Photo Scavenger Hunt - June Finds

The first month of Rinda's Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt is over and I've enjoyed seeing various photos pop up on blogs and in the Facebook group, but I haven't posted my own finds yet. It's been a slow month as I normally do my scavenger hunting in the main school holidays (which are still three weeks away). I'm also hoping to find some of these when we go on holiday to Austria, especially the waterfall and the foreign language sign.

The full list and my finds are as follows:

1. A sign welcoming people to your home town (or a nearby town)
The most picturesque of our signs. The 30mph speed limit is new; it used to be 40mph on this stretch of road.

2. A garden gnome
3. Birds on a wire
4. A group of tourists
Are ramblers tourists? I passed this group while walking the Thames Path.

5. A rack of post cards
6. An urban street scene
7. A rural landscape
Cows in a field in Essex.

8. A tattoo on a person
9. A bakery
10. A photo bomb
11. A horn
12. A mascot
13. A sunrise
14. A parade
15. A juggler
16. A sign in a language other than English
17. A lamp post
I've taken several lamp post photos; it's been interesting to see how varied they are, when I normally take them for granted. This one is opposite our house, and was glowing in through my study window one evening.

18. A waterfall
19. A public garden
A garden on the site of Heritage Wharf, Grays, Essex.

20. A bus (not a car, truck, lorry, camper or RV) with a picture painted on its sides.
21. A photograph of you with something representing the season
Alt A: A kite, hot air balloon or blimp
Alt B: A bird house

So, five down, sixteen to go, and I know where to find a few of them. I won't be attempting a sunrise until September; they're just too early at the moment. Also birds on a wire are going to be tricky as all our wires run underground; I'll have to go further afield for that one. I'm not sure what I'll find in the way of a parade, but you never know what might come along between now and September.

Rinda's hosting a link-up for June over on her blog. Why not pop over and see how the other participants are getting on?

Sainte Chapelle

I have a gaping hole in my 2014 scrapbook, and it relates to the trip my daughter and I took to Paris just before Easter. None of the challenges posted since then have suited these multi-photo pages-to-be, so the photos have been sadly neglected until now. I started at the beginning of our trip and picked five photos from Sainte Chapelle, the Holy Chapel built by Louis IX to house his collection of relics including the Crown of Thorns. The chapel has the most amazing stained glass windows, and I didn't want my papers to fight with the colours in the photos so I picked a muted, almost monochromatic, palette of blues, greys and creams for my page.

Supplies
Paper - Anna Griffin, Laura Ashley, Echo Park Capture Life, Glitz Design Beautiful Dreamer, MME Follow Your Heart
Letters - Anita's Glitterations
Washi Tape - American Crafts DIY
Word Stickers - Authentique Natural
Gems - Papermania Dew Drops
Ink - Ink It Up!

Tools
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch
Woodware Tag Punch

Two Little Boys

I've gone right back in time today for another of Shimelle's challenges from her online scrapbooking weekend. When I saw this sketch I thought the jauntiness of the angled papers was well suited to toddler photos. I've tried and failed to scrap these photos of my son and nephew previously, but this time the page came together more easily.

The sketch shouted '6x6 papers' to me, so that's what I used - three colours of polka dot paper from My Mind's Eye, plus a multi-coloured chevron to bring the different colours together.

Supplies
Paper - KaiserCraft Chapter One, MME Bright 6x6 Pad
Letters - Jillibean Soup
Washi Paper - We R Memory Keepers
Stickers - Anita's Glitterations, Authentique
Gems - Forever in Time

Tools
Sewing Machine
Woodware Postage Stamp Punch
Hobbycraft Star Punch

Ascot with a Twist

Another page with recent photos, for another of Shimelle's challenges from her online scrapbooking weekend. 

It's rare for me to appear in my scrapbooks, but I'm in all three of these photos. They were taken just last week, on Ladies' Day, but we're not really at the races. Ascot with a Twist is an annual fundraising event in aid of Little Havens Children's Hospice. Over 300 ladies enjoyed a three course lunch, fun betting on the races, a jewellery raffle and afternoon tea.

This was my second version of the page. I used black and gold for the first one, but is was too dark and 'heavy'. I wanted something lighter and more summery and picked this floral for my background instead. Shimelle's sketch had four small photos, which I switched for three larger ones, but I think I went a bit too large as I didn't have a lot of space above and below them for layering.

The floral and the turquoise print both came from the May/June Quirky Kit Lite which I recently subscribed to.

Supplies
Paper - Heidi Swapp Favorite Things, Echo Park Capture Life,  Cherry Arte Princess, Various Scraps
Letters - American Crafts Thickers, Papermania
Gems - Papermania Dew Drops, Forever in Time
Flowers - from Stash
Leaf - Clorbok
Washi Tape - American Crafts DIY
Ink/Mist - docrafts

Tools
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch

17

After the old photos on my last page, I've gone straight back to this year, and actually this weekend. Our son has just turned seventeen, and I tried to take the traditional birthday cake photos, but he was not going to co-operate this time. I've made do with the best of the assortment of faces I did take:

I used another sketch from Shimelle for this page, for the third challenge in her online scrapbooking weekend. It has three photos, but I swapped them for my photo collage in a similar space. The star and ticket were pieces that I had previously die cut and not used.

