No. 1

Mandy's Page

I'm using another old photo for a Scrap Squad scraplift today. I started with #9 and decided to go backwards, but they are publishing new scraplifts faster than I am completing the old ones so I may need to rethink that.

Scraplift #8 is a page originally made by Mandy Melville for Stuck?! Sketches, a site that I miss greatly. I picked an old photo of The Iron Bridge and used earthy colours, mostly scraps, for my page. I swapped the doily for a cut-file as being more industrial and suiting the subject better, and echoed the brief title of the original page with a slightly cryptic "No. 1" as this was the first iron arch bridge in the world.

Supplies
Cardstock - Bazzill
Paper _Jillibean Soup, Various Scraps
Letters - Collage Press, KaiserCraft
Washi Tape - Papermania
Enamel Stars - Stampin' Up!
Ink - Ranger
Mist - Mister Huey's, Tattered Angels, Dovecraft

Tools
Big Shot, Little B Arrow Die, Dovecraft Label & Star Dies
Heidi Swapp Stamp Set
Studio Calico Stamp Set
Hobbycraft Star Punch

Snap!

Mel's Page

I do love a scraplift, and there's a new group on Facebook called Scrap Squad who post a scraplift challenge every Friday based on pages they've found on Pinterest. I've been a member for a few weeks, but I was trying to concentrate on my cruise photos and the pages picked to lift so far haven't suited them, so they've been on my 'to do' list.

I've decided to knock off as many as I can while I wait for my last batch of cruise photos to arrive, and I started with Scraplift #9 which was a page originally made by Mel Blackburn.

I've gone back to my childhood photo albums for this page and scrapped a picture of my brother in the park near our grandparents' house.

I decided that the word 'Snap!' on the cut-apart card that I used could double as my title as I didn't think of anything better. I kept a lot of the elements from Mel's page, but I dropped the doily as mine were too white against the cream papers, and I didn't have an equivalent for her 'together' word. I kept the little tab at the bottom right and moved her paperclip to the top of my cloud paper. My biggest change might have been to move the contrasting strip on the side to the opposite edge, but I think it makes my wider page (12x12 vs 8.5x11) look more balanced.

Supplies
Paper - Little Yellow Bicycle Acorn Hollow, Simple Stories I {Heart} Summer, Jillibean Soup Sightseeing Stew, Basic Grey Mon Ami, Simple Stories Homespun
Stickers - Jillibean Soup, American Crafts/Paige Evans
Paper Clip - Freckled Fawn?
Puffy Stickers - Fancy Pants
Ink/Mist - Docrafts

UK Scrap Addicts - Sewing

This month's theme over at UK Scrap Addicts is sewing, and I was delighted to be invited to be their Guest Designer for July. Hop over and see what this turned into.

Sun Arise

I'm not far from finishing my cruise album (or albums probably) now; I just need to edit and order the last batch of photos for three more pages and then work out what I want to do for the album's title page. 

Before then, I'm sharing a page with the sunrise as we approached Casablanca. I didn't scrap these pictures when I was doing the Casablancan pages, but every time I scroll through my photos I'm drawn to the one on the left, the sun beginning to rise, as seen through our cabin porthole.

I used the first sketch of the month from Sketch-n-Scrap, but extended the papers to run behind both photos. I started off by trying to copy the layers in the sketch, but then tucked in various scraps and off-cuts as I worked. 

I'm very low on background papers now but I did still have a 12x12 piece of pink vellum that I decided to use here over white cardstock. I could have gutted it but I didn't think of that until afterwards so it'll be the only page of the album with pink vellum but it fits the colour scheme so I don't think it will matter.

Supplies
Paper - American Crafts/Amy Tangerine Stitched, Pinkfresh Studio Let Your Heart Decide, OneCanoeTwo Twilight, OneCanoeTwo Creekside, American Crafts Shimelle, Pink Paislee Auburn Lane,  Crate Paper/Maggie Holmes Open Book
Vellum - Create Paper, UnknownLetters - Teresa Collins
Stickers - American Crafts/Paige Evans, Teresa Collins
Glitter Tape - Hobbycraft
Enamel Hearts - American Crafts/Shimelle
Ink - Memento
Mist - Docrafts

La Manquita

Another page from Málaga today, and it's a double for the cathedral which is known as La Manquita, meaning the One-Armed Lady, because the north tower has never been finished.

I had loads of photos as we could easily walk all the way round the building, but we couldn't go inside as a service was taking place. The yellow building is the bishop's palace which faces the same square as the front of the cathedral.

I matted all the photos on cardstock and stuck them down in the middle of the page, then cut and pieced a single sheet of the stripey paper above and below so that it could span a greater width than 12".

I'd originally only planned one journalling card, the one on the left that 'holds up' the title above it, but I had too much to write and added the second one on the right. I quite like the end result which both adds some symmetry to the page and makes the bottom row longer that the top row.

Supplies
Paper - American Crafts/Amy Tangerine Stitched, Pinkfresh Studio Let Your Heart Decide, Teresa Collins Life Emporium
Letters - American Crafts
Journalling Cards - Unknown
Glitter Tape - Hobbycraft?
Puffy Stickers - Pinkfresh Studio
Enamel Dot - Simple Stories
Ink - Memento
Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Big Shot & X-Cut Camera Dies

Inspired by Warhol

Following on from my last page, I'm still in Málaga's Picasso Museum, but I've moved on to a temporary exhibition with works from Andy Warhol. The main photo is one of my husband and I, taken by a photo machine in Pop Art style, then there are two of the works on display, a 'piss painting' and a set featuring Muhammed Ali. The small soup can tucked in on the left was my sticker to show that we'd paid for the extra exhibition and I kept hold of it for this page.

Supplies
Paper - DCWV Romantic Life, Simple Stories Posh, My Mind's Eye Just Splendid, MME On Trend 2
Vellum - Crate Paper Boys Rule
Letters - Freckled Fawn, Basic Grey
Glitter Tape - Hobbycraft
Stickers - Cosmo Cricket
Rub-Ons - American Crafts Shimelle
Ink - Memento
Mist - Docrafts

Museo Picasso Málaga

I'm finally at the last set of pages that I need for my cruise album; these will be for Málaga in Spain, which was our second port of call (as I haven't been scrapping chronologically). 

We were off the ship rather early that day and had a wander round the deserted town before heading to the Picasso Museum as soon as it opened. We weren't allowed to take photos of the artworks, so all of these are pictures pulled from the internet.

I printed each picture in its original ratio, so they aren't consistent. I'd originally imagined a diagonal collage across the page, but once I started arranging them a column actually worked better. I wish I'd started my journalling further up the page, which would have left more room for embellishments in the bottom corner, but I had to content myself with half a floral sticker (and I added the other half at the top left of the page.

Supplies
Cardstock - Craft Sensations
Paper - Fancy Pants Country Boutique, DCWV Romantic Life
Sticker - Paige Evans #Stickerbook
Glitter Tape - Hobbycraft
Gems - Prima
Ink - Hobbycraft, Memento
Mist - Docrafts

The Carmo Ruins

I have another double page from Lisbon for you today, the last that I'm making for this city, which means that I'll be moving on to Málaga for my next post.

Lisbon was hit by a devastating earthquake and tsunami in 1755; many buildings were destroyed, including the Carmo Convent, but its church survived in part. The roof fell in and the interior was gutted by a fire caused by candles toppled in the quake, but they initially planned to rebuild. However those plans never came to fruition, and the shell of the building was eventually given to the Association of Portuguese Archaeologists in 1864.

The roofless walls of the church still stand as a reminder of the disaster, but the chapels now contain an eclectic assortment of religious artefacts gathered by the archaeologists. As you can imagine, we took a lot of photos here, too many even for a double page, so I added a 6x12 divided page protector between the two halves of my double page.

On the left half and the front of the divided page protector, I concentrated on the ruins themselves, standing open to the blue skies above.

while on the other side I have lots of photos of the artefacts on display - panels of azulejos, plaster carvings, wooden statues of saints, crosses, tombs and statues.

I knew that most of my background would be covered by my photos so I just picked white cardstock, and added some colour with ink and the packaging technique. However, I think I used too much ink (or not enough water) as the colour's too strong and didn't 'move' very well on the page. I think I'll stick to dry ink and masks/stencils for any more that I do.

Supplies
Cardstock - The Range
Paper - Pink Paislee/Paige Evans Turn the Page, My Mind's Eye Hello World, My Mind's Eye Chalk Studio, OneCanoeTwo Creekside, Pinkfresh Studio Let Your Heart Decide
Letters - Fancy Pants, Lily Bee
Stickers - Paige Evans, Pretty Little Studio, OneCanoeTwo, Studio Calico
Puffy Stickers - American Crafts/Amy Tangerine
Glitter Tape & Washi Tape - Hobbycraft
Enamel Dots - American Crafts, My Mind's Eye
Ink - VersaMagic
Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Silhouette Portrait
Big Shot, Dovecraft Star Die & Label Die

Belém - Nautical Neighbourhood

This is the page that gave me so much trouble earlier in the year, and had me walking away from my cruise album for a while. It's done for now, but I'm still not overly happy with it and may well return to it and tweak it before I finish the album.

The photos are from Belém, a suburb of Lisbon which we sailed past on our way into the city. The area has a vast nautical heritage, being the place that Portuguese explorers departed from for their voyages of discovery in the 15th/16th centuries. The photos are of the Belém Tower (to defend against hostile ships), the Jeronimos Monastery (which was built with money raised by the taxes on certain spices) and the 20th century Monument to the Discoveries.

Supplies
Cardstock - Bazzill
Paper - My Mind's Eye Cut & Paste, DCWV Romantic Life, Pink Paislee Auburn Lane, American Crafts/Shimelle Starshine
Letters - October Afternoon
Stickers - OneCanoeTwo, Studio Calico
Glitter Tape - Hobbycraft
Gems - Papermania
Ink - Memento

Tools
Sihouette Portrait
Big Shot & Dovecraft Label Die

Cristo Rei

It's been a while, too long really, but I'm finally going back to my cruise album from our trip to Spain, Portugal and Morocco last year. My last page was from Lisbon and then I got bogged down with an unfinished double; I've left that for now and moved on to a single page, with photos taken as we left Lisbon and sailed down the River Tagus.

The huge statue of Christ the King was inspired by Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro and stands on the opposite river bank to Lisbon, close to the Ponte 25 de Abril. 

I had chosen what seemed like a huge collection of papers when I started this album, but I'm running low on coral papers now, so I created this one myself using chalks on the back of a paper that I am unlikely to use.

Supplies
Cardstock - Papermania
Paper - My Mind's Eye Necessities, Simple Stories Posh, OneCanoeTwo Twilight
Vellum - My Mind's Eye Necessities
Mistable Stars - Studio Calico
Glitter Tape - Hobbycraft
Enamel Dots - My Mind'e Eye
Chalks - Studio G
Ink - Memento
Paint - Golden

Tools
Big Shot, Alphabet Dies & Dovecraft Label Die
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch