New Apartment Layout

We moved our girls to two different new apartments two weekends in a row, and I am so please to have their new places immortalized in scrapbook layouts!

I used the Make a Memory scrapbook kit and have instructions to make elevated layouts.  This guide is free to anyone who purchases this kit as part of a minimum $75 order with me!

Virtual Album Retreat: August Layout

Earlier this month I was able to complete my August highlights scrapbook layout thanks to the amazing virtual Month-by-Month Album Retreat (still available, while supplies last HERE, with an invite to a private Facebook page with teaching videos). 

It was fun blending ink on the rays to make them pop!

The clouds and some of the circle accents also got a little blending love.

The right page uses flip flaps to add more photos to tell our story.  It was a big month for us!  Can you see how the thread connects the photos to the journaling?

Anyone who purchase the Month-by-Month album retreat from me at full price will receive a $43 gift of Stampin' Rewards to be able to purchase an album (or whatever else you'd like).  

Nature’s Beauties Layout

My first layout of 2025 is a throwback to around 2008! I recently found these pictures that had not yet been scrap booked and thought that the Totally Toadstools 6 x 6 DSP, available as part of celebration, were a fantastic match.

I used a CDT sketch for 6 x 60 SP, and so here are the pieces that I used to create the layout. Pretty cool that you can really stretch your paper by carefully cutting and piecing back together. You can give the illusion of long pieces without the actual long 12” pieces.

Since I am on a budget, like everybody else, I have not purchased the coordinating stamp set and punches, so I decided to create my own toadstools with card stock and sequins. I just free cut them until I liked how they looked.(And truthfully, I love them!)

I used my Cricut to cut the title.  I have 8 photos I will be adding to this page with flip flaps!

Don't be afraid to stretch your 6"x6" DSP to 12" long by hiding where they meet with an embellishment, or in this case, a photo.  Also, do you see that cute little snail?  It's from a fall Paper Pumpkin kit!

Remember that the Totally Toadstools 6"x6" DSP is only available as a FREE choice with a minimum $60 purchase during Sale-A-Bration (through the end of February).  It also coordinates with the Terrific Toadstools stamp set/bundle.  Get yours before they're gone!

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My Birthday Bird Feeder Layout

My girls got me a beautiful new squirrel-proof bird feeder for my birthday earlier this year, and I have enjoyed taking pictures of all of our visitors.

Of course I had to use the Nests of Winter suite to create this layout.

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Mackinac Island Layouts

It's gotten cold here, so I'm enjoying remember some summer fun!  My husband and I took a lovely day trip to Mackinac Island this summer, and I used the Close To My Heart/Stampin' Up! Enjoy the Ride collection to preserve these memories.

The first layout was based loosely on a CTMH sketch,  but the second layout was completely my own design.  When I have a lot of photos, I tend to use a grid design to fit them all in.

The third layout followed the scrapbooking workshop directions pretty closely.

The fourth and final layout was also based on a sketch.

I love how these turned out!  Thanks for letting me share them with you!

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Paris & Co. Layout

This layout is what we made at my September scrapbook class.  I decided to (finally) get photos of one of our favorite restaurants, this time the setting for our daughter's birthday lunch a few years ago.  I'm so happy to get these pictures into our albums, especially since her sweet grandmother is no longer with us.

I used the To Market DSP and cut strips of patterned paper to create the base pages.  I used my Cricut to cut out the title from Blackberry Bliss cardstock and fussy cut two of the bouquets from the DSP to accent my page.  I used some twine from my stash and a few In Color glimmer gems to accent the layout.  (I think my Peach Pie cardstock works well as photo mats even though Pumpkin Pie is the actual color in the suite.)

Don't be afraid to use your own handwriting to journal the stories that go with your photos!  If you'd like to learn more about memory keeping, I'd love for you to join my group of ladies each month.

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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!

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!

Heart2Heart Challenges: One

It's time to kick off the year with the first Heart2Heart Challenge: ONE.  I was stumped for a bit on what to create and then it hit me!

This hybrid layout started with an Express Collection in Studio J.  I wanted to preserve a funny family story about our then-two-year-old daughter and her favorite song, "Yellow Submarine" (which is on our Beatles 1 CD, hence the H2H tie-in).  I was able to find digital images of the CD cover and Yellow Submarine artwork, but I didn't have a digital picture of our daughter.  I went ahead and created the layout and changed the photo well on the left page into a matte only.

After my Studio J layout arrived, I found a picture that coordinated with the layout.  I added two Cricut shapes for more (handwritten) journaling and then embellished the layout with all kinds of doodads (mostly retired but the red enamel gems are current).

Now the story of "Lo Sa Marie" and our family's love of the Beatles is preserved for all time.

Be sure to visit the H2H blog for lots of inspiration!  I hope you'll kick off the new year and join us with your ONE project, too.

Visits with Santa #TBT #CTMH

Back in 2011, I posted the tabletop display that I made of our older daughter's visits with Santa.  I couldn't resist posting a few pictures of it again.  (You can find the entire post HERE.)

