Alton Towers

The theme of the National Scrapbooking Day cybercrop over at For the Love of Pretty Paper is 'Scrap in Colour' and the girls there have certainly come up with some interesting challenges. For 'Name that Colour' we had to visit the site spycolor.com, pick one each of the top three colours listed for our initials and use them on a page. I had a choice of Acid Green, Aero or Aero Blue plus KU Crimson, Kelly Green or Kenyan Copper. Kenyan Copper was the best of those colours so I hunted for suitable photos and paper before picking my second colour to be Aero (mid-blue). 

My photos are old ones from a trip to Alton Towers which I cropped slightly and arranged in a block. A quick sketch hunt threw up Sketch #177 from Sketch-n-Scrap which was easily adapted. 

My title looked a little lost at the bottom so I added an extra panel below it and I moved the embellishment cluster up next to the photos as I didn't have any journalling to add to this page.

Supplies
Cardstock - Bazzill, Papermania
Paper - Kit 'n' Craft, My Mind's Eye Collectable
Die-Cuts - Jillibean Soup
Label Sticker - Tim Holtz
Ink - Docrafts

Tools
Silhouette Portrait
Hobbycraft Star Punches
Big Shot & Dovecraft Label Die

Four Wheels Good

By the time I'd finished the first page from For the Love of Pretty Paper's 'Scrap in Colour' cybercrop, there were plenty more to choose from. I had no intention of doing them in order and jumped on to one of Laura Rumble's sketches which had to be combined with bright colours.

I've done a couple of rainbow pages recently and took that path again, using India inks for spatters and splodges across the page which I then stamped the circles over. I rejected the circular photo from the sketch and used a larger one of my daughter after her driving test instead.

Despite having a large basket of letter stickers I never seem to have sufficient of them in the right colour, size and font so I went to my Silhouette for these. I've resolved not to buy any more large letters, as I've end up with so many half-packs that can rarely be used, and will be using my Sihouette more in future. I'll probably still buy small tile stickers, but certainly no more Thickers; I can always cut the title several times and stack them up if I want the dimension.

Supplies
Cardstock - The Range, Payper Box, Craft Sensations
Word Stickers - Tim Holtz
India Inks - Dr Ph. Martin's
Ink Pad - Hobbycraft
Washi Tape - Unknown

Tools
Banana Frog 'Curcus Stories' Stamp Set
Personal Impressions 'Circle Tags' Stamp Set
Hobbycraft Tiny Star Punch

Early Days

I've finally finished sharing pages and cards inspired by National Scrapbooking Day at the start of the month, and now it's time to start all over again! For the Love of Pretty Paper postponed their NSD celebrations to this weekend and we kicked off gently on Friday evening with 'Colour Love', a challenge to create a page using our favourite colour. 

I chose blue for my colour, with a sketch from Heather Leopard (which was one of the May sketches over at Stash Busting) and two photos of my daughter and her boyfriend.

I moved the photos slightly and used an old 6x6 pad for my paper layers. I ended up with more layers than in the sketch and ate into the space indicated for the title so I moved that to the left side and journalled below it.

Supplies
Paper - Crate Paper/Maggie Holmes Shime, My Mind's Eye Now and Then
Puffy Stickers - American Crafts
Glitter Tape - Hobbycraft?
Ink - Memento
Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Silhouette Portrait
American Crafts Notebook Border Punch
X-Cut Small Circle Punch

"Happy Birthday" Card

Cutfile by Paige Taylor Evans

I have one last piece of crafting to share from National Scrapbooking Day, though it wasn't done for any challenges. Paige Taylor Evans shared a selection of free cutting files in her Facebook group and I though that this one would look good as a birthday card rather than on a scrapbook page.

I scaled the file down to card-size, intending to back all the letters with patterned paper but once I'd cut it out I realised that the outlines were rather narrow for this. Instead, I cut the file again from patterned paper and fitted the patterned letter pieces flush into the cardstock outline. 

On the Farm

Di's Page

Back before National Scrapbooking Day, I saw a layout by Di Willcox that I was inspired to scraplift using an old pack of 2x12 paper strips from My Mind's Eye. 

That page had to wait a while, though I did make it for an NSD challenge from Bramble Fox to use four or more patterned papers on a page.

Knowing my colour scheme from the paper pack, I picked a trio of old photos from my grandparents' friends' farm, somewhere we visited regularly in my childhood. I matted them on cardstock which I turned into a pocket for journalling. I haven't written it yet, but I want to include the back story and why this farm is significant.