I spritzed my background paper with gold mist, but it doesn't really show up unless you hold the page at the right angle.

Supplies
Paper - MME Wild Asparagus, MME Bright 6x6 Pad, Sandylion??
Numbers - American Crafts Thickers
Letters - Basic Grey
Washi Tape - American Crafts DIY
Mist - docrafts
Ink - Ranger

Tools
Woodware Label Punch
Big Shot
X-Cut Ticket Stubs Die
Sissix Stars Die

Hello Christmas

Shimelle is hosting a weekend of online scrapbooking over on her blog. I made this page for her first challenge, and by the time I finished it there were two more. There will be posts all weekend, and you have until next Monday to link up your pages.

This page came quickly and easily, directly from the first challenge which was a sketch. First I tracked down a single photo of the right size; this one is of my cousin and her family one Christmas. Being a Christmas photo I pulled out Glitz Designs' Hello December collection pack which happily matches the photo colours well. Everything except the washi tape, a scrap of cardstock and an ink pad came from that collection. I was initially stuck for a title, but that 'Hello Christmas' sticker helped me out there.

Supplies

Paper & Stickers - Glitz Designs Hello December

Cardstock - Papermania

Washi Tape - American Crafts DIY

Ink - docrafts

Pinky Pals

I'm still scrapping recent photos; it would be lovely to get my 2014 album up-to-date before we enter the summer holiday season, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. 

This photo is just six days old - it's my daughter and three of her friends en route to a local restaurant for a dinner to celebrate her birthday. I was behind them and loved the way they linked their little fingers (pinkies) as they walked along.

I used the June Week 3 sketch from Let's Get Sketchy for my page. The little stack of papers was great for showing off my single photo. I used ribbon running over the stack and embellished with buttons.

Supplies
Paper - Simple Stories Fabulous, Crate Paper Neighborhood 6x6 Pad,
    Dovecraft Sugar & Spice
Letters - DCWV Christmas Alphabet Sticker Stack
Ribbon & Buttons - from Stash
Ink - Ranger

Dog Days

Our holiday in Norfolk last month was a group thing - three couples, two with children and one with dogs. The children and the dogs got on really well, and I snapped photos of them in the garden one afternoon.

No sketches or challenges for this page, just the pleasure of finishing off a paper collection by using the simple technique of 'cutting the pieces you have left into rectangles and arranging them on the page'.

I find that the more patterns I use, the less embellishments I want; I stitched a circle around the photos and just added a few simple flowers. The title was the hardest part - I really wanted to use brown Thickers and thought I had plenty, but they were all either too big or missing key letters. After going through most of my letter stickers (and re-organising the basket they live in) I unearthed these ones which match the papers really well (same manufacturer, different collection).

Supplies
Paper - Simple Stories Fabulous, Basic Grey Max & Whiskers
Letters - Basic Grey Nordic Holiday
Flowers - KaiserCraft
Ink - docrafts
Thread/Gems - from Stash

Tools
Fiskars Circle Template
Bazzill Paper Piercer

Copycat Birthday Card

I'm not a prolific card-maker, and I can't think up new ideas each time I need a hand-made card. However, there's no need to when previous cards can be adapted - a change of colour and motif makes it almost new.

This card is a copy of one I made last month which was itself scraplifted from Jimjams. For this version I've changed the stars to flowers, and the colour from blue/green to pink, for a friend's birthday last week.

From All Angles

Another page from our Norfolk holiday last month. We could see this lighthouse from our bedroom window and I set off to visit it on our final day. Although it does open to the public, and you can climb to the top, it was closed that day. Norfolk is so flat that it could be seen from a fair distance away, and I took photos of it from various directions - from beside it, from the beach below, from the cliffs near the village and from a nearby road. I numbered all the photos and explained them in the journalling.

I used the latest sketch from Paper Secrets, but straightened up the photos and squeezed in an extra one. Their sketches always come with a twist and this time we have to use things that start with each of the letters of the word DANCE. I have stamping with ink from Docrafts, wood veneer Arrows, Numbers, Compasses (on the brown patterned paper) and Epoxy stickers.


Supplies
Paper - Basic Grey Highline, Nitwit Land Ho, Pebbles Fresh Goods, 
      Dream Street Wonderland, Lily Bee Double Dutch
Letters/NUmbers - Jillibean Soup, Jenny Bowlin
Wood Veneer Arrows - Creative Expressions
Epoxy Stickers - from Stash
Ink - docrafts

Tools
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch
Dovecraft Beautiful Border Stamp

Another Stripey Card

Waste not, want not - so the saying goes. When I created journalling strips from stripey paper on my last page I was left with the coloured parts, and I decided to use them straight away for a card as I've a few birthdays coming up (I still need to make three more cards this evening or else).

