Spring Blog Hop - Final Stop

Greetings and welcome to the final stop on our Spring Blog Hop! Fran Smitherman here, and while this may be our spring blog hop, down here in the South we are ready for summer. School is out and we are beach bound soon - but not before I wrap up the finishing touches on some pictures from our trip last September using the latest and greatest tools, paper and stickers from Creative Memories! Do you have some favorite vacation photos to work with? If so, then read on!

If you love Nautical themes, then Deep Blue Sea is for you, and if you are more of the "outdoorsy" type during the summer, then you will want to check out the Explorer line! I have had the opportunity to use both recently, and I think you will find them both to be very versatile and great enhancements for your photos! Throw in some of the latest tools and your pages will be styling in no time.

Night Swimming! Layout for Beach Pics at Night

For my first layout, I wanted to capture a walk on the beach at night with the light glowing from the condo windows. While I would typically think of the Cityscape punch as being something to use in a strictly urban setting, by adding some yellow cardstock behind in for a glow and snipping off some of the decorative building toppers that didn't quite look like beach condos, I think I achieved the look I was going for. What do you think? 

By the glow of the condos!

On the second side of the layout I kept a cleaner look, like the dunes in the distance, with a Double Wave tearing tool to give the uneven effect and a cloud sticker from the Deep Blue Sea sticker set. Notice that I used the Wave blade from the 12-inch Rotary trimmer system on the photos (three at a time, by the way!) and their mats. I am loving the new trimmer and my customers and I can't wait for them to come back in stock later in June!

The beach at night!

Nighttime at the beach - now it's time to journal this and make the pages complete!

Paper and stickers from Creative Memories' "Deep Blue Sea" line

Cityscape Standalone Punch

Creative Memories' new 12-inch rotary trimmer has a space underneath for 12 blades!

A place to store more blades!

Explorers! Mini Albums for Little Hands

For my next project, I wanted to make some mini albums for my boys to use as journals for an upcoming trip out west to see the National Parks. The Explorer line was exactly what I needed! These albums were very inexpensive and easy to make with a handful of navy and white cardstock sheets, some circle rings, a hole punch, the Explorer stickers, and just two of the decorative sheets of Explorer paper.

Mini 6x6 albums for little hands to record memories of a vacation!

I started with a stack of Navy Blue and White 12X12 carstock. I alternated every other color in the stack before I cut (you will see why in just a moment!) I sliced it down the middle vertically to make two sides that were 12 inch high, 6 inches wide, then I rotated those to do the cut again. I had 6X6 squares and was ready to make the most out of just a handful of supplies!

The new 12 inch Rotary trimmer's straight edge was able to cut several sheets of cardstock at a time for me

I love how you insert the blade and it only "comes out" when you press down on the housing unit as it is cutting - to me that is an excellent safety feature

I cut the 12inch tall/6inch wide strips again to make 6X6 squares

Not wanting to do a lot of decorating, I selected the sheet of designer paper with the borders and basically just cut them all into strips by their design, then used my trimmer to slice those in half, one for each boy's book. I decorated the  pages with these borders and the Explorer stickers, and for the album, I envision one side for journaling, one side for a photo of the day. See how it all came together:

A sheet of borders to cut from the Explorer decorative paper pack

A few extra sheets of cardstock for journaling on the navy side of the album

Once everything was decorated (including using the wood grain paper for the back of the book, and while not necessary, a laminator made a nice touch), I got out the hole puncher and the circle rings to assemble these books.

 I made sure that no two sides were the same color. I wanted white for journaling when possible, and the navy side for a photo to be adhered upon returning home from the trip!

 The boys liked their albums and I can't wait to see what they fill them with!

I hope you have enjoyed the "hop" and don't forget to follow Creative Life Scrapbooking on Facebook for more great ideas every week! Follow me personally at Celebrating Your Beautiful Life to stay up to date on all things digital and traditional, and if you started with my blog, be sure to check out all of the rest of the ideas here:


Noreen Smith Organized and Creative Mom

Karyn McDermaid-Rolfe Karyn Crops

Julie Tambrini Julie's CM Blogspot

Diana Miller Brinsley D Brinsley's Blog

Stefani Jones Crop with Stef

Lisa Brown Graham Lisa's Workshop

Fran Smitherman YOU ARE HERE Celebrating Your Beautiful Life