Orsett Show

I'm squeezing in this page just ahead of tonight's deadline. It's for the current weekly challenge at UKScrappers which was set by Elaine. She asked us to use white cardstock, at least four bright colours and an alliterative title. I failed on the last element, but I'll still score some points for my team.

My photos come from the Orsett Agricultural and Horticultural Show that my daughter and I visited earlier this month. I had nine of them, and decided to go for a grid design. My initial thought was a 4x4 grid, filling the extra spaces with patterned paper, but it evolved from there into a 3x3 grid surrounded with smaller squares:

The thing that took the longest was finding suitable lettering for my title. After eliminating almost every alphabet that I have, I finally made my own from old rub-on letters, white cardstock and a circle punch.

Supplies
Cardstock - Papermania
Paper - MME Bright 6x6
Rub-Ons - Making Memories

Tools
Woodware Square Punch
X-Cut Small Circle Punch

Nordkapp

These will be my last Norwegian pages for a while as I need to get some more photos printed. I've made a double page for Nordkapp - the North Cape. I've mentioned before that it claims to be the most northerly place on the European mainland, but that's a false claim for two reasons: firstly, the neighbouring point of Knivsfjellodden extends 1500m further north; secondly, both these points lie on an island, not the mainland at all!

However it's an impressive cliff, and the most northerly place reachable by road from the mainland, so it's a popular tourist destination. We went there by local bus rather than the ship's tour, and arrived as our shipmates were leaving, so it was curiously quiet there.

My left page concentrates on the iconic globe monument. The small photo in the first pocket is from our first visit in 2009, contrasting the weather and the crowds then with the perfect conditions this time.

My right page mostly has pictures of the various monuments dotted around the Nordkapp plateau, monuments that we couldn't see at all in the dense fog last time. At the top is "Children of the Earth" a set of seven discs made by seven children from different countries to symbolise cooperation, friendship, hope and joy across boundaries.

The yellow box explains about Nordkapp not being the most northerly place on the European mainland, and links with the photo of Knivskjellodden which is the most northerly point on the island, although a lot less impressive than Nordkapp, and only reachable by hiking 9km from the nearest road.

If 9km seems a bit tame, consider the E1 European long distance hiking path - it starts here and runs 7000km south through Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland to Scapoli in Italy. 

Supplies
Paper - Pink Paislee Portfolio, Pink Paislee Indigo Bleu, MME Follow Your Heart, MME Lost & Found 3
Letters - Papermania, Basic Grey, Jillibean Soup
Washi Tape - Papermania, Trimcraft
Word Sticker - Simple Stories
Gems - Dovecraft, Papermania
Wood Veneer - Studio Calico

Tools
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch
Woodware Tiny Star Punch

Photo Scavenger Hunt - All Done

They think it's all over - it is now.

Now that summer has officially ended, Rinda's Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt has come to a close too.

I deliberately left my sunrise (no. 13) until this month when the sun was rising at a civilised time. Sadly, getting close to autumn meant that I encountered a series of cloudy or misty mornings, but my early rising was rewarded on Sunday with a reasonable shot at the rising sun:

The hunt item that's given me the most trouble is no. 3 - birds on a wire. Our wires are all underground here, and although I've spotted birds on wires a couple of times on my travels this summer I haven't managed to get a photograph. Therefore I've taken up my daughter's suggestion - Pixar made a short animated film called 'For the Birds' which was released with Monsters Inc, and which we have on DVD: 

Cheating? Maybe... but I have one of the alternatives (the bird house) so I'm still claiming 21 items found.

You can see a summary of all of my finds (for this year and the previous two years) by clicking the link at the top right of my blog, or individual posts by clicking the label at the foot of this post.

Rinda is holding a party to celebrate the end of the Scavenger Hunt - a linky party where we can all share our finds. Why not hop over and see how everyone else got on?

Magerøya

Another divided page from me today, from our Norwegian cruise last year. I'm doing the whole album with divided pages, so I need to work chronologically and I've reached Honningsvåg in the north of the country.

The main reason that cruise ships stop in Honningsvåg is for the trip to the North Cape, falsely promoted as being the most northerly point in mainland Europe. We rejected the cruise ship tour in favour of using the local bus, and journeyed across the island of Magerøya, marvelling at the views and trying to spot some of the hundreds of reindeer that roam the area.

I only had a few photos, and I know that I need to display portrait-oriented photos on the back of this page, so I opted for a page with four 6x6 pockets:

Supplies
Paper - Pink Paislee Indigo Bleu, MME Follow Your Heart
Border Sticker - Pink Paislee Indigo Bleu
Letters - DD, Basic Grey
Vellum - from Stash
Tag & Arrow - Pink Paislee Portfolio
Button - MME Lost & Found 3
Washi Tape - Trimcraft, The Range
Gems - Papermania

Tools
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch

Honningsvåg

Once upon a time, I was working on an album from the cruise to Norway and Svalbard that we took last summer, but I got distracted by other projects and have neglected this for too long.

I'm using divided page protectors for this album, an assortment of page configurations from American Crafts, and I'm getting the photos professionally printed one batch at a time. Somehow I only did half of the last batch, and I haven't ordered the third batch yet, though I want to rectify that soon.

I've reached day 7 of our 16 night holiday and the port of Honningsvåg, in the most northern region of Norway. I'm working on the back of my previous page, so the pocket sizes were pre-decided for me. I'm using a map for each port, which lies in the first pocket, alongside a view of the village as we approached. The middle row has photos of a sculpture called Der Noorderwind, and then both of my children with a troll, a Norwegian mascot.

The last two pockets have photos of the marina and the church. The town was largely destroyed during the war, and the villagers lived in the church while they rebuilt their homes.

Supplies
Paper - Pink Paislee Portfolio, Pink Paislee Indigo Bleu, MME Follow Your Heart
Letters - Anita's Glitterations
Wood Veneer - Studio Calico 
Washi Tape - October Afternoon, The Range
Butterfly - Prima
Gems - Dovecraft

Tools
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch

Photo Scavenger Hunt - Almost There

I've just realised that there are only three days left for this year's Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt, organised by Rinda on her blog. Last time I checked in, I had five items left to go, and I had a successful weekend at the beginning of September, knocking off three, plus duplicates of two previous finds.

On a visit to the Harry Potter studios I found another bus with a picture on its side (no. 20):

I also captured a photo bomb (no. 10) at last, two sets of legs behind a model of Hogwarts Castle:

Next day we visited the Orsett Show, a local agricultural and horticultural show, where I found my parade (no. 14) - the Grand Parade of Traction Engines:

and my juggler (no. 15):

I also found another Birdhouse (Alt B), complete with a rather cute bird:

So, two left. The birds on a wire have been elusive, so I'm wondering whether birds on pipework might count:

These were on the conning tower of the submarine Ocelot in Chatham Dockyard. Alternatively, I can offer you birds on masts (in Lyme Regis harbour):

Still trying to get that sunrise - I decided to wait for mid-September for this one as sunrise is now around 06:30 but it's been cloudy or foggy every day this week. If necessary I'll use a photo my husband took when he was camping in June, but I'd much prefer to take all the pictures myself.

In Miniature

This is the third and final page that I've made from Corfe Castle in Dorset for Summer Scrapbooking Challenge #10 at UKScrappers. This was a challenge to make three pages from a kit of supplies; I blogged the first two earlier this week (Corfe Castle and Bad Boys?). My kit had a selection of papers from Teresa Collins and My Minds Eye, and I used aqua backgrounds in different patterns for all my pages. Today's trio of photos are from the Model Village:

Supplies
Paper - Crate Paper Story Teller, Teresa Collins Daily Stories, MME Miss Caroline
Card - Project Life Summer Kit
Letters - American Crafts, Lily Bee
Buttons - MME Market Street
Brad - American Crafts Dear Lizzy
Wood Veneer Arrow - Creative Embellishments
Ink - Ink It Up!

Tools
Big Shot & Tag Die
Fiskars Shape Cutter & Circles Template
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch

Bad Boys?

This is the second in my trilogy of pages from Corfe Castle in Dorset, made in response to Summer Scrapbooking Challenge #10 at UKScrappers, a challenge to make three pages from a limited kit of supplies; I shared the first one and the kit list earlier this week.

This page has photos of my son and husband in the stocks/pillory and has a few more layers and embellishments than the last one. I had to get creative with the lettering - the 'a' was a 'd' and the 'y' was a '9' before I cut them down.

