hidden journaling on scrapbooking layouts

During Spring Break this year, we went on an all girls trip to Charleston, S.C. taking my Mom along with us, to visit my oldest. Zach is 23 and carving out a life and a career of his own with a wonderful company, but that doesn’t stop me from wishing he were closer to home. So, on this layout I decided to use some of the same design principals that I used earlier to make the little time I have to actually create just for me, count. You might notice that I kept the contrasting design strip, this time it’s at the top of the page, and included more clusters and layering of embellishments. Even the photo is in the same general area, how's that for quick and easy?

One thing I did do this time is to hide my journaling. Using some foam dots, I popped up the 8x8 map cardstock so that I had room to tuck the green shipping tag. I sometimes use this technique when there is private journaling I want to include on the layout. But, that’s not the case here, I just thought it would be a fun thing to do, plus it allowed me to use the seam binding as well.

Truthfully, we only really had blue skies on the day we arrived and the day we left, but we made the most of it. Wow, Charleston is a lovely place to visit, that’s for sure. Now on to my layout…again, more clustering and this time just flat layers. The mini burlap clothespin was the perfect addition as the height of the clothespin was perfect for the space the foam dots created, plus it adds support to the cardstock as well.

I picked a handful of favorite phrases in both clear and cardstock options to cluster along the right edge of my page. I love how the gold accents add a bit of sparkle and pairs so well with the pink foam Thickers. I again used foam dots to pop up some of the embellishments, allowing others to lie flat. I even managed to add a wood embellishment to this layout because, after all, life IS sweet!

If you'd like to view my Guest Designer's Gallery for Cocoa Daisy, you can find it here.