So Lucky to Have You: Bennie’s 99th Birthday | Create with Me Monday

Some scrapbook pages begin with the supplies. Others begin with a story that is simply too special not to preserve. This page began with both.

For Create with Me Monday on October 5, 2026, I pulled out the strips and scraps left from the October 1–2 Virtual Card Retreat Kit. Instead of putting those beautiful pieces away, I used them to create a 12″ x 12″ scrapbook page celebrating a wonderful family milestone: Jeff’s grandmother Bennie turning 99.

I titled the page “so lucky to have you,” because that is exactly how we feel.

Celebrating Bennie at 99

Bennie turned 99 years old on September 29, 2026. What a blessing it is to celebrate her life and the family gathered around her.

The three photos on this layout help tell that family story. One shows Bennie with her three sons, and the others preserve the gift of five generations together. These are the kinds of moments I want our scrapbooks to hold—not just how everyone looked, but why the moment mattered.

The journaling on the page reads:

Bennie, Jeff’s grandmother, turned 99 years old on September 29, 2026. She is truly blessed to still have all three of her sons (Dub, Charles, & Lynn) by her side. We recently took photos of five generations (Bennie, Charles, Jeff, Alexis, & Liam – 2025 & 2026).

Turning retreat scraps into a scrapbook border

The leftover patterned-paper strips from the retreat kit became a strip-pieced border running down the left side of the page. Mixing the floral, dotted, striped, and softly colored patterns gave the layout movement and brought all the colors together.

This is one of the things I love most about using scraps: the pieces may be small, but together they can make a big impact. The border adds interest without taking attention away from the photographs and the story they tell.

Layering the details

I arranged three family photos across the page, giving the largest photo the strongest visual focus. The oval die-cut frame echoes the keepsake feeling of the layout, while the floral clusters in blue, peach, and green soften the straight lines of the photos and paper strips.

Butterfly accents, small flowers, and scattered embellishments add the finishing details. I repeated those colors and shapes around the page so your eye moves naturally from the title to the photos and finally to the journaling.

Watch the process video

Watch the Create with Me Monday replay to see how I turned the Virtual Card Retreat scraps into this 12″ x 12″ scrapbook page, from the strip-pieced border to the layered photos, florals, and finishing details.

A meaningful way to use what is left

This project is a reminder that leftovers do not have to stay tied to the project they came from. A strip from a card kit can become a scrapbook border. A small patterned piece can help support a color story. A few die-cut accents can frame a treasured family photograph.

When we look at our scraps through the eyes of a memory keeper, we begin to see possibilities instead of leftovers. More importantly, we can use what we already have to preserve the people and stories we love.

Products I Used

This layout was created with leftover strips, patterned-paper scraps, and coordinating pieces from the October 1–2 Virtual Card Retreat Kit, along with: