Ticket to Ride

I want to start out by saying one thing... I love Crate Paper. Love the colors, love the patterns, and I love the textures. The papers are so versatile for current photos and older photos too. Which is perfect for me because I love scrapbooking older photos just as much as newer ones. I have been lucky to know and be related to some amazing people. My Grandparents, Great Aunt and Uncle, and my parents are some of my favorite subjects. For the people who have passed away, it gives me a chance to bring back the memories I have of them and save it all in a book where I can look at it anytime I want. It makes it seem like they are still with me, which some days is the best thing in the world. I'm also lucky that I've found some really cool photos. This page has example of a fun older photo of my Aunt Janet... using Crate Paper of course.



The paper is Crate's Emma Shoppe line. The butterflies are from a couple different Martha Stewart punches. I had fun using all the different papers and added some texture with a border punch and also just by tearing the paper. I've found it's easier to tear paper if you keep your hands close to the edge. It gives you more control. The title came out of the book "Inspiration Station" and is a combination of American Crafts' Thickers and October Afternoon alphabet stickers. The page is a pretty simple one, but all of the little details layered together gives it lots of interest.

Here are a few more detail close ups.

A few of my favorite things

Don't get too used to this... but here's a second page of the day. Back in April, a friend and I went on a scrapbooking weekend. I probably prepared 30 pages to work on and only finished a whopping 11. Next month we're trying to go again so I thought finishing some of the others to make room for more would be a good idea. Plenty of paper has been bought and lots of pictures have been taken since then.

This is a page about some of my favorite things. Sometimes, it seems easier to make pages about other people since I'm behind the camera. So this page is an attempt to put a little bit of me into my scrapbook; tell a story and show some of my personality.



The papers are a mix of My Mind's Eye "Abbey Road", "Lush", and a Jillibean Soup paper. The white splatters are October Afternoon's sprinklers. Which I have to admit, I was brave to use again after spilling half a bottle of yellow sprinklers on my scrap table while working on the page before this one. I like the look, though it has taken some getting used to since I never really thought of it being my style since it's more artsy.



The pictures include my parents' old recliner (which I've called dibs on for when I have my own house), peach Faygo (my Grandma always had some in her pantry for me when we went to visit), circus peanuts (absolute favorite candy), orange sherbet (absolute favorite ice cream), and an old American Eagle sweatshirt (I've had this thing at least since high school).



For the title, I used my "Just Chillin" slice cartridge to spell 'orange' and October Afternoon stickers for the rest. These little alphabet stickers are definitely at the top of my favorite scrapbooking supplies list. Baker's twine is also up there, which I wrapped around the "o" and "g". Add in some machine stitching and a couple brads, and the finishing touches are done.

Back Together

Last Sunday, my Mom's side of the family had their 100th annual reunion. I hadn't been to one since I was little. So with it being the 100th, I went and was inspired to do a page about the reunion from 1988. I also had some help from My Mind's Eye sketch challenge. Their sketch was for a 12x12 page, but I managed to stretch it into a two page layout. The papers are from their "Lime Twist" line. The colors are fun and the wood grain pattern made me think of a family tree.



On the first page, I enlarged a picture of the whole Pulver family. The women in the front row are my Grandma Pulver (on the left) and her sister, our Great Aunt Lulu (on the right). Part of the sketch challenge was to incorporate the title, "Back to", so I expanded it to "Back Together".



On the second page, I found some more group pictures and ones of my cousins and I.



I think after doing this two page layout, I'm going to try and do more. Especially since anytime our family gets together I always end up taking a ton of pictures. That's what happens when my cousins' kids are so cute.