Grillin & Chillin Layout

Today is the last day to take advantage of the "Best Moments Are Free" AND Stamptacular special offers (learn more HERE)!  My monthly scrapbook group made the "Grillin and Chillin" layout for July.  You don't have to have the stamps to recreate the layouts in these specials!

I plan to add our 4th of July photos to these pages, so I'll update when they're done.  Have a great weekend!

Then & Now Layout

When my mother-in-law shared this picture with me recently, I knew that it would be perfect for the current Then & Now special (stamp set and layout kit- all for the cost of the stamp set only!).  I found a few other pictures of my MIL & FIL of the same general era to combine together.

The prom picture on the left was the inspiration.  My MIL taught English at our local high school, so they chaperoned the 1967 Junior-Senior prom. 

I am going to have my MIL write their names on the right side next to the stamped cluster.  The second photo is of them in October, 1961, visiting BJ's best friend (who introduced the two!) in Tuscaloosa, AL.

On the right page, the photo is from their wedding rehearsal, and that's BFF Nell on the left (mostly cropped out).  I ended up typing the journaling and numbering them.  Notice how I stamped a number by each picture.

If you'd like to make this same layout with your photos, be sure to grab the "Then & Now" special before it's gone at the end of June!

Europe 2016, Day 18: Athens

The World Is Yours special is over, but I stocked up on this collection for our European adventure.

Day 18 was a day trip to Athens, Greece.

Notice the flipflap to include my journaling.

Thanks for letting me share!

Easter 2019 Layout

Easter is always a special holiday for our family, and I was thrilled that the girls still wanted to participate in egg dying, Easter baskets, and Easter service!

For my layout, I was able to use one of the two Sweet Girl layouts from the Craft With Heart Cut Above subscription box.  Here is the suggested layout from the subscription:

I used the basic piece like the model, but shifted my photos up into the border because I had so many.  I cut my title with my CTMH/Cricut Flower Market collection.

Of course I had to use that adorable bunny sticker on this Easter layout!

Don't feel locked in to scrapbooking your memories in chronological order!  Work at your own pace on the projects that inspire you.  In this instance, the Craft With Heart layout inspired me to print and scrap our Easter photos.  Otherwise, I am still working on our vacation from (yikes!) 2016.  No shame or guilt here in working at your own pace on what inspires you!  Just keep crafting!

Pocket Power Technique Blog Hop

Welcome to the Pocket Power Technique Blog Hop!  You're going to get great ideas for pockets and interactive elements for your projects.  (If you're already hopping, then you've probably arrived from the talented Cat Nowak's blog.  From here, you'll visit Danielle Wagner next.) 

I knew that I wanted to pair our pictures from visiting Hitler's Eagle's Nest with the Into the Wild collection, and of course I had more pictures to feature than I had space on my layout.  The picture, above, shows the layout with all of its layers, while the picture below shows only the left and right base pages that I created.

 The left page doesn't have any interactive features.  I did add silver shimmer trim to the layout in addition to the Into the Wild wooden shapes.

 Here is the right page with all of its layers as it would appear when you come to this page in our album.  The map of the Eagle's Nest (brochure from our visit) fit into an 8"x12" flip flap after trimming it just a bit.  (Unfortunately this size isn't available anymore, but we do offer 6"x12" flip flaps.)

Here you can see the flip flap opened to reveal the Pocket Plus Memory Protector Design 1 (Z3242) with its three horizontal/landscape 4"x6" openings.  You can also read my journaling here.

Next, the Pocket Plus section is turned to reveal the entire right page of the layout.

Finally, I had one more flip flap in use, a 4"x6" to reveal another photo and more journaling.

Thank you for letting me share Day 32 of our epic 2016 European adventure and some (hopefully creative) uses for flip flaps and Pocket Plus protectors.  I'd love a comment before you visit Danielle's blog next.  Thank you!

June Stamp of the Month Blog Hop: It's Your Day to Sparkle

It's Your Day to Sparkle, the Close To My Heart June stamp of the month, lives up to its name!  Join me and about 20 other consultants to share ideas with this beautiful stamp set. (If you're already hopping then you've probably arrived from Terry's blog.  From here, visit Brandi's blog next.)

My first card features the gorgeous cake stamp and a sketch from Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 4.  I fussy cut it after stamping with Charcoal ink on White Daisy card stock, then added pieces of the True Love collection onto Sugarplum cardstock and Sugarplum glitter paper.

You can see how I colored the roses with my Sugarplum shimmer brush and the leaves with New England Ivy with my waterbrush, but what neither picture really shows you is how I painted clear sparkle onto the cake.  It sparkles deliciously in real life!

Here's the image of all of the stamps in this set, so you can see how versatile it is.

My second card is a fun tri-fold card that I'll be featuring later this month as it's my daughter's birthday card.  Can you see where I stamped Happy Birthday in charcoal from this set?

Thanks for letting me share two very different cards with you!  Be sure to leave a comment and then hop on over to Brandi's blog for more of It's Your Day to Sparkle!

{Click HERE for all the hop participants and their blogs.}