Each month I share a scrapbooking technique on my YouTube channel and challenge all of my Facebook followers to use the technique to create and share a layout. When they add a photo of their layout to the appropriate album in Karyn’s Croppers, they are entered into my monthly Door Prize Drawing! These layouts feature the technique that I’m sharing for August.
I’m calling this a Puzzle Piece Technique as we put the punched pieces back together again to create a striking visual effect. Leaving a gap between the punched pieces creates a new secondary pattern and also creates depth on the layout.
I used the Treeline Border Punch and materials from the Leave Nothing Behind Collection for my first layout. This is a retired punch that Creative Memories brought back for its Tool Time Buffet that is happening August 1-9. When you purchase 3 of 9 designated tools, you will receive a free pack of exclusive embellishments. For this promo, CM brought back two additional retired border punches and also introduced two new border punches and a new border maker cartridge. These items are only available until noon CT on August 9th or while supplies last. They will not be available for purchase otherwise.
For more info about the Tool Time Buffet and to purchase, please visit my Creative Memories website. I appreciate your orders and offer a generous Customer Rewards Program.
For my second layout, I used the Dollop Arch Border Punch which is a current tool in our product line. I also used the super cute What a Zoo Too! collection. I love this collection and highly recommend all of the pieces!
For step-by-step instructions on creating these layouts, please visit my YouTube channel. I would also appreciate your subscription to my channel.
For an entry into my August Door Prize Drawing, please use this technique and share a photo of your layout into the #TechniqueTue 38 Album in Karyn’s Croppers.
Hello! Today I’m sharing an older layout of mine that I had originally shared on Facebook with Creative Life Scrapbooking in 2018. It’s been a favorite of many, and I often get asked for the instructions for this layout. I created the layout using the Little Lamb Girl Collection from Creative Memories, but you can substitute with many other collections. It would look great as a rustic layout for horse riding or horse barn photos. It could also be used for Derby Day layouts. At the time, my grand-daugther loved unicorns, and it was perfect for some “unicorn” photos of her.
Warning – You’ll need quite a few Foam Squares to assemble this.
To create my Unicorn Barn Border:
1. Cut a piece of medium wood-toned paper from the Timber Paper Pack to 11-3/4″ x 3-1/2″. Use a ruler to measure from left to right and make a small pencil mark about 1/4″ from the top edge at 1-1/2″, 3-3/4″, 6″, 8-1/4″, and 10-1/2″. 2. Use the old CM Small Square Maker to punch 1″ squares at each pencil mark.
3. Use Foam Squares to adhere the punched out square pieces to the left of each cut-out. 4. Cut a piece of darker wood paper to 12″ x 3-3/4″. Use Foam Squares to adhere the lighter wood border to the darker wood border. 5. Use the Victorian Fence Border Punch to punch a fence from the darker wood paper. Adhere the fence to the bottom of your border using Foam Squares. 6. Use the Unicorn Punch from the Playland Mini Trio Punch Set to punch unicorns from white cardstock. Use black and silver pens to add details to each unicorn. Adhere the unicorns inside of the barn windows. I used Foam Squares to adhere three of my unicorns.
7. Place word stickers from the Little Lamb Girl Stickers under each unicorn to look like name plates. 8. Use Foam Squares to attach a border sticker from the Little Lamb Girl Stickers to the fence. (You could also use the Original Border Maker System with the Sprout Cartridge to punch a vine to adorn the fence.) 9. The rest of my page is completed with another sheet of Timber Paper, paper from the Little Lamb Girl Paper Pack and stickers from the Little Lamb Girl Stickers.
Oh, my goodness! The Mermaid Cove Collection from Creative Memories is full of the sweetest sea creatures that we’ll ever encounter! Of course, there are mermaids but also adorable fish, octopi, whales and even sea kittens! There are shades of pink, purple, teal and blue along with silver foil accents on the embellishments and variety mats for extra shimmer. I was fortunate to have some “mermaid photos” of my granddaugther for my initial layouts, but I also used it for a layout of my grandson and have future layouts in mind for some adult photos too.
