Bruges Church of Our Lady

This is a very straight-forward layout.  I sketched out a layout to accommodate the pictures, title, and journaling, then printed those pieces up accordingly.  As you can see, I decided to round the corners of the photos. I discovered this is quite easy to do in Microsoft Word - using the Crop feature - choosing "Crop to Shape" and then picking the rectangle with rounded corners.  You apparently can't change the radius of the rounded corner, but it was nice to be able to do it at least.  And even better, my blue corner rounder punch worked great for these corners - except for the largest photos!

As you can see, I used a special hand-made paper for the background - one I got many years ago from Costco.  I also used a piece of cardstock (with corners rounded) to form a mat for the small photos & journaling.  I used some gold border stickers to form a border around the mat.

Bruges

Today I have a dual page layout.  As you can see, I started with dark brown card stock for the pages - with a dotted print cut for a lower border for both pages.  I added decorative washi tape along that border - and also used it to frame a couple of the photos.  Journaling and pictures were printed from my computer as usual - but this time, I had drawn a sketch so I could calculate the sizes I wanted to use to print the photos & journaling.  Titles were die cut using Momenta Thin 1 1/2" Alphabet Dies.  (I wish I had some a bit smaller to use for the 2nd page, but I didn't.)  I completed the pages with a few pieces from a scrapbooking dazzles set (HOTP).  Below are closeups of the individual pages.

First Page:

Second Page:

Playing with Mom's Materials!

Today I went over to my Mom's house and played with some of her stuff - made 3 cards.  It started with a bunch of panels cut from some of her paper pads.  She had 3 copies of most and gave me one of each.  I used some of those in making all three of these cards.  She also gave me some greetings she had stamped and die cut.  I used some of those too, for the first couple of cards - twice on this first one!

Card #1 (above):  In addition to using her cut panels, I used a template she had recently gotten to create this special card.  It doesn't look all that special from the outside.  The magic is on the inside.  At any rate, because of the template, the size of this card is only 4" x 5".  So, I cut down the panel to fit, and used the back side of a leftover strip and some white card stock to form a border across the top.  The greeting is one of those that she stamped and die cut for me.

Inside:

Inside is basically a step card - with a large step holding a cut down piece from a second panel, and two smaller steps in front.  The back side of the panels are the blueish-greenish-gray that you see here.  To that I added white and the front side of another scrap.  I finished the inside with another stamped and die cut message (that Mom had created for me.  I'll admit that though the card turned out all right in the end, I had all sorts of trouble with it as I was making it - from putting the inside step stuff on the wrong side, to having pieces tear.  I found ways to fix it, but by the time I was done with it I was REALLY done!  So, I made quick and easy cards for the next two cards!

Card #2:

This was a really quick & easy slimline card.  I cut a slice off the side of one of the slimline panels Mom had prepared and given me, inked the edges, and glued in place.  I found a scrap and, using the back side of it, created a border with it and some white card stock.  I added another of Mom's sentiment pieces (on foam tape) and finished it with a little bow from her stash.

Inside:

Inside was even easier.  I inked the edges of the scrap I cut off the front panel and added it for a border on the inside - then stamped a greeting using a stamp from Crafter's Companion Compendium Thank You page.

Card #3:

The last of today's cards was a 5 x 7.  As you can see, I double-matted the panel, using white and a blueish turquoise.  Using the same colors, I created a border strip & die cut a greeting with mat (one of Mom's cutting die sets - not sure who made it.)

Inside:

Once again I used stamps from the compendium - this time from the With Sympathy page.

Ghent

Today I have 3 dual-page layouts about our time in Ghent.  You can see the first double page spread above.

Page #1:

These pages use 3 different papers from my stash - the dark color, the yellow, and the patterned one.  Again I printed the pictures, the title & subtitles, and the journaling block.  I added some narrow blue border stickers.  I finish the pattern by using a circle punch to cut out pieces of the patterned card stock and scattering them around.

Page #2:

The 2nd page is a loose mirror image of the 1st.

Next Dual Page:

Page #3:

The background page is from a DCWV Stack called Once Upon a Time.  I liked the colors and style for the castle background, but there were a couple problems with it.  First, across the top of the page are the words "They Lived Happily Ever After" - which doesn't go with the subject matter of the page.  Secondly, the tans go well, but I need to tie the grays in a bit better.  So, I pulled a strip of striped paper and a border piece from my stash to form a border.  I also added washi tape to the border on the left (to match what I needed to do on the accompanying page).  Again I printed the pictures & title.  I die cut a gold frame for the focal photo - and decorated it with washi tape (which again helps tie tan & gray together).

Page #4:

This background page was identical to the previous one - which was a bit of a problem because I wanted the border on the left, but don't want all the crowns upside down!  So, I cut it off & taped it to the other side - using washi tape to hide the join.  The border was made the way it was on the accompanying page.

Third Dual Page:

The background papers were water prints from my stash - to which I added some red card stock.

Page #5:

As you can see, I cut a mat and border from the red card stock.  The pictures & title were printed from Microsoft Word.  I finished the page with a couple of stickers.

Page #6:

This accompanying page was made similarly to the previous one.