Solvang, California

Here is a layout that I did on my day trip to Solvang. It is a little Danish village, north of Santa Barbara. It is lovely. Here are just a few pics of the village and the sites. I used a color scheme suggested by Scrap Happy. The paper is from Crate Paper and came in my Apron Strings kit. Love Apron Strings!!!

Hope that you enjoy!

Back to life and reality

After a weekend with my sister and Aaron, I am back home and back on target. I am finally scrapping all my fun photos with Alice and Renee. They came out for a visit and we hit the sites, big time. Here is a quick layout I did on our trip to Disneyland.

The sketch is from ScrapHappy and the paper is from my trusty Apron Strings Kit. It is Fancy Pants's Beach Babe line. It was quite a fun mix to work with. And the sketch let me use a whole bunch of my favorite scrapbooking tool, patterned paper! Good times!

Hope that you enjoy.

Coming back

Oh my goodness! I feel as if I am coming out of an underground tunnel. I have been busy, distracted or not in the mood to scrapbook. But I remembered Lain Ehmann's comment about creativity being similar to exercise, doing it daily is better. So, a little here and there should get the creative mojo back. First, I worked on my halloween cards and candy holders and then I worked on some layouts.

Thanks to Scrap Happy's august sketch, I was able to put together a layout fairly quickly. Of course, Jenni Bowlin's Be Our Guest line was huge help as well. It came in my fun Apron Strings kit. There was a prompt from Scrapping Everyday Miracles about friends going the distance and it inspired me. Although I did not follow all of their criteria, I used them as inspiration.

Last month, two friends from Louisville, flew out to visit me. They traveled across the continent just to see me. I was so excited. They came for my birthday and stayed the week. We had a great time. So, in thinking about friends who literally went the distance, I scrapped this fun photo of Renee and Alice in Little Tokyo. Hope that you enjoy!

A little time, a little paper and a little prompt...

Thanks to Apron Strings Smaller than a Breadbox kit and Scrapping Everyday Miracles, I have a layout. I really liked playing with Jillibean Soup's new line Watermelon Gazpacho. I found myself using more of the background side of the paper. Lots of fun, bright colors and delightful polka dots, gingham and stripes. Ah, my favorite combinations.

Scrapping Everyday Miracles provided a very playful challenge this month. The prompt was "you have to laugh." Essentially it was about the things in our life that make us laugh, things we might otherwise take for granted. The stipulations were to use that theme and add a funny picture and a recycled element. So, I pulled out a fun sepia toned photo of Aaron that I have wanted to use for some time now. He is sitting in the Goofy car at Disneyland and just grinning. This layout prompt really allowed me to journal about Aaron's quirky sense of humor and how his "goofy"ness really makes me laugh. The recycled element is the ribbon, I pulled it from projects that folks have sent me. It was nice to reuse and repurpose. This was a great challenge and I really enjoyed using up some fun Apron Strings stash. Hope that you enjoy!

The Wizard of Oz

My friendly, playful niece likes several things, but two of her favorites are mail and the Wizard of Oz. Thanks to Graphic 45, I can give her both. Recently, Graphic 45 came out with a Wizard of Oz collection that is just too fun. Being a huge fan of Graphic 45 I snagged it right away. I took an old paperback that was dying (losing its binding, etc) and made flowers using my punch. Then I threaded some gingham ribbon through some thrift store buttons and glued them on for a center. I really liked the result. Will definitely be using that technique again. In the end, it was just a matter of cutting, gluing and arranging. A nice way to while away the afternoon. Hope that you enjoy!

At the County Fair

I love the fair! Having grown up in Columbus, Ohio it is required. We have one of the biggest state fairs in the country. It always took us two days for the fair. One day was junk food and rides...and what a gruesome combination that can be if you are not careful. The next day was shows and livestock. This day was reserved for horse shows, quilt shows and various cooking demonstrations. Then we would tour the stockyards and choose our favorite chicken!

This year I had the pleasure of attending the San Diego County fair. It was delightful! I saw a llama competition for the first time. This was also the first time I saw a turkey corn dog and deep fried girl scout cookies! You just cannot beat the fair for fascinating entertainment and quality cuisine!

Hope that you enjoy the layout! This is paper from my smaller than a breadbox Apron Strings kit. It is Echo Park's Summer Days. It was so much fun to play with and such a great mix of colors for my fun fair pictures!

Using up the extras

So, many of you know I am cheap. Or thrifty, depending on whom you talk to. Which means I like to use up as much free stuff as I can. Which means instead of using up my Yellowstone paper, I relied on free resources. For a 50 cent donation, I snagged a Yellowstone map. I used the map while in the park and then when I got home, I used it for background. I used sections of my paid for paper and blended it in with my map backgrounds.

This layout is about our hike to Fairy Falls. We arrived at the trail head to find a sign that said, "Campsite 48 is closed due to bear gnawing on carcass. Contact the ranger station for new assignment." Good times! We hiked through the rain and found our way to the waterfall and it was beautiful. Aaron found me a great walking stick and then we headed our muddy, damp selves back to the lodge.