is based on the  Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 4 pattern 24.

Now there's a twist on the Central Park paper pack: a very soft, feminine, pastel version!  (Sorry for the retired stamps, but they are ones in my collection that I absolutely love!)

Thank you for letting my share my Central Park cards with you!  I have a scrapbook layout planned next, so be sure to come back.  After leaving me a comment, feel free to visit Brittany's blog next.

Magically Masked (CTMH Technique Blog Hop)

Masking is a magical technique!  You can do soooo much with a little creative masking, as you're sure to see along this technique blog hop.  You can layer images without lots of cutting and pasting, you can use multiple colors on one stamp, and so much more.  (If you're already hopping then you've probably arrived from Catherine's blog.  From here you'll visit Darlys's blog next.)

For this hop, I wanted to show how you could use more than one color ink directly on your stamps using the masking technique.

Step One: Use a Post-It-style note or washi tape to cover up the part of the stamp that you do NOT want to ink up (in this case "memories"_.

 Ink up the stamp in your color of choice (Smoothie).

Pull off the Post-It note and stamp image onto your project.  (It's really helpful to have a trash can nearby!)

Next cover up the parts that you've already stamped so that all you can see is the portion that hasn't been stamped.

Ink up "memories" in Peacock ink.  Remove the Post-Its and align with the previously-stamped portions.

Voila!  Now you have a two-toned (or more) stamped image!

Here's another card from earlier this year that uses this masking technique.  (TIP: You may want to use washi tape instead of post-its for "curvy" images.)

Thank you for checking out my Magically Masked project.  Be sure to visit Darlys next!

H2H Challenges: Anything Goes!

Heart 2 Heart Challenges is offering a fun "anything goes" challenge this week to help you get crafting to beat the summer heat.  I've been working on several projects lately, so I thought I would share my parents' 50th anniversary card.  First, though, I must show the inspiration behind their card!

My card began with a Peacock card stock base, but not your typical base because this card is actually an easel card!

On the White Daisy center panel, I meticulously stamped my sayings with the Pen Pal alphabet in Peacock ink.  The "50" I stamped and heat embossed with gold powder.  Both anchors were cut with the CTMH/Cricut You Are Here cartridge.

Gold glitter paper, gold glitter gems, and burlap ribbon finished off the card.  Below, you can see how the card looks opened from the side.

Thanks for letting me share this monumental milestone with you!  Be sure to check out all of the Design Team's inspiration on the H2H blog.  You have all month to join us!