Take Me Out to the Ball Game: Yankee Stadium Old and New

The one thing I look forward to every single spring is Opening Day of the Major League Baseball season. This year I'm taking my 84-year-old grandmother to Dodger Stadium for their home opener; it doesn't get much better than that.

Obviously, I love baseball. My husband and I have a bucket list full of stadiums to visit and we are slowly but surely crossing them off one by one. In 2005 we made a trip to New York City. We bought tickets to "The House that Ruth Built," also known as Yankee Stadium. We loved the nostalgia, the history and the fans.

Here is the layout I made to record our adventure in Yankee Stadium:

Products used on this layout:

• Lily Bee Handmade Collection
• scallop punch
• American Crafts Alphabet

Some tips if you want to recreate this layout:

• I wanted to include lots of photos, so I made the photo of my husband and me the focal point and then added nine smaller photos above and below the focal photo.
• I backed my bottom photos with white cardstock to draw the eye in.
• I kept everything linear to allow the eye to move back and forth.
• I kept my journaling short but plan to add a divided page protector to the right of this layout in my album and add journaling to one of the spaces.
• I opted to use the nickname for Yankee Stadium instead of just writing "Yankee Stadium."
• I didn't have enough ‘t's in my alphabet pack so I shortened my title.

In 2009 my husband and I stopped in New York City on our way to Europe. While we had crossed Yankee Stadium off our list previously, they had torn down the old stadium and built a new one, so now we needed to see the new one.

Here's the layout I made after visiting the new Yankee Stadium:

Close-ups:

Products used on the layout:

• Echo Park Dots and Stripes
• Fiskars Punches
• Jenni Bowlin for Fiskars Punch

Tips on this layout:

• If you have an electronic cutter, use it to set the mood of the layout.
• Add letter stickers to the pre-cut title to make it work for you.
• Add a pop of color in three areas of the layout forming a visual triangle (I used the hearts).
• Repeat an element from the top part of the layout on the bottom half to create continuity.
• Remember to include yourself in your layouts. When at the ball game look for a friendly usher and ask them to take a few photos. I have found them to be helpful at every stadium I have attended, so don't be shy.
• Be sure to include the date on your layout.
• Feel free to handwrite your journaling, but I chose to type mine to keep with the title of the layout.

This year we are looking forward to another great baseball season full of visiting new stadiums and lots of hot dogs and sunshine.