WONDER

WONDER - May 4, 2010 - Zion National Park, Utah

JOURNALING:  To get to our campsite in Springdale, we had to drive through the tunnel.  It was a tight fit

SUPPLIES USED: National Park paper, Best Occasions paper, K&Co Boy Scouts title

TECHNIQUE TIP:  I don't know about you, but I love to buy the most unique patterned paper but then I struggle with how to use it because "I don't want to cover it up".  Anyone else ever had that problem?  Well, this paper had a great map of Zion National Park that I wanted to use as my background, but I wanted to leave a large portion of it visible so I decided to only add two other more solid looking papers and create an interesting weave pattern to it to add some texture and dimension.  I didn't want my title "floating" on the layout, so I anchored it by placing a round journaling tag behind the O.  A couple of ribbons and butterflies on my solid paper and I accomplished my goal of having the majority of my patterned paper visible on my completed layout.

UTAH BOUND

UTAH BOUND - May 2010 - Utah

JOURNALING:  May totals:  2,912 miles in 45+ hours of driving

SUPPLIES USED:  K&Co Road Trip papers and embellishments

TECHNIQUE TIP:  There are times when a scrapbook page does not need any photos at all to tell a story, but a map and good journaling will do the trick.  On this layout, I wanted to show an overview of our trip from the very southern tip of Texas all the way into Utah and its beautiful National Parks.  The K&Company Road Trip paper and embellishments were a perfect match for this travel themed layout.  The background paper that I used was very busy so I needed lots of "white" space to come from my embellishments.  A very simple daily calendar sheet and colorful but simple title helped add interest without making it too busy.  A small map to outline our journey took the place of where I would normally put a photo - Don't be afraid to substitute maps and other memoribillia for spots normally reserved for photographs.

TOURIST

TOURIST - May, 3, 2010 - Flagstaff, Arizona

JOURNALING:  We overnighted in Flagstaff, AZ at a Camping World with hopes of getting our leaky slide fixed before we headed North.  They found the problem but could not fix it.

SUPPLIES USED:  Postcard, Papers & Embellishments by Best Occasions

TECHNIQUE TIP:  Sometimes I just don't have the right picture for a layout or I know that I just want a layout that is geared more towards journaling.  In those cases, I visit a couple gift shops and look for a postcard that gives a great overview of the place or thing that I'm visiting.  Don't forget that postcards and other gift shop items make great central elements or embellishments on your pages, not everything has to come from the scrapbook aisle in your local store.

WE'RE OFF

WE'RE OFF - May 2, 2010 - South Padre Island, Texas

JOURNALING: Pinkie's outfit here was actually a dog's outfit.  Sandie surprised us one day!  Although we have really enjoyed our stay in South Padre Island, it is time to start the trek north.  We left early on May 2 and drove over 700 miles to overnight in a rest area just east of Van Horn, Texas. 

SUPPLIES USED:  Roam papers by K&Co, Cricut Expression, SCAL basic shapes, Flamingo svg file, Vellum letters for title, Journaling cards

TECHNIQUES TIPS:  For those of you who don't know me well, you may not know that besides my hubby and myself, we have a pink flamingo, Pinkie, that travels with us across North America.  I can't say enough how much I love my Cricut and use it at least once on almost 95% of my layouts.  I wanted this layout to showcase our silly travel companion and an even sillier outfit that a fellow camper dressed her in.  I did not have a flamingo embellishment so I set out to look for one on the internet for a svg file that I could create my own flamingo. 

FEELING FROSTY

FEELING FROSTY - July 14, 2010 - Fairbanks, Alaska

JOURNALING:  We visited the Ice Museum with its fantastic ice sculptures and watched a demonstration on how the ice is carved from huge chunks with power tools.  I could not convince Matt to take a nap in the ice house.

PHOTOGRAPHS:  Angela Shetzer of Shetzers Photography

SUPPLIES USED: BasicGrey Granola patterned paper, Kraft cardstock, Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Faded Jeans, Stampabilities Black Ink, Doodlebug Designs Paper Frills in Lily White, EK Success Corner Rounder, Gel Writer, Sheer Shimmer Spritz in Frost, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Denim blue, Liquid Pearls in White Opal, Stickles in Star Dust, Diamond Glaze, Letter Stencils, Cricut Expression with MSSeasonal cartridge, SCAL with snowflake and journal tag svg shapes

TECHNIQUE NOTES:  I'm sure you are like me and have lots of those plastic letter templates laying around.  I decided that I wanted to use on this layout so I went about "building" my title of Feeling Frosty.  I started out by tracing the letters on my kraft background paper with a pencil.  I lightly erased the pencil marks so they would not show through on my final image.  Then I traced all the outlines of the letters with small dots using my Liquid Pearls.  Once that was dry, I filled the inside of the letters with my Star Dust Stickles.  After even more drying time, I filled in the letters with Diamond Glaze to give them so dimension and shine.  Perfect title with no alphabets or Cricut needed.

Double Page Layout

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