Designs by Reminisce

Soak Up The Sun

~ dddesignz ~ Leave a comment

My granddaughter, Madison, had a wish for her birthday. She wanted to be in the sun, in shorts, on her birthday. Now that her family lives overseas, a quick trip to Spain was quite doable. As you can see from the picture, she got her birthday wish! Now I won’t lead you to believe that the water was warm at the time, but nothing was stopping this girl from thoroughly enjoying the sun, sand and surf!

I used the Summer Lights patterned paper from Cocoa Vanilla Sudio’s Sunkissed collection for the background of this layout. It reminded me of the bright sunny days and beautiful sunsets on the Costa Del Sol. The title cut file, Soak Up the Sun, comes from Just Nick and is now, sadly, unavailable as she has shut down her shop on Shopify. Fingers crossed she will bring it back one day! I backed this cut file with coordinating patterned papers from Lawn Fawn’s Watercolor Wishes Rainbow collection. I liked how it mirrored the changing hues in the background paper.

Just Nick also created the cut file for the Layered Waves at the bottom of the layout. I wanted these waves to look as realistic as possible. I used the backside of the Tropical Paradise patterned paper from Reminisce’s Caribbean Cruise Kit to achieve this look. To add more depth to the waves, they were each outlined in coordinating blue ink. I adhered the bottom wave directly to the page and backed the top two layers with foam to replicate wave action. The tri-coloured small crystals of water droplets were splattered around the waves to enhance the feel of the waves even further. They are a product called Baby Tear Drops from The Robin’s Nest Creative team.

Some final details to complete this layout included adding beautiful crystals to the sun in the cut file. They are from an older set of embellishments from Prima Marketing called Say it in Crystals. The Happy Life, foam letter stickers, were used to identify the location of the picture and the date.

Warmer days are just around the corner for us now. It’s time for all of us to get ready to play in the sun! Thanks for stopping by today, and until next time, stay safe, stay well, and Happy Scrapping!

Travel

~ dddesignz ~ 1 Comment

Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer. I couldn’t agree more with this statement!

Hello Friends! I’ve been absent from my blog for quite some time for good reason. Last August, my daughter and her family of 5 moved to Austria on a 3-year contract. Incredible changes for all of us, but BIG OPPORTUNITIES as well! Over the fall and winter, my husband and I have travelled twice to Austria to visit with our family and explore Europe. We feel fortunate to have the opportunity to do so, and the next trip is well underway in the planning stages.

It feels good to be back in my scrapbook room creating again, and this layout seemed the logical place to start sharing with you. It was inspired by my Aunt who asked “Do you know how many steps you’re taking on these journeys?” That question got me thinking, and when I was back home I sat down with an excel spreadsheet and my fitness tracker to figure it out. We were constantly on the go, taking advantage of every day and opportunity while we were overseas. However, I had no idea we had logged over 1,000 kilometres and almost 1 & 1/2 million steps! Of course, I had to scrapbook this accomplishment and include the beautiful places we visited during our travels.

I turned to the Designs by Reminisce collection called Take Flight to create this layout. The specific paper is called “In the Clouds“. I love how the plane’s wings stretch across the whole page, and I knew I could fill in the white space below with lots of trip details. I turned to Microsoft Word and my Canon PRO-100 to print these details directly onto the 12″ x 12″ patterned paper. Before taking this step, I printed a draft copy onto a 12″ x 12” piece of vellum, and overlay it on the patterned paper to ensure everything fit within the space available. This process allowed me to make any adjustments required without wasting the beautiful patterned paper.

Once the picture was in place, small wooden airplanes were added to emphasize that we made multiple trips during our stay. These wooden airplanes were a Dollar Store purchase. The tails on the planes were traced with a thin Sharpie Marker by utilizing the Mini Swirls & Dots stencil from The Crafters Workshop. I have owned this stencil for well over 10 years, and I don’t believe it is still available.

The globe was stamped using my 12″ by 12″ Memory MISTI. This stamp comes from a travel collection called Road Trip by Recollections and was purchased at Michaels. The sunglasses are a small wooden embellishment also purchased at the Dollar Store. They were sprayed black and then covered with Ranger’s Glossy Accents to help them stand out and look more authentic. The title phrase was added using my type cardstock stickers from Doodlebug Designs Inc., and Malaga (found below the picture) was added using black Alphabet Soup Puffy Stickers, also from Doodlebug.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my first travel post. I look forward to sharing more of our travels and our family’s adventures overseas soon. Until next time, stay safe, stay well and Happy Scrapping!

Moments Happen Everywhere

~ dddesignz ~ Leave a comment
I love impromptu pictures and how they capture precious moments in time. This picture speaks to me in so many ways. First, it captures the love these two hold for each other. Second, it shows that a great photo doesn’t have to be staged. And third, I love how the sun rays are wrapping themselves around these two. This photo gives me all the feels!

I chose the Hike patterned paper from Reminisce’s Take a Hike collection pack as the foundation page for this layout. It was a perfect fit for a picture from Sean and Tanis’ camping, hiking and climbing adventures last summer. I loved how the colours in the patterned paper and the photo matched so well. The long blades of grass on the left-hand side of the page mirror the sun rays coming in from the right-hand side of the photograph. Photographic background papers are a real asset when you wish to create a layout quickly. Not only do they fill the page, but they also help set the mood of the page right from the start.

The title, Moments happen Everywhere, also reinforced the impromptu photograph and the setting in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. The cut file came from Peartree Cutfiles as part of my September 2021 Pearscription. After resizing and cutting the file from black cardstock, I backfilled it with a patterned paper from the Simple Stories Snow Patrol collection that depicts the cross-section of a tree trunk. It was perfect for enhancing the woodsy feel of this layout.

I enjoy digging into my scrapbook stash to complete a layout. For this one, I pulled out embellishments and ephemera from Heidi Swapp’s Wolf Pack collection. They all fit perfectly and reinforced the outdoor, hiking focus of the layout. Mixing and matching paper collections and ephemera is a great way to use older products you don’t want to give up. The final touch was to add a couple of copper brads to the sign of the hiker on the trail post.

And that’s a wrap on today’s layout. Thanks for joining me and I hope you’ve enjoyed the warm walk down a hiking trail on this cold, snowy February day. Until next time, stay safe, stay well, and Happy Scrapping!