Roam Sweet Home: California Travels - Katie Ehmann

There's nothing quite like a road trip–jumping in the car, camera in hand, a route mapped out and marvelous sights awaiting you. A few weeks ago, my husband and I flew from the still-cold Mitten State to the warm and lovely state of California. I'd never been, so I was especially excited to visit, and my husband, who'd been before, couldn't wait to share his love of the Bay Area with me. We decided to alternate our days in the City with two different road trips along the California Coast–one north from San Francisco to Point Reyes, and one south from San Francisco to Carmel. Um, you guys, can I just tell you that it was amazing??! While I loved the city, nothing quite compared to driving along Highway 1 up and down the gorgeous coast! And of course, I had to document this trip with layouts...numerous layouts!! And Open Road was the ultimate collection with which to do so!

To document our northern coastal trip to Point Reyes, I wanted to use as many photos as possible while still upholding a clean look. I printed four photos on a 4 x 6 sheet of photo paper and included a small white border around each one. I arranged them loosely on a piece of white cardstock, and decided to cut apart the tag adorned patterned paper to use as an embellishment and to add pops of pattern and color to the design. Once I had everything arranged, I used ephemera and chipboard (my favorites!) from Open Road to complete the details and title work. The "Day Trip" chipboard piece couldn't have worked better to entitle this page!

To document our trip south to Carmel, I chose a selfie that my husband and I took at a gorgeous stop along Highway 1. The coast is simply breathtaking, and since we were by ourselves, we took a lot of selfies with our phone to record the journey. The Desert Inn Paper provided a beautiful blue background to show off lots of layered embellishments. I surrounded the photo with a variety of cut-apart tags, ephemera, journaling cards and the awesome chipboard. I also added foam adhesive to various pieces for dimension. Finally, I cut a large title from white cardstock with my Silhouette and machine stitched it to the page. Although the title is large, the white cardstock is subtle enough that it adds to the layout instead of detracting from it.

I don't know about you, but creating these layouts makes me excited for my next road trip adventure! Thanks for joining me today, Crate fans - I've gotta hit the road!

Comments

[Valerie.H]

These are awesome and gorgeous. Katie you rock this collection.

[Adrienne Alvis]

These are amazing layouts!!!!

[Cynthia B.]

I just love that Desert Inn paper - the beautiful blue background and open road are just perfect for your CA trip! Makes me want to visit again. Thanks for sharing. :)

[Lisa C.]

I'm so in love with your layout!!! Gorgeous!