I’m really tickled with the way that this layout turned out, and it can easily be turned into a double-page spread if needed. To get an ombre effect, I punched my circles from areas of the paper with dark blue, teal and light blue backgrounds and arranged the circles from darkest to lightest. I added a few fish punched from Royal Cardstock with the Outdoor Adventure Quartet Punch and adhered them with Foam Squares.
My fish paper measures 12″ x 6″, and I used a Variety Mat for my journaling. I finished the layout by adhering a whale embellishment and a bubble sticker strip with Foam Squares. I used the Black Sans Serif ABC Stickers for my title.
My second layout is a view from “under the sea”! The layout is outlined with a 1/2″ wide frame that I cut from a piece of 10-1/2″ x 10-1/2″ white swirl print paper. The portholes were cut from variety mats, and I added a circle of teal water paper to the smallest porthole.
I had fun adorning this layout with a variety of stickers and embellishments and adhered some with Foam Squares.
My granddaughter’s neighbor created this “under the sea” photo-op by cutting a simple mermaid tail from felt and rumpling a blue sheet on the ground. She added a variety of stuffed animals and house plants and the fun began!
If you follow me and my blogger friends on Facebook at Creative Life Scrapbooking, you might have seen this layout that I shared on Friday night during our PJ Party Virtual Crop where six of us shared different ideas for using the Mermaid Cove Collection. I challenged myself to come up with a unique way to use CM’s new Scallop Border Punch and thought of a coral reef idea. I created multi-layered reefs and added seaweed punched with the CM Winter Vine Border Punch and Mermaid Cove Embellishments and Stickers. I only had three photos of my granddaughter, so I filled my layout with my reefs and a frame of mermaid designer paper.
Think outside of the box with this collection. It’s so cute that you’re going to want to use it in some way! If you’re a card-maker, I suggest using the variety mats, stickers and embellishments for making some darling cards.
Creative Memories has a new Mix & Match Collection that has been updated with fresh new colors and prints. We have 5 paper packs and 5 embellishment packs in shades of Green, Blue, Pink, Yellow and Orange. The colors are not too bright and not too light! As the shades and tones remind me of the colors of a summer rainbow, I was inspired to create the layouts below.
My first layout is a rainbow of colors that highlights the variety of paper prints in the collection and shows just how well they do mix and match. There are some common prints across the 5 paper packs, and each pack also contains some unique prints. There is also a nice mix of geometric and floral prints.
To make my layout, cutout the center of a piece of 12″ x 12″ Raspberry Cardstock leaving about a 1″ edge/frame. Cut black cardstock to 11-1/2″ x 11-1/2″ and adhere to the raspberry frame.
To create the chevron shapes, cut your paper into 2-1/2″ x 1″ strips. Using your Creative Memories 12″ Straight Trimmer, place the strip on the 30 degree angle line with the corner of the strip in the cutting grove and cut. Rotate the piece around and place the opposite edge into the cutting groove keeping the strip lined up on the 30 degree angle mark and cut. With all of your cuts, you’ll want to be as precise as you can as this will help with the arrangement on your layout.
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Flip some of your pieces over, and use both the front and backsides of the strips as shown above. I suggest arranging all of your pieces on the Black Cardstock first before starting to adhere. Adhere your pieces leaving a small space between pieces. CM’s Repositionable Tape Runner came in very handy for arranging the pieces.
I included borders punched from Raspberry Cardstock using CM’s Original Border Maker System with the Dancing Daisies Border Maker Cartridge. I cut the border apart and adhered it to the page in a zig zag pattern following the chevron pieces. My photo is 5″ x 7″ and matted with Raspberry Cardstock. I finished the page with epoxy and paper flowers from the Pink and Yellow Mix & Match Embellishments and a title using the new White Sans Serif ABC/123 Stickers.
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The sunburst pattern of my second layout evokes the look of a rainbow. I created this layout using a traditional method of cutting strips to varying lengths and cutting the strips diagonally from one corner to the opposite corner to create wedge shapes. After I completed my layout, Creative Memories introduced the new Sunburst Recipe Template which can be used to easily make my layout and many more! Instead of giving step-by-step instructions to make my layout, I recommend purchasing the Sunburst Recipe Template since it can be used in many different ways. (I amended my post to include the dimensions and cutting instructions for my layout. Please see the bottom of this post.)
