Christmas Story Layouts: Downton Abbey at the Biltmore

Christmas Story is such a lovely holiday collection (that is retiring TODAY)!  It paired so well with my photos of our trip to the Biltmore Estate to see the Downton Abbey exhibit three years ago.  My mother-in-law is a huge fan, so we treated her to this visit.  (I am thankful for the memories that pop up on Facebook, which reminded me of this great day and that I had yet to scrapbook the photos.)

This first layout is for our daughter (and I made two that were very similar for each of them).  I had so many pictures (as usual) that I used a Pocket Plus Memory Protector Design 1 to be able to show them all.  Here is the left page with the front of the Pocket Plus.

And now the right page with the back of the Pocket Plus.

(Sorry for the weird alignment!)  I used the Christmas Story embellishments, gold shimmer trim, and a retired stamp set for my title.

For my album, I created three different layouts of our day.  (I told you I took a lot of pictures!)

My first one focused on the actual House.  I love adding more photos with flip flaps!  (That white stripe in the middle will disappear when I peel that label off and adhere the flip flaps in my actual album.)

My second layout highlights the various sets we saw at the Downton Abbey exhibit.  (It was so cool to feel like we had been transported to Downton!)

My third and final layout shows off some of the many costume photos I took.  (They were absolutely exquisite- and even more beautiful in person than on screen.)

I took advantage of a photo collage app (I like the free version of LiveCollage) to create two 3"x4" photos on a 4"x6" canvas to be able to include so many (smaller) photos.

Again, I used retired stamp sets, Christmas Story embellishments, and silver glitter gems and shimmer trim for this final layout.

Thank you for your support in 2022!  I am looking forward to an extra crafty, inky, and scrappy 2023!  Happy New Year to you and yours!

Two More Graduation Cards

In addition to our daughter's graduation, our niece and our "daughter #3" (AKA DD's BFF) also graduated!  Here are the cards I made using the same format as the one for our daughter.

Of course I tried to personalize the cards with school colors, so I used Sapphire and Honey Butter with gold accents on the left card and Pewter and Black with silver accents on the right card.  (If you'd like more details about how I made these cards, refer back to this post.)

H2H Challenges: Full Circle

Sadly, Heart2Heart Challenges is closing at the end of the month, but to celebrate the end, our challenge is "Full Circle."

I made this fun celebratory card with the You Deserve It All stamp set (without the coordinating Thin Cuts) and the Celebrating You collection.  After stamping the present and lid in black, I used grey and turquoise markers to color the image.  A little Charcoal card stock and silver shimmer trim finished this off nicely.

It has been a fun run at Heart2Heart challenges, and I hope that you will continue to visit me here!  Best wish and happy crafting!

Graduation Card & Gift

Yesterday was a pretty exciting day!  Our youngest graduated with honors from the University of Georgia!  Of course I had to make a card for her and found a great idea for a gift box.

I used one of my retired graduation stamp sets and paired it with the Star Shaker Window Thin Cuts and foam/acetate.  (I wish I had created a light gray background inside my star, but I didn't realize that would have probably looked better until I had finished the card.

The inside of the shaker is filled with stars cut from red glitter paper (which matches the star frame) and tiny silver star sequins.  I added little drops of silver stickles to further embellish the card.

Next I created the mortarboard box (including the tassel) from a post I found on Splitcoast Stampers.  I think it turned out pretty well!

Finally, if you've made it this far, here's one of my favorite pictures from her graduation photo shoot!

 Thanks for letting me share!  

Freshly Baked Cookies Card

Cookies, anyone?  This card was easier to make than you might think thanks to the Freshly Baked Cookies scrapbooking stamp set and Thin Cuts.  I cut the wire rack out of black cardstock.

Each cookie stamp has a coordinating thin cut.  I had fun decorating with markers, stickles, liquid pearls, and white gel pens.

This collection is only available through the end of the year, so be sure to get yours HERE.

Flower Shoppe & Flourished Greetings Thank You

Recently I needed a thank you card so I grabbed the cheerful Flower Shoppe collection and paired with the Flourished Greetings stamp set.

I stamped my sentiment in Raspberry, added a few pink stickles (to mixed results) and acrylic hearts from the Flower Shoppe embellishment collection.  I really like the addition of the Capri shimmer trim also.

Card making doesn't have to be elaborate or fancy to be pretty!

Heart2Heart Challenges: A Few of My Favorite Things

Our first December Heart2Heart challenge is "A Few of My Favorite Things," so of course I had to include scrapbooking, Close To My Heart, travel, and my family!  (I can't believe that I didn't stamp anything on this project- yet.  I'm not sure I'm finished with it.)

These photos are some of my final ones that need to be scrapbooked from our Awesome American Adventure last year.  I decided that the Flower Shoppe collection was a great fit with my photos (with less of a focus on the floral elements).  My scrapbook layout sketch came from the recent Flower Shoppe Workshop Wow Scrapbooking kit (these instructions are no longer available, but all of the Flower Shoppe collection is HERE).

On the left page, I had three photos that I wanted to use, so I am incorporating a flip flap to include three photos on the space of one.

I had fun using my black journaling pen to doodle and journal.  So far, I've used the paper pack +  stickers, cardstock pack, and acrylic shapes from this collection.  I may go back and stamp something also if that ends up helping my layout flow in the bigger pictures of my trip album.

Be sure to see all of our H2H designers' favorite things and add yours before the month ends right HERE!