my very first scrapbook layout

so...this month a few of the girls on the Crate Paper Design Team provided layouts for the sketch site Page Maps.  although i had never done a scrapbook layout, i really wanted to play along and try my hand at it.  plus, i had the Page Maps sketch (above) to work with as a guide and it ended up being a great experience!

for my layout, i chose photos from our trip to New York back in July.  Mr. Bagubian loves to help out his grandparents in the garden here in CA so when we went to NY, he wanted to help out my folks, too.  his most favorite thing to do is water the plants, which he calls "gardening."  essentially, he just loves to play in the water and get wet.  my parents recently had their pool (purposely) emptied and buried and then planted grass and 3 trees over it.  they hadn't had much rain so the grass was in poor health but plenty of weeds sprung up in it's place.  every other night, Gooby would help Papa water the 3 trees.

because we were doing this as a part of the Crate team, i used mostly products from the Acorn Avenue and On Trend lines on my page.  there are little snippets here and there from a couple of other collections, but the majority are the newer lines.  i love the teal, orange, and chartreuse colors together.  

here is Mr. Bagubian having fun helping Neena water her flowers.  i had lots of fun making paper flags!  they're so easy and look so cute sticking out of the stamped, hand-cut mason jar.  the stamp is from "Friendship Jar" from Papertrey Ink.  it was my first time using it and i can't wait to use it again!

    

more flags and you'll notice the stitched border...i hand-stitched the entire thing!  as i've mentioned before, i am not a machine sewer but i love to stitch on paper.  the sketch had a stitched border and though we were allowed to stray from it a bit, i really liked the look.  it took awhile, i won't lie, but in the end, i think it was worth it.  that being said, i still really need to learn how to use a sewing machine!

i wanted to portray this layout as a remembrance of our visit to the country.  we live in the suburbs out here in California and while it's not exactly a concrete jungle, it is much, much different from the rural life i experienced growing up.  here we have extremely close neighbors, 5 or 6 different Targets within a 5 mile vicinity, and hardly a yard to speak of.  out in NY, my folks practically live on a dirt road, have to drive an hour to the closest Target, and have a huge yard.  

there are pros and cons to both, but i love the change of pace and the quiet and solitude we have when we go back for a visit.  there is nothing like a summer evening in the country where you can hear the peepers and look up at a sky full of stars.  it is "country life" indeed.

make sure you check out Page Maps this month for some inspiration in the way of great sketches and fantastic layouts from the other CP girls!