Easy Scrapbooking: Columbus Marathon

Charles' second marathon was the Columbus Marathon. I had completed the page a while ago, but after looking back over it I knew it needed a little something extra. I decided to recreate his racing bib for the "title." It was a really easy bib to recreate because it was not too detailed. I found the logo on Google and the rest was a snap to do in Publisher.

Easy Scrapbooking: Gilmore Girls Birthday

As you all know, my 30th birthday party was a Gilmore Girls theme.

For the scrapbook spread I used a yellow patterned paper that reminded me of Luke's Diner. The umbrella paper was another one that I have been holding on to for years. I bought it because it was very cute, but I did not have an intended purpose for it. It works great for a Gilmore Girls theme. One of the most iconic or popular episodes of Gilmore Girls is when Rory discovers the Life & Death Brigade and jumps off a tower while holding an umbrella (also harnessed, by the way).

In keeping with the Life & Death Brigade, I used their motto and a quote from that episode in lieu of a title.

Easy Scrapbooking: Apple picking

Charles and I visited Apple Hill and picked a bunch of apples. It was so much fun to decide what apples to pick. We left with a big box full of apples and lots of ideas of what to make with them.

The page is simple, of course. It took me some time to decide what to do for the "title." I finally ended up with the list of types of apples. It is appropriate for our apple picking excursion because we came across many of these varieties. You wouldn't believe how many different types there are! During apple season we always find a new variety when we visit the grocery store.

Easy Scrapbooking: Europe

Several years ago, Charles and I took a trip to Europe. We flew into Belgium and visited Brugge, Amsterdam, Dublin, Cologne and Stuttgart. For my scrapbook spread of the trip I was trying to think of something to tie all the pages together. I found a cute cut out on Silhouette of train tracks. They had several different ones and they were perfect! European travel often includes the train.

When we first arrived in Belgium, we had to get on a train to Brugge. We boarded the train and rode. It eventually stopped, but not at our final destination. It stopped and just stayed there for what felt like forever. We had no idea what city we were stopped at except that it wasn't Brugge. We weren't sure what to do and there were absolutely no other people around. Eventually the train started back up and headed back the way we had come from. We realized we had to get off at the stop in-between to change trains to get to Brugge. 


This is just the Amsterdam two-page spread, but it gives you an idea of what I did. Each city had a coordinating color scheme and each utilized a train track.

Whenever I scrapbook trips that use up more than two pages I like to have something that ties them together. I will either use the exact same patterned or colored paper for all the pages or do a similar accent. 

Easy Scrapbooking: Skip-bo

Back when we lived in Rock Hill (before Charles joined the Air Force), my friends Cheryl, Morganne and I would hang out at least once a month. We would often play Skip-bo. Cheryl was struggling to come away from a game with a win until finally one night she did it! I had to immortalize it in my scrapbook.

With only one picture, I knew I would have a lot of room to fill. I decided to scan some Skip-bo cards and print them out on card stock. I love how it turned out. It was really easy to do and a fun way to remember Cheryl's victory. 

Easy Scrapbooking: Girls Weekend

I was looking back through my old scrapbooks to make sure everything was completed. I realized there were some pages that still needed a few extra details. While going through the old books, it was fun to see what patterned paper and colors I used for various events.

One page that I love is from a girls weekend. If I remember correctly, the shoe patterned paper was purchased before I even had a plan for it. Sometimes you see some paper and know that at some point in the future you will want to use it. And if you don't buy it now you'll never see it ever again.

I used my Silhouette to cut out a high heel shoe for the title.

It's a very simple page, but it represents an amazing weekend with some of my favorite ladies.

Easy Scrapbooking: Trail Race

I totally did not mean to only share scrapbook pages from races. Oops! My scrapbook is actually filled with more travel related subjects than running, but I guess these pages just turned out to be more interesting. I will definitely share others in the near future.

This page is from a trail race called Love on the Rocks. It is slightly more complicated since I made my own snow-capped mountain range by hand. I am proud of this page because it's a little more creative than a lot of mine. You could use this type of design for other things as well...skiing, mountain climbing, etc.

Easy Scrapbooking: Color Run Page

The next scrapbook page I would like to share with you is from a Color Run. (I don't run that much, I swear!) Color Runs are, well, colorful. So this page had to be that, as well.

I love the color splotches I found (on Google) and imported into my Silhouette software. I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted them on the page, so I cut out several in a few sizes. I really like how it turned out.

Easy Scrapbooking: Race Day Page

I love scrapbooking! I enjoy looking back through all my scrapbooks and remembering all the fun times and people I have chosen to include. But I think scrapbooking is intimidating to a lot of people. First you have to sort through all your photos, figure out which ones to have printed and then have all the right supplies. Once you get all those things sorted out, scrapbooking can be very easy and relaxing. I have a simple approach when it comes to immortalizing my memories. I do not include a lot of embellishments; I like my pages to focus on the photos.

