The Keys Layouts

Hello everyone.  Had some new paper from Best Creations that were inspiring so I browsed my thousands of pictures for vacations that I hadn't scrapped yet and found pics from our Keys trip last year that would work with the papers.  Now the same thing happened to me for both layouts that I'm sharing today.  There was this one really great paper that was easy to work with, just add pics, a title and it was good.  Problem is, I wanted to make them 2 page layouts and then I had to come up with the side page from scratch to coordinate, which is really time consuming.  So they took me a while (much longer than I wanted, but that's how it goes), but I love the end result.  And that's another thing I love about scrapbooking, once you've completed a layout, you have this sense of accomplishment, a memory saved.  I don't know about you all, but I find myself staring at my layouts again and again with a smile on my face.

So let me talk a little about each layout.  First of all, if you know me or follow my blog, you'll know that I like putting a lot of pictures on my layouts (because I take a ton of pictures and like to have them on my pages, but don't necessarily want to create a ton of layouts for the same topic).  So you'll see lots of pictures on each layout.

I like using punches and I especially like the new EK punches (the ones that pack up tight and don't take up a lot of space), which I used to create the top border on the right page of the Keys layout.  Now for the bottom, I had cut a semicircle from the patterned paper, but wanted to add a border to it, so I did using a circle punch and tucking the circles behind the patterned paper to create the scallop paper.  I also ended up adding brads to add more interest, as well.  Now, I try to always journal because telling the story is super important to me, but on this layout, I didn't have much space, so I created the little journal tags and tucked them in.

This second layout was first inspired by the great paper on the left.  I had a focal point photo and tons of others, so I decided to print them small and then I loved the look of this photo block on this paper.  Problem was, I had more photos to add about us on the boat and it took me forever to figure out what to do with the right page.  Of course, now that it's done, its my favorite page, lol!  

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I had a scrap of this dot blue paper on my table and it work, but I wasn't sure what I was going to put it on.  I decided to use different shades of blues.  I again went to my punches and created the scallop border for the top and bottom.  The left page has words all over it, so I need words on this page to balance it out.  I decided to create a mixed font title (which I love to do because I love that look). 

 I used a variety of fonts and moved them all of the mat on my gypsy so I could cut out the different colors all at once.  I used Baby Steps (such a cute font, have I mentioned how much I'm loving this cartridge), Mickey Font, Lyrical Letters and Wall Decor & More.   Of course, it's all stickled and "Boat" is popped!

At this point, it was coming together, but I needed something at the top.  So I took a cue from the postcard signage and writing on the patterned paper on the left and decided to create it myself on this page.  I punched circles in a bunch of sizes and dusted off these circle stamps I own that I haven't used in forever.  I created the postcard/mail processed lines with my flexi ruler, a pen and stickles.  

Wow, that was a long post, whew!  Sorry, just decided to let you in on my process (and like I said, with these layouts, it was a long one!).  I hope you've enjoyed the layouts.  As always, Thanks for stopping by!