Washington DC and NYC 2019

Trevor spent his 2019 spring break on a trip to Washington DC and New York City with his classmates. The trip was virtually identical to one I took as a kid in 1988 and as a teacher in 2001. It would have been awesome to have completed the trifecta (taking the same trip as a student, teacher, and parent) but it was not to be. 

DC & NYC 2019 (affiliate link)

Trevor had an incredible time and loved every minute. Although he traveled with a camera and a cell phone, he came home with a lot fewer photos than I'd hoped. Fortunately, the fabulous Mrs. Brucia (the teacher in charge) and the other chaperones took plenty of pictures. I found the best ones that actually had Trevor in them, added a few others, then put them together on this spread. I left plenty of space for journaling. 

I'm so glad Trevor had the chance to travel with his school friends and make such great memories. 

Celebrating 13

I've already told you about Trevor's Peanuts-themed 13th birthday party; here's the layout about that fun day. 

13th Birthday Party (affiliate link)

Every item, except the white cardstock, is from the Party Boy collection by Photo Play. Sometimes it's nice not having to dig through different collections or different manufacturers to find embellishments that coordinate. It certainly makes scrapping faster to stick with a single collection. 

Scrapping the California Cookie

Remember when Trevor and I asked some of his friends to join us in creating a potential State Cookie for California? It was so much fun. And now the memory is forever preserved in the album. 

California Cookie (affiliate link)

The layout design started with a mistake. When I order photo prints, I want the originals, not the ones that I watermark before putting them on my blog. But I accidentally printed the watermarked version of the plates of cookies. Sigh. 

I was determined to make it work. After trying a bunch of different things, I came across the die cut of California I'd received in my VIP goodie bag at Pinners Conference. It covered up the watermark perfectly. I added the letter stickers and heart to finish the title. Having the title so high made the layout unbalanced, but I couldn't lower it without the watermark showing. Inspiration struck and I took a (faux) bite out of the bottom to help balance the page. 

12th Birthday Party

One of my favorite things about blogging is that I can tell more of the story and include more photos of an event than I can squeeze onto a scrapbook layout. So while I want the important photos and the story to appear in the album, it helps knowing that the details are preserved here on the blog. Because I shared so many details from Trevor's narwhal-themed ice skating birthday party back in June, I didn't feel compelled to include close-ups of the narwhal items we made on the layout. Instead, I packed it with photos of Trevor and his friends having fun.

12th Birthday Party (affiliate link)

I debated whether to include the grinning alligator on a page about a narwhal-themed birthday, but I couldn't resist. He fit the space perfectly and looks so cute holding the present and the balloons. 

You may have noticed that the only journaling I did was to label the kids (and Narwhal). The photos answer the rest of the basic questions:

• What: Trevor's birthday party
• Where: ice rink
• When: Trevor's 12th birthday

You might argue that, years from now, one of Trevor's descendants won't know when his birthday was and thus what year this took place. Nor will they know which ice rink we visited. But I'd argue that both of those questions are answered by other layouts in the same album. For the record though, I'll note both of those here, with the optimistic (though perhaps unlikely) expectation that my blog will be accessible to future generations: This party took place at Vacaville Ice Sports on June 8, 2018, the day after Trevor's 12th birthday. And it was awesome.