Supplies
Cardstock - Bazzill
Paper - My Mind's Eye Bloom and Grow
Letters - Jillibean Soup

Tools
Big Shot & X-Cut Pennant Die

Monkey Business

We've been having 'A Prompt a Day for the Month of May' over at For the Love of Pretty Paper, and on Day 10 Natalie challenged us to use all 10 of the prompts so far (or rather, nine of ten since we'd had both Flowers and No Flowers). The other eight were Rainbow, Animals, Stars, Primary Colours, Stencils, Envelopes, Two Photos and Ombre.

I started out looking for two photos of animals, but came across a couple of pictures of my dad and my cousin on a climbing frame that I could give an animal-y title instead. I based my page on a sketch from Crafty Templates, and brought in the rainbow (and also primary colours) via the paper strips behind the photos, though I have to say it took ages to find six papers that were similar in tone and colour intensity.

I ticked off stars with my background paper, stencilled two rows of chevrons and decided on monochrome embellishment clusters which include all the other items.

Supplies
Paper - Crate Paper/Maggie Holmes Carousel, Crate Paper Random, Sandylion, Kelly Panacci, Various Scraps
Letters - Tim Holtz
Border Sticker - Echo Park
Tag - Lakeland
Flowers, Tags, Labels - Unknown, from Stash
Brad - Pebbles

Tools
Pretty My Page Chevron Stencil
Big Shot & Sizzix Tiny Cards & Envelopes Die
Dovecraft Butterfly Stamp & Die
Dovecraft Label Die
Hobbycraft Star Punch
Woodware Tag Punch
Woodware Postage Stamp Punch

Alix

Alix was my French penfriend when we were teenagers, and I was inspired to scrap this photo of her (the only one I have) by a prompt at For the Love of Pretty Paper to use envelopes on a page. I can be pretty literal at times, and penfriends and envelopes fitted together in my mind.

I'm combining National Scrapbooking Day challenges again, starting with a scraplift from UK Scrap Addicts for their 'Attack of the Clones' challenge. I sketched and stitched the swirly lines, which satisfied the requests for stitching which came from both Hey Little Magpie and Bramble Fox.

I did my best to kill off a 6x6 pad with this page, cutting and stretching some of the papers. There are so many patterns that once I'd added my envelopes I didn't feel that there was a place or a need for much embellishment, just adding a few subtle punched flowers.

Supplies
Paper - My Mind's Eye Wild Asparagus, My Mind's Eye Just Splendid
Letters - DCWV
Gems - Simply Creative
Thread - DMC

Tools
Big Shot & Sizzix Cards & Envelopes Die
Craft Creative Flower Punch

Sticks & Stones

I've gone back in time again for this page, with a trio of 1980s photos of my siblings on Cannock Chase. 

The page was triggered by a challenge from The Cut Shoppe to use one of their cut-files on the vertical. I chose Very Squarey, which is a square file, sized it to 8x8 to fit the width of my Portrait and duplicated part of it to make it 8x12.

HLM Starting Point

I realised that the file and photos would work with a Starting Point from Hey Little Magpie, and followed a This or That challenge from Lottie Loves Paper when it came to embellishments. I chose spotty paper, handwriting, enamel dots, word stickers and arrows.

Finally, I linked up with UK Scrap Addicts who asked us to scrap photos from an outdoor game (among other options).

Supplies
Cardstock - Stampin' Up!
Paper - Heidi Swapp Vintage Chic,  4Heures 37 Eiffel Avenue, Carta Bella Fall Blessings
Letters - October Afternoon
Word Stickers - My Mind's Eye
Glitter Tape - Unknown
Washi Tape - Little B
Enamel Dots - Simple Stories
Ink & Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Silhouette Portrait
Woodware Postage Stamp Punch
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch
Woodware Tag Punch

Postcards from Looe

I'm in Cornwall still with this page; the last one I shared was our holiday cottage on the edge of Looe, and this time I have three views of the town itself which I printed at 4x6 and stacked in a column. It's a variation on a page design that I've used many times before, but it's one where you can ring the changes and get different looks. On this occasion I used stamps and stencils on an 11" square of cream cardstock for my background, and matted it a multi-coloured 12x12.

That background was prompted by a plethora of similar National Scrapbooking Day challenges - Stashbusting wanted us to use either a stencil or two stamps while both Bramble Fox and Hey Little Magpie asked for stamping.