The first page I would like to share with you is a race day page. It's probably one of my more modest layouts. I love the patterned paper on this page. It's a colorful chevron print. I used the same paper for the running man and title. I do not even remember where I bought it. I love Hobby Lobby and Michael's, but I like local scrapbook stores even better. There was an amazing one in Dayton, but I only discovered it right before we moved. I haven't found one near me in California.

To make both the running man and title, I used my Silhouette. I love, love, love it! Even though I've had it for many years now, I am still figuring it out. I finally learned how to take any image found on Google and make it into a Silhouette shape. This is saving me a lot of money because I am not limited to the shapes in the Silhouette Design Store that cost about $1 each. Thank goodness for Pinterest!

Design: Travel Printable

I have been scrapbooking up a storm the past week. I am so far behind! There were several pages that I had almost completed, but I was missing the title or some finishing touches. I finally knocked out a bunch today and I am feeling somewhat accomplished.

One page that I needed to finish up was from our Alaskan cruise. Yes, that was almost two years ago. I know to some it might seem normal to be that far behind. But for me and my passion for scrapbooking, this is a huge deal! I was looking for something to summarize the page and trip. Originally I was thinking about doing something like the Alaska state outline and a title mentioning Charles' 30th birthday. Then I had an idea to incorporate a quote related to traveling. There are so many amazing quotes out there. I am truly inspired when I read them. It was hard to choose the best one for this trip, but I ended up using a Jack Kerouac quote that I found on Pinterest.

This printable could be customized with any state or country. Interested in your own custom version? Let me know and I'll be happy to assist!

Fonts used:
KG Hard Candy Solid
Keep Calm Med

Preserving Memories

I do not blog about this at all, I don't think. But I greatly enjoy scrapbooking. I am not one of those that does a ton of embellishments and all that stuff. I like to focus on the pictures. I K.I.S.S. I recently bought a bunch of prints so I could catch up on some scrapbooking. I was a little behind, by my standards. I thought I would share some of my favorite pages from my current scrapbook.

I love the retro vibe of this one.

Simple, but I like it. Scrapbooking does not have to be intimidating or time consuming. It is all about preserving those memories.

July 4th page

I use my Silhouette a lot to cut out fun shapes for my pages. I love these suitcases. I have 2 more pages from this trip that I used the same suitcase border.

My favorite scrapbook-type thing on this page is the "Score" with the diamond ring.

Simple page, but I just love the paper background. I love, love, love scrapbook paper. Take me to a scrapbook store and I'm bound to come out with at least a few pages.

Scrapbooking 101

My obsession with scrapbooking started back in middle school. In 8th grade, my mom got into the Creative Memories/scrapbooking thing and I got hooked. My style has changed a lot since then. I look back at my first couple of scrapbooks and think oh my goodness...these are awful! But at the time I was very proud of them. I scrapbook just about everything I have pictures for. It's like a journal or record of my life. I include calendars in my books to help me organize my books in a logical way and to be able to see what I did throughout the month, especially since I don't have pictures of absolutely everything I did.

I thought I would give a little scrapbooking basics for any of you that are thinking about starting.

Materials you'll need:
- Scrapbook. I love to use the 12x12 post hinge scrapbooks. There is plenty of room for pictures and I like the post hinge design for flexibility. If I forget to add in a page, I just slip pages out of the plastic sheets and move them around as needed. There are so many options for scrapbooks that you can't really go wrong. Just make sure it's acid and lignin free.

- Pictures. I use the website Winkflash for all my printing. They have great prices on prints. If you're their fan on Facebook, you'll see they post a different deal every day. Last time I ordered prints, they had a free shipping offer that day.

- Paper. I am obsessed with scrapbook paper. It's very dangerous for my wallet to walk down the aisle with scrapbook paper at any craft store.

- Adhesive. Make sure you get scrapbooking adhesive (acid and lignin free). I use Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L, the E-Z Runner white permanent kind. I've been using this kind for years now and I love it. It comes out in little strips so you can use as much or as little as you need. And if you need to move something after you've placed it on the page, it comes off pretty easily.

- Scissors or paper cutter. This comes in handy when you need to trim some paper or pictures.

- Decorative accessories. I use paper, stickers, pens, pictures and things like ticket stubs only. I'm not a fan of using buttons, ribbons, brads, etc. Too much to deal with. But again, that's just my personal preference. If you want quick and easy, do what I do.

Once you have all those pieces, create away. Don't get intimidated by scrapbooking magazines. They always show such elaborate pages. Just stick the pictures on the pages however you like. It's not about being in a magazine. It's about putting your memories down before they are forgotten.