Supplies
Paper - MME The Sweetest Thing, MME Cut & Paste, MME Miss Caroline
Cards - Project Life Summer Kit
Letters - American Crafts Thickers
Label Sticker - October Afternoon
Word Stickers - MME The Sweetest Thing
Ink - Ink It Up!

Tools
Fiskars Shape Cutter and Circles Template
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch
X-Cut Small Circle Punch
Woodware Tiny Star Punch

Corfe Castle

I haven't been doing the Summer Scrapbooking Challenges at UKScrappers in order, and I'm jumping to the last one now - to make 3 pages from a limited selection of supplies. These were: three background sheets; five other full sheets; a load of scraps; two cut apart sheets; large shapes/die cuts/PL cards; medium shapes/die cuts; enamel dots; wood veneer shapes; up to 4 washi tapes; alphabet stickers, big and small.

I chose a selection of papers from My Mind's Eye and Teresa Collins, and picked photos from a trip to Corfe Castle in Dorset. The photos fell into three groups, enough for a double page and two single pages, so I added an extra background sheet to the selection. I started with the double page and laid out my photos in a grid, running strips of patterned paper above and below them and filling in the gaps with more papers to complete the grid. I kept the embellishments simple with large circles cut from one of the papers.

This turned out to be quite a simple layout and it didn't make much of a dent in the kit that I'd pulled together. I have two more pages to share later in the week, and they have a few more layers and used more 'stuff'.

Supplies
Paper - MME Collectable, MME Quite Contrary, MME Miss Caroline, Teresa Collins Daily Stories
Letters - American Crafts Thickers
Ink - Ink It Up!

Tools
Fiskars Shape Cutter & Circles Template
Craft Creatives Heart Punch

Across the Sea

This summer UKScrappers held a series of 10 Summer Scrapbooking Challenges, open to the end of September; the third of these was to create our own background paper using three or more rubber stamps. I have a set of doily stamps that I don't use very often, so I took this opportunity to use all five of them, using different coloured inks for each stamp. However, I did this without thinking about what photo I would be using, and had to go way back in the archives to find one that would work with it. I think that next time I will pick my photo(s) first and then just use one or two colours of ink.

The photo I did choose is one of my cousin and her family that she sent me one Christmas. They live in the US, hence the title.

Supplies
Cardstock - Bazzill, Colorset
Paper - MME Bright 6x6, Crate Paper The Pier 6x6
Letters - Echo Park
Label Sticker - Kaisercraft
Word Sticker - Tim Holtz
Ink - Ranger, Papermania
Gems - Xva Creative

Tools
Studio Calico Doily Stamp Set
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch
Crayola Butterfly Punch
X-Cut Corner Punch

4 Generations

It's not the first time that I've used this title on a page, but it seems appropriate to the photo. Last time it was one of my nan, my mum, me and my daughter. This time we're on the other side of the family, with my grandad, my dad, my sister and my nephew.

I made the page for this week's challenge at UKScrappers; it was set by Alison, and she asked us to use a theme of Grandparents, stickers or ribbon, and punched or die-cut shapes.

Once I had chosen my single photo, there were no criteria for the layout of the page so I chose to work with Miniowner's September sketch. I machine-stitched her circles, which gave me a headache when my bobbin thread ran out mid-circle, but I did manage to rescue them. I double-matted the photo on torn paper, and used a second piece to ground my title on the opposite circle.


I realised towards the end of making this page, that it also fits in with Rochelle's September Challenge - a Tic Tac Toe grid where I have used the middle column - stitching, numbers and jewels.


Supplies
Paper - Crate Paper Boys Rule, Crate Paper Styleboard, MME Wild Asparagus, Basic Grey Sultry
Letters - Jillibean Soup
Number - Crate Paper Mia
Stickers - Studio Calico, Tim Holtz
Gems - from Stash
Ink - Docrafts

Tools
Sewing Machine
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch

HMS Gannet

Another page from this summer, when we visited Chatham Historic Dockyard. HMS Gannet is a Victorian sloop, one of the museum ships on display.

I adapted the 1 September sketch from Paper Secrets for my page, making the circle bigger and adding another photo. There is an additional requirement of using items or techniques beginning with each letter of a given word, and this time the word is LABOR. Mine are: Letter Stickers, Aqua, Border Sticker, Outlining and Rub-Ons.