For the Love of Pretty Paper have 'Prompt a Day for the Month of May' and I've combined three here - stars, primary colours and stencils.

Supplies
Cardstock - Stampin' Up, Bazzill
Paper - My Mind's Eye
Letters - Creative Devotion, WHSmith
Cards - Project Life
Puffy Flowers - OneCanoeTwo
Washi Tape - Ebay
Ink - Hobbycraft, Ranger, Memento, Docrafts
Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Silhouette Portrait & Filmstrip Cut-File
That Special Touch Grid Mask
Heidi Swapp Stars Stencil
Dovecraft Butterfly Stamp
The Works Clear Stamp Set
Heidi Swapp Arrows Stamp
Studio Calico Stars Stamp
American Crafts/Shimelle Word Stamps

Pink Flamingo

Pink Flamingo was our holiday cottage for a week in Looe at Easter. I'm determined to keep my 2019 scrapbook up to date, so there will be more Cornish pages coming soon.

I based my page on a sketch originally from Page Maps which was set as a National Scrapbooking Day challenge by Hey Little Magpie. I replaced the large tags on the sketch with Project Life cards for an extra photo, title and journalling, but then used a column of small tags tucked into the side of those.

Of course, I've combined challenges again: Bramble Fox asked us to use die-cut pieces (my tags) on a page and Lottie Loves Paper set a 'This or That' challenge from which I used spotty paper, handwriting, enamel dots, word stickers and a camera.

Supplies
Paper - Crate Paper/Maggie Holmes Bloom, Kesi Art Kiss My Neon, Pink Paislee/Paige Evans, Laura Ashley
Letters - Tim Holtz, Creative Devotion
Cards - Project Life
Die-Cuts - OneCanoeTwo
Label Transparencies - Studio Calico
Word Stickers - Jillibean Soup
Cork - Studio Calico
Puffy Stickers - Paperchase
Enamel Dots - Doodlebug, Teresa Collins
Camera & Gems - Unknown
Ink - Hobbycraft
Mist - Mister Huey's

Tools
American Crafts Scallop Border Punch
Big Shot & Dovecraft Tag Die

Cousins

I've had this stars cut-file sitting on my desk for ages; I don't remember now which photos I cut it for or why I didn't use it, but it had been there long enough.

National Scrapbooking Day is always a good time for random photos and random supplies and I fulfilled three NSD challenges while creating a permanent home for my cut-file: The Cut Shoppe asked us to use any of their cut-files with torn paper; Bramble Fox just wanted to see plenty of stars on a page; UK Scrap Addicts asked for a large element for their 'Death Star' challenge from a Star Wars themed day. 

The original cut-file (Oh Little Star) was a 12" circle, but I have a Silhouette Portrait which can only cut 8" wide so I'd cut 2/3 of the circle, and now I positioned it to one side of the page and covered the cut edge with a torn strip of paper. I dived into the archives again for a single photo - me, my siblings and our cousins 35 years ago - which I layered up with patterned papers.

Finally, For the Love of Pretty Paper have 'A Prompt a Day for the Month of May' to get us using more of our supplies; the prompts can be combined so here I have Stars, No Flowers and Primary Colours for 3rd to 5th May.

Supplies
Paper - SEI Moravia, Simple Stories, Pink Paislee Indigo Bleu, 4Heures 37 Eiffel Avenue, Basic Grey
Vellum - American Crafts
Letters - American Crafts
Glitter Tape - Hobbycraft
Enamel Stars - Freckled Fawn
Washi Tape - Unknown
Gems - Papermania
Pearls - Scrapberry's
Ink - Hobbycraft
Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Silhouette Portrait & Oh Little Star Cut-File
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch

Run Lanhydrock

The only way to get through all (or even most) of the National Scrapbooking Day challenges is by combining them, and I've ticked off no less than five with this page. I have my holiday photos now, and these were from us doing parkrun at Lanhydrock on the Easter weekend.

I started with a sketch from Quirky Kits (which I adapted for an extra photo) and made sure to select a good variety of patterns to fulfil the requirement for three or more different ones (spots, floral, check and stripes) in the Stashbusting group.

Three photos were enough to satisfy a multi-photo challenge at Hey Little Magpie and I used various word elements and a text print for a challenge from Bramble Fox. Finally, this was our first time running at Lanhydrock, which fits one of the options for the 'The First Order' challenge at UK Scrap Addicts.

Supplies
Cardstock - Unknown
Paper - American Crafts Shimelle, Simple Stories Homespun
Letters - American Crafts, Creative Devotion
Tag - American Crafts
Frame - Unknown
Die-Cut - Simple Stories Carpe Diem
Word Sticker - My Mind's Eye
Enamel Shapes - My Mind's Eye, American Crafts/Shimelle
Ink - Hobbycraft

Stars of the Show

by Jackie Ashton

National Scrapbooking "Day" kicked off on Friday in some groups, and the first page I made was for a scraplift challenge from Hey Little Magpie. The rays on Jackie's page reminded me of a yellow sunburst paper in my scraps box so I started from there, found a matching yellow scrap for the bottom part of the page and moved on to photos.

I didn't have my holiday photos at that point, so was choosing pictures from an old photo album; these dolphin photos were next to the parrots from my last page and suited the rays so were an easy pick. 

I combined two of the 'Prompts a Day for the Month of May' from For the Love of Pretty Paper in this page - Animals (2 May) and Stars (3 May) - and it was my wish to use stars for the page that lead to my title, carefully positioned to block out a stray head in the left photo. 

Using old photos here also worked perfectly for the first challenge from UK Scrap Addicts. All the challenges have a Star Wars theme and several options within them; for this page I used 1980s photos and a supply we no longer really use (rub-on lettering as part of my title) for the 'Return of the Jedi' challenge. 

Supplies
Cardstock - Bazzill, Craft Sensations
Paper - October Afternoon Summertime, Doodlebug, Basic Grey
Letters - Creative Devotion, WHSmith
Border Sticker - Fancy Pants
Journalling Card - Elle's Studio
Word Sticker - Crate Paper
Puffy Stars - Elle's Studio
Washi Tape - The Works
Mist - Cosmic Shimmer
Ink - Hobbycraft

Tools
Bracket Template
Silhouette Portrait
Hobbycraft Star Punch
Big Shot & Dovecraft Star Die

Pretty Polly

For the Love of Pretty Paper have kicked off the month of May with a 'Prompt a Day' Challenge leading up to a weekend frenzy of scrapbooking at the end of the month. There's no way that I can make a page a day, but the prompts are combinable so I'm starting off with Rainbow (1 May) and Animals (2 May). 

I've gone with old photos again, with photos of parrots which are certainly animals and they come in all colours of the rainbow. 

I decided on using mists for my rainbow but wasn't confident enough to use them directly on a page so I started by 'painting' a 4" strip of white cardstock with them. That strip sent me towards this month's scraplift challenge from GoGoGetaway, though my finished page didn't look that much like the original in the end, especially as I chose a black background to emphasise the other colours. 

Supplies
Cardstock - Core'dinations
Paper - Simple Stories Good Day Sunshine
Letters - American Crafts
Glitter Tape - Hobbycraft
Embellishments - Various Unknown
Puffy Stickers - MRI, Jillibean Soup, Paperchase
Enamel Dots - Echo Park, Teresa Collins
Mists - Docrafts, Mister Huey's, Maya Road

Tools
Craft Creatives Flower Punch

Summer Photography Hunt

It feels like Spring has barely arrived here, and already it's time for this year's Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt. This annual event is now run by Mary-Lou at Patio Postcards, and she's brought the start date forward to 1 May this year. 

To quote Mary-Lou herself: "There's some easy searches, some thinking outside of the box challenges & some that may require an open eye to find." Once again, there are 20 items and 2 alternatives on the list:

1. An Outdoor Clock
2. Single & Pretty
3. Repetition
4. Blurred Vision
5. The Word Summer
6. An Umbrella, open or closed
7. A Curving Path
8. Shells
9. A Bridge
10. Something Made of Stone
11. Fish
12. Something Crooked
13. Two Colours of The Rainbow in Any Combination
14. A Handwritten Sign
15. A Broken Chair/Bench/Stool
16. An Out of Season Treat Being Enjoyed
17. A Sail
18. Something That Should Be Found In Pairs 
19. A Funny or Meaningful Bumper Sticker
20. A Favourite Seasonal Scent

Alternates: 
A:  Bird or Bee House
B:  Fresh Local Produce

The closing date of 30 September hasn't changed so this year's hunt will run for a full five months. I'm not sure how I feel about the extended time frame but we'll see how it goes as the event unfolds. Feel free to hop over to Patio Postcards, pledge your interest and join in with the hunt. Our first link-up will be on 14 June, so I'll be back then to share my progress.