A few ideas from our Tropical Vacation in Hawaii

Last February, Rick and I went on the incentive trip I earned with Close to my Heart to Maui, Hawaii. I just finished my TITLE page and I love how it came out.  Using strips of paper, I embossed a few with seashells and added string.  I stamped under the strips using tropical leaves and a flower in the colors of peach, melon, avocado, seabrook, black and a little mink (palm tree trunks). I really love how it came out and the secret is to owning STAMPS from a variety of sets so you can play.  I enjoy having lots of tropical leaves, palm trees and flowers in a variety of sizes.  It doesn’t “lock” you into having to use the same ones again and again, but gives you freedom to stamp small spaces or large ones.  For me, it’s a great investment for my vacation photos.  If you are wondering what we have for TROPICAL VACATION in stamps, paper and thin cuts?  Click this LINK to view the list …

While we enjoyed the first three days on our own near Hana before meeting up with the Close to my Heart trip earners, we took a hike to Waihe’e Ridge Trail.  It was a beautiful start to our vacation.  The parking area was jammed with hikers and the first climb is up a very steep walk of asphalt then into the tropical forest and trail.  What magnificent views of the island’s coastline!  The vibrant colors of the lush green forest and foliage, the amazing mountain tops in 50 shades of green!  Well, here are our photos and this is another layout I really enjoyed creating.

In the below photo, note the STENCILING I did at the top of the ‘v’ look in mocha ink.  Then check out the mountains on avocado paper and stamped in clover ink and a little mocha sponging to tone down the green.  The “take a hike” is stamped “two-tone” in avocado and then dipping both the top and bottom in clover ink.  Lastly, my new favorite things to do is JOURNAL over a photo.  It just adds so much more to the design and it’s so easy to do.  Check out our outdoor adventure products here on this link.

Also on the above photo, you can see how I stamped the footprints in mocha ink.  The Great Outdoors, mountains, Happy Trails, arrow, footprints and take a hike are from a variety of stamp sets.  I really enjoy mixing them up and the final outcome.  By the way, Happy Trails is stamped in “three-tone” style … dip in avocado, top then in clover and the bottom in mocha.  A little sponging completes the look!  Here’s the completed left page. If you love the tropical leaves on this layout, the paper is still available in Deck the Palms.  It’s one of my favorites (and I already did 28 pages with Deck the Palms for Tahiti.)

On the right page, I used smaller mats than I normally do.  All of my photos are 3×4’s so my mats are in clover and mocha in 3 1/8 x 4 1/8.  I added some stamped arrows, wood hearts and the circle of “wonder Wander repeat” is three-toned stamped in clover, avocado and mocha and a little sponging.  Loving those footprints in mocha again as a bottom border!

Here’s the right page complete with a little more stenciling at the top and strips of paper to match.

I hope you enjoyed these ideas and can use them in your own scrapbooks!