I chose nautical/travel papers for my page, digging into some seriously old stash for compasses and map prints.

Supplies
Paper - MME On the Bright Side, Colorbok Travel, HOTP Blue Compass & Sun, Crate Paper DIY Shop
Journalling Card - Project Life Summer
Letter Stickers - Papermania, American Crafts
Border Sticker - Crate Paper Farmhouse
Rub-Ons - Basic Grey
Ink - Ink It Up!

Tools
X-Cut Scalloped Border Punch

Still Got the Moves

It's been a slow scrappy start to the month, but I've finally completed my first page, one from a family camping trip last weekend. The photos are of our children on the trampoline at a nearby farm; they used to take trampolining lessons and the title and journalling refer to that.

I used the 1st September sketch from Stuck?! Sketches as the basis for my page. My paper strips aren't in the same positions; I just worked with strips cut from the pieces I had and layered them up without referring to the sketch too much. 

I find that the more patterns I use on a page, the less embellishment I want. In this case it's just a few punched circles to break up all the horizontal lines. I had intended to stitch the circles from the sketch, but my page felt finished at this point, so I didn't.

Supplies
Paper - Simple Stories Awesome plus scraps
Letters - American Crafts Thickers
Ink - Docrafts
Mist - Mister Huey's Classic Tan

Tools
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch
X-Cut Small Circle Punch

Photo Scavenger Hunt - August Update

It's that time again - time to link up with Rinda's Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt and share our progress towards finding her list of items.

I'm a few days late as we've been on a camping trip, staying in Somerset, but also visiting Dorset, where I found some great lampposts in Lyme Regis.

When I last checked in I had 15 items from the main list, plus one of the alternatives. It's been a quiet month, and I can only add a few more:

2. A garden gnome
Found lurking in my brother's garden

12. A mascot
Captain Rage, one of the mascots of Adventure Island, a theme park whose biggest roller-coaster is called Rage.

17. A lamp post
I've shared two lampposts previously, but these in Lyme Regis are by far my favourite of the summer.

I'd previously found gnomes and lampposts, so these only bring my total to 16 out of 21 (click on the tab at the top left to see them all). The five that I have left are:

3. Birds on a Wire - Seen these a few times, often in the same place, but I drive under them and they fly off. I'm beginning to think that I need to park nearby and wait for them to land again. Maybe I'll do this later in the month when time is running out.

10. A Photo Bomb - This really shouldn't be too hard, but every time someone wanders into frame, I refrain from taking the photo; I just need to take it anyway. We're visiting the Harry Potter Studios tomorrow, so maybe I'll get lucky.

13. A Sunrise - Sunrise has been disgustingly early here over the summer (4:45 anyone?), but it will be a more civilised time (6:30) later this month, so I'll be trying for this one soon.

14. A Parade & 15. A Juggler - We're going to a local agricultural show on Saturday. There's a Grand Parade at noon and mini displays of circus skills throughout the day, so I'm hoping to tick off both of these. 

Some people have finished their hunt already, but others are finding  the last few pictures to be more elusive. Why not hop over to Rinda's blog and see how they are getting on?

Water Sliding

After a detour through the photo archives, I've returned to the current year, and more photos from Austria earlier this summer. One afternoon, while hubby was toiling up a nearby mountain, my daughter and I headed for the local leisure centre, which has an outdoor pool and a section of the lake.  Most people were in the pool, but there was a water slide into the lake so that's where we spent our afternoon, battling to be the person who slid down it the most times.

I used Sketch #60 (1 July) from Sketch N Scrap for my page, though I straightened up the paper layers a bit. The ticket is a new one from my July/August Quirky Kit and reads 'Admit One Child *or one who is a child at heart'. I love the sentiment as I was being thoroughly childish that afternoon. The yellow ticket paper was also from the kit, and the background is from the March/April kit.

There's a bit of journalling on the page, and quite a lot more on the card behind the right-hand photo.

Supplies
Paper - Fancy Pants As You Wish, Crate Paper DIY Shop, Studio Calico South of Market
Letters - American Crafts, Pebbles
Ticket - Fancy Pants Everyday Circus
Washi Tape - The Range
Gems - Mark Richards
Ink - Docrafts

Tools
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch
Hobbycraft Star Punch