Salt Marsh Half Marathon

My husband's first race of the year was the Saltmarsh Half Marathon, and I went along as support crew, dropping him at the start, pausing twice to see him en route and picking him up at the end.

This page was built around one of the photos I took of a line of runners beside the river, which came out in soft focus and reminded me of a watercolour painting. I decided to print it on plain white cardstock which adds to the softness, and use it in place of patterned paper in the middle of this page. I then layered the before and during photos over the top and the finish photo with a journalling box over the bottom part.

Supplies: Paper - Mintay Golden Days, My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline, Basic Grey Urban Prairie, Shimelle Glitter Girl; Letters - Hip Kit Club, Echo Park?; Die-Cuts - Simple Stories, Pinkfresh Studio, October Afternoon; Enamel Stars - Latech

20 Years of Blitz Gooday

Years ago, I received some swatch books from Paige Evans' collections in a mystery box; these are 2" square books packed with patterns and sayings filling each page. I've been meaning to make a tiled layout ever since but never got round to it. April's sketch from the girls at 1 Sketch: 3 Ways (originally published by Page Maps) finally gave me the push to get it done. 

I picked a photo from our company's 20th anniversary celebrations as it matched the colours in my swatch books, an odd way for me to start but it was curiously satisfying to switch round my normal process.

Supplies: Paper - Paige Evans Truly Grateful, Amy Tangerine Brave + Bold, Shimelle Never Grow Up; Swatches - Paige Evans Wonders, Paige Evans Go the Scenic Route; Letters - Doodlebug; Washi Tape - Shimelle, Little B; Enamel Dots - American Crafts, Stampin' Up!

A Few Birthday Cards

I'm sharing a few cards today, in particular one that I made as a DT project for Twilight Crafts and Jenny Wren Cut-Files. I used the Chain Circle cut-file shrunk down to about 5.5" across and backed with four papers from a 6x6 pad. I then added another circle in the middle with my sentiment and popped it up on foam squares.

This one was a lift of a previous card, as there's no need to 'reinvent the wheel', a change of papers gives it a different look, and it went to a different recipient.

Finally, this card was based on one of the 'bits and pieces' that I keep in a drawer for making cards. I've had the plaid paper with the sentiment for ages so I tore it in two to stretch it across a wider card and filled in the gap with coordinating pieces. 

Disclosure - I receive digital cut-files free of charge from Twilight Crafts as part of my DT role. All other supplies are my own.

Mini-Book Pages from Gibraltar

I'm sharing the pages from my cruise mini-book in the order that they come in the book, not the the order that I made them. I rarely make holiday album pages in chronological order so that there is no evolution in style or sudden introduction of new supplies as you turn the pages. I've already shared the pages from Málaga but these from Gibraltar were the first that I made.

Gibraltar was our shortest stop, with the fewest photos, so it seemed like a good place to get started and feel my way with this new size. I will have a double page for each port, with as many flaps and inserts as I need to cover everything in that space. This is the initial view for the Gibraltar pages:

The left side, with my title card and a view from the ship at sea, pulls out from a pocket and unfolds to three panels with photos from our cable car trip up the Rock:

Turning that over gives two more panels, and returns to the title page.

The two photos on the right side both lift up to show more photos. The top one has the town hall and a remembrance-themed postbox topper (we visited in November)

and the bottom part has extra photos of the Alameda Botanic Gardens.

Supplies: Cardstock - Art Studio; Papers - Simple Stories Hello Today, Simple Stories Simple Vintage Botanicals; Letters - Glitz Design; Journalling Cards - Project Life; Stickers - Simple Stories, Studio Calico; Washi Tape - Ebay, Little B; Enamel Geotag - Pink Paislee

Mini-Book Pages from Málaga

We flew out to Málaga for our cruise, and then spent the next day in the town. Each port of call is getting one double page in my mini-album and I've decorated four 4x6 title cards (one per port) which will start off the left side along with a photo of the town each time. I'll then add as many flaps and inserts as I need to accommodate my photos and journalling.

This is the initial view of the Málaga pages:

The left side opens out to show photos of the amphitheatre and the Alcazaba (palace) which we had visited before.

The right side is dedicated to the 14th century Castillo de Gibralfaro which was built on a on a hill above the city in order to protect it (spoiler - it failed in 1487). I had plenty of photos that I wanted to include so this page opens out with two flaps:

Supplies: Cardstock - Art Studio; Papers - Simple Stories Hello Today, Pink Paislee Atlas, American Crafts Shimelle; Letters - Teresa Collins; Journalling Cards - Project Life; Stickers - Simple Stories, Studio Calico, Make & Create, 49 and Market, Teresa Collins; Washi Tape - Ebay, Little B; Enamel Geotag - Pink Paislee

Quiz-ical

Time to share a new DT page for Twilight Crafts and Jenny-Wren Cut-Files. I've used Circle in Sections with a photo of our work team after we won the local Chamber of Commerce quiz.

The cut-file was pre-cut in a soft yellow so I looked for a 6x6 pad to match it and found an old one from My Mind's Eye with enough patterns left to make it interesting. I tried to alternate darker and lighter papers but did them randomly rather than in strict rotation as I had varying amounts left.

My embellishment is quite simple as I didn't want to distract from the circular shape of the cut-file by tucking anything in around it. I have a pack of vellum stickers that I would love to finish off, so I placed pairs of black and teal ones in three places and then added trios of enamel dots from the same collection as the papers.

Supplies: Paper - K & Company, My Mind's Eye Now and Then; Letters - American Crafts; Stickers - Studio Calico; Enamel Dots - My Mind's Eye 

Disclosure - I receive digital cut-files free of charge from Twilight Crafts as part of my DT role. All other supplies are my own.

(Page 27 for 2026)

Fly-Cruise Mini-Book Title Page

I'm sharing the first page of my new cruise mini-book today. 

All our previous cruises have started and finished at a UK port, but this was a fly-cruise where we flew out to Málaga and sailed back to Southampton, joining the ship for final week of its 57-night Mediterranean Grand Voyage. 

I will have a double page for each of the ports visited, but this is just a single to get started. The top photo is one I bought onboard which shows our route, and the bottom is one of our ship, Fred. Olsen's Balmoral. Both of these are stuck to flaps that lift up for more photos and journalling.

The top flap lifts to show a photo as we boarded the plane, one of Málaga from the air and a journalling card.

There's more journalling under the bottom flap as our original itinerary was changed due to bad weather so I have an explanation of the changes and then both the old and new versions.

Supplies: Cardstock - Art Studio, Papermania; Paper - Simple Stories Hello Today, Pink Paislee Atlas, Simple Stories Happy Travels, Echo Park Dots and Stripes; Letters - Shimelle; Stickers - Simple Stories, 49 and Market, Tim Holtz; Washi Tape - Little B

(Page 26 for 2026; it's neither 12x12 or 8x8 so doesn't follow my existing 'rules', but I've decided to count this as a whole page in my count for the year. It has the same total surface area as a 12x12 and I also had to make the base page first.)