The Sunburst Recipe Template comes with Multi-Purpose Clips to hold the template to your photos and papers when tracing and adhering. It also comes with a Photo Labeling Pencil to use to trace the cutting pattern onto your photos. Make sure to hold the pencil upright and not at a slant when tracing. This will help to keep your template clean of pencil residue. The waxy pencil easily wipes off of your photos, but do not use the Photo Labeling Pencil on your papers! Stray marks will not erase from paper. Instead lightly use a pencil to trace the pattern shapes onto your papers and use a regular eraser to lightly erase stray marks. Again hold the pencil upright to keep pencil residue off of your template. Please view this helpful video by Creative Memories.
For my layout, I attached my pieces (including a piece from CM’s Black & White Paper) to a sheet of White Cardstock and then adhered a piece of 12″ x 5-1/2″ White Cardstock to the bottom of the page to cover up the areas where my pieces didn’t quite match up. I also included a border punched from our new Leaf Green Cardstock using the Original Border Maker System with the Double Chevron Border Maker Cartridge. My photo is 6″ x 4″ and matted with Leaf Green Cardstock. The page is finished with paper flower and leaf embellishments from the Green Mix & Match Embellishments and stickers from our Black & White Stickers.
My last rainbow layout is a breeze to make! Just cut 2-1/4″ x 12″ strips from the watercolor wash prints from each Mix & Match paper pack and use CM’s Double Wave Tearing Tool to tear off 2″ from the bottom ends. To easily tear the edges and preserve the double wave pattern, line up your paper strips edge to edge and place the tearing tool on top of the pieces to hold them down. Tear each strip from left to right.
Adhere your strips leaving about 1/8″ in-between strips and from the edges of the Black Cardstock. My page is decorated with simple borders punched from Black Cardstock using the Original Border Maker System and new Camera Chain Border Maker Cartridge. My photo mat is 8″ x 5-1/2″, and my photos are 3-3/4″ x 5-1/4″. I cut out a camera piece from one border to make my own camera embellishment, and I used our new Black Sans Serif ABC/123 Stickers for my title. These new letter sticker packs contain lots of letters and numbers and also some additional cute icons, such as hashtags, arrows, and chevrons and also a few simple word stickers.
You’ll find CM’s new Mix & Match Collection to be very versatile with beautiful colors and very usable prints. The Mix & Match Embellishments have also been updated to include new paper flower and leaf embellishments and also new epoxy embellishments. The Camera Chain and Double Chevron Border Maker Cartridges are also very versatile and can be used on almost any kind of layout. To purchase any of these items, please visit my CM website.
Amendment: Below are the dimensions and cutting instructions for the rainbow wedges in my sunburst layout.
Pink Piece: 4″ x 9″ and cut from top left corner to bottom right corner. Use left side piece.
Blue Piece: 4″ x 12″ and cut from top right corner to bottom left corner. Use left side piece.
Green Piece: 4″ x 11″ and cut from top right to bottom left. Use left side piece.
Yellow Piece: 4″ x 9″ and cut from top left to bottom right. Use left side piece.
Orange Piece: 4″ x 12″ and cut from top right to bottom left. Use right side piece.
Black Piece: 4″ x 8″ and cut from top left to bottom right. Use left side piece.
Assemble and adhere pieces to 12″ x 12″ sheet of White Cardstock leaving about 1/8″ in-between pieces. Please see above for the rest of the layout instructions.
While I was busy getting ready for my annual National Scrapbook Day workshop, Creative Memories introduced the very adorable Little Lamb Collection at the beginning of the month. The soft sweet prints are perfect for baby pages, but they are also neutral enough to be used for non-baby pages too. The collection includes Little Lamb Baby Boy and Little Lamb Baby Girl papers, stickers, variety mats and Fast2Fab albums and pages. The Little Lamb Embellishment pack is gender neutral and can be used for boys or girls.
I used Little Lamb Baby Girl Paper and Stickers and Little Lamb Embellishments for my first layout.
To make my hanging heart banner, use the new Double Heart Punch from CM to punch a variety of hollow hearts. Cut the smaller Foam Squares in half, and use them to adhere the heart pieces. Finish your hanging heart banner with hand-drawn loops and epoxy dots from the Little Lamb Embellishment Pack.
The llama border is 12” x 2-1/2” and torn with a CM Tearing Tool. The yellow print piece is 12” x ½”, and the pink piece is 12” x ¼”. My photo is 4” x 5-1/4” and matted with a 4-1/4” x 5-1/2” piece of pink paper. The yellow piece behind my photo is 3-1/2” x 6-1/2”.
I added a variety of Little Lamb Embellishments, Little Lamb Baby Girl Stickers, and the inside pieces from the Double Heart Punch. I adhered most of these pieces with Foam Squares. To finish my layout, I added faux pen stitching with a fine-tip brown pen.
For my non-baby page, I used gray cardstock and papers from both the Little Lamb Boy and Little Lamb Girl Paper packs. The farm print paper and light mint are from the Baby Boy pack, and the wood-grained, yellow, and peach prints are from the Baby Girl pack. I also used the Little Lamb Baby Girl Stickers and the Little Lamb Embellishments.
Since I matted the farm print and wood-grained papers with gray cardstock, I conserved paper by cutting hollow squares from both sheets of the gray cardstock and the farm print paper. The farm print paper measures 11-1/2” x 11-1/2”; the smaller gray piece is 10” x 10”; and the wood-grained piece is 9-3/4” x 9-3/4”.
Little Lamb
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For my fence, I used the old Rustic Fence Border Maker Cartridge from CM. If you don’t have this cartridge, you can use your scissors to cut a border from the Victorian Fence Punch to look more rustic (see photo above).
My jumbo corn journaling box was made from several pieces cut with the Custom Cutting System and the 3-1/2” x 5” Oval Cutting Pattern with red blade on the outside edge. To make narrower ovals that are more corn-like, cut partially around the oval pattern and then move the pattern over to create tear-drop shapes.
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For my “Farm” title, I initially cut letters from the peach paper using my Cricut. But the peach paper was too light, and the title didn’t show up very well. So I traced around the letters using a gray pen. You could do the same with a stencil or write it free-hand. I adhered all of the embellishments and the small title sticker with Foam Squares.
I look forward to making more baby and non-baby pages with this adorably sweet collection!
Well, we finally reached the end! I scrapped all of my photos from my granddaughter’s birthday party, and I used up most of two National Scrapbook Day Kits and two packs of the coordinating Paper. I still have four full sheets of paper and lots of paper scraps that I’ll use for making cards and scrapbook borders. It will be nice to entirely use up these materials and not add to my growing stash of scrapbook paper and stickers!
I used two sheets of cloud cardstock for the base of these pages and again added strips of paper. I love how the top pieces of striped paper and the sticker banner resemble an awning that is perfect with my playhouse photos. The green color in the paper is also almost a perfect match for the green on the house. Sometimes things work out really well!
To make the top border piece, assemble a 12″ x 1-3/4″ piece of the white print paper, a 12″ x 3/4″ piece of the green striped paper, and a 12″ x 1/4″ strip of royal cardstock. Add the sticker border with Foam Squares. The pieces on the bottom border are 12″ x 3/4″, 1/4″ and 1-1/4″. The title stickers and ice cream cone stickers are adhered with Foam Squares.
Repeat the borders on the second page and add stickers with Foam Squares, journaling and more faux pen stitching. (You’ve probably noticed that I love adding pen work to my pages. Although it’s a simple technique, it can have a big impact on a layout. It can tie pieces together and can add a pop of color when needed. And the addition of black can really help to tone down a layout with lots of different colors and patterns.)
Although all five of my layouts look different, the use of materials from the same collection and the consistent use of faux pen stitching give the series of layouts a nice cohesive look.
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Thank you so much for following my 5 part series! I hope that I’ve inspired you and given you some ideas to try. Please leave me a comment and let me know which layout that you like best!
As I’ve mentioned previously, the Creative Memories National Scrapbook Day Kit, Paper and Stickers are exclusive and limited edition items that can only be purchased directly from a CM advisor. If you don’t have an advisor, I would love to help you get the materials.
Hello! This is day four of my five days of National Scrapbook Day layouts using the exclusive National Scrapbook Kit, Paper and Stickers from Creative Memories. These items are only available from a CM advisor. If you don’t have an advisor, please contact me and I’ll be glad to help you get the materials.
The kit comes with instructions to make two layouts designed by CM, but I wanted to give the attendees of my up-coming National Scrapbook Day Workshop some alternative ideas for the materials. And once I made a page, I couldn’t stop – the materials are so cute and perfect for my birthday party photos!
I used white cardstock as the base of these pages and added multiple strips of designer paper. From top to bottom, the size of the strips are: 1/2″, 2″, 5-1/4″, 1-1/2″, and 2″. The 1-1/2″ yellow strip was placed under the bottom of the blue piece. I punched the bottom of the blue piece using the Original Border Maker System with the NEW Double Chevron Cartridge. I love this new border cartridge – it’s such an interesting and versatile pattern!
I cut the border sticker at the bottom center of the page and adhered it with Foam Squares. All of the other stickers are also adhered with Foam Squares.
My journaling box is 3-1/4″ x 2″, and again all of the stickers are adhered with Foam Squares. I used the Black Dual-Tip Pen to add faux pen stitching to both pages.
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I’ll see you back here tomorrow for my fifth and final day of National Scrapbook Day layouts! Bye for now…
Hi! I’m glad that you’re back for Part 3 of my 2018 National Scrapbook Day layouts! The National Scrapbook Day materials are such a happy collection of papers and stickers and are perfect for photos of a birthday party! Stay tuned as I still have two more layouts to share with you.
The National Scrapbook Day Kit, Papers and Stickers are exclusive items only available from a CM advisor. If you don’t have an advisor, I would be glad to help you get the items – just send me a message!
Last weekend, I attended an event for Creative Memories advisors, and this is my interpretation of a page sketch that was shared with us. I used two sheets of white cardstock as the base of these pages.
The wide border consists of multi-colored pieces that measure 12″ x 1″ and 12″ x 1/2″. I cut these pieces in relation to the pattern on the paper. I wanted the rows that had yellow scallops. The four royal cardstock strips are 12″ x 1/4″, and the green striped piece is 12″ x 3″. I used the Original Border Maker System with the Button Cartridge to punch the final piece of the border. The title stickers are adhered with Foam Squares.
I used the Custom Cutting System with the medium sized Circle Cutting Pattern and the blue blade on the inside edge to cut the three circle pieces at the bottom of the page. The stickers are adhered with Foam Squares.
I cut the circles for my ice cream cone using the Custom Cutting System with the medium-sized Circle Cutting Pattern and red blade on the inside edge. I started with a 2-1/2″ x 3″ rectangle for the cone. To make a cone shape, cut on a diagonal from the top corners down to the center of the bottom edge. I cut the cherry from red cardstock using the smallest Circle Cutting Pattern and the blue blade on the inside edge. I highlighted the cherry with the Silver Metallic Dual-Tip Pen, and adhered it with a Foam Square.
My photos are 4″ x 6″ and 4″ x 4″, and my photo mats are 4-1/4″ x 6-1/4 and 4-1/4″ x 4-1/4″. For my journaling, I drew uneven wavy lines to write above. And I finished the layout with faux pen stitching using the Dual-Tip Black Pen.
Welcome back for my second layout featuring the exclusive National Scrapbook Day Kit, Papers and Stickers from Creative Memories! These materials are super cute and perfect for pages featuring children. I still have 3 more layouts to share, so make sure to come back and visit with me over the next three days.
If you don’t have a CM advisor, I would be glad to mail these exclusive items to you as they are only available directly from an advisor. The kit is $12.50, and the coordinating paper pack is $5.00 – plus everyone who purchases from me will also receive a coordinating sticker strip for free.
As with my first layout, these pages also started as single pages that I later put together as a double-page spread. If I had started as a double-page layout, I would have done something different with my banner stickers. But since I had already added the faux pen stitching, I decided not to move them.
For the first page, I used the orange print paper as the base and added a 6″ x 12″ piece of the green striped paper. I punched an edge of the white print paper with the Original Border Maker using the Scallop Dot Cartridge and cut it off of my paper at 2″ wide. The peach patterned strip is 3/4″ wide.
To make my ice cream cone, I cut my photos using the Custom Cutting System and the smallest circle cutting pattern with the red blade on the outside edge. The yellow print, red cardstock, and royal cardstock photo mats were cut on the outside edge with the blue blade. The cone piece is 4-1/2″ wide and cut on a diagonal from the outside corners to the center of the bottom of the piece. I matted the “cherry on top” sticker with a red cardstock circle cut from the medium circle pattern on the inside edge with the blue blade. It is adhered with a Foam Square as are all of the other stickers.
The orange print paper is also the base for the second page. The green striped strips are 3/4″ and 2″ wide. The wide scalloped border is 1-1/2″ wide, and the peach print strip is 3/4″ wide. My two photo mats are 6-1/4″ x 4-1/4″, and my six photos are cropped to 1-7/8″ x 4″. All of the stickers are adhered with Foam Squares.
Lastly, I used the Dual-Tip Black Pen to add some faux pen stitching. I love how the simple use of a pen can add so much to a page!
I’ll see you here again tomorrow with another National Scrapbook Day layout!
With National Scrapbook Day right around the corner, I thought that I would share some layouts that I made with this year’s exclusive National Scrapbook Day Kit and National Scrapbook Day Paper from Creative Memories. These materials are only available directly from a CM advisor. If you don’t have an advisor, I would be glad to mail a set to you.
The kit comes with instructions to make two double-page layouts. But I decided to combine materials from the kit, the coordinating pack of paper, and also the exclusive individual sticker sheet to create my own pages. I went a little crazy, and used most of two kits, two packs of coordinating paper, and two of the single sticker strips to make 5 double-page layouts of photos from my granddaughter’s last birthday. If you love these materials and my pages, you might want to get 2 packs of each as they are limited edition items. Please keep checking back as I’ll be sharing a different two-page layout with you over the next 5 days!
At first, I made these as individual pages but decided that they would work together as a double-page layout. I love the bright fun colors, stickers, and my large cherry embellishments on these pages!
To start, cut the background papers to 11-1/2″ x 11-1/2″ and adhere to pieces of 12″ x 12″ royal cardstock. To conserve cardstock, you may cut out the centers of the royal cardstock first.
To make the border, punch one end of the blue paper using the Original Border Maker with Scallop Dot Cartridge. Cut off of your paper at about 2-1/2″ wide. Add a 1/2″ yellow strip and a 1/4″ dark orange strip. Punch small circles from yellow paper, and start layering the circles with your stickers. I cut my stickers off of the sticker sheet with scissors and played with my positioning before removing the backing and adhering them to the page. I also used Foam Squares on most of the stickers.
To create the cherry journaling box, use the largest circle cutting pattern from the Custom Cutting System. Use the blue blade on the inside edge to cut a circle from white cardstock and the green blade on the inside edge to cut a circle from red cardstock.
To create the stem, I used the medium sized circle cutting pattern with the blue blade on the outside edge to cut about a quarter of the way around the cutting pattern. Without moving the paper or the cutting pattern, I used the red blade on the outside edge to cut in the same spot. To make the leaves, I used the inside cutting edge and the green blade to create teardrop shapes. I adhered my top leaf with Foam Squares.
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I used the same technique as above to create my double cherry embellishment on the second page. The smaller cherry is cut from the smallest circle cutting pattern using the red blade on the inside edge. I used the blue blade on the inside edge of the medium sized circle cutting pattern to cut a red cardstock circle for the sticker. I adhered this finished piece and the top leaf with Foam Squares.
My photos are cropped to 4″ x 4″, and my mats are 4-1/4″ x 4-1/4″ and cut from royal and red cardstock. I cut the border sticker and adhered with Foam Squares on the top and bottom of my photos.
Lastly I used our Red Dual-Tip Pen to add faux pen stitching around the scalloped edges of the border sticker on the top and bottom of the photos and also on both sides of my side border. I used the Red and Green Dual-Tip Pens to add faux pen stitching around my cherry journaling box and embellishments. I also used our Silver Metallic Dual-Tip Pen to add a little detail to the small cherry. I love how the addition of the pen work really helped to make these pages pop!
Please send me a message if you need helping purchasing these materials, and please check back tomorrow for another double-page layout!