The co-ordinating sticker sheet is about family rather than birthdays but I used the 'Love Always' sticker and made a card for my husband:

Supplies
Card Blank - Craft Creations
Paper & Stickers - Authentique Natural Collection
Slide Mount - Unknown
Ink - Ink It Up!

Tools
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch
Woodware Tag Punch
Craft Creatives Heart Punch

103m

103m - That's the height of Beacon Hill, the highest point in Norfolk, where we spent May half-term this year. It's not an impressive hill, but we did walk up it from close to sea level, when we could have just driven up.

There's an awful lot of green in my photos, so I wasn't going to match my papers to the photos this time. I actually chose my background paper first, and the yellow and teal flower outlines on that set my colour palette for the page.

I used the 1st June sketch from Stuck Sketches for my page, and stayed pretty close to it. My main issue was the amount of journalling that I wanted. I normally write on the background paper but that wasn't going to be possible here. I ended up writing on the light bits of the stripey patterned paper.

Supplies
Paper - Bo Bunny Olivia, Authentique Natural Collection
Letters/Numbers - American Crafts Thickers
Butterflies - Prima
Brads - Papermania
Ink - Ink It Up!

Tools
Kreaxions Circle Cutter
Fiskars Shape Cutter & Circle Templates
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch

Tour Eiffel

My 2014 album is beginning to take shape now. I've planned out how the 12x12 pages and the divided pages for the first few months will fit together, and I have a list of pages that I need to make, including a batch from our trip to Paris in April. This page comes from our final afternoon, at the Eiffel Tower, and the June Week 1 sketch from Let's Get Sketchy.

I used papers from a 6x6 pad for my tags as the smaller patterns work better and all the colours match perfectly. The horizontal paper in the sketch became two overlapping pieces on my page as I used another coordinating paper from the same 6x6 pad. I switched over the title and the journalling, as they fitted better this way with my paper selections.

Supplies

Paper - MME The Sweetest Thing, MME Quilting Bee 6x6

Cardstock - DCWV Far East Stack

Letter & Arrow Stickers - Studio Calico Snippets

Word Stickers - MME The Sweetest Thing

Washi Tape - The Range

Gems - Dovecraft

Brad - Fancy Pants Wonderful Day

Ink - Ink It Up!

Mist - Cosmic Shimmer Mist

Thread - DMC

Tools

The Stamp Connection Chipboard Tag (used as a template)

X-Cut Small Circle Punch

Office Hole Punch

Pocket Scrapping - February

As I explained in this post, I'm combining 12x12 pages with divided pages in my 2014 album, so that I have a record of some of the smaller, more everyday happenings in among the day trips and holidays. I'm using one type of divided page protector throughout the album; they're by American Crafts and have 6 6x4 landscape pockets per side. I'm making as many cards as I need for the events and stories from each month; I used eight for January, filling the front of my first page and the top two pockets on the back. February continues in the bottom two rows of that page and I have fourteen cards in total for the month, partly as we did more things (half term falls in February), and partly as I got better at remembering to take the photos.

I'm using mostly scraps and 6x6 pads for these pages, and sticking to one background colour per month; January was blue and February is brown. Embellishments are very simple - punched shapes, washi tape and gems are quick and easy to repeat.

I have a mixture of things here and I'm trying to include all the family, not just my year. My husband is a keen walker and I have photos from his walks and I've recorded my daughter's school trips, even though we have no photos. My son is 'missing' and I need to try and include some more of his interests (even if it's just a picture of him playing on his games console). I also have the 'everyday' stuff - baking, snowdrops and TV programmes.

Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt

Happy new month! It's June now which means that summer is here and so is a new edition of Rinda's Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt. This is the third year that I have taken part and the hunt seems to gets bigger every year, with participants all over the world.

This year we have another 21 items to find and photograph before the end of the summer, and there are just two rules - all photos must be taken this summer (no digging through the archives) and to have fun. 

As usual, the list is a mix of things I know where to find, things that I shall have to track down and things that I shall just have to keep alert for all summer long. The full list is:

1. A sign welcoming people to your home town (or a nearby town)
2. A garden gnome
3. Birds on a wire
4. A group of tourists
5. A rack of post cards
6. An urban street scene
7. A rural landscape
8. A tattoo on a person
9. A bakery
10. A photo bomb
11. A horn
12. A mascot
13. A sunrise
14. A parade
15. A juggler
16. A sign in a language other than English
17. A lamp post
18. A waterfall
19. A public garden
20. A bus (not a car, truck, lorry, camper or RV) with a picture painted on its sides.
21. A photograph of you with something representing the season

And if any of these are too difficult, there are two extras that we can substitute for any of items 1 to 20 (but not 21):

Alternative A: A kite, hot air balloon or blimp
Alternative B: A bird house
 
I'll be posting my progress here as I find my photos, plus there's always a summary post linked at the top right (where you can also see pictures from previous years).