Scrapbook Page: Grandpa & Grandma Samuelsen

It has been almost four years since my grandparents passed away; and it wasn’t until I saw the Pebbles Jen Hadfield Warm & Cozy collection, with its beautiful fall florals and earthy tones, that I felt like I had found something that would work for scrapbooking the photos from their funeral.

My grandpa was 6 years older than my grandma, and while they were doing fairly well in their old age, each one had their own set of health problems. Despite being six years older than my grandma, my grandpa was the caretaker of the two and kept things going in the household.

My grandpa suffered a stroke and was in the hospital for a couple of weeks. When we realized it wasn’t looking good, we began arranging for my grandmother to move to a care facility. Grandpa was still in the hospital when we moved her to her new place. We took her to see him, and she was understandably broken-hearted.

My kids and I would go and visit Grandma every day; hoping to make her transition as smooth as possible. We wanted her to know that we would be there for her and help her in every way that we could.

A week or so later my grandfather passed away. That same night, my grandmother suffered the same exact stroke my grandpa had had on the opposite side of her body. Two days later she passed away and joined her sweetheart on the other side.

They just couldn’t be apart! I believe it was a tender mercy that they were able to go together. We were able to have a double funeral and celebrate both of their lives. It was a somber, yet sweet experience.

GRANDPA & GRANDMA SAMUELSEN

I found that delicious woodgrain cardstock on clearance at a scrapbook store. I don’t know who makes it, but I bought every sheet of it that they had left. It worked beautifully with these papers.

The metal bird embellishments are by Art-C and are something I discovered awhile back on one of my many shopping excursions to Tuesday Morning.

I fussy-cut the florals from the Checkerboard paper and then added the gold rub-ons to fill in the spaces. The metal arrows are by The Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby. I also added in a sprinkle of gold here-and-there with my must-have Stampin’ Up Metallic Enamel Shapes.

The black pennants were something I picked up from the Halloween section at Michaels last year. I wanted to add these stamped words (Technique Tuesday Ali Edwards stamps from my stash) on top of them, but I knew they would overlap onto the photos … so I first stamped them onto vellum and then used fine-tipped scissors to fussy-cut them out.

SUPPLIES:

OTHER SUPPLIES:
Cardstock: Gray Woodgrain, White, Red
Maggie Holmes Specialty Gold Foil Vellum
Vellum
Thickers: Imprint (Black/Gold)
Gold Glitter Washi Tape
Arrows: Spare Party by The Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby)
Jen Hadfield Homemade Puffy Phrase Stickers
Paper Flags: Recollections Midnight Magic
Art-C Metal Bird Stickers
https://www.stampinup.com/ecweb/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=141678Metallic Enamel Shapes (Stampin’ Up)
Ali Edwards Stamps by Technique Tuesday
Computer/Printer for Journaling
Adhesive/Foam Squares
Scissors/Trimmer

         

Two-Page Scrapbook Page: Spooky

I am in love with all of the ghouls and witches featured in the NEW Echo Park Paper Halloween Town collection. They are seriously ADORABLE and have stolen this Halloween-Lovers heart!

Today I have a two-page layout to share with you featuring this darling new collection.

SPOOKY

Halloween is that time of year where I really LOVE to use the color purple! I chose to use the purple chevron patterned side of the 3×4 Journaling Cards paper as the base for this two-pager.

I placed all of my photos on two blocks of the Trick or Treat paper, accenting them with the Black Foil Orange and Black Foil Stripe – Green papers from the Dots & Stripes collection.

How cute is this friendly skeleton hanging out with his witch friend’s cat?! I placed them next to the “Trick or Treat” label sticker and then sprinkled a few friendly bats above their heads, accenting them with the star shapes from the Stampin’ Up Metallic Enamel Shape stickers.

The title for this page was created using the Stampin’ Up Large Letters Framelits Dies. I LOVE their big size! They are perfect for scrapbook page titles! I had fun decorating the openings of the letters with the spider web pattern from the Trick or Treat paper.

Above the vertical photos of my kids, I added a cluster of stickers. The circle sticker is matted with a punched pinked circle (Martha Stewart Crafts) and a couple more of the Stampin’ Up Metallic Enamel Stars.

The witch, with her darling, doodle-y hair, is featured on the right side of the page alongside of my journaling. Another layered pinked circle is outlining the Eek circle sticker.

This friendly ghost and bat friends rounds out this page. A few more Metallic Star Enamel stickers give this page a bit of sparkle.

SUPPLIES:

OTHER SUPPLIES:
Black Cardstock
Metallic Enamel Shapes (Stampin’ Up)
Large Letters Framelits Dies (Stampin’ Up)
Martha Stewart Pinked Circle Punch
Computer/Printer for Journaling
Black Ink
Adhesive/Foam Squares
Trimmer/Scissors

Thanks so much for coming by today! Here’s wishing you a fantastic and crafty week!

         

Scrapbook Page: Happy Campers

Oh. My. Goodness. Have you seen the Stampin’ Up Pick a Pattern papers? I love the handdrawn feel of all of the patterns and couldn’t wait to play with them on this scrapbook page today.

HAPPY CAMPERS

This includes some older photos that I skipped past the first time I documented this trip. I can’t believe how much my daughters and her cousins have grown. I just HAD to include this photo in our books!

The first thing I did was create my title using the Happy Celebrations Stamps (Happy) and Hand Lettered Alphabet Stamps (Campers). I layered together two different pink markers to make sure I got the exact shade of pink I was looking for! The “campers” word was stamped using Emerald Envy Stampin’ Up ink.

I cut out the polaroid photos and cameras from one of the Pick a Pattern papers to use as page accents. I then clustered a couple of stamped phrases (Text Ya Later Stamp Set) and some hearts from the Metallic Enamel Shapes around them.

I LOVE using a pinked circle shape layered up behind plain punched circles. The new Starburst Punch was a must-have to add to my stash! (Phrase from the Watercolor Wings Stamp Set)

I used an older background stamp (Writing Notes 139864) to create my journaling block. I added more handcut cameras, metallic enamel hearts, and anchored everything on that adorable yellow/black striped paper.

I wanted the camping paper to POP a bit more, so I used the Ticket Tear Border to add punched borders across the top and bottom of the paper block.

I used a black journaling pen to outline all of the paper layers so that they matched the look of the doodled patterns.

I then added more stamped phrases to the camera cluster at the bottom. The “So Glad We Are Friends” is from the You’re Delightful Stamp Set, and the “You’re the Best” phrase is from the Text Ya Later Stamp Set.

I used the AWESOME Classic Label Punch to create all the labels for the phrases on this page. To dovetail the ends (instead of leaving them pointed), simply flip the punched piece around and notch the ends with the punch again!

SUPPLIES:
Cardstock: Kraft, Black, Emerald, Raspberry (American Crafts)
Patterned Paper: Stampin’ Up “Pick a Pattern” Designer Series Patterned Paper
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Emerald Envy (Stampin’ Up)
Happy Celebrations Stamp Set (Stampin’ Up)
Hand Lettered Alphabet Stamp Set (Stampin’ Up)
Watercolor Wings (Stampin’ Up)
Text Ya Later (Stampin’ Up)
You’re Delightful(Stampin’ Up)
Writing Notes Background Stamp (Stampin’ Up)
2″ Circle Punch (EK Success)
Classic Label Punch (Stampin’ Up)
Starburst Punch (Stampin’ Up)
Ticket Tear Border Punch (Stampin’ Up)
Metallic Enamel Shapes (Stampin’ Up)
Pink Permanent Markers
Adhesive/Thin Foam Squares
Paper Trimmer/Scissors
Black Journaling Pen
Black Distressing Ink

Thanks for stopping by today!

         

Scrapbook Page: Capture Life

We are in the last few days of summer and the kids are trying to soak up every minute while they still can. Thankfully, we are finished with all of the school shopping, so they are spending their days hanging with friends and enjoying their last few days of freedom  and a structure-free schedule.

While they have been playing … I have been playing, too! I’ve been creating some things for design teams that I will be sharing with you soon … but I have also been doing some “catch up” projects on my own.

Today’s page features a photo that I randomly snapped SEVEN years ago. I normally would pass by a snapshot like this … but I think with time, it has become more important to me. It’s a snapshot of my daughter at a church activity when she was 12 years old. All of these girls have moved on to bigger life things … some of the older girls are even married and pregnant! … and that is why it has become more special to me. It’s a snapshot in time that proves how fleeting the days can be!

CAPTURE LIFE

I used the new Echo Park Paper “A Perfect Autumn” collection for this one. I began by building a pieced background … kind of like a cozy quilt … with machine stitching here-and-there.

At the top of my photo, I created my own tabs using the Stampin’ Up Circle Tab Punch and Tabs for Everything Stamp Set. The circle on the tab was punched with a 3/4″ circle punch.

I love the words and icons included with the stamp set. Here, I chose to decorate one with a simple heart and the word “remember.” On the other tab, I placed one of the A Perfect Autumn decorative brads.

In the upper left corner of the page, I placed a chipboard tag tied with white twine and accented with a couple of stickers and decorative brads.

The title was cut from the Yellow/Teal Coordinating Solid Paper with my Silhouette Cameo machine and the “Capture Life – Handwritten Phrase” cut file by Kolette Hall (Design #60843 from the Silhouette Design Store).

Next, I created a cute little scene with the Element Stickers, Frames & Tags Ephemera, and Decorative Brads at the bottom. How darling is that sweet fox?! I just love his swishy tail!

SUPPLIES:

OTHER SUPPLIES:
White Cardstock
Stampin’ Up Circle Tab Punch
Stampin’ Up Tabs for Everything Stamp Set
Silhouette Cameo 3 Machine
“Capture Life – Handwritten Phrase” cut file by Kolette Hall (Design #60843 in the Silhouette Design Store)
White Crochet Twine
Sewing Machine/Brown Thread
Black Journaling Pen
Scissors/Trimmer
Adhesive/Foam Squares

While I will miss my kids when they go back to school next week, working on this page made me excited to get in my scrapbook room again and work on documenting our family memories! I’m especially wanting to spend some time filling in the “holes” in our albums by seeking out the pictures and stories I may have passed by the “first time around.”

Wishing you a wonderful day!