 {This one ALWAYS cracks me up!  Poor kid!  Patient Santa!}

Please don't remind Little Sister that I promised to have hers finished by the next Christmas.  It still isn't made...  Maybe this year?  Now to look for that box...

Fall Break 2014

Here's another Studio J layout that I made last month during the Lucky 5 campaign.  (Again, saving money scrapbooking?  Count me in!)  We are very fortunate to get a week off from school in October each year for Fall Break.

My cousin came "back home" to visit, and boy did we have fun walking and driving down memory lane!  I used the Pathfinding collection for these fall photos.

While the Parents Are Away...

You may remember the recent retirement party we held for our RV park managers.  Here's the layout I made of the fun evening (using Pathfinding in Studio J).

We decided it would be better for the kids (especially the younger cousins) to stay home with the teenagers rather than attend what would probably be a boring evening (to them).

I made the "mistake" of leaving my camera at home, and here are the wacky photos my niece took!

While the parents were away, the kids certainly did play!  It was a great choice to leave them at home with pizza!  This Studio J layout uses the techie Proplayer collection.  I think it was a perfect fit for this crazy bunch.  Gotta love 'em!!!

Here's to a little silliness today!  Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Family Reunion 2013 Layout

Every year on the 3rd Saturday in July, my husband's family gathers for a potluck lunch and family heritage association meeting here in our town.  The family has a very long history here in our county and can trace their roots back to the 1600s!  This year's reunion inspired me to scrapbook LAST YEAR's reunion. ;)

Because last year's reunion honor Micajah Clark Dyer and his patented flying machine, I had to use the Balloon Ride paper pack!  Coincidentally, I decided to work on this layout while my friend Ann was here, and she actually had pictures of Micajah's headstone!  She is a member of DAR and the Daughters of the Confederacy, and she had helped to honor Micajah with an American flag.  Don't you love those "small world" connections of life?

My left page is a pocket page to hold our annual newsletter and the program from the 2013 reunion.  I also slipped in one of Ann's pictures.  Because a local gentleman built a model of that patented flying apparatus, I clipped that little brochure to the pocket.

Obviously, I still need to print the two decent pictures I have of last year's reunion, but I will add them with a flip flap later.  (FYI, the stamped title used the retired The Works Alphabet set.)

Remember that ALL the current CTMH paper packs retired TOMORROW, so get yours before they're GONE.  Click HERE!

Also, if you'd like to learn more about this cool flying apparatus, just do a search for Micajah Clark Dyer.  Pretty interesting stuff!

Back To School Layout Share

Everyone in the USA is probably back to school now.  It's amazing to think that we've already got four weeks under our belts here!  I finally have my photos of my Back to School 2013 layout ready to share.  Since the photos are hard to see, I included a photo of my girls and me.

To create my layout, I ended up choosing the Chantilly paper pack since the colors matched the photos so well.  This layout is from the new Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 2 how-to sketch guide.  Of course I had to use my new School Years stamp set!  The layout also wouldn't be complete without a little help from my Cricut and the CTMH Artiste cartridge. 

Each of us girls signed our name and pertinent stats for this year on a Cricut rolodex journaling card with Cotton Candy, Twilight, and Pear markers.

The new Aqua Dots adhesive gems and Lagoon washi tape look great to accent this layout. 

I hope everyone has a great school year, no matter where you are at this stage of your life!  Learn something new each and every day!

It's a Big Idea Festival!

This year's Big Picture Classes "Big Idea Festival" theme is childhood memories. Join me and lots of other crafty friends for 10 days of FREE fun! It all starts 9/5, so sign up now!

Photo Keeper "Book"

For quite a while (several years?), I've had this idea to use 6"x9" envelopes to create a "book" to hold all the lovely photographs we get from family & friends.  Generally they arrive at Christmas time, but we do sometimes get pictures in the mail at other times of the year, so I didn't want to go with a Christmas theme.  At a local discount office supply store, I found an inexpensive package of 6.5"x9.5" envelopes that I knew would be perfect for this project.  I also knew that the new For Always paper pack was just what I had been waiting for!  I used several (retired) stamp sets and ribbon for my envelope book.

The current Dynamic Duos challenge #40 is one of the gorgeous combos in the For Always paper pack: black and Lagoon.

The envelopes are in alphabetical order by last name, and I can easily add more as time and photos permit since they are held together with book rings.  I decided to write the names myself rather than print them to save time and to keep them uniform yet personal throughout the years.
Each design is pretty flat because I was afraid that too much bulk would cause trouble down the road.  I found sketches for a few of my designs from Mojo Monday #279 (even though it's too late to officially play) and an older Mojo sketch (but I've forgotten which one)...

Retrosketches #50...

and 365 Cards Day 41 Sketch...

Almost everything is from Close To My Heart (with some retired ribbon thrown in from my stash), plus random flowers and ribbon.

This "album" or book is sure to become a family heirloom as we enjoy looking at friends' and family's photos, notes, and special cards through the years.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section.  Thanks so much for looking!