The Garden at Two Peas in a Bucket is focused on "milestones" during the month of June, and for my layout I chose to scrap a few more photos from my second degree black belt test back in 2010. I know I just typed that, but I refuse to believe that it was that long ago!

Supplies:

I used quite a few items from Bella Blvd's All American collection, but of course I mixed in lots of other little bits including a few older items (of course!). Having all of my embellishment sorted out by color has made it a lot easier to mix and match smaller embellishments from lots of collections on one page. For example, that frame with the red outline behind the vertical photo? It's part of Pink Paislee's Cottage Farms line, and had I not split that pack up and slipped this piece into the "red" embellishment drawer I doubt I would have ever pulled out a package of embellishments from such a girly, floral line to see if anything matched this page.

I thought I'd use this layout as an opportunity to show an alternative way of making a two-page layout. Long-time readers of my blog know that I'm a big fan of printing up several full-size photos and placing them along with just a bit of embellishment or extra journaling in a divided page protector. It's a fast and easy way to create a second "page" for your layout and get some extra photos into your album at the same time.

This entire page started with the title...even before I'd picked out the photos I was going to scrap (it was going to be either TKD or running), I knew that this was going to be the title of my layout!

I loved using a patriotic themed collection for a sports page, especially since my test was taken in a gymnasium on an Army base with a massive American flag on one wall! If you have any patriotic papers (I've got a roundup of all the current collections here) left over after scrapbooking Memorial and Independence Day, you might want to consider using them for sports pages, too!

June also means that there's a new round of cut files and printables in Two Peas Digital Shop, including the batch of freebies pictured below. The geek in me is totally loving all of the stars and constellations this month!


Happy Thursday, everyone!

scrapbook circle | layout | an afternoon at leu gardens

I had to hold a couple of my Scrapbook Circle Best.Day.Ever. kit layouts out until they were posted on the SC blog, but now I can share this one since it was posted late last week! And there's actually still one more waiting in the wings, but I'll be able to share it next week.

While flipping through my photo box, I found a set of prints from my August 2010 visit to Orlando (these are from Leu Gardens) that I thought would look great with the kit. I love it when I already have photos printed out that work with my supplies. I try to print photos out in advance and just file them away, waiting for the right supplies. It really helps me to separate my photo printing and scrapbooking processes since on the whole I'm not overly fond of the photo printing part.

This month's Designer Challenge at Scrapbook Circle was to use a stencil on a scrapbook page. The March kit includes some of the fantastic new Jenni Bowlin stencil paper, but I was given the task of using a generic stencil. I've had the 2x12 chevron mask from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's collection at Crafter's Workshop sitting in my scrap room for a few months, but this is the first time I've actually pulled it out to use it! Actually, I think it was the second, but the first happened literally in the same weekend for another project entirely, and those days are running together a little bit...and I have to say that I love this template!

I misted with Studio Calico's Calico White mist, using it a bit more heavily in the center than on the top and bottom for a gradual faded look. It helped to soften up the background a little, and the chevrons also help break up the grid print just a bit.

And of course I had a lot of extra 4x6 prints hanging around, so I used some of the kit supplies to scrap them in a divided page protector, too.

I only had the one sheet of the green background paper, so I wasn't able to use it to tie the two pages together as I normally would. Instead I'm having to rely on the repetition of the chipboard buttons, wooden butterflies, tiny tickets, and bits of ruffled trim to help in that department. I was also able to pull in some of the grey striped paper, even though it's less obvious on the traditional layout.

And here's how they look side-by-side in the album.

I've got a couple of announcements that I'll be making on the blog this week- one tonight and one tomorrow, actually. The ends of some chapters, the beginnings of others, but on the whole it's all good stuff that I can't wait to share with you all!

scrapbook circle | layout | huong viet

The very first of the layouts that I'll share from my gallery for the March 2012 Scrapbook Circle Kit, Best. Day. Ever., is also the most minimal of the group. The pared-down style just seemed to fit the subject since Asian food (in this case Vietnamese at Huong Viet near Washington, D.C.), is always presented so artistically- perfectly arranged with lots of white space. If food can have white space, that is...

Darren and I were at the end of our visit with Hung, Huong, and the kids last October, and a trip to this restaurant and also the Vietnamese market were definitely high on our to-do list before we left! I also scrapped Vietnamese market photos and will share that page later this week!

I love getting to spend time with Darren's brother and his family (Hung and his brother Long were taken in as foster kids by the family when Darren was pretty young, but really they're all just brothers :) ), especially Huong. She's a scrapbooker and she loves taking photos and she gets it. I was so happy that she picked up my camera and got this shot of Darren and I going over the menu. She's also a fan of candid photos and not posed shots, just like me!

The page above is actually a companion piece I made for my traditional layout. I always mean to scrap my extra photos in divided page protectors and place them in my albums with my regular layouts, but so often I don't go back and do it. This time I challenged myself to go ahead and scrap them before I put my supplies away, and it only took an extra 15 minutes or so to assemble. I think that's going to be my modus operandi from now on with these.

And here's how they look together in the album.

I'll be continuing to share my March kit layouts throughout the month! Monday I'll post my Project Life page, and there's even going to be an Angry Birds layout in the mix a